#ships go shooty shooty and that's that

[directdogman]

Hello Hound!! Since it's Dialtown's 2nd anniversary, I've been planning up a few "general" related questions about your series that I've been meaning to ask, but I decided to save them up for the big day because why not? Anyways, here's what I've got, these were meant to be fun to answer so don't sweat it :]

1: How do you feel about Dialtown's success? Are you proud of how far you've come? 

2: Which character was the MOST fun for you to write, and which was the most PAINFUL?

3: What is something you wish more people would talk about or just know about related to Dialtown in general?

4: If you had the opportunity to write a FULL complete, detailed life story of any of your characters, who would that be?

5: What's a character you wish you could have given more screen-time or just in general content? (Considering iirc you were trying to make sure Dialtown wasn't TOO long, so I was wondering if this ever came to mind)

6: From what I know, you've been doing the job of cosplaying several characters in the game and acting out their sprites, which one was the most fun to act out?

7: Speaking of sprites, do you have a sprite you could consider your favorite, out of ALL your characters?

8: Do you have a specific line of dialogue you could consider your favorite throughout the entire game?

9: Could you ever see Dialtown expanding into perhaps sequels or maybe even prequels? More DLCs mayhaps? Heck, maybe even a Dialtown 2 or a Chapter 4??

10: If you could make any fan-made interpretation (such as headcanons, designs, or ships) canon if given the opportunity, what do you think would be your pick?

11: What was the MOST fun part about developing Dialtown? Coming up with new characters? Writing them? Adding all the bizarre dialogue options?

12: And last but not least — on a scale of 1-10, how fun was developing Dialtown just in general?

That's all I have for now, and I'm really excited to see your answers!!

I normally don't answer this many questions, but... alright, sure, tis the season!

1: How do you feel about Dialtown's success? Are you proud of how far you've come? 

Yeah, of course! I'm a lil proud, admittedly, but I'm aware of how comically little I really have to do with it all, even if I did make the game. Luck does play a LOT into it, of course. Granted, I made my share of predictions that wound up being useful, but it always comes down to lady luck at the end of the day. I've seen good projects fail and bad ones go viral. It's really all just a hodgepodge of probability and whimsy. That being said, I am very pleased with DT's success, and the community that's formed around the game! It caught me by surprise!

2: Which character was the MOST fun for you to write, and which was the most PAINFUL?

Gingi's always fun to write. And Mingus. Most painful is tough to say. Maybe Crown. I got a little weird when I wrote his full backstory, kinda caught up in the emotion Norm talks about. Never been a fan of stories getting cut short. You gotta wonder what would've happened if he'd made different choices, y'know?

3: What is something you wish more people would talk about or just know about related to Dialtown in general?

Honestly? Karen, probably. She's super underrated for sure. The fandom still loves her, but she doesn't get the same kind of attention as Oliver, Gingi, Randy, Norm. She's worth it.

4: If you had the opportunity to write a FULL complete, detailed life story of any of your characters, who would that be?

Oh, I already have. I have this monstruous 30-40 page document detailing Crown's life and entire career. It's quite a read. and quite a mind-fuck if you don't know Dialtown's universe too well.

5: What's a character you wish you could have given more screen-time or just in general content? (Considering iirc you were trying to make sure Dialtown wasn't TOO long, so I was wondering if this ever came to mind)

Oh yeah, a few characters had scenes that were cut. Stabby, Shooty, Mingus, Bunny, even Bigfoot! There's also the game's cut 6th datable, who was an interesting character with ties to other characters in the cast who I wanted to do more with. Ah, maybe one day.

6: From what I know, you've been doing the job of cosplaying several characters in the game and acting out their sprites, which one was the most fun to act out?

Bigfoot. I made the ape noises in the suit. Had to. It felt right.

7: Speaking of sprites, do you have a sprite you could consider your favorite, out of ALL your characters?

I quite like Norm's set, Mingus' too. Karen's poses too are quite good.

8: Do you have a specific line of dialogue you could consider your favorite throughout the entire game?

That answer probably changes every day. I like pretty much any scene where Mingus loses her temper.

9: Could you ever see Dialtown expanding into perhaps sequels or maybe even prequels? More DLCs mayhaps? Heck, maybe even a Dialtown 2 or a Chapter 4??

I'd love to make sequels one day! I've got a lot of ideas for where the characters/story would end up. By the time DT1 wrapped up, I'd conceptualized way too much stuff to put in one game (without it taking another few years to finish), so if I ever wanted to make sequels, I'd 100% know where to start! But, that's a later down the road conversation.

For now, I'm gonna keep working on the Roger DLC and if there's demand for more, I can go from there :)

10: If you could make any fan-made interpretation (such as headcanons, designs, or ships) canon if given the opportunity, what do you think would be your pick?

I guess I COULD do that with, like, anything. Nothing immediately springs to mind, since, y'know, I'm in control of the canon anyway. I will say, I've seen headcanons and theories that ARE scarily accurate to canon, to the point where I've feared people would just think I'm lifting stuff from the fanbase! It's a good thing I talk about these things with collaborators, huh? I've got a PAPER-TRAIL!!!

11: What was the MOST fun part about developing Dialtown? Coming up with new characters? Writing them? Adding all the bizarre dialogue options?

Finishing a new scene and realizing how stupidly long it was (without me realizing it) was always a treat. But yeah, writing the characters had to be it. Specifically any scene where a character the audience knows meets someone the audience doesn't know well (or at all), with the dynamic changing. Those are fun to write.

12: And last but not least — on a scale of 1-10, how fun was developing Dialtown just in general?

Hard question to answer. I do really wanna give a high number, but truthfully, a lot of game dev actually isn't super 'fun'. Some tasks are, granted, but many parts are a slog. Sitting and formatting dialogue, and then adding text pauses and pose changes isn't exactly a super thrilling activity. The engine itself also has some issues which I have to work around that adds to the workplace. Play-testing a scene for the 4th time isn't super fun either, or trying to figure out why the game crashes on some PCs and ONLY very rarely... Those tasks are Sisyphean to some degree.

...But, while most of those parts aren't fun, it's all still rewarding. There's a sense of accomplishment when you finish a scene. You get to look back at your hard work, remember the hours you spent typing dialogue into a text box and formatting mass amounts of pngs, painstakingly + manually getting the game's awful pre-loader to deal with the sprites right, etc... and suddenly, at the end, you've got this lil experience that people can play and enjoy. Somehow, the sum of all of those not so fun activities has created something that's going to make people laugh, feel happy. That's special. and even if some parts of development weren't super fun on their own, that's always what I remember. That in the end, all of those not so fun days mattered.

The route I agonized the most over was Oliver's. I went through a few weeks of writer's block, and now, it's one of the most popular routes in the game! Crazy how that happens. I was SURE for about a week that people would rank the route at the bottom! That's what I mean, all of the stress I went through trying to figure it out amounted to something people connected with! To think I almost CUT the route entirely!!!

And y'know, God knows Dialtown gave me something to throw myself at during a time where I REALLY needed the outlet. I'm very grateful to the project for that. So, I'll give DT an honorary 8 out of 10, even if it wasn't a consistently 8/10 experience making it heh heh! Sure glad I did, though and I'm very glad if any of you reading this had a really good time playing it! :)

Thanks for the questions!

[theforty7thgamer]

An inquiry on a concept of romance.

Late last year. I ended a post on my ask blog @ask-marios-apprentice

It involves my OC Garth Exclaiming "I think I'm in love with my best friend"

Said best friend is this universe's version of Meggy.

Art by @buddy-boi-420

I'm trying to inquire what people think of the Megarth (Meggy x Garth ship)

I like the ship and have multiple art pieces of it. But I'm also nervous that people won't like it.

