#that Goes double for ed stuff

[tirednapentity]

Some people will see both “Minor” and “NSFW DNI” and then proceed to go like “oh surely that means it’s okay for me to follow even though my blog is both 18+ only and a kink blog!”

[piratecaptainscaptainpirates]

Alright, so there's been a lot of chatter about some of the most common racist takes in the fandom lately, and I know most people aren't engaging in good faith but I'm gonna spell some things out anyway. Here's a handy-dandy White Fan's Intro to Racist Fanon 101

Why is it racist to depict Ed as uncontrollably violent?

Because he's not actually depicted that way in the show. OFMD goes out of its way to depict Ed's relationship with violence as complex and intensely traumatic for him. Because he has so many hangups around violence, Ed is one of the least violent characters in a show full of violent characters. He is always shown giving people many chances before they're able to push him into reacting with violence.

Even if you think you're just doing a character study on a guy who is really very complex and nuanced, please take the time to consider if you're assigning more weight to Ed's violent actions than those of other characters or assuming he's worse than he actually is (for example, Ed never physically hurt the crew during his kraken spiral, just Izzy. His crime was being a shitty boss, not going on mindlessly violent rampages).

What do other common fanon depictions of Ed that are racist look like?

The biggest ones are depicting Ed as untidy/messy, as illiterate, and as needing a white man (most often Izzy) to clean up after him. I hope I shouldn't have to spell out why these are racist, but please keep an eye out for them in the fanon you consume so you can be critical of how you respond when they pop up.

Are you saying that all Izzy fans are racist?

Liking a character is morally neutral. Insisting that the viewpoint of an antagonistic character is the lens through which the show should be understood, though, especially when that antagonistic character's whole deal in the first season of the show was trying to control the behavior of the brown lead so he could gain power for himself, however...

Just please consider - why do you find Izzy's tears more deserving of sympathy and compassion than Ed's?

But my hot take/fic/meta doesn't say anything about Ed's skin color!

It doesn't have to. Most of the racist takes/fic/meta out there don't mention Ed's skin color explicitly. Racism doesn't just look like saying "this character is a brown man so he's bad." Everyone who grows up in a racist society (that's everyone on the planet, btw, you included) has biases to unlearn, and those biases impact how you interact with the world around you, including with the media you consume.

The thing is, OFMD isn't a subtle show. It's very consistent with telling us who Ed is, how he responds to situations, and why he behaves the way he does. If you find it easier to throw all that aside in favor of believing what a white antagonistic character tells you about him, then you should really take a bit to examine that.

And here's the most important thing to keep in mind:

This is not about you.

Trust me, it has to be pretty damn bad for fans of color to call out racism in fandom. Every time we do, we know we're gonna harrassment and just some truly awful shit in our inboxes. But you, random white fan who Did A Racism? No one is out to get you. No one thinks you're an awful person for including a racist trope in your stuff, we just wish you'd examine it so we can make this fandom a better place for everyone.

I have had amazing discussions with white fans who saw my posts on fandom racism and wanted a sensitivity read or a check so they could fix an instance where they uncritically included a racist trope. But most people who make similar mistakes will just double down and insist they didn't do anything wrong, and that makes fandom a worse place for all of us.

Fans of color deserve to feel safe and included in this fandom, and we're just tired of feeling like we have to beg to get some circles to see poc as people. You can do your part by being critical of these tropes and your reactions to them when they pop up.

[frankenstein-ate-my-left-shoe]

@steddiemas week 2 - Lights, Mistletoe, Tradition, Red

rating: T | words: 1,649

wooo right in before the deadline lmao

<- back to previous part | next part ->

Steve knocks on the Munsons’ door at 10 the next morning. It’s only after he does, however, that he thinks that maybe Eddie won’t even be up yet, that he won’t be up for a couple more hours at least, despite what he said after dinner the night before;

“Gotta be up bright and early, Stevie dear, Wayne’s taking a double and someone’s gotta put up the tree.”

“You’re decorating already?”

“Sure am! It’s tradition to put the tree up the day after thanksgiving. Wanna come over and help?”

But, to his surprise, Eddie opens the door mere seconds after he’d knocked, the sounds of the local radio station’s Christmas music selections spilling out the door behind him.

“Finally,” he says, leaving the door open and turning to march back to an already open green tote in front of the couch.

“Sorry man, I honestly didn’t think you’d be up.” he laughs, following Eddie into the trailer. He kicks the snow off his boots in the doorway, toes them off, and closes the door behind him.

Looking around, Steve notices the already somewhat cramped space is more cramped now with the addition of a large cardboard box, a surprising number of rolls of wrapping paper in different stages of use, a pile of lights, and two plastic tubs, a green and a red, all spread out across the floor.

“What is all this stuff?”

“Our Christmas shit, duh.” Eddie says, bent in half over the tote and digging around at the bottom.

Steve takes the shortest moment to admire the view (A guy can have a crush on his relatively new, much-cooler-than-him friend if he wants to, alright?), then says, “Yeah Ed, I got that part, I mean, what is it all? What’s in the totes?” then walks over to the red tote and lifts off the lid.

A mess of ornaments awaits him under it; all of them loose, gold, green, red, and glittering.

“That one’s ornaments, this one’s garland, I think the tinsel’s in here too…?” more digging sounds.

“Why are they all just… loose?” Steve asks, picking up a green teardrop ornament. He’s used to his mother’s rigid everything has its place style of packing away the decorations every year, each fragile glass bauble having its own box or assigned spot in a big plastic tray… not like she’d been around to do the setup or take down the last couple years, but old habits die hard.

“Well it’s not like they’re gonna break, they’re all plastic.”

Steve scoffs a short laugh, shaking his head, “Alright, Munson, where do you wanna start?”

They start, of course, with the big cardboard box that holds the Munsons’ tree.

“You have an aluminum tree?” Steve asks with barely-hidden awe as he reads the red and green Evergleam Stainless Aluminum Christmas Tree on the side of the box. He’d always thought they were pretty, but his mom refused to have one in her home, said they were tacky (not to mention not nearly tall enough).

Eddie sighs, “Yeah, not what I woulda picked but,” he shrugs, pulling what looks like the stem of the tree out of the box, “Beggars and choosers and all that.”

“I think they’re great.” Steve says, taking the pole from Eddie.

“Really?”

“Yeah, I dunno, they’re so… shiny. So Christmas-y, y’know?”

Eddie gives him a look, but smiles, “Sure, I can see that.”

The two get to work, snapping the base and column of the tree together, then placing each of the branches into the holes dotted up and down the stem.

Eddie starts to pull the paper sleeves off the branches as he goes, and Steve finds himself entranced by finagling the spindly aluminum strips to look more tree-like.

He doesn’t know how long he spends wearing circles into Wayne’s carpet, but soon, Eddie comes to his side and asks, “Ready for the lights, Stevie?”

“Hm? Oh yeah, yeah, sorry man.” he says, stepping back from the tree only to reach back out and fix the needles he brushed up against getting out of the way.

Eddie smiles, then drops to his hands and knees to crawl along the side of the couch to plug in the lights Steve now sees have been laid up and down the length of the living room and kitchen.

“You guys don’t have that spinny light thing?” He asks Eddie’s ass, then immediately regrets it. ‘Beggars and choosers and all that’. “I mean, uh..”

