#we got Ramona lore!

[emilybeemartin]

Ok ok ok ok listen. Because I have anxiety I feel it's my duty to say that this show won't be for everyone. I came to it over quarantine because my husband suggested we read Bernard Cornwell's series together, and I agreed because I liked Hornblower and knew this was the army equivalent and, let's face it, I wanted to see scruffy mid-thirties Sean Bean in uniform.

THE PREMISE:

Richard Sharpe is a lowborn rank-and-file soldier in the 95th Rifles during the Napoleonic Wars who is raised to an officer after saving Sir Arthur Wellesley's life (this all happens differently in the books, but the basic event is the same). Throughout the series, he rises in the ranks thanks to his bravery and heroism/recklessness, but he's always caught between two worlds--trying to be a leader of common men while never being accepted by the rest of the highborn officers.

Let's start with the bad:

CONS:

Look, this is a 90s drama glorifying the British army. So like, there are gonna be issues. Women are mostly romantic side pieces to be wooed and rescued, and there are plenty of subplots, verbiage, and stereotypes that didn't age well. Production values are low for the first few and so you've got battle scenes with like fifteen guys and a horse, which honestly I find endearing. But no episode is more cringey than Sharpe's Gold. Due to legal issues, the script had to be rewritten with none of the original material, and it turned into this bizarro semi-supernatural horror involving Aztec gold (in Spain, yes). It's completely different from all the other episodes, and even Sean Bean didn't like it (he called it a "mish mash," which is true). It's such a weird piece of work that we almost stopped watching the show, but we continued, and we were relieved to find that the rest of the series is markedly better. History Hack podcast does a great dive into why this episode was so whack.

PROS:

I MEAN COME ON

Sean really understood this character--absolute chaos on the battlefield and shy and awkward pretty much everywhere else. He's amazing in battle scenes and he's EPIC at acting wounded. But the scenes I replay over and over are when he's socially out of his depth and gets flustered and sputtery and so Sheffield the captions can't handle it.

Supporting cast:

You'll find a lot of your classic British TV favorites making appearances throughout this series, and the camaraderie among the riflemen is always fun. Obviously this is a dude fest, as stated above, but some of the women are also written and acted really, really well--- Assumpta Serna as Teresa is that winning combination of a love interest/action heroine who doesn't devolve into a damsel in distress, and even passes the Bechdel test on a few occasions. And Diana Perez as Ramona is so badass and enjoyable.

Locations: Aside from a few interior sets, these films are mostly shot outside on location, with practical effects and stunts. There's some gorgeous scenery of the Crimean peninsula standing in for Spain and Portugal, and it's just really fun watching these guys run around rocky escarpments and fields with flares and stage explosives going off around them.

Music: I saw someone tag the opening theme as "electric guitar jumpscare" and they're not wrong. It's wonderfully anachronistic and totally 90s and you'll never get used to it. But far better are the soldiers' songs John Tams threads throughout, as well as his and Muldowney's thematic scores, and you will always, always finish an episode with him singing "Over the Hills and Far Away" stuck in your head.

Filming Lore: There was a LOT that happened during filming. Everything from Paul McGann having to drop out as the lead to misadventures in filming in Crimea just after the collapse of the Soviet Union. History Hack podcast has an awesome series of "filming of" episodes with input from cast, crew, and historians, and Jason Salkey (Rifleman Harris) has a book called "From Crimea With Love" that details the batshit filming adventures. I haven't read it but he references it every six minutes throughout the podcasts.

So: you've been warned, you've been primed. Start with Sharpe's Rifles; it's on Youtube. Watch it and Eagle, maybe jump to Battle or Siege if you're not sure, and then make up your mind.

If this all sounds enjoyable to you, but you wish there were more tall ships, more Paul McGann, more heroic brooding, and even MORE true love cosplaying as masculine camaraderie, you're in luck! Because you should also watch Hornblower!

And then draw fan art of it all! Please,,, I am so lon el y

[desire-mona]

heard we were making house ocs and ive had a dingus floating around in my head since january so i FINALLY got around to actually making a proper ref sheet. i present my silliest

Dr. Nanette "Ninny" Amesbury :3

more under cut !

big warning lore n backstory n stuff is very bare bones and not all the way there cuz im #lazy

birthday is vague but lets go with ~35 circa s2

if i had a nickel for every oc i had who had absent parents and was raised catholic by their grandparents, id have two nickels. unintentional that it happened twice i sorta forgor the other one's lore for a bit and now its stuck so ummmmm sorry laney. wont be going into childhood bc i havent come up w that yet and honestly i dont care to!!! yada yada yada catholic guilt but not in the chase way bc she hasnt left the church n likely never will

ummmm relationship chart + template

lets just quick go over some relationship highlights cuz some are def more important than others

wilson: mr president a 4th ex wife has hit the james wilson. when were they married? ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm 😁

but they were married for like. 3 years? YES it ended bc he cheated but nin also wasn't the best either her ass was literally never ever there she was ALWAYS at work (like more than normal doctor amounts of at work - only came home to sleep and even that was only 4x a week(also worked at a different hospital))

tw suicide for next part bee tee dub

a big part of the beginning of their relationship was (big surprise) wilson's attraction to what he THOUGHT was neediness but was literally just nin wanting (and trying) to kill herself lol. once the magic of all that went away (perceived independence thats rly just #bottling shit up) he was just kinda like oh :/ its not cool to have a mentally ill wife anymore :/ i was expecting ramona flowers :/ or whatever. so infidelity impact font, hijinks and moving away for [amount] years ensue before nin being hired at ppth as the head of pediatrics. brief fwb situation w wilson Again b4 she finds out shes a lesbian at the end of like. s2.

oh yeah she also tries to kill herself again once she figures it out (see catholic guilt mention) but its cool she lives

cuddy: GAAAAAYYYYY GAAAAYYYYYYY GAY!!!!! DR AMESBURY WANTS TO FUCK THIS WOMAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! its one sided tho boooooo cuddys briefly like Wait ? just b4 nin moves away at the end of s6 roughly but shes already. thats done its not happening.

kutner: dont even fucking talk to me. i dont wanna talk about it. im gonna talk about it.

so kutner (like the slut that he is lowkey but society isnt ready for that) asks nin out just after he gets hired and shes like ermmmmmmmmmm! but sensing his loser aura she (still deeply closeted) is like hey haha i dont swing that way sorry !!!!!!! but its ok they become super mega best friends and get nerdy together

i like to think they listen to weird al together OH YEAH NINS THE BIGGEST WEIRD AL YANKOVIC FAN IN NEW JERSEY

and then nothing bad happens!

if youve seen this post about the little writing things kutner got after he croaked then hooray here's nanettes

they make me so fucking upset.

anyway as i stated above nin moves away after s6 for a bunch of reasons. 1) thanks obama 2) a big part of what contributed to her suicidal ideations n such was the fact that deep down she didnt ACTUALLY know what she wanted to do w her life. u may be like she doesnt. want to be a doctor ? NO she doesnt thats just what she did to get money to eventually do what she wants. whatever that is. something something feeling lost in life and unable to reach a goal when u dont even know what the goal is something something. also persistent depressive disorder but like spoon in kitchen.

idk what shes gonna end up doing after she moves but id imagine she shows up for house's funeral so i cant just be like lol nobody gets to know! im thinking painter but idk IDK guys her lore is ROUGH

thats it if u have questions ill answer thanks

[wackoffwinter]

i wanna know about the entire cast for the swap au. how would ramona's dynamic with the exes act as?

Ok word vomit incoming. tldr at the end for basics just scroll till you see tldr in blue, the essay is for the real bitches who like lore

Obviously in my au knives takes gideons spot rather than a different ex of scotts like how other ppl do but i decided to make her the daughter of a rich business man (mr.chau) who is gonna pass the business down to her when shes 20 (in my au knives and scott “date” when she like 16/17 like in the books but a good chunk of the exes bullshit + everything before happens right when she turns 19 and she does like. a few chapters into the book and then at the end of the series around the canon gideon scott fight is when shes 20) ofc this also changes scotts age a bit but. lowk idgaf abt him rn hes like 26 at the start or so now instead of 24. roxie and wallace swap place unfortunately, i dont like wallace but i have to put him somewhere. roxie is a semi popular artist and ramona is a mooch who showed up to her apartment after a bad breakup and just never left but they actually have a nice apartment but theyre still in Canada(she drunkenly got on multiple buses and trains from nyc to Toronto at roxies place and survived dont ask how its that white girl swag).

todd takes kims place shocker i know. the twins,todd and ramona all have a band together they replace sex bob omb because they all attend the same college in this au

lucas lee and lisa switch. (yes todd,ramona and lucas beef still happens dont worry)

envy is the 3rd ex and is dating gideon. she has pyromancy psychic powers rather than vegan ones. kim is the first ex still hung up on how scott ditched her in highschool only to find out he was two timing her with lisa. the twins end up. Somewhere. Julie takes one of the twins spots (holly might take the other one. I dont know)

I hate it when ppl age down matthew patel to fit knives’ spot but its also kinda weird because of the whole age difference thing its Odd no shade to anyone who does but it icks me out so im not doing it. Matthew is this guy ramona dates but shes lowk using him for money and cheats on him multiple times (manipulating him to forgive her) before scott is even in the picture.

also in my edit we see she still dyes her hair but she only does highlights and streaks because shes too afraid of commitment in more ways than one.

tbh i need to develop this more but heres the skeleton of my idea also all the exes are friends and often hang out at roxies place but matthew is the last to join them but theyre all friends who dislike ramona lowkey but tolerate her.

if im missing anyone you wanna hear about send me another ask!

