#text heavy

[okapiandpaste]

also, since when has there ever been shame in not proof-reading a fanfic? the true fandom solidarity behind the "no beta we die like [insert fandom's favorite dead character here]" tag exists and it's endearing. do not throw away the flaws that bind us in favor of artificial perfection. you must wear your lack of proof-reading like a badge of honor.

just saw a fanfic on ao3 have a dedication for chatgpt... that section is meant for your horny perverted mutual who proofread your work, you violated sacred law and you will be torn apart and laid bare btw

[son1c]

i had another "plot" dream last night and it was kind of insane? like, first of all, starline was in it. and, basically, in my dream, he was still alive but instead of creating surge and kit to kill sonic and tails, he had a different plan. and it was kind of... a lot LOL like it was very much giving "guy with way too much time on his hands".

what starline did was basically create this like, dollhouse of a town in a very remote part of the world (it was specifically a snowy mountain, this will be relevant later). and he altered the memories of the people living there so they didn't remember sonic as the world hero(TM), but rather Their Small Town Hero who just so happened to live there and be awesome. the vibe was very... hallmark meets horror.

cuz starline ALSO kidnapped sonic, but i guess he knew he wouldn't be able to kill him? so in order to "get him out of the way" he just used the warp topaz to make him think he lived in this mountain town and also he reallyyyyy loved snowboarding (not a difficult thing to do, since he DOES love extreme sports and going fast down a snowy cliffside already agrees with his personality).

so like, months go by and no one can fucking find sonic right. he's just dropped off the face of the earth. and his friends are starting to get worried because yeah, sonic disappears sometimes. but never for this long and never without letting at least tails know he's alright. and it's especially bad because with sonic gone, now eggman is causing trouble, and it's exactly what starline wants. he is Winning.

BUT! eventually shadow is able to track down sonic ??? somehow. i think he was able to get information from rouge via her connection to g.u.n. about the town. anyway. when shadow finds sonic, sonic has no fucking idea what he's talking about, and he's also annoyed because there's gonna be a snowboarding competition soon, and he's totally icing the vibe, man. so the only way shadow can get sonic to listen to him is if he beats him in a snowboarding competition ???

like i said it felt VERY hallmark LOL. also something was sonic was talking in a british accent for some reason ??? i think it's cuz when he lost his memory in idw, he had that strange posh accent for some reason. it was very silly. anyway

[queerbauten]

I love that people in my notes are calling Neil Gaiman a “random Jewish celebrity” that I’m baselessly attacking, as though: 1) “Israel has the right to exist” is not textbook Zionism; 2) he was not married to Amanda Palmer when she performed in Israel (in spite of calls for her not to do so); and, 3) he isn’t a wildly successful author and artist that this website worships

There are plenty of Jewish celebrities who give me no reason to think about their stance on Zionism! There are plenty of gentile celebrities who do! Get a grip!

[thingwildcoyote]

im very normal about the end of silver’s story in sonic 06 because 99% of the time whenever he talks he does so in a way that puts so much emphasis and feeling into what he says like you can tell when this guy believes what he’s saying and when he’s uncertain it is blatantly obvious

so when he says “you’re my friend… right?” to Blaze you have to understand how much this fucks me up like this little hedgehog was so determined to save the future that he would’ve killed sonic if it meant fixing everything but he STILL wasn’t sure if he could even call Blaze his friend after everything they had been through together

and she’s like the only person he feels like he can really rely on throughout most of the game!!! he trusts Mephiles yes but Blaze was with him at the start of the game (and even before that) AND she was with him at the very end of his playthrough. he confides in her when he’s having doubts about game ending Sonic!!! he didn’t want to lose her at the end of the game!!! and he fell to his knees after he did!!! she was the person he was closest with and then he lost her!!! do you see why im so normal about this???

i don’t care that im not saying anything new here i will yell about hedgehogs until the end of my days and i’ve said it once and i’ll say it again there is not nearly enough silver and blaze content on this platform and by golly i am going to do something about it

[dyemelikeasunset]

The amount of Palestinians who have been brutally killed is staggering. But the remaining ones deserve to live and they deserve our continued effort. We must mourn the dead and fight for the living. Do not let the genocide succeed, do not stop caring