The warm white lights flicker on as Eddie shouts “Gotcha!” and shuffles backward, sitting up on his knees when finally free of the branches. Somehow, there’s tinsel in his hair now. Where’d that even come from??

“We do, actually, but it’s always been finicky. Pros of a ‘non-flammable’ tree means we don’t try to make things more flammable with untrustworthy motorized light doohickies, right?”

Steve blinks at him. “Did you just say ‘doohickies’?”

Eddie grins, “If I’m gonna quote Wayne, I’m gonna do it correctly.”

“Fair.” He laughs, holding out a hand for Eddie to take. Grabbing tight, Eddie heaves himself up off the floor.

“Alright big boy, you get to stringing those ones,” He says, pointing to the white lights, “While I untangle the other ones.” He picks up the other mess of lights triumphantly, a big grin still on his face.

It’s only then, when Eddie lets him go to pull at the lights, that Steve realizes he’d still been holding Eddie’s hand.

Steve gets the lights strung up around the little tree, and is rewarded with another good long look at Eddie’s backside while he plugs in the now untangled multicolored lights.

These ones are more familiar to him, “Hey, my grandma has these!” Steve says cheerily, examining the plastic petals around each light.

“Must be a grandma speciality, then.”

“Oh yeah? You a grandma, Ed?” Steve asks, carefully winding the lighted flowers back and forth across the tree.

Eddie snorts, “All this stuff was my grandma’s. Wayne got it when she died.”

Steve feels his face fall. “Oh, I’m sorry.”

He glances up to see Eddie shrug, “She was before my time, but thanks.”

Eddie lets Steve work while he starts to dig through the totes; he’s got half the tote of greenery spilled out onto the floor by the time Steve goes to the other and starts to pick out ornaments.

He figured with a shiny silver tree like this that the gold ones wouldn’t look quite right, but the combination of color from the lights somehow makes it so only the gold would look right.

He’s pulling out the different shaped gold baubles when Eddie finds something.

“Ooh mistletoe~, how ‘bout it Stevie, you gonna lay one on me?” he croons, sidling up to Steve with one arm stretched above them.

“Shut up man,” Steve laughs, pushing him away on instinct alone and going back to the tote of ornaments.

Immediately, Steve can hear Robin’s voice in his head; “No! What are you doing?? You could’ve had your first boy kiss before my first girl kiss and you said NO? To EDDIE??”

Unaware of his turmoil, Eddie cackles good-naturedly as Steve’s heart thumps achingly in his chest.

He can’t help but imagine it, what it would’ve been like to take Eddie up on the offer, to just grab him up and plant one on him like he’s been wanting to for what, a good eight months now?

He’d kiss him, he’d blush all pretty, Steve’d say something corny and flirty and endearing, and Eddie would grin that big stupid grin at him and—

“Steve!”

Spell broken, Steve looks around at Eddie, standing over the faded tote with the scraggly-looking sprig of greenery still hanging from one of his fingers.. “What?”

Eddie shakes his head almost disbelievingly, “Whatta you mean ‘What?’? You’re the one zoning out in the middle of my living room, man.” He laughs, but it and his eyes are strained.

“Oh sorry, yeah. Just zoned out, promise.”

That seems to loosen Eddie up, “Okay, good.” He sighs, drops the mistletoe onto a cushion of the couch, and dives back in for two armfuls of garland.

Steve hangs ornaments on the tree while Eddie does his best to scare the shit out of him at every moment; he climbs up and all over the counters, the couch, Wayne’s recliner, all just to hang the garland around the cabinets and along the front of the shelves packed with mugs.

Eventually, they’re done.

The tree is lit, the garland is pinned in place where it won’t send any mugs careening down onto the couch below, every inch of the Munsons’ space is decked out and the unused decorations are being packed away into their totes.

“Last chance, big boy,” Eddie says, wiggling the fake plastic plant and his eyebrows at Steve.

He barks a short laugh and shakes his head fondly, and Eddie goes back to packing away the rest of the garland that was wrapped up in his other hand.

For a split moment, as he snaps the lid back onto his own tote, Steve wonders over his options, but knows he’ll regret it if he doesn’t seize the moment.

He turns away from the red tote of ornaments, takes the three short steps to Eddie’s side, and plucks the mistletoe from Eddie’s hand.

Eddie, who turned automatically when he did, flushes beet red as Steve raises his hand and the little fake sprig of greenery above both their heads

Steve leans forward, and presses his lips to the warm apple of Eddie’s cheek.

He pulls back, and Eddie’s face is somehow redder. “Happy now, Munson?”

He’d meant for it to come out jokingly, willing to play it off if Eddie pushes back, but his voice comes out warm and low instead, with genuine curiosity colored through it.

Eddie gulps audibly, then breathes out a soft laugh, “Peachy.”

dividers from @steddiecameraroll-graphics!

[elapsed-spiral]

I really love how S2 is doubling down on looking at how people remember things. Ed and Stede are both confirmed to have faulty memories (cause of the trauma) and either fail to remember things or remember things incorrectly. But S2 goes beyond that: they keep flashing back to S1 but it's never the same take. Each memory looks a little worse, less silly and less idealised.

You have to be seriously confident in your storytelling if you're taking scenes from your very popular first season and actively taking the shine off them, making them look more realistic and less romanticised. But, so far, I think it's paying off: what's left feels more mature and plausible. The characters feel more like people. It's just very clever stuff for a pirate romcom is what I'm saying.

[ponett]

Out of curiosity, have you checked out some other indie animation besides Hazbin? (although Hazbin isn't actually independant so uh) Stuff like The Amazing Digital Circus or Big Top Burger?

I'm already watching both of those, yes. I've liked Worthikids' stuff since before Bigtop Burger, so naturally I enjoy the show. I have perhaps slightly complicated feelings on TADC as a fellow indie creator because, like... it makes me a little exhausted seeing how much they have to push merch and inspire a huge, obsessive fandom from the very start just to get the show made. You finish an episode and it's immediately like "now go buy the plush of this one-off character!" But also, the show is good and funny and very nicely animated, so it doesn't feel as cynical as it might otherwise. I'm just tired of having to play the game of capitalism to get art made, and I think about how shows that don't have that combination of marketable character designs and mysteries for fans to theorize about between episodes don't get the same support, like I said in my Hazbin review. This is less an issue with the show itself and more an issue with the state of the world around it.

Off the top of my head I'm also a big fan of Felix Colgrave's work, stuff like Double King or Donks. And I think PilotRedSun's stuff is genuinely aesthetically interesting and funny beyond its meme status - same with AC-bu. And Ed Atlin's always funny. There are just a bunch of cool animators out there whose stuff I like when I come across it on social media, too many to list. The world of "indie animation" is very broad, and it goes far beyond the handful of bigger budget shows from small studios that people tend to hype up these days.

[amuseoffyre]

"I don't even know who I am"

What I have loved about the show from day one is that it has been an unflinching examination of identity and what makes it: the things that shape people into who they are and how that impacts on how they act and react to the world around them.

The exploration of Ed’s sense of self has been so beautifully handled and I know that if/when we get a third season, they’re going to do even more with it.

This is a character who has been raised with violence and cruelty his whole life, who was told “we’re just not those kind of people” when he yearns for something better, who killed to protect his mother, who ended up under the heel of a brutal tyrant of a captain who used sadistic punishments and death to keep his crew in line.

