#tribal force comic

[marsneptunes]

The Black Witch - Agathario’s daughter

Now that we have Agatha’s backstory we know she didn’t trade Nicky for the Darkhold. But she got it anyway, so what could have happened to her and what could be as much as powerfull, like a son, for Mephisto had acept the deal?

I already had this headcanon of how could be if Agathario had a daugther, I was reading more about the meaning of the names and I found out that Selene is a name of a powerful Marvel character, so I tried to fill some spaces with Agathario’s backstory. We still have a lot of gaps about the way they met and between Nicky’s death and Agatha getting the Darkhold.

This is me having fun with Marvel characthers and finding one who fits really well with the idea of an Agathario’s daughter.

AGATHA AND THE DARKHOLD

Agatha and Rio would see each other again every time Agatha had killed another coven. Agatha would always be waiting for her arrival, for her to collect the souls, almost like she wanted Rio to feel ashamed for this, to make her suffer and remember she did that with their son. Every meeting her hatred towards Rio, as her pain and suffering, would be more intense. So was the sex. It always started like a war, but the longing would be to much for them to handle, so they would get to the truce point, as they would say, like “Switzerland”, and then they would part ways again. And this would repeat, again and again. Until no more.

Agatha knew what was happening in day one. The feeling of magic through her, a magic that wasn’t hers or from any others witches she had killed in the past years. That feeling didn’t happened with Nicholas. That was a magic force growing on her, and it wasn’t like other women would describre their pregnancy, the dizy, headache, nauseas, nothing of it. Still, she knew what was happening, and if she could feel the magic, Rio, the original Green Witch, could too. At least, that was what she believed.

Would it all be hapenning again? What she could do to save a kid who one of their mothers is a entity, Death herself? Would this be a way of paying for killing her own coven, her mother? Mothering kids who were destined to die at birth and be collected by their other mother.

That’s when she decided to go after the Darkhold.

Agatha actually made a deal with Mephisto, but not because of her son, but because of a daughter. But she wasn’t ready for Mephisto’s request. He would give her the Darkhold, so she could hide from Rio and change their daughter’s fate, but in exchange Agatha would forget her existence, her babygirl. A void in her memory. She would get everything she wanted, the Darkhold and protect and hide her, but in his terms.

The girl would be safe, so she accepted. With one request, her name wouldn’t be changed. The deal was made.

What Mephisto didn’t tell her is that he couldn’t feel Agatha’s baby power. He felt the energy emanating from her but couldn’t describe exactly what it was, like the baby herself put up a barrier against him. He also had a hint on why the original green witch, lady Death, hadn’t shown up yet. Death wasn’t the baby’s destiny, and he doubted it would be so soon, with all that power he imagined was there and was being kept hidden from him. But Agatha didn’t know that, so he used it to his advantage. She didn’t need him, but he was glad she didn’t realize it.

All this made him really interested in Selene, she would be there, growing by his side, he could see how powerfull she could become, and control her, the offspring of a powerfull witch and a entity, and now, an agent of Mephisto.

SELENE

From Marvel comics “Selene’s mother was young when she bore her, but would be dead before Selene spoke her first words. The tribal elders ordered her mother’s people to sacrifice themselves to Selene until none remained”

She would have grown up under Mephisto’s influence, and that would be the story she grew up believing, she had two witches mothers, which explained her powers, and they were murdered trying to protect her against their coven, and that’s it, not knowing anything else about her past.

As for her powers, that’s a lot of similarities with Agatha and Rio’s. It’s almost like she has a mix of both.

Again, from the comics:

“Selene maintains her immortality with her power to absorb the essence or lifeforce of others, a process that also allows her to absorb memories and take control of her victims. By drawing on the power she has absorbed, Selene can also grant herself other superhuman abilities like enhanced strength or speed.”

“Selene is also a powerful telepath with considerable telekinetic abilities. Thanks to her extended lifespan, Selene has become one of the most skilled magic users in the world and was even considered a potential candidate to replace Doctor Strange as Sorcerer Supreme. She is capable of displaying various psionic feats with the minds of others including reading and communicating with thoughts over vast distances.”

Guess who has telepathic powers too and can get inside someone’s mind, even a mind under a powerful Scarlet Witch’s spell.

“If she drains only part of a victm’s life force, she achieves a measure of pyschic control over her victm’s mind. Selene can cause a human being to become a psychic vampire like herself, but be subordinate to Selene’s own will.”

That would explain how she could control and hide herself from Mephisto even when she was still a baby. When Mephisto tried to use his own power to sense hers, unintentionally, she absorbed and used his power against him, hiding and protecting herself. And hiding from her other mother, Lady Death. As a life created by Agatha and Rio, their life force would already been part of Selene’s too.

SORCERER POWERS

“Selene can summon demons and other entitties. Can manipulate magical artifcats and teleport over vast-distances.”

This gives off an Underworld vibe, fitting well for an Lady Death’s daughter and Agatha possessing the Darkhold too.

“Selene can shoot powerfull energy blasts"

“Can disguise herself and others”

“Can restrain others in mystical bonds” As Agatha did with Jen.

“Selene can turn herself into a shadow figure enabling her to blend in and also control darkness around her.”

“In her efforts to obtain power, Selene was responsible for the establishment of the hidden Amazonian city Nova Roma”

And how well this fits with someone who is the daughter of a power-addicted witch and the original Green Witch.

AESTHETIC

In the comics, looking at her style, there is a lot of similarities with Agathario’s.

