#this is where this starts becoming more of a star trek FUSION

[blairelythere]

Never seen ultraman

What should I watch first to see if I like it or not?

Ultraman is a tokusatsu series with a very large variety of tones and styles. Each season is distinctly different from the last, especially in the New Generation era. Some seasons are very serious and gritty, some are slice-of-life, and some are light plot/heavy action. It's up to you on what you'd prefer!

I want to preface with the three eras (and sub eras) of Ultraman, just so you're aware of these terms when they come up:

Showa (1966 - 1987)

Heisei (1996 - 2012)

-> Heisei Trilogy/Part 1 (1996-1999)

-> Heisei Part 2/Phase 2 (2000 - 2012)

New Generation (2013 - Present)

-> Reiwa (2019 - Present)

That being said, I give you 5 equally valid options to begin:

Option 1:

Ultraman (1966)

Start with where it all began!*

Ultraman (1966) is Japan's take on the Twilight Zone but with a superhero-esqe twist. If you enjoy older sci-fi like the early seasons of Doctor Who or the first Star Trek, you'll greatly appreciate the practical effects, deep but episodic plots, and the unique kaiju/seijin.

From there, watch in order of release and enjoy just how much the show evolves. All the highs and lows.

*(Side note - technically Ultra Q (1966) is the first show but does not feature Ultraman whatsoever. This show serves as a prequel to the idea of kaiju and seijin in the modern world. If you're a completionist, you can start here and be amazed at how there are *still* monsters and plots making reappearances from this show)

Option 2:

Ultraman Tiga (1996)

Ultraman Tiga is the beginning of the Heisei Era and is widely regarded as one of the best series in the entire franchise.

I have lots of love to give to Tiga specifically, and this post of mine explains why that is:

Option 3:

Ultraman Mebius (2006)

Ultraman Mebius is the 40th anniversary of the Ultra series and is a beautiful continuation and love-letter of the Showa Era timeline. It features returning cast members, monsters, and plotlines from Ultraman, Ultraseven, Jack, Ace, Taro, Leo, and 80 (which all take place on the same Earth).

This show is a perfect introductory piece to the series because it exposes you to such a large amount of lore from the past while recontextualizing it with modern effects, richer storytelling, and a more serious tone. Mebius has so much heart, happiness, and hopefulness. It's a very positive and "heroic" type show.

Option 4:

Ultraman Orb (2016)

Ultraman Orb is, even while nestled in the near-middle of the New Gen Era, a fantastic starting piece and my typical recommendation for starters. It's quite fun and light-hearted but has an intense emotional core surrounding lost love and a broken friendship. The action and special effects are top-notch, and the main villain is an ICONIC character who pops up many times in later shows.

This show introduces fusions, which become a frequent New Gen trend (Orb does it the best of all). Great choice if you're looking to get dropped somewhere not too confusing or plot-intensive yet still action-y and engaging.

Option 5:

Ultraman Blazar (2023)

Ultraman Blazar is the newest season of Ultraman and started airing back in July. As of writing this, we are currently at Episode 8.

Blazar is unique and inventive so far in both its plot and aesthetic. It has a semi-serious sci-fi/military feel mixed with amazing new kaiju and.... a really strange Ultra lol. Blazar is unlike most thus far. He's primitive and beastly, kinda like a caveman.

It may not be the most completely accurate representation of the series as a whole, but nothing beats the excitement of watching the newest season as it airs!! The Tsuburaya official YouTube channel simulcasts each new episode as it airs in Japan (with japanese or english audio and subs).

~

I wish you luck on your multiverse-spanning Ultraman adventures!

Feel free to ask more questions if you have any 💛💛💛

[aerialworms]

Thanks for the WIP meme tag! Can I ask for more details about Boldly Go, please? 👀

Absolutely, thank you for asking!!!

Boldy Go is the first fic I wrote in my Destiel Star Trek fusion AU, Tales From the USS Impala. It's a PWP where Dean (First Officer) notices Cas (half-Vulcan Captain) has been getting real stressed and is taking it out on the crew, so he suggests they sleep together as stress relief (and totally not cause he has a crush on his captain or anything, no, he just respects his uh. professionalism.) Cas sees this as a logical arrangement to meet both of their needs, and doesn't read any emotion into it, leaving Dean confused and a little hurt at the end when he treats it like a one-night stand.

What was difficult to write about it is that I wrote it from Cas' POV (in third person, but following Cas), and trying to write smut while using the voice of someone who a) is unfamiliar with human expressions and emotions, and b) would not know 'sexy-sounding' words for genitals etc was incredibly hard (pun intended). Mad respect to K/S shippers who write from Spock's POV! I think I pulled it off, though. I did try writing it from Dean's POV, but I found getting into Cas' head and observing Dean's behaviour from his alien point of view was way more interesting to me, if more difficult to get right. Plus, from Dean's POV Cas came off as detached and cold, but I wanted to show that despite his mask of emotionlessness he feels deeply, just like Spock.

That said, I might rewrite it once I've written the first (chronologically) fic in the series. I'm wary of changing their characters in the prequel to this, so I want to have that drafted before I edit this one and the third in the series, since how they meet/interact in the prequel will inform their characterization later on. We'll see!

Also, fun fact: Boldly Go is a working title, shorthand in my WIP folder for To Boldly Come (Where No Man Has Come Before). There's a good chance I'll just publish it under that name, since I can't think of a better one 😁

Some behind the scenes stuff: I wrote this fic at the start of NaNoWriMo last year, after saying I was going to spend November finishing my other WIPs. I'd just started watching Star Trek and absolutely loved the Kirk/Spock dynamic and thought it mapped well onto Dean/Cas. So naturally, instead of working on any of my other fics, my brain latched onto the AU and made me write it. It was just supposed to be a oneshot (And then I was totally gonna go work on my WIPs!), but then I kept thinking of more and more fic ideas for this fusion AU, and I wanted to tell the story of how they met (A Rose By Any Other Name Would Be Just As Annoying), then have some angsty getting together (The Law of Possession), because after Boldly Go, they become friends with benefits and they both catch feelings, although neither of them talk about it properly cause they're repressed idiots (affectionate), and, and, and ---

I ended up with 13 fic ideas for this universe.

None of my other WIPs got finished.

So!

I hope to actually start posting this series soon, since I fixed a plot problem in A Rose and can now bash out a first draft. There's plenty of stuff in my head and on paper, I just gotta keep at it!

[monarchetype]

ao3 questions meme

Stolen from @lurking-latinist​‘s post. Doing this on my main blog since the answers ended up being multifandom.

1. How many works do you have on Ao3?

55 works.

2. What’s your total Ao3 word count?  

171,997 words! That’s almost half a Sanderson novel!

3. How many fandoms have you written for?

Ao3 says 19, but a lot of those have massive overlap. I’d group them into Metal Gear, Doctor Who (+spinoffs), Critical Role, Final Fantasy XIV, Xenoblade Chronicles, Monster Hunter, Wheel of Time, and Star Trek. That’s only 8. Doctor Who’s many fandom tags are doing the heavy lifting there, methinks.

4. Top 5 fics by kudos?

My Critical Role longfics definitely clear here.

#1: Angel With a Shotgun, an AU of the Briarwoods arc where Percy is an Aasimar and doesn’t have Orthax

#2: The Fallout of Falling Up, a one-shot follow-up to Angel With a Shotgun

#3: Harbinger of Change (For Better Or For Worse), a little canon-compliant one-shot about an episode of The Legend of Vox Machina, written the week said episode came out. Apparently relevancy does wonders for your kudos count- I wouldn’t know.

#4 Liquid Lives, a Metal Gear Solid AU where Liquid Snake, y’know, Lives. (Yes, I promise it WILL be updated.)

#5 Heart of Whitestone (Residue Animate), a post-Campaign 1 Critical Role fic where all the magic rock that Whitestone is built on becomes sentient. Shenanigans ensue. Also, not dead, I would like to wrap this one up as well.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why/why not?

Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t. If I don’t have anything to say about the comment, then no, but if it’s a question I’ll gladly answer and if it’s a lengthy, high-effort comment then I will be sure to respond to show my appreciation.

6. A fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Love Thy Fellow Man, easily, no competition. My only fic marked “Mature” and unrepentantly tragic.

Runner-up is a much tighter competition, including but not limited to Died With Him- the tag “Seventh Doctor gonna Seventh Doctor” says it all, really- In Too Deep (The Look On His Face) wherein I imagine the protagonists of Metal Gear erring just a little too much on the side of love, and Butterfly, which is pure Shalvis + Endless  Now angst (it’s a Xenoblade thing.)

7. Do you write crossovers?

Very rarely; both of my published crossovers are with Final Fantasy XIV. Vox Machina Plays FFXIV Online A Realm Reborn Plus Award-Winning Expansions is, of course, not a true crossover in that it’s the party of CR campaign 1 playing FFXIV. The Award-Winning Expansion of Rassilon is a bit more of a traditional crossover, with a setting fusion between FFXIV and Doctor Who.

FFXIV is a hyperfixation of mine that has been going nearly 2 years strong now, outlasting both Critical Role and Metal Gear Solid, so it’s not surprise that it’s the focal point of my crossings-over. (And before you ask: yes, there’s a page or so of a draft of the cast of Metal Gear Solid playing FFXIV somewhere in my writing folder.)

8. Ever received hate on a fic?

One time I had someone post “this sucks, kys” on some of my works, but I think it was splashover from my Twitter account, considering it was three unrelated works from two entirely different fandoms.

9, Do you write smut?

Absolutely not.

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I’m aware of. 

11. Ever had a fic translated?

Nope.

12. Have you ever co-written a fic?

Also nope. My motivation is very unreliable (cough cough unfinished longfics) so I wouldn’t want to put that on someone else.

13. All time fav ship?

I only started appreciating ships recently (more or less when I started my ao3 career) so it’s basically too early to tell. Otasune is probably the ship I understand the best, so let’s go with them.

14. WIP you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

Oof. I’d like to wrap up Liquid Lives and Heart of Whitestone at some point, and I think it’s doable (hey, I wrapped up AWAS!), so let’s be optimistic and not say those two. As for something I want to finish but think it beyond me: probably the idea I had for a sequel to Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance that I came up with before I even played the game and had a few on-and-off bursts of motivation to work on. 

15. Writing strengths?

Ouch, that’s a hard one. Definitely not character voice or finishing what I started. “Ideas” is also a terrible answer (everyone has good ideas). Looking at my ao3 works I struggle to find a common point of pride across individual fics... let’s just go with writing without caring that I’m writing about things that aren’t popular.

16. Writing weaknesses?

Confidence that I’m capturing characters voices, finishing what I started, setting a scene.

17. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in a fic?

Write it in English, indicate it’s another language, stay constitent with how you indicate it.

18. First fandom you wrote for?

Published a work for? Critical Role. Wrote down, in the physical world? Minecraft. Wrote in my head? Unknown- I’ve been writing stories in my head for as long as I’ve been conscious.

19. What’s your fav fic you’ve written so far?

Find Our Wings. My progression and growth alongside the Angel With a Shotgun series is very obvious in Find Our Wings, I think. It’s clear (to me, at least) how comfortable I am in the skin of the two POV characters. The emotions and ideas I explore in Find Our Wings are also much more robust than most of my other fics- who knew that could correspond to longer wordcount! It’s one of the few fics I can go back and read and not immediately jump on every little error or thing I can improve on... probably because I sat on it for a few months before publishing. Editing! Wow!

[sabraeal]

He Who Studies Evil [Part 2/4]

Part 1

A prequel to Wanting Is More Pleasurable Than Having (And Other Things Vulcans Don’t Know a Damned Thing About), written for @bubblesthemonsterartist 

There are pleasantries to observe when the runabout docks. Haruka hardly expects them from a group of war-mongering mine managers, but when he steps through the airlock, ensigns flanking him to either side, he’s pleasantly surprised to find a greeting party.

“Welcome,” their leader says, the tallest among them, though none of the Cardassians are what he would consider small. Perhaps not as broad and muscled as he would expect, but then again, alien biology holds a cornucopia of oddities. One only underestimated a Vulcan once before believing in their superior muscle density. “You are invited to meet with Gul Dukat presently.”

Gul Dukat, the prefect of Bajor. A man much maligned by the planet’s population, as far as he can tell, though he doubts the Bajorans would welcome even the most benevolent overlord if he were Cardassian.

He is also the man brokering this peace. The representative Cardassia wished to pit him against.

Already they are trying to throw him off his guard, but no one makes captain without a degree in quick-thinking. “Thank you for the warm welcome. We are honored by the prefect’s invitation and will join him after we--”

“There’s no need,” the ranking Cardassian tells him. “Your effects will be brought to your quarters, and you will go to Gul Dukat. Follow me. You do not wish to keep him waiting.”

Haruka hesitates. The Federation wants this treaty, yes, but allowing himself to be summoned as a supplicant to this Gul Dukat would set himself at a disadvantage, would make this so-called prefect believe that he held all the power in this exchange. A dangerous place to be, when the only thing separating him from an unfortunate mining-related accident was two junior crewman.

“He means that,” Ensign Shidnote mutters, jostling his shoulder in a way that could be easily be an accident, two men in too-close quarters -- except for the way the boy is so careful not to look at him, to pitch his voice low. “Punctuality is a religion to these people.”

He stares, and not for the first time, wonders exactly how that ensign got that scar across his nose.

“Sir,” he adds belatedly, an afterthought.

“I thought the Union didn’t allow religion,” Haruka manages, still rooted to the spot.

“Well.” Shidnote shrugs, sauntering off the docking platform. “Had to replace it with something, I guess.”

It is said Cardassia used to be covered in old Hebetian vaults, a marvel of sweeping architecture, the cradle of humanoid life. But those ruins are all but gone now, instead replaced with the style enthusiastically purveyed by the Union -- tall, imposing buildings; architecture meant to intimidate rather than inspire. Unless, of course, one wished to inspire fear, in which case, the Cardassians had gotten that down to an art.

Terok Nor was a microcosm of that fear, of that oppressive sensation of being watched. Their escort led them across what he brusquely introduced as the promenade, an open area where it seemed brisk trade was conducted, and both the Bajoran workers and their Cardassian overlords could relax for a spell, though never in the same place. Even here, Haruka could not shake the feeling of a hundred eyes on his back, not until he followed the soaring spikes of the pylons upward, up to where the higher level loomed, every banister lined with armor-clad Cardassians.

“It’s a trick,” Shidnote tells him, voice pitched low, so no one but him and Sui can hear. “Meant to make you feel observed. They think it cuts down on the peons getting uppity.”

“And do they?” Haruka asks, trying not to show how much this display unnerves him. “Get uppity, I mean?”

“No.” His mouth curves, bemused. “At least not where the Cardassians can see.”

They meet in a board room, a level field compared to the experience on the promenade, but Gul Dukat is an intimidating presence nonetheless. All Cardassians were broad in the shoulders -- or at least wore armor to make it so -- but the spiny ridges down his neck make him seem even more forbidding than the rest, and the bone at his brow protrudes so starkly that his eyes seem deep-set, more skull than man.

What’s more, every move the man makes says he’s aware of it, that he enjoys the discomfort his presence brings to his guests. Even the other Cardassians are deferential, flinching when his gaze flits over him. This is how the prefect keeps control of this station, even with tension bursting at its seams; he relies on this overbearing mien to get his work done, to keep both the Bajorans and his people in line.

And thus when he smiles, teeth bared in the human way, Haruka knows he has found a formidable opponent.

“Ambassador!” The man sweeps his hand out over the table, laden heavily with food. Haruka has eaten any number of foreign cuisines, but these dishes -- they must all be from this sector from how little he recognizes them. “I hope we have made you feel welcome to Terok Nor! A home away from home, I think you say on Earth.”

“Just so.” The words come out stiffer than they ought; for all that the Cardassians needed this treaty, Haruka could not help but think, as he surveyed the steaming stews and flaky pies and whole roasts of meat he could not account for, that it would be all too easy for a human to eat poison and never even know it.

“Here, let us start with a toast.” The prefect pours a pale blue liquor into fluted glasses, smile still firmly in place. “To our most important duty. May we each serve the State as we ought.”

His own smile pulls tight, but Haruka drinks the wine down. It’s both smoother and sweeter than he expects.

“That’s not kanar,” Shidnote remarks, blinking at the glass. Haruka stares at him, eyes wide.

It’s unfortunate his attention was not the only one the ensign had caught.

