#mr protag himself

[khustard]

what is kim dokja's secret weapon

[tcpdog]

WHAT’S YOUR TRAGIC ROLE?

bold protagonist

you're the star of the show, baby! and boy does that come with a lot of emotional turmoil. you have a seemingly endless supply of determination. whether you have a lot of goals, or one big one, you're constantly working towards it. you're pretty restless, and struggle with imposter syndrome and generally feeling like you should be doing more. your insecurity might not be immediately obvious to others, however, as you come across as very strong and bold. vulnerability is not your strong suit, and that's likely to be your downfall. if only you had just let people in, and asked for help… well, maybe this was always gonna be a tragedy.

[galedekarios]

elminster and gale: an addition

a while ago, i posted a meta about the relationship between elminster and gale.

i tried to detail their relationship and delve deeper into how gale values elminster not only as a friend and mentor, but perhaps as well as a paternal figure in his life - especially working on the assumption that gale's father might have left morena and gale early on in his life.

back when i wrote my meta, i didn't have the information yet that elminster knew gale from an incredibly early age, which was only revealed once the epilogue was added to the full release version of the game. in one of his epilogue letters, elminster recalls his first meeting with gale when gale could have been "no more than eight summers' old".

which then in turn of course means that gale has known elminster for almost all of his life, if we take the age attributed to gale by idle champions as canon. it's set at 35 years old. if we assume gale was indeed eight when he first met elminster and not younger, it means elminster has been in gale's life for nearly three decades at this point in time.

it's a lot of preamble, but i felt it was necessary because i was looking through the files again and found these idle lines for elminster that don't appear to trigger in the game.

it's indicated to be idle comments made by elminster at camp, before elminster informs gale of mystra's will at the beginning of act 2 proper:

Elminster muttering to himself ruefully as he prepares to tell Gale bad news and wait for him to be ready. - 1: Weary Traveller: How will he react? He has a stout heart, but this...? - 2: Weary Traveller: Perhaps another way will present itself. But perhaps not.. - 3: Weary Traveller: I can't say I'm relishing this, but it must be done. - 4: Weary Traveller: I do wish this was over with.

the devnote is the same for all four idle comments:

devnote: Spoken to self. Weary, heavy heart. Waiting to deliver some tough news for someone.

not only does this give us another (heartbreaking imo) insight into how elminster himself feels about being forced to deliver mystra's demands - there are several others in the game itself, as well as gale quite clearly saying that he had no choice but to do so, defending elminster from the protag's anger - but it also does give us some more insight into how others perceive gale.

and not just others, but those who have known him longest.

elminster says he has a "stout heart", which also ties in beautifully - and heart-wrenchingly - with his epilogue letter, speaking about gale's kindness, eagerness and brilliance.

the "stout heart" comment resonated very much with me because it reminded me of yet another line from tara, another life-long companion of gale:

Tara the Tressym: If that's all, then what comes after is for you to decide, Mr Dekarios. Think well on all that's happened, and stay true to that heart of yours. It's a good one.

which in turn reminded me of an all-time favourite lore blurb:

Tressym were sometimes kept as familiars by wizards and sorcerers. They needed to be experienced mages capable of bonding with a more advanced creature, and the tressym would only accept a good-hearted master.

and though it's only a description and not in the game itself, i also immediately thought of gale's idle champions description:

With a kind heart, and a keen mind [...]

a stout heart, a good heart, a kind heart.

[foureyedfella]

☆ I wanted to post Little Mac alone because he is the protag so 😁 I love little mac RAAAAAH

☆ For a good chunk of time, Mac will be with the group consisting of Don, Aran, and Joe- is he cooked? (Yes, yes he is)

☆ Also Mac doesn't have a gun because Doc took it 😭

☆ Now that the main four are posted I wanna talk about some of their dynamics because I'm gonna burst a vein if I dont 🙏🏼

☆ Despite the time, Mac being young does loom over Don and Joe's heads, considering their goals involve confronting a man known for his deep networks and swiftness to snuff someone out for even trying to reach him- Mac is stubborn though, quite literally tailing on the supposed "bandits" (which they are not 😭 they haven't stolen jack) to the point where returning him home would be ill-advised.

☆ Aran does not care for his age, after all, he worked under Mr. Dream by 16, so he is kinda brainwashed to believe that it isnt bad for a kid to be getting into serious work. With that said it's pretty apparent that Mac is still a teen and is not experienced with the world outside of the problems in his hometown; the kid can't even ride a horse!!!!

☆ looking at each character in specific: Don and Mac are only united by language, they dont get along all that well. Mac is too snarky for Don and Don is too stoic for Mac. Over time their relationship does get better but they only speak to eachother out of convenience.

☆ Joe sees himself in Mac sometimes, so he is holding the reins as the group parental figure, barely. He still has his own problems that are very glaring, so often times a lecture to Mac does a full 180 and now Mac is lecturing Joe. If Mac actually wants to get sleep for the night, he will sleep with Joe.

☆ do NOT put Aran and Mac together 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼 absolutely nothing gets done and nothing is ever serious 😭 Aran lacks basic knowledge in terms of safety, just doing whatever feels right for the moment, and to the absolute fear of Joe, its rubbing off on Mac- Mac is closest to Aran in the group, feeling that he isn't treated like a kid (even though he is one 🤯) and relates to Aran the most.

☆While Aran finds their stupid antics funny, he does understand the value of locking in, and tries to make that apparent with Mac as well, after all this is a serious trip that they are making, and they can't lose sight of that.

