#its funny and also required for later stuff

[warriors-of-heavy]

Warrior of Light #2: Serainne Sangerpent

Wildwood Elezen, she/her

Age: 45

Height: 6'3"

Hometown: Ishgard

Personality: Stubborn, self-righteous, extremely martial... Ishgardian, basically.

Jobs: Dragoon & Sage

Backstory: In Serainne's world the previous warrior of light wasn't a dragoon, so Estinien got possessed by Nidhogg several months early and was able to use the azure dragoon to disable Ishgard's defenses from within.

by the time Serainne was old enough to hold a spear, the once-proud city state of Ishgard had been reduced to little more than a pile of rubble Nidhogg's brood allowed the remaining Ishgardians to crawl around in so that they could torture them for all eternity.

when Hydaelyn awoke Serainne to her destiny as the warrior of light, she not only received the standard meteor vision, but also knowledge of what Ishgard was like before it fell. inspired by the knowledge of her history, Serainne cobbled together every scrap of metal she could find onto some clergyman's clothes and set out to become the next azure dragoon.

eventually her one-woman war on dragonkind lost her an eye and gained her the ire of a Nidhogg-infused Estinien. she probably would've been turned into a char mark on the ground if not for her getting dumped in The Source before he could land a solid hit.

so she shows up in Azys Lla, which would be a terrible enough introduction for anyone coming to Eorzea, but she's in the midst of a bunch of primals insulting the legacy of the Knights of the Round, and after all that's settled she gets to watch her second most hated adversary swan in and get possessed by her first most hated adversary. At this point she takes up the mantle of main character while Sibert's off sulking as she hunts down Estinien to the ends of the earth. Whether she's going to save the man or skewer him is unknown to everyone, especially herself.

[aroaceleovaldez]

full on feel like pjo tv s2 is not gonna hold up so they need to drag as much attention to the series as they can by using nico as a sock puppet w tsats2

im fully expecting the show to go the way of the movies. it doesnt help Sea of Monsters is almost unanimously the least favorite book of the first series. People frequently forget it even exists or what happens in it, especially more casual fans.

Heck, just look at how little fanfare the second season has gotten so far as compared to the build up to s1. I wouldn't be surprised if s2 totally flops. It would be a little funny.

[ozzgin]

Some more dick-related brain rot…😘

We take the self serve dick bar and use monsters for the monster hotel. We are going to have that full “continental breakfast.” So we have a forest entity cumming maple syrup, a Minotaur cumming milk/creme, a yeti who cums slushies, a slime who cums various jams depending on whatever fruit we feed it, and any more monsters who we can utilize ☺️

When you were talking about your rats, it made me think of some rat-hybrid monster where reader can steer him via. his dick, like a reverse Ratatouille scenario 🐀

Having a robot/android partner, I could use his dick as a literal joy stick when playing video games. Also, if I have to charge robot/android, do you think his dick acts like a giant extension cord I could just plug into the outlet in the wall? Also does that mean he technically “eats” with his dick? I assume when traveling with him internationally, I gotta get a lot of compatible adapters so he can get plugged in successfully🕹️

A Hydra monster would be kinda funny to have sex with, cause maybe if you cut its “head” down south, two more will grow back 🤔

I think that’s all for now. Tell your man that he is very much appreciated, and it’s nice he’s in this club of debauchery 😉

-👘

This amount of thirst and depravity is exactly what the monster guests would come up with just to have Reader employee touch them. 😭 Content: gender neutral reader, rancid NSFW!!! (more white sauce I’m afraid), monster smut

The latest fad your centaur manager has been into is food cooked with bodily fluids. This has had several implications, all of them regrettably involving you.

While the idea has been gripping at his mind like a great plague, he can't possibly ask you to just...let go over his breakfast toast. He can already see how exhausted you return after being used by the starved guests. They stuff you just enough for you to wonder if you'll survive it, then make sure to clean up their mess, politely aiding your speedy recovery, almost as if they weren't the cause of destruction to begin with. The manager has heard it one too many times that your nether regions are numb from all the monstrous tongues and appendages.

Maybe a change of scenery will help.

"Kitchen staff? I thought I'm supposed to clean the rooms", you inquire, somewhat confused by the sudden proposal.

"It's not quite...kitchen duties, per se. We need someone to help with the hotel's breakfast. We have a new experimental menu, though not enough...hands."

You should've expected it. How bad could it possibly be, you told yourself, pouring some orange juice for the seated guests? You had your first suspicions from the big, flashy sign now propped outside the room: service provided by our esteemed and loved human employee. You didn't need to ponder much on its meaning. Once inside, your task became painfully clear. You were to milk the guests for the required ingredients.

Having their way with you is a treat in itself, but seeing you struggle with your small, human hands, trying to figure them out? Priceless. Well, for them, anyways. Despite your protests, you have left your morning shifts with a ridiculous number of tips. Maybe it's the way you look up through your lashes as you explain: "Of course I know your weak spot. You're one of my- our regulars." Or maybe it's the way you tease your favorites, wondering out loud, with a grin, if you should have some of the generous release for your own lunch later.

Your hard work has not gone unnoticed. The centaur head manager recently made the sheepish suggestion of having you at the receiving end of this new service, trying his best to sound convincing, and hiding the fact it’s been his most ardent wish for the past couple of weeks. Maybe he will get his breakfast topping, after all.

[Monster Hotel] | [More Monsters]

[nightsandreala]

Continuing potential Nightmaren design inspirations… Reala time :) I wanted to save him for later but today is ✨ his day ✨

Not much new stuff, but he actually has a lot of canon design lore already 👀

All together, the Nightmarens are made to resemble a circus group, and of course NiGHTS and Reala as jesters. Jester-like designs were chosen due to jesters being able to be seen as either cute and funny or as sinister— and Reala reflects the latter part of that (source)

Naoto Ohshima: “By the time the character of NiGHTS was complete, many different versions of NiGHTS had been created, but the one that brought together the “cool and cute” parts was what became the current NiGHTS. And then, Reala was created by collecting the “scary and frightening” parts. They are two beings of light and darkness, with equal abilities but contrasting personalities.” (Full post here)

Further than that, Reala is meant to represent reality whereas NiGHTS represents dreams:

“In this nightmare world, only Reala is different. He asks us to "face reality!" and "don't let your dreams control you!" Yes, we can't live on dreams alone, and we need Reala. I think all the characters in NiGHTS are necessary for us.” (source)

Reala’s main colors— gray/white, red, black, and yellow— are more natural in comparison to NiGHTS’ more fantastical purple and pink. This could also be the reason NiGHTS’ design is more “complicated,” with a full suit for an outfit while Reala just has a simple vest to wear. Some have also suggested that Reala’s colors and features may be meant to invoke a corpse-like design, with pale skin and yellow nails. His blue-purple-red diamond pattern might also be a continuation of the reality vs. dreams theme, with blue representing dreams in their entirety, purple representing a middle ground/crossing between dreams and reality, and red reprsenting reality in its entirety.

