#rebooting retail

[absolutebl]

2024 BL - Top 10 Trend Report

In last year's trend report I said:

"I think Taiwan has the chops to give us something as good as The 8th Sense or Old Fashion Cupcake but in their style, and I would like to see them exercise their talent for good rather than just profit."

And Unknown happened.

I asked for it, they gave it to me. I could not be more happy. So anyway, I just wanted to crow a bit.

And now...

2024's TRENDS!

1 Trope Subversion Levels Up

My Stand In went so far as to subvert the whole damn romance genre. But in general we saw a lot of BL recognizing, highlighting and calling out it's own absurdities and tropes. From Korea commenting on the Dead Fish Kiss to Wandee Gooodday actually promoting green flag behavior (the real deal).

It was an interesting year for meta commentary, it kind of whole scale left parody behind (say goodbye, Japan) and entered almost every BL from Thailand, even the ones who should have left it alone. (Side eyes Mame.)

2 Old Tropes Revisited

Unknown revisited the step-brother trope (as did Addicted Heroin of course). But there were other old ones we haven't seen in ages, like kidnapping for love, kissing on rooftops, and all the dub con (Blossom). Love Sick rebooted with very little modernization (except where it counted) right up to and including no kisses. Mix Up even did "trapped on the rooftop" which I haven't seen in over a decade.

And then Wimpy dropped. And it felt like I was reading yaoi in my tiny attic bedroom in the 90s.

3 BL Enters All the Workplaces

I love how many adult leads and sides we are getting, even from Thailand. By which I mean, BL outside of a school setting. We still have high school and university set stuff, but that used to be ALL we got. I don't mind school settings, but I like that we have some kind of balance going on these days.

We are starting to get not just cubicles and offices (as Japan foretold) but all kinds of workplaces from retail to authors to the film industry.

4 BL Passes the Sniff Test

He smells good has always been a trope that I love. It was one of my favorite things about Bad Buddy. But this year it felt like every third BL trotted this one out. I was delighted by it. Of course I was. But it happened A LOT.

Century of Love was a key use of it since smell is so coupled to memory, I thought they dealt with it particularly well. But even Japan and Korea deployed the sniff test.

(Seoul Blues)

(Blue Boys) Same actors, different characters.

Pitt Babe

Century of Love

Meet You at the Blossom

Soul Blues

Blue Boys

Dangerous Romance

This Love Doesn't Have Long Beans

Cosmetic Playlover

Sunset X Vibes

Monster Next Door

Secret Love

Perfect 10 Liners (technically a 2025 show, but the sniff happened in 2024)

5 Fewer Shipper Characters within BL

Negative trends are always harder to call (it's easier to track the presence of something over the absence) but I'm still calling this one.

In a discussion of The Shipper @heretherebedork and I got into a discussion about this. It really seems like both we are getting less "female shipper" characters and/or they are evolving into overly interested but very supportive female friends instead. Softening, if you will.

I think partly this is because there has been a general decline in this archetype in yaoi over the past 5-10 years, but also they tend to incur pretty bad reactions in fans, and Thailand (especially) tends to pay attention to that kind of thing.

Unfortunately this also means we are seeing a worsening of the "no female representation at all" backbone of BL. We Are, which I loved, didn't have a single female character. Not even a throw away.

6 The rise of the green flag seme!

The seme (active attacker in the relationship) got a lot of green flag action this year. We saw lots of Dommy boys, Daddy types, and players asking for permission, trying to communicate, talking about safe sex. Particularly out of Thailand.

To make sure this is clear, green flag means he communicates about the relationship and sex, takes no for an answer, asks for permission for (almost) everything, and doesn't do things like (just spitballing here) take a hotel room key and go into the other mans private room when he's not around (or asleep). Okay? Christ on a cracker. (When it comes to flags Mame has red/green colorblindness.)

