#these are! The two antagonists! They both have names now which is great because when I wrote this piece they didn't

[tracle0]

The patient was lying on the operating table when the door slid open. 

They didn’t have to be there - the room had more in it than it did a week ago, a comfortable enough chair, a plush little love seat to relax in, a desk to work at. Their wrists weren’t strapped down anymore, nothing new pumping into their veins. They were free to roam around the room and let the oncoming process take place. And yet still, they chose to lay on the table and stare at the ceiling blankly. 

At least they glanced over when she entered, attention caught by the sound of her footsteps, not the door opening and closing. They had stopped trying to escape months ago. Thank fucking god for that. 

“Unscheduled,” they told her. They had become more monosyllabic as the weeks had gone on. Sometimes, it was a struggle to know what they were trying to say. 

This time is easy enough. “I don’t follow the schedule that strictly,” she said briskly. “I can visit whenever I want.”

Their eyebrows rose at the first comment, noting the blatant lie, but they let it pass, eyes drifting back to the ceiling again. Even their arms were spread out, wrists resting exactly where the leather straps would usually be. “Why?” 

“I work here, sweetie. I thought you knew that by now.” It would be a concern if not. Some of the others had deteriorating memories at this point in the process, and she was so sick of failed tests. 

A head shake. “Why here?” The second word seems to strain them. “Why me?”

Ah. At least their mind was still somewhat present. Brushing down the front of her off-white lab coat, she gave herself a moment to think. The facility had tried to keep each patient isolated, although a lot of them had figured out there were others on account of the screams. This patient was amongst them, having asked her a few months ago how many others there were. Fifty, she had told them, and they had nodded, taken her word as the truth and shut their eyes to listen, trance-like, to the screams down the hall. 

The number was much, much lower than fifty now, having dropped lower still a few minutes ago. She was on the brink of failure, bankruptcy, months of agony and wasted resources for nothing. Maybe she was somewhat desperate to keep the final few functioning, progressing. Alive. More willing to spend time around them and their misery, pity, refusal to acknowledge the common good she was working towards. 

She couldn’t tell them that, though. With how frail they looked, they may well die on the spot at the news, half from shock, half to spite her. “Figured you could use some company,” she said instead. “How are you feeling?“

They gave her a blank look, the kind that perfectly said, how the bloody hell do you think I’m doing? Then returned their attention to the ceiling. Silence lingered. The overhead lights hummed. Someone hurried past their room. “Tired,” they eventually murmured. “I’m tired.”

“That’s to be expected. You’ve been through a lot.” She gave them her best smile, her politicians smile, and smoothed a clump of brown hair off their forehead. It was something she had done to a lot of foreheads when hands had been strapped down, resistance impossible. Why was she doing it now? Because they were on the table, laid out as if expecting the chemicals to start flowing, the screams to start ripping their throat?

She withdrew before either of them could comprehend it, and their eyes watched her carefully for a uncharacteristically long ten seconds, before their attention drifted again. Their skin felt feverish, dry. It was not a good sign. Keep them lucid, keep them alert. “Is there anything I can get you?”

What may have once been a smile drifted across their face. “Out.”

It was a joke for both of them at this point, so she laughed, and their almost-smile nearly became a full smile, before the effort became too much to maintain. “I’ll ask the boss,” she promised, a joke for her to privately enjoy. “Anything else?”

“News,” they said vaguely.

“On what?”

“Kit.”

Always the same. Maybe that was why she liked them more than most. Their interactions were predictable, repetitive. If they did die, she might not even notice, repeating her half of the script to their unresponsive corpse. “Not much,” she said sombrely, as if she’d checked. “Rumour has it he’s got a new orange now.”

Their eyes shut, brows drawing together, mouth pressed thin. This wasn’t part of their routine. It took her a moment to recognise grief. What was the problem? What had she said? Why was news of another orange so significant? 

Right. Of course. They had been an orange once, his orange, trusted sidekick and adoring supporter. This tidbit of nothing went a lot deeper than she expected, and she hesitated, unsure if she should keep digging. On one hand, she thought they had given up on their brother weeks ago, when their patience had run out, when they had accepted he wasn’t going to save them, when their magic and use to him had been stripped from their veins. It was annoying that there had still been a part of them clinging to hope, expecting something from Kit. 

On the other hand, she could plainly see that part of them wither and die with this news. She gave them a moment, hands clasped behind her back, then continued. “He’s declared you dead,” she said, her voice soft, delicate. “Says he held you in his arms as you bled out.”

“Course,” they said. She was glad to hear bitterness in their voice, hoarse as it was. 

“Rumour has it he’s one of the most powerful on the streets now,” she added, watching their face carefully. This was a lot more than she had planned to tell them, much more truthful than her reports usually were, but it was having some kind of effect, a reaction. Better than most other discussions she had with patients, weepy and aching affairs that left her heavy and frustrated. “He keeps targeting other turfs. He’s gained a lot of ground, I hear.”

It was easy to see how they interpreted the news by how their eyes screwed tighter, brows knitting closer together, going from grief to agitation. Petty in-fighting, domination of the city - it was a slap in the face for someone who had been waiting for rescue. Now they knew their master plan, the thing they had bet their life on, had half worked. Kit was stuffed with potential, a frighteningly powerful mage. He just hadn’t bothered coming back for them. 

She expected tears, pleading, defeat. Their words were delightfully measured when they asked, “Orange?”

“Someone from out of town,” she reported. Jaque was the exact town, but they didn’t need to know that. They didn’t need to know a lot of things. “Goes by Clem. Most people say they’re just a source of the colour, that Kit does most of the controlling.”

They hummed an acknowledgement, opened their eyes again, stared at the ceiling. “Lots,” they eventually said.

Although it was as dull as usual, it sounded sarcastic to her ears, like they were mocking her. Nothing infuriated her more than being mocked. She hoped the flush across her cheeks wasn’t obvious. “I don’t know lots about them, no. They’re new to the scene. I have other things to do than gather news on your brother, you know.”

Eyes glanced across her face. “No,” they said. “News.”

“No news,” she echoed. 

“Lots,” they insisted. “You.”

“You’re not making any sense, my darling.”  

They almost snarled, nose wrinkled, a spark of anger in their eyes. Slowly, carefully, visually, they gathered energy, going pale with the effort, eventually managing to croak, “You have lots of news today.” 

A full sentence was impressive at this stage. Hell, single words were impressive - a significant portion of participants had gone entirely mute a week ago. Maybe she was right to put more energy into her remaining patients. “A special treat.”

Another hum. They didn’t seem to care. Their eyes were still open, brown still fixed on the ceiling, but they had started to lose focus, drift from active attention to a freakish half-sleep. Clearly the full sentence had drained them of what little energy they were using to stay awake. She almost felt guilty for it. 

More than the guilt was the alarm. The half-sleep that too many participants had adopted was too similar to the stiff clutches of death. Too often, she had held a hand, tried to coax someone into fighting a little longer, felt the exact second their fingers went limp and the odds of her failure went up. A few times, during her scheduled rounds, she had noticed still bodies curled up somewhere, glazed over and perfectly static, and struggled to tell if they were sleeping or dead. More and more often, it was the latter. 

This participant was just like any other. Nothing special, beyond the circumstances around how they had arrived. She still didn’t want to watch them die. “Is there anything else I can get you?”

Glazed eyes flicked to focus on her. This was not part of their script either. At this point, she’d wish them well, promise to be back later, and leave them be. Still, they considered the question. “Chair,” they finally said. 

“You want to go to the chair?” At the tiny nod, she sucked at her teeth, considered the distance. “I’ll get some guards to -“

“No.”

“No? How do you expect to get to the chair?“

“Walk.”

She laughed at that. She couldn’t help herself. “Love, you’re not going to be able to walk to the chair. It’s five meters away. Be sensible, now.”

“Walk,” they insisted. “I can.”

“You think I’ll let you try? Have you killed, too?”

A pause. Consideration. Then, quietly, “Too?”

Shit. Their eyes were fixed on her, watching her reaction, reading the truth in the millisecond of hesitation. Where had that unfocused glaze gone? She licked her lips with the very tip of her tongue, careful to only gloss over her lipstick, arranged an excuse. “Only a few. It’s to be expected, this isn’t -“

“How many?”

It would have been so easy to lie. Maybe they were sharper than the average participant, but she still controlled the flow of information they received. She could make them believe anything if she put proper work into it, including the mortality rate of this trial. 

Looking down at them, positioned as if ready to receive further torture, attention fixed on her and hungry for a tidbit of truth, she couldn’t find it in herself to deceive them. “There’s five left,” she said quietly. “Including you.”

They breathed out at that, an audible exhale. “Start?”

��We started with ninety.” 

“Fifty?” She shrugged in way of explanation, and they nodded, as if they expected it, understood it. So practical, so uniform. God, she did like them. “Me?”

Another hesitation. They noticed it. “We’re doing everything we can to keep you alive,” she eventually said, words careful and picked over. “All of you. So, with luck, you should have nothing to worry about.”

“Luck,” they sneered. She could understand their bitterness, given their situation. She also admired their bitterness. So many of the others simply became empty, exhausted. Their anger was a breath of fresh air sometimes. 

Other times, it expressed itself in stubborn tendencies. “Chair.”

“I’m not going to let you kill yourself,” she said tiredly. 

“Chair.”

“It’s not just your life you’d be wasting. I’m sure you’re used to that, but I can’t afford to allow -“

They barked a laugh, surprisingly loud.“Bitch,” they spat, with great amusement. “I want…”

The rest of their sentence trailed off as they panted for breath, exhausted, determined. She glared venom down at them. They glared venom right back, triumphant and proud. Did she even like them? It seemed to change day-by-day, word-by-word. “Go on, then,” she said, sickly sweet. “Walk to your crummy chair. See how that goes for you.” 

To their credit, they hesitated. Maybe they’d buckle, realise she was right, do as she said. It wasn’t too late to forgive them, find the guards, get them to their chair like they wanted. If they apologised, perhaps. Grovelled, definitely. The relationship between them was entirely up to them to decide. 

They decided, and strained to move, and she sighed inwardly and settled in to watch them die. The effort of sitting up would be enough to knock them out. Actually walking to the chair would absolutely kill them. If they were lucky, maybe their corpse would land on the plump cushion. The detached part of her that she listened to quite frequently these days was interested in how long it would take for them to give up. 

Because they were laying on their back, the process was agonisingly slow. Lacking the immediate strength to simply pull themselves upright, they instead opted to use their arms to hoist up, inch by inch, leaning heavily on their elbows as they gasped for breath. Teeth gritted, limbs shaking, strain intense. She wondered if they’d burn the body today, or leave it for dissection. She wondered if she should send the remains to Kit. 

She wondered how in any possible hell her patient had managed to actually get themselves upright.

Conscious and panting, they didn’t have the energy to act smug. They barely had the energy to stay sitting, skin bone white and fingers holding so tightly to the edge of the table that she could see the outline of every single one of their knuckles. As she watched, their head tilted down, chin almost touching their chest, as if the weight of holding it up was too much… before it jerked, jolting up too far, having to settle in place. A visual demonstration of their bodies demands verses their willpower. 

It was fascinating to watch. “Well, aren’t you just full of surprises?”

Their eyes latched onto her. Glassy, unfocused, dull. Their chest was heaving with the effort of breathing. Even single words would be near impossible now. 

“You’re not going to make it to the chair,” she said, lecture-like. “I’m impressed you got this far, but you need to recognise your limits. You won’t be useful to me if you can’t.” 

Something flickered in their eyes, a spark of life in an otherwise empty void. Their jaw tightened. 

“I can have you carried to the chair still,” she offered, hands spread in front of her. “You only need to ask. I’ll even take a nod. Just let me know.” 

Their head had dipped, exhaustion getting the best of them. She tried not to be disappointed. 

“Let’s get you settled down again,” she said gently, moving closer. “Come on, now. You’re tired. Let’s just -“

They lurched suddenly, tipping forwards, and her words cut off as she darted forwards to catch them. At first, she assumed they had reached their limit, passed out. If they hit the floor, the hard tiles would easily shatter their fragile skull. God knows she couldn’t lose someone with the energy to sit up, the fight to resist her better judgement. 

It was only when she was holding them up that she realised they were still awake. The lurch hadn’t been the body’s success - they had pushed themselves forwards, the intent to stand, to walk, spurring them onwards. 

They seemed surprised to find her in front of them. Most of their weight pressed on her shoulders. They may have been frail, thinned down by the agonies they had endured, but she wasn’t very big herself, and she nearly crumpled under the burden. “Fucking hell,” she snarled. “Are you trying to get yourself killed? Or just trying to piss me off?”

A hand rose, slow and gradual. There was no way they were still lucid after all this. She’d be lucky if they woke again after she finally settled them down. Given how feverish their skin felt, it was only a matter of time before this test failed too. Really, she’d wasted too much time in here. 