This part is pretty well known, but Reala’s final design was made through a combination of two previous designs by Ohshima and Kazuyuki Hoshino. Also, Ohshima has posted that Reala’s final colors were decided by Hoshino, too (source, goes through the whole thread)

I’ve posted about this theory before, but one potential design inspiration I’ve thought of for Reala is a wrestling heel. Heels play an antagonistic role in matches, similar to the role a lot of fans assume Reala might have played before NiGHTS’ rebellion: they would befriend visitors and help them gather their Ideya, then Reala would come in to steal them (similar to what Reala says the two of them are doing in Helen’s Memory Forest cutscene)

As seen in the second image, heels are also known for a focus on physical moves rather than those requiring more technical skill (which may explain why Reala is designed with muscles while NiGHTS isn’t), as well as for costumes/makeup inspired by trickster-esque characters (Reala’s is also just inspired by regular clown face paint, though, lol)

While it isn’t explicitly canon, just the feeling the author of this article got from watching Reala’s gameplay, there are theories that Reala doesn’t like flying as much as NiGHTS does, either, and does it mainly as a means of scaring people:

“Watching Reala fly, I don't get the impression that he enjoys flying as much as NiGHTS does. Is it because of the Nightmarens’ inherent nature to instill fear in the human mind and enjoy it?” (Full post here). Coincidentally, Reala flies differently than NiGHTS in both games, having a different Drill Dash in NiD and different acrobatics in JoD. Both are due to oversights, but it’s cool to see this lore continues in any form they should just make it canon though tbh

[ofswordsandpens]

I've enjoyed episode 3 the most so far, but I think the show is still struggling to find a good balance between taking itself seriously and the absurdist humor that RR writes with. My main takeaways:

The Fight Scenes (or Lack Thereof?)

It seems very peculiar to me that the show is just speed running through its battle scenes. Again, it feels very much like the product of Disney trying to sanitize anything that's too extreme?

The trio fleeing from the kindly ones in the book ended with Percy taking control of the bus and then crashing it. It explodes. They lose all of their stuff (money, food). In the show, they simply bail out the back window. No true panic. No tension. Just, okay :) we're leaving now :)

The Medusa Scene. I'll speak more to this later, but in terms of the fight we get to see... well we get to see nothing. Apparently this fight required us to view it through the lens of the invisibility cap (ie. not at all),

I understand this show is intended for a younger audience, but the books are as well. Even the movies, which are pg, came up with better ways to show things without necessarily showing things. As a result, it feels like anything that might induce the slightest bit of tension or fear are sanded down and its honestly doing such a disservice to the books and the audience.

Medusa

I actually really liked this portrayal of Medusa. The 1950s housewife vibe landed well for me. And I loved the actress's voice -- very soft and soothing but always sounding as if she were just about to cry.

Also, I really liked her dialogue. Her digs at Athena and Poseidon were perfectly tragic.

That being said, I really prefer the trio's arrival to the emporium in the book. In the books, they've been wandering the woods and are lost and exhausted and hungry because of the battle/bus crash where they've lost all of their stuff. It almost feels like the emporium popping up "out of nowhere" was more of it finding them.

Meanwhile in the show, Grover finds it through scent on a satyr path and they immediately know its Medusa, which imo takes out so much of the fun of it all??? In the books, they dont know. Grover's just like, freaking the ever living fuck out, and clearly Percy and Annabeth have let him take sole custody of the shared brain cell, cause they're more concerned about getting some food than anything else

Just... RIP dumbass shenanigans

And honestly, I'm not really sure what necessitated the change here in the show (of them not being tricked). It would have been one thing if they were going to change Medusa entirely to not wanting to harm them at all, but imo, I think its arguable/evident that show Medusa was looking for an excuse to petrify Annabeth and Grover (at minimum) regardless of anything.

Honestly, I would have had the show loosely play it out as: book arrival (they dont know its Medusa), keep the dumbass energy and banter, the trio figures out it Medusa while they're eating, Medusa is the more sympathetic version we see in the show, regardless it still ends with the battle.

Also, I do mourn the book battle. The panic and absurdity is just handled better imo. Annabeth shoving them off the bench, Grover flopping all over the place with the shoes but actively getting a good few hits in, Percy having to use to the reflection to behead her... the #TeamWork was emphasized a little more there to me.

Characterization

I think the show is absolutely nailing certain parts of the characters.

They've gotten Percy's anger and his derision towards the gods down. But, I think they're actually underscoring some of his, idk, sincerity? His kindness? It was the line "she met a pinecone's fate" that just rang off to me. While undoubtedly funny, it's just such a stark difference from his reaction to Thalia's story in the books, where he was unsettled by her fate and felt a sincere sympathy for her. The line in the show I assume is meant to criticize the gods, but still, it feels like it comes at the expense of the sensitivity that he has.

They've gotten Annabeth's bluntness, intelligence, pride, and superiority down cold. No question about it. But I feel like they just need to let her be more of a 12yo kid?

Like. In canon she and Percy banter and argue over the silliest of things. She plays hacky sack with Grover and Percy. She blushes and hyperventilates when Luke interacts with her. Episode 3 is like the first time we've gotten to see her do something remotely childish (buying all that candy) and I'm just dying for more of that!! She's not the "mom" of the group and she has her canon dumbass moments. I'm hoping more of this is captured moving forward. They've gotten a good start on the banter, but let Annabeth be more silly! Cause she is!

(Absolutely none of my personal qualms about the characterization are Walker or Leah's fault. They've done amazing. It's the writing/directing I'm side-eyeing).

OH! And I'm sorry but Percy being like "Annabeth we're going to bury medusa with your hat on" would have never ever flown with Annabeth. In no world.

But Grover eating them up at the end? Iconic. Good for him.

[warydoom]

Welcome to the Void They say if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.

Well, I did. And it turns out the abyss is surprisingly cozy, has excellent wifi, and is absolutely wallpapered with AO3 tabs. Welcome to my blog!

This is my little corner of the internet for all things fan-made and brainrot-inducing. Expect a chaotic mix of fic snippets, incoherent screaming about character arcs at 3 AM, reblogs of god-tier fanart, and meta that is three parts literary analysis and seven parts pure, unfiltered obsession.

If you've found your way here, let's get acquainted.

About the Proprietor of This Particular Void

Alias: Void

Pronouns: She/her

Current Status: A feral creature fueled by iced coffee and the emotional devastation of my favorite fictional characters. Probably procrastinating on something important by being here.

My Writer's DNA // A.K.A. My Favorite Tropes This is the kind of stuff you can expect me to write and reblog with reckless abandon. If you send me a prompt, odds are it'll get infused with one of these:

Found Family: My absolute beloved. Give me a mismatched crew of traumatized weirdos, emotionally constipated soldiers, or reluctant heroes who bicker endlessly but would burn down the world for each other. The more dysfunctional the bonds and the more they refuse to admit they care, the better.

Hurt/Comfort & Whump: The absolute cornerstone of this establishment. This is the whump-to-hurt/comfort pipeline, and the pipes are clean and the water pressure is phenomenal. Let's put our blorbos through the emotional and physical wringer. Break a bone, catch a nasty non-magical flu, get captured, have a full-blown panic attack about it later. Why? So another character can find them, patch them up, and deliver the quiet, tender care they both desperately need. This is the good stuff.

Angst With a Purpose: I'm not here for pointless misery. I'm here for the good, artisanal angst. The pining, the yearning, the miscommunication that actually makes sense, the painful self-realizations, the "I'm not good enough for you" speeches that get proven wrong. But it has to lead somewhere—usually to one of the tropes mentioned above.

Enemies/Rivals to Lovers: The delicious, slow-burn knife-to-throat-to-kissing pipeline. I want the tension, the begrudging respect, the moment one of them realizes "oh no, they're hot AND competent," and the eventual chaotic collapse into feelings.

Canon Divergence / Fix-It Fic: That one canon event that broke me? No it didn't. In this house, we have ✨creative differences✨ with canon. I am the benevolent and sometimes wrathful god of my own AUs, and I am here to fix what was so cruelly broken.