TLDR; all of ramonas exes r technically her friends but they do not actually fw like that until the end.

ramona(loser leech)<-->scott(manic pixie dream boy whos life i being tampered with by knives)

roxy->wallace (lesbian semi known artist roommate)

matthew->knives (not aged down,chump being used)

knives -> gideon (daughter of a business man whos passing it down)

todd->kim (whore drummer)

lucas lee->lisa (new actor. Whore)

twins-> stephen stills (in ramonas band)

kim->matthew (first ex)

lisa->lucas (second ex)

envy ->todd(third ex)

wallace->roxy (fourth ex)

julie + hollie-> twins (fifth and sixth ex)

knives doesn't want scott anymore but shes set on making sure he pays for what he did (cheated,lied, used her for money etc)

ty for being interested in my au! idk if im gonna keep doing stuff for it or yk have it as a little side project to keep me busy sometimes! also i did take inspo from other ppl to kinda Frankenstein this together

[4rainynite]

EAH Dorm Rooms Headcanon pt 13

Farrah & Meeshell

One's a dutiful fairy godmother and the other is a mermaid princess, two of the top popular fairy tale creatures!

Farrah and Meeshell were one of many characters that came during the show's end. The only reason I was able to get info on their dorm is because of the books 'Fairy's Got Talent' and 'Fairy Tail Ending'.

Before Meeshell came along Farrah was one of a few who had their own dorm room. Meeshell was offered her own room, but chose to have a roommate to avoid favoritism. My guess is that their room is the same size as Lizzie & Duchess or Ramona& Justine.

Also, can you imagine all that blue in the room, it would be different shades of blue for each girl and how calming the room must be?

Farrah's side:

Farrah is not only the future fairy godmother for the future Cinderella (Ashlynn) she's also the future blue-haired fairy for Pinocchio. After, the future blue-haired fairy went Rebel she disappeared, and Farrah was tasked with the destiny. Yeah, that's fake! My theory is that the future blue-haired fairy is Astronova from Monster High (I'll explain in another post). Farrah is a huge fan of fashion and magic and loves to share it with others.

In the books Farrah's side of the dorm is described as :

The simple decor sort of fit with Farrah’s personality—sweet and friendly. There was a canopied bed, lots of soft pillows, and an overstuffed chair that looked very inviting. And the paint, bedspread, pillows, and wallpaper palette were all variations of one color. - Blue

I picture Farrah's side of the dorm looking similar to the party in 'Wish List' and most of her furniture with star patterns on them.

In the books Farrah (and Meeshell's) room has a relaxing mood to it due to all the blue since Faybelle almost yawn and thought of napping due to being in the room.

Farrah has a humongous corkboard with photos of her friends and parties she's attended. Her room divider would have more pics.

Her pet mouse, Clydesdale, has a little mouse castle (cute).

Farrah has a desk piled high with books such as: 101 Things You Can Do With a Pumpkin, How to Turn a Mouse into a House and Other Affordable Decorating Tips, From Rags to Riches: How to Make Her Look Like a Princess, and Does Everything Have to End at Midnight.

The reason Farrah reads these books is because she (and other fairy godmothers/godfathers) wishes for her magic to last longer than midnight (lore), whenever she questions herself, she reads them to remind her that midnight is a part of her story and should be grateful for her part to help others even for a short time. Farrah, it's okay to be upset!

Being a fashionista, I can see Farrah having a sewing machine similar to Lizzie's (only blue with stars), a sewing kit, & a mannequin to make outfits with. She also has fashion books on her desk as well.

Being a Fairy, Farrah has to take care of her wings. Like Faybelle, she has special lotions to keep them neat and healthy.

Farrah has a huge collection of wands for special occasions.

I can see Farrah having a huge collection of clothing for herself and her friends that she keeps in a closet and a trunk for storage along with other outfit making materials.

Meeshell's side:

Meeshell is a literal fish out of water due to her mermaid nature. When she first arrived at Ever After High School she was shy and tried to hide she was a mermaid. As the future Little Mermaid, she is anxious about her role especially her future prince part (spoiler she dates Humphery). After she revealed she's a mermaid she becomes more open and shows off her musical talent.

This is the only time we she her and Farrah's dorm and it appears her room divider as blue garland hanging on it. She would also put pics of her home under the sea and would later out pics of her friends.

After becoming friends with Maddie, Briar, & Ashlynn she kept the snapdragon plant as a pet in the dorms since her other pet narwhal, Finbert has to stay with the other pets (they would have a place for aquatic pets on campus) .

Meeshell has the basic EAH student furniture: a canopied bed, desks, dresser, and a closet.

I can see Meeshell's side of the dorm resembling the lone pool room from her episode debut (minus the pool) with the seashell & underwater aesthetic. And like the tank she's in it has faux coral, tiny castles, and seaweed decorations.

Singing being Meeshell's I can see her getting a karaoke machine or audio equipment to record her singing.

In the books Meeshell loves manta rays so she has a tone of manta ray plushies.

She also has a huge seashell collection that she keeps on her desk/trunk.

Images from EAHWIKI & ROYALREBELWIKI

[hxrpooner]

things in arcane s2 that pissed me offfff

in no particular order

warwick not going full wolf????? why!!!!

pussies wouldn't commit to jayvik kiss... ok.... what EVER

killing off characters just for shock value (jinx and heimer mainly)

cait losing her eye also felt like it was just for shock value

what is the message of jinx's death supposed to be? "there's no way for her to make up for the things she did, the only way for her to atone is to die"??? ok.

that "i'm always with you" line from jinx was FORCED holy shit

i absolutely do not believe that the hooded figure from jayce's childhood was viktor. i fully believe that they originally intended it to be ryze and then changed course last minute

sevika got shafted. she's super important for a while, then she just isn't. she barely shows up after "Paint the Town Blue"

not committing to the black rose person being leblanc? questionable

the scene with mel using the black rose amulet on ambessa, and then going inside the vision...??? to kill possibly-leblanc or... something??? i just kinda.... huh??? what??? okay

a moment of silence for all the viktor enjoyers. they completely shafted his lore and then changed his ENTIRE vibe as a character. and then they killed him off. and he's getting an ASU about it.

mel has an interesting thing going on in season 1 where she's ambitious and kind of manipulative and it's clear that she's using jayce to her own ends, but she felt very flat in season 2

the anomaly is a stupid mcguffin. it feels like was only brought in because they needed some existential threat for the characters to fight,

ekko got shafted. the whole point of his original lore is that he's an idealist and a boy genius, and that he cobbles together the z-drive all on his own from scrap in his dinky little lab. but in arcane he can't figure it out without the help of a white woman and a yordle. fuck you actually.

too much of ekko's development was centered around his feelings for jinx.

unclear how characters like camille, ziggs, blitzcrank, zeri are supposed to fit in with this lore. renata especially pissed me off because we spend so much time on that stupid yordle chem baron, all while the actual canon chem baron fails to make an appearance

the piltover/zaun v. noxus war would have been a GREAT opportunity to bring in urgot, considering his lore, but, nope.

hextech found dead in a ditch???

you can't just say "we're making arcane canon" and then proceed to fuck up the canon so profoundly!!!

i don't care for viktor's new aesthetic. the weird gold-and-porcelain thing doesn't suit him.

vander-warwick looks so fucking stupidddddd

sevika's fuck ass haircut

jinx's fuck ass haircut

isha doesn't talk because.... why? we don't know. it would be cool if she was deaf or mute but neither of those things seems to be the case.

isha's entire existence is a cheap sympathy-grab. introduce a cute child character, have her get close to the protagonist, then kill her off. she isn't enough of a character for it to not feel extremely lazy

isha felt like she was shoehorning in on the moment during the vi/jinx/vander reunion

the alternate universe ekko gets stuck in is basically "wow everything is so much better if vi dies!!!" which like. the implications are CRAZY actually

alternate universe jinx was a bit too manic pixie dream girl for my taste. when she showed up in the leather jacket i was like. ok ramona flowers. (i have not seen scott pilgrim)

thematically/character-wise it seems like it would have made more sense for heimerdinger to stay in the alternate universe and live out his life happy and in peace, i don't understand why they had to kill him off instead. either way he's out of the story so what's the point?

having every episode open with an artsy music video... i felt like they saw that people liked the bridge scene from season 1 and went "okay let's just do that 8 more times then." no guys. it was so noticeable and so irritating.

there's a tweet that goes something like "arcane character: assaults someone and takes their money // arcane background music: i love assaulting people and taking their money". if i made a drinking game out of how many times that tweet became relevant while watching s2 i would die from alcohol poisoning

s2 does not have a silco. jinx went protagonist-mode and they were too wishy-washy with trying to make ambessa and viktor ambiguous. he was such a larger-than-life figure in s1, i think they should have used that and had him haunt the narrative way more than he did.

fucking jayce

a lot of the dialogue is SUPER on-the-nose or corny or is just like... people don't talk like that

too much of characters just explaining what is going on or saying the themes of the story out loud. okay.

lack of thematic cohesion

s1 sets up this really cool nuanced conflict between piltover and zaun, but s2 completely fails to properly address it, especially towards the end where out of the blue all the focus suddenly shifts away to the anomaly.