“Correct. A fine vintage though, is it not?” Gul Dukat asks, turning the question back to him. Still, Haruka can feel that he captures only half the prefect’s interest, the other firmly on Shidnote. “Springwine, from Bajor. Made from kava juice. I must admit, I have quite a penchant for it.”

“Really.” He keeps his tone even, hand steady. From what they’d heard from Bajor, Gul Dukat is responsible for countless atrocities, but here he is, admitting a weakness for their wine. “I had not expected to hear a Cardassian praise Bajor.”

The man’s smile grows even wider, and Haruka trusts him even less. “The Union would not waste resources bringing Bajor into the modern age if there were nothing of value.”

Shidnote’s mouth pulls tight, but he stays silent. To his other side, Sui looks like he might faint from the very insinuation one might violate the Prime Directive.

“I had been of the impression that its value was to be found in the uridium ore mined from the planet’s surface,” Haruka ventures, keeping his tone conversational, light. He has no intention of provoking the prefect, but he wouldn’t suffer the whitewashing of the occupation right in front of him. “Not it’s culture.”

Dukat’s smile takes on more teeth, not in threat, but in delight. “Can it not be both?”

He makes to serve himself, and the ensigns follow their host’s invitation. Sui delicately arranges his plate with things that look vaguely familiar, while Shidnote digs in with aplomb, serving himself heaping portions of everything at the table. Ah, to be a young man again.

Haruka is more reserved in his appreciation of the spread, taking from the same plates Shidnote does at half the volume. Dukat watches them with unfeigned pleasure as they each take their first bites into Cardassian cuisine. Or at least, his and Sui’s; Shidnote has barely stopped to say more than, “It’s been forever since I’ve had Tuli!” before tipping a half dozen tiny fish onto his plate.

“Careful,” Dukat warns, as Shidnote reaches to take a spoonful of what looked to be souffle. “The station’s replicators make the hasperat especially spicy.”

The ensign’s face falls flat, blank. “You have Bajoran food too?”

“Of course,” he drawls, “I consider myself a connoisseur of the planet’s delicacies. Little...diamonds in the rough, as you humans say. There’s much to admire, if one dedicates themselves to discovery.”

Listening to this man speak sets Haruka’s teeth on edge as much as a dentist’s drill. “I wasn’t aware the Union allowed the admiration of those outside of it.”

Gul Dukat pauses, hands frozen in the act of cutting his pie. Kain would kill him for making such a bald remark, for veering far too close to the sun, but --

But one does not get things done with men like Gul Dukat by playing their game. He’s ceded too much ground, allowing himself to be summoned straight from the docking bay. It’s time to let the prefect know that the Federation will not just lie down in this negotiation.

Dukat blinks, lets out a laugh. “I had not thought a man from the Federation would be so versed in the statutes if the State.”

“I took up some light reading before coming here,” Haruka explains. “A friend recommended one of your classics. The Never Ending Sacrifice.”

“Ah, yes! An excellent example of Cardassia’s literature!” Again, his enthusiasm is unfeigned. “The repetitive epic is our highest form of art.”

The Hebetians must weep for what was lost, if that passed for high art. “It is quite...illuminating. I was surprised to see how highly the family as a unit is regarded among your people. I had always thought your duty was foremost to the State.”

It is an impertinent observation, and if he was at a Romulan table it would have ended in death for one of the men here, but Gul Dukat only continues to smile, unfazed.

“Ah, it is an older piece of work, though its themes have translated well into a more modern age. And besides, is not a strong family that is best for the State?” Dukat proposes, warming to the topic. Of course Haruto would be right in this -- the Cardassians did view a meal as a venue for philosophical debate. “Our children are our future, and our elders mark the path.”

Haruka nods, and his heart pounds in his chest as he decides his answer. “That had been my thought as well. However...”

Gul Dukat leans forward, intrigued. “However...?”

“I heard a rumor,” he confides, “and I’m afraid it made me doubt what I thought I understood.”

The prefect stiffens, smile wrapped tight around his face. “A rumor?”

“Oh, yes.” Sui is still beside him, eyes wide and mouth opened, but Shidnote is blank-faced, watching the exchange with little more than cursory interest. “I heard that you were keeping a prisoner aboard this station.”

“A prisoner? Here?” Gul Dukat laughs as if the very thought were preposterous. “I must admit, my constable is very good at apprehending men and putting them in the brig, but those are dissidents and drunks. Minor crimes, no more than a night in a cell.”

“I didn’t mean a member of this station,” Haruka presses, keeping his tone guileless, almost helpful. “Rumor put it as a Federation prisoner.”

“You cannot believe that,” the prefect says, hardly blinking. “I’m sure there are ships that have taken their adversaries, but Terok Nor is a refinery, not a place for the Union to keep political prisoners.”

Haruka lifts an eyebrow. “Even though it is so close to Bajor?”

“You did say Federation prisoners,” Dukat manages though his clenched teeth, “did you not? As far as i know, there are no...Federation actors on the surface of Bajor. Though I believe we are allowed our...prisoners of war, as you say.”

Haruka lets the lie settle between them. Perhaps there was no official Federation presence on the planet, but hardly a news cycle went by without more reports of losses from those who went to aid the rebels.

“Our articles do allow such things, yes,” he allows, “but I was told this wasn’t an acting member but instead...a child.”

“A child.” Haruka has known sheer cliff faces less forbidding than the tone Gul Dukat takes now. “Preposterous. The Union would never do such a thing.”

“Of course not,” he agrees. “I am only relaying the rumor that has been circulating among the high-ups of the Federation. As a courtesy.”

“Yes. Thank you,” the prefect grits out. “It is most...gratifying to find out what sort of...pernicious propaganda has been spread about my people. You do not believe it, I hope?”

“How could I, if you deny it?” He offers Dukat a thin smile, one that says quite clearly that he has noticed how the Gul has done no such thing.

“Good.” The man must be agitated, to not see through him, even now. “After all, you know how much we revere children.”

“Oh yes,” Haruka agrees. “Cardassian children, at least.”

Haruka had thought he’d known bad mattresses -- after all, it wasn’t as if Federation-issue sleeping bags did much in the way of muting rocks at one’s back -- but it takes only a moment laying on his bed to realize that Cardassians had only mastered the art of torture because they first slept on bed like these.

“Computer.” The room buzzes with silence, and he remembers -- this isn’t the Wistal. There is no computer keyed to talk to him here.

He huffs, swinging his legs off the bed. There’s no other way to do this than the old-fashioned way, then.

His PADD comes easily to hand, and it’s easier still to call up Ensign Shidnote’s service record, far longer than a man his rank should have. He scrolls through all the beginning matter -- born to a freighter family, recruited on mission, other details that seem more and more bog standard now that there’s humans spread all over the alpha quadrant and beyond -- but his eyes catch on the first posting: USS Fortissia under Captain Lido, stationed under Admiral Bergatt and the USS Wilant. Admiral Bergatt, who has been fighting the good fight against the Cardassians for the past half decade.

The would explain a thing or two, save that he should have had no need to contact Bajor --

Something niggles just at the back of his mind. Lido, Lido. He had heard that name before, years ago, and it leaves a bad taste in his mouth.

It takes only a quick search, and there it is: Captain Amos Lido, with a dozen postings over his illustrious career, the last being the Fortissia at the Cardassian border. Well on his way to Admiral, it seemed, until the mutiny against Starfleet, and his flight into Bajoran space. He’d nearly made it a year working with the resistance, but he’d fallen in with the Kohn-Ma and gotten himself back on the Federation’s radar.

He, like many of his Kohn-Ma compatriots, chose death over capture. His crew had been given the option to return to the fold, so long as they had not worked with the separatist splinter cell. Zakura Shidnote had been one of them.

Haruka dropped to his bed with a groan. Here he was, meant to make peace with the Cardassian prefect, and he’d gone and brought a resistance fighter on board. Potentially even a terrorist.

He reaches for his PADD again, and calls up Shidnote’s file. He flicks past the neatly scrubbed service record, only stopping when he get to the end, when he gets to his assignment to the Wistal, and right there, clear as day, the name on his recommendation --

The tablet drops from his hands, and Haruka scrubs a hand over his face. He should have know, he should have known.

Special recommendation from the Federation, signed by Haruto Wisteria.

[itsany62]

SteveTony - Alternate Universe

Here are some Alternate Universe fics that I love. Don't forget to leave kudos and nice comments in every fic!

Food for the Heart, by LagLemon, 14 k >, Cooking, No Powers.

After being introduced to a gourmet food on a budget blog by Pepper (a gift for her elderly, cheapskate mother) Tony starts cooking again. The recipes are good, but the blog owner is even better. Still, Tony isn't so sure Captain America, the guy who runs the blog, can compete with Hot Bagboy, the gorgeous blond who works at the grocery store.

"Free to Good Home" by Captain_Panda, 7 k > words, Alternate Universe - Animals.

"Oliver and Company" AU.

There's a great big world outside the box.

But it's a dog-eat-dog world, and Tony's just one cat. Then a stray dog comes along, looking for a friend.

A Day In Principal Stark's Office, by nannersmelo, 10 k > words, Steve Single Parent, Director Tony.

Tony Stark has his hands full with not only Stark Industries, but also his beloved mother's life project: The Maria Stark Academy, and as he enters his office in order to deal with a ferocious mother whose son was apparently assaulted by one of his brightest students, he was sure this day would culminate in nothing but a heinous headache. Little did he know - he was in for one hell of a surprise.

I Am the Night by gottalovev, 6 k > words, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Vampire Tony Stark, Wizard Steve Rogers.

That's it. Tony is doomed. He rolls on his back, crosses his wings over his belly and closes his eyes. He'll await death here, misunderstood by the world to the bitter end.

C is for Calculus and Compromise, by heydoeydoey, 11 k>, Gifted AU, Post-Divorce, Angts with a Happy Ending.

Steve's just trying to give his prodigy daughter a normal childhood. Enter a meddling school administrator, Tony Stark, and too many lawyers.

tell you my love for you by jelliebean, 22 k > words, Alternate Universe - Normal High School, Based on Love Simon.

A guy at Shield High comes out on tumblr, anonymously. Tony thought he was the only gay guy on campus--not out, because of Howard--and sends him an email.

“Hey, Flying. Same here. I’ve got a secret too, and it’s like I’m hiding who I am, every day. From everyone. All the closest people to me. But I just can’t tell them. I’m gay, too. It feels like I’m putting on this mask, this shell of who I think they want me to be. Even though I don’t think my friends would judge me. I don’t know why. I just. I’ve got a secret. –Shell”

The guy seems great--amazing, even, and then Hammer has to step in and ruin it all.

Mergers & Acquisitions by Robin_tCJ, 33 k > words, Angst, sex as currency.

Steve Rogers is the CEO of the Rogers Corporation, which he built from the ground up. When he learns that Hydra International is making a bid for a hostile takeover of Stark Industries, he decides he has to do what he can to stop Hydra from overtaking the market and becoming an unstoppable, unethical conglomerate. Tony Stark asks for something Steve isn’t sure he should give, but he does it anyway – and it completely changes everything. But when Hydra keeps coming, Steve and Tony realize there’s more to this than they’d realized.

Meeting the Monsters by itsallAvengers, 23 k > words, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Creatures & Monsters.

Tony's at public school with kids his age for the first time in seventeen years, and he is determined that this year is gonna be his year. He's going to make friends. He's going to be popular. People will like him.

Unsurprisngly, none of that actually happens.

He does sort-of-maybe fall in love with a vampire in his class that everyone is terrified of, though. So... there's that.

(I Want You To See) The Darkest Side Of Me by ann2who, 45 k > words, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Alternate Universe - Fusion, Post-World War II.

In Monte Carlo, Steve meets the wealthy widower Anthony Stark. It’s love at first sight—at least for Steve—and he can’t believe his luck when Tony asks him to live at Stark Mansion, his large estate in Malibu. Never in his life had Steve thought something like this was possible… never had he been this happy. However, soon Steve realizes that Tony is still deeply troubled by the death of his first wife and haunted by the many ghosts she left behind. The longer Steve lives in her shadow, the more he understands that… He can never be what Tony’s wife had once been for him. And Tony might never truly love him.

Gift With Purchase Remix by sabrecmc, 43 k > words, Alternate Universe - No Powers, hooker Steve, Sugar Daddy.

Gift With Purchase Remix wherein Steve actually is a hooker. But for a Really Sympathetic Reason.

The Little Glass Screwdriver by ann2who, 19 k > words, Cinderella AU.

When Prince Steven is forced to find himself a bride, true love gets in the way. As the night of the grand ball unfolds, the prince meets a mysterious knight who might just change his entire life in a way he could have never imagined.

**Cinderella AU**

Covered in Lines by royal_chandler, 3 k > words, Alternate Universe - Student/Teacher, Alternate Universe - College/University, Age Difference.

He can’t lose sight of pale, deft hands that gesture on transitive verbs, an ink-stained thumb edging underneath Tony’s ribcage with an affection that can only be called dangerous.

half-wild and glimmering by deathsweetqueen , 15 k > words, Alternate Universe - Western, Prostitution.

“Give me a drink, Tasha,” Tony sighs as he lands in front of the bar. “I’ve had one hell of a day.”

Natasha raises an eyebrow. “Have you really?” she asks, loftily, sliding a tumbler of whiskey along the well-polished wood.

Tony lets his head hang, the sweat beading on the back of his neck. “You wouldn’t believe what I’ve had to put myself through today,” he sighs, wearily.

“I would not know. You will not let me work the rooms,” Natasha retorts, her voice a little strained, busying her hands in a dirty glass.

“I don’t let you work the rooms ‘cause you’re liable to kill anyone who touches ya the wrong way and we can’t lose that much of our business,” Tony reminds her, wryly amused, sipping at his whiskey. He shakes his head at the burn. “We peddle flesh, darling, not death.”

peers, fears and holiday cheers by jacobby, 24 k > words, Parent Tony Stark.

“He’s only two years older than you,” Tony finally says when the silence becomes too much to bear.

“Dad, Teddy is turning twenty-seven next year.”

“I am not dating your husband—”

“I’m not implying you are. I just want you to be...aware that he’s practically the same age as my husband.”

AKA

Tony Stark's new boyfriend is only two years older than his adult sons. Telling them is one thing, introducing them is another. What Tony doesn't expect is that the past always has a way of catching up to him, of biting him in the ass when he least expects it. Well, at least they're all together for the Holidays. What more can he ask for?

A Higher Form of War by sabrecmc, 292 k > words, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Historical Romance.

Tony is a King with a surprising number of people out to kill him. Steve and the rest of the Avengers are fighting for Pierce's rebellion and end up with Tony as their prisoner. Oops.

you can call me babe for the weekend by complicationstoo, 10 k > words, Alternate Universe - No Powers, actor Tony Stark.

Tony left his small town for Los Angeles after high school, leaving behind everything to pursue his dream. Ten years later, he comes back for the first time and finds that some things are impossible to let go of.

Lord, What Fools These Mortals Be by iam93percentstardust, 72 k > words, Alternate Universe - Theatre.

Famed director Phil Coulson brings Shakespeare’s beloved play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, to Broadway. This production though comes with a twist: a brief but passionate love affair between the faerie king, Oberon, and his attendant, Puck. In the roles of the two star-crossed lovers, Coulson casts America’s darling Steve Rogers, fresh off his third Academy Award, and Broadway royalty, Tony Stark. Steve quickly finds himself falling for the quick-witted and sarcastic actor but Tony is dating the stage manager. Unwilling to come between the seemingly happy couple, Steve steps back but all isn’t right behind the scenes and Tony may need him when everything falls apart.

and so we rebuild by raeldaza, 26 k > words, Alternate Universe - Star Trek Fusion, Soulmates, Mutual Pining.

Sometimes, a voice whispers: you will never atone for your mistakes.

Tony believes that, believes it so strongly some days he drowns in it, but he still tries. Tries through Starfleet, tries through inventions, tries through missions. Then, one day, he meets his new Captain, and things change.

and teach this heart (how to beat with light), by starklystar, 40 k >, AU Hospital, Single parent Steve.

Eight years ago, at a funeral with a baby's cries ringing in his ears, Tony Stark decided to turn his life around. He's a genius, billionaire, philanthropist. What's so hard to adding 'doctor' to that list? And after that, it can't be that hard to add 'husband' and 'father' too, right? But the past has a way of haunting even the very best of us, and in any universe, Tony Stark and Steve Rogers have never had an easy love.

Featuring: drama, chaos, Peter's scheming, meddling friends, and doctors learning again that the heart can never be as simple as four chambers and four valves.

