#the concept art for these games is already fantastic on their own but THIS ONE!! LOOK AT MY GUY!! :) (and his captain)

[ask-train-trio]

~.~.~𝐀𝐒𝐊 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐎 ~.~.~

INTRODUCTION MASTERPOST!!!!!

(ᴛʜᴇʀᴇ ɪs ɴᴏ ᴀᴜᴅɪᴏ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴠɪᴅᴇᴏ, ɪᴛ ᴡᴀs sᴜᴘᴘᴏsᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ʙᴇ ᴀ ɢɪꜰ ʙᴜᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ꜰɪʟᴇ ᴡᴀs ᴛᴏᴏ ʙɪɢ ᴏᴏᴘs)

This is an askblog for @lunozapp 's Indigo Park OCs! This post contains everything you need to know about this ask blog/AU and its characters! Context, boundaries, references etc. Asks are contextualised a little differently here, so check the blog description for the tl;dr on the context.

Check out issue 1 here!

CONTEXT:

This is DappleTilez24, also known as Tilez. He's a relatively small streamer in his universe's indigo park community, and is known for tirelessly completeing run after run, trying to beat his personal records (with.... varying sucess).

One day, he tries to speedrun a build of the game that he's never seen before...

...and stumbles across 2 MORE Rambleys than usual, much to the surprise - and confusion - of the Rambley we know and love!

Naturally, our hero Tilez is pretty damn confuddled... so he (mistakenly) asks his live chat for an explaination.

This is where YOU fantastic askers come in!

You act as Tilez's live chat. This means you don't even have to answer his queries, just say whatever you want to this interdimentional triplet of trash pandas, just like a REAL insufferable livechat would!

...within reason, of course (jokes aside, please read the boundaries)

[updated as of 04/07/24] CHARACTER REFERENCES: (in the animation i forgot twimbly's GT badges lol)

CHARACTER BOUNDARIES:

I want to make it entirely clear that i see the raccoon trio as brothers, especially with their very similar origins.

This is to say that I would not feel comfortable with any of them being shipped with eachother and I forbid the public sharing of that kind of content. If you see that kind of stuff around, please just mention this to the OP and block them if they refuse to respect it.

FURTHERMORE, please keep in mind that I ( @lunozapp ) am a MINOR. SO DON'T PUBLICLY POST NSFW/FETISH ART OF MY CHARACTERS, PLEASE AND THANK YOU.

However, shipping Twimbly, Ranglore, Rambley and Tilez with other characters that aren't related to them is fine by me (e.g. any of the original indigo characters x any of them, since they're not related)!

Again, please just keep it sfw.

ASK BOUNDARIES:

Pretty basic criteria, really. Just please don't spam the same ask over and over, I will guaranteed see them all unless this thing gets an explosion of attention out of nowhere lol

if i don't answer, its probably because either the question doesn't really fit the kind of story i have in mind for these characters or i just don't feel comfortable answering it. please respect that.

If you have a question for me specifically, start your ask with '[OOC]' (Out Of Character) or just ask me directly: @lunozapp

FURTHER INFO:

Asks are moreso used here as a prompt for conversation rather than the basis of an entire issue. More often than not there will be more than 1 ask in an issue, so going forward I'll make sure to tag everyone who asks without annonymity.

Also, please TRY to keep them as actual questions and not goofy 1-word sentences, the asks help me actually formulate a coherent premise for an issue

I don't OWN the concept of making ocs based off lore.mp4 and the GT thumbnail. if u see someone doing the same, try not to be all like 'OMG TWIMBLY/RANGLORE!!!! THEY ALREADY EXIST THIS IS PLAGARISM YOU CAN'T DO THAT!!!!!11!!11' unless it is blatant plagarism. Just use ur common sense ig

In terms of fanart/other fanworks, A MILLION THANKS IF YOU FEEL CALLED TO MAKE THAT!! The stuff i've gotten so far is genuinely so awesome, make it all you want if you feel called to do so. I'll try to reblog any fanart I find on here. If you want to go straight to asks, just click on the tag '#train trio asks'

alright, that's everything. Now what are you still doing here? Throw 'em a question! Or a compliment!! Or an insult.

or don't idrc just have fun here haha

fun fact!! putting everything together for this took a WEEK

[indierpgnewsletter]

Every Game I Played in 2024 (So Far)

It’s time for one of my favourite posts to write every year. Here is every game I’ve played in the first half of 2024:

Series

Fathoms Deep (as GM): Let’s get my own game out of the way first: I’ve ran about 11 playtest sessions of Fathoms Deep, a game about a community of salvagers aboard a living ship in a flooded world. The game is my big project. If I was studying game design, this would be my masters’ thesis. It’s got a lot of parts – action-packed underwater dives using my flavour of card-based Forged in the Dark, a cool map where you move your ship around, downtime scenes, campaign arcs based on survival, hope and salvation, etc. There’s a lot of tinkering left to do and I am in no hurry to finish because, deep breath, it’s about the journey! Like in the game!

Pasion de la Pasiones (as GM): We took the spanish telenovela game and set it in a X-men-like school. Sadly we didn’t get to play past the first couple sessions but it’s a slam dunk concept and a great game. My game of the year for 2023 if I remember correctly!

The Wildsea (as GM): This was the big campaign that marked the first half of the year in my (online) home game. It has a lot of overlap with my own game, Fathoms Deep – both are pirate-games-without-pirates. But Wildsea has a very different tone – it’s optimistic high fantasy in the vein of some of the best D&D 5e games I’ve played. I would easily recommend it as a game for people who are playing 5e and want something to easily switch to. The world and setting is lovely – a solid thematic core garnished with a variety of fun ideas, great flavour, and lots of stunning, evocative art. I had so much fun playing zany characters to match the vibe of the zany world. The system isn’t my cup of tea for a variety of complicated reasons but this is a fantastic achievement, especially since it was the designer’s first game afaik!

Rich Kid Problems: Last year, I played Capitalites by Sam Mui and this year, we returned to that classic genre of rich people behaving badly with this game by Maria Mison. It’s a light storygame – improv heavy but good fun.

Last Fleet (as GM): We’re one month into this Battlestar Galatica-inspired game by Josh Fox. It’s far future space opera with humanity on the edge of extinction – all inter-personal politics and feelings in the face of almost certain doom. I love this game already. It meshes perfectly with my directorial GM style and helps me serve up some fantastic moments. It feels like every session, I am throwing some impossible decision or loyalty-threatening revelation at my players who pick up the ball and run with the ball unflinchingly. It definitely helps to think about it as prestige TV and frame scenes using that language – lots of walking and talking in corridors, that sort of thing. The characters aren’t on the same side, there aren’t missions – just agendas and obstacles. Will write about some of the cool design stuff going on when the campaign is done.

One Shots

Okay, got to rush through these!

This Ship Is No Mother (as GM): I ran 4 great games of my little lets-make-Mothership-a-storygame game. These were mostly at online cons or things like that. I love playing this game.

Wizards Grimoire and Mobile Frame Zero: Firebrands: Getting to play two games from the Bakers was a real treat. Wizard’s Grimoire is the start of a series of games that flip the GM-player relationship in great ways. You should check it out. Firebrands is a game of daring mech pilots told in dramatic vignettes where the less you force a narrative, the better!

Steal away Jordan and Tales of a Fisherman’s Wife: These are two games from designer, Julia Ellingboe. I think Steal Away Jordan is my favourite of the two. Even as you wrestle with the discomfort (if you’re not Black) of playing Black slaves in the American south, it’s still a game about being heroes with a lot of delight and joy at the heart of it! Fisherman’s Wife is a game of Japanese ghost stories with tentacle porn on the cover. I’m not sure what else to say!

Navathem’s End (as GM): This game by Pam Punzalan and Sin Posadas fits well with Wildsea on this list because it feels like an alternate take on the genre that is D&D 5e. It’s that light-hearted brand of heroic fantasy but with a different ethos – less colonial, more grounded in community.

Yazeba’s Bed and Breakfast: A book which is probably as fun to read as play. You probably have heard about it enough but if not, go listen to the Yes Indie’d episode about it.

After the Mind, the World Again: This is a Disco Elysium inspired game where there’s one player and four GMs who play facets of a detective’s mind. It’s not really a one shot game – definitely takes 4 hours or more but we rushed the ending and got somewhere. Also, free!