“Maybe your brother was right to leave you,” she spat at them, as they focused their energy on raising their hand up, up, up. “Knew what sort of a fucking problem you are. Be glad I don’t have you put down, you useless piece of…”

Her words trailed off as their hand finally stopped, gently caressing her face. With careful deliberation, they traced a finger down her temple, down her cheek, down her jaw, letting their thumb rest against her chin, and tilting that up. Given how they had fallen, how they had been caught, the two of them were very close, nearly pressed together; their chest against her shoulders, her eyes level with their chin. Her eyes raised up to meet theirs. 

They pressed their lips to hers. Slow and gentle, although not by choice, they kissed her, and she stood there, holding them upright. In the shock of the moment, she let the cold, mechanical part of her head take over, figure this out. 

More than anything, it was wondering how she could use this. With five participants left, she had the room to be more personal with each of them, and if this was how they wanted to go about it, well. A quiet romance could be nice, and could keep them obedient, loyal. On the increasingly unlikely chance they survived this, maybe she could keep them around for a bit, if they chained their own heart for her. Until she got bored of them. Until they had ran out of use. 

The kiss ended, and they drew back shyly; a school child pecking their crushes cheek for the first time. With as much desperation as they could muster, they searched her gaze, looking for permission or allowance or reciprocation. Apparently not finding it, they started to sag against the table, swallowed, parted their dry lips. “Sorry,” they whispered. 

For a millisecond, she considered her options. Leave them to this obvious mistake and add the burden of embarrassment to their situation. Allow what had happened to be a one-off, let them both move past this and forget it had happened. Or reciprocate - give them a reason to fight on, to survive, a reason to stay at her side even after the matter. 

They were speaking, for fucks sake. Standing on their own feet after forcing themselves upright and speaking in full sentences. If anyone was going to survive this, it was going to be Elan fucking Soot. 

She threaded her fingers through their hair, pulled them closer and pressed her lips to theirs. Much faster. Much more forceful. By the time she was satisfied, they were breathing hard, and her lipstick was pressed over their mouth. 

Without her saying anything, they went to wipe it off, dazed. Not the blank-eyed dazed expression she was so used to. Something bright, alive. Something that shouldn’t be in this facility. 

A red stain transferred to the back of their hand, and they wrinkled their nose at it, an unimpressed grunt making its way up their throat. “Bright,” they said, irked. “Ugh.”

“If you don’t like it, you don’t have to kiss me,” she said, halfway between flirting and icy. 

They smiled, let their arm swing to their side, tilted back, much more weight against their bed. “Thank you.”

“You owe me, lovie.” She let a finger trace along their jawline, let the mechanical voice consider it. There were definitely worse faces to kiss. This could end up being incredibly beneficial to her. 

A softer part of her, the part that had made her heart flutter and her face flush, pointed out it could also be beneficial for them. That maybe they had their own mechanical voice, weighing up their options and choosing the best route. That maybe, just maybe, she should be a little bit careful. 

Then, they swayed on their feet, let out a long sigh, and nodded. “Guards,” they suggested, a voice like a leafs skeleton. “Now.”

She complied, calling loudly and apparently a little frantically - the guards rushed in with their hands on their batons, ready for trouble, finding instead their employer with a participant collapsed on her shoulder. To their credit, they wasted very little time in sorting the situation out, easing her patient back onto the surgery table, limp limbs arranged as kindly as possible, and ushering her out of the room. 

If the guards noticed her lipstick on their lips, neither of them mentioned it.

[spideytorch-hovel]

So, I’ve been thinking a lot about spideytorch lately (as I am one to do) and a question popped into my head:

What is the most important spideytorch comic panel?

There’s a ton of great options in my opinion, but I think there also is an answer (at least for me) so now I am going to subject all of you to my thought process. Get ready for a way to long post breaking this down.

The most obvious starting point has to be this classic

Johnny Storm is going full house husband for Peter Parker, I mean c’mon! add in the fact that he’s in his undies and the way that he’s leaning over peter… yeah this is a classic. This might be the most famous spideytorch panel out there, but I don’t think it’s the most important one.

Another classic (but more antagonistic?) one takes place, of course, at the usual place.

To me this is peak identity shenanigans and the stuff that fanfics are made of. The betrayal, the heartbreak, the complications that go into the conflicting way these two view identity, oh boy I could talk about that shit for hours, but as an individual moment, it doesn’t really crack most important for me, it needs a bit more affection (they’re very bad at affection sometimes).

Another panel that came to mind very quickly for me is this set.

Johnny literally only had to say his name and Peter knew exactly what he meant and what he needed. This is top tier levels of communication, both between them and from the creators to us. I think this is another one that I could talk about for hours. That being said, it doesn’t feel important enough to me.

A friend in the spideytorch discord server posed this panel as the most important spideytorch moment in the comics.

I’m just gonna put their quote in cause it’s great. “I think this is one of my favorite panels cause Johnny was just speaking generally and Peter was like ‘oh my god! Actual wise words form johnny’ but also, I love that this was a more important moment for Peter than Johnny.” I must say, this entry is extremely important to spideytorch and gave my choice a run for its money. I don’t have a huge reason for not making this one the most important, other than personal taste. For their relationship, this is a key moment and sets them on the path to actually being friends (at least on Peter’s end), but idk it just wasn’t doing it for me.

Another panel I was reminded of thanks to this submission was this moment.

It’s not quite as impactful as the past one by a long shot but I do think it’s important. After being rivals for so long, to see Johnny give a genuine heartfelt compliment to Peter is fantastic (haha). This feels like the other half of the previous set of panels. There we had Johnny encouraging a stranger and here he’s encouraging his friend.

Some other friends in the discord server suggested the moment that Johnny invites Peter over to watch his sex tape (yes this is canon).

(Not pictured, Peter swinging away and saying he needs to take a cold shower). Now I’m not saying that the most important spideytorch moment needs to be serious, but I think this moment might be too unserious to claim that title. This moment was huge for the fanbase because holy shit did, he actually say that, but for their relationship, I just don’t think it was as important as it was to us.

Now I do want to knock out a few honorable mentions that I would hate to miss.

First, this look given to Spidey by Johnny, I mean yeah, he’s in love.

And to balance the lovesick flirty scales I must expose Peter as well.

Next, this heartbreaking moment that basically admits to the audience that Peter’s world becomes chaos when he loses Johnny. That shit hits.

Of course, the moment that gave us the ship name.

A panel that lives in my head rent-free because honestly marvel what were you attempting to convey here other than the fact that Peter really wants to have hate sex with Johnny Storm?

To take us outside of our duo, this quote from Ben Grimm (EDIT: it’s was Peter’s clone Ben Reilly, which honestly only adds more drama), because honestly same.

And of course, I have to include the panel which showed us the first time (on page) that Peter told Johnny he loved him AND gave us canon proof that these two have “date night,” many a fic writer was fed well.

And how could we forget! THE USUAL PLACE! Literally any panel mentioning this is top tier because its so good, like the core of the fandom honestly.

Lastly, before moving on to my own more serious contenders I have to share this parallel that @sciderman shared because I love it.

Now to my serious contenders for the title of most important spideytorch panel (please remember this is all my opinion and I mean no shade). This will be a top 5, but just know some of these rankings are pretty flexible (even flexible with some panels from the beginning), and this question should not be taken as seriously as I am taking it, I am fully aware of that.

Number 5!

So, I know that I discounted the sex tape scene earlier because I didn’t think it was serious enough and it didn’t do enough for their actual relationship, but I had to include this one I’m sorry. A lot of this is personal taste but the implications here are *chefs kiss* The first time I saw this panel was actually on Pinterest with the caption “wait a second, did spider-man and the human torch have sex?” which says it all for me.

Beyond that, this moment also shows how they reach out to each other when they have problems. Strange children show up in Peter’s life and the first person he calls about it is Johnny. Again, this is not the most serious, but I love it. This moment shows the banter of their relationship, how they care about and rely on each other, and also potentially reveals that they’ve had sex. There’s a lot to take in.

Number 4!

I will be honest with you all, this moment is here almost entirely because Ben’s quote lives in my head rent-free. Everyone around them sees how they feel about each other besides them. When they were rivals others could tell they actually liked each other and when they became friends others could tell that it was deeper than that. I think I especially love this panel because it conforms that we’re not crazy for thinking there’s something there but also because Ben specifically cites the way Johnny looks at peter. That is very specific and says a lot. I can’t imagine Ben would say this if the looks Johnny gave Peter were purely platonic, and just ahhhh, there’s so much said here just in one line from Ben. There was of course the Ben moment earlier, which I also love, but something about this one, the more specific phrasing of it I think just shoots it up my rankings a lot.

Number 3!

If you’ve been following me for a while I don’t think this is a surprise at all, I have already done a very in depth post about this panel so I’ll keep my thoughts brief. Red Skull knows that hurting Johnny will hurt Peter, Peter’s Spidey senses go off FOR JOHNNY, and we are given so much angst potential, I love it.

Number 2!

This one is probably a more popular choice than my number one, and I totally get it. The excitement and joy bursting out of Peter when he finally realizes that Johnny is here, he’s real, and he’s alive really gets me. Plus, the added context to the uniform comment being that Johnny literally left Peter his family and his spot on the team in his will. The amount of pure love in this moment and its larger context is abundant, platonic or romantic, it’s there. I feel like everything I could say about this panel has probably been said before, but it is definitely worthy of being the most important spideytorch moment, even if I have one that beats it for me.

Number 1!

For those of you who don’t know, this panel comes from Peter visiting Gwen’s grave and talking to her. That fact alone breaks me in half but then the things he says to her shatter me. Every spider-man fan knows how much Gwen’s death broke Peter, it destroyed him to lose her. Just the fact that Peter admits Johnny brings part of him back is amazing (haha) because that is a hug feat. But then he shatters me even more with his final sentences. After Gwen’s death, we often get a peter who spends too much time as Spidey in order to avoid having to cope with Gwen’s death as Peter, but also as a way to cope with the loss (he’s a complicate man). Spideypool also gets a lot from that arc because of Wade’s reaction to Spider-Man not holding back as much and becoming less of a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, and that’s true. The fact that Peter feels like he’s becoming who Spidey is supposed to be again when he’s around johnny is huge! But then! He corrects himself. He’s not Spidey again, he’s Peter. The real person, the man behind the mask, comes back. And then you get the final correction. He’s not just peter again, he’s *Gwen’s* peter again. He is the him that existed with Gwen when he’s with Johnny. That speaks volumes and breaks whatever parts of me are left. How am I expected to read this and not think that Johnny and Peter are soulmates?

Now, I will acknowledge that this is much more of a peter moment than a joint spideytorch moment, much like the moment suggested by discord friend earlier. If that disqualifies it for you as the most important spideytorch panel, I get it. However, for me that doesn’t matter mainly for one key reason. So many classic spideytorch moments show a lot of Johnny having feelings for Peter or making a move on Peter. There have been a lot of times when I’m trying to get a friend into spideytorch, and I feel like I have to clarify that its not as one sided as it seems. Johnny is much more out there with who he is and doesn’t hide his feelings very well (except maybe from himself). So, when we get any spideytorch moment that hones in on peter’s feelings and love for Johnny, that feels so huge to me. This moment alone proves that it isn’t one sided, Peter has deep feelings for Johnny, even if he’s not sure what they are yet, he knows that what they have is special, he wouldn’t be telling Gwen about it otherwise. While it may not be as famous of a spideytorch moment, its an important one, and for me it’s probably the most important one.

Anyway, this has been a way too long post about this topic but if you made it to the end thank you so much! I would love to hear other people’s thoughts on this topic so feel free to share those. Also, just a reminder that these are my opinions, and I am not in charge at all so don’t take it too seriously (unless you want to).

If you’re interested in hearing me, go more in depth on any of these panels (or any other spideytorch panels) shoot me an ask because I could honestly talk in depth for a while about most of these panels and I would love to do so. Thank you again for reading this way to long post and good night spideytorch nation.

[hisuian-history-makers]

Indigo Park: Salem the Skunk (Theory and Headcanons).

Truthfully, we don’t know much about Salem besides the fact they are a potion maker and briefly appear in the arcade game. Their bio revealed that they’re an antagonist to Rambley.

Theory: Salem is the most recent character in the Indigo Park cast.

Their punk design doesn’t really fit the rest of the cast and Rambley’s lines when you show the retro Lloyd Plush has an interesting detail.

“Where’s my limited edition throwback plush?! Where’s Mollie’s? Where’s Finley’s?”

Immediately he mentioned the rest of his friends not getting a retro plush either. Granted, this could be a situation where he dislikes Salem so much he doesn’t mention them… Yet he always mentions Lloyd/doesn’t refuse to say the lion’s name. So what’s the deal with Salem?

The Finley cutout’s line about Rambley knowing him for 100 years could potenially just be flavor text, but the retro plush info mentioned there was an actual old cartoon.

Not too sure about the theories which pin Salem as turning the animatronics(?) against the park guests. That seems a little too cut and dry for me given Salem was part of the cast too.

———————————————————————

Headcanons:

—Salem’s also known to use contraptions to get out of hairy situations in their character bio. Leading me to believe they weren’t always a potion maker, but rather a Scientist!

—The original documents on their character design were lost leading to many people not knowing Salem’s gender, thus non-binary. They could have stolen their own designs actually…

—Ironically, they and Mollie can stand to get along due to both of them knowing a great deal about engineering/tech. Mollie does crash her plane often enough that learning how to repair it would make sense. I could see Salem helping her repair the plane to get the macaw out of their forest. (This annoys Rambley to no end.)