"hey guys i know we locked you all in a ghetto but can you pretty please come up topside to help us fight noxus? <3 thanks"

AND THAT WORKED?!?!! SOMEHOW

so many completely irrelevant characters (caitlyn's squad, whose names i can't remember except for maddy)

i didn't feel that maddy's betrayal was properly built up to, but my friends disagree with me so. idk.

i'm getting a little tired of watching people get non-lethally stabbed in the abdomen

finale was mostly brainless epic battle fight epic fight battle fight. like girl... ok.

unclear on how sevika manages to get invited to these topside political get-togethers? shouldn't she be like public enemy number 2?

sevika dgaf about jinx at all after episode 4. it's crazy

there is no fucking way we got piltover councilor sevika. there is simply no fucking way. there are so many things wrong with this i don't even know where to begin.

there's a lot of focus given to rictus's little magic-blocking rune stone things only to never explain what they are or how they work.

i felt like a couple of things could be true: 1) they got a little too big for their britches, showing the evils of capitalism and the police state in s1, and somebody got nervous that they were going to be accused of being too Woke, so they had to dial it back. (less likely) 2) they found out about halfway through outlining the plot that they were only getting 2 seasons and had to drastically change course to wrap things up before then (more likely)

[dataanalyzer]

1) The original graphic novels are fantastic and I highly recommend them to everyone

2) The live action movie was actually written before the original graphic novel series was finished so they have slightly different endings. (Honestly I prefer the graphic novel ending to the movie but the movie one is admittedly pretty funny)

3) With that said, I'm only halfway through the new animated series but before the end of the first episode it deviates DRAMATICALLY from the source material. I'm absolutely loving it though.

4) In the original, her 3rd evil ex has vegan powers and used them to blow a huge crater into the Moon to show his devotion to Ramona. He later pulls the same trick to impress his new girlfriend Envy Adams (who happens to be one of SCOTT's exes). The movie is a pretty faithful adaptation of the original (up to the previously mentioned ending divergence) so yes it was mentioned there too.

5) It should be kept in mind while watching the movie and the animated series that the source material was the length of 6 full tankoban-sized graphic novels, so they're lots of little details, lore, and world-building that are going to be left out the other adaptations.

6) The animated series (at least what I've seen so far) can be thought of as supplementary material to the original, because a lot of the character arcs, interactions, and growth that is happening there was never even TOUCHED on in the original.

MILD SPOILER : a lot of the characters seem to be getting closure, and we're learning more about the back stories of the various exes and their relationships with Ramona, which were not as fleshed out in the original. There we mostly got "here's how they met, here's when it happened in Ramona's life, here's their power set, now get to fighting" but in the animated series we're getting not only that, but also "here's who they were before Ramona, and here's how the relationship and how it ended affected them, and a little bit about why they were together and what them being together was like"

7) (Because you know I had to pad this to seven) in the new series we're getting interactions between characters that never actually talked to each other in the original (kim pine and ex #4, and Scott's sister and G-man immediately spring to mind) and I am absolutely here for it

haven't started the new scott pilgrim series yet, probably gonna do that today, but i did finally get around to reading the comic a few months ago

and i'm so jealous of/impressed by the casually batshit worldbuilding

in awe of the way this gets thrown out there and then basically never mentioned again

[horridboyliker]

My number one fan ongong (from this post)

Number 2 is.....

Gideon Graves from Scott Pilgrim Takes Off!!

ough. my oughis. prime girlfriend material right here. Soggy we sad pathetic meow meow who is really evil

funnily enough, i AGAIN dont have much on the individual selfship lore as i havnt thoguht about it too too much BUTTT i can list what I do have (also i have a really old doodle as my only art for my spto self insert )

Ive got a few ideas for how they met, one being - Hes friends with Wallace, and kind of has to watch the whole Scott/Ramona thing go down. and like "what if i banged the evil CEO........ smirking emoji - Canon divergence where instead of him going to Julie when hes all beat up he goes to S/I !! (They knew each other in highschool) and my s/i just kinda takes over her role - or we could compleatly ignore the SPTO world and throw my s/i into just the og scot pilgrum and s/i encounters him not knowing hes a super duper cool and rich ceo and idk i have like no ideas help

BUT once they get into the relationship Ive got more ideas about that

Gideon makes s/i stay at home, not letting him work and just having him relax all day, and like, do what he loves. He even buys him all the art supplies and tec and whatever he wants just so hes comfortable, BUT in return, S/I pampers Gideon when he gets home from work. this is full housewife style, except gideon gets pegged idk-

Contrary to this, if Gideon ever has to go to like, business parties or things like that to rub shoulders with other CEO's he MOST DEFFINATLY brings S/I. He dresses him up in the most fancy suit and parades him around proudly.

cough i went on long enough of a rant so ill post about 17 here

[en-somniac]

i forgot to send you shit for the system ask game . here you go nerd 🍄👾🎵

🍄 - how did you get your system name? okay so funny story we had the word Insomnic hanging around in our head for Literal Years (people who know us lore know this is also how we got our other screenname - Noctaroma). And we were getting tired of our original system name - Glitched. So we decided to change it and Insomnic was Still In Our Head. But being called Insomnic all the time seemed like a lot? So Somnic became the name. And then after our psys breakup last April, we wanted a new flavour. And as much as we liked the alliteration of Somnic System, Collective has always felt better? So Somnic Collective technical full name Insomnic Collective. Ta da! 👾 - funniest out of context system quote? we have Many but recent fav

🎵 - what songs remind you of your alters/headmates? OH MAN there are many Judas - The Reverent Marigold - this is a Hollie Song(tm) Whats A Girl To Do - Cristina - this is basically Ramona's song bathroom community - Pinkshift/glass beach - Tim Drake Vs The Heat Death Of The Universe - The Narcissist Cookbook - a Vin song to its core

[mostspecialgirl]

beast tower.

oc rambling under the cut

I ATE THIS SHIT UP !!!!!!!!

ahem. Sorry. I meant. I think i did a good service to iris’s team. or, i guess, Novekhrys’s team, but WE KNOW WHO’S PULLING THE WEIGHT AROUND HERE !!!!!

okay. There’s actually a bit i want to say about cementing these designs.

Gráinne was an easy design to nail. i’ve wanted her to be loosely sparkledog scene adjacent from the get. and that’s what i did. i dunno if i’m satisfied with her color scheme but she canonically dyes her hair something completely different every so often like ramona flowers so it’s cool to just. Have this for now. i’ve been dying to use that pinterest hairstyle i saw a few weeks back and i finally got a nice opportunity to use it. also i gave her a name. she’s gráinne now. because i used to want to call her diarmuid. any fenian cycle fans in the chat

IRIS!!!! she’s the same as last time i drew her properly BUT like Oh My GOD she looks pretty here i was blown away by my own ability. iris is like. one of my first relicverse oc’s to be made in mind with the fact that the Relicverse Is A Thing so she’s always sort of been a benchmark character for me even moreso than demi or any of the sinai have been. i’m glad to have fully assembled a picture of her leg of ninestrike today seeing as i’ve been teetering back and forth on who exactly should lead it, and who’s fitting for her to serve under. novekhrys should have been the obvious choice from the start and i have no idea how i never saw it

like, are you seeing this???

and MY GOD. this is one of those times SETTING 1000 LOOSE THREADS pays the FUCK off because i needed one more admin and OBVIOUSLY it ONLY MAKES SENSE for it to be Kumbhakarna, seeing as Ravana has long been serving under Novekhrys (shoutouts to ravana i dont draw him enough but hes genuinely one of my favorites to write) and the two of them have always gone through cyclical incarnation hell together. i can’t break up the band. AND. Because of course, Ravana’s contract with Novekhrys making him into the Nameless Asura… That means Kumbhakarna must also have entered a similar deal. but i can’t call them both the nameless asura! sure, i can call him the nameless rakshasa instead BUT !!! BUT !!! I HAVE BEEN IN NEED OF CHARACTERS WHO HAVE INHERITED THE ROMAN GOD TITLES POST-DEVILS MANNER !!! and so, of course, he is MORS!!!!! why is that? of course, because of kumbhakarna’s curse… and because of the Somnus Title… what does that mean for Somnus…? Only time shall tell !!!!! Kuahahahahaha !!!!!!

lastly. of course. novekhrys ainzbury. demiurge’s son-in-law. husband of astaphe and father of lucille. I’M EVER SO GLAD TO BE ABLE TO START LOOPING HIM BACK INTO RELEVANT LORE!!!!!!!!!

