#or up to or interested in outside of whats relevant to the current storyline/relevant to the brothers

[payphoneangel]

love the amount of posts im seeing abt Cas' interests and moving them away from common fanon interpretation

[lemotmo]

Follow up to the sexuality arc

Q. When you put it in the simplest possible form like you did of course you can arrive at it being a sexuality issue but there are lots of other reasons people can feel broken. And Buck has never been the reason why his relationships didn't work out.

A. Of course there are plenty of other reasons a person can feel broken. But the show has been very particular in the way they have framed Eddie's relationships, and especially his feelings regarding them. I wasn't putting it in its simplest form. I explained Eddie's canon dating history. What facts did I leave out in order to simplify or slant things in a particular direction? I also didn't imply that his relationships weren't working out specifically because of Buck. What I was saying is the aspects of his relationships that seem to cause his freakouts are things he already has with Buck.

The show has pretty much established that Eddie dates because he thinks he needs to date. He thinks he owes Christopher a mother. It's why he introduces them to Christopher so quickly. The only reason they're there is to fill a void Eddie believes exists in Christopher's life. But the show has already made Buck the person that's filed that role. And the audience sees him in that role. With the exception of physical, in other words sexually, what other role does Buck not fill in Eddie's life? He fills the partner role. He fills the co-parent role. He fills the confidant role. He fills the best friend role. He fills the emotional connection/support role. He fills the safety role. He fills the comfort role. The show has established what Eddie is looking for he already has in Buck. The same argument can be made for the roles Eddie fills in Buck's life as well. The only thing their relationship doesn't currently have is a physical level of intimacy. That's it. Their relationship checks every other box. That's the way they are written. That's the entire problem. It's why no outside relationship works for either one of them. It's also why the leap to putting them in an actual relationship is not that big or scary because they're basically already in a relationship. All making it official would do is add the physical element. It's also why we have reached the point where legitimate articles about the show are now saying that it's odd that the show hasn't addressed the Buddie aspect. That is where we are now. Of course the show could choose to continue to ignore it but at this point it would be detrimental to their product. Because everyone, including the two actors who play them, see this the same way. It is the only long-term satisfactory relationship storyline for either character. It's time. It's past time.

Thank you Nonny! Appreciate it!

Yes yes and yes. I'm just going to shut up now. Ali explained it so well. This is the way I see it as well, so I figure my own musings wouldn't add anything relevant to this post.

IMPORTANT! Please don't repost this ask and/or a link that leads straight to my Tumblr account on Twitter or any other social media. Thank you!

Heads up! For anyone who is giving me the shifty eyes for reposting Ali's updates instead of reblogging. Read this.

Remember, no hate in comments, reblogs or inboxes. Let's keep it civil and respectful. Thank you.

If you are interested in more of Ali’s posts, you can find all of her posts so far under the tag: anonymous blog I love.

[markantonys]

a few more bridgerton thoughts! i've always been only a casual enjoyer who watches just for a few hours of fun and doesn't get super invested, but even so, i'm still feeling pretty underwhelmed by this season so far. i watched it in one sitting and enjoyed it while it was happening but just immediately forgot about it as soon as i was done. maybe all the memorable moments are going to be in the second half of the season, but for these first four episodes, i feel like it was all just kinda bland and forgettable (granted, of all the romance tropes in the world, m/f childhood-friends-to-lovers is just about the #1 most boring one to me, so this never would've been my favorite season regardless)

i adore romance and romcoms, always have, and am pretty happy to watch The Classic Marriage Plot play out a thousand times, yet i feel like bridgerton is maybe becoming TOO formulaic and repetitive. although, to be fair, i WAS giggling and kicking my feet during all the Classic Romance Scenes, but the problem was maybe just that there weren't enough of them, which brings me to my second point of too many subplots. too much padding and filler and not enough Classic Romance, which is what i'm here for.

8 hours is way more time than is needed to tell 1 love story, so to fill up the time they invent 17 random subplots that are ultimately pointless and have little relevance outside of the current season. i would way rather a season be only 4 episodes but tightly focused on the main love story, or that a season be about two siblings and two main love stories at a time, than have all this extra time they need to fill up with random unimportant shit. why have we had 3 seasons' worth of storylines about benedict having one-off non-endgame girlfriends that don't have a lasting impact on his character development? what's the point? he's been treading water for so long that i'm not even going to care about him anymore by the time he finally comes into the spotlight, and same with eloise. god, the thought of eloise's season potentially not being until like 2027 is insane. it's past time to start picking up the pace and doing 2 siblings per season!

and the kicker is that all these subplots, which were only invented to fill up the time, end up filling too MUCH time and taking away from the main love story, which is left feeling underbaked. this sort of happened last season, but it's way worse this season. penelope is an excellent character, but her back is breaking from trying to carry the season because colin is kinda giving us nothing due to lack of narrative attention given to him as an individual. he's supposed to be the co-lead, yet i couldn't tell you a single personality trait of his besides "vaguely nice" because he's just had no development and exists more as a prop for penelope to love than as a fleshed-out character in his own right. there was that whole scene where violet was talking about how he's a people pleaser who focuses on making others happy at the expense of his own wants and happiness, and i was just sitting there going "he is?" because i didn't feel i'd ever gotten to know him enough as a person to see this trait in him.

i also think the "dropping a season in 2 halves" model is just about the worst possible release model. if you drop 1 episode a week, that's constant engagement and allows for longer time to digest and appreciate each individual episode. if you drop the whole season at once, it's all over too fast but on the flipside you can experience the entire story at once without risking forgetting things or losing interest while waiting for new episodes. but dropping in two halves a month apart is the worst of both models (over too quickly yet also makes you wait too long to finish the story).

i do like some of the subplots, though. cressida getting to be more than just a mean girl caricature has been a particular highlight, the mondrich family going suddenly from working class to noble is interesting to see, and as a mega-introvert myself (and a music lover!) whose ideal partner would be someone who's happy to sit in silence with me, francesca and john's whole vibe is THE definition of romance to me and has me absolutely swooning (and it's a nice change of pace from all the loud dramatic romances on this show). violet potentially finding new love is also very sweet and i'm rooting hard for her! meanwhile i am not a fan of the featherington subplot; after s1 portraying regency girls' lack of sex education as a serious issue, it feels.........odd for the show to now be playing that very same thing for laughs this season and it just kinda makes me uncomfortable.

but otherwise there isn't much i dislike about the season, it's just kinda "meh" to me so far. the second half might turn things around if it's more memorable!

[juni-ravenhall]

If you take over SSE, what would be your first changes that you make? Like immediate things you want to do?

And what’d be your long term goal, how would you achieve it?

- ro-sso

this is the best ask ever thank u but u might not be prepared for this essay........ sorry :3

first off id need to find out exactly who are the current ppl for game director, art director, etc direction positions, and who of them are making the crazy decisions. is it directors and managers, is it the CEO, etc. ofc there might be many parts in this chain from an uncaring CEO down to a confused director down to a struggling game designer down to a coder/writer/artist that doesnt get enough time and resources, like, i understand its a complex chain but that doesnt change the fact that someone (or several) have been fucking shit up for all of sse's history. so i would do a lot of talking to staff respectfully and finding out whats really been going on in the chain, and who is not working in the best interest of the game's quality and the company's stability. map out where in the company theres the most and least problems.

(this to me is easy, im analytical and resistant to lies and manipulation as a person. i see through shit very easily and i have a long history of self-studying and analysing stuff related to running companies and making games, since thats my life goal... so to some ppl it might sound like "thats harder than you think" bc theyre just not me. some ppl arent passionate about running good healthy ethical game companies - i am!)

sse clearly has basically never had good directors with good direction, or if they did, those werent given enough power and resources. they shouldnt have been changing artstyle several times, they shouldnt have been abandoning storylines and areas, they shouldnt have been ignoring bugs in general, they shouldnt have been ignoring bugs and cheats in racing and champs, etc. so, its very important to get a good game director, art director, and so on, in place, whether its an existing staff member who just needs more power and resources, or its someone new who is a good fit.

then ofc take a look at all staff hired and see what everyone is there for. after the layoffs im not sure if they have many passive workers left but id get an overview and do some interviews w staff to find out how the efficiency situation is and if more/less ppl are needed in diff areas to actually pay ppl to work on the game itself. (as an example mb u need one less social media person and one more programmer, one less team manager consultant or other middleclass word salad jobs... etc.)

then overview of salary differences. this is a huge point to me. was the CEO that im assumably taking the job from, earning a lot more than everyone else a month? then thats not happening anymore. all salaries within the company would become more balanced, setting in place a system where the minimum salary and max salary at the company are tied together in a ratio so that to raise the top u must also raise the bottom. this will instantly lower much of the top and assumably raise some at the bottom (how much, i dont know from the outside). this ratio system would be clearly outlined and from now on a pillar of the company's structure. also, check that skilled senior staff has appropriate pay for their experience, etc, make sure salaries seem fair.

along with this ofc a good overview of costs, loans, earnings, the current office and all of this to know the situation. i think thats obvious but ill say it anyway to be clear. have a complete grasp of the economic situation, talk to the economics staff.