☆ That's all I got for now until I finish more characters! I dont wanna info dump everything lol

[jellazticious]

bing bong bootleg SS au

very long ramble under the C

stuff are subjected to change

The working title isn't solidified but I'm leaning on either Candy Castle or Pastry Castle

Tho I think I'm gonna go for pastry cuz it has the same amount of letters as castle much like pizza and tower have the same number too

The tower is a gingerbread castle. According to a friend of mine (It's Beefy, it's always Beefy go follow him) that Hispanics love their bakeries and yeah, I guess that makes sense. Not only do I have a theme based on the protag's culture but also the theme gets narrowed down to just baked sweets. Candy in general is too broad, I would die figuring out how to put every kind of sweet in it, and if I did it's gonna be really cluttered hooboy

Noise is called Theo because that's Peppino's name formula. Peppino is a nickname for Giuseppe so I thought I'd give Noise's swap a nickname to Theodore as the main name

Hazel Nutt is pretty self explanatory cuz Noisette means hazelnut in French

Their outfits are pretty simple to mirror Peppino and Gustavo's with just coloured shirts and aprons

Hazel doesn't get a mount because she would have Theo's prototype rocket skates. Just like Gus, she would have different stages of getting used to the skates per floor. First she gets blasted from end to end cuz she can't control the thrust. Second, she manages to turn it off but she's trying to keep balance on it. Third, she catches her breath now that she could stand still without moving or slipping. Next she would make a card castle, in reference to the very castle they're inside. and lastly she'd be holding a box of sweets without giving a shit about the scary floor.

To parallel the og Noisette, Hazel would smile bigger when Theo faces her direction.

Hazel is also Theo's delivery gal to match and switch with how Peppino WAS Gustavo's delivery guy

The "kick the rat" function would be Hazel swinging one of the skates and the cops grabbing Brick would instead hold a weapon detector that also functions as a magnet

Unlike Peppino, Theo is more aggressive than anxious. Imagine an injured cat defending itself from what it thinks is a threat

the name of Pizzaface's swap is Pieface for obvious reasons 😭

but HEAR ME OUT

both pizzaface and pieface are used as insults. pizza face is used for people with so much acne and pie face is used for someone with a flat face or dull expression. It isn't just a pun on what food the characters are made of. Pieface is also a reference to the trope where people headshot other people with pies. With the mech floating towards the protag, it would look like a pie is being thrown and targeted at Theo

Honestly drawing what food makes his face is so fun. Did you know that before the croissant smile it was supposed to be syrup shaped to a smile? The nose was a long whip of cream before turning into a cut strawberry for the mustache effect

Pizzahead's candy version would be called Gingerhead because of how ridiculous it sounds.

Gingerhead is based on Willy Wonka much like how Pizzahead is based on Ronald McDonald which is why he has more of a showman look than a clown look

okay side note, it just occured to me how ironic PH being based on Ronald is considering McDo's isn't a pizza place

actually Wonka doesn't even sell cakes and shit so, I guess it's fair game

Theo has the nickname Muffinman to reference the rhyme. but this time, it's the gingerbreadman chasing the baker

Next up is Mr S, who would be Peppino but he becomes rich. Mr S is the stage name he uses. He is a known celebrity much as Noise is but he is more of a boxer than a host. Like Dwayne Johnson or something. His name is partially a reference to ResEvil's Mr X, another absolute unit of a guy

also the reason why he doesn't wear a shirt. He's committing to the bit. If he needs to cover himself when he isn't playing a role, then there's his robe. He doesn't take out his mask most of the time tho

Mr S's mask is based on the Chef Raider design but also part of the scrapped superhero design much like Pizzano. Actually speaking of Pizzano, S is characterized so similarly to him cuz Pizzano is the only SS character who was actually written well to my standards. To be fair we've seen too much of Peppino to flunk characterizing him sksksk

Since this is Peppino that Mr S is based on, he's not as tech savvy or as self centered as Noise so he doesn't have robots that look like himself. Instead he has ants for a crew

the ants swap the place of rats. the rats in PT reference the new york pizza rat while ants just generally eat your food especially if it's sweet when left alone for five minutes

the ants come from Mr G, who would be Gustavo's swap with Noisette. He's Mr S's lawyer. at the end of S's bossfight, G would snatch him away with Click (the ant) because S would make a foul and embarrassing move on live camera

I can't seperate Gustavo and Brick so Click stays with Mr G instead of assisting Hazel

inside what would be Noisette cafe, instead of Mr G and Click being behind the counter, they would be sitting as customers next to Caraman. the barista isn't seen anywhere

Honestly when I'm writing everyone, my logic of swapping them isn't "make them switch places AND personalities" but more of "write every single one of them with the og personality because giving them a different lifestyle/role would drastically change their motives and how they behave"

I'm practically just swapping each character's place of birth

I mentioned this because it's kinda funny with Noisette and Gus since they play the exact same role of assisting Peppino/Noise so swapping them won't change much in how they act. They also have the same cheery and welcoming personality by default so Hazel and Mr G would act REALLY similar to their og

The only difference is that Gustavo can be threatening whenever Peppino fucks up. It fits right in with being a lawyer for the same goon

Now we got Mel Caraman who would become this au's Vigi. Lemme just say off the bat that Caraman is just as delusional as Vigi. He gets hired as a guard for floor 2 and took it way too seriously that he thinks he's some sort of sentinel. Hired as a guard but thinks he's an ancient guardian or something

his name vaguely references James Bond because you also VAGUELY get "caramel" out of "Caraman, Mel Caraman"

Caraman is a caramel apple but he's half glazed to form an eyemask. he's also got a stick poking out his head that stretches his chorro hat. the big hat makes him look cooler anyways. Bro I was so ready to settle for a shitty wild west mayor hat and I owe Beefy one for suggesting a new hat. I was gonna make him look like Doug Dimmadome with the short brimmed tall hat😭😭😭

but yeah Caraman doesn't have the same dignity as Vigi does. He can fight crime decently on normal circumstances and badass when he's full serious. But like day in day out he's so obnoxious about looking for crime that people get tired of him nor would they take him seriously

he would also be mistaken for a pepper

Next to last, Cam M. Bert or just Bert who would take place of Pepperman. he's an artist who appreciates the world instead of himself, a freelancer also. There was only a bossfight because he was coincidentally commissioned to make a mural for the castle the same time Theo busts in. He didn't like how Theo ruined some of his works with his rush to open the door

Bert is a cream cheese instead of a cheese slime. his beret is actually a little cherry to distinguish him from the other creams.