One reason is because of the interpretation of Meggy being a lesbian.

I'm not against Meggy dating women, that's why she is bi.

Art by @dreamystarcroc / @poyo-shooty-art

Truth be told, I even shipped Meggy and Tari for a while.

But as I developed my story. I found myself growing attached to the Megarth ship. So by the time I started writing it. I planted small seeds here and there.

But the thing is.

I want to make sure that people are fine with this. I haven't made anything aside from Garth having a crush on Meggy cannon. They're teens after all. So I'll have room to change course in case something happens.

The blog takes place in the late 2010s just to make it clear

Art by @fay_light on twitter

This is in the case of the writers of SMG4, people whose creations I write fanfiction of, decide to go with a different direction of the character.

But if I ever want to show those. I have to finish the blog and show the obvious ending of the series.

I actually do have a design of Garth as a SUPER that I'm really excited to show, but I'm using all my willpower in order to keep it under wraps.

I want to be careful when writing this

Hopefully people will like it. And if I don't, I know what direction to take the blog in.

Make sure to comment and reblog, and make sure that criticisms are more constructive and not hateful. You're allowed to disagree, just try to be polite.

Take care.

[monosanimegenericzone]

Hunter x Hunter: Phantom Troupe - Blonde Squad

idk how the hell to format this but here i go.

The poll has spoken. i post the sillies on tumbl.

Summary: i give the troupe motorcycles. suffer.

I bullshit a lot and this takes place during a random troupe related mission. the ending is meh. look at the pretty bikes instead ooh yeah ooh

Shalnark & Phinks & Pakunoda, A little touch of Chrollo too.

2.2k words <- yeah i have no idea how that happened

Art Behind the Scenes: https://www.tumblr.com/monosanimegenericzone/763741984903086080/whee-art-progression?source=share

CW: shooty bang. a little murder. this is hxh tho so idk what you were expecting

cw2: very meh ending. this is your final warning.

“Your target is the green truck heading east. Don’t let it get on the freeway,” Chrollo’s voice crackled as Shalnark ran. Shalnark grinned, “Got it! We’ll take care of it!”

“I’ve got rides,” Phinks shouted as Shalnark took his phone away from his ear, “Right around this corner!” 

They rounded the bend and Shalnark gasped aloud. Waiting for them were three identical bikes, shiny and- they looked new! 

“Courtesy of Kortopi,” Phinks grinned, slapping Shalnark on the back, “Paku you know how to-” 

“Yes, I know how to ride,” She gave him a look and came up to the second bike, “Make sure Shal doesn’t start crying. He looks like he might.”

“He’s fine,” Phinks snorted and sat down on the first, “Just happy I finally let him have his own.”

“Phinks this is so sweet!” Shalnark wiped a fake tear from his eye, “I could kiss you!”

“Ew, save it for later,” Phinks started the ignition and revved the engine, “Let’s get going!”

Without waiting, he tore across the sidewalk and streaked into the busy street. Paku smiled softly and quickly followed with screeching tires. Shalnark eagerly brought up the rear, stuffing his hair into a hair tie and then taking off. 

The road was suddenly very unsafe. Phinks led the pack, head down and scanning. He swerved to avoid a crowd of cars and checked the side streets. Anyone in his way would have to dodge him, he wasn’t stopping. He saw a flash of green through the buildings and abruptly swerved at the next intersection. 

Cars honked angrily and someone slammed on their brakes to avoid hitting him. Pakunoda and Shalnark zipped after him, narrowly dodging another car. The vehicles smashed together behind them. With a fresh fire burning on their tail, Shalnark picked up speed. 

Another turn and they all locked onto the target. 

They were chasing an armored vehicle, labeled with a bright sailing ship on the back. With the way it was weaving through cars, it was definitely their mark. A street with three lanes was too small, but the truck was barrelling right through the cars that refused to get out of the way. 

Pakunoda sighed irritably. She swerved around a crushed car and inched closer to the truck. She couldn’t shoot and drive without compromising valuable reaction time. With the speeds they were going, she couldn’t afford even a second of distraction. 

The truck ran two red lights. Horns blared and a car halted just shy of hitting it. Paku veered around it, closing in on the cab. As she got closer, she realized the windows on the driver’s side were reinforced. They were heavily tinted, but with the passing street lights, she could see the moving heads of three guys in the front. Her pistol wouldn’t be able to take out all three of them. Not in one shot. 

She spared a glance in her rearview mirror. 

Phinks leapt over a moving car and hit the ground right next to her, “You got a plan?” 

“No. The windows are too thick for me to shoot through and they’re moving too fast to get a reliable hit.”

“What about the trailer?”

“It’s a single truck, not a trailer. Unless we can stop it in its tracks, we can’t get to the container.”

Shalnark had fallen behind. He saw the two racing side by side just behind the truck and scowled. Oh it was a race now was it?? Shalnark hopped the curb and gunned down the clear path. Pedestrians screamed, diving out of the way as he ripped down the sidewalk. 

He reached the same conclusion as Pakunoda: the truck was impenetrable, they’d have to find some way to stop it. Phinks wouldn’t have time to charge up nearly enough to stop something that fast and heavy. 

Heck, even Uvo wouldn’t be able to stop it. 

They’d have to get the vehicle to crash. All three of them realized this at the same time. 

The door on the back suddenly swung open. Paku gasped and immediately braked. She swung around the car behind her as a masked man stuck his head out and aimed a rifle at Phinks. 

Phinks swore and quickly shot forward as the man opened fire. Bullets sparked on the street and a random car’s tire burst. Rubber squealed and even Shalnark had to dodge the car that came careening off of the road. 

They were nearing the highway. A bridge appeared in the distance and the truck was barrelling right for it. 

Phinks was right next to it. He was out of range of the gunman but he was running out of time. He could go for the tires or try to knock the truck off course. With just a base punch he could make it shift just enough to get it into the shoulder. But that was too risky-

Something crashed behind him and he turned to look. A truck behind them had smashed head on with another car going the opposite direction. Its bed snapped in half, creating a perfect ramp. 

Phinks’ eyes widened as he saw Pakunoda going straight for it. No way. 

She hit the ramp and leapt an easy twenty feet in the air. The truck collapsed and erupted in flames as she let go of the handlebars. Mid-air, Pakunoda leapt off of her bike, dropping in a perfectly calculated arc. She dropped, heel first towards the window and slipped her handgun from her waist. 

She grabbed onto the roof of the truck and swung in through the open door. The soldier shouted in alarm as she smashed her heel into his jaw. 

There were three others riding with the payload. Paku ducked down behind the still-falling body and lifted her weapon. One bullet through the torso, then the skull. One bullet through the leg, then the throat. She fired twice and all three soldiers dropped dead. 

Overhead, the bike hit the bridge and exploded into a plume of orange flame. Phinks whistled appreciatively, and Shalnark pulled up close behind. The truck missed the entrance onto the freeway. They could keep it in the city. 

Pakunoda inspected the far wall. No doorway to speak of and a titanium wall too thick for even the highest caliber weapon they had in storage. A bazooka would probably make a dent, but not enough. She selected a single shot rifle, heavy in hand but she could make it work. She headed to the back of the truck, waving down one of the boys. Shalnark got closer and sat up on his bike, “There’s no door??”

“It’s an isolated cab,” She hung with one arm out of the side, “I can work with a window though.” 

“Got it!” He let go and held out a hand for her. She slung her new weapon over her shoulder and grasped his hand. With a single leap, she let go of the door handle and into his arms.

The bike swerved a bit but he brought it under control as she seated herself on the back of the bike. Shalnark sped up as the truck made a wild right turn to try and block them off. Phinks balked and rode next to them, “That was fucking crazy!”

“It worked!” Shalnark laughed, “I’m going to get Paku a shot. Think you can stop it?”

