#wonderland liches

[huitunkuutti]

Happy Suffering Game GN- cover reveal day to all who celebrate, and even those who don't. I am going insane over my favorite arc, and also going insane about the Wonderland liches again. Anyway, have Edward with his ass up on the floor.

Alternative (murderous) version:

[soggedupfrog]

My Edward and Lydia designs :3 I enjoyed the clown themes they had in the graphic novel so I added some of that into my designs, Edward has spades/clubs patterns and Lydia has Hearts/Diamonds patterns ^_^

[melonkittii]

i have an assignment due tomorrow but i literally could not work until i exorcised this image from my brain. its been haunting me

edit: id in alt!

[rjavenuru]

Speaking of character design, here is my character from Tiny Tina's Wonderlands, Árelíus the graveborn and his grumpy lich companion Orville. 😝 And whereas I did design the character I have no control over their banter but I find it sounds quite eerily like a Gothic Homemaking script. 🤣

[terezis]

ok here's the hot goss from the nycc taz gn panel

i don't actually know whether or not it was recorded/ if they're going to put it online so here is my summary. also if i miss anything and u were there pls feel free to chime in. spoilers obviously!!!

got eight new preview pages (four two-page spreads), not the pages on the macmillan website!!!

ok i will tell u about those pages but the main thing discussed at the panel was how they went about adapting this arc into gn form. the actual time spent in wonderland has been trimmed a lot bc they had to think about what was actually important to the narrative as they are building to story and song.

basically in planning out the suffering game they also really had to decide what the rest of the series would look like, bc whatever they include now is seeding the stuff that's going to happen later.

cam is not in this book. it was implied there's less wheel spins. rowan/ash/sterling get much less screen time

almost half of this book is lunar interlude stuff (pre and post suffering game, INCLUDING REUNION TOUR!!! no word on where it ends but they made it clear that a LOT of thought went into what to include and where to end it, and what that would mean for the next book)

ok so about those preview pages

first one was post-taakitz date with kravitz sensing a lich and the umbra staff shooting at him <3 <3 <3

i thought they were going to show us the preview pages that were on macmillan so when i saw kravitz i was so shook

second spread was magnus visiting the voidfish, which now happens right before they leave for wonderland; the whole beginning of tsg from magnus trying to talk to pringles to him kidnapping those guards to the chimera fight was cut LOL bc it never really got… addressed again in the podcast

angus comes to get him for the mission but magnus has been going Through It (outright stated, they were like. he found out he's a red robe. he would probably not be handling it well. he has eyebags now. LOL) and snaps at angus when angus presses him on what's wrong.

more angus content, he will be investigating what's going on at the bureau more (his scene w magnus ties into this)

same for lucretia! more content/ stuff for her to do

third spread was merle w his kids getting saved by the red robe, is at a carnival instead of a random street this time LOL

last one was the boys arriving just outside of wonderland

wonderland looks fuckign cool

what else… oh confirmed like eighty panels of bare ass naked magnus after he gets his body back. so i think we really are getting the full reunion tour this book???

ALSO NAKED BARRY COVERED IN SLIME. WHEN HE GETS OUT OF THE POD. CONFIRMED. CANON. LOL

omg ALSO!!! ben (editor) said he campaigned REALLY HARD to have the umbra staff break during the suffering game, freeing lup early, bc he really wanted more time with her, but griffin campaigned really hard NOT to do this, and in doing so his arguments solved a lot of other problems they had been having at the time LOL

travis is the fans' champion when the others get too edit-happy. he's the one who has a good idea of what moments are important to the readers so he's like hey… too far. don't cut that. and then they don't

justin leaves great notes and when they couldn't figure stuff out ben would often say "no it's fine justin will solve this." and he ALWAYS DID

this was news to justin

??? i think that's all the main points honestly i'm v picky about adaptations but overall i feel like these are good changes that make sense when translating the podcast to gn

that said i do hope taako still gets a washing machine dropped on him <3 do this for me carey <3

[barry-j-blupjeans]

There was not much that could scare Edward and Lydia anymore. In fact, Edward could count the things he feared on one hand.

The Reaper— or rather, The Raven Queen. Becoming liches hadn't been a hasty decision. They had known full well what they were doing, what laws they were breaking, and they had broken them anyway. The Raven Queen did not take kindly to those who played the line with life and death, but unfortunately for her, that was Edward and Lydia's preferred line of work. Even so, it would be rather foolish of them not to fear the wrath of a god, or her little soldiers, either.

The End Of All Things. This one was rather simple. Or, well, Edward could pretend it was, until it arrived. But somewhere out there, maybe not in their Planarverse, but out there nonetheless was a world-ending destructive force. It had been described as the Hunger, and although he felt a level of kinship with the idea (who wouldn't when your life was fueled by the very same things that the Hunger was made of), the fear overrid his other emotions.

And being separated from Lydia, of course. After all they had been through with Keats, it was rather hard to not be afraid of losing her, too. But of all his fears, Edward would admit this one was the most unrealistic. There was no Edward without Lydia anymore. If one of them went, well… Edward wouldn’t have to fear much, after that.

Even so, Edward's relationship with fear was far from the norm. His fears? Unnecessary, at this point. Annoying, even. Other people's, though? Ohoho, Edward lived, quite literally, for other people's fears.

The traction Wonderland had gained when the Animus Bell had first fallen into their hands was starting to die down. Edward and Lydia were masters of stretching a life to its thinnest, of course— why kill off anybody in the first act when the second could turn out so much better? But even with these carefully toned tactics, Wonderland seemed to have hit a wall. And it didn't take long to figure out why.