Bert is really chill and humble, He's like Bob Ross, whenever he can, he'd try to talk about how every beauty in the world should be immortalized through a canvas

In parallel to Vigi's delusion of thinking he's a human, Bert thinks he's actually a living painting (which is completely possible for someone to be in the PT world since Pepperman was able to do it with his own art)

instead of a :{ face that Vigilante has, Bert has a :3 face

the naming formula is taken directly from Vigi

Vig E. Lantte

Cam M. Bert

There is a type of sweet cheese that's really creamy called camembert which his name is a direct reference from. Here is a picture of a camembert since it's hella cute

Camembert cheese was also suggested by Beefy, brother thank you for not allowing me to name this cunt Creamlad

Mr Lardo would be in place of Mr Stick but his motive is that he's collecting Theo's money on BEHALF of Mr Stick. They're probably the only ones who completely stay intact because there's not much canon info of Stick WITHIN the game itself I also feel he's a crossover character from his own "series" with how long McPig has him prior to PT so I just swap the character who makes the "cameo"

The toppins are still called toppins because they'd be used to decorate a cake or pie. They would be

Strawberry - Mushroom

Cream - Cheese

Cookie - Tomato

Icing (in a piping bag) - Sausage

actually I dont know yet for the pineapple but I'll get to it. I've only been figuring out this au since four days ago....

Lastly (of the characters), the Faker in this would be mechanical to match the original Noise's familiarity in robots

Fake Theo (temp name) would be engineered to be "Theo but way better" while actually being succesful with it. Faker would also sort of look like a mini figure of a ballerina. Referencing The Nutcracker

Opposite to Fake Peppino, Fake Theo is more graceful than terrifying but it's so uncanny how unnaturally pretty it is

and now some misc stuff

Title of the final level is When The Cookie Crumbles

the pepper pizza will be replaced with an extremely sweet pie and the immunity is caused by the sugar rush from it

Pizza Time is called Crunch Time

Pillar John would be a giant graham cracker since the walls are made of cookies instead of bricks. Gerome however, is a solidified bar of brownies. like a shittily made brownie that it just turned into a construction brick

Snotty is a pure white cream cheese and that's cuz he's actually made of glue. His name is Sticky

Pigs would either be bears or rabbits with how many times those two animals represented sweets

I'm gonna be clear with everyone here. I literally made this au cuz I'm going insane trying to make swap stuff with Pascal/Stefano when the au itself is so empty. sure it's colourful but it's so empty like I can't draw SS characters outside of poses

I tried like doing fanon modifications as I always do then there's so much I "modified" that at this point it's not Sugary Spire anymore. Just straight up a completely different au. The only similarity is that it's a swap au with sweets

it is what it is yknow. this is my life now. I said fuck it and went with the flow and boom, new personal au that I poured too much into

basically I blame Pascal for this

[taco-ddr]

you liked my post so now i give you one question:

which starters characters would be which hero alignments in a megami tensei game. (law/chaos/neutral/protagonist)

I LITERALLY LOVE THJIS QUESTION SO MUCH SCRUMS

Anyways I made this weeweeweeeewewewew

I drew them in the fits cus it sounded fun!!!! Anyways heres the list proper of characters I could conjure a description for

Bulbasaur- Law

Bulbasaur is law because he really just wants safety and stability, and we've seen he's willing to sacrifice things (attempting to put his friends under the bus in OITR comes to mind) in order to achieve that. I can sort of see an argument for neutral since he is not confrontational, but I feel as if he'd take the opportunities for order in the world if they were offered to him.

Cyndaquil- Neutral

Cyndaquil is neutral by merit of yo-yoing between the two ideals. It makes since, he's sort of the middle man between his two best friends. He generally is willing to concede to anothers will, though tepig wins out more often than not. This said, he does sort of cause The White ending (from IV) during OITR, and thats basically a neutral ending. OITR also establishes how active he is in seeking balance, which further cements my take.

Tepig-Chaos

Tepig is chaos because he wants to be divorced from most conventions of the world, and his impulsiveness befits the ideology of chaos. He often finds himself at the mercy of those stronger than him, or those with authority, which echoes the SMT 1 chaos protag pretty well. He clearly doesnt care for rules or anything like that. I dont feel I need to explain this one much!

Chespin- Neutral

Chespin is very neutral. He subscribes to many facets of both ideologies, which puts him at neutral. He desires mediation. He likes to follow the law, and is cooperative with them. At the same time, he does willingly break the law for personal reasons. He likes things to be stable and friendly, but he encourages people to be themself (until they evolve?) He's just in the middle I say! Though maybe a bit more law-like? I dunno.

Mudkip- Law

Mudkip is pretty law, but you have to think beyond the literal law in universe. There are rules and methods to his madness, and he feels very righteous in the fact he kills pokemon. The "Greater good" sorta deal is VERY law. Theres also how he wanted chespin to kill sylveon.

Fennekin- Chaos

Fennekin is relatively chaos, though maybe not by choice per say. She doesnt seem concerned with following the law, and takes the paths that grant her what she wants without much consideration for others or rules. She craves "power" socially. I dont have a strong argument for this i wont lie </3

Dr. Sylveon - Law

in an extremely messed up way, he is pretty law... His philosophy is willing to do pretty horrible things that also benefit himself for a very rough "greater good". Mostly in reference to the rare candy scheme. People get the rare candies they want, he gets money for doing operations on them, yadda yadda. He seems methodically structured.

Mr. Lugia - Neutral

Mr Lugia is neutral because he is willing to escape responsibilities (being a legendary) but also is tethered strongly to the rules. He wouldnt seem to want to sacrifice his freedom, but he adheres to the checks that give balance. Thus, he's neutral.

Jirachi - Chaos

I dont think I need to explain this, but yes, the god who purely wants to fuck with others to his own gain, amusement, and hates the rules. He wants FREEDOM. HARD.

THAT WAS SO LONG BUT UHHH im mentally ill so

[geekthefreakout]

The Joy Leaving the Work

This post will be discussing the works of Neil Gaiman and my personal relationship with them. If you don't like that or cannot handle that, kindly don't read. Also, there will be allusions to SA in the discussions.