“We’re running out of things for it to run into, but yeah, I got it,” Phinks grinned, “Right or left?”

“We’ll take left! Don’t get crushed!” Shalnark jeered and leaned away. 

Together, they flanked the truck, Shalnark and Paku on the left, Phinks on the right. The driver saw Phinks first and veered to the right, trying to crush him on the street barrier. He balked, cutting the gas and slowing down just enough to dodge. The truck scraped hard against the railing, throwing sparks across the road. 

Luckily or unluckily, the truck had chosen a backroad with no other cars. Shalnark veered into the opposite lane, slowly creeping up to the window until they were neck and neck. He saw the shadow of the driver’s head turn and heard some muffled shouting inside. But it was far too late. 

Paku raised her rifle, humming with a hostile, yet beautifully violet, aura. The driver had milliseconds to react. She tilted her head to the side and lovingly placed a finger on the trigger, “Goodnight.”

The barrel cracked and the window shattered. Bulletproof or reinforced. It could do nothing against a .4 shrouded in a gun woman's nen. The bullet pierced the thick glass and all three heads in a neat row. The opposite window splintered, decorated with a fresh splatter of blood and brains. 

It did the trick. Pakunoda ejected the empty shell and Shalnark pulled back. The truck listed to the left, dragged by the dead man’s limp corpse. Phinks pulled up next to it, arm reared back. He managed to get two charges, and he could only hope it was enough. He twisted over the front of his bike and slammed a glowing fist into its side. 

Steel groaned and its tires screeched in pain. The truck lurched to the side, careening off the road and straight for a run down storefront. Phinks skidded to a stop, spinning on his front tire to watch the truck smash head first into the brick and mortar. It was kind of underwhelming to be honest. The glass snapped like it was made of plastic and the crumbling walls were just depressing as they caved in. Shalnark pulled up next to him, whistling through his teeth. 

The truck came to a dead stop, covered in debris and broken glass. Pakunoda brushed her hair out of her face, “Mission complete.”

“Damn right,” Phinks cut the engine on his bike and flicked the kickstand down, “Alright, let’s grab the stuff and get back to base.”

“I call dibs on not driving it back,” Shalnark shut his bike off as well. 

The payload was unharmed and surprisingly light. Phinks ripped the steel cage off of it and wrestled the crate out of the back of the truck. After some argument and Pakunoda threatening to shoot one or both of them, they decided to flip a coin to determine who would be in charge of transporting it. 

Shalnark lost. Pakunoda rode with Phinks. 

They rode in silence, at a moderate pace.

Phinks glanced at Pakunoda over his shoulder. She was still carrying that gun from earlier. She met his eye and leaned back a bit, “What.”

“You’re keeping that?”

She hummed and unslung one arm from around his waist, “Yes, it’s a nice piece. Might be useful for the rest of the week.”

“Thought you were a pistol only kinda person,” Phinks shrugged.

“I prefer pistols. But, in events like today I might want some heavier firepower.”

“That’s what Franklin’s for.”

“True. He’s not here though is he?” 

Phinks paused, “. . . yeah. You’ve got a point.”

From there on, the ride concluded in silence. They drove out into the rundown city, surrounded by darkness and broken buildings. Somewhere in the throng of urban wasteland was a large building. Probably a shopping center of some kind, rotting away from the inside. 

The two bikes pulled into the gaping maw that used to be its front doors and rumbled to a stop. Phinks shouldered the box and they approached the others. Shalnark called out into the darkness, “Danchou! Target eliminated! And the payload has been safely rescued!”

Moonlight provided merely a thin veil of light. Candles made up the rest. Seated atop the collapsed remains of the roof, Chrollo lifted his head, “Nice job. Saved us a day of searching.”

Phinks dumped the box in the middle of the room, “So, what’s in this thing?”

“Open it,” Chrollo stood up and picked his way down the landslide. Phinks obeyed and pried the lid off. Shalnark gasped, headbutting Phinks away as he gawked, “That’s so much money!”

“Roughly 50 million,” Chrollo stopped at the edge of the crate, “Assuming it’s filled end to end.”

“Feels light for 50 million,” Phinks elbowed Shalnark in the face and folded his arms. Shalnark squawked, rubbing his nose. Pakunoda stepped forward, “It could have something else hidden inside. Another safe maybe?”

“Let’s see,” Chrollo reached in and began shifting the stacks of bills aside. 

Some many minutes of digging later and they discovered a plastic cube buried five layers deep. Phinks grunted, “Huh. Would you look at that?”

Chrollo gingerly lifted it out of the pile, “And this is what we were looking for.”

“Is it the guy’s will?” Shalnark asked, dumping his armful of money back into the crate. Chrollo turned the cube around a few times and then nodded, “It is.”

He looked at the three of them, “Good work. We have fourteen more to go.”

“Nice!” Shalnark grinned, beaming from ear to ear. Chrollo returned the gesture, though his smile was faint, “I’ll let you know if the other teams need help. Ideally, they won’t let any getaway vehicles slip through like this one.”

“What about the money?” Pakunoda spoke up, folding her arms gently. Chrollo made no comment on her new toy and instead paused to consider her question, “. . . keep it. We’ll spend it where we please.”

“Rodger,” Paku nodded. 

“. . . so, drinks?”

// jazz hands.

// hope you like

// i have panels storyboarded but this took me a week (motivation ass) so. who knows if or when i will ever have those finished.

// ;w;

// posting this before i change my mind. im rereading and dying of embarrassment.

[nonsensicalramblings79]

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and parallels in OFMD

2.7k word meta

If you haven’t read my other post about why I’m talking about albatrosses in the first place, read the first part of this and come back! All of this will make the most sense if you read all of the parts I’ve written – I’ve split them up for ease of reading, because holy shit this is long.

TWs: animal death, blood, eating animals, starvation, emotional abuse, physical abuse, gunshot injuries, suicidal ideation, canon-typical mental health problems

MAJOR OFMD SPOILERS THROUGH S2E03

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Let me start out by saying that yes, this is anachronistic – this poem wasn’t written until 1798. I also don’t care: Oluwande is wearing crocs, Stede’s “corpse” is crushed by a piano whose maker won’t exist until 1863, Blackbeard’s got his whole leather-daddy getup, Zheng Yi Sao won’t be born until 1775 – OFMD plays fast and loose with historical accuracy, and I am never going to dismiss an OFMD theory because the timeline doesn’t match up :P

Now that that’s out of the way, a little bit of background information. Long summary incoming.

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is a poem written by English poet Samuel Coleridge. The story is told through the words of the mariner, who has recently survived some horrifying ordeals, soon to be told to a poor unsuspecting stranger who just wants to attend a wedding. As the story goes, the mariner set out with his crew of 200-some-odd men, and everything’s going just peachy until some storms pick up and drive them toward the South Pole. Stranded and lost, the crew fear for their lives, until an albatross appears. At the same time that the albatross appears, the storms clear, the helmsman is able to make their way through the ice of the South Pole, and a southern wind picks up, pushing them back north. The albatross follows the ship, but the mariner believes that it is somehow responsible for the mists and fog that now surround the ship, so he shoots the bird with his crossbow. At that point, the fog and mists actually do clear up (by coincidence or otherwise) – and the crew praise the captain for taking down the bird.

But it’s a fickle crowd – soon the wind stops blowing, and the ship is becalmed; the crew blame the Mariner for killing the bird that had been their good luck. They sit in the middle of the ocean for days or weeks, dying of thirst. They cannot even speak, they’re so thirsty – but they make sure that the Mariner knows that he is to blame for this by tying the albatross’s body around his neck and forcing him to wear it like a grotesque necklace. Eventually, everyone on the ship except the Mariner dies (there’s a bit here about Death and Life-in-Death rolling dice to see who lives and who dies – the important part is that none of the crew survives).