City of Mist (as player): I always joke about wanting to read this game but bailing as soon I as open the PDF to see that it has more than 500 pages. The new version has cut half of the system out so maybe I had a point.

The Hunted (as player): This is a slick one-shot game – Forged in the Dark folk horror in the vein of Blair Witch Project and the like. Easy to play and run, would do again.

Swords without Master (as GM): This game should’ve inspired a whole design lineage. The text is a bit tricky to parse but if you get a chance to play this, you should take it!

Damn the Man, Save the Music: If you like Empire Records and don’t mind doing some improv, this game is great.

Cloud Empress (as player): The giant psychic cicadas are a great linchpin for a setting. If you play the game, head straight for them.

There was a bit more here and there. I already wrote about playing older games like Metamorphosis Alpha, Bunnies & Burrows and Dallas RPG on here. There was also a lot of playtesting including a very fun session of Protect the Child by Mint about a found family of monsters looking after a child a la Monsters Inc. Overall, another very satisfying half-year.

[seeminglydeathlessredshirt]

Ramblings on Disco Elysium

It's taken me a bit to gather my thoughts on this one.

There are some pieces of media out there that people will heap praise after praise upon, to the point where you keep putting it off because there's no way it'll live up to the reputation established by everyone else. Of those, you'll eventually get around to some of them, and realise, to your horror, that they are as good as everyone's been saying. Disco Elysium is exactly that experience.

Before I get into why I adore this game, I feel I should point out that the original devs got the boot a while back and got even more screwed over by the company that owns the title. It's hard to summarise, but simply put, don't buy the game. Also, I'm not going to be discussing specific plot details, but I will be talking about some overarching tropes and concepts that may clue you in on some of the things the story has hidden up its sleeve.

As you likely already know, the game centres around an absolute wreck of a human being. Poor health, mental and physical, and a tendency to do or say things that are generally ill-advised. Worst of all, you have no memory of how you got into this mess, the part of town you're in is reaching its boiling point, and the murder case you're here to solve is the only way you can make things right. Despite the outlandish nature of his behaviours, the detective is one of the most relatable characters I've seen in gaming. Seeing someone brought to their lowest point time and time again and trying to crawl their way out of the pit in a time where I've felt that low provided a bit of solace. That being said, it's not an easy climb, neither here nor there.

One of the most interesting things about this game is the way every single skill is giving a role to play, and not just in the way of having ample amounts of checks for each one, but also in giving them a defined personality. Electrochemistry is constantly egging you on to indulge in various substances, Encyclopedia won't tell you your own name but will tell you everything you ever wanted to know about the Coupris Kineema, Rhetoric speaks like a Tumblr user who's about to post the most rancid take you've ever seen, and so on. It all ties in wonderfully with this general otherworldly feeling that comes from the blending of the mundane and the unreal that becomes more apparent as time goes on.

It's in this space in-between the two where the game genuinely shines. The world feels genuinely outlandish, but the people and the conflicts feel real in their own little ways. Revachol lies at the intersection of the modern era's most well-known ideologies, and the consequences of that are felt in everyone you meet. You can fall in line with any one of them, but it won't have much an impact on the situation. You can help everyone you come across, build up trust with your equally fleshed-out companion, and preach about the replacement of the capitalist order with a classless utopia, but nothing can change the fact that you are a cop, the physical enforcer of the state's monopoly on violence. The characters will constantly remind you of what you are throughout the entire game, and it's important to understand that, despite getting to see the detective's own humanity, that his line of work requires doing inhuman things. Disco Elysium is about a lot of things, and the tension between combining two diametrically opposed concepts is one of them. It's a fantastic work of art, and I hope this isn't the last we see of the people who brought it to life.

Don't listen to Rhetoric.

[cloudysonder]

On "Daddy Issues"

Ok, I know I'm a bit late to the game here, but I was gathering my thoughts after experiencing episode 5 and 6

Let me preface this with the fact that I am a Hazbin Hotel fan; it's cringe and it's not the best writing in the world, but I love the characters and the concept and the art. I know a lot of people disagree and completely despise it and hey, you do you, but this is a silly little thing I enjoy and think is fun

but oof. episode 5 and 6 were rough, execution-wise. Also worth mentioning that episode 5 followed on the heels of episode 4, which was dealing with a lot of heavy topics and gave Angel a lot of character development very quickly and had a wonderful song and a budding relationship between Husk and Angel that was fantastic, so to get a confusing and overwhelming yet completely inefficient episode (ep 5) and then an episode with SO MUCH HAPPENING that it absolutely bowled you over with plot points and world building that weren't given a single second to breathe was really disappointing. I'll put the meat under a read more, but that's the thesis

this post is just gonna be on episode 5, and I'll make another one on episode 6 bc christ almighty both of them are gonna be long

Episode 5 was something I was really looking forward to-- Of the main cast, Charlie and Vaggie seemed the least intriguing to me (oh, did I say "seemed" past tense? haha! they still most definitely are the least interesting!), and I wanted to see how they would introduce something they've been building up to for a while: Charlie's famed "Daddy issues"!

Turns out, instead of actually keeping it as a point of intrigue for Charlie's character and using it as a point of tension to show that hey, Charlie isn't actually a perfect person, and she's also in pain with the rest of the sinners because her own family relationships are falling apart, they solve it in a single episode. That's right! The long-awaited, complicated, divorced parent and child relationship that twisted Charlie into a validation seeking, people pleasing princess that "wants to fix other people so she doesn't have to deal with her own daddy issues" (quote by Husk) is solved with a charming performance by Jeremy Jordan and a song!

Look, it's no secret I'm a huge fan of Loser, Baby-- I clearly have no qualms with storytelling through song. But you cannot song-plain this one away. We've established over 4 episodes that Charlie and her father have kept in minimal contact for seven years. That's a Long time (don't go trying to be like, oh time to charlie works differently, bc that shit's not established, and everyone in the show still treats seven years like a long time). We know that the last time they called each other was 5 months ago.

"More than Anything," solves basically everything by making the following points

Charlie was inspired by her Dad's dreaming

Lucifer was ashamed of his failures and hid away from her

Lucifer does, however, want so so deeply to know Charlie

Charlie wants to know Lucifer

They love each other <3

these are fine endgame points. Dare I say... good endgame points to arrive at?? But you can't stuff ALL these revelations into a single song and call it a finished relationship arc when they haven't spoken for real in 7 YEARS. Also, making Lucifer so goofy and silly and fun and charming is Not helping the establishment of his character as a self-hating former dreamer who doesn't want his daughter to make the same mistakes he did. It just turns him to tumblr sexyman cute quirky sympathetic never did anything wrong and loves his daughter, completely downplaying his absentee parenting.

You can't have him turn from "I do not care about your life. I do not care about your project. I will not ask about your passions and your dreams. I am already ashamed of my own." to "ur so right bestie!!! dreaming is so slay mama!!! I love you so much you're my little baby girl I love you so much, you're right and I will support you!!!" in the course of a single episode without like.... at least 3 real, in depth conversations happening. The song is beautiful, but you can't poetry your way out of an actual relationship arc.

BUT! But, but but! The fault does not lie completely with Lucifer, but also with Charlie. girl just forgave him??? For everything????? Despite having been so scared to call him at the beginning of the episode? It's very unrealistic for a kid to just accept that a parent loves them apparently so so deeply when they've never seen proof of it in the last idk just spitballing a number here SEVEN YEARS. If you want to make the crux of a failed parent-child relationship miscommunication, you're gonna have to get into the ugly--- the grieving of what you could've had earlier, the wondering why you didn't reach out earlier, the anger at why they've suddenly changed now--- and you're gonna have to explain why the miscommunication went on so long.

sometimes, if you have a pair of completely uncommunicative people, seven years may be reasonable. But Charlie is open about her passions! She's public! She constantly reads about "The Story of Hell" and paints Lucifer in a positive light! And Lucifer is quick to reciprocate any interest Charlie shows in him! He's quick to offer help, to spoil Charlie and show love! (Lucifer's points are two points that make SEVEN YEARS of MINIMAL CONTACT and MISCOMMUNICATION make ZERO SENSE).

additionally, Charlie's lowkey only point of intrigue that was set up (her relationship to Lucifer, the King of Hell) is now just... kapoot. solved. pish posh. now she's a done character.