Some examples:

Alan from Pit Babe

God from Monster Next Door (except for the one journal reading incident)

Sun from Sunset X Vibes (almost too far)

Yak from Wandee Goodday

Latte from Knock Knock Boys

7 Japan Came to PLAY

Japan came to play and will not leave the field that they built. I may not always like JBL, but when I love it, I REALLY LOVE IT, and when it hits it hit hard (pain or joy). And even when I don't like it, it always gives me a lot to think about.

We had 19 JBLs in 2024:

Sahara-sensei to Toki-kun

At 25:00, in Alaska

Dominant Yakuza and Wimpy Corporate Slave

I Became the Main Role of a BL

Love in the Air: Koi no Yokan

Takara's Treasure

Although I Love You and You

I Hear the Sunspot

Living With Him

Love is Better the Second Time Around

Love is Like a Poison

Perfect Propose

Cosmetic Playlover

Sugar Dog Life

0.5D

Let's Eat Together Aki and Haru 2

Mitsuya-sensei no keimakutekina ezuke

Happy of the End

Ossans Love Season 2

Japan had 18 total BLs in 2023.

17-15 in 2022 (a couple I couldn't get hold of and a couple I just don't think are BL, so 2022 is vague).

7 in 2021. <- THAT was when the big jump occurred, 3 years ago. Which might have more to do with the pandemic than anything else.

But back to now: 19 in 2024 means they are actually just increasing their production gradually and in a steady way, as might be expected. In round numbers we didn't see anything unusual.

BUT

The series they've been airing in 2024 are running longer (for them) and being aired over longer periods of time. Not to mention getting better and quicker distribution.

By which I mean, Japan used to have more shorts and movies, less actual series with full run times (by their & Korea's BL industry length standard) on streaming platforms. So I think it's JBL runtime and distribution that is experiencing real growth. And the consistency of that runtime.

In other words, it feels like there are more JBL airing because we have access to most of them (for a change) and they're running long enough to cross into each other (which has been rare in the past).

What's almost more interesting to me is...

8 What the hell happened, Korea?

Korea cut back on their BLs in 2024. I am not sure if that's money drying up, a crack down within the industry over there, the political situation, or something else.

Still, it was wild to see such a stark fall off in production. They had 18 BLs in 2024 but fully half of them were shorts, and more than half were poor production quality than is prior standard. By contrast they had 21 in 2023, but only 1 was a short, and most were very high production (getting 8/10 or higher from me).

Since Korea tends to produce some of my favorite shows, it's no surprise I had no 10/10 BLs at all in 2024 with so little KBL's stepping up to the plate.

I sure hope this isn't a trend but it feels like it might be.

9 Why the hell is the not-kiss back?

Korea doubled down on being a pain in 2024 by bringing back the "they don't actually touch lips and we pretend they did by panning around the back of the head" with the camera. (Jazz for 2 sides, example. Yes, I'm still mad.)

Then Thailand did the with Addicted Heroin. AND with Love Sick.

What is this, 2016?

Color me annoyed. I thought we saw the last of that nonsense with Make It Right.

I remind you all, if they would kiss if they het but they don't kiss when they gay, it smacks of a phobia and I'm salty about it.

Yes yes, there are actor (idol, age) excuses in play. But they should cast differently if this is going to be a problem.

End of discussion.

No really, I don't wanna talk about it. I just want it to go away.

10 The rise of Great Grandmas

We have had cool grandmas before in BL but in 2024 we had so many of them. The Sign, Love for Love’s Sake, Monster Next Door, Jack & Joker, Every You Every Me, The Rebound, Wandee Goodday.

(thanks to @small-dark-and-delicious for bringing this one to my attention)

See the comments for additional discussion of the "why" behind some of these trends as well as a few I missed.

(source)

2023's Trends report here.

[copperbadge]

A horror trope that I very much enjoy is the "haunted book" -- a book that affects the reader in some way, like the Necronomicon driving people mad, or Dr. Mabuse's book that hypnotizes its reader into doing his bidding. It recently had a nice moment in the Magnus Archives, with the Leitner subplot, and there's even a hint of it in Frankenstein, when Victor reads the work of a scientist that his professors dismiss as nonsense and becomes obsessively deranged studying the subject matter.

