#wouldn't it be funny if it literally was a placeholder

[teatreejammer]

top: cup from the much newer slushie machine den item, juice hut minigame cup

bottom: juice hut game station, the cups outside the hut you get for playing it

??????

[blu-ish]

Ok so serious time I don’t think it’ll just be Shadow being released as a playable character or that he just has a level added because it doesn’t make any sense with the title? Sonic X Shadow Generations, I think they would have left it as SG and then something at the end.

Like when they remastered Colours it was Colours Ultimate…. I wonder how they’re gonna differentiate it.

Hopefully we’ll get to see something better than that and fully fleshed out as it can be. But yh hopefully tomorrow/today will bring some new information.

For sure! They wouldn't just put SHADOW on the cover title if he wasn't gonna play a key role. I mean that basically makes him one of the main characters along with Sonic in that sense. It would be, quite literally, THEIR GAME.

In all honestly, I'm not sure what I'm expecting. Like don't get me wrong, IM HYPED ASF-- buuut I would've been just as excited if it was just a Sonic Generations remake, smack on a SUPER or a ULTRA at the end or whatever-- that's what I WOULD'VE EXPECTED.

But THIS? This is majorly different, Shadow hasn't had his name on the cover of a game since Shadow the Hedgehog 05 (return of the edgeboi lol) . (Of course we gotta keep in mind maybe this isn't the NAME but maybe a placeholder name until the actual release ofc, and I wouldn't be surprised either. ) But if this is ACTUALLY what the game is called, and maybe ties in other mainline games along with Generations in a sense that it has its own thing going on. THAT WOULD. BE. EPIC. Not sure if this is again, EXPANDING the Sonic timeline, OR ITS QUITE SIMPLY A REMAKE WITH NEW STUFF IDK.

Nevertheless, as much as its sO FUGGIN FUNNY for it to be called Sonic X Shadow Generations-- s o n a d o w g e n e r a t i o n s... cOuGH--

REALLYYY hoping its not a Colors Ultimate situation, but the Movie IS coming out this year-- Shadows gonna be getting a WHOLE LOT of a more attention, it makes sense technically for something like this to happen, AND TRUST ME I AM N O T COMPLAINING LMAOOO

[another-lost-mc]

Bathin!!

Mephisto’s brother has been mentioned so little in the games but I already desperately want to buy him ice cream. He seems like such a sweet kid (at least from Mephisto’s totally accurate and unbiased perspective) and their sibling dynamic is the cutest thing. I can’t wait for your OC to outshine the real thing though lmao

Bathin is in the Ars Goetia, if I remember correctly. Does that mean he’ll be making a pact with Solomon in the future? Or maybe they already have one! Meffy’s going to freak 😭

BATHIN! I needed to give his little brother a name. I have so many Mephisto story ideas where he's mentioned/involved in some way because I love imagining their sibling dynamic.

As for the Ars Goetia thing, yeah. Honestly, picking names for my OCs are the worst part. (That's why I have two placeholder names on my OC Masterlist LOL.)

I picked his name mostly because I liked it, but I have two ideas to explain the whole "pact with Solomon" thing:

1 — Solomon and Bathin have a pact. I don't think modern!Solomon would make a pact with a literal child demon, but I think old King Solomon would. He'd probably assume the demon's child-like appearance was a disguise or ruse. (If he knew it was a child, I don't think he'd care.) It's a case where the pact is long established but in current times, Solomon wouldn't really call on him when he literally has dozens of other options first.

2 — Solomon used to have a pact with Bathin, but not this Bathin. Thanks to some half-baked worldbuilding and making up demon lore, my thought is the ancient demon Bathin was exorcised which broke the pact he would've had with Solomon. Mephisto's brother was given his namesake under the expectation that he would eventually take that empty space in the Ars Goetia once he matured.

Option 1 is kind of funny but the easier explanation. Option 2 ties in better with some of the traits I gave Bathin when I started developing his character.

[jaspertjunk]

How to turn your brainrot into fresh new characters

I don't know if anyone else does this but I wanna explain how my "taking extremely heavy inspiration from a different thing and turning into its own thing" creative process I sometimes use works. i'm on my 'puter and don't give enough of a fuck right now so prepare for inconsistent capitalization and other errors.

Using a character I'm working on right now that is heavily inspired by roxy lalonde.

Step one: setting

So let's start off with setting: the setting is also extremely homestuck inspired and I don't wanna talk about it because it's still morphing into its own thing and it's still very homestuck.