THEN EXPLAIN WHY I STILL DON'T GIVE A FUCK ABOUT HER???? I haven't seen her actually struggle in a way that's not played off as a bit, we don't get a real charlie breakdown monologue, there are no stakes for me as a hazbin hotel viewer to want everything to go well for charlie besides my acab rad leftist ass being like redemption and forgiveness is good and ultimately benefits society

she's fun, she's bubbly, she's kind! but those are all basic things we knew from minute 1 she was on screen. I need to see her struggle. For a main character, she sure as hell doesn't feel main. And I expected better female characters from female writers (feat. in my next post, Vaggie????? What the hell?).

goodnight new york city, you've been great!

[archduk-e]

An attempt to investigate and explain fandoms and headcannons thorough Orientalism

Recently I started reading Orientalism (in short - a book on how the West saw and created the narrative of the Orient more than 100 years ago) and suddenly had a bit of a realisation. The author, Edward W. Said, mentioned how an important aspect of Orientalism was the fact that firstly, it fascinated the westerners because they already felt a certain (superior) way about that territory due to their history with it and the colonial past related to it, and secondly, the Orient was incapable of resisting being fantasised and thought about.

Anyways, I think I saw a link between this and what I and many other people do on the Internet with fandom characters and celebrities (which by the way isn’t as common as we think outside of websites like this). I must also add that my points of reference for this text are (ironically) my own fandoms and communities and what I see and do in them. This post will likely reach no one, but even if that won’t be the case, take all of this with a grain of salt as I am also very biased in my data sources.

I believe that just as with the western ideas of Orientalism there are 3 important factors that enable us to photoshop pictures of grown men and add glitter and bowties to their hair (not that it’s not cute and funny of course)

1. Personal Creative Empowerment

There already exists a certain attitude towards what we call “headcannons” - we know everyone has them! However, what we forget is that it wasn’t always likely the case. Unlike 100 years ago anyone today is at complete liberty to create any art, fiction or similar, at their own pace and in their own places. We feel empowered and capable of creating and publishing any art and any stories, and we always take a moment to imagine something in situations where someone from 100 years ago (or pre internet) wouldn’t have taken the time to. AO3, fanfiction.net, Tumblr - all of these places house many small creators, who upload silly art, romantic and cute stories, write these “POWs” and interact with other fans about their chosen fandoms. This removes the elitism from these communities and makes everyone who visits such websites think “hey… I can create and upload my silly tv-show art too! just like [this creator] and [that creator]!”. It is a very positive and empowering concept, and it creates a much less limited environment that allows us to share content and amplify the made-up and non-existent narratives we create for our own comfort and amusement.

2. Honest Internal Fascination

Our fantastical and sometimes concerning thoughts and ideas about characters, people and fandoms all relate to things we find inherently fascinating ourselves. Whether it be a WW2 era movie, or a fantasy game, or a documentary, we always talk about, draw and write about things (and aspects of things) we ourselves are connected to beforehand. We find a character who we feel personally connected to in some way, an idea which resonates with us on a deeper level, or a general concept of being someone else somewhere else and being able to do things we cannot do right now.