I FUCKING LOVE THIS MAN!!!!! I’VE EVEN REINSTATED HIS STATUS AS A DRAGON!!!!!! FUCK IT!!!!!!! GIVE HIM THE WORLD!!!!!!!!

previously, in novekhrys’s lore, he existed at a time where magic was a very contentious existence for me in relicverse lore. and if i’m really coming down to it, he was technically the first proper magic user. it completely slipped my mind until literally like a few weeks ago that i realized he’s a tower master within the mage society. i often find myself forgetting astaphe exists, much like everyone seems to forget about the much less powerful children of the demiurge. But voila. my problem was solved. who better for iris to work under?and obviously, who better to be the much needed FREAK of the unraveling division than the FREAK tower master of the beast tower, the very man who fucked demiurge’s only daughter and had a child with her.

letting the pieces slide together was the most satisfying shit in the world. This is why i write. I live for these moments where all my loose threads come together. Good lord. Good fucking lord. And good god man does him being the beast tower master ever serve as such a great rational support to ravana’s existence. I KNOW my ass was not thinking about that at all back then. But like. Fuck yeah dude.

i tried to base his design off of demonic sect leaders in those cultivation novels combined with his draconic origins and it all worked together nicely. he looks better than ever! or maybehe just has long hair. I love long haired men. And horns. He’s lost a little of his signature “pathetic disheveled shell of a man” but i’ll be sure to draw plenty of that when he ISNT posted up for a beauty shot with his admins.

ALSO. holy HELL has his relationship with hana slotted in PERFECTLY. she’s always received funding from an unnamed tower master, and of fucking COURSE having it be novekhyrs the disciple hunter would only make sense. she’s a rare deviant species. his FAVORITE. and it’s never really made too much sense why hana would ever take any particular interest in expanding her leg of ninestrike and joining the union BUT IT ONLY MAKES SENSE IF IT WAS NOVEKHRYS WHO DRAGGED HER INTO IT. bringing in the Small Rewrite that the beast tower was built upon the remains of Hermes’s NinthSpire, and with enough bullshit backstory on the fly lore drawing inspiration between the old lore links between him and Father and BOOM!!!! he’s got his own ninestrike invitation with absolutely zero conflicting changes to established lore!!!! Oh my god and this is why hana takes the name of ninestrike as her own after novekhrys tells her about the history of the science tower

AND i get to write him again. It’s like christmas morning for me. This is nonsense to you all but this is PURE genius at work. This is why you leave everything 85% done because the remaining 15% will come to save your ass in the future. God Bless the Mage Society !!! Long live the Phenomena White Tower !!!

okayi. Have to sleep now. Seriousky. Im insnae

I have to do eight more drawings in this style cor eaxh division now

[loonylooly]

New orchestra lore dropped ‼️ Now we have 3 rosins, Rosaline, who was in love with Vladamir and then got her heart broken and dissapeared, Roxanne, who's a british spy working in Vincenzo's butcher..y? Meatery? Butcher's shop? Who's also sleeping with Italian government officials and then stealing their documents, and last we have MY ROSIN, her names Ramona and she's Vivienne's understudy who was totally in love with Viv but died tragically in a stage mishap (or was it a mishap?)

Um so me and my orchestra friends just personified our Violas (and we're working on our rosins) so far we have My viola, Vivienne, who's a...stoner opera singer? And then we have Vincenzo whos a very...booktok-y italian butcher..?? And then we have Vladamir and he's a Romanian poet?? Oh and Vincenzo and Vladamir are boyfriends. There's also Victor 1 and Victor 2 who coincidentally got named the same thing and they're both in a love triangle with Vivienne.

[araminakilla]

Day 23: ALERT! ALERT! ⚠️📣 ⚠️ A TSUNAMI OF NEW INFORMATION INCOMING!

This is not a drill! And btw, no... this is not a leak to one of the books of the third movie nor major spoilers from the film. This is information I found exclusively on the internet. The first one is from a portuguese page talking about the characters in a way nobody has done before, with more information we could have ever imagine. The second one is an spanish interview about many things.

This is the link to the first one:

This is about the voices in portugues and it explains about the characters:

João Paulo Rodrigues once again lends his voice to Tadeo Jones, better known as Tad the Explorer.

Tad's biggest dream is to be accepted by his archeology colleagues, but he always manages to complicate things. However, Tad had several surprising discoveries: the Lost City of Paititi and The Necklace of King Midas, which have remained secret because revealing the truth can cause unknown dangers. Therefore, Tad's abilities remain unknown. He dreams of being accepted by the archaeological community, which leads him to his next adventure to discover where the Emerald Tablet is hidden.

Mafalda Luís de Castro is the voice of Ramona, the Egyptian mummy hidden in the Louvre Museum who turns out to be Ra-Amon-Ah, a lost queen of the 18th dynasty, advisor to Queen Nefertiti and Tutankhamun's aunt. Her period in her power only lasted 3 days and as a result no one recognized her reign. Therefore, her greatest desire is to be rediscovered and exposed in a museum to receive all the historical attention she deserves.

Rui Oliveira is the voice of the Mummy, who after 500 years as a guardian of the Lost City of Paititi, was expelled when Tad made the archaeological discovery. Now the hilarious Inca mummy has become Tad's sidekick. The Mummy unleashes an ancient spell on himself, and Tad will have to find the Emerald Tablet to stop the Mummy's curse.

Ana Vieira lends her voice to Victoria, the Queen of paranormal television shows. Victoria Moon was Sara's close friend, but paths parted when her obsession with ghosts and spirits was exaggerated. Loucatoria, as she is known by the scientific community, now has a new goal: to find the Emerald Tablet of Hermes… and Sara and Tad are the only ones who can help her.

Márcia Correia gives the voice to determined and courageous Sara, a world-famous archaeologist. She specializes in pre-Columbian cultures and now leads an international archaeological team in Mexico to find the location of King Pakal's Tomb. Sara invited Tad on her expedition, unaware of his clumsy ways and the trouble he's about to unleash. She will have to team up with Tad to fight the evil forces of the underworld.

Carlos Macedo lends the voice to Ryu , José Nobre to Brian and Daniela Viçoso to Ann, the most brilliant archaeologists in the world. But Tad's antics do not help these young, intelligent and well-prepared archaeologists to accept him on their team.

Luís Mascarenhas and Helena Mota lend their voices to Pickles and Ramirez, respectively.

Special Agent Sam Pickle is an old-fashioned police officer obsessed with missions. Agent Ramirez is an investigator who never thought having Pickle as a partner would be her hardest task. They are willing to travel to the end of the world to find out what is behind Tad's actions. Ramirez will add common sense and effectiveness to Pickle's quest whenever necessary.

Emilia Ermelinda Duarte lends her voice to Mrs. Wolfstrom (the old lady who thinks Tad is a criminal for the shenanigans happening in his apartment)

Tad also has the company of Jeff, his faithful canine companion. He's a free-spirited, loving dog, but Jeff isn't the most obedient.

And with Belzoni, Sara's mute and moody parrot. Although he can't speak, he finds many ways to express himself.

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

This is the link to the second article:

It is very informative and long, thus I only put here the bits that were the most interesting to me, but I recommend to read the whole article, it's worth it:

CURIOSITIES OF THE THIRD ADVENTURE OF TADEO JONES...

To develop a third part of Tadeo Jones, they (the crew) searched for almost two years for an interesting concept to add to the franchise. Several stories that weren't interesting enough were discarded until they came up with a great concept: what would happen if our Inca Mummy was affected by an Egyptian curse? That concept triggered the minds of all of us who were involved in the project and marked the definitive start of Tadeo Jones 3.

If the Egyptian curse drives the entire adventure, the concept that internally articulates the entire film is Tadeo's desperation to be recognized (finally) as an archaeologist. And the fact that the more he tries to get that recognition, the further he ends up from being accepted.

The approach from the beginning was to achieve a feature film that would penetrate deeper into the adult audience without neglecting the children's audience for a moment. This has resulted in the richest and most ambitious film of the entire saga.

The initial moment in which an Egyptian sarcophagus is located in a Mayan pyramid is inspired by all the existing theories that the Egyptian and pre-Columbian cultures were somehow connected in ancient times. Despite being separated by 9,000 km, both worshiped the sun, built pyramids, had hieroglyphic writing, mummified their dead...

Tadeo Jones 3 is the first film in the saga in which there is no traditional villain and The Great Antagonist ends up being the Emerald Tablet, an object desired by all, but whose power no one manages to dominate.

The Ammit, the monster that Mummy becomes, is a being from Egyptian mythology that appears in ancient hieroglyphics. He was a mix of crocodile (head), lion (torso), and hippopotamus (legs).

In the car that Tadeo drives in the final credits you can see the license plate number 281009. It corresponds to 10/28/2009, the date of birth of Enrique Gato's son.