Naturally, considering that's the setting right now, you're gonna see a lot of homestuck in the characters as well. There's an aradia/jade mashup character fucking shit up and a weird gamzee/dirk combo??? And those aren't even characters I'm particularly fond of? (I do like all of them a lot though don't @ me I just don't have strilonde brainrot and there's other trolls i prefer to aradia and gamzee)

But so anyway there's a roxy clone. Like I literally used roxy as a placeholder in my head when i was thinking up what type of character i wanted to fill her role. here's where setting comes in

first, you mold the roxy to the setting (or the setting to the roxy). this is actually where i got the idea for my setting to have misassigned roles for the heroes, because homestuck's whole science/magic thing has an interesting presentation in roxy, and i thought it would be cool if she was always meant to fill the sort of intellectual role (i came up with some cool name but i forgot it) but when the shit actually started up was pushed into a magic-based role instead and just had to roll with the punches and become a sick ass technomancer.

And this place within the setting then helped to inform her personality, because she needed to be someone who was flexible, and a lot more tech-oriented than the original roxy, and also someone whose personality meshed with what both her intended and assigned roles are meant to represent.

Step 2: experiences

what a person lives through hugely influences their personality and how they act. so look at what the character has experienced. notroxy, as we've established, is a techy character. i start thinking about how she got that way. i think she picked it up from her best friend, because that unhinged little shit is a mad scientist at 15. She's also a weird kid in a small town, so I think notroxy is probably an outsider from the start for being so close to her.

and then there's the Big Event, where said friend dies under mysterious circumstances. THAT was definitely formative. I decide that probably a big part of shaping notroxy's character is the fact that she wants to fill the gap left by her bestie dying. (this also makes for a bit of a funny transfem moment about a year later when she finally comes out. cuz it's just like "oh noooo i have to take on the social role of our dead friend so our friend group doesn't fall apart." "okay bestie" "oh nooo i have to emulate her so that we have a balanced party without her to fill her assigned role in our adventure" "good idea" "oh nooo i have to be a girl to restore the gender balance of the friend group" "girl what are you talking about"). Also, she's legit fucked up about her best friend and the only person who Got Her dying because why wouldn't she be?

So we start seeing this character who is trying to fill the void left by a whole ass person all by herself, not just FOR herself but also for everyone else in her life. She thrusts the weight of the world onto her own shoulders in the exact moment when she's least equipped to handle it.

Step 3(?): compare and contrast

Now I take all the new character stuff I've come up with and compare it to the original character. Then I pick out all the roxy traits that i used for this character initially and decide which ones I wanna keep. I really like the whole roxy thing of she seems like she's just this silly goofy drunk girl but she doesn't WANT to be and she's actually the one holding everything together and the closest thing to a leader their fucked up little team has. Can't elaborate. Too brain. This isn't a roxy post. I discard the parts I don't need or want to replace with new parts. I don't need the flirtatiousness, for one. Doesn't really mesh with how I'm begining to envision the character. Keeping the sex jokes though. As a treat.

I also do like the sort of shitty handling of feelings we associate with strilondes, but I want to go about it differently with notroxy. I want her to overtly know what's wrong with her and face it head on, something that they don't ever do, but I also want to see her weaponizing her pain. She is very strilondy in the fact that she makes all of her problems infinitely worse through her actions though.

Step 4: go do something other than the brainrot thing

I'm working on this step right now. You need to step away from the original inspiration so you can separate your new ideas from it. Get obsessed with something new, incorporate new ideas from that into what you already have. Find other sources of inspiration. Repeat the previous steps but with a stronger base this time. Make your characters finely woven tapestries of all the things you've liked and all your own ideas. be cringe. be free.

[wedreamedlove]

Hi! I wanted to ask about the sleeping habits of the four L&N guys (if this hasn't been answered before). I was looking at Evan's Illustration from the recent Dreamland event and It was so telling (but since I don't play I could be mislead about if this is his normal or not). I thought it was pretty sweet that he uses what it looks like a picture of the heroine as a placeholder for his book.