3. Power(less)fullness and Entitlement

Most importantly, we feel entitled to produce these pieces of content and “yap” about these things because neither the made up non-existent movie characters, nor the very much real but distant actors and personalities can not resist or in any way inhibit (stop or resist) our creative eruptions. They are powerless and helpless against our metaphorical imaginative offence, and find no way to express their own thoughts on the matter, making us feel even more entitled and empowered than we previously would have been. It also notably enables us to twist and shape these characters ideas or people into whatever we want - give them any traits they originally didn’t possess or assume their behaviour in situations. The terms “yassification” and “babygirl” come to mind, often made to relate to characters who didn’t show any such behaviour in the actual piece of media. The oversimplification of motives and traits also stems from this empowerment, allowing us to make anyone into anyone, just for our own psychological comfort and amusement.

~~~

Now indeed, just as with Orientalism, the most evident reason behind our actions is also true and honest fascination and interest (sometimes even love) - we don’t have a monetary or political motive behind our actions (in some cases however this isn’t necessarily true), we are simply drawn to these things due to our very real emotions and feelings. However I do believe that without the aforementioned 3 factors there would be much less “fangirling”, Tumblr posts about characters, and discord servers discussing how literal war officers from a popular movie would behave in an aqua park (real example).

I want to finish this by saying that I personally find nothing bad in this behaviour - indeed I display it myself (look at my posts and you’ll get it). I do however find it infinitely interesting.

[kiroonsmoon]

I know there's a lot of people refusing to play the renegade route in rejuvenation. Sorry if you answered this already but I'd love to know where you stand on this. Have you played renegade? If so what are you most looking forward to about it?

Oughhhhhahhhh Renegade (BEGINS FOAMING AT THE MOUTH) /neg. My thoughts on it are very mixed so to say. But yes I’ve played it, I like doing oc runs so I did my mono dragon run for Lucifer on it.

Renegade has most of my favorite scenes ever in Rejvu but simultaneously is my least favorite part of the game and is like, the worst mix of my criticisms of the game. Which is why I generally prefer Paragon to Renegade despite paragon having a less gripping story/events to me as of 13.5.

Basically if I could summarize it: I love the story and it has WONDERFUL, heartbreaking scenes but it also shares that with the most whiplash inducing humor and scenes possible as well. Which results in severe tonal issues that heavily damages my enjoyment of the route.

I’m going to be putting my more detailed thoughts under cut. All my positives and negatives towards it. I’m putting it undercut because of 1) spoilers and 2) speaking from personal experience I know it’s unpleasant to see some bashing and criticizing something you love dearly. And I don’t want to subject people to that if they do not want to see that. My criticisms point largely to a specific character I know people are major fans of and love dearly. I don’t want to subject people to unpleasant things like that.

Again all of this is subjective and my opinion. You aren’t bad for liking something I don’t like.

Still here? Good great! First things first let’s start with some positives. Because despite everything I do like this route.

The fights were fun! I had a great time with the battles (expect with Spacea/Timepa but this isn’t an issue on the devs it’s just Mono Dragon is NOT good for that fight).

The scenes when the game takes itself seriously are fucking phenomenal. Adrest’s death and then the failed world with the host and M2 are a phenomenal beginning to renegade in my eyes. And Zumi’s art like always fucking rocks. The failed world really sets up the tone well for renegade. Which M2 finally snapping and attempting to murder the only person she’s been stuck for years. Fantastic beginning to a route about destroying the world.

And Karma Beast Talon….oh karma beast Talon. It’s my favoritest fucking boss battle and segment of the entire game. Everything down to the story, music, setting and Talon’s character mixes into one of the best written arcs in rejvuenation ever. Talon’s arc was way better than I could’ve ever expect and the best of his character is shown in his karma beast route. Just seeing his desperation and pain at learning his best friend died, his mother is on death’s door, he was never anything but a puppet that leads him to becoming a monster of his own despair and that on top of the art in music. Chef’s kiss, I love it so much.

I also loved the Ren chase (hell I made fanart of this moment), M2 getting called the fuck out and Venam + Amber battle and Amber’s death…oughhh all good fucking scenes.

However, all these things are torn down by one thing, the humor. Even more specifically M2.

M2..M2, gosh, she’s a fucking lot. I honestly still don’t know how to feel about her. The only thing I’m 100% certain on and don’t have any mixed thoughts on his her design. Her design fucking rocks, probably my most favorite design of all the Melia’s.

M2 is easily the worst part of renegade and the game for me. She’s very poorly written to me. Which is unfortunate. I like her concept I really do. However the problem is I couldn’t really truly understand and appreciate her concept until I sat down and truly thought on renegades story while removing all the silly stuff from my brain.

Basically: M2 is completely shot down by the humor she brings and it negatively affects her and the story as a whole.

Now I’m not saying renegade has to be 100% serious and grimdark. That’s just not realistic and I would just have issues with it the other way instead. However the humor it shows is not for renegade. The humor of renegade (and M2…) is very lol xd and sudden and random. It’s very very very jarring. Especially for such a dark and grim route. Renegade’s humor would be better placed in paragon. Rejvu’s humor is already hit or miss and renegade’s humor is nearly all miss.

Now humor in renegade can work, hell it’s even required. Stories can’t be all dark, you need a breather in there. However, balance of the humor is very important and Rejvu’s renegade route does a really piss poor job of it. Some jokes can work though! The fucking bait and switch with the item during the Ren chase seen is probably my favorite joke it all of Rejvu honestly. It uses the expected actions of the player and turns it on their head. It even works in a character sense! M2 is smart, she’s been taking notes on you and uses what she knows on you against you. It makes for a great joke and prank, I couldn’t even be angry that all my pokemon had 1 hp! It was a fantastic humorous moment that made me go “you son of a bitch” and crack a smile. I also think M2 calling Kanon an incel is a joke that works as well. However I do have problems with that as well, but that doesn’t relate to the humor, I’ll get into that later.

Renegade would’ve benefited from more humor like that. Not the clones, which made me more and more annoyed as time went on. The clones should’ve been left in Ren’s Chase as NPCs that act as obstacles and that’s it. Not the random beef M2 had gotten with random unimportant NPCs offscreen, which just made me more annoyed with her (and not the fun kind of annoyed). The kinda annoyed where I wanted to bash her head into the wall.

However the biggest offender of them all is Guilty or Nah. I’m going to be blunt. Guilty or Nah is not needed and brings absolutely no substance to the story and actively damages it. I hate it. You are actively chasing down someone WHO YOU PLAN ON ERASING FROM THE ENITRE UNIVERSE. And when you finally catch up to them, guess what happens! The most completely unnecessary and tonal whipping lashing gameshow thing I have ever seen in a piece of media. ITS NOT GOOD. IT SUCKS IN LITERALLY EVERY WAY POSSIBLE FROM A NARRATIVE PERSPECTIVE. It needs to be cut from the story completely. The most important part of the chases are the emotions and perspectives of the victims. Karrina’s, Ren’s and The Hag’s deaths/near death would’ve been so much better and impactful if Guilty or Nah was completely axed. Look at me in the eyes and tell me if Talon (+ Florin in one route) suddenly got a Guilty or Nah before being erased it would do anything for the scene and their arcs. If like anyone has any reasons I would genuinely love to hear it because I cannot see any reason for Guilty or Nah’s existence.

Anyways now that’s out of the way, less negative thoughts more kinda musing I had. M2 to me is a very….nostalgic character. She comes from an older version of Rejvu, which again cool in concept. However it also alienates newer Rejvu fans like me who weren’t around for the older versions. This is definitely compounded by me play renegade first but even if you played paragon first and know every version is canon…a newer rejvuenation player will not have the context of what M2 is talking about in regards to her version. I was completely unaware Ren and Kanon used to be major fucking assholes until my Rejvu veteran friends told me. Basically, a veteran will have a different reaction and feel for m2 than a newer player, with newer players not having all the context unless they ask friends or go looking around. Which they may not have or do.

Anyways yeah! My renegade thoughts. This got way more longer than I meant it too but I have a lot of thoughts on renegade as a whole. It could be so great but it’s extremely brought down by its humor and alienates a lot of people who don’t like the humor it has (cough like me cough).

[therummesoccupied]

FANG THE HUNTER: ISSUE #1 - THOUGHTS

Warning: Spoilers Ahead

Figured since folks seemed to enjoy my StH #68 post so much, I should share my thoughts on Fang's first issue as well.

It'll be a shorter one, since I really don't have as much to say about it.

To put it short... I liked it! I really love Ian Flynn writing these Classic stories. It seems that when IDW Sonic began, Ian Flynn really squeezed himself into the niche of Plot Guy. Even after Evan Stanley took over as Head Writer, it seemed like Ian would jump back in for the big, heavy, climactic events like Issue #50. It's a really nice change of pace to see him writing these more light-hearted, lower-stakes stories, they give him a great opportunity to display the fantastic understanding of the series' character dynamics that made him a prominent figure in the series.

One particular bit of character work I'm fond of here: Sonic being just a little bit of a jerk!

I'm not the first to bring this up, but nowadays, Sonic has lost a bit of that edge that made him special in the early days. Not Edge in the same sense of, like, Shadow, but the stuff that made Sonic the inventor of the Mascot With Attitude. Nowadays, he's just kind of a smart-talking hero a lot of the time, so I really love stuff like the OK KO crossover taking the opportunity to dial that 90s Attitude up to 11.

Bean gets some solid gags here, too. This was the issue that made me realize how heavily his character writing is inspired by Classic Daffy Duck.