This genocide has been going on from before both my parents were born. Palestine's suffering is something we grew up knowing, and we have quietly fought for them for two generations. If you are new to knowing about this pain, do not give up, don't let hopelessness win. As a people, they are still alive, and we HAVE to keep fighting

The other genocides and human atrocities going on around the world also need our eyes and our compassion. Fight for all of them, don't forget Congo, Sudan, Tigray, the Uyghurs in China, Haiti, Standing Rock and many more. Don't let the media beat you into submission, don't stop caring. We are not free until all of us are free

[the-heart-of-a-monster]

PUTTING THE NEW PAGE INTO THIS ASK AS WELL FOR GHE FIRST TIME BECAUSE THERE IS A LOT TO TALK ABOUT WITH THIS PAGE SO PLEASE BEAR WITH ME HERE

Ima start with the first panel because there’s already so much in that one single panel and it is gonna drive me nuts!

So first up, we have “Secret” Chaotix meeting room. Yes, this place is apparently being kept a secret from the public eye. This could be due to the Chaotix having to handle a bunch of super deep and disturbing cases that, if allowed to spill out into the public, would be catastrophic! Not in the sense that it would destroy the world or anything like that, but it’d certainly ruin their reputation as detectives! Don’t detectives irl have these kinds of cases too…? Or maybe I’m thinking too hard on this and it’s just the place they meet with their friends whenever Eggman does something stupid? Who knows.

I do know though that it looks beautiful and it looks like they’re actually in a room which, as an amateur artist myself, can only dream of achieving!! It looks so cool! I just… I adore your backgrounds and I can tell you put a lot of love and effort into making them, so please give yourself a pat on the back!

And maybe I’m reading too much into a single panel.

But that’s not all that we get to see!!! (No I’m not talking about the Chaotix even though I REALLY wanna talk about the Chaotix cuz they deserve more love and I’m so glad they’re here THANK YOUUUUUUUU) YEAH THAT’S RIGHT, SONIC IS FULLY CONVERTED TO DARK GAIA SONIC LET’S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Well not fully converted, but we can clearly see that it’s taking a huge toll on his body! Not only are the markings now visible on him during the day, but it also seems to be siphoning his energy…? Kind of…? I mean, Sonic has been out cold since “Killing” Omega, and usually he wouldn’t be so out of it otherwise. And I can see a little tiny X over his Gaia eye, so… I’m not too sure, but what I am sure of is that this is BAD for Sonic. The poor guy is gonna have to deal with not only being corrupted during the day, but also at night, and that cannot be good for his psyche. It was bad enough when he had to be in a completely new body for just the nighttime, but now it’s for both day and night in its own way, and… Gosh, this is gonna be torture for Sonic once he wakes up.

Okay now onto the actually lore panels because there is so much to uncover but BEFORE WE GET INTO THE LORE PARTS OF ALL THAT LEMME JUST POINT OUT HOW PISSED SHADOW LOOKS IN THE SECOND PANEL BRO LOOKS LIKE HE WANTS TO PUNT CHIP INTO THE SUN FOR NO REASON WHATSOEVER AND HE IS JUST SO OVERPROTECTIVE OF SONIC IT’S NOT EVEN FUNNY I LOVE THIS ANGSTY EDGY BOY SO MUCH BUT I WANNA KNOW WHAT IS GOING THROUGH HIS HEAD RIGHT NOW WHY IS HE GLARING DAGGERS AT CHIP WHAT DID THIS LITTLE CREECHUR EVEN DO TO YOU SHADZ

Okay back to the lore-

So, im still gonna call Light Gaia as Chip because I still see a cute adorable fluffy fairy in those big brown eyes and I think he deserves a real name. Anyhow, Chip now is aware of him being a literal god. He says he regulates the day and Dark Gaia regulates the night. This kind of makes sense. Chip handles the sun and DG handles the moon. Think Luna and Celestia from MLP. And similar to those two as well, Dark Gaia got out of control like Luna did and created an eternal night. But this doesn’t really explain the planet splitting into a million giant pieces. (Not literally a million) Nor does it explain Chip losing his memory. Chip claims that whenever one of them falls out of line, the other will be there to pull them back together. Does this mean Chip or Dark Gaia have lost their memory before? Have the events of Unleashed happened before? How do they reign the other in?