NOTES FROM THE DIRECTOR...

In each film I want to be sure that there are new ingredients with which to surprise, unexpected, that keep the audience glued to the seat waiting for the next scene.

When you are facing a third party, this task becomes very complicated and it was clear to me that it was not going to be a path of roses to find a new adventure for our hero.

It took about two years of script writing to put together that new story that would guarantee that Tadeo would have a well-deserved sequel. A sequel that does not simply take advantage of the inertia of the previous ones, but rather elevated this saga several rungs higher.

Today I can say that the decision I made years ago to marry a third party has been worth it and I cannot be more proud of all the fellow travelers who have made it possible. Between all of us we have managed to take Tadeo to new heights of emotion, comedy and, of course, adventure. An adventure made for the public, to be enjoyed in its purest form: in front of a movie screen.

NOTES FROM THE SCREENWRITERS...

(I'm putting all of this part because everything is very interesting)

The saying that second parts were never good is NOT true with Tadeo. If the first installment was a critical and public success, the second part not only kept the bar, but also expanded Tadeo's universe both emotionally with the characters of Sara and Mummy, and technically in terms of animation quality and visual effects.

Therefore, the commission of a third part has been a huge challenge for the whole team and, especially, for us as writers when it comes to creating a new story that continues to improve the franchise, that maintains its spirit and that does not fall into formulas that may sound topical or predictable.

When they called us to write the script, Enrique Gato told us: “we have to go up a notch and make the best film in the saga”.

It was our first animated film and we had been dreaming of this moment all our lives: we had to measure up. We set three goals. First we needed to lay the foundations well by finding a theme that would give more depth to the story and at the same time touch the emotions of the public, both children and adults.

But we couldn't forget that we were making an adventure film: we had to make it even more exciting than in previous installments. And finally, the comedy. You can't make a Tadeo Jones movie without ensuring a good number of hilarious moments. So we decided to raise the decibels of risk and madness.

The theme we have chosen is recognition and the dangers involved in seeking fame at all costs and forgetting what is truly important: friends, family, the team that accompanies us along the way. In this installment, we start from a Tadeo who has discovered Paititi and the Midas necklace, but who has never been able to tell about it. Tadeo should be the most famous archaeologist of all time, but his discoveries are too dangerous and he must hide them. So in the eyes of the world, Tadeo is still a worker who loves to find treasures. But he is dying to be an archaeologist, to be accepted as one more by the community of adventurers.

Now, thanks to a clue about a very ancient and magical Egyptian artifact, The Emerald Tablet, he will have the opportunity to achieve his goal... although he must be careful not to let that ambition slip out of his hands and end up like the previous owners. of the table: dominated by his magical powers and what is worse, alone. In this film, Tadeo risks everything. Fortunately, he is not alone in this adventure. Beyond his desire to find the tablet and become the famous archaeologist he always dreamed of, Tadeo will learn that the most important thing is not the treasure you find, the most important treasure is the people who accompany you on the adventure.

As for comedy, with Mummy we were already on the safe side. There is no better character to get carried away towards the absurd and enjoy. But we wanted him to be accompanied by more crazy characters.

That's why we created the Egyptian mummy Ra Amon Ah, aka "Ramona", and caused the mixture of Jeff and Belzoni into a single animal with the head of a parrot and the body of a dog or vice versa depending on whether he sneezes (Jeffzoni or Beljeff). Tadeo will suffer with everyone's craziness and the public will enjoy it.

We couldn't be more proud of the result. We are like children screaming with illusion because the dream has come true.

NOTES FROM THE SOUNDTRACK COMPOSER...

The leitmotifs are fundamental in each film and are linked to certain moments and especially to the characters. The first leitmotiv were created with the Tadeo short. In each film we have been adding new ones as in this third installment; to the leitmotiv of Tadeo, Mummy and Sara, created for the first two films, we add the leitmotif of Ra Amon Ah (Ramona?), the new Egyptian mummy, and the leitmotif that accompanies the narration of the legend of Hermenegildo Trismegisto and the table emerald.

In the case of Egypt, harmonies or instruments consistent with this locality have not been sought, but the inspiration has been more Hollywood-like, narratively, the sound did not need to be too ethnic.

The first sequence of Tadeo shows us a hero in the middle of an adventure, we enter the film and find ourselves in the same situation as our hero Tadeo. In that sequence I wanted to pay a new tribute to John Williams, just like the previous installments.

NOTES FROM TELECINCO CINEMA...

This third installment of Tadeo Jones is, without a doubt, the most ambitious of the saga, and surely one of the most anticipated films on the billboard.

Produced entirely in Spain with the direction of Enrique Gato and the screenplay by Manuel Burque and Josep Gatell, the film opens in Spanish theaters on August 26 and at the same time will begin its international tour through several countries in Europe, America and Oceania. We are confident that the public will return to theaters to enjoy one of the most beloved characters in Spanish animation.

NOTES FROM IKIRU FILMS...

Of all the films I have produced, Tadeo is undoubtedly the most beloved and popular. People of all ages have grown up with Tadeo and made him a part of their environment. That is why we now had the responsibility to take another step forward and, hand in hand with its creator Enrique Gato, accept the challenge of overcoming everything we had done. With a script by Gatell and Burque, with new characters and the extraordinary talent of the team at Lightbox Animation, we are proud to see that Tadeo has not only come of age, but that he does so with the best, most ingenious and funniest of his adventures, to prove once again that there is nothing better for a whole family than a good movie session.

We are tremendously proud to be part of this wonderful feat. After thousands of hours of work by hundreds of people during the last four years, Tadeo travels from the pyramids of Mexico to arrive in Egypt for the first time. In addition, he brings back our favorite moment: that of putting on our hats, meeting with Sara, Mummy, Jeff and Belzoni, and preparing to live unrepeatable adventures. We are ready. The fun is back. Tadeo in action!

LIGHTBOX NOTES...

With Tadeo's first feature film we just wanted to make an honest film, one that we would go see. In it, the only thing that was clear to us was that we wanted there to be mummies because we had already seen in the first short that they had pull and worked, so in order not to repeat ourselves, we decided that, instead of Egyptian, they would be Inca. Given the success of Tadeo's first feature film, we had the difficult challenge of overcoming ourselves for the second part of it. How could we do it? We decided to play the game at home, more specifically in Granada and "Mortadelizar" Mummy with his costumes and there are still spectators who are still in love with our "Mummy Flores" and his anthological zapateado in Tadeo Jones 2, the Secret of the King Midas.

So the challenge before Tadeo Jones 3 was enormous, and we decided to resort to common sense: What is better than a mummy? 2 mummies, and even better if one is cursed and they are of different nationalities and social classes. Thus was born Ra Amon Ah, our Egyptian mummy, Queen of the 18th dynasty, advisor to Nefertiti and aunt of Tutankhamun, in front of… ahem, Mummy.

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

So many things, but this is what I have to say for the moment:

- Victoria is Sara's ex friend AND a victim of the Emerald Tablet. VINDICATION!

- Although that still doesn't explain Tad grabbing the emerald tablet and being fine in that screenshot.

- Btw does that mean Sara stopped being Victoria's friend because the latter started to follow the paranormal?

- Then I wonder what passed through Sara's head when meeting the living mummies from Paititi the first time?

- It's like I'm besties with someone but stop seeing her when she starts to worship the giant flying spaghetti.

- Years later I have an encounter with Lord Spaghetti and the first two things that would cross my head are "WTF!???" and "Damn, I really should said to X that I'm so sorry I called her a loony"

- Really, what happened betweent Sara and Victoria that ended on bad terms?

- But you know what this means? We got Sara lore! Yay!

- The agents and the mean trio are antagonists, but the true Big Bad is THE EMERALD TABLE. It was in the title of the movie all along! Clever Spaniards...

- I have to aplaud that, really. The two last objects were awful but at least they didn't make you its eternal slave.

- By the way, it looks like the little guy and sorcerer's name is Hermes or Hermegildo Trismegisto which I found it weird because Hermes is the name of a greek god and the latter is more like the spaniard long name. Really interesting.

- Ramirez has all the braincells of the two agents (make that statement before but I had to write it again)

- Agent Pickles' full name is Sam Pickles. I wonder if we will get to know Agent Ramirez's full name too.

- Love that they made the connection with Pre-columbian and Ancient Egyptian cultures canon. But all the things they listed that the Mayans had in common with Egypt... you know the Incas also did those things too, right?

- What is this implying? Ra-Amon-Ah & Mummy are not so different after all?

- Spain really loves mummies. They are awesome monsters and very underrated.

- Ramona was advisor of Queen Nefertiti and the aunt of Tutankhamun. She is linked to famous egyptian royalty and it shows. Girl just wants their fame too.

- Also she only was queen for 3 days. Did something happen that she no longer could rule? Does it had to do with Hermes and his cursed tablet?

- The thing about the mummies being from different nationalities is something very well-know by this point. What surprised me is that they are, indeed, from different social classes too.

