#And you know I'm highly HIGHLY biased but I really enjoyed doing that with this book

[the-busy-ghost]

There are some books that are just BETTER if you go through them with a pencil and underline the shit out of tiny details, and honestly if anyone found Hogg's 'Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner' difficult to get into, I highly encourage you to give it another go and give yourself a license to extensively research & annotate every little bit

[kisses4lao]

Guess who's suffering from writers block!!! No but fr I wanna write SO BAD but I just can't 😭😭 so take some twst pp hcs until I decide to work on commissions again

Not proofread idc shank me

♧CW!!! Fem reader! twst dick hcs duh, every NRC student EXCLUDING ortho, might have some other hcs too

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~♧♧~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Riddle:

Its... cute? Idk how to explain it

He is VERY sensitive

5.5 inches

Slight curve downward

The tip is a really deep red

Cum is watery, tastes like rosewater(this is a fantasy world i can make cum taste like anything i want)

Balls aren't all that heavy, very soft and squishy tho

Likes rimming. No further comments

Trey:

EEK MY BOY

I'm gonna try not to be biased

Hes BIG tho

I know you've seen him. Let's be honest, we all know he's PACKING

So I'm gonna say a solid 7-8 inches with a nice amount of girth

No curve, but very veiny

Heavy balls. Like, HEAVY. Bros got a whole bakery in there

Soft pink tip

Cum is the normal consistency, he takes care of himself

If you're sucking him off he'll change the flavor of his cock and his cum to whatever you want (thank god for doodle suit)

Cater:

Easy 7 inches

Not too sensitive, it takes a while for him to cum

His cum is pretty thick, its all the spicy ramen he eats

Curve upward, huge thick vein going from his balls to the tip

Cum tastes salty, but not overwhelming

Will have his clones fuck you silly

Deuce:

Another small boy

I'll say 6 inches, no curve

Hes sensitive too, but not as much as riddle

He really like getting his balls sucked more than his cock itself

Cum is watery too, but it tastes good

Like sweet in a way

Tip is a light blue dont ask why

Ace:

Another small boy 😭

He is CLUELESS

Poor man is a one pump chump

5.6 inches, curve to the left

SENSETIVE. pussy got this boy on his knees

Balls squishy, balls soft?

Yes to both

His rip is red, like a blush red

Azul:

A good 6ish inches with a curve downward

Not as sensitive as you may think

I think it would be funny if the bottom of his cock had like little suckers or some shit

Tip is dark purple and he has some veins, not many tho

Heavy balls, no squish :(

Cum is thick and black bc octopus

Tastes like what watered down hand sanitizer smells like

Jade:

😨

Its slimy.

No further comment on that

No but its like wet, a lot

So is floyds but we aren't there yet

Its like lube 🥺

Okay but he's LONG

8.5 AT LEAST

He also enjoys rimming

Tip is dark cyan

Cum is slimy too

Add some borax water and sell it on etsy

Floyd:

Basically the same as Jade

Hes smaller tho

Hes 6 inches but has SO much girth

His cum is more watery than slimy and the tip is a light blue

Lots of veins too

Kalim:

6 inches

So sensitive

He begs.

Loves blow jobs but would NEVER ask for them

Heavy soft balls

A dark brown tip and there's lil red swirlies

Cum is thick

Tastes like coconut toothpaste

Jamil:

mmmmmmmmMMMMMMM

BIG

So big

Destroy me PLEASE

7.8 inches and a big curve upwards

Likes fingers in his ass, just like Kanye west

Doesn't like blow jobs he cums too quick :(

Gets overstimulated easily and when he does hes highly submissive

Cum a lil thick (its all the curry he eats)

Its yummy tho

Tastes salty and a lil sweet

Like a pretzel

Tip is a redish-brownish

Vil:

Hes a very odd case

Hes big, dont get me wrong

But mans does NOT have sex 😭

He complains it ruins his makeup

7.4 inches with a few veins

Oh yeah hes unclipped too idk why but he is

Tip is a pinky purple color

Balls got some weight, they're not sensitive

Rook:

Hes an even weirder case

Hes very big but almost NEVER penetrates you

Hed much rather be in between your legs for hours on end

Making you cum on his face gives him so much pleasure

He doesn't touch himself either

When he's eating you out he has one hand thrusting fingers into your pussy, the other hand thrusting fingers into your ass(hes an ass man I know he is) while he sucks on your clit the whole time

He cums on the sheets whenever you do bc he knows how good you feel

Hes 8.5 inches with a curve down, large vein going upward

A creme colored tip

Cum normal consistency, you don't know what it tastes like because he never let's you suck him off :(

Epel:

Small boy

Whimpers

A lot

Hes 6 inches with a curve to the left

Light purple tip bc I said so

Light balls, but no squish :(

Cum is watery and tastes like lavender oil

Idia:

Oh god

Contrary to popular belief he has a lot of stamina

He doesn't have ANY experience tho

Played a lot of hentai games but thats the extent of his experience

I think it would be really funny if instead of whispering dirty talk or praise during sex he tells you the fnaf lore

Like he'll be blowing your back out and he'll just be like "so the crying child was actually william aftons son-" and then he cums

After hes done and doing aftercare he'll quiz you on the fnaf lore

If you get any of the questions wrong he'll fuck you until you can't walk as a punishment

If you get them all right he'll eat you out for hours until you also can't walk

Win win honestly

8 inches

TIP IS BLUUUEEEEEE

Cum is thick and salty, he doesn't take care of himself

Heavy, HEAVY balls. Very sensitive

He loves blow jobs too

Leona:

8.8 inches, but if we're being real to how ACTUAL lion anatomy is hes closer to 3 inches but yall aren't ready for that convo

Not sensitive at all, it takes so long for him to cum

But when he does hes so sweet, whispering praise after praise to you and lots of kisses

Cum is normal consistency, a lil on the thicker end

Its a bit bitter with a sweet aftertaste

Hes also unclipped and I will not elaborate

Idk if lions have them but if they do then he has a knot, not as big as jacks tho

Heavy balls, they're sensitive

Brown tip, like, dark brown tip

Ruggie:

7ish inches with a curve down

Also likes eating you out

Doesn't like having his balls touched

They're cute and squishy tho

Cum is also thick and doesn't taste like anything

Tip is a light brown and has a vein going through it

Jack:

8 inches.

Has a huge knot. Physically cannot pull out when it comes to it

Cum tastes like strawberries

Doesn't let you suck him off often bc he doesn't wanna knot in your mouth

Also gets pleasure from eating you out

Tip is grey and sensitive

Malleus:

Hes also like rook in the way he'd eat you out for hours if you'd let him

But he does penetrate you

Our big dragon boy loves the feeling of being inside your tight cunt

Will probably cum if you praise him

He has 2.

One on top one on the bottom

The one on top is longer, 9 inches while the one on the bottom is 7ish, the bottom one is a lot thicker tho

He'll be so slow easing them in and almost never goes fast when it comes to sex

He sees it as love making

They both have a black tip and the cum is normal consistency, tastes like... eggs? Hardboiled don't ask

Oh yeah his cum glows in the dark

Lilia:

Idc what you guys say this man is SO EXPERIENCED

He knows how to have sex properly and can make you cum in seconds if he feels like it

7 inches, his dick is where all his height went

Because he's so experienced he doesn't cum easily

PINK TIP PINK TIP

His cum is normal consistency, a little watery maybe

Tastes like citrus

Silver:

Loves when you ride him

Likes missionary too tho

7 inches too

His tip is grey

Very sensitive and gets overstimulated easily

Hes also just very submissive in general

Cum is watery and tastes like what a new car smells like

Sebek:

LOUD

SO LOUD

CANT TAKE THIS BITCH ANYWHERE

Cries during sex

Loves when you pull his hair

Does he have horns? If he does they're very sensitive

Cums if you touch them

Hes a crocodile right

Nah he has horns

8 inches no other comments

GREEN TIP

Cum is thick and bitter

We love him tho

Balls squishy

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~♧♧~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/n: im so fuckibg tired god help me

[liketheinferno2]

These aren't full ref sheets but I was trying to take some clear pictures of Hephaistos for later art reasons and then got side tracked doing all of the Pandaemonium bosses so here they are in order. Also for anyone following who doesn't play FFXIV and knows it as the catgirl game, enjoy this instead? VISUAL SPOILERS obviously.