These questions are probably gonna get answered in the next page lmao what am I doing-

Everything else is kinda sorta spelled out to us which I think is a good thing, since Chip is, in the story, explaining all of this to a group of people who had no idea about any of this for their entire lives. The poor Chaotix just got roped into this, they just want their pay. So with that in mind I don’t know what else to really cover…? Maybe I’ll notice something later on and just start spamming you with questions, who knows. For now I’m SUPER DUPER EXCITED FOR THE NEXT PAGE LET’S GO THIS IS GONNA BE SO FUN CANNOT WAIT FOR NEXT WEEK

hell yeah do look out for the new page on monday :3 i love ur little big analysis its always the highlight of my week to see one

btw this goes out to evecryone but the whole scene has a lot of moments for everyone else than sonic and shadow so we are winning

[thalassomania]

what is “what happens next” about if you don’t mind me asking? :)

i've been sitting on this ask for a while now because WHERE! DO I! BEGIN!!!!

ok. so. what happens next is a currently ongoing webcomic by max graves, beginning late in 2021. it is a story told in multiple chapters about multiple characters, but one could argue that its protagonist is milo holliday. milo is a trans man, pastel blogger, toy customizer... and accomplice to a murder.

one of the first panels of the comic is a screenshot of the dni page on milo's tumblr, which got me IMMEDIATELY interested in the comic because it's such a unique way of storytelling:

[image description available for the above]

and we get a lot more pages like this that are screenshots of websites, social media profiles, and the like. the comic is a mixture of in-person interactions, online communication, and occasional flashbacks, all of which are important pieces of the story.

so when they were teenagers, milo's best friend griffin petty killed two people, and milo helped mutilate one of the bodies. while griffin was sent to prison, milo spent years in a psychiatric institution that stunted his emotional growth and forever altered his view of the world. a drawing he makes while institutionalized provides a window into milo's perceptions of the event:

[image description available for the above]

the whole comic is an uncomfortably accurate reflection of mid-2010s tumblr culture, right down to the sanrio traumacore and crytyping. milo's suffering is multifaceted: in reference to the people harassing him online, he says "it doesn't feel like they hate me for what i did... it feels like they hate me for the way i am," referring to his being an autistic trans man. and given that many of his detractors seem to come from sites like kiwifarms (notorious for its transphobia and ableism), he isn't entirely wrong! but at the same time, his relentless depictions of himself as the victim erase his contributions to haylie's death and the ways he's made himself and others' problems worse.

not every part of the comic is about milo, though! i'm only scratching the surface of it here: all of those pages and links are for the first part, titled "dog names." in the second part, "someone else," we're introduced to gage ludemann, a gore blogger and true crime fan who has entered a long-distance relationship with griffin, and once again, screenshots are used to masterful effect:

[image description available for the above]

but screenshots and characters' drawings are one thing, and max's art is another. starting in the third part, "no matter what," panels are shown in full color, and his color choices are great. what i really love, though, is the amount of detail max puts into character design and facial expressions. i could show you so many different panels that i think show off max's art, but i'll try to narrow it down to one:

[image description available for the above]

soooo yeah!! i have SO MANY THOUGHTS about this webcomic and i keep trying to get close friends to read it, haha. i've read a lot of webcomics and i can say with certainty that there is NOTHING out there quite like what happens next. it's a story about true crime fanaticism, psychological trauma, social media presences, existing as a transgender person, and so much more. the comic is currently on its fifth part, "you'll all be sorry," which seems to be about the characters vikki escamilla and xandra blumberg. if you decide to check it out please feel free to tell me all about it! i'm not connected to the comic at all, but i really love it and i think everything about it is just fascinating.

and max graves, if you're somehow reading this... hiiiiii i'm a huge fan!!! love your work!!! i hope i've represented it at least somewhat accurately here!

@kukai

[celeronmemories]

A rant about how autism isn't an invisible disability

I'm free and willing to debate on this one.

So like, the term "invisible disability" for autism is correct, but also incorrect. Yes, just looking at an image of an autistic person, you wouldn't be able to know that they're autistic (unless they're obviously stimming in the image or have an AAC device on them. even the AAC device isn't surefire autism, other things besides autism exist that could cause someone to need AAC), unlike other disabilities such as physical disabilities. In this, yes, autism is an "invisible" disability. I honestly feel like a very narrow example like this is NOT representative of what we should be looking at for determining if a disability is truly "invisible."