I also want to say I was looking at the tiny house layouts of Evan, Sariel and Osborn and I was thinking a lot about it (from a superficial perspective since again I don't play and don't know enough) but I really really loved Evan's design because is not crowded (you can see everything, there is nothing to hide... maybe this is bad, Sir you know what is a curtain?) and it has almost all the essentials: a kitchen to have dinner together and a bet to rest and I totally love the detail of how they used the dead space below the staircase to insert a complete bathroom (I want to believe there is a W.C. at the end of the space since you only have to sit so the height fits ok). I also like how there is access to the balcony that is also a tiny garden and there is another staircase with access to the roof to catch the direct sun. I love the modular design of the windows and is pretty much this type of European design done to catch the warm in places where there is not enough sunlight, so is just feels incredible cozy (but it will scorch you alive in a hot place since is a literal cristal box). All this theme with the hot air balloon gimme this feeling of "Living with the head in the clouds" and "Up there with the birds" and is very touching to me.

Osborn is literally living in a fish tank (or a shark tank? more likely), his layout only prioritized three things that was: The living room, his office space and his dinning room to share with you. His working space is full of personality since you can see his headphones, a record player and some vinyl records here and there (I really loved his picture where I could see he owns many Queen records and Daft Punk was there too and that gimme a chuckle, is this really him as a person?). What I don't like much is how that coral reef makes everything too crowded, is taking a lot of space! or is like this barrier is there to hide the view or to hide and protect something. I also think about ... he didn't used to have a phobia to water but he is still there jumping into the water? The guy is unhinged. Another funny thing is that his home don't have a roof (maybe because is going with this vibe of "shark tank" but I wouldn't mind dinning looking at the stars or the waves in this case).

Sariel's layoud only has three essential things: His living room, a big library-room/study-room and the amount of green around all the place. The library is so precious, I love how the natural light enters in this house. Bad thing is I find odd how tiny his living room is, the couch is so tiny, is just there in a corner lol. The other thing I don't like is the amount of dead space bellow the staircase, just look all that dead space! you could make something there, like make a extension to your library Sir. Is because of the placement of the stairs it makes everything weird, but ok??. We have green everywhere, we have a green-roof. I love how the plants here work giving a lot of shadow and that keeps the temperature nice and pleasant in the rooms, like walking under a road of trees in a hot day (I think this is the literal "Light and Night" layout lol there is a lot of the two). The plants here also act like a barrier to hide from the view but also make everything more cozy. Also this man doesn't eat???.

I want to see Jesse's house layout so bad hahaha. I was trying to dig for the illustrations of their homes to make a comparison but I don't know where I saw them (maybe a thread on twitter). I do remember Evan's manor was so dark lol (that is funny looking a how sunny and cozy is the other tiny house), from Osborn I remember his workplace, Sariel's one was so in line with his oriental style and Jesse's was so sunny and just like him.

first, thank you for such a long comment! i love hearing other people's thoughts, so this was a treat to read.

second, their house layouts in the dream series is interesting because we know what their actual homes look like with the artbook giving us a full illustration. i think their dream house reveal more of their subconscious and the elements they gravitate towards.

i completely agree with you about how cozy Evan's house looks and, funnily enough, everyone's first impression seems to be that it's quite spacious. there's nods to repeated themes for his character, like the warm colors for a sunset, all the teddy bears, and his birthday this year had a hot air balloon ride. i think the main theme for his dream house is supposed to be freedom because he's grown up in such restricting environments

i'm not going to lie, i like Osborn's dream house the least so far because i don't like the deep sea and, much like you, it feels crowded and almost claustrophobic because of the reefs and dark colors. haha, he really does like vinyl records and music, especially rock and roll! yup, he had a phobia of water (thanks to being tortured as a youth) but he forced himself to overcome his phobia and now he really enjoys the water. i'm not sure what theme they were going for his dream house other than giving a nod to his water themes.

i really like how Sariel's house blends the nature of the plants with the architecture. it's amusing that he has the library focus instead of Evan, but i suppose it also fits Sariel and his collection of knowledge (merely from existing for over 3000 years). his house also has a very spacious and freeing theme, but with more privacy because of the foliage that covers things. it just feels a lot like the design of this layout is "one with nature".

we'll probably see Jesse and Charlie's dream series in april, so it'll be here soon!

[rdng1230]

Fic talk

tagged by @desert--moonchild

How many wips do you have currently? 8 ish? but I haven't worked on any of them since I started Ain't That a Kick in the Head. Most of them are one sentence ideas in a google doc but others are a little more fleshed out. One I would loooooooove to write is one where Buddie runs into the original Buddie aka Gage and Desoto from Emergency!, but I really need to be able to watch old episodes to get their voices down and the show isn't available anywhere except live tv reruns. I also have lots of Tommy + Deluca family shenanigans for the strings of fate series. There's some angstier stuff as well I hope to dive into.