There Was Only One Bed: The classic. The legend. It will never not be funny or fraught with delicious tension. Bonus points if one of them is an absolute blanket hog.

Coffee Shop & Flower Shop & Tattoo Parlour AUs: (Peak comfort. Not much else to say)

The "Everybody Lives" Mandate (No Major Character Death)

Let me be crystal clear: I am not here to hurt you (or me) permanently.

Canon can kill off whoever it wants; in this house, we write fix-its and everyone gets therapy. I will whump my blorbos until the heat death of the universe, but at the end of the day, they are all getting tucked into bed, possibly with a cup of tea and a heated blanket. I'm allergic to tragic endings and I do not write major character death.

If you're looking for that, you've stumbled into the wrong corner of the abyss. This is a recovery ward, not a morgue.

The Fandoms That Have Claimed My Soul

If you're into any of these, we're probably going to get along just fine.

Anime & Manga

Jujutsu Kaisen: My brainrot has its own Infinite Void. Come scream about Gojo, Geto, and the disaster that is Yuji Itadori with me.

My Hero Academia: Either Class 1-A is causing chaos that requires a group text, or Shota Aizawa needs a 72-hour nap. There is no in-between.

Haikyuu!!: My emotional support volleyball boys. Here for the team dynamics, the rivalries, and the pure, concentrated friendship.

Attack on Titan: Come for the giant man-eating monsters, stay for the crushing generational trauma and political philosophy. It's a fun time!

One Piece: I have sold my soul to a rubber pirate and his found family of weirdos, and I have zero regrets. The One Piece IS REAL!

Avatar: The Last Airbender: The OG masterpiece. Bending, found family, and the greatest redemption arc of all time. (Politely, this is a No Korra Zone.)

Comics // Where It All Started

DC & Marvel: My interests are basically the Bat-Family's collective therapy bill, the MCU's aggressive "we are a family" agenda, and the Spider-Verse's beautiful, angsty identity crises.

Film, Books & Ineffable Husbands

Star Wars: Give me Jedi having emotional breakdowns, clones deserving a retirement plan, and morally grey people making bad decisions in space.

Our Flag Means Death & Good Omens: The corner of the blog where soft pirates and ineffable demons have permanently rearranged my brain chemistry.

Lord of the Rings: I believe in the supremacy of Second Breakfast and the unwavering loyalty of Samwise Gamgee.

Harry Potter / Wizarding World: The Marauders Era is my Roman Empire. I like the kids too, but Marauders is my Sandbox Therapy. Coincidentally, also partial to any AU where they all just get therapy instead of becoming tragic heroes.

Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The gods are parents and the kids are paying for it. In a fun, adventure-road-trip kind of way!

The Hunger Games: I am here for the dystopian commentary and rebellion, but I want to be very clear: WE ARE GIVING THEM HAPPY ENDINGS IN THIS HOUSE. I am the benevolent god of this blog; Peeta gets to bake his bread in peace.

Sherlock (BBC): For the high-functioning sociopaths and the bloggers who love them. The mind palace is *REAL*.

Game of Thrones / A Song of Ice and Fire: Ah yes, the one with the dragons, the direwolves, and the frankly irresponsible amount of character culling. I am here for the political backstabbing, the world-building, and to apply my "Everybody Lives" mandate with the force of a tactical nuke. The Starks deserved a goddamn family reunion, and in this void, they're going to get one.

Games & The Grimdark Future

Resident Evil: Why is everyone so ridiculously hot while fighting eldritch bioweapons? It's a genuine, scientific question.

Call of Duty: Task Force 141 lives in my head rent-free, and I'm pretty sure my personality is now 15% Ghost's stoicism and 85% Soap's terrible jokes.

Warhammer 40,000: FOR THE EMPEROR! Come for the dudes in giant power armor, stay for the psychic shenanigans, the glorious legions, and the primal joy of a good WAAAGH!

Navigating The Abyss // Tags & Rules

Tagging: I do my best to tag for major triggers and spoilers! General chat is usually #the void talks, fics are tagged by the main ship/fandom they are in, and random stuff Probably doesn't need a tag? (I'm new here, this may be subject to changes)

DNI: The usual applies—if you're a bigot (racist, homophobic, transphobic, etc.), a TERF, or just here to start discourse fires, please see yourself out. The void does not want you. This is a pro-fiction space for fun and brainrot.

So, pull up a chair. The abyss is vast and full of stories. My ask box is always open for prompts, questions, or just screaming into the void together.

Let's see what gazes back.

[nohara-rin-dot-mp3]

okay okay so hear me out i think that for the most part queerness in naruto falls into 3 categories: accidental, comedic, and villainous, none of which endorse it. comedic and villainous queer-coding actually condemn queerness. not to say that interpretations leaving behind the narrative's biases are flawed, i'm just pointing it out (its a surprise tool that'll help us later). also probably goes without saying but those these kinds of queer-coding aren't unique to naruto.

accidental queer-coding is just that- accidental. queer sexuality is typically a result of the naruto narrative hating women and therefore repeatedly centering male + male relationships, a bit of pandering in some cases (although imo this really only applies to the anime), and a bit of fandom amatonormativity. basically, stuff like naruto and sasuke, where their lack of chemistry with women and continual fixation on each other can easily be read as romantic. queer gender appears less often so i haven't been able to nail down the underlying narrative structures that cause it, but i'm talking about stuff like tenzo/yamato, where he's often read as transmasc due to that anime filler arc that can easily be read as a metaphor for transitioning (cutting his hair, changing his name, ect). the fact that the queerness was accidental doesn't erase the validity of the interpretation, but it does mean that the naruto narrative wasn't endorsing queerness.

comedic queer-coding is just the naruto narrative depicting non-standard gender or sexuality and then pointing and laughing. for instance, kakashi and gai's relationship is often played for laughs. they're "too close" for men, and the narrative expects it to be funny, because that might be gay and comedy can be found in subverting societal expectations. gender-based comedy is similar- naruto turning into a woman is supposed to be funny because he's really a boy. again, the narrative is not endorsing this queerness. it is laughing at it. in some cases, long-term depiction of these kinds of jokes can lead to normalization and therefore lose their comedic impact (see: kakagai marriage or whatever the fuck that was in boruto era) but that's an observed process that happens to long-running gags and doesn't equate to endorsement by the narrative.

villainous queer-coding is the naruto narrative attempting to demonstrate a character's role as an antagonist by depicting them with non-standard gender or sexuality. we know orochimaru is evil because of a lot of reasons, but one of the ways the narrative shows us this is by subtextually implying that he's preying on sasuke. and that's bad because that's gay. according to the narrative. we also see orochimaru play around with gender roles, which further serves to establish his villainy in the narrative. obviously, this is not an endorsement.

there's some overlap between these categories, of course (obito's tobi persona bounces between villainous and comedic queer-coding, for instance, in terms of his feminine behavior). however, as far as i'm aware, there's only one character who can't be sorted into these categories somehow: tenten.

her gender-nonconformity can be sorted into the accidental category, for the most part, because i think a lot of it's a by-product of kishimoto trying to make a strong female character and also her aromanticism. the aromanticism, on the other hand, is directly acknowledged by that narrative. because of that, it can't be accidental, but it is also accepted by the narrative. the fact that tenten does not fall in love is a fact of her personality and identity. i'd like to propose the theory that this happens because tenten is a woman, and the naruto narrative does not respect women. by discarding the perceived feminine flaw of falling in love, tenten is improving her standing in the narrative's eyes, even if doing so requires being queer. this would track with most instances of intentional non-standard gender either being a man acting in a feminine way or a women failing to meet the standards of femininity. because tenten's gender-nonconformity tends to be displayed as her acting in a masculine way, this is considered an improvement by the narrative, and therefore not depicted as a negative aspect of tenten's character. maybe idk i'm not an expert.