“No one knows where Selene came from, who she is, what she is” So again, it fits well with the idea of Rio not knowing about her and Agatha not remebering her but spreading a “false” story about exchanging a child for the Darkhold, like she tried to deceive herself, to have some memory of her daughter, in a way she could get her back one day, even if she doesn’t even remember it.

Selene likes some purple too.

There’s a movie called “Underworld” where the protagonist’s style and story was inspired by Selene from the comics.

In the movie she grows up with a father figure and a blurred past in which he saved her when her family was murdered. Later she finds out he was actually the one who killed them.

SELENE AS AGATHARIO’S DAUGHTER

With Nicholas, we know he was created at a time when Agathario were in love and in good terms with each other. This only changed after his birth. So that’s Nicholas personality and soul, easy going, pure, full of love.

With Selene it was different, she would be made on a time were there was a lot of love between Agatha and Rio, but a rejected and denied love, with pain, sadness, and loneliness, as they attracted and repelled each other at the same time. A time when Agatha was absorbing the power of other witches through their deaths. These would be strong themes with her, the loneliness, sadness, feelings burning inside her that she cannot properly explain or understand, so she is always masking and channeling as rage and ambition, trying to fulfill something. And with so much power, she can be very destructive

She could got to much comfortable messing with the underwold, and got Rio’s attention. In Selene’s arrogance, she exposed to much of her powers, what Rio would notice and goes to Agatha, demanding answers about the possibility of them having another kid, a daugther. Daughter that Agatha doesn’t remember that exists.

I could see their meeting, Selene finding someone, after centuries, with the same amount, and even more power than her, and the confusion and feelings of familiarity through her magic.

She begins to doubt her past and the little bit of it that she knows, so goes lurking.

She goes to Mephisto, needing help and looking for answers.

To find out later he is the one to blame.

And suddenly all the hidden feelings of loneliness come back with full force, the family she thought had lost, is there, and don’t even knows her. She grew up thinking about the death of two women who had been alive all this time. But at least she still had this, some feeling for them, even though she didn’t know who they were. Only the idea of how her mothers would be like, the family and the feeling of belonging that was denied to her. And having to accept that her mothers didn’t even know, or remember, her existence.

Maybe I will write a fic about them but for know it’s just fun to imagine the possibilities of it and how they would interact, Rio meeting Selene, them fighting each other and Rio noticing the similarities, thinking that this would be impossibe, she would know. Then looking for Agatha, thinking she lied about them having a daughter all this time. And Agatha can’t even understand what she is talking about, denying it in a way Rio believes she doesn’t know either. The three of them meeting. Agatha still in disbelief, she would never forget her own daugther. And finally, the moment of realization.

Mephisto wouldn’t give up his control over her so easily, Doctor Strange could get involved, so it would no longer be about Rio and Agatha fighting against her but fighting for her.

[lightwise]

At Attin and the 9 Lost Planets

Misc. Thoughts/Questions open for discussion

I SO WANT A NOVEL OR COMIC ON THESE PLANETS!!!

So far I haven't seen anybody making the Loki/TVA connection to At Attin. Two planets/organizations that both were supposedly founded by a specialized and revered group of people, commemorated in murals and statues everywhere, with a strict, no questions asked type of governance and on the surface, an idyllic, almost utopian type of Art Deco/Brutalist society. We don't really get any fleshed out backstory on why this is or what the Skeleton Crew creators were intending to imply by designing them this way.

The entire system of At planets. When and why were they all founded together? Do they go back to the High Republic? Further? The same 4-5 species seem to have started their societies and made them stylistically and governmentally similar. Were they all part of the Republic in the beginning? Were they originally planets that have their own innate connection to the Force, like Lenahra in the novel Padawan? (If you haven't read it, you really should. It's a great character study on Obi-Wan and introduces some really important concepts about the Force and how it interacts with living and non-living but still sentient beings into the galaxy).

What happened with the other 8 planets and when?—it's very obvious due to the legend that Kh'ymm mentions, the fact that (the kids at least) on At Attin have never heard of their status in the galaxy nor that they have sister planets, as well as the amnesia of the people on At Achrann towards the existence of their fellow planets' names, that whatever happened to them occurred long before Palpatine created the Empire. SM-33 even mentions that when he and Rennod landed on At Achrann for the first time, the warrior/tribal infighting was already occurring, and while we don't have a timeline on that either, it's probably been at least two generations, maybe even a hundred or several hundred years since Rennod was alive and plundering the galaxy. Maybe during one of the Sith or Nihil wars during the High Republic the existence of the planets had to be made secret? Maybe some were devastated and the Republic put the rest on lockdown?

What did each planet have going on? I've heard podcasters theorize that At Achrann could have been a military base/weapons armory, hence how it devolved into the feuding society the kids came across. Were the others truly destroyed, or merely ravaged as well/with survivors still eking it out on them? My guess is only At Attin was the Mint, and the rest served as other types of resources (maybe ore and minerals, or food sources, etc. etc.). Were they originally self-contained in these luxuries or did the Republic "plant" them all?

Were the Jedi the only ambassadors to At Attin? How did Palps not know about them/plunder it himself? The Supervisor says they received the initial Order 66 communication, but we never find out why exactly they were so hidden that even Palpatine, who had an eye on everything, somehow didn't know they existed or tried to find them and couldn't, etc. A welcome addition to canon, but still a puzzling one.

I'm just so curious about the entire backstory and unique dynamic that these planets bring to the Star Wars Galaxy and I need to know everything about them right now 😭💀. I know that the creators have a lot of this already mapped out, they just chose not to add it into the first season to give both themselves and Lucasfilm room to bring it into canon slowly/down the road. But I really want to know what they came up with so far.