—Because of Finley’s shyness, the two have rarely interacted. Though—I could see the first meeting have been when Salem went potion ingredient hunting and stumbled upon Finley. They were intimidated by his sheer size, surely.

—Salem dyes their hair stripe. Not always pink.

—The skunk uses the employee utility tunnel to photo bomb park goers, Rambley’s Railroad, and even selfies. They love sneaking up on people because they don’t think a six-foot purple skunk would be even remotely stealthy.

—Them and Lloyd will trade verbal barbs in mock offs behind the scenes. He’s the only one who gets their vicious sense of humor.

—Whether as an animatronic or AI, Salem often steals items from the gift shops to “decorate” statues around the park. They hate the one statue of Rambley and Mr Indigo because the head can track them no matter how they move.

—Salem has accidentally caused the park to lose power a few times from their experiments getting out of hand. The fact these made the now AI-Rambley to get shut down doesn’t bring as much joy to them as you might think.

—The skunk is currently trying to juryrig a computer to be able to fit their paws so they can see what this “Minecraft” game is about. It had potion making apparently?

[modtheartifex]

i wrote this into a youtube comment like moments ago, but i feel strongly enough that i will put it out here as well;

Lego Monkie Kid Season 5 does NOT have villains. it has characters that are antagonistic forces and layered with nuance on top of nuance.

not to say previous seasons didnt do this, but this season ABSOLUTELY is entirely filled with characters like this

lmk season 5 spoilers, as well as anything from previous seasons just in case cause idk. might get long too tbh oopsies JINNGFDOIJN

we have a few characters to consider for LMK s5's "villains".

we have Ne Zha's dad (i forget his name, ill probably call him pagoda man), nine headed dragon (consort, 10th king, xiangliu) and nuwa. we could theoretically consider thousand eyed demon, however hes only relevant in one episode so id hardly count that

pagoda man is the easiest to explain, he is an antagonistic force because hes trying to hold onto what little order there is left of the world, he is trying to be the duct tape keeping the sawed in half boat together, and hes trying to minimize risks. does that excuse how he treats ne zha? fuck no, but thats a whole different discussion and depending on your interpretation of how much of the chinese mythos you use for this work will vary. he is just like mk as mk himself points out, it doesnt have to be just pagoda man doing the work, theres people willing to help, and then he joins the heroes side for the end.

cool, great, now. what the fuck do i mean by nuwa?

this is where interpretation is strongest, where it is key. ill just be sharing my perspective. when i was first watching season 5 my partner pointed out to me that in chinese mythos chaos is a core element of the world, it is necessary. this, coupled with the fact that nuwa made mk to fix a cycle she created (which we also dont know how many cycles the world has gone through, it could be one, it could be two, it could be in the hundreds if not thousands, whos to say.) and to keep chaos out... she is keeping the world from being complete. her little cave without the outside world, without proper balance, her little people living blissfully apocalypse to apocalypse. "but theyll all die!" "theyll live again" nuwa says, smile on her face.

she is disconnected from her cave, her world her people, her creations, who knows how long shes been in the limbo, how well she can perceive time, how many times a sacrifice comes in, they get a few words exchanged before they just leave, her in the pillar, only getting glimpses when the cycle is ending of the world, only to be shut in again.

neat, ok, but xiangliu??? hes who was gestured at from the BEGINNING of season 4.

see. heres where we get into the GOOD shit.

this is why it is important to establish that we dont know how many cycles have happened. we do not know how long he has been stuck, how many times he has tried to fix the world over and over. he makes it clear in his ending dialogue, if only he knew how to fix it, that sharing the power of the stones was the key to his freedom. the fact that he goes from what most would consider the least important title to the most important one, his own name, the fact he states he was wukongs friend, his enemy, both, wukong just doesnt remember

that implies longentivity. that implies so many cycles and lifetimes lived inside this cycle, being aware of everything, being so damnably aware of what one considers true freedom, and having to sit at the precipice of that.

it is agony.

xiangliu for the majority of the season is the only one to call mk by his name. mk gets so often called child, kid, nicknames by the others, maybe mei refers to him as mk, but xiangliu has it be DELIBERATE. he altered the course of the cycle to give mk a life, to let him HAVE a life where nuwa didnt care for one, he WANTED mk to grow enough that he would be able to choose. because everything is about mks choice, his ability to choose it all matters on HIS. CHOICE.

the only time this falters is when xiangliu thinks he is trapped for good. he rushes at mk, one final chance at freedom seemingly taken from him. xiangliu never fights mk. he only fights the others when they start fighting him. when its just him and mk at the edge of the world, at the edge of chaos, he talks to mk. tells him what to expect, mentions a mysterious "he" now that mk has opened the cage. and he pushes mk back so he gets to go back to his life. so that mk can have choices still. xiangliu got what he wanted, so its only right mk gets what he wanted too. to live with his friends and let everyone live a life where they can figure something out.

that is why i do not think there are villains in lego monkie kid season 5. they are antagonists with layers of nuance, nuance we arent privy to for reason or another, be it episode count, length, screentime, or that were just not supposed to yet. season 5 does not have an obvious bad guy, a villain, because the nuance is right within our grasp.

thank you for reading this. fucking essay apparently oopsies JINNGFDIJN

[mimpinightmare]

"SUPA STRIKAS DISCUSSIONS/ ANALYSIS/ HEADCANONS" INCOMING!!! (PART 2) [Oh yeah, This will become a series]

TOPIC: Diego's Potential Coming Back As A Recurring Antagonist In The Show (Discussions)

I feel like the Supa Strikas fandom will not remember who he is, SO HERE I AM, REMINDING YOU HIS EXISTENCE! >:D

When I was re-watching "Rookie Season", this guy (for some reason-) have always stand out to me, that ideas and potential character arcs for Diego has been overflowing in my brain for the past months- SO, HERE IS WHAT IDEAS AND ARCS I COME UP WITH FOR THIS GUY:

If Season 8 (or Rookie Season 2) ever come out, I've always feel like Diego should come back as an antagonist for Skarra and Shakes.

When the show introduced him, we were shown of him greeting Shakes and Skarra, (even knowing their names), despite both of them have no idea who Diego is. Then he introduce himself to them and reveals he knows them by RESEARCHING HIS COMPETITORS- This is, of course, not a "101 in how to write character motivation tropes" but, THAT RIGHT THERE IS SUCH A COMMON TROPE FOR VILLIANS TO DO- (like I said, this isn't a case for all characters who do this) This just show us that, Diego, is ABSOLUTELY READY for his opponents coming in his way.

There's are also moments where he'll do anything to win (or this case, to have the spot in Supa Strikas.) There's a scene where Diego is the last person to arrive to the Try-Outs and slickly, snitch on the Deadly Duo for checking out the Trophy Room. There's also a scene where in the "Training Test", he wasn't doing great in it that, the way for him to win, is to cheat his way, by sabotaging Shakes by holding down the weights.

And when he got eliminated, he (sarcastically) said he was honored to participate, then goes through a hissy fit that he didn't win, to the point, broke a window- THE MAN HAS GRUDGES AND AN EGO, PERFECT FOR A VILLIAN!

So, after all that, I thought if he DID COME BACK, he should join a super league team (that is not Invincible United or Supa Strikas). I suggest Bark FC. (I SWEAR IS "PROBABLY" NOT BECAUSE HE WEARS PURPLE-)

Now, I know people are probably disagreeing me for putting him in Barka FC (which is fine, we don't need to agree on everything) because Barka FC is well known to be clean and honest with it's tactics, and extremely friendly with other Super League Teams and Players, and pretty much that reputation is thanks to Riano. But, hear me out, THAT'S THE POINT! Diego is shown to be the very opposite of Barka FC is known for, snitching, cheating, being immature after he lose to something. There so much shenanigan interactions potential if he becomes a Barka FC player.

I imagine if he were a new rookie in the team, everyone in Barka would be really nice to him and welcome Diego (he is glad tho). But then, his true colors reveal, every time they lose, he'll go on a hissy fit and say nasty things towards the opponents (even to Teams playing and winning fair and square). Sometimes, he would snitch or accidently spread false rumors because he heard it somewhere, on other players (even his own team). HECK, in Rookie Season, he has really good social skills, so him being a two-face person in the team will make interesting interactions. He would be really friendly to his opponents first, then after Barka FC wins he would give such a handback compliments to them. Imagine Barka FC have to apologies every time Diego do something wrong. Pretty much his Team does not like him (but doesn't show it to Diego's face because, unlike him, their mature people). Actually, I wouldn't be surprise if the guy turn out to be one of the most disliked players in his Team, AND in the Super League-

I kinda headcanon Diego and Riano almost being the same age (Diego being 2 years young than Riano). So, the idea how these two interacting will be SUPER distressing and chaotic. Riano trying his best guiding Diego's way to becoming a "less" dislikable person. Teaching him how to be patient, how to not be a stuck-up, and so far, trying to be the best role model he could be to Diego. Unfortunately, Diego see this as an insult, for thinking there's something wrong with his character to be fix. Riano would be seen, being tired and giving annoyed expressions when dealing with Diego. (Also, I like the Idea, if this takes place after Season 7, Riano would call Shakes up, and let out all his troubles about Diego to Shakes. I also like the idea that, the entire Barka Fc Team would go to a bar or hangout somewhere Diego is out of sight, and cheer each other up after meddling with him-)

Also, had an idea that the Barka FC Players TRY THEIR DAMN HARDEST to convince the Barka FC Higher Ups to let go of Diego from their Team, since he's unbearable to work with and ruining Barka Fc's image. The Higher Ups decline because Diego has really great skills in football and is a great asset for the Team to win. (the players groan everyday, waking up knowing they have to babysit Diego-)

Now, one of his arcs I thought for him, is becoming an antagonist for Shakes and Skarra. I imagine, either in Season 8 or Rookie Season 2, a scene where Skarra and Shakes bump into each other and start their bickering rivalry. And then out of nowhere, Diego pops in, interrupting their rivalry, and give a speech about his motivations, revealing that he will get revenge on Skarra and Shakes for taking his place in the Try-Outs for Supa Strikas, and promise them living hell when they meet him. (I know it wouldn't make sense if Diego had a grudge on Skarra, because Shakes is the one who got in. But I feel like Skarra would still be on Diego's list because he was eliminated, before Skarra and Shakes.) (Also, I want more Skarra and Shakes interactions in the show-)

And after all the monologue speech from him, Skarra and Shakes just looks at him in confusion and asked, "Who are you?" "Do we know you?", like a call back to Rookie Season 1. Diego would be shocked, and upset of them for not remembering him at all- And explain who he is and introducing himself (again) to them. (They still don't remember-) This will give Diego more motivation to take revenge on them.

Shakes and Skarra would brush him off and leaves, underestimate Diego capabilities as a person. Then in the future, Skarra and Shakes would be in complicated situations together, have to solve it together, and will reveal, Diego is the one behind it (and they will take him down together). They will have to now knowledge Diego as a threat and (unfortunately for their sake) have to look out for one another.

I know, and i mean, I KNOW, some people in the Supa Strikas community, want for Shakes and Skarra to interact more and DESPRATE some continuation on their relationship getting better. SO WHY NOT DO THAT, IN A WAY, BY GIVING THEM BOTH, THE DEADLY DUO, A COMMON THREAT TO SOLVE??? DIEGO! :D AND ABSOLUTELY KNOW, somewhere, out there, if Season 8 were to happen, people want to see Skarra's Redemption Arc, so this is one of the way I can think of that would do it! After dealing with Diego sometimes, both of them will slowly open up and bond. Rivalry slowly turns into Friendship again. And Skarra, even though is hard for him, will tell Shakes how he feels. (Less sad and aggressive than in "Food for Thought S7E11" of course-)

I also like the idea of Diego, despite him, probably, have a grudge against Supa Strikas for not picking him, is STILL A FAN OF SUPA STRIKAS-

He would scoff of merely thinking and talking about them in one scene, but in the next one, he is impressed and spats out information about what makes Supa Strikas great. And then realizes what he's doing and nonchalantly says "I mean, their still a bad team tho..." or something similar to that.

It will be a running joke in some episodes, to the point, his Team DEFINITELY knows he still loves Supa Strikas, and a massive Nerd for them. (I even envision one of the players gifting Diego a Special Edition Supa Strikas Jersey and was super excited about it, but then he immediately snaps out of his fanboying-ness, and cuts to him saying "I-I mean, It's a fine Jersey...", but then continues of him saying something like, "Would be a shame if that gift will go to waste...", then takes the shirt in a speed of light, close the door, wears the jersey, and reveals his room is full of Supa Strikas merchandise-)

I know this is a dedicated post for Diego, But may I give some potential ideas for Raj :

Half of me is torn between 2 ideas:

1. Raj and Diego would be on the same team.

2. Raj would be in a different team, and he would join Sa Ming FC. (I've always wanted some Sa Ming screen time for so long, even though they never have dialogue and not important in the show, to the point, the creators unfortunately forgot they exist- So why not bring them back, with RAJ as a NEW ROOKIE?!?! Like COME ON, I absolutely love his design, I just wish in the future, if there if more Supa Strikas seasons coming, we will see him again) (Also need more Asian Representation in the Show, so Sa Ming FC, which represents Thailand, and Raj together, united, is the Asian Solidarity I must have and need!!!)