So, a couple of weeks ago I decided to pick up Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman-- a book I've owned for a couple of years that's been in my "to read pile" waiting its turn. In the light of the allegations against Gaiman, I put off reading it a couple of months more as I tried to process how I felt. Now I've read it.

Background: Neil Gaiman has been my favorite author bar none ever since I read Coraline in 5th Grade. He and Sir Terry Pratchett share a bookshelf of honor in my room- the one right behind my bed, so I can easily reach for a comfort read. I've always loved his twists on various stories-- The Graveyard Book and Neverwhere being two of my favorites. The dark-but-not-too-dark tone, the dry humor, the magical realism, all of it. Anansi Boys looked like it would have all of that.

And it did! In a vacuum, this would have been a very enjoyable read. But with the allegations, I noticed things that I wouldn't have before. For example (spoilers, I guess):

Mr. Nancy (the titular Anansi) is a funny old man, and often a bit lecherous. In his final moments, he's doing karaoke with some young, buxom blondes when he has a heart attack and falls off the stage, hand outstretched. As he goes down, he sticks his hand out, grabbing one girl's tube top and exposing her as he dies.

This anecdote in the book is presented as something that embarrasses his son (our protag) but is generally interpreted by the other characters as something that was just so funny and charming.

It made me uncomfortable. In fact, just about every time Mr. Nancy alluded to his Master Roshi-like interest in buxom young women, I felt uncomfortable. But wait, there's more:

Spider (secret twin brother of protag Fat Charlie) is interested in Fat Charlie's fiancee. He tricks her into thinking that he IS Fat Charlie, and this girl who had been saving her virginity til marriage is so taken by him that they have sex. Meaning not only did he entice the girl to sex under false circumstances (this is rape), but it's also unclear as to how much of her going along with him is really HER and how much is his... mojo, I suppose. To the story's credit, once she realizes what has happened she gets angry and breaks up with both of them, no longer wanting anything to do with them... until, of course, happenstance brings them together again and she admits that she had real feelings for Spider, who finds himself wanting to behave better for her.

That doesn't sit right with me in the best of circumstances. These are not the best of circumstances.

I finished the book and it took me this long- two weeks and change- to decide how I feel about it. And how I feel about it is this-- I cannot separate it from the author. I cannot enjoy this book because the slime from Gaiman's actions oozes all over it. And that sucks.

I'm almost afraid to reread my favorites from him, for fear that my happy memories of those books will be ruined too. That SUCKS.

And it makes me feel dumb for never having seen the misogyny in the books before. It's like when Rowling showed herself to be what she was and I couldn't enjoy Harry Potter anymore, but worse because Gaiman is an author that I was still actively reading, who had been vocally supportive of queer and trans people, who I'd still looked up to. When it all went down with Rowling, I realized that I'd been excusing a lot of problematic shit in her writing as ignorance, rather than malice. But it WAS malice. And now I'm wondering if I didn't make the same mistake with Gaiman. That sucks too.

Anyway. That's my rant. Thanks for listening. Please share if you're having issues like this too, it's good to not feel alone.

[exaflux]

The more I mull it over the more I wanna see a Scarecrow comic that leans into subtle kinds of horror. Such as atmospheric horror and fear of the unknown.

Like imagine telling a Scarecrow story set in a small isolated community that Mr. Burlap himself has taken an interest in. You take everything from the perspective of one or two people there who keep seeing something from far away, keep feeling like they're being watched. People start hearing bumps in the night, some go missing, someone found an empty canister in a park bin the other day. A local dog went ballistic from terror and attacked their owner the week before. Police claim they find nothing and keep doing so. People's recounts of events become more unreliable as the story progresses, the stress and fear affecting them.

Have the protag piece things together, but even then leave some questions unanswered. Have nothing quite feel safe too- E.G. extra shadows being cast by things off-panel and background figures that shouldn't be there. Even when Batman intervenes and all is said and done, show how much sheer damage and distrust was caused by Jon's meddling. But also, never quite make it clear how much Jon directly messed with people. Perhaps a lot of it was in their heads?

[goopi-ctures]

Bac(terra) In(cognita)

Usually I am not an OC person, but I do have these guys, which are near and dear to my heart. I've been working on them since 2015-16-ish, and, while initially it all started as an imagined reboot for a super obscure animated mini-series from 2000's, by now the whole thing evolved into an entirely independent project of big personal importance. I've been cagey about them mostly because I really want to make something significant out of them, maybe like a comic or a children's book, all with a major focus on edutainment, but have been stuck on the topic for years.

The overall premise goes as follows: one day, an empty Petri dish rolled under the sink in a microbio lab, never to be found again by any human working there. However, it quickly became a home to a vibrant community of all sorts of microorganisms, who, as it turns out, are not that different from the humankind. They even have schools!

Main cast:

Eccoli (based on E. coli): he's the protagonist. A smart, but thouroughly burned out kid who skips classes to go eavesdropping on the lessons taking place in a rival school. This is how he stumbles upon the other three guys and reluctantly befriends them. He's very anxious and secretive by nature, but blossoms whenever he gets a chance to talk about his special interest in viruses. Also, being a bacteria, he is by far the tiniest of the main quartet - yes, not all microorganisms are equally small.

Penny Cilly (based on the penicillium mold): a diligent and energetic girl with a short temper and an over-achiever.mindset. May not be able to grasp some topics from the get-go, but makes up for it with lots and lots of hard work. Her family wants her to make a career in antibiotic production, but she's more interested in looking for the alternatives, as antibiotic resistance is on the rise.

Muchor (based on the mucor mold): despite being Penny's childhood friend, he couldn't be more different from her. A born genius, he never struggles in class, grasping even the most complex of concepts on the fly, but having to sit down and do homework will make him crumble. His intellectual prowess also led him to developing a self-centered and condescending attitude, but under all that he's actually a pretty chill and pleasant guy. Has a knack for dangerous experiments and stupid pranks.