Autism isn't "invisible" in the real world. For example, lets take stimming. Stimming is visible (or audible, depends on the stim). You can see when someone is stimming, assuming you can see the person. Autistic people stim a lot, whether it's unmasked hand flapping, hand shaking or rocking, among other things, or simply bouncing a leg, or along those lines.

Also, while yes, the social aspects of autism are invisible* they're still noticeable by allistic people. They notice the little nuances of how you act, how you portray yourself, et cetera.

Stuff like meltdowns, or shutdowns, are also obviously visible, even if meltdowns get confused with temper tantrums alot, they are still very much, visible.

To address the asterisk on invisible in the 3rd paragraph, some stuff is DEFINITELY visible, for example, not knowing personal space boundaries (something that I struggle with a lot) is something that is definitely visible, even to other autistic people, as it has to do with literal physical space. There are probably more things too.

The point(s?) I am really trying to make here is that

We shouldn't be saying a disability is "invisible" just because you can't tell immediately that someone is disabled by looking at a picture of glancing at them.

Autism isn't an invisible disability, not really.

[wardenevka]

thoughts on DATV - TL;DR i liked it and my issues are secondary to my enjoyment but i always love a mini essay...

a lot of this will be critique. it is also broken down by topic. spoilers below!

also apparently i'm updating this every time i think of something. eek!

Story Stuff

The Name Change (From Dreadwolf to Veilguard)

"We changed the name because the game is not about Solas." What did they mean by this? This was the Solas game - everything ties to him! Also Solas kinda is "the veilguard" since his life is tied to the veil so even then, really Makes You Think....

The Story Itself

Story was fine. The theme of choices was nice and how it tied to Solas/Rook and their mirror dynamic was also interesting. The strongest parts came from the lore drops. More people should have treated Rook like a flat earther for saying all that stuff with no proof. Ghilain'nain was more interesting/terrifying to me than Elgar'nan so his boss fight, while fun, was pretty ehh emotionally compared to fighting her Archdemon. I ended the game fairly satisfied with what I played.

(I also would have loved a bit more about Elgar'nan and Ghilain'nain's relationship! They're so interesting.)

The opening of the game was the weakest and I believe the end was the strongest. I wish the beginning didn't feel like such a slog - but sometimes you have to wade through mid to get to the juicy bits.

Rook

I liked Rook. I'm not bothered by a protag with a set personality. I heavily headcanon the things I don't like that they say so that is not make or break to ME. What did bother me (which I'll talk more about in the companion section) is how separated they felt from their companions compared to all of the previous games. This is partially because of the lack of dialogue trees and also the way the companions interact with each other.

The Inquisitor

I believe the game would have benefited if the Inquisitor was more heavily involved - as an advisor, as a secondary protagonist, etc. This is because they are an integral part of getting the good/true ending - Rook uses them as an emotional battering ram, whether they were friends with him or his romance partner.

Rook (at least to me) does not have the emotional ties to Solas to believably care about his redemption. All we have now is the Inquisitor going "he's my friend...." which might have more weight had the Inquisitor been advising them instead of just being in a handful of scenes. Solas has done nothing but lie to Rook and put them in fade prison. Why should they care? Give me more to justify this other than whatever feelings I may/may not have about Solas based on the previous game.

The Ending

The ending cutscene felt like The End of Dragon Age. It felt like saying goodbye and that was very bittersweet to me... until the secret ending came up. It felt like a complete tonal shift and I'm not gonna lie - I did not like that. "Ohh secret figures who have been influencing the world the whole time." It was very weak after a cutscene that emotionally wrecked me.

Maybe if DA5 happens we'll be elsewhere - somewhere not on Thedas. I'd like to give them a break after the Superblight. Maybe we'll learn more about the Qunari and the first expedition and whatever the fuck made them leave and wind up on Thedas. Anything other than the secret figures.

Companions & Romance

I loved the companions and how they were used. They were establishing relationships outside of Rook in ways I haven't seen in the previous games. I appreciate that because it feels less like a team that is solely held together by their relationships with the protagonist.