Asphodelos

Warder of the Condemned: Erichthonios

Mythic Creation: The Hippokampos

Mythic Creation: The Phoinix

(+ familiars)

Hemitheos: Hesperos

(+ sexy fanfic redesign by Nemjiji)

To be brutally honest I never really liked either of these designs compared to every other Hemitheos we get, I think the really brutal black and red of the Phoinix is weakened by gold accents, but I still am always down for gay vampire surf rock. The Savage version kind of looks like Ultimalius as well if you've played XVI.

Abyssos

Mythic Creation: Proto-Carbuncle

Hrgrhhgrhrgrh

Hemitheos: Hegemone

^ My favourite detail on this is you can see the parasite's outlines in her robes and in her legs, then right through the eye holes on the mask to wrap around the torso. I'm convinced this version of Hegemone is functionally an ant being piloted by a cordyceps infection.

Hemitheos: Agdistis

She's very big

Perfect Imperfection: Hephaistos

I'm probably biased by Abyssos being the first raid I was there for day of release but these really are all fantastic. It's also when the story abandons all pretense of not being (at least partly) about family abuse and is loudly using the body horror and shackle motifs to talk about that. It's great. Hephaistos specifically is constantly bulging and twisting in and out of different forms like a highly unstable chimera and the more I look at these the more I notice parts that just should not be there. He's giving everything.

As for the Savage design It's a hard thing to rate as such but my favourite part is the veins that grow down from the eyeholes in his mask like bloody tears.

Thanks Abyssos I love you

Anabaseios

Mythic Creation: Kokytos

Dæmoniac Dungeon: Pandæmonium

It's really hard to communicate how huge this nasty tumor crab I zoomed out as far as physically possible in the game engine and subsequently ended up at a goofy angle staring up his nose.

Ephemeral Justice: Themis

Best boy. The double ended lance and second pair of arms are fantastic for this character.

Theos: Athena

In.. almost every final fantasy adventure you're fighting the real villain not at the very end but a little beforehand, the big iconic end boss is often more a metaphorical figure representing everything wrong with that first person's ideals. Athena cut out the middle man and became her own JENOVA.

I do like the moth angel, especially the hollow body full of dubious orbs, but with her eyes closed all the time it gives off the impression of this not even being the true body but some kind of anglerfish lure in the shape of a fairy... which might be true because this exists:

I really really love her twitchy anemone feelers and how the moth body ends up grafted to the rest of it waist down.

Anyway there's the gang I did not specifically intend for this to be design reviews I just wanted to have clear photos because when you actually see them in game there's other things to focus on. In hindsight I can appreciate more the theming of each tier and then the series as a whole, but my only (extremely obvious) observation for now is that every character Athena had a personal hold over is decorated in chains somehow and so I should have seen the Hegemone thing coming lmao. Heph and Aggy are still my favourites I don't think that's changing any time soon. I'm also noticing that Anabaseios is now just old enough for random DF parties to fuck up severely and I find that fun so I'm going to go fight the crab mansion now.

[ask-whitepearl-and-steven]

I admire your patience with those readers who need you to spoon feed them the story. Everything is in the comics but they still manage to go pass it. I can't help but feel a bit sad for them? Do they not understand what they read? Are they not attentive when reading it? I'm legitimately concerned because I function so differently I can't fathom this. If you like a story, isn't it normal to make your best to grasp it's essence and reflect on it? I know I project a lot about this, everyone works and registers things differentely of course but sometimes it's very frustrating to see people consume any media and just completely miss all the important messages in it, or even just fail to get the scenario sometimes, and it feels like it's very common now... Idk I just wanted maybe to have your perspective on this? Sorry for the long post (Been here for a few years now and your a true inspiration to me. All my luv to you! ❤️)

You know, I'm gonna be honest. I used to stress out about this... a LOT.

As a story-brained person, this is definitely something that comes naturally to me, and perhaps to you, and to many other people who are wired similarly. To us, following the path of a story in an analytic, highly detail-motivated manner and unwrapping the themes can be as exciting as lifting up a rock to see the bugs underneath. It's an exciting mental activity that's stimulating and feels effortless.

And yes, as an author who spends literally 60% of my day thinking about this comic and how to draw it, panel it, script it, make it better (I script and panel in my head constantly)........ I have trouble realizing/dealing with the fact that some people are just here to CASUALLY enjoy the story that I am lowkey obsessed with.

But I've come to realize that... that's NORMAL! And healthy.

People have different attention spans for different things.

People have varied ways to read a story and engage with it.

People have unique interests.

People don't have the same amounts of energy to devote to reading!

Maybe someone missed a detail I lovingly and painstakingly put into the dialogue because they're reading the update late at night after a long shift at work. And maybe someone scrolled past the dialogue completely and just got the gist from looking at the art, because they're in a hurry to get to practice at their favorite sportsball.

And maybe someone just had a really bad day with a really bad encounter, and they're reading the update in a terrible mood and instead of seeing MY grey-morality narrative, they're focusing on all the negative points and misread the vibes because of their own biases that stem from places of hurt.

The thing is, I have to be okay with that as an author, because I will NEVER be able to get into my audience's heads and read this comic 'correctly' for my own sake.

They will always have a slightly different interpretation of things, and they will always misunderstand details and miss clues. And sometimes, they will be wrong about the way they read a character's motivations... and sometimes maybe they won't be! That's just a part of communication. That's a part of telling a story.

An imperfect delivery, and an imperfect reception should, in my opinion, be a natural and accepted part of storytelling. We're human, and we all have a different lived experience, and we will ALL have different takes on a comic, even if it's so close that we THINK we are both getting the exact same thing. That small human interpretation variation is a home-made touch that makes it feel more organic.

In short.... Not all light particles make it here from the sun, but damn the result is stunning anyway.

[le-trash-prince]

Kenta

Okay. It is once again time for me to talk about my number one little man. I was interested in Kenta from the very beginning, and at some point I realized that I was not going to be normal about him, but I really did not anticipate how much he would come to mean to me. I hope y'all have enjoyed witnessing my descent into feral blorbo state. It is not over for me in the slightest.

I want to say that Garfield really acted the shit out of this role, and the writers knew what they were doing when they cast him. His arc was so important to the overall plot, with his growth being pivotal to Tony's downfall, and yet he had a relatively small amount of dialogue to work with (although certainly not the smallest amount of the cast).

A lot of his scenes involve him standing in Tony's office, taking instructions, or even just simply observing. A lot of his lines are based around business deals and errands—rather than furthering his emotional development. He doesn't give big speeches, he doesn't talk about his feelings or his dreams, it's always just "I'm doing xyz for Tony, and I will never betray him."

Some of his most dialogue heavy scenes are in one stairwell with Pete and in another with Tony, which I think are extremely pivotal moments, both of which reveal a fear of abandonment.

But it's honestly when he's quiet that he says the most.

And I love that, I'm obsessed with it. I love that the whole fandom could insantly tell that he and Pete had something going on, just from the way they looked at each other. I love that the storytelling in his arc was so highly visual.

In the beginning, Kenta appears to be nothing more than Tony's lackey: quiet, intimidating, and actively complicit with what is going on.

But as we see him more and more, it becomes exceedingly apparent that he cares, so much. I know I am biased in saying this, but I do also pay close attention to what other people are saying about Kenta, and I know almost everyone has been waiting the entire series to see him stand up to Tony. The amount of acting that Garfield did with his eyes, while remaining such a stoic character, was insane.

Despite him repeatedly declaring his loyalty to Tony, despite the fact that he does not reveal any actions against Tony until episode 12, we feel so much of his inner conflict.

I think for me, personally, the aspect of Kenta's character that I relate to the most is his inability to speak up when he wants to. I've struggled with selective mutism my entire life, and there have been countless, countless scenarios where I've had so many things to say and no ability to say them. The more dire the situation, the more my words fail me. I have to spend so much of my energy constantly planning for potential conflict scenarios just so I can have the time I need to figure out which words to use. Because it can sometimes take months for me to figure out certain phrases. And because it is so painful to stay silent when you want to tell someone to stop. To stop fighting, to stop hurting each other, to stop hurting me.