Mauro Fonseca is also doing a fantastic job with art. Their art has been catching my attention lately, they're really good at keeping things on model, but squash-and-stretching those models when needed. I think they're a perfect fit for a Classic miniseries.

The story follows Fang the Hunter, one of the series minor antagonists, and his colleagues Bean the Dynamite and Bark the Polar Bear, as they hunt a mysterious eighth Chaos Emerald.

Right away, it seems to me that this is a reference to Sonic Championship (formerly Sonic the Fighters), Bean and Bark's introductory game, which featured eight Emeralds. This left the game in something of a weird position, because Bean and Bark reappearing in later material made Championship canon, but ever since Sonic Adventure, the series' lore has always made it clear that there are only seven Chaos Emeralds. This is a neat little way of addressing that inconsistency!

The comic's setup takes an opportunity smooth over a few other cracks as well.

In early Sonic games, lore concerning the Chaos Emeralds was kind of all over the place. Some stuff made it seem like each of the different islands the games took place on had their own set of Chaos Emeralds, some had Emeralds with different colors than others, it was clear that they didn't really think to lock down the Chaos Emerald lore until later down the line.

Here, that's attributed to the legendary status of the Chaos Emeralds and their mythological nature.

To me, this is the job of these comics. Telling stories set in the world of the games provides a perfect opportunity to expand upon that world and tell us how the bits of worldbuilding we get in the games all fit together. I will always love when they use the comics to dig into a game concept and give us a better understanding of how it fits in the games' world.

Once again, I'm a big fan of the environments here. The Classic stories always lean into the fantastical element to their settings, with Seasons of Chaos having a full-blown Zone lineup! What we get here is nothing out of the ordinary in that regard, but it's still nice to see the characters run around areas that actually look like places from the games!

That's about all I got! It sets up a sort of B-Plot mystery early on and I was kind of intrigued about where it was gonna go, but the later issue covers have already spoiled it for me so...

I'm excited for more, I really like having a story that centers around a plucky little group of rogues instead of Sonic and his Assigned Pal For This Arc. It's a pretty good start, but nothing enormous and status quo shifting. You know, a Classic Story! It's fun and I'm having fun with it!

[mk-wizard]

Top 10 Video Games that DON’T Need a Remake/Reboot EVER

Note that this list is subjective, but I felt I had to make it because we are living in the age of remakes and reboots. And just like some movies don’t need a remake, neither do timeless video games.

1- Chrono Trigger - It’s not for nothing this game not only aged well, but also stands as one of the best plot driven games with time travel as its theme. It also introduced the concept of the same game having multiple endings and the “NewGame+” mode. While remastering it would be fine, the game is already emotive, fun and advanced as it is and doesn’t need a remake or to be turned 3D (shudder). Let’s not try to improve upon perfection.

2- Mother (1, 2 and 3) - Considering the themes these games have are really from their time which was the 90s (especially the alien invasion concept), you really can’t remake them or make them like new without changing everything to the point where it just isn’t the same game anymore. You might as well just make a sequel rather than attempt to remake an existing instalment and pretend it is the same when it isn’t. Plus, the pixelated and 2D look ADDS to the charm of the game. When you take it away, it just isn’t the same.

3- Sonic the Hedgehog (1, 2, 3, CD and Sonic & Knuckles) - Like Mother, these games are games of their times which would translate very poorly in 3D and everything that makes them fun to watch and play would be lost. While remasters and fixing the bugs in these games would be fine, we don’t need to give it the 3D treatment. There are enough 3D Sonic games as is.

4- Super Mario World - Like the classic Sonic games, there are enough 3D Mario Bros games. Let’s keep the classic ones as is with just a remaster at best. Plus, side scrollers are such a lost art now. Do we really want to erase the last of them?

5- Tetris - It’s bad enough we tried to make a sequel that no one asked for when it comes to this game. Does it really need a remake? The thing that makes Tetris iconic is its simplicity. There’s nothing to remake because there’s nothing to add. It has everything it needs. Period.

6- Street Fighter 2 - If there is one game that should finally stay retired and be remembered as is, it’s this one simply because it literally died of over-rebooting. There’s Street Fighter 2 Alpha, Street Fighter 2 Turbo, Street Fighter 2 Arcade Edition, Super Street Fighter 2, etc. Yeah. While doing that helped flesh out the iconic characters, let’s stick to just making sequels. We exhausted the remaking and rebooting process enough with this instalment. Let it rest in peace.

7- Team Fortress 2 - This is online player game meaning it evolves and expands on its own. There is no need to reboot it because game like this simply don’t work out with being rebooted. By the time the game is not popular anymore, it is because the craze has passed and even if does get rebooted, no one will buy it. The smarter thing to do is to wait a while and then just make a sequel just like how TF2 is in fact just a sequel. Don’t get me wrong. It’s a great game, but rebooting just isn’t its style.

8- Any video game based on a celebrity - I think it is obvious why we shouldn’t waste our time rebooting video games like this. Unless it was an exceptionally amazing game and the celebrity is STILL popular, nobody of newer generation will play it simply because they won’t know who these people are. Plus, these games were not a hit even when they were new simply because people would rather play fantastical fiction characters than grounded real people even if they are celebrities. So, just don’t, folks.

9- Any video game that is based on a movie, show or product - Just as movies based on video usually fail, so does the reverse. Plus, as with most of these entries, these video games were games of their time based on stuff that was popular at the time. When the newer generation sees these games, they’re going to much prefer watching the movie, watching the show or using the actual product. The only case of which the game will be worth their time is if it based on the movie or show while expanding on it by adding to the lore, filling in gaps and being its own story while still being a great game like Alien Isolation. Other than that, it’s not worth it.

10- Any game that was best left forgotten - Sadly, some video game are just bad not because they were too ambitious, too ahead of their time or had too many bugs. They were just lackluster and didn’t leave an impression. They were bad ideas and rebooting them with better graphics and fancier features won’t suddenly make them good. Sometimes, it just makes it worse. If you’re going to use time, energy and money to reboot something, do so on something people want to see a comeback of. Otherwise, just make a new game.

Bonus - Other honourable mentions here I will add are every Legend of Zelda (just make a sequel), every classic Mario Bros game, Final Fantasy 1 to 6, every Pokemon game since every new game is technically just a reboot of the first two (Red and Blue) that started it all, Word of Warcraft, Starcraft, the Sims, the Phantasy Star series, Secret of Evermore, Secret of Mana which technically did get a reboot and it stank, every Mortal Kombat since it always gets a sequel anyway, and every Simulation, Hidden Object and Tycoon game.

[raviosprovidence]

I know we're probably sick of hearing about the whole TGC ripping off fanartists thing and I do have some thoughts on it.

The first one being mostly negative, and that's...we can't do much about it. I know sometimes thing in Terms of Services can seem illegal, but technically, this is fair game. A few years ago, my best friend submitted an art piece to possibly be featured in a famous band's music video. The piece got in, which was fantastic! But the downside is she does not own that art piece anymore; it legally belongs to the band. They can do whatever they want with the art piece whenever they want, and my friend will never get credit or compensation. As sad as it is, it's a very normal thing with more famous people.

I know some people are skeptical of the artists, but I would rather side with a bunch of small artists than a company that has more money than we'll see in our lifetimes. And there's been more than enough artists in the sky fandom that claimed they've gotten their cosmetic concepts stolen. Sure, the official sky discord has a cosmetics concept channel, and they do say they can put ideas in there in the game, but stealing from artists that are just posting on tumblr/twitter/instagram? That's scummy. And while they do post art on their official instagram, it's never credited. Even if an artist within TGC made that art, their own social media should still be credited.

It's clear that no matter how much TGC says they support artists, their actions speak otherwise. And from a small company, it's ultra bad. But that means we can make a difference. It just requires some restraint.

Don't buy IAP's.

No commissioning people using them, no buying the next season pass, nothing. Do not funnel money into the game at all. Flood the complaints of the discord's support channel with how awful they are for not crediting artists and stealing their work. Artists who are over 18, try to set up a paypal if you haven't already.

Not playing the game won't help with the boycott. Hitting them in their wallet will be the only way they will listen along with making a big stink about it on social media.

It sucks, because I do want to commission artists on here through IAP's, but I can't in good conscious give money to a business that disrespects artists when they're already being under attack due to AI

[aquabuggy]

I’d say please don’t re-post these images but honestly why would you. This thing sucks. 🧡

Walmart Santa Ball Game Or Whatever

Alright look. Look okay, I’ve seen a lot of water games. A lot! I own a lot too. I’ve seen the very best these games can possibly be as a result of toy designers transforming the basic concept of a water game and going ham with it. There’s some wonderful stuff out there and I hope I’ve been able to enlighten some of you to it! But my point is, one could easily assume I’ve been spoiled by these fantastic toys, and have lost appreciation for the lesser quality ones.

But it’s just not true! I love cheap water games! I love bootlegs and knockoffs and questionable design choices and poorly thought through ideas that result in a hilarious yet admittedly charming end product. They’re the bulk of my collection for good reason. They’re silly, and I like silly.

This toy though? This particular one? Is not charming, nor is it silly enough to allow me to forgive it. Let me explain.

This piece of shit sucks! Oh my god! It looks so simple right? How could this simple festive ball catching game go wrong? Well! I’m glad you asked!