Which one are you finding the hardest to finish? Why do you think that is? lol you can't struggle to finish something you haven't really started can you? tbh I'm putting everything on the back burner till the epilogues done and then we'll see how everything else goes :)

What does it usually look like when inspiration strikes for you? I'm not often far away from my laptop these days so usually I just plop down and type it straight into docs. If I'm out and about I'll jot it down in my notes app, maybe also text it to a friend if the idea was something I'd been whining to them about.

Do you curate playlists for each fic or is your process different? You know it's funny I love a good playlist and I love making them but because I can't really read or write when music is playing besides like instrumental stuff or lofi, I don't make playlists to set the vibe. However, I am meticulous about the music actually in the story, so I will make playlists to keep track of what music is referenced and also to give my readers an opportunity to know what the characters are listening to in those moments. I will agonize over what a character might listen to and under what circumstance. Sal's picks come to me almost immediately, he follows his heart and likes big earnest 80's gated reverb atmospheric kinda stuff. Tommy is more difficult, he's moodier, a lot more mercurial about what he listens to based on what he's feeling, he can be a tough nut to crack. The hardest part is when there's a song that is PERFECT for their situation but I know they wouldn't listen to/know about, see: A Home by the Chicks for Tommy chapter 5.

Do you go balls to the wall and write as you go or are you more organised? It is soooooo situation specific. Sometimes I sit down and just crank out a whole thing right then and there like my Young Royals Fic from a few months ago. I'm still really new to this whole thing tbh, I'm still trying to figure out what works for me. But for the longer stuff I usually know what I want out of each chapter and then when I get closer to it I write out a scene list for how that happens, sometimes what I want requires breaking things up into two chapters. chapter 6 was fun because it actually had entire conversations written before the scene list so I had a page of dialogue and had to backpedal and structure the chapter scenes around that conversation. the epilogue is literally fully written scenes followed by 5 word placeholders for next scenes, and dry templated out set up scenes, and then random lines of dialogue from the final scene, idk man its the Wild West out here. For my strings of fate series I'm keeping things vague on purpose in terms of timelines and certain details to allow for this universe to account for future ideas I may have.

np tags, I'm sure many of you have done these already and if you have just tag me I'd love to read 'em: @racerchix21 @ohlookitsthearkhamknight @cliophilyra and whoever else wants to!

[favesgrave]

tell me everything about your tf fic and continuity i am sitting here rubbing my hands waiting

literally anything. what do you like most about it. what excites you. go off king

omg ripoff mtmte/ll polaris adventure time!!!

so polaris is a ship. that's only the placeholder name for it, i'm still trying to find one i REAAALLY like

near the end of the war, there was this really intense battle at the spacebridge and the allspark was at the center of it. the autobots were trying to get it away from the decepticons and jetfire was carrying it, ready to fly through the spacebridge right when a poorly aimed shot hits the bridge instead of him right when he enters and then the whole thing explodes. jetfire's life signal goes offline, the signature of the allspark is lost. this event was what finally caused megatron and optimus to declare the war over. their planet had suffered enough and without the allspark, things would only grow worse if they continued fighting.

things are pretty rocky after that. even with both leaders agreeing to end things, peace can be hard to achieve after fighting for so long. people are even more discouraged without the allspark. except for some, like nightbeat. he doesn't understand how something so powerful can just be destroyed so quickly. he starts doing some research, gets some help from his scientist friend proxima, then does more of his own stuff before reaching a breakthrough. he's able to discover energy signals that are a near-perfect match for the allspark with only some slight deviations. regardless, something like that can't be ignored. if there's a chance the allspark can be recovered, they have to take it!! he tells his buddies proxima and hardhead first (i made nightbeat and hardhead friends because hardhead shot him that one time in idw and i thought it'd be funny)

then they tell optimus and he tells megatron. after that, a mission gets created. nightbeat gets to captain a ship that will set off to retrieve all these allspark fragments. the catch is that autobots and decepticons are free to volunteer for the mission. if they cant work together on something as important as this then geez guys We Really Are Fucked™

characters on board this ship are: nightbeat, hound, chromia, hardhead, blurr, proxima, first aid, pipes, honk (they're actually a stowaway), punch/counterpunch, shadelock, dead end, browning, squawktalk, acceleron, and javelin. there would probably be more but also they like. wouldn't be that important.