So I was beyond moved and proud to watch Kenta finally be able to protect his brothers and quietly say the one thing he has wanted to say all along.

Don't hurt anyone anymore.

Don't hurt anyone anymore.

Don't hurt anyone anymore.

I will take some of the words that P'Chod gave to Garfield before they went into production. "It’s just you want to live in a peaceful house and be happy together.” All we want is peace.

I wish that Kenta had not been forced to kill Tony because I don't think he has ever wanted to hurt anyone. But I'm sure as hell not sorry that he did it. There will always be people who are unwilling to stop.

And I recognize that Kenta tried a peaceful method first. He gave X-Hunter what they needed to put Tony in jail, and Tony refused to give up. He was never going to be the kind of person who would simply surrender. To him, these people's lives are property that he is entitled to.

Here is an auto translation of something Garfield said about Kenta at the final episode screening.

"I already knew that Kenta would be similar to me, in that I'm someone who doesn't dare to express my feelings to the people around me, saying very little. So when I got the role, I felt… that it teaches us that as long as we dare to be ourselves and do things that make us happy, that's enough."

We may never know what happened to Kenta after Tony died, but I hope he is able to find his peace. I hope he is able to engage with restorative justice, and I hope he is able to learn what family really should be.

And I hope that someone, anyone, will give him a goddamned hug.

the first shot / the last shot

Thank you, Kenta, from the bottom of my heart, for showing us yours.

[earlgodwin]

okay i know you've mentioned/answered this a million times but i would love to get your top recommendations for borgias published books and content.

i haven't really ventured into those selections but i really want to take the leap into that realm and buy/borrow some books and read them..!

(also i'm curious if you read many fanfictions for the borgias, and if so do you have any good recs?)

💞

hi <33! no worries at all! i love being asked questions about everything related to the borgias, as i get very enthusiastic about them. now, let's start with my favorite borgias biographies:

maria bellonci's 'lucrezia borgia' because i'm very obsessed with accuracy and avoiding cliché biased narratives. it's such a solid read really! it also portrays lucrezia in a way that i've always believed she was—a completely misunderstood woman who is a pawn in the power and ambition games of her father and brother. but deep down, she's just a silly, pretty poetry lover who's guilty by association. this book also debunks cesare's supposed "jealousy" towards juan as the shows how much he loves him (based on the letters to each other) and that rodrigo has always loved his children equally, which is a cherry on top lol.

emma lucas's 'lucrezia borgia.' while it's not entirely accurate because it satisfies my beloved (but not accurate) 'lucrezia is a femme fatale and not saintly' narrative (which i love, by the way), i'm fascinated by how it unexpectedly delves deep into her family, especially rodrigo, cesare, and juan. it also provides great anecdotes about the characters so there's that. despite having negative reviews, the biography is actually very well-written and highly entertaining! fuck the gossip!

christopher hibbert's 'the borgias and their enemies.' for some reason, i keep forgetting to recommend this book to my friends. i tend to get easily investedwith any borgia book that focuses on the pope and his children, providing narratives without forcing you to choose what to believe. the author obviously conducted extensive research before publishing it because when reading a biography (not historical fiction), i prefer to avoid biased perspectives that can be heavily misleading. i also appreciate the fact that machiavelli (and other important figures) plays an important role in this biography because i'm always excited about him.

ferdinand gregorovius' 'lucretia borgia according to original documents and correspondence of her day'. it's also a very unbiased excellent piece of history that is full of validated source. and i just adore how the author is pro-lucrezia as well.

samantha morris' 'cesare and lucrezia: brother and sister of history's most vilified family' is also well documented and well researched! while cesare was given more depth than lucrezia, still, lucrezia's character in this biography is more colorful. obviously the most popular narrative for the borgia family is them being incestuous, corrupt and violent, a family to be feared, but the author suggests otherwise as she sets out to prove this is not the full story and she does make a good argument! as she detailed how they've been portrayed by mainstream media as well as detailing what happened to their descendants.

sarah bradford's 'lucrezia borgia.' okay, so this one isn't a favorite of mine, but i'd recommend it to you or anyone who's a huge fan of ceslu. it's written like a love story biography exclusively about them. while i like how she wrote about ceslu, i heavily dislike how she wrote about juan and rodrigo and how she portrayed them based on narratives from the family's enemies. the author also manipulated a letter about the envoy boccaccio, which is supposed to praise both brothers. but instead, the author just one-upped him with cesare by dunking on him, which i personally find lame and intensely inaccurate since juan borgia was pretty much loved by his wife, his family, and his friends based on the retrieved documents and letters. that being said, i do enjoy the ceslu parts, of course, and i believe any fan of showtime's 'the borgias' who ships ceslu would enjoy this book and its fluent writing and can easily ignore the negatively inaccurate narratives about the other members of the family.

that's all for the biography books! now let's start with historical fiction:

sarah dunant's 'blood and beauty'. one thing about me is that i'm never gonna stop praising this book because it is absolutely my favorite historical fiction book about this extraordinary family! again, i get so invested in any book when the author does extensive research. also, if you're looking for a book about this family that reads like an episode of showtime's 'the borgias,' then this book is your go-to! full of interesting dynamics, and yes, cesare is as cruel and megalomaniacal as history and machiavelli portrayed him, lucrezia as a victim of her father and brother's political ambitions game, and juan as the flawed kid who was eventually sunk deep when he got dragged into his father's ambitions game. while the book doesn't provide a deeper exploration of the characters' psyche, it's more focused on the story by making it very engaging and sheds light on their complex relationships and their rise to power. and every character is highly sympathetic as the author brilliantly humanizes them. in short, it is emotionally intriguing and a must-read for the borgias enjoyers.

mario puzo's 'the family'. you know, i wasn't even surprised a bit that this book's writing and story being groundbreaking because after all, it is written by the author of 'the godfather'. the family is such a compelling book, such tender writing when it comes to lucrezia and cesare. the story becomes intriguing the more you read. i also loved puzo's portrayal of rodrigo as this family man who deeply loves his children yet he uses them as pawns (which is also similar to jeremy irons' portrayal). while i gotta criticize that the characters have no depth and his version of lucrezia as this damsel angel for her father and brother is, uhhh… quite boring. i like her when she's multilayered lol. i also think the way he tried to present cesare and give him the "from zero to hero" trope in order to make him relatable is also lame because cesare's success as a historical figure is because he was calculating and wicked, and definitely not a bitter loser. i mean, i could absolutely ignore the bitterness part, but at least françois arnaud's cesare added so many layers and swag in the characters, therefore you could ignore it. but i can overlook all that when there's an engaging story and great writing, no matter what the characterizations are like. so overall, it's impressive and entertaining, and you will definitely enjoy it.

regarding fanfiction; i'm sorry but i never read any because i feel quite satisfied by all 'the borgias' show canon that we have and all these historical books. i wish i could help with recommending fics :/

thank you very much for the question, and i hope this post answers it. have a great day 💕🫶

[hadesknockedupintheunderworld]

Okay I just need to say that I knew I'd like this Tailstube as soon as I saw the thumbnail (after all, I am a Sonadails enjoyer, and Tails is literally in the middle of them in the thumbnail)

But I think probably something that stood out the most to me when I watched it was just

The hints that Shadow and Tails have a relationship outside of Sonic??

The first thing that tipped me off to this was that not only did Tails convince Shadow to join in on his show, he also convinced him to stick around to its natural end?? You know, Shadow. The guy you can't force to do anything and frequently will just dip if he's bored or doesn't want to be there. But even while Sonic was annoying him and he made it clear he wanted the "interview" over with, he still never made a move to chaos control out of there because of any of this.

And the second thing that tipped me off was this:

When Shadow is both confused and annoyed at Sonic, he chooses to complain to Tails about Sonic. And so Tails steps in to try to "explain" what Sonic meant by what he said (i.e he told Shadow something much nicer in the interest of getting them to be on better terms). The fact that he looks to Tails to complain to about Tails' own best friend and possibly even to explain that which he does not understand in a social context tells me just how highly he regards Tails. And since both Shadow and Sonic are being childish here, it's amusing to see Tails regarded as something closer to a trusted figure with more power here.