with staff interviews and salary checkups it would also be relevant to see if theres any gold star workers who should shift up in positions, for example a very good animator could become lead animator, stuff like this. sse has already done things like this fairly often (sometimes maybe not with the right people) so im not too worried about it but i would do another check. also just general talk w staff to find out who has hidden potential that might not be getting used. (i want to know my workers and be able to help them shine, this is good both for the workers, the work environment, and the company results.)

at this point, we should have balanced out some of the leaking money at the top (and hopefully made a few leeches jump ship while at it), boosted the happiness within the company (balanced salaries etc), and have a great overview of whats going on from the more economic and hierarchy standpoint. we should have gotten rid of some potential leeching staff that didnt actually help create a good product and run a healthy, ethical company, and we might have gotten new people in positions where we needed more skills (direction, programming, whatnot). compared to sse's 10+ years of being a chaotic mess, the company structure should look pretty good now, even if not perfect.

i would have a lot of talk with the directors and team leaders and senior staff to make sure everyone is on the same page from now on: we are making a good quality game, we are being consistent, we are not adding new random shit just bc ooh shiny or cashgrabs, we are going to impress the players and make them feel "oh god, finally sso is consistent and living up to its potential". everyone at the company needs to understand this goal and why the loyal players are disappointed with the game. there will still be new horses and item recolors etc ofc, we do need a certain degree of "ooh shiny" from the player side of things (hopefully good gameplay and good stories would also be ooh shiny though), but there needs to be a new focus on the Actual core and Actual pillars of the game, which sse failed to do bc they have bad direction.

most likely, we would change the weekly update into bi-weekly or monthly, maybe starting with bi-weekly to test the waters. in order to deliver a good quality main storyline and also good quality stories and updates to tie up loose ends, there needs to be enough time to do that. there would be very solid goals on the cadence at which major updates are released and no long stretches of time without main story, and no long stretches without other significant updates.

an important part of that is also the seasonal events - i think the 4 seasons of events is a good thing, but they need to be properly bug fixed and have some design and writing improvements, one new fun (more challenging) race for each of them, etc. so hopefully we can afford enough staff that we have a few ppl working on updating and finalising the 4 seasonal events to their more or less final form.

each seasonal event needs to have a cool and challenging race (similar to cloud kingdom rainbow race or some other recent races) that HAS A HIGHSCORE BOARD. this is a key thing to me. all event races should have highscore boards (and some crappy event races may be removed, or combined into a better version of all of them together). *everyone* playing would be able to just better their own score for a generic gold/silver/bronze score, which gives specific rewards for reaching the medal score on the event race(s), and those who are at the top of the leaderboard among everyone, would get a non-exclusive prize, like 1000js. its not a huge win - not to encourage cheating to get to the top - and mostly based in the existing "daily best" system. it would still encourage players to actually try their best at the event races and feel like there's some stakes in it. (active human moderation of suspicious race results is also necessary - we should be able to afford that now.) i also think, if someone has won the daily best, they should then not be able to get the daily best for at least another week, leaving place for other people... but this becomes a problem with alt accounts, so it needs more consideration, i dont have the full answer to that yet.

also, all the tack and clothes need a stats overhaul. the random top stats we currently have are stupid and they seem like they just didnt think about this at all. this is partially a dress up game, so you need to be able to dress up cute and still have top stats and be able to win champs. if possible, i would set staff to work on letting you upgrade any piece of equipment to max stats (which would be something like 5-10 in each stat i guess). this system might require starcoins to upgrade - a way for the company to earn money from cosmetic changes, that seems fair enough to me. (maybe there would be a way to pay with shillings and collectables, but just an easier way to pay with sc, it would be considered.)

we'd also need to sit down and take a good look at what all horses stats are, which horses seem to be boosted or nerfed in races for no reason, and make sure all horses at least function fairly and as intended. after that, to consider whether you should be able to train all horses to have the same max stats, or if we want to keep breeds unique and different, then those differences should also be well thought out and actually matter. right now, and for a long time, some horses are just better at races than others (pintabian, etc), and some (ardennes) seem to be shit for no real reason (other draft horses dont necessarily have the same problem). so it needs to be properly looked at and fixed so all horses at least have good reasons to be different, if they are different at all, and no bugs or unintended boosts and nerfs. horse stats should make sense for gameplay.

all the champs need to get their updated forms, so i also hope we could afford enough staff to have a few ppl working on updating the champs consistently until thats done. i do think a lot of sso's races also should be overhauled, because racing is the main gameplay we actually have (collecting light in hollow woods is not challenging and not really gameplay) and it should be satisfying, fun, and challenging, like playing a mariokart race (that doesnt mean it should play *like* a mariokart race, just that it needs to be fun). the highscore boards and the gold/silver/bronze medal systems are really, really neglected assets of sso's player motivation. if getting a gold medal score on a race was consistently actually difficult and required practice, and getting that gold medal also gave you a good reward (shillings, items) that motivated you to aim for it, then players might actually have fun challenging themselves for higher scores! the same goes for daily best / etc scores that should be looked into, what rewards they give, etc.

also, there should be a ban on adding any new npcs to the game if theyre not extremely necessary. sse has been adding new npcs left and right all the time, and it just clogs the game with random irrelevant characters that dont add anything to the game, it takes time and resources to make their model, give them a name, write their dialogue, and so on. instead, focus all that energy on actual relevant npcs and ones that players want to talk to and find out more about, hear their storylines, etc, and let races be handled with either existing npcs or with new and improved highscore board objects (make it obvious you click them to start the race).

of course, the art style of sso should never again change. art direction from now on is consistent and solid with an art director who understands their job, lead artists and lead animators who 100% understand what the goals are. directors who make sure that the quality of art, design, animation are up to the standards of the style we are using, that things fit together in the game. new models should not actually be "better" than the old ones - you end up in a destructive cycle where the art keeps changing. the style should be consistent with only relatively minor refinements over time. so, the art directors and leads need to make sure the style continues to be consistent, and update things that need to be. (im not sure how many areas of sso should really get the complete overhauls like silverglade village anymore - at some point you're also wasting resources on something less important than the gameplay and story, but some areas also look really outdated, so careful consideration needs to go into which areas to update and *how* to update them. maybe jarlaheim doesnt need a complete overhaul but a partial one. etc.)

the gen 4 horse needs to have very solid planning before release, which seems to have been the case so far from the little ive heard about it. if players can finally get a more custom horse with custom markings, mane and tail styles (preferrably available across breeds), and ability to pick coat, mane and tail colours separately, i think this would be great. it also relates to the whole thing with horse stats and just making sure that horses function properly and have reasons to actually have different stats and such, if theyre going to have that.

there also needs to be a decision made about sso's future - specifically, should we keep developing this game on this crappy messy engine for another decade, or should we eventually say, "this is sso 1, and we're finished with it (the story is finished, game isnt buggy, etc)" - and then go on to create a new game (while still keeping sso 1 running!) on a new, modern engine, where there is good direction and good planning from the very beginning? i dont know how far they got with project curie before cancelling it, whether theres much work to salvage, but i think that creating a new horse mmo set in jorvik (curie was supposedly not a horse game) as a more or less "sso 2" is a fair idea. the potential of customisable gen 4 horses might not really be that relevant for sso 1, or customisable player character faces and bodies like the sims. maybe this is stuff that should be in sso 2 from the very beginning, rather than patches trying to fix the mess that is the current sso? i think a lot of players wouldve been happier to see the old avatars and stuff remain in sso 1 and see the new, current artstyle we have be a separate game as sso 2 instead. (runescape classic etc.)

so, i would want to very carefully consider what really should be in sso 1 versus if we should be making sso 2. its possible to decide, actually we do want to just keep updating sso 1 and make it the best it can be, to basically keep adding expansions to it. but even if we decide that, the thing is, its hard to save the original story at this point due to the careless updates that have already been made for years. my question is, is it possible to give the loyal, old players a satisfying ending to this story and these characters' stories and this world's lore, within the current state of sso? or is it just too far gone off the track? so this needs to be carefully considered. maybe sso 2 could be a sort of remake of the story, starting with elements based on SSL, rather than the haphazard "uh these girls saved the world a while ago and now youre here i guess" that sso did start with. maybe its not too late to give the loyal long term players a satisfying end to the story. but its a complex issue that needs a lot of thought. (which should never have happened! the story shouldnt have changed the way it did, things shouldnt have been abandoned randomly, added randomly, changed randomly, all of this is just bad shitty direction and management without respect to the players, which is especially frustrating bc it goes right into "girl gamers dont matter, girl games dont matter,".)

there are more things, like a weather system, that i would have loved to see in sso but ultimately might be better to save for sso 2. or maybe sso keeps going with major updates and major expansions and then it would be relevant to consider for sso. the same thing for customising our home stable, getting a player home to customise, there are lots of fun ideas like this that i could talk about but that ultimately im not sure how much time and resources should be sunk into when sse have chosen to fuck themselves over for this long and caused this many problems with the game that need immediate attention to make it playable and enjoyable. so in this... essay... i focused mostly on solving problems and making the game a solid and fun experience, and what to prioritise to keep it that way, while these bonus new content like weather or customisable horses or customisable player faces/bodies and all that, would be great updates (or sso 2) but have to come as a bonus when everything else is under control.

so yeah thats covering both a lot of immediate stuff and long term considerations. this is like, a fraction of the stuff i've thought about. i have a lot more to say about a lot of things to fix in sso and other things that have to do with running companies too. and ofc theres a lot of things i just cant know from the outside, and so on, im not a perfect person who knows everything and never pretend to be (i have to say this bc ppl like projecting things on me just for being confident in my skills). getting to take over sse would still be a learning curve with finding out exactly where the problems are and how to solve them. i view this realistically. there are always unknown variables and things i'll have to figure out when i get to it, but you can do that if you have a strong core and strong direction that wont be swayed by capitalism or ooh shiny. i just know a lot about prioritising and directing and about ways to run healthier, better companies, and ways to be ethical and create good products instead of cash grabs - and i also value the skills and knowledge of others, which matters in finding the right people to work in the right positions. these are specific interests i have and spend a lot of time thinking about, analysing, studying, practising, etc.

if you or anyone else actually read all of this (im shocked) and want to discuss more about it or have questions about it, im all ears :D

[getvalentined]

HI THERE!! A fellow FFVII pleb here 🙌🏼🙌🏼

But I have not played Ever Crisis, and your art is

💥mega💥 from it.