[puffyducks]

DCRC Week #23

Okay you guys today we're reading PKNA #19: ZERO ASS!!! no wait I mean ABSOLUTE ZERO!!! (The joke doesn't really work with the English title does it)

Wait the people in this comic are capable of making spacecrafts that go all the way to SATURN??? I mean yeah we went to Venus earlier but I just assumed Everett Ducklair had like his own special technology I didn't think NASA was just like. at Saturn. Okay.

Urk dreams of being an epic tribal warrior but now thanks to the power of capitalism he's forced to work a shitty 9-5 like the rest of us

racist people kill them Urk you have my permission

OKAY HOLD ON A FUCKING MINUTE I THOUGHT URK WAS ALREADY HUGE BUT WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT GUY ON THE RIGHT??? WHAT ARE THEY FEEDING PEOPLE IN DUCKBURG

You want to offer a WHAT???????

sorry guys I miss trip real bad

oh shit his misogyny kicked in. also hi Lyla loving the outfit she could kick my shit in if she wanted to tbh

ALSO HELLLOOO GORGEOUS this design fucks

Crying that literally all it took was for him to see one single woman to ruin his entire day

NOOOOO NOT AGAIN HOW MANY TIMES ARE THEY GONNA TAKE UNO AWAY

Me when fragile masculinity. But also umm it's not your fault Urk she's made of like giga-titanium from 2255 and can kill you in 137 different ways like how are you even supposed to compete really

SHOUTOUT TO WOMEN IN ARMOR GOTTA BE ONE OF MY FAVORITE GENDERS

He thinks he's so fucking cool I need to blow him up with dynamite

Urk come on man you literally walked into this

OH GOOD THIS SPACESHIP IS XERBIAN glad to see that, considering it seems that everyone on board met a terrible fate. Nobody tell Xadhoom about this ok

lol manlet

UNOOOOOO THAT'S MY FUCKING GOAT BABY 💯💯💯

"Artificial intelligences cannot go insane" lol ok tell that to Due

Shoutout to this unnamed warrior for being goated as hell and faking a loss against Urk cause she knew it would ruin his life and also probably send him down a path of inceldom cause who is he to lose to a GIRL?!?!?!?!

Also DAMN ok man way to kill the vibe. Actually you know what he should be friends with Xadhoom they BOTH can't go home!!! You know if it wasn't for the fact that Urk is scared of strong women...

Okay guys time for Burton La Valle again it is INCREDIBLY important that I read and review every single one of these comics cause if I don't who will? The answer is nobody because nobody cares. ANYWAYS.

YEEEEHAW PARDNER 🤠

KINDNESS! LAUGHTER! GENEROSITY! LOYALTY! AAAND MAGIC!!! TOGETHER THEY MAKE THE ELEMENTS OF HARMO-

OH NO RACISM

hube- OH MY GOD IT'S HUEY DUCK

Alright well in conclusion: The good news is that we found one of two Xerbian spaceships, the bad news is the everyone on board got fucking owned. But like surely we'll have luck with the other one haha right? Also Urk cured his misogyny. I think. Good for him.

[ralith]

So, in the DotM comic adaptation, Sentinel remarks that he "never really liked (Ironhide's) kind". In the movie's prequel comic, it's explained that Ironhide was a "Thetacon", a kind of tribal Cybertronian. So as if Sentinel wasn’t unlikable enough, he’s just straight-up racist too.

I had to dig back through my comics bc I hadn't read the adaptation in a while. Fuck, Sentinel really did say that! What a piece of shit!

That and the prequel really make it seem like there was more conflict between the groups than we ever saw.

The prequel remarks that the scientific groups were literally tearing Cybertron apart to find the Allspark. Perhaps they desecrated grounds sacred to the Thetacons while doing so. Ironhide also remarks to Optimus that "your science" forced the Thetacons to give up their ancient beliefs. Were the Thetacons forced to integrate into Autobot society and leave their way of life behind? If they didn't assimilate, would they be destroyed?

So when Sentinel said all that shit about freedom for everyone, did he mean freedom only if you were an Autobot? Because if Cybertrons tribes began to disappear, and you had Cybertronians now falling under the Autobot flag, did they really force the complete assimilation of Cybertrons people under one name and culture?

Though not only was Sentinel racist, but Megatron too. In the prequel, he refers to Ironhide's people as "savages" and remarks that they should have done "what was necessary" to end the conflict. He wanted to slaughter the Thetacons entirely.

[antxnous]

oc info dump again bc im crashing out over life hehe

TSGT. East

- even tho he loves boxing (and bare knuckle at that) he’s terrified of fucking up his face!! he’s vain!!! his nose has been broken in the past and he downs pounds of copium by pretending it isn’t crooked (it is)

- he plays devils advocate for the sake of pissing people off all the time. traumatised from the legion? maybe you aren’t viewing things from their perspective. maybe you’re just soft.

- speaking of the legion; he doesn’t think they’re as bad as the NCR is making them seem. “what do you mean a bunch of tribals in football gear are our biggest threat? my dad used to torture the brotherhood when I was growing up 😒🙄”

- I’ve said it before but he hates the Mojave. The sun, the desert, the people, the air, the plants, the animals… he’s the NPC that says “when I got this assignment, I thought there would be more gambling.”, or the nuclear winter guy.

- guns, tech, and fitness would be on his dating app profile lowkey

SGT. Hooker

- I don’t think I’ve talked abt him a lot but erm he got captured by the legion, didn’t help his squad out when they got tortured + killed one by one, gets carved up like crazy and then rescued but his CO was mad he didn’t do anything so he got demoted (MSgt -> Sgt. Was so close to Lt :3) And then his wife found out he was alive and divorced him. And then the NCR lost his records in CA because of being “declared dead” so he’s lowkey stuck in the Mojave regardless.