The world had forgotten all about the Animus Bell. And thus, the world had forgotten all about Wonderland.

They had been through worse, of course. And sure, all it took was a few changes here and there— stop advertising the Animus Bell so directly, start up with the classics again: Fame, glory, money. Who in the world wouldn't kill for any of those? But it was frustrating, to have your main source of business cut off without any sort of explanation. Edward personally felt a little cheated. The Animus Bell was supposed to have lasted much longer. They had been promised business and success, only for it to be cut off all at once.

So when the woman responsible for all their recent failures waltzed into the building? Well, Edward and Lydia had no such reason to go easy on her. After all, Lucretia had taken everything from them— all the delicious pain and suffering suddenly gone in an instant. It was only fair she made up for it.

Read the rest on Ao3!

[silverglimse-productions]

Am I crazy or is the Suffering Game issue the book where most plot has been cut out??? Cause it feels so weirdly paced. And just kinda weirdly written in general.

Like there’s no Betrayal/Trust game, they go directly from Wheel to Monster Factory (and only fights the bear) and directly from Wheel to Heart Attack (no explanation for why they would end up there, just that it’s the “next stop”).

Then they skip the last Wheel round (meaning we don’t get Taako’s loss of Elven Beauty - a pretty important moment for his character, Merle loses his eye in the second round instead, and Magnus keeps all memories of Governor Kalen - he was offered loss of Julia instead and didn’t take it. Which. Fair.. and also, no bad luck) and go straight to the Lich fight??? So no boss Rush either. We also never see a penalty in this book.

Speaking of things missing from this book. Where the fuck is Cam? Or Lord Artemis Sterling? Rowan and Antonia???

The book is almost 300 pages long. They enter Wonderland at p. 52. We see the full room at p. 107. They only spent 55 pages on the bulk of this arc. The rest of the book has good pacing so what the fuck happened here. The book should have been longer. The impact of the suffering game isn’t felt as hard when there’s less gruelling challenges that loses Tres Horny Bois hp, or when you cut out any other npc that was affected by Wonderland from the story.

Due to this limited number of pages we also get weird pacing like Merle asking Magnus whether he spent “all that time thinking up the move” during the direbear fight, even though there’s only like 2 panels between Taako ending his move and Magnus beginning his. Also Merle you didn’t do anything during that fight, so get off your high horse.

Also, we only actually see one spell of Merle’s fail, that being the healing spell, so for all he knows, nothing is wrong with his powers, so him commenting on the fact that it would be nice to “be able to commune with a higher power” once they’re out of wonderland makes no fucking sense. Cause he could just?? Try and contact Pan?? Like he does later anyways??? Like we actively see him reaching into the astral plane without issue, so clearly up until that point no magical foul play.

Now, did stuff like the boss rush and the like have to have been in the book? No, but it’s weird when you think of what was kept in and was removed. Like fx, why was Taako shown giving up his acrobatics prof but not his elven beauty?

Also side note about Heart Attack - this is not relevant but it just makes me personally crazy, the book seems to imply that the mannequins have free will??? In that Lydia and Edward literally whisper to each other about “oh no the audience and the hot hot hot contestant actually likes these guys”????? WHAY?? Like aren’t they the ones who control all of what happens inside wonderland??

[thatgirlonstage]

man the way Magnus entrusted his relic to Jack and June because they were good people with rustic hospitality and it turned an entire town into a place of betrayal and coups and distrust and finally an inescapably looping nightmare for years where death was perpetually an hour away and the way that the town was ultimately saved with kindness to animals through reuniting the purple worm with her children and the self-sacrifice of the town's self-appointed protector

and the way Merle's relic took love that had bloomed from rivalry and twisted it into a desperate need to prove oneself capable and better, to become unto a god, the way it drove Sloane to run away from everyone she cared about rather than reach out to them for help, and the way it was only stopped with peacemaking, with reaching back for her still when all hope seemed lost, with Hurley leaping headfirst into silverpoint knowing full well she would be killed but doing it because she cared about the person inside even at her worst, even when she was irredeemable, even when no one else would think to find anything human left in there at all

and the way Taako's relic was put to the use of science and exploration and used, for a while, successfully, but with too much greed, with too much selfishness, with too much focus on Maureen and Lucas's goals and too little trust of other people's word on how dangerous these relics are, the way it ultimately became the tool of a creature trying to claw its way back to the life and loved ones it knew and had lost, a creature that had long since lost its sense of self, that had merged with others just to survive, and the way familial love was necessary to stop it, the way Lucas got to his worst out of love of his mother and the desperation to do anything to get her back, the way he got brought back to his senses by that same love and the realization of how badly he'd failed her, the way he was still an untrustworthy dick at the end but they let him go anyway and he came back when it mattered

the way Lup's relic was locked away for a decade and ultimately uncovered and reactivated by Gundran's desperate desire to reclaim what once belonged to his family, the way it was not stopped, the way the loss of Phandalin haunts the narrative, a reminder of failure and of people the boys couldn't save

the way Davenport's relic gets caught up in a game of smoke and mirrors while on the harsh time limit of the end of a journey, the way part of Jenkins' ploy is that he seems utterly unthreatening, the way Hudson's death and the loss of his head in particular is practically collateral damage, the way the train could not be saved but this time the people were

the way Barry's relic is in the hands of two liches who are very obvious and intentional foils to him and Lup, but even more than that, the way it's so buried in the suffering of losing everything that makes you yourself, over and over and over and over and over, the way Wonderland is designed to make you eventually dependent on this cycle of loss just to stay alive, the way it's only beaten by changing the rules of the game

and of course the way Lucretia's relic stays glued to her side, the emblem and reason for her loneliness, isolating her in a bubble of her own making, until, of course, she lets her family back in, and as raw and painful a reunion as it is, as it has to be, because you can't stay safe from your mistakes forever, the seven of them together find the solution she could not find alone

[liltaz-asatreat]

I just realized something!!!