Whoever designed and produced this toy, did not care! At all. At any point in the process.

Let’s go over it. First things first, this is very clearly a reskinned baseball themed game the toy company already had on hand. The backdrop is a simplistic Santa clip art they probably bought off Getty during an end of November sale for 60 cents in a value pack. Lazy start sure, but not unforgivable yet. Hey, you could even say it earns some silly points, having the placement of the mitt look like it’s bursting out of Santa, clearly not attached to his hand, and the suggestion that his cap has grown a sudden taste for violence, having sprouted hands and a bat to swing. These choices were most certainly not intentional however, so I am hesitant to reward them. That bat by the way, serves 0 function. It’s also a molded piece that is a separate part from the tank that’s glued in after the backdrop is placed. They could have left it out entirely, and they chose not to.

So the actual game right? The objective is to catch those colorful balls in the mitt right? That’s what you, understandably, would assume. But no! You can’t! It is physically impossible! At most, you can catch ONE ball in the mitt. One. I have played this game endlessly, and there is no amount of patience that will allow you to fit or stack any more than a single ball. That’s it. That’s the whole game. It takes seconds to complete, a single button press. THAT’S IT. I began to theorize at some point that maybe the goal was to pick a specific colored ball and attempt to catch it, until I realized I was definitely putting more thought into it than they ever did.

I received this toy unopened. This thing, tricked parents that likely looked fondly upon their childhood playing with water games, and took advantage of their want to pass that nostalgia on, and thus took up valuable space in some poor kids stocking. And even the kid must’ve known this thing was junk, never played with it, and it likely sat in their basement for years before someone found it again, judging by the residual mildew smell the packaging had. I bought this off of eBay for a total less than $10 after shipping and tax, and I STILL feel ripped off.

I can say with certainty that this is the very worst water game I own. I hate this thing. And I can’t even destroy it because I need to keep it as a testament to just how lazy toy companies can get with their holiday cash grabs. MERRY CHRISTMAS

[sasha-on-the-side]

Tag Meme

Thank you for the tag, @banachtarskiparadox! I don't do these memes often bc a lot of them make me go "and why do you want to know this about me?" but I'm always up for screaming about some of my favourite pieces of media!

A scent you love:

Grapefruit. My current signature is Zara Vetiver Pamplemousse layered with Kerosene Summer of '84.

Something you're looking forward to this week:

Been watching Arcane with some of my besties who haven't seen it, and we need to go through the last three episodes.

A book you are currently reading:

I've been AWFUL at reading books as an adult ;_; I've had This Is How You Lose the Time War, Gideon the Ninth, and TAZ graphic novel (The 11th Hour, my favourite arc) sitting on my bedside table since summer and I've barely made a dent in the former. I need to get to them sometime soon.

A game you're currently playing:

I've been on a bit of a gaming tear lately and got through some really good indie titles!

Outer Wilds - the game I beat and then made everyone I know play it too because I needed someone to talk to about it. This is one of those games that everyone reccs as "don't look up anything about it just play it blind trust me" and I find it to be a bit unfair to people who are not into certain types of gameplay, so I'm gonna recommend it to you in a way that's equally honest and non-spoilery:

It's a space exploration game in which you are a budding astronaut setting off on your first journey in your small solar system. It's entirely non-linear and you are welcome to craft your own path in visiting several distinct planets and other celestial bodies, while trying to uncover the mysteries of a civilisation that inhabited the system before you, through collecting pieces of written lore. You have to fly a ship to get to places, and while it takes some getting used to, it is very intuitive. And, if you like time loops, this game has one. If any of what I said sounds attractive to you, I implore you to play it, it is quite genuinely life- and/or game-changing.

American Arcadia - it's The Truman Show meets Severance meets Defunctland: the game. A 2.5D runner/puzzle game with a neat 70s aesthetic and a story that takes a pleasantly unique direction.

Chants of Sennaar - a game about being an interpreter in what is essentially the tower of Babel. It's a really novel but well-executed concept that doesn't get old during the course of the game and makes up for a (imo) rather basic storyline. It's the kind of game that has you take notes as you go, except the note-taking mechanic is already build into it.

Cocoon - a very neat puzzle game with a lovely art style and inception-like mechanics that may leave you stumped for a minute or to but then make you feel like a genius when you finally solve the puzzle.

Night in the Woods - a story-heavy game about coming of age with light puzzle, platformer, and rhythm game elements, fantastic dialogue and the most charming art style and animation.

All of the above titles also have great soundtracks, OW and NitW especially.

The most recent movie you watched:

Oh man, I don't watch that many movies. It has to be The Killer, which was remarkable in its mediocrity. It's fun as you get through it, and then it ends and makes you go "wait that's it?"

A show you've been watching or listening to:

Now here I can recc you some good ones! I got really into Taskmaster this past year and have been watching the New Zealand version, after being a bit reluctant to get into it. Fortunately it's just as funny as the UK version, it its own "man, they get wild on kiwi tv" way.

Another show I really liked lately was Culprits! Heist is my favourite genre of media, and this show delivered on the "someone in the crew is a traitor" storyline and then some. It also has a diverse cast, with a queer black lead, and a lovely wrap to the fist season that won't leave you without answers should it suffer...you know, that thing that happens to all shows these days.

I will also take an opportunity to plug Dungeons and Daddies*, a rowdy, horny, violent podcast for grown-ups, and my favourite audio show for the fourth year and counting. It's a real play podcast that's light on the rules and heavy on "yes and", and in its first season tackles issues of toxic masculinity, generational trauma, and what it means to be a father. If you liked TAZ Balance, give it a try.

*Not a BDSM podcast. Occasionally a BDSM podcast.

Your favourite season:

Early summer. The night air in my hometown has a scent I wish I could bottle up and put as the first answer instead.

Something you've learned recently:

Whatever it is I did, I have forgotten it by now.

Have you had any water recently?

Just now, to wash down my meds (this is your reminder to take yours.)

Tagging @canonicallyshort @orangeykay @joybones and YOU!

[this-is-my-jaam]

I've been doing some light research on historical Chinese clothing for my version of Clan Lavellan based on my own heritage, and one thing that I noticed and love is the amount and variety of colors and patterns used. It feels very 'alive' for a lack of better words, it has a lot of character.

Another Tumblr post I came across recently brought up the current trend of color disappearing from the world. Our color pallets have become much narrower and dull. (Maybe that's why I like tie-dye so much XD)

A lot of the time, you can look at traditional clothing and name which region it hales from. With modern fashion, that's not the case a lot of the time, with it feeling rather homogenous.

Link to said post: https://www.tumblr.com/coldmaxine/692852331579047936?source=share

That is a major factor that drew me to your Dalish Redux series, but I didn't connect the dots until recently. The Dalish clans wouldn't feel homogenous, Clan Lavellan wouldn't be a straight copy of Clan Sabre, etc. So much can be told just by looking at them.

I feel the lack of color is something that plagues a lot of modern fantasy, the lack of color creates a lack of diversity. A lot of information can be gathered by appearance, and when everyone shares color pallets, a lot of subtle world-building is lost.

Like if we were to take the designs of Dalish Elves vs City Elves in DAO and II, they have some attire differences, but if you were to remove the Vallaslin, it would be rather hard to tell them apart.

This isn't to say the City Elves should have drab fashion, but their vanilla appearance is so boring.

Absolutely agree! Color and pattern are both instrumental to the development of textiles and arts and a fantastic resource in historical study. I mentioned before that patterns tend to be designed with some meaning at hand, That is something that I try to keep in consideration when making patterns for the Dalish. The base design that the og concept artists were going for seem to be aligned with the art deco movement as well as natural themes. In that sense, I decided to create abstract patterns to represent some of the in game plants that have been given Dalish names and/or have been said to have significance to the Dalish. We also already have the Vallaslin, which I use very often for reference since it is an already canon resource with significant symbolism.

My best advice on subtle worldbuilding, particularly in textile as that what I’m studied in, is natural resources. China is famed for its silk, Egypt for its linen, and Peru for its alpaca wool, etcetera etcetera. Not only that, by the richness of resources and availability play a significant role in how clothing develops.

As an example, the Ancient Egyptians loved color, but weren’t technologically advanced enough to be able to strip their linen of the fibrous outer layer, which made it extremely difficult to dye. As a result, there was a lot of white clothing supplemented with opaque stones, the most popular being carnelian, jade, and lapis lazuli. Those gems aren’t native to Egypt, but because we know where they can be found, we know who the Egyptians traded with and what was being swapped between cultures. We even know where dye moves around from based on what is and is not native to the regions using said dye. For example, there is a rare, tiny purple species of mollusk know as Murex snails. The dye was so rare and popular that only royalty was allowed to purchase it, and thus Royal Purple was born. 

Basically, try and think of cultural costume design as the natural cause and effect of resources being introduced to a society. What do the Dalish have from before the fall of Arlathan? What resources are available in the area that a specific clan is from? Based on the reclusiveness of the clan, would they have more resources from an established trade with other clans/merchants? Obviously you don’t need to go nuts with specifics, but limiting resources is a great way to give a culture character and thoughtful design.