Catching Lightning in a Bottle by sabrecmc, 120 k > words, Alternate Universe - Sweet Home Alabama Fusion.

College student Tony meets janitor Steve at MIT and they fall blissfully in love, until Howard happens and things fall apart. One divorce paperwork snafu courtesy of the ever-helpful Jarvis, and ten years later, Tony has to get re-divorced from Steve.

This does not go as he imagines.

Or, the Sweet Home Alabama AU that no one--well, okay, a few of you--asked for.

The Night Shift by weethreequarter , 16 k > words, Alternate Universe - Hospital.

Welcome to the Emergency Department of San Antonio General where Dr. Tony Stark joins the team fresh from his most recent tour in Afghanistan and - much to the consternation of the other staff - strikes up an instant rapport with Nurse Steve Rogers. Meanwhile, new resident Bruce Banner refuses to give up on his patient, and Dr. Sharon Carter learns something from her own patients. Throw in a pissed off hospital administrator, Clint using the coffee pot as a mug again, and a major car crash and you have, well, just another night shift.

Cake It Till You Make It by ChocolateCapCookie, 10 k > words, Kid Fic, Alternate Universe - Bakery.

Steve Rogers and Tony Stark have a lot in common. They're single parents, they own rival bakeries at the center of town... and they both hate each other's guts.

When a mix-up at Peter and Morgan's school has both fathers scrambling to prove they're the better baker, they do the mature, adult thing and compete in a bake-off. Between the mixing and the creaming, the baking and the icing, Steve and Tony find that hate is actually not that far from love.

Looking for Heaven by foxxcub, 31 k > words, Alternate Universe - Regency, Marriage of Convenience.

When young Lord Anthony Stark learns Steven Rogers has enlisted in the army, he thinks he's seen the last of his tiny, headstrong, haughty stable boy. But four years later, Lord Stark gets an unexpected visit from Steve, whose mother has fallen gravely ill and into financial ruin. Even more unexpected, Steve agrees to a shocking proposal: they will marry, giving Steve the necessary funds to save his mother, and Tony the much-needed reprieve from harassing would-be suitors. It is a business arrangement, nothing more. But as time goes on and circumstances arise, Tony begins to learn that keeping his heart away from his husband is easier said than done.

just a guy, standing in front of another guy by theappleppielifestyle, 12 k > words.

“It’s not real,” Tony says, still smiling, jaw twitching with effort. “The fame. It’s - I’m just a guy."

(Or, Notting Hill AU, with a twist.)

Mother of Exiles (A Titanic AU) by BladeoftheNebula, 21 k > words, Alternate Universe - Titanic Fusion.

“You’ll never guess what just happened!” Steve said, taking a deep breath to try and calm his breathing. “I met someone. A guy from first class.”

Dublin 1912: Steve Rogers is barely making ends meet, living in the tenement slums of Dublin. But a stroke of good luck gives him and his best friend the chance to change their fortune. Two tickets to America on board the RMS Titanic.

The Devil You Know by shetlandowl, 17 k > words, Alternate Universe - Detectives, Alternate Universe - Author/Novelist.

Best selling author Tony Stark revives the bodice ripper genre for a modern audience. From frisky gay cowboys to ravenous lesbian pirate queens, he consistently delivers riveting thrillers full of romance, drama, and the filthy, unapologetically kinky sex that has become his trademark specialty.

Tony has everything a man could dream of - horny, adoring fans, and boatloads of money. Or that's what he thought, until Detective Steve Rogers walks into his life and turns it all upside down.

Bears and Mountains and Lumberjacks Oh My! by justanotherrollingstony (adoctoraday), 24 k > words, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Lumberjack Steve Rogers.

It was supposed to be easy--go meet the reclusive artist and buy some art. And then came the broken down car. And the snowstorm. And the lumberjack with a face like a greek god. So yea, Tony is stuck in a cabin in the woods with a hot lumberjack till the storm clears. Could be worse.

Series: A Furious Vexation by Annie D (scaramouche), 18 k > words, Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse.

A Steve/Tony post-apocalypse AU that exists pretty much just for the smut.

That Feline Beat by Tito11, 5 k > words, Alternate Universe - Animals.

Presenting Steve and Tony in the Aristocats!AU

Tony and his three kittens have been kidnapped from their fancy Upper East Side apartment while their owners are away and deposited on the mean streets of Harlem. Unsure of where they are or how to get back home, they'll have to rely on street cat Steve to guide them. Will they get home safely? Will Tony's fear of abandonment cause him to drive away the best tomcat he's ever known? Only time will tell.

do you fondue? by calciseptine, 16 k > words, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting.

Tony has done crazy things in the name of food, but falling in love with Steve Rogers really takes the cake.

a glimpse of heaven's love by parkrstark, 13 k> words, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Terminal Illnesses.

The child begins to empty his pockets. He starts to count coins on the counter. Tony huffs a little impatiently as he realizes most of them are pennies.

The cashier actually humors the kid and counts along with him. They reach 3 dollars and 54 cents before he shakes his head sadly. "Sorry, kid. There's not enough here."

The kid sounds close to crying. "I need these paints for my Papa. It's Christmas Eve and these...he doesn't have any. The doctors said he doesn't have long. I want him to have these. In case he meets Jesus tonight, I want him to paint one more time. Please."

Tony takes a step forward, arms still full of toys he's buying just because. He can cover this child's gift for his dying father. Money. Money is what he's good for.

"I'll buy them."

--

Or, the Christmas Shoes AU no one but me asked for.

If you survive first impressions, you're good to go by itsallAvengers, 3 k > words, Parent Tony Stark, Alternate Universe - No Powers.

The first time Peter Parker-Stark sees Steve Rogers, he may or may not be standing in direct path of the man's motorcycle.

His daddy is really not going to be happy about that one.

A Rat-ional Conclusion by BladeoftheNebula, 6 k > words, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Alternate Universe - Veterinarians, Parent Tony Stark.

He had a strong flurry of patients throughout the morning and by the time it rolled around to noon, he was just about worn out.

He walked out into the reception, stretching until he felt a satisfying pop. “Are we done?”

Bucky checked the screen. “Just about. One more before lunch - a rat, singular.”

Steve breathed a sigh of relief. Hopefully straight forward then. “Great, let me know when they-”

He was interrupted by the bell over the door and looked up to see a little girl cradling a small animal carrier, being shepherded through the door by easily one of the hottest men he’d ever seen in real life.

Oh wow.

Tidal Pull by sabrecmc, 97 k > words, Octopus Tony Stark, Alternate Universe - Shipwrecked.

After the American Civil War, Union soldier Steve Rogers takes a chance on an opportunity to sail with the Stark Trading Company down in the Caribbean. During a terrible storm, his ship is lost. To his surprise, he survives, and ends up stranded on an island that isn't quite as deserted as he first thinks.

Or, a reverse Little Mermaid tale where Steve has to fall for the fish-man.

Twelve Days by elysianprince, 22 k > words, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Alternate Universe - Ghosts.

In which Tony finds himself in a town that looks like it crawled out of a Hallmark Christmas movie, trying to sell an inn he didn't know he owned, all while dealing with Steve Rogers, the resident ghost who has returned to haunt the inn each December during the twelve days of Christmas for the past seventy years. Tony has only one logical solution that benefits them both: break the curse that binds him - but falling for a man almost a century old wasn't among his plans.

She kissed me by S_Horne, 1 k > words, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting.

“Your mom kissed me.”

Steve blinked awake and lifted his head from his pillow to look over at the silhouette in the doorway. “What?”

“Your mom,” Tony reiterated. “She kissed me.”

“Yeah,” Steve said simply, “she does that.”

[blaineandsamevanderson]

What's in your WIP folder?

Oh boy, that’s a big ask! I tend to start writing a fic and get distracted. Some of these are super old and I keep meaning to get back to them, but the muses are fickle.

Hawaii Five 0

On the Right Track Babe ~ When a case leads to an undercover assignment, certain things are uncovered (Mcdanno)

Untitled ~ Danny works a detail at Honolulu Pride cuz he figures if there’s gotta be a police presence at Pride that some of the cops should be part of the community (Mcdanno)

9-1-1/9-1-1 LoneStar

The Date ~ Buck gets ready for a date after his shift at the firehouse...and a hot guy show to pick him up. Hot guy is Dylan, the hot EMT played by Nyle DiMarco on a Station 19 episode where they were fighting wildfires in CA. (Buddie)

Chopped ~ Buck competes on a firefighter edition of Chopped (Buddie)

BBQ ~ Carlos takes TK to a family BBQ (Tarlos)

Untitled Buddie Soulmates fic ~ When someone falls in love, they are marked, a signal appearing on their skin to commemorate that their heart was connected to another. Many couples bore marks for one and other, but only in rare occasions, do they wear the same mark. When two people loved each other and were true soulmates, they shared a mark. (Buddie)

Special Report ~ The news runs a story about the Tsunami on the anniversary (Buddie)

Untitled ~ Buck offers to go as Josh’s plus one to a wedding (undecided ship)

Untitled ~ Eddie hurts his hands and is frustrated. Buck is a good friend and lends a hand ;) (Buddie)

Untitled 9-1-1/Prodigal Son Crossover ~ What is says on the tin

Glee (All Blam)

Running Mates ~ When Blaine Anderson becomes the Democratic nominee for the presidency, he has to pick a VP. A Glee/West Wing fusion

Let’s Marvin Gaye ~ So, idea: In Senior year, Artie decides to get some more directorial experience by making music videos of his friends covering songs. One in particular is a hit, Blaine and Brittany’s cover of Charlie Puth/Meghan Trainor’s song Marvin Gaye���but unlike the actual video, they don’t share a kiss. Both Blaine and Britt have their own storylines in the video, Sam and Santana acting as their respective partners, culminating with kisses like in the video…though Artie doesn’t fade to black fast…It quickly goes viral :)

The Smell of Fresh Cut Grass on Sun Soaked Skin ~ Summer before S2, Sam’s family has just moved to Lima and he’s making extra cash by doing yard work. Gets hired by Mrs. Anderson and he and Blaine meet.

The Most Magical Place on Earth ~ Sam is called to a meeting by Blaine's parents. They sit him down and say that of all of Blaine's friends, Sam is the most reliable, the most trustworthy and the nicest. So they have chosen (maybe even hire) him to keep an eye on Blaine because Blaine tends to go crazy when he takes this annual trip. Cooper couldn't handle him. Kurt couldn't take it. But they think Sam can. When Blaine does his annual week-long trip to Disney World, Sam goes with him. Oh what could possibly happen?

Mutual Admiration ~ Famous male model Sam Evans is on Ellen to promote his new GQ magazine spread and when asked about celebrity crushes he reveals he’s crushing on Broadway star Blaine Anderson.

Friends, Love & Homecoming ~ S2 AU ~ Post 2x03 – Sam joined glee in 2x01 and is not dating Quinn. Not dating anyone at McKinley, cuz he’s with Blaine. When Homecoming rolls around, he wants to take him, so he tells the club. I want reactions!

Drunk on A Plane ~ After being left at the altar, Blaine decides to use the Honeymoon tickets himself. AU ~ where Sam never moved to Lima and he and Blaine meet later in life.

Cruise Ship Coincidence ~ Future fic slightly AU (no Klaine engagement or Samcedes stuff or they broke up already). During a cruise, Kurt and Rachel bump into newlywed Blaine and Sam, who are on their honeymoon after haven’t saw them in years

DCTV

Crossovers

Untitled Bake Off AU ~ DCTV characters on Bake Off (Captain Canary, Winnara and others)

Stretch Right Up and Touch the Sky ~ Camp STAR is one of the North East’s most popular science camps. Every year, young minds arrive to learn and explore. Unfortunately, a few weeks before the camp was to open for the season, a large explosion in one of the labs and the ensuing fire made the camp uninhabitable. Not wanting his campers to miss out on their summer, Owner Harrison Wells called up Joe West, Owner of Camp Superflarrow, who he knew was looking to expand the science discovery program at his own camp. (Captain Canary, Winnara and others)

Untitled Beach Town AU ~ Beach Town AU: Sara Lance (16) and her sister Laurel (17) are invited to spend the summer at the summer beach house of Laurel’s friend Oliver (17). There, they meet a variety of people, townies, other vacationers, etc…and one townie in particular, Leonard Snart (17) catches Sara’s interest :) (Captain Canary, Winnara and others)

Untitled Actors AU ~ An AU where the Legends of Superflarrow characters are actors playing heroes (or part of the crew for the tv/movie) and Sara is one of the heroes and Leonard is one of the villains and their chemistry inspires the writers to give his character a redemption arc… (Captain Canary and others)

Captain Cold Comes to National City ~ Based on a thread started by this tumblr post: I’ve got it! Due to the Oculus’s destruction, Len Snart is blown through the time-space continuum. He awakens in a universe not his own, with a girl in a red skirt… not to mention a red cape… standing over him (Captain Canary, Winnara and others)

Legends of Tomorrow

A Tale of Two Snarts ~ A familiar face returns in an unexpected way (Captain Canary)

Land of the Lost ~ The Legends try to figure out how they’re going to fix time and find a lost friend along the way. Spoilers for the Season 2 Finale!!!! (Captain Canary)

Marvel

Rewinding the Clock ~ In the Marvel world, even old age isn't a constant...

We’ve Come A Long Way From Where We Began ~ Picking up where Infinity War ends….

Star Trek

Georgia Time ~ A follow Up the The Journey Home and Beyond set right after Kirk et all graduate but before they ship out. (McKirk maybe?)

Teen Wolf

Finding Home ~ After the Battle of Beacon Hills, life goes on. (Thiam & Mahealahey & Others)

Model Behavior ~ Isaac gets a job as an Abercrombie greeter (before the ban) and Danny's his trainer. (Mahealahey)

The Full Moon Job (Crossover with Leverage) ~ An alternate version of Teen Wolf Season 6. Wet after the pack pretends to leave Beacon Hills, but after that, all timelines are chucked, characters are brought back and fun is had (Thiam & Mahealahey & Others)

Stay All Day in the Sun ~ When Theo isn't around, the pack starts to wonder where he's going off to.... (Thiam & Mahealahey & Others)

Untitled Actors AU ~ Liam and Theo are actors on a hit tv show. Their characters are enemies with crackling chemistry, but no one suspects it cuz they’re together off screen (Thiam)

Untitled Actors AU 2 ~ What if Danny was one of the cast of a popular show about werewolves? Possibly called Teen Wolf, for the fans of the Meta and, in Season 2, they bring in some new characters, including one played by Isaac. Their characters aren’t supposed to have too much interaction initially, but soon everyone sees the chemistry… (Mahealahey)

[theimaginatrix27]

AU August: Tuvix lives, but at what cost?—Star Trek: Voyager

So this one I came up with a couple years ago, when I found out (I know this took me forever, I didn't move in those circles for ages) that a lot of people were super super conflicted about the Tuvix episode of Star Trek: Voyager.

My thoughts on the problem, before we get into it: I'm a Dragon Ball fan, moreover one who was very happy when Vegeto, and much muuuuuuch later Kibito Kai, defused when their fusions were believed to be permanent. Tuvix was a fusion. And I liked, and still like, both of his component characters. Yes, he wanted to exist. He never stopped existing. There is part of me that wishes Tuvok and Neelix at least remembered being fused, but I like them as separate entities.

That being said, if I could have had both Tuvix and his components when all was said and done, yes, I'd have been open to that. And although this will never canonically happen because those episodes were made in the fucking 90s, I did come up with a couple quick ideas for how it could happen, without there being any random tech additions to Voyager at the time to facilitate it.

Today's option is the angsty one, and I don't have the heart to attempt writing it out, hence its presence in AU August. But I'll throw it into the Tumblrsphere because sometimes I lack self-preservation skills.

The AU starts at any point between the whole Tuvix thing and the S4 thing where Kes left the cast and also yeated them 9000 lightyears toward home, for reasons that will become clear very shortly.

Voyager is flying through space when a battered shuttle approaches, apparently of Starfleet origin. They hale them. Tuvix appears on screen. He looks like shit.

"Captain Janeway."

"Tuvix," she says simply, while thinking How the hell is this real?

"Is there a version of me aboard Voyager, or did you choose to separate me?"

She doesn't answer, but Tuvok moves forward so he can be seen on Tuvix's screen.

Tuvix manages to hold it together long enough to say five more words.

"You made the right decision." Then he bursts into tears.