It’s the only life he knew and it’s the only option he sees himself as having. He has no concept of any other alternative until along comes Stede “there’s always another way” Bonnet and he’s fascinated. He even tells Stede as much the first time they met – “do you have any idea how hard it is to find someone doing something original out here? It’s impossible, man.”

Ned Lowe cements that fact in 2x06, describing Ed as a generic pirate and Ed immediately calls him out on the fact that he’s as messy as the rest of them even if he’s trying to act like he’s not, observing “It’s usually family stuff”. Stede even observes “A lot of your friends are troubled” and Ed fully admits “Yeah. Well. They’re pirates.”

There’s so much juicy meta to be had about the fact that Stede wants to desperately be a pirate and Ed doesn’t even catch that not only is Stede fully troubled but that it’s got Family Stuff etched all over it. He even says “you’ve got it all figured out”, but the Stede meta is for another day.

In S1, Ed’s in a pretty depressed space and finds a bit of a respite from it in Stede’s company. It lets him try out new things, things he didn’t think he was allowed/able to do, but he still follows a lot of the patterns of behaviour and actions that are standard in the pirate lifestyle that has been 80% of his lived experience.

He can switch violence on and off when he needs it (“next one goes through your fucking eye”), he doesn’t see anything wrong in talking about the violence he’s inflicted (“Well, this one time I was gouging an eye out of this lad’s skull”), he has a deep well of punishments that he can draw from (force-feeding body parts, mutilation, skinning, maiming) and all of these things are just so normalised for him that he’s desensitised to how horrific they are.

He’s still doing all those things while also telling stories, having fun, teaching people about fuckeries and generally being “more open and available than I’ve ever seen him”. He hasn’t wanted or needed to shed that side of his life because he’s getting the best of both worlds.

Only then Calico Jack pays a visit and ramps Ed’s behaviour up to 11 and this is the first time Stede – who is dealing with his own issues at the same time – says that there’s something wrong with the way he’s behaving.

Ed says to Stede, confused and stung, “This is who I am. This is me” when Stede points out all the behaviour he isn’t enjoying. And for him, at this point, this is him. This is what he’s grown up knowing and being. This is his lifestyle and part of the culture of the pirate community. We see it repeatedly when we see Ed encountering people from his past or in the Republic. It’s the frog-in-the-pot scenario. He’s been in the pot so long, he doesn’t know it’s been boiling the whole time.

Only the very next episode, at the academy, pared back to just be Edward Teach, born on a beach, he admits “I don’t know if I want to go back to the old days, drinking all day and forcing some bloke to eat his own toes for a laugh”. He’s been played and double-crossed by people who trusted him and he sees an alternative in Stede – “I’m your friend” Stede told him, and he wants that. He wants a friend he can trust. They can go off together, away from all that and everything’ll be fixed, right? That’ll make it all good.

And then…

And then we all know how that goes.

Briefly, very briefly he thinks he might be able to hold on to that different kind of thing, that softer, brighter world, but Izzy reminds him of the reality of their situation. That people he considers allies and friends can and will warn him to “watch his fucking step” and that this is not a world where he can let his guard down.

Either you’re part of that world or you die. Izzy said it as far back as episode 4. The only retirement they get is death. And so that’s the option Ed takes: either watch the world burn or die trying. Not like he can have anything else. For ever and ever, trapped in his life and world he has come to hate.

He sinks him into the worst of it to try and end things faster. He’s crueller. Relentless. Brutal. And no one seems to care that he’s shattering under the weight of it, until he forces their hand and goads them into killing him or letting him kill all of them.

Izzy says “we did this to him” to Stede, but neither of them seem to realise how much deeper Ed’s hurts go. Yes, they both had an impact on Ed, knocking away his sense of place and self and acceptance, but the wounds are far older and far deeper than they know.

It’s only when Ed is first forced to confront himself in the unsettling not-reality of the gravy basket that he takes the first step in understanding himself better. He’s forced to face the stuff he’s done and the worst parts of himself. He even tries to kill them, over and over again, until he realises.

I find it especially interesting that Buttons describes getting out of purgatory as “escaping”. That this is a place where you’re flayed down to the bones and forced to face the worst parts of yourself.

It’s so vital that he – and Stede – have the encounter with Anne and Mary. He’s reminded of the world that he was part of and the casual brutality that came with it. He’s shown that he and Stede could easily fall into those patterns, but instead Stede offers him honesty, comfort and the assurance that he is loved.

“A lot of your friends are troubled” Stede observes after and Ed admits that yeah, they’re pirates. He recognises that this is part of the social culture he grew up in and that it’s still impacting on him now.

But what happens next is so sweet and important. Buttons talks to him of learning to change, that nothing is fixed and that if you want to, you can change your path. And then Buttons shows him it’s possible and Ed’s face just lights up. Yes, brother. Fly. You can change things. You can choose another way.

Only it’s not simple. It’s not straightforward. With the probation period, Ed looks for quick fixes – offers to let Lucius push him overboard to get it over with and the like – but part of him still doesn’t quite get why some of the stuff he did was wrong because it was so normalised to him.

It takes Fang saying “I was terrified” to make him see it and coming from someone who has been with him for 20 years, realising someone else from within his own world was terrorised by him brings things into focus for him. That the things he thought were games weren’t. That the stuff he told himself was normal in context absolutely wasn’t normal.

And this is where Ed’s entire world view pivots. Fang shows him how to sit with himself, how to reflect. Ed takes this lesson to heart and he’s still working through it, gazing out to sea and thinking about it at the beginning of episode 6. He goes from never apologising for anything as a captain to telling both Fang and Izzy quiet, but meaningfully, “I’m sorry”.

He’s known for a long time that he’s tired of piracy, but the Ned Lowe situation is the thing to put the final nail in the coffin: this man hunted him down because of his pirating. This man hurt them all because of it. And worst of all, Ned took the man Ed loves and pushed and provoked him until Stede killed him. This was Ed’s “you defile beautiful things” moment. His face in those scenes, when he said “don’t do it, you can’t come back from this” is a call from his own experience. Stede is taking that step onto a path that Ed desperately wants to get off.

That night makes the decision for him.

The next morning, his leathers go overboard, a symbolic end to Blackbeard (and I will yell another day about him putting the proverbial beast back under the waves. Ed and his sea metaphors are gnawing me alive) and he’s happy about it, humming and hurrying back down to join Stede in their bed.

Stede doesn’t notice, though. Stede never would notice something like that being important because for him, Ed is Ed. Whatever he wears, whatever he does, he is Ed. A change of clothes doesn’t change him in Stede’s eyes.

But other people notice. Hell other people not noticing Blackbeard and only seeing some hobo dude is such a change. There’s something so significant that the people he chooses to talk to about it are the old guard in his field. He tells Jackie “it’s not a phase” and Izzy that it felt “fucking great” and both of them get it. Both of them have been there, seen it, experienced it.

Only it happens as he’s seeing Stede become what he used to be, stepping into the space he’s willingly leaving, and Stede is so happy about it. And he’s happy for Stede to have his moment and be appreciated, but it just throws into stark relief that this is absolutely not what he wants or needs right now. He still has a lot of figuring out to do and unfortunately, they’re both highly-emotional people and when they’re emotional, their communication goes down the toilet.

Once upon a time Ed said “this is who I am, this is me” to Stede, when he was acting exactly like Stede is now: raucous, drinking, chaotic and loud. Only time and reflection has let him see that wasn’t necessarily him but the environment and his circumstances shaping him to be like that, just as it's now making Stede act that way.