[smokey07]

The urge to imagine Neoptolemus having habits totally unfitting for the general tough guy psycho such as sleeping in unusual positions like children or even suckling on his thumb when he sleeps alone or munching his hair tips is just too annoying at this point hahahaha

Intrusive annoying thoughts

FR he is a kid after all jjj

Him sleeping in baby poses would be way too funny. But ig outsiders and even close friends and family would never allow to see this side of him. Maybe his mother before he departed to Troy.

In my AU I actually gave him some very child-like quirks.

He would throw a tantrum if things don’t work as he wants. Ig in a way you portrayed this as well in your song fic XD (Till love it till this day hehe)

Ofc as a very powerful individual his tantrums would be hard to contain but in its core, it is a child being annoyed.

This habit continued into this later years and combined with his post war restlessness and morphed into something horrible (RIP whoever had to endure it Andromache, I specifically meant Andromache).

He also unconsciously follow people, whom he considers “not annoying”. Mostly Diomedes.

As a teen he does not like grownups as much, and prefers to stay a bit separated, but always within vision of another adults. He’s still a child, and a child in the end requires some sort of safety and reassurance, even when it’s buried deep under their independence.

During his stay in Troy, his habits were a mix of a teenager and a military man. He could keep his weapons and armor nice and clean, the same could not be said to his more usual stuffs, like clothes and food. Sometimes during his tantrums he would throw things around, and then cleaned them all neatly like a perfect model soldier.

[j-richmond]

Tiny Table has wrapped up their Yeld game, and honestly it was great. I want to talk about it a little. To start with, you should go listen to the whole thing! They did 5 episodes, which includes a rules breakdown, a 3 part adventure and today's post mortem (above). If you're interested in Yeld or want a fun adventure to listen to, check it out! And show them some support by leaving a comments, review or checking out their Patreon!

If you don't know, Yeld is MY game. The Magical Land of Yeld is a TTRPG that I designed with my brother Nick Smith. It is a game about children who discover a magical land on the other side of a secret door, and then get trapped there when the door shuts. It is a game about growing up. Textually, its a game about exploration, team work, tactical combat and character building. Sub-textually its a game about choosing your family, facing the terror of becoming a teenager and discovering who you are (in a queer way). We've seen a lot of people play Yeld since we released the first playtest rules way back in... 2010 (so long ago). I've sat in on so many games. I've read so many recaps and reports. I've sifted through so many forum and discord posts. I've heard more than a few actual play groups take a stab at it. And, of course, I've ran the game for hundreds of people. Not everyone gets Yeld. Tiny Table gets Yeld. They get it so well. Its obvious from the first 10 minutes of the first episode that the group has a handle on playing kids (and a Dog), which is inherently fun and funny. But Yeld also requires you to take playing kids (and a Dog) seriously. Its not a bit. Its not a meme. Its a role that is as important to the setting and premise of the game as being an Elf or Dwarf in D&D (and really, maybe more so). The Tiny Table cast sinks into their role and gets the most out of it. Of course, they're entertaining performers and they put on a great show, but they also flex both the premise of the game and the rules. This adventure is a showcase for Yeld.

Genevieve (played by Holly) is the Rival (I think? I should have kept notes. She feels like a Rival). Energetic. Physical. Looking for adventure. She's a gamer, and wants to get lost in a fantasy world. She's so damn excited to explore Yeld, and recognizes it immediately for exactly what it is. She doesn't want to go home, and gets upset when her friends try to ruin her fun. Later in the Adventure she becomes a Soul Thief, and revels in her ability to launch into combat and sink her daggers into her enemies!

Dolores (played by Skyler) is the Big Sister. She radiates Big Sister energy, worried about her younger brother and much more cautious and realistic about exploring Yeld than her friend. She's not interested in Genevieve's gamer stuff, and doesn't have those video game points of comparison that her friend does. Instead, her approach to Yeld is practical, but still curious! When later her little brother is kidnapped, Dolores puts aside that practicality to try to rush to his rescue. At this point n the adventure Dolores' Brave dice had been reduced to 0, and Skyler does a fantastic job portraying this. Dolores is afraid, but not for herself. She'll throw herself against the horrible monster known as the Dollyhook in order to save her brother. Dolores chooses the Oathbreaker Job in order to protect her friends.

Princess the Dog (played by Neo) is the matronly family caretaker. She sees the kids as her charges, and its her duty to keep them safe and happy. Where the rest of the characters are kids, Princess is an adult. Princess is cautious, patient and indulgent. Her job is to take care of the kids, and she considers herself to be an integral part of the family. When Princess first passes through the door into Yeld and discovers she can talk, she's absolutely delighted! Finally, she can communicate with the kids in her care! Later, when she meets other talking animals in Yeld she's so very disappointed by their lack of care and responsibility. Princess becomes the group's White Mage, but quickly is more interested in summoning other animals than healing the kids! (BTW, all the art here is by Neo. As the person who has done every bit of official Yeld art, seeing someone else do cool Yeld illustrations is always a treat!) I think a big part of what made Tiny Table's adventure so much fun for me is how willing the entire group was to accept the premise of the game, and even revel in it! Dolores is willing to trade her prized possession, her new Jordans, as an offering to a ghost in order to gain the power to save her brother. Skyler becomes the assassin thief of her fantasies and immediately stylizes her look based on Princees Mononoke and Assassin's Creed. When finding that an entire town of children had been left without adults, princess immediately interrogates every animal in the town, demanding to know why they hadn't taken responsibility! Equally, the Tiny Table team had a very solid grasp on the rules (not always common for a first game) and were excited to use them! Dolores was eager to wade into the dangerous Water Hazards in the boss fight, confident that her high strength would allow her to much through. And when the evil ghost called the Dolly Hook tried to gain the initiative, Dolores was ready to point out that her Oathbreaker Oath made her immune to interruptions. Later, she broke that Oath to gain back some of her Core dice, restoring her bravery at the peak of the fight where it really mattered! Neo mentioned that they were worried they might have made a mistake choosing White Mage as Princess's Job, since the Dog didn't have hands to hold a spellbook! But very quickly Princess was casting spells to call Monsters into fights, and Neo described each monster through Princess' perspective. A wiggling Silverfish. A bright white furry Squirrel, eager to shake its but at enormous Howligator it was trying to distract. Holly seized on the lethality of Oathbreaker, charging into fights with a dagger in each hand. She quickly realized that Genevieve's enhanced Brave dice let her streak across the Action Board, and made her nearly impossible to interrupt. I could hear the excitement in her voice as she described how delivering a killing blow to a monster let her Bank and Action, and explained all the cool things she could do with that! Julian is the Game Master, and she brought all of it together. She had asked me to write an outline for them to use, and I put together what I think of as a basic "welcome to Yeld" adventure. Julian brought it to life, elaborating on the parts that felt important to the players and making sure each character had a distinct voice. Both figuratively and literally! Her voices for Rolo the Fairy and the incredibly creepy Dolly Hook were amazing! Julian gave her players plenty of room to explore their characters, but also kept the story going in what ended up being a very tight adventure. As the game's creator, the whole thing was a joy to listen to. I think you'll agree with me that the only real complaint is that we won't be seeing their ongoing Yeld adventures! If you're new to Yeld, I think this is a great introduction. And if you're a Yeld fan already, you'll probably agree with everything I said here. Thank you so much Julian, Neo, Skyler and Holly! I'm glad you had fun in Yeld. - J

Get the Stuff: Listen to Tiny Table's Yeld adventure here. Support Tiny Table on Patreon! Get the hardcover Yeld rule book and PDF from the Yeld site, IPR or Tabletop Bookshelf. The PDF is also available from DrivethruRPG and Itch. Support Yeld on Patreon here.