They allow his shuttle to dock, and he is a mess. He has injuries they need to take him to sickbay to treat, and while he's there they get the whole story. He's from an alternate timeline where Janeway chose to let him live, but Kes's grief over losing Neelix induces her powers to come into their full earlier than in canon, and while they're trying to deal with that, Voyager is attacked by someone (it doesn't matter who) and only Tuvix and an unstable Kes survive. At which point Kes expends all her life-force yeating Tuvix into another timeline (maybe spacetime is unstable in that area as well? I have not thought this through enough.)

So Tuvix lives on, but as the title of the post states, he's nigh crippled by survivors' guilt and blames himself for Voyager's destruction.

I could never write this and do it full justice. This level of angst is still beyond me at this point and just the thought of it makes me wanna hug him and let him cry all over my shoulder and tell him everything will be all right. And that's not what such a fic premise needs. If you want to sell this, it has to be done well.

Anyways, that's today's angsty AU done. Tomorrow, I will give you Tuvix Makes Three, the not-nearly-as-angsty alternative.

[pixiedane]

Fic Writer Review

Thank you for the tag, @ussjellyfish ! I don't know whom to tag so I will just say to all of you: TAG, you're it (scroll to the end to copy paste the questions).

how many works do you have on AO3?

187

what’s your total AO3 word count?

373,260

how many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

The count is 74, but they're not wholly individual (lots of "all media types" for example). I have pseuds for Star Wars (68 works), Star Trek (63 works), and Marvel (18 works). There are 38 works in other fandoms including Leverage, Killjoys, Harry Potter, The Hobbit, House MD, Game of Thrones, Once Upon a Time, Law and Order, Peter Pan, Willow...

16 more questions beneath the cut.

what are your top 5 fics by kudos?

512 kudos, Let's Go Steal a Family (Leverage), 2044 words | The Leverage team decide they don't need to settle down in order to start a family.

This was written for the "Leverage-a-thing-a-thon" run in August 2015 (making this fic almost exactly six years old). It's about found family in the most literal sense.

415 kudos, catch a glimpse of sunlight (Star Wars), 2324 words + a fanvid | What if Anakin listened to Padmé more than Palpatine and Obi-Wan listened to Anakin more than Yoda? tldr; galaxy saved

Created for the 2016 Star Wars Rarepairs exchange, a canon divergent au where Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Padmé work together to take down the Chancellor and raise the twins as a triad.

253 kudos, and a softness came from the starlight and filled me full to the bone. (Star Wars), 726 words | Luke wants to know about his mother.

Written for PadMay 2018, for the prompt "How should Padmé be remembered?". Wow, I'm surprised this is in the top five given it's a tiny ficlet in a giant fandom written for a challenge I made up myself. But I'm pleased! Padmé deserves to be remembered, that's why I started PadMay.

247 kudos, Serendipity (Star Wars), 1914 words | That time Padmé accidentally walked in on the wrong naked Jedi.

Another ObiAniDala AU written for the Star Wars Rarepairs Exchange, 2018 in this case. Two years earlier I'd made a random photo manip of Natalie Portman and Ewan Mcgregor drinking tea and it eventually inspired the fic.

221 kudos, Your Beating Heart Tonight (Star Wars), 3121 words | Padmé develops feelings for her other Jedi protector.

And another written for the Star Wars Rarepairs Exchange in 2016! And also another AU based in a storm of emotions between Anakin, Padmé, and Obi-Wan. I have a specialty.

All five of these are about family first and foremost. Three and a half feature polyamory. Three and a half are canon divergent AUs. None breaks 3200 words. All were written for an event/exchange.

do you respond to comments, why or why not?

For the most part. Sometimes I don't right away and it becomes awkward. And I generally don't respond to negative comments because who needs that.

what’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Probably Abduction, a mirror universe story vaguely inspired by The Handmaid's Tale. My author's note: "It is not a happy story for anyone and implies the extreme emotional abuse of a child, as well as the coercion and torture of adults."

do you write crossovers? if so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

I love crossovers! I've completed a few and have fifty more in wip folders. The most ambitious is War of Stars, a Star Wars/Game of Thrones fusion with 26,480 words, thirty chapters, and five different povs (Cersei, Anakin, Daenerys, Ahsoka, and Boba). Niche, but I am very proud of how it worked out.

I've also blended Star Wars with Mad Max, Kelvin Star Trek, Star Trek Discovery, Deep Space Nine, Sleeping Beauty, and Black Widow.

have you ever received hate on a fic?

I've had a few mean comments but they're basically "I don't like this pairing and I want you to feel bad about writing it" and I won't.

do you write smut? if so what kind?

No. Just not my thing.

have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I am aware of.

have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes, I've had a few translated into Russian, which just adds to the headcanon that I'm secretly Black Widow.

have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes, back in the LiveJournal days I wrote many thousands of words with @vasnormandy. I am slowly posting those stories to AO3 under my Marvel pseud Amelia Danvers, my OC and main character.

what’s your all time favorite ship?

An impossible question because I multi-ship like my life depends on it. Anakin/Padmé is my most prolific ship followed by Rey/Ben, Kat/Lorca, and Carol Danvers/Peter Parker (the parents of Amelia above). But I've written alternate ships for all of the above.

You can read more about my shipping interests here.

what’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

Oof. I have a lot of WIPs that I would like to finish but it's hard to get back to.

what are your writing strengths?

Dialogue. Introspection. I'm good at writing a specific point of view. Characters addressing their issues. I like to pull at threads so I've built up those skills. I love mixing and mashing fandoms and pairings. Complex relationships and the discussion thereof.

what are your writing weaknesses?

Action, like sex scenes or fight scenes, and anything plot heavy. I'm more interested in character and it shows in my writing.

I am also terrible at follow through and finishing things. It's why so much of my fic is written for challenges with external deadlines.

what are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I'm not fluent in any other languages and I wouldn't want to do it without extensive research.

what was the first fandom you wrote for?

Either Star Trek (TNG, mainly the adventures of Beverly Crusher - as a preteen, at the Academy, as a single mom, and because I'm me I also gave her a Romulan lover) or Star Wars (the adventures of Han and Leia's daughter who was ME but also Jaina Solo before Jaina Solo existed because she was a twin who wanted to be a pilot more than a Jedi). These stories were written on notebook paper in colored pen and I'd do dramatic readings in the backyard, in costume, with only the trees (all of whom I'd named, mostly after heroines in books, like Elizabeth, Jane, Anne, Alice, Mary, etc.) as the audience.

what’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

Well, the one I imagine as something more is Pas De Deux, my Jedi Dance Academy AU. I can picture the senes in my mind and I really enjoyed the adaptation process, melding two things I love into one. The characters and events are recognizable, but also very different and that's something I enjoy.

Questions for anyone who wants to complete it:

Fic Writer Review

how many works do you have on AO3?

what’s your total AO3 word count?

how many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

what are your top 5 fics by kudos?

do you respond to comments, why or why not?

what’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

do you write crossovers? if so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

have you ever received hate on a fic?

do you write smut? if so what kind?

have you ever had a fic stolen?

have you ever had a fic translated?

have you ever co-written a fic before?

what’s your all time favorite ship?

what’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

what are your writing strengths?

what are your writing weaknesses?

what are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

what was the first fandom you wrote for?

what’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

[mythgirlimagines]

Rushing into your inbox is this week’s Talentswapped Myth! Please give a quick hello to Myth, the Former Ultimate Sprinter!

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BACKSTORY AND TALENT

Myth’s motivation for becoming a pro sprinter was a pretty simple reason. As the daughter of two accomplished marathon runners, running was practically in Myth’s blood, ever since she learned how to walk. Myth was regarded as a prodigy amongst the crowds, for her innate stamina and her skill at running. In fact, Myth is currently planning on running in the Olympics, after graduating Hope’s Peak and chaperoning the Ultimates and Jr. Ultimates. Extra Fact: Let’s just say that all that running caused Myth to become quite the looker, for she became famous around her school for her looks, charming the pants off both girls and boys. In fact, people sell candid pictures of a hot and sweaty Myth all around the school for money, only to get stopped by Myth’s overly protective childhood friend. All while Myth remains completely oblivious to that.

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RELATIONSHIPS

Wyre Anon, Former Ultimate Emergency Planner

Despite her reckless, headstrong and almost delinquent-like behavior, Wyre is praised amongst her peer group for being prepared for any situation, whether environmental or medical. As the childhood friend of the simpleminded and scatterbrained Myth, Wyre is always one step behind her, making sure that Myth doesn’t get herself into any harm. Wyre is basically the Akaashi to Myth‘s Bokuto. Wyre also scares off people from Myth’s school who want to take candid pictures of a sweaty and undressing Myth and sell them for money in the school’s unofficial underground market, much to the confusion of the ditzy track star. Outfit: A construction hat on her head, a dark grey sleeveless parka over a red button-up shirt, a tool belt with a care kit for everybody and every occasion, blue jeans, brown steel toed boots and matching gloves, intact glasses.

Anon Scar, Ultimate Sharpshooter

Claiming to be cursed by an ancient parasitic spirit that inserted itself into her left eye, Anon Scar was nicknamed by the people of the shooting range she frequents as “Black Bullseye”, which obviously came from the skill she shows when she is in the booths of said shooting range. Acting like an old and grizzled war veteran and constantly speaking of “The Old War”, needless to say, Myth bought into Scar‘s chuuni act, much to the embarrassment of the sharpshooter. As Myth eventually figured out, Scar acts a lot like a mother to the more reckless and childish members of the Kibo-Con roster, but Myth especially.    Outfit: An black eyepatch on her left eye and a green military-esque uniform with black gloves and boots.

Fusion Anon, Ultimate Gardener

Fusion made worldwide news thanks to the large grove of fruit trees and bushes that he managed to cultivate all by himself, which was a massive turnaround from the dry and sparse farmland that his grandparents abandoned. Fusion views the trees and plants that he grew almost like his children, and he applies the same philosophy to his conmates, much like Scar. It could be said that Fusion basically adopted Myth, along with the rest of the con. If Myth ever gets hungry while on a run, Fusion is always right by her side with some fresh and delicious fruit on hand. Myth regularly likes to go for nature runs through Fusion’s giant garden.

Outfit: A red turtleneck sweater, blue overalls, green rainboots and gloves, a blue bandana around his neck with small yellow sunflowers all over, flowers in his large afro, glasses from original design.

Fusion Anon II, Ultimate Finder

Being famed around her school for her cool and rebellious attitude and her ability to find objects that her schoolmates lost, she was nicknamed “Sherlock Jr.” by her peers. Eventually, Fusion II started her own business, helping the citizens of her hometown find lost objects and even pets and children. But much to Fusion II’s dismay, her cool facade is constantly undermined by her nerdy side and her love for memes. Because Myth loses things all the time, Myth regularly and tearfully turns to Fusion II to help find them. And with the finding of the lost items, came praise from Myth and an ego boost for Fusion II.

Outfit: A dark blue fedora that casts shade over her eyes, a matching trench coat over a long white dress and black heeled boots.

Just Anon, Ultimate Screenwriter

If you were alive in show business, than you should know the name of Just Anon, known for producing only the greatest in screenplays of TV shows and movies. That is, if he ever gets into a creative mood, in which last-minute panic seem to be the only thing able to perk him up. In layman’s terms, he‘s a chronic procrastinator, despite being an entertainment king. Janon’s lazy attitude, despite his massive potential to succeed, warrants a potential punch in the face from Myth, and she wants to get to the root of the true personality beneath that demonic hoodie. Hopefully, Myth would never find out about Janon’s soft spot for kids.

Outfit: A black face mask with a crooked smile on the front, a hoodie that resembles a cartoon devil, underneath the same formal wear from his original design.

Sparkle Anon, Former Ultimate Linguist

As the wealthy daughter of two ambassadors, Sparkle has been exposed to foreign tongues and dialects, ever since she was little, and still finds foreign languages fascinating, often watching stage plays from other countries to learn more about their native tongues. Myth always found Sparkle’s skill in foriegn languages to be fascinating, and Sparkle finds Myth’s athletic skills (and her bodacious body, particularly her strong and athletic legs) to be equally stunning. Unfortunately, Wyre wasn’t about to let Myth be gawked at by the eyes of the flashy and dramatic linguist, and tries to thwart the devious plans of Sparkle. 

Outfit: Same outfit from her original design, but with the Rubik’s Cube skirt replace with a blue skirt that has several languages printed on it.

Egg Anon, Former Ultimate Confidant, and Wet Sock Anon, Former Ultimate Volleyball Player

Famous for running a blog that allows people from all around the world to vent their secrets to them, known as “What’s Crackin’”, Egg Anon seems to be way more reliable online compared to real life, where they sprout off cursed comments, alongside their equally cursed twin, famous volleyball star Wet Sock Anon. Myth seems to be the only person in the con who actually finds the cursed comments that the Freak Twins spout funny, often laughing when other Anons are staring in disgust. Myth, ever the open book, loves to vent to Egg, and Myth is happy to find that the famous volleyball star themselves is chaperoning the con trip alongside her.

Egg’s Outfit: A green hoodie over a yellow t-shirt and matching yellow hair clips, glasses, pants and shoes from original design.

Wet Sock’s Outfit: A black and white volleyball uniform, white socks, black volleyball shoes, hair tied back into a small ponytail, glasses from original design.

Curious Anon, Jr. Ultimate Tattoo Artist

Despite their yakuza connections and heavily tattooed arms, Curious wouldn’t hurt a fly (except if someone ordered them to) and takes all the stigma they face for their tattoos and connections with a smile on their face. After their family’s yakuza business went belly-up, Curious’s family decided to earn money the clean way, and opened up a tattoo parlour. Curious proved themselves to be a master at tattoo art and garnered popularity. Myth always wanted a tattoo on her arm, and asked Curious to give her cool lightning bolts on her left arm. Myth quickly bolted away, never to return, when she saw Curious holding a needle.

Outfit: A white button up shirt, black pants with black suspenders, heavily tattooed arms, shoes from original design.

Anon Nerd, Former Ultimate Carpenter

Famous for using his trademark goggles to burn patterns into wood and his masterful craftsmanship when it comes to creating wooden structures, it was no wonder that Nerd earned the title of Ultimate Carpenter. Nerd is also famous for his uncontrollable temper and rage issues, if he were to be interrupted, and the horrible burns that the poor shmuck who interrupted Nerd winds up getting. Unfortunately for Myth, she constantly interrupts Nerd in the middle of work, and has to suffer burns that have to be cared for by Wyre in the process. This means that Nerd and Wyre are mortal enemies, much to the dismay of the track star.

Outfit: Red-tinted goggles, a red flannel shirt with rolled up sleeves, brown gloves, tool belt, and shoes, blue jeans.

Eldritch Anon, Ultimate Surfer

Born on an isolated island in the middle of the ocean, Eldritch dominated all of the surfing competitions in both his area and foreign areas, garnering fame around his island as having an innate ability to find the biggest and most impressive waves in the deep and blue ocean. Unfortunately, being born on an isolated island doesn’t exactly translate into great social skills and trust in others, for he shows a hostile distrust in just about everybody, believing that they have harmful magical powers intent on harming him. This upsets Myth, because she genuinely wants to bond with a fellow jock, but Eldritch just continues to push Myth away.    

Outfit: Camo-hoodie from original design with nothing underneath, shorts from original design, seafoam flip flops, long hair in a ponytail.

Dream Anon, Ultimate Hiker

Famous for hiking long distances, no matter the terrain or weather, Dream Anon broke many world records in her trekking endeavors. Dream has a great love for nature and landscapes, and lives for the thrill of visiting new and obscure locales. Out of all of the Kibo-Con participants, Dream is the most similar to Myth personality-wise, and thus, Dream and Myth get along the best. Both of them bonded over their sporty personalities and their love for exploring new locales. Dream instantly realized she‘d be good friends with Myth, when Myth cleared Dream’s hiking spots in record speed, and now, they have hiking races together. 

Outfit: Black sunglasses, a heavy pink and grey jacket, a large backpack, black shorts, brown boots.

Iris Anon, Jr. Ultimate Tree Climber

Just like how Myth was good at running ever since she learned how to walk, Iris has been good at climbing things, ever since she was a baby. Despite being clumsy and uncoordinated when on the ground, when it comes to climbing trees, she’s a master, to the point that Hope’s Peak Middle School christened her with the title of “Jr. Ultimate Tree Climber”. Along with the innate ability to climb trees very well, Iris also is very knowledgeable when it comes to trees. Just like with Dream, Iris and Myth get along very well, thanks to their similar personalities, and they love experimenting with each other’s talents for the day.