From an objective analysis standpoint, of course this means they have their own friendship. And this is a prospect I enjoy (The idea that Tails and Shadow are good friends)! It actually means a lot to me that Tails could form a frienship or bond with Shadow outside of the context of Sonic (in terms of who initiates it and for what reason it's initiated).

But, my friends, from a biased standpoint, I'm shipping trash. And to me this Tailstube was a fun show for Sonadails fans. Honestly, Tails staging this episode to get Sonic and Shadow to talk and "bury the hatchet", as well as how he acts during the show, read a lot to me personally like a guy trying to get his two boyfriends (who happen to be rivals) to get on better terms, if not just tolerate each other. I quite like the idea of Tails dating both of these idiots and just trying to get them to play nice when they're all together (although frankly I think the ideal scenario for Tails in my biased reading is that Sonic and Shadow get together as well).

This is also not to mention the dynamics showcased here! Sonic and Tails as best friends, with Sonic assuming that he and Tails were gonna talk shit about Shadow behind his back, and Tails trying to get him to play nicer. Shadow and Tails as friends, with Tails trying to convince him why he and Sonic are in the perfect position to become friends and helping him out socially, and with Shadow choosing to do something he doesn't want to because of Tails, as well as looking to Tails to complain to when Sonic is annoying him or when he doesn't understand something. And then there's Sonic and Shadow. In short, their relationship in this episode reminded me a lot of the dynamic I plotted out for that Sonadow post I wrote up where the two just beat the crap out of each other. In slightly longer terms, I find interesting how Mr. Flynn maintained Sonic and Shadow's dynamic during SA2 (with Sonic bothering Shadow and trying to fight him, while Shadow is just annoyed that Sonic won't leave him alone) while also showing the audience that they are rivals. And in longer terms...Sonic was clearly seeking a fight during this episode. And the facial expression, the mocking, his tone of voice, it doesn’t really matter whether or not he actually dislikes Shadow and believes they could never be friends. He's trying to annoy Shadow and goad him into a fight because he wants to fight Shadow so badly it makes him look stupid. And we can tell by how he expresses his confusion to Tails that Shadow is just not getting this. To him Sonic is just being annoying and confusing. Sonic is targeting him specifically, and Shadow shoots back with his own words. And so it's also pointed that Shadow reciprocates/actually decides to fight Sonic when Sonic specifically challenges him. He doesn't respond to Sonic trying to goad him on, but when Sonic challenges him specifically he's much more interested in opposing him.

Anyways guys I love Shadow and Tails having a soft on the side relationship while Sonic flirts by convincing Shadow to fight him somehow😂💖

[margridarnauds]

what's grade inflation? why does it exist?

For more information on grade inflation, I highly recommend typing in "inflation" on AO3 and...

Sorry, have had no rest and very likely won't get much rest today, because no rest for the wicked...or grad students, so I had to get the cheap humor out of the way.

Grade inflation is, essentially, a system in place at many universities where the graders are heavily pressured into giving higher grades to their students. This is particularly prominent at elite universities, where Mommy and Daddy do not want Schnuggiekins to have anything as undignified as a B on their transcript when they are set to be a senator, but it is also common across the board, including in high schools and, joy of all joys, it is only getting more prevalent, as schools are essentially in a nuclear arms race to deliver higher grades, since it means they can say "Look! 98% of our students graduated with a 4.0!" It looks bad when students don't pass, so students *generally* pass no matter what. Doesn't that make you feel optimistic about the future?

And because it is common across the board at these places, that essentially forces conformity, because if you do NOT give them at least a B+...or sometimes an A-, you will get undergrads complaining about why you were mean to them, because the OTHER TAs would do the same, and student evaluations are VITAL to your career stability down the line. So, besides GENUINELY wanting to be seen as easygoing and relaxed (because, remember, if you're a woman in academia, you ALSO have to beat back the allegations of being a Bitch...and there have been numerous surveys done to indicate that student evals can be biased), it is also unfortunately...not MANDATORY, but something that I do feel heavily pressured by. People forget that the power dynamics between TAs and their students aren't always clear cut -- I'm in a position of authority, and I recognize that and am ALWAYS operating under that awareness, but they can also severely impact my career with student evals...and inconvenience my life if they decide to dispute a grade, such as when I had people emailing me on Christmas about why I gave them an A-. (The answer: Because they had earned, in my opinion, an A-.)

The result is that, functionally, I am grading, roughly, on a scale of B- to A, which means that my grades can't really reflect the nuances that can exist in these things. I have to put things that are "borderline grad student level work" alongside "well. you didn't do anything WRONG". (There have been occasions where they have gotten the Email Of Shame from me where I flat-out refuse to grade it.)

At my undergrad, in my community college (which people always like to act was some kind of...inferior education), if I handed in a paper with numerous typos, it would have been an A- at best. Potentially a B+ if my arguments were not up to the highest standard. I turn in an argument with no citations and not much of an argument...honestly probably a C? Maybe? I KNOW some of my professors would have refused to grade them. But I would feel pressured to give the same paper a B with a reminder to please cite their sources next time.

And, again: I do, genuinely, care for my students. I believe that, for the most part, they ARE trying their best. I don't enjoy being harsh on them, and I don't expect them to be writing at a grad level. I remember being an undergrad -- it isn't like it was that long ago, it's only been six years. I made a lot of mistakes. Including some very stupid ones. And I was lucky to have very patient professors who ALSO weren't afraid to call me out if I didn't do a good job. But, because of systemic issues beyond my control, I can neither give them a real wake up call so that they can improve OR truly reward them for outstanding work.

[igglemouse]

OK OK OK! Time to bring this back! I know for a fact that it has helped some simblrs find each other and really, other than posting my own stuff, I try to keep positivity flowing! So here it is, Sunday, the start of a new week and five simblrs I highly suggest!

@papermint-airplane ~ This is a simblr I found not too long ago and I was just getting into it before my spring simblr break...any ways, I do love sci-fi stories and ALIENS and so for this alone I suggest this simblr! Everything else is just a wonderful bonus!

@sharona-sims ~ Another simblr that I'm growing to adore and its just your classic legacy although on a long lifespan! As a long lifespan player I do enjoy these as I like to grow with a character! Any ways, I've enjoyed catching up with this one!

@queeniecook ~ It's the 2nd time for this simblr and that's because I've enjoyed it so much and the recent posts of the character profiles that's always so fun! Yes, another legacy simblr but you know I'm biased towards legacies!

@dandylion240 ~ I'm not sure there is a more prolific writer on simblr and with such a wide variety! If you're looking for anything to read then this one might be for you! While I'm forever behind on her stories that won't stop me from suggesting them!

@simplymelaninated ~ Oooh a blast from simblr past! I'm always happy to see a simblr returning even if its just for a quick hello! This simblr is gameplay and I do love my gameplay simblrs!

I'm happy to do this again and as usual, it's just for fun and good vibes and that's what summer is about right? Fun and good vibes?!

[pb-dot]

Film Friday: Hot Fuzz

Time is a strange place, and we yet again write the day as that most important of days, Film Friday. Today we're having a look at Edgar Wright and Acting Duo Superstars Nick Frost and Simon Pegg's sophomore effort, the absolutely effervescent Hot Fuzz.

PC Nicholas Angel, played by Pegg, is a rare breed of supercop. His mastery of the practical skills of policing is second only to his unflinching dedication to the law, both in letter and in animating spirit. It's to the level that his actions can be traced in crime statistics, and such behavior can not go without reaction. As such, his superiors in the London Met see him "promoted" to a sergeant's position in Sanford Gloucestershire, a quiet little town with a sterling record of "village of the year"-awards and a crime rate at about 0%

While the initial joke about the highly professional Type A arch-exemplar Pegg being cooped up in an almost compulsively pleasant village is funny, it takes on a kind of heartwarming aspect when he is partnered by local inexperienced cop Danny Butterman, played by Frost. See, Danny knows very little about policing, and approaches it more like an excitable child than Angel's well trained German Shepherd, but BOY does Danny know a thing or two about action movies and having a good time when a good time is called for.