[miloscat]

[Review] Rabbids Go Home (Wii)

A wacky adventure that made me fall in love with these stupid critters.

After their introduction in Rayman Raving Rabbids, what was a highly irreverent yet menacing faction of stupid rabbit creatures (known in French as The Lapins Crétins / The Stupid Rabbits) became flanderised into a gang of chaotic proto-Minions. After usurping Rayman's own franchise out from under him, they went to Earth and became simply zany mascot creatures. While most of their game history is spent in minigame collections, they occasionally have a bigger adventure, such as in 2009's Wii exclusive Rabbids Go Home. [There is technically a PC version, released in a select few European countries and with huge swathes of content cut out, not to mention missing the silly Wii Remote integration. There's also a DS companion game which is a clone of The Incredible Machine that I won't be covering here.]

The small crew of Rabbids in this game hang out in a rubbish tip/junkyard, and one day somehow decide that they want to get to the moon, in order to sleep on its bright, round magnificence. To get there they endeavour to build a mountain of junk high enough to reach it, and luckily a nearby human city has plenty of objects large and small for them to commandeer. And so two particular Rabbids wearing knickers (and one more who resides "Inside Ze Wii Remote") set out to gather up stuff in a shopping trolley to bring back and pile up.

From the city hub this little party ventures through linear 3D action stages (sometimes a more open collectathon, sometimes a setpiece-driven autoscroller or suchlike), hoovering up anything that isn't nailed down and bullying people to steal their clothes. It's a satisfying Katamari-like mechanic of grabbing everything you see and stuffing it in your trolley, and the trolley itself gives you skidding, boosting, and ramping systems that make movement fun and engaging. Boosting also auto-collects objects that spill out of things or from people, so it's useful as well as being a required combat and platforming technique.

This game thinks that people and Rabbids wearing nothing but undies is hilarious, and it happens to be right. People (looking skinny and elongated, their forms like even more exaggerated versions of Academy of Champions Football characters) mainly flee from you until robbed of their clothing (and the six-pack of cola bottles every single one seems to carry), but later on will don more and more elaborate hazmat suits to try and deal with the Rabbid menace. Even the dogs get grid iron helmets eventually, as a protection against your standard Wiimote-shaking "BWAA" attack.

In addition to all the actions the trolley duo can do, you can also point the Wii Remote at the screen and fire out the third Rabbid inside as a projectile. This mechanic is underutilised but this invincible little trooper can be good to clear out explosives. They will also occasionally challenge you to a short Wiimote minigame to earn extra health, which takes the form of lightbulbs representing the Rabbids' brainpower I think? All three main Rabbids can be customised through an extensive system of painting, tattoo stamps, facial feature modification, and silly hats. Sucking them into your Wii Remote and seeing "inside" it is a very charming touch, and they will of course react to tilting and shaking while in there.

Charm is a key word here. It's easy to look on the little screaming marketing tools with contempt, but as presented in this game the Rabbids' sheer joie de vivre is infectious. They play with new objects you find, surf through the sewers, their quest for the moon is borne from childish naïveté, and their wild enthusiasm is contrasted with the humans' lifestyles as portrayed in cartoonishly corporate, capitalist, and authoritarian PA messages. Most important is your crew of tagalong Rabbids, including the one who literally marks out hints in yellow paint (a funny lampshading of game design discourse) and the ever-present rowdy brass band.

The identity of this game is very much shaped by this raucous musical troupe and their catchy, high-energy accompaniment, made up seemingly of traditional Romanian and Moldovan compositions I think? I'd even compare it favourably to the Rayman Origins soundtrack… which come to think of it, wasn't too long after this game; the so-called Rayman drought that the Rabbids caused only lasted five years, it turns out! The soundtrack also has a surprisingly large selection of licensed pop songs from between the 50s and 70s. There's some cool choices and like the brass band is mainly diegetic, heard through in-game radios and the like.

The levels are all built around the main object that the Rabbids are going after, whether it be a very sick man's hospital bed that becomes a balloon-like platforming aid, a jet engine that starts rocketing you along, a cow that you have to chase down a farmer's ute for, etc. These also inform the environs you're blasting through, from offices to canals to towering rooftops. The game is constantly shaking things up, and levels can be tackled in any order within six subsets until your tower is tall enough to move on. It isn't a hugely challenging game until late on when there's some fairly demanding platforming, but there's little punishment for failing apart from missing some objects. Getting enough of them (within a generous limit) merely gets you new customisations, and the only reward for 100% completion is a star on the menu screen spins, so I'd recommend not stressing about every individual pickup.

The Rabbids have a poor reputation as cheap and crude characters who unfairly took Ubisoft's attention away from Rayman, but this game in particular makes a good case for them as charismatic cartoons having their own adventures. I do miss the variety and scope they had in the original Raving Rabbids projects (don't miss the DS, GBA, and J2ME games!), but Go Home surprised me with its engaging gameplay and fun soundtrack. I'm now sufficiently on board to check out some of their other adventures outside the Raymaniverse!

[thewardenisonthecase]

the calling chapter 9 thoughts

fiona pov lets goooooo

ok so. this green stuff in the deep roads and then maric quoting the chant of light. reminded me of the titan maker dwarf andraste theories

"“I have a spell that will lead me right to him.”" good to know locate person exists in DA

"“Do you think I would let anyone die, if I could stop it?”" FIONA DRAGONAGE I LOVE YOU SO MUCH

Maric saying he's gonna find a way to repay fiona. and didnt someone say there was a purge in the alienage later in that year or smthg? i always see people bring up that during this time in maric's reign, there was a purge.

"She reached out with her Grey Warden senses and felt nothing. Nothing at all. The thought that after so much corruption in the tunnels they would be here and it would be completely free of the taint was worrying, but she put it aside for now." well now im worried too fiona. wtf does that mean

also sorry its always so fucking goofy when the narration says they reached out with their warden senses

OH interesting that Maric didn't know about the Right of Conscription, but i guess it makes sense if its been 4 centuries since the last blight

"They let this armored woman into my cell, and the way she looked at me, I thought she was supposed to be my executioner. I thought maybe they’d decided to just have me beheaded right there.” i need genevieve so bad its not even funny. what a woman

THAT WAS DUNCAN'S FIRST KILL??????? GOD

“You think I should enjoy killing someone?” DUNCANNNNNNN

the fact that the guy thanked duncan for slitting his throat and then duncan is wondering is being a warden does that to you....man........

"As the most junior member of the order, Fiona had been forced to see him through his Joining." ok so it really is tradition but i still think its wild that they let the most junior member have to deal with the recruits. i mean i can kinda get it in the sense of hardening these junior members but its kinda. fucked.

“So we should be happier if you died, instead?” She smiled sadly at him. “Oh, Duncan. He saved you, and I bet he’d do it again if he had the choice. And you would have done the same for him.” i love fiona and duncan's friendship

ok hold the fuck up. the guy, who is actually called Guy, that duncan killed had bought a ring to propose to the woman he loved. but he was engaged to genevieve. does. does that mean. he was going to LEAVE genevieve????