Outfit: Same outfit from her original design, but with a tree motif in her design.

Purple Anon, Ultimate Lip Reader

Despite being born deaf, the timid yet determined Purple wouldn’t let her handicap stop her from communicating with others. On the side, Purple hosts lip-reading seminars for the deaf and is famed for her polite and wise nature. Off of the seminar grounds though, Purple is far more timid, but can still understand what others are saying, thanks to her expertise in lip reading. Myth may not really know what it‘s like to be deaf, but Myth would try her best to support the timid lip-reader regardless, even if Purple’s loquacious and old-fashioned vocabulary just confuses Myth, and she needs the smarter Anons to translate for her.  Outfit: Same outfit from the original, but without the beret and purple hearing aids.

This series would center around a simple-minded yet supportive sprinter getting babied and protected from her obsessive fanclub by the other Anons, Bokuto-style, much to the sprinter’s confusion!

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PERSONALITY 

The best way to describe Sprinter!Myth’s personality would be a female version of Bokuto from Haikyuu. Simple-minded, childish, and easily-impressed, Sprinter!Myth is what the modern generation would call a “her-mbo”. But as much of a simpleton as she is, she’s still really determined and steadfast, as well as kind and supportive towards her friends. Unlike Romantic!Myth, Sprinter!Myth is utterly dense to anything relating to attraction or romance, extending to her fanclub at her school.

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APPEARANCE

Sprinter!Myth has natural brown hair in a lightning bolt-shaped ponytail and an ahoge to match, contact lenses that she always forgets to put in, a headband colored like the bisexual flag, a bandage on her right cheek, a blue track jacket with white stripes over a white shirt with a “#6” on the front, red athletic shorts with white stripes and drawstrings, long white socks, and red and white running shoes.

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I hope you like this talentswap! Let me know what you think of this week’s swaps!

-Fusion Anon

[random-thought-depository]

One of the things that’s interesting about Space Seed is the way it makes the Star Trek universe a de facto alternate history setting. Based on the bits dropped there and elsewhere in TOS, their later twentieth and early twenty-first century looked very different from our later twentieth and early twenty-first centuries!

The Eugenics Wars supposedly happened in the 1990s. The Star Trek original series ran from 1966-69, so this would have been about 25-30 years in the future at the time; the 1990s were for 1960s people what the 2050s are to us in 2020. So, not a bad time frame for events that were supposed to be near-future-ish but not immediate.

Or, another way of looking at it, from the viewpoint of 1960s people, the Eugenics Wars would have been about as far in the future as WWII was in the past. I get the impression history felt faster in the ‘60s, because of proximity of the great upheavals of the earlier twentieth century, and because the space race and the counterculture were ongoing big things, and because after 1970 or so technological progress slowed because a lot of the technological “low-hanging fruit” was picked. Think about how much the world changed from 1940 to 1967! People expected that pace of change to continue in the future. Thus all the middle twentieth century expectations that we’d have moon colonies and commercial fusion power and so on by the early 2000s; the sort of expectations you see in science fiction like 2001. The original Star Trek series was very much part of that trend, projecting manned space exploration of the other solar system planets and suspended animation technology and genetically engineered superhumans in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. There’s a line in Space Seed when Kirk, Spock, etc. are first taking a look around Khan’s ship, that went approximately “Yeah, they used suspended animation in exploration ships back then cause back then it took years just to reach other planets of the solar system, interplanetary travel with faster ships that didn’t need suspended animation only started in 2018.” As somebody sitting in a timeline where it’s now 2021 and Luna is still the most distant world a human has walked on, hearing that sure made me feel something!

I remember somebody once commenting that Star Trek TOS’s vision of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries reflected an idea, common during the ‘60s, that very soon we’d either get our act together or blow ourselves up. And I think what that comment was getting at was... There was an expectation that failure to do the former would quickly result in the latter so it was going to be one or the other. Something like our timeline, where we just sort of muddled through for the next fifty years, wasn’t expected; they’d have expected a scenario like that to have ended in the blow ourselves up outcome by now.

I think later Star Trek tried to kinda soft-retcon the timeline of the Eugenics Wars but never committed to explicitly changing it. According to First Contact, the “Third World War” happened around the 2050s (and this was building off stuff we saw in TNG). I think the implication is supposed to be that WWIII was the Eugenics Wars, but that requires ignoring some very explicit statements of dates in Space Seed and Wrath of Khan, and as I said, they never explicitly committed to a retcon. If we take what we see in the show at face value we’d conclude the Eugenics Wars and WWIII were two separate conflicts separated by about 50 years. Which makes it seem a bit weird that the Eugenics Wars apparently weren’t counted as a world war; based on the descriptions of them in Space Seed they were very destructive! Maybe the United States and the rest of the Americas and Australia and the Oceania nations stayed neutral, so they’re considered technically not a world war? Maybe they were less a single big war with two clearly defined sides and more a big mess of smaller interconnected conflicts like IIRC the Hundred Years War and the Thirty Years War?

Which... Star Trek has a reputation as the big optimistic science fiction, but this is making Star Trek Earth’s history from 1950 to 2070-ish look rather dystopian! We won’t be able to fully judge their history against ours until 2070 or so, but so far our post-WWII history looks more peaceful than their post-WWII history! One of the defining and good features of the post-WWII age is that it’s a long period of relative peace; it doesn’t sound like the people on Star Trek Earth would be saying the same thing from the vantage point of their 2021. I guess civilization blowing itself up every two generations would still be an improvement on the early twentieth century pattern of civilization blowing itself up every generation...

I think there have been some Star Trek novels written about the Eugenics Wars, and they squared it with real history by portraying it as a covert conflict that most people are the time were completely unaware of, kind of like the stuff that happens in Stargate and Men In Black? Eh, the descriptions of the Eugenics Wars in Space Seed really don’t fit with that idea. And I’ll just say that I don’t really like that “it’s all secret and the regular people have no idea any of this happening” trope; it’s OK in the right context but it’s got implications that limit storytelling and undertones of elitism I don’t like and I think a lot of the time it’s kind of lazy. If I were to just roll with the dates given for the Eugenics Wars, I’d take the approach of just leaning into the Star Trek universe being an honorary alternate history setting; I’d headcanon Star Trek Earth’s later twentieth and early twenty-first centuries as being 2001-ish, with commercial fusion power and moon colonies and crewed expeditions to the other planets of the solar system and lots of “futuristic” stuff (like, y’know, the process that created Khan) by the ‘90s and ‘00s. Admittedly I’m not sure how to square this with Star Trek: the Voyage Home, which mostly takes place in a 1980s that seems real-world-ish; it’d take some creative interpretation to reconcile them.

And, y’know... In some ways, Star Trek Earth’s late twentieth and early twenty-first century look better and more interesting than ours. Their world is clearly much more technologically advanced! Their space program is far more advanced than ours! On the other, looking at the descriptions of the Eugenics Wars ... if we had to choose, I think it might be a good thing that we got our history and not their history. Khan Noonien Singh sounds like a guy who’s inflicted a lot more death and suffering than Donald Trump and COVID19 ever will. Compared to Star Trek Earth’s late twentieth and early twenty-first century, our late twentieth and early twenty-first century is kind of boring, and sometimes boring is good.

And all this makes me think of something Chris Wayan (the Planetocopia guy) said about the Randomia principle:

“Let's say you're contemplating Randomia, an alternate Earth no better or worse than ours, with roughly the same biomass, same amount of arable land, about the same population... just re-distributed. Now, what regions will you notice the most? First, your home, of course, and then, other well-known regions--and well-known means inhabited.

Randomia will always look inferior! For, by definition, most readers will be from our world's high-population zones. Random changes will, on average, degrade them. And the lands that improve, that become the heartlands of Randomia's civilizations, are likely to be barren obscure lands in our world, mere names (if that) to non-Randomian readers. The Turnovian version of Europe is cold (millions of European readers groan), while the green Sahara nurtures great civilizations (a handful of Saharan readers cheer). If you love civilization, Randomia will probably kill or cripple the ones you love, and plant its greatest civilizations in places you associate with backwardness.

So the grass always looks browner in a parallel world--because what you value most, what you KNOW to value, is generally lost. This principle makes it hard to see alternate worlds fairly.”

The long post-WWII peace is something that hadn’t happened yet in the 1960s, therefore when Star Trek writers wrote a future history that didn’t contain it, they didn’t know they were writing a history that didn’t contain something important and good about the real history that was actually going to unfold. From the vantage point of 1967, it was optimistic to assume there wouldn’t be a nuclear war in the 1970s or 1980s! We, in 2021, can look back on the post-WWII period of relative peace that stretches 70 years long behind us, and know that our timeline contains this important good thing.

On the other hand, my perspective is also influenced by this Randomia effect; the more advanced technology of Star Trek 2021 Earth likely implies less poverty and more advanced medicine, which over a few decades might have saved more lives than the Eugenic Wars ended, making their timeline net better than ours (though containing great tragedies we avoided). One could certainly choose to imagine their world as being that way!

[gunnerpalace]

Can I ask your opinion on Fade to Black? I just rewatched it and my Ichiruki heart is just overflowing with feels! But anyways I love your analysis and opinions on all things Bleach.

I am that rare IR who does not actually like Fade to Black very much. I can see what it was trying to do, and I appreciate the idea in concept (and some little moments here and there) but I am not at all a fan of how it was actually put together and executed. I guess I’ll do this as a pros and cons list:

PROS:

I don’t like Mayuri but I sort of like how he was handled in this movie. Him keeping a physical backup of his brain is a cool sci-fi idea for dealing with advancing the plot later.

Dark Rukia’s design is fairly cool. Especially in the little promo book that came with the movie, which you sometimes see screenshots of floating around.

The degree of attachment Ichigo shows toward Rukia is endearing.

The scene where Kisuke asks what Rukia is to Ichigo is cute and pretty spot-on.

Kisuke showing up in his old captain’s uniform for seemingly no reason other than to tweak Yamamoto’s nose is pretty funny. Him and Yoruichi basically alluding to the Soul Society arc is also kind of cute.

Ichigo using some special technique that’s unique to him in order to find Rukia (because it ain’t reiraku) is great.

The fight scene between Ichigo and Dark Rukia, and how Ichigo solves it and saves her, is well done and engaging.

Their little hug scene that’s gif’d on here a lot is sweet.

The ending where they have this discussion about how maybe this isn’t the first time they’ve met feels a little underplayed (they’re real far apart and stoic for people discussing such mushy things) but it’s still nice.

CONS:

I’m really tired of arcs about rescuing Rukia and reducing her to a damsel in distress, because she’s better than that. The Soul Society arc was the first time, and it was set up well and worked just fine—it’s classic. Fade to Black’s reasons are contrived (more on that later) and derivative. Then Hell Verse did it again and it was just stupid by that point. There should’ve been a rescue Ichigo movie instead, and the Xcution arc doesn’t really count since that’s presented as a horror story mostly from his perspective.

Rukia’s has had a hard life as a character and has been dumped on consistently, so I view adding yet more misery and pain onto her as gratuitous and frankly kind of insulting in general.

While Dark Rukia’s design is cool, it’s not really Rukia at all. It is very clear she’s an unwilling participant. It kinda looks like her, but it’s all Homura and Shizuku, they’re just forcing her along into it. And you know what? That’s basically rape, even if it’s not sexual rape. It’s still a total loss of consent and bodily autonomy. I’m pretty not cool with a plot that boils down to Rukia being raped.

I just hate the visual design of the kids. I can’t explain why beyond saying they just look out of place in the setting. Homura in particular looks like she walked off the set of Yu-Gi-Oh.

The backstory with the two kids frankly doesn’t make much sense. She meets Renji when she’s seemingly somewhere around the age of Karin or Yuzu (like 8-12) and they and their friends are together for ten years. At the end of that, she enters the Academy. In the flashbacks with these kids, she looks indistinguishable from how she does in the present? When exactly was this supposed to be happening?

The entire plot of Soul Society not knowing who Rukia is is stupid. Soul Society is a bureaucracy. From what we are shown, the majority of what they do every single day is paperwork. Just like Japan still to this day loves forms in triplicate, Soul Society fucking loves paperwork. And they love records and archives. And all Byakuya can do is find one lone book that references Rukia? There would be literally hundreds and hundreds and thousands of documents referencing her, or signed by her. The most casual search would indicate she was real.

Kon is annoying as hell in this movie. Like, he’s usually annoying, but not as much as he is here. It’s distracting and grating.

Ichigo is a continual disappointment in this movie. There are so many things that I will give them their own entries denoted by letters below:

A. People say he remembers Rukia when everyone else forgets. He doesn’t. Only Kon remembers Rukia. Kon jogs Ichigo’s memory. Ichigo does admittedly remember fully and quickly, which puts him ahead of everyone else, but he still forgets to begin with. That’s stupid.

B. Ichigo is extremely wishy-washy in this movie. He requires a speech from Kon, can’t or won’t beat Shuhei of all people even with his mask on, and loses to Toushirou. It’s pathetic. I get it, he’s a sad puppy without Rukia. It’s still pathetic to watch. The only time in the manga canon where his confidence wavers when it comes to trying to get to Rukia is during the Soul Society arc, when he wants to stay and wait for Ganju so they can settle their quarrel, and you can read that as being unique because it turns out they’re cousins and Ichigo may know something is unique, even if he doesn’t know it. This shit of him becoming discouraged and sad when trying to get to her is out-of-character.

C. This is an extension of (B), but like. Okay, when Orikasa Fumiko is voicing Rukia, and she screams in agony or despair, it chills me to the bone. I cannot explain to you how much I don’t like hearing it. It makes me anxious and makes me angry. She did it on the Senzaikyu when Gin broke her resolve to face death, and she does it in this movie when the Hollow fusion starts. And all Ichigo can do… is stand there uselessly going “Rukia…” like it’s nothing unusual. If he had been on the Senzaikyu bridge when Gin had done what he’d done, and he’d heard Rukia scream like that, he’d have fucking murdered Gin right then and there in cold blood. And here he faces the equivalent and does nothing. That’s not my boy. That’s not Ichigo.

D. When Rukia is crying over the deaths of Homura and Shizuku, Ichigo just stands there uselessly beside Renji and Byakuya and does nothing to console her. Renji and Byakuya at least have an excuse because they still don’t remember her. What’s Ichigo’s? Again, not him. Go to her you moron. At least grasp her shoulder. Not the Ichigo I know.

The fight scene with the goo monster is dumb as hell. Yamamoto should be able to solo it. He activated Ryuujin Jakka and… completely disappears from the fight. He just straight up vanishes. Because you can tell they realized he should be able to solo it and that would deprive them of everyone else getting a fight too. So he just instant transmissions out of the entire movie. And we get contrived shit like the monster being faster than Yoruichi and Soi-Fon so that Kisuke can heroically save Yoruichi (because him doing it in the Yammy fight wasn’t enough already). It’s just contrived, gratuitous, and pointless.

While the IchiRuki moments are very cute (if a little overly restrained, in my opinion) I feel like the rest of the movie that is set up to make them happen is a hot mess. Things happen because they need to for the plot to work, not because it makes sense or is in character for them to happen. I can’t stand movies that are made that way for any franchise, and seeing characters I care about deeply behave in such ways really just kinda pisses me off. The story beats are derivative and generally inferior versions of things we’ve already seen.

Movie Ichigo is generally out-of-character as fuck (and not just in this movie!) in a way that reminds me of like, Jean-Luc Picard in the Star Trek: The Next Generation movies (wherein he acts basically nothing like he does on the TV show). And Movie Rukia seems generally reduced to a background character.

I said recently that Rukia and Doomguy would be friends, and you know what? I would watch that movie instead of Fade to Black or Hell Verse, to be honest. Let’s do an outline. 

Ichigo is kidnapped by some denizen of Hell (Kokutou and Shuren and company, I guess? they can still be anime pretty boys even if they’re damned souls, maybe they have terrible demonic forms or something) to be used as a reiatsu battery or some shit for evil purposes. (Breaking out of Hell to overrun the other worlds?) Ichigo’s energy running wild causes some kind of temporal and dimensional vortex which draws in the Doomguy. He finds himself in the upper levels of Bleach’s Hell and does what he does, methodically murdering his way about.

Rukia is sent to investigate Ichigo’s disappearance and eventually figures out Ichigo is in Hell, and so goes to save him (against orders, with the help of Kisuke and maybe the others). There she encounters Doomguy, and is at first horrified, but she notices the rabbit’s foot he keeps on him. She decides to help him, and they’re left alone for a minute, assessing each other.