May you infodump at your will where these outfits are from in the game, if you have any reference pics, and what the game covers?

If not, that is fine too 🌷

Thanks!

Thank you for the nice comment about my art! I've been in a slump recently on account of the world being on fire and having chronic pain in my hands, so I'm glad people are still enjoying what I have put out there.

Most of the EC outfits are only really "in-game" as related to non-canon seasonal "Portal" events, referred to as such due to their existence being explained via the existence of a spell of the same name, originally developed by Shinra before being ruled useless and put on a shelf. The materia for the spell was apparently stolen at some point in the early '90s, and it periodically crops up due to fiends, Cetra, or other nonhuman entities creating an excuse for the cast to get into alternate universe hijinks. The lore indicates that the Portal materia may have been stolen by the A.I. that ran the simulator originally used to train P-0 Class SOLDIERs during the course of the First SOLDIER Battle Royale, which eventually developed a form of sentience and literally ran away. This seems to be what caused that training program to shut down in-universe. (IRL the game was shut down because of real world financial fraud perpetrated by one of the co-creators of Sonic the Hedgehog, because we live in the weirdest timeline. Getting some closure on it in-game was super interesting, though.)

The game itself is intended to be a sort of abridged version of the entire Compilation of Final Fantasy VII (not the funny youtube haha kind of "abridged") told in short sections with frequent breaks, allowing it to be played basically anywhere.

There are currently three active titles:

Final Fantasy VII: The OG, but make it bite-sized. The pacing here is pretty poor, but mostly because the devs seem intent on pushing it as the flagship title of Ever Crisis even though it is not the one that they use in advertisement. (Current chapter: recruiting Vincent in Nibelheim.)

Crisis Core: Everyone's favorite gay tragedy. The pacing on this one is about the same as it is in the original, although there are a couple new little bits. The translation is still ass due to "no homo," and recently they seem to be working very hard to retcon Angeal being a self-righteous trashbag for some reason, which is kind of ruining the whole storyline, but we'll see if they fix that. (Current chapter: Genesis' siege on Shinra HQ.)

The First SOLDIER: Not to be confused with the battle royale title of the same name mentioned above, this game starts with three unenhanced P-0 Class SOLDIER randos (they're relevant to Rebirth) and segues into the backstory of Sephiroth starting around age 13-14. This is what they used in advertisement, and then delayed updates on so many times that the ending was spoiled by Tseng during a board meeting in Rebirth. I am not joking. (Current chapter: Act I end.)

The game is intended to eventually also include Dirge of Cerberus and even Before Crisis (which has never been released outside Japan and hasn't been playable even in Japan for over a decade), but not until after the OG and CC's storylines finish. There is roughly one chapter update to a single active title every 4-8 weeks, so it's going to take a while.

All that said, there are currently around 80 alternate outfits spread over 13 playable characters (some are more favored than others, Aerith has about a dozen while Barret has three), and I don't actually even have half of them altogether. I do have a lot, though, so I'll put details under the cut of what I have and if there are any specific ones you'd like to see I can get screenshots for reference purposes.

— Cloud [5/9] Murasame, Bandaged Coat aka Death Gigas cosplay, Festive Garb, Saber Style, and Bahamut Garb. Missing Battlefield Garb, Maritime Sailor, Zidane, and Glavenus Armor.

— Barret [2/3] Fiery Cape and Electroarmor. Missing Scrap Armor.

— Tifa [2/10] Metalfoot and Fairy of the Holy Flame. Missing Lifeguard, Amarant, Guide Uniform, Bunny Bustier, Feather Style, Kirin Suit, Passion Mermaid, and the upcoming Bahamut gear that I will not be pulling for.

— Aerith [2/11] Rosy Battle Suit aka postcanon Genesis cosplay and Chocobo Suit. Missing Sunny Robe, Prism Dress, Garnet, Fairy of Snowfall, Floral Gown, Classic Coney, Kamura Dress, Citric Dress, and Bahamut Robe.

— Nanaki [2/4] Seaside Aloha and Canyon Duds. Missing Rubber Harness and The Hellhound aka the Sonic OC recolor skin.

— Yuffie [1/5] Puckish Lion. Missing Winter Moogle, Sparkling Skater, Shinobi Hawk, Summer Moogle, and Bahamut Mantle.

(No image because I hit the limit and it's a disaster tbh.)

— Cait Sith [2/3] Marching Jacket and Felyne Kamura. Missing Party Jacket.

— Vincent [3/3] Bouncer Suit, Stray Dog, and Formal Attire.

— Zack [4/8] Tropical Beach, Guardian Style, Glacier Armor, and Zinogre Armor. Missing Valiant Suit, Black Hound, Holiday Suit, and Shinra Full Dress Uniform.

— Sephiroth [8/9] Aeroglider, Edged Wings, Dark Harbinger aka the half-Galian Beast cosplay, Kuja, Celebratory Garb, Lethal Style, Shinra Formal Uniform, and Natant Jacket. Missing Dark Attire because it was running the same time as one of Vincent's outfits and I didn't have the crystals for both. (sob)

— Glenn/Matt/Lucia [1/who cares] I only have 1 proper alternate outfit for each of them and only because the game gave them to me, plus Lucia's Vivi, which is just a recolor of the first alternate outfit with a hat on top.

No images because I hit the limit and I don't care for any of these people.

[acourtofthought]

Have you read HOFAS (and any bonus chapters)? If so, what did you think about our ACOTAR characters and what it might say about their future books? If not, when are you planning on reading it?

I have!!

I have a few more detailed posts on why I believe what I believe but to summarize it, these are my predictions for SJMs future books:

It's interesting that 3 - 4 months after her HEA with Cassian, where she found her home in the HOW, her friends, her purpose with the Valkyrie, where she realized Rhys is her brother and had offered her kindness, where she ended her book visiting their fathers grave with her sisters who were smiling and beckoning at her to join them, that she's suddenly struggling to find her way (as evidenced by the exchange when she and Ember say their goodbyes).

To me, the biggest part of Nesta's life has always been her acting as Elain's protector and if Elain is no longer in the NC, having set off on her own journey with Lucien, I think that could be a big part of her sudden identity crisis. Possibly contributing to why she was so willing to part with the Mask, a bit of a reckless action. She could no longer help Elain so she turned and helped Bryce instead.

I think the next ACOTAR book will be Eluciens and we'll see resolution to the Vassa / Spring / Beron / Koschei / Peace Treaty plotlines. I don't think it will turn into a major battle, I think Elucien's arc will be that of stopping the threats and securing peace between the fae on the continent, the humans, and the fae in Prythian. I think that also closes out the ACOTAR series as we know it now, the one that revolves around the journey of Feyre and her sisters.

I think the book SJM has planned after that, the secret project she's excited to work on but won't say what world it's set in, will be the story of Miryam and Drakon and the Seraphim but set 500 years back. SJM said she imagines she'll feel emotional writing it because of who might show up and I'm wondering if that means we'll get glimpses of a younger Rhys, Cassian and Az, but also a look at Rhys's sister before her murder (I think it meant something that Az brought her up in HOFAS).

I think that story could also be relevant to future ACOTAR books because Miryam and Drakon are now in possession of the Cauldron. HOFAS did put the spotlight on the Cauldron in Prythian and in SF, a shudder runs down Cassian's spine as he thinks what might happen if it's awoken again. Giving us the backstory on the land where Miryam and Drakon reside with their people ties in nicely to possible future storylines.

After that I think SJM will move forward with her new series, one that is set the ACOTAR world but is no longer focused on Feyre's story. I think the new series will heavily involve Gwynriel, Mor / Emerie, and more of Nesta's journey and will further connect SJMS worlds with new crossover content.

I think we'll see the Prison lands being turned into Valkyrie territory with them gaining more female warriors as they work towards becoming an elite fighting unit of hundreds / thousands. I think Mor and Emerie might be the ones to oversee the land, with Mor ending up as a female descendent of Theia who can wield Gwydion and Az giving TT to Emerie (Nesta would be the general of the Valkryie but still remain living in the HOW).

