#they are on the brink of extinction in the main series

[bohemian-nights]

TB is proud to say that Aegon was poisoned by his own men and that the old men of winter came to die for her, They purposefully ignore that Rhaenyra was betrayed by Daemon, by Corlys and by practically everyone who was fighting on her behalf, which is why she had to flee the city penniless and avoiding going near Driftmark, but it doesn't end there, what about her own household guard keeping Aegon's secret recovering there for half a year? And about them handing her over to Aegon when she went take refuge there? honestly I don't know why they brag about it, it wasn't like Aegon's death was as violent as hers, I would say was kind of peaceful "he seemed to be sleeping" and his would-be killers were tried and sentenced to spend the rest of their lives in a cold penal colony with all kinds of criminals or lose their heads. What was Rhaenyra's victory? all TB talks about is what her children achieved and even Daenerys hundreds of years later? lmao In the end, she was just a womb for future kings

They block out everything that happened after Rhaenyra was driven out of King's Landing (by the smallfolk she thought didn't matter/couldn't touch her).

They’ve deluded themselves into believing that Daemon died for her when in reality he left her(and their son who according to them his favorite child) to fiend for themselves(possibly while knowing that Missy Anne shot herself in the foot with House Velaryon). He abandoned her when she needed him the most.

How they try to twist this around into being an empowering moment is nothing, but cope:

Before anyone tries it, there is no such thing as a dragonriders death in the books. If there was it wouldn’t be being lit on fire by your half burnt brothers half burnt dying dragon🙃). Her death was far from honorable. She’s tied with Mysaria in terms of the worst/most ironic death from the Dance IMO.

Honestly, the only reason both Aegon III and Viserys II lived was because they were Daemon’s children and GRRM loves him(not her because if he did she wouldn’t have become BBQ). Realistically at least one of those kids(and Baela) would’ve died, but they lived cause of Daemon’s blood. That’s the only reason why Dany is Rhaenyra’s descendant cause otherwise her bloodline would’ve wasted away as well🤐

Aegon’s death was tragic, but let’s not forget Cregan Stark(yet again one of Rhaenyra’s allies) was trying to prosecute people for it🙃

[rebeccathenaturalist]

If you've been following me for a while, you'll know I'm a sucker for stories about species reintroductions, rediscoveries, etc. And this one might be my favorite this year.

The kākāpō is this delightfully odd bird--a nocturnal, ground-dwelling parrot. Because New Zealand historically didn't have any predators apart from birds of prey, their camouflage was generally sufficient to protect them in the forest. Unfortunately, Europeans brought with them weasels, rats, and free-roaming cats, all of which hunted the kākāpō to the brink of extinction. Invasive species of deer additionally competed with the kākāpō for food.

By the 1980s, the birds had all but disappeared from the main island, and the world population bottomed out at 51 birds in 1995. Since then, breeding efforts and conservation on smaller, predator-free islands have brought the population back up to 252, but this is still a critically endangered species.

The reintroduction to the main island involved setting aside 3400 acres in which all mammalian predators had been eliminated. That would allow the kākāpō a safe place to breed and recover. Right now the four birds released into this sanctuary are all male, to allow conservationists a chance to observe them in this habitat. With time, though, we'll hopefully see females added as well, so that the population can begin expanding.

(By the way, yes--this is, in fact, the species in the infamous "shagged by a rare parrot" clip from the BBC's "Last Chance to See" series some years back. Don't worry, it's less NSFW than it sounds, and it is absolutely hilarious!)

[tyrantisterror]

To follow up my previous question, I asked because I would like to show the military/EDF in a kaiju-oriented setting I'm writing being as incompetent and corrupt as possible. The trouble is coupling that with a bunch of people fighting against a city destroyer is difficult. Any advice?

If you have the stomach for the kind of horror you get from a zombie story, read World War Z. DON'T watch the movie, read the book, or listen to the audio book if possible. World War Z is structured as a series of interviews with the survivors of a historical event, except said event is the fictional zombie apocalypse, and many of those survivors are former members of the military.

The Zombie War in the book gets apocalyptic due entirely to corruption and mismanagement, and several of the people responsible for that are among the survivors. They, of course, try to tell their side of the story in a positive light, to make it out like they did what anyone would do, while it's clear to the audience that they were ultimately serving their own selfish interests.

We also get perspective of the ground soldiers, the poor bastards just trying to defend their friends and neighbors while following orders that were ill-concieved and designed to make their superiors look good without actually considering the human lives at risk. Some of the most harrowing passages of the book are from these simple soliders desperately trying to survive a situation that they had no control over and are only in because some selfish fuckers put them into it.

The book is inspired on real life records of the same sort - accounts of WWII, the Civil War, etc. It's a great example of how to take a "realistic" approach to a fantastical scenario without depriving the scenario of the fantasy that makes it appealing - "how would humanity fuck up bad enough to almost be wiped out by zombies?", basically, followed by "how would humanity pull back from the brink of zombie-induced extinction?" It has plenty of characters you can root for struggling against the fantastical threat - and several people with shit priorities who fuck things up, including members of the military.

If you don't want to read a book, though, my condense take on how it made this work is this: disasters are huge events with multiple people involved, both "in control" of it and simply subjected to it. If the scenario is going badly, chances are the people in charge are fucking up royally, and likely part of that results in many of the people subjected to it acting poorly based on bad information. But there will be some people - mainly in the "subjected to" column, but perhaps a few with control - who struggle to do what's right and control the situation. That's how you should structure it - your main antagonist/conflict may be the monsters, but the secondary antagonist/conflict is the people in charge handling things badly.

[voidscarredadjudicator]

I know y'all who follow me are Splatoon fans since that's the only thing I've publicly written for thus far but I'm gonna gush on main here for just a sec because what the fuck do you MEAN Nintendo shadow-dropped a trailer for a Xenoblade Chronicles X remake for Switch???????

Xenoblade Chronicles X is the first and only Xenoblade game I've played, and while I know full well the rest of the series is very good, I've never really been interested since X is the one I started with, and unfortunately that game ends leaving you with more questions than answers. So not only that but the fact that they're teasing NEW CONTENT / ELABORATION ON THE NINE FUCKING YEAR LONG CLIFFHANGER WE'VE BEEN SITTING ON is a little hype for me to say the least.

Humanity's Endling was at least partially influenced by the vibes present in Xenoblade Chronicles X, because humanity as a species is very much on the brink of extinction during that game, and there's certainly no small amount of angst regarding that fact. So this is the part where I tell you that if you like my writing, you'll probably like X's writing, and basically you should buy this game when it comes out because I need to make sure they keep going with the X continuity please for the love of god

[dragonsaffron]

A Proper Introduction

This post has been sitting in my drafts for literal months at this point, but in response to the impending collapse of Twitter, I figured it was time to finally make a post about my writing so that I could start advertising on this platform.

So, hello, my name is Saffron (though some call me Becca). I am a autistic trans lesbian polyamorous dragonkin (she/they), and I’m a writer. As of right now, the bulk of my writing is available for free online. My main projects are my web novels, which I typically write two of at any given time, releasing chapters every other week on a regular schedule. The publicly available chapters of my novels are available in three places: you can read them on my Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/saffrondragon), on my wordpress page (https://beccawritesbooks.wordpress.com/) or on Scribblehub (https://www.scribblehub.com/profile/9163/saffrondragon/). Warning: Scribblehub is a free story hosting website, so although it has better support structures (bookmarking, ratings, etc) it is also full of weird hentai.

Like I said before, I have a Patreon. As of right now, there are two main benefits to being a patron of mine: at the lowest tier, you get early access to chapters of my books, usually between two and four chapters ahead of the free version depending on how well the writing is going at that time. There’s also a higher tier, which gives access to a collection of short stories I’ve written for Patreon (some of them smutty, others not), and the ability to vote on which short stories I will write next.