- he’s fully incapable of yelling or screaming from his torture and it makes his voice sound kinda gravelly, and it makes him a bit insecure so he lets his face do most of the talking (but he’s perma looking pathetic)

- his whole existence is to be depressing and funny for being depressing.

- surprising literally everyone he works with, he’s extremely knowledgeable w explosives but liek u Would never know because he’s forced to guard cargo for life

- the rangers freak him out, and also piss him off a little but not to the level of hate that East has for them. He just thinks they’re a bit unruly.

Colorado

- he likes comic books bc he can’t read, but he also thinks they’re on the same level as philosophy and might be convinced everything in them is real

- he draws out notes rather than write them, unless the person he’s talking to understands Latin. In which case he’ll provide u w essays.

- piercings and tattoos freak him out so bad, he stares at ppl like toddlers do w anyone who isn’t their parents.

- he’s developing arthritis in his shoulder from erm. overusing his machete :3

- I think parts of him miss the legion, but more so the legion he remembers, which was not the conditions in the Mojave, or even Arizona. also he’s a mommas boy and misses her crazy, even misses Diomede 💔 does not gaf about his little brother tho and is terrified on Cain on a level that exceeds his fear of Caesar and Joshua :3c

[religiousbats]

(Cant turn on anon ask... sigh.....)

For mod: how the hell did u come up with the character? Like im scared but very impressed???? /pos

I'm actually surprised you asked, and this is my first time ever having an ask in Tumblr. Well here's a explanation on how this character came to be.

While I'm starting to feel more attached to the Cookie Run fandom, I was thinking of making a oc, my first cookie run oc. And it was hard to design a cookie run oc mainly due to the art style cookie run uses, so I force myself to try to make the art style similar, and my idea of a oc came up, why not make a oc inspired by Fake peppino and so came Flawed cookie.

The design is based off of Ginderbrave if it wasn't that obvious, He was my first cookie run oc, I originally made Him as a horror character but then I watched some fake peppino comic dubs and was like " okay I turn him into a goofy goober now :3 " and this it was that for this version.

I've made a remake him of for the sole purpose of turning Flawed Cookie into a more serious horror, which I take massive inspiration of The Mandela Catalog series, mainly the alternates.

I wasn't a big fan of the design I made but It did look creepy on its own. Like I said it was heavily inspired by The Mandela Catalog. Gave it a more human like feel to it, but I wasent happy and wanted to go further..

And so I made the first design of Beelzebub..

This was the turning point, I mixed my old designs to make this beast, I made the skin more pale as if He has human skin, made hands and feet. All of the similarities to the current design is all here.. Also this design was inspired by the Mario exe character turmoil

And here.. Is the current design of Him as you may already know..

The design is much like the previous one but with some modifications, I went for my usual black outlines for my characters as It allows me to detail them easily. I went for a more tribal like look to Him and I designed him that way, and reason I named Him Beelzebub is because I wanted to make each Ancient Cookies Sins in their physical forms.. Or at least that was the main plot point for this Oc, but the point is that there aren't any unique horror character for any fandoms such as Cookie run. Yes it may look like a typical creepy pasta douche but really I inspired Him from EXE fandom.

I am currently making a new redesign of Beelzebub to be like a oni. And that's what bill give to ya for now. Basically I'm making a rp account just for Him.

And yeah that's how I make this beautiful child of mine :3 hope that answers your question.

[professor-doc-emeritus]

so I know after watchmen came out there was then a massive slew of other "deconstructions" or "genre critical" comics or just plain edgy stuff. i know you generally prefer the more optimist played straight stuff, but is there anything of that sort of thing that you really like?

There's a couple of directions you can go with this ask, so I'll give you an answer for each

if you're just looking for my personal favorite meta take on superheroes, you wanna check out flex mentallo

a fictional superhero imagined by a dying kid brought to life, this mini series by Morrison follows Flex's quest to solve the mystery of the death of his fellow fictional superhero The Fact. Morrison is one of the greatest comics writer alive, and this is their definitive statement on the genre, a deep and intimate look at how the platonic superheros of your childhood deal with a world of death, sex, and suicide. Dark, funny, meta, and mercifully short, if you read nothing else I recommend you read this. You'll finish it in an hour and think about it for the rest of your life.

If you want something less so meta and more so just a really well written and gritty 80s comic, check out denny o'neil and deny's cowan's run on The Question

This run follows the physical, psychological, and spiritual journey of journalist and vigilante Vic Sage as he struggles to bring justice to the deeply corrupt Hub City. It features a much more zen and spiritual take on the classic ditko character, and has a lot of great appearances from some underappreciated members of DC's stable. This run in particular is a must read for fans of Watchmen imo. It features the character that inspired Rorsarch, and actually has a few tongue in cheek references to him during the run. More than anything though, you should read it because it understands something most of Watchmen's successors didn't: Watchmen wasn't great because it was dark and gritty, it was great because it was a smartly written story with something interesting to say, and so is this run. If you've got some pocket change to spare, pick up the omnibuses that released last year. They published the absolutely essential letters columns that most digital uploads of the run neglect, wherein denny hosts a mini book club about the literature that inspired the run.

