#this is from 2018! it was a simpler time

[schaafdraws]

spoopy! 👻

[fadedgilt]

Calling off work cuz I’m sick with nostalgia

[justinsentertainmentcorner]

Amanda Marcotte at Salon (06.02.2025):

History will no doubt look upon the outcome of the Johnny Depp v. Amber Heard with the same skepticism now applied to O.J. Simpson's 1995 acquittal after charges of his killing his wife and her friend. The 2022 trial, in which Depp sued Heard for defamation after she made anonymous allusions to domestic violence in a 2018 Washington Post op-ed, was a farce — by design. Depp hired publicist Melissa Nathan, who famously bragged she could "bury anyone," to seed social media networks with misogynist rumors about Heard, who had been 25 when she started dating the 48-year-old movie star. The New York Times later reported on Nathan's alleged tactics, based on court documents from a similar campaign against actress Blake Lively. The strategy, according to the Times, is "waging a largely undetectable smear campaign in the digital era," which succeeded when "online criticism of the actress skyrocketed." The evidence in Depp v. Heard, in a sane world, should have favored Heard. His claim to damages was that Heard's op-ed led to him losing his lead role in "Pirates of the Caribbean." A Disney executive denied this on the witness stand, and Depp's longtime talent agent testified that Depp's erratic behavior was what soured his reputation on set. As Jessica Winter at the New Yorker wrote during the trial, Heard produced "a trove of text messages, witness statements, and photos of injuries — which, she says, corroborate her allegations of abuse." Depp had previously sued a British tabloid for calling him a "wife-beater," and he lost, even though British law favors plaintiffs in defamation cases to an outrageous degree. The judge described Heard's side of the story as "substantially true."

[...] As that last sentence suggests, the case ended up being tried in the court of public opinion, where the preposterous story that Depp was the real victim took hold. Instructions to the jurors to ignore the crescendo of support for Depp outside the courtroom didn't matter, leading to a $15 million judgment in his favor. It's not clear how much of the pro-Depp clamor was seeded by his hired guns, but in the end, they were pushing on an open door. As journalist Kat Tenbarge reported for NBC at the time, content creators for TikTok and YouTube found that spreading sexist rumors about Heard was like printing money. There was an immense amount of public hunger in 2022 to forget all the lessons of the #MeToo movement, and instead fall back into the comfortable belief that sexism is a myth, women just make up stories for attention, and it's accused men who are the real victims. 

This week is the third anniversary of the day that a jury favored Depp over Heard. Looking back, the whole situation can be read as a portent for the 2024 election of Donald Trump. The public outpouring of support for Depp reflected a widespread willingness to choose self-delusion over facing hard truths, especially about the dangers of male domination. For a lot of people, it's exhausting hearing about how many women are beaten, raped, killed, harassed, and otherwise oppressed. It can feel much easier to believe it's all just made up. It's simpler to believe that ours is a just system, even as men still hold the lion's share of power and money. It's comforting to imagine that men react to all their privilege with grace and gratitude, and ignore the reality where all too many abuse women because they can. Trump was selling the same message to his voters: Wouldn't it be easier to live in a fantasy where patriarchy is all kittens and rainbows? Isn't it easier to live in the lie than confront the hard truth?

[...] The far-right website Daily Wire spent an astonishing amount of money promoting anti-Heard propaganda during the trial, which confused many people at the time. The Daily Wire is a political outfit, so why would they care about celebrity gossip that doesn't seem to have any partisan value to it? But they understood that Heard v. Depp did benefit Republicans, especially Trump. The entire circus was useful for convincing people that it's okay to choose disinformation over the truth, especially when the facts make you feel bad. It all goes back to George Orwell's insight with the "two-minute hate" in "1984." Self-delusion takes practice. Defending Depp was boot camp for the real test: supporting the lie that Donald Trump would make a fine president. 

The Depp v. Heard trial ended up being a decent predictor of the increased support for Trump in 2024 among young males.

[wakfuarchmageau]

References ARCHMAGE AU

I forgot to post my concepts here (again and again)

Note for the particularly inattentive: personalities and characters have been changed because this is an AU! There is a different timeline and events here, since there are my characters, as well as another goddess Eliatrope and the Great Dragon. Thank you for your attention

here the story will begin about how uh boy who grew up in a tavern with enutrof (okay, Ruel is not a frequent guest), has almost no upbringing…. from an enutrof? Where is the vein of profit and benefit

after the anime with cooking, I thought: why does Yugo almost never cook for the team. literally in the 1st episode of the 1st season they hinted at this, that the boy knows a lot about food. It became sad and I decided to give more of this topic in my AU: that all of Yugo's adventurism went into cooking, and considering that he lived like this for 12 years, he did not have the opportunity to suddenly become a great warrior king.

somewhere in a parallel universe he tries to stew his enemies like meat: peppered and salted

with Adamai the topic is simpler: he lived his whole life on an island where there were hardly any goodies, and the blind dragon clearly did not cook dishes. now he can't tear himself away from normal food and then his twin brother, a cook, comes along

they are not together and i don't apologize.

i actually ship her with armand phph

I can't be cursed for this couple, I shipped them back in 2018. Yugo and Amalia didn't exist then.

but in general there were so many hints that he was like a younger adopted brother to her

in any case, the connection between Sufokia and Sadida instantly allows the second kingdom to survive in the OVA❤️‍🔥 (but ​​the events of my AU only include the first 2 seasons ah oh)

Amalia and Adale are always arguing, but at the same time they are like two slay queens

not really important info here since these characters don't really appear in the storyline but what to do

I won't describe the filth in detail yet, just consider it as a nasty thing that accumulates all the feelings of living beings and turns into a vinaigrette, and the gods are very disgusted by this nasty thing. Like black mold, but slime and still alive and moving.