Ameeba (based on amoebas): the token nerd of the group. Shy and timid, but very observant and analytical - she definitely rivals even Muchor in that regard, which he openly admits. She has a wide range of interests, but mostly they revolve around art, anime and fashion. She has a very eclectic taste and changes outfits constantly. Also, she can shapeshift! Usually it's confined to her hair, but changing the whole body is definitely possible. It's a very handy ability, as amoebas are significantly larger than most microorganisms (some are even visible with the naked eye), and not many places in Ameeba's life accomodate for that.

Here are the size comparisons (the left one is super old and has an outdated Ameeba design, but it's the best that I have):

Here are their humanizations:

And here's their classroom:

Side characters:

Vol'ka (based on the volvox algae): he's a little younger than the main cast and goes to a different school, but often gets himself involved in their shenanigans. Just as smart as everyone on the team, but his main love is math, maybe also chemistry, while the protags mostly gravitate towards biology. Also, he's the fabled single mom teenager boy: every little cell that makes up his poofy hair is actually one of his little sisters, and he has no choice but to babysit them.

The teachers! The one on the left is Mrs. Inforia (based on Paramecium caudatum), who teaches the main gang and is niceys; the one on the right is Ms. Aurora (based on Staphylococcus aureus), who is Eccoli's teacher and is horrible. Honestly, they're both kind of placeholder-ish, I definitely need to work on the adults of this setting more.

Eulene (based on the euglenas, who are... technically not algae? It's complicated): she's also a teacher working part-time at both Vol'ka's school and the main school, but she's significantly younger than the other two teachers - so much so that she was only in her senior year when Ameeba, Penny and Muchor started middle school. So she's in that awkward position of both being their close friend, but also an authority. Honestly, I love this dymanic, it's very true to some of my experiences.

[slowd1ving]

I just finished reading the new fic, and it was amazing !!! I dont know why, but i got hung up the most on Jiaoqiu. Like, he sounds so mellow and like he's in genuine love, but I dont know if it's just the effects the incubi has on him. (When he says the smell of burnt caramel got stronger, it's because of the transformation the protag had, right?)

So funny to see the cryptologist and the kafka mention. I love how you portray Kafka in your fics. she's always stirring up jealousy in the love interests.

I truly do wonder if Sunday will be forgiven for laying with a demon. I mean, if he can say he was doing 'salvation' he could get away with it. In the game, his npc model has what appears to be dark indigo wings, which implies he is not as pure as he appears to be, so I imagined his wings that colour. Im guessing his mission was subduing the protag, which he literally did haha.

And moze was such a sweetheart!! When he said he wouldn't care about being sent to hell as long as his fate is forever intertwined with yours, it is so cute. Im thinking he was also lying to himself about how he was following the protag due to his suspicions but was actually just obsessed. Him staying up late to see the protag come back home, was it similar to the cryptologist au? Where he was jealous they wouldnt approach him, or was it part of his stalking?. Also, when he felt fear but it was overridden by lust that made him get closer without thinking it could end his life ❤️.

Also cant imagine how their life will be after this encounter (im glad for Mr. Hopkins that they were able to film a good mockumentary and didn't just submit that !!). Im a Moze fan, so him being the roommate makes me think his life just got better (and that his photo taking hobby just got started).

I loved it, amazing halloween fic.

-swan anon 🦢

first let me just say DAMN I appreciate your dedication to delivering thorough analyses and eating them up every darn time

second I am locked in with a very tall cup of coffee I am ready

no same I was secretly rooting for jiaoqiu too; like originally he wasn't going to be part of it because then I'd have to plan more with an established character. reader was just gonna be someone who sleeps around 😭he was supposed to have one scene too but ended up with four.. honestly I was also going to write him as like a yokai in my initial plans so he's somewhat immune to whatever reader has got going on (which honestly isn't much it's just enhanced allure or whatever)?? I thought it'd be pretty funny to have a character who officially knows about reader and just like... helps them out like an emergency snack or whatever. but yeah he's definitely infatuated - jiaoqiu for LIFEEE

(and yes you are correct the stronger scent did indeed indicate the successful transformation)

you know, I lowkey forgot about the cryptology-moze series and the reference was just my subconscious picking it out☠️also I don't know if I officially stated reader's major (I don't really know myself) but it's hilarious to me to picture some demon just figuring out maths and working in it

did not register the kafka mention until I got to the end whoops

she wasn't even meant to be in this 😭like it was just supposed to be some faceless avatar of lust but then i was like hmm... we've got someone who literally puppets others as part of her mechanics like ??

kafka>>

she's so fun to use as a plot device cuz she just catalyses everything

Sunday will NOT be forgiven 🗣️🗣️that particular line I wrote where angels can lie to themselves is alluding to him convincing himself he isn't doing anything wrong; I was actually going to originally expand on him 'falling' from Harmony or whatever because of his allegiance to the Order - so he was doomed either way to be corrupted. his mission did include subduing the protag but was more a general order to keep order within the human realm which did include finding out demons - so not necessarily reader but he did sus them out pretty much from the start. however he was not supposed to sleep with a demon at all 😭like that line about keeping reader by him to prevent him from getting with other humans is just his bs justification to convince himself that he's still on the right path - but alas, his tenets have been fundamentally crumbling anyway due to his subversion to the harmony. I thought it was funny as fuck having a doomed angel for halloween

there's just something about fallen angel sunday, fits in with his lore too

but yeah themes of denial are heavy in this man, like he's convinced himself that he's on the right path but he's really not he's just entranced by the protag 😭

hmm

yup i had so much fun writing moze he's so cute. he is the prime human Sunday should be worried about but instead he's just competing with him

oh yes 100% lying I love writing unreliable narrators

YES similar to the cryptologist au it was his way of gaining information on you but also sorta looking out for the protag (and jealousy); also lowkey the bit about fear getting overridden was so funny to write about because he's just walked in on a literal angel and demon and just keeps marching forward like 😭😭

that triangle formation remains 100%

like mr hopkins just thinks "oh wow my students are completely dedicated to warding off demon energy thus are in perfect formation for doing so" or whatever ☠️

but reader now essentially has three emergency snacks and sunday's path to salvation is not looking very good tbh

also yeah that mockumentary saved their asses because I physically could not write them only having one film on that camera

that camera will have to get SCOURED before they return it, but Moze's already got it safely transferred to his heavily fortified laptop and Sunday's just keeping the really old one 😭

there's just something about the moze roommate brainrot... he's definitely gloating over it and sunday's just feeling his blood pressure rise for the first time since gaining a corporeal body (and moze's DEFINITELY getting several high-quality cameras because wdym he's just been rewatching the tapes instead of sleeping..)