“I don’t even know who I am,” he admits in this argument. “I’m not ready for whatever this is”. He knows he has a lot more to figure out and because he’s latched on so hard to fishing as a place to be quiet and contemplate, that’s why he runs there. He wants to work himself out without the weight and pressure of the pirate world breathing down his neck.

Only he doesn’t talk about it, he doesn’t explain, he just tells Stede he’s leaving and Stede immediately sees it as something he’s said/done, rather than something that Ed is trying to figure out. They both hurt each other because Ed has always worried that Ed isn’t enough – the loss of the beard still weighs on them both – and that Stede is only humouring him to get Blackbeard, while Stede is so convinced that being a great pirate will mean he and Ed can be together as equals instead of him being a bumbling amateur who isn’t worthy of the man he loves, only to see it slip through his fingers.

They both need to talk to each other, but they don’t know how. Ed’s made quick, rash decisions, but they’ve come on the back of a lot of reflection and he just didn’t explain it. He’s right that he doesn’t know who he is himself. He’s never had the chance to just… take the time and figure it out. He needs that time, but they just don’t have it right now and they end up hurting each other more because of it.

I’ve said from the beginning that both of them are coming from opposite ends of the spectrum and that they’re destined to meet somewhere in the middle. Ed got his fantasies of a fancy life shattered in season one and now, Stede is seeing the impact of his pirate fantasies on the life he made for himself in season two.

Both of them are on the edge of a catastrophe curve, misunderstanding each other’s motivations and totally at odds with who they are versus who they have been told they need to be. They will get there, but two little lost boys finally taking off the rose-tinted glasses and dealing with the mess that they have carried with them their entire lives isn’t easy.

And I will fully admit I am loving it.

[howlonomy]

Idea for dt clover monster

1- 6 shooter, where the board gets split into 6 sections and you have to remember how the rounds were loaded into it

2- buckshot, where clover will shoot the board with a shotgun but the rounds fan out like the astral dreamer attack

3- lasso and lazer where the board is lined up with a double barrel shotgun and the soul is tied to the center having to avoid each shot from each barrel

4- clover will slowly move their talons in and you have to fire at them to keep them away

Beyond that I’m not sure, maybe they use their wings to block attacks?

yall are way more creative than me with this kinda stuff AHDJSJCN but ill add my own thoughts!!

YELLOW ATTACKS; If you get hit with one of DT!Clover’s yellow attacks, your HP gets sucked out and used to heal DT!Clover instead (similar to Ceroba’s red attacks).

1) Six Shooter —> Russian Roulette: In a very similar vein, you watch a (yellow colored) round be loaded into a revolver; you have like half a second to react to a reticle being put on your soul before it’s fired and it’s either a live round (normal bullet attack) or a yellow round.

2) Buckshot: Huge shotgun attacks that explodes into stars. The stars explode into SMALLER stars. Very bullet hell.

3) Prey: Similar to Ed’s attack, you have to avoid Clover’s talons grabbing you; if caught, you are stuck in one place and aimed at by either feathers, stars, or revolver shots. Very difficult to move and avoid attacks if caught.

4) Blackhole: Extending their wings, their inner wings turn into the void of space, sucking you to the top of the battle box. You must avoid swipes from their claws or shooting stars coming out of their wings.

5) One Last Hurrah: Similar to Zenith Martlet’s attack where the screen goes huge and she flies towards you (idk the name lmao); Clover’s tail splits into four; they slam it into the battle box, yellow shards spraying. The main attack is DT!Clover’s SOUL charge up an attack and shoot towards you. They swat your bullets away with their tail, you can’t hurt them during this attack.

EXTRA CHALLENGES: As the fight goes on, lighting surrounds attacks that have things to do with DT!Clover’s physical body; such as their talons or wings. Extra damage, and occasionally yellow! A lot of simpler attacks also overlap, like how Zenith Martlet has like 3 different attacks going on every round. Things like TNT explosions, gunpowder lines you have to avoid (or else it will explode), and gunshots that shatter the battle box into segments (so you’re stuck in one section unless you take damage to move through the cracks).

You would have to aim for DT!Clover’s soul with bullets to hurt them! No other spot would damage them; just their soul. idk how all this would work in an actually game but this was fun to theorize and think up >:]

[duckduckington]

Differences of the WoY visual style between the pilot and the final show (Along some other stuff) (Part 1)

So a crap-ton of cartoon show bibles and pilots surfaced recently, which is kind of fucking cool, and it included stuff from Wander over Yonder, which is way fucking cooler.

First thing I did was over-analyze the show's visual style and I figure I should put my findings somewhere, so here you go! In a chronological order, it's easier that way (and builds suspense for the real good stuff, ooohooooh (in a spooky ghost voice)).

The first shot alone already brings forth some differences. As far as I know, the show never illustrates space like this, entirely black with just a couple of stars to break the void. There's usually some blue star dust or something, kinda like this:

The skullship was planned to be 3D-animated apparently, instead of being drawn in the same style as the backgrounds. This allows for WAY more complex movements, since it's easier to pull off.

We then get to take a looksie inside of the ship... this isn't like ANYTHING in the show.

We do see control rooms on occasion, but not one like this. It's a circular room with rows of watchdogs on the wall, watching monitors, circulating the middle where Hater sits on his throne. The railings on its support carry Peepers and his cockpit. Two watchdogs control the ship (I think) at the front. That blue goop at the top might be the ship's brain (you can also already see some animation errors in the front, peep their grabbers). There ain't ever been a color palette inside the ship like this, they usually opt for red and black rather than red and white. This might have been their solution to making the characters native to Hater pop out against the background before deciding to just substitute black for purple.

There's still bright locations within the skullship, but they're non-threatening ones, like the food court.

Commander Peepers and the watchdogs have designs that, while closer to their final versions than the pitch bible (or whatever that cover of that graphic novel was supposed to be), carry some traits still worth pointing out (well, so does everything here, but pshhhshshhhshh).

SHINY

COLLARS

Puffy collars around necks, wrists and ankles.

Detailed irises.

Detailed soles on shoes.

Those lines on their gloves that you see in your grandpa's toons.

(bugs bunny pictured flipping the bird)

This is specific to Peepers; the jagged thunder-spike on his helmet has dimension to it, as opposed to the implied dimension in his final design. Spikes on the side are also way longer here.

His eye/face emotes differently by just utilizing a black eyelid, rather than turning the hat into a pseudo-eyebrow, kinda like Double D from Ed, Edd n' Eddy.

We then get a glimpse at Hater's design...

Despite his face missing, you can already see some differences, like his arms resembling more those of an actual skeleton and packing a lot less mass. His hood is also a bit more tout and the folds surrounding it have more empathis.

Another space shot with some shapes to break up the infinite black; it's not always you see a warm color palette for space in the actual show.

Maybe here, when Wander and Sylvia stop the sun from blowing up in "The Good Deed".

When entering the city that's about to get its shit stirred by Hater, we notice that there aren't ANY other locations illustrated like this. We usually have smooth, airbrushy looking stuff, when this is more reminiscent of a comic strip, with clear lines and some hatching to indicate weight here and there. Same goes for the townsfolk, they remind me of... Krazy Kat or something. Craig McCracken has gone on record saying he drew a lot of inspiration from old comic strips, but I don't know if Krazy Kat is one of them. I just thought of it :)

The inside of the skullship looked different so this place might have had an unique artstyle to other locations we would've seen in this version of the show, but that would also be a big difference since the actual show keeps the background style consistent throughout the whole run (as far as I know).