It was forbidden to return him to the white dimension and many were shocked that someone threw a rational being there. Why is this forbidden: usually all sorts of nasty things or garbage are thrown into empty dimensions and a living person clearly cannot be thrown there. Well, you know, suddenly dissolving into oblivion… it will be unpleasant.

While Qilby the traitor is horrified by the amount of work that Bella does

If the quality of the pictures is terrible, I apologize. The site does not allow you to load more

[fantasyfantasygames]

TECHNOLOGIC

TECHNOLOGIC, d4ffft, 2018

People will license the oddest things.

TECHNOLOGIC (capitals mandatory) is an RPG based on the work of Daft Punk. It's a cyberware game, but not cyberpunk, despite the name of the band. Your characters have quit their grinding day-to-day office or factory jobs, and are now traveling through a slightly trippy, slightly eccentric world to find meaning in their lives.

Attributes are, of course, Harder, Better, Faster, and Stronger. The last two are self-explanatory. Harder is the social attribute, and Better is the mental one.

Skills are taken from the title track, as it were. There's Buy It (wealth), Fix It (repair), Print It (crafting via 3d printers), Leave It (running), Pause It (for distracting people from what they're doing), Work It (sex appeal), etc. Some of them are overly broad, like Use It, which applies to almost all tech in a tech-heavy game, or overly narrow, like Jam-Unlock It in a game with no breakdown rules.

The game engine is very matrix-driven. It's actually pretty reminiscent of the FASERIP success table, if you're familiar with that. You roll, cross-index your stat and your opponent's stat, and end up with a colored result. From best to worst, the results are Fuchsia, Magenta, Indigo, Azure, Teal, and Lime. The first table might get you your final result, or it might tell you to roll on a second table. That might or might not send you to a third table. You get a handful of Get Lucky points, which can move you up to +3 shifts on your color result. The game has a mild "death spiral" (not that combat is a big part of the game), and penalties you pick up from Indigo or Azure successes slowly mean that you get a Fuchsia result and are out of the action.

I gave it a dozen or so rolls, and it seemed to work fine, but I feel like it's too much. It takes too long to resolve, and it takes too many rolls to get the final outcome. You could get the same results with a single, much simpler table and a d100 roll, or maybe contested d20 rolls and using the difference to determine success.

As the game progresses you pick up "Fragments of Time", which are moments that are particularly meaningful to your character. These serve multiple purposes:

They provide roleplaying fodder for how your character should act toward and react to other people.

They provide you a set of Get Lucky points that you can use in situations related to those specific moments

Adding or removing a Fragment gives you XP to spend.

That's probably my favorite part of the game. Those of you who have heard me wax rhapsodic about Tenra Bansho Zero and its marvelous character development mechanics probably guessed that already. (Seriously, read TBZ, the Kiai / Aiki / Fates / Karma loop is my favorite.)

Sadly, the book contains no art. The layout is decent, but apparently while d4ffft got permission to use lyrics and song titles they didn't manage to secure the rights to any imagery and decided to just go to press without it (which, fair). This is one of the few books I feel like could benefit from some early 2000s Poser art. It just feels like the exact right venue for it, you know? Put in some badly rendered metallic scenery with an overly-smooth facsimile of a human being.

@chubbycrowgames made a quick random character generator, so if you do happen to pick up TECHNOLOGIC there's some existing support for it.

[hannahbanana629]

I'm honestly gonna go into this hiatus cautiously optimistic. I DO think BuckTommy will get back together.

I know there's a lot of people feeling down, which is 1000% VALID, but from my pov ignoring and not analyzing what the creator and writers could plan on doing for season 9 and focusing on what we saw in season 8, I think there is a lot of potential for movement between Buck and Tommy.

Now I don't know or want to speculate how that will happen, but everything still seems open and not fully closed just like with the break up. The break up didn't seem final and then they reunited during the hookup and helicopter where there seemed to be a glimmer of possibility of something good happening.

In my opinion, with Bobby dying and the focus on the 118's feelings seemed more important in the last episodes, plus honoring Bobby's legacy, and wrapping up some of the simpler storylines that have been on going like Mara's adoption and the Madney baby, felt like they needed to be completed now, and not next season. In comparison to others like Buck and Tommy reconciling, which can be developed, molded, grown next season. As well as, Athena's storyline, however that pans out.

I could ramble on longer, but I will give you the words from my previous fandom, which is 👇

"True love isn’t easy but it must be fought for because once you find it, it can never be replaced." Prince Charming, Once Upon A Time (2011-2018)

“Believing in even the possibility of a happy ending is a very powerful thing.” Snow White, Once Upon A Time (2011-2018)

p.s. I know, I know these quotes come from a fairytale show, and not a procedural but I stand by it, does that make me biased and seeing things though a certain lens b/c I was tainted by OUAT, sure but whatever.

[holopossums]

I guess I never really officially showed off all of my Rise OCs I've thought up of so far, huh? Some don't have full body designs yet but that's okay. Here we gooo!

Dallas Walker

Human, cis bi man, he/him, 44 years old in the apocalypse timeline (born in 2000). He is mixed east Asian, of Vietnamese and White descent.

Dallas is Krow's/Casey Jr.'s biological father. He went M.I.A. shortly after Krow was conceived, so he was unable to be a father to Krow and husband to Kora (Cassandra). Dallas has somehow survived and is still kickin' it in 2044, just not in NYC. If you poke and prod enough, he may tell you what happened from 2026 to 2044. Though in his words, "It ain't pretty."

Dallas is a former Resistance soldier and a self-proclaimed bad boy. He is bold and takes risks in battle. He is surprisingly social given his lone wolf look, and tends to come off as a nonchalant slacker. Underneath his cool guy persona, he is a sweet and caring man who is fiercely loyal to those he considers worthy.

He does not have any mystical powers, and instead he typically likes to use non-tech weaponry. He is a chain smoker and has some disabilities from the war.