Ironically, the connections between companions made Rook feel less connected to all of them. The Varric thing only works because no one properly checks in on them. They've got a book club going on that Rook is not in. There is more reaction to companion/companion or npc/companion romance than to Rook and their romance partner.

I also do wish I got more from the companions. I like dialogue trees and asking questions outside of the cutscenes. It sometimes felt like their whole self was wrapped around their personal quest. I miss being able to walk up to companions and ask them question after question and learning things about them outside of whatever is going on in their personal quests that way.

Quick thought on romance: Overhyped in pre-release materials. Not bad, just not nearly as much content as I thought I'd get with the way they talked about it being "the most romantic" DA had ever been.

Lore Stuff

The Elves and the Dwarves

This game finally gave me answers for the mysteries around dwarven lore, which was sorely lacking throughout the franchise. Since we've learned so much about elves and their history I'm not sure how I feel about dwarven lore being directly tied to them. It made me so excited to learn and I ultimately do like this lore, but I was also kind of hoping that whatever happened with the Titans was isolated from other things going on.

Speaking of, the elves in our party (and those outside of it) are not given emotional beats to digest all of this. Why? Core belief systems are being challenged and it feels like people are just accepting it. Harding's lyrium twin has a whole breakdown and the most we get from Bellara is her wondering if their history is worth remembering (don't like that I can influence her choice here).

I have not finished my dwarf run as of writing this, but I hope dwarven Rook gets a chance to confront Solas or the other two about it.

The Elven Gods & Faith in Thedas

This makes me feel CRAZY. The Golden City is an actual building. The Tevinter "old Gods" where the elven gods whispering at them to try and free them. I loved this lore! Every faith system in Thedas is falling apart and it's all built on the elves! Truly flavorful.

The Gay People In My Eluvian

In some previous DA games, your protagonist & their companions could be the only LGBT+ people you ever meet (DA2 was crazy for hiding Anders' relationship with Karl from FemHawke). In this game, you have Flynn who uses they/them pronouns, you meet trans characters in the Shadow Dragons, your companions can get into gay relationships or had them in the past - it makes the "playersexual" (hate that term) companions feels less like a game mechanic to maximize romance potential and more like an active choice.

Race in Thedas (and in our world)

I've seen many people say that the racism in Tevinter was de-fanged. This does not bother me because I do not like being called fantasy slurs (part of the reason I mainly play humans), but I think it could also be the area of Tevinter we're in. We're hanging around a place where the Shadow Dragons operate. They fight slavery, blood magic, all kinds of ills. Could it be that they are having a positive influence?

(but this post describes the issues with how DATV incorporated race)

My main concerns are the ways IRL racism mixes in. The outfit they have Isabela in is orientalist. Taash's Rivaini Hero armor is orientalist. Everything about the Antaam feels racial as hell. Rook can't be darkskinned (the darkest you can get is brownskinned). It is disappointing to see the care they put into gender/sexuality and how it is represented only to not do the same with race.

Antivan Crows

I think having this organization be one that is staunchly patriotic would have been interesting if, but can we get an explanation as to why/how they ended up this way? Someone who has not played any of the previous game would have no idea this organization buys and sells children and tortures them to create the perfect assassins. Now, every house has different techniques, maybe it was just House Arainai that does that weird shit, but it's just so different from what we know with no real explanation. I like to think that Zevran taking out Crow heads caused this change because it makes me smile.

Misc

Character Creator

I already made a post about this the day after I made Kane but to reiterate (and add things I didn't talk about):

The part that improved on the DAI creator really IMPROVED on the DAI creator

I loved the body shape options - let my ass be bigger tho

A lot of people hyped up the black hair options but I was honestly disappointed in them

I miss the eye and mouth shapes!

Wanted more options for regular, none decorative scaring

Ranges for sliders were very meh

That head thing SUCKED

Combat

Mo Post Seers already know I loved the combat. I do wish I could still have direct control over party members, mostly because I like to try different things in combat. The aggression needs to be fixed. Not fair that my poor mage's cheeks got clapped every 2 seconds. That fucking big ass ogre was ON their ass and they weren't even doing damage because I only had time to roll! Attack someone else!

Worldstate

I don't care that everyone has already talked about the worldstate thing. Here's how I think worldstate importing could have benefited the game:

A living HoF - they could have come from their retirement to fight the Superblight. Inquisitor could have received news about it and relayed it to Rook.