Shout out to @strika-archyvez for conforming Sa Mings FC's Origins being from and representing Thailand, in their post, under the comments!

There's also some cool facts about their lead player. :D You should totally read up about it here:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by StrikaArchyvez (@strika_archyvez)

Here's some few ideas I thought for Diego's and Raj's Relationship with each other:

Raj would be the only one who tolerates Diego's behavior and would become "Side Friends" with him in the Super League. Raj would be Diego's moral compass (that Diego tries to ignore), and try to snap senses into him for what he's doing. Diego would think Raj is a nuisance, but secretly likes his company, since his team, nor other players, wouldn't want to hangout with him because of his behavior.

They would meet by random chance, and alot of chaotic shenanigans happens that Raj tries to stop it. I also like the idea Raj would bring Diego to go drink tea, or any beverages, in any shop, to make Diego avoid doing anything scheming for his own good. (Shakes and Skarra should thank him for that in those situations-)

I'm not sure to give him a Redemption Arc or make him stay as a villain. In one hand, I like the Idea he will get better by meeting good people in his life that confronts his behavior (by being BRUTALLY HONEST with him) and confronting Skarra and Shakes about his whole ordeal. But in the other hand, all his trickery and plans I made in my head, are kinda unredeemable for him, and I'm fine with the idea of this man living in the past and refusing to let go of the grudges that Skarra and Shakes wasn't even at fault for.

Either why, I'm fine with either of them. He's a character who has GREAT PONTENTIAL and hope the creators see that.

(This scene in "Trial And Terror, Rookie Season Episode 3" of him really confused me, like I really thought in a way he still controlling the train, but he didn't know it doesn't work, since everything is under control like Coach said, then have bunch of Blammo Bars after "controlling" the train. NOPE. He was eating Blammo Bars and his pain away because he's miserable he didn't get into Supa Strikas- )

BOY, THIS TOOK LONGGGG THAN I THOUGHT- I just want to share ideas of Potential villain Diego for a while now. Unfortunately, not a lot of content around him (don't blame the fandom, he's only a side character in one episode in Rookie Season-). So I guess, I'll be one of those people~

The only stuff I saw, that is remotely Diego content wise, is this lovely art by @matchanxious , where he's older and he's plays for Sultans FC. If this were to happened, I WOULD LOVE HIM TO INTREACT WITH ZOOM ZAHIR (NEED MORE CONTENT OF ZAHIR-) and Duvall too, I guess-

Would Imagine him being super dedicated towards Sheikh, like giving strategies, doing schemes for him with Duvall, and getting any chance to talk to him, but Sheik would get annoyed and try to avoid him- AGAIN DIEGO HAS SO MUCH PONTENTIAL!!!

There's also an old headcanon back in 2021 (I think???) I saw, from also @matchanxious , hers truly:

"Diego would be a Conservative"

AND I THOUGHT IT WAS HILARIOUS AND SOMEHOW, SO IN CHARCTER WITH DIEGO THAT I HAD TO SHARE IT- 😭

This is @matchanxious beautiful artwork of Diego! Please show her artwork some love!!! :

Again, we're at the end! Thank you for reading this if you reach it at the end! Very much appreciated!

And guess what? I actually will be working on 2 analysis post towards two characters from Supa Strikas, by suggestion! :D They will take a little while to do since, again.... COLLEGE! So be patience when I come back with those analysis. And probably more art and edits coming!

Thank you again for reading!!!

- MimpiNightmare

[lbulldesigns]

r/relationships

How do I convince my 20-year-old son that I'm serious about kicking him out if he doesn't agree to therapy?

25th of May, 2021

I know that the title sounds bad but please bear with me, this is my first time using Reddit.

I (43 M) am the proud, single father to four children. V (23 F), P (18 F), and twins M and C (20 M). V, C, and M are my bio children (from different mothers) and P is my adoptive daughter and V's bio sister (same mother).

The girl's mother and I had an ugly break-up because I was dumb and panicked when I found out I was going to be a father for the first time with V, at the time I refused to take responsibility and ended up breaking my then girlfriend's heart. Because I never took responsibility, I never accepted my parental rights when my eldest V was born. I paid Child support but that was about it, and then a year and a half into my idiocy I got into a pretty bad accident and was declared dead for two minutes. Doctors at the time were able to resuscitate me and using a series of experimental drugs was able to save my life, however, I now need to live the rest of my life as a shifter (wolf).

This was something I struggled to accept for some time but eventually, I came to accept my new way of life and condition. I spent a year going through intense therapy and seminars, and through this time I had two major revelations. 1) I had failed spectacularly as a man and father, and 2) I didn't want to ever die with regret again.

The first thing I did when getting through my therapy was reach out to my ex and establish contact with my daughter, I was FINALLY ready to take responsibility but was too late. My ex had found someone new, someone who wasn't afraid to step up and do what I wasn't willing to do. He took responsibility for my daughter, and she was calling him Daddy instead of me. I won't lie this hurt but I swallowed my pride and accepted that it was no one's fault but my own.

My ex wasn't willing to disrupt V's worldview just to cater to my change of mind, which I accepted, but she was willing to slowly integrate me into her life on the condition that we didn't reveal anything until our daughter was old enough to understand. Which I agreed to.

Her husband was a good man and wanted to make this situation work for everyone, there was a bit of awkwardness when V would run up to him for hugs and look at me as a stranger (which I was) but he never rubbed it in my face or ever got antagonistic with me. I had, and still have, a great deal of respect for the man and I will forever be grateful to him for doing what I was too bullheaded to do.

Half a year after I became a father to my twin boys, a one-night stand who never informed me of the pregnancy and just left the two on my business's doorstep. Two years after that, my ex gave birth to P and I was named her and V's Godfather after my ex witnessed how quick I was to take responsibility for the boys after getting a paternity test done and it coming back positive.

And then five years after, my ex and her husband were shot dead by two trigger-happy Enforcers and they, in an attempt to cover their tracks, buried the girls in the foster system it took a year to find them both. They had been separated at some point and it was a miracle that I found either let alone both of them. After I found them, I made quick work to adopt both of them and go from a single father of two to a single father of four.

It was rough, I'm not gonna lie, V was angry at the world, P was scared of the world, and my boys were confused but C managed to adjust quickly and whilst M took to V he had an instant dislike for P.

I had explained to the boys that V was their bio sister, this secret came out to V when she was found by a friend of mine and as a result, was angry and confused about everything. M accepted this but kept asking why we were taking P if she wasn't family, which I quickly corrected that she was family.

My condition seemed to be a huge concern for P's therapist, who tried to convince P that I was untrustworthy and abusive. P told me what her therapist said and the woman was investigated and proven to be biased towards anyone who wasn't 100% human.

I tried to get P back into therapy but nothing ever worked out, she had a strong distrust for them and was also influenced by V who was adamant about not going to therapy. I know I should have continued their therapy but they seemed okay on their own after a while, both girls would open up to me about their problems and V was able to find an outlet for her anger through boxing, which I taught until she was old enough to join a team around her age group.

P in turn took up learning gymnastics and even won a few competitions, she also took up art and was a natural science whizz.

I apologize for the long story but wanted to give some insight into my family. Whilst we were able to find some stable ground, there have been some issues outside of the initial teething stage. The first obstacle was the girl's maternal uncle (42 M), he had been an old friend of mine since childhood. His sister was my ex and after I abandoned my responsibilities to his sister and niece, we lost touch. He and his sister had a falling out, I don't know the specifics, and he was never contacted when his sister died. When he found out I had both girls he wanted custody of them, but because my name was on V's birth certificate and P was attached to V, the court saw fit to grant custody to me with visitation rights granted to Sil (maternal uncle).

The second obstacle we had was my son M. As I mentioned he took an instant dislike to P, and despite my hopes that deep down he cared for her, never warmed up to her presence in our lives.

He would constantly make her cry with his insults, and he for a time would hide her school projects from her (which stopped after the fifth time when I confiscated his game console and laptop).

I tried for a long time to get him to bond with P and explain to him that his behavior was harmful, I spoke with his school counselor to get him some unbiased opinions on his behavior, and when I would bring up therapy he would retort that if I wasn't making the girls go to therapy then I shouldn't be making him go. None of my tactics seemed to work and the more I admonished him the meaner he would be towards my youngest. After some time I decided to reward him if he didn't bully his sister, which seemed to work for a while, but now I am wondering if I didn't just make him more subtle about his bullying.

About a week ago I was in my kitchen preparing dinner when I heard a loud banshee-like scream and a loud thump. I went running into my entryway where I found P on top of M hitting him again and again shouting that she hated him. I was taken by surprise by this and pulled P off of M, it was surprisingly difficult to do so because she was determined to pummel him. I'm not proud of this but I ended up taking her by the shoulders and growling at her to calm down, which she did but she looked scared and I saw that she was ready to either fight or run, I started to tell her to get out of the house for a bit and go stay at her friends to cool off but all I got out was "Get out" before she bolted from the house. I shouted after her to go to her friend's house but she was already gone.

After checking up on M and taking him to the hospital (he was fine, just some bruising and blood) I interrogated him about what happened after he blew up at me for always "going easy" on P, and he said that P was crying so he called her a crybaby. This felt extreme on her part but I knew that there was something else at play and decided to ask her the next day when I saw her. I said that P shouldn't have attacked him but asked M why he insulted her rather than ask if she was okay, and he just said "She's always crying. I can't walk past her room without hearing her cry. She is a crybaby" I felt disturbed and still feel disturbed and disappointed by his lack of empathy.

At this point, I felt something had to give and I gave him an ultimatum. Therapy or leave the house.

I know I shouldn't have given an ultimatum but P is 18 and struggling with a few personal things (I won't elaborate) and her unemployed 20-year-old brother constantly being on her back wasn't helping.

I'll try to dot point everything that happened afterwards because this is getting really long:

I went to see P the next day and found out she never went to her friend's (ex-friends?) house. I should have called and made sure she was there but she always goes to his house when upset so I just assumed she was there. No words can describe how shameful I feel for not checking.

We went to the Enforcers but they "couldn't help".

We discovered that P had at some point snuck back into the house grabbed some of her belongings and left a note saying she was leaving, and her being 18 means that we can't make a missing persons report because she's left voluntarily.

M refuses to speak to me because he feels betrayed by my ultimatium, which I'm still holding up.

I've felt like absolute dirt for the past week, and am absolutely wrecked with guilt over P.

A few hours ago my son C showed me a post from r/offmychest where M was talking about how he hopes P never comes back home, and is talking about going NC with me.

I know that he isn't taking me seriously with the ultimatium. I know I probably shouldn't still be holding true to said ultimatium but something needs to give.

He is 20, he can't keep going through life with this lack of empathy.

I plan on talking to him soon.

What can I say or do to make him see that I am serious?

And how can I do it in a way that won't tear my family apart even more than it already is?

[snooze-mode]

Alright fuck it it's Episode: Revenant theories time.

Was talking with a friend over some of the images and stuff we've been shown of what's coming in Revenant and have come up with a theory as to what I think might be going on based on the stuff we've been given (as someone who overanalyses media and stuff for symbolism and whatnot). Ramblings under the cut for those who wish to go spoiler free.

So, we know that this upcoming Episode is gonna be based around Fikrul and the Scorn once again, right? We also know that Fikrul has managed to obtain one of the Echoes, giving him great power. Whilst we don't know exactly what Echo he has (as Maya's was explictly referred to as the Echo of Command), the stated goal of Fikrul being to raise an army of Darkness (according to this article) suggests his particular Echo gives him a refined control of the Darkness, which he's now using to build his ranks of Eliksni as shown below:

Notice anything about that image? Other than the fact all the Eliksni are depicted with pink eyes (which I hope might actually be in the game and not a stylistic choice for the sake of the cutscene's limited palette [because that'd be cool and you cannot change my mind]), Fikrul is stood in front of a burning House Light Banner. So yeah, he's going after House Light in particular, no surprises there as they're going to be the primary friendly NPCs of the Episode. Buuutttt.... This is where we get into more theoretical musings.

The flag is burning around the edges, but the biggest damage done to it is through a hole in the top of the banner, with the fire burning outwards from the centre.

Now, I am most definitely overthinking this in terms of symbolism but fuck it, it's fun to theorise so here we go.:

Misraaks, through dialogue in the Echoes Battleground missions and through the Polyphony Lorebook is shown to be suffering from the worsening effects of the Curse of Nezarec, being afflicted with splitting headaches as well as visions and voices demanding him to "RULE". The most obvious conclusion is that this is the effects of him distilling the Darkness from the Nezarec Relics in Plunder to make the tea to heal Osiris now coming back to bite him, but what if there's a little more to it than just that?

What if the reason Misraak's curse is acting up now is because of Fikrul? He's using the Echo's power to play with the Darkness seeded within Misraaks to try and erode House Light from within, and where best to strike than with the Kell, who already has the influence of the Darkness tainting him? Hence, the flag burning from the inside out from the top of the House emblem.