they'd try to quantum jump to the first allspark fragment and discover that it doesn't work. they try again. and again. and then a fourth time just for extra measure, each time with a different fragment location. something's preventing them from getting there immediately. nightbeat gets excited because that means the allspark has some kind of defense system. how far does this go?? is it sentient? can it do more in its broken state??? there's so much to discover!!! then he realizes "wait this isn't exactly a good thing. this might take a lot longer than i thought"

since velocitron's close by, they stop by there to refuel real quick. velocitron was lucky enough to never be affected by the war. they closed down their spacebridge and basically went "bye fuckers" for millions of years and did their own thing. so when their regular scheduled programming gets interrupted by these bots and cons who are distrustful of each other they're like "wowzers you guys look like you got hit by an asteroid"

they're pretty quick about their business there and are well on their way when chromia discovers honk hiding. naturally she sees this little guy and is like "??? who the fuck are you???" but they're allowed to stay. they become besties with pipes and get adopted by blurr and hardhead. it's great

okay but back to more of the plot. airachnid is a main antag in the story. she has vehicons and various decepticons under her command. you see, a lot of decepticons eventually split off and did their own thing. she was one of them. she comes into possession of an allspark fragment. having just one grants her a ton of benefits and as a collector, she thinks it'd be fun to get ALL of them. i've been thinking about introducing soundblaster too. he overhears some radio chatter about the whole thing and wants in. he's also got his own faction and outpost

it's a race for the allspark shards complete with bonding and side quests and terror and even some possible character death!!! it's a very fun ride

[nazuna-tunnel-vision]

I see there is a placeholder for a narusena post in your masterlist.. any chance it’ll be linked soon

hngnggngn i'm sorry anon but probably no... i have no clue how to begin with them because there's so many interesting things about them. gonna just ramble under read more.

i love their r/s where izumi is one of the only people who primarily see her as a Bitch because he literally grew up with her and she used to steal jobs from him Just Because. and also she literally slapped him on their first meeting as kids because Izumi was crying and wouldn't shut up. i love them. i just think very hard about the conversation they had in Euthanasia, where Naru was feeling guilty about breaking her onee-chan persona to insist on her views on Knights' direction. Izumi just went "? i knew you were this kind of person all along. And it's okay to be selfish, have you seen me? We're literally the same kind of person." Izumi epitome of self-love, he understands when people are being selfish because he acknowledges and accepts the selfish part of himself too lmao

and then there's also the way Naru treats Izumi. Pirates (early ! timeline) is super funny because Izumi is just whining the whole time and Naru perfectly wrangles him like a kindergartener by bribing, and he bites it hook line and sinker. But it's also really wholesome and sweet because you have Izumi FS2 where Izumi is giving an unnamed newbie model lots of unwanted advice and Naru correctly interprets that scene as Izumi being kind, because he sees the newbie's potential and wants him to achieve it. She knows and appreciates Izumi's strong points and I just really love that because Izumi is so prickly that it's usually his annoying parts that really stand out. But she sees his charm points anyway. And in the same scene, she steps in and stops him before he gets too annoying because well. She knows him and how he has a tendency to rub people the wrong way. I love how Naru is an expert Izumi-wrangler, but she always does this with so much fondness and appreciation of not just his flaws, but also his strengths.

the way Izumi treats Naru is also so funny because he's just so petty and mean but it rolls off her back like water. idk if you read Checkmate but he used to call her "shitty four-eyes" because she wore specs and "i know you don't like your name so i came up with an alternative". i can't decide if he's being considerate or not.

in I think Runway, Naru actually points out how Izumi is plays favourites because he's always pampering Makoto (in his own way) but all he does with Arashi, who's also a junior model from the same period, is call her a shitty brat. i can't rmb how he responded, but basically he thinks nothing about being slightly mean to her because 1) he knows she can handle it 2) he's not really lying when he says she's a shitty brat. and I think sometimes, she needs the reminder that it's okay to prioritise your own feelings and opinions rather than be a good supportive onee-chan all the time.

their banter is just really really funny. idk if you've seen any clips of the stage play, but they're really great there too. NaruSena was my favourite dynamic when i first got into enstars because they're just so lively and it's clear that neither of their feelings are hurt when they're being mean to the other.

it's also really funny how they can like... be really horrible and enable each other. There's the whole Knights Kidnapping issue where all of Knights enables each other to commit crimes and none of them blink an eye. I think Naru and Izumi really are the key culprits here, because if anyone was to be in a position to stop Izumi before kidnapping became a Knights Thing, it really was Naru. Ritsu was too sleepy at this point of the year to do anything, but Naru was fully capable of seamlessly stepping into the Leader role. And she didn't stop him <3 And during Izumi's birthday this year, she brought Makoto to Izumi's party. It's a running joke that Makoto never shows up for Izumi's party while Ritsu always does and ignores Rei (same birthday as Izumi). And this year Makoto came to Izumi's party because of Naru. I think she truly made his day, they're so sweet. (Poor Makoto.) And don't forget Naru's obsession with Kunigi and how she even changed her appearance to emulate him in her 2nd year. They're really the same person in different font. Platonic soulmates fr. They get each other.