There are people who think I'm being facetious when I describe Hot Fuzz as an action comedy love story, but I am incredibly serious about it. Word has it that there once was a separate, female love interest for Angel in Sanford , but that this part was cut out and a non-insignificant part of her lines and general role in the story was bequeathed to Danny. I've been unable to confirm this from a primary source, but just looking at the lines I can believe it no trouble.

Danny and Nicholas have every bit the powerful bromance that Shaun and Ed had in Shaun of the Dead, except, I would argue, it's a much more even relationship than the one in Shaun. There's a similar dynamic, granted, but it's a give-some-take-some type of deal. Nicholas teaches Danny about the procedures and responsibilities of policework, that it's not just "proper action and shit," to quote him directly. Danny, on his side teaches the workaholic Nicholas that there's more to life than work, and that you need to spend time in the world and less time in your head. He also introduces Angel to his considerable collection of action movies, which seems insignificant until you get to the third act.

Now, by itself this would stand as a movie all by itself, but Nicholas and Danny's increasingly deep and homoromantic relationship does not stand alone. In fact, there's a whole-ass murder mystery conspiracy going on that honestly skews way harder towards horror than Shaun ever got.

Yes, it would seem that Sanford's 0% crime rate is a case of some judiciously biased bookkeeping. Petty theft happens, but there's never any charges filled. Similarly and more unnervingly, there's no murder in Sanford buy wow do people die in unlikely accidents or just go missing a lot. Ever the practical man, Angel goes about investigating these tragic and gory "accidents," and drags the only copper that'll give him the time of day, PC Butterman, along.

Now, tempted as I am to talk about what the two find as they go prodding at the seams of the idyllic village life, I will actually honor a kind of spoiler policy here. There are many jokes, as well as genuinely moving reveals that I'd like to talk about, but I think they'll hit better if you go in blind. For those of you who know what I'm talking about though, there are some banger reveals as to what exactly goes on here, and Edgar Wright's love for foreshadowing plot moments and reveals through dialog is probably expressed better in Hot Fuzz than any other of his films.

I will say, though, that I really enjoy the shift the film makes in the third act. After all the spooky scary conspiracy business comes to a head, our hero makes a decision on what means the most to him, proper procedure, or the spirit of the law (as well as letter I suppose, although he skirts quite a few of those) and decides that it's time to be a goddamn supercop. Just like Danny always saw him, a frighteningly precise instrument for more than the law, also a conduit for justice, and, lest we forget, incredible, incredible violence.

What follows is perhaps the craziest third act I've ever seen. Danny and Nicholas shoot guns, jump through the air while shooting guns, get in car chases while shooting guns, and forge new and unexpected alliances while... you get the idea. The violence is ludicrous, but decidedly slapstick-y, as Angel intends to bring every single perpetrator (and there are quite a few), in alive. This makes for disabling shots, warning shots, indirect shots leading to (presumably survivable) blunt force trauma, etc etc. It's not realistic, but it feels very in character, and it is fun. You can feel the electric energy of a bunch of action film nerds getting to do every cool stunt they've ever fanboyed over, all the while modifying them to somehow be non-lethal.

All of this is without even getting into how many great supporting characters there is in this film. Jim Broadbent is great as Inspector Butterman, Danny's father and local police chief. Paddy Considine and Rafe Spall play a great comedy duo of PCs named Andy. Perhaps the greatest of them, though, is Timothy Dalton, playing the supremely smarmy supermarket owner Simon Skinner. I could watch that guy be friendly in a way that makes me want to punch him for days on end. Among Wright's many talents, getting the funniest people in Britain to play in his movies is surely one of the greater ones.

[elialys]

What’s the newsreader like?

To me, The Newsreader is a bit like this:

I'm joking, but also not really 😂 The show is very good at getting you deeply emotionally attached to its characters, so it does deliver emotional punches on a regular basis. And the beauty of it is that it manages to do it from its very first episode.

More concretely, the show takes place in an Australian newsroom in the second half the 1980s. It follows Helen Norville (played by Anna Torv) and Dale Jennings (Sam Reid). At the start of the show, Helen is a newsreader, so she's pretty famous. She's also a female in a male dominated field of work in the 80s, and has some mental health issues she tries to handle more or less successfully in her stressful, toxic, misogynistic work environment. Dale is a bright-eyed, jittery, eager-to-prove-himself young producer who dreams of becoming a newsreader, and is quite ambitious about it. He's also not exactly 100% straight, and that's something he tries very hard to hide/ignore, more or less successfully too, because 1980s.

The pilot episode is basically about how Dale and Helen's lives collide over the course of a couple of days, despite having worked for the same news network for years. It's honestly one of the best episodes of ANYTHING I've ever watched, it's just...beautifully written/crafted/acted/directed, it's so very human, impactful and relevant.

I don't know what genre/media you enjoy consuming, so I can't promise you'd fall in love with it the way I did, but I highly encourage you to at least give the first episode a go. Also, I know I'm slightly biased, but there's a reason why Anna Torv won the Best Actress award for it in the Australian equivalent of the Emmy's, for both season 1 and season 2, she's incredible as Helen. Sam Reid is phenomenal too, I didn't know him before I watched the show, and he's genuinely ruined so many actors for me 😂

LOOK AT THOSE POOKIES HONESTLY

[zapsoda]

i think supervillain organizations need human resources too: zapsoda states the obvious for a looooong time

i find black hat fascinating because he is truly sadistic in a way many villains are not and it gives him a really bizarre dynamic with his 2.5 employees.

his sadism is something you have to keep in mind when analyzing all other asepcts of his character because it immediately answers most of the questions that arise throughout. for example:

q. why does he torture and threaten his employees?

a. he enjoys it :3

q. why is he so adamantly opposed to replacing them, despite his supposed contempt?

a. either he doesnt actually dislike them that much, or the catharsis and pleasure from tormenting them all the time makes up for it.

and finally, the one i enjoy the most: why is his favorite employee flug?

obviously, his least favorite is 505, because 505 is like. the embodiment of good. the opposite of evil. hes basically a big fluffy hero which is like. exactly what he hates. you might be asking: why does he let flug keep him around then? the answer:

i just have to trust all the bullshit the wiki says at face value since none of its sources are accessible anymore as far as i can tell.

anyways, that leaves us with flug and demencia. and demencia is like ... the obvious choice. i'm not just like biased cause i'm in love with her shes got it all: she's evil (at least more evil than flug), shes strong as fuck, and she worships bh. that's perfect, isn't it? the thing is, he doesn't seem to like her as much. this is the most evil part about him i think but here's why:

dem looooves him and i don't think he really wants to be loved i think he wants to be feared. he doesn't want people to feel happy when he's around, he's evil. theyre like orin scrivello and arthur denton.

in this regard, dem is a little too crazy for him, in the sense that she does not have the self preservation instincts flug has. she knows when to fuck off so bh doesnt rend her to pieces, but she generally doesnt exhibit the same fear or caution that flug does, because she believes fully that she is sooo awesome and black hat is soo perfect and in love with her that nothing bad will happen ever.

this makes her supremely difficult to fuck with in the traditional sense, because if he tries to do it without some sort of disguise or element of surprise, she'll just make big heart eyes lol. black hat doesnt get his desired reaction, and the interaction is no longer enjoyable for him.

obv, bh still has some attachment to her and does still find ways to screw with her, but it is harder and he has to be more creative. i think what he primarily enjoys about her is how evil she is. this might be a bit far fetched, but in the wrestling episode he clearly loved making her beat the shit out of flug. i think maybe he sees a bit of himself in her. but see, even here he is using her to accomplish the larger goal of getting under flugs skin (literally and figuratively).

so ultimately, we are left with flug. he is (also) entirely loyal and obedient to bh, but also he is scared shitless of the guy. i cannot stress enough that flug sees himself very highly, thus, he values self preservation above most other things. the way he sees it, he is so smart and awesome he can't die or feel immense pain, that would really suck! this is perfect, because it makes him so, so easy to fuck with, and black hat takes advantage of this constantly. its basically his favorite hobby.

this dynamic wouldnt work, of course, if flug didn't also have this weird fucking stockholm syndrome or whatever. he does adore bh. the bit in the opening of the pilot where he dreams of getting like. the mildest praise imaginable from black hat. haunts me esp cause it doesnt seem to come up again after that. he obviously wants to be respected/revered/admired for his intelligence and accomplishments, and from someone who he respects as much as bh even the tiniest crumb of validation is enough. because of that, he will do basically fucking anything for bh.

thus, black hat gets the best of both worlds: 505s fear and eternal suffering and demencias evil love and respect.