Voice claim: Troy Baker (sort of like Joel in The Last of Us games except imagine a Brooklyn accent instead of a Texan one)

Theme song: Time - Hootie & The Blowfish

----------

Cedrus Draxum

Sheep Yokai, cis gay man, he/him, 653 years old at the start of the series (2018).

Cedrus is Baron Draxum's older brother. He is a politician and is a lead speaker of The Order of Mystica Praesidia. The Order is an elite guard within the Radiant Souls AU that serves as protectors of the Hidden City as well as liaisons between the government and citizens.

He is typically a very calm, mature individual with a warm, welcoming presence. He is a natural leader with a traditional mindset. Cedrus takes great pride in his work, though he is very concerned about honor and social status. Being the eldest Draxum, Cedrus is a perfectionist and often mothers his younger siblings. While he is stern and tries to cover any flaws as best as he can, like his brother he is quirky and a bit dysfunctional.

While warm and welcoming on the surface, Cedrus has been known to use his skills in interpersonal relations, speech, and persuasion, as well as his political/social power, to manipulate others into doing what he wants or orchestrate situations. He views everything he does as for the good of others and a means to an end. Cedrus sees himself above that of a common, dishonest politician who blatantly lies, but those who know him well might disagree.

Currently (as of 2018), Cedrus finds himself bored with his wealth and power, which might lead to some interesting developments. He has considered leaving his job and living a simpler, cleaner life, possibly running away to the surface world. His plan on how to do this, however, may be flawed.

He has a powerful mystic ability to grow trees and manipulate wood. It is rumored that he can create a house within a day, something he neither confirms nor denies.

Voice claim: George Sanders (Shere Khan from Disney's The Jungle Book), Thurl Ravenscroft for singing (Tony the Tiger and singing voice of You're a Mean One Mr. Grinch)

Theme song: Frozen Pines - Lord Huron

----------

Leporyx Lagolune

Jackalope Yokai, enby sapphic, they/them, 540 years old at the start of the series (2018).

Leporyx works in the same elite guard as the Draxums as the Defense Commissioner of Historical Sites. Their job is to maintain barriers and security around important historical and sacred sites in the Hidden City, such as the Crying Titan. They are Baron Draxum's colleague, and they share a mutual hatred of each other.

Leporyx is a witch and alchemist who is known for being talented and highly secretive. They keep out of the public eye as much as possible and seem reclusive. They are a serious and hardworking individual with firm ideas on the way things should be or the way things should work. Leporyx is slightly emotionally closed off and is often blunt or dry-witted. However, they are not cruel and practice kindness. At times they are even quite caring and protective, managing to get along with most kind people. They probably need to take a day off, learn how to have fun, and open up more.

They have a goal to create the Elixir of Life, a legendary substance said to give the user immortality. For what reason they are trying to create the elixir and how they will accomplish it remains unclear.

Leporyx's mystic powers are related to the moon. They wield a giant hammer called Moonhammer which is powered by moonlight. Considering that down in the Hidden City they receive no moonlight, Leporyx has to rely on other spells most of the time.

Voice claim: Wendy Powell (voice of Envy from Fullmetal Alchemist and Phyllis from Ancient Magus' Bride)

Theme song: Moonlight Sonata - Beethoven, Tina Guo

----------

Murdina

Kelpie Yokai, enby lesbian, she/her, 487 years old at the start of the series (2018).

She is a slim bipedal teal horse with a shark-like tail and a wooden-like horn on her forehead. She has sparkly scales and long jet black hair that is always covered in algae. She typically dresses like she is a Celtic bog witch.

Murdina is a dear friend of Leporyx's and, unbeknownst to her, Leporyx's crush. She is ill with a mysterious mystical disease which prevents her from living the way she wants to.

Despite her name sounding like the word "Murder", Murdina is very kind, quiet, and soft-spoken. She is often whispery, sort of like Fluttershy, partly due to shyness and partly due to feeling weak. She is often confined to her bed or the care center that she is staying in, and usually needs mobility aids like a cane, walker, or wheelchair to get around.

She has a love of the ocean and the oceanic body of water within the cavern of the Hidden City. She enjoys collecting shells, sea glass, and other such things. In her youth she was an avid surfer and swimmer. She has a few mermaid friends who enjoy visiting her and giving her little gifts.

Murdina does have mystic powers related to water and mud, but her powers have become too weak to use much.

Voice claim: Helen Shaver (Little Foot's Mother in The Land Before Time)

Theme song: The Bog Bodies (Dorm Demo) - Rabbitology

----------

Selene (Relatively new OC!)

Pegasus-taur Yokai, cis bi woman (formerly thought she was straight), she/her, 570 years old at the start of the series (2018).

She is a white centaur-like horse with giant feathered wings on the back of her lower half. She loves crop tops and gold jewelry.

Selene is Cedrus' ex-wife. They divorced due to Cedrus finally realizing he was mlm and couldn't be sexually attracted to her like he wished he could be, so they stayed on amicable terms. Cedrus still regards her as one of his best friends outside of his political sphere, and Selene also regards him as one of her best guy friends.

Selene has a kindhearted, well-meaning white suburban mom vibe to her. While nice, she may have a limited understanding of certain perspectives. She is known for her beauty and elegance. Selene is feminine and loves shopping, indulging in girly things, and thinking about romances. She appreciates the finer things in life and has expensive tastes. When they were still married, Cedrus was all too willing to indulge her. Fancy restaurants, wine tasting, going to concerts, shopping for pretty diamond necklaces... you get the idea.

She worries often about being seen as old, so she tries to stay hip with it by sometimes talking like she's a teen instead of a mature woman, much to others' chagrin. She invests a lot in things like anti-aging skin creams, makeup, and buys into a lot of health beauty scams. She'd be the sort of mom to be on TikTok.