- We know she was a Pharaoh/Queen, the Dynasty she belonged and some of titles and connection to famous ancient egyptian people (we could assume two of Tutankhamun's grandparents were Ra-Amon-Ah's parents)

- And what we know about Inca Mummy is that... he is a mummy... ex-guardian of Paititi... died 500 years ago. That's it.

- We so far don't have the canon confirmation that he is royalty or connected to the royal Incan Family. It was stated that he acted like was royalty and was special among his clan.

- Which again makes me question: How was this guy put in charge in the first place? Was it only because of charisma and the fact he is a fast learner?

- Will Mummy try to present himself as someone important to Incan Society in front of Ramona or is he just going to say he was from Paititi and now he is Tad's best friend and an influencer?

- Which would mean we wouldn't get nothing of Mummy's lore... again (for all I know, they could be keeping that for later, maybe a series or his spin-off)

- Which would mean that of course Queeny is going to see him as a lesser, to the point of calling him a slave, since all that she will know is that he was a guardian that lost his job and is a fool.

- Add the fact he isn't even egyptian. To Ramona, her most competent soldiers were far more superior than Mummy.

- I wonder how Mummy is going to take all this "lesser" rant from Ramona. Something tells me that this is were their rivalty is born. And Tad will suffer the consequences of their hilarous fight to see whose culture is the superior one.

- It's Peru by the way 🇵🇪

There's also this tik tok of Mummy and Tad dancing. Ra-Amon-Ah is confused.

[stupidratboii]

Does the band have lore? Like how did they meet, who started the band, all that

YESWE HAVE LORE

ok ok ok

13 year old Cory. Total Fuckin loser. No friends. Very mean. But. He loves Music. Specially Skid Row. He loves them. Wants to be them. So what does he do?? Holds auditions for his band "Beatlejuice" he narrows it down to six people. Max, Ramona(she's bad >:0), Damon, Me, Noah, and Thomas. Thomas and Ramona are very much not good people so they're out. And Noah doesn't like skid row so he's out. That leaves us three right? At first we were all very awkward around Cory. I mean he's a complete asshole. He was even wore as a preteen ok? Max started picking on him and that got him to mellow down a bit. Damon got Cory to apologize for bullying him in elementary school and blackmailed him with that. And I'm just too pretty I guess (I was friends with Fiona beforehand). Max told Cory that the band name sucked ass so we changed it a couple times and landed on Beyond the Riot.

[popculturebuffet]

Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life Review

Happy Birthday To Me, as I continue my birthday celebration by taking a look at comics that have a personal connection to me.. And for our main feature, i’m taking a look at the first volume of a series that was vitally important to a teenage me, Scott Pilgrim. 

Scott Pilgrim is the brainchild of Brian Lee’O’Malley. O’Malley came up with the concept from a number of things. Being a fan of the band Plumtree, O’Malley was curious about the name of their song “Scott Pilgrim” and wondered who this Scott Pilgrim guy was. So over the years he slowly built the guy up in the back of his mind using bits of his life and what not. As for why he ends up fighting 7 evil exes, that came from a discussion with his then girlfriend, later wife and currently ex-wife Hope Larson, where he threw off the joke that her exes should form some kind of League. After finishing his first solo work Lost at Sea, O’Malley decided Scotty would be his next project and the rest is history. To date while O’Malley has written two works since, Seconds which is delightful and Snotgirl which didn’t grab me but I intend to try again, Scott remains his most popular work, in large part due to it’s SUBLIME video game and movie adaptations, the former of which is finally getting a rerelease next month. 

The series charm is in it’s style: A manga styled comic that combines two desperate kinds of story: Shonen Fight Manga and Slice of Life Indie Comics. The story shifts from Scott going through normal life stuff while trying to make his new relationship work and get his shit together and Scott getting into big bombastic fights with his new sweetie’s exes for the right to keep dating her and to you know, stay alive. The series effortlesly blends a video game like world with real grounded characters and is wonderful for it.  As for where I came in, one Free Comic Book day I found a little comic named Free Scott Pilgrim, which I genuinely loved and was instantly charmed by it’s humor and well done art. So I picked up the second and third volumes of the series proper and the first once I could find it and the rest ,as they say, is history. For my high school life, this was one of hte most important things in it and I wrote fanfiction, which I thankfully never put online and in general enjoyed the hell out of the series. Then I just kind of.. let it sit on my shelf for a while. It wasn’t BAD, I just never got back to it and as the franchise went dormant I just sorta slept on it and the movie and that part of me...

Cut to a few weeks ago, when Comixology did a massive sale for black friday that marked a ton of Graphic Novels down to just 1 buck each, and the color editions of Scott Pilgrim happened to be part of this, though only volume 1 was that cheap. But thanks to my best friend micheal and an early christmas/birthday present I got the rest and got to revisit the series as a whole, with me rethinking my previous thoughts of volume 1 and thus.. wanting to review it and share both why this series is so damn special and what’s good, and what’s not so good about it. I’ll also be covering the game, once i’ts re-released, and the movie once i’m finsihed with the comics so look out for that. And get ready to take a trip to the glorious land of canada... 

As a heads up and as you can tell i’ll be using the color version as while I could get scans of the black and white, I prefer the color version. While the black and white was fine and always will be, I think the impressive coloring job really adds to thing and makes the already great fight scenes pop more, as well as making certain background elements stand out a bit. While it does negate the black and white gags, the tradeoff is more than worth it. That being said either version is fine so if you can get the black and white cheaper that’s fine and i’ve kept my original copies, with volumes 4 -6 having been picked up as they came out. 

So as our story starts we meet our hero: Scott Pilgrim Age 23, a charming but jobless and kind of sketchy possible college graduate whose really been adrift in his life since a breakup about a year ago. And when our story opens he’s taken a turn for a worse and decided to date sweet but naive and inexperinced Knives Chau, a 17 year old girl. And why yes the power dynamics there are messed up and why yes Scott is pretty damn sketchy in this moment in time, and while yes I am aware the age of consent in canada is 16, it dosen’t make this any less greasy and the story knows that.  And how it knows that MOST of his friends aren’t on board. The only ones who seems to is Stephen Stiles, leader of Sex Bomb-Omb, the band scott’s in with one of the best names ever and even then it’s hard to tell if he’s being sarcastic or just a total douche. The other, Young Neil Nordgraf, Stephen’s roomate, is well 19 or 20 and kind of a dipshit so we just ignore him. I used to use him as kind of a projection, to put myself in the adventure when I was younger as Neil kind of lacks personality in the comics but in the comics.. he’s not hte best or most complex character. He is great in the movie though and Edgar Wright did an amazing job fleshing him out.  The rest of his circle are .. not so permissive. His best friend, roomate and king of all gays for all time Wallace Wells very much does not want to come with Scott to school to pick her up because every part of that sentence after hurt to type. Granted Scott gets him to come with him with promises of boys, but frankly knowing wallace he was probably just playing along/wants to protect this poor child. His ex and fellow bandmate Kim is clearly bothered by it and is flat out worried Scott is taking advantage of her. Kim and Wallace are easily my faviorites both for personality and because I have a massive crush on both. With Wallace it just didn’t manifest till the reread. Finally Scott’s kid sister Stacey chews him out over it before genuinely wondering if he’s gone insane or he’s actually happy. For my two cents: he’s not. He WANTS to be, but he dosen’t know how. And as someone whose both neurotypical, which given Scott’s troubles with empathy and relating to people like yours truly I strongly suggest he is, and has struggled with depression I can relate to that. He wants to move on but he just.. can’t, he just wants to get past the haze he’s been in since Envy dumped him.. but he dosen’t know how. So instead of doing someting constructive or finding a job or anything .. he just took the first and easiest way out of his depression he could. I’ve done that with video games and stuff. Scott did that by entering a relationship that’s really easy, requires only so much effort, and is with someone who utterly adores, looks up to him and will never expect better. Being with Knives makes him feel better.. but it dosen’t MAKE him a better person. As i’ve made clear dating someone just for a boost makes him actively worse and had fate not intervened, I shudder to think what Scott might have become. That being said his actoins are still creepy and since Scott has a habit of landing ass backwards into being an asshole here’s a counter to track that. That’s 2 for doing this overall, one for tleling her to be good, and 1 for trying to ply wallace with underage boys. 

Your the Scum of the Earth Scott Counter: 1

Thankfully fate does and Scott’s dreams, ones of him crawling through a desert alone, are interupted by a mysterious pink haired girl on skates. The next day he’s just sort of in a daze, kind of confused, and even more so when he sees her IN REAL LIFE, while at the library with Knives. He’s understandably frazzled but ends up finding out he’s not hallucinating when talking to MIcheal Cormeau. Micheal is a minor character and another artist and friend of o malley’s who represents that one guy in social circles who knows everybody. And indeed he knows the mystery girl, Ramona Flowers and that she’s there. Scott TRIES talking her up but just creeps her out, so Scott goes with plan b and decides to ask around about her. Enter Sandra and Monique, two college aquantinces of Scott, who just sorta show up at major events and aren’t that developed or intresting. They turn him to Julie who forbids him to date her. To which I say. 