So, at the end of The Suffering Game, right before they go up on the catwalk, I always found it an interesting character choice that Justin made to make Taako fight Magnus so hard about him going up on the catwalk to strut. Him allowing himself to be vulnerable and admit to being scared aside, I didn't really Get why Taako would fight so hard about this One Thing when this seemed like it should have been right up his alley.

Like, in the very beginning, he couldn't offer up his resume to Lydia and Edward fast enough after seeing them strut and perform down the runway, and before that, he was a showman, and basically his whole identity was shaped around that. Acting confident and showing off is pretty sufficiently baked into his DNA.

I thought at first it was because of the general shit day he was having being stuck in Wonderland and all that, and maybe this had been one of the worst days of his life that he could remember, but still like, he's had really shit days before. And in none of those days have we seen or heard of him backing down from a chance to perform, an act that also boosts his self confidence when he really isn't feeling it. And throughout Wonderland, no matter what the liches threw at him, even being almost killed by that machine, he didn't fight them or anyone about doing anything. He did what he was asked, bitching about it sometimes maybe, but he didn't even take a penalty at the wheel like Magnus and Merle did. I also thought maybe this was just the breaking point? That he was tired of doing what he was told that he really didn't want to do and would hurt him in some way just for the liches' entertainment?

And maybe that's all true, but then I remembered the last thing they took from him at the wheel: Taako's beauty.

This happened maybe 15 minutes before they approached the catwalk, considering they only went a few rounds in combat in the boss rush room, and each round of combat lasts 6 seconds, so losing that is still raw and fresh on his mind. Sure, he put up the illusion spell, and he didn't physically feel any change, but just knowing that he did change in some way and that he didn't have access to a reflective surface to see for himself what damage had been done had to have dealt a huge blow to his self confidence and his sense of identity. If he's not the most beautiful elf to ever grace the planet anymore, who is he?

He's a wizard. And a chef. But there are plenty of wizards and chefs out there. What set him apart was that not only was he the best at both, but his looks ensured everyone would love him.

Not to mention he only started to regain the chef identity back only a few months previous after the Chalice showed him he wasn't the one who poisoned Glamour Springs.

He wasn't feeling vulnerable enough to admit to being scared and fight about going up on the catwalk because of the liches. He was scared because he didn't know who he was anymore, and the idea of trying to act the same with only the flimsy veil of his illusion magic hiding who he truly is, a person, mind you, he still has not seem for himself yet, is terrifying and insulting. What if he can't put on a good enough show? What if everyone can see through his facade and hates him? He was already a fraud-show-chef-recently-turned-out-to-not-be-a-fraud-actually, and now he has to act like he isn't a fraud show personality in front of the people who already know the truth?

And Magnus could see what he really looks like now, and he's acting like everything is fine???

His whole world got upended yet again, and sure, Magnus and Merle are close enough to him again for him to feel like he can be a little honest with them, but that doesn't stop him from feeling incredulous with what Magnus is asking him to do.

He's just a wizard now. Maybe can reclaim the identity of a chef. And those two out of three main pillars of his former identity never felt so small.

[jerreeeeeee]

lydia and edward’s failing was not in becoming liches, nor were they doomed by their circumstances. their mistake was forgetting or disregarding the importance of the love that pushed them there in the first place. because it’s still there; that’s why they aren’t mindless monsters, they’re clearly still sane, if having made evil choices. but they’ve put it aside and devalued it in favor of. well. power hungriness.

i feel like what we see from barry as the red robe is that the danger of lichdom isn’t becoming evil, as if exposure to dark magicks corrupts some kind of tangible moral substance, it’s more of a risk of unraveling and losing yourself and your mind without an anchor to your identity and the bonds that make you up, and hurting people because you’re not yourself anymore. which could take many forms. maybe you’re not actually ‘mad,’ maybe you just… justify your choices differently, cross lines you wouldn’t have before. as cam explains it: “See, if a lich can, um.. can anchor themselves with a powerful enough sort of emotional attachment, then they can sort of maintain their identity and they can maintain their sanity.”

which brings the question of: are edward and lydia ‘unraveled’ liches? we have no baseline to compare to; maybe they were always cruel and greedy and lichdom only afforded them more opportunity, or maybe it did warp their perceptions of things like right and wrong and they’ve become worse. (to this point, something they say when thb make it to the end of wonderland stands out: “this resolve, this desire to do whatever it takes no matter the cost to save yourselves…” and “it was the three of us, surviving against all odds. The world against us.” it certainly seems to me like edward and lydia had a very difficult life, and turned to necromancy, lichdom, and then further, wonderland, out of a desire to protect themselves, collecting power in pursuit of security and safety). they’re not fully gone, they still have their wits about them, but it has to be said that they’ve, to some extent, lost their old selves, because it’s clear that at some point, they cared about each other and keats, but they power themselves now primarily on suffering. those aren’t entirely mutually exclusive, but i’ll elaborate later.