Despite their initial lack of a shared language (maybe his helmet can translate Japanese?), she communicates to him (with Chappy drawings!) that she has to go deeper into Hell to save Ichigo. Given their shared love of bunnies, Doomguy is down with that. She rides on his back as she did with Ichigo, working some of his spare guns as they go. (Imagine Rukia cocking a shotgun meaningfully tho…) Along the way Rukia freezes some dudes and Doomguy punches their heads off. The usual stuff. She tells him about Ichigo as they go, like she did to Hanataro. Doomguy says nothing because he’s Doomguy, but he seems to listen.

They eventually get to Ichigo and liberate him through the judicious application of firepower. His raging reiatsu causes a lot of damage to the surrounding environment. Doomguy takes advantage of the chaos to commit more murder, giving Ichigo and Rukia time to have a tender reunion moment. The three then team up to take on Kokutou, Shuren, and the other baddies, possibly over the course of several different battles. (Probably like a third or so of the movie is this, and maybe the others show up to pair off and get some screen time. Doesn’t really matter.)

Eventually Shuren and the other chumps die and Kokutou becomes the big bad. Ichigo and Rukia do a big tag-team bankai attack to kill him after Doomguy provides them with an opening with a BFG9000 shot (as he is mostly doing add-clear).

Victorious, the three escape to the upper levels of Hell again, where they are met by reinforcements from Soul Society and explain that Doomguy is a friend. Eventually, Kisuke does some technobabble shizzlewizzle to send Doomguy back to the dimensions he more properly belongs to. Rukia gives him a parting gift of a drawing of him and Daisy in happier times. Ichigo gives him a fistbump and a CD player with some punk music, or a collection of edgy Shakespearean poetry or something.

Ichigo and Rukia share an epilogue to decompress and have some playful banter about how she’ll always be there for him just like he’s there for her.

Roll credits to At Doom’s Gate or BFG Division. Mid-credit sequence is Doomguy sitting on a massive demon corpse, making a detailed Chappy drawing of himself, Rukia, and Ichigo killing demons together as friends. End-credit sequence is Ichigo and Rukia playing an FPS game together on a console in pajamas or lounging clothes while laughing and bantering.

Like, yes, this idea is pretty stupid (although I am increasingly tempted to write it) and a frankly bizarre crossover. But you know what? It feels truer to the characters to me, and less contrived and dumb in setting up why what is happening is. It doesn’t really make the characters needlessly helpless or incompetent to generate those good moments of interaction.

And that is really my problem with Fade to Black: what it has to do to get the good moments outweighs them, for me. Maybe it’s because I just can’t turn my brain off and can’t stop doing critical analysis, but I always feel like the juice ain’t worth the squeeze. (And I kinda feel that way about all the animated movies. I was really surprised by how much I liked the Live Action: it nailed handling things perfectly.)

Other people like it, and that’s fine, but I don’t really intend to ever watch it again.

[afni-fics]

Elder Scrolls DC - A Reluctant Dragonborn - Chapter 6: Enter Lucien Flavius

Elder Scrolls DC - A Reluctant Dragonborn - Chapter 6: Enter Lucien Flavius by C_R_Scott Chapters: 6/? Fandom: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Red Robin (Comics), DCU (Comics) Rating: Mature Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Characters: Tim Drake, Lucien Flavius Additional Tags: Crossover, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Skyrim/DCU crossover, Reluctant Dovahkiin | Dragonborn, Not Beta Read

Previous Chapter | Masterlist | Next Chapter

Summary: Tim returns to Riverwood before attempting to trek to Bleak Falls Barrows. However, instead of gathering supplies to prepare for his assignment, he ends up picking up a companion.

(NOTE: I'm in the process of reblogging the initial chapters of this story because, for some reason, Tumblr won't let me edit the earlier versions that I created using the Tumblr app on my phone. I'm also in the process of creating a masterlist for this series)

-------------------------

The next morning, after spending the evening at the Bannered Mare Inn in Whiterun and visiting the apothecary to pick up some salve for his burns, Tim reversed his journey back to Riverwood. As he walked, he thought about something the woman in the apothecary shop said as he made his purchase that morning.

***

"A severe lingering wound like that really needs to be looked at by someone with skills in healing arts. The damage is deep and basic healing potions aren't going to be strong enough to heal it completely. Perhaps if I had some stronger ingredients I could brew up a potion powerful enough to fix this, but I don't have any in stock," the elderly alchemist Arcadia said with concern. "There's a temple of Kynareth up the steps in the Cloud District.  It would take a few days, but my friend Danica and her apprentice could heal that completely for you."

Tim had sighed and shaken his head. "I wish I could, but the Jarl's given me an assignment that needs to be completed as soon as possible. I don't have a few days to spare." At the even more concerned look Arcadia gave him, one that was very similar to the kind Alfred used to give him when he'd overwork himself, Tim relented. "When I complete the Jarl's task and return to Whiterun, I promise I'll visit the temple."

***

The salve Arcadia gave him would ease some of the pain and prevent the burn from becoming infected, but it wouldn't heal the wound outright, and she was insistent he visit the temple as soon as he returned to Whiterun. Tim wished he could have taken some time to do this, but Balgruuf was right. With that dragon on the loose, the Jarl and his wizard needed as much information as they could get to protect the people of the hold.

Besides... He was used to working while injured. It almost felt... normal.

What wasn't normal was how little money he now had. The medicine, though necessary, had eaten up nearly all the Septims he had leftover after his night the Bannered Mare Inn. With a deepening sense of dread, Tim realized he couldn't remember ever being so broke before. It was an unsettling anxious feeling that he really didn't like. Is this what it was like for people who had to live paycheck to paycheck, just one medical disaster away from financial ruin? Is this what it felt like to be forced to work on a job not just out of a sense of duty or responsibility, but because if you didn't you'd have to potentially starve or be homeless?

***

"Ah! Good to see you again!" a friendly voice shook Tim from his thoughts. Apparently, while lost in his thoughts on his journey to Riverwood, he'd entered a sort of autopilot and hadn't been aware of how far he'd travelled. He glanced up, startled, to see he was already on the bridge entering Riverwood. He glanced at the sky, noting the color of twilight and the few stars starting to peak out across the expanse. Then he turned to the voice, which belonged to Gerdur. 

"Oh. Hello," Tim said.

The blonde Nord woman smiled. "I see that your meeting with Balgruuf went well," she said as she walked over to meet Tim at the gate leading into the town. "The guards from Whiterun just arrived a few hours ago and set up camp on the other end of town. They're already patrolling the area between here and Helgen. Thank you so much for seeing the Jarl for us."

Tim smiled as well. "If it makes Riverwood safer, I'm glad to have been able to help."

Gerdur inclined her head toward the Sleeping Giant Inn. "Come on, let me treat you to a meal and some mead.  I'm meeting my husband Hod there, and we would love to hear about how things went with the Jarl over a pint or two."

By reflex, Tim almost declined. But he swiftly remember his current financial state and, of course, he didn't want to be rude to Gerdur. "A meal and some mead sounds wonderful. Lead the way."

***

Because Riverwood was such a small town, news apparently travelled like wildfire among the townsfolks. As Tim settled in at the Sleeping Giant Inn, he had folks coming by every few minutes to thank him for speaking with Jarl Balgruff and sending the guards. So many people were offering to buy him drinks he just couldn't physically consume that the owner of the Inn, a woman named Delphine, actually set up a tab for him that she allowed the citizens of Riverwood to pay into. In the end, as long as he was in Riverwood, Tim would't have to worry about food or drink for a good week at least. 

"So the Jarl's mage wants you to fetch something from Bleak Falls Barrow?" Hod, Gurder's husband, asked curiously. 

Tim nodded. "Something called a Dragonstone. Have you or anyone else heard of it?"

Gerdur shook her head. "I've lived beneath the shadow of the Barrow nearly my entire life and I've never heard of such a thing."

"What is the Barrow anyways?" Tim asked.

"I forget you're not from Skyrim," Gerdur started. "Back in ancient times, during the Merethic Era, when there was a cult who worshipped dragons instead of the Nine Divine, Bleak Falls Barrow used to be both a temple for them to worship and a place to bury their dead. Of course, now there is no Dragon Cult, and the Barrow are ruins. However, a dark magic lingers in that place, and rumor has it that the halls of the Barrow are still walked by the restless dead, forced to serve their ancient dragon cult masters even now."

"So dragons, magic, and zombies... great..." Tim muttered sullenly into his mug of ale before draining the last bit of it. 

Hod regarded Tim with concern. "Are you sure you want to go to the Barrow? Last we saw you, you weren't in the best of shape after Helgen."

Tim force a reassuring smile. "I'm fine now. I visited Arcadia in Whiterun and she gave me some medicine. Nothing to worry about."

Hod breathed a small sigh of relief. "That's good. Even a healthy warrior visiting the Barrow would find exploring that accursed place a challenge." 

***

Gerdur and her husband lingered a bit longer at the inn with Tim. But as the hour grew late, they rose to leave. Being woodcutters, their day started early. "Make sure you come to our home after you're done here," Gerdur insisted. "Don't go wasting your coin on the inn for the night."

"Of course. I won't be much longer. Just want to finish this pint."

By now most of the patrons of the inn had gone, and once Hod and Gerdur left, there were just one or two left. Tim's smile faded as he stared into mug.

"What am I going to do?" he whispered to himself.

"Excuse me, sir. I don't normally do this, but... erm... have you got a moment to talk?"

Tim barely heard the footsteps approaching him, but he did notice when a stranger took a seat on the bench next to him where Hod had been just a short time before. Tim glanced at the man. He clearly wasn't a Nord. The accent was more... British, and he wore clothing that clearly spoke of someone with money. It confused Tim and immediately put him on guard. "I might," Tim responded cooly before feigning taking a sip from his mug.

The stranger smiled. "Marvelous. My name is Lucien Flavius. I'm a scientist, philosopher, amateur wizard, and something of a musician, though I supposed that's more of a hobby..."

Tim narrowed his brows as he stared hard at Lucien, silently willing him to please get to the point. 

Lucien appeared to get the hint. "Ah- I couldn't help overhearing that you are going to be making a trip up to the Bleak Falls Barrows in the morning."

"I might... What is it to you?"

"Well, as a matter of fact, I'm here in Skyrim on an expedition - academic mainly. I'm currently employed as a researcher for a new museum based out of Solitude. I was sent to this region on a few errands, and one of them is investigating those same Barrows. I'm to investigate the ruins and determine if they're of enough significant archaeological importance to fund a fully manned excavation into it.

"Alas, when I got here, I found out that in addition to the Barrow being crawling with Draugr, the outer area around the ruins has become the infested with bandits. 

"Trouble is, I'm really not much of a fighter. I know a few spells and can just about swing a sword, but beyond that I'm pretty useless in combat. Skyrim's no place for a... 'milk drinker' like me - not on my own anyway. So I'm looking for someone to travel with. 

"My original plan was to make my way to Whiterun in the morning and hire a mercenary to escort me through the Barrow, but since you're already heading that way, perhaps I could tag along with you instead? It would save me a couple of days of travel between here and Whiterun."

Tim began to shake his head. "It wouldn't be safe--"

"I will, of course, compensate you most handsomely for putting up with me."

"Really, Lucien, I don't think--"

"Would three hundred Septims up front be enough?"

Tim was so startled by the amount he couldn't mask his wide eyed look of surprise and his protest against Lucien seemed to be cut off at the knees. Sensing a crack in the young man's resolve, the scholar pushed forward, sweetening the pot even further as he pulled out a bag bulging with coin and set it on the table between them.

"Here. You can have this now. After that, I'll top you up every time we come across something useful to my research. This is all at your discretion, of course. No obligations, save that you take me with you, and assist in keeping me alive wherever possible."

He wanted to say no. Tim wanted to push the bag of coins away and encourage the scholar to go to Whiterun and hire a proper mercenary to keep him safe. It would be better for him that way. However...

"I suppose we have a deal," Tim finally relented with a sigh as he picked up the bag of coins and weighed it thoughtfully in his hand.

Lucien's face lit up. "Oh, splendid! This is going to be quite the adventure!"

  -------------------------

NOTE: Lucien Flavius is an original character Joseph Russell that can be downloaded and added to your Skyrim game as an immersive, fully voiced unique follower.

(https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/20035)

Normally, you would find him in the inn of a different town, but I've made some adjustments in this story so that Tim meets him w/out going there. In this story, Lucien is a scholar working for a special new museum based out of Solitude (https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/11802) and he's actually on the "relic hunter" initial storyline that comes if you use the "Alternate Start - Live Another Life" mod where your main character chooses to go to Solitude via ship and you have a life where you are a relic hunter invited by the museum's curator to Skyrim (https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/272).

[aion-rsa]

The Weird History of A Chinese Ghost Story Franchise

https://ift.tt/3oonTBD

When A Chinese Ghost Story premiered in 1987, it was already part of a unique category – the fusion of horror, comedy, and Kung Fu. Asian horror films are known as jiangshi, which is the name of a specific spooky hopping ghost found in Chinese folklore that proliferates these films.

Part zombie, part vampire, jiangshi are corpses that are usually reanimated by demons or Daoist sorcerers. They hop along mindlessly with their arms outstretched like sleepwalkers, and feed on the life essence – or qi – of the living. Often a jiangshi is blind but can smell breath. This makes for great comic hijinks as hapless characters struggle to hold their breath while gruesome jiangshi shove their rotting noses close to their mouths trying to pick up the scent.

Comedy is a common horror film device. It releases tension and leaves the audience unguarded for the next jump scare. The addition of Kung Fu is purely Hong Kong and can be traced to Sammo Hung’s groundbreaking Encounters of the Spooky Kind in 1980. Adding martial arts action comes naturally because in Chinese culture sorcerers and exorcists are Daoist or Buddhist Kung Fu masters. In the wake of that film, Kung Fu Horror Comedies became a thing of its own with plenty of franchises, most notably Mr. Vampire.

If the horror, comedy, and Kung Fu menage a trois wasn’t enough, A Chinese Ghost Story was one of the first films of a then-burgeoning period genre called FantAsia. FantAsia is the Chinese answer to sword and sorcery flicks. It includes superhuman Kung Fu (which means lots of wirework and flying about), magic spells and supernatural beasts. FantAsia is based on a longstanding body of fiction in movies and literature known as Wuxia, which means ‘martial heroes.’ 

A Chinese Ghost Story was produced by Tsui Hark, who spearheaded FantAsia with his Zu: Warriors From The Magic Mountain four years prior to A Chinese Ghost Story, and followed with many other FantAsia classics like The Swordsman, Once Upon a Time in China and Green Snake. Ching Sui-tung directed all three A Chinese Ghost Story films and continues to deliver FantAsia films like The Sorcerer and the White Snake, but Tsui is the undisputed father of the genre. 

The Chinese Twilight Zone from the 1800s

A Chinese Ghost Story retells a beloved Chinese tale of star-crossed romance. All these Chinese Ghost Story films are titled Qian Nu You Hun in Chinese, which translates into “beautiful woman dark spirit.” This is the story of Nie Xiaoqian, drawn from a 1740 short story compilation titled Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio by Pu Songling. These were stories of the supernatural world with covert social commentary, akin to The Twilight Zone today.

Tales from Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio have been depicted in countless Chinese films and TV shows, most recently in last year’s CGI-drenched FantAsia flick The Knight of Shadows: Between Yin and Yang where Jackie Chan played Pu Songling. Nie Xiaoqian’s tale is a favorite having been retold in over a dozen TV shows and the films mentioned here.  

In the original tale, Nie is a beautiful ghost, doomed to haunt an abandoned temple and hunt for souls for a demon that has enslaved her. She tries to capture a milquetoast travelling scholar, Ning Caichen, who manages to free her from her curse and takes her home to help his sickly wife. After Ning’s wife dies, he marries Nie and redeems her. In Chinese folktales, supernatural beings often strive to become human. It’s a device to analyze what being human means, akin to the journeys of Data, Seven of Nine, and T’Pol in Star Trek. 

There was a notable adaptation of Nie’s tale in 1960. For that film, Qian Nu You Hun was translated as The Enchanting Shadow and was Hong Kong’s submission for Cannes and the Academy Awards. In the lead roles were two of the most popular actors of their generation. Nie was Betty Loh Ti, who died tragically to an overdose at just 31. Betty was a classic beauty, perfect for Nie, and this was her most celebrated role. Ning was Zhao Lei who enjoyed a long career of over a hundred films from the early 50s to the late 80s.