anyways I got home with around five hours left before midnight and I started finishing off the final scenes at like 10 I was so stressed bro trying to make it and upload it halloween ended

AND THANK YOU FOR YOUR LONG ANALYSIS SWAN ANON IT WAS VERILY APPRECIATED

[jawbonejoe]

I know I’m the most ‘Marlowe is a dumb fag’ pilled mf in the universe but it’s really sticking out to me as I read this annotated BS. I think the close read the annotators are following is valid and it’s nice to have the context of what Chandler thought (and they do point out the parts where Marlowe is wrong or screwy). But my long held contention is that Marlowe is a reliable narrator about everything but himself, and while he’s meant to be a paragon of truth (which I’m willing to admit he is 90% of the time) the thing that makes him such a great protag and a stand out from other hard boiled detectives is that despite being Mr Truthiness he’s gritting his teeth and clinging to a grand lie about himself at all times

[mageknight14]

I think what’s interesting about Neku as a protag is that while I’ve seen some people talk about how he’s one of the deeper/most complex characters in the franchise, I’d argue that he’s actually one of the most straightforward characters in the TWEWY duology-and I don’t think that’s a bad thing. That’s not to suggest that he doesn’t have depth, far from it. His trauma and the way that he goes about in trying to dissociate from others while still genuinely loving them deep down, even if he says otherwise, is genuinely interesting to see in action, especially in how he approaches his relationships. But compared to the others, I don’t find him as fascinating to explore in comparison to, say, Shoka, Joshua, Sho, Kanon, Motoi, Shiba, Mr. H, or even Rindo as a protag, even if his reappearance in NEO as well as how he tries to keep his trauma/emotions under wraps is still interesting to see in action.

That said, he’s still one of my faves for how much he embodies TWEWY’s themes in general, his development just being great to see in action, and the impact he has on the people around him in various ways. In a series where a lot of the characters like to hide parts about themselves and how those affect the relationships around them, Neku in the first game is blunt to a tee, almost to a fault, and confrontational, which makes him the perfect receptacle for the themes/lessons the game imparts on him. We're privy to almost every single one of his thoughts, feelings, and emotions throughout the game, to the point that it almost becomes a first-person narration at times. He hates lying and it shows because when the characters have doubts about themselves, he’s the perfect guy for the job of setting them straight instead of trying to dart around the issue, getting them to look at themselves and try to press forward anyway.

This is also part of what makes Rindo such an effective foil to him as a protagonist. Like I said in another post, while Rindo SEEMS more socially well-adjusted compared to Neku on a surface-level, once you look into his actions and mindset, you can see that he's also quite the dysfunctional mess. Whereas Neku is blunt, brutally honest, and incredibly confrontational, Rindo is much more passive, self-contradictory, and incredibly insecure about himself and the people around him, which feeds into how he puts people at arm's length, including his supposed best friend. The kid can't even tackle a simple-ass puzzle without needing to consult his online friend first or ask them about their identity because he's afraid of rocking the boat. Whereas Neku is alone AWAY from the crowd, Rindo is alone IN the crowd.

This also extends to their inner thoughts, where Neku will let us, the player, view into his mind and have him lay out exactly what he's feeling, the conclusions he comes to, and be confident enough in what he's feeling to then express himself in exactly that manner (with some exceptions such as some of his interactions with Joshua, which is justified because he doesn't want to risk anything happening to Shiki if their partnership goes south so he tries to keep what he says in check, even if it internally kills him inside, and even then he still spills out how PISSED he is with Joshua towards the end.)

Meanwhile, in NEO, while we do play as Rindo and get the majority of the story through his perspective, we don’t get to see his inner thoughts/turmoil as much as Neku’s…because he DOESN’T want to recognize his issues, instead trying to rely on everyone else to solve his problems for him so that they can take the fallout in case something goes wrong and a lot of it shows through his actions/outspoken dialogue instead. Nagi’s Dive and Haz’s conversation with him are some of the only times someone directly calls him out on his flaws within the main story but when you pay attention to how he acts, his flaws pop up quite a bit. For example, how he claims that An0ther's quote of "never miss your chance to make a friend" is one of his favorite quotes yet he balks at the idea of recruiting other potential team members as well as grimace at the concept of the first game's Reaper's Game.

So we have a guy who’s constantly internally struggling with himself while putting on a cold/blunt persona because he doesn’t want to get hurt and recognizing that maybe he’s wrong on a point and letting us in on how he's feeling a vast majority of the time in his head versus a guy who constantly bitches and moans internally while passively going along with everything in spite of himself, constantly self-contradicting/being hypocritical without recognizing himself as such until he gets a much needed wake-up call later and I think that’s really interesting.

[tracerbonaparte]

Ted is Felix Theory

Okay, so I've been hearing a lot about the new kindergarten game, and people discussing the possibility of Felix dressing up as Ted.. for some reason. So, here's my interpretation of the situation Felix is in, if he is actually disguising himself as his brother.

So, we know in Cain's not able, Felix has us kill Ted, but we know in Creature Feature, the only significant deaths were Penny, Dr. Danner, and the Principal. but, some routes seem to be mushed together for the lore of Kindergarten 2. ex, protag mentions being Cindy's boyfriend, Mrs. Applegate mentions Protag giving her pills, and Monty is crippled. so, lets say that Cain's not able was somehow integrated, and he killed Ted. but, here's where the fun part comes in. Felix, Upon killing his brother, finds out that Ted was the favorite, not him, so now he pretends to be Ted to get a bigger chunk of the Inheritance.