[yourlunarspice]

Hi, hope your day is going well!! 💫

For the Writing Ask...

28. What's the hardest thing about writing?

36. How do you come up with fic titles? What's the one you're most proud of?

I'm doing alright, thanks for asking, Kiya! I hope your day is going well, too!

28. What's the hardest thing about writing?

Personally, the hardest thing that I've found about writing is satisfying myself. I try not to write anything that I wouldn't read, which is why I read my fics over and over again, critiquing them every time. In my head, I know that most readers won't notice the little bit of foreshadowing here or how I swapped a word out there so the story would flow better. Unfortunately, I also think that each story has to be absolutely perfect, so it takes up a lot of time checking everything, even after I've deemed it good enough to be posted. One example of this is in my most recent story, Hero Killing Game: Academy Of Madness. For every chapter I post, I spend over an hour checking and double-checking the formatting until it's perfect. This particular story has pictures I've created and spliced into the story, so it is a bit of an extreme example, but not by much.

36. How do you come up with fic titles? What's the one you're most proud of?

Fic titles are weird. Sometimes they come easily and other times, I literally have no idea what to do. One funny example for the latter is my fic Quirk Accident, where I literally had no idea what to call it, so I just called it Quirk Accident (or QA) as a placeholder, but that ended up being its actual title. Personally, I always try to put some sort of reference or second meaning in my titles. As for the fic title I'm most proud of? A few come to mind so, since I have no idea which one I'm most proud of, I'll just list them (and why) here.

Feline Gold - The story is about Shinsou who finds a cat with golden fur, but it's also a subtle nod to the song Feeling Good, which I've always felt is perfect for Shinsou.

Saimon Says - This story follows Rody, who has received a letter that his grandfather (Saimon) has just died. Rody joins the Yaoyorozu family in the reading of Saimon's will, when it becomes revealed that whoever wins a deadly game of Simon Says will be the sole beneficiary.

The Trouble With Plushies - This story is super short, but I like it. Todoroki steals something from Bakugou, so Bakugou gets petty revenge. I don't watch Star Trek, but this is a reference to The Trouble With Tribbles episode.

Songbird - In this story, 159 is Nezu's number one servant. He's completely forgotten his original life and his original name (Hizashi Yamada). While Hizashi is generally depicted as the 'bird' as a foil to Shouta's 'cat' in their relationship, in this story, Shouta is the 'songbird' because he led Hizashi out of the darkness and toward redemption, a reference to canaries telling miners when to come out of the darkness.

From this ask game

[alternis]

I'm double posting my opinion piece on tim drake (and why none of his post-robin identities have stuck around) so sorry if you're seeing this on twitter and also here. or you're welcome, or whatever

the problem with "what does tim drake do after robin" is that, from a character perspective, he came into the cape game with the intent to be batman's sidekick. like he can be solo, for sure, he was the first real Solo Robin*, but his ties to other characters is a major strength

but also, after his origin as batman's child therapist, he only ever really wanted to be Robin. he would require a specific catalyst to un-robin, which would influence the next identity, meaning it wouldn't really be "his" but more a reaction to an event. which, that's red hood

and red hood worked as a reactive identity bc the event was so core to Jason's modern identity. but Tim's major life events have either already happened or been erased and messed with via Crisis Shit. Red Robin would have been a perfect time to introduce a new permanent identity,

they just picked an identity which was clearly a temporary placeholder and by the time that whole arc was over they didn't have anything else lined up to replace it so they stuck with RR despite it never feeling like a serious permanent identity.

and stepping back, designing a new name and costume for a legacy character is hard when it's between either becoming something entirely new and potentially losing a lot of his identity, or paying homage and looking like he still hasn't really 'grown up' from Robin yet

imo impulse is the best legacy character from that perspective because he's wholly original and his own character, and yet clearly part of the flash family and cohesive with their themeing. that's what Tim's post-robin identity needs.

okay and this bit wasn't on twitter but nightwing is also a perfect legacy character name for a former Robin bc it still has bird-elements, paying homage to Robin, and yet the night/darkness theme fits well next to Batman as a 'grown up' identity. and also the kryptonian myth aspect shows he's got links outside of gotham as well and plays into his personal history and identity as dick grayson. and gives a solid foundation for him to develop further!

but trying to find Tim's nightwing equivalent without doing nightwing again adds another layer of difficulty to the whole issue. i do not envy the writing and design teams for trying to make lightning strike twice.