Naturually we’ll aslo be needing a counter for this. 

Shut Up Julie Counter: 1

Scott however did find out she’s a delivery girl for Amazon Canada, and thus orders some CD’s on Wallace’s Credit card to hopefully see her. And while his behavior IS obessive.. it’s understandable. I’d be weirdly obessed with finding someone too if they showed up in my dreams every day and were apparently a real person. I’d probably play it cooler but still i’ts kind of understandable. So after a day with knives in which he’s clearly checked out she kisses him, he freaks out and it’s very clear that while Scott’s good at attracting women he’s just.. not good with his emotions and has finally woken up to how messed up this is, but has no idea how to get out now he’s intrested in someone he actually has a future with maybe.  Speaking of Scott’s package and Ramona finally arrive. Scott’s move is to.. ask her out abrubtly but after he mentions her Dreams, Ramona finally puts two and two together and explains things: She’s been using Subspace, a seris of highways connected by the subconcious and apparently more common in america, though it’s later revealed she was taught this but being the first book with a lot of the lore and what not ironed out this is fine. Point is she was just using his dreams as transit and didn’t mean to get him obessed. Scott continues to try his schtick and eventually gets her to agree to hang out with him. Why she does I generally do not know, as SCott basically fell ass backwards over himself conversationally, but whatever. If he didn’t succeed we wouldn’t have a plot. 

That being said things pick up a bit with the date though. The scene is really good and simply just the two.. talking. Having plesant conversations getting to know one another. That good stuff. it’s just really nice to read and it’s hard to explain why. Highlights include Scott’s x-men patch, Ramona not wanting to talk about her last job and Scott admitting he hasn’t been obessed in a long time.. and it comes off sweet rather htan creepy like that sounds. It just means he hasn’t fell this head over heels felt like this. As I said Knives was easy.. but this is hard.. and this.. feels right. So as things Snow Ramona yanks scott through subspace to escape the blizzard. 

So we end up back at Ramona’s place and she offers some tea which leads to one of the best gags of the volume as she lists them off: 

So Ramona goes to get Scott a blanket, Scott ends up following finds her changing, and she decides to warm him up another way.. by embracing him... cue.. the inevitible really. 

It feels organic though: The two are clearly attracted to each other and while Scott came on as strong as freaking colossus, he still rebounded well once they hung out and he could relax a bit and show the scott underneath the lairs of dumbass. The two end up cuddling in bed and Scott seems..genuiley happy saying he needed this... awwwwwww. They part the next morning with him asking her to his band’s performance. 

So Scott finds Wallace  at home who says what Scott needs to hear “You need to break up with your fake highschool girlfriend scott’ Granted the entire first 40 pages could’ve been titled that but now he’s actively cheating. He’s also got a letter. 

It’s a death threat Scott barely grazes through, just like an email earlier. 

But scott’s more concerned with his emotional distress.. i.e. the consequences of his throughly shitty actions finally hitting him in the face. 

Scott heads to practice for his gig and can’t bring himself to break up with knives, but does find out about the opposition: Crash and the Boys, based on an NES game title because of course it is. Crash, their leader, Joel their baseplayer who scott hates because he hates all other baseplayers (”I don’t hate myself kim) and Trasha, an 8 year old progedy they found playing Drum Mania. Don’t ask me what that is, i’m not going to get every refrence. 

So at the show Scott runs into Stacey and her new boyfriend Jimmy  with Stacey being supportive. And then Knives shows up and then RAMONA SHOWS UP. Oh no scott’s cheating might be discovered! 

So Scott books it while we’re introduced to Crash and the Boys. Wallace heckles them, to the band’s annoyance, until they eventually get fed up and we easly get the best gag of the volume. I was wrong this clearly tops the tea thing. 

So Crash and The Boys continue to play their set, including a song that supposdely kills the audience but really knocks them out.. which of course bothers kim because they play next. Meanwhile Ramona and Stacey meet and the two really get along.. and come back to find the audience ko’d and Wallace Making out with Stacey’s boyfriend. Oh no! Which is a dick move, no question. But Stacey’s next move is questionable even for a 19 year old: She says “You won’t steel another guy from me and tells wallace to sit over there”. Okay Stacey even if he is bi, and this series has trouble with the concept of bisexuals we’ll get into that later trust me, he made out with someone else entirely while on a date with you. Wallace is still an asshole, it’s part of his charm.. but it dosen’t change the fact your date kissed someone else seconds after you were gone and has been eyballing him all night, as seen even above. He’s not into you as you thought, just accept it, move on, and kick Jimmy in the balls and then wallace like a proper lady. So Scott prepares to play and this happens

And it’s here, at the very end of the comic the series main premise finally kicks in and the world takes it’s true shape. It’s a world where an indie comedy about a mess of a being putting his life together after finding his dream girl.. also has said mess being forced to get into fist fights with wizards, movie stars, vegans, half-ninjas, twin roboticists and a katana wielding douchenozzle record exec in order to continue to have the right to date his girlfriend. 

It’s where the series charm comes from and really what made it a huge sucess so it’s no suprise this volume perks up immensley for the climax. I’ll get more into it’s pacing problem at the end. For now it’s fight time and as we find out in a hilarious and awesome turn.. Scott is the best fighter in toronto.. which just makes me REALLLY want a Scott Pilgrim version of letterkenny. I mean who wouldn’t want to see wayne fight some guy who can turn his hands into dragons or see Squireely Dan do E.Honda’s hand slap move from streetfighter or see the skids all fuse into one mega emo. It’s just.. the possiblities are as endless as they are wonderous and I want this now. 

But yeah as Patel is both the first boss and Scott’s first real opponent Scott.. handles him really easily. This was by design as O’Malley wanted a shonen progression to the fights.. and honestly it’s a great way to do things. Since the fights are styled after shonen and video games, and both have power based progression in bad guys and threats, it just made sense. Patel.. is just pathetic even with his magic powers, and his habit of sending letters and emails just pounds it in. Though he is right to be a bit pissed Scott didn’t read a letter he hand delivered in a snowstorm. That’s just a tad rude. 

Mid-Fight, Scott, now he knows the whole evil ex boyfriend thing, wonders what Matt and Ramona’s past is and while Matthew refuses to tell.. Ramona spills easily. It was midddle school, all the jocks wanted her for whatever reason, likely because from experince in high school, guys really like indie girls. Matthew was the only non-white non jock, so they teamed up and with her strength and his mystic powers they beat them.. but since his use had dried up, she flipped him off and left.  Matthew dosen’t take this well and summons demon hipster chicks to fight while Scott and co, minus ramona, fight back with a finger gun routine and block his fire balls before propelling Scott into matthew somehow, and landing the KO Evil Exes Left: 6 Matthew bursts into coins though fun fact, O’Malley says the Exes all respawned back at home afterwords and learned their lesson. With Pattel I genuinely don’t think he did... but clearly given his penchant for formality what with the letters and emails, he probably felt it’d break protocol to attack before the rest were done. He probably jsut formed a hipster emo band and found more sucess using his magic for that instead and just forgot about the whole thing. Could be wrong but that’s what i’m going with.  So Scott asks Ramona to go out with him then make out with him, both of which she says yes to. Nice one scotty boy. Ramona then explains the whole evil exes thing: He’ll have to defeat each one as they come after him, and while Scott wonders if they’ll come one at a time Ramona’s not sure. As time will bear out, Scott is MOSTLY correct as most exes take him one on one, with the exception of the twins. But since as I said earlier the twins are basically one person, and as we’ll find out by choice, so it’s an exception. Plus their the last step before the final boss, so by that token it’s a bit fairer to have the penultimate boss get an unfair advantage. Scott is fine with that, he and Ramona share another moment and a kiss.. but Scott makes the mistake of asking if gideon is one and Ramona’s head starts glowing with her dodging the subject, though still going out with SCott and him worried.. it just feels.. off. not a bad ending but the only one of the series three cliffhanger endings that just dosen’t work for me, especailly since it is a bit before the Gideon mystery really picks up steam again. But with that we close this chapter

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Precious Little Life is a decent start to the story.  While Scott is loathsome at first, he’s still a compelling character and does get more likeable as things go, the humor when it is there shines and is one of the series best assets and while the fight is short and only at the end, it is oh so glorious especailly in cover with the impacts taking cues from the movie. It’s a good intro to Scott’s world and ther’es a reason the movie adapts this book the closest as it sets up the cast and premise well, with only Stephen Stiles feeling a bit off and ONLY for the first few chapters.  The volume is only really held back by it’s pacing, as before Scott runs into ramona in his dream the story feels a bit sluggish as we’re just watching some douche date a high school kid. While it is necessary to set up the world, it just dosen’t have the snappy pacing the series would be known for and that makes the rest of the series more charming. it’s nto BAD.. but it’s not FANTASTIC like the series would become. What keeps it from being bad is simple: These aren’t general badness signs but more just O’Malley coming into his owna nd getitng better and better as the book goes, to the point that by the next book the pacing is much better and by book 3 onwards he has it down pat.  Overall not a BAD volume but certaionly the weakest of the bunch.. which given it’s still really good says something about the ride we’re in for. I’ll be back sometime in the future, likely january. Yup i’m taking on YET ANOTHER PROJECT. but since this one, while clearly exausting and time consuimg, is much shorter in overall length, and i’m still proritizing the three I have running over this, I think i’ll be just fine. Until next time, have a happy holiday. 