The Enchanting Shadow is a gorgeous film with sumptuous sets and costumes, which is what gave it such international appeal. It plays out almost like a European gothic horror in its gradual pacing and eerie Theremin soundtrack. With its international acclaim, The Enchanting Shadow set the stage for A Chinese Ghost Story 27 years later.

The Chinese Ghost Story Trilogy

A Chinese Ghost Story casts the alluring Joey Wang as Nie and heartthrob Leslie Cheung as Ning. Also in the cast are Wu Ma as the Daoist exorcist Yin and Lau Siu-ming as the androgynous Tree Demoness (Lau is male). The Tree Demoness steals the show like she plucks the hearts of her prey. Shifting between male and female voices, she attacks with entangling roots reminiscent of The Evil Dead (although she penetrates her victims through the mouth not other orifices). Her main weapon is her tongue, which grows so long that it wraps around her prey, cuts down trees and mutates into fangs and tentacles of Lovecraftian proportions.

Read more

Movies

25 Fiendishly Funny Horror Comedies

By Kirsten Howard

Joey is entrancing, a seductive portrait of long flowing locks wrapped in diaphanous silk gowns. Everything is always blowing in the wind like Beyonce’s hair, lending a mysterious grace to Joey in every scene.

And Leslie is adorably naïve. Who can’t but sympathize for him getting smitten by mystical Joey and her luxurious eyebrows, even if she was trying to eat him? A Chinese Ghost Story was pre-CGI so the special effects are dated: stop motion zombies, puppet tongue prosthetics, post-production glowy effects and lots of wire work. But there’s a certain charm to the cleverness of the effects. It’s old school filmmaking and although it looks dated now, it still works.

Three years later, the cast was reunited for A Chinese Ghost Story II. It picks up where the original left off. Leslie is still the innocent Ning, thrust in a horrid world. To show the brutality of his environment, there’s an early homage to Yojimbo, with a stray dog fetching a severed human hand.

Ning is in trouble from the start. He accidently sits down in a restaurant for cannibals, and then gets thrown in jail. After Elder Chu (Ku Feng) helps him escape, Ning gets mistaken for Chu by his gang of rebels. One of the gang members is Windy, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Nie because she’s played by Joey Wang. Ning is smitten again.

New to the cast is another Daoist wizard named Autumn (Jacky Cheung) and his frenetic energy ramps up the comedy and action.

The sequel quickly goes to a lot of fun places with absurd fight choreography, Daoist and Buddhist magic, amorous naked hijinks, crazy flying sword blades and a hysterical giant gloppy demon puppet that’s tenuously held captive by a Daoist freezing spell. And the reveal of the main demon is over-the-top strange and hilarious. 

A Chinese Ghost Story III came out the following year, but it’s a break from the narrative. In the first film, the Tree Demoness was banished for a century, so the threequel skips forward to a century later, outliving Ning and the other good characters. Lau Siu-Ming reprises his Tree Demoness role and Joey Wang returns as another beautiful ghost named Lotus. She’s joined by her sister ghost Butterfly (Nina Li, Jet Li’s wife). Jacky Cheung returns but as a different character, the Taoist exorcist Yin. It’s the same name as Wu Ma’s character in the first film because Jacky plays Yin’s rejected student. 

Replacing the lovelorn Ning is a bumbling Buddhist disciple, Shifang (Tony Leung Chiu-Wai) and his master Bai Yun (Lau Shun). Their relationship adds its own comic relief. Early on, Shifang is splattered with blood while witnessing a random roadside sword fight, just like what happened to Ning, while Bai Yun meditates obliviously.

Although the weakest of the trilogy, the special effects have improved over the years. The Tree Demoness’ tongue lickings are more vicious, including a tongue’s eye-view as it deep throats its prey and swims down to pluck out its heart. Lotus attacks with her entangling locks and Butterfly uses telescopic fingernails.

Instead of Daoist sorcery, there’s more Buddhist magic: restraining sutra wraps, flying carpet cassocks, magic malas, and blood so pure that it is gold. And who can forget Bai Yun’s enchanted earlobes? The finale demon reveal is the strange bastard child of a Transformer and a Kaiju that doesn’t quite work but by then, things have gotten so outrageous that it doesn’t really matter.

More Haunting Chinese Ghost Stories

Tsui Hark returned to the romance of Nie and Ning in 1997 for A Chinese Ghost Story: The Tsui Hark Animation. That was during a pivotal year for Hong Kong because it was the handover when it ceased being a British colony and was returned to China. Consequently, Hong Kong cinema was on fire. Filmmakers had no idea what would become of their industry under communist China, so they were producing their edgiest political work as many tried to immigrate to other countries in fear of having their artistic vision oppressed. 

Hark had been working on the project for years and the animated format allowed him to unleash his vision like never before. This story stands independent of the others, but revisits characters developed for the threequel.

Ning and Nie are the same, although Nie is translated as Shine. Nie Xiaoqian translates to “whispering little lovely” so it’s unclear why Shine was chosen for the English language version. Other characters are translated literally like White Cloud and Ten Miles (translations of Baiyun and Shifang). Also appearing are Butterfly and the Tree Demoness, renamed Madame Trunk, along with her creepy bald minor demoness entourage.

Read more

Movies

Zu: The Movie That Inspired Big Trouble In Little China

By Craig Lines

Replacing Master Yin is a new Daoist exorcist named Red Beard who travels in the bizarre magical giant transformer with temple bells for arms, a drum for a torso and barrels for legs. There’s also Mountain Evil, a giant rock star like demon that holds a concert and is obsessed with his hair. There’s a lot of music in this installment.

And Ning has a dog sidekick, Solid Gold, who serves as a comical canine conscience. For the Chinese versions, Tsui Hark voiced Solid Gold, which is funny because he only makes dog noises like barks and whimpers. 

Like the threequel, Ning finds himself in a cannibal restaurant but this time, it’s not in the normal world. This one is filled with demons. A Chinese Ghost Story: The Tsui Hark Animation is a deep dive into the yaoguai world.

Yaoguai means “supernatural and strange.” Fans of Asian cinema know it better from the Japanese term Yokai. It’s the world of magical creatures – fairies, demons, ghosts, immortals, enchanted snakes and foxes – different from the elves and gnomes found in Western folklore.

Hark’s animated film was echoed in Hayao Miyazaki’s Oscar-winning Spirited Away four years later. A Chinese Ghost Story: The Tsui Hark Animation transitions between conventional and CGI animation, which was groundbreaking then but comes off awkward today. It has its visionary moments but pales in comparison to the artistry of Spirited Away. 

In 2011, a remake came out, appropriately titled A Chinese Ghost Story 2011 and answered the question “What would A Chinese Ghost Story look like with today’s eye-popping CGI special effects?” Sadly, it doesn’t help despite a stellar cast.

Nie is played by Crystal Liu, who just appeared in the titular role in Mulan, but she falls short. Crystal is China doll cute, but she lacks the mystery needed for a haunting ghost. Ning is Yu Shaoqun. Like Leslie Cheung, Yu is a pretty boy singer, but doesn’t add much to the role beyond eye candy.

The Tree Demoness is veteran actress Kara Hui, who usually delivers gripping performances, but here she reduces the character to a cackling maniacal wicked witch that is strangely unsatisfactory.

There’s some redemption in the Daoist exorcists, which have a completely different and complex story arc. There are two, Yan Chixia, played by a brooding Louis Koo, and the one-armed Xia Xuefenglei, played by Louis Fan. The remake doesn’t capture the charm of the originals and the effects are unimaginative. This isn’t to say that this version is totally negligible. It has some moments like the villagers getting infected after rerouting water from the tree demon’s pool which makes them grow leaves. The villagers provide good comic relief. The sword fights are amusing too. The duel between the two Louises is high flying Kung Fu fun. The film is dedicated to the memory of Leslie Cheung, who tragically committed suicide by jumping off a building in 2003. 

Despite the title, A Chinese Ghost Story isn’t frightening. There’s nothing in any of the films that might keep one up at night. It’s a haunting tale of undying romance, retold with visionary action and hilarious slapstick moments that, apart from some splattered demon ichor, is family friendly, with about the same level of frights as the Ghostbusters franchise. But be warned. A Chinese Ghost Story opens the portal to the psychotropic genre of FantAsia Kung Fu horror comedies. Once entered, there are hundreds of films in this genre that can possess a viewer for months of binging.  

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A Chinese Ghost Story and A Chinese Ghost Story II are available on Amazon Prime.

The post The Weird History of A Chinese Ghost Story Franchise appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[halfblood-fiend]

Fictober 2019 - Day 9

From The Fictober 2019 event <3

Prompt 9 : “It has a certain taste to it.”

Fandom : Star Trek: Voyager

Words : 927

Warnings : none, sorta a companion piece to this, where Giana makes banana bread

“It has a certain taste to it.” - Vorik x Modern!OC

“Okay, corazón. You ready?”

“If you are asking whether I am prepared to be underwhelmed and unsurprised,” came Vorik's voice from his study down the hall, “then, yes, I am.”

“You ready to get your ass kicked?” I countered, setting the glass baking dish on the island countertop with a roll of my eyes. That was gratitude for you. You slave away all day and only get sarcasm for your efforts. Typical day on Vulcan.

The guest of honor sauntered into the kitchen fidgeting with a holo-emitter. I caught him out of the corner of my eye when I checked on the sauce and took out plates.

“I know you’re not going to keep working while we’re eating,” I warned him. “Not after I worked literally all day to make you this stupidly complicated recipe—which, by the way, did you only ask for it because it was so complicated and you assumed I would mess it up by making it from scratch?”

Vorik's face was a mask of innocence, but I could feel the tug of amusement in the corner of our connection that gave him away. “You asked for my favorite meal, and I gave it.”

But the unspoken answer was, yes.

“You’re on thin ice,” I whispered to him before I gave him a kiss on the cheek on my way to grab serving utensils.

He peered with calculating interest at the b’lltarr as I served it and poked the thick, jagged noodles with his finger when he thought I wasn’t looking.

“The consistency looks correct; a detail that is usually difficult to master,” he commented somewhat begrudgingly. “However, you promised it would taste better as well, being handmade out of ‘natural’ ingredients and not protein synthesizers.”

“Yes.”

“Can I also assume I shall be able to taste the ‘love’ in each bite?” The ghost of a smile tugged at the corners of his lips and I had to pause the bask in its glory for a moment.

But then: “You'll taste something if you don’t stop giving me this attitude, but I promise you won’t like it.”

I heard the soft exhale of breath, faint, almost like a sigh, which was the closest he ever got to laughing. “Any other threats before we get started?” he asked, setting his holo-emitter aside to pull out forks from a drawer.

“Yes. One. If you don’t say something nice to me about this meal, I am going to start crying.”

I took the saucepan from the stove and spooned the viscous, bluish liquid over the noodles, paused, then added a dollop of sauce in the corner of each of the plates and smeared it artfully. There. Plated and everything. Like a professional.

Vorik gave me a bemused look but knew better than to comment.

“Okay…” I picked up a plate and offered it to him, sucking my lip between my teeth. “Homemade b’lltarr. As promised.”

He kept staring at it and moving the plate in his hands as we took it to the table, but our bond was left frustratingly colorless. Vorik gave no indication of any kind how he might’ve felt about it and that made me wholly nervous. Not just because b’lltarr was the single most frustrating thing I’d ever made (I had to throw out two attempts at the weird noodles because I missed taking them out of the steamer by a few seconds each), but because I really wanted him to like it.

Shockingly, it was hardly about ‘winning’ that ancient bet anymore. I just wanted to make him happy. Or as happy as he could be, anyway. Despite the doctrine of IDIC and it being a hundred and fifty or so years since Sarek and Amanda had first lived here, I knew many of his peers were giving him a hard time about me while we lived on Vulcan, whether they said so outright or not. While Vorik didn’t mention it much, choosing to spare his anxious wife most of the details, I knew he dealt with other’s disapproval to his face a lot more than I did. And I knew it was much more difficult than he let on.

Vorik tasted the sauce separately before taking a tentative bite of it all together.

“You added something to this.”

I pressed my hand to my heart, laughing, “Oh, you caught me. My secret ingredient was poison. Now I’m gonna make off with your estate and become the mysterious widow down the street.”

He shook his head and tried the sauce again. “It has a particular taste to it… Is that…did you put Terran chipotles in this?”

My entire thought process spilled out in a rush of words, “Ummmm, yes, because everything is better with chipotle in it, y’know, and I thought the redspice that was supposed to be in here was a little bit bland, I dunno. So I added the chipotle I had too. It’s, like, a Vulcan-Human fusion now! I thought it’d be sorta cool. Is that…okay?”

“It is satisfactory.”

I let my fork clink to the table. “Woooow. It’s gonna be like that, huh?”

Saying nothing else, Vorik continued to eat the rest of what I served him. Our bond was blank and his face was composed.

“So, is it better or nah?” I finally asked.

The Vulcan swept from the table and served himself more, and I guess that had to count for something. No one got seconds if the food was awful. When Vorik returned he held his fingers out to me. I pressed the pads of my own fingers to his and warm-colored affection blossomed over our bond. Without realizing it, my lips settled into a soft smile as calm washed over me.

“Are you ready, ashayam?”

I started. “Ready? Ready for what?”

“To prepare this again for my parents.”

[alexsmitposts]

Meet The Space Force: More Embarrassing Political Pornography On Jan. 3rd, 2019, China landed the Chang-e 4 rover on the far side of the moon. This was a dramatic accomplishment in terms of extraterrestrial activity. The mission had a concrete purpose, not merely in terms of scientific research, but also in terms of technology.Helium-3, the rare, non-radioactive isotope, is quite hard to find on earth. Due to its rarity, it costs roughly $40,000 per ounce. However, Helium-3 is highly abundant on the far side of the Moon. The Chang’e 4 is believed to be the first step, with China intending to send up Chang’e 5, which will land on the moon, load up, and return to earth with a cache of Helium-3, extracted from the lunar surface. Helium-3 is in high demand right now, as fusion energy research is taking off. Many believe that Helium-3 could be used in a fusion reactor that could be developed, and completely change life on this planet with abundant levels of new energy. Russian President, Vladimir Putin is a champion of these efforts, saying: “Potentially we can harness a colossal, inexhaustible and safe source of energy. However, we will only succeed in fusion energy and in solving other fundamental tasks if we establish broad international cooperation and interaction between government and business and join the efforts of researchers representing different scientific schools and areas. If technological development becomes truly global, it will not be split up or reined in by attempts to monopolize progress, limit access to education and put up new obstacles to the free exchange of knowledge and ideas…The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) serves as a prime example of open scientific, technological cooperation. Scientists are now planning to use it to launch the process of controlled thermonuclear fusion…Our country is actively participating in this project, and is now prepared to suggest that they use Russia’s scientific infrastructure for joint research, joint scientific investigation, for the international scientific teams that are working in the sphere of nature-like and other breakthrough technologies, including unique mega-science installations.” The US space program originated with similar aspirations. NASA sought to advance human civilization, develop new energy sources, and make life better on earth by reaching for the stars. On Sept. 20th, 1963, US President, John F. Kennedy spoke at the United Nations and proposed that instead of having a “Space Race” that the United States and the Soviet Union work together. He said: “In a field where the United States and the Soviet Union have a special capacity–in the field of space–there is room for new cooperation, for further joint efforts in the regulation and exploration of space. I include among these possibilities a joint expedition to the moon.” 2020: Pornography Takes the Place of Politics When describing the years of 1907-1910, a period when Russia was gripped by hopelessness after the failure of the 1905 revolution, Vladimir Lenin wrote: “Depression, demoralization, splits, discord, defection, and pornography took the place of politics.” Such words accurately describe the current atmosphere within the United States. Suicide rates are higher than they have been in decades. Opioid addiction is also claiming lives at a very high rate. Roads across the country are being un-paved because municipalities cannot afford to maintain them. Water is not being properly purified. Demoralization and depression are abundant, and discord among the country’s different demographics and regions is also widespread. In terms of “pornography,” the US Commander in Chief, Donald J. Trump boasted about the size of his penis in during a Republican primary debate. Furthermore, the “October Surprise” from his detractors, which dominated much of the political debate in the lead up to his electoral victory, was the infamous “Access Hollywood Tape” of Trump describing lewd activities with women, in a manner many interpreted as advocating sexual assault. After Trump was elected, feminist activists poured into the streets, dressed in pink to oppose him in a series of “Women’s Marches.” Many of the marchers wore hats sewn specifically to look like female genitalia. As impeachment proceedings continue against Trump in the US Congress and hopes that he would be a non-interventionist have faded away after his rapid escalations against Iran, Donald Trump continued to press forward with one of his favorite projects: The Space Force. On January 27th, just over a year after China’s historical intergalactic accomplishment, Trump released the logo of the new branch of the US Armed Forces created by this year’s congressional defense spending bill. The logo of Trump’s “Space Force” was immediately met with mockery and laughter, because it bears an obvious resemblance to the insignia used in the Star Trek TV programs. Trump’s Space Force is not an extension of NASA or push to send humans to Mars. It is not part of Russia and China’s efforts to make breakthroughs in Fusion Energy. The Space Force is purely military. As Trump explained: “Our destiny, beyond the Earth, is not only a matter of national identity but a matter of national security.” The White House proposed that the new branch of the US military be required: “Strengthen America’s ability to compete, deter and win in an increasingly contested domain. Organize, train and equip our space warfighters with next-generation capabilities. Maximize warfighting capability and advocacy for space while minimizing bureaucracy.” “We don’t want China and Russia and other countries leading us. We’ve always led — we’ve gone way far afield for decades now, having to do with our subject today. We’re going to be the leader by far. We’re behind you a thousand percent,” Trump said when he announced the proposal. LARPing from the White House Indeed, if Trump were to push the Space Program as it had originally been intended, it would require massive reforms to the US educational system. Instead of importing engineers and scientists from across the planet, the United States would be forced to start providing its young people, who greatly trail behind in Math and Science, with a much higher quality education. In response to the Soviet launch of Sputnik in 1957, US government funding of education vastly increased. However, Betsy DeVos, Trump’s Education Secretary, favors dismantling public education, replacing it “schools for profit” Charter Schools, as well as schools run by religious institutions. While Betsy DeVos wouldn’t favor ramping up NASA, the Education Secretary and Billionaire Heiress, whose brother is none other than Erik Prince, founder of the Blackwater (Academi) Military contracting corporation, is most likely happy with Trump’s alternative move. The entire military industrial complex must be excited about expanding the highly profitable market for cruise missiles, bombs and drones into a whole new frontier. If the logo is any indicator, the Pentagon is probably on the verge of announcing new plans to develop phasers, laser beams, and lightsabers. The fact that the Space Force is intended to appeal to young voters, who tend to disfavor Trump, is no secret. In announcing the proposal Trump said: “A new generation of young people seeks to challenge — really challenge hard — to get their talent and their skill to work. And now we’re giving them a forum and a platform from which they can put that genius to work.” Indeed, many of America’s youth, young men, in particular, are probably quite excited about the Space Force. As young Americans find themselves stuck in low-wage, short term, service sector jobs, unable to earn a living, get married, buy a home, and have children, many are reduced to a kind of prolonged adolescence. Instead of raising kids and having fulfilling careers, many young people who are stuck making coffee or sweeping floors have found the world of Science Fiction and Fantasy as a place of solace. Many young Americans, who don’t seem to have much else to do, having been robbed of a fulfilling adult life, take pleasure in “LARPing” or “Live Action Role Play.” They dress in costumes like their favorite science fiction and fantasy characters, holding conventions and acting out scenes. While this LARPing subculture is new, Star Trek fans have been doing for decades. In the 1970s and 80s, the “Trekkies” were the object of mockery, but now their practices of dressing up in costumes and pretending to engage in outer space or medieval combat are much more respected. Oddly, a section of the new, white supremacist right-wing emerged that seemed to be somewhat reminiscent of the LARPers, though more dangerous. The group called itself the “Fraternal Order of Alt-Knights” and trained its members in using sticks, wearing helmets, and carrying shields of the purpose of street fighting. While images of the group’s members certainly look reminiscent of LARPers, their intentions are quite different. While the LARPers shy away from politics and are very clear that what they do is all play and pretend, despite the costumes, the Alt-Knights seem to be ready for a real confrontation as they rant and rave about “western civilization” and “cultural Marxism.” Many reports indicate that the Alt-Knight organization has effectively become defunct in the aftermath of the 2017 incident in Charlottesville. Outer Space Atlanticism in an Age of Pessimism Regardless, for millions of young people who spend their weekends pretending to be intergalactic fighters, Trump’s “Space Force” proposal sounds like their greatest hope. It is a chance to make their weekend fantasies come true. To paraphrase the old 1960s bumper sticker mocking US military recruiters, they can travel beyond the earth, meet new interesting people… and kill them. The Space Force seems to be yet another expression of Atlanticism. It fits the geopolitical trend of two different civilizational models. Societies based on Eurasian landmass have focused on building up industry and infrastructure, making scientific, architectural and mathematical breakthroughs. These Eurasian civilizations have been contrasted with the Atlanticist Empires, from ancient Rome to the 1800s British, who focused simply on control of the trade routes and extracting tribute at the point of a spear. One wonders if the American “Space Force” will seize the next Chang’e mission to the Moon, and demand it hand over some Helium-3 in exchange for crossing into extraterrestrial territory declared to be “ours.” Such a tragic event would fit the patterns that have played out since the dawn of agriculture, when some humans started to build cities to function as trading hubs, while others chose to remain in the forests, hunting animals and robbing travelers. The French philosopher George Sorel, himself an outspoken pessimist contrasted the two views as they were manifested in Ancient Greece, writing: “It seems to me that the optimism of the Greek philosophers depended to a great extent on economic reasons; it probably arose in the rich and commercial urban populations who were able to regard the universe as an immense shop full of excellent things with which they could satisfy their greed. I imagine that Greek pessimism sprang from poor warlike tribes living in the mountains, who were filled with enormous aristocratic pride, but whose material conditions were correspondingly poor… they explained their present wretchedness to them by relating catastrophes in which semi-divine former chiefs had succumbed to fate or the jealousy of the gods; the courage of the warriors might for the moment be unable to accomplish anything, but it would not always be so; the tribe must remain faithful to the old customs in order to be ready for great and victorious expeditions, which might very well take place in the near future.” Regardless, as pessimism is on the rise across the United States, Trump’s new sixth division of the US armed forces seems to capture the spirit of the times, LARP-style logo included. Despite celebrations amid the widespread mockery, no proposal to add a sixth wall to the Pentagon has yet been proposed.

[morshtalon]

Digital Devil Monogatari: Megami Tensei

Possibly part 1 of a series of posts on the whole series, maybe?

So, the first game in the popular MegaTen franchise is, wouldn't you know it, kind of weird. It was actually a video game sequel to a series of two novels starring a sort of villainous protagonist and the (government-mandated to exist ubiquitously through japanese media) high school exchange student as they become indirectly related to the summoning of ancient bad dudes Loki and Set through the magic of 80's computer programming, go into historic japanese landmarks to resurrect shinto goddesses, witness horrific, gruesome, sometimes sexual actions from the demons, go to space, fight using gods that turn into swords, and generally have a good time.

Naturally, considering the, um... Notorious source material, it's only logical that the videogame adaptation would, then, turn the sort of dark, villainous, intelligent programmer guy into a blank slate warrior with no personality, the girl into a standard RPG magic user, and drop them into a big dungeon crawl with almost no plot, nonsensical NPCs and a connection with the novels so tenuous they might as well have just taken some inspiration from it and opted to create a more original IP instead (I dunno, maybe put a "shin" in front of the title or something). Thus is born the antiquated experience that is Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei.

While Japanese gamers did at the time have the original version of Dragon Quest - with the sprites that always faced down and the lack of a save system - ushering in a new style of role-playing gameplay into the mainstream, I suppose the mindset of RPG development was still rooted in the design philosophies of the western games from throughout the decade that were distilled into DQ. Games that, like Megami Tensei, typically featured a simplistic first-person view and a party of six characters, following the rough guidelines of the most recent version of D&D, and had generally no plot development, consisting instead of a hardcore, punishing trek through a few 20x20 grid mazes full of traps and gimmicks.

Furthermore, this type of experience, from what I heard, was huge in Japan, so it's no wonder Atlus chose to capitalize on that market instead of streamlining it and risk losing fans of the genre that were looking for an experience similar to what they had witnessed from RPGs so far. Less cynically, it's also entirely possible the developers themselves were huge fans of the first person dungeon crawler and wanted to replicate their positive experiences in a passionate love letter to the genre. Also, for what it's worth, they did add uniqueness in party management and customization, as you surely already know, but we'll get to that later.

I guess we'll never know the true context behind the original MegaTen's creation, but the point is, this is a very old-school game. I don't think it's nearly as brutal as the ones that inspired it, but it is also definitely far from holding your hand. At no point in the game is it entirely obvious exactly where items you're supposed to collect are located, so you mostly have no choice but to comb the entire dungeon yourself until you stumble upon the stuff you need to progress. Furthermore, sometimes the very NPCs that tell you there's even something to look for at all are slightly out of your way, so there's always the mental pressure of maybe having left something behind and having to backtrack and go to all sorts of places trying to find it when you run into the next dead-end.

By itself, this isn't really a bad thing. As an exploration-based dungeon crawl, it's expected that the player will have some agency over what they're doing, and it's refreshing to see a game where you have so much ground to cover, but with hardly any setpiece to spice up the crawling in terms of context, the job of entertaining the player falls squarely upon the gameplay's shoulders.

To that end, the gameplay is definitely more boring than stimulating. This is where I have to admit, I beat the Kyuuyaku Megami Tensei remake version of it. I have played the original, though, and I am aware of the differences between versions. I have also played future games in the franchise with the same issues, so there's no evidence that the original is much different in this regard. Anyway, apart from an intense earlygame where you're at risk of death from a stray Zan spell cast by a gnome if you're unlucky, the rest of the game's fights are uneventful, once you level up enough and have an array of serviceable demons at your side. There's only ever one group of enemy demons per fight. There can be up to eight of them, but all eight are the same type of demon, and the graphics will only show the one until the entire group is dead. It's kind of like every fight is against only one demon but the demon can attack several times and has an erratic, huge HP pool. Furthermore, targeting is completely random for all moves, and you'd think this would add a fake layer of frustration, but the game gives you an auto-battle option. It simply makes the entire party use their regular attack for as many rounds as you want and prevents text from popping up on screen to slow down the monster-slaying, but for the most part, this is more than enough to get you through whatever part of the dungeon you find yourself in, with only the occasional, very rare exceptions of either:

-A demon that has a dangerous ability, therefore making it so that you want to kill them as quickly as possible;

-A boss;

-A battle that you got yourself into without noticing your HP is getting low, so you have to get yourself back to good conditions before proceeding.

It's definitely more of a preparations game than a reactions game. Preparation is fine, but there's never any need for you to deploy clever strategies. The game is ALL about having a good arsenal of choices up your sleeve and, when you do, you're good to go, and then you need to be either very callous or purposefully challenging yourself while playing in order to get into a situation that requires mental resourcefulness and wit. I will admit, I checked some of the mechanical differences between the original and remake versions, and it seems like they reduced the HP of enemies and bosses quite a bit, and generally went to great lengths to streamline the gameplay and make it more in tune with the next few games in the series (as far I could tell from the party itself, Kyuuyaku seems to have taken the inner workings from Megami Tensei II and applied it retroactively to the first game as well to make it more consistent, but I'm not 100% sure). Maybe this means that the original is more nerve-wracking and you need to level up much more, but I doubt it really becomes more strategy-based and oriented towards exploiting the mechanics, like the style future franchise titles would strive to achieve. As far as I can tell, the abilities remain the same, only the stats change, so it's likely more of a formula redesign than any major gameplay departure. If it is though, I apologize, and rectify my statements regarding battle mechanics boredom as far as the original version is concerned.

But hey, regardless of version, the whole demon system is pretty cool. I don't remember the characters doing it much in the books, I believe Nakajima only had Cerberus and that was it, so there's a nice, original expansion of the novels'... mechanics (?) on display here. I don't think the demon conversation, recruitment and fusion systems need any introduction, but I will say that up until Shin Megami Tensei II, the seventh overall game in the franchise, for some odd reason all demons were limited to three abilities/spells (later three spells and a few abilities), so they were not very versatile. Furthermore, magic and abilities generally sucked for the most part in early MegaTen, and in this game, outside of Hanmahan, group healing and the occasional kaja spell, all you really want is a good punching bag to take the heat off of Nakajima and Yumiko.

Also, maybe it's just in the remake, but there are quite a few demons that are exclusive to the player through demon fusion. This begins happening from pretty much the start of the game, making them sort of unique all the way through and making it sort of cool for the player to go around with these demons that you can't see anywhere else and who are usually more powerful than the enemy demons in the area. Still, however, the limited abilities and limited usefulness of said abilities make things a bit boring and makes the demons sort of interchangeable for the most part, especially considering you can't even see them in battle. But hey, in 1987 I'm sure the vast array of options alone would have been pretty impressive and, considering the plethora of real-life inspiration that was put into the demons' designs, it's kind of still impressive today, really.

Enemies do have a few tricks of their own up their sleeve, too, though, and they usually fall into the "early RPG unfairness" spectrum quite nicely, such as being able to cast death spells when the game's programming is such that you get a game over if the 2 (out of 6) human party members die, even if all your demons are still alive (naturally the final boss can use a pretty accurate version of this move), or the loathsome "smiles and laughs" attack that permanently drains an experience level from a human party member if it hits, making you have to work your way back up again without even the mercy of having the enemy that sucked your level give a massive hoard of EXP when defeated. Or the mercy of adjusting the experience table (if you're level 41 and get a level sucked from you, now you're level 40 but you still need enough experience for level 42 to get back to level 41). It's basically a reset button.

The original version also had some major frustration in the fact that there was, like DQ and so many others of its time, no save feature. You had to visit a guy near the start of the game to get a password or use a late game spell from the girl. There was also no auto-mapping feature (though the mapper/mappara spell did exist, in the old MegaTen-style 3x5 grid), so you just had to create maps yourself, I guess, which is kind of like wizardry and bard's tale and such, and kind of interesting. Though, for a game that isn't all that stimulating otherwise, it's good that in the remake you don't also have to go get a sheet of graph paper to keep track of where you've been. I'm torn on whether the original's extra doses of hardcore game design are better or worse than the remake's streamlining, but it seems to me like the hardcoreness, probably caused by memory limitations and such, served more like an arbitrary layer of confusion placed over a game that didn't really have a juicy core, while the remake's alleviation of it brought about the black spots a bit more into the limelight... It's hard to make up my mind.

The more standard things to talk about in a review are usually average-to-enjoyable here. The environment graphics are pretty good for their time in the original version, and the remake has some good stuff in the late-game, but has a tendency to make the ground a fake-looking gradient that feels artificial and standoffish. Demon designs are always a treat in MegaTen and I wouldn't say this game is an exception, but I think the original designs look kind of goofy for the most part, while the remake uses the scaled-down style of SMT II and SMT If... instead of the better-looking, more detailed style of SMT I, so that's somewhat disappointing. The music is alright, nothing special, but it starts with really cheery, upbeat tunes that go against the ambiance, especially in the remake where they added a dark-ish prologue with more fitting, atmospheric music. The sheer length of each individual section of the dungeon means the tracks will start to get repetitive at some point, and they have a repetitive nature on their own, but they're not bad. I like the bass in Valhalla Corridor. I also like the last two areas' music. Bien's track sucks, though.

Either way, it surely isn't a great game. Nor does it have to be one, honestly. It's a 1987, sort of experimental game that toyed around with the concept of a dungeon crawler in a very japanese setting coming from a very risqué source. It has its merits in creativity, sorely marred by technical limitations and overly emphasizing on its subpar dungeon crawling gameplay, extending it to the point where it overstays its welcome quite a bit. The devs were wise in keeping the plot connections to its immediate sequel small (and it is fascinating, how different it is from all others in the franchise) because Megami Tensei 1 doesn't stand the test of time.

But again, such a thing shouldn't be expected from a late eighties, obscure weird little game, and for what it's worth, like I said about Dragon Quest, it served as a base, though in my opinion a rockier one, with which to found gameplay mechanics that would be expanded upon and embellished in future titles. I'd give it a 4 out of 10, perhaps an honorary extra half-point if the original version's gameplay is a tad more stimulating, but really it's hard to even give games like this a score. They're a product of the times, and they appeal to sensibilities of the times. Gamer mentalities, even within the genre, have moved past it, but it stays here as a testament to the growth of the series. Going into it, you're likely very aware of its shortcomings already, and whether you'd like it or not is, I think, even more independent of whatever mess of words I'd be able to string together like this than usual.