If you want a meta superhero story that's actually about watchmen, check out 2019's Peter Cannon Thunderbolt

Peter Cannon was a Charelston character that never really found a home. A medical man and captain of industry imbued with ancient tribal knowledge that gives him the powers of the supernatural, he served as the inspiration for Ozymandias. This story is explicitly and unsubtly addressing and rebuking Watchmen: the core conceit of the story is the original peter cannon confronting a universe-hopping ozymandias (for legal reasons her another Peter Cannon) constantly re-enacting his final plan from Watchmen on different universes until it works. Though not as much a visual force compared to the others on this list, what it lacks in raw technical skill it more than makes up for in creativity and enthusiasm. In order to rebuke a work you have to understand it, and ironically this explicit refutation of Watchmen still understands and respects it better than most of it's direct heirs by being about something. Though at times a bit too meta for it's own good, if you care about comics this is one you absolutely have to read

If you just want to kick back and watch Alan Moore twist the nipples off the genre in another work, I highly recommend checking out his work on superman

everyone and their mom has read, or at least been recommended, For the Man Who Has Everything and Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?, but not as many people know about Moore's third (and my personal favorite) outing with the man of steel: DC Comics Presents #85. A short team up (in the loosest sense of the word) between Superman and Swamp Thing, this story more than any other strips away the layers of myth and baggage around superman and exposes the raw psychological core beneath it. Very short, very simple, and probably not as good as his mircaleman run, but i have the benefit of having read this one so I can actually vouch for it's quality.

Finally, as you mentioned earlier, I tend to like reading more straightforward and optimistic stuff, especially when it comes to my capeshit. While some of the stories I've recommended here get quite dark, nothing really reaches the point of being 'edgy.' I haven't read, and thus can't recommend, the primo edgy content such as Preacher or The Authority (though I've heard good things!). But there is one mindlessly dark and edgy comic that I just can't help loving to death: the ever classic Marvel zombies

A beautiful example of a story that is exactly what it says on the tin: The marvel universe overrun by zombies. The only really original part of its take on the zombies is also the thing that makes it so much damn fun: they're all still intelligent, and basically themselves from before they turned, just with an insatiable and uncontrollable hunger for flesh. Gorey art, pitch black humor, and a lot of genuinely interesting and compelling story arcs you really couldn't do anywhere else, there's been about a trillion followups to it but I still love the original the best. It's not smart, it's not meta, it's not even a particularly good zombie apocalypse story, but it's fun, dammit, and that's a fair bit more than what most of the drivel that passes for good literature these days can say. best read when you're 12 years old and up way past your bedtime

[yawngoddessofdreams]

Shadow Tower Abyss (2003)

While King's Field 4 is the end of its lineage as the series which really guided early Fromsoft's hand into dark fantasy, Shadow Tower Abyss is perhaps the true end of that particular blood ancestry. A lot of folks have looked back at King's Field and Shadow Tower to better understand the DNA that created the Souls series. For some it was out of a desire to create a more holistic view of how this series was formed. For others it was merely out of curiosity. For me I was of the former camp. Video essays say a lot, but perhaps this was something I should experience with my own hands. Why Shadow Tower Abyss? Its setting and gameplay seemed just intriguing and playable enough to hold my attention. I thought surely I'd get frustrated by the labyrinth and my weak ability to mentally map such spaces so I expected to get my impressions of the first hour or two then hop off it. 8 hours later I beat it.

I loved this game. Its the sort of game that makes me reconsider what a "good game" is. When you turn it around in the sunlight it has the feeling of a game that was meant to be far more ambitious yet had to be chopped up and slapped together as a minimum viable product. There's a certain point where glowing armor of archangels and weapons crackling with power are being dumped on you by the truckload, which has the hilarious side effect of possibly crushing you to death under their encumbrance due to the strange decision to not allow you to drop or destroy items from your inventory without a shop. Your power scaling reaches a zenith of comical supremacy where you are blasting endgame bosses away with a few shots of a shotgun before they opine about the meaning of their lives with their last breaths.

Whether it's the case that this game was always meant to be this way or not, it ends up telling a compelling tale with its ludo-narrative.

(Story spoilers beyond)

You start at the base of the tower fighting tribal creatures (who I admit are pretty racist) who use the bodies of a captured modern special forces unit as incubators for their young. You're presumably a soldier who was a part of them or is maybe unrelated to their mission. The only dying soldier you get to talk to asks you to "kill them all" before handing you a knife.

You delve further until you find the true base of the tower: An alien structure rising from the titular abyss. There are creatures who tend this area who talk about being "Trapped here as you are" yet also say "It is enough to exist. You may not understand since we are so different."

I think this creates an interesting contrast against you who is ascending the tower rolling up power like a katamari till you find the heart of the tower who regrets the fact that you two must be at odds in such a way. It says you and it both just want to live, and looking back you realize the creatures by large only really feed on humans and create problems for you because that is simply what they must do to live and thrive.

Your quest originally seemed to be finding a spear who's power was so great that it cowed neighboring nations to submit to it. The true nature of the spear is apparent though as you find its resting place: A desert of red rusted sand full of disfigured heroes from long ago. They warn you to not suffer like they had. They try to stop you for your own good. You find the spear though and it crumbles in your hands. The spear does not exist anymore, and maybe that is because it has played out its role. Many come to the tower because the tower knows what they want: Power. The spear is the sickly sweet smell of nutrients at the bottom of a pitcher plant.

Perhaps though, the tower swallowed up something it shouldn't have. It swallowed the frightening power of the modern world. While you can use legendary swords left by their owners who died in the tower, you also can use the frightening modern power of guns that have been freshly brought into the tower. They truly tip the balance of power in your favor and it's a scary notion that against the eldritch, perhaps extraterrestrial power of the tower, we have formed weapons that can challenge it at last and slay it like yet another beast.