Voice claim: Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Laurel Lightfoot from Onward and Elaine from Seinfeld)

Theme song: Young and Beautiful - Lana Del Ray

----------

Esther (Relatively new OC!)

Hamster mutant, cis bi woman, she/her, 17 years old at the start of the series (2018), 34 years old when she gets introduced to Krow and the Hamato in the fixed future timeline way later (2035).

Friend and eventual love interest for both Krow and Yukito later on when they're all in their 30s.

Esther is your typical cute bookworm. She was once human and was mutated when she was 21 from a stray Oozesquito, which despite the Mad Dogs' best efforts have not gone extinct and are still roaming around NYC. She now works in the Mystic Library as a library assistant.

She is a kind, pacifistic, curious soul who loves to learn. She is an average 34 year old nerd: eternally online, loves reading fanfiction and playing video games, and loves anime (especially shojo and slice of life). Esther sometimes worries about being a plain or boring girl, especially after meeting the Hamato. She is often so quiet that sometimes people forget that she's there, but she uses it to her advantage to listen in and soak up information.

Esther's mystic ability is Cheeks of Holding. She has pocket dimensions in her hamster cheeks that she can use to store anything she wants. She is completely chill with her role in any group she's in as being the keeper of items.

A quirk of hers is that she loves wearing weird earrings, and every day she has a new set of funny earrings to wear. (Sort of like Mabel Pines' sweaters or Ms. Frizzle's dresses!)

Voice claim: Kimiko Glenn (known for roles such as Kiff from Kiff, Niffty from Hazbin Hotel, Horse from Centaurworld, and Izzy Moonbow from My Little Pony: A New Generation)

Theme song: HALO HALO - Shawn Wasabi (feat. Chevy)

----------

All of these characters are OCs that I roleplay sometimes! I don't mention them too much because most of their writing and characterization happens in private Discords. But I think they're pretty neat and it's about time I shared them :D

[olderthannetfic]

https://olderthannetfic.tumblr.com/post/779889755795095552/httpswwwtumblrcomolderthannetfic779634954778#notes

See, I feel like you're getting massively upsetti spaghetti over something I didn’t even say. You read my comment, completely ignored my actual point, and then built an entire strawman argument you wanna attack.

I even specified that I ONLY used the pilot as an example because it was the most recent and more popular instance of this. It’s not about this pilot specifically, so you’re kinda missing the point and having a bit of an offended tantrum—especially since Idk if you even have a horse in this race.

I’ll make it even simpler. The issue isn’t the in-universe reaction; it’s that every time something like a black magical girl story is made, it’s treated as if it has never happened before. Just for you, I’ll clarify: I’m talking about our real-life, not the fictional “real” life. Even with this pilot, I’ve seen third-parties promoting it by calling it the “first black magical girl” representation. Full stop. As if no artist, especially black, has ever created a black magical girl before.

There’s a pattern where certain concepts are presented as so foreign and alien that audiences are told, “This has never happened before now.” when that’s just not true, it feels like previous creations are being erased just to make the newest instalment seem more groundbreaking.

This isn’t just about this particular pilot; it’s a broader observation on how this kind of wording is almost a trope when it comes to under-represented and especially marginalized groups in different genres. Not this one specifically, just how often I've seen that wording. It’s not just about the in-universe dialogue—it’s about how writers choose to present concepts and how audiences and media outlets love to harp on the “never been done before” narrative, despite how wrong that is.

In other news, I could also have used the “Fem-hero amnesia” phenomenon—where a strong female character is introduced, and suddenly people act like capable female leads never existed before, even in-universe*. Or when Disney kept marketing its “first ever openly gay character” over and over again for about ten movies straight. Or how there’s practically a trope where characters explicitly say, *“Wow, I’ve never seen a [insert demographic] be a [insert cool thing]!” when that's a complete lie, as a nod from the writers thinking they just broke ground.

It's a choice by writers, and the way it's written in-universe for the situations SPECIFICALLY in my previous paragraph also reflects about the lack of knowledge from the writers. (That's the paragraph above this one, the one that starts with: In other news…)

Thing is, I haven't seen that recently because I just don't bother with any more big studio products and haven't in several years now. So Idk what's going on there any more.

I’ve seen black magical girl comics for years and followed many before the tumblr 2018 purge, created by different artists—especially black women who grew up loving the genre. But what I’ve also noticed is that every time one of these comics gains attention, third parties act like it’s the only one that has ever existed. The reblogs would always be filled with "First to ever..." "I've never heard of..." "Why does nobody ever make..." "I don't get why nobody besides this artist..." And this just used to happen again and again, as if people are more interested in calling something the "first ever" than actually checking if that's true, and if there's maybe more artists who write exactly what they want and need support. It’s as much a trope as magical girls having animal sidekicks or every major franchise designing transformation items that conveniently double as marketable toys.

The reason this leaves a sour taste in my mouth isn’t about this specific pilot—it’s about how often this specific type of trope-ish framing is used for works by marginalized creators or heavily featuring marginalized people by audiences.

Also, the most offensive part was honestly you accusing me of being into the MCU. Honestly, at this point, that’s an insult. So… no U! Uno reverse! Hope your parents let you watch those movies if you’re so hung up on them.

--

[zahri-melitor]

Why did Red Robin fail as an alias that Tim was transitioned into? Did it ‘fail’?

I don't have any special insight on this one, but I can give you a bunch of reasons that made it unpopular.

The main one however? It's heavily associated with n52 Tim, and people don't like n52 Tim.