[glapplebloom]

Another big leap for our involvement.

This season started like last season: we do research, we give it to them, they decide the winners as we make a prediction blog. All was going smoothly. Though this season there were notable differences between the Prediction Blog and the Actual show. Specifically the results between Bayonetta/Dante and Bowser/Ganon. 

As for me, I did not do research for either of those two matches. I put my focus on Ratchet and Clank Vs Jak and Daxter. Not saying if I put in my research I would have changed the outcome of the prediction blog since we all make our own predictions regardless and it didn’t stop them from disagreeing with me when I did side with Yang.

This match was fun to research. I wasn’t really into either games so I saw every game they had’s long plays. It was actually a lot of fun to see them in action. I even gotten 17 pages worth of feats for the both of them (granted, I could probably get more now but still). Funny enough, I would put the same amount of work in future Naughty Dog matches with Spyro Vs Crash and Lara Croft Vs Nathan Drake. Hmm... Would I do the Last of Us...

But around the time of Joker Vs Sweet Tooth (the match I was most willing to gush over about on said prediction blog), we couldn’t do the Prediction Blogs anymore... Because we would be spoiling the results. It was around this time that the Screwattack Crew included us in the discussion about who wins a fight. How we research will remain the same but there is a big chance that any one of us can find the best feat or come up with the best argument to determine who wins.

One case where I did was Cammy Vs Sonya. A good number of others felt Cammy would win by scaling to Bison. I argued that the big explosion they used took her out. Cammy does not have the best win/lose record in Street Fighter. Meanwhile Sonya fought and defeated Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Quan Chi and evil Jax back to back. Even if Sonya can’t scale to Quan Chi’s higher stuff, that is still much more impressive than Cammy’s poor track record. There were other arguments as well but that one stood out the most to me.

Conversely, I tried my best to prove Scout could beat Tracer but failed. Nothing I got was convincing enough. No layout would have made a difference. The big feat in one Meet the Short contradicted another. And with Tracer’s weapons and time rewind it was hard to not side with her. Future unrelated videos would show this as well between someone’s recalculation of Scout’s speed being lower than their previous ones against Tracer’s and the Winglet’s own TF2 Vs Overwatch series would show the same results.

Two matches feature things I was WAY into. Like as soon as I found out I started researching. For a match, it was Joker Vs Sweet Tooth. Joker is one of my favorite villains and I was always into the Twisted Metal Lore. As for character, Terry Bogard gets to represent SNK and he was someone I always wanted to see on the show. Overall, this season had a lot of matches I had fun researching for. 

And finally, you can thank me for how Ramona Vs Amy Rose ended. They wanted to replicate how you die in the game by having the coins, but no one ripped it yet. Except they did, no one put it in a sheet. I found the sprite dump and comb through it all to find the coins. And Ramona died the way she lived, crushed by someone overbearing. Same for Pinkie Pie/Deadpool starting in the Everfree Forest and not G3′s Ponyville.

Next time, Season 4 with some of my favorite research and matches.

[dominiodei]

Revelations: Dominion

(a transcription of syfy’s official dominion lore)

CHAPTER 3

THE CELEBRATION

FORMER MALLORY LEADERS

RAMONA COLE

October 4, 2028

Something is truly wrong with this place. Our former leader, Robert Fuller, named Sheriff Walter Northcutt as his successor—a questionable decision, to condemn our only lawman in a time of unrest. If only Northcutt would have made it the five years…

The coward Robert Fuller abandoned us on the eve of The Celebration, leaving his son behind as he split town, our confessions in tow, and allowed those…things…into Mallory. For days they fed on us until Sheriff Northcutt used Robert’s son, Wes, as bait. Like an animal. I will never forget watching that poor boy beg his father to end his own life. Wes just wanted the deed to be done, as he knew we would never be safe otherwise. He was always a troublemaker, but murder was never in the boy’s blood. Until then.

Wes confessed to me that he’d dragged Northcutt into the woods, bound and gagged, and left him to die amid those soulless monsters. Yes, it left us leaderless, but revenge can be as sweet as deliverance. I knew that if the truth came out they would kill that poor boy. So I took Wes’ confession along with those of the town and volunteered myself for sacrifice. I ask only that my daughter, Harper, be watched over so that she may never know the horrors we’ve faced.

I’ll admit that The Prophet has delivered protection from the monsters outside. But we are a family of monsters ourselves, are we not? We live out our days under house arrest, and yet we have lofty hopes of prosperity. What happens when the fire goes out? It simply cannot burn forever.

I name Alistair Vaughn as Leader of Mallory as I can think of no better heart in which to put our faith.

Faithfully, Mona Cole

ALISTAIR VAUGHN

October 3, 2033

It’s not every day that someone gets to save the world. Pardon the exaggeration, but it’s the only world I know.

I grew up here in Mallory. They’re good people, most of them, but on the day those things came down from the sky, Mallory stopped becoming our town and became something new. We welcomed a lot of outsiders, but by and large I’d say we’re all right. It’s a difficult thing, living in a vacuum. No one comes in. No one goes out. Everything and everyone stays the same or worse. Lot of big personalities, the kinds that like butting heads. They chase their gossip like flies on shit.

I suppose I wouldn’t have taken this post if it weren’t forced on me, but who’s to say? We don’t know our courage until it’s tested (see Exhibit Fuller)!

I know Mona had her doubts about what we’re doing here. But show me a town who’s got it better and I’ll show you a Prophet who made good on his word. Sure, the guy seemed like a creep, but in this town? Who isn’t. Besides, I’m being asked to go out a hero, which is a hell of a lot better than sticking around.

I’m just anxious to die for the town that gave me everything. Or was my everything… Okay, I’m not spending my final hours cooped up over poetry. I name Nicholas Heyward as Leader of Mallory, one of our trusted transplants from Birmingham. Just don’t mess it up, Nick.

Over & Out, Ali Vaughn

PS [to the beautiful Laurel Phillips, who I’ll miss most of all]: We never did find our time, did we, Philly? Lord knows I tried. You have so much good to lend this town. Just don’t go running off with Wes, eh? He was always jealous of what we had. Or could have had. I suppose now is as good a time as any: I love you, Philly. And Godspeed.

[deflowrd-blog]

your PORTRAYAL? youve always shown an amazing understanding of ramona, and developed her into something better than she was. youve made her a more well-rounded character who's not defined by her relationship with scott, and it shows in how well you write her. not to mention you always put your heart in everything you write and never half-ass anything. magnifique! *kisses fingers like a chef*

portrayal meme.

I’m gonna just use this crying Konata icon for like all of these because they accurately define how I feel. I mean listen you’d know best - you’ve been here ever since I took Ramona on as a muse and like… not to gush but we’ve got history together, y’know? Me waxing a bit poetic here basically means I really trust your opinion and it means so much to hear you say you like my portrayal that much.

One thing about Ramona is that she is so easily translated to be the prize waiting at the end of Scott’s journey, which O’ Malley does kind of subvert in the sense that she’s given some sense of autonomy to actually run away from Scott, but the problem is that she isn’t fighting her own battles for the most part ( save for fighting Roxie once, but Scott defeats her in one instance and also fighting Envy, but that’s also not really her battle to be had ). That gives her little to no agency in the end, and makes her so… I don’t know, lacking in a story where she’s somehow also the most intriguing character because she’s mysterious. Her mystery is self-imposed, but it also isn’t - we understand that she’s traumatized and depressed beyond belief with a self-loathing complex purely based on her actions and constant compulsion to run away. Her past doesn’t matter - it’s in the details at that point. What makes Ramona Ramona is the idea that she’s just… identity-less, hence her always changing her hair and speaking so loosely. There’s an attempt to have a character by being the cool, aloof woman, but we all know that’s just bullshit. 

That’s pretty damn tragic that a woman in her near-mid-20s is basically completely lacking in self-actualization. Like, fuck. 

Basically that entire word vomit up there is to express that it means so much to me that to some degree that is coming out of my writing. I have worked hard in the many years I’ve roleplayed as Ramona to add some depth to her, and like… wrow! I don’t know what to say other than thank you so so much for hitting the nail on the head with regard to the issue with Ramona that has to be solved in canon ( being defined by Scott ).

Not to throw positivity back at you but Cadillac is one of the most impressive original characters I’ve ever come across on this hellsite and wow, you’ve put so much effort into making him a cohesive character. His lore? His personality? His backstory? I mean, it’s really incredible. Frankly that chef’s kiss goes back to you. You’re doing excellent work here and I really hope one day we can see him in a web comic because he is destined for great things - plus he’s also a really well-rounded character with many angles to him ( lol no pun intended ) and I really can’t praise him, and you, enough.