*by first real Solo Robin, uh I gotta elaborate this. dick obvs had his own solo stuff and worked with the titans but was still Bruce's ward, and a lot of modern fans haven't read that stuff and dicks robin is remembered as a sidekick. he gained his status as a solo character when he became nightwing, at least in fan memory. jasons time as robin was too short to really forge his own identity as a solo character. whilst Tim's robin was introduced with, and kept for a long time, a far larger gap between him and Bruce than dick or jason had. because he had a lot more of his life and character tied to, for example, his parents and school life and girl problems. he didn't live with batman and, while he respected batman and followed orders, Bruce didn't have as much authority over him bc he literally wasn't Tim's dad and that very much influenced their relationship. he was much more of an independent character, which makes it very funny that he can't make his own proper independent identity outside of robin.

[elizabethrobertajones]

For that writing thing 48 cause that's always an interesting one to me how people approach it (also 34 as a desperate cry for help...)

*waves* :D

do you reread your own stories?

Yes! When it comes to fics I have actually posted on Ao3 be glad no one can see the edit history because there are some embarrassingly belated lines I've added while re-reading when I MEANT to just soak up a vibe again, and instead realised I'd just plain jumped over CRUCIAL PLOT INFORMATION and continued writing as if that line was already in the story.

TBH fic writing is way more id and just splurge it out, tidy it up and post it sort of writing, while when I'm writing my own content especially for publication/submission I will re-read constantly for the sake of editing, and only consider it finished when I've read it to DEATH and don't want to look at it any more (and personal drafts I'm not planning to submit still get read over and over just not to the "to death" threshold). I don't wanna do that to fics because I still come back to them for fun because I did make the content I wanted to see :'D

how do you name characters and places?

First of all I bought (and re-covered so people wouldn't think I was expecting) one of these bad boys:

It's got sections with names sorted by era and popularity and it gives a basic name meaning and region where it's from. At the very least it means I can go look it up further (you know, to make sure no one notorious has a name or I'm using it wrong or the book was culturally appropriating etc :P)

I also call a looot of characters Bob as a placeholder so I can just write something and worry about that later XD

I think it's more important to think about WHY you are naming a character such and such a thing, like, who they are in the story and if they need to be memorable, or if they want them to kinda slide by either because they're not important or not important YET, so names that aren't particularly challenging or single names rather than giving them a surname too. In the novel I'm working on there's a squad of side characters hunting ghosts who've arrived from a studio in California, and I gave the presenter the name Katie Kobayashi, to give her something alliterative and fun to say and at least as far as I can tell no one important has the name. She gets a full name that characters repeat ("was that Katie Kobayashi?") so it sticks out like she's a celebrity and it's got a good saying out loud cadence (which you should do with all 2 or more part names). Her film crew with her are just Nate and Alejandro, neither of whom have surnames despite being in all the scenes with her and getting sometimes way more sympathetic or lengthy dialogue, because they're her background characters and I just needed Some Guy Names Like They're From California to follow her around, and their role is in their single names. Their producer who never appears and is mentioned two times, who manages their ghost hunting show and wants to produce horror films, is called Slice, no surname required not because he's unimportant but his "name" tells you everything about him XD I have heard of a couple of guys like this incidentally in my life who are 1 name genre weirdoes who aren't established enough to be A Surname Person on published content, but within circles have their name well enough known to just say their weird nickname and people know who it is. So I just looked up stuff on thesaurus.com until I saw one funny enough for this guy who's mentioned twice, to make him memorable and funny but more like, that's his whole personality and the joke is literally just in introducing him and moving on.

I hope that explains some of my process and helps you find some ways to come up with people :D

[flameontheotherside]

Never Enough

Guess I'm PMS-ing something so awful (doesn't mean my feelings are invalid) that I'm feeling the urge to walk 2 minutes to 7-11 just to pick up a few bottles of whine. I know it sounds mellow dramatic but my cramps hurt, booze helps it and I'm just feeling like shit about myself. I guess I'm doing what I said I wouldn't do and dwelling on the likelihood that Erik would have been like ever garbage guy I ever liked in my life.