Perhaps the power of the spear is an analogue for weapons of mass destruction. They cow fellow nations into submission yet put the world on a knife's edge, capable of plunging it back into darkness with smug carelessness. Those who have suffered by its hands plead with the future generations to leave these tools yet we are quick to see this form of power as necessary to achieve life and peace.

Anyways, that's my reading of it!

I would definitely recommend this game to at least try. It's strange in a way that bewitches you and feels very before its time in some regards such as location-based damage and dismemberment on enemies as well as directional swings that really utilize this mechanic. Truly it was dead space before dead space. In fact I would say this game's balance and gameplay put it closer to a survival horror than a true souls game.

Another comparison I'd make is it's a better Scorn since it also has an HR Giger-esque aesthetic yet includes far more gameplay. I'd describe Scorn as a walkable artpiece that is interspersed with survival horror segments where health and ammo is limited. Shadow Tower Abyss is far more consistent at being an actual game and while I admire the walkable gallery sense to scorn, I did not admire the threat of being sent back to uncertain checkpoints by failing the survival horror segments that ultimately had worse combat than Shadow Tower Abyss due to wonky hitboxes.

[littlespacestarbun]

Hello!! I was scrollin through a tf tag and saw ur post bout, indigenous coded aliens and how the fandom treats them.

I understand what coded means and I think I know what ur talking about? but if ur up to it could u elaborate on the “feral tfp op” bit cause I haven’t been in the fandom too long so can’t find what ur talking bout and I genuinely don’t understand but I would like to. if u don’t wanna answer this, it’s chill obviously.

:3 have a good day m8!

Hello! i do not mind elaborating at all!, as an native fan its a topic i don't get to speak on much so thank you!, (sorry in advance this is going to be a bit long),

to start with coding bipoc as aliens, robots, and other non-human creatures is a complex issue of itself, and it can harm bipoc people as well as to uplift us depending on the writers intentions, background details and of era of times of equal right movements,

the topics of coding bipoc as not human vary from person to person on our own lived experiences as bipoc, and i personally have many issues with coding bipoc as not human which are solely negative, the few positve were expections due to bipoc making them or simply them having some sort of positive effect on me instead of bad,

back onto the feral optimus issue, here's my point of view as a native fan,

optimus has personally been this one sort of "oh he's like us" coded indigenous character who's in a good light for me,

unlike every other coded indigenous alien in media i saw as a kid,

optimus prime is one of the few indigenous coded characters in tf as a whole, the others aren't very good due to many factors (thunderclash, wheelie, the combiner team victorion) or vague enough white fans ignore them even being coded at all or other things (omega, beachcomber, ironhide)

for me optimus was the first indigenous coded not human native person i saw painted as a hero,

he was seen as good for having his indigenous culture, beliefs and morals, it wasn't something which was used as making him evil and bad in the story, like a lot of indigenus 'rep' i had to see as a kid

that feeling is something hard to explain but i hold onto with tight hands because of how good it did me as a kid,

its why i have such deep emotional pain with how he's treated by white fans in all stories but tfp was some of the worst of it i had to see by far,

tfp optimus is full on indigenous its in your face with each moment,

to his back story, internal struggles and complex views of him from other characters (with himself and jazz being the only ones with unbias views due to being bipoc themselves),

his very writing feels like the story of a native person who made it out of force assilation and regain his cluture only to be forced into fighting for his rights again against someone who was orignally an ally, trying to assilate him into another opressive ideal,

with this in mind it makes how the jokes of tfp optimus being feral started worst,

alpha trion saying he was diffcult, he didn't fall into order right for his time not around Iacon culture, this is painted as a bad view to have by optimus,

yet the fans took this to mean because optimus lived a tribal life before that he was wild, he ran on all fours, sleep like an animal and needed to be saved from such a wild life to name some of the worst (others include nsfw and its gross),

there's a ton of aus and fanart, fics treating being indigenous to mean, he needs to be fixed, or ones painting being indigenous struggles as not real or small world issues,

these views are deeply intergrated anti-indigenous beliefs, if you look up the wild/savage native man trope and you'll see many racist movies, novels and comics painting native men as beasts who steal white women from white men, or even kill them and r-pd them because indigenous people are as savage animals,

which fall in line with how feral optimus is made with white fans, they treat his indigenous coding as fetish and use him not being human to disconnect the racism in their fanon, aus, fanart and fics,

but that disconnect only exists for them, fans of color see it clear as it is, feral optimus as a fan idea exists because of people being racist to bipoc, the concept is racist rooted in racism and race fetish spaces,

feral optimus prime stuff as fan content has been dying since we've called out on it more but its shows up from time to time and the fandom still suffers from treating bipoc coded characters badly, as a whole which i'd to touch on at some point because people don't see the issue much, and the people we kind of keep to ourselves to keep a sense mind while playing robots ha….ha,

I hope this at least gives some light onto the issue and answers your questions! not many bring it up so being able to explain it was an experience!

thank you for taking the time to ask and i hope you have a lovely day! hopefully this wasn't too wordy and made sense,

[jessequinones]

Writing Trope: The Magical Black Person

Ever since I started embracing my indigenous background, my perspective on things changed. Matters I never gave a second thought now give thought. Though I may not be the best at offering advice, I'd like to attempt it, focusing today on the "magical black person" trope. For clarification, I'm a white-passing Puerto Rican of Taino and Berber descent, with much of my life lived in the United States under a white family. I say all of this because the actual name for the trope is called the “magical negro” trope however since I grew up under a white family I don’t feel comfortable saying the actual name but it’s there if you wish to do some research.