"“He’s some gutter rat you picked up in Val Royeaux. A murderer! A thief! He doesn’t belong in the order.” “I say he does,” she seethed." ok nicolas i dont think you can be calling duncan that. also genevieve getting lowkey protective of duncan. sweet.

"In a flash, Genevieve darted toward Nicolas and cuffed him across the face. Her heavy gauntlets made the blow far more severe than it might have been otherwise (...) “Control yourself!” she roared. “The boy brought down the dragon. He did his part, as did Julien. If anyone is demeaned, it is you with this pointless display.” An awkward silence settled among the group." HOLY FUCK GENEVIEVE

"He glanced nervously at Genevieve, who remained towering above him" god i love tall women

GENEVIEVE PULLING OUT HER GREATSWORD AAAAA

“Not while there is a chance to stop it. I say that chance exists, and if it requires the sacrifice of each and every last one of us, we will continue down this path until I say otherwise.” I LOVE HER AAAAAA

"Genevieve did not. She stiffened, refusing to acknowledge that a consensus was being sought to determine her right to command. Would she go on her own? Would she try to kill them? Fiona hadn’t been part of the order lo"ng enough to know what the protocol was in a situation like this." i need to put genevieve and meredith in the same room, man.

DUNCAN TELLING EVERYONE HOW IT FUCKING IS AND THEN SIDING WITH GENEVIEVE I LOVE HIM YOUR FUCKING HONOR

god them having to lay julien to rest in the fucking green water because they cant bury or burn the body....fucked

ok next chapter is a bregan chapter god is good

[knaveumineko]

Gotta say, I’m gonna miss seeing this blog update every now and then. Plenty of people liveblog their playthroughs, and that has its charms, but it was nice to see some longer-form posts from someone going through it, especially when you have the perspective required to turn a more critical eye on the story.

Overall, I think I had a similar experience to yours with Umineko: I enjoyed all of it immensely, and then the last episode was a bit of a stumble. Sure, the antics are enjoyable enough, but this isn’t a series I got into for the antics.

Thank you for reading!

This blog is by far the most substantial thing I've ever posted online in any capacity, and I've been happy with the response I got to it. My initial motivation for writing it was simply that, after finishing Episode 1, I was so enthused that I could not sleep at all (I'm sure my frantic pacing would have bothered the neighbours had it continued much further) and it was necessary to let the words spill out of me somehow, but Discord just isn't the right medium for the way I wanted to express my thoughts on it.

I've enjoyed liveblogs before, but I don't think I have it in me to maintain the hyper-animated persona necessary to communicate my enjoyment of each individual scene through the art of keyboard-smashing. Also, while vicarious excitement through the eyes of a new fan is fun, I think the way a lot of blogs zoom so far in on their reactions to each individual moment precludes further reflection on the broader story, and risks undermining the emotional impact of the story by ruining the pacing through fragmentation. More importantly, it introduces an amount of overhead that would be unsustainable for both my interest in continuing a blog and my enjoyment of a story, personally. You can see that my Episode 1 blog is structured very differently from everything after it, which was powered by the rush of excitement that led to me creating the blog in the first place. I later struck a balance that didn't make writing the blog feel like too much of a chore once that wore off. If I do this again, I might like to find another compromise on the reaction/reflection spectrum, where I look for natural stopping points that allow me to share thoughts on the story as it develops.

I'm going to use this as a springboard to talk about what I'm doing once this blog is done.

I would like to read a bit of the extra content for Umineko. The one side story I have read already was awful, but I'm holding out hope for some of it to be worthwhile. So far, my list includes Last Note, the manga for at least Episode 8 (which I'm told diverges a lot) and the stageplays. I also saw some of the anime in a Discord watchalong, which was a strong contender for the worst TV show I've ever seen. I invite my readers to tell me if there's anything else they think it worth checking out, unless it's Angel of 17 Years. Yes, you're very funny. Regardless, I won't commit to blogging any of this stuff. I'll post something if and only if I have anything worth saying about it.

I wouldn't be against reading another Ryukishi work. I held off on reading VNs for a while, but I can't be too good for them after reading all of Umineko, so the floodgates are open. As far as When They Cry specifically is concerned, I found the small amount of Higurashi I read for April Fool's Day interesting enough, although I've heard there's some questionable content in there that might put me off. I'm probably more interested in Ciconia, but for now I don't want to read it until it's out of Limbo (even if it's cancelled, I would at least read it knowing that it won't have an ending, but I don't want to be in the awkward spot of not knowing when or if the series will ever continue). If I do read more When They Cry, I will probably blog it, and you'll hear about it here. I might even rebrand this to a more general When They Cry blog if that happens.

If I ever decide to liveblog something other than When They Cry, it'll either have its own blog, or go on my main. Speaking of which:

I technically have a main blog @notcoru. It's very sparse, because I didn't use it at all before I started posting here. It will probably be more active once this blog is wrapped up, and will remain a dumping ground for any time I feel the need to write a few hundred words on a subject. Mostly whatever I'm reading or watching, I expect. If you have any interest in hearing me talk about something that isn't Umineko, head there. I should probably link to it somewhere on this page, really.

[modelxis]

Do you have any mmzx oc?

I do, actually! you can check the mmzx oc in my search tag (i should make a separate tags for OCs and my arts on this blog)

tbh, i can't really say much💦

Not that i want to keep them as secret, more like my head is a messy place, even i forgot details from times to times Also like, i tend to re-use NPCs and give them roles...so...saying they are my OCs are... not correct😅

well, i can give you a quick run down about them here if you're interested in reading my messy writing

🛵Giro Express transporter

these two are the one so far that i'm fine with the designs (they are adopts from @/noeggets (go check them out, really cool artist) these aren't their real names, rather code-names that they used to hide their true identities, or precisely their old past 🛵Blue-hair girl is Mint, she focus on communicating with customers and all the paper works jobs, she good at hacking, has trouble with addiction which confuse a lot of people cuz' why a Reploid has that sort of problem, she actually exists since mmz era, and know Rouge, the operator of the Resistance. She was one of few people that works inside NA and help the Resistance by giving coordination to Rouge so Zero can have a safe transportation into certain areas. 🛵Purple hair girl is Campanula (the flower, Canterbury bells), a human (she is in mid 20s, just very short) , mainly works in storage, she is a skilled mechanic so she tend to helps with fixing the vehicles, mainly Aile because Aile tend to go into far more restricted-dangerous zones, sometimes the Guardian base would require her helps, despite her cheerfulness and outgoing attitude at first glance, she has troubles express her true thoughts and critics unless she feel comfortable around you.