(Heads up going in - I will be using cover dates for all of this, because working with cover dates over publication dates is simpler for me)

Tim used 'Red Robin' as a name between August 2009 and July 2018. This splits up as follows with the major titles he was appearing in:-

2 years, 3 months (August 2009 - October 2011) in Batman Reborn pre-Flashpoint as Red Robin (Red Robin vol 1):

5 years, 1 month (November 2011 - November 2016) in n52 as Red Robin (Teen Titans vol 4 & 5, Batman Eternal, Batman & Robin Eternal):

2 years (August 2016 - July 2018) in Rebirth as Red Robin (Detective Comics):

I wanted to put the photos up to help clarify the differences between each of these versions.

Yes, there's overlap between the last two, because Teen Titans vol 5 finished several months after the start of Tynion's Detective Comics run. The two characters are essentially separate - switching over to Rebirth was a messy process that took several months depending on the title

The majority of appearances of 'Red Robin' as a character are of n52 'Tim Drake', who doesn't have the same backstory, parents or history as Robin as the characters either side of him. He's the one that most long term fans of the character would rather not talk about or think about.

Tynion's Detective Comics run between 2016 to 2018 was about taking the characters therein back to their pre-Flashpoint characterisation, as much as possible. And you can tell from the costume, Tim was 'Red Robin' in name only. He was wearing a Robin costume that simply happened to have an extra R on the crest. He looked like a Robin, acted like a Robin, was doing Robinlike work for Batman, and when Young Justice 2019 started he got a costume update that dropped the extra R from the top and he's been using Robin again ever since (less the attempt at using 'Drake' as a code name in 2020).

So why did it fail? Here's a bunch of reasons:

People don't like the cowl design on Tim: even Marcus To, the artist best associated with Tim as Red Robin before Flashpoint, perpetually draws Tim with the cowl down and often with part of the costume off for commissions and artwork.

People don't like the new 52 version of Tim.

Red Robin was a costume that Tim put on back in 2009 as a punishment to himself while was was doing 'unRobinlike' things looking for Bruce, and once that circumstance was over, there wasn't that much time during Reborn to really cement it as Tim's adult persona due to the universe getting cut off and rebooted.

New 52 Tim was largely not associated with the rest of the Bats for various editorial reasons, making him an outsider that's unusual compared to the rest of his characterisation since 1989.

To show the difference for Tynion's 'Tec run and convince all the fans that new 52 Tim was gone, they decided to make a very clear visual distinction between the characters. That visual distinction essentially was making Tim into a Robin again.

If you're looking at character storyline for Tim Drake, son of Jack and Janet, the story arc effectively goes: Batman Reborn, Convergence, Detective Comics, Young Justice 2019. Which is a story of Tim transferring himself back OUT of the Red Robin costume as he healed and no longer needed it as a temporary measure, and regaining his memories and history.

I mean, why would DC want to use Red Robin for Tim? It's got the difficulty that Jason has taken over effective ownership of the colour red for identification in the family purposes. It's associated with times of grief in Tim's life (because Tim explicitly wears red for loss: for Kon and for Bruce) and with storylines they've excised from his history. It's explicitly a form of self-flagellation.

It could have been Tim's Nightwing, but it's effectively ended up Tim's Grayson period. Something that happened and is referenced, but there are good reasons not to return to.

[ebonytails]

maybe im just dumb but what is the difference between kris p and kris t?

TL;DR - They are Kris Dreemurr fictives and we needed a way to differentiate them

Oh you're not dumb, don't worry! It really is a little confusing because we haven't talked about who they or we are in a very long time. I'm going to talk a lot here so you have all the context you might need! If it''s too long,, the TL;DR above is the gist of it.

For context, we are a system! You can read about it a little in our FAQ

Kris T and Kris P are TWO Kris introjects/fictives of Kris Dreemurr from Deltarune in our system.

Originally we just had Kris T who split in Dec 2018, and then when Chapter 2 came out, Kris P came into our system after that. Of course at first, Kris T. was just "Kris", but since we had a double now, we had to figure out how to differentiate between the two. We knew another Kris fictive from a different system at this time who was nicknamed P. Kris by Susie in our system, and susie wanted to emphasize who she was talking about.

SO. As a small nod to that, everyone decided to nickname Kris P as Kris P, as an inverse of P. Kris.

A little convoluted, I know!

Besides being Kris introjects/fictives though, they also look different! I made some new drawings to try and showcase their differences if that helps :3?

Their dark world forms also look different. Kris T's is simpler, with a shiny soft cape, while Kris P's is more complicated with a hooded cape, which is also described as "very comfortable"

Here's a whole Toyhouse of images of how Kris T. looks like right now! There's also his reference ! vvv

Sorry if you weren't interested in our "life story"! They're not just random characterizations (they are alters), so I wasn't sure how to answer w/o giving you some sort of explanation.

They have their own sideblogs, so if you have specific questions directed towards them, you can always ask here because we'll see it better, or you can send them an ask in their own blogs. Kris T's is @kristalpepsi, and Kris P's is @itswhattheycallyou

[uboat53]

Well, we're rapidly approaching inauguration day which means Trump is going to be president soon. Given that, it's time to inoculate you against a monumentally stupid perception that I can't believe has hung around for an entire decade.

Donald Trump is not smart. He's not playing 5-dimensional chess, he's not finding new ways to solve old problems, and he's not operating on a level most of us can't comprehend. The next four years are going to be hard enough and Trump's administration will undoubtedly do some genuinely terrible things. It will be terrible enough without having to over-analyze and obsess over every nonsensical utterance the man makes. He's actually extremely simplistic and predictable, just in a way that most people have way to much dignity, integrity, and/or shame to attempt.

This week's sideshow is no exception. For those who missed it, Donald Trump has been threatening to militarily seize Greenland, annex Canada, retake the Panama Canal, and rename the Gulf of Mexico and I've seen far too many breathless articles wondering what the strategic intention of these bombastic threats are. Is he trying to obtain concessions? Is he setting up a strategy that will pay dividends down the road? Is he doing something we can't understand yet? Will he follow through with it?

None of that, guys, it's a lot simpler and stupider.