And now we get to the reason why I’ve been procrastinating writing this post for so long: now I have to try to summarize all of my various works! The Selene Series: Marcus Farrier is a physics graduate student who gets isekai’d to Selene, a steampunk world where humanity evolved to only have one sex. There, Marcus takes up the name “Emma”, and rapidly gets caught up in the chaotic and deadly politics of Selene, and begins having some revelations about their past, their gender, and how they got to Selene in the first place. The Selene series is actually my longest-running writing project, with four years and two-and-three-quarter books under my belt out of a planned four in total. Currently on hiatus, but I will return to it someday.

The Earthborn Emissary: Alex Sierra is living a normal life, with their girlfriend Miri and their best friend Quinn, until the day they fall ill, go into a coma, and wake up to discover that they’ve just emerged from their chrysalis. Alex is actually an Emissary, an insectoid alien from a species that has been driven to the brink of extinction by a genocide; now, their adoptive parents are going to have to take them into space in search of the other members of their species. My longest single book so far, and the closest thing I’ve come to writing what I would consider to be a “YA” novel. My most popular book, though I don’t quite know why. Currently completed, though I may write a sequel someday. The Chained Flame: My most recent and personal favorite of my novels. It’s a loosely-plotted dark fantasy story telling the life of Lindír, prince of the kingdom of Hvalheim, who was cursed at birth to have the body of a dragon. After growing up in the castle dungeons, Lindír finally finds his freedom, and ends up travelling the North as a wandering entertainer, a savage raider, a royal champion, and more. A very tragic book dealing heavily with the theme of traumatic upbringings. Also features a dragon protagonist who does not at any point become human, nor does he particularly want to. In-progress as of the writing of this post, but barely a week away from completion. I also have a couple of short stories posted, as well as two erotic Locked Tomb fanfics on my AO3 account. I generally post new chapters of my novels every second week, Selene updating on Thursdays and Chained Flame updating on Mondays. 

So yeah, that’s what I do for a living! I’ll probably start making announcement posts for new chapters, both in public and on Patreon, as well as any Patreon exclusives, votes, or anything else writing-related that I’m doing. Indeed, I might be making some more posts later today, so keep an eye out for that. Thank you in advance to anyone who spreads the word, and extra thank you to anyone who actually goes the extra mile and starts supporting me. To all of my followers who aren’t interested in my writing, you can block the “becca writes books” tag, which will cover all of my writing-related posts.

[cedenoarturo123]

Integrated Project

DEFINITION:

Story: A story or narrative is a connected series of events told through words (written or spoken), imagery (still and moving), body language, performance, music, or any other form of communication. You can tell a story about anything, and the events described can be real or imaginary.

Tales: It is a genre of narration with a fantastic or magical story taking place in a real or magical world in which both real and fictional characters can act . The author can raise moral, social, aesthetic problems of history and modernity.

Science fiction: Science fiction is a genre of speculative fiction that contains imagined elements that don’t exist in the real world. Science fiction spans a wide range of themes that often explore time travel, space travel, are set in the future, and deal with the consequences of technological and scientific advances

''"Preserving the Flow: A Water Conservation Crusade"'' My name is Arturo, I'm from Equator and it's December 22, 2064. I used to enjoy spending time with my friends and relatives until the massacre broke out. One day, I woke up as usual, ready to carry out my daily routine, but for my surprise there was no water. Not a drop in my house, or anywhere else in the world. The implications were clear; our ecosystems were collapsing, and life, as we knew it, was hanging on the brink of extinction. I couldn't accept this as humanity's inevitable destiny. Desperation led me to seek out some friends: Pablo, Pepe, and María. Together, we embarked on an arduous mission, working relentlessly for sixteen hours straight. Our goal: to construct a time machine that would transport us back to the year 2023, a time when water was still a plentiful and vital resource. We decided to name our project "AquaGenesis’’. We rounded up equipment and materials, relying on scientific knowledge and intuition. With limited access to water, we used every drop wisely, recycling and reusing as much as we could. The project was finally designed, but we started arguing about what we should do next.- So, guys… Time is running! What we should do know that the machine is done? I said. -''Just give up and accept our destiny Arturo, we’re tired and also thirsty'', said Pepe, in a sad way. -''Chill out Pepe don’t say that, with this machine we’ll be able to travel to the past in 2023 to sort out this big problem'', I said. -''You are right Arturo; however, how do we ensure that the machine works, and how do we convince people from 2023 that what we are saying is true if we’re clearly teens'', María added. -''Don’t worry Maria, when people can see us with a time machine they won’t have option, they’ll trust us. Just in case, get your phone out to take some pictures of the landscape'', said Pablo. -''Great Idea Pablo! Now, let’s team up to save our planet and figure out a solution'', I finally said.

For our surprise the machine took us directly to 2023, the first thing we did was drink up a lot of water. After that, we called everyone’s attention with our time machine, pictures and identity cards. Fortunately, All entities around the world heard us and they set up campaigns and projects in order to preserve water, when we traveled to our future, everything was fixed up and I kept enjoying to spend time with my friends and relatives.

APA 7TH EDITION REFERENCES:

-Story. (2018, November 3). Literary Terms. https://literaryterms.net/story/

-What is a literary tale: definition, examples. (n.d.). Unansea.com. Retrieved October 13, 2023, from https://en.unansea.com/what-is-a-literary-tale-definition-examples/

-(N.d.). Masterclass.com. Retrieved October 13, 2023, from https://www.masterclass.com/articles/what-is-science-fiction-writing-definition-and-characteristics-of-science-fiction-literature

AI PICTURE RELATED TO THE STORY:

I ask AI in canva to create that picture for my presentation, I describe the image as I wanted in order to give the reader an idea of how the main characters look like.

30 SECONDS VIDEO:

[xaracosmia]

ꕥ — WELCOME TO EXO COSMIA, KASQUE. 🌑

ꕥ  — OOC INFORMATION;

name / alias: Sam/Sammi age: 27 pronouns: commonly they/she but any are fine ooc contact: @ sorunort on twitter other characters in xc: Elizabeth Afton, Vanessa A.

ꕥ  — IC INFORMATION;

name: Kasque age: Physically 24 | 880 pronouns: She/They series: Tales of Crestoria canon point: Chapter 10 part 2 (before the game EOS’d haha <-PAINED) app triggers: [scratches head] just a brief mention of humanity's extinction.

personality: Kasque is a self described “half-assed God.” Even before her ascension, Kasque was lazy and didn’t put much effort into things, despite being smart and having the capabilities required of her. However her love makes up for her lazy attitude. Kasque became a God in the first place to spare the one she loved from taking on that fate. All in all she’s very laid back and easygoing, preferring to do things the easy way and groaning if she has to put in any more work than she has to. She also has a bit of a flirtatious side, and enjoys telling men and women if they’re cute or hot or nice to look at. Good for her!

something your muse struggles with: Her lazy ways. 80 years prior to the main story, Kasque suddenly decided to retire from Godhood and let humanity decide who was a sinner and needed to be punished for their transgressions so she wouldn’t have to do anything anymore (however before the game EOS’d, it’s implied that she was being manipulated and something was prompting her to act this way). When she descended to personally take care of a few transgressors, Kasque forgot how to summon her powers for a good while and kept tanking hits until she remembered. If she doesn’t have to do a thing, she won’t.

your muse’s greatest strength: Her love. As stated before, Kasque became a God in order to prevent Milla, someone she cared for deeply, from becoming God. to Kasque, there was nothing worse than imagining her beloved toiling away for eternity and never knowing a moment's peace and inevitably losing herself to loneliness. It hurt Kasque so deeply that she took on God’s power, knowing she may never see Milla again. But that was fine with her if it meant Milla could live happily in this world she wanted to protect.

history / background: Prior to the main story of Tales of Crestoria, humanity was being ravaged by a bestial race of ruinous monsters known as Dreadfangs. Humanity was on the brink of extinction, so their last resort was to create a God to fight off this enemy and save the world. In the end, there were two options: Kasque, and Milla. While they were evenly matched, Milla was the best candidate, and she was fully prepared for the role. However Kasque couldn’t bear the thought of Milla trying to live with the crushing loneliness of Godhood, so she took on the role instead, convinced and dead set on being a “half-assed God.” With her newfound power, she defeated the Dreadfangs and created a barrier to protect the last vestiges of humanity from the barren, toxic parts of the world she couldn’t save.