Finally, the Mariner is left alone on his ship of corpses, which strangely do not smell or rot. He wishes he could die, but he doesn’t. During this time, he begins to appreciate what there is left to appreciate – the life around him in the ocean, in the air, “all things both great and small” – and the curse is lifted from him. The albatross detaches from around his neck and sinks into the ocean.

From this point on, the story goes about as you’d expect – the curse being lifted, the wind picks up again, setting the Mariner speeding back home (though, perhaps unexpectedly, his crew gets to come back as zombies for a short while to man the ship until it reaches land again, at which point they die again. RIP). As the ship is coming upon the Mariner’s homeland, it sinks like a rock to the bottom of the ocean – a hermit happens to see the Mariner floating out there and comes to pick him up, thinking he’s dead. When the Mariner opens his eyes, the hermit believes him to be the Devil himself (I mention this only because I think the wording of “Demon? I’m the fuckin’ Devil” lines up perfectly with this).

As penance for shooting the albatross (as if all of this so far wasn’t enough), the Mariner spends the rest of his days wandering the earth, telling his story and making random wedding-goers sad.

HOO BOY, that was a lot. (A whopper, one might say.) Thanks for sticking with me so far.

Now, some of the parallels between this poem and the events of OFMD are more neat and tidy than others are. The biggest parallel, obviously, is the link between the albatross and the “impossible birds” that Ed references in S2E01 – the entire reason I started reading this poem to begin with. The links between the show and the poem are not ones that I think the characters in the show (Ed) are consciously making. I think these allusions more reflect the themes and symbols that the writers and directors want us as the audience to pick up on. Therefore, the “impossible birds” conversation in canon is not talking about albatrosses in the sense that they are commonly referenced in literature, as the proverbial weight around one’s neck that represents guilt – but we can still talk about that symbolism outside of canon.

And talk about it I will.

For those of us who have watched the show, it probably goes without saying that Ed’s got a fair amount of guilt, shame, psychological trauma, etc. that he carries around with him. So if we’re going to invoke the albatross metaphor following S2E3, what specifically can we say is Ed’s “albatross?” There are a few candidates that immediately come to mind. It could be his guilt surrounding a) his father’s murder; b) Lucius’s attempted murder; c) the abusive, toxic relationship that he carried on with Izzy; or maybe even d) himself.

That last one is a little esoteric, so let me explain. Ed hates himself – aside from all the self-destructive tendencies as evidence, he admits it out loud in his dream with Hornigold in S2E03. I wonder if the albatross that is hanging around Blackbeard’s neck is Edward – the real Edward, the one that is more than just his fame, his terrifying persona, his violence-as-a-form-of-love tendencies – the Edward that Stede fell in love with. I wonder whether Ed’s guilt surrounds more than just how he’s hurt others, but how he feels he has killed a truer, better version of himself, and that he can never regain it. In line with The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, killing this “albatross” of a better Edward didn’t just kill him – it killed everyone around him as well. And now, after he has borne the blame of others for having gotten them into this situation, he is forced to wear…himself. The guilt that weighs him down is the knowledge that there is a version of him that was loved, that Stede loved, and in his eyes, he has killed that version of himself.

I want to take a moment to acknowledge a post (or several posts) that I saw several months back in relation to season 1. In these posts [Link1, Link2], smarter people than me drew a connection between a metaphorical albatross and the black cravat that Stede gives to Ed – and that Ed continues to wear until he and Stede change into their privateering academy garb. Something both of those posts touch on is how the cravat represents Stede, and I think that is completely true; however, I posit that the cravat represents the fact that Ed is lovable.

Something that’s been pointed out in the past 48 hours since these episodes dropped is that Ed is not wearing the cravat during the first parts of season 2. Only when he essentially decides to kill himself via storm do we see him once again wearing the cravat (the cravat is also noticeably absent from the purgatory dream sequence).

What exactly this means is still shaky to me – in my mind, Ed does canonically see the cravat as a reminder of his “real” self, and he puts it away and tries to hide it while he’s still…well, functioning is far too strong of a word, but at least not actively suicidal like we see at the end of episode 2. I think hearing Izzy supposedly shoot himself is what pushes Ed over the edge into being actively suicidal; perhaps at this point, some part of Ed is still hoping against hope that he can convince himself not to do it, to wait for Stede. Alternatively, it may be that if he dies here, he wants to take the idea of a “better him” with him.

In the sense of the cravat representing the albatross (meaning the cravat presence is not a choice of the characters, but of costume design), the cravat being missing during the batshit-insane-high-on-rhino-horn Kraken era may represent him not actually feeling the guilt of losing himself during this time. He may have actually convinced himself that a lovable version of himself never existed, and he’s living guilt-free. The guilt comes back when he hears Izzy shoot himself – he’s reminded that he caused this by killing a version of himself that Izzy trusted and even loved, in his own fucked-up way. From then on, the cravat is back on – the guilt is back, and it’s strong enough to induce the kamikaze-type rage we see in the storm.

(Important to note here that while I stand by this interpretation, I’m not sure how it fits with the fact that Ed is wearing the cravat just after the Krakening – the moment when he’s looking back on the island that he just abandoned the Revenge crew on in S1E10.)

I’m leaving this one for myself to come back to later on the off-chance I have some sort of epiphany.

Oh wow, you’re still here?? Probably time for a water break. Go on, the rest will be here when you get back. And there’s unfortunately quite a lot more that still needs to move from my brain to this Word doc.

Ready? Ok.

So that’s one possible interpretation of what Ed’s “albatross” is – I won’t spend time on other possibilities because what I’ve laid out here is the interpretation that I most strongly subscribe to. But all that is only really addressing one part of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Granted, it’s the most important part, symbolically, but there are some other parallels that I want to address that together convince me that the writers of OFMD are actually, specifically referencing this poem.

Obviously, there’s a parallel in that both the happenings of the poem and OFMD occur on actual, physical ships, captained by the man who ends up “shooting the albatross” and being rightfully blamed for it. Both of these ships suffer because of the dead albatross – physically, both ships are taken through devastating storms, and both ships are falling apart. The ship in the poem stops moving indefinitely because of a becalming (all wind and ocean currents stopped); the Revenge stops moving indefinitely because Ed removes the wheel. Both ships suffer casualties – in the poem, everyone dies, and on the Revenge, those crew members may be physically alive, but they are haunted by it. The poem makes note of the fact that the crew died of thirst – while this doesn’t seem to be a main concern on the Revenge, the show does show us, rather graphically, that they were beginning to starve, having to catch and eat raw seagulls to survive (note that dead birds are also a recurring theme in OFMD, leading me to believe even more that albatross references are intentional).

There’s an interesting pattern in the poem concerning dead people – specifically, how they don’t seem to be entirely dead at first. Firstly, the crew that die of thirst drop dead, one by one, on the deck of the Mariner’s ship. However, the poet notes that the bodies did not decompose or smell. Later, these bodies are resurrected by whatever sea spirit chooses to spare the Mariner’s life, using the bodies to man the ship and sail it back to shore. When they are done with this, they drop dead once more, staying on the ship as it sinks to the bottom of the ocean. When the hermit finds the Mariner floating in the ocean, he thinks him dead, before the Mariner’s eyes shoot open (similar to a certain someone at the end of S2E03).

In season 1, I can’t think of any instances wherein someone was presumed to be dead, but actually wasn’t, aside from Stede’s fuckery. However, this theme has come up at least 3 times in season 2 so far: Lucius being the obvious one, then Izzy, and finally Ed himself (and if I’m understanding correctly, Ed was actually, literally, cold-in-the-ground physically dead, not just “presumed dead.” This might be clarified in a future episode). That seems…intentional.