Adding to this is that, in the announcement post for the Dev livestream, we do actually see that Fikrul has a new title to his name.

Source: Destiny Bulletin

The Master of Souls, eh? The title, to me, only strengthens this idea that he's the reason Misraaks' curse has been escalating in intensity, suggesting the Echo has given Fikrul the ability to directly manipulate souls and 'turn' them (to play into the Vampire Gothic theme this Episode is aiming for). This could also just be a reference to the fact he is Scorn, though, to go along with the Episode's title.

Misraaks is known throughout the remaining Eliksni, both for tales of his brutality when running in the Old Crews, and for the fact that he is now a Kell. Despite his now (mostly) peaceful House, Misraaks still holds much weight in Eliksni society through fear, such as how he managed to get Spider to back down from being antagonistic simply through dropping his actual birth name. It's this reason that I think Fikrul would specifically target him.

Is this all just me extrapolating from very little amounts of information? Yeah, lol. There is also the caviat that this is similar to what the Conductor did to Saint, so they may not retread it to differentiate the power of the two Echoes - But I am simply basing this off of what we were shown the Echoes could do in the first Episode. Even if they do go with this similar route, I think the similarity between Saint being influenced by Maya and Misraaks being influenced by Fikrul could be a fun parallel to draw in the storytelling on account of their close friendship. We have Misraaks trying to comfort a depressed Saint, it might be nice to see Saint trying to return the favour - Especially when he's seemingly the first one to pick up that the Kell is sick.

Anyways if you made it this far, thank you. Most of this was written in a fever-induced fervour at 4am lmfao so I'm sorry if it doesn't make any sense. I just enjoy theorising and extrapolating from the tiny details.

[lonesomedreamer]

The Rings of Power Liveblog: “Adar” (Episode 3)

In which the wheels finally come off this cart. (But not because Galadriel rides a horse.)

I just don’t care about Arondir being captured by Orcs.

“Halbrand” is so punchable. Ugh.

These sailors must be Númenóreans, right?

I love how secretive the captain is being…surely Galadriel recognizes the uniforms/insignia, even if the audience doesn’t. Reverse dramatic irony, if you will.

“The island kingdom of Númenor.” Surprising absolutely no one who knows their Tolkien. Still, nice cinematography and design work in this sequence.

this is probably not how I would design Númenor, but it is gorgeous. I said “wow” out loud.

While the design’s a little on-the-nose, I appreciate the obvious visual links between Númenor to Gondor.

“Is that an Elf?” Elves—both canonically and in this series—do not look so different from Men (especially Númenóreans!) that some dockworker would look at Galadriel, with her messy hair and days-old plain white shift, and immediately go, “Oh, must be an ELF!”

Really liking the Mediterranean vibes of the city architecture.

“In time they broke off all contact [with Elves].” Did they? They envied the Elves’ immortality, and eventually, goaded by Sauron, they tried to sail to Valinor and were therefore destroyed…but this seems like a stretch for the sake of Drama.*

I’m sorry, the subtitle said this dude is Elendil??? (Whose name literally means “Elf-friend”, btw.)

Wow, so subtle. No foreshadowing at all.

It’s giving Constantinople.

They’re taking Galadriel to meet the queen and no one thinks to offer her a new dress or even a cloak to wear??

Actually, they might be leaning too hard on the Mediterranean/Byzantine aesthetic…Númenor is an island, sure, but these people don’t look like they inhabit the same universe as the characters we’ve met in Episodes 1 and 2 tbh.

Not Halbrand telling Galadriel, who is more or less an Elven princess and who was born in fucking Valinor, that she should kneel in front of royalty!!!

And of course it turns out that he’s wrong about that, lmfao.

Why are they so instantly antagonistic? The queen’s hostile, Galadriel’s defensive—why??? Frankly: why is everyone in this Middle-earth so overtly racist all the time?

This would be a nice time for a history lesson: tell the audience that Númenórean royals are descended from Elros, Elrond’s brother, which means they’re also descended from Elves (specifically, from Lúthien Tinúviel, his great-grandmother). However, I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that they will not bring that up…

Again with an Elf (Galadriel now) being in an unreasonable hurry…three DAYS? That would be literally nothing to her!

I don’t understand the writing/adaptation choices made here. Elendil? Isildur?! They lived almost two thousand years after the titular Rings of Power were forged! @ the screenwriters: pick a LANE. You can tell the story of the forging of the Rings (S.A. 1500-1600) OR the events that led to the Last Alliance of Men and Elves (S.A. 3430), but how can you look at the source material and say “why not both????”

I love a good naval/shipboard sequence, and the shots of the sea are breathtaking. It’s just that all the stuff related to Isildur is wasted screentime.

I can’t believe they’re actually going to acknowledge that “Elendil” means “Elf-friend” as a way to show the queen as a narrow-minded bigot, lol…

She’s written/acted as a Cersei knockoff.

Helping/bringing an Elf to Númenor is treason? Please be serious.

He’s kind of hot, help?

“The sea is always right.” What a dumb catch phrase.

“And that’s how Elendil came to possess Narsil!” Give me a big fucking break. Warriors have swords, and in legends, many swords have names. Not everything needs an origin story!

[record scratch] So this—after the awful exchange between Elendil and the queen and the equally bad Orc torture session with Arondir—was the point when I realized: I need to change the way I approach this show if I want to keep indulging in all the eye-candy. It’s not and cannot be Tolkien, or even a proper adaptation, in any meaningful sense. It’s an especially pretty but still “edgy,” borderline grimdark fantasy show loosely based on Tolkien’s work and set in his universe. Fine. Let’s go.

Galadriel knows parkour!

I want to be mad, but it’s all so pretty.

The way Galadriel has more chemistry with Elendil than with Halbrand, oof.

How big is this island, exactly? I always pictured the Valar having to sink something like…Sicily-sized, not Great Britain/Japan-sized, lol.

Oh, it’s the infamous slow-mo horse ride that pissed off so many people online. What’s the big deal?? It lasted for about ten seconds! Jackson relied on a ridiculous amount of slow motion in the LOTR films, and people have called those “cinematic masterpieces” for decades…

[Redacted] is supposed to be a master manipulator—think a charismatic cult leader type. Halbrand is…well, not that.

Wow, is the guy who just single-handedly murdered and mutilated a bunch of grown men (after he stole from them and was confronted about it) going to turn out to be a villain? Who can say??

“You knew Elros.” By all rights and internal logic, Elros should be the Númenórean featured in Season 1 rather than Elendil. But hey, Elros is mentioned! Cool! I asked for that, after all. (Now tell us who he was and why he matters.)

Shocker: they do not tell us those things.

“I was always closer with his brother.” He’s my son-in-law. Galadriel and the writers: Celeborn whom? (And wasn’t Galadriel righteously pissed at Elrond just a few days ago?)

Yeah, definitely hot.

“By [Morgoth’s] successor.” When I was little, my dad simplified deeper Tolkien history/lore for me by calling Sauron Morgoth’s “son”…it took me years to unlearn that, lmao.

Look, I love the Harfoots and am not ashamed to say it. They’re fun and charming, plus I’m actually invested in Nori and her story arc. I almost fast-forwarded to find out when they would show up! But the whole “anyone who falls behind gets left behind” mentality makes no sense.

“You’re just a child!” Marigold could’ve piped up with that when the entire community was threatening to abandon Nori and her family…

The way Isildur is written to be a slightly whiny, thoroughly twenty-first century teenager is fascinating. Like a car crash.

“There’s nothing for us on our Western shores.” Foreshadowing!

I’m not interested in Elendil’s family drama. And regardless of how lovely she is to look at, I don’t care any more about Galadriel’s massive error in judgment wrt interactions with Halbrand any more than I do about Arondir and the Orcs. This entire Númenor subplot was a mistake!

I was wondering when the Stranger would do something help the Brandyfoots. The actors playing him and Nori do excellent facial work, too. My heart broke a little when he said, “Friend.” Though he’s not Gandalf, not the real Gandalf, he’s still kind of lovable.

And instead of ending on that shot, they throw in some more grimdark Orc content. Skip!

The Good:

The music and visuals are still great. I’m a sucker for seascapes and great architecture. All the little details in the streets and palaces of Númenor were incredibly impressive, and the visual connections between Númenor to Gondor (presumably for the sake of non-readers who might not know) were nice. Many of the costumes were also beautiful. The visuals are where the show’s ultra high-budget reveals itself.

Shout-out to great-great-great-great grandpa Elros!

Elendil’s kind of hot. Galadriel’s gorgeous. We’re already so far from the light of Valinor that Galadriel should ditch “Halbrand” before they even get involved and hook up with Elendil instead.

The actors playing the Harfoots—Nori and Poppy in particular—and the Stranger are killing it! This show should just be about them. They continue doing a lot with very little.

The Bad:

Everything else? Where to begin…

The decline of the writing is noticeable. The dialogue is significantly worse, the foreshadowing is clumsy and obvious, and of course as an adaptation of the source material, this episode threw out both bathwater and baby. Elendil and Isildur are included for the same reason all kinds of IPs now include legacy characters: instant name recognition = (in theory) a dopamine hit for the viewer.

To make this even worse, I think the writers bungled Isildur’s character in hopes of making him “relatable” to appeal to a younger audience, I guess? He’s the Wesley Crusher of TROP.

Elros is mentioned…but the audience learns almost nothing about him, not even that he was the first king!

The entire Númenor arc is, in fact, a waste. The queen is two-dimensional. No explanation is given for the Númenóreans’ dislike/mistrust of Elves. Isildur’s storyline is a coming-of-age/family drama arc this show did not need, never mind that neither he nor Elendil should be alive for another two millennia (!) anyway. Halbrand sucks even more than before without becoming any more interesting. Galadriel doesn’t shine here, either. And despite the impressively detailed sets, even the Númenórean costumes seem visually unrelated the rest of the show’s own universe.

In short, it almost feels like Galadriel was dropped into a different fantasy world for this episode.

I mentioned him, but Halbrand gets his own bullet point again.

Arondir and his gory, violent imprisonment storyline…thanks, I hate it! It’s anti-Tolkien! It’s grimdark! It sucks!!!

The Harfoots’ beliefs and customs are inconsistent and confusing. Nomadic people and hunter/gatherer societies don’t just abandon people who need care! But they’re still the high point of the show imo. Not a compliment to the writers.

It’s almost funny…my opinions on this episode are diametrically opposed to most of the IMDb reviews I read. I like the Harfoot subplot in spite of its problems, I adore Nori, and I don’t hate Galadriel (either the character or the actress—God forbid women do anything) despite the weak writing. I also couldn’t care less about Arondir and found the Orc scenes totally unwatchable for several reasons. Go figure! This show’s not really worth it even for its beauty, but now I’m sort of invested.

*I went back and looked through the Appendices after I finished this episode, and eventually (many years after this show supposedly takes place…) the Númenórean kings, jealous of the Elves’ immortality, did “turn away” from them and even “punished” people who spoke their languages in public—after which the Elves “came no more to Númenor,” understandably. But it’s at least 700 years in the future if this show is set before the Rings were forged! This kind of unnecessary time compression in an epic, multi-season TV series makes no sense to me.

[goaty1912]

Ranting about games I enjoy

Mutuals, if you are seeing this. Please play these games for the love of god. Buy them, pirate them, I do not care. Play them.

GUNVOLT 1

Anyway, Azure Striker Gunvolt was a game series that started out in 2014 by Inti Creates, and this shit changed my life. Back when I was waaaay younger, I found the game on my 3ds while in my annoying anime phase, and thought it would be a visual novel or something, but it ended up being an action platformer. (I use the word "Platformer" lightly because there's barely any platforming) I ended up getting through, but I never beat the final boss. I'm gonna add a read more link because this post is gonna be loooong.

But anyway, that game was fantastic looking back. I used to play it on my dinky 3DS, and I was really bad at it, but the gameplay was still fun to me. It's like if Devil May Cry and Mega man had a beautiful baby. You just tag them with your gun, and use your electricity to damage them. It was a fairly easy game even though I couldn't beat the final boss, but the main fun was going for the high scores and getting good ranks, which I never did. I loved it, the story was cool.

Speaking of the story, you play as an emo blond 14 year old with long hair and electric powers named "Gunvolt" that works for a resistance division that goes against the "Sumeragi Group", an evil corporation that wants to kidnap super powered people (called Adepts) and use them for their evil desires, mostly for research and testing. Gunvolt was also a test subject of theirs. Sumeragi tried to implant the "Azure Striker" septima (a septima is a super power) into him and multiple people. The Azure Striker septima was super powerful, and it's just lightning powers. Sumeragi is an energy conglomerate, so they knew they could get a lot more money by using super-powered humans as an energy source. So Gunvolt gets rescued by the resistance (named QUILL) and goes up against them.

He also meets Joule, a kidnapped girl whose septima could be used to find the location of adepts anywhere, in the form of a virtual idol which is basically Hatsune Miku but cooler. QUILL wants him to kill her so that she can't be used to find people anymore, but Gunvolt tells them to fuck themselves and he saves her. QUILL kicks him out, but he still takes missions from them for some reason. These missions are the stages of the game, killing all the bosses that work for Sumeragi to get to Nova, Sumeragi's leader.