[variousqueerthings]

there's something about young soul rebels as part of a canon of british working class culture cinema and centred on queer characters set in the late 70s, but it's not as well known (including in queer circles i feel) as billy elliot and pride and my beautiful laundrette, which do take place later (we're firmly 80s and miners strikes and the AIDS crisis), and generally not as well-known as other working class narratives like this is england (punks and skinheads) or miniseries like our friends in the north (set, unsurprisingly, in the north)

i don't know if this is because it centers mainly black characters and culture and hasn't been well-marketed to a wider audience or what, because it's got an incredible soundtrack and a narrative that depicts the earlier days of many of the subjects covered within the other works with neat characters, and it's got similar vibes to a lot of the others (especially my beautiful laundrette, but maybe i'm biased about how well-known that one is as well... i consider it a cinematic classic)

but yeah, young soul rebels definitely deserves a wider audience and appreciation -- also wonder if one were to do a watch that went chronologically, how jarring it would be to go from this one, to my beautiful laundrette to pride, considering the former two are about people of colour, and the last one -- as much as it means to me -- really dropped the ball on like. any characters of colour

all three of them do have the "we have one lead female character, but to be fair (i guess) she's fucking great" thing happening as well. sophie okonedo, rita wolf, faye marsay, you're fucking carrying on your backs!

but yeah. i do enjoy the particular cinema that goes "hey... you know what wasn't great? the rise of neo-nazism, hyper-nationalism, and generally everything that happened around the time thatcher became leader of the conservative party, i wonder if the politics was all connected somehow... but we did have great taste. we did have that."

considering the vote coming up on july 4th (and everyone in the uk, please do vote!!!! (unless you're a conservative, stay at home or change your hearts)) and the promise of the conservative party losing so badly that they may not be in the top two parties in the country anymore, i feel like... this has been a long long time coming

highly recommend this film

[stackthedeck]

I made a survey about fanfiction bookmarking habits with the goal of finding out how people save and share fanfiction. I had 107 responses and 9 questions, two of which were completely qualitative, but 7 were quantitative with an option for qualitative responses. This was a rough initial survey and they're biased towards tumblr and tiktok users because those are the platforms I put them out on. This data should not be applied to the whole fan community, but they're interesting nonetheless

I promised y'all graphs so I'm going to throw them under the read more because oh boy

Analysis of the data but I encourage you to look at the results and draw your own conclusions: Fans tend to have some method of saving fanfics that they really enjoy. The bookmark feature on ao3 is the most used but it tends to be a passive action similar to pushing kudos rather than commenting or is used only for fics that are really special. If ao3 bookmarks aren't the primary means of saving a fic, downloading or bookmarking the tab tends to be the most common. Fans seem to be more open to talking about reading fanfic both online and with irl friends although this is still some level of secrecy around it. It seems social media has an impact on what fics get read

What is your primary way of bookmarking fanfic?

As you can see, people went crazy with the other option. I comb through those and sorted their responses into categories so the final data looks more like this:

the bookmark feature on ao3 -74

creating a browser bookmark -11

I don't bookmark fics often enough to think about it -8

writing the title and author down in a list somewhere -7

New tab -4

Download -2

Subscribing- 2

the rec feature on ao3 - 1

2. What are your other ways of bookmarking fanfic?

Similar to the last question, the other option was popular. Because this wasn't the primary way of saving fics, people could select multiple options. Here's how I summarized the data after sorting the other options

creating a browser bookmark -36

the bookmark feature on ao3 -29

writing the title and author down in a list somewhere -27

I don't bookmark fics often enough to think about it -15

the rec feature on ao3 -12

Downloading -6

Mark for later -4

Just keeping the tabs open -3

Ao3 history- 1

creating a collection -1

3. How do you organize your bookmarks?

Same procedure as the other questions

I don't, the tags the author used work for me- 87

I have my own tags such as "read" or "5k words"- 13

Little notes that aren't part of a larger organizational system- 9

I write my own summary of the fic- 8

I copy and paste the summary into the description -5

in my own list, I sort alphabetically- 5

Browser folders- 2

4. If you use your own tags can you give me some examples?

This was purely a free response and for the sake of privacy and brevity, I'm not going to publish what people wrote. I would summarize this by saying that the most common tag people add to bookmarks tends to be some sort of statement of quality like "oh my gosh I love this" or "five stars!" Other common tags are the length of the fic, the completion status and/or where the bookmaker left off while reading, and fandom. Bookmarkers will also add highly specific tags that the author didn't add or aren't filterable on the a03.

5. What is your primary way of finding fanfics?

Same procedure as the other graph questions. (Although I am curious if people know the difference between the search and the browse feature)

ao3 search feature- 53

ao3 browse feature- 39

Start with a specific tag, use filters -5

seeing them on some form of social media-4

fanfic rec lists- 3

other people's collections-3

6. What are your other ways of finding fanfics?

Same procedure as the other graph questions

fanfic rec lists- 71

seeing them on some form of social media- 61

other people's collections- 59

ao3 search feature- 38

ao3 browse feature- 26

Author reader enjoys- 4

Recs directly from friends- 3

google - 1

(yeah one respondent would google the type of fic they were looking for, I did that when I was still new to fandom, and it works)

7. How do you tell other people about the fanfic you read?

I have to acknowledge that I severely fumbled the bag on this question. There were a lot of similar "other" responses that I should have included as an option and so this graph looks really long.

my bookmarks are public- 46

I'd rather die than let other people know I read fanfic- 41

Telling friends through messaging or conversation-32

I make rec lists on social media-13

Discord- 4

I have a collection where I put all my favorite fics-3

Occasional posting-3

8. Do you feel the fandom of the fic you're reading affects your willingness to share it in some way?

This was really supposed to be a yes or no question and most people did have a yes or no response in the other section.

Yes- 72

No- 28

Depends on the person, not the fandom- 6

9. Feel free to tell me more about your fanfic reading habits here and/or suggest other questions that would be helpful for gathering data related to this

This was purely a free response and for the sake of privacy and brevity, I'm not going to publish what people wrote. Fans that don't read fanfic often or haven't been reading fic for a long time tend to view bookmarking a fic as a highly precise thing, while fans that read often and for many years tend to save anything they liked and would want to read again. People are also downloading fics more than I was expecting largely out of fear of deletion, but also so they can read on another device. People report being more likely to read a fic if it is promoted on social media in some form. there is also a significant amount of responses that report a level of shame around reading fanfic or specific tropes, but most that reported that also reported a willingness to engage with fic directly on ao3 to support authors.

[flecks-of-stardust]

Stardust's Ranking of Rain World Custom Regions

It's late and I'm bored and I love mods, and if you can you should try some of them because this community creates some incredible stuff and you better appreciate that.

These regions are loosely ranked with an emphasis on my enjoyment, not necessarily the quality of the region, though those can be linked! I will clarify where necessary. You can use this post as a recommendation list, or you can just read my thoughts and reviews of various custom regions for fun or some shit. I dunno. For some reason I end up making lists a lot.

This post will be updated as I try more mods and as more mods come out. The post is current as of October 14th, 2023. Some regions have additional notes, which are elaborated on under the list. Also note that for the vast majority of these regions, I am talking about my experience going through them as Survivor. Additionally, assume all regions have a pup spawn chance unless explicitly stated otherwise.

Highly enjoyed, strongly recommend

Stormy Coast*^ — and another usurper with lots of room to spare. Stormy Coast is the most incredible region I've ever had the pleasure of playing. The atmosphere is just incredible, especially if you do as intended and revisit it across the timeline! The concept of Stormy Coast, its design as an abandoned shipping port, the changes as you move through time, the lore, all of it is just amazing. I just adore it. The music is also absolutely fantastic. I don't know how to describe the experience because it's. Quite literally indescribable, honestly, looking through it yourself. Go get it. It's just fantastic. I would recommend picking one slugcat from Hunter to Monk's time, and then visiting as the rest of the slugcats. (Also, fun fact: the creator of Stormy Coast is the same person who made Lush Mire and Undersea!)