Goes in hand with the skullship; the watchdogs are 3D-animated here, although subtly.

Different gun designs... they look more like water guns here. Big ol' TUBES. Their guns in the show are more sci-fi-esque.

Hater's logo is different, in-line with his design. Way flatter design too. Might as well take a look at his actual face now.

Well, more like next time. Just found out you can only use up to 30 images in one post. Oopsies. I'll continue this when I have the energy! I'll continue my chronological analysis/rambling and perhaps talk about the general art-style and animation at the end. Might take me a couple of more posts.

[error4343]

Ok I've had a very random train of thoughts and now wanna compile it into post.

Some MM characters computer-related (???) headcanons lol

Riley:

Has above average knowledge of Excel/Google sheets due to studying finance, but after four years with no practise forgot most of it.

The "Sooon, I have a problem" person in their family. Actually, surprisingly good and patient at explaining computer stuff to older people.

Has a higher responsibility of doing taxes (finance, after all). Even he never fails to do them right, Ed always double checks. Sometimes they get into argument, where inevitably Riley proves he is right but his father would never admit it.

Warren, Leeza, Ooker and other teens:

Also nothing outstanding in terms of skills, except few of them have interest in IT.

They have bunch of small local Discord servers and one big main server with some very stupid name.

Few times Bev tried to bring up importance of parental control over this "new and rapidly growing young community", but thanks God no one took her concerns seriously

Leeza moderates it and her moder role called "Mayor-mini". Like father like daughter.

All teens local jokes and memes were bourn/spread though that server.

Bev:

Rumors says she sacrificed her humanity to obtain such powers with Microsoft software package.

Can build up Access database from scratch, using basic SQL commands, assemble primitive, but surprisingly sufficient interface to it and synchronize it with Excel in span of one day or less.

In her laptop there're every pupil's personal file, countless Excel tables, several automatised document accounts, Google calendar with precisely planned schedule for next several months (for school, church, island and personal matters) and probably Pentagon files.

Probably can find all Pi numbers with Excel formulas.

Never lets anyone to her laptop.

Spends her free time at different forums, mostly gardening-related.

Wade:

Made a very fucking poor decision to let Bev do all the legwork with digital document accounting.

Now has no idea how some of things even work, so just goes with a flow and does what Bev tells.

No wander she got away with embezzlement.

Knows about kid's server. Very proud of Leeza for managing it :)

Because of that, he knows one or two memes from there, but keeps them in secret.

Has hobby of fixing office equipment. Does it with Sturge in spare time due to Dupuytren's contracture not letting him operate his hand fully.

Sarah:

There's no good medical technicians on island, so when something goes wrong with equipment electronics - tries to fix it herself to best of her ability.

Always monitors electronic e-shops for spare details or equipment. Grows more and more addicted to it.

Frequently updates her selection of sites with useful medical information, because Erin asked her for help guiding teens though puberty. For that receives glances from Bev, but doesn't give a shit.

Has reputation of cool aunt among kids, so she was one and only adult invited to main Discord server. Didn't accept it (doesn't even have Discord acc), but still grateful for trust.

Plays solitaire a lot.

John:

Back when he was playing Paul, Bev asked him to do something with Excel. In conclusion, poor bastard had to learn basic computer skills and Excel in span of several days. Now he is traumatized for rest of his life.

Will do all the work manually just to not touch laptop again.

Upsets very easly when does something wrong.

Doesn't own laptop. Don't give that man laptop, he will cry.

By his own will uses it only to watch baseball. Always asks someone to help with that.

[starlightwoofwoof]

You guys want some more info on that Supervillain! EENE AU I made with the Ed Boys a few days ago? No??? well too bad cause here you go-

(I kinda wanted to put more drawings in this for ‘demonstration’ but I didn’t feel like it, but I did do some sooooo

also I haven’t thought about the backstories for any of them but maybe I will at some point)

Patient E :

Patient E is, in fact, a zombie (I mean obviously but yeah, just wanted to say so lol)

Since Patient E is a zombie, he does have cravings for humans, and he can get very aggressive sometimes

Sometimes Patient E just refers to himself as ‘E’, to make it all less complicated

Patient E can barely remember what he was like before, he can’t even remember his old name, despite it just being one letter off

As for his personality, other than being aggressive when he’s hungry, E is usually just bored or annoyed, depending on the situation

I still like to think remnants of Ed are still in him, though. For example, like I showed in a doodle from last time, he still loves chickens :> (they’re pretty much one of the only things he always sees as friends and not food)

As for his powers, Patient E’s bites are infectious, but they’re only infectious if he manages to break the skin. Any gentle nibbles aren’t anything to worry about

Sometimes Patient E has to be chained up in Dr. Dread’s cellar when he gets too aggressive, but Doc does try to give him at least something to eat

honestly I’m kinda wondering if I should even call him a villain, he doesn’t really do anything evil, other than him being a bloodthirsty zombie-

If the trio co-existed, Patient E would have an alright relationship with them, especially with Dr. Dread, since he hangs out with him a lot

E can speak, but he doesn’t speak a lot. He usually grumbles one word answers, or just makes zombie noises

Despite being a zombie, E is still pretty strong. Not as strong as Ed, but he can pick up his friends if he wanted

The wounds E have luckily don’t hurt him much, he just kind of finds his dangling eye annoying sometimes when it gets in the way of things

His rashes can get pretty irritable, though

Dr. Dread :

Dr. Dread is a mad scientist, and his powers are making potions with various effects

Since Double D stated that he is a pacifist (… sometimes-), Dr. Dread usually uses his potions on himself or non-violent potions on others (he can get violent if he really needs to though)

These potions are usually transformative in multiple ways, and their colors can range from any color of the rainbow

He can only use potions one at a time though, he can’t just pile up the effects to make him super powerful or something lol

Dr. Dread doesn’t like it when people refer to him as his old name, dismissing it immediately. He’s fine with still being called Double D by anybody he sees as a friend, though, because it still fits

He also likes just being called ‘Doc’

Doc is a lot like Edd in some ways. He still loves reading and doing research on things, bugs, and organizing his books and science stuff

Dr. Dread can get very angry, very easily, especially if something goes wrong

Doc has a very loud, very villainous cackle

(in the whole co-exist thing-) Doc likes to experiment on Patient E, he’s always curious if he could bring him back to being fully human

Dr. Dread likes to call everyone his “little lab rats” lol

Doc has ‘name tagged’ Patient E before on his back. E doesn’t mind it

Doc’s horns and the end of his beanie are made up of chemical smoke, and it’s intangible, so you could move anything through them if you wanted-

Doc is pretty snobby when it comes to his massive superiority complex (like- he’s giving “I think I know more about American Girl than you do, genius” /ref, but with any topic he knows a lot about)

??? :

This villain Eddy is made up of two different sides that are now stuck together

The blue side is always upset, worried or crying, and the red demon side is angry and greedier than ever

Depending on the situation, his voice is a mix of Eddy sobbing and Eddy either talking in a ‘whispery-growl’ or screaming at the top of his lungs

The demon side is kinda inspired by Professor Scam with the monocle, the cape, the gloves-

If I ever do give him a backstory, it’ll probably have to do something with, y’know, the whole thing that happened in the Big Picture Show