My one problem with this explanation, is Ted says when you talk to him in Mrs. Applegate's class "My father has a car like this, he says when he dies, Felix gets it." which throws off my Ted favorite child theory a bit, unless if we assume that was all Felix was getting from the inheritance, Giving Ted the company, and all the riches. I really want this to be the case if Felix is posing as Ted, because it'd be really funny to have Felix realize the entire time, all he was getting was a car, which to a rich kid like Felix, might as well have been giving him 62 cents in the inheritance.

BUT HEY, THATS JUST A THEORY!

[qeireinier]

I think what Original Luo Binghe did to Shen Jiu parallels what happened between Wei Wuxian and Wen Chao. Let me yap.

Look this might sound stupid to you but I just rewatched MDZS and I JUST saw some similarities with PIDW. After coming out of the Burial Mounds, WWX literally tortured WC before his death. The Burial Mounds is a place of literal torture and WWX went through HELL in it without his golden core. Because of what? Because of WC, he's the one who threw him into there.

It's an eye for an eye. WWX must've gotten his organs rearranged, bones crushed by constant attacks from walking corpses, eaten corpse fingers to survive, and many other horrors MXTX didn't mention. So WC SHOULD feel all of that, as payment for his sins to WWX and all other people he inflicted.

With LBG and SJ, the Endless Abyss is almost no different than Burial Mounds except it's festered with demonic instead of resentful energy (I think they're not really the same type?) and various types of beasts iirc. So even with his golden core, it's still harder for LBH because he barely knew how to avoid or fight them, where their weak spots are, etc. And instead of 3 months, it's 5 YEARS so it's enough time for his hatred for SJ to fester like a fairytale witch's soup. In the very beginning, he must've also gone through hell. Maybe the beasts ripped his limbs apart, stabbed his eyes, pulled his tongue out and only because of his Heavenly Demon blood that he recovered himself back (probably). It's very different from running away from resentful corpses because you KNOW just how to fight them off, even though it's just impossible for their number.

So, seeing LBH making SJ into a human stick doesn't surprise me too much. It's the case of an eye for an eye. No, it's still wrong, I'm not justifying it. I'm just making my analysis. THAT'S why it reminds me so much of WC's death.

Even both of the MCs have a demonic object in their hands, the Stygian Tiger Seal and Xin Mo. Both are untamable and capable of driving their holders insane. What differs our MC however—is that WWX has things to lose, and that's why he's often shown to be holding himself back from a killing spree. Hell, he's even the actual most righteous character in the novel.

While LBH doesn't have anything left to lose. He doesn't have a family, friends, all these wives and servants probably don't mean much on him. Also, his demon blood affects his mindset, giving his brain more "predatory instincts" as I'm gonna call it. Added with the fact that he spent more time in the Endless Abyss and how his mind had been corrupted by Xin Mo, LBH would pull a "No More Mr. Nice Guy, Heh >:)". That makes him not so kind as to give SJ the mercy of death. He probably wanted to keep SJ alive for 5 years or maybe forever til his brain finally decides "yep, that's it, go die or whatever idc anymore". Yeah, until BingggeMei extra happened and we could probably assume SJ's death is never gonna happen, but that's for another story nevermind.

However, it does mean that the latter won't hold himself back. The point where he crosses the line is when he burns down the CQMS, kills the Peak Lords, and even went so far as to merge the demonic and mortal realms. That's what differs him from WWX, so much. It's literally canonically said that he's not the nice kind of protag.

SO in conclusion—when I see people talking about how "SJ didn't deserve all that", I'm between agreeing and disagreeing. What LBG did to SJ is terribly inhumane, but that's to be expected from a demon emperor like him. Hey I'm a SJ stan, it doesn't mean my views are completely biased. Especially considering what LBG possibly went through in the Endless Abyss for five years as a mere disciple without a sword like Xuan Su.

I think this is why PIDW readers rooted for LBG, because the story was from his POV. Tragic MC, thrown into the pits of hell by his cruel master. Our perspective is widened through reading SV and we can see the tragic POV of SJ and so we start to root for him too. No, it doesn't mean that either of these 2 are completely right in their choices, the both of them are very flawed and they're trapped in this cycle of abuse, very harmful to the surroundings. We can't fully fault or justify them. Yes, they need therapists, perchance one hidden behind a very powerful barrier in case any of them decides to attack the poor therapist.

But this realization—the parallels between LBG&SJ and WWX&WC—just kind of amazes me. Okay, ted talk ends, thank you for surviving through, if you don't have any nice words to say please scroll away :(

[gamerbot-22]

The Most Important Meal of the Day!

Prompt: Breakfast

TW/CW: Mentions of gagging and sick stomachs, March is suffering out here, barely proofread and I appreciate spellchecks!

Word Count: 621

A/N: I WAS SO HOPING THAT HIMEKO WOULD GET THIS PROMPT. HELL YES. OH this one was so fun. This one was adorable. I love writing for the Astral Express family SO MUCH. To the point where like. I already have some ideas in mind for little one-off, longer fics instead that have nothing to do with the prompt list. It is so nice to have my inspiration back! Also March is more of the protag here while Himeko is more of an... inciting incident. And, yeah, as a consequence of the amount of fun I had, this is like the longest one of these I've written lol.

Likes and Reblogs appreciated and Requests are Open! Read this story on Ao3 here!

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The dividers in this post were made by @/gamerbot-22 (me!) ☆

© All rights reserved by miHoYo

The dread was palpable in the Party Cart that morning. The hope had been that now that the bar and kitchen upstairs had been properly restored, Shush would take over cooking most meals. But no, Himeko insisted that every day, the good ol' Cooking Wheel (a repurposed spinner wheel from a misplaced board game) would be brought out and spun to decide who got to make that day's breakfast. In private, there had been conversations about potentially weighting the wheel to keep it from landing on Himeko's side, but no one had the heart to actually do it, even when the Express smelled of smoke for days after and unlucky 3-day streak.