So it's not that I think it's time for a revival and lord knows the word "reboot" has begun to stink of soulless profit (I think we're one, maybe two flops from a reboot of the MCU). I'm not the most current on horror media in any case so maybe it's been done, but if not I do think we oughta start considering the idea of a haunted phone app.

Apps are already designed for this, anyway. In our current era, a lot of retail "apps" are just reskinned browsers that load an optimized version of the company's website, and the goal of most apps and websites is to keep you in the app/website. (Which is why the google mail and tumblr apps both have internal web browsers.) A lot of phone games are designed to keep you in the game and continually redirect you towards microtransactions, and even apps that aren't games often gamify use; "gamification" has come to be a polite euphemism for "creating addictive circumstances".

Alongside this, a lot of recent cults and cultlike organizations have determined that straight religion is not the best way in anymore, and are coming in sidelong through MLMs (Nexium), wellness and dietary orthodoxies (Bikram Yoga, a number of insta/tiktok orthorexia gurus), or political movements (Qanon). So you get a cult, set up like a business, with an app you use for your business -- or even a cult with a "wellness" app that monitors your sleep, eating, location (wait, that's just FitBit) -- and slowly it gamifies you right into attempting to raise a Great Old One using the power of your downstream or a nice big helping of olive oil coffee.

Although I hate those thinkpieces/art pieces that are all about "you're so busy on your phone you can't appreciate the world around you, remember when we read real paper books" so I would require that the protagonist defeat the evil also using a phone app, or at the very least blind the evil using the flashlight function. Locking the book away in a library app and then putting the phone on airplane mode is a nice resolution, followed perhaps by it lighting up even though it's offline with a message "someone is attempting to locate this phone" as the post-credits stinger for the sequel.

This thought brought to you by Duolingo, which recently fed me, in succession, the task of translating from Italian the phrases

Who do you see in the mirror?

We open the curtains and see the light.

The pillows and blankets are red.

[tamapalace]

Your Tamagotchi Connection 20th Anniversary Questions Answered by Bandai!

You’ve been waiting patiently, and the answers to your Tamagotchi Connection 20th Anniversary questions are here. After a global announcement of the Tamagotchi Connection 20th Anniversary we’ve been soliciting questions form the Tamagotchi community that you wanted answered by Bandai! These questions were brought directly to the Tamagotchi team over in Japan.

Q: Which programming is featured on the Tamagotchi Connection 20th Anniversary?

A: The programming is an nostalgic reboot of the earlier versions of Tamagotchi Connection.

Q: Will Bandai release new shells over time such as the release patterns of the Tamagotchi Original shells?

A: We plan to introduce new shells consistently.

Q: Can the Tamagotchi Connection 20th Anniversary connect with the Tamagotchi Connection series from the early 2000’s?

A: No, the 20th Anniversary devices cannot connect to the older devices from the 2000’s.

Q: Can you confirm is TamaTown will return?

A: At this time, TamaTown is not planned to be re-released.

Q: Will all Tamagotchi Connection’s support both English and Japanese languages?

A: All Tamagotchi Connection shells contain the same programming globally and include the option to play in English and Japanese.

Q: Does the Tamagotchi Connection 20th Anniversary include the pause feature?

A: It does not.

Q: Do you have a list of retailers where the Tamagotchi Connection 20th Anniversary will be sold in?

A: A list of retailers will be shared when the product is officially released. At the moment, we are focusing on Amazon presale, more to come…

Q: The Tamagotchi Connection logo is a bit different in Japan from the global logo, is there a reason for this?

A: All logos were made in the same font as the original Tamagotchi logo. However, for the western logo, it was previously in yellow and blue so we added those changes to appeal to the nostalgic coloring and branding.

Q: Is there a list of territories where the Tamagotchi Connection 20th Anniversary will be available?

A: We will have a list soon!