There have been more recent attempts to really flesh out fantasy designs in more modern properties (for better or worse), but overall, clothing tends to fall back on more traditional,  western Europe aesthetics. Part of the issue is that costumes are designed with silhouette and flat color in mind rather than pattern, which would come later when the costume department actually gathers the fabrics.

City elves should definitely have developed their own unique styles based on where their alienage is (if they belong to one) and access to materials. A city elf likely wouldn’t have the time to be making their own clothing and gathering their own resources, so what would they be able to afford based on where they live? 

I will admit to being somewhat guilty of the lack of color in the modern world, but in my defense, Dark Academia is a look and half of my closet is rainbow brite colorful but I have no where to wear those outfits because I have no where to go and I live on my computer :,D Thanks for the ask!

[skitskatdacat63]

Dear beloved mutual,

1. You have the power to revive one fashion trend, which trend do you revive?

2. How do you come up with niche but cool au ideas? Do they just appear out of nowhere?

3. You are to help create the perfect f1 driver, choose the dna of two drivers that will be used in the creation of this perfect driver and pick anyone related to f1 to raise them.

Oh my god, these are such fantastic questions. I feel like I have to turn the question back on you and ask how you came up with such unique ones?? Whenever I do this kind of game, I cannot think of actually interesting questions at all lmao

1.

Hmmmm....maybe that we all have to dress formally/more dressy all the time- Again, I like comfy clothes as much as the next person and sometimes when I wake up and have to go out, I cannot muster the energy to dress well at all. HOWEVER at the same time, I don't really feel incentivized to dress up anyways, considering I'll probably end up severely standing out. It just makes me so grrr to look at old paintings or pictures and everyone feels much more stylish compared to nowadays. Though, I guess their version of "dressing down" appears formal to us in modern day. Sigh, I just wanna dress up fancy and not feel like I'm super out of place. I'm just not a huge fan of modern fashion, especially fast fashion. Like we own so many more clothes now then we did in the past, but they're all so much worse quality and mainly boring.

2.

Ahhhhh good question. I think I might have said before, but a lot of them just come from me doing something or learning about something new, and I want to share it with people. But it feels much more interesting to actually do something with that information, rather than just infodump. It's actually a symbiotic relationship. I learn/do something -> I use making an au as a medium to share this new interest -> I then have an actual reason to learn more in depth, actually retain the info and have a reason to share it! I think it has to be something very fascinating to me for it to actually become a full, committed AU though. I joke a lot about creating random ones, but it has to actually stick in my head for it to come to fruition. But a lot of the things I joke about usually end up integrating into an AU. Such as when I use Machiavelli quotes, or draw specific scenarios. But yeah they're usually just random concepts that I want to draw, and then I come up with lore to make it make sense. It's fun though to randomly discover parallels, and make associations prob no one else would ever make. Like to who else other than me would HRE Charles VI and Sebastian Vettel being similar make any sense?? Let me try to write out how I remember coming up with my main AUs: Boy King AU: I've talked about this in depth before but basically I saw a little statuette of a Holy Roman Emperor as a literal boy king and it stuck in my mind for a while, and I'm like, haha Seb statue??? And it all spiraled from there. Matador AU: I think I randomly got a thirst trap tiktok of matadors on my fyp, and I became a bit obsessed with their clothes and aesthetic. And then I was like, Spain...Fernando...matador Fernando!! And actually, the only reason that AU has lore is bcs I'm a vettonso stannie lol(same with Boy King AU tbh!!) Nandopoleon: Well, I've been obsessed with Napoleon a while, so of course I unconsciously started trying to make comparisons. But honestly....they really are so fucking similar, it's insane to me. They are the same person, okay!! Renaissance Muse AU: Purely came from thinking Seb looked similar to The David. But tbh now it's more about statues/works of art I think he looks similar to and want to draw! + Bond AU and Hussar AU: I just find them fascinating and love the parallels. One of my fav posts of mine is still the Hussar to F1 comparison, very similar to matador AU.

3.

Lmfao you already know I'm making the vettonso baby. I like to think since they're pretty similar, the baby would be 2x as talented. It's hard to say who could raise them bcs I feel like those related to F1 who are good parents prob wouldn't put their kid into F1. So maybe Mark? And also I think it's kinda funny for him to have to raise vettonso's love child. But it's like Mark with Oscar. Maybe Mark didn't totally succeed, but maybe he can through managing the next gen, y'know?

anonymously message me (3) things you want to know about me.

[connorssuperniftyblog]

"If you indulge in escapism in the video game, you indulge in escapism in real life," a Sword Art Online reflection.

Sword Art Online is an anime series that I am well familiar with. A few years back, when I was 14, I learned about it through its insane popularity, from both those who praised it, and those who criticized it. After dropping it about at episode 10, I can safely say I reside in the latter category. I’m not going to pretend that this viewing really changed my mind or made me come around on the series, because it didn’t. However, most of my criticisms lie in the storytelling, characters, fight choreography, worldbuilding, in-universe game mechanics- I’m going to stop here for the sake of getting on with it, but I could absolutely go on.

Anyways, one factor that I think the series handles pretty decently, which given my opinions on this series, is high praise, is the way it handles how the characters view SAO (the in universe game, not the real world anime) as a world divorced from our own.

Before the series proper even starts and the players become trapped in the game, we already see that people like Kirito and Klein already voluntarily use video games as a means of escapism, and to the series’ credit, I like how they each have a very different way of using games for escapism: Kirito as a way to have alone time in a virtual world, and Klein as a way to have a fun social experience with friends in a virtual world.

Then, the series’ hook is introduced: the players are now trapped in the game and if they die in the game, they die in real life, and cannot leave alive until the game is cleared.

We then spend the show’s runtime in Aincrad seeing different people’s ways of coping with their new reality.

Some, like the adventurers on the front lines, seemingly reject their new reality, fighting to return back to their old one as soon as possible.

Others give up on the idea of fighting to return home out of fear of dying, and so unwillingly assimilate to their new reality with no other options.

And finally, and what’s most interesting, are those like Kirito and Asuna, who end up willingly losing themselves in their new reality, treating the virtual world of Aincrad as one equal to their own. In this regard, they allow themselves to be swept up in the escapism out of choice, as we see their resolve to leave slowly wear and them become accustomed to their new way of life.

One aspect that plays to this escapist appeal is the fact that SAO (the game) provides opportunities not really as widely available, if at all, in the real world. In the end, the most fantastical allure of SAO isn’t the prospects of becoming a monster fighting, sword-wielding champion, or even the fantasy setting itself, but the accessibility of seemingly mundane things like being able to buy a starter home at a young age, or get married young while still being able to live comfortably without the worry of becoming a wage slave. These opportunities are certainly ones that, as the reading material divulged, are not so commonplace in Japan, and also the rest of the world for that matter.

Overall, for all its flaws, SAO (the anime) does a pretty good job at exploring the concept of simulation as a means of escapism in the context of our contemporary society.

[gravitasmalfunction]

Hi how are you! I'm super curious about what books you like to read and some recent faves maybe? (I'm totally not just trying to get recs)

Ah! I am flattered and also so sorry in advance (insert the "oh good, you will regret this" meme here).

I haven't been reading much lately, because cdramas, but I will claim Vanessa Len's debut Only a Monster and its sequel in the in-progress series, Never a Hero, as my most recent faves. It's got urban fantasy, time travel, parallel world sort of stuff going on with a young adult/coming of age, finding and reconciling oneself as a product of two very different cultures, sort of story. It's clever and emotional and romantic and exciting and tragic and basically I loved it. I can't wait for the next one.

Cut to spare the unwilling from scrolling-induced RSI:

My Libby app also reminds me that I enjoyed Lex Croucher's most recent historical romance, Trouble, very much, along with the earlier ones, Infamous and Reputation. Croucher is funny and I like her approach to addressing the social justice issues inherent to the genre and setting of the (nominally) regency romance. My favourite regencies are funny - see also Faro's Daughter, The Corinthian and Sylvester by Georgette Heyer. Amanda Quick's regencies are also usually good for this, too.

I have only read three Kylie Chan books (martial arts fantasy) but I ate them up with a spoon and also was mad at myself for not realising sooner that it's a series of serieses, but I read all of Earth to Hell, Hell to Heaven and Heaven to Wudang in three days straight. There's at least one series before that one and at least another one after, but it was perfectly enjoyable from where I started except now I know spoilers for the earlier books. But that's a me problem.

The Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir - a recent enough fave and a rec, if you like your orphans traumatised, your sci-fi magical and your world-building drip fed by a capable and merciless author. If you don't entirely hate it on first read you have much enjoyment coming on second and third reads. The series is not yet finished but there is already several lifetimes of fanworks to tide us over until the next book(s) come out.

Some older faves, in no particular order:

Martha Wells' standalone fantasy novels, and her Ill-Rien novels. The Wheel of the Infinite and The City of Bones are very enjoyable standalones. And The Element of Fire is just *chef's kiss* if you're an enjoyer of angry, feral young women characters and hot, competent men with swords who can actually take directions.

Douglas Adams' everything, and most especially the Dirk Gently books.