Far Shore^ — I'm a little surprised to have to say this, but this supplanted Howling Rift as my favorite region very quickly. The overall design is just lovely. The threat music is amazing, and there's a lot to see because Far Shore is a very big region—one of the biggest available right now actually! It's hard to summarize what it's like going through it because different parts of it have such a different vibe; the above ground parts are somewhat like Shoreline, but with more options for traversal, while the below ground parts are sort of like Shaded Citadel (but cooler. I'm biased though, I like the horror aspect). Additionally, there's a certain part of Far Shore that really made it feel like I was playing the game for the first time again. No other region has ever tackled something like Far Shore has, and it's really an unforgettable experience. I recommend entering from the Pilgrim's Ascent gate! Additionally, and this might sound strange, but DO NOT play Far Shore as your first region. Go try some of the other ones on this list first, like Pilgrim's Ascent and Scorched District! It just works better that way, I promise.

Howling Rift*^ — this region is kind of like if you took Memory Crypts and made it as big as Shaded Citadel is, but with amazing music and a much more foreboding atmosphere. There is also an Underhang-like part with some of the most interesting (and difficult) platforming I've had the pleasure of playing in this game so far. It's definitely not going to be everyone's favorite, but it's my favorite. I recommend going in without neuron glow for the optimal experience. The Mark is unnecessary.

Coral Caves and Hanging Gardens^ — absolutely stunning regions, I loved the aesthetics and the level design. They use a mechanic that I haven't really seen in any other custom regions (except Lost Cranny, kind of), and it makes for some really interesting platforming. Hanging Gardens in particular also has some fascinating geometry, which I won't elaborate on because it's a delight to discover on your own! I will say though that Coral Caves in particular is definitely a little more difficult than some of the other regions on this list, but it's not unmanageable as Survivor. Coral Caves also boasts a unique world state for Saint!

Lush Mire and Undersea^ — technically not connected regions, though they share Shaded Citadel as a connection, but come on you have to play these two together. Hollow Knight fans in particular might enjoy these two regions; Lush Mire takes obvious influence from Greenpath and Queen's Gardens, while Undersea has a subregion that looks a lot like City of Tears. They both have gorgeous level design and are not super difficult. I would recommend having neuron glow for Undersea, and the Mark for Lush Mire. However, some people are experiencing issues with pipes breaking and trapping them in walls when Lush Mire is enabled. Mergefix I believe is one way to fix this issue? But so far there hasn't been a concrete fix.

Pilgrim's Ascent and Scorched District^ — intended to be played together and very seamless in the integration. Really cool designs for both regions, in particular PA personally. Did you like Pebbles' broader superstructure or the Exterior? Well I have good news for you. SD is also a fun mix of superstructure-like parts and more Metropolis-looking rooms, and it also has a unique end of cycle effect. Neuron glow isn't necessary for either region, but it would probably make certain parts easier for some people. Definitely have the mark for SD though.

Drainage System Plus^ — the coolest vanilla region expansion I've seen so far. It at least doubles the size of DS and adds a ton of complexity to it, as well as some secrets. It was like exploring it for the first time and it was amazing. Some paths got a little tricky to navigate, but largely I had a lot of fun, and there's generally bubble weed around where you'll need it. I believe it is also fully compatible with Saint's world? So it's technically DS+ and UG+. There may be mod conflicts with DS+ in some cases though.

Hallowed Grotto^ — a very creative concept for a region, featuring unique world changes for every, and I mean every, slugcat. Yes, even Inv. The region itself isn't very big, but that's because each slugcat has a unique version of it. Neuron glow could be nice, but definitely go in with the Mark, and I recommend going once as every slugcat. It is probably better to explore this region in expedition mode to prevent you from restarting your entire save.

Enjoyed, would recommend

Neuron Forest^ — a pretty small region, but a very lovely one! If you like iterator aesthetics and are looking for a calmer experience, Neuron Forest has plenty of that to offer. It is, however, Saint exclusive, but for what it is, it works pretty well. There are also some secrets to be found here, so make sure to check every room! (Also, the creator is on Tumblr! Vela if you see this, hiiiii)

Marshland Wastes — nifty, plant filled region that feels a bit like a more flora-filled Garbage Wastes with Shoreline elements, in a sense? It's hard to nail down. I don't know if I'd call it particularly unique (though it's been a while since I played it), but it's still really well designed and overall fun to play through. There are some really memorable moments though, and personally I really like the crossover room(s). That's just me though. Mark not necessary, neuron glow maybe helpful?

Five Pebbles Expanded* — another expanded vanilla region, which mostly combines pre-Rivulet Five Pebbles with rooms from The Rot. It's done really well though, and there are some aspects to it that are unique to Ex5P. It's nice seeing Cystic Conduit rooms in his superstructure before it rotted so badly. Also! You can enter the cell chamber! It doesn't kill you though, or at least it didn't when I played it, which was a bit disappointing. I was hoping to become fried slug. Do note that the Cystic Conduit rooms have not been changed to be more friendly for other slugcats, nor does any bubbleweed spawn, so uh... have dev tools ready.

Expanded Industrial — and another expanded vanilla region! I liked the new rooms quite a lot, the aesthetics blend in very well i think. It adds a surprising number of rooms with water in them, I will say? But i think it works out overall. The map was broken when I played, I don't know if it's been fixed, but I think it's still worth checking out. Unlike EXSU, EXHI kind of adds a bunch of rooms that don't connect as much to the vanilla rooms, as far as I've noticed, so it's like getting a new subregion of rooms rather than a mix of them. Still, it's pretty cool!

Expanded Outskirts — and yet another expanded vanilla region. It's not as extensive as DS+ I don't think? But it still adds a ton and the room designs are really neat. Certain rooms were a little strange to me? ExSU adds a lot of routing complexity in a way that I like, and now that the map is repaired, it's a lot easier to navigate. It is also fully compatible with DS+! Playing with both mods enabled gives you... three? Four gates? Into DS, which is kind of wild. It also appears I missed a new gate into Industrial Complex!

Timeless Conservatory/Quiet Gardens — a small new region connected to Pebbles' can. It's got a bunch of new screens since I last played it, as well as a subregion for Pebbles! It's very creative, I like it. Currently it's still fairly small, and it doesn't seem like there's any lore pearls in there, but it's a pretty region with some cool aesthetics. Good for a quick play. Mark not required, and I went in with neuron glow but the glow seems to be forcibly disabled in certain rooms?

Enjoyed, wouldn't readily recommend

Lavish Knack — this one's weird. It's a pack of several custom regions, all interconnected, but when I played it only one of them had full backgrounds and foregrounds. The rest were very... bare. It was kind of funny though. Some of the design choices are also a little peculiar, though thankfully, not typically in a way that makes platforming or traversal difficult. It did have one specific mechanic that I really liked, some strange pipe launching thing, but it was used only in one spot. Most of my enjoyment was from baffled laughter at how this region was designed admittedly. I wouldn't call it a bad region, it's just a little funny going through it at times. The Mark won't be necessary for Lavish Knack, though neuron glow might help in some parts of it.

Aerial Arrays*^ — this one will ah... not be a favorite of many people, I think. I found it interesting, and I enjoyed the platforming, generally, but. Um. It is. Pretty cursed. In several ways, and in ways that a lot of people won't like. Some of the camera transitions are a little rough, some of the design choices are a little... peculiar, and some tiles are a little bare in a way that's a little noticeable if you're really looking at the aesthetics, but considering this is the dev's first region? It's pretty damn impressive. It's pretty well made too, imo. It also boasts a surprising number of unique pearls, two of which uh. Are pretending to be white pearls. I'll... leave that for you to figure out. Do note that some parts of Aerial Arrays are bugged right now, but I've given the dev my feedback and they'll be pushing a hotfix for bugs soon. The Mark is not necessary, and you can skip grabbing a neuron since there's neurons in Aerial Arrays.

Washroom — rather small region, but it was pretty neat. There's not much to it, but I think it achieves its purpose well. It made me feel like laundry as I was going through it. A surprising amount of worm grass was in the region though. Mark and neuron glow not necessary.