(not final design) 🛵His name is Tomi, Yes, he count as an employees, he "disguise" himself as a motorcycle for delivering, mainly Aile use him. a mavericks gone "rouge" cuz' he got effected by the virus which was made by Campanula, it's not that he became more docile or kind, altho Campanula made sure he is incapable of attacking specifically her, he just...become more self-aware of his existence and decided that he prefer using his skill for st else other than be treated as a secondary mini-boss. He does genuinely like Campanula due to her carefulness when its come to machines, even to Mavericks like him. Other than her, Aile is another one that he also like because she impressed him with her riding skills (think of all the stunt from GTA video games) which lead to him admiring human tendency to seek danger as some sort of fun challenges. (he is one of the few OCs that i considered to be the oldest cuz' i had this concept for a long time ever since i played mmz)

(not final design, also thank you @/tyrantchimera for the sketch! Check their blog out, they are both cool artist and writer) 🛵Her name is Lake, she named it herself (or you can say OP is very uncreative when it comes to naming, lol) Another Mavericks gone "rouge", she became docile when failed to fully control Model L. she is one of few test subjects for Serpent to check how he can manipulate Ciel's biometals for his troops, Leviathan's subconscious "convinced" Lake to turn good which she success and Lake managed to escaped Serpent's controls but failed to take model L with her. She encountered Aile post-Ouroboros downfall, helping to pinpoint the leftover pieces of model Ws to ensure they stayed dead. (Aile didn't reveal Vent who was helping them finding the pieces, why tho? no idea currently, lol...) Then later on, she was saved by Aile and worked as some sort of submarine to transport packages and all sort of heavy stuffs across sea.

❌Others

(not the final design) This old Reploid guy is Leo (funny enough, he is "younger" than Mint) He was made around the same time as Prometheus and Pandora (he doesn't know them but aware of their reputation) but instead of staying youthful, he remain as old (simply for aesthetic choice, "old-looking people are cool") He is a skilled mechanic, also a trader for rare parts and "illegal" equipments for people who don't want Legion's eyes on them (especially with the news about Master Albert gone Mavericks, lots more people been looking into this type of service)

Well, these are the one that has designs I have a loooot more, but they are all from a long time ago, and i do wish i can find those old papers again but not like i will reuse the designs.

well, i hope some of these make sense if you managed to read it all.

[ecto-hazard]

i probably talked about this before but i fuckgig forgot if i posted it or not so here's the unnecessary grey opionon on writing "secrets" and "lore"

everythings an arg nowadays, especially in horror media, but IN MY OPINION theres a wrong way to do it and ppl dont really recognize this a lot of the time when they write stuff. i think a lot of that comes from oversaturated horror media just trying to make appealing stuff for kids and ignoring putting proper passion and thought behind it, but maybe a lot of people genuinely wanna learn how to write stuff that works better, and for those people heres the funny grey opinions on how lore works and how it doesnt

my qualifications

watched way too much game theory over my lifetime

watched way too many markiplier playthroughs over my lifetime

wrote lore focused shit like labtwow and ill even talk about my mistakes with it!!!!!!

gravity falls superfan back in the day

autism

here's my NUMBER ONE RULE with secret lore stuff:

THE STORY'S GOTTA MAKE SENSE WITHOUT IT

unless youre trying to get a HIGHLY curated audience, you'l probably find the average reader doesn't pause shit frame by frame to find hidden links in the static. if youre introducing details latr in the story that only keen eyed viewers would've caught onto, its gonna alienate the people who weren't looking for stuff like that because theyll think they lost the plot somewhere.

popular media example of this: FNAF 3 (and everything after basically)

what made the original fnaf 1 and 2 games good was that they were an engaging horror experience WITHOUT the bigger story. discovering the larger story about the murdered kids was entirely chance based, and wasn't required to have a fundamental understanding of the game. youre a night guard just trying to survive bloodthirsty robots. the story of WHY they're bloodthirsty was interesting, but wasnt necessary for understanding the danger youre in and focusing on getting out of it.

fnaf 3 threw a wrench into that preestablished system. while there IS hidden stuff in fnaf 3 that you can find on purpose if you know where to look for it, there is ALSO mandatory minigames between nights that shows how purple guy died and became springtrap. the only reason this works is because at the time the game came out, people were well aware of the Purple Guy from all the hidden stuff in fnaf 2 becoming basic knowledge at that point. if a new player played through the series back to back blind, and hadnt had the chance opportunity to see any of the purple guy minigames in fnaf 2, or even KNOW kids died at all from fnaf1, this whole sequence is just kind of confusing. That being said, things like mandatory cutscenes like this can be a good way to force people to learn lore stuff, if you want to write it that way anyway, but with the established games having chance based secret lore, its just sort of out of nowhere. i regard fnaf 3 as a good game overall, but its something that could be a problem

MY example of this. Labtwow in fucking space

almost no one knows what labtwow is here but thats fine. it was a game comic thing i ran in a discord back in like 2020. labtwow was an existential nightmare of lore, where some lore was only accessible if you were a "supervoter" (voted on EVERYTHING that round), some lore was only accessible if you lost the game, shit like that. getting little bonus story stuff for participating more actively with a game was a good way to get people engaged, but i shouldve been more careful about what sort of stuff i hid because it started to impede on the gameplay. A major twist was that the facility the game took place in was in space on another planet. One of the supervoter secrets revealed this, but it wasn't officially revealed in the main story till a bit later.

the problem this caused is that before the main reveal, someone wrote a response that involved going outside, and they lost that round. there's no way to prove why people voted what, but its POSSIBLE that the people who just so happened to already know that the story was set in space saw that response and voted it down. it wasnt a huge deal in the long run, but it just goes to show that different mediums for stories can be impacted by who has access to what information about the story. ideally, a reveal like this should probably shouldnt have been put in the supervoter secrets, but its hard to predict what twow contestants will write ahead of time, but the fact that they were in space was rather significant to the story, especially in the end game, so i should've paid more attention to it

thats like the main thing with lore to me. if its Secret lore, it should be like. secret. someone's enjoyment of a game or story shouldnt be impeded by the fact that they didn't find this hyperspecific detail hidden somewhere. finding secrets and stuff is really fun, but its not for everyone. some people just want to read something and let that be that. that said, if you wanna write an intesely lore based arg then by all means do so, just know that its not gonna be for everyone

[whennoodlesformwords]

One HSR Order (Meet Cute Flavor) To Go

Found this one hilarious for an idea and I really wanna figure out how this would work, but probably a more general one. Was specifically thinking hsr men bc theyre super pretty and probably fit well into the trope. I'll add it on so that I remember and can reference later, but can be for most any fandom guys who have a girly pop attitude and are super pretty and have lots of lady friends (not all are needed requirements but it makes it more funny if you wanna add it in ig.)

You can imagine this with RenHeng or Phaidei or any other ship if you want, but that's what I had in mind when writing this so the interactions probably fit more on their attitude scale.

The Meal:

Embarrassing meet cute of two guys in the period and feminine products row where they both think that the other is a girl and all of a sudden feels very awkward but they're really both just guys shopping for their gal friends who need the stuff.

Sides:

Shove them into a makeup isle a day later and make them bond over their troubles and how annoying girls are to really sell the 'pretty person' trope or something

Get the girls to ship them together and schedule their meet ups and errands to random places so they start talking and bonding

Strangers to friends to 'are we lovers' to 'no we're just errand buddies since you asked' to 'you really want me to date this dude?'

Have them argue over specific products to make them both feel more awkward that they’re arguing *with (who they assume is) a girl* who knows the shit she uses, when in reality its just a guy throwing bs excuses to try and prove their right. This could actually also expand out more if you want with one of them actually knowing good makeup or facial hygiene stuff and absolutely spitting bars and wrecking the other, and the next time they meet up the one who was absolutely clueless used the time to educate themselves and impresses the other with their super special information and can actually hold a conversation and it subtly impresses the other.

Can also extend to one feeling like they lost to a girl the other feeling like they won over a girl and both feel genuinely angry/bad about it

Applicable to feminine hygiene lane, but bringing up the differences in pads and tampons and if they argue over that, that'd make it super awkward after the reveal methinks

Someone in the security office is having a bonding moment with the other guard having to watch this whole display day in and day out and think ‘what are boys getting to nowadays’

Hope you enjoyed, I'll maybe downsize on the prompts and then come back to flesh them out since writing so much at once does not bode well when approaching finals apparently, and the stories have stopped making as much noise and demands so I'll probably stick to simpler little ideas, or continue some drabbles in some AU's I've already fleshed out a little more.