Well there we have it folks. Your burning questions answered. Bandai did leave some mystery in there, which we can appreciate! With over a month until release, let’s continue to celebrate the iconic return of the Tamagotchi Connection series!

[wjbs-aus]

Fuck it, here's three important websites for if you want to get into Bionicle in 2023, inspired by a conversation I had with a mutual.

Biosector01

The main Bionicle wiki, which is very thorough. Has articles about everything from main characters to minor background villagers, and even out-of-universe stuff like the mediocre (but free) downloadable first-person shooter and the franchise's infamous use of the Māori language. It also covers the 2015-2016 reboot, and also has a sister-site dedicated to Hero Factory I guess.

Wall of History

An archive of all written and illustrated canon Bionicle media, including books, comics, animations, and even the official in-character walkthrough for a fan-favourite adventure game. The text can be toggled between the Latin alphabet and Bionicle's own "Matoran script", for some reason. I can personally say that it is really good, and if I wasn't busy with, like, 5 other things, I would probably be pretty far in (at time of writing, I am at the end of 2002/beginning of 2003).

Biomedia Project

Basically Wall of History but for non-text stuff (including some of the animations that are included in Wall). Includes all the games (free and retail), as well as the franchise's excellent music, various fanmade games and animations, ISO files of promotional CDs, all four films (including their bonus-features!), and even concept art and early pitch documents!

Oh also uh go check out @wjbs-bonkle-au I guess

[dolljunk]

I'll be real here and say I have not watched the Netflix Wednesday doll. Not because of any dislike towards it, but because I've gotten so invested in multiple Netflix shows that literally get cancelled on a cliffhanger and I feel like I waste my time getting invested in something with no ending. I find it incredibly difficult to even revisit them because there's no payoff to it so I just avoid Netflix shows nowadays.

But, like every annoying Millennial who's a bit quirky, I love the 90s Addams Family movies and have a fondness for other iterations of them whenever they get rebooted, so I was excited for a Wednesday Addams doll.

I'm honestly surprised by the rollout of the dolls in the UK because ever since moving to the UK I think the toy distribution is absolute bollocks, and it's really blunted my enthusiasm for new dolls.

But I saw these dolls in person, and it really ignited that passion I had for G1 doll hunting being able to handpick the doll in person. I'm really glad I did as the quality control was really bad in person. Out of the 10 dolls I saw there, three had severe lip rubs against their packaging, a lot had wonk eye and the outfits had sewing issues.

In the end, I picked out the one whose eyes were printed slightly lower and wider, as it reminded me of early Indonesian made G1 doll screenings, and she had a passable outfit from what I saw.

I'm honestly surprised at how thin the packaging feels in hand, and almost flimsy. I'm not shocked how common lip rub is as I feel like even when I holding the box it kept pressing up against her face.

While I do like the little Monster High nods like the spiderwebs and Isi Dawndancer's diary on the packaging, I'm kinda underwhelmed at how much this doll is being charged for at retail price. It's passable but definitely requires some careful consideration.

[thursdayxwednesday]

I kind of wish Hollywood would stop rebooting already iconic thing like I don't need another Twilight and if they are going to be rebooting things why not reboot shows that got canceled after one season but now have mass following like The secret circle for example.

Or if you're going to reboot things that are already iconic why not explore other aspects than the story we were already told like you do not need to retail Harry Potter we have eight movies for that I don't need a TV show give me the marauders era it doesn't even have to be that just give me something I haven't already seen.

[happy-radio]

Had a dream the other day that was actually like a repressed memory. My brother and I, in a little shed one of my druggie birth mom's druggie boyfriends used to make us sit in for hours while they did drugs in the house (I was 4 or so), were sat upon our little rug in front of the TV they set up to babysit us. It's the Barney movie, it was always the Barney movie. We loved Barney. He was our friend. He made us feel safe from all the bad horrible things going on outside that shed. Just learning about love and being a good person with our favorite purple dinosaur while my mom continued to be with people who put us in danger. Barney was always there. Idk man. Gets me really emotional. I was fucking 4, man.