I think the Valkyrie will be the defenders of the portal that exists there, protecting their world from outside threats, threats that I think will be drawn to Prythian because of the Cauldron and Merrill. I think Az will end up overseeing the Illyrian (the way Devlon currently does) and the Illyrian will remain the defenders of the portal that exists on Ramiel, with he and Gwyn either living in the townhouse or the cabin in Illyria.

And I also think we'll see a major battle at the end of that new series, with members of the IC / the Illyrians / the Valkyrie world walking and defending a threat outside their world, possibly teaming up with Bryce and Aelin. I feel there's a reason we were told that Nesta can move through time and space and that she'd use the mask to call thousands of the dead (with the added, "but not yet" in SF).

I think that Lucien and Elain will take up the High King role during these times, where they're not necessarily in charge of leading the battle so much as ensuring the peace remains across their own world between the different lands. I could also see Lucien helping Nesta destroy the mask at the end of it all. I think HOFAS makes it clear that Nesta will always be at risk for losing herself to it and as Helion has a connection to it, I think Lucien as his son does too. I also like the idea of Lucien and Nesta having a brother / sister bonding moment where she truly embraces him if he were the one to help her get rid of it once and for all.

Thank you for the ask, if you want you'll have to send an anon and tell me if you have any predictions yourself!

[jewishcissiekj]

One of the things that upset me most about Dark Disciple & the Quinlan/Asajj romance is just how much it's the writers smashing their action figures together. In general, the entirety of Asajj's TCW storylines also severely lack thought other than somebody playing a game with their dolls.

Let me explain. Asajj has a lot of potential. Her character and themes from the get-go (concept art for AOTC Sith) are full of intrigue and mystery. You want to know this character and whatever is behind her, why is she doing all this, and how she got there. And TCW answers that question pretty well. She was a Nightsister baby who was given to a slaver and later trained by a Jedi Master who died, she encountered Dooku and trained under him, only to get betrayed by him and return to her Nightsister roots, causing the murder of almost all Nightsisters and her transition to a Bounty Hunter and …redemption? leading to her eventual death at the hands of Count Dooku.

The thing is, this story feels so all over the place for me. There are themes, sure, but other than a clear motivation, something is missing. There's no point to her character. When she's introduced in The Clone Wars movie, she's just a flirty villain for Obi-Wan to quip and play off of. In the end, when she dies, she furthers a male character's character development we never even see afterward. TCW has plenty of pointless characters, don't get me wrong. But her story starts nowhere and goes nowhere, only affecting her and having no real story importance or relevance outside of that. It also means nothing. There are no repercussions to Dooku taking on an apprentice, no, uh, how do I put this. Her story is full of themes but no meaning. No underlying plotline or development that feels natural and beneficial to her character. That wouldn't be a problem if she was just a throwaway villain, coming in once in a while to flirt with Obi-Wan or fight with Ahsoka. But because of the natural interest in her, the intrigue and mystery, they gave her a story. Not even a motivation, a story that came out of nowhere and in watching back might feel like just an elaborate build-up to Maul's return. Instead of looking at the character and, idk, thinking about how you can develop her current character and the yet-unexplored background with Obi-Wan and her relationship to the Dark Side, they threw her into that whole Nightsister bullshit. And then that wasn't enough and they made her a bounty hunter because they wanted a Boba Fett & friends episode. For the love of god, if she knew about the Nightsisters, why wouldn't she go to them earlier? You didn't tell us how she found out and who told her, so why THE FUCK would she go to Dooku after her mentor's death and not to her people? What of all things made her go to Dathomir in Nightsisters? Why would an ex-dark sider with (probably) knowledge of Dooku's most secret plans who just lost the people she just found go and be a Bounty Hunter? And what about that redeems her? What the fuck was she doing on Coruscant? If she hated Dooku so much and knew she couldn't kill him alone, why would a single Jedi help her do it? What is her motive and why was she so loyal to Dooku if she's just going to throw the Dark Side and her hate for the Jedi out of the window like that? Does she have principles? Character motivations? Is there a point to any of that?

Legeneds version aside, what does she mean? Is she the last survivor? Is she a failed apprentice? Does she just want to be loved but gets consumed by the Dark Side? She's all of these things but none of them consistently. If character development happened, I'd have no problem with her character changing. But it DOESN'T. Things just happen to her and we barely see any reaction to it from her. To me, she's kind of like Thrawn if we never got the (canon) books, empty and lacking any character motivation.

In Dark Disciple, instead of expanding on the actual character, they just kept on putting her in situations. Because we don't really see her POV anywhere in the book, and she's not written to express emotion openly, she feels like she was molded to fit the story instead of the story being character-focused and following her and Quinlan's development through a situation. The only time her character feels well-written in the canon era to me (not just in a fun comic story) is in Dooku: Jedi Lost, which actually shows us her perspective for once, and even if she still lacks motivation, it feels like a story of her character and not of her action figure. She has a character and a personality throughout all of Canon, don't get me wrong. I can't accidentally write her like Ahsoka. But a character and what the writers do to put it in a story are two different things.

And I know I said I wouldn't get into the Legends part of it all, but even in a few shorts and a handful of comics, there seems to be a much more consistent line of thought and an arc to her character than there is in the canon version. The best way I can describe it, tbh, is that something just clicks with the way her story and role are in Legends, while in canon it feels like 10 different people trying to put together 15 different jigsaw puzzles. Maybe it's the fewer writers, maybe it's the different approach to story-telling in general, it's just very different to me. Right now (since a May comic issue and excluding the mention in Ahsoka), there isn't any new Asajj content, so it's not really a problem. But if they ever do something new with her I need them to get their fucking shit together and make it make sense.

[meggtheegg]

🔥 I think it was for whole medias but I want your take on Bucky Barnes specifically pls

Ohhhh man the can of worms you have just opened (I adore you)

So I have a few that I’d like to share…

I’m not sure if this is a super hot take, but I love the direction the current comic run is taking him. Both in a joking “he’s in his villain era lol” way but also legitimately in a “he’s finally turning the tables and taking control of his destiny, rather than sitting and wallowing in guilt and grief over things outside of his control” way. He was given a direct, specific, singular cause of pretty much all his trauma, and instead of being made to take the high road, he just…killed the guy and took his place to dismantle his entire corrupt system, so it would never happen to anyone else, again. And I know they’ve been having Bucky say and do some pretty dark stuff, but I also trust that the writers know what they’re doing, and I can’t help but notice that his behavior when he’s alone is vastly different than what it is when he’s around other people, so I can say with near 100% certainty that he is bullshitting everyone, and I’m having a damn good time watching him do it.

As for MCU Bucky, I’ve got a prediction that his story will go in one of three ways: either he’ll settle down with Sarah and kind of disappear from the story, he’ll die some stupid shock-value death, or (and I think this is the one it’s gonna be) the new Nomad series that’s pretty much an open secret? That’ll be Bucky. Because they’ve spent the last several years setting him up as someone who 1: is largely defined and driven by his loyalty, 2: is deeply loyal to Wakanda, but now also Captain America’s partner/found family for a second time around, and 3: is about to be thrown onto a team where the woman in charge is actively trying to start a war between the US and Wakanda. His loyalties are going to be tested and split more than ever, and honestly, I think him becoming sort of a vigilante that operates without a strictly defined allegiance to either makes a lot of sense, and, similarly to the comics, breaks him out of the rut he’s currently in. And, on a meta level, it does feel relevant that the comics are suddenly giving him that same sort of vigilante angle and tying him really closely in with their Nomad and White Wolf, despite having little to no prior connection with them. Not to mention that Sebastian Stan is becoming an increasingly famous actor whose name actually has some pull, so Marvel writing him off now just seems like a poor choice, considering he’s shown no signs of wanting to leave. I think he’s had the longevity, at this point, that Bucky will only get a real, final ending once he decides he wants to move onto other things.

Also, this might age like milk, but I don’t think they’re dumb enough to substitute Yelena into the comic BuckyNat storyline. If anything, I could see her being somehow related to him, whether that be literally or metaphorically, and having more of a family dynamic that maybe causes some turmoil with Alexei and the rest of the Thunderbolts. Because not only has she shown zero interest in romance (as she shouldn’t, being aroace in the comics) but I really think he and Sarah are ultimately going to be endgame (assuming, again, that he doesn’t die horribly).

[strawberrytalia]

the talia anon here!

thanks for that reading list! I think I might start with the arrowfam bc I'm very intrigued by Dinah's character. honestly, the reason why I didn't ask about the mystics is bc I have never encountered them with whatever DC content I have consumed (which is not a lot) and I want to expand to something I'm familiar with first

I'm currently going through both preboot Talia and postboot robins which are drastically different with its talia (like SOTD Talia giving up her son for adoption so he can be something more and won't have to grow up the shadow of The Demon and The Bat vs Tomasi's Batman and Robin Talia that purposefully raised Damian in the league). honestly give me the ick.

unfortunately, the existence of Damian really did ruin what Talia could have been, but I wanna ask (you can totally ignore this portion of the ask if you're too uncomfortable, I'm just intrigued by what you have to say) how do you think Damian and OG talia can co-exist in current canon?

i know there's a person writing a fic about how while talia has her whole lexcorp era ra's kidnaps damian and raises him. Once Talia finds out she gets Damian out and brings him to Bruce (I haven't read it, but I know of its existence). I honestly prioritize Talia's character over Damian's since she was created first and I am 100% ok with Damian's characterization being mellowed out a bit, so it doesn't show Talia horribly, something to show that Talia did try to protect him (it'll be like that quote that said "just because you mother didn't break all the generational curses doesn't mean she didn't break any") talia knows how bad it is to be raised in LOA, so she needs something to make her stay IMO. maybe Ra's promises to be a better grandfather than he was a father, maybe there are external threats to Damian that talia really can't deal with without LOA's resources or something to do with Nyssa (I am so intrigued by the sisters. i want to see the mess of emotions that comes with them interacting. i really do think Nyssa would hate Talia because of Ra's, but talia would just like to hang out with her like the youngest child she is)

now im just rambling but you get the gist

Hello again!!!!!