Everyone usually just refers to him as “The Twins”, “Blue and Red”, or something similar

I haven’t thought too much about what his powers are, but I like to think it has to do something with like, opposite things (water and fire maybe?? It makes sense cause one’s all about crying and the other is a demon soooo)

As for the blue side to his personality, I wouldn’t exactly say he goes out of his way to try to do nice things exactly since he’s so sad all the time, but he definitely doesn’t go out of his way to be cruel either (mainly due to his guilt)

Red, however, claims that he wants to be the ‘best scam artist the world has ever known’, soooooooo yeah, he’s a lot more evil than the blue side 💀

The two sides contradict themselves and also fight with each other all the time, due to their different personalities and morals

Red has a lot of bad habits, including talking over people, interrupting, and getting very violent sometimes

He also accidentally bumps his horns and tail into things all the time, which annoys him a lot

(In the co-exist thing-) He fights with Dr. Dread all the time due to how angry they both can get, but he’s more chill with Patient E

He still really loves jawbreakers (both of them do, jawbreakers being great is literally one of the only things that they can agree on 💀)

Blue tries to give Patient E jawbreakers sometimes, but usually fails at doing so due to Red’s greed taking over

Red’s arm is unusually long, which kinda gives him a more ‘creepier’ appearance

Alright, I think that’s all I can think of for now buuuuuttttttttt I guess to make up for the lack of art in thissssss

here are some lazy screenshot redraws/edits with them :3

[bemusedlybespectacled]

Thoughts on Steddyhands because I’m at full Pepe Silvia levels of conspiracy thinking right now:

I’m more willing to believe in Steddyhands becoming canon than I think I ever have been before because of the comments both Rhys and Con made at various cons PLUS the teaser

HEAR ME OUT

This is a cast with IMO an unusually high awareness of fan theories/shipping (that goes double for Con “my instagram is just fanart” O’Neill), so Stizzy/Steddyhands has to be something they’re aware of.

Moreover, while cons are less edited/monitored than a magazine article or something, there is still usually a certain amount of prep that goes into them. And while Con is willing to spread shipping chaos, I don’t get the sense that Rhys is.

So for both Con AND Rhys to make Stizzy-bait comments (“he looked good at the end of my sword”/“hunky”) HAS to have had, obviously not scripting, but forethought attached to it. Like, Rhys could have very easily said “Stede only has eyes for Ed” or similar and it would be perfectly fine. That he DIDN’T makes me SUSPICIOUS, especially in light of the teaser.

Then comes the Vanity Fair first look, which IS going to be edited in a way that a con isn’t. And let’s look at what it says:

Izzy “goes on a remarkable journey” this season, says O’Neill. “He understands what love is and whom he’s in love with.’’

By the end of season one many fans speculated that Izzy was driven by something at the intersection of love and obsession. This season, according to O’Neill, Izzy gets even deeper into that dynamic. “Physically it’s been quite demanding, and also emotionally it’s been quite demanding to be playing a man enraged by unrequited love, who’s basically a hopeless romantic, and to be able to play all that and also remember that this is fundamentally a comedy.’’

“What I love about this show is it does allow itself to swing between the two,” O’Neill says. “We’re almost operatic in our darkness at times, and then we swing back to the sweetness of the simplicity of the love of our two guys. It’s been challenging just to get the tone right.”

“We’ve gone further this season than we did last season with those tones,” he continues. “So sometimes it’s quite interesting to remind yourself that you have to take your foot out of the tragedy—literally, your foot—and put it back into the comedy.”

on set there’s been “a lot more spontaneity and script revisions based on what’s happening day-to-day,” says Douaihy. “The cast are so comfortable with one another and their characters, that they move through it naturally.’’

In the trailer, we see:

Stede getting in a fight with someone not Izzy, then getting excited and telling Izzy he threw a punch (which to me only makes sense if Izzy taught him to do it)

Stede just hanging out while Izzy practices swordplay shirtless COME ON

Now, let’s play some matchup.

Both Rhys and Con have an awareness of their characters that lets them just get spontaneous while still in character

Both Rhys and Con have, while speaking from what their characters would say/think, said they both thought the other was hot

Con does not specify “whom [Izzy’s] in love with” even though Vanity Fair literally makes a comment about Izzy’s love for Ed, so it’s not like he’s hiding anything important by not specifying Ed if he means Ed

Izzy’s a “hopeless romantic” “enraged by unrequited love” this season

SO, connecting the dots (I’M CONNECTING THEM), here’s my prediction:

Izzy is going to find Stede and try to get him to Ed. This is the “journey” Con is referencing.

During this time he’s going to be training Stede in stuff like throwing a punch. I think this is actually the emotional journey, not simply him hanging out on Ed’s ship and realizing he loves Ed: he leaves Ed and finds Stede and emotionally grows while spending time with him. (I think this also means Izzy is going to spend more time with Stede, plot-wise, than with Ed, because he’s not going to grow there)

“I just need to find the love of his life and it’ll fix him” is a very hopeless romantic thing to think JSYK

Izzy is standing on one foot in the candles scene, which to me means that “taking your literal foot out of the tragedy and into the comedy” is referencing his toe and sword fighting while disabled… which Stede is present for. So Stede has to know what Ed did to Izzy and almost certainly is going to have feelings about it.

All of that is great fodder for improv while in character.

I can think of nothing more emotionally swinging, more romantic, more enraging, and more funny than Izzy training his rival to be a pirate in pursuit of Ed’s love and then falling for Stede himself in the process, knowing that if they get together he has neither of them.

I will note that this doesn’t mean Steddyhands has to be endgame in a canonical sense (even though I want it with all my soul). I do think that Steddyhands will be referenced/built on in an emotional sense, even if it’s only through Stede and Izzy’s bitch4bitch interactions. I WANT TO BELIEVE.

[flightfoot]

I'm watching Jentry Chau Vs. The Underworld. Kit had better come back from the dead somehow, because damn, he was done DIRTY and that was a complete waste of a character (also seriously, what was up with him in the intro, him having wings makes no sense).

Like seriously. Okay, fine, he was originally planted at Jentry's highschool in order to get close to her and drain her soul. I can see why Jentry doesn't like that. But he literally didn't have a chance to DO anything to her before he decided that he liked her, reneged on his deal with Cheng (which is an extremely dangerous thing to do), and revealed all of this to Jentry in the process of saving her life by pulling her out of a burning structure. Note that this isn't the first time she's become friends with someone who used to work for Cheng and was tasked with killing her, she met Ed via him attempting to murder her, and he only ended up partnering up with her and Flora because Cheng would have murdered him for incompetence if he went back. Yet she's fast friends with him and treats him like a little brother as soon as it's clear that he has intention of hurting her anymore.

But Kit? Nah. She yells at him for being a demon. And yeah I can get that she's sensitive to any sort of deceit, given what her grand-aunt has put her through (screw you Flora), but still. Come on.

Mostly though, I'm pissed with her for using his feelings for her to rope him into the scheme to put her powers back in the robe, flirting with him, even kissing him I think at one point, and then dumping him like yesterday's dirty laundry the next morning, explicitly because she wanted to be normal, and he wasn't normal and they couldn't have a normal relationship. She didn't get any new information about him, she knew all this stuff when she was flirting with him to obtain his help before, it's just that NOW, she doesn't need him anymore.

Like. Fine. I can get not being obligated to date him. But not when you're actively using his feelings to get what you want, and then trying to shove him to the side as soon as he wasn't useful anymore. Jentry knows how it feels to be used, and that's what she did to Kit.