I got a little older, got more stable living with my dad and step mom and shit, went to public school. Everyone hated Barney. Made fun of it. It used to make me cry a lot bc he always made me feel so safe. I haven't thought about him in so long but it's all coming back, and every time the thoughts trickle in, I can't help but cry.

And now I'm being fucking tortured at my job at a retail store bc Barney is next in the soulless reboot chain and the merch is suddenly flooding the place. I didn't know it was being rebooted. And now I look weird as fuck randomly getting weepy over this fucking purple dinosaur

How do I stop crying

[blacktipreefsharkwizarding]

OOC

hey guys! So. It’s been a while anddd life has been going on. And honestly I just want to reboot my whole wizard account because I love the wizardposting community but have started to really resent where I went with my character. I’ve got a few ideas about what to do for my new wizardposting character so I might as well post a poll before cleaning the slate.

Also—should I delete the blacktipreefsharkwizard account, or leave it up for the memories?

[crystallinejellyfish]

What I think Darkley's Boarding School for Bad Boys would teach. PT 2: ELECTIVES

PT 1: Here

By the time you are in ninth grade, they give you the option to choose classes you would want to take. In this context, you're choosing a class that will help you on your way to villainy.

===========================

PERFORMING ARTS- If becoming a Disney villain is your dream, then they definitely have the options.

Drama, Orchestra, and Choir.

VISUAL ARTS- Knowing how to print, take photos, and produce a film COULD do something for a villain It's just an extra skill.

Printmaking, Digital Media, Photography, and Film Production.

BUSINESS- If you wanna be one of THOSE villains that are RICH, then this is definitely the route you wanna take.

Marketing, Personal Finance, and Entrepreneurship.

TECHNOLOGY INFORMATION- In Ninjago, for someone to know a LOT about technology can get you really far. (REBOOTED for example)

Computer Science and Media Studies/Technology.

FAMILY AND CONSUMER SCIENCE- Why the fuck would a villain need this?? For one, learning how to cook for poison (this is a villain school) and CPR is a really good way villains can "deem" themselves as a good person.

Culinary Arts, Retail Marketing, and CPR.

VILLAIN EDUCATION- The prime electives in the School. For this AU, students have to pick a minimum of two of these classes. For Criminology, it's recommended to have it in the 9th grade so it can set up your core classes.

Criminal Justice, Criminology, Networking, Robotics, Metalworking, and Automotive.

PHYSICAL EDUCATION- This is where the brawns part of the "Brains and Brawn" saying. Students at a minimum have to pick two classes (one for the first semester, and the next for the second) to actually pass the requirement to be a Villain.

Group one: Health, Wellness, Physical Education.

Group two: Gymnastics, Weight Training, Martial Arts.

==========================

So like, this is where students could pick what they actually want to do and this would set up their future careers. For 8th and under it's a little bit different, but this AU only includes the older kids (cuz I'm too lazy). But, this is my take on Darkley's electives if it was an actual functioning school for Villainy.

[princesssmars]

thinking about shopping dates with blair. after a hard day of classwork, she groans about needing some retail therapy and drags you to her favorite stores. even though she asks you if something looks good on her and ignores your "you look beautiful, b."'s, she finds it peaceful and a great way to unwind to scour the racks for new designer clothing beside her favorite person.

.

started watching og gossip girl and im obsessed. it has its problems to put it lightly but damn does it outshine the reboot.