Ahh so with Dinah, I would recommend Longbow Hunters, then jump into GA Vol 2 and then maybe Birds of Prey (where she shines outside of the family)!! There are other appearances but unfortunately they’re not the best representation of her character (cough GA/BC)

Also yeah totally understandable with mystics!! They really do have a VERY different vibe than majority of the DCU, and it is super enjoyable, but also a little complicated and difficult to get into at first.

Yeah thinking about Talia’s deterioration upsets me a lot. In addition to raising Damian, there were a lot of really gross, unnecessary changes that undermined what she had gone through. Like she was a canon SA victim, and then they have the audacity to make her a rapist herself in the most uncharacteristic way possible. It’s so so so gross.

I agree with you though, I absolutely do prioritize Talia’s characterization over Damian’s. She was a fully fledged character created before him with so much relevance to not just Batman, but the DCU. I love Damian!! But he was also essentially an OC created for a storyline with an agenda that has grown to invalidate adoptive relationships. I’m NOT saying I wanna get rid of Damian, but if I had to choose between them, I’m picking Talia personally. 100%.

THAT is an interesting question because I don’t quite have a solid answer myself yet. I know what AU you’re talking about, and I like that idea a lot! But something about it also rings hollow to me?? If that makes sense??? In a personal sense, I feel like it also absolves Talia of a lot of agency and action, and I would rather her character be in a more proactive position.

And I also think Talia would be a lot smarter and more clever in making sure there was absolutely no way Ras would ever find her baby. So the AU does undermine her a bit, in my personal opinion.

However I think the most integral part of Damian’s character is the way that he revolves around the concept of redemption, especially as an abused child. So it also feels very wrong to take away from that, since it’s such a core aspect to him.

So there’s the conundrum.

GAHHH it’s hard thinking of ideas that will do both of them justice, unless you completely revamp Damian’s character.

Maybe Talia stays in the league with Damian and under the guise of being loyal to Ras, she’s actually secretly plotting to take him and the whole League down. She keeps as much of a watchful eye on Damian as she can, but she’s not perfect and she also wants him to be able to fend for himself. So if he has to learn the harshest ways of survival and combat, so be it. (Talia logic not mine). Talia doesn’t raise Damian to be proud of the League or his Grandfather. She keeps him aware of what she’s planning and why they have to do that. She tells him about Bruce (just like in canon) but makes sure Damian knows until the time is right, he can’t meet his father. Plans get messed up, Talia’s big idea goes haywire because of an outside party, and nowhere near her is safe for Damian. Except for Bruce.

So kind of adapted from canon except less evil weird eugenics rapey storyline, and something that gives Talia a bit of autonomy. Damian would also have less of a brainwashed League personality while still carrying trauma and mixed feelings towards his family. I don’t think Talia would be a perfect mother. I think she’d try her best in the way she knew best, and unfortunately, her way is not that great. But most importantly, she would want Damian to have a better future than she did. If it meant enduring 10 years of the League, she’d make that sacrifice.

Other possible idea: Talia was a med student going to University of Cairo in her early appearances. I kind of like the idea of her becoming a traveling medical personal bringing Damian alongside her, except they’re both hiding their identities. Again, it wouldn’t be picture perfect, she’d still make sure he was aware of the dangers in life. But I feel like they’d have an interesting story that way.

Or maybe she kills Ras, escapes the League, the new leader of the League is like whatever and just leaves it alone, and she just openly raises Damian in the realm of Lexcorps business and politics lmao. Little baby Damian wearing a suit and attending meetings on his mom’s lap while she verbally assassinates men.

[national-nobody-writes]

What are you looking forward to seeing in Young Justice season 5?

Ooo, good question! Presuming we get a S5 (fingers crossed), they've been teasing us with Jason for two seasons, so I'd love to finally find out how he died and was resurrected in the YJ-verse. Considering how they adapted Barbara's story, I'm SO curious to see if Jay's backstory is different too. There are SO many longer fics I wanna do with YJ!Jason, but I keep holding out in case they do something interesting with him that I'd want to incorporate (Grandon, make him and Arsenal friends, I beg of you).

Obv I'd love to see Wally come back, but it seems supremely unlikely at this point (though I'd love to be wrong...after all maybe that's just what Grandon WANTS me to think! *insert that gif of Dinah telling Wally he's in denial*).

Also, even though I'm not the biggest fan of Brion, it seems like they're setting him up for a compelling redemption arc. Out of place as it was, I did enjoy the little tease we got near the end of S4 of what's going on in Markovia, and I'm definitely interested in seeing how he manages to finally break both himself and all the newly brainwashed metahumans free of Zviad and Jace's influence. It seems like his allegiances are a real lynch pin in the Light's current plans, so I'm assuming it'll get a lot of focus in S5.

Speaking of the Light, Grandon have said that they'd roughly planned out five seasons of the show back in the day, and have managed to overall stick to that big picture so far. If that's true, then I would presume we may FINALLY see the final, big Vandal & Darkseid showdown that they've been building up since S1. I really hope so, because it felt like that storyline was inconsequential to the main conflict of S4, despite the fact that they featured HEAVILY in Artemis, Zee and Kal's arcs. Like, we already had Lor and the Zods as 'main' antagonists (despite that not being made clear until the back half of the season), and THAT conflict got resolved, but it had next to nothing to do with what Darkseid or the Light were up to, so??? It'd be nice for that storyline to finally end so that we can move on.

I'm VERY excited for Supergirl and the other new furies, and I hope she, Mary, and Big Barda will actually be relevant to the plot and get some interesting development.

I could go on, but this is long enough as it is. I assume most of the things I want to see most, Grandon prob won't give me (more screen time and focus on the S2 kids & Outsiders besides just Gar, Tim speaking...like at at, lol, Cissie and Stephanie getting to be actual characters with Things To Do, etc).

How bout you?? What are you hoping to see next season? 👀

[gwendolynnderolo]

the 911 fandom and female love interests: a controversial hot take

here is my hot take of the day that will probably piss off a lot of people but it’s just my opinion on how the fandom has reacted to female love interests for buck and eddie, specifically ana, and how members of the fandom have been reacting to those reactions.

i’ve seen a lot of posts saying stuff like “you only dislike ana because she’s coming in between buddie” and i’m here to say: so what?

now, i would like to preface this by saying i don’t dislike ana as a character and have a massive crush on gabrielle walsh, but to be completely honest i don’t have much of an opinion on ana except for that i think she’s pretty and i don’t like her and eddie together.

do you want to know why? because she does not have a personality outside of her relationship with eddie and her connection to christopher. there is literally not enough information about her as a character to even develop a strong opinion on her. the only substance we have that we can develop a strong opinion on is how she impacts the main characters.

here is a list of the things we know about ana:

she was christopher’s english teacher

she’s latina

she has a family member named edmundo

she told eddie that christopher has limitations and that there are things he won’t be able to do

she got her doctorate and is now a vice principal

she’s a good cook

she’s dating eddie

that is the extent of what we know about ana flores. is any of that worthy of hating her? no. but is any of it worthy of being really emotionally invested in her? also no.

now here is a list of things that have happened with other characters as a result of ana flores:

christopher fell off the skateboard (not directly her fault but it was made very clear that eddie blamed her and yelled at her about it)

christopher got mad at eddie (on two separate occasions)

eddie didn’t notice his own son sneaking out of the house

eddie acted like a completely different character for an entire episode

don’t get me wrong, i think she’s had some good impacts too, but those are the things that the story has highlighted. not to mention the fact that eddie now has a canon significant other and it is less likely that buddie will become canon any time soon.

now, are any of those things worthy of hating her? no, mostly because the majority of those things were not her fault, but the way that the storylines were written, they were directly connected to her influence and presence in the story as either christopher’s teacher or eddie’s girlfriend.

the fact of the matter is that ana has gotten zero development as a character and currently has very little substance outside of being eddie’s girlfriend. and this is not a new thing that the writers have done. see: ali.

ali is introduced not as a love interest but as an emergency victim. we see her interact with buck and eddie for two episodes, don’t see her for six episodes, then see her in the last episode of the season only for her and buck to break up. her sole purpose as a character was to be buck’s girlfriend for half a season and then break up with him.

here are the things we know about ali:

she designs hotels (i think? something like that)

her boss sexually harassed her

she was trapped in a high rise during an earthquake with buck and eddie

she dated buck for an unknown amount of time

she travels a lot for work

she helped buck find an apartment

she broke up with buck after his leg got crushed by the ladder truck

none of those things really merit any kind of a strong opinion on her. i don’t even think she was mentioned for the majority of season 2B unless it was plot relevant that buck had a girlfriend.