Side note: how long was Ed supposed to have been dead? Days? Didn’t anyone notice that he wasn’t, like, rotting? Especially when “the smell of rot” has been something that very consistently shows up in the show when it’s relevant (see: Lucius’s finger infection, Ed being able to smell Izzy through the walls of the ship).

One more thing: the last thing that the Mariner sees when leaving the shore, and the first thing he sees when he gets back? A lighthouse. Now, could that just be a coincidence, with lighthouses being a very common image in sea-based stories? Sure. But I’m choosing to believe that this poem was chosen (and yes, I say chosen – as in the writers took inspiration from this poem) specifically because it has so much imagery in common with OFMD.

These are admittedly tenuous links between the poem and the show, but they are links, so I’m including them.

The last thing I want to mention about this poem is how its “moral,” if it can be said to have one, is to treat living things with respect – you as a person do not live in a vacuum, and your actions have consequences for others, not just yourself. And I think this sentiment lines up incredibly well with a line that Jim has in S2E02:

…

There was a time when life meant something on this ship. When we lived for each other.

…

According to Jim (and according to literally everything the show has been telling us), the ship was a safe place when the people onboard cared about each other. Fang mentions that Blackbeard didn’t even react when Ivan died; Blackbeard callously shoots his first mate, with the intent of having him killed; he doesn’t even care about his own life and whether he lives or dies. Just like in the poem, this is the issue that needs to be resolved in order for the curse to be lifted – the Mariner (Ed) needs to rekindle an appreciation for life. In the poem, this is a simple “every living thing is special” kind of epiphany – I get the feeling it’s going to be a much more complicated journey in OFMD, especially since the show as a whole is somewhat irreverent concerning the deaths of non-recurring characters. For Ed, I imagine it’s going to be more of an appreciation for his own life – not the value of life on the whole, but the value that his life holds.

So. That’s a lot of words that I just typed – I’m hoping at least some of them made sense. Huge thank you to anyone who made it this far! This is all I’ve got on this particular poem, but I’ve still got more things I want to say about another poem called L’albatros (Charles Baudelaire) and how it relates to Ed and his perception of himself. It’s a huge stretch to say that this poem exists in-universe and Ed has read it, but it makes sense to me and I want to get my thoughts down on (virtual) paper – I’ll link to it in the original introductory post (link to that at the top of this post!).

Let me know what you think!! This silly, stupid pirate show will be consuming my thoughts for at least the next several months, and I’m dying for some reciprocal opinion/info-dumping. Inbox is open!

[daily-oliver-swift]

*Inhales intensely*

THOUGHTS ON DAVESP-

I'M JOKING!

Thoughts on;

Shooty X Stabby

Oliver X Norm

Norm X Gingi.

(I LOVE RAMBLING. AND I LOVE LISTENING TO RAMBLES, GO NUTS!)

I know you were joking about davesport but. I think its pretty cool! My opinion on it kinda changes on the day but rn Im feeling neutral leaning to good

Shooty x Stabby. They are married. They say 'no homo' every other sentence then kiss. Everyone who has a sense of what their relationship is thinks theyre gay. The kicker is theyre actually not, its a queer platonic relationship

Oliver x Norm is...... thats definitely a ship. I didnt know people shipped that. With that being said I hate it and I would go out of my way to block people who DO ship it

Norm x Gingi as a concept is fiinneeeee I get the appeal and why people ship it, but tbh to me?? Theyre a familial relationship- Im talking 'we've been through so much together and nothing could make me leave your side.' kinda deal. I honestly cant really imagine their relationship as romantic in any form - it just doesnt really feel right to me

[teruthecreator]

randyyy for the ask game. pretty please (๑•﹏•)

ah yes my beautiful dark mistress. of COURSE i can do this for her

Sexuality Headcanon:

bi or pan i feel like!

Gender Headcanon:

my wonderful friend fig has posed transfem nonbinary randy and ever since then my life has been changed. her any pronouns slay

A ship I have with said character:

randgingi i definitely am fond of. im fond of All of the dateables with gingi but randy and gingi have such an interesting thing going on. like randy for the beginning of the route Seems to be super into it, but if you break down their dialogue they actually are kind of fed up with gingis shit??? it’s only after you’ve helped him and shown him genuine care that he starts to warm up to gingi and i just think that’s cute!!! i also enjoy olandy in HYPERSPECIFIC SITUATIONS. YOU HAVE TO BE FLY LIKE A G6 IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND MY OLANDY VISIONS (THAT ARE TECHNICALLY FIG’S THAT I JUST CULTURALLY OSMOSIS’ED)

A BROTP I have with said character:

shipping aside, oliver and randy In General have so much going on there that it’s really funny. i think they could truly get into some new boot goofin ass shit together. i think the power trio of gingi randy oliver would be Disastrous but it’s something i really enjoy thinking about. randy is all “pleaaaaase let this be a normal hang out” and oliver is like “WITH THE GINGI? NO WAY!” and it’s perfect and beautiful

A NOTP I have with said character:

nobody on earth is ever normal about randy and stabby/shooty therefore NOBODY gets to play in the space okay? okay.

A random headcanon:

i think in the near-off future where randy has even more of her life together (enough to afford her own place again), she gets a cat! mostly for company, though the creature ends up being more of an emotional support animal than randy first intended. and randy will do absolutely Anything for this cat like he LOVES this cat. i think the cats name is something like Buttons :-) something sweet and silly. the cat helps keep randy calm and also gives her a little buddy when she’s too stressed to leave the house. i think oliver would insist on his cat and randys cat meeting, and surprisingly the two get along!!! encourages randy to socialize even more than before :-)

General Opinion over said character:

i looooooooooove randy like. god. he’s bewitching to me it’s just simply not fair. how did dogman build them like that. it should be illegal. a really interesting character to pick apart that i really should do more with more often!!!!!!!! but in general i liek randyyyyy yayyyyyy

heres a pic of randy in heaven

[foncethefool]

Helldiver headcannons

So like, I know that there's lore going on in Helldivers 2, but for the most part, I just like going shooty shooty bang bang, I'm not thinking too hard when I play the game about like realism or this or that. But I kind of had a spark about reinforcements right? It might be explained in the lore or from in game logs or something but is it the same person every time I die? or is there just soooo many Helldivers that super earth basically has a carbon copy of one person on each ship? Personally, I kind of like a clone idea, like every time you die, a clone gets shocked to life and shot at a planet, coming to life with a hazy memory and only a vague sense of democratic purpose. She heard the gun click, cursing to herself the whole time as she simply shoved the butt of the weapon into another bug's insectoid face, she was out of munitions, out of explosives, and frankly out of options, from the other side of the rocky outcrop, she could hear a bile titan's colossal steps vibrating the earth, and only a few hundred yards away, a horde of bugs was converging on her position. This was the end wasn't it? She had always known that there was a chance she'd die serving super earth, but fuck, going out to a bunch of bugs like this was bound to be hell. Fortunately, the Helldiver had a plan B. Raising her wrist, she slammed her gloved finger into the wrist mounted communication device, squeezing the marker orb in her hand, she felt it light up, and dropped it at her feet. The buzzy voice of Eagle 1 came over her intercom, confirming the drop zone. Now all the Helldiver had to do was wait, was to stare down the literal armada of insects rushing at her. She was scared, scared of dying, scared of never getting to go home, scared of being labeled a disappointment to her kind. But more than that, she was scared of the bugs. So when the titanium casing of a 500KG bomb landed a few feet in front of her, she felt grateful, that she wouldn't have to be scared anymore, and then there was white. Her eyes snapped open, the familiar feeling of being shot from orbit surrounded her senses, the gut wrenching gravity, the shake and shudder of her pod, the feel of her rifle at her side. The pod crashed into the charred earth, pushing her up and exposing her to the harsh sunlight of the bug infested planet. a few yards away was a crater, an explosive had gone off there, and judging from the still smoldering earth, it wasn't long ago. Briefly, the Helldiver felt confused, hadn't she been ordered to clear this sector already? was there another team of Helldivers here? She should have been told about it if there was. But there was no time to think, no time to breath, no time to ponder, only time to act, as her helmet's heads up display pinged her minimap, alerting her to a horde of bugs coming her way. The Helldiver shook the cobwebs out of her brain, raised her rifle, feeling the familiar weight of it pressing into her shoulder as she shouted "FOR SUPER EARTH" while firing off a hailstorm of bullets into the insects.