either way, it seems to me that they gave in to the (not uniquely lich, very mortal, but exacerbated by the magical forces at play in lichdom) temptation of cruelty and powerlust, and subsequently lost sight of what makes them themselves, not the other way around. which has interesting implications for barry’s lonely years. they didn’t lose themselves and so became evil, they became evil and so lost themselves (“became evil” being a huge oversimplification). in a similar way to other relic wielders, notably. what was wonderland like before the animus bell, i wonder?

the bond is still there, they still needed each other after all, but lydia is genuinely surprised when she says that. which seems like a far cry from a woman who practiced dangerous magic to save her brother—now she’s surprised, after seeing her twin killed in front of her, that she cares? they’re maybe not entirely unraveled; that may not be a black and white thing, either you’re wholly intact or you’re lost forever, it may be something of an event horizon you can get closer to as you give in to cruelty and isolation, and farther from as you pull yourself together and focus on your bonds. maybe there is eventually a point of no return, but you can get pretty close to it without crossing the threshold.

which, again, the idea that liches unravel as they take actions and so become farther from themselves and their loved ones is really really interesting in the context of barry and lup. did they know that was how it would work? it’s all well and good for edward and lydia—i mean, i’m sure they had to make hard choices, i’m sure it wasn’t an easy descent into the monsters they became, but it all sorta pales in comparison to the choices that barry and lup were already facing even before becoming liches. they already had the fates of worlds in their hands, and they decided to tie their own essences, their own identities, to the hope and faith that they would continue to make the right choices? we see that start to slip with the relics; they start out with good intentions, but lup can’t handle the unintended consequences (because there’s no reason they’d think the relics would even be so dangerous). it all becomes even more dangerous than lichdom seems at first. maybe that’s why taako was so afraid; not because he doubted the strength of lup’s love for him and barry, that it would hold her entire self together, but because he knew she was already so invested in the hard choices they had to make, and this ran the risk of legitimately destroying her if they gave into those more pragmatic, crueler options (options he tended to favor), no matter how much she loves her boys.

and it’s also so interesting to me that lydia is surprised when she does truly unravel. a being built on bonds, and she didn’t realize she was still held together by love for edward? how? wouldn’t you still be able to feel that? it’s a question i’ve had for a while: why do lydia and edward say that suffering is stronger than love when this is demonstrably untrue? willful ignorance? maybe they meant that suffering is easier to extract and farm from other people than love is? maybe suffering is easier to manipulate in the way we see in wonderland, forming clothes and wheels and rooms, whereas love is a magic that works internally rather than in the world?

but honestly i think the actual answer is, they think that because they weren’t able to save keats. their love wasn’t enough. for whatever reason their necromancy failed, and they take it as a failure of love. because if love truly was powerful enough, shouldn’t it have saved him? and it’s a fair question. “have you guys ever witnessed like, a magic that’s kinda more powerful than you could explain? That was kind of born out of a moment of intense passion or emotion?” cam explains liches’ reliance on emotion by evoking the moments of love that did miraculous, magical things: sloane saving hurley, jack creating roswell, etc. we just don’t really have enough information about what happened to keats to say why he died. but i think it’s fair to say the instances we do see of those miraculous bonds are also deeply involved with the Relics.

but anyway, for whatever reason, their love did not save keats, and once their beloved brother died, edward and lydia were left with suffering. their grief for him obscures the fact that they’re still held together by love for each other—and love for keats too, even though he’s gone. love that transcends death is a theme, too. they still remember him and think fondly of him after all this time. that love is still there.

edward and lydia say they became liches because they liked the powers they gained from necromancy. but i have to wonder, did they really become liches so they never had to see each other die, too? and that makes their story all the sadder; they lost their brother, turned to necromancy to try to save him, failed, and became liches so they wouldn’t lose each other. becoming liches condemns them, eventually, to an eternity imprisoned, unable to join the sea of souls and reunite with the brother they did it all for in the first place.

[yellowflowrs]

Obligatory shitpost before I sleep, I present to you; yellowflowrs’ cult of the lamb voice claims !!!!

Narinder: As a god, that Swiblet person specifically in the Greedy song by OR3O.

As a follower, his voice transforms into something similar to Legoshi’s from Beastars (anime, English dub)

Lamb/Mori: able to manipulate their voice to anything they want, usually either sounds something similar to Ash Fox from Fantastic Mr. Fox (movie,) or Crona from Soul eater (anime)

Goat/Koa: their voice is usually similar to that as Purple yam cookie from cookie run kingdom, Has the same ability as Mori

BISHOPS

Leshy: Audrey II from little shop of horrors (musical/movie)

Heket: Grayson from Arcane (show)

Kallamar: Yorick from League of legends (game)

Shamura: Nocturne from League of Legends (game)

EXTRAS:

Aym: Angsty teen from the FNAF games

Baal: Sal fisher from Sally Face (feather fall studios dub)

Ratau: Pig patch from the FNAF games

Mystic seller: Gabriel from Ultrakill (game)

and also For Whom The Bell Tolls/My swap au voice claims for those who are familiar

The Carillonneur: Allied master computer from I Have no mouth but I must scream (game)

Narinder: Legoshi from Beastars (english dub, anime)

Shamura: The Horse from the boy, the mole, the fox and the horse (video)

Kallamar: The Fox from The boy, the mole, the Fox and the horse (video)