800 years passed. Out of nowhere Kasque suddenly decided to retire as a God and she created a new system of justice for the world: Vision Orbs. Everyone would be granted one from birth and with it someone could record a crime then broadcast it to Vision Centrals placed in towns and cities alike. If enough people voted to condemn the accused, then they would be labeled a transgressor and Enforcers (white cloaked constructs) would take shape and essentially erase the transgressor from existence. After she set everything in place, Kasque ascended to the heavens and wasn’t heard or seen from again.

(Meanwhile that same loneliness she needed to save Milla from was eating away at her, and Kasque began trying to contact Milla through dreams and reach out to her.)

…Until 80 years later we come to the main story of Crestoria, where Kasque has seen the plot unfold and she decides things are getting too messy. The main party wants to tear down her justice system and if they do that she has to come out of retirement. Lame! However after an altercation with the party, Kasque see’s that the system is flawed and she needs to do something about it and make the world a beautiful place again. And the best option for that is… killing humanity? Oh, no.

powers / abilities: 

It’s easier to describe Kasque’s powers as “what can’t she do?” given how she erased a world ending monster species and then saved the last of humanity with magic barriers and magic trees. However, to restrict it to her fighting style only…

Enforcer Construction: Kasque can create Enforcers, white cloaked monsters, at will. Look out, transgressors!

Light elemental mana: Projectiles, missiles, blasts, beams, you name it, she’s got it. 

Final Order: Kasque’s special, her mystic arte. Kasque flies upward and summons a giant glyph. After waving her free hand three times, she strikes the glyph with her rod, sending a barrage of lasers that slowly merge together, creating an explosion.

inherent abilities: 

Mana manipulation. Think of this as simple magic tricks a wizard could do, but elemental based. Start a fire, make some flowers grow, and so on.

Levitation / Flying. She’s a God.

items / weapons: A giant silver rod with a large Vision Orb eye at the top.

starting ability: Light elemental mana

starting item: Her silver rod.

extra: 

It’s very much highly implied that there is some external force manipulating Kasque into killing humanity, however we don’t find out what, so I’m choosing to play Kasque as being freed from this force when she arrives in Xara and not knowing why she thought that was a good idea

She put the bi in nonBInary WOOHOO!!!!

I think she invented the word himbo in crestoria universe.

She’s only 5’3’’, please point and laugh at her for being the smallest artificial God.

discord id: final_order (this is vicious’s old account, i dont know if that will mess anything up?)

[xiaotangyuanm]

Giant panda – an example of successful rare species conservation

(99i33zyc0l_Large_WW170579.jpg)

​​

Giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) are one of the most popular protected animals in the world. They are also the national treasure of China. They are widely loved for their unique appearance, cute look and gentle nature. Over the past few decades, the giant panda has faced serious threats to its survival and has become one of the species on the brink of extinction. However, through the efforts of global conservation organisations, government departments and scientists, the giant panda's fortunes have been reversed. This article explores the story of the giant pandas and shows how they have been successfully rescued.

The endangered species

Around 1980, scientists declared the giant panda to be on the brink of extinction. Yet it is curious to know why the giant panda, which has no natural predators, has plummeted in population and is about to become extinct.(Zhu et al., 2013)

The earliest speculations that were raised were due to the monoculture nature of the giant panda's diet. Bamboo is the main food of the giant panda, but due to its long growth cycle, bamboo forests are slow to recover. Excessive bamboo harvesting, planting of non-native bamboo species and climate change have all contributed to the scarcity of food resources for pandas, putting them at risk of starvation and malnutrition. Also, as bamboo is mostly grown in China's high altitude mountains. And the deforestation, agricultural expansion, road construction and other human activities made for development in China at the time have severely damaged the natural habitat of the giant panda. These activities have led to the destruction and fragmentation of the giant panda's habitat, affecting their living space and food supply.

Others have suggested that giant pandas are endangered because of their low reproduction rate.(Wei et al., 2015) Female pandas only come into heat for a short period of time each year, and the number of male pandas is relatively low. This makes the breeding process difficult and results in slow population growth in the wild. In addition, the mating behaviour and reproductive success of giant pandas has been affected by habitat destruction and disturbance from human activities.

People blame the demise of giant pandas on their inability to adapt to the environment. Yet the truth is that giant pandas have a high reproductive rate in the wild.(Wei et al., 2015) At this point, it became clear that it was mainly human interference and direct persecution with certain objectives that caused the population of giant pandas to plummet. Environmental pollution, water pollution and climate change have also had an impact on the survival of the giant panda. The accumulation of toxic substances, contamination of water sources and extreme weather events caused by climate change may all have a negative impact on the health and survival of giant pandas. In addition, due to their rare and precious status, giant pandas have been the target of illegal hunting and illegal trade. Despite increased efforts by the Chinese government to combat wildlife trade, there are still some illegal practices that pose a potential threat to the survival of giant pandas.

Conservation measures 

In response to these threats, the Chinese government, conservation organisations and the scientific community have taken a number of proactive measures.

The first is the protection and re-siting of habitats. A series of nature reserves and wildlife protection bases have been established in China to provide safe habitats and protected areas for giant pandas. An example is a Giant Panda National Park in Sichuan, the home of the giant pandas, with a total area of 27,134 square kilometres.(Kang & Li, 2019) Strict management and monitoring has been implemented in these areas to ensure that the living environment of the giant pandas is protected and restored. The management of bamboo forest restoration and protection has also been strengthened. This includes limiting bamboo harvesting, promoting sustainable management and planting native bamboo species to increase the food supply for giant pandas.(Wei et al., 2015)

China is also actively working closely with international conservation organisations and the scientific community on giant panda conservation projects and scientific research. The Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda was established to study the species and habits of giant pandas, and to try artificial propagation of pandas. The research base is also open to visitors, allowing them to learn about conservation while experiencing the loveliness of giant pandas.

Figure 1. Twin giant panda cubs born at China research centre (1,600 × 700)

Finally, the Chinese government has also established a legal framework to prohibit illegal hunting and trade activities. Poachers are not allowed to threaten the safety of wild pandas. Along with rapid economic development, China has also begun to focus on environmental and ecological protection. Recently, China's constitution added ecological civilisation, which will enable man and nature to develop and progress together in harmony.(Kang & Li, 2019)

The future of the giant panda

The future of pandas still faces some challenges, but has a positive outlook. In the future, scientists will attempt to reintroduce pandas back into the wild. Reintroduction is an important way to protect endangered species and prevent their disappearance.(Yang et al., 2018) 

At the same time, experts have declared a continued focus on environmental issues. The current threat status of IUCN Red List species does not always mean the same threat in the future under climate change.(Tang et al., 2022) If we let the issue of temperature change go unchecked, the giant panda will once again be threatened with extinction and we humans will be next in line to have survival problems.