[runawaycarouselhorse]

Have you done any watches of the pokemon arcs and talked about them? Someone I'm mutuals with discussed doing that for AG arc. I'm considering doing it for the DP arc since I still consider it my favorite arc in the franchise.

Aww, sorry, I was a child getting into fandom when AG was starting in Japan, social media was at its infancy too... i didn't even have a livejournal yet. I don't do full series rewatches either. But I am very fond of the Contest arc, Haruka/May and Masato/Max, the humour, and the warm and tropical colour palettes. I also adored the hoso specials (the Side Stories that got dubbed as Pokemon Chronicles, although the dubs for those were... infamously much worse than the TV series in script quality and accuracy), I used to downloa the specials and watch them in Japanese while slowly learning Japanese bit by bit because no subbing group took Pokemon seriously enough to sub it outside of banned episodes, specials, and movies...

It was a unique time, I think!

Rescue Ralts! Hurry, Masato!/Do I Hear a Ralts? remains one of the best episodes of the anime, period. The Wishing star of Seven Nights: Jirachi was my old favourite pokemon movie before Lucario!! I love that the dub kept KAORI's singing for May and part of Chiisaki Mono in Japanese.

AG is criminally underrated, despite introducing concepts popular in fandom, like Hadou/Aura. Satoshi apologizing to Lucario after seeing his memory of apparently being abandoned by Aaron was the turning point for me where I truly felt Satoshi mature as a person and become much kinder and more patient. He was so prone to fighting people, he was much more of a (pint-sized) hotblooded shounen protagonist before that, but I adore the all-loving hero he grew into. How he helped Hikozaru/Chimchar heal in DP, how patiently he dealt with both Shinji/Paul and Shootie/Trip being jerks to varying degrees compared to the way he was before (solution: run screaming and throw himself at whatever problem exists, fists flying), the growth I personally cared about was visible even in the first episode of BW! where he's annoyed or exasperated by what he encounters, but keeps his temper in check and just makes faces in disapproval, fff.

He can still, of course, fight those who deserve it, like Largo's bullies and Sauboh/Faba.

So, yeah, I loved AG! It also has one of the only battles to ever excite me (anyone who knows me, knows I HATE Pokemon battles, they make my eyes glaze over... it's just not interesting to me unless a fight has, like, swords or something—I really do watch Pokemon more for the cute friendship stories, ships*, and idealized humans living in harmony with nature and other non-human creatures setting)... it was Haruka VS Shuu in the kanto Grand Festival! I was literally on the edge of my seat. I loved seeing her surpass him and his little look of approval and smile before she went from concern to happily celebrating with Wakashamo/Combusken. They had a beautiful story arc going from him looking down on her (while gifting roses like he's harboring a secret crush, fff), to respecting her as an equal, even dropping the -kun honorific he used to use after her name, when he saw her as a kouhai/underclassman and himself as her senpai/upperclassman, and moved to calling her just "Haruka"... after she saved his life, I believe!

I feel like that was Pokemon's best written romance amongst th main characters, it didn't overtake her story arc, it added to it and she still had her goals outside of that, it only added to her growth and story. ^^ It was innocent and sweet.

I am convinced that "for Agehunto/Beautifly" line is how Satoshi saw through Kasumi/Misty's lie in the final series.

I also adore the episode were Haruka and Nyasu/Meowth go back in time and save a man's life and improve a whole town (?) by doing so. It was a fun, moving episode.

The dub harmed this a bit with music choices and voice acting, but from the look of things, people still found it quite emotional (I still vastly prefer the original, no contest!), so Arbok and Weezing's release episode. Interesting that poacher Ryo/Rico was one of the last criminals shown using a real world gun and modern day weapon... maybe also because it doesn't look familiar to a lot of people as a real firearm...

*I got into Pokemon and Sailor Moon via a Rocketshipping fanfic set in the Silver Millenium when I knew nothing of both series and was used to only reading Harry Potter fanfic as an 11 year old! The secret backstory, pffft. So I watched for TR. ^^

I used to review Best Wishes! episodes, the earliest reviews were on my livejournal ( http://inkedfeathers.livejournal.com ), later mini reviews were on my now deleted tumblr blogs, but some reblogs exist... some DP episodes too! BW! was my favourite.

[bookwyrminspiration]

Debate the pros and cons of the two ships Gigolas (Alternatively Gimleaf, Gimli x Legolas) and Aragolas (Alternatively Leragorn, Aragorn x Legolas). Compare and contrast the two ships. You have half an hour (From the moment you start writing this ask, leave it in your inbox for as long as you wish). Go.

OKAY! Warning I know very little and there is probably a lot wrong or missing here! So right of the bat I'm seeing we've got different species and power dynamics at play

Gimli and Legolas are dwarf4elf, so that may be worth mentioning. If I'm remembering right, Gimli is also the "and my axe!" fucker, and I know Legolas is the shooty mcshootinson bitch, so right away we've got the shared love of weaponry and fighting, though they very likely have incredibly different styles for more reasons than one. Dwarven and elven values and attitudes towards death and violence are likely different, but this is Tolkien so it's probably existence and I'm on limited time here.

Hang on. These are the "never thought I'd die fighting side by side with an elf" people. Okay so here we've got a clear display of their growth (since Gimli was originally distrustful of Legolas' intentions) and how the two characters developed emotionally to put aside their difference and unite, both in battle and emotionally. It's not unreasonable to say that they can take that another route and into relationship territory (not that one is better than the other, just another path to take). Despite their differences, they are, in canon, capable of the necessary growth to make a healthy relationship.

Okay I'm also seeing that they became friends when walking through the woods, and elves are very woodlands creatures, so perhaps we can find a bit of similarity between their interests there. How do the dwarves view nature? Scrap that question I just read in the wiki that he went into the Undying Lands and Tolkien said it was strange that any dwarf would be willing to leave Middle-Earth for any love. I don't have any fucking clue what that means but it feels important.

I'm a third of the way through my time let's look at Aragorn. GOD wiki please tell me what species he is this is ridiculous. Okay he's not an elf but is descended from them? So he's got an unusually long life span? Okay his character description says he's somber and grim, and that kind of outlook might mesh well with an elven one like Legolas'? I'm not actually sure. Something about the seriousness feels like it could match an elven look and help them work together.

His name is also mentioned a lot on Legolas' wiki page, multiple instances of the two of them going through things together (though Gimli is a notable third addition). Found a random site that mentions something about Aragorn's true identity and Legolas defending him to Boromir, which was either when they met or very early on in their meeting. That sets a strong foundation for future relationships and a clear feeling of protection and trust in it, which is beneficial. Listen I have no context for this scene I have no idea who knows what or how they feel about it, but potentially this hinting towards Legolas knowing his identity could've built a bond between them from the get go that forces them to be more careful with each other, and that can lead to interesting dynamics.