Tom Robbins. How to explain Tom Robbins. The universe said to itself sometime in the early 20th century, let's make an American guy who can write women because he genuinely respects and loves them, and he will also write the goofiest, weirdest, most high-concept, new-age, sexual, gross, magical realist fiction the Pacific North-West in the 1970s and 80s will ever produce. Still Life With Woodpecker is essentially a journal of the author's experience with his new typewriter inserted into the body of his latest novel, a modern fairytale involving environmentalism and pyramids. Jitterbug Perfume is a historical fantastical epic about sex, immortality, beets and fragrance, amongst other things. Half Asleep In Frog Pyjamas is about a stockbroker and a psychic and frogs, among other things.

And to finish, I will rec Iain M Banks. The Algebraist is a standalone sci-fi novel and if you like it, you will almost certainly like the Culture series. The Culture series doesn't have to be read in publication order, or even in-universe chronological order; each book is standalone in its own right, but some reference in-universe historical events that are the subject of one or more of the other books. For first-time readers, I would recommend The Player of Games to start with. As well as being a fun story, I think it's a good introduction to the concept of the Culture, and if you enjoy the themes and motifs etc you will see them again in other Culture books. In no particular order, some of my faves are Excession, Inversions, Surface Detail, The Hydrogen Sonata, and Matter.

If you like any of these in particular, let me know, and I can dig around for some more recs like them!

Happy reading!

[ajwinter-is-a-nerd]

Re blogging so I can read every single one. Because I am both currently addicted to Death Note Fan Fiction as well as I tell myself that it is important to review other literature before putting mine out there.

In one of them I couldn’t help but wonder if they shared a similar line of thought, if it was a moment from the tv show, or if they’ve read something with it too. The line is L saying, “a tragedy has occurred” in reference to lost sweets. My current blissful ignorance will say that it is because it would just be so incredibly in character for him to say that haha

So far I’ve read:

Sickness - which is a very interesting take, I really enjoyed it! However, I did find the focus on western religion a bit much. It is a unique and excellent take, though! Very intellectually written.

Asylum/silence - one of the ones I’m debating printing out because it is so effin fantastic

Nights- I am actually in the process of drafting something about this one! Make sure you check it out on Archive of Our Own instead of Fanfiction.net - it has additional series parts. This work had aspects I would normally find distracting from how I picture LxLight - but hot DAMN was it fantastic. Eloquently written, feels, angst, I understand why it’s so popular.

The Art of Drowning - L and Light have a history. This one is a wild f***ing ride and I loved every minute of it. I finished in a day because I couldn’t put it down.

I’m excited to make my way through the list!!

My recommendations:

Tangled - Honestly, Vanya_Deyja has so many fantastic works. I’ve read several of their stories and adored nearly every one. This one is an alternate universe where Light and L are living post divorce, each parent took a kid with them when they split. (Mello with L, Near with Light [Light is a transgender in this story]). Why I chose this one was because there were a few aspects of characterizations I would have never considered, but now it’s changed how I see Light being written myself. The nurturing side is just a fantastically adorable concept, especially when eloquently written with his general ruthlessness.

Gods and Monsters - This one is one of the ones that seriously inspired me. Alternate universe and I am literally terrified to say any of my favourite parts because I don’t want to give it away. Worth every moment of your time, I swear.

Born to Die - This one is supposed to be the first part of a series, but I still love it even as just one story. I love the way that they consider mental health and the alternate universe characterizations are fantastic. Basically, L is Light’s ex who comes back just to accuse him of being Kira and there’s love and confusion and puzzles and amazing sauce.

Pitch - Alternate universe where Light is a powerful man in ominously mysterious ways. L is a detective that is trying to push himself out of his comfort zone and falls into Light’s gravitational pull. Extremely well written, intellectual, amazing characterization - this is the story that led to me “accepting” to read alternate universe Death Note Fan Fiction. Honestly, this story is fascinating, attention grabbing, and intellectually stimulating with a hot side of smut.

Lastly, I’ve purposefully not shared any that are currently in progress, but I’ll make one exception. The story is fantastic and the author is amazing and always in the comments and having discussions. They’re the author I want to be when I grow up! (Which this is a tongue in cheek comment, I’m definitely an adult, too old to be posting about Death Note fan fiction, but, I digress).

Time Speaks - L and Light wake up to a second life, both with their memories, and their games continue. A layered mystery with intrigue and immaculate characterizations. It’s obviously amazing since it convinced me to break my own rule about adding an unfinished work.

Thank you for starting the list light-kun!!!

Also, if anyone else has more recommendations - throw them in! I am certain there is already a path going for the original Tumblr post, but I feel like having more stories (and additional newer stories) is a fantastic idea!!!

I always fear I will run out of Death Note fan fiction. I am insatiable and constantly need more Lawlight in my life.

A List of Lawlight Fanfictions

I made a list of my top favorite Lawlight fanfictions which I think you all should read, on the request of some people. I have quoted most of these on here, so you can search my tags with the fanfic’s name if you want to read some of its quotes, in case you’re interested and you want to find out more about it. I’ll also be providing my own cheesy summaries for your sake, so buckle up your seatbelts and enjoy the fanfiction ride.

Sickness: This will tear you down from the inside and crash you into tiny pieces. This has made someone delete their blog because of how heartbreaking it is. You have been warned. It’s also the best thing you can read. Light is diagnosed with brain cancer but falls in love with L during the Yotsuba arc, or rather L falls in love with him. Give the first chapter a try and it’ll change your whole perspective on many things.

Those Who Stand For Nothing Fall For Anything: There are no words to describe how fascinating this fanfiction is. Light is a politician, L is a lawyer, and you can guess what goes down from there. Actually, you can’t. It’ll blow your mind. It’s very original and there’s nothing like it. The dialogue is excellent and it will entertain you more than you’d think.

Coexistence is Boredom: One of these very old but treasured fanfics. The plot is excellent and the Kira case extends to France, Russia, and later England. L and Light go on marvelous adventures but also through a lot of suffering. The dialogue is amazing and very entertaining and this is honestly one of the very few fanfics which make me laugh every two minutes. L is a darling, you’ll see.

Silence: Warning: Heartbreaking to a degree you can’t imagine. It makes you cry silent tears. It rips your heart from your chest silently. It will kill you, silently. The writing is excellent. There are no words for it. In order to read it, though, you’d have to read its prequel “Asylum” first. Instead of killing Light, L sends him to an asylum for the criminally insane. Apparently, that has been a terrible mistake. Read and weep.

Nights: A modern fanfiction which is much more brilliant than it looks. Light decides to kidnap L for a change. Beyond Birthday plays an integral part. All characters are present. This is very insane but also too brilliant and the writing is excellent too. Have I mentioned that there’s a lot of sex?

Seeking His Hand: A historical regency-esque romance AU in which L seeks Light’s hand in marriage. Absolutely the most beautiful, pure and mesmerizing Lawlight fanfiction you can ever read. I could not recommend it enough.

Genius is a Curse: What if the Death Note never fell on Earth? Very dark and it will change you. The characterization of Light is spotless. It’s also traumatizing so please take care of yourself.

The Art of Drowning: The plot is very creative and based on a concrete background. It’s an action movie, that’s what it is. Light gets kidnapped and it is L’s duty to find him. There’s a gun pointed to someone’s head in every chapter. Heavy with action/thriller.

Disorder: This one here is amazing and it will make you laugh. Written by the same author of Silence. Light suddenly decides to disappear from the Kira case. Where does he go? Follow L on his journey. This is very awesome. Very fun.

Phlegethon River: A very special, very long one shot. L captures Light as Kira. This gets into the workings of the marvel that is Lawlight and is actually as tragic as the manga. A realistic intake. The writing is traumatizing.

Alternative: Very old but too good. The characterization is flawless. L decides that confining Light is a better punishment than killing him. This story is very integral for your understanding of Death Note in general. It’s not supposed to be romance but it is heavily hinted.

Solitude: Written by the same author of Silence. This is a very special one shot and the writing is as amazing as always. Light has always been lonely, until he has met L. Yotsuba Lawlight fluff at its finest. You will also break in tears.

True Elision: This should be first on the list, really. It’s too brilliant for its own good. It’s one of the best things you can read. Takes place in the afterlife where Light goes through cycles of Hell. L later shows up. Gives interesting views on religion, morals, and justice. I don’t know why this isn’t sold in stores. It’s too good for the fanfiction website.

A Tithe to Hell: I don’t know how to describe this. It’s fucking amazing. I can’t even tell what happens most of the time. All I can say is that the writing is one of the best I’ve seen and there are some very brutal scenes in there. You’ll feel drunk reading it. It’s very insane and very surreal and everything is on edge.

Of Music: A beautiful journey that follows L and Light’s friendship and work relationship through the years they bond over their passion for music. Wonderful isn’t enough to describe it, the writing is so flawless and smooth, and for once their dynamics are healthy to some extent, original, and super interesting. This fic is very popular for a reason. Absolutely recommended.

The Sin of Defiance: This is the first Death Note fanfiction written by RobinRocks. It hurts, that’s what I know. This is integral to your understanding of Lawlight, and contains all the basics. It’s amazing. One shot.

Gravity: Death Note told in 50 sentence prompts. Written by the same author of Silence. The writing is fascinating. Brilliant.

There are hopes for this list to be updated. Please bear in mind that I’ve chosen some of the finest works for you, and there are still tons more which I know of but haven’t had the chance to read yet. Maybe someday I will. Until then, I hope you enjoy my little collection.