Thank you all for reading! If you have any questions or ideas, please feel free to discuss them with me in the comments.

Figure 2. Photo of panda (Panda-facts-3-1.jpg)

[slaveforartpop-blog]

Emergent Literature (Part 1)

Emergent literature embraces and explores new forms that challenge traditional literary conventions. This literature embraces variety and represents a wide range of experiences, cultures, and identities. It is dynamic and continually changing as new perspectives arise. These may be found on digital platforms in a variety of formats, including as novels, short stories, and even experimental pieces. Some of the work in this literature addresses modern themes, questions societal conventions, and provides new insights into the complexity of our contemporary world. It has the power to capture and reflect the spirit of the present period. Below are some examples of emerging literary genres; to further understand, you can read the following:

MANGA ATTACK ON TITAN by Hajime Isayama

Attack on Titan is an example of a Japanese manga and is set in a world where humanity is on the brink of extinction due to giant creatures called the Titans. This story was published first in the year 2009 of September and run up until the year of 2021 of April 9 and has 34 volumes. Here the story follows Eren Yeager, and with his friends Mikasa Ackerman and Armin Arlert, as they join the military to fight against the Titans. However, they have discovered that there are deeper mysteries that unravels around the Titans, which includes their origin and the truth about the walls that they have put up to protect humanity. As the series progresses, alliance shift, betrayals occur, and the characters uncover shocking revelations about the history of their world and their own identities. The story explores the themes of survival, freedom, and the moral complexities of war.

TEXT TALK NOVEL VINCE AND KATH by Jenny Ruth Almocera

Vince and Kath is an online romantic series who the characters met through a text message that consists of screenshots from SMS and eventually became a couple. This text talk novel was published by Jenny Ruth Almocera in the year 2016 of January Vince proposes to Kath, but their lives are soon filled with challenges, including Vince being stabbed and suffering from amnesia and his father falls ill. As Kath helped Vince regain his memories, he recovers from his amnesia miraculously and proposes to Kath again promising to make up for what he lost. However, as they prepare for the wedding, Kath’s former suitor and also Vince's best friend James arrives in their lives – there it was revealed that James still has feelings for Kath. There, Vince and James decided to end their friendship and Vince mysteriously disappeared, but Kath finds him and they decided to get married. There the story ends and as their text message conversations as they become husband and wife.

GRAPHIC NOVELS ARCHIE COMICS by John L. Goldwater

Archie comics is a long-running comic book series that revolves around the lives of a group of teenagers in the fictional town of Riverdale. This was created in the year 1941 and was published by John L. Goldwater and artist Bob Montana, in collaboration with writer Vic Bloom. The main character, Archie Andrews, is a typical American teenager who navigates high school, friendships, and romantic relationships. He is often caught in a love triangle between his best friend next door, Betty Cooper and the glamorous and ever so fashionable Veronica Lodge. The series features a diverse cast which includes Jughead Jones, who is known for his love of food, and the intelligent and ambitious Reggie Mantle. Here the stories that is under Archie Comics explores the themes of friendship, romance, and the ups and downs of teenage life in a lighthearted and humorous manner.

References:

Attack on Titan (Manga). (2016, June 5). Attack on Titan Wiki. https://attackontitan.fandom.com/wiki/Attack_on_Titan_(Manga)

U., & complete profile, V. M. (2017, January 11). Vince and Kath and James review. Today, I’ve Watched: Vince and Kath and James Review. https://moviesformillennials.blogspot.com/2017/01/vince-and-kath-and-james-review.html

Archie Comics. (2011, August 12). Archie Comics Wiki. https://archiecomics.fandom.com/wiki/Archie_Comics

[bronzewool]

Chronicles of Fen: Cernuin

My new Years Resolution was to read one book a month and we’re already in Febuary, so that’s not a good start XD

Chronicles of Fen was recommended to me by a friend who knows the author, and the premise is very interesting. Taking place in a world where a mage managed to do the impossible and make the Gods mortal...who are rightfully upset about this transgression and plan on wiping out humanity in retaliation.

30 years later the war is still ongoing and humanity is on the brink of extinction. Court Mage Fen and General Ladon are our two main characters and are given the task of leading an army on what feels like a suicide mission to kill the wilderness God Cernuin. Along the way Ladon becomes infected by one of the accursed and we learn more about Fen's role in the story and what other secrets he is hiding.

It's a good first novel for a first-time author who is also self-publishing, with a unique premise, engaging characters and a blossoming romance between our two main leads.

My main critique with the book is the use of a point of view narrative between Fen and Ladon, which feels entirely unnecessary for how often these two are on the same wavelength, taking away any mystery or potential misunderstanding between them or any suprises for the reader.

I feel like the story would have benefited if you only know what one of them is thinking. Either have Ladon be the everyman hero who was raised in the middle of this war and has a personal grudge with Fen for starting the conflict in the first place and slowly learning to respect and forgive Fen as he sees the lengths he is willing to go to complete the mission.

Or have Fen be the misunderstood anti-hero who is trying to atone for his past crimes and earn the respect of the army he has been tasked to lead, developing beyond this need for personal atonement and wanting to protect the people he has grown to care for.

Chronicles of Fen: Cernuim is a novella, only 142 pages long, free on amazon if you have kindle unlimited, and the first of an ongoing series. The second book is currently in the beta stage.

[3rdgymbros]

【 southern water tribe aesthetic 】

Before the Hundred Year War, the South was thriving and had a unique culture and waterbending style. After a series of brutal Fire Nation raids, however, the South Pole was left devastated and nearly all the surviving waterbenders had been taken prisoner. By 99 AG, the Southern Water Tribe was on the brink of extinction, with its culture shattered, its main city largely abandoned, and its unique waterbending style effectively erased.

[thechillsquid]

So I’ve been doodling a lot of horned endermen lately, cause they’re neat, but then I was thinking of those void demon relatives of theirs, Imma start calling them endervoids, just to distinguish my theories and build up on the species from the void demon descriptions, cause while initially based about that’s, I also got some alternating ideas from that.

Anyhow, here you go, an average endervoid vs a younger piebald endervoid, which are incredibly rare due to the main defensive mechanism of the endervoid being their darker skin allowing them to hide in dark areas, as the endervoids often inhabit caverns, cliff sides cave systems (which their hooked talons, different from that of the endermen, which are must narrower claws, allow them to better scale), roofed forest (though this is less common as they got pushed to the brink by hunting and war), etc. Endervoids, while taller and more capable of tearing a player apart, are more docile then their endermen relatives (which best defense method is to either outright attack a player and hope to kill them quickly, or to teleport away to safety) and much more agile/flexible (allowing them to stow themslevs away in seemingly impossible to reach spaces and to curl away in tight nooks and crannies, as long as their horns (which unlike their relatives, the endermen, aren’t hidden or reduced in size) are able to fit, they can easily squeeze into many small spaces as they, similarly to felines, lack a collar bone). They are notable for being able to climb walls and cling to ceilings espically, their hooked talons and the structure of their foot allowing them to be capable climbers (they posses a highly flexible big toe that can be twisted to an almost 90 degree angle for better gripping, this feature lacking on endermen as they are made for walking upright more similarly to players. As well, the palms of their feet and hands are covered in a series of small scale-like structures that work similarly to the pads on a gecko’s limb, allowing for better grip though the endervoid does this less so through suction and through these scales adding as extra grip.