There's also the whole matter of similar backgrounds, or at least more similar than Legolas and Gimli. Even if Aragorn's got a whole complicated situation with his race he was raised by Elrond in Rivendell (i think?) so he's got some elven thinking. If Elrond is indeed an elf but I've got six minutes so I'm not checking. And Legolas is Legolas, raised however he was. He's pretty clearly and elf, but the one thing that trips me up here is that he was "unimpressed" when he came to Rivendell to see the council of Elrond, as it displays that perhaps these two elven backgrounds may be as different as Gimli and Legolas' differences.

My other thought is that when I was key word searching through all their profiles, more often than not all of their names were coming up together. They seem to be a trio for a lot of the story, so why try to decide between a pairing? Why not all three of them if they're bonded so and endured so much together? Legolas has two hands, after all. But then I'd also have to get into what Gimli and Aragorn's relationship is like to see if it would be a triangle sort of a pairing or if they were both dating Legolas but not each other.

I think my final conclusion is that I can understand the shipping either way, but I don't think either one is superior to the other. Gimli and Legolas seem fun for the dynamics and depth they bring, and Aragorn and Legolas sound entertaining for the subtlety and intrigue. But also this was just thirty minutes of frantic skimming articles and trying desperately to remember my limited lotr knowledge.

I would like to thank the orchestral version of all star by smash mouth for fueling this chaotic splurge of words. The years start coming and they don't stop coming and they don't stop coming and they don't stop comin--

[sheppyscribbles]

Hauke Testifies

From tonight's session of Fabula Ultima:

"So! I think the biggest part of the mess started when we arrived in the City of Oasis. We wanted to go see the Water Crystal, but there was a big storm so we had to go through the sewers and got attacked by monsters. And then at the Crystal Chamber itself, there was this Void Cultist wearing a gold mask. And he would. Not. Shut. Up about the Void. Like, we were all fighting him and he was just going on about void void void void so I wound up shooting him in the throat to make him stop. And that's when the mask started moving on its own, and it kinda ... ate? ... him? And then it started talking again. Also I think he was trying to open a rift above the crystal and summon some kind of monster before the whole throaty shooty thing. Anyway, the mask creature went through a different portal and I recognized the landscape of Taishan because I'm from here and everything, so we went to follow, only first we had this big argument because Radikai wanted to help the Crystal recover, but O-men said that was just giving metal to the butterflies and the Crystals should be left alone and the world should lapse into a state of, uh ... decay? Is decay the right word? Decay? Decay. Yeah. Decay. But O-men's really judgy - (not an actual Judge like you, Your Imperial Majesty. *kowtow* Just really full of himself.) and pessimistic like that, and he wound up running off to go take care of a Chocobo or something. That was when we headed for Taishan to try to see the Earth Crystal, but that would involve a lot of perfectly necessary bureaucracy so instead we went to visit Radikai's friend who's growing a garden to try to help the Earth Crystal get healthier, but we got attacked by more monsters and another of those mask people things. We managed to fight them off, but Radikai got attacked by a fragment of the mask person thing and it got wedged where the sun doesn't shine, so we had to take him back to the ship to get the shadow out of where the sun doesn't shine, and meanwhile the Void Cultists decided to attack the ship directly. We had to fight through another bunch of people who almost kidnapped Cid's daughter - wait, no, he's called Silverbeard, sorry - Silverbeard's daughter, but we got around them and tried to use his Moon technology to trap the chunk of shadow. And of course it also attacked us, and then when we killed it, it tried to blow up and take out a chunk of the Imperial City, but everyone helped me stab it a bunch of times so it missed--"

[stedipace]

"What if?" My Pitch for the Dreamcast 2

So after the bird app got bought by a rich moron, I got to thinking: what company would I impulsively buy if I had more money than common sense? I mean I wouldn't, I'd probably try and end world hunger or something but if there was anything left I'd just buy SEGA.

Like, for a laugh.

This started out as a design exercise for coming up with a launch title library but I got carried away...

So here's my plan:

The Actual Console

I think I'd like to honour VMU of the original Dreamcast and seeing Sony's recent announcements, we wouldn't be the only ones hopping on the Nintendo Switch Bandwagon.

The Actual console could stand to be a bit more powerful than the Switch but it doesn't have to be a top of the line behemoth. focus on making it fun, rather than powerful, thats how Nintendo sold a buttload this generation.

Launch Titles

Sonic Adventure 3

Ok, so right off the bat this one is a bit tricky.

Let me be clear: I LOVED Sonic The Hedgehog when I was a kid, but I'm sorry, I'm beginning to think there has never actually been a good Sonic game. Even my favourite ones haven't aged gracefully. Sonic Adventure 1 & 2 are a bit crap, I think we can all agree there. I love them games but the lack of polish on display, considering its SEGA's flagship title, is inexcusable. And since a SEGA console needs to ship with a "mainline" Sonic game (we've seen what happens when it doesn't), I say we go with Sonic Adventure 3 but maybe, like... good?

The idea of a 3D, momentum-based mascot platformer isn't a bad one. In fact, it's kind of a resurging genre in certain indie dev circles.

Twitter user @Cornf_Blue has been developing what looks like the best Sonic Adventure game Sonic Team never made. Actually, let's just hire this dude to run the project.

I'd also refer you to Spark The Electric Jester.

IT CAN BE DONE.

I'm not going to go into too much detail about my idea for SA3 cause I might do another "What If?" post specifically about that at some point but basically, here's the gist of it:

3 Playable Characters are Sonic, Tails & Knuckles

Stages connected by a hub world the player can explore as they like in SA1 but make it bigger and more open to exploration like Sonic Frontiers

3 Kinds of stages: Sonic "speedy" stages, Tails shooty mech stages and Knuckles treasure hunting stages like in SA2 (but keeping it to 3 characters instead of 6 so the team isn't spread itself thin and can focus on delivering quality over quantity).

Special challenge modes like Boss Rush, Speedrun mode etc..

In fact, just put in a bunch of speedrun-friendly features and modes.

Chao Garden! (but more on that later)

Power Stone 3

You need a big, fun multiplayer game in your launch titles and what's more fun than a 4 player fighting game with items and (kind of) platforming elements? It'd be fun to have a big co-op story mode and an online lobby system for multiplayer matches, but mostly, if you've got more than one kid and you're buying them a console for Christmas or whatever, this is the game you'll want to get with it.

Jet Set Radio: Legends of Tokyo-To

Another SEGA IP that started on the Dreamcast, this game was just a ton of fun. The game had a VERY distinct 1999/2000 timestamp on it and I think we're juuuust starting to see the nostalgia wave from that period swelling, so instead of going to the future like the game's sequel, it continues immediately after the plot of the first one. Get Hideki Naganuma, Cibo Matto, Guitar Vader and the rest of the gang back to do the soundtrack, keep the cool cel shading art style BUT make it an open-world game, having all of Tokyo-To available to roam around in, with different gangs controlling different territories, skating and tagging challenges, customizable art (players can make their own tags), and a faction system with rival NPCs (kind of like the nemesis system in those Lord of The Ring games but with graffiti instead of murdering). Heck, get the folks who did Bomb Rush Cyberfunk to make it.

Phantasy Star Online II

So it turns out this game already exists! And it's free to play! I didn't know that before I started making this post but honestly, that's perfect. If there's already a community of players, however small, that's already a lot of the legwork out of the way. Get some crossplay in there and you're set! Imagine getting the new console and your launch title but then, on the home menu, you see Phantasy Star Online II available to download for free! Old school players can enjoy the influx of new blood, revitalizing the game with a massive story event like new colonies being discovered or something, to explain the arrival of all the new players.

Crazy Taxi 3

YAHYAHYAHYAHYAH!