[dynared]

With Duke #2 due next week as people start to more openly debate Skybound's take on Hasbro properties vs. IDW's (this is not a debate in sales, retailers are claiming Skybound outsold IDW's comics at least 10 to 1), it's worth looking at the fandoms that developed around IDW's takes on Transformers and GI Joe (more Transformers, as GI Joe struggled with numerous reboots and attempts at making a more modern interpretation of the property before the license was yanked by Hasbro) and why they might not gel with Skybound's more casual-friendly approach. Ramble under the cut:

IDW's Transformers fanbase was one that was insular by design. Not in the "you need to understand this concept from a toy line in 1989" insular, or the "you'll be lost if you didn't read Simon'Furman's Alignment novella", way, but more insular in the concepts that they focused on. Bot-on-bot romance, usually between male robots (James Roberts flat out said he was going to write romance, and went with male/male because it was a toyline full of men). A very notable disdain for concepts that would alter that perception, hence the villainization of the Japanese characters and the Beasts, because many of the fanfic writers hailed from unironic "TRUKK NOT MUNKY" and "TRANSFORMERS SHOULD BE REALISTIC" thinking fantasy elements ruined the series (and a disdain for Japanese mecha tropes in general). However, as noted by others, there were also a lot of holes in the characterizations that were filled by fanfic writers. I'm pretty sure the writers knew this since their old fanfic spawned other fanfic to fill in holes, and they saw it as a way to keep the core audience engaged.

This in turn creates a very focused, dedicated, but ultimately narrow audience, and one more likely to influence the direction of the comics, either positively or negatively. The fanbase want more romance? They got it to the point that the comics were more about relationships than anything. They wanted representation? The writers baked it into the mythos although it has since been discarded by non-IDW-influenced work. And if anyone didn't like it, sic the dedicated fandom on them and tell them to go back to the Bay movies.

GI Joe meanwhile, from the word "Go" felt like something IDW didn't really know what to do with, with their best idea being to give Larry Hama the keys to resume his Marvel run from where it left off (and ignoring the quasi-sequel run from Devil's Due which was mostly made without his involvement). It was clear that IDW's writers and editorial cared far more about Transformers and even Jem and the Holograms (a notorious stinker in sales that went for 25 issues and a 4-issue spin-off before IDW was forced to cancel it due to low sales and never bothered to try again) than the Real American Heroes. Some of that might be because the idea of military comics didn't agree with the more liberal writers there, but I'd argue that they didn't really try, especially with the Energon Universe also going out of its way to avoid a stereotypical "MURICAN soldiers vs. terrorist army" scenario. This resulted in the eventual nadir of the brand, the 2016 relaunch where Skywarp was a member of the team because reasons.

The Energon Universe is quite the opposite of that, and I can see where the worry comes in from the IDW fandom. The soldier toys are important again in a more direct way where it's clear there's more effort put into them. Meanwhile, the robot toys are back to focusing on more universal concepts, like war, family in a platonic sense, and general action. That sense of control feels lost, and it is also introducing concepts that feel like they run counter to IDW's writers and their ethos, particularly ideas that IDW writers rejected whole-heartedly.

If I'm off-base, please let me know, but that's what this feels like to me. A group losing their perceived control over a license, and not taking it well.

[ladyjay333]

Hmm so for the 20th anniversary of this one how about a reboot of number 3. Dante and Becky and their daughter. Alive. (The end of 2 was so sweet I hated having that ripped away.) Randal becoming a better person instead of regressing. Maybe he gets together with Veronica. She would call him out on his bs. He could become an inadvertent father figure to her kids if she was divorced as in the existing clerks 3. Jay and Bob sober as in real life carrying on the arc of Clerks 2. They could still own a dispensary. Why not. Everyone still working and bored. Retail shenanigans. Dickhole customers. Elias and his boyfriend being out and proud. Oh maybe Elias and Randal. 💘 In that case, maybe Veronica is remarried… to snowball. 😂 and it turns out he’s a good parent.

And Veronica and Becky have become close friends through work or some other contrivance.

but most important of all, no one dies. Reality is sad enough. I guess I just wrote an outline for a fanfic.