Endervoids are often known for their pale white eyes (and while they may hate prolonged eye contact, they don’t get aggroed like endermen) and it is currently unknown how they are capable of sight, as they have no visible pupil. They however have incredible night vision, and while sensitive to light, they have been noted to easily adjust to varying light levels. They also notbaly dont carve down their horns, which unlike those of endermen, are purely made of bone and a tough layer of skin that covers them, though this skin is much more sensitive than that of the endermen’s horn skin (though not weak, the skin is capable of feeling more, as endermen have almost no nerve endings in the skin that surrounds their horns). Instead horns are seen as a sign of health, rank, and skill, as their horns are also more capable for fighting than endermen, which pefer to use their teeth and claws instead while endervoids will often start out through mock charges and threat displays before goring a perceived threat. They are also skilled in using weaponry unlike their relative the endermen, which, due to their long claws, may find the use of tools useless or awkward. Endervoid talons are more adaptable and as so, they often use tools to chisel out their homes, the seeming purposeful designs of some caves tricking some players into thinking these homes are built by other players, this often causing a player to leave in fear of trespassing or wandering until they find nothing of use and leave. Endervoids are less varied in their initial patterns and skin color, with endermen having the capability of being more varied with shades of blues, purples, and even greens. Endervoids often appear to be, well, as the common name void demon presents, to be seemingly made of void. The dark, almost black skin, is however slightly iridescent and may shimmer slight blues, purples, and greens in some lighting or exposure. Most of the time however, endervoids appear the same with the most common variation being their horns, as their horns tend to vary much more than endermen, as most endermen have taken to shaving down their horns from the very point they begin to grow, often resulting in the horn slowly just developing into a nub or ceasing growth way before that period should come.

This would be a much more painful process for endervoids, and to take or damage another’s horns purposefully, as they are very study, is seen as taboo. They often have arching horns with no altering prongs or to develop horns that spiral in on themselves like some gazelle, or curve like that of a ram (which often results in the horn developing a similar texture through the growth of layers of hardened skin, this may happen on any endervoid, but most commonly with those with curling horns). Often arching horns or horns that curve towards each other are most common.

Elsewise they also lack a tail like that of the endermen and can unhinge their jaw. However, they are more adaptable and it is not unheard of them learning to speak other languages and even disguise themselves as players, though the height and odd features may give them away, it isn’t impossible for them to do, espically in servers that may not be new to hybrids. The endervoid is often considered largely a myth or extinct, but they are not as rare as thought to be. They are just incredibly good at hiding and many have gone to other dimensions to keep even lower profiles.

[a-student-out-of-time]

Rambling about V3 Again

Today I saw a really interesting quote from author Brandon Sanderson and it honestly got me thinking. He talked about what he considers the single worst thing you can do with critique in writing, and that’s if a critic “tries to make your story into one they would write, rather a better version of one you want to write.”

That got me thinking about V3.

I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that V3 is a very polarizing game, and I’ve seen many people talk about how they would’ve preferred to see the story play out, from character arcs to deaths to story conclusions. And while I do honestly enjoy seeing alternative perspectives and takes and AU’s, I feel like a lot about the game, what it’s trying to say and be, is skewed by those ideals.

I’m not saying that the critiques about the game are invalid, because there are a fair share of flaws with the game. What I am saying is that we end up talking so much about what we wish V3 could’ve been that what V3 was trying to be often ends up lost in that, and I want to talk about it.

It wasn’t until I really saw this quote that I was able to articulate all my likes and dislikes about the game and the reactions to it into a cohesive whole, which is what I’d like to do here.

So let’s ask this: what was V3 really trying to be?

Let’s start from the game’s theme: the relationship between truth and lies. This is best exemplified by the fact that you have the option to lie during trials, that you can use deception to find the truth. That’s a very different take from the previous games, where hope was associated with finding and confronting the truth.

Kokichi is another example, as he’s a self-admitted liar who claims to lead a criminal organization and it’s hard to tell exactly what he’s thinking or saying. Yet Kokichi actually helps bring the group to several truths: he helps find the culprit in trials, he reveals Maki’s identity as the Ultimate Assassin, tells the truth about Gonta murdering Miu and it’s thanks to his actions that the group later discovers the reality of their situation.

Throughout their journey, the group is confronted by numerous truths they don’t want to acknowledge, even refusing to do so and attacking people who continue to push them through. And with every revelation, there’s always those lingering details that don’t really make a lot of sense.

Let’s look at the game’s main narrative. At the start of the game, Kaede remembers she was kidnapped in broad daylight, thrown into a van, and brought to some abandoned school with a bunch of other people. She doesn’t act like a particularly nice person and is dressed differently, at least until the Monokubs arrive and give everyone their new clothes and memories. From that point, the narrative shifts considerably.

Kaede is suddenly an outgoing, optimistic leader and Shuichi is a sullen, withdrawn detective who serves as her deuteragonist for Chapter 1. She’s resolved to escape the Killing Game and tries to rally the group together. However, when her methods don’t prove successful and they start drifting away from her, she considers saving them by any means necessary and goes so far as to attempt murder against the mastermind. When that happens, she’s found guilty and executed, leaving Shuichi to take up her role as protagonist.

As you go through the game, using devices called flashback lights that apparently reawaken lost memories, you learn more and more about the reason that the group was brought here: the Gofer Project. When meteors began raining down on earth, all seemed lost until they established this project to send a group of survivors into space to colonize a new planet. A group of Ultimates.

They had established early on that Ultimates have even greater rights in this world: they’re the only ones allowed to vote and hold office. As the meteors came down and the news of this project got out, some people formed a cult that believed it was divine judgement and that mankind should be destroyed. That’s when they began the Ultimate Hunt, pursuing the candidates for the Gofer Project across the world. The Ultimates, with no other way out, decided to erase their memories of talent and live their last days as normal people.

To protect them, the people in charge spread a false story that the Ultimates had died, even holding a fake funeral for them and sent them into space secretly. However, while everyone was in cold sleep, one member of the cult- Kokichi- had sneaked aboard and piloted the ship back to the ruined and now inhospitable earth. They have no way back and no way to survive outside, and thanks to Kokichi’s claims to be the mastermind, they’ve been killing each for nothing. The group ultimately loses hope.

However, they’re resolved to continue on in their fight against the mastermind when they find a flashback light that reveals they weren’t just any ultimates: they were the next generation of ultimates from Hope’s Peak Academy. It wasn’t really the meteorites that got everyone, it was an alien virus that pushed mankind to the brink of extinction. That the cult that rose in the wake of this was Ultimate Despair.

That seems like a definitive way to link this game with its predecessors...until you really begin to stop and pick it apart. If this was about saving mankind, why did nobody have their memories right away? Why would you only bring 16 people? Why students who don’t make them suited to colonization? Why people like a death row inmate, a serial killer, a self-proclaimed liar and criminal, and an assassin?

Furthermore, going through many Fte’s highlights how much of the characters’ backstories seem very out there. Gonta wasn’t raised by wolves but a race of dinosaur people living in the woods, Kirumi is so hyper-competent that she became prime minister during the meteor crisis, Korekiyo’s killed almost 100 women and yet has never been caught, Maki can attend high school despite Japanese orphanages being too underfunded for kids to usually attend, Tenko’s neo-aikido breaks all the rules of traditional aikido and she's impulsive, has low pain tolerance, and disregards fair rules, none of which are very befitting of a martial artist.

And to conclude, even I thought that the reveal of their connection to Hope’s Peak felt very fanficy and out there, especially when the game had made no references or implications of it beforehand. But the reason for all of this is simple and effective:

None of this is real. It’s all staged.

Chapter 6 reveals that everything from their identities to the outside world they thought they knew was all just a fabrication. In truth, Tsumugi shows herself as the mastermind and that they’re actually in the 53rd season of an in-universe show called Danganronpa. Something alluded to even in the beginning of the game with the Team Danganronpa logo. This moment was very make or break for a lot of people, but let’s treat it fairly.