Everybody loves Crazy Taxi, there'd be something wrong with you if you didn't. Honestly, there's not much I'd do in terms of changing up the formula except maybe add a company management element to it, like you're trying to build a little taxi service where the main characters work. Upgrading cars, drumming up business and expanding to new areas. Just something to balance out the relentless fast-paced arcade gameplay. Online leaderboards for challenges and a local multiplayer with a versus mode (see who makes the most money) and a co-op mode (try to reach a set goal together) too, for good measure.

Bayonetta 4

Bayonetta isn't an OG Dreamcast title but IS currently an extremely successful franchise that would absolutely help sell some units on launch. I'm putting it in here because it's published by SEGA so I guess it's technically their IP? But it's also a Nintendo exclusive so I don't know how that would work. Platinum Games has a 4 contract deal with SEGA, but whatever, for this little exercise, pretend SEGA keeps the publishing rights to all their stuff as they move back into making consoles.

Virtua Tennis Pro

So we need a sports title in our launch library and I think it should be Vitrua Tennis. EA Sports games aren't exclusive anymore so you would eventually your FIFAs and whatnot, but it'd be nice to have a proper SEGA sports game again. For this one though, it would have a big, cinematic NBA 2K17 style where you're a rising young tennis star on your way to the top, singing deals, beating rivals etc... Get some competitive online multiplayer in there too of course.

Skies of Arcadia: Dusk

I've always loved the idea of Skies of Arcadia, a big, bright and colourful swashbuckling adventure, and you need one of those in your launch library, but I only played a little bit of the GameCube version unfortunately.

That doesn't matter cause I think I know exactly what to do with this one. Make a traditional RPG title, honouring the franchise's heritage BUT, since we now know how to make a fun pirate game thanks to Assasins's Creed IV: Black Flag, we add in the ship boarding/crew capturing mechanics from that game! So imagine you have the trusty, old-school dungeon crawling/battle systems when you get of your ship but you can get back in and sail through the skies, looting other airships and slowly building your fleet!

Chao Garden

Kinda like Nintendo Land but with Chaos!

Remember the Mii characters in Nintendo consoles? What if they were cute instead of creepy? Every console would have a Chao Garden where the player would create, customise and raise their own Chao. That Chao would also serve as the player's online avatar when connecting with friends and shopping in the SEGA store or whatever.

Players would be able to meet other Chaos, have them compete in minigames and lots more. Essentially the SA2 Chao garden but online. And of course, this would also connect to our Sonic Adventure 3 Chao Garden.

Obviously, this would extend to the console's portability function, like how the 3DS could actively search for the profiles when the user would walk around with it, letting you meet other Chaos!

Make a mobile app for it too so you can check in on your Chao.

These videos were massively helpful to me when writing this post:

[tanadrin]

also while my inner child shamelessly delights in seeing updated visual effects for things like phasers going shooty and the changelings in their goo state and the beautiful ship interiors, i think it would be terrific if they could find a goofy farscape-like reason to shoot a 10-minute or so sequence of Picard on a cheap soundstage with low-res 90s special effects

[historitor-bookshelf]

Finished Xenos last night? Today?

(I'm fine, my sleep schedule is just shot to hell and back and guess who has work tomorrow at 6 fucking am but I digress)

Some random observations:

Servitors were kinda more... human(e) or at least felt like that. Like, the crew around Eisenhorn named their ship servitors. This is just weird, man. And overall they felt simply less... inhuman? I mean, as much the humanity of servitor in the eyes of the Imperium is debatable. Now I am tempted to play detective and try to find out how servitors are potrayed in pre-2000 works.

I wasn't a fan of the ending sequence. It kinda felt like the book had two climatic action sequences and... not sure about that. Just kinda felt dragged out. The ending sequences were cool! It was fun watching Space Marines going ham from the eyes of a baseline human. All the shooty and fighty stuff was cool! It just kinda feels like the second climax was cut from a sequel and just stitched onto the ending.

That said, the aliens, the Saruthi, were interesting. Creepy, mostly, but interesting.

Also, a small overview in the different philosophies of Inquisitors and how they more often than not work together - or rather, not work together. Like, sure, I watched AdRid, I read Lexicanum to help build my character in Dark Heresy, but it was nice to see them in action.

Bequin is definitely best girl - just a pity her character developement and her combat training are not shown. Her beginning had her more or less as a shrieking woman (TM) who still was tough though and then she started kicking ass. I think it would have helped if we would have gotten to see more of her as a trainee, especially because that is usually a great opportunity to loredump and shit.

[skiplo-wave]

Humans are being stupid again Skip. Did you see the new world's largest cruise ship from the Royal Caribbean? It's called the Icon of the Seas. It set to sail early 2024. It doesn't look safe at all. I been on a cruise ship once in my life and I didn't sleep at night. We went through two storms. I thought I was going to die. The ship was surfing crazy waves like we was on that show Deadliest Catch. I am not kidding. I will never go on a cruise ship. I don't care how much someone offered me. The sea doesn't like humans.

Icon of the Seas ain't gonna stand a chance against those storms out there. That ship looks like it would capsize easily.

Sorry you have bad experience anon :c

Cruises aren’t bad but picking the company and destination is tricky.

If ship that massive let’s hope it’s hilt correctly and the captain is a captain ensuring everyone docks and sails safety

Unfortunately cruise ships that sink is because of shooty building or weak Captain ( takes one that abandoned ship before everyone could escape to safety)

[luxetings]

Check out this listing I just added to my Poshmark closet: {Franco Sarto} Delores Laser-Cut Suede Sandals.

[terrifiesthem]

1, 2, 5, 6, 13?

questions for muns.

1. What is the biggest headcanon deviation from the canon material that you have incorporated into the way you write your muse? Why did you come up with it?

so, ironically, waaaay back when i established frank in dec 2016, he was apparently specifically ONLY a 616 interpretation. i deviated from the comics as in i just omitted some parts of it altogether that are still in effect to this day- like there being no supernatural angels in his lore or the whole franken-castle thing and other bs moments. but then i guess i slowly incorporated mcu things into my frank's canon alongside 616 things, which resulted in the frank interpretation you see now! so i guess the headcanons i have of both mcu/616 elements are the biggest deviations from any frank.

2. Do you have any controversial headcanons that go against what is generally accepted by the fandom? Do you incorporate this into writing your muse or keep it to yourself?

OHHHHH BOY DO I. so- i actually have headcanons for two certain types of punisher fans. one is for the people who only take frank as the big shooty shoot gun man and don't look deeper into his character. like obviously i have headcanons discussing just how deep frank and his psychology goes (i even made a 30 minute video essay on this subject) because that impression some fans get? that's exactly what frank wants people to think of him. he doesn't want people to see anything deeper to the punisher. the other side is mcu frank fans thinking he can just. move on easily. be it with karen or someone else. that he can move on and live happily when that just isn't the case at all. a lot of people get too into the idea of a ship to recognize frank's accepted that all he'll ever be is the punisher. that he has no life because he was killed.

5. What is an aspect of your muse’s canon material or canon existence that you never had the opportunity to explore but really want to?

maybe his childhood or more exploration of his time in war. frank was a quiet, but angry kid. he had a strong sense of justice even then, but he was still human. he still laughed, he still sang, all of that. and the very same with war time. because writing frank at war but not having lost his family would be such an interesting concoction of his battle with being addicted to war while simultaneously being the very reason his squad was kept grounded.

6. What is the general opinion of your muse’s fandom about them? Do you agree with it?

uhhhhh honestly i don't really know besides the things i mentioned in 2. other than that i think the fandom is pretty good with frank. a lot of great artists and edits!! ..... that's pretty much all i interact with. XD

13. What canon character do you really wish your muse could interact more with?

OH GOD SO SO MANY. micro, curtis, madani, steve rogers, henry russo, villains in general (wilson fisk, joker, etc), moon knight, maria, lisa and frank jr, jessica jones, tbh just any and every canon muse