Heket (how she spoke before her tongue was ripped out): Calhoun from Wreck It Ralph (movie)

Leshy: Kingi from Boy (movie)

EXTRAS

Abel: Lewis Robinson from Meet the Robinsons (movie)

Cain: Ronno from Bambi (movie)

SHEPHERDS

Cadence’s main head: Sammy Lawrence from Bendy and The Ink Machine (game)

Cadence’s second head: The Lich from Adventure Time (show)

Nalin: Lady Dimitrescu from Resident Evil 8 Village (game)

Raza: Howl from Howl’s moving castle (movie)

Isagani: Sho from Arriety (movie)

Eden: Alice from Alice in Wonderland (movie, 1951 cartoon)

I’ll update this when I want to change the voice claims cause I am a very fickle person if I remember the meaning of that word correctly

[anistarrose]

what is “in the fumes of your anguish (all my blistering pride)”!! it sounds fun!! -tom

(WIP meme here, still taking asks!)

okay I have to come clean: I cheated and put this one on the list even though I don't have a file for it, physically. or rather, digitally, I guess. but I needed an excuse to talk about it, because my mental file is sprawling, and, well. above all else I am a Suffering Game bitch, and this is an AU that diverges from canon in the aftermath of Lucretia in Wonderland.

she still escapes Wonderland — only to find herself alone in the Felicity Wilds, remaining grievously injured from the games. twenty years older, still losing blood — and the monsters in the wilds can smell blood, immediately encircling her. but before she can make her final stand... bolts of red, necrotic magic rain down on her foes, and Barry appears, reducing them all to dust.

he's both the person Lucretia most wanted to see, and the person she was most terrified of seeing, with the guilt of betraying Cam still fresh in her mind. he sounds just as terrified, as he asks what the hell happened to her. Lucretia doesn't answer, because her legs give out, and she passes out.

the rest of the fic is Lucretia recovering in Barry's evil cave lair, in the way that would be the classic whumpy injury hurt/comfort if it wasn't for the fact that. well. they're still Lucretia and Barry post-betrayal. they can barely face each other. Barry sees Lucretia twenty years older with a half dozen new scars, and can only think about how his Animus Bell did that, even if indirectly. Lucretia sees Barry's lich form, tattered and gaunt, aching from the separation from his lifelines — and wonders why he saved her life.

hell, she wonders why doesn't he kill her now? with her gone, it would only be a matter of time until he found Fisher — and the Starblaster, for that matter, whether he chose to use it or not. in her mind, if he were to use it, it would surely just be to bring back Lup — not bring back her, not knowing she could betray him again, uncompromising on her plan as she is...

and Barry is just as deeply, upsettingly aware as she is of what he has to gain by killing her. what he had to gain by letting her die. but on a level that doesn't surprise him, not compared to how it surprises Lucretia — he obviously can't bring himself to do it. to hold his lich form together, after doing that? after losing his sister, too? the only person to even remember him, no matter the reason? it would be impossible. his soul would be gone before he even finished the job.

...and then there's character development — and eventually, dare I say, even communication — that happens, that I don't want to spoil for when I do write the thing, but. I think you get the vibe. (also: lots of black smoke imagery persists even after Lucretia's out of Wonderland. that's the second most important part of the vibe.) the premise is a heavy one, and not my only Suffering Game WIP either (the other is canon compliant, but I kind of think this one could build off it), so it's gonna be a long time before I'll be able to write it, but I think about it all the time 😭

(also the title is from this song, which also contains the lyric "All the love, all the kindness, all your best-laid plains / Couldn't stop me from becoming the way that I am." and if that's not a devastating line for the mutual Lucretia-Barry dynamic post betrayal, then I don't what is!)

[flonbowe]

so like I had a brain blast right?

This song is like

EXTREMELY WINTER KING CODED

Like idk

is it the voice? Is the subtle madness masked behind order we just dont personally get? Is it the gleeful flamboyance? Is it how it speaks of liberation from a world thats gone or going to die, as you revel and enjoy said chaos because its fun and only you truly understand? “The best place to hide is insanity” — Ice King and Candy Queen’s madness hiding who they truly are ”Hypnotizing, Terrorizing, Those locked within” Winter King passing his madness to PB ”i see now a word gone blind, that is how i found my mind” The mushroom war creating Ooo, a world Winter then found his sanity destroyed and reborn in and then took for himself.

”all this gathered sin begat, the father to the child” SIMON AND MARCY— I DONT EVEN WITH THAT ONE

”Anything i do is no sin” Winter not caring for the horrible things he’s done for his own selfish escape into wonderland “You cant stop what has begun, might as well have so much fun” Again, the mushroom war, but also the new 100 years of his own world he made ”theres a light inside your soul, slowly shrinking in the cold” ”and yet darker we will go” THE NEXT EPISODES BOTH REVOLVING AROUND HORRIBLE THINGS HAPPENING, VIA THE TOXIC YURI OF “The Star”, AND THE LICH’S CORPSE WORLD

“Your World’s A Fantasy”

FIONA AND CAKE’S WORLD LITERALLY BEING IN SIMON’S MIND—

LIKE— IT LINES UP!