According to Tsumugi, the outside world has become a peaceful, boring place and Danganronpa is the only source of real entertainment the people have. A place where people literally come to have their identities replaced with those of Ultimates and then made to kill each other. This, as it turns out, was an outgrowth of the actual series we’d played before. A game that’s gone over 53 times.

This revelation is devastating for the characters. The lives and memories they’d known were all fabrications, which Tsumugi claims to have intentionally written. The Flashback lights were designed to implant fake memories to manipulate them, which is why that Hope’s Peak connection was set up after everyone gave up following the reveal of the outside world. A truth that could lead the world to despair, a lie that could lead the world to hope.

She even goes so far as to show everyone’s audition tapes, claiming that Kaede, Kaito, and Shuichi himself were willing to participate in the killings out of sheer misanthropy, popularity, and morbid excitement 

Kiibo is also revealed to be the audience’s means of interacting with the game, able to carry out their wishes and can even be hijacked and used as a way to fight against the characters’ decisions.

In the end, Tsumugi claims that the ongoing battle of hope vs despair needs to continue in perpetuity and that the survivors need to sacrifice someone, since only two people can survive Danganronpa. Shuichi, however, convinces Maki and Himiko not to vote for anyone and actually convinces the in-universe audience to give up on the series. Kiibo then blows the set to hell and allows Shuichi, Maki, and Himiko the chance to escape and see the world outside and what sort of influence they could have.

Now, let’s this break this down piece by piece here, because I feel like this part of the game is often conflated. Often I’ve seen people say that Chapter 6 is a giant middle finger to fans of the series, that nothing about the series really mattered, or that the flaws of the game can simply be attributed to bad writing on the creator’s part.

I honestly used to be in that camp myself, but the more I’ve thought about it, the more I feel those statements don’t hold up to scrutiny. We often conflate writing and narrative decisions we don’t like with bad writing. However, if the creator deliberately wants the narrative to move in that direction and has made intentional foreshadowing, references, and motivations that match it, we can’t simply equate that with it being “badly written.”

It’s not bad simply because we would’ve preferred they do something different. There’s a lot of very acclaimed books out there that I’ll admit I don’t care for because of their narrative decisions, but I wouldn’t go so far as to say they’re badly-written.

Furthermore, if something intentionally doesn’t make sense in-story, that is not bad writing. That is purposeful on the part of the creator, not a plot hole. The Gofer Project is not supposed to be a logical narrative, it’s meant to serve V3′s role: deconstruction of the nature of the series. It does this in many different ways:

Sequelization: 53 is a ridiculous amount of entries in a franchise and as I’m sure we’re all aware, as the number of entries goes up, the writing quality tends to go down. The Gofer Project story was purposefully meant to be nonsensical because it’s a story in an in-universe franchise that jumped the shark long ago.

A lot of people found it confusing or ridiculous that Shuichi and Kaede would have a romantic connection despite knowing each other barely a few days. That’s also the point; quick romances are a convenient narrative device to establish a means for character growth, followed by fridging her, a bad narrative trope designed to propel Shuichi toward development. Tsumugi even said as much during Chapter 6.

Similarly, Maki’s role in the story and her feelings for Kaito were reminiscent of that as well, with him helping her come out of her shell. 

When you go back, you can see Danganronpa is loaded with references to other series. Tsumugi is an obsessive otaku and went so far as to fill the entire story with deliberate references and callbacks to things she enjoys.

The Monokubs are deliberate references to executive decisions to add more marketable and merchandisable characters as the series drags on.

The fact that there are (supposedly) people willing to sign up for a killing game deconstructs the idea that some in the fandom may have had. That is, actually being in a killing game would not be fun or exciting, but horrific and traumatizing. Most of us wouldn’t be badass detectives or heroes, we’d be scared out of our minds, afraid, and want to find a way out.

Furthermore, Shuichi being repeatedly told that he’s just a fictional character and that his role is to be the protagonist, to go through hardships and come out stronger for the audience’s entertainment pisses him off so much that he wants no part of it. 

The climax is ultimately a deconstruction of what the series is famous for: the battle of hope vs. despair. In-universe, this has been reduced down to a simple narrative where the audience wants the same thing again and again: to see hope win in the end. Because hope keeps winning, the audience keeps wanting more. It’s become so formulaic that the audience doesn’t want to break out of its shell and just wants to see it over and over.

The final PTA against Kiibo is not meant to be an insult to the audience, but a representation of fighting against toxicity and entitlement in the fanbase, especially the ones that don’t want change. It’s not saying “you’re stupid for liking this series,” it’s saying “don’t be like these people.”

And how does the game? An unsatisfying ending that’s so bad that it drives the audience to give up on the show, finally allowing the killing to stop. Tsumugi decides she can’t live in a world without her favorite show and decides to die.

And that brings me to what I think is the ultimate thing that people conflate about the ending: that it’s all fiction, so nothing about it matters. That the entire franchise was fake, so it’s not worth your time.

That’s exactly the opposite of what V3 is trying to say.

First, Tsumugi is a completely unreliable narrator. The kind of person who let fiction consume her entire life, yet she believes it can’t change reality. She’s a liar and a hypocrite, and there’s no way of knowing if anything she says about the outside world is even true. It could be like she says or it might not be.

The fact that they have technology that can remove memories and add fake ones adds an entire dimension of ambiguity to everything she says, especially when you consider how the beginning of the game does not match up with what she says. We have no idea what the kids were really like before the killing game, so why should we believe anything she says?

And how can we be certain of her claims that she just wrote everything as planned? Kokichi and Kaito managed to put together a plan that completely threw her and Monokuma for a loop

Shuichi, Maki, and Himiko ultimately choosing to take the words of Kaede, Kaito, and Tenko to heart, even if they were part of a fictional narrative, is proof that they still had an influence on the trio. They choose to take something meaningful from their experiences regardless of the reality of their situation. And that’s something we all do.

The media we consume has an influence over who we are as people, and it’s part of why so many of us have such strong attachments to works we love. They were often influential in help shape who we are as people now, for good and for ill, and it’s important to take that into account.

V3′s message is that yes, that is important, and that you should read and enjoy stories and fiction, just as long as you don’t let it consume your life. They can influence you and even the world at large, and so it’s our responsibility as writers, artists, and creators to use that influence positively, to use the medium as a way to change the world for the better. That the only way for stale franchises that we’re tired of seeing over and over is to demand change, even if that means walking out on them. That the only way for things to change is for us to take action and demand change.

And by the end, we may not see immediate results, but we can at least work hard at trying to bring them about. V3 ends with Shuichi, Maki, and Himiko facing an uncertain future in a world they really know nothing about, but hopeful that their actions can and will change the world for the better. Real life doesn’t have solid, satisfying conclusions and it always doesn’t play out like a story, but that doesn’t mean you should give up on ever finding something satisfying or hopeful out there.

This, by no means, is me saying that V3 is a flawless story. I can point to numerous critiques that I still think hold water. However, Sanderson’s point is that we shouldn’t criticize a work based on what we wish it was rather than how it is and what it was trying to do.

I know there’s a lot about the story that bothers people, I know there’s a lot that wasn’t polished and a lot that feels uncomfortable and hard to swallow. Like Shuichi, coming out feeling confused, lost, unsure of what to do, but choosing to see merit and things to take to heart even in a story that turned out to be full of lies and uncomfortable truths.

If you didn’t enjoy V3, I wouldn’t force you to enjoy it. If you did love it, then you should love it. These are all just my thoughts on a story that, as time goes on, honestly feels more and more relevant to me.