Lost Cranny — possibly the smallest region available at the moment, but considering it was made in just three hours, I say it's pretty damn impressive. The map was unfortunately broken when I played and I'm not sure if it'll ever be fixed, but truthfully the region is like. 8 rooms? So. It's hard to get lost anyways. Short and sweet, imo. Could be worth looking at, and Balagaga said the region might get expanded if people are interested, which could be interesting. Also, this region is Monk exclusive.

Did not like, would not recommend

Expanded Leg — full disclosure, this is mostly a me thing, but ExLeg was eh. I already don't like the Leg, so I don't know why I went into it expecting I might enjoy it. (I do know. It's because of PA.) It's just... Leg. But the other side of it. I will say though that some of the platforming in ExLeg feels even less clear than in the vanilla Leg? But maybe that's a skill issue on my part, I dunno. If you like the Leg you might like ExLeg, but I wasn't a fan personally.

The Tower (not the Daszombes one) — this one wasn't particularly interesting to me. It was basically just pole hell, and some of the design was... eh? The camera transitions were also a bit jank imo. Very much not my thing. Some rooms were pretty though, and it's also the dev's first region, so I have to cut them some slack.

Honorable mentions

Fortunate Development — not fully a region mod, but it cleans up the rot from all of Pebbles' superstructure. It was bittersweet to play through this, and I enjoyed it, but ultimately it's just Pebbles. Still worth checking out though imo. I don't think this one is compatible with Ex5P? I'm not sure though.

The Tower (the Daszombes one) — I actually have not watched most of Das' content, and certainly not the Iterator Logs, so I was very out of my depth when playing through this. it seems interesting, I just have no context for any of it. It was heavily unfinished when I played it though; one room would be fully designed, with foreground decor and lighting and stuff, and then if you go through a pipe, you end up in a bare room with literally nothing but the geometry. It was jarring, but also clearly unfinished, so I can't judge it too hard. If you like Das' stuff, you might be interested in this.

Additional notes

* These regions have some fairly intense flashing in some parts:

The Underhang-like section of HR has electrical storms like vanilla Underhang, but they're far more intense and far more constant than what Underhang gets. It also has a pretty strong particle effect in a good bunch of rooms; it made my game lag in some of them. Honestly HR just has a lot of eyestrain-y graphics in general, which is a huge shame because it’s basically my only complaint about it.

Ex5P has Primary Cortex rooms that still feature the (harmless) green lightning, and that too can get pretty flashy.

Aerial Arrays' upper part is full of slug zappers. Yes, seriously. They flicker on and off. If you dislike RTA because of the visual flashing effect, you'll want to avoid playing Aerial Arrays, because they're unavoidable.

Stormy Coast is, well. Very stormy. There's lightning effects in most outdoor rooms, and they're unavoidable.

None of these mods have a config menu to reduce or disable the flash effects, so be careful if you're sensitive to flashing. The mod No More Flashes may help with some of these, but not all.

^ There is at least one unique lore pearl in this region.

Note that Undersea's pearls currently do not give the correct dialogue. Wrayk (the dev) has been notified of the issue, though fixing this hasn't been a priority for him as of late. Additionally, any Saint timeline pearls are currently unreadable by Moon, but the dialogue is available on the mods wiki(!).

& The review for this region is currently outdated, due to there having been an update to the mod since I wrote the review.

[sweetestpopcorn]

Hi, hope you're well.

I've started re-reading your fic from the beginning and I love the scene with Rhaenyra and Mysaria.

Do you think anything would be different between Daemon and Rhaenyra had his child (son? Idk if them having a son is canon or not) with Mysaria lived? Rhaenyra is clearly rather possessive, and while in canon she seems to be a good stepmother to Baela and Rhaena, idk how much she'd like Daemon having a little person who is a permanent attachment to Mysaria around.

Thanks!

Hi there ❤️

Thank you for the wishes, I hope you are well too.

Let me begin with a HUGE apology for having taken so f_cking long to answer, but I really was a bit overwhelmed and struggling with updates so I had to take a step back and prioritise the writing over the asks... but I'm back 😊

Then, I hope you are enjoying the fic ❤️ and thank you for the beyond kind words.

Now unto the ask itself, so it is canon yes that Daemon impregnated Mysaria during the time they spent in Dragonstone (when Rhaenyra was a child of 8 years, all important details), and that he gave her a dragon egg. When Viserys found out he commanded Daemon to return to his wife in the Vale under penalty of being considered a traitor - which he did - and he also commanded Mysaria to return to Lys and leave the egg behind- which she also did. All of these things are canon. The parts I have added - and that we have no information about - is how far along Mysaria was, if the baby was a boy or a girl, and what they planned on naming the child. But the child indeed existed and died during a storm in the sea, when Mysaria was sailing to Lys - also canon.

How that could have changed my story (and even canon)... hum... I think at around 111 AC and 112 AC it would have made little difference. Daemon was 30/31, and a married man at that. Rhaenyra knew that he had had women (since he had no issues consummating things), and it was not at all that unusual for men to have bastards in asoiaf. Just like she overlooked his wife and just figured he could set that marriage aside, I think it's fair to say she would overlooked his potential bastard child as well, just as long that as Rhea Royce, it was kept away from her. Which without a doubt Daemon would have done. He was no fool, and if you haven't read the books - I highly recommend them, if you don't wan't the whole story you can just go to "The Rogue Prince" and "The Princess and the Queen" novellas - you wouldn't know, but his seduction of Rhaenyra was flawless I would say - minus the getting caught part. He spent his entire days with her, gave her countless gifts and praises, made her laugh, read poetry to her... you know, the kind of things almost every women on the asoiaf universe - very much including canon Rhaenyra - would swoon over -> and no these weren't rumours they were facts.

I don't think someone as skilled as Daemon would dare to bring up any subject to Rhaenyra's attention that could displease her or make him fall from her grace. It's clear in the books he came back to King's Landing on a mission - get the girl or get exiled trying.

Later on, and I'll just focus on my AU's case to keep this briefer and less complicated, she would definitely be highly displeased if she felt like actually his bastard child was a big part of his life, and most of all, if that was taking away from any time he spent on her and their actual children.

I agree with you that in canon Baela and Rhaena were a particular case. For once, we know that Rhaenyra and Laena were friends and Laena was also dead, so she posed no threat to Rhaenyra. Then, the two were girls, while her children with Daemon were the sons he waited so long for, doesn't take a genius to figure which of them Daemon would have been closer to and would have preferred. And then, if we have a positive view of Rhaenyra, we could even say that she didn't want to be to Baela and Rhaena what Alicent had been to her - and I subscribe to this view but I'm biased.

We do see Rhaenyra having no such friendly thoughts at the mere mention of Daemon having a son with Nettles, and honestly, who could blame her? Not anyone with half a working brain I would say.

Going back to how she would feel about a child between Daemon and Mysaria, I would say maybe something in between. She would make no attempt to have any such relationship with him, but I also don't think she would be irrational enough to expect Daemon to pretend like this child, who he clearly cared about didn't exist, so likely, as long as it wasn't brought up and she knew as little as possible, she might tolerate it. But I think that's as good as it would ever get. Definitely, however, I think Alicent would stay on the back - or on the front - of her mind in not wanting to turn into some Karen making her stepchild's life into hell, though neither would she want to be like she was to Baela and Rhaena in canon - not that we know many details, but Baela's loyalty to Rhaenyra's cause speaks volumes, as does Rhaena's stay in the Vale.

Nonetheless, no doubt that this would add to her dislike of Mysaria, and going back on my take of only speaking about my AU, I doubt Rhaenyra would have been ok with Daemon taking to Mysaria's bed again. Like I have previously argued, I believe she did because Mysaria at the time was no threat. Pretty much - and apologies for the very direct language - she was a h0le for Daemon to use since Rhaenyra was not in the mood and that was it. But being mother to his first child... ouch... yeah I don't see that flying with Rhaenyra, not even DanceRhaenyra because as we saw with Nettles, a threat of actually losing Daemon was enough to turn Rhaenyra from - obsessed with the war - to - obsessed with cutting a b:tch.

And people say that Rhaenyra didn't love Daemon and that they had a political marriage.

Anyway, I hope I answered your ask and sorry again I took so long ❤️ all the best to you!