Look, right now, Trump's having a rough time. Biden is doing popular things that Trump wants to undo but will find hard to undo because, you know, they're popular, his attempt to appoint a bunch of incompetent cronies to major executive branch posts is going poorly and it looks likely that a lot of them won't get confirmed, the Senate is also refusing to go on recess to allow him to recess appoint anyone, the debt ceiling didn't get raised or waived, so now he's got to deal with that pretty much immediately upon taking office, he's being forced to admit that he can't do anything about grocery prices or inflation, you know, the two main things he campaigned on, it's looking pretty likely that Jack Smith's final report is going to get a public release before he takes office and can block it, and Republicans are in complete disarray about how to pass even the border and tax bills they agree on much less anything else.

Not only are those not things he really knows how to deal with, they make him look weak. So he does what he always does when he feels weak, he starts shouting about something batshit insane that he thinks makes him look strong instead. Threatening military invasion is stupid, but it's a strong stupid. Not like failing to address any of the problems in the US economy and government or being revealed as a traitor to the country, those are weak stupid things.

This is what he always does, it's so predictable that I don't even have to actually read what he's shouting about to know he's trying to distract from something. You can do this every time. Remember in September how he accused Harris of having the questions from the debate in advance? Yeah, turns out now that FOX News gave HIM the questions from their town hall in advance. Remember when he went on a tirade about immigrants in November of 2018? Yeah, turns out he was trying to distract from China approving a bunch of trademarks for Ivanka. Every time.

So stop driving yourself crazy wondering what incredibly complex game Trump could be playing and start looking for whatever he's trying to distract you from. You'll always find it and, once you do, you can say "ah, okay" and get on with your day and, when someone bring it up, you can then show off by explaining to them exactly what's going on. Trump's not playing hyperchess, he's trying to distract you from the fact that he's losing a game of tic-tac-toe.

[opreaadriann]

Last Update of 2024

Hello, everyone! The year where I’ve come back is coming to an end and High School Revenge, unfortunately, is nowhere near the end haha.

I’m going to start this update by thanking everyone for the continued support, it’s amazing to see so many people from back in 2018 still coming back here to check on the story and to see so many new readers invested in my characters. Hopefully in 2025 I’ll push a bit harder than I did this last month and we’ll maybe finish more than one chapter haha. I would also like for our MC to get revenge at least on one of the characters, a semi-big one at least, in the near future…

In theory things should get simpler for future chapters, since I’ll still use many of the events from this chapter and many things that I wrote now will come up later, so that’s gonna be really nice. I’ve also noticed I haven’t played the game myself in a long time, so first thing I’ll do after finishing this chapter is actually reading my own story haha.

To celebrate a bit, here’s a list of all the stuff I’ve written and done this year since coming back, just so I can feel better about it all and not feel like the lazy writer that I know I am:

Chapter 1 – Rewritten a bunch of stuff (18 year old me didn’t do English that well…) – Made Olivia try to stop you from jumping right into the Tragedy – MC’s head now bleeds after being hit with a metallic crown (yikes) – Connor now manipulates MC into feeling accepted by the group

Chapter 2 – Choice to change pronouns and/or transition to a different gender (making dad 1 hate you, yikes…) – Created hobby skill stats (I forgot these didn’t exist) – Become financially independent (kinda…) – Recruit both Angela and Marcus (you could only recruit one. Yikes…) – Extra week for preparation – Colored contacts for eyes – Sexuality and romantic experience choice – Nice little comments if you choose the same family name as one of your other fathers – Choose if you’re a smoker (most important choice here)

Chapter 3 – Chapter 3! This was not a thing before my unfortunate disappearance! Funny thing, the conversation with Michael was already written before my death, but I got very annoyed with the choices I wrote. I allowed you to punch Michael in the face, which resulted in a really weird start for the game. When I saw how weird everything went, I gave up. When I came back, I killed the idea completely. Maybe we can punch him at the start in a DLC… – Rewrites over rewrites. – The first hobby events! – The first meetings with all of the ROs!

Chapter 4 – Too much to write down… Short of it would be: – Relationship events with all ROs – Second hobby event, first chance to ruin your targets’ private life! – Random events! – Burt can stalk people now! (yikes…) – You go to a party and stuff happens! – You can learn one of Connor’s and Michael’s secrets! – You can campaign to become homecoming royalty! – You can ask most of the ROs to homecoming! (I’ll finish this, I promise) – Marcus is much more useful as an ally than Angela! (she’ll get her chance to shine, don’t worry Angela-mancers)

Anyway, more words might have been written, but I forgot. I came back at the end of March, so it’s been 9 months. Pretty crazy stuff. Thanks again for all the support, let’s make 2025 the year we finally get revenge and live out our sick fantasies (and likely feel bad about it afterwards…).

[4okra]

my term paper written in 2018 (how ND games were made and why they will never be made that way again)

hello friends, I am going to be sharing portions of a paper i wrote way back in 2018 for a college class. in it, i was researching exactly how the ND games were made, and why they would not be made that way anymore.

if you have any interest in the behind the scenes of how her interactive made their games and my theories as to why our evil overlord penny milliken made such drastic changes to the process, read on!

warning that i am splicing portions of this paper together, so you don't have to read my ramblings about the history of nancy and basic gameplay mechanics:

Use of C++, DirectX, and Bink Video

Upon completion of each game, the player can view the game’s credits. HeR states that each game was developed using C++ and DirectX, as well as Bink Video later on.

C++

          C++ is a general-purpose programming language. This means that many things can be done with it, gaming programming included. It is a compiled language, which Jack Copeland explains as the “process of converting a table of instructions into a standard description or a description number” (Copeland 12). This means that written code is broken down into a set of numbers that the computer can then understand. C++ first appeared in 1985 and was first standardized in 1998. This allowed programmers to use the language more widely. It is no coincidence that 1998 is also the year that the first Nancy Drew game was released.