[moosash]

𝑾��𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑾𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒀𝒐𝒖: 𝙰 𝙵𝚒𝚕𝚖 𝙰𝚗𝚊𝚕𝚢𝚜𝚒𝚜

// PREFACE //

This animated movie just literally blew me away and continues to blow me away that it’s still quite unclear to me why. Maybe it has something to do with the way Makoto Shinkai is able to craft and intertwine breathtaking animations with RADWIMPS’ ever-so-emotional compositions in order to tell a heartwarming story in a series of slowly unraveling sequences and dialogues that properly render the magic, emotion and reality in the plot. This is categorized into the 3 main thoughts and points I saw throughout the film.

These are all my personal takes on the topics discussed below, but you are VERY WELCOME to comment your thoughts, as well!

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// SYNOPSIS //

A boy runs away to Tokyo and befriends a girl who appears to be able to manipulate the weather.

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copyright © 2020 by @brain-pickings (tumblr)

About the Gun

We see Hodaka use the gun in two situations. The first was when he was tackled to the floor while trying to “save” Hina who, at that time, was looking for a high paying job, and the second situation was when Mr. Kei was trying to get him to call saving Hina quits. In both situations, he points it at his target probably to impose a threat, shoots, barely misses, and afterwards, he hurls the gun away with guilt and disgust.My point here is that maybe these scenes wanted to imply that no matter how good or bad your intention was in using a weapon (or anything used to harm in general), it’s still quite bad and you can be held at fault. This also applies to real life crises. Think of it the same way as a white lie —it may be for a good cause but it is still, in fact, a lie.

Keisuke Suga’s Past

It was mentioned that Keisuke’s wife died in an accident and I noticed that whenever the oddity of the weather was being mentioned, he would fiddle with his wedding ring.My guess on this is that his wife was also a former Weather Maiden. Since Natsumi was able to take a picture of Kei, his wife and his daughter, it might’ve already been known that his daughter can’t go out in the rain because of asthma. Maybe her mother wanted her to have a little bit of fun outside and happened to be in the same hospital as the one Hina stayed in with her mother, then she happened to wind up in the same shrine while praying for sunshine and became the next Human Sacrifice for the weather. Then, probably, she did decide to sacrifice herself, maybe for her daughter’s good.This might’ve also been the motive that caused him to discourage Hodaka from trying to save Hina, because of that bitterness. Later on though, he realized that he probably didn’t want Hodaka to make the same mistake and therefore decided to help hold down authorities so he can still save Hina.

Being the “Sunshine Girl”

The way I understood/comprehended the plot’s possibly non-existent underlying meaning may be a little far-fetched, but I think that Weathering with You is about sacrificing one’s self for other people’s happiness to the point of forgetting that it’s okay to just exist.Pertaining to Hina’s usage of her ability as the Weather Maiden to pause the eternal downpour in Tokyo, I noticed that they never made it sunny for themselves (Hina, Hodaka and Nagi). They made a living out of satisfying other people’s requests for sunshine, which can be translated into making other people happy. There’s a scene wherein Hina thanked Hodaka for helping her find her purpose in life, which was to bring happiness/sunshine to others, but since then, I knew that Hina was pushing herself too much to the brink of extinction just because she wanted to fulfill the only role she knew of. To add to that, she also said, “I kept working as the sunshine girl because I was happy to make people smile.” In a way, this can be compared to some modern day jobs where people let their work consume their lives because they think that they would be happier with all their income and material stuff—basically, Hina’s gradual disappearance is, I think, the movie’s version of a burnout. And because of the accumulation of this mindset, the scene where Hodaka says to Hina while falling from the sky, | “Who cares if we don’t see the sunshine again? I want you more than any blue sky.” has a stronger emotional power and is typically one of the scenes where I got goosebumps (with the Great Escape and all), is because that was the pivotal and most warming part of the film wherein Hina’s existence not just as the “Human Sacrifice”, but as a 15-year old girl, living in Tokyo, surrounded with people who treasure her most, was strongly acknowledged by somebody whose opinion mattered most to her.

Definitely a must watch.

[satoshi-mochida]

D3 Publisher and developer Felistella have announced single-player “magic sword creation action RPG” Maglam Lord for PlayStation 4 and Switch. It will launch this winter in Japan.

Here are the first details, via its teaser website:

About

Endangered demon lord species x marriage partner search = magic sword creation action RPG! A brand new game from a team of wonderful creators!

The protagonist made a name for himself / herself as the deadliest demon lord. But after waking up from a long sleep, he / she had somehow been designated an “endangered species”!? In Maglam Lord, aim for a complete recovery of yourself, and craft magic swords and fight alongside companions. To avoid extinction of your kind, you can also even look for a marriage partner in heroes and companions…? This is an exhilarating and brand-new action RPG with a world and scenario by Kei Miyakozuki, character design and illustration by Lack, and crafted by a team of wonderful creators.

Staff

Development: Felistella (Summon Night 5)

World Setting and Scenario: Kei Miyakozuki (Summon Night series)

Character Design and Illustration: Lack (Fate/Grand Order‘s Okada Izou, etc.)

Main Theme: Chiaki Fujita (Sing Like Talking) (“Hikari no Miyako” from Summon Night 2, “Spiral” from Spiral: Machi Koujou no Kiseki)

Sound: Puresound (Summon Night series, Metal Max series)

Follow the game on Twitter @MaglamLord.

Update 5:20 a.m.: Famitsu has shared a few additional details and first screenshots.

In Maglam Lord, you will go on an adventure to forge “magic swords.” The protagonist is a once-powerful demon lord who has since lost his power. (You can choose your gender at the start of the game.)

You will adventure with “partners,” and “marriage partner search” elements are involved in the gameplay.

On the system side, you can enjoy speedy battles with simple controls and elements of hack-and-slash as you take down tough magical beasts to collect materials and forge new magic swords.

The protagonist is Killrizark, the demon lord of swords. The male Killrizark is voiced by Ryuichi Kijima:

And the female Killrizark is voiced by Akari Kitou:

Killrizark is a survivor of the “demon lord species” on the brink of extinction. “Get in my way, and both the gods and the demon lords will be ruthlessly hacked to bits.” At the end of this wild behavior, he / she was subjugated by both sides as an “enemy of the world,” and went into a deep sleep to recover. He / she has no intention of changing their ways upon awakening.

Satius (voiced by Atsumi Tanezaki) is the demon lord’s faithful and hard-working servant in preparation for his / her revival. Although gifted in the martial arts, Satius also is also skilled in black magic and knowledge, and willfully supports, admonishes, and watches over the demon lord. Satius tends to feel inadequate and often sighs. Its gender is unknown.

[phantomwitch16]

Humberto Lopez is a goldmine of a character

I haven't posted anything that was my content for a long time now, and I decided to change that with an essay about my favorite character from Marvel.  With the new development that has happened, I decided to celebrate this Marvel character's return which has been in a limbo state for over half a decade. I will be going into spoiler territory, so if you want to read the comics to learn more about this character, go and read the comics and have your adventure experiencing his journey along with his friends. If you are interested in the character but don't want to read the comics (or go to the wiki), there will be a quick synopsis of his character later on down in the post, but I won't be putting down the necessary details so that this post won't get too long.

He first appeared in the comics was in Avengers Initiative: Featuring Reptil #1 in 2009 and reappeared in Avengers Academy comics that went on from 2010 to 2012. He was also part of the Avengers Arena comic series as one of the game participants and lasted from late 2012 to 2013. However, most people may recognize him from his animated appearance on the Super Hero Squad Show from 2009 to 2011, voiced by Anthony Del Rio. He was also in Avengers Assemble: Frost Fight, made in 2015 with Del Rio returning to voice the character. With these recent developments, in May of 2021, Reptil will be getting his mini-comic series by Terry Blas, and Enid Balám called Reptil...on the Brink of Extinction.