So there everyone was, standing around the combination kitchen island and bar, in various states of holding their breaths and forcing neutral expressions as Himeko put the finishing touches on breakfast.

"Was that...?" Dan Heng mumbled, leaning over to Mr. Yang's side when there was the audible crack of an eggshell.

"It was." Welt held his cane a little tighter. Suddenly Dan Heng felt two very pointed sets of eyes on his left side, adding to the growing feeling of guilt for not stepping in to help Himeko with this. He let himself sleep in one time...

Himeko turned on her heels with her usual warm smile, eyes squeezed shut in pride as she stepped to the side to reveal her masterpiece of suspiciously dark rice with a bubbling puddle on top as garnish, with a side of shriveled purple potatoes that somehow looked both overdone and not ripe yet. That inedible stir-fry from a couple weeks ago had very soundly been dethroned as the worst meal the Express' navigator had ever made.

"All done!" She almost sang. "Dig in, everyone!"

"Wow, Himeko! It looks so--" March suddenly pressed a hand over her mouth. She would've gotten through the placating praise if it weren't for that smell. The smell alone would be enough to knock out a Swarm King, let alone an innocent girl like her, but somehow she was strong enough to get through it with only a gag that brought her to lean against Caelus' shoulder.

Immediately the Trailblazer reached to steady her, holding her arm to keep her from tilting over entirely while the other two crew members leaned over just in case.

"March! Are you okay?" Himeko asked, walking fast around the bar to join the others. "You look so pale all of a sudden!"

"Yep!" She strained. "Just fine! Just a little bit of a frog in my throat! It's gone now!" It definitely was not her best lie, but she could be forgiven for that.

"Oh, here!" Himeko reached behind her and produced her favorite coffee mug, filled almost entirely with hot, rich, black coffee. "Drink some of this. It's warm and it should help your throat a bit."

Mr. Yang, Hero of Heroes, began to step in. "Himeko, don't you think some water would--"

But before he could get through that valiant defense, March reached out, took the mug of coffee, and took the biggest gulp on record. The men of the Express fell into flabbergasted silence while Himeko breathed a sigh of relief, reaching to take the mug once March was finished.

"There. Feel better?" She asked, reaching to wipe a drop of sweat from March's temple.

"Yep! Just fine." March held up her thumb, clearly shaken by the coffee but no longer sick from the smell of breakfast. "Ready to eat!"

It took halfway through the meal for everyone to piece together March 7th's galaxy brained play. With the coffee so hot, she'd burned her tongue on it, and now she could hardly taste a crumb of Himeko's magnum opus.

[apr1lr4in]

EDDSWORLD FALLOUT AU

Ok I'm putting this here because I have had this as an idea for so long and I don't rlly expect eddsworld fans to rlly be into fallout BUT I AM, OK? I got a lot of points I wanna talk abt and MAYBE I'll draw it MAYBE SETTING- Every fallout game is in America and EW is not, but I think I can keep the setting in England. As ur gonna see later, I thought Tord being a synth would be fitting. BUT UNFORTUNATLEY synths are only present in Fallout 4 and that is largely due to the institute not being a huge presence anywhere but Massachusetts. Compromise? There is no institute, but something similar (Will talk more in the Tord section) EDD- Honestly I LOVE cowboy Edd, but the only game with a huge cowboy setting would be New Vegas. But think about it, a survivor in the wasteland who is obsessed with prewar relics and clothing. Places like the midwest or even the Mojave are very different from England, but Edd seems like the kind of guy to be into the whole Prewar cowboy nerd. Ofc he's the protagonist, I'm not sure what kind of name he would have though. You know, lone survivor, the courier, i forgot what the protag is called in fallout 3 i havent played it. The "Goulden one" would be kind of funny though. I want him to have the same energy as the Courier, got shot and survived and is now a menace in the wasteland. But he's more heroic obv, going on silly adventures with the gang and make the wasteland a better place

TOM- I can see him being a vault dweller, but choosing to leave the life of one. It wasn't working for him and he probably didn't live in one of the good vaults. He travels with Edd and matt because he probably would get killed if he went by himself (Alcohol and chem addict) and is possibly out for revenge. Revenge for what? You'll se :3 ofc this is just brainstorming, maybe he wouldn't end up as a vault dweller and perhaps Edd was the vault dweller and Tom is the jagged wastelander. MATT- I have to say it, Matt is a ghoul. But does that affect his self esteem? No! I don't think there's a single ghoul in fallout who doesn't have a captivating personality, Matt is no exception. He is definitely the type to pick up random junk from the wasteland and is over encumbered. And he loves those fuckass monkey symbol things that make noise if you've played fallout 4, you know what I'm talking about,,,shudder) But people don't take him seriously BECAUSE he is a ghoul and full of radiation. But Edd has a good reputation and is able to vet for him. I also just thought what if he was a celebrity before the war? That would explain his lingering ego, but failing to realize nobody really cares anymore. RED ARMY- Notice how I didn't put Tord here? That's because he is unfortunately the enemy. Moreso his Red Army, but he isn't aggressive towards Edd or anyone else. He thinks positively of the 3 (maybe except Tom), but the issue is his reign against the wasteland. Think of him like Mr. House or the Brotherhood of Steel (Not the vegas BoS, they can go kys) he is the only military force around, but it's not a good one. The Red Army are known for their brutal enforcement of rules and are in fact transhumanists. They want to slowly take control of everyone and "improve" the human form. Why? Tord is essentially a partial synth. Not fully robot, but not a natural human. Yes his robot arm is coming back and YES power armor is being involved. I would like to mention that as much as I want to include characters like Paul and Patryck in this post, they are not as "essential" as the main 4. They are still Tord's righthand men, but it would be unfair of me to include them in this post and not other lesser known character. I DO have plans though, but I'll have to iron all of this out first. Larry will be thought of dw bing and larry fans, all 10 of u <3 These are all ideas! Basic thoughts i've had for a while now and maybe some ppl won't understand it. But if anyone does like fallout and EW...GIVE ME UR IDEAS!!! Perhaps even draw up some designs? I know I def will revisit this but I have a haircut today