C++ Libraries

          When there is a monetary investment to make a computer game, there are more people using and working on whatever programming language they are using. Because there was such an interest in making games in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, there was essentially a “boom” in how much C++ and other languages were being used. With that many people using the language, they collectively added on to the language to make it simpler to use. This process ends up creating what is called “libraries.” For example:

          If a programmer wants to make a function to add one, they must write out the code that does that (let’s say approximately three lines of code). To make this process faster, the programmer can define a symbol, such as + to mean add. Now, when the programmer types “+”, the language knows that equals the three lines of code previously mentioned, as opposed to typing out those three lines of code each time the programmer wants to add. This can be done for all sorts of symbols and phrases, and when they are all put together, they are called a “package” or “library.”

          Libraries can be shared with other programmers, which allows everyone to do much more with the language much faster. The more libraries there are, the more that can be done with the language.

          Because of the interest in the gaming industry in the early 2000’s, more people were being paid to use programming languages. This caused a fast increase in the ability of programming. This helps to explain how HeR was able to go from jerky, bobble-headed graphics in 1999 to much more fluid and realistic movements in 2003.

Microsoft DirectX

          DirectX is a collection of application programming interfaces (APIs) for tasks related to multimedia, especially video game programming, on Microsoft platforms. Among many others, these APIs include Direct3D (allows the user to draw 3D graphics and render 3D animation), DirectDraw (accelerates the rendering of graphics), and DirectMusic (allows interactive control over music and sound effects). This software is crucial for the development of many games, as it includes many services that would otherwise require multiple programs to put together (which would not only take more time but also more money, which is important to consider in a small company like HeR).

Bink Video

          According to the credits which I have painstakingly looked through for each game, HeR started using Bink Video in game 7, Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake (2002). Bink is a file format (.bik) developed by RAD Game Tools. This file format has to do with how much data is sent in a package to the Graphical User Interface (GUI). (The GUI essentially means that the computer user interacts with representational graphics rather than plain text. For example, we understand that a plain drawing of a person’s head and shoulders means “user.”) Bink Video structures the data sent in a package so that when it reaches the Central Processing Unit (CPU), it is processed more efficiently. This allows for more data to be transferred per second, making graphics and video look more seamless and natural. Bink Video also allows for more video sequences to be possible in a game.

Use of TransGaming Inc.

          Sea of Darkness is the only title that credits a company called TransGaming Inc, though I’m pretty sure they’ve been using it for every Mac release, starting in 2010. TransGaming created a technology called Cider that allowed video game developers to run games designed for Windows on Mac OS X (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Findev). As one can imagine, this was an incredibly helpful piece of software that allowed for HeR to start releasing games on Mac platforms. This was a smart way for them to increase their market. 

          In 2015, a portion of TransGaming was acquired by NVIDIA, and in 2016, TransGaming changed its business focus from technology to real estate financing. Though it is somewhat difficult to determine which of its formal products are still available, it can be assumed that they will not be developing anything else technology-based from 2016 on.

          Though it is entirely possible that there is other software available for converting Microsoft based games to Mac platforms, the loss of TransGaming still has large consequences. For a relatively small company like Her Interactive, hiring an entire team to convert the game for Mac systems was a big deal (I know they did this because it is in the credits of SEA which you can see at the end of this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0gAzD7Q09Y). Without this service, HeR loses a large portion of their customers.

Switch to Unity

          Unity is a game engine that is designed to work across 27 platforms, including Windows, Mac, iOS, Playstation, Xbox, Wii, and multiple Virtual Reality systems. The engine itself is written in C++, though the user of the software writes code in C#, JavaScript (also called UnityScript), or less commonly Boo. Its initial release took place in 2005, with a stable release in 2017 and another in March of 2018. Some of the most popular games released using Unity include Pokemon Go for iOS in 2016 and Cuphead in 2017.

          HeR’s decision to switch to Unity makes sense on one hand but is incredibly frustrating on the other. Let’s start with how it makes sense. The software HeR was using from TransGaming Inc. will (from what I can tell) never be updated again, meaning it will become virtually useless soon, if it hasn’t already. That means that HeR needed to find another software that would allow them to convert their games onto a Mac platform so that they would not lose a large portion of their customers. This was probably seen as an opportunity to switch to something completely new that would allow them to reach even more platforms. One of the points HeR keeps harping on and on about in their updates to fans is the tablet market, as well as increasing popularity in VR. If HeR wants to survive in the modern game market, they need to branch outside of PC gaming. Unity will allow them to do that. The switch makes sense.

          However, one also has to consider all of the progress made in their previous game engine. Everything discussed up to this point has taken 17 years to achieve. And, because their engine was designed by their developers specifically for their games, it is likely that after the switch, their engine will never be used again. Additionally, none of the progress HeR made previously applies to Unity, and can only be used as a reference. Plus, it’s not just the improvements made in the game engine that are being erased. It is also the staff at HeR who worked there for so long, who were so integral in building their own engine and getting the game quality to where it is in Sea of Darkness, that are being pushed aside for a new gaming engine. New engine, new staff that knows how to use it.

          The only thing HeR won’t lose is Bink Video, if that means anything to anyone. Bink2 works with Unity. According to the Bink Video website, Bink supplies “pre-written plugins for both Unreal 4 and Unity” (Rad Game Tools). However, I can’t actually be sure that HeR will still use Bink in their next game since I don’t work there. It would make sense if they continued to use it, but who knows.