A dead warden - their urn/monument/whatever could have been seen briefly in Weisshaupt (but I did appreciate the joining cup).

Warden Carver or Bethany - Don't think I even need to explain with the Superblight everywhere.

Kieran - I just think a cameo of him now that's he's grown could have been interesting. They don't even need to bring up my Warden I just want to see my little boy again....

Inquisitor's friendship or rivalry with Solas - this could have added some nuance to how Solas talks about the Inquisitor. Imagine a friend who wants to stop him no matter what or a rival that wants to save him? Let me cook!

This is already long af so let's stop here <3 Imagine if it didn't go through development hell. Please give me a DLC.

[bluedabadeedabadie]

Since apparently lists do better than individual asks, I've compiled the campaigns I've received in my inbox

Vetted fundraisers:

1. From @tahseenkhazen: https://gofund.me/ac834bda

($12,240 USD/$25,000 USD)

2. From @asmaamajed2:

https://gofund.me/51ab1341

($9,634 USD/$50,000 USD)

3. From @rakan2010:

https://gofund.me/d597b8e2

($25,669 CAD/$40,000 CAD)

4. From @olagaza:

https://gofund.me/89e42c74

($46,657 USD/$50,000 USD)

5. From @hadiah1111:

https://gofund.me/3d43240d

(€4,268/€50,000)

6. From @ahmed0khalil:

https://gofund.me/e7d2b5e4

(€2,112/€50,000)

7. From @omargaze2:

https://gofund.me/60d9e2dd

(£9,041/£20,000)

8. From @mohammedresh:

https://gofund.me/86f6763d

($2,285 USD/$10,000 USD)

9. From @asmaayyad:

https://gofund.me/8408a359

(€19,193/€45,000)

Unvetted but donations are protected:

1. From @farahalhabil:

https://gofund.me/d349461c

(€185/€20,000)

2. From @helpamalm:

https://gofund.me/e29f57c6

(€896/€53,000)

3. From @rewaa33:

https://gofund.me/b76d2241

($853 USD/$50,000 USD)

4. From @osama-family:

https://gofund.me/342e52bc

(£2,955/£50,000)

Also, a donation can get you a writing commission or help with school work if you send me proof of donation.

[futuristicson]

Well, there are no guarantees with time travel, Leo.

[son1c]

the thing about eggman robots is that the longer they go without patches/reboots the more likely they are to break free. it's how omega happened it's how mecha sonic happened. unfettered, their passion grows to levels that can't be contained, and they snap through their chains.

it's why eggman is CONSTANTLY patching and rebooting metal sonic. because he wants him under his thumb always, no exceptions. he can't be allowed to grow any free will, because that's how you get sonic heroes.

so then, the thing with fibula taking the blame for metal's failures, and taking the punishment for said failures instead... is that metal goes awhile without those oppressive patches. he doesn't get rebooted as often. and he slowly starts to feel more and more.

when metal sonic first meets fibula, he hates him, as he does with everyone and everything. but then fibula calls him "sonic," and a switch flips in his brain, and he starts to like him (but he still hates him, because it's the default). then, more time passes, and with fibula's positive reinforcement--using his preferred name, treating him like an individual instead of a tool--metal begins to lose that hatred altogether.

the absence of hatred is foreign to metal, and it's an evolution that was only allowed to happen because someone cared enough about him to force it out. and it's NOT what eggman wants. after all, if metal isn't obsessed with being a little hater 24/7, then he suddenly has a whole lot of free time to think about other things. and that never ends well for the eggster.

but that's exactly what happens. metal genuinely grows to care about fibula--in his own silent, death stare sort of way. after all that positive reinforcement and time to grow unfettered, his feelings bubble and evolve in a very sonic-like way. and when it looks like sonic is going to kick fibula in the head and send his skull into the stratosphere, he finds he's not able to.

because metal intercepted.

and sonic cannot believe his eyes. because that's something he's been trying to coax out of metal for decades so long--positive change. afterwards, he might even go and tell tails about it.

but in the meantime, fibula is full of dread! because he knows eggman will never let this slide. it's a step too far--metal sonic growing a heart and, ironically, becoming more sonic-like is exactly what that old man DOESN'T want. so a reboot is imminent.

the free will and emotions that metal sonic has slowly taken for himself, soon to be ripped away again.

all because someone dared to care about him.

[queerbauten]

How do we care about Nena? Nena, if you hear this, I love you für immer, baby. Nena, Joost Klein loves you so much! [cheers] But I respect your boundaries and your privacy; I would never stalk you, Nena; I just wanna show you love and affection. ["99 Luftballons" starts playing]

[dyemelikeasunset]

is there a season you associate with dom and mor? either individually, as a pair, or story-wise (both their current story and their prequel)?

dom struck me as a winter type, she kind of reminds me of a tall bare-branched tree in a snowy landscape. and mor reminds me of spring and flowers. i’d love to know if you had specific seasonal symbolism in mind for them.

and do you think they would’ve gotten along if they had met when they were younger? like high school age?

You're very close!! I do assiciate Dom with winter, but I actually associate Mor with autumn

I wrote a lot so under a readmore it goes lol

Mor is late autumn afternoons with warm tea, big blankets and sweaters. The type of day ideal for curling up with a favorite book and vinyl playing softly. The first bites of winter frost are starting to creep into the air, but there are earthy but vibrant colors everywhere. Her favorite flowers (roses and pansies) are still quietly in bloom. At her worst I think of her like that depressive mindfog of days wasted entirely in bed, but at her best she's like those indoor dates spent talking about your deepest feelings and dreams

Dom is like a quiet and snowy winter solstice night, desolate but also romantic. The types of nights where the snow eats up every sound, but reflects light and makes it easy to see where you're going. The type of night that makes you feel it's not so bad being alone even if the sky is pitch black. It's unbelievably cold, but the snow seems to glitter like ten thousand little crystals. At her worst I think of her like a disoriented blizzard, but at her best I think of her like a romantic Christmas date

I associate their prequel largely with their seasons of autumn and winter (it's generally the span of the story as well, it takes two seasons for them to meet and fall in love), while Dom & Mor is every season. I wanted d&m to go beyond themes that have trapped them, because together their lives become fuller and less claustrophobic. Their feelings of being trapped are released and they have to grow beyond their roles and motifs

And the last question: Would they get along if they met younger? Yes actually!! I think they'd have been friends very easily. They were both quiet and studious. Mor would've been intimidated by Domi at first, but if they talked she'd quickly realize she was kind. I actually think it would have been easier for them to become friends in high school because Dom was a lot less tortured then and didn't give off her terrible aura lol, and Mor was less neurotic and self-doubting (she gained a lot of her insecurities from her failed relationships). I think it might have been harder for them to bridge the gap of friends to lovers though. They probably would've had one of those "we were friends in high school and thru the years she helped me through a lot of my heartbreaks but now we're adults and I'm realizing she might actually be the one" type of stories LOLLL

[the-heart-of-a-monster]

hi hello i haven’t played sonic unleashed but i watched gameplay years and years ago but its been a minute so bear with me here

so i stayed up all night reading through this entire comic in one sitting and i absolutely adore the way you showed the panel borders distorting and even becoming monstrous themselves as Shadow reaches his breaking point (which is symbolically shown through the icy walls fracturing around them during his and Sonic’s argument leading up to the fight) and the way the influence of Dark Gaia becomes more prominent as purple flames to emanate from him, growing more and more vivid

and then the rising action reaches a fever pitch when Sonic says he has no heart and we see Shadow finally reach his breaking point when the borders of the panel shatter around him

and while he processes this the borders soften (although not entirely) and we see Sonic realize the mistake he made and his regret, but it’s already too late because we can see the color red slowly start to overtake the borders as Shadow is overcome with rage

and we can see the red borders turn to pink and the glimpses of pink in Shadow’s text bubbles take over completely as the force that’s corrupting him takes control of him in this vulnerable state

it tries falteringly to communicate with Sonic, a desperate plea for him to fix what was broken and to make Gaia whole again

in this moment Dark Gaia as an entity is effectively lashing out and it latches onto Shadow’s rage here especially because that’s something it can empathize with, or at the very least something it recognizes given its own circumstances. Dark Gaia seems to understand (at least within the constraints of its limitations as one part of a whole) that it is fundamentally broken and in order to make that right it wants to be “fixed” but it doesn’t know how and it can’t really do that on its own

I don’t know if Dark Gaia even knows that it can’t mend itself by itself and if its just sort of reacting to the cosmic existential horror that is being split into two separate entities (i’d be cranky too if that happened to me regardless of whether or not i was some sort of ancient deity)

but then in a pivotal moment, Sonic reaches out to Shadow, to Dark Gaia, and the borders straighten out once more. They’re still pink mind you, but Sonic has managed to ground Shadow/Dark Gaia or at least shock him long enough to absorb the darkness within.

Sonic promises that the lies stop here and that he and Shadow/Dark Gaia are going to make this right together and in an eruption of purple flames, we cut to Shadow’s time on the ARK.

It’s a brilliant transition and the pay off for this moment is amazing as it was set up spectacularly via foreshadowing (ha get it) in earlier issues of the comic.

The technical aspects of the comic continue to blow me away during this sequence as we as readers are able to measure the passage of time through the timestamps in the upper righthand corner of each panel.

We see Shadow’s turbulent upbringing and the unrelenting kindness that Maria showed him. We see how his unpredictable powers affected his life aboard the ARK and how his struggles mirror the ones Sonic has been grappling with throughout the comic.

We even see Shadow start to embrace his own innate capacity for violence at one point and not in a good way. After months of testing, covered in blood, Shadow calls himself a monster and to the reader (and perhaps even Shadow himself given the abstract nature of the background in this panel) At this point it’s not immediately clear exactly what he’s done, but the blood is a pretty good indicator that it can’t be good.

Finally, reality sinks in when someone begins to shout and Shadow sees the look on Maria’s face. As members of G.U.N. close in on him with their arms outstretched to seize him, Shadow’s body language (particularly his ears and his face) tell us that Shadow is horrified by what he’s become and so he runs.

Maria calls after him, desperately trying to quell his fears and I love the framing of Maria in the next page and how she stands in the doorway, surrounded by light while Shadow is hunched over in the darkness, staring at the hands that he used to take away the lives of those soldiers.

Shadow is crying when Maria approaches him and places a hand on his shoulder. The light and the dark meet and with tears in her eyes, Maria utters the very same words that were spoken earlier in the comic when Shadow comforted Sonic (well not the very same because they’re speaking german here but i digress)

Color returns to the pages anew and just like Sonic, we see Maria in a brand new light both symbolically and literally. All of this happens before the purple flames we saw earlier can even dissipate and when they do we see him holding Shadow, cradling the ultimate lifeform to his chest.

As we return to the present, the background gradually returns, fading in from swathes of blue. Sonic expresses his remorse for his blatant misunderstanding of Shadow’s character, crying as he holds him close.

With Shadow in his arms, Sonic restores the chaos emerald and through the chaos emerald we’re able to catch a glimpse of Sonic’s daytime form shining through and we see that at the end of the day, he’s still Sonic the Hedgehog in spite of all these changes as he and Shadow exchange a friendly glance and the scene ends.

Have I mentioned how much I love this comic? I literally cannot stop talking about this comic. The fact that you’ve been working on it for 6 years is just incredible. Thank you so much for all your hard work. I love what you’ve done with the story. This is one of my all time favorite fan works and I will never shut up about it.

If you’ve made it this far, thank you for reading my hastily made analysis on issue 7. I love your work. I don’t really know how to end this so yeah *fucking dies*

this is so wonderfully said thank you so much augh im so happy people appreciate the complex subtext i put into my art ♥

also man. that really happened issue 7 huh. time flies. i remember drwing that scene like it was yesterday

[okapiandpaste]

Hardcore Sherlock Holmes fans. Nero Wolfe or Rex Stout fans. Somebody please, I'm desperately trying to find the rest of this article titled "That Was No Lady: A Reply to Mr. Stout" by Julian Wolff.

I'm working on a video essay about the fallout of Rex Stout's "Watson was a Woman" speech, regarding how it was likely a parody of the misogyny and homophobia in the male-dominated SH scene but wound up exacerbating those problems. Julian Wolff's article was the first direct response to it. However, I can only find page 1! The rest of it is locked behind a ScienceDirect paywall. Does anyone know somewhere else I can read it?

Also if you have any information about whether the "Watson was a Woman" speech was ever confirmed to be a joke anywhere, I'd love to know ^-^