[umbraastaff]

I'd love to hear your general thoughts on the new gn! I personally think Wonderland was a little rushed, but I loved reunion tour.

was fun in some ways and fell short in others! i overall i agree with you on that as well. more specific thoughts, in no particular order:

some really really cool visuals in this book. lucretia in the hourglass at the start, some awesome panels with space and the hunger and stuff... barry regaining his memories on page 212 is probably my favorite page in the whole book

the choice to make the Chug & Squeeze be painting instead of pottery is baffling to me. the title of the place made sense with the original… the choice to change it so that it doesn't fit, and then also make fun of that, feels a bit like i am being made fun of as a fan/audience member, regardless of whatever the original intent was

(compounded with the total loss of the original depth in this scene… no vulnerability from taako, just a good 'ol fanservice kiss…)

similarly bizarre, the choice to make lucretia lose 30 years instead of 20...? 20 not bad enough? she needed to be 60 instead of 50? what's happening lol

i feel vindicated on a spiritual level for being the only person i can remember drawing mullet ponytail barry - like 95% of fanart i see draws him either short haired or with long hair free n out like in HTBG graphic novel... never ponytails. im winning

more bafflement with magnus even THINKING on the question of forgetting julia... the kalen thing is a much more interesting conflict to me given (a) it makes sense to be uncertain about and (b) relates directly back to his love for julia. and they established AND NAMED kalen in eleventh hour, why not use that...

feels like they swing back and forth on how much they trust the audience to pick up subtext... being hit over the head with magnus continuing the "id hate it shut the fuck up" thing to rly look at the camera and wink and tell us how much he loves julia, but then the comic version of the "love barry trust barry" was VERY dependent on picking up cues and seeing taako's attitude change

speaking of, i did really love the "love barry trust barry" scene. and both times lup jumps into barry's arms is so cute ugh

i know it's a product of how rushed everything has to be putting 10+ hours of audio into a singular COMIC book, but for fuck's sake, removing KEATS..........?????? so now lydia & edward have no depth??? & no parallel/foreshadowing for the way liches work??? OKAY???

mannequin magnus design and the way they enabled him to do expressions was preddy good. enjoyed it. also the whole possession + wonderland final fight action is cool and fun

while i am disappointed the bell is all fancy and weird instead of being a very plain and small thing as it was described in canon (which felt more in character for barry), i DO really really really like the flower on top... the wither-and-bloom motif... tasty

oh yeah griffin disappearing is such a great way to foreshadow a thing beyond planes coming down to consume... ahh i love playing with meta stuff

so so much good barry content man. so much. thank god we got so much good fun reunion tour stuff. hes so dumb as rocks i love him

actually pretty cool they more explicitly canonized the explanation for barry physically attacking davenport. also barry/lucretia interaction so so so so good

as cute as the original scene is with them planning and writing the note for magnus' body, i think the way they split the party in this version was smart

i dont need to contribute more to the pool on fan feelings on blue twins, BUT given there was no choice but to have her be blue, lup is very cute

taako falling to his knees instead of like pointing the staff at lucretia... :/ eh

given how much literally this entire series has suffered from being so scrunched up, i'm also not SUPER looking forward to stolen century and S&S being condensed into one book, but ohhhh wellllll

TL;DR i don't really read these books because i have a lot of faith in the way they Tell The Story, but it still had a lot of fun moments and scenes and visuals that got my heart! fun to see thorough visual takes on my fave podcast.

[bracketsoffear]

Edward & Lydia (The Adventure Zone: Balance) "They turned to Necromancy to save their dying brother but failed, then came to love Necromancy and became liches to gain even more power. However, they are NOT End Avatars, because while they are undead Necromancers who have the soul-controlling Relic, their goals and methodology revolve not around killing people, but hurting them as long and as much as possible. They started out sustaining their sanity on their love for their brother, but then realized suffering was an even better fuel source—so they don’t NEED to inflict suffering, which fits Desolation even more because the pain their victims suffer isn’t even a necessary evil. They then created a game show/“torture prison” called Wonderland to entice people with magical prizes and systematically extract as much pain as possible.

Challenges include Wheel of Sacrifice (sacrifice something valuable to you like your eye, your memory of your nemesis, or your dexterity); Trust or Forsake (Prisoner’s Dilemma, you get to see what happens to the other team if you forsake them); Healing Game (Each member of a group can transfer some of their health to another group member--but the transfer is a 2:1 rate, so only half of what was sent will be given to the recipient, and there is no healing in Wonderland); Monster Factory (forces the players to create the monster that’s killing them); and Boss Rush (self-explanatory).

When her brother is killed, Lydia blows herself up in a fiery explosion after destroying Magnus’ body (he was possessing a mannequin) as one last fuck you. Also the arc featuring them is literally called The Suffering Game, because people's pain is a game to them--they don't need it, they just want to destroy people's bodies, minds, and potential (again: Wheel of Sacrifice), leading them on with a promise of a prize to systematically torture them. They also arguably could act as commentary on the sadistic nature of game shows in general--making people suffer as live entertainment to get a reward they may desperately need, only to be screwed over and left off worse than they started."

Ashes O'Reilly (The Mechanisms) "Ashes became a Mechanisms after being betrayed a left locked in a burning building to die. Their Mechanisms is their lungs, which were replaced after the fire and smoke inhalation destroyed them. Ashes came back for revenge and burned down their entire homeworld. Burning whole inhibited planets is not a one-time thing, as they do so again in Ulysses Dies At Dawn and presumably has a habit of doing so with other planets as well. Their death is being sent to the end of time, where they set themselves ablaze as the last point light in a dying universe."

Origin Song!