Conclusions and frustrations

          To me, Her Interactive is the little company that could. When they set out to make the first Nancy Drew game, there was no engine to support it. Instead of changing their tactics, they said to heck with it and built their own engine. As years went on, they refined their engine using C++ and DirectX and implemented Bink Video. In 2010 they began using software from TransGaming Inc. that allowed them to convert their games to Mac format, allowing them to increase their market. However, with TransGaming Inc.’s falling apart starting in 2015, HeR was forced to rethink its strategy. Ultimately they chose to switch their engine out for Unity, essentially throwing out 17 years worth of work and laying off many of their employees. Now three years in the making, HeR is still largely secretive about the status of their newest game. The combination of these factors has added up to a fanbase that has become distrustful, frustrated, and altogether largely disappointed in what was once that little company that could.

Suggested Further Reading:

Midnight in Salem, OR Her Interactive’s Marketing Nightmare (Part 2): https://saving-face.net/2017/07/07/midnight-in-salem-or-her-interactives-marketing-nightmare-part-2/

Compilation of MID Facts: http://community.herinteractive.com/showthread.php?1320771-Compilation-of-MID-Facts

Game Building - Homebrew or Third Party Engines?: https://thementalattic.com/2016/07/29/game-building-homebrew-or-third-party-engines/

/end of essay. it is crazy to go back and read this again in 2025. mid had not come out yet when i wrote this and i genuinely did not think it would ever come out. i also had to create a whole power point to go along with this and present it to my entire class of people who barely even knew what nancy drew was, let alone that there was a whole series of pc games based on it lol

[dolphins-cove]

I found an intro template werecreatures used back in AWHH times so i will fill it out now :))

Name: Loki

Were Name: Loki

Email Address: \

Phenotype: Brown eyes, 1,60m tall, idk what else belongs here

Shifting Ability: Mental and phantom shifting mainly.

Birthdate: not sharing

Birthplace: earth

Home Territory: Forest near my home. It has a pretty river :))

Dream Territory: the ocean.

Physical Description, Were: Im a striped dolphin, mostly grey with a lighter belly and side, stripes going from my beak to my tail.

Human Career: future ride operator

Hobbies/Interests: Themeparks! Rollercoasters specifically and i play the guitar

Favorite Movies: the last unicorn

Favorite Were-movie: my favorite were-related movie is probably princess mononoke but im not sure right now

Favorite Literature: i usually dont read but i remember liking the fox craft books

Favorite Were Literature: i guess fox craft is were enough

Favorite Art: idrk what to answer here tbh

Favorite Were-art: same here

Favorite Quote: "its a dolphins birthright to swim in a straight line in the ocean as far as its heart desires." - Ric O'Barry 

Favorite Were Saying/Quote: i really like the scene in princess mononoke where san tells ashitaka that shes not a human but a wolf. I think this fits here well

Favorite Personal Quote: i dont make creative quotes :(

Favorite Song/Band(s): I like IMAscore alot

Favorite Season: spring

Favorite Holidays: Christmas!

Preferred Prey: fish! And octopus/squids

Hunting Tips: you dive, swim fast and catch your prey with your mouth and go NOM

Preferred Method of Attack: NOM

Favorite Non-Were Mythological Beast: not a beast but Unicorns, i am a unicorn kin tho so its were related actually

Feelings Toward Vampires: my best friend is one!

Feelings Toward Normal Humans: i tend to avoid humans.

Personal Therianthropy: I awakened between 2017-2018 in winter, i discovered the term therian and i knew, this is me. From then on i thougt i was a wolf then over the years i found out im a dolphin. I have multiple were identities but being a dolphin is the most dominant. I identify as a dolphin psychologically and physically, i view my body as the one of a dolphin. Being a were influences my life daily because i am always dolphin. I always feel dolphin and it sometimes affects the way i perceive things. I also tend to talk in a simpler language when fully transformed.

Ill update this at some point when i thought abt certain questions more!! :)

I changed some things up in the template btw, since i am not human i had to adjust the points to neutral words!

[avantegarda]

The Avantegarda Extended Blog Universe

It occurs to me that some of you fine souls are unaware of my crippling sideblog addiction. Here's a list of all the places you can find me on this webbed site for as long as it lasts.

@avantegarda : this one! In one form or another, I've had this blog since 2011. Back then I was an innocent 18 year old girl whose primary desire was to fuck Marvel's Thor. Simpler times.

@sylvienerevarine : My Elder Scrolls blog. I started playing Morrowind on a whim in 2022 (20 years after it first came out) and fell in love with the series. Then it became the 2nd ever fandom I'd posted fic to AO3 about 😅

@funniestbitchinfaerun : Baldur’s Gate blog, which came about under similar circumstances to the above. If you like this game and its cast of insane bisexuals, you may also like the dumbass romcom I've started writing about it

@austrohungarianwriteblr : My original-writing blog centered around my historical-romance series set in 1860s Vienna. I don't update this one as frequently these days, but that's no reason you shouldn't buy my book.

Blogs I Don't Update Anymore:

@textsfromthesilm : a delightful gimmick blog I ran back when "texts from last night" was still culturally relevant.

@thegatesfamilyfiles : a testament to that heady period in 2018-2020 when I created an AU wherein I basically rewrote all of the Tolkien canon as a BBC period drama

[londonfoginacup]

The Busker | Chelsea Frew / @chelsea-frew Harry/Louis | 7k

A snowstorm has trapped artist Louis at home on his birthday--Christmas Eve--and on Christmas. Louis anticipates a lonely holiday. A mysterious stranger appears on Christmas morning, however, and Louis doesn't have to spend the day alone. But where did the man come from? Why does he seem familiar? It's a Christmas mystery.

This fic feels like reading a Hallmark movie! It's full of Christmas magic and has that sort of wistfulness that makes you think of simpler holiday times. In a good way! The perfect fic to read while you're laying in bed, to ease the scaries of having to get up and continue with your day.

☕️ Pairing Suggestion: Pair this fic with some orange hot chocolate to keep your hands warm, and peanut butter fudge!

For more Christmas fic recs: 2023; 2022; 2021; 2020; 2019; 2018; 2017