love interests that are not main characters are not well developed characters because they don’t need to be. they’re not people, they’re plot devices for main characters to develop or for storylines to progress in a certain way.

look at the actual well developed romances on the show: bathena, madney, henren, even buck and abby although it was just one season. all of these relationships are between two main characters or a main character and a prominent supporting character. henren slightly less so, but they’re established as a couple at the beginning of the show and get their fair share of storylines, so they still have development.

it’s very difficult to be invested in a relationship between a complex well developed character and a fairly one dimensional undeveloped or under developed character, and it’s also difficult to be invested in a character that has a very one dimensional personality.

ana has basically no flaws outside of the skateboarding incident, so what else would people be disliking her for if not for that she’s coming in between buddie? and if people are disliking her for coming in between buddie, then that’s completely valid. i’m very emotionally invested in buddie and really want them to become a couple, so i’m kind of annoyed that they’re bringing in a female character who has no personality except ‘love interest’ and making her be eddie’s girlfriend.

now, i’m not saying that means it’s totally okay to say “ana is a horrible person and i hate her because she’s coming in between my ship” because all evidence points to her not being a horrible person and it’s definitely not okay to say that. but it is completely valid to say “i really don’t like this character being on the show because they’re not developed and are coming between a ship that i’m very passionate about” and that doesn’t make you sexist or racist or whatever else people are saying, as long as that’s genuinely why you don’t like her.

these are fictional characters, not real people, and it’s valid to not like a fictional character because they’re preventing a storyline from happening that you really want to happen.

most importantly: THIS DOES NOT GIVE YOU ANY RIGHT TO ATTACK GABRIELLE WALSH. she is not a writer on the show, she did not write ana this way, she did not choose to have ana be eddie’s girlfriend, she is not the reason why buddie is not together. she is an actress who was hired to play a role and she is doing an amazing job with what she has been given. if you’re going to dislike any real people, dislike the writers because they’re the ones who are writing the story this way.

to sum up a ridiculously long post: if you love ana flores, great! if you hope her and eddie are endgame and have a very long and happy relationship, then you do you. if you’re kinda eh on ana and don’t feel strongly either way, that’s totally fine! if you really don’t like ana, that’s also totally fine! if you like ana as a character and think she has potential but you don’t like her and eddie together, awesome! if you’re secretly praying for lena to come back and for her and ana to be girlfriends (like me), then please come talk to me because i would be so here for that.

you are entitled to your own opinion, but that does not give you the right to insult other people or call them names for their opinions or to harass the actress who is just doing her job. respect other people’s feelings and decisions and remember that these are fictional characters whose sole purpose is to create an interesting and entertaining story, and if you dislike a character because you feel like they’re getting in the way of an interesting and entertaining story, you’re 100% entitled to that.

so please, stop attacking other people for their opinions and for the love of god, do not attack the actors. thank you for coming to my ted talk feel free to send me pictures of gabrielle walsh or scream at me about 911 whenever you want!

[ohworm-writes]

MCYT Monster!AU (feat Monster-Hunter!Reader) Overview

au masterlist

Welcome to my Monster AU! I did a poll a while back asking if people would be interested in fics for this AU, and I’m happy that so many of you enjoyed the idea!

I want to give a brief overview of my take on this AU! This post will be updated frequently, so make sure to check back on it! I’ll explain the setting, characters, relationships, and several different ideas within this post. If you have your own ideas on this AU, feel free to share!

Currently, the only characters I’m writing for in this AU are Jschlatt and Technoblade, but this may change in the future (as I am thinking about adding Wilbur, Niki, and the Bench Trio).

My idea for this AU came from this work, which I highly recommend you read! It’s a Monster!Technoblade x Monster-Hunter!Reader. I also got inspiration from the show ‘Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts’, which I also highly recommend you check out!

The masterlist for this AU will be in a separate section of my MCYT Masterlist, so make sure to check it out as well. 

If you’re interested in this, I welcome you to keep reading and stay around!

⮞ Warnings

This story and AU itself will not be suitable for everyone. I want to give a list of warnings before you get into the book. Each chapter will have a list of its own warnings, but these are overall warnings for the book, please be advised.

Works in this series may include but are not limited to (this will be added onto as more warnings become relevant): 

graphic descriptions of injury/gore, cursing, manipulation, mentions of blood and anything injury-related, angst

If you do not wish to see these things when searching through fics, you are free to block the tag #worm’s monster au or skip over the works as they show up. I will put all of my content below cuts, but I want to warn you in the meantime. 

⮞ Setting

The name of the main city that the story takes place in is ‘Las Nevadas’. While this story is not related to the plot and storyline of the Dream SMP, the name of the city had quite the ring to it, so it will be used for the main setting of our story. 

This AU takes place in a post-apocalyptic setting. It will be evident that there are not many other people (humans) around besides our main character, you! That being said, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t other things around. 

The environment is run-down. Examples of this are heavily overgrown buildings, much much more wildlife than normal (whether or not they may be mutated in some ways), and everything seemingly being empty. 

The setting will tend to stay more towards rural and suburban, only on special occasions will an urban area be implemented. 

⮞ Reader

As an author, I want to make my work more open for all of my readers. That being said, all of my works regarding this AU will have a gender-neutral reader! They/Them pronouns will be used, and neither male nor female-specific features or events will be described.

I also will not specify what the reader looks like. This goes for all of my works unless stated otherwise. Things like skin color, gender-specific features, and things like that will not be described. Attire will be androgynous and suitable for all genders. 

Aside from reader features, I want to talk about the reader’s role in these stories. You, the reader, and our main character, are a monster hunter. I will dive into the background for it in the preface, but the idea is that your job is to hunt and kill monsters, more about them will be explained in one of the following sections.

⮞ Las Nevadas Monster Hunter Cooperative

The Las Nevadas Monster Hunter Cooperative is the central Monster Hunter guild within Las Nevadas. The group consists of over 50 members, all of which are survivors that have banded together to oversee the eradication of Monsters within the city. 

The group is seen as a whisper among outsiders, a myth to most. Little is known about the group. When they find someone they believe would be a good contender for the group, they send invitation letters to the people in question. 

The group itself is not one that should be taken with a grain of salt, seeing as those who have denied the invitations will find their own residency overrun by high-leveled Monsters. The group is not afraid to get violent, that much is made clear. 

The headquarters of the base is unknown. The names of the members are unknown aside from Quackity, the group’s Recruitment Officer, and Punz, the group’s best monster-hunter. 

⮞ Monsters

Our other main characters for this story! Monsters are classes depending on how dangerous they are, I used SCP classifications to determine how dangerous they are. These classes range from Safe, Euclid, Keter, and Neutralized. Safe being the safest, aside from neutralized, which I assume you can figure out as to why. Keter being the most dangerous.

Monsters are an anomaly in themselves, seeing as our story takes place in a post-apocalyptic world, such an event turned some animals, plants, and humans into monsters. Monsters who were previously humans are the only ones who can speak and have a somewhat clear conscience.  

All monsters have attributes and/or senses about themselves heightened. Monsters who were previously human have been mixed with animal/mob/other creature’s characteristics. Animals and plants have their senses heightened, but not nearly as much as human-like monsters, in most cases at least.

⮞ MCYT Monsters

Schlatt - The Ram

Schlatt is a large, humanoid, ram-like monster, his classification being Euclid. He was originally a human, but after a certain event took place that left the world in ruins, he mutated and now has a humanoid-ram form.  

In his monster form, he has two sharp and threatening ram horns that protrude from his head, his body becoming twice its normal size and with a lankier frame. However, his frame does stay rather bulked-up. His face resembles that of a ram, but much much more terrifying. Patches of brown fur are scattered along his body in this form, leaving many hairless patches along his arms, legs, and back. His strength and speed are heightened in this form. 

Besides this form, he has a much more human-like form he can shift into as well. It resembles that of his past self, the only difference being a black tint to the ends of his fingers, a set of much less threatening horns, and a set of ram ears and tail. 

Clothing-wise, in his monster form he wears none. But in his human form, he tends to wear more formal clothing. He dons a suit on most occasions, the most he’s willing to dull it down to is a button-up and slacks. He keeps a red tie on at all times. 

Height: 

Monster form - 12′8

Human form - 6′2

Technoblade - The Blade

Techno is a Piglin Brute monster, his classification is Euclid bordering Keter. He was born a monster, however, he does still have two separate forms. He is one of the very few exceptions of a Monster that can speak, having picked it up from humans, books, and Monsters.

In this form, he resembles much of a Piglin Brute, his body twice its normal size. He has a much more muscular build, with his hands replaced with hoof-like claws and his feet replaced with hooves. His skin is much rougher, having a dark pink tone to it. All of his senses are heightened especially strength. 

While he does have a true monster form, he has the ability to shift into a less threatening form as well. This form resembles that of a regular piglin, his skin smoother and a lighter shade of pink than his true form. He wears quite a bit of gold jewelry in this form as well. 

Clothing-wise, in his monster form he wears the scraps of his clothing from in his piglin form. He grows exponentially when he turns, so his clothing tends to become ripped if he has it on. In his piglin form, he likes to wear semi-formal clothes, this being frilly loose-fitting tops, slacks, and of course, his robe, which he only wears in his piglin form. 