Enough about the plot, the game is fun. I recently found it again, and replayed it, getting high scores on most of the levels. It's fantastic. One of the best games I ever played. Did I mention there's 2 sequels?

GUNVOLT 2

Gunvolt 2, the best one. They introduce a guy from the previous game who is racist against people with super powers, Copen, (who got 2 spinoff games later on), because one killed his dad or something.

HIS GAMEPLAY IS FUCKING GREAT. Check out this video of Copen's gamplay, just as an example. He's absolutely fucktastic.

You also play as Gunvolt with a new support team, also, Joule got killed by the end of the first game by Asimov, the leader of the resistance. Yeah, Asimov, who was basically a dad to Gunvolt, betrayed him and wished for him to be the prince in "a new era" of just adepts. Asimov was planning on using Joule's power to KILL EVERY HUMAN. Luckily, Gunvolt and Joule merge and turn overpowered, leading to the best boss fight in the whole series, in my opinion.

Anyway, I'm getting off track. Zonda, a bigender character from the first game with a gem dick and two forms that worked for Sumeragi is now the antagonist of this game.

Also, they're actually not bigender? The true form is actually an 11 year old, which is very weird. Anyway, her new group, "Eden" which plans on eradicating every non-adept off the planet, just like Asimov. Both Copen and Gunvolt are having none of this.

Copen also hates Gunvolt because he's an adept, and he wants to kill every one of them. Gunvolt wants none of the smoke, but Copen still persists on being an asshat, causing fights between them throughout the game when the bump into each other. Joule's soul form is more tiny because most of her power got put into shards which Eden plans to use to kill everyone, so you gotta get them, kill the final boss, kaboom. Also, Mytyl (Copen's sister) was the one who originally had Joule's powers. Her dad was having none of this, so he RIPPED OUT HER SEPTIMA and forced it into Joule, but it comes back into Mytyl for this final fight when she "dies". Look, this shit is really complicated. There's also the real final boss between Copen and Gunvolt which is considered to be the best in the series by many.

This is the best one in my opinion. PLAY IT.

GUNVOLT 3

This just might be the longest section. Everyone's thoughts on it are mostly mixed. So, Gunvolt, right? Well, he actually got a power above a septima and became so powerful he hurt Quinn, a part of this support team. HE THEN TURNS HIMSELF IN TO SUMERAGI SO HE CAN STAY IN CRYOSTASIS. YEARS LATER, WHEN EVERYONE FROM THE PREVIOUS GAMES ARE PROBABLY DEAD, THIS NEW CHARACTER NAMED KIRIN COMES IN TO SUMERAGI AND SAVES GUNVOLT BECAUSE HE WAS HAVING AN OUTBREAK. WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK.

Then, Gunvolt gets relegated to just a different character you can temporarily play as while Kirin is at the forefront.

So Kirin saves these people called "Primal Dragons". Primal Dragons are people who have been effected by "Dragon Radiation" that Gunvolt let out when using technology. This makes them super powerful and makes them evil or something. Gunvolt is also a dog. You save them and they join your team. Anyway, this guy named ZED WHO IS AN ABSOLUTE ICON AND THE ONLY GOOD CHARACTER COMES TO JAPAN IN A GIANT MISSILE PLANNING TO STEAL A DRAGON BABY THAT CHANGES FATE FROM SUMERAGI SO HE CAN BE THE KING OF THE WORLD. I LOVE THIS MAN.

So you have to stop the members of his group that help him get the binding brands, which can unlock where the dragon baby is located. Once he does, the dragon baby is actually super evil and fuses with Gunvolt, making it so you have to fight him.

There's also English voice acting, which I think is really good :) Anyway, Zed has a change of heart and uses his muse to resurrect Kirin after Gunvolt kills her. So there's this really cool fight between them. Once Kirin seals him, the dragon baby was actually preventing Gunvolt from killing everyone, and Gunvolt turns into a baby.

This is the worst way you could end a game. You don't turn your main character into a baby and shoot them into space. Everything about this game was really great, honestly, except for the story. You don't retire a character like this. I am unbelievably pissed. This is so stupid.

These games are great, please buy them or pirate them. Anything to make you experience these wonderful games. Just ignore the story of Gunvolt 3, please.

[thatsparrow]

thoughts on arcane season 2 (episodes 1–3)

(and maybe also a little of season 1, since I just finished watching that, too)

overall takeaway/impression was that these episodes felt a little directionless compared to season 1 (maybe it's unfair to hold them up against the first three episodes of season 1, which did such a killer job of balancing a bunch of plot lines, establishing the characters, and showing what set them all down their various roads to the present, but it's also a little hard not to compare the two)

but I also can't tell if some of that sense of chaos is intentional? like, this is a chaotic time in the narrative, everyone's dealing with the fallout of silco's death and the attack on the council, and so you have characters making more impulsive choices, as well as frustrating ones

but ALSO it feels like miscommunication is the name of the game right now? like everyone's operating under different misconceptions of what's happening. jinx attacks the council. renni attacks the memorial (unrelated to jinx's motivations) out of revenge for jayce killing her son. caitlyn takes the attack on the memorial as further proof that zaun has it out for topside (does she even know about jayce attacking the shimmer refinery?) and launches her task force with the goals of a) bringing down jinx (related to the council attack, but not the memorial attack), b) halting all shimmer production (not particularly related to either), and c) rooting out the rest of silco's allies (even though all the current violence in zaun is from that power vacuum, and sevika—and presumably the rest of silco's former crew—are mostly keeping their heads down)

I guess it's that, I don't mind if individual decisions seem frustrating or even out of character (caitlyn's relentless pursuit of vengeance; vi saying jinx can't be saved and joining the enforcers) but when you've got those moments in the middle of a larger narrative that also feels like a series of needless reactions—I don't know, the whole thing ends up feeling muddled

fortiche continues to do killer work—my god, this show does excel at its visual storytelling (not to mention how phenomenal and unique all the more stylistic, music video scenes are)

but speaking of stylism, I'm also a little disappointed by the new opening credits? like they're still beautiful, and well done, but coming off the version in s1, it seems like this is a missed opportunity to do something different (like the mv bits) as opposed to visuals that feel like they're taken right out of the show

I miss silco. it makes sense that he died, and I loved the parallel burial/baptism scene of jinx letting him go, but he was such a solid anchor in all the various plotlines, and I'm missing that (also like, god what a great character.) it really feels like ambessa could fill that niche—antagonist working toward her own ends, complicated parental dynamic, influencing caitlyn toward her more dangerous impulses—but I also just don't feel like we've seen enough of her yet

do I wish I were getting a vi/caitlyn kiss with both of them in a better emotional place? yes! am I mad at the tragedy of them sharing this moment and vi asking caitlyn not to change, only for that argument when they fight jinx and for them to immediately part ways? not at all!

although speaking of, when jayce shot and killed a child, vi's reaction was, like, "kids die all the time, you've got plenty of blood on your hands, you've just never had to confront it before" (never mind that it feels like there's a difference between negligence and pulling the trigger yourself) vs. caitlyn trying to aim at jinx when the kid (whose name I cannot remember) is on jinx's chest and vi is doing everything she can to stop caitlyn from taking the shot—like, I'm not mad that vi is trying to keep a kid from dying, but it's not like she was throwing herself in front of jace's hammer gun at the refinery. is it because she's more worried about what killing a kid would do to caitlyn? was it an excuse to protect jinx? I think either reason is believable, just thinking about it

does sevika know that jinx killed silco? does anyone know that? (like, we saw jinx tell smeech, but that was before sevika showed up and also smeech died before that scene ended.) it feels like something people would have a reaction to (particularly sevika), but no one's brought it up? but there's also been no moment of jinx or vi making a point of it being a secret that needs to be kept. again, muddled.

speaking of muddle, after the fight in the pipes, what did sevika and jinx do to topside? were they releasing gas or paint? I would've assumed gas, but the colors and then stains on the surrounding areas felt like paint — was that an actual attack, or just a stunt to show what zaun's capable of?

fascinated to see what's going on with viktor and the hexcore corruption in ekko's tree — honestly in season 1, I was less engaged in the hextech/jayce storyline, but the idea of the arcane as a force that's rebelling against overuse is very cool, and I think the heimerdinger/ekko/jayce trio dynamic is fun ("former pupil meet my new pupil" it's good it's good)

I'm sure it's a reference to the game, but I cannot begin to know what's going on with the wolf experiments. it looks like from the trailer of the next batch, we're getting a big wolfman? don't know what's the deal with that! looks bad! not sure how it fits in but excited to see!

tldr, I feel a little less satisfied and engaged with these episodes than I did with season 1. I'm still here for it, I want to see where they're going, but knowing how good this show can be, these episodes felt a little off their stride 

[about-faces]

What do you think of a Harley/Harvey romance? Or do you think they won't just fit and better left as friends or antagonists? Do you think Harvey would be a good fit as the 'token dude' among the Gotham Sirens (Harley, Ivy , Selina)?

Honestly, I don’t know what kind of dynamic Harley and Harvey should have. You’d think they’d have some common ground to build on, between their names and their taste in split fashion! But beyond that, they’re a pair of characters I can never quite figure out when it comes to them being together as anything but antagonists, which is boring to me.

(Note: when I speak about Harley, I’m taking about my own personal understanding of her, as I prefer the character. She’s been so inconsistent ever since she became the Sexy Elmo of the DCU, to the point that she’s more a vague merchandise concept than a character. For all intents and purposes of this, I’m thinking of her as Arleen Sorkin’s Harley from BTAS for the most part)

The big fundamental difference is that Harley is all about fun, while Harvey is all about pain. The guy literally wears his agony on his face, and is a big wet blanket for any irreverent antics Harley might want to commit. It's not even a Bert-and-Ernie situation where there's a wacky character and a stoic, straight-laced character, because Harvey is just TOO serious and TOO tormented to be any fun for Harley. There's little room for give-and-take between them. There's just Harley trying to be wacky while Harvey stares at her like someone who has entirely forgotten the concept of fun.

Now, that's not to say that Two-Face can't be a fun, wacky, flamboyant character for Harley to play with! But we'd have to go back to his late Golden Age characterization, where he was entirely focused on outlandish crimes based around the number two. I could possibly imagine a Harley who encourages Harvey to be that kind of Two-Face again, doing something like... oh, let's say, robbing a circus while riding on two horses at the same time. Harley might have a great time with THAT Two-Face!

Now, one might thinking about going the opposite direction. That, instead of encouraging his worst criminal instincts, there's some potential for Dr. Harleen Quinzel to actually be a healing influence on Harvey Dent. Unfortunately, I can't stop thinking about that comic where Mark Russell had Harley "cure" Harvey of needing to listen to his coin, which not only overlooks the core reasons why the coin is so important to him (Russell just kinda treated it as an obsessive quirk and no deeper), but it also shows how Harley's professional care only resulted in making for a more deadly, unpredictable Two-Face:

(Sidenote: brilliant as Russel is as a writer, you can tell he doesn't understand Two-Face because Batman doesn't refer to him as "Harvey.")

I'd love to see Harley as someone who truly empathizes with Harvey Dent, someone who actually understands his trauma from abuse and his internal divide, but it seems impossible to consider how both characters are usually written. It would require a Harley Quinn who actually does fundamentally care about helping people and a Harvey Dent who is written as both a good man and a victim.

Which is where Stjepan Šejić's Harleen was so fascinating and frustrating alike. Harvey is a major character there, and he's miswritten as a hardline dickbag who is all about being Hard On Crime, just for the sake of clashing with the tragically-empathic Dr. Quinzel.

This Harvey Dent is not sympathetic. He's a moralizing prick who straight-up advocates for a fascist police state, including releasing Arkham inmates to show Gotham in order to unleash martial law. It's a perversion of the subplot from the 1989 comic strips, where Harvey wants to resign for unwittingly almost aiding a plot to do exactly what he tries to do in Harleen. To top it off, this Two-Face is willing to re-flip his coin to get a desired result, which is just Bad Two-Face 101.

And yet, despite ALL that, Šejić makes an impressive stab at showing how his compassionate take on Harleen is two-of-a-kind with even this jerkass Harvey Dent.

Even now, I don't know what to make of this, nor do I know what it could possibly mean for either characters. But I remain intrigued by the potential implications of two tragic characters who both lost everything and became "monsters" all in the name of trying to help others. Two irreconcilable people, bound by fate and ideals and "Ha Ha."

So no, I don't know what kind of relationship these two could ever have. I'm even more doubtful there could ever be romance between them. But in other circumstances... who can say? Maybe in some AU, there's a tormented, scarred crime boss driven by revenge and punishing the Haves (Halves?) on behalf of the Have-Nots, and he surprises even himself by bonding with a whimsical, colorful, tortured, and tragically unstable mischief-maker in pigtails.

Maybe. Just maybe that'd work.

[divineprank]

I've been meaning to tackle this absolute beast all fucking DAY LONG. Ganondorf's solid black Gerudo stallion.

For what it's worth, I've touched on this monster in the past, at least with regard to BotW (and I suppose TotK's) changes. Specifically, naming the probable breed of horse and matching it to Ganondorf's usual sensibilities. The Percheron is quite literally a pedigree of power. It is a strong, working breed that is described as being incredibly loyal as both a companion and noble steed... And, of course, the largest known modern horse.

Anyways, rewinding back to Ocarina of Time, I wholly believed that this horse died sometime within the seven years that Link slept. I build this argument around two observable facts in the game: we never see Ganondorf riding it after Link falls asleep, and the fact that Ingo, the new owner and manager of Lon Lon Ranch is preparing Epona to present to the Great King Ganondorf. Why would he need a new horse?

Sure, it could be said that this last argument is just a matter of Ingo showing his appreciation for Ganondorf giving the ranch to him, but... Let's think about something. After Link wakes back up, when is the next time we see Ganondorf's horse? Not at Ganondorf's side, but instead serving Ganondorf's phantom doppelgänger deep within the Forest Temple -- a stronghold of the forest that seems to attract the dead. You see, in a 1999 interview with 64Dream magazine, it's confirmed that not only those lost within the Lost Woods turn to Stalfos and look to the Forest Temple for solace, but also that the Forest Temple is indeed haunted, inhabited by the lost souls of those who wish to protect the temple from intruders. Despite the place being overgrown and flourished with plantlife, that stronghold is a place of death. This is a place where the dead go to be reclaimed by nature.

And thus, perhaps inevitably, where the spirit of Ganondorf's horse ended up as well.

(Another argument that helps me is the fact that Percherons have a lifespan of between 25 and 30 years, which does line up with the age range I can personally see Ocarina of Time Ganondorf settled in, his mid 30s and 40s. Didn't know where else to place this argument so cough coff--)

Anyways, lemme tilt the conversation a little bit away from our definitely-dead-now-totally-pure-glue horsey friend and look at Phantom Ganon from Ocarina of Time. I'm not gonna do the cliché thing and start telling you the dictionary's definition of phantom, because we all know what they are: fuckin' ghosts, right? Spooky, the worst. Luigi's fuckin' nightmare. But let's consider for a moment what happens when people die, I mean--yeah they fuckin' die. But literarily (definitely a word, google said) speaking, we often apply concepts of longing, rage, or regret, the things we never got to do or say in the wake of a loved one's death, onto the idea of a ghost: in loss, we're haunted by our own actions, or our inactions, what we said in the heat of the moment... you get the idea. Emotions are powerful, sometimes to the point that they themselves become something separate, they take on a life of their own. Listen, I don't know if you've let a beloved pet down before? Feeling fuckin' sucks. Especially when they die in your arms.

Once Link defeats this boss, we see Phantom Ganon squirm and die in a horrible, burning display as Ganondorf berates its failure, calling it a worthless creation and threatening to banish it to an unspeakable, unknowable place that only vaguely describes a miserable existence. This is literally the only time Ganondorf addresses Link after a major story development until the climax of the game. That brat's hit a nerve, and that nerve is the ghost rider that was supposed to accompany his precious horse in the afterlife.

This wasn't a situation where Ganondorf was genuinely mad at Link for his display of strength, no, we see Ganondorf break his antagonistic character for just a moment and display something a little more personal: this creature failed him -- we don't see the spirit of the horse burn with Phantom Ganon, no all of his attention goes to to the skull-faced rider.

This "creation" was something meant to honor his dead friend, to keep the stallion happy and comfortable in death. A manifestation of Ganondorf's attachment to an old friend, perhaps, a gift given to a young Gerudo prince back during the madman's youth. His deep attachment to that horse didn't die, it simply transformed to soothe the restless, endlessly loyal creature in its new stage of life.

And ohhhh, how that thing, that worthless creature, that phantom failed him. His horse just wants to be with his rider, and yet...

[yamayuandadu]

Megumu Iizunamaru

How I feel about this character: I have mixed feelings, honestly. Expanding the tengu society via the introduction of a new character from a different social stratum is very welcome. We’ve been sitting on heaps of tengu background from the print works since the early Windows days and it felt like it’s just going to be a way to make it easier for fans to come up with ocs. I’m pleasantly surprised that was not the case. I think her personality is fun and it was refreshing to have an antagonist with multiple actual minions again after WBaWC and HSiFS where almost every character operates on her own. However, I can’t help but think she was sort of robbed of the grandeur she could’ve had if she had more spotlight in the game instead of sharing it with Chimata. Especially since the latter is… hardly thrilling, probably a candidate for one of my least favorite Windows final bosses, with a design which looks like that old meme poking fun at ZUN’s art. That’s beside the point, though. I also think Megumu's own design is missing something. More than once I’ve seen fanart giving her a more pronounced night sky theme, which works well. Same with leaning more into her namesake’s highly distinctive iconography. All around, from my perspective Megumu is a promising character who however for now failed to quite reach the standard for modern Touhou big names, despite having the potential for that.

All the people I ship romantically with this character: I already covered this topic in the Tsukasa and Momoyo asks.

My non-romantic OTP for this character: there is evidently great potential in her ending interactions with Kanako. A funny thing to note that's tangentially related is that in the middle ages both Suwa Daimyojin and Izuna Gongen developed origin myths which inolved them arriving from India in the distant past.

My unpopular opinion about this character: the story in UM would be better off without Chimata and with Megumu getting the bump to stage 6 and a more elaborate design to match (Tsukasa is functionally the spiritual equivalent of the typical stage 5 boss anyway). Granted, not sure to what degree this is an unpopular opinion because frankly through the past two years the only time when I’ve seen Chimata brought up on my social media feed it boiled down to some variety of high caliber “horny on main” incident, while I do see Megumu and Momoyo, let alone Tsukasa, semi-regularly.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: honestly would like to see her interact with Okina, she's probably the best character we have atm to use to go further with what is already implied in Aya's route in HSiFS.

[myfaveisfuckable]

Rants!

Liu Qingge/Zhuzi Lang: Both these dudes are from Scum Villain's Self Saving System, which is a chinese novel by the author MXTX (I cannot remember the full name im sorry).

Liu Qingge is known as a 'war god' and he's, to put it lightly, Fightsexual. Boy's got IQ specifically geared towards getting into and out of fights. He was one of the strongest characters in the story (like, 3rd strongest if you dont count the protagonist's dad who was uhm 'retired' by the start of the story lol). He's also Incredibly Princely Pretty.

Zhuzhi Lang is a half-snake demon with self-esteem issues and can turn into a large snake, and can also probably give Liu Qingge a good fight! ngl I just love Liu Qingge and I ship over half a dozen people with him. Zhuzhi Lang is a top contender though because he's a sweet guy, can totally get into vore, can give Liu Qingge a challenge, and also probably has 2 dicks-

Naruseku: Yeah i can gurantee this is the only submission for them for Some Reason. Because no one ships them. Like i have searched the internet far and wide and turn up with like. Close to literal zero. And here's the thing, this is entirely illogical. They work together in this evil group and their deals are essentially that they're. Unhappy people. At first you think they're just annoying but actually they're annoying snd Extremely Miserable. In silly ways, they are such losers and so cringefail. I could write an essay on both of them individually, but basically i love how their focus isn't on being better people, it is on being happier. Individually.

The show is divided into clear parts of who is the main antagonist at the time which really makes you FEEL how unhappy they each are. They're a group but they're also not bc they choose to be unhappy ad get on each other's nerves about it and that's a prime focus of their characters. Anyway, these two make me insane, they spend a lot of time together during the middle part of the show, bc the first villain is gone so now it's just the two of them and their leader who isn't doing much yet. After this part, one of them, narcistoru, is defeated so he's gone for the time being. But these two, they hate each other SOOOOOOOO much it's insane. This is because Narcistoru is an annoying bitch and Secretoru hates that. And they're both generally insane people with dumb beliefs and issues that they view wrongly. It's just so glorious to see them annoy each other so much. Post Narcistoru's main screen time, he gets his conclusion episode. He escapes from prison and Secretoru is supposed to retrieve him. But like not because they need him, in fact, they absolutely did not care that he was arrested because none of these people give a flying fuck about each other. It's just that he wasn't supposed to be a risk. Secretoru and Narcistoru have a rather petty and hilarious fight. Because you see. Now they don't have to get along. They are not on the same side. So the hostility is really thriving here. In fact, she manages to capture him, and while fighting the pretty cures (magical girls), hensays some annoying shit and she goes "actually i changed my mind" and shoves him off this rock in order for the monster (they always summon one) to fucking kill him. Like she tries to murder him in cold blood soley because he's annoying and this was entirely inevitable actually. She wants that twink obliterated. They don't bring this up again in the finale when they're both in prison. They just. Kind of hang out now. They've reached a level of tolerance.

And you may think "why do you ship this" LOOK. THEIR INTERACTIONS. ARE SO FUNNY. IT'S JUST. A VERY FUN SHIP. BECAUSE THEY'RE HILARIOUS. The hostility is so great and i think it would be neat if they had some t4t hatesex. It would solve nothing. They mske each other so much worse. But it would be very hot. Also secretoru has a general "can you shut the fuck up" attitude towards him. I don't even technically ship it but i ENJOY the ship.

And yet. I am so alone in this which is insane because i definitely expected ship content for them even before i actually wanted it myself.

But no, of course people ship Narcistoru with actual fifteen year olds. Like so much. And there is ZERO content for the ship with the other Actual Adult that he interacts with on a regular basis and who he has a fantastic and entertaining and INTERESTING dynamic with. So basically, i am not just sad, i am also SO SALTY. They are so insanely rarepair despite being an absolute epic duo. Awesome crackship, 10/10, literally comedy

[dyedazombiepink]

TPFFIB Pt 2: the characters minus Kite and the Dead King

Starting with Kite's friends, then the P.o.P Squad, then the smaller antagonist, and finally Lime & Candi

The Og's (Kite's friends)

Odie: Odie can be best described as being in between a rock and hard place, for a lot of his life he was stuck being the unwilling spy for the Dragon King and was expected to be totally devoted and loyal to the Dragon King, and he was miserable for a long time, until he was chosen to represent dragons at a school that seeked to make Dragons, Griffins, Unicorns, and Sphinx's more united as a collective unit. Here he met Kite, Carlos, and Trix, and they all hit it off becoming great friends. He went from being an insecure and hesitant dragon, to being a more-confident and brave dragon.

Side note: Odie has a jack-bat-rabbit friend named Jupitar whose basically his best friend. Carlos: Carlos is probably the most innocent minded of the group, somewhat because he spent almost 95% of his childhood inside, with the other 5% being when went to parties or something like that. Regardless when he was picked to go to the integration school he was over the moon and was so excited, and rightfully so, Odie, Trix, and Kite were all kind to him and they all had fun together. Being Sphinx he also had the power to control sand, which meant he could use his powers to empress his friends and show off what he can do. He also the youngest in the group so he has an air nativity to him Trix: Trix is by far the thinker of the group, she's incredibly smart and socially strong. Also being a Unicorn she has a bit of magic up her sleeve, but she mostly just uses it for picking stuff up and blast attacks. Now, despite being otherwise great socially and academically, she is not super strong magic wise, despite white unicorns being believed to supposed to be the most magically inclined. Which doesn't apply to Trix, because of that Trix focused more on raw strength that house's and equines naturally have. Which makes comes off as the mom/leader of the group. Thanks in no part to her kindness, loyalty, and bravery. and we all know Kite, a pink griffin the only one in the group without any kind of special power. Though she is really fast, but so is every griffin.

Pongo the two-legged bat:

Pongo originally came to Golden Glade after hearing about P.o.P and he saw it as a great opportunity to help people and show off his skill. So he moved and quickly was showered in admiration and acceptance from the creatures of Pactor, he also became friends with 2 other P.o.P cadets, Beat-Bop Bubble and Scratchy, Beat-Bop Bubble especially as the two of them were very supportive and loving of one another (mostly because they liked a lot of the same movies, and had a lot in common). As for Scratchy, while Pongo was somewhat scared of him, he still made a point to be nice and treat him the same as anyone else.

(best drawing showing off their relationship :P)

Beat-Bop Bubble: Beat-Bop Bubble was born in Neon Night-Zone, a place in the ocean almost entirely populated by Synth-c-horses, magically inclined neon seahorse's who can channel energy and magic into power magic blasts, but they mostly either don't use it or do use it but for parties. Beat-Bop Bubble is no different, joining the military when he was old enough, but was transferred to Golden Glade because his government owed Ancient Feather a "favor" and chose the most promising cadet Beat-Bop Bubble to become part of P.o.P which he was semi-cool with until he figured that he wasn't be reassigned but rather that his people were forced to give up someone promising. While at P.o.P Beat-Bop Bubble would become great friends with Pongo and the two became almost inseparable. With them both even resigning from P.o.P later on together once learning the truth about Ancient Feathers. Leaving Kite, who was stuck with the protection of a city that lacked a government and ruler, and abandoning Scratchy who was now the only member of P.o.P left since Kite became a substitute leader and then resigning to be a detective to get closer with the people. When Beat-Bop Bubble and Pongo did go home, they were pleased as punch to find that the Jungle Pongo came from, and Neon Nigh-Zone were actually very close to each other, so they stayed close distance friends.

Scratchy: Scratchy is very scrappy, tuff, even mangy, and maybe a little feral. He's very protective of his friends and has no problem attack bad people or people who want to harm him or his friends. But no one really picks up on this because all they really see of him is a crazy killer robot, who might as well be in a zoo then on the battlefield. Pongo is nice to him though, which he dose appreciate. Later on when P.o.P is in shambles, Kite comes around to Scratchy and finally considers then recognizes Scratchy's loyalty and companionship. He still loves to thrash and tear people apart though, he even kills a giant manifestation of prejudice that was threatening to tear apart the people of Golden Glade (what a guy).

Ashes Elementa: The only other griffin Kite meets and who works for P.o.P, she is a walking mystery, the only thing Kite knows is that she's one of the 5 elemental griffins, with her being the elemental of fire, but that for some reason she's here and grumpy. While she dose hang out with the group outside of work, but she never really talks to anyone. (FUN FACT: Ashes is based off a very very old character I don't remeber the name of, who was basically an evil sun/fire griffin who wanted to roast the earth like rotisserie chicken), The only interest she has is writing songs, singing, and poetry. Which everyone learned on a night shift that they all pretended was a sleepover, when they shared interests.

Finally, we have Ancient Feather herself, the myth, the wo-MAN, the legend.

Ancient Feather was the great protector of a city known as Pactor, and had protected it for many years alone. In her later years, she began to become frail and couldn’t keep up with her duties. Despite being immortal, she could still die from injuries, and her guardian magic could only keep her on the top of her game for so long. So, she decided to take new action, when the citizens of Pactor were ready to elect a new leader, Ancient Feather cancelled the election, informing the citizens that she would in fact be the leader of Pactor from that moment on, and reassured her people that she would not fall short of her people that there would no longer be a need for temporary leaders. Explaining that having watched over Pacotor and Golden Glade for as long as she has, she was the only reasonable choice, but said they could still have a council to run the small towns.

Her next course of action was to make a task force, an army of skilled fighters, medics, and guards to take her place. Soon she had created a nearly unstoppable army. Focused on one goal, to protect Pactor, and keep it strong. Just like Ancient Feather had for nearly 100 years.

But while she may have been the perfect ruler for pactor, at her core she was a controlling conniving conjurer, manipulating many, and starting wars just to gain more power. Or as she thought of it, making a better tomorrow for the people of Pactor, meanwhile the places conjured usually lost a lot of there resource to Pactor and were left to weak to rebel. Every conjured kingdom feed into Pactor and didn't get as much back as they were giving.

However, Ancient Feather would be greatly humbled by a kingdom that she greatly underestimated. The Quartet Kingdoms, a large kingdom comprised of four smaller kingdoms and territories each with one unique species each. The rulers of this kingdom, weren't about to be stepped on all over by some big ass immortal bird and her army. So they fought with everything they had, and after 9 days and nights of fighting, King Blitzen of the Unicorns, was given permission by the others to do something drastic and unforgiving: to curse Ancient Feather. He did just that, blasting Ancient feather with a spell powerful enough to strip Ancient Feather of all her guardian magic leaving her a powerless immortal, forcing her to flee, the four rulers and The Quartet Kingdom celebrated the defeat. Sealing Ancient Feathers powers to the kingdoms she conjured with them, so that her power may be used by the kingdoms to rebuild and get back on their feet.

AND THAT IS IT FOR TODAY, I'll do the villains next, and then one last post for Lime & Candi.

See he's mad at me now because I'm only half way done, SUCK IT UP SCRATCHY Jesus...

[farmersfieldwolf]

HOW DO YOU START MAKING A GAME?

hihihihi- I'm adding to this because I want everyone to make games. My current top recommendations for books is A Playful Production Process, Rule of Play is a classic, so is Game Feel

This is long- so get ready

Other engines

Construct 3: Browser based game stuff!

Pulp: Extremely similar to Bitsy- make games for the PlayDate

PICO-8: Make tiny games and programs for a fantasy console!

LÖVE: Lua based 2D game framework!

Scratch: Educational engine, chances are if you're under a certain age you've had a school program use this!

microStudio: More browser based engine stuff!

babylon.js: Open source engine

For games adjacent things like alternative controllers, events, or installations

LIKELIKE online: Arts based open source online art gallery, remixable on glitch- there's even a template

Processing: Open source, 20 years of documentation, and super flexible if you wanna be experimental

Arduino: Make physical games using programming, or robots, or escape rooms!

Makey-Makey: Much simpler plug and play Arduino!

Okay but how do I make a game?

Fast answer- you just start. But a pretty straight forward workflow would be

Write down ideas, make flowcharts of ideas, scripts, mechanical descriptions. From that think of how systems interact

Paper prototype, see what works and doesn't work when playing through things without being restricted to programming

Jam, fail often and fast because each project is a lot like a sketch- they take a long time to do though. the quicker you are to kill your darlings and start anew the faster you'll get better

Do a game deconstruction- break it down into tiny pieces and stare into it. What made it fun? What were the small things that stuck out to you?

"But I want to make a complicated-"

Shhhh- no you don't. You'll burn out. Make the cube move first. Make it jump. Does the jumping feel good? No? Start over. Make the cube move again, but slightly differently- does the jump feel good yet? No? START OVER. As soon as you get stuck, abandon what you're doing and start over

And I'm not kidding, game making is an iterative process. The more projects you do the better, faster, and easier it gets. If you whittle away on something you'll never finish

Okay, jump feels good now, great now interact with something in the scene. So on and so forth until you have scripts you like and understand and these become your building blocks for projects

Make the smallest thing you can- smaller, smallerSMALLER- here's a breakdown of a dating sim game with a final 3-4 hours of content per playthrough, similar to something like Hatoful Boyfriend or Doki Doki Literature Club

Need To Have

Title card and a way to start the game.

A dialogue system including the ability to show text, click on buttons, and track choices.

Includes both NPC and player names along with dialogue.

One dateable character including tracking relationship points with the player, one friendship cutscene, one romantic cutscene, and one final cutscene.

Ending card and credits.

Want To Have

In addition to above:

An option screen that changes basic user interface, save and load system, player name input with pronouns, music volume and quality of life settings, so on.

An external narrative building up the world in which the game is played including a mystery for the player to solve.

Four dateable characters with individual narratives including 3 friendship cutscenes, 3 romantic cutscenes, and a final ending cutscene for each.

A resolution to the mystery.

Dream To Have

In addition to above:

A hidden menu that allows the character to make interesting alterations to the game and becoming the antagonist of the mystery

Mystery narrative is branching with several endings where the player can either fail or succeed without dating any of the characters

Friend only narrative choices and ending.

Two extra gag romance characters with diverge narratives unlike the others in the game

Jealousy/approval between characters depending on narrative choices. 

Options to create poly relationships between compatible characters, options to betray or cheat on characters, and options to matchmake characters without dating them.

Multiple endings to resolve the mystery including hidden antagonist role.

I often reference this tiktok on how everything piles up

Game making takes a long time and wildly complex very fast. For my timelines I add a minimum of 3 months for each year.

Quick and dirty advice for once you've got something going

Call your grant officers if you got local funding, it’s their job to answer your questions!

Research the desired outcomes before asking someone for money; be that the government, a publisher, or yourself

Never pay for event submissions or showcases until you’re making significant revenue if you don’t have to, I suggest following Game Conference Guide’s calendar

Even if you’re working for free track your hours and costs so if/when you are making budgets in the future you know how fast you and your team work

Learn when to say something is good enough; cut mechanics or features early and often to avoid the project ballooning out of scope

Don’t quit your day job until it makes sense- it’s more sustainable to work on something without funding if you’re still able to pay your bills

Shipped is the best feature, some great advice from Mark Darrah

Make smaller, shittier, and messier games more often

Go forth, make games, then tell me about them and I'll play them if I can. I love when folks make games- you can do it!

🎮 HEY I WANNA MAKE A GAME! 🎮

Yeah I getcha. I was once like you. Pure and naive. Great news. I AM STILL PURE AND NAIVE, GAME DEV IS FUN! But where to start?

To start, here are a couple of entry level softwares you can use! source: I just made a game called In Stars and Time and people are asking me how to start making vidy gaems. Now, without further ado:

SOFTWARES AND ENGINES FOR PEOPLE WHO DON'T KNOW HOW TO CODE!!!

Ren'py (and also a link to it if you click here do it): THE visual novel software. Comic artists, look no further ✨Pros: It's free! It's simple! It has great documentation! It has a bunch of plugins and UI stuff and assets for you to buy! It can be used even if you have LITERALLY no programming experience! (You'll just need to read the doc a bunch) You can also port your game to a BUNCH of consoles! ✨Cons: None really <3 Some games to look at: Doki Doki Literature Club, Bad End Theater, Butterfly Soup

Twine: Great for text-based games! GREAT FOR WRITERS WHO DONT WANNA DRAW!!!!!!!!! (but you can draw if you want) ✨Pros: It's free! It's simple! It's versatile! It has great documentation! It can be used even if you have LITERALLY no programming experience! (You'll just need to read the doc a bunch) ✨Cons: You can add pictures, but it's a pain. Some games to look at: The Uncle Who Works For Nintendo, Queers In love At The End of The World, Escape Velocity

Bitsy: Little topdown games! ✨Pros: It's free! It's simple! It's (somewhat) intuitive! It has great documentation! It can be used even if you have LITERALLY no programming experience! You can make everything in it, from text to sprites to code! Those games sure are small! ✨Cons: Those games sure are small. This is to make THE simplest game. Barely any animation for your sprites, can barely fit a line of text in there. But honestly, the restrictions are refreshing! Some games to look at: honestly I haven't played that many bitsy games because i am a fake gamer. The picture above is from Under A Star Called Sun though and that looks so pretty

RPGMaker: To make RPGs! LIKE ME!!!!! NOTE: I recommend getting the latest version if you can, but all have their pros and cons. You can get a better idea by looking at this post. ✨Pros: Literally everything you need to make an RPG. Has a tutorial inside the software itself that will teach you the basics. Pretty simple to understand, even if you have no coding experience! Also I made a post helping you out with RPGMaker right here! ✨Cons: Some stuff can be hard to figure out. Also, the latest version is expensive. Get it on sale! Some games to look at: Yume Nikki, Hylics, In Stars and Time (hehe. I made it)

engine.lol: collage worlds! it is relatively new so I don't know much about it, but it seems fascinating. picture is from Garden! NOTE: There's a bunch of smaller engines to find out there. Just yesterday I found out there's an Idle Game Maker made by the Cookie Clicker creator. Isn't life wonderful?

✨more advice under the cut. this is Long ok✨

ENGINES I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT AND THEY SEEM HARD BUT ALSO GIVE IT A TRY I GUESS!!!! :

Unity and Unreal: I don't know anything about those! That looks hard to learn! But indie devs use them! It seems expensive! Follow your dreams though! Don't ask me how!

GameMaker: Wuh I just don't know anything about it either! I just know it's now free if your game is non-commercial (aka, you're not selling it), and Undertale was made on it! It seems good! You probably need some coding experience though!!!

Godot: Man I know even less about this one. Heard good things though!

BUNCHA RANDOM ADVICE!!!!

-Make something small first! Try making simple: a character is in a room, and exits the room. The character can look around, decide to take an item with them, can leave, and maybe the door is locked and you have to find the key. Figuring out how to code something like that, whether it is as a fully text-based game or as an RPGMaker map, should be a good start to figure out how your software of choice works!

-After that, if you have an idea, try first to make the simplest version of that idea. For my timeloop RPG, my simplest version was two rooms: first room you can walk in, second room with the King, where a cutscene automatically plays and the battle starts, you immediately die, and loop back to the first room, with the text from this point on reflecting this change. I think I also added a loop counter. This helped me figure out the most important thing: Can This Game Be Made? After that, the rest is just fun stuff. So if you want to make a dating sim, try and figure out how to add choices, and how to have affection points go up and down depending on your choices! If you want to make a platformer, figure out how to make your character move and jump and how to create a simple level! If you just want to make a kinetic visual novel with no choices, figure out how to add text, and how to add portraits! You'll be surprised at how powerful you'll feel after having figured even those simple things out.

-If you have a programming problem or just get confused, never underestimate the power of asking Google! You most likely won't be the only person asking this question, and you will learn some useful tips! If you are powerful enough, you can even… Ask people??? On forums??? Not me though.

-Yeah I know you probably want to make Your Big Idea RIGHT NOW but please. Make a smaller prototype first. You need to get that experience. Trust me.

-If you are not a womanthing of many skills like me, you might realize you need help. Maybe you need an artist, or a programmer. So! Game jams on itch.io are a great way to get to work and meet other game devs that have different strengths! Or ask around! Maybe your artist friend secretly always wanted to draw for a game. Ask! Collaborate! Have fun!!!

I hope that was useful! If it was. Maybe. You'd like to buy me a coffee. Or maybe you could check out my comics and games. Or just my new critically acclaimed game In Stars and Time. If you want. Ok bye