If she'd been avoiding him because she found out that he'd drained qi and killed people in the past in order to eat, and that horrified her, then I'd give her that. But that's NOT why she's avoiding him. It's because she wants to avoid having anything to do with supernatural weirdness, and since she no longer has her powers (thanks to manipulating Kit into helping her remove them, endangering himself in the process, I might add), she can.

Kit shouldn't have started stalking her afterwards. I agree with that. But honestly I thought that was pretty tame, considering that she had actively lead him on in order to get him to help her before, and that he'd originally been tasked with murdering her in order to steal her powers and be gifted his own soul, which was what he really wanted, by Cheng.

Normally in these sorts of stories this would be when a character like Kit would try to murder her like he was originally tasked to, but no. Instead he just stole the robe they put her powers back into and gifted it to Cheng, since neither him nor Jentry cared to be caught in this power struggle between Flora and Cheng, and this way, Cheng could make him human so he could have a chance with Jentry again (and also that's what he wanted to begin with), and he wouldn't have to hurt Jentry in order to fulfill the deal he made.

Jentry does have decent reason to not want to talk with him, to tell him to go away and never see her again, when he shows up after everything goes to crap and he says he wants to help. Though I still think it's overkill.

And then the last time he shows up, it's because, despite Jentry telling him to go away forever, he decided to act as a body double for her in order to give her the best possible chance against Cheng, and he dies in the process. At least she's sad about it I guess?

But yeah. He's not the 100% best at handling relationships, but he does endanger himself to help Jentry multiple times, at major cost to himself.

I'm definitely maddest about Jentry manipulating him though, and then tossing him out. What the hell, hero?

[doubledyke]

Some of my eene head cannons are:

Double D knows how to play guitars (any type) and he secretly likes rock music (or screamo, pop punk, and emo)

Eddy likes to go to malls to dress in drag and see if he can “pick up some cute guys” there. Also he’s closeted gay but won’t admit it ever because he doesn’t want to be disliked again

Kevin is trans. I stand by that. And/ or he has an older sister that spoils him. Also I feel like he likes some girly things. (Idk like Britney Spears and making cute bracelets)

Nazz has a single mom and her father isn’t in the picture. I also feel like she gets baby fever a lot and that’s why she loves being a babysitter

Rolf is probably gay but doesn’t know how to tell his family. Only Kevin knows about it and they both secretly support one another. Also I feel like he gets drunk out of a wooden tankard a lot and ends up in the barn talking to his animals like they are people. (Mainly Victor)

Ed is depressed. He acts all happy around others so they don’t worry about it. It causes him to have bad hygiene and he has a slight eating disorder bc of his mental health. I also feel like he acts the way he does just to blow off steam. He likes to do art and draws out how he feels

Sarah knows about her brother’s mental health but she doesn’t know how to bring it up. She feels like if she does then Ed would be in more trouble with his parents

Jimmy has a death note. Do I even have to go into that? I also feel like he is a completely different person when no one is around. I also feel like he’s just plain up Janegirl. There’s nothing about him that is even close to masculinity

Johnny is full on hippie. And I’m talking HIPPIE same with his parents. Stuff that is indigenous they follow. Or the things with sage and evil eyes he’s got it. Plank is also a pendent of protection for him and that’s why he is so aggressive when people take him

Plank is either a garden angle or just a spirit

Sorry for the long list, lol, I’ve always just wanted to share these :)

hey thanks for sharing your ideas!!

i agree about edd being a multi-instrumentalist!! i see him playing piano and violin as well. and drums. and the theremin. and i sometimes toy with the idea of him being goth but i think emo edd could also be cute lol

everyone knows i love eddy in drag 🥴 it's my favorite thing ever. and everyone also knows i love exploring his "in the closet" era. just about all the fics (~4 lol) ive ever written involve him struggling with that. for me though he'd have to come out eventually cuz first of all, pretty much everyone already thinks he's fruity, and he's way too ⭐flamboyant⭐ to keep it a secret. but he'd probably keep it under wraps till he's out of his parents place.

haha trans kevin is valid. i don't personally share that headcanon but i mean hey it's not farfetched. i can see that being a thing. i never thought about him having a sibling but that's cute! maybe a sister who's off in college or something.

im pretty certain ive talked about nazz having a single mom on here? i think so, unless it was in a DM to someone but yeah big agree on that one. i think her mom is like a former party girl who decided to settle down once she accidentally got knocked up. probably doesn't know for certain who the father is... idk i can't honestly remember nazz ever really mentioning her parents so maybe none of it makes sense but who cares. but yeah nazz's mom is a real sweet lady overall. got really into "wellness" after she quit taking recreational drugs. perhaps she's a massage therapist now. ok i went off the rails there sorry.

ironically though i dont picture nazz ever having kids, but she probably does love them and goes through those moments of thinking she wants them.

lol drunk rolf would be so funny. he'd probably have unfettered access to beer as a teen since his family is some kinda european. i can see kevin watching rolf down a liter of schwarzbier without batting an eye and thinking he can do the same.

yeah ed definitely has issues with depression. i feel like this image pretty much encapsulates what it's like to be ed

the hygiene thing makes sense and so does the ED part. i usually chock those things up to sensory/allergy issues but it could be both!! i do like the idea of ed and sarah getting closer after bps too. she doesn't seem like someone who's very lovey dovey or in tune with her emotions so i could see how she'd be at a loss for what to do when it comes to her big bro. and to be quite frank i don't think ed's parents know/care to know about his struggles. they think he's just being "difficult".

lmao thats hilarious. if jimmy had a death note, it'd just be eddy's name written over and over and over again. and tea, jimmy is such a gender icon.

and yeah 100% jonny is a super crunchy hippie. i like this idea of him and his family being involved in some sort of spirituality and that plank is somehow related to it haha. i don't know enough about that kind of thing to really speak on it but i had the idea that maybe his family is from louisiana and there's some new orleans voodoo stuff going on there.

thanks again for sharing! yall really came through and it was fun to read people's takes and give my unsolicited opinions 🫶

[amazingspace-22]

Hello! I really apreciate your work because this is the best AU of Edds ive ever seen to be honset and i have a question about it! Monstly in your AU you draw Eddy and Ed spending most of time and doing stuff together and i wanna ask whats Double D doing? If hes not with them does he have a job or better things to do? Or maybe he has a secret side? Just being silly but i really wanna know! Thanks for your work again.

Hi! The idea was that Ed and Eddy are presumed dead in an accident and DD holds himself responsible for their deaths. Failed to keep them safe. Basically, he earned a mental trauma because of the accident. After the investigation is over, DD's parents decide to move away from Peach Creek. Then DD goes to college, graduates with honors, finds a job, and moves to the city. Basically, he's still the same, but very withdrawn. He also no longer keeps in touch with his former Peach Creek neighbors. Except that he gave his contacts to Johnny, who was convinced that Eds was alive. And Johnny even called him for a while, but then DD himself stopped picking up the phone because it hurt him to discuss it. He accepted their deaths and is trying to move on with his life. And just recently DD met a nice girl online and she set him up on a date….. I think I would take the idea of what DD would do from Danny himself) He would be a pharmacist. Living modestly in a studio apartment in a quiet bedroom neighborhood in a large metropolitan city. Also, of course, he'd be seeing a psychologist. Collected butterflies and had a spider as a pet.