[digamma-f-wau]

Who Did What for Sonic the Hedgehog's 900th Adventure

So the 900th Adventure was basically this years Annual in spirit, but instead of multiple shorter stories, it told one big story, but with the number of writers and art teams that you would get in a multi-story annual anyways. Sure you could easily read the credits, but it's more fun this way. Obviously spoilers ahead so everything past part 1 is is gonna be under a Read More

Part 1 (pages 1-6): Set-up with Tails

Writer: Ian Flynn (the original main writer on IDW Sonic and post-Metal Virus continues to be one of the main writers, including being the main writer of IDW's Classic Sonic specials. Been with the franchise since becoming a writer for the Archie comics back in '06 and served as the writer for Sonic Frontiers)

Artist: Adam Bryce Thomas (one of the main IDW Sonic artists. been around since the latter half of Archie's reboot)

Colors: Valentina Pinto (initially a secondary colorist whose biggest credit was doing the Imposter Syndrome miniseries, recently seems to have graduated to being one of the main colorists this year)

Part 2 (pages 7-12): Amy and the Orca

Writer/Artist: Evan Stanley (the other main writer of IDW Sonic post-Metal Virus as well as one of the main artists, been around since late in Archie's pre-reboot era)

Colors: Gigi Dutreix (regular cover artist and occasional inker and has even written a few stories; co-authoring Victory Garden from the 2019 Annual and its follow up Future Growth, which they also colored, and solo-writing The Catalyst from 2020's Annual)

Part 3 (pages 13-18): Knuckles and Metal Sonic

Writer: Nigel Kitching (one of the main writers of the old UK Sonic the Comic published by Fleetway Editions back in the 90s)

Artist: Mauro Fonseca (regular artist, major credits so far include Sonic Learns to Drive from the 30th Anniversary Special, co-designing Surge & Kit, doing the A-covers for the Imposter Syndrome miniseries, and doing a bunch of stuff in the concurrent and upcoming main book issues. Also relevantly used to be a regular contributor to the Sonic the Comic-Online fan continuation)

Inks: Rik Mack (recent regular inker, being the main inker on Mauro's more recent interior art for the comic as well as inking other artists, most notably on Tails' 30th Anniversary Special. Recently did some coloring on the back-half of issue 61 as well. Also another former StC-O regular)

Colors: Reggie Graham (one of the main colorists on IDW Sonic post-Metal Virus, after having been a regular on covers beforehand, as well as being another former StC-O regular)

Part 4 (pages 19-24): Eggman and his Mech

Writer: Daniel Barnes (writer of Weapons from the 2022 Annual and the Scrapnik Island miniseries)

Artist/Colors: Min Ho Kim (fairly recent addition of the IDW Sonic crew, being a regular cover artist since Scrapnik #1. Also the character artist on The Murder of Sonic)

Color Assistance: Evan Maly

Part 5 (pages 25-30): Blaze and Cream

Writer/Artist: Aaron Hammerstrom (regular artist, most prominently being the main artist for IDW's Classic Sonic stuff. Also previously wrote/drew the 2022 Annual story Rough Patch)

Inks: Matt Froese (regular inker, mainly works on Aaron's art. Most notable non-Aaron credits include the two Yardley-drawn issues of Zeti Hunt and the first and last parts of Trial by Fire)

Colors: Nathalie Fourdraine (The 1:10 Retailer Incentive variant cover artist for every issue the main book as well as semi-regularly doing covers for side books. Served as the colorist for the Classic Sonic stories Dr. Eggman's Brithday and Amy's New Hobby, as well as the colors and A covers for the Scrapnik Island miniseries)

Part 6 (pages 31-36): Babylon Rogues & Shadow/Rouge

Writer: Caleb Goellner (writer of the Team Sonic Racing one-shot, the 2019 Annual story Jet Set Tornado, and the 2020 Annual story Reflections)

Artist: Abby Bulmer (regular cover artist, as well as artist of the 2020 Annual story The Catalyst and the 2022 Annual story Hero Camp. Notably way back in the day was the artist of the very first StC-O story, and her time on 2000 AD often involved her serving as a colorist for Richard Elson, one of the main StC artists.)