I was so rejected. Literally just always was either a placeholder for someone better, when I wanted a serious relationship I was just to be used, when I didn't want a relationship they would belittle me, I was cheated on and lied to.

Never once believed in Twin Flames.

Never thought about soul mates like they were the only person for you. Never bought into the There-Is-Only-One-For-Me-Club. Never believed in love at first sight. My long distance relationships were for looking for some guy I knew didn't live in the same state as me. To protect him. From what? I don't fucking know.

All I cared about was him and finding him. Turns out according to a psychic just a few months before Erik's suicide, the guy I was looking for would...die. How is that for a nice fuck you in my face or in my ear? For years I was in denial he was really dead. I had to believe he was still alive for the sake of my sanity. Hahaha right? Fucking hilarious (I hate my life).

My love life was always a sick joke to be honest.

But in spite of that I still had hope in my heart and with a break in 2007-8, I tried. Until my lifelong buddy called My Intuition told me the psychic was right. I've been shutdown ever since. Bitter. Angry. Hurt. It took over 15 years and 3 abusive ex's to have Rick. I should be greatful to have Erik (even though he's dead) and Rick in my life now but I'm not. I'm not okay. Nope, especially not now.

Oh! And uh, Matt used me too...

He's dead now. No, not because of that, I don't want to know how he died. It would upset me. While we were both homeless together he used me to get back to Texas while we were in FL. Bought us both tickets. I got him a phone plan and a new phone. We were more than friends. He sent me a text breaking up with me after so much I did for him. All I asked was that he was honest. He told me he wanted me to be his gf (even begged me) and I believed him. No, I was just money to him. He apologized for everything shortly before he died. Nah, I don't really forgive him. I'm pretty solid on the pissed off right now. Not really in a forgiving mood.

Jokes on me he broke up with me through text. Then tried to cover it up by saying it was just a prank on his ex to persuade her to keep his stuff safe with her in FL. OH YEAH! I let his ass have it. I was furious. So fucking tired if men taking advantage of me. People just seeing me as some loser push-over.

How can I assume Erik would be different?!

He left me out to dry in our 3 lives. How would this be different? Because from where I sit, he left me out to dry by killing himself when if he only fucking waited, I would have found him! How fucked is that? What am I supposed to think or feel? I feel worthless and used all those years.

I'm gullible and naive and...on the spectrum. Funny thing is so was Matt and a few guys I dated who fucked me over. After every relationship I swore to God I'd become a nun. Funny thing is in one past life (yes, with Erik fyi) I did that after getting tired of prostitution.

Turns out my life of prostitution wasn't over!

Nooooooooope! My bf kindly reminded me that for the last 3 ex's I was basically a housing prostitute. Um...what? All because I had nowhere to go, homeless and vulnerable. Had no idea about shelters or shit like that until 10 years later when my ex left me while I was recovering from and OD. Yup, he pack his shit up, left mine with my brother, and made me homeless for a year. If that's not fucked up, I'd like to know what is and why someone like Matt would fuck me over after I told him that was how I became homeless?! His situation was kind of similar! His apology can kiss my brown ass.

So yeah technically I didn't love any of those shit holes. I made myself believe I loved them just so I could have a roof over my head. Went from asshole to asshole for a roof over my head. Being with Rick, am I doing it again? Idk I felt like I could trust him and he's loved me for 10 years. Knowing he's changed I told him I'd give us a try. It's been almost 2 years. He's not an addict at all and he's never been an asshole to me. So I think I'm doing something right?

Idk at this point I'm convincing myself that I'm unworthy of anything.

Even Erik. Wtf is he doing with me of all people? Why does he have to be my TF? Why couldn't he have just fucking waited? I'm so angry. I just don't understand why my life is a fucking joke. I get that I'm socially awkward and I'm not an Instagram model but I'm talented. That's it!

People tell me not to change and there's nothing wrong with me. They don't know the struggling I've been through. Over and over it's been shoved in my face that I'm nothing and that I should be ashamed of myself. What the fuck did I do to deserve it? Seriously it's something I could never figure out. Nah I can't really tell the difference between good and bad people because I'm naive and gullible....or maybe I just try to see good in the wrong people expecting them to be different when they are the fucking pieces of shit I should have never given a fuck about.

I'm not in the mood to talk to Erik. I'm so livid that I just might cry myself to sleep feeling bad about everything.

😘💕 Good night