DD would lead a quiet, measured life. Without adventure.

[goayda]

There has been an idea running free in my mind since I saw episode 2x07 yesterday that really makes me wish I was a better writer so I could write a proper fic with it, but bear with me, please. What if...

What if Stede and Izzy have sex after Ed left because, well, Stede is free to be with other people, right? And there is some fondness now there, equally mixed with some fun bickering and teasing, and they really understand each other and the heartbreak that comes with loving Edwar Teach. And you add a lot of rum and some lingering touches and well, things happen, right?

And when Stede wakes up the next morning with a bit of a hungover and sees a naked Izzy sleeping next to him, he feels so happy and he can't stop staring at Izzy and how relaxed he looks in the morning light, but then... then he starts overthinking it, of course. What if he was too fast again? What if he is TooMuch and Izzy finds it annoying? What if it was supposed to be just a one time thing? He doesn't want it to be just that, but he doesn't want to make it weird!

So when Izzy wakes up, Stede tries to play it 'cool', aiming for nonchalant and totally missing, looking more like 'totally indifferent'. And Izzy, who has been getting better at the whole 'feelings and stuff' thing, but has still a lot to learn, well, he tries to go on with his life and goes back to work because it was a good fuck and that was all, wasn't it? What else was he expecting, really? It is not as if Stede was going to start holding his hand or anything, not that Izzy wanted that anyway, because that ridiculous softness is not for pirates like himself... right?

So things get weird, of course. And the crew notices because they are not blind. Stede keeps trying to play it cool and avoids touching Izzy at all costs even though he really wants to and Izzy tries to avoid Stede claiming to be 'just busy' and having work to do 'somewhere else', but it is painful for both of them.

And surprisingly, it's Izzy the one who eventually tries to talk about that night with Stede, trying to tell him that it meant something to him, but he doesn't really know what words to use or how to explain 'feelings' and it really frustrates him. And Stede sees Izzy's frown and annoyed look and thinks that Izzy regrets that night and then doubles down on the casually indifferent pose. Which convinces Izzy that, no, Stede is not interested at all in him. Obviously.

And while this painful mess of a conversation is happening, the whole crew has managed to shamelessly gather around to listen to it and they are witnessing that trainwreck of a conversation looking like the people in that scene from the IT Crowd:

(that's not the end, though, everything gets better after a bit more angst and some help from the crew, but it's late and I think I have to leave it here now)

(but there is a lot of soft kissing in the end, so just you know)

[alpaca-clouds]

How to make the DnD Lore more accessible

I talked on Christmas about how Wizards of the Coast and generally Hasbro are mismanaging Dungeons & Dragons. And I want to go a bit more into one of the things I brought up in that blog. Which is: The inaccessibility of the Dungeons & Dragons lore, or specifically the Forgotten Realms Lore, which technically is the main lore for the game.

To sum up, what I said in that long essay once again:

While more and more people are playing DnD, a lot of them are playing it with original worlds. In of itself that is not really a bad thing, but the reason why so many opt for original worlds is. Because one of the main reasons is that the DnD Lore is very, very inaccessible. Sure, there are several wikis out there of varying quality. But even with the good wikis, there is just the fact that not all pages are of equal quality and there is just a lot of stuff that is just stubs.

Meanwhile the official stuff is fairly useless. Sure, there are quite a few books that give you some great lore - but actually finding the book for the lore that you are looking for is pretty much impossible without once again relying on Wikis. And of course, depending on the age of some of the sources, they might also just not generally be available unless someone uploaded them to the internet archive.

And yeah, sure, Ed Greenwood is a walking encyclopedia on his world - and will answer questions on Twitter. But...

Look, here is the thing: WotC wants to make money with this. So, excuse me for saying this, but... They should put some more effort into making this accessible. Just put some people down there that make a comprehensive write up off the lore.

Or to put it differently: Make a comprehensive Wiki on DnDBeyond.

See, here is the thing. When right now I wanna find out something about, let's say, Tymora, I can totally search for it on DnDBeyond.

But then the results look like this:

So, basically it just lists me source books in which Tymora is mentioned. Which does not necessarily tell me, how much I can actually gleam about Tymora and the worship of Tymora from each sourcebook. And if I click on one of the links, this is what I get:

Which, you might notice, tells me literally nothing about Tymora.

Now, I absolutely get that WotC needs to sell all those books and all of that. But... To keep it like that makes the entire Lore and background of the world completely inaccessible.

This goes double, of course, because each of the books does not necessarily give you a comprehensive writeup of who the goddess actually is or what her timeline is.

And this goes basically for everything. There is barely any information that they make actually accessible.

So, how could WotC actually fix this?

Well, simple: Make their own Wiki - and then use the Wiki as a jump-off point to sell your stuff. It does not have to be the most comprehensive thing ever, but give a general overview of the most important stuff: A timeline and a general idea of the major events (like the Time of Troubles, the Spellplague and the Second Sundering), an overview of the pantheon, an overview of the different cities, and some major characters (like Xanathar, Dagult Neverember and so on).

Because here is the thing: When you do not have a hook, you will not get people to actually buy your books.

To keep with my example: Let's say you are a person who has just gotten into DnD. Maybe because of an Actual Play Podcast, maybe because you liked the movie, or maybe because you just come off Baldur's Gate 3. And now you want to get into playing DnD and would like to do something with that world. So, you google "Play DnD" and get obviously the official side as a first result (with Roll20 coming in second).

But... You basically get not at all a primer on the world and the different settings you can have in it. Nothing.

The "story" thingie basically just also has links to "Buy" pages. No way to properly get a good hook into the story of DnD.

Again, all on its own it is not a big issue that people make their own worlds. You could argue that it is technically a good thing, because it allows people to be more creative. But there are two things you also have to keep in mind.

New players really do have a bigger hurdle to overcome when they want to start playing - because either getting into the lore or creating their own lore does pose a challenge to start with.

More people playing in the official game world, does create a bigger feeling of community, as people work on some connected lore.

WotC wants to sell those books, which does really not work, when you do not give a good hook for them.

People are just more likely to buy a book on details of a world, if they are already kinda familiar with the book - and if they know what they are actually looking for.

This... really isn't that hard or complicated.

So, what I would do is the following:

Create an official timeline (especially as there are contradictions in the timeline as off now).

Create an official encyclopedia featuring major locations, people, religions and the general pantheon.

Use those official encyclopedia pages to link to books and adventures working with that kinda stuff to sell them.

Maybe also create some fairly short official one shots to start with. Let's just say three or four of them. Offer them for free and very clearly available on the official website. (Even with all faults I see in how Catalyst handles Shadowrun, this is something they do very well.)

Also... Just maybe create some more official content like short stories, some good content on youtube... the likes of that. Heck, create an official Actual Play that is actually set in Toril!

Is that all going to cost some money? Yeah, it is. But I would argue that this would do the game good. While there are no official numbers some fan-made polls suggest that actually most people play without any official material. Meaning the game itself right now is super accessible - but only a few people are actually interested in the official stuff. And if WotC wants to make money... Well, they need to get people interested in the official stuff.

And that is of course without going into how the shoot themselves in the foot by trying to change the open game license and what not.

To put it differently: Right now DnD is actually super popular. So popular in fact that you could argue it is pretty much mainstream. And they... just fail to make proper money off it, because they are just too dumb to understand how to actually use it in their advantage.