Height: 

(True) Monster form - 10′4

Monster form - 7′3

⮞ Other

When the works are posted, they can be found in my MCYT masterlist. The preface is used for all characters in this AU, individual chapters are specific to the character. Again, this post will be updated frequently as the story progresses, so make sure to check it out when it’s up!

The taglist for this series is open as well. If you want to be notified of when the works are updated, shoot me a DM or an ask and tell me which character’s taglist you’d like to be added to!

I hope you all will stay tuned~

[emmys-grimoire]

Lesson 54 analysis + 55 predictions

This lesson was light on the lore, so this will be mercifully short.

If I can find out how to post commentary with 10+ images later, I'll do that and give you all the juicy spoilers. Until then, though, you'll have to settle for the highlights. Apologies.

Barbatos's Origins

The interesting morsels in Lesson 54 are Barbatos-related, naturally. It wasn't so much a character arc for him so much as it was a finally-getting-to-know-him-sort-of arc.

Sort of.

This makes it obvious that Barbatos was not always in his current position, and that Devildom society considered the position beneath his power and capabilities as a demon. He's likely more powerful than the brothers, who are considered the rulers of the Devildom alongside Diavolo.

I've theorized before that this bit in Season 1 may give us some insight into Luke's potential origins, but it is also just as relevant to Barbatos, who is clearly the manservant it's alluding to.

It's not entirely out of the realm of possibility that this is a red herring they had no serious intention on following up in later seasons: something to just throw out there for funsies and to create an amusing anime title. Personally, since we've found out that Solomon has had someone he pined for in the past, I think we're full up of long lost love backstories and there may be too much overlap if they intend to go with it.

If they really want to jump the shark, both Barbatos and Solomon could have once loved Lilith! No other women exist in the story outside of Lilith and possibly MC!

There's are other interesting crumbs in Barbatos-related Devilgrams and chat conversations.

This hints at some special regard for humans as a whole. As we found out in the previous lesson, Barbatos decided to answer Solomon's summons, for whatever reason. Why does Barbatos have a soft spot for humans, I wonder?

I think there's a decent chance that we'll find out that Barbatos is some ancient, primordial being that predates the creation of the Devildom and the Celestial Realm -- or an entity that just always existed along space and time itself. Obviously Barbatos is a demon now, but it may have been a voluntary choice on his part to become one OR he was changed due to some mishap on his part (like falling in love with an angel and "messing up" in his quest to be with them, or the previous Demon King doing something to him).

We do know that Barbatos acts more like a caretaker towards Diavolo than just a servant, and Diavolo -- the most powerful being in the Devildom -- feels obligated to mind him. The reason behind this is probably related to how he came to be in the Demon King's service.

He’s a weird snake thing in demon form so he might be related to the ouroboros, which is supposed to embody the start and end of time.

Innate Angel Abilities

It's nothing new or surprising, but we learn that angels may have innate qualities that draw humans to them. Barbatos is unsurprised when you tell him you're fond of Simeon and Luke.

It might just be varying degrees of the super charisma that Lucifer and Michael are alluded to have, but it might also contribute to MC's apparent magnetism. The game repeatedly alludes to our pseudo-angelness.

It might also, funnily enough, work on demons.

But Diavolo has admitted he doesn't like Simeon, who was once a high-ranking angel, so I won't be surprised if Lucifer is just special.

Barbatos's Grimoire

We learned it was a fake, so Barbatos may not necessarily trust Solomon as much as he said he did in the previous lesson. It was a ploy he and Asmodeus were in on all along!

Though I'd argue agreeing to a pact with him still suggests there's a high degree of trust there. Solomon might still have it: he might just not have trusted us to have it. The whole trial was to demonstrate that we could keep a secret/not violate Barbatos's trust.

And I was right, it was the trial of chastity.

We have just diligence and humility left.

Predictions

It sounds like we may be heading to a theme park for the next lesson. Beelzebub and Belphegor have fond memories of sneaking off to human carnivals back when they were angels, so I wouldn't be surprised if the trial of diligence has an arc involving Belphegor. He's up for one.

I've theorized the trial of humility will be last on the docket and will revolve around Lucifer. That's where the climax is gonna be, or it will be after that trial is completed and we get our last star. Others have pointed out that it could involve a conflict with the Sorcerer's Society due to the shenanigans Solomon's past apprentice pulled. We are, after all, doing all this to get our coveted sorcerer's license so we're legit.

We still haven't figured out what Michael intends to do. We've went from talking about him frequently to not talking about him at all, but the storyline do be like that sometimes.

We still have six lessons left, so there's plenty of room for something to happen.

[aegor-bamfsteel]

Hello Bamfsteel, since you already talked about Young Griff Blackfyre, and Daario Blackfyre theories, and there has been some debunkings on them, do you have any Blackfyre candidate or do you think the line of Daemon ended?

Hello, anon!

I believe many Blackfyre descendants are still around and will continue to be around by post canon. They are the parallels to the Targaryens who, despite the name having died out at the end of show!canon (and I’m sure will die out by book!canon), have descendants in the Baratheons (who will also survive through the illegitimate line), Martells, Velaryons, Longwaters, Plumms, Penroses, Hightowers, possibly the Tarths, possibly the Otheryses, and others (not counting Jon and the illegitimate children of Saera, Aerion, and Aegon IV +Maegor and Vaella since we don’t know what happened to them). It’s significant that despite these families all having Targaryen blood, they don’t consider themselves Targaryens and neither does anyone else (in fact, Jaime mocks Rennifer Longwaters for bringing up his distant ancestor Elaena Targaryen); their ancestry is, at most, a curiosity. That‘s how I think the assimilated current descendants of Daemon and Rohanne generally feel about their heritage, especially those descended from their daughters (Tyrosh is possibly matrilineal due to their custom of bride price/bride service); they are elite Tyroshi nobles who help choose the Archon, and aren‘t really interested in Westeros outside of trade. Due to the number of children Rohanne had, I wouldn’t be surprised if a few families of the elite could call her an ancestress. So I don’t think most of these descendants are relevant to the story.

Some theories about relevant Blackfyre descendants under the cut:

I mentioned this in the DaarioBlackfyre!Meta, but I think if any Blackfyre descendants actually appear in the storyline, it’s among the families of the Golden Company. The men I think make the most sense as Blackfyre descendants are Laswell Peake and his brothers, Torman and Pykewood. Laswell is one of the few officers referred to as a Lord, but an exiled one and not a Lord of Starpike; it’s likely he’s the legitimate heir to the Peakes of Dunstonbury (my opinion) or Whitegrove. His reference to “after 100 years, some of us still have friends in the Reach” and his brothers serving in the company indicate his family has been serving the the Golden Company for generations; we still don’t know how Gormon Peake learned about Daemon II’s plan for Whitewalls and coordinated it with him, but it’s possible that his exiled cousins told him. Gormon Peake was mentioned as a great knight and was a lead conspirator for the Second Blackfyre. We know that his ancestor Unwin Peake went through a complicated scheme just to try to marry his daughter Myrielle to Aegon III, so there could’ve been an attempt at a Blackfyre-Peake match. Along with from the Reynes, Brackens, Yronwoods, and Hightowers (none of which we know made it to exile, and had shaky support of the 2nd Blackfyre), the Peakes were the oldest, most powerful pro-Blackfyre House, which would make them a more plausible match with a Blackfyre than some of the other exile families. I’m saying that it’s not out of the realm of possibility for a Blackfyre Princess (maybe not Daemon’s daughter, but it could be the daughter of one of his sons) to have married the exiled Lord of Dunstonbury/Whitegrove. In real life, the descendants of deposed/exiled nobility can marry in order to keep their claims, rather than give them up to marry a commoner; for example, House Orleans-Braganza, descended from the deposed Princess Isabel of Brazil and the son of the deposed King Louis Philippe of France, whose line forbids morganatic marriages. Laswell and his brothers do want to make it back to Westeros, but if they are part Blackfyre, I don’t think they have interest in ruling anything except maybe their paternal inheritance.

Here’s a crack idea I don’t really believe, but it’s one I don’t think I’ve seen before: the paramour of Edgar Yronwood was a Blackfyre descendant. Edgar’s death seems mysterious and unjustified for such a minor dispute, so I feel there’s something more to the story. I’d like some payoff to the multigenerational pro-Blackfyre support among the Yronwoods, which went beyond ambition. It could be they were very good allies of Aegor Rivers (which seems to be the case), but I wonder if there were ever talks of a marital alliance. 13 years after Maelys’ death a marriage couldn’t happen, but a paramourship with future legitimization for her children might work (it’s also implied with Samantha Tarly/Lyonel Hightower that illegitimate children get legitimized if their parents marry). Again, I don’t really believe the paramour was a Blackfyre descendant—although I would like to know her name and why Oberyn wanted to make sure Edgar died in their duel, if she’s not going to show up again—since this theory really raises more questions than it answers. But a little speculation on a minor story while we’re waiting for the books to come out never hurt anyone.

[thevindicativevordan]

I really like this blog, your analysis and ideas for Superman and his characters was great to read! I hope you don't mind, may I ask what do you think about Hank Henshaw? Do you have any ideas for him?