Colors: Heather Breckel (IDW MLP's main colorist, who's been a recurring secondary colorist throughout IDW Sonic's run, often filling in for other colorists)

Part 7 (pages 37-40): The Warp Topaz Cave

Same team (Flynn/Thomas/Pinto) as part 1

[cupkayke]

TBH I totally forgot I had a tumblr account until like... a few weeks ago. Holy shit reading all my old reblogs and posts is a time capsule. I didn't really have a niche until the boueibu fandom, and man, what an experience that was. Is anyone from back then still here?

I'm debating on curating a new feed on this blog or if I'll create a new sideblog for my new interests, or perhaps I won't use tumblr at all still. But uh, just in case anyone is still here and I pop up on your dash, might as well reintroduce myself: I'm Cupkayke! (Also known as KaykeBitez or Kelsey). Since I last logged into this blog I have left my retail job, went into marketing, got married, and a whole bunch of other shit. I'm still really into Tokyo Mew Mew (ESPECIALLY THE REBOOT AHHH) but my major fandom at the moment is Baldur's Gate 3. I was big into BNHA for a hot minute but that's kind of fallen by the wayside now that the sassy vampire and the entirety of the Sword Coast have taken over my brain. Am I back? Maybe. But anyway. Hello again tumblr!

[fabdante]

DmC reboot thing:

Reading stories from people's experiences in retail/food service hell (in the US specifically) just makes me kinda morbidly curious what kinds of next level bullshit the demons got away with. And would/could probably continue to get away with, even after Mundus fell and Limbo collapsed into the real world.

Like, Virility CEOs and shareholders post-Limbo collapse are just like:

"Yeah, our soda is made from demon vomit, is poisoning our costumers (but not so bad it immediately kills them!), and is brewed in vats that are made out of possibly still living demons- but look at how much money we're making! Do we REALLY have to scrap everything and try and start over and use safer materials? Think of all the money we could save by just carrying on as usual! And sure, the majority of our workers are demons, especially the higher ups- but look at how much money they've made us!"

Which. Is honestly kinda depressing in how realistic/plausible it is.

I do think that's a fair point. The bigger obstacle I think would be how much of stuff like the Virility factory survived after the collapse of Limbo and what not (or losing major aspects like how Virility lost it's succubus)

[nopoodles]

Some confusion is normal.You will be housed in the Newly Re-Animated Suites (N-RAS) for two weeks.

From there you will be collected by your sponsor.

DO NOT try to unlock your memories.

DO NOT try to upgrade your mechanics at home or in a chop shop.

If you are having difficulties, talk to your sponsor.And then in bigger, red letters: Welcome To Your New Life.

Ravi read and re-read the last sentence. Welcome to your new life. A new life. Was that a good thing? Did it depend entirely on the life that came before? The life Ravi had no hope of remembering thanks to the chip installed in his brain.

He had read the statement at least fifty times already, each time triggering new thoughts about who he once was. Even so, his eyes scanned over it once more as his right hand fisted and unfisted of its own accord, halfway through the word ‘your’ when the wall exploded, jumping toward him.

Leaping to his feet, Ravi found himself in a combat stance. A person emerged through the dust that had once been a recycled plastic wall. Deep brown eyes raked over Ravi: Examining, assessing.

"Petite," they called over their shoulder. "This is the wrong room." Flicking their head back to face Ravi disturbed their choppy pale hair so it fell into their eyes.

Their sturdy black boots picked their way over the pile of plastic that used to be a wall as they tugged at the collar of the white jacket that could so easily be mistaken for a medical uniform. They turned their full attention back on Ravi where he stood frozen in his combat stance.

They offered a dangerous smile. "Okay, Re-An. I have to move fast so you have two options: you come with me, or I punch you out – and by punch I mean flip the switch that sets you to standby mode so you need rebooting."

Welcome To Humanity by Will Soulsby-McCreath

Available in signed paperback and from other retailers in eBook and paperback.

Welcome To Humanity is a standalone sci-fi dystopian short novel posing the question What Does It Mean To Be Human.

Find out more at WillSoulsbyMcCreath.com