[cataztrophi]

TAZ November Celebration 11: Wonder

One week left for @taznovembercelebration y'all! It's been so awesome seeing everyone's amazing work, I'm so impressed by everyone who's participating this year. The card I drew was "wonder," which of course immediately made me think of Wonderland. So this one's about the consequences of that arc, plus trying to gain a better understanding of the people you love. Spoilers for TAZ Balance, particularly The Suffering Game and the finale.

Kravitz sat down on the bed, watching Taako take his hair down at his vanity table. “It’s going to be different having Angus around,” he said.

“Mmhmm.” With a wave of his hand, Taako dispelled the glamour that he used with almost everyone, and his face changed subtly.

“It’ll be good, though,” Kravitz added. He saw Taako’s smile reflected in the vanity’s mirror.

“Yeah, he’s a good little dude.” He picked up a brush and began running it gently through his loose hair. “By the way, remind me to go to the store tomorrow, I need to pick up a few things.”

“Didn’t you just go yesterday?”

“That was before I watched Angus put away four bowls of stew at dinner tonight. He’s a growing boy, and he’s gonna need to keep his strength up for the training regimen I have planned for him.”

“I thought the poor kid was on vacation,” Kravitz said, smiling. He knew Taako wasn’t going to budge on this one.

“Absolutely not. I need to make sure none of Lucas’s little turds even come close to my boy next year.” He waved the brush around for emphasis. 

There was a timid knock at the door, and Kravitz said “come in” before he could even think about it. He only realized his mistake as the door opened and Taako’s hands flew to his face.

“Um, excuse me, sirs,” Angus said quietly, “could I have another blanket? It’s a little cold in my-” he broke off when he caught sight of Taako. “Are you alright, sir?”

Taako sighed, the sort of bone-deep sigh that Kravitz only heard in the infrequent moments when he talked about the horrors of his–and their–past. Slowly, he lowered his hands.

“I guess you might as well know, Ango.”

Angus’s face betrayed only a moment of surprise before returning to his usual thoughtful expression. “So that’s why you use a glamour all the time!”

“You caught that, huh?” Taako said, and even now there was an unmistakable note of pride in his voice.

Angus puffed out his chest. “Yes, sir!” Then he continued in a more solemn tone. “If it’s okay with you, sir, I’d like to know what happened.”

Kravitz slid across the bed and took Taako’s hand, and Taako gave it a firm squeeze before he began.

“Well, Ango, you remember when we were with the B.O.B., and Merle, Magnus, and I had to go down to that Wonderland place?” His tone was carefully measured.

Angus nodded, his eyes wide.

“The liches that ran it made us make… sacrifices. They got their power from suffering, you see, so they wanted to make us as miserable as possible. And they did that by making us give up things that were important to us.”

“Like Mr. Highchurch’s eye!”

Taako nodded. “Exactly, Ango. One of the things I had to give up was, well, some of my looks.”

“Because they were important to you,” Angus said slowly.

“Yes, they were.” Kravitz wasn’t sure if Angus picked up on the slight unevenness to Taako’s voice now. He squeezed his hand gently.

Angus nodded. “Thank you for telling me, sir. I…” He hesitated. “I think you look very nice both ways.”

A gentle, tired smile crept over Taako’s face. “Thanks, Ango.”

Kravitz stood up, giving Taako’s hand one final squeeze before he dropped it. “Come on, Angus. I’ll get another blanket for you.”

“Hey, Ango?” Taako said just before they left the room.

“Yes, sir?”

“If you tell anyone I'll curse you to be four feet tall forever.”

“I'm… five foot six now, sir.”

Taako rolled his eyes. “And? I saved the planarverse, kid, you don't think I can shrink a little boy?”

“Yes, sir,” Angus said, more slowly, and he looked a little nervous now. Kravitz shook his head and led him out into the hallway, heading for the linen closet. 

“Mr. Kravitz?” Angus asked after a moment.

“Yes?”

“What happened to those liches? The ones that ran Wonderland?”

Kravitz felt a sudden pain in his hand, and he looked down to find that he was gripping the closet’s door handle tight enough to dig into his skin. He took a deep breath and let it out, long and slow.

“We tracked them down,” he said finally. “Lup, Barry, and myself. We destroyed them, perhaps with more force than was strictly necessary. But they hurt Taako, and they used Barry’s relic to do it, so I believe Our Lady understood. Now what’s left of their souls is in the Stockade, where they can’t hurt anyone else.”

Angus nodded, wearing one of those expressions that looked far too old for him. “That’s good.” 

“It is.” He opened the closet at last and pulled down a warm woolen blanket from the top shelf, then turned towards Angus’s room. Taako had called it “the guest room,” but Kravitz wasn’t sure why a general-purpose guest room would need an entire bookcase dedicated to books on early magical training. Taako ignored him when he pointed this out.

Kravitz helped Angus spread the blanket over his bed. He was very quiet the whole time, and as Kravitz turned to leave, he asked, “Mr. Kravitz?”

“Yes?”

“Do you think Taako’s upset? About me seeing him without his glamour?”

Kravitz looked down at him, into those big, bespectacled eyes that had seen so much more than a kid his age should have to. “Not with you, Angus. He trusts you, more than he trusts most people, honestly. He wouldn’t have talked to you about it otherwise.” He hesitated for a moment, then added, “And I know he doesn't say it, but he cares about you a lot.”

Angus visibly relaxed, then smiled up at him. He looked over to the shelves stuffed with magic books. “He says it other ways, sir.”

Kravitz smiled. Taako was lucky he'd found a kid who was perceptive enough to see through him. “Good night, Angus.”