The main reason why I am making this post is that I believe Reptil is a severely underrated character within the Marvel universe. At the time of first writing this, he had not appeared in much since 2013 in the comics or 2015 in an animated setting. I began writing this over a year or so ago after glancing through the Marvel wiki to see anything new that happened since I lost interest in the comics after his supposed 'death' in Avengers Arena. Since then, there have been no new developments to his story until a while ago when there was an announcement on Twitter about his comics' return with his comic series and an appearance in a one-shot Spider Man comic.

To start this rant about him, I'm going to recount his origin story to bring people up to speed to explain who he is, what powers he has, what kind of person he is, his journey and my personal feelings about him before going into the possible story lines Marvel could do for after this short series. On the other hand, pray that they decide to take him out of the creative limbo within the next few years again, straight after this when his journey is getting better. And if you're wondering, yes, I'm still salty that he's been pretty much dead for nearly a decade.

Who is he?

Humberto Lopez is a Marvel character who is a Mexican-American teenage superhero known by the code name Reptil. Like many young kids, he wanted to be a superhero, mainly an Avenger. His parents, however, mainly wanted him to follow in their footsteps and become a paleontologist as they did.

In his first appearance, he was about sixteen years old when he joined the Initiative after his powers appeared to locate his missing parents. When they were declared dead, he went to live with his grandfather in Nevada. Not long after his arrival, he almost gets caught in a landslide that almost kills him when the amulet turns his legs into those of a dinosaur.

What are his Powers?

Humberto's powers are directly tied into the amulet he found in the dig with his parents. With it, Humberto can turn his body parts into those of a dinosaur or any prehistoric animal. If he wanted to, he could turn his entire body into that of the dinosaur. With this power, he runs, flies and becomes as strong as any dinosaur he desires. The major drawbacks of this power are that when he transforms into a dinosaur, he loses control over his instincts and becomes a threat to others. This would make him similar to the Lizard almost when you think about it in that way.

His origin story

His origin story is told in Avengers Initiative, where he made his first appearance. There, we learn that Humberto found his amulet during one of his parent's archaeological digs. During another dig, his parents disappeared without a trace, leaving Humberto to be placed into the care of his grandfather.

After nearly getting killed during a rock slide, he finds out that the amulet transforms his body parts into those of a prehistoric animal and only seems to be reactive to him specifically. He registers with the Initiative during the Skrull invasion. Still, it isn't until a year later, after his parents go on missions when Stregon starts attacking SHIELD bases, that he is quickly trained and joined a small squad led by Tigra to track him down.

However, they later learn that the attacks were Stregon's attempts to locate and rescue Moon Boy, captured by SHIELD scientists. Humberto sacrificed his place among the Initiative to bring Moon Boy back to the Savage Lands and meet Ka-Zar, who swears to help him find his parents.

His Journey as a Superhero

Months after his time with the Initiative, he is kidnapped by Norman Osborn and several other kids to push their powers to the limits. These kids include Hazmat, Finesse, Striker, Mettle and Veil, most of whom were kidnapped or captured against their will and were pretty much tortured to gain results. Soon enough, the Avengers come in to rescue them just before Osborn's HAMMER agents attempt to destroy all evidence of their crimes, which included the Reptil and the other kids and offer them a place to join Avengers Academy.

At the Academy, it isn't long before the kids find out why they are there. While they are led to believe that they were brought in to become the Next Avengers, they were brought in to prevent them from becoming rogue. While Pym and the others know that Humberto is a good kid who wants to help the others with Tigra even telling Pym about him, the major threat with him, as stated previously, is that transforming into a dinosaur will make him lose control over his instincts. 

Anyway, Humberto begins to learn more about himself, his powers begin to develop, more students come to the Academy, and relationships develop with the team, primarily a romantic relationship with Finesse. However, the relationship gets strained after he switches bodies with his future self so that the future Reptil will become a definite one. There he learns of the possible future that he has Finesse and their daughter Maria, which strains his relationship with Finesse in the present. He eventually starts to distance himself from her and eventually develops a close relationship with White Tiger due to their similar powers following a fight with Jeremy Briggs. 

During Christmas, he, along with several other teens, get kidnapped by Arcade to be part of a game where he and the teens would have to kill each other until one remains to walk away. He, Hazmat, Mettle, X-23 and Juston were just some of these kids kidnapped by Arcade.

On the first day, several of the kids died, with one of them being Mettle, who chose to sacrifice himself to protect his girlfriend, Hazmat. It's a downward spiral from there where it leads to the Hazmat and X-23 fighting to the death after X-23 got affected by a trigger scent, several of the kids dead and Humberto's fate is left ambiguous for several years.

My feelings for his journey and the new solo series

Overall, I am excited to see Reptil coming back to the comics. He was one of the characters that got me interested in the Marvel Universe when I started watching the Super Hero Squad and other animated shows made at the time. Shows like Wolverine & the X-Men (Nightcrawler), Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes (Wasp & Ant Man) and Spectacular Spider Man (Spider Man).

This series and an appearance in another comic is a big step for Reptil, and I hope he gets the recognition he deserves and hopefully has more story lines in the future.

Possible story lines

I'm excited about this series is the possible story routes that the writers could go in for the series and afterwards. 

For me, I hope that we get a better look at his mental state and the struggles that he had to face since. Given what he had been since the disappearance of his parents and what had happened at the end of Avengers Arena, it made me wonder if the writers will mention the difference between the person he was and the person he is now. I kind of hope he isn't entirely the same person after that. The experience that he and the other kids went through was very traumatic, and I want there to be some acknowledgement of it like there was with Hazmat and the other kids in Avengers Undercover. 

Before this, I considered making a fan-fiction about Humberto just leaving the Academy, trying to overcome the mental hurdles that are likely PTSD, depression and anxiety. I wanted it to be kind of angsty while showing a bit of truth of someone who is battling those hurdles, feeling alone and showing a bit of self-hatred over his inability to help his friends. Being the leader of his group of heroes in the Academy, a big piece of responsibility that's placed on a sixteen to a seventeen-year-old kid, then being put in a situation where your teammate and one of your best friends died in front of your eyes, I think would lead to Humberto also developing an inferiority complex. It wouldn't surprise me if he felt partially responsible for Mettle and Juston's deaths or even some of the other deaths that happened in the Arena.

And with that, I will be listing nearly everything that has happened to him since he had the amulet. His parents going missing at fifteen, he gets kidnapped a total of three times (first by Osborn and the second and third being by Arcade), having trouble controlling his powers. He is scared to do so, being the leader of his team of Academy students, getting mind-swapped with his future self and seeing the possible future he could have with Finesse and their daughter Maria, having his powers briefly ripped out of his chest (yeah, that happened), losing his friends in Avengers Arena and almost dying from getting nuked by Hazmat.

I hope that we get to see the extent of his injuries because I feel like it would tie in well with the first point above. I mean, you can't say that Humberto isn't resilient. He survived Hazmat having a meltdown and almost got blown to bits. Traumatic experiences can leave a devastating blow on a person. One such injury that might profoundly affect him because it has a tie in his possible future with Finesse. A part which may not exist anymore… Yeah, this sounds dark, but it is plausible.

I hope that Reptil will appear in other Marvel story lines as the main character or make brief appearances here or there. Maybe even join the Champions since we saw him staring at the news looking at Miss Marvels, and maybe even other heroes his age. Maybe interacting with Moon Girl due to their connection to Devil Dinosaur as a partner, hell, maybe even going back into his roots at the Super Hero Squad and maybe developing a mentor-student relationship with Wolverine...if he's still alive, that is...I don't know; it's been a while since I've been keeping up with the comics.