[hellerfanboy91]

Supernatural Revisited: 5x12 Swap Meat

Swap Meat is another stand-alone monster-of-the-week episode, but in spite of it mostly being filler, it functions as a thematic sibling to its predecessor 5x11 Sam, Interrupted. In that episode, Dean and Sam were 'going crazy', i.e. losing control of their minds as the wraith manipulated their neurochemistry in order to make their brains tastier. In this episode, Sam's body is taken from him in order to get to Dean. In the context of the whole show, this is relevant to Dean and Sam as vessels for Michael and Lucifer respectively, and the possibility they will soon have to surrender control of their bodies and minds. The link is perhaps tenuous and nothing much happens in the episode which has bearing on the show later, but at least the filler has a bit of meaning and relevance.

In general, 5x12 Swap Meat is a fun episode with some nice character moments from both Dean and Sam. The sheer stupidity of the children was unfortunately to the episode's detriment, being rather an easy way out of the plot. Quite apart from tranquillising a man in broad daylight in the middle of a street, what level of stupid does it require to goad a demon like the blond boy did? He had as much ability to compel and control her as a fly does a tarantula, yet seemed quite content to run his mouth off. On the one hand, children completely lack foresight and caution, but the stupidity felt too much like an excuse for the plot to happen.

As much of a surprise as it might sound, I actually generally liked Sam in this episode (with the caveat that after 4x21 When the Levee Breaks he is irredeemable). The amount of sniping at Dean was so minimal I do not remember it, and the fact he spent most of the episode away from Dean allowed him to be his own person and actually do something by himself.

That said though, I do not understand his derisive use of the word 'virgin' when picking up Gary's Star Wars t-shirt. Gary is 16 or 17 in this episode, so is it weird, unusual, or scoff-worthy that he is (supposedly) yet to make the beast with two (or more) backs? He is a child, so why is this a) noteworthy and b) a bad thing? I do not get it. I also do not know how Star Wars merchandise correlates with a lack of sexual experience. Of course I understand that calling a man (or even a pubescent boy) a 'virgin' is essentially calling him a failure as a man because not being desirable to women = not a real man but I generally thought this was stupid. ...As well as weird in bringing up a child's sexual prowess or lack thereof.

Apropos sexual prowess, Gary hijacked Sam's body and used it to have sex with the woman he picked up in the bar. The viewer is, of course, supposed to laugh at this, but it brought to mind a similar story from Buffy when Faith body-swapped with Buffy and had sex with Buffy's boyfriend Riley while in Buffy's body. This was not played for laughs in any way, but the situation was not treated that well in Buffy either (how was Riley to know Buffy was not Buffy? He was not to blame), but the situation touched a nerve in the viewership so much that Mark Field's book Buffy the Vampire Slayer Myth, Metaphor, and Morality had quite the discussion of it.

(The video should start at 5:40)

Gary had sex with an older woman while in Sam's body, i.e. he made Sam's body engage in sexual intercourse without Sam's knowledge or consent. He also made the woman unwittingly have sex with a 16 or 17 year old, something I expect would horrify her if she knew. I also doubt we would be encouraged to see Gary's behaviour as silly shenanigans if he were a 16 year old girl doing the same. If fact, we would probably be encouraged to wonder what damage it had done to her perception of sex and relationships.

The viewer is of course supposed to see this as a sexual conquest for Gary which is also a little bit funny because he is inexperienced, but for it to be funny you need to discount all that stuff above and I unfortunately remain unable to do so.

In spite of being a complete idiot, Jake did give Dean a bit of validation in telling him he is a good guy, something Dean probably has never heard from anybody. That a teenage boy trying to kill him should be the one to say it says a lot about Dean's circumstances.

The episode proper begins with Dean and Sam talking to a woman who sometimes babysat for them when they were young. Bearing in mind the flashbacks in 1x18 Something Wicked and 3x08 A Very Supernatural Christmas, it irritates me that the babysitter claims John loved Dean and Sam. Yes he did (although whether or not he loved Dean is up for debate), but that does not mitigate the fact he left them alone for days or weeks at a time with little food, no money, and no protection from monsters. In fact, he used them as bait. It would be lovely if the show could stop trying to erase what John did and just embrace it. The fact that there was at least one person other than Bobby, Pastor Jim, and Caleb who could have looked after Dean and Sam when they were abandoned in motels just makes the situation worse.

But regarding the babysitter, Dean and Sam's visit shows them how well she is doing for herself with a husband, a daughter, and a house millennials can only dream of. This precipitates a conversation about whether or not Sam wants a normal life, in which Sam reveals that he does not want that anymore. Or at least says he does not. Since this is a kind of life Sam never knew in the first place, it is perhaps believable he would not feel a particular draw to it. It is quite the contrast to the earlier series when he hoped to go back to Stanford after getting revenge on Azazel. It is also perhaps not that true, since Sam jumps at the chance for a 'normal' life in the space between series 7 and 8. The viewer will also find out in a few episodes' time that the best time of Sam's life was when he ran away from John and Dean and spent a while with a 'normal' family.

Jared is on record as saying he did not want Sam to have a life in hunting. Jared's preferred ending (or so he says) seems to be the very ending he was given in the 'canonical' ending 15x20 Carry On.

Dean asking the question implies that the thought is in his mind, which should come as no surprise. Since he was four years old, his entire life was put on hold for John's crusade. Dean sincerely wants a boring suburban life but is perhaps too damaged to ever be properly functional in that situation again. I will discuss this in more detail at the beginning of series 6, but Dean needs somebody who is a hunter or hunter-adjacent to make a life with. In the end, Cas was the only one it could have worked with.

A side-note: Supernatural's official Youtube channel is now acknowledging Destiel, the official Supernatural podcast Supernatural Then and Now has reached 6x20 The Man Who Would Be King and also acknowledging and validating Destiel.

Ben Edlund has talked about being told to remove subtext, and Jensen has said Cas's love for Dean is not subtext, but rather actual unignorable text. The original ending of the show was supposed to have Dean and Cas in Harvelle's Roadhouse in heaven with Dean's arm around Cas. After years of mockery, gaslighting, and hostility from fellow fans and people on the show, it is gratifying to finally be proven not insane. Almost as if we were not 'reading too much into it' or 'pushing a narrative'. Perhaps if the show is ever revived in some form, Dean might finally get the life he longed for, but with Cas.

Before finishing, a little bit of lore Paula discussed was the fact that the demon wanted to take Gary to Lucifer means that Lucifer does not need Sam to say 'yes', just the person in Sam's body. She concluded that this would give Sam an possible escape from being Lucifer's vessel, if Sam could somehow find a way to leave his own body and find another. This would have been an intriguing plot to follow and could have resulted in Sam -- AND Dean -- becoming active agents in the Apocalypse rather than being puppets. Unfortunately, that is not the plot the show gave us.

Moreover, the fact that Dean did not finish the exorcism ritual properly but was still successful heavily implies that the language used in magic is not actually important. This means that the exorcism could be entirely in English and it should work.

Thus concludeth the analysis.

You can read more of my analyses here:

Series 1

Series 2

Series 3

Series 4

Series 5

Sundry

You can read Paula’s review here and TwP’s here.