“Good night, sir!”

He closed the door behind him and headed back to his own room. He found Taako still seated at his vanity, staring down into his lap. He didn't look up when Kravitz entered. 

Kravitz knelt beside Taako’s chair and took his hand, stroking the back of it gently with his thumb. He sat there patiently until Taako roused himself a little and looked down at him. 

“Are you okay?” Kravitz asked, his voice sounding strange after the long silence. Taako didn't answer for a while, and when he opened his mouth Kravitz was sure he was going to deflect or flat-out deny there was anything wrong. 

“I don't look like me anymore,” he said, in a voice strained from the effort of not breaking. “And I know, if most people saw me they'd still be able to say, ‘hey, that's Taako,’ but it's different when it's your own face. I know it's not the same. I mean, I don’t know, maybe I am just vain. But I liked being that guy, being Taako, the beautiful magical chef, and then suddenly the whole world decided to start carving pieces out of that.”

He was quiet for a moment, but Kravitz waited, still stroking his hand, letting Taako take his time.

“Did you know Lup and I were identical?”

Kravitz blinked, startled by the new direction of his thoughts.

“Yeah, I mean we both got into our own things as we got older, and then it was easier to tell us apart, but…. We always had the same face. I didn't… I didn't know that's what I was giving up. Maybe I would have tried harder if I did.” He laughed, dry and bitter, staring off into the distance behind Kravitz’s head. “Which is, oh boy, that's saying something, cause I really didn't want to. It was sort of… my last thing, you know? I wasn't a chef, I wasn't a celebrity, but hey, at least I was nice to look at!”

Kravitz saw the tension coiling in his shoulders, heard his voice fray at the edges as it was overwhelmed by anger and pain. “Then suddenly that’s gone, and when I finally get to remember who I was before I got half my fucking life stolen, I don’t even look like my fucking twin anymore.”

There were furious tears welling up in his eyes, and the silence seemed to stretch like hot tar between them before Kravitz found the words he needed to say. Hopefully they were the ones Taako needed to hear.

“It isn't fair,” he said gently, taking Taako’s hand in both of his. “And it isn’t small, or vain, or any of that. You’ve gone through so much, Taako. You’ve had so much taken from you. I know it’s hard to talk about, or, fuck, think about, but I want you to know I’m here. Whenever you need me. For whatever you need me. And…” He looked up at Taako’s face, holding his gaze. “There is no way your body could change that I wouldn’t still love you. Even if you looked like Merle.”

Taako laughed quietly, even as tears fell down onto Kravitz’s hands. “Wow, even then?”

Kravitz nodded solemnly. “Even then.” He pressed Taako’s hand to his lips. “And I know this might not help, but… no one could see you and Lup together and doubt you were twins, you’re the same in so many ways. You both get exactly the same look in your eyes when you’re about to do something stupid. And I have a lot of experience with that look, from both of you.” He grinned up at Taako and was happy to see him smiling back, albeit weakly.

Taako swiped a hand across his eyes, shaking away the tears. “Fuck,” he said. His voice still shook a little. He took a deep breath and started again. “Alright, no more sad Taako.”

Kravitz stood up, still holding Taako’s hand. “You can be sad Taako as long as you need to, babe.”

“Ugh, I’ve got too much shit going on to be sad Taako.” He swung Kravitz’s hand back and forth a little, then looked up into his face. “Thanks, Krav.”

“Any time.” 

Taako yanked on Kravitz’s hand to pull him back down and drew him into a kiss, long and sweet. It left Kravitz’s face hot and his skin tingling, but he held back, not wanting to push. Even so, it was impossible to miss the flush in Taako’s cheeks, the increased pace of his breathing. He kissed Kravitz again, more insistently now, one arm curving over his shoulders. Kravitz straightened back up and this time Taako came with him, slipping his other arm around Kravitz’s waist. 

Kravitz’s hand went to Taako’s cheek and he gently pulled away. Taako looked at him with questioning eyes.

Kravitz smiled reassuringly. “I just wanted to look at you again.” He dipped his head and kissed the curve of Taako’s neck. “My gorgeous….”

“Talented…” He moved down, slipping Taako’s robe from his shoulder to press a kiss there as well. Taako let out a quiet exhale of laughter.

“Clever…” He trailed kisses down one side of Taako’s chest, moving his robe aside as needed to bare warm, freckled skin. Above him he could hear Taako’s breathing turn uneven, then ragged, and then to soft whimpers as his mouth teased lower.

“Brave…” he undid the tie on Taako’s robe and spread kisses over the soft part of his stomach, savoring each gasp and moan he coaxed from Taako’s lips.

“Wait,” Taako panted, and Kravitz sat back on his heels to look at him.

“You alright?” He couldn’t keep a note of concern from entering his voice.

Taako laughed shakily. “Oh, I’m… fucking fantastic, my man. But we should probably lock the door.”

Kravitz nodded and pushed himself to his feet. “Right.” He hurried over to the door, locked it, and twisted the door knob to check, just in case. Then he turned back towards Taako and his breath caught in his throat. He was sitting on the edge of their bed, his robe discarded and his hair cascading over his shoulders in soft waves. There was a deep blush in his chest that made Kravitz want nothing more than to kiss every inch of his skin. He drank in the sight with a slow smile spreading across his face.

“Gods, you’re beautiful,” he breathed, once he found his voice again.

Taako ducked his head in a moment of uncharacteristic self-consciousness. “Get over here.”

Kravitz was more than happy to oblige.