The magical black person trope is simple; consider any Stephen King or Morgan Freeman movie (bonus points if you can name a movie with Morgan Freeman based on a story by Stephen King). Typically, there's a black character who aids the white hero by providing advice. If the magical black person is a woman, she often speaks her mind, offering the white hero needed truths. If the character is a black man, he adopts the strong, silent type, conveying profound meaning with few words.

This trope becomes most evident when the magical black person is the sole character of colour. They’re rarely portrayed as rich or powerful; instead, they embody humility and thoughtfulness. Despite potential intimidation, the black man typically has a soft side. Although often less privileged than the white hero, the magical black person aids them because it's the right thing to do. Sometimes, these characters only cross paths once, yet the magical black person imparts essential wisdom that propels the hero forward.

Writers employing the magical black person trope may unconsciously attempt to showcase inclusivity by saying, "I'm not racist; I have a person of color in my story, and they help the hero!" However, if you change the identity of the black character nothing is loss.

Ironically, even in stories advocating against racism, this trope is still relevant as the black person sacrifices everything for the white hero out of "love." A notable example is the relationship between Jim and Tom Sawyer, where Tom gets shot, and Jim risks everything to nurse him back to health.

Elders and tribal leaders also fall under this category. It's almost comical how frequently a white hero enters a tribal village, seeks guidance from the tribal leader, and receives assistance simply because it's deemed the right thing to do. The tribal leader will also give the white hero a spirit name and welcomed them as part of their village. In reality, many elders that I know of had told white people to fuck off.

The inclusion of magical black people can feel forced, as if they exist merely to fulfil a checkbox. The advice they provide is often simplistic, and sometimes the advice had already been given to the hero, but at the time of the story, they were unwilling to hear it, making the magical black person seem redundant.

This trope often intertwines with the "white man's burden," seen in stories where white people “ends racism” with the help of the black community without facing accountability for their actions. "The Help" is a film that get’s a lot of flack for doing just that.

In essence, what makes the magical black person trope problematic is that it reduces them to a servant role for the white hero while positioning them as an exception within their own community. White creators tend to praise the individual black character rather than appreciating black culture—a distinctly white tendency.

The saying "it takes a village to raise a child" isn’t a common approach for white individuals, who often lead isolated lives. Popular stories by white authors emphasise the individual hero's ability to save the day because they’re "special." While the hero may receive assistance, those who help them serve a singular purpose—assisting the hero rather than being integral to the journey. (Not to mention the hero gets the girl in the end because of sexism but I won’t get into that with this post.)

To address this trope, engaged with the community you want to write about. Give the magical black person a meaningful role in the story, making them indispensable. Additionally, consider adding more people of color to your narrative. It could also be beneficial to position the magical black person in a higher position than the hero. Please don’t just listen to my advice, talk to others you’ll learn more, trust me. 

Understanding tropes, their origins, and their implications is a crucial step in becoming a skilled writer. Challenging yourself to view things from different perspectives enhances your writing abilities. If you have any writing-related questions, feel free to message me. You can do it anonymously if you wish. While I may not be perfect, I'll try my best because I like writing, and I like teaching so I’m trying to combine the two. See you next time.

[lesbian-cowpoke]

So um I found some really interesting pieces of art in my room today and I have no idea where they came from. I'm like 99% sure it's like. Art you get at a con by the artist Ryan Huna Smith of the comic Tribal Force he made with Jon Proudstar

I just...... don't know where they came from or why I have them.

Looking into the comic it's actually really fucking cool I just. Don't know why I have these

[masamune7905]

In my years of creating comic books I have met some people I really admire. Some were/are total jerks who made me sad for ever admiring them, but the vast majority of the creators I have met have been some of the best people I know. One artist I have looked up to for a long time is @ryanhunasmith. His artwork inspired me when I was younger and watching him draw the times we have been in the same building is always awe inspiring. Huna is one of the good people I have met during my time creating and today I drew Thunder Eagle a character from Tribal Force a book Huna helped create.

[imnothinginparticular]

#finishedbooks Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare. Got this a long time ago in a set of 15 (he has 38 plays total) at a drive in liquor store for 5 dollars. I was on a good pace of reading them until I got back to Tokyo where I started on my old "to-read stack" I already had. Think since 2022 I have only read "A Winter's Tale," so finally continuing Shakespeare ... with "Romeo and Juliet." This was among his earlier plays and along with "Hamlet" perhaps his most performed where even the title is archetypal. With that, serious Shakespeare enthusiasts (sure their is a word for people who obsess over him lol) it is regarded to a much lesser degree than his other plays, due in part typically to anything deemed too popular...even for Shakespeare. To a strict criteria of a Shakespearean tragedy, it falls short due to at times forced comedic elements that messes with the tone, a true lack of ethical purpose, plot inconsistencies, and general misgivings about the emphasis on pathos as well hurts it. Course to anyone it is a tragedy, just not in the truest sense that one looks at Shakespeare. Of course there are all the other staples: the ingenuity of language, brilliant characterization, and portrayal of young love. Because we know it is an earlier work (a Shakespeare study in itself) it is unfairly pitted against the later tragedies, the pace of which I noticed here was frantic for Shakespeare. Most often talked about are the supporting character inventions he added from the combination of two base Italian stories that Romeo and Juliet is derived from...in the comic character Mercutio. Guess in all, this is me trying to continue where I was during the pandemic where I had unlimited time and was curious after some structuralist studies the basis of cultures... this entailed Shakespeare as with others I read Arabian Nights, Greek tragedies, West African tribal folk tales, the Bible , etc.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 6.19 (after 1950)