I think he needs to be radically changed in order to keep working, because as of right now his entire character is "hey remember Reign of the Supermen? That was cool amirite?"

Henshaw was created in an era where the editorial mandate was "the only survivor of Krypton is Clark", and that meant Superman didn't have an "evil Superman" counterpart Rogue in the Post Crisis era the way Pre Crisis did. So the writers had to come up with ways to get around that, some of the workarounds I liked such as Bizarro becoming a clone that Lex makes, and some of which were just so goddamn stupid like the Pocket Universe. But all of the Post Crisis evil Superman counterparts got killed off relatively quickly, including both Bizzaro and Zod after they were used.

Henshaw though was in one of the most popular Superman stories of all time, and he was Jurgens baby, so he got to stick around. But he was a character who was created to serve a purpose in that one specific story, and outside of that what does he have to offer? Disguising himself as Clark and setting out to ruin Superman's reputation since Doomsday robbed him of killing Clark was a great motivation, but once Clark returns and exposes him as a fraud, Henshaw just doesn't really have the character potential to justify keeping him around as is.

Henshaw wants to kill Superman. Great! That sums up the complete motivations of 90% of the rest of Superman's Rogues (which is in part why they aren't on the same level as Batman or Spider-Man's). Henshaw is really strong and tough and can hurt Superman with brute force. Again, a lot of Superman Rogues can do that too. Henshaw is an "evil Superman" design wise. Putting aside the multiple evil Supermen we get these days, most of them just variants on "real" Superman gone bad, Zod and Bizarro are better known and more popular. Henshaw can manipulate technology and rebuild himself from anything. Brainiac, Livewire, and Metallo also do that. Henshaw can't die? Well he's eclipsed in that regard by Doomsday.

He's overshadowed in the aspects that most people focus on by multiple other villains, with only his ties to Reign keeping him relevant which is why Jurgens always calls back to that storyline with him. His motivation is just generic revenge which doesn't work because if he has no goal other than killing Superman, all he can do is fail. His name "Cyborg Superman" is dumb because it only works within the context of Reign when people thought he might be the legit Superman reborn. It's just not a particular inspired name for him to keep using anymore.

If it sounds like I'm just ragging on him I totally am. He just doesn't work for me in his current role as 90s nostalgia. But I do have some ideas for how he could be reworked to be better utilized in the modern day.

What I Would Do With Hank Henshaw

So first we need to change a lot about him while still working with what came before. Right off the bat I'm having Henshaw ditch the "Cyborg Superman" name and form, and use that all too brief "data form" he had in Action Comics Rebirth.

That looks cool! Now we need to address Hank's biggest problem: what does he want exactly beyond just killing Superman? What are some goals he can feasibly achieve that make him a compelling threat? They've tried giving him a new motive a couple times, such as making him a nihilist who only wants to die in Sinestro Corps War, but ultimately he needs a reason to keep existing. If he just wants death he can track Doomsday down or throw himself into a black hole. I've got two roads to take Henshaw down, one that's pretty simple but justifies keeping him around as a threat and allows him the ability to maybe "win", the other more complex.

The simple route is that we merge Henshaw with the Metaleks. These guys were an army of xenoforming robots who were sent out by some unknown alien race to transform planets into something that's more to that race's liking.

Their creators are long dead, but the Metaleks continue the task they were built for. Henshaw catches wind of them, decides they'd make for an excellent army to do his bidding in the same way the Manhunters were, and attempts to seize control. Instead he gets absorbed into their collective hive mind, his hatred infecting them until it warps their programming, his malevolent mind guiding them and lending them his intellect. Now the Metaleks are a swarm of locusts, out to cleanse the entire galaxy of all life, with Henshaw as the Metalmind behind it all (yes that is his new name, shut up I'm not getting paid for this). With Clark going cosmic, this makes for a good way to keep the two foes fighting each other. Henshaw doesn't have enough control to make the Metaleks focus solely on killing Superman, but his upgrades and coordination means the Metaleks are a much greater threat to other planets than they were previously. Henshaw can now potentially "win" by cleansing a world of life, something that is going to hurt Clark bad given Clark's entire background, and because anywhere not named Earth gets wrecked all the time.

That's the simplistic route. Upgrades Henshaw as a threat while reducing his motives to "kill everything". The more complex route leans into Henshaw's origins as a Reed Richards expy, by basing him off that other evil Reed Richards:

Jurgens had Superman imprison Henshaw within a fake life with his family and friends who died in the accident that gave him powers. I'd have that fake life knaw at Henshaw until ultimately he realizes that his feud with Superman is a pointless waste of time, and what he really wants is his family back and his status as a respected leader restored. But he's a mass murderer and there's no redemption for him at this point, so Henshaw embarks on a quest to build his own little world for him to rule over.

First he seizes control of the Metaleks as in above, but in this route he manages to bring them under his control, christening himself their Metalmind. With an army of terraforming robots on his side, Henshaw begins terraforming his own world. He also retrieves the corpses of his family who died from their mutations and begins working on resurrecting them. At this stage you can have Henshaw in any number of schemes to acquire the resources or tech he needs to build his own kingdom, or to acquire the bodies.

At the second stage once he's got what he needs, he'll start building. First he revives his family (while ensuring that they will be loyal to him above all else). Then he starts creating his "children":

He's been around long enough to know either Superman or someone else will come after him eventually, and Hank Henshaw is prepared. He creates a race of beings who view him as both father and god, who will give him the adoration he craves and showcase his intellect. At this stage you can have stories involving Henshaw where he dispatches his "children" on missions to prove their worth and test their capabilities. Clark has to find and stop these agents while also trying to figure out where they're coming from.

The final stage is when Henshaw is confident that his forces are powerful enough to take on Superman, and then he does the unthinkable. He petitions the United Planets to join as a member. To Clark's horror they accept, and as the head of a planet Henshaw now enjoys intergalactic diplomatic immunity. His creations are now seeded inside the United Planets itself, and Henshaw can put his efforts wherever he wants. He can run twisted science experiments with his family, be the fist of the United Planets alongside Zod, helping the organization grow in ways Superman would abhor, he can try to kill Superman whenever Clark attempts to block his schemes, with his ability to still wrangle concessions from the UP as a way to keep him from just losing all the time. He can be Clark's Dr. Doom in other words, that long term opponent who is always working an angle, and has an entire nation/world behind him he rules as a god.

To me that's a much more interesting angle than him talking about that one time back in the 90s when he was cool anyway.

[thundergracesource]

Deadline talked to Thuy about what’s in store for Grace in season four, Asian and queer representation in the superhero space and the possibilities of seeing Grace team up with her half-sibling Ryan Choi (aka Atom).

DEADLINE: When you first read the role of Grace Choi, what was your initial reaction?

CHANTAL THUY: When I read the role, I was blown away by Grace’s playful wit, her strength and the fact that she was actually written as an Asian American superhero, which is still rare to this day. I knew it was a role that would be really fun to play. My interest was also piqued because I had never seen an all-Black superhero series on The CW before, and I thought that was a really interesting and important story to explore.

DEADLINE: As you enter season 4, how do you think Grace has changed since the beginning and how do you plan on navigating what’s in store for her in the new season?

THUY: As the seasons progressed, Grace has started to embrace her strengths and her powers, which I see continuing into season 4. She’s gaining control of her shapeshifting abilities, she’s less volatile, and less of an outsider. I’m hoping this will mean a new suit and getting to join in on more of the family fights to protect Freeland! I also feel her tendency to avoid intimacy will slowly be mended through her relationship with Anissa.

DEADLINE: Grace is one of the only — if not the only Asian superheroes on TV right now. What does it mean to you to have a queer, Asian superhero at the forefront of one of the biggest comic book TV franchises?

THUY: I can’t say this enough, but media and entertainment shape our beliefs, thoughts and perceptions, and it is important for Asian Americans to also have a seat at the table and have our voices heard. We are one of the fastest-growing racial groups in the United States, yet we are still greatly underrepresented when it comes to roles in television and film. It’s time for us to have visibility and be seen. For this reason, I feel even more so blessed to be portraying a queer Asian superhero on a show with such a historic debut for television representation.

DEADLINE: Speaking of Asian superheroes, Osric Chau’s Ryan Choi (aka Atom) made his debut on DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. In the comics, Ryan and Grace are half-siblings. Do you think we can expect them to meet in the Arrowverse in the near future?

THUY: I would love nothing more than to see what a storyline would look like if Ryan Choi and Grace got to team up in the Arrowverse. I’m very curious to see what their backstory is and how they would interact. I think that there’s exciting opportunities available with the crossovers, and who wouldn’t be interested in seeing two long-lost half-siblings reconnect? DEADLINE: Why do you think a show like Black Lightning is relevant more now than ever when it comes to the representation in TV? How do you think Black Lightning speaks to the current social landscape? THUY: Black Lightning has been successful in exploring real world issues that affect Black communities in America, while also being able to entertain audiences in the process. Salim, our showrunner, has been an amazing voice for the community. These issues need to be discussed now more than ever in this period of social unrest and political mess. To close off, I also deeply experience the value of the work when young girls and women reach out to me and say they feel seen and validated in part due to the relationship between Nafessa Williams’ character and mine, which is something they rarely get to see between two POC superheroes on television.