1953 – Cold War: Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are executed at Sing Sing, in New York. 1960 – The first NASCAR race was held at Charlotte Motor Speedway. 1961 – Kuwait declares independence from the United Kingdom. 1964 – The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is approved after surviving an 83-day filibuster in the United States Senate. 1965 – Nguyễn Cao Kỳ becomes Prime Minister of South Vietnam at the head of a military junta; General Nguyễn Văn Thiệu becomes the figurehead chief of state. 1978 – Garfield's first comic strip, originally published locally as Jon in 1976, goes into nationwide syndication. 1985 – Members of the Revolutionary Party of Central American Workers, dressed as Salvadoran soldiers, attack the Zona Rosa area of San Salvador. 1987 – Basque separatist group ETA commits one of its most violent attacks, in which a bomb is set off in a supermarket, Hipercor, killing 21 and injuring 45. 1987 – Aeroflot Flight N-528 crashes at Berdiansk Airport in present-day Ukraine, killing eight people. 1988 – Pope John Paul II canonizes 117 Vietnamese Martyrs. 1990 – The current international law defending indigenous peoples, Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989, is ratified for the first time by Norway. 1990 – The Communist Party of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic is founded in Moscow. 1991 – The last Soviet army units in Hungary are withdrawn. 2005 – Following a series of Michelin tire failures during the United States Grand Prix weekend at Indianapolis, and without an agreement being reached, 14 cars from seven teams in Michelin tires withdrew after completing the formation lap, leaving only six cars from three teams on Bridgestone tires to race. 2007 – The al-Khilani Mosque bombing in Baghdad leaves 78 people dead and another 218 injured. 2009 – Mass riots involving over 10,000 people and 10,000 police officers break out in Shishou, China, over the dubious circumstances surrounding the death of a local chef. 2009 – War in North-West Pakistan: The Pakistani Armed Forces open Operation Rah-e-Nijat against the Taliban and other Islamist rebels in the South Waziristan area of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. 2012 – WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange requested asylum in London's Ecuadorian Embassy for fear of extradition to the US after publication of previously classified documents including footage of civilian killings by the US army. 2018 – The 10,000,000th United States Patent is issued. 2018 – Antwon Rose II was fatally shot in East Pittsburgh by East Pittsburgh Police Officer Michael Rosfeld after being involved in a near-fatal drive-by shooting. 2020 – Animal rights advocate Regan Russell was run over and killed by a transport truck outside of a pig slaughterhouse in Burlington, Ontario.

[regular5h0w]

The Acolyte Drama

After the drama going around about the new Star Wars show called The Acolyte, I don’t even want to watch it anymore. I have been watching the Star Wars movies as well as reading the comic ever since I was able to get my hands on it. Now, I know that The Acolyte was trying to show inclusivity which I am totally for but the way they did it not only upset me, but also upset the entire fandom.

They basically said that these new tribal people shown in Episode 3 can create force sensitive twins which the Sith have been trying to do since the dawn of time quite literally. The ability to create force sensitive twins through a virgin mother completely undermines the whole chosen one prophecy and how Anakin was special.

Anakin’s mother gave birth to him but mentioned that there was no father meaning that maybe it was the force that created him to destroy the Sith like in Jedi prophecy. This is what made him the chosen one but now because of The Acolyte, anyone can learn how to create force sensitive children through virgin mothers which completely retcon half of the sequel films.

Star Wars Theory on YouTube even went to his podcast to discuss how upset he was with the director and writers of the show. I do agree with him on at least letting someone who understands the lore of the series to write the show because now Disney is just tearing down what George Lucas has created. While the show may be interesting in its own thing, for it to go and ruin the lore caused many Star Wars nerds such as myself to get upset because it is taking away the importance of arguably one of the most iconic characters of the series. 

[lboogie1906]

Okot p’Bitek (June 7, 1931 – July 20, 1982) was a Ugandan poet, who achieved wide international recognition for Song of Lawino. Song of Lawino was written in the Acholi dialect of Southern Luo, translated by the author into English, and published in 1966. It was a breakthrough work, creating an audience among anglophone Africans for direct, topical poetry in English. It was followed by the Song of Ocol (1970), the husband’s reply.

The “East African Song School” or “Okot School poetry” is now an academic identification of the work following his direction, popularly called “comic singing”: a forceful type of dramatic verse monologue rooted in traditional song and phraseology.

He was born in Gulu, in the North Uganda grasslands. His father, Jebedayo Opi, was a schoolteacher, while his mother, Lacwaa Cerina, was a traditional singer, storyteller, and dancer. His ethnic background was Acholi, and he wrote first in the Acholi dialect, known as Lwo. Acholi is a dialect of Southern Luo, one of the Western Nilotic languages.

He was educated at Gulu High School, then at King’s College, Budo, where he composed an opera based on traditional songs. He went on to study at universities in the UK.

He traveled abroad as a player with the Ugandan national football team. He gave up on football as a possible career, stayed in Britain, and studied education at the University of Bristol and then law at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. He took a BA in social anthropology at the University of Oxford, with a dissertation on Acholi and Lango traditional cultures.

It is reported that Oxford deliberately failed his Ph.D. The dissertation was published nearly unchanged as The Religion of the Central Luo by a Kenyan publisher.

According to George Heron, he lost his commitment to Christian belief during these years. This had major consequences for his attitude as a scholar of African tradition, which was by no means accepting of the general run of earlier work, or what he called “dirty gossip” about tribal life. His character Lawino speaks for him, in some places, on these matters. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence