#I love her 80s design its so silly

[ladylylla]

Lady Lylla nation we ride at dawn

[sweetpandorabox]

Blood Purity - Draco Malfoy x Female Reader (Part 1)

⋆ ˚｡ ⋆୨sweetpandorabox୧⋆ ˚｡ ⋆

⋘ 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑎…⋙

Synopsis: Keeping your family's Blood Purity and having high values when it comes to Intelligence and wisdom, is a duty and a sacred tradition all your family members of all generations have to follow. Getting sorted into Ravenclaw proving your worth, and following in your ancestor's footsteps, and keeping an Outstanding grade all the way through in Hogwarts kept your parents happy and proud, but not yet joyful. After 7 years of your Hogwarts journey coming to an end, they expect you to marry into a powerful pure-blooded family. As they take matters into their own hands your parents arranged a marriage for you based on a deal, to a boy who came from a powerful and pure-blooded family who you've despised for years.

Pairing: Draco Malfoy x Female Reader

Story Setting: The story is set in the year the 2000s, 2 years after the Battle of Hogwarts takes place, you and Draco were born in the 80s which would make the two of you around 20 years old in this Fanfiction. (anything in italic and bolded is a flashback scene btw)

Terms 📖:

Y/N - Your name

Y/H/C - Your hair color

Y/E/C - Your eye color

Warnings⚠️: Forced Proximity, Arguments, Bullying, Swearing and Slight Sexual Themes.

A/N: Hey cuties, sorry I've been gone for a while but I'm finally back, I wanted to start writing for Draco Malfoy because I actually love him, he's my 2nd Favorite Harry Potter boy and thought a forced proximity trope would be good and it would fit so well with the life he had in the Harry Potter books, but yeah I hope you enjoy this one I'm not used to writing something with a darker atmosphere and a more mature fanfiction here but I'm trying lol. love you. xx

Word Count: 1,959

The warm fireplace distributes its warm heat throughout the Malfoy Manor's dining hall, saving you from the cool winds of spring outdoors. The sounds of a crackling fire, quiet chatters, and sounds of cutlery being used against the delicate china plates plastered with grey floral designs played harmonically in your ear as you kept your eyes glued down on your plate of food, putting on a somewhat neutral face toying around with the contains you've been served without taking a single bite. "Y/N, at around 11pm tomorrow, you'll have to meet me and Narcissa at Sinclair's Weddings at Diagon Alley, it's for your dress fitting" your mother mentioned with a proud smile peeking through her lips, you raised your head up, and face to your right with a confused look watching your Mother takes a bite of her food, "But Mother, we've only been engaged for two weeks?" you asked with suspense trailing behind your voice, "Oh don't be silly Y/N, you and Draco are perfect for each other, it isn't worth waiting any longer," she replies sharing a smile with Narcissa from across the table as Narcissa did vise versa, "And besides everything has been taken care off, like the official date, venue, the food, the guest. You and Draco will love it" she continued. As silence roams back to the dinner table everyone continues to eat, you take a moment to pause and shift your gaze across the table to the blonde boy, focusing his pair of striking grey eyes solely on his food keeping his mouth shut and his head low.

You watched as he eyed down his food, showing no interest in anyone else taking a mouthful bite. Draco Lucius Malfoy goes far beyond your earliest memories of Hogwarts, known to be a bully and a Slytherin prince he paints a picture of himself as a snob and vile evil person, yet cowardice who enjoys taunting others for his own amusement, he gets anything and everything he wants no matter the circumstances as well. You kept to yourself most of the time during your Hogwarts years as a quiet and reserved Ravenclaw, having friends from all 4 houses and not favoring one over the other, you treated everybody equally, overlooking their blood status despite your family's belief, in 4th year however you've taken fond of Ronald Weasley who came from a pure-blooded yet poor family, you started dating him for 2 years but you don't find it easy in the slightest, as constant tournament form Draco swarms over you and Ron, he'd make snarky comments about you and the blood traitor as he calls him. Regular filthy stares came from Draco if you and Ron would show any amount of affection towards each other, because if it wasn't the harsh/shameful comments or filthy stares, Draco always finds another way to break whatever the two of you had.

"So I take it you'll be coming to my manor tomorrow night, make sure you put on that royal blue slip-on dress you always wear, you know the one with the sweetheart neckline, I find it quite alluring" Draco commented as he circle you with his minions chuckling, giving you a smirk and a playful wink. Ron stares in confusion between the two of you, realizing what had just happened you hold on to Ron's wrist, dragging him away quickly from the trio making sure you master up the dirtiest look you can give to the blonde boy, bumping his shoulder as you walk past fiercely drowning the sounds of wicked laughter behind you down. After the past event, Ron grew suspicious and demanded answers to what Draco meant earlier, not wanting to argue with your then-boyfriend you had no choice but to reveal a secret that nobody else knew about, "Ron, please just listen to me... The Malfoys and The Callahan have always been a close-knit group due to their mutual obsession over blood purity. Malfoy's mother and mine happen to be best of friends ever since their Hogwarts years, we have dinner parties with the Malfoys once every fortnight, that's all he meant by that...and since Christmas break is coming up, Draco and I will be home so it seems to be the perfect opportunity to have one in awhile... that's all I promise," you pleaded with guilt. Learning that information made Ron angry, as he decided to keep himself from you for days after that.

3 days have passed since Ron has last spoken to you, growing tired of his ignorance, you march up to the Slytherin table angrily, you scan the Slytherin table for a bleach-blonde head full of hair, and as you spot him you dash right over "Can I talk to you for a minute?" You ask, crossing your arm in frustration, matching the facial expression you displayed. Draco smirks, wasting no time and trails behind you as he leaves his group of unbothered Slytherins. You both settled outside the quiet hallway, leaving the great hall behind before you converse, "Malfoy, I really don't appreciate the comment you made 3 days ago... I mean, what are you honestly trying to do? Can't you see I'm happy?" you huffed out in frustration looking up at the tall figure, as his grey eyes pierced down at your small frame, he paused taken aback by your frustration before scoffing "What am I trying to do?... What am I trying to do? you're really asking that Callahan? he's a blood traitor. You can do so much better than that filthy Gryffindor... when are you going to realize your family would never accept him for who he is" he commented, without realizing how close he was getting to you, you backed up into the stone-cold wall, keeping eye contact with him, as he rests one of his hand on the wall by your head pinning you down.

Tensions spike up high between the two of you as your body comes closer and closer together. "When are you going to realize that your happiness could be right in front of you this whole time?" Draco blurted leaning his soft face closer to you and tilting his head, your cheek changed its shade into crimson red before you broke eye contact hearing footsteps walking away to your left cutting the tight tension, you watched as your loving boyfriend stormed away from what he'd seen, You panicked as he kept going never to look back at you, "Ron...Ron come back" you pleaded, pushing Draco away from you as you run after the Weasley boy leaving Malfoy on his own. The next day Ron breaks it off with you quick, for the very first time you feel as though you aren't worthy of any happiness as your heartbreak drives you into despair, you miss out on meals, frequently find yourself sobbing, and eventually watch as Ron fell in love with Hermione, from that day on you swore to yourself that you despise and hated Draco Malfoy and you will never change your mind about him. The sudden flashback made you fidgety as you smoothed out your old silky royal blue, slip-on dress. The one you've had since you were a teenager not having grown much physically making it fit you like a glove. After dinner has ended, you join your family in expressing their gratitude for the delicious meal and farewells to the Malfoys, completely ignoring Draco as he seems to do with you anyway. You embrace your future mother-in-law Narcissa warmly as she does vice versa and give your future father-in-law Lucious a firm yet polite smile as he smiles back and nods to show his understanding.

Dobby the house elf clicked his finger towards the grand, wooden double door to open it revealing an exit point for you, and your parents finally departing away from the Malfoy manor as you Apparate back to your own mansion, located not far from your fiancé's, ending the night in a blur as you quickly try and sleep it off in order to mentally prepare yourself for the dress fitting your mother and your mother in law has so wonderfully booked and plan. After the battle of Hogwarts took place in 1998 you went back to Hogwarts to finish your 7th year around the same time as Hermione Granger did, making sure you have all the qualifications needed to find the best job that the Wizarding World offers, even if a job isn't necessary for you to have because of the amount money your family has inherited over generations. During the battle of Hogwarts, you weren't actually present at all, since Narcissa warns your mother about the secret attack and plans that the Dark Lord schemes for Potter and how dangerous this war is, so she advised your mother to keep you home and not let you return for your 7th year, and although Narcissa isn't supportive of the Dark Lord at all she is supportive of her Husband and Son, so she has to be present there, but it doesn't mean she can't warn her best friend, your mother, and her family to stay safe and not partake in the war whatsoever and to let it pass you. So that's what your mother and father agreed on doing, keeping you home after explaining the circumstances to you.

Your eyes started to glimmer as salty tears started to fog up your vision, you were distraught by the news and realized that the people you care about over at Hogwarts like your friends and some of the professors who had made a real impact on you might potentially lose their lives over this war. You wanted to help badly, you wanted to be there to protect the ones you care about, but your parents will never allow it as they fear the worst and might end up losing their one and only child, so you slump and cry over it for days in your grand mansion until you've heard the news a week later that most people have survived the war including the Malfoy's and that the Dark Lord was finally conquered. It took a while, but Hogwarts was rebuilt soon after that, and once September rolled back around Hogwarts was ready to bring in young witches and wizards who were ready to embark on their early education, and even welcome those who were not able to finish their last year back with open arms. You studied hard and kept very much focused on all your classes to the point where your NEWT marks show only Outstanding grades all across, simply showering your parents with great pride and joy to have you as their daughter. This time around you sort of hated the idea of leaving school after graduating, Hogwarts was a nicer and much simpler place without some knucklehead like Draco Malfoy running around taunting people or trying to pull your pisser almost every day to annoy and ruin your schooling experience.

You enjoyed your time at Hogwarts without him, but you do tend to wonder if he was alright, or how he's doing or coping after the war. Your mother and father haven't gotten in touch with the Malfoy for a couple of months now as they went into hiding in their own mansion and kept quiet to themselves, laying low in order to keep them from trouble with the Ministry as they potentially find out the ties that the Malfoy family had with the Dark Lord, so for a while, there weren't many connections between the Callahan's and the Malfoy's, a period of time where you enjoyed life as it is because the one person you truly despise and hated is gone from your life, just like you wanted it too.

Taglist : @igncrantbliss @milivanili99 @nighttimemoonlover @el-de-phi

!Click here for part 2!

[jeremy-ken-anderson]

The Ascent of Tataru

When Tataru Taru was created, a WoW-led ideology was still huge in the MMO space. The idea that an MMO could - indeed, should attempt to - tell a story well was still kind of laughable. You had games attempting it (Guild Wars made a genuine attempt, with some hits and misses in its storytelling and some glaring technical limitations keeping it from greatness both in storytelling and in general appeal). MMOs were broadly thought to be sandboxes with stories in them, and even the story-heaviest of the MMOs was telling its tales in the shadow of WoW. (FFXIV’s team has been very open about their admiration for WoW as a game)

This led to characters you weren’t supposed to get quite so attached to, and also probably led to slightly less work going into the design and characterization and emotes and idiosyncrasies.

Tataru was one of FFXIV’s lamentable “nothing characters” on release. Like Minfilia she was there and she had a personality, kind of, but you didn’t have a sense of what her deal was. Like, what kind of joke would she always laugh at? You knew she spooked easily - a trait she shared with one of the other diminutive Lalafell you’d met - and that she...was a receptionist. But if you’ve had receptionist friends you also know that if you only see them on the job you’ve basically never met them.

At the end of ARR and lead-in to Heavensward, she expresses herself. Her characterization is still pretty bland - she wants to be less useless so she tries to become a mage, it doesn’t work out, and she contents herself with gathering pearls on the beach to make a bit of jewelry for her boss.

(Side Note: I absolutely love the sidequest where you find out Tataru has possibly the most aether of any mortal being, sustaining a Carbuncle for months on end and at greater distance than most trained Summoners can manage. It’s exactly the kind of point designed to make powerfologists theorize that she’s actually the Most Powerful in FFXIV in spite of that being extremely silly)

But really the point where she comes into her own is in Heavensward when she makes Alphinaud’s clothes. This is the point where we really see what she’s growing into. She isn’t attempting to be a mighty warrior, but at this point she’s proven - and will continue to prove - that she is extremely good at her job.

In Endwalker, by the end of the whole base story, you’re level 90, and I like to think Tataru Taru is also a Level 90 Receptionist.

She wears it well. Some Level 90 Receptionist feats: She is the receptionist for a secret society. She is running a multinational business conglomerate as a side hustle. When she feels you deserve a break, a place you can get away from your worries? She buys you a goddamn island. Her financial acumen pays for the scene in which you gather artisans and merchants from the world over for a world-saving project.

[EDIT: I have been reminded in the tags that even before she hits level 90 Receptionist she blackmails a pirate to get the scions a free ride across the ocean. Also from the tags I figured out the daily quest she used to grind from 80-90 in Receptionist: She was wrangling ESTINIEN (He’s the Azure Dragoon!) the whole time]

I don’t know. I just really appreciate the way they have her become Extremely Powerful but in a way that doesn’t have to involve swords or spells.

[fandomsandfeminism]

So, that new Gunbuster Dub

Rewatched Gunbuster yesterday- this time with it's sparkly new dub!

And...this anime is such an experience, honestly.

Like, as someone who has seen a LOT of Gainax and Trigger shows, this show as Anno's directorial debut is super interesting. You can see the DNA of Evangelion (and like, all of Gainax and Trigger's mech shows- I see a lot of Gurren Lagann in it) in there.

Also, the "Science Lesson" shorts at the end are just hilarious. Like Anno couldn't figure out a way to wildly over explain the both REAL and SUPER FAKE science shit, so....here we are! Also, it's exactly what Rebecca Sugar did to exposition dump in Steven Universe, I love it. Also, look at these 80s chibis!

It's incredibly 80s. The space bug design is very Nausicaa (Anno had worked on Nausicaa previously.) One of the girls is from the Soviet Union despite the show starting in the 2020s, which is great. The fact that it's little "Aim for the Top!" catchphrase is a weird mash up of a beloved tennis anime (Aim for the Ace!) and Top Gun is wild. The art and the music is just delightful.

There sheer Runtime to Exposed Nipple ratio is off the charts, and its impact on the infamous anime boob jiggle trend is....notable. It's not even really comical the way that Gainax/Trigger fanservice tends to be? It's just...sometimes conversations happen while the girls are topless. And it's definitely horny, but in a more... subdued/realistic way than something like Kill la Kill.

The fact that the final episode is in black and white might just be an artsy choice, but the fact that the entire climactic space battle is just fucking scans of the storyboards!? Did we spend the entire space battle animation budget on the boob jiggles? How did this effectively happen to TWO of Anno's robot shows?!

But despite all the silliness- the actual like...themes explored in this show are *so interesting.* The way the time dilation is used to explore the sacrifices and the trauma? So often, we see the "soldiers return as changed men to an unchanged home" ala Lord of the Rings. But Gunbuster says "the soldiers, these events still incredibly fresh and hurting, return to a home that has moved on without them" and it hurts SO HARD. Noriko is forever a teenager, and every time she is able to touch base back home she has drifted further and further out of synch with her friends and the life she could have had. First by just a few months, then years, then...well.

It's so much more interesting and emotionally resonant than it has any right to be when the first episode has mechs doing fucking jump rope while Tom Cruise Coach shouts at them through a megaphone.

[yumedoca]

The Visual Genius Behind UY2022 [Character Designs]- An Analysis 🧐 (Long Post)

Hai there, hope you’re having a great day! Today on ‘Yuca Analyzes Silly Things (For No Reason)’, we’ll be talking about how the remake uses different methods and techniques to achieve the fun aesthetic it’s known for as well as analyzing character designs and colors!

Note: There’s a lot to talk about when it comes to this topic, so I might not be able to cover ‘everything’, So I’m only analyzing sub- topics which comes to mind. And more importantly this is the first part of the analysis, since I had to split it because of how long it is and Tumblr only allows 30 images per post, so yeah.

With all of that aside, let’s begin!

First, We’ll divide the analysis into sections to make it easier to understand and explain, for this part we’ll be talking about:

Naoyuki Asano and Colors

Lum’s Multicolor Hair

Character’s Designs

Conclusion (for now)

Naoyuki Asano and Colors We start off with Naoyuki Asano, who is the Character Designer as well as Chief Animation Director (for the first ED, as well as episodes 1- 13) for the remake. As in the reason the remake looks so bright and colorful and the characters is mostly because of him! Actually, this isn’t his first time working on a retro revival which he gave fun and aesthetic designs, since he’s actually done work as a Character Designer on Osomatsu-San as well…

(Fun fact: Takahashi has stated that she has enjoyed his work on Osomatsu-San! But if he was chosen to design for UY specifically because of his work on this show has never been stated). Anyways, there’s a difference in how this remake is colored compared to most standard anime, on the topic of standard anime coloring, let’s look at the ‘Obstacle Course Swim Meet’ since it was first time Urusei Yatsura’s been animated with digital animation (if you don’t count the pachinko machine’s and stuff):

Now, don’t get me wrong, I LOVE THIS OVA. Not only does it adapt three chapters into one episode, plus it’s own original material, but it also manages to capture the perfect essence of UY. This OVA is basically UY in a nutshell, lol. Storywise it’s hilarious, as to be expected as special created for the 2008 anniversary, but there’s one thing I didn’t like about this OVA, and that is… the colors. Like, how to put it? Boring? Yep, that’s it. The colors are the ones which are usually used in that specific era and were also used for Inuyasha (The Final Act) and Ranma 1/2 (Like this one, OVA 2008) and these colors (or atleast similar ones) were used in other anime at the time. It’s a natural choice they picked cuz Sunrise was doing Inuyasha at the time. But boy do I wish these could be better, It’s like a case of this is how it is because that was the only option at the time, but from a modern point of view it could be made much better, and that’s exactly why UY2022 is such a visual gem!

Lum’s Multicolor Hair Of course, we can’t do a visual analysis on the remake if we don’t talk about what caught all our eyes first: Lum, or more specifically her new design. The fist aspect of her design we’ll be talking about is her hair. Lum’s ever changing iridescent hair has always been one of the most solid parts of her manga design, if you don’t count the bikini that is. But even though it was a staple of her design, when the manga was getting its anime adaptation, they were unable to animate Lum’s hair with it’s original look because of how difficult it was at the time with the restrictions when it came to 80’s animation, so instead they opted to choose a different color, something more grounded instead of the multi rainbow one and they chose dark green since that’s the color they chose for ten and they thought the color balanced well with the yellow in Lum’s design. And because of that most media depictions showed Lum with green hair and because of how more popular the anime is than the manga, her green hair became more well known then the manga’s iridescent color. Which brings us to now. For the remake they opted to give Lum the green(-ish blue for more of a standout color I guess…) hair, but here her hair changes color like in the manga, but here it depends on power, mood and surroundings. Here’s almost all of the different hair changes I managed to find in the remake:

You can also see how her hair is layered with different or similar colors just even in one photo (not the Otoko Kumino one since she’s pretending to be a human), this is something which is inherited and applies to everyone in from the maternal side of her family by the way (as in her, her mom, ten and his mom). However since everyone sans Lum’s hair’s color doesn’t change, the only difference in the layered colors is that they’re more or less darker than the base color. Also to note is that there are some official art which gives her more Iridescent colors from the manga:

And finally her hair changes color rapidly while electrocution…

Then there’s her eyes, Lum’s eyes are colored bright green in the manga, most of the time that is, other times it’s colored dark green, blue or even yellow, so the remake’s colors aren’t that far fetched. Same for her eyeshadow. (Also her bikini’s a bit different as well in the sense her tiger stripes are limited and she also has string which holds it whereas she had no such thing in the manga. This isn’t a big change either, but I just wanted to point it out. I do prefer the manga’s though). That’s all for Lum, Now we can move onto the rest of the characters!

Character’s Designs The character design in general is a lot cuter (like the round faces and all) than the manga’s artsyle, like the manga’s artsyle is cute af, but when the characters are drawn in a clearer and with closer shot they tend to look more elegant (or masculine if we’re talking about the guys). I tend to think of the artsyle as a combination of UY’s early artsyle and it’s final artsyle. It also kinda reminds me of how Takahashi draws the characters in smaller panels.

‘My Man, his Gremlin gf, his cute ex, and the rich dude who stole his ex’

I also realized that the characters hair highlights were based of RT’s art as well, she doesn’t always give her characters highlights, but when she does, they look like…

‘See how the outer highlights look like each other??’

Oh, and I should also state the the highlight change color depending on the surroundings as well similar to Lum’s hair. Now we’ll talk about the different method for colors used to determine the character’s hair:

Characters like Ataru and Sakura have their hair colored as their most notable color (notable cuz of the coloring in the 80’s anime), Like Ataru’s hair in the manga is brown, but I’m pretty sure Sakura’s is black.

Characters like Shinobu and Mendo have their standard hair colors as well, brown and black (which are also their manga hair colors as well), but both are tinted with other colors, for Shinobu it’s a tint of (purplish) pink and Mendo has a tint of dark blue, AKA the most used colors when Takahashi gives them abstract colors for their hair in official manga art:

See?

Characters like Ran and Rei have their manga colors, but as you can see their highlights are colors which sticks out more compared to their actual hair colors.

And Characters like Benten have their alternative hair color from the manga instead of her actual hair color (In the manga, it’s black except when Takahashi’s going abstract, then it’s red). I think there’s also the option to use a random abstractly tinted color or just a random abstract color in general, like for Ryoko, but it’s used very rarely it seems. That’s really all the different types of hair color decisions made in the remake, everything I can think of that is (idk if I missed anything and sorry if I did). The decisions for the eye colors are really more according to what would suit them, and the colors chosen are different colors, some have regular Japanese eye colors like brown (like Ataru and Sakura), some have colors which the average Japanese doesn’t have (like Shinobu and Mendo). The aliens’ eyes also have two differences from the humans’ eyes…

The Aliens…

The Humans…

First, The aliens eyes are colors which are realistically impossible like ‘Hot Pink + Blue’ or ‘Bright Orange + Yellow’ meanwhile the humans have colors which are realistically possible. And second, the aliens have an extra layer of color surrounding their pupils, while the humans do not. An extra thing I want to point out is that Tobimaro’s stars are yellow instead of white, which I found kinda weird since what they were supposed to reference were originally white, but I guess these guys thought it would stand out more or something. Anyways, that’s it for the eyes! Now we’ll talk about skin and clothes. For skin color almost every character is the same as their manga counterpart except for I think Tsubame and Tobimaro, who are noticeably a bit more tan (but I don’t really care cuz somehow they look more handsomer because of that, also Tsubame doesn’t look all that alike to Godai now). As for the clothes it’s a combination of the manga’s and og anime’s colors like the ribbon on the sailor suits are colored like in the og anime instead of plain in the manga, Benten’s outfit is red in the anime instead of the steel color from the manga, The Tomobiki school uniform is like it’s manga counterpart with the black jacket and the shirt instead of the og anime’s blue jacket and random t-shirts and so on… We’ll end this entire part by appreciating how well the remake adapted Oyuki and everything related to her (like she has her actual ice hair? ice one piece? more icicles on her hair? All like the manga instead of the injustice they did to her in the og anime? Hell yea!)

(Okay I have to say she does get ice hair later on in the 80’s version but it’s clearly purple and kinda soft like actual hair, and not much like ice minus a few blocky lines and little glazing, I still prefer the remake though. Also the 2008 OVA gives her ice hair as well but it’s no where near pretty as this one.)

Conclusion (for now) For now we’ll have to stop here since I’ve hit my image limit. I hope I’ll be able to complete this with the next part. The character designs for the remake is very well thought out and a lot of people probably watched the remake because of the character designs. I apologize if I’ve overlooked anything or made any mistakes. If you have any doubts or questions about this analysis feel free to send an ask and if you want me to do an analysis about other characters, feel free to send an ask for that as well (but once I’m done with the next part as well as an analysis on another character). You can check out my other analysis on my analysis tag.  And finally, likes are appreciated and reblogs are even more appreciated (seriously, please reblog this so more people can see this post, since I spent a lot of time on this!!). Hope you have a great day ahead!! 💕

[harveyb-wabbit92]

[Spark doll au}

R/n, reaches her tranquil rage point during an alien invasion:  Excuse me, I've been washing your blood off my clothes so I'm a little late to the conversation. Did you say the prisoner is awake?

Neo: For now, but I've got a fiver that says Belial or B/r(Belial's reader) rips his spine out within the hour.

21: I'll take those odds.

R/n: I see. If you don't mind, do you think I could have a few minutes alone with him?

Belial: Ha, you gonna give him a band aid for every beating he gets?

R/n: Well if you recall, him and his little army buddies turned every one of my friends hiding out in that diner into piles of ash. Anyone sick enough to do something like that would almost certainly benefit from a uh...checkup.~

[Everyone looks at each other in confusion. Cut to R/n and the thug inside the temporary base.]

Thug, tauntingly: Ooh, What’s the matter? Did the big bad Ultras get all tuckered out?

R/n: Do you know where we are?

Thug: Huh?

R/n: This is a remote research facility designed to study the surrounding wildlife. I volunteered at one just like it at grad school. Its got a laboratory, an incinerator and oodles of state of the art surgical equipment. Would you like to see them?

[Cut to Belial. B/r, Taro, Neo, 80, 21 and Tregear standing outside the base whilst listening to the tortured screams of the thug; with various equipment noises going off as R/n cheerfully sings opera.]

Neos, nervously: Sir... I’m scared.

80: Neos, we're all scared. …except for him. 

Taro: Yeah, I don't think I've ever seen Tregear look so... enamored.

[Everyone looks at Tregear who looked like a love sick puppy. He had no idea such a small woman was capable of such violence. The noises stop and R/n emerges from the base.]

R/n, wiping her bloody hands with a hanky: (cheerfully) He wouldn't give me his name. Buuut, he's an ex-Magma army grunt and he was kind enough to hand over the coordinates to a nearby radio jamming tower.

21: You're kidding.

R/n: No silly, I'm Reader! Ha! Bad joke.

B/r: Alright, think he’s in a position to answer a few more questions?

R/n: Oh absolutely!~ (lowers voice) Lemme just go put him back together.~

[thebleedingeffect]

oh i am so about to become an unskippable cutscene. ok so

my zeldaverse concept is that they all get stuck in the time AFTER the golden goddesses made hyrule but BEFORE hylias creation. each zelda has a varying amount of time since their adventure ended (i.e. totk zelda has been back home for a little less than a month. st zelda is in the MIDDLE of her adventure. sheik only sent link back to her time a week ago. its been 9 months since midna left tp zelda. zelda i zel's adventure ended 5 years ago and her great aunt from zelda ii ended one year ago. etc etc). the idea is that they all wanna get home, so they decide to try and use the triforce, but none of them know which one would be Worthy of it (as in having power wisdom courage). they go to termina [sksw zeldas idea. shes reaaaally trying not to let on shes hylia but still wants to be helpful] bc the fierce deity is their best shot at knowing which one can do it. FD (who appears as their links to each one of them respectively as to "present as something theyre more familiar with." ie botw zelda sees botw link, tp zel sees tp link, etc etc. they end up changing into malon for sheik bc hes still got baggage over link and impa and anyone else so FD chooses someone he barely knows instead.)

anyways FD tells them that all of them are capable of it if they focus in but their best bets are sheik, botw zelda, tetra, and hilda + albw zelda if they do it together (one from each branch of the timeline. kind of). so the gang splits off to find the triforce and erm yeah 🕺💃

also theres two oot zeldas. one for the adult timeline (sheik) and one for the child timeline, who never knew the horrors of war and got to know oot link unlike sheik. oops.

anyways herez my names wooooo (also they all chose them themselves hehe)

BOTW/TOTK - Coreulea (part of the scientific name of wild blueheart tulips which are the closest visually to silent princesses irl, so. shes named after her fav flower...)

OOT (ADULT) - Sheik (later Sage. this zelda awoke as the leader of the sages while the other oot zelda did not have to.)

OOT (CHILD) - Coda (the part of a song where you go back and repeat a portion you've already played before. get it. Coda says she wants something music related and Sheik is the one to suggest the name to her.)

MINISH CAP - Stonie/Quartzie (what her link calls her! used to think it was mean but shes rlly missing him so ..)

TP - Archer (bow of light. prefers to be called 'the archer' specifically if possible, lol)

ALBW - Hilda and Hue (like color. like painting. Hue liked the alliteration of their names hehe)

ALTTP - Maiden (describes herself as a maiden in game. theres more to it but ohhgh thatd require a lot of analysis and this is already so looong)

ZELDA I - Ura (in the og game u had another mode called ura zeruda after u beat the game which literally translated to "other zelda." its a little joke abt how many zeldas there are! she chose it bc its her real first name; zeldas only her middle name!)

ZELDA II - Somnia (from "insomnia." also the name her family uses to differentiate her from her great great niece. she thinks its pretty, if a little on the nose, but she cant blame her relatives for being that uncreative when shes been dead for 100 years, took the money they gave her to not claim the throne, and ran off with her boytoy lmaooo)

WW/PH - Tetra. she wanted a silly nickname too though so they will also respond to Captain

SPIRIT TRACKS - Spectra (like spectral! shes still a ghost here and has a good sense of humor abt it!)

SKSW - Lyre (another name for harp and sounds like "liar" because shes got a bit of a track record for not being entirely truthful about who she is ,,,,)

bonus zeldas who dont appear but i love them anyway:

80S CARTOON - Fresh/Freshie (MY DESIGN GIVES HER SCRUNCHIES AND LEGWARMERS💥) (AND SHE TALKS WITH 80S SLANG OK SORRY)

CDI GAMES - Gamelon

Mario Kart - Chassis [pronounced chass- ee] (Link's pitstop captain! no thats not how mk works. no i do not care <3)

SSBU - Hitbox

ok cutscene over. thank u 👍

YOOOOOOOOO your zeldaverse concept sounds so cool!! I've never even thought of the idea of time travelling to after the golden goddesses created everything but before Hylia's creation! :O that's such an interesting time period, I've never really thought about all that.....

Also them going to the fierce deity is so cool cause I have so many questions!! How does sksw Zelda know of the fierce deity? Does she have memories of him during her time as Hylia? Does fierce deity recognize her? If he does, does he willingly keep her secret from the rest of the Zelda's as he's correctly guessed that she's hiding it? How does the fierce deity correcting know of just who would be the most familiar to present as and does he know of all the Link's?

There's just so many questions and it's so funnnnnn to think about!! Also I like how he says that all of them are capable but Sheik, botw Zelda, Tetra, and Hilda are the most capable of wielding the full triforce... while sksw Zelda is right there... HMMMMMMMM........ sksw Zelda I have questions for you but I fear if I speak any of them out loud you'll combust <3333 love her though <333

The choices for all the Zelda's is so fun and cool to! I've never really thought about including both oot child and adult! I can most definitely see that being a major source of pain and angst for Sheik and I'm just super curious about Coda would react to that :o also I'm just a fan of such Zelda incarnations such as MARIO KART and SUPER SMASH BROS being involved in the middle of this.

idk that's just great to me, peak vibes, ideal even, CDi is also here SJSJJSJS

also?? These names are so so damn cute?? Genuine question, would you be okay with me using some of them? They're just that damn good but I totally understand if you would rather me not! I'm particularly in love with Coreulea for botw Zelda and Lyre for sksw Zelda <333 that's so so good and fits them so well, what da Hell.......

Also just to respond to your other ask here- I'd love to hear you talk about their personalities!! Lowkey I'm so happy that you decided to include spirit tracks Zelda, she's so underrated and amazing I love her a lot :((( and Spectra as her name?? That's so, so, I'm having a moment that's so damn CUTE

[lizardsfromspace]

Greetings, boils, ghouls, skele-thems and non-bone-ary individuals! Tonight's terror tale is called "I just finished watching Tales from the Crypt and here are my thoughts on the series". Horror pun

Season One

Season one was just six episodes, and aired in June 1989. The whole season, because the first three episodes aired on one night, which would be the case for every season but the last. This season isn't quite there yet, notably the Cryptkeeper animatronic is less expressive and the character himself is less silly.

Best Episode: "And All Through The Night". The most important episode, because it set the tone for the series (the premiere is good, but not very representative, being a crime story with a fourth-wall breaking protagonist). It's the story about a woman who kills her husband, and then finds herself stalked by a evil, killer Santa. All from the director of Back to the Future.

Honorable Mentions: "The Man Who Was Death", "Dig That Cat...He's Real Gone", "Collection Complete"

Worst Episode: idk "Lover Come Hack to Me" is p. forgettable

Season Two

Season two is a step up in length (18 episodes!), the Cryptkeeper (more expressive and more cackly), and stars (Arnold Schwarzenegger directs the second episode). It set the pattern for what the show was: a ghoulish, bloody horror anthology, done with high production values and featuring Hollywood's biggest stars and directors.

The one problem, and it's one that will haunt the rest of the show's run, is that Tales from the Crypt also features a fair chunk of non-horror crime stories, and they're pretty bland on the whole. Luckily, the show's producers know not to do them all the time...yet.

Best Episode: "Television Terror". Tales from the Crypt was rarely scary, or really trying to be. It leaned more towards "fun", and as for scare factor, well, these were adaptions of comic books designed to scare children (and even though it was a very R-rated HBO show, kids loved Tales from the Crypt, enough for it to get both a Saturday morning cartoon & a kid's game show spinoff). But "Television Terror" is one of the few episodes that actually tries for grim, serious horror, and it's the show's scariest episode. It also stars sleazy 80s talk show host Morten Downey, Jr. as a sleazy talk show host, real stretch of a role there.

Honorable Mentions: "Cutting Cards" is another of the show's best episodes; "Three's A Crowd" has one of its best dark twist endings; "For Cryin' Out Loud" features Lee Arenberg as a murderous band promoter taunted by his conscience, Sam Kinison; "Four-Sided Triangle" features Patricia Arquette as a woman in love with a scarecrow; "The Ventriloquist's Dummy" is a twist on the cliche featuring Don Rickles; "Lower Berth" is a romance between a circus freak and a cursed mummy, with a surprise twist; "Mute Witness to Murder" is one of the show's few great noir episodes; "My Brother's Keeper" is a story of Siamese twins.

Worst Episode: "Dead Right", the season premiere. Demi Moore is a gold digger who marries a man when a psychic tells her he'll inherit a large sum of money, then shortly die. There's a decent prophecy twist, but man, so much of this is devoted to showing off how gross the man she married was.

Season Three

Around season three, a spinoff called Two-Fisted Tales was proposed, which would've adapted EC Comics' pulp action & adventure stories. It was never picked up, but the pilot's segements were folded into Tales, with one in season three and two in season four.

Best Episode: "Abra Cadaver". Beau Bridges gets revenge for his brother's prank by trapping him in his own body. Great, ghoulish POV work here.

Honorable Mentions: "Carrion Death" features Kyle MacLachlan as a fugitive handcuffed to a dead cop who swallowed the key to the cuffs; "The Trap" is a crime story with a good twist; "Top Billing" features Jon Lovitz as a struggling actor who will do anything to get a part in Hamlet; "Easel Kill Ya" has Tim Roth as a starving artist turned killer; "Undertaking Palor" is a kids-on-bikes story featuring Aron Eisenberg and Ke Huy Quan; "Mournin' Mess" has the guy from Wings investigating a group helping the homeless whose name is literally GHOULS; "Yellow" is one of the Two-Fisted Tales stories, featuring Kirk Douglas as a WWI general and his son Eric as the general's cowardly son.

Worst Episode: "Spoiled". It's a soap opera parody. Enough said.

Season Four

Season four and five are the show's peak.

Best Episode: "Split Personality". Goofy horror-comedy. Joe Pesci is a con artist who pretends to be twins so he can marry a pair of twins who. Don't want to share.

Honorable Mentions: "None But The Lonely Heart" is a story of a serial murderer of old women, directed by...Tom Hanks?; "On a Dead Man's Chest" is a tale of heavy metal and moving tattoos; "Seance" is another good noir episode; "Beauty Rest" is "Top Billing" but about a beauty pageant; "What's Cookin'" stars Christopher Reeve as a chef who discovers a new source of meat; "The New Arrival" is another of the show's legitimately scary episodes, featuring child psychologist David Warner going to the home of patient Zelda Rubinstein; "Strung Along" features Donald O'Connor as a puppeteer trying to make a comeback, but is his new assistant what he appears to be?

Worst Episode: "This'll Kill Ya". This one is just...bad? It opens with a protracted rip-off HOMAGE of the 1950 noir D.O.A., before diving into a boring weird science story, and ending with a contrived twist.

Season Five

Best Episode: "Death of Some Salesmen". TIM CURRY IN THREE ROLES!

Honorable Mentions: "Forever Ambergris" features Steve Buscemi and gnarly melting efffects; "Food for Thought" is a gothic circus story with Ernie Hudson and Joan Chen; "People Who Live in Brass Hearses" features Bill Paxton and Brad Dourif as crooks trying to rob a ice cream man; "House of Horror" features Wil Wheaton as a college student being put through ghostly hazing; "Creep Course" is a tale of mummies.

Worst Episode: "Came the Dawn". It's a worse Psycho, which means an evil-alternate-personality twist. Pass.

Season Six

OOF.

Season six starts fine, with two great episodes. Then...

OOF.

The show suddenly becomes comedy episodes and crime stories all the way down. Where are the ghouls? Where are the vampires? WHERE ARE THE WEREWOLVES??? (though the show never produced a great werewolf episode and I am Disappointed by that)

We do get some towards the end of the season, but this is the show's worst, by a lot.

It ends with "You, Murderer", a first-person story notable for resurrecting Humphrey Bogart (and, in the frame story, Alfred Hitchcock) via CGI. Which probably seemed more fun at the time, when it was a passing tech fad and not...a thing studios were actually trying to do

Best Episode: "Only Skin Deep". It's weird that such a silly season gave us one of the show's scariest episodes: the tale of a creep who picks up a masked woman at a costume party, and discovers it's the biggest mistake he'll ever make.

Honorable Mentions: "Let the Punishment Fit the Crime" is a Nothing But Trouble-y story of Catherine O'Hara as an ambulance-chasing lawyer facing strict justice in a small town; "Staired in Horror" is a gothic curse story with a goopy ending; "Comes the Dawn" features CREATURES in a proto-30 Days of Night; "99 & 44/100% Pure Horror" is a story of the wife of a soap manufacturer, and also has a goopy ending.

Worst Episode: Many contenders, but one obvious winner. "The Pit" is a story of MMA fighters being pushed into a cage match by their wives. Nobody dies, and nothing even slightly horrific happens. It's just. Boxing. I have no idea why the Cryptkeeper is telling me about this

Season Seven

The seventh and final season suddenly moves the show to London. Yes, the entire season is produced in Britain; if you're expecting big British 90s stars, though, think again - apparently, British actors refused to do the show in Britain because of high taxes. It does feature not-yet-famous actors like Ewan McGregor and Daniel Craig, though.

I was told this was the worst one, but while it's nowhere near the peak, it's...better? This season does something unique by merging the crime stories and the horror stories into one, leading to many episodes that start with criminals, who then encounter something paranormal. It's also tilted more towards Actual Horror

The Cryptkeeper segments in this one feel perfunctory, though; after they started to sprawl out in the last couple seasons, he's barely in these, and there's only two that are Britain-themed despite the show pushing the British setting hard (the show's never had so many establishing shots). But the Cryptkeeper gets his largest role of the series in the series finale, "The Third Pig", the show's only animated episode and the only one narrated by the Cryptkeeper.

Best Episode: "Horror in the Night". A man shot in a heist finds his way to a hotel, which quickly turns surreal. Another of the show's scary episodes, and one featuring a kind of hallucinatory horror it rarely did.

Honorable Mentions: "Cold War" seems to be a crime story, but with a paranormal twist (this is the one with Ewan McGregor, who's American); "Report from the Grave" features a parapsychologist whose experiments in afterlife contact turn fatal; "About Face" is a bit of gothic Victoriana about a corrupt priest's illegitimate daughters; "Confession" stars Eddie Izzard as a suspect in serial killings.

Worst Episode: "Last Respects". The director of the 1972 Tales from the Crypt film returns to direct...a much worse version of one of that film's segments? Not sure what happened here.

Anyway should you watch Tales from the Crypt in 2023? YES!!! Tales from the Crypt filters through just about every genre of horror at some point (there are even a couple episodes that are proto-found footage) and even if it's rarely 'scary' it's almost always fun. It's also cool to see such a high-profile horror show, such a unabashedly pulpy and gross horror show, made in a time where horror was increasingly a dirty word. Now if only they could work out the rights issues so we can get our boy the Cryptkeeper back on his throne (pronounced like bone)

[insanityisdivine]

Cherry Medicine first impressions

My thoughts. If you disagree you can make your own post lol

First off very slick production. I love the effects put into this mv from the song title to the literal cherries and James bond-esque silhouette of ladies dancing

I'm just gonna come out and say it. I know this shit is expected of rock stars but honestly it could without the girls more than half his age. Don't get me wrong. Gorgeous of course. I dunno why they couldn't find women around Ace's age. This is one of the thing about rockstars I have issues with. For some reason they stop seeing beauty passed a certain age. I never understood this youth = beauty shit but whatever. It was nice to see some older chicks (compared to the younger ones - they aint that old)

Anyway Lara looked hot as usual. Obviously song is about her besides the other love songs lol

When this song was getting hyped I was expecting something sexy. Maybe I shouldn't expect sex from a 72 year old man who could barely move lol maybe its for the best lol The lyrics themselves ain't doing it for me but it's a catchy song. Overall I think it's a good song. It kinda reminds me of songs in the 90s/early 2000s.

Its a really nice poppy song. I love the guitar work especially in the verse, it kinda promises sex before you hear the chorus lol

Obviously I cannot expect 70/80s/90s/early 2000 Ace from this record because that's the music of his I listen to often. Plus now he's just a silly grandpa lol

He looked great in the outfits. Everyone did. The set designs, so much cherry red. Really on theme. I love that kind of stuff

It be interesting to hear the rest of the songs live

[elfdragon12]

You know... I think my personal top 5 Transformers stories in no particular order are:

Beast Wars

IDW2

Bumblebee 2018/ROTB

G1 Sunbow cartoon

Earthspark

BW just overall has really good and consistent character writing and development with a nice balance of silly kids show to serious thought-provoking story. The graphics and rendering are indeed dated but the actual animation looks better than a lot of later shows (TFP, CV, and ES are some of the only computer animated TF shows that hold up against it). Say what you will of Blackarachnia/Silverbolt, Blackarachnia never once takes a back seat to SB (he's her malewife) after they get together and her story is always hers (unfortunately rare for m/f ships). Everyone wants the Dinobot arc even if they can't figure out why it was so good (I'd say WFC was the closest to replicating the true spirit of it). It's also what I grew up with.

IDW2 has so many female characters, well-known and obscure, and I love them all (no Furman nonsense here!). Plus, good queer ships right off the bat with none I dislike. I also find the setup for Cybertronian society really interesting and I enjoyed the exploration of a society that has so heavily defined itself by its war trauma. I appreciated the handling of Geomotus. Also, I very much appreciated how fair it was to organic races (pity it was canceled before Ruckley could include humans). I also felt like this series had a better handling on how to make safety vs freedom a more balanced argument (for example, I did sympathize with the struggle of the Constructicons, but WHEW! That's a good show as to why leaders held the people back even if it was a bit self-fulfilling prophecy).

BBB/ROTB are what we wanted for live action films. They're not high art, but they have good characters, fun action, decent pacing, nice character designs, and touching moments. The human drama doesn't overshadow the Transformers story the fans are here for.

G1 is the OG, what can I say? It's an 80s show meant to sell toys to kids, but it's still good (as long as you remember what it is). While there certainly are some episodes that are very... Episode, there are also some legitimately good stories. Also, I personally loved season 2 just being a long string of character vignettes (the two Tracks episodes are top tier as well as the Blaster. There are a lot of good organic characters, including some really good female characters. It's a fun time, overall.

The second youngest Transformers series has had a pretty strong showing for a first season (the season finale was rushed and wonky, but that reeked of the showrunners getting yanked around without a clear answer on whether they got a season 2 or not and, unfortunately, not unusual for the franchise). The animation is top notch, blending 2D and 3D really well. The fight choreography is exciting. The family dynamic is heartwarming. I extra love Swindle here with his brother, Hardtop. The hints of the past have been enticing and I'm curious as to what further reveals are in store.

[b1adie]

unironically i started playing honkai seventeen days ago just for aventurine and I think I'm physically ill for this man. like gahhhh hes so silly. i have nearly 80 pulls thjat ive spent literally all my time grinding for, and I'm at 60 pity and I will literally kill someone if I lose the 50/50 .90% of gamblers quit before they hit jackpot and similarly 90% of Honkai Star Rail players quit before they win their 50/50. 90% of Honkai Star Rail players quit before they get E6 Aventurine. I need him so bad. Like I wouldn't be mad if I lost the 50/50 to like, Clara or something because I already have her from standard banner and I love her a lot, but if it were to literally anyone else I'd just start mauling people yk. I don't even know what that one kid's name is but he has blonde hair and swords and he's from the Xianzhou Luofu (not that far in the plotline, havent met him yet) but if I lose my 50/50 to that kid I might just die.

Listen I'm not his number one fan, I wouldn't daer to insinuate that I even am, I don't even want to like, fight people for that title. I just really like him and I wanted to thank you for all the Aventurine content that you've been churning out. I'm not sending this on main because I don't want to be clowned on but yeah this is. Really Unhinged. Sorry.

Also I like Dr. Ratio more honestly. I like them both equally but Aventurine isn't out yet so the only thing I'm staring at is Ratio. I have to run around as Clara (not a bad thing, I really like her!! She activates my parental instincts) because if I play as Ratio I will just stop doing whatever I'm doing and stare at him. It's been ruining my productivity.

listen to me. that blonde luofu kid has made me lose 4 times. if i see his ass a 5th time later today i’m going to start tearing the doors off people’s houses.

i didnt even realize how much aventurine stuff i was making until another ask mentioned it and i checked his tag and like half of the top posts were ALL MINE 😭 sneaky little blonde son of a bitch snuck up and took over my brain while i wasn’t paying attention. i have literally been having dreams about him. just 7 more hours now

i was actually messing with my ratio build earlier. he does ok i guess but he could be better… but i do have to admit i saw his design revealed like a year ago on reddit and i was like Oh my god?? like alright. slay i guess. and now i tell anyone who will listen that he’s a worm. what a weird guy… though i am a fan of his rubber ducky collection.

clara is who i got on the starter banner too ^_^ i wanna work on building her some more but im trying to build. every single character ever so its taking me a while to get back to her T_T

[tokyogruel]

oh my beloved mutual toykogruel (i have become obsessed with this phrase!) i was hoping to ask all of the people i admire what their thoughts on milgram are!

i'd just like to know anything about it you'd like to talk about at this moment. your theories, a detail you really like, a character you're fond of... a sorta "penny for your thoughts!" if that wasn't outdated slang!

OH BELOVED MUTUAL DEARMAHIRU this ask has filled me with so much glee, you dont understand. im about to go crazy ok? BUT I WISH TO ASK THE SAME OF YOU: what are YOUR thoughts on milgram? what are you cooking behind the scenes...

okay so GOODNESS. where do i start?

milgram as a whole i adore so much, its a very dear project to me (and the first music project ive been able to follow while it's still on-going!!) the characters mean so much to me, the music is so so delicious, it got me to finally commit to learning a new language! (im on day 80 of japanese lessons!) its been so creatively fulfilling for me to be a part of :,)

MY THEORIES... ive mentioned a few here and there but heres a sneak peek into some of my drafts:

some silly headcanons ive omitted from more serious projects:

a peek at said serious project:

a detail i really like: is it bad to say all of them? LOL

ive always been a sucker for things with an abundance of symbolism tied to them! i love looking under the skin of things, and milgram is all that and more. if you do want a specific.. it has been DAYS, and i have not stopped thinking about @maristelina's breakdown of the details in mikoto's design as a "high concept" character. it keeps me up at night

a character im fond of... hm... ITS SO HARD TO CHOOSE! midokoto is so near and dear to my heart, haruka is very relatable to me- he breaks my heart. yuno is beyond charming, i want her to crush milgram under her shoe. muu is so. (deep breath) #bulliedcore and i need more characters like them. i will defend kotoko until i die. amane breaks my heart, im going to have a breakdown over the purge march when it drops. kazui i want to eat alive right now. mahiru is.. going through it in the trenches and im there with her FDXHGCJVKJB. shidou is a huge comfort character for me. i want to dunk him in milk & slam him against the wall. fuuta lives in my head rent free. and its their month.

this is fuuta to me ^

ALSO PENNY FOR UR THOUGHTS IS SUCH A GOOD PHRASE.. i need to use it more

THANK YOU SO MUCH CINNAMON!!

[grimescum-2]

saw you were reworking ocs tell me about them :>

HIIII!!!!! i'm looking at yoy SOO evilly rn. rubbibg my little hands together soo mischievously you dont even know what you signed up for

long ass paragraphs under the cut 😈😈 i dont think its a lot to read but i tend to talk a lot ... so... i dont blame you for not reading all of it but if you do i'm literally grabbing u and shaking u and hugging you

basically i have.. like. a LOT of ocs i'm unhappy with (be it their design or backstory) and for a long while i've been working on them passively.. though as of recent i've been taking a more direct approach to developing some of my favourites AND working on a few new concepts at the same time :o3 (this might sound like a lot but i dont do anything EVER i literally only lay in bed and sleep)

for the new concepts i've been focusing mainly on this guy (any pronouns)

considering the boogie man or just boogie for a name. they're 7 ft tall and they love to scare and confuse the shit out of people.. but only sometimes. they're relatively chill otherwise, though they keep their intentions unclear. if the spirals didn't say this then they were very inspired by michael (the magnus archives) and uzumaki !! basically they're michael but with 60s-80s aesthetics (i plan on giving them more purple and a hippie/disco vibe)

a few other less notable ones are a sona, a jester (inspired by jevil) and a VERY self indulgent zombie scientist oc to feed the reanimator brainrot

for pre-existing ocs- all of my mains are getting some kind of revamp so i won't speak on all of them, but the closest to being finished is Frenzy!! heres one of a few concepts i'm happiest with:

she's like... a partial sona in a way. i might insert her into fandoms i like if i can get over the embarrassment and shame (i love seeing other people do it but when i do it i feel bad BHABAHA) BUT in short she's a 22 year old neet hikikomori who's only hobbies are watching horror movies, anime and browsing the internet. that + her family trauma and her poor health and mental illness naturally makes her a little crazy, to say the least. she's also transgender mtf because i support trans wrongs!!!!! i plan on giving her design a v-kei, menhera, pastel goth and yume kawaii vibe.

lastly, claudine is still in the works but I've made a fair bit of progress :o3 she's going to be a lot less harmlessly silly and just a little tiny bit more evil in the sense that she feels like recruiting vampires and giving them access to blood and people in exchange for working at her circus is a necessary evil that must be done to put on the greatest show in the world, an aspiration fueled by both her genuine desire to leave a positive impact on the world and her greed for fame. still as silly as ever.. if not more so, since watching The Mask gave me a LOT of inspo for her character BHABAHA

[kelasparmak]

hey I'm trying to get into podcasts and I'm intrigued by your posts. what are your recs?

THANK YOU FOR ASKING! So like, knowing nothing about your personal taste, I’ve given you a long list of shows I like, separated by vibe more so than genre. I’ve bolded my faves and put an asterisk by the ones I’d recommend starting out with if you like the sound of the premise, and I’ve also flagged which ones are Queer Podcasts and which ones have fandoms, given that we’re on the queer fandom website. Also there are SO MANY of these and I know there are some huge ones I’ve forgotten to include lmao. It’s very much intended as a menu depending on what you personally enjoy in media! Feel free to follow up with more info and I can put together a more tailored list.

Good ones to start off with, not too intense (incl some comedies) -

*Mockery Manor: The production values on this are INSANE. It’s sort of an 80s teen horror movie, based around a bunch of 18 year olds working in a theme park for their summer job, but Something Is Afoot! It’s incredibly fun, the voice acting and sound design are amazing, and it’s made me crack up laughing on the tube. There are 2 seasons so far and I really really rate it. There’s at least one queer character.

*Wooden Overcoats: Comedy drama about two rival undertakers trying to do business on an extremely small island in the English Channel. A good one to start out with as it’s not too long, but it’s exceptionally funny – the writing is excellent but the actors’ comedic timing and tone really sells it. Starts out very silly but there are lots of heartwarming moments and some genuine drama. Several queer characters and there’s a very fun little fandom.

*Girl in Space: Scifi drama about a scientist living on an increasingly dysfunctional spaceship. Starts out as just her diary, and develops into an ensemble cast ft ACTION, REVOLUTION and THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP. It’s well-produced and quite short (~13 episodes). The main character is very likeable and it’s fun to listen to. It’s a good intro to the format if the premise is your cup of tea.

The Ballad of Anne & Mary: Not a typical podcast so I guess perhaps not the best intro to the medium, but it’s extremely good and I think it’s a great example of what can be done with the audio medium when you create a show with its strengths in mind, rather than when people just have a thing they want to do and figured a podcast would be the cheapest and easiest way. It’s very short (like 5 30-minute episodes) and it’s a musical! It’s a take on the story of Anne Bonny and Mary Read, and it blew my tits clean off the first time I listened to it. It’s one of my favourite musicals, I immediately bought the MP3 soundtrack and pretty sure I know it word for word, and it’s an impressive cast – the male lead is played by the London actor for Alexander Hamilton, for example. The songs, sound design, acting and writing are all beautiful and it’s so well-put-together. I really can’t recommend this enough. It’s also v queer. Gay pirates, getchyour lovely gay pirates here, fresh out the oven! Same creators as Mockery Manor.

*Monstrous Agonies: Performed as a late-night ‘agony aunt’ style radio show for the supernatural community. Very funny and well thought-out, with some genuinely good advice, and the presenter has probably the world’s most calming and beautiful voice.  Develops a plot but I don’t want to spoil it for you! Queer, I think there’s a fandom but I’m actually not entirely up to date so I haven’t looked into it yet.

More serious / horror:

*The Magnus Archives: Starts off as a horror anthology with the connecting thread being that the individual stories are being read by a narrator who works in Spooky Research (TM), and then develops a plot around the individual stories and the Spooky Researchers (TM) over the course of 5 seasons. Many of the individual stories are extremely well-written and the sheer amount of them is really impressive, and because the bulk of each episode is largely a stand-alone story, it’s a good one to start off with if you’re new to podcasts despite the length of the series. It’s a lot queerer than you would expect from the first season, and there was an enormous fandom which has produced some stunning work (and some equally stunning discourse); since the ending of the show it’s quietened down a lot which is the way I like it personally. MY BLORBO GOES HERE. 

I Am In Eskew: Starts off single-narrator and then drawing in other characters and a plot. The narrator describes his experience in a sort of alternate universe where Things Are Not Right, and again, it gradually introduces a plot. This one’s more focused on the horror element really, and it’s very good at creating an immersive listening experience.

Mabel: Dark fantasy drama. Really poetic, well-acted, really good at suspense. A cool take on changeling/fae mythology. Very intense and maybe not one to de-stress to, but definitely worth a listen. It’s very queer, there’s some neat fan content for it but less of a fandom.

In Strange Woods: Another musical! This one’s about grief, trauma, and how small and powerless humans are compared to nature. Really, really good. You’ll cry. It’s  a quick listen – 5 episodes, all less than an hour long. When I listened to it, there was some kind of glitch with the audio that meant sometimes bits of scenes were missing or played twice? I think that was just my podcast app though. Hades from Hadestown is in this one!

The Silt Verses: Horror drama. Starts off following two members of a cult dedicated to an outlawed god, in a world where gods and the power of belief play sort of a similar role to corporations/the economy in our society. People get sacrificed to them a lot and it’s just how the world works, there are agencies dedicated to inventing new gods, etc. I’m really impressed by how they’ve built that worldbuilding and lore, as narrated by characters who have never known any other world, without ever losing the horror element. Really well-performed. Queer but it’s not a primary element of the show. I think there is a fandom but people in the tag kept massively missing the entire point of the show so I actively disengaged from it lol.

Alice Isn’t Dead: Really well-written, acted and produced. Follows a lorry driver searching for her wife, who she thought was dead, and encountering various spooky situations along the way. It’s very immersive and does creepy very well.

Harlem Queen: Drama set in the Harlem Renaissance. Another serious one, and deals explicitly with heavy issues including racism and violence, without much reprieve in the form of soft moments or humour. But it’s very well-made and worth a listen, and there’s not a lot of it.  

Fun listens, often a bit surreal (similar genre to the first section but for various reasons I might be less inclined to recommend them as your intro to the medium)

Welcome to Night Vale: You’ll almost definitely have heard of this. It’s a radio show from a very surreal desert community, which again, slowly develops a plot. It’s good and it’s very fun to listen to, but at this stage there are so many episodes, I maybe wouldn’t recommend planning to listen all the way through in one go lol, but you also can’t really start it massively out of order. I’d say this is one to start from the start, but take your time listening. Iconic queer podcast, used to have a huge fandom, I think a lot of people have sort of moved on from it, but there’s still a lot of great content and a lot of affection for it.

Victoriocity: Drama/comedy set in an alternate universe London. Feels very Discworld – really inventive worldbuilding, fun twisty plot, political intrigue, hilarious deadpan narrator, great acting. There’s some cast crossover with Wooden Overcoats so if you enjoy that you’ll like this one too.

Caravan: Western/fantasy which I wouldn’t classify as a comedy per se, but it’s still frequently very funny. Great acting, very fun and relatable protagonist who just keeps on choosing compassion over violence. Thoughtful coverage of mental illness, being brown and queer, and sexy vampires. 18+ but not super smutty and has content warnings.

Oblivity: Sci-fi drama comedy, very funny, very found family. You’ll be surprised how much you care about the characters given how stupid it is. The primary viewpoint character epitomises bisexual disaster.

The Prickwillow Papers: Fantasy drama about a young half-elf who’s just graduated from Wizard School, moved back in with her parents while she tries to find a job, and ends up taking care of the most cantankerous fae you’ve ever encountered (I love her). Lots of fun and incredible voice acting. Deals with the difficulty of letting yourself be helped, coping with guilt, and not being ‘special’. I think the show is abandoned unfortunately but still very worth listening to.

Love And Luck: Queer Australian slice-of-life audio drama comprised of a series of voice mails between two guys, following them through when they first start dating to becoming a hub for their local community. It’s very sweet and all about the importance of community and taking care of each other. Also magic brain powers.

Unseen: A series of urban fantasy stories, some connected and some not, most with a single narrator, and varying in tone. The premise is that magic is real and exists in ‘our’ world, but just below the surface and invisible to people who don’t have magic. Really well-written and well-performed. There’s one that’s based on Jeeves & Wooster but make it gayer and also magic, and I think about it a lot.

Greater Boston: Drama more than comedy but also deeply funny. Lots of apparently separate stories converging, clever writing (really good at giving a massive cast of characters distinct personalities), really emotionally impactful coverage of topics like grief, racial inequality, addiction, classism and more, doesn’t try to give easy answers but is also very focused on community power and optimism. Also there are cheese robots. Lots of queer characters. Really good but because of the complexity and the massive size of the cast, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend starting out with this one.

Doctor Who Redacted: An official BBC-produced Doctor Who spinoff podcast! Primarily recommending this to Doctor Who fans, you don’t need to be super familiar (I’m not a big Doctor Who fan personally) but a baseline understanding would help lol. The premise is that everyone who has interacted with The Doctor is being erased from history, The Doctor is trapped elsewhere and unable to help, and three queer women who do a terrible conspiracy theory podcast about ‘The Blue Box’ are quickly becoming the universe’s only hope because anyone better-equipped to help is being systematically deleted. It’s fun, very queer and feels very real, and has a lot of really touching moments.

We Fix Space Junk: Sci-fi drama comedy, very anticapitalist, queer, big found family feelings. Lots of fun, job-of-the-week episodic format makes it a relatively low-focus thing, even when the stakes are high it feels very safe to listen to, and the characters are v likeable (even the ones you really wouldn’t have expected).

Midnight Burger: Surreal sci-fi drama comedy, set in a time-travelling multidimensional roadside diner staffed by a set of lovable weirdos. Two of the weirdos live in a radio. Also the show is now about revolution. There are a few things I’m a bit :/ about it on, but it’s a very fun listen and the cast of characters are incredibly likeable.

Death By Dying: Dark surreal drama about an obituary writer and the bizarre town he lives in, with the initial plot being moved along by him meeting the niece of one of his writing subjects and her quest to find out the truth about her aunt’s death. I don’t know if I’d call it a comedy per se but it’s very funny. Deals with grief and mental illness pretty prominently, but in a very reassuring way.

Gather The Suspects: Murder mystery set in a slightly alternative universe version of Wales where they’ve seceded from the UK and also possibly the apocalypse is happening? It’s very funny, and follows two roommates and their neighbour trying to solve the murder of another neighbour from their apartment complex. It’s in English but it’s still very Welsh.

The Amelia Project: Drama/comedy about an agency that helps people fake their deaths. Great voice acting, very fun, and I really enjoy how international it is. Uses the episodic ‘client of the week’ format in combination with big picture plot in a really engaging way. Feels a bit Leverage-y especially because of how clever/absurd the plans are.

Actual play podcasts (i.e. Critical Role style, people play a collaborative storytelling game together - I don’t listen to a ton of actual plays because I don’t have the attention span, I know there are others not on this list which are very popular)

Campaign Podcast: Improv comedians play a TTRPG and chaos predictably ensues. There’s two campaigns, Star Wars (which is Star Wars) and Skyjacks (set in an invented world focusing on skyship pirates and heavily influenced by The Decemberists). The two campaigns have very different vibes, the first is mostly just goofy (though occasionally gets very real), the second is a lot more expansive, more heavily edited, and more drama-oriented I would say. I love both, they’re very funny and in particular a couple of the players are amazing. Lots of queer characters in both and a very fun fandom.

*Chapter and Multiverse: this is a very new show, but it’s GMed by Maddy Searle (who wrote and performed The Prickwillow Papers mentioned above) so I can wholeheartedly recommend it. It includes a ‘main’ arc, currently following a group of young superheroes, interspersed with one-off games (typically sillier) which feature a broader rotating cast of players, many of whom you will recognise from other shows on this list. Because it’s so new it’s a great place to start, and there’s already a very productive fan community since so many people involved have already developed a following from other shows.

Rogue Runners: based on the Hades game and set in that universe. Features a cast of shades including a teenage girl, Alexander the Great, a very horny assassin, and an elderly Scandinavian bartender not sure what he’s doing in the Greek afterlife, all trying to escape the underworld and return to the mortal realm. Very funny, extremely queer, and I was really impressed by how the GM (Tau Zaman, who also created the Caravan podcast rec’d above) adapted the typical D20 system to really replicate the feel of Hades.

Realms of Peril and Glory: like Chapter and Multiverse, it’s an assortment of RPGs played by a rotating cast of people within the (primarily UK-based) podcasting/audio drama community – Maddy and Pip are big fixtures in both podcasts. I haven’t listened to all of it, but the main campaign, Vael, is very funny and full of heart, and the comedic timing on some of these guys is absolutely impeccable. I also really enjoyed their Nibiru and high school horror games, and they’ve got one coming out using Thirsty Sword Lesbians very soon, which I’m personally looking forward to a lot.

The Adventure Zone: to be honest I’m not still listening to this, but I reckon it has to be included just for the influence it’s had on the genre of audio-format actual-plays. If you’ve somehow not come across it, the idea is that a set of brothers who have a popular comedy talk podcast play D&D with their dad, and their first campaign starts out as a very standard D&D plot arc and is quickly derailed by them goofing off and the very patient GM brother weaving it into a narrative which will punch you in the heart. I really enjoyed the Balance and Amnesty arcs; the Balance arc in particular was incredibly popular. It has a lot of queer characters and I’m confident there’s still a fandom, though it’s not as dominant as it was for a while.

Non-fiction (i.e. what 90% of the people you meet off Tumblr think ‘podcasts’ means – I don’t listen to a ton of non-fiction but figured worth including)

*No Such Thing As A Fish: A bunch of researchers from the show QI get together, each share their favourite bizarre fact of the week, and discuss. Informative and very fun. One of the UK’s most-listened podcasts so don’t just take my word for it.

Bad Gays: Discussion podcast about ‘evil and complicated’ queer historical figures. Ft nuanced discussion and some very cool Facts.

Hey Riddle Riddle: Improv comedians (one of whom is in Campaign Podcast, mentioned above) plus occasional guests attempt to solve riddles, mostly do improv scenes.

Bill Buds: Improv comedians (both in Campaign Podcast) discuss a different pop album each week, going through song-by-song with a quick clip from each. They don’t really know anything about pop music. This is one I listen to when I want something on in the background while working/getting to sleep. I enjoy the enthusiasm and the total lack of knowledge, and given that I’m not a big pop music fan, it’s also a good way of finding music I’d like to listen to. However, I probably mostly like it because I enjoy the hosts on their RPG podcast, I don’t know if it has any appeal to people who aren’t familiar with them from that.

Cautionary Tales: Narrator tells you about fuckups from history, and explains the psychological factors that made each of them possible and what we can learn from them.

Ipsos Views: I’m sorry to end on a corporate podcast rec, but if you’re at all into psychology/sociology this (and Ipsos’ various other podcasts) are an interesting listen. Ipsos if you’re not familiar do a lot of polling and market research in the UK, which they’re commissioned to do by other organisations, so they have an enormous amount of insight into trends in what people are thinking, saying, and doing (which don’t all necessarily overlap). I haven’t listened to every episode, I just scroll through and pick out the ones that interest me or are relevant to my work, but so far they’ve all been pretty good. Because it’s corporate though, I would just say, y’know, take it with a pinch of salt lol.

[futuresconnected]

3/12/24: Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth

Back again for your (not) regularly scheduled blog post about video games!

Over the last 10 days I played through the entirety of the new FF7 Remake project game, clocking in at a blistering 75 hours, so be aware that my thoughts here will be influenced by the fact that I played this game like it was a full time job for the last week and change.

I'll be talking about my thoughts here generally, with some discussion of early and mid-game characterization and plot elements, but I'll also be talking about the ending towards the end under a readmore, if you don't want to know the specifics of that.

Overall, my thoughts on the game are that I had a mostly pretty good time for about 70 out of my 75 hours, and the ending left me feeling quite a bit deflated at the very end, but let's talk about the fun stuff first.

To begin with, this is about one of the most "hang out with your friends, these characters" games I've ever played, which is saying something as someone that has played a LOT of Persona games in the last few years. I really liked that aspect of this game! It's kind of in its nature as the middle game in a planned trilogy that takes 20 hours of mid-game and blows it up to 80+ hours of Stuff To Do. I think one of the major strengths of the game is giving you a lot of fun interactions between Cloud and the gang, I came away from this game with a real love for everyone in the party (except Red XIII and Cait Sith, sorry you guys didn't have the juice). Every chance I got to do a side quest with Barrett, Yuffie, Tifa, or Aerith was a good one, and all of the interactions that the party has during the course of the regular plot were very fun as well.

Two big highlights of the characterization for me were how much time and energy this game puts into Tifa and Aerith's relationship with each other. These two have such a clear affection for each other and a mutual love of poking at Cloud every chance they get, it really feels like there's just as much emotional connection between the two of them as there is between each of them and Cloud himself. In my opinion, though FF7 has always been a classic in the "fighting over who's best girl" genre, I left this game thinking that they should all just kiss each other already and get on with their lives. The second big highlight for me characterization wise is Yuffie. Having only played some of the OG FF7, I had no real connection to her character and was really only introduced to her through stuff like Advent Children and Intergrade. I came out of this game really liking her, I felt at the beginning that her silly-girl schtick would get tiring but it really didn't for me and watching her bounce off of Cloud and the others was really entertaining. Plus, her Gold Saucer date later on was incredible, both in getting a peek into her deeper thoughts and also for watching Cloud be a total goober with her, which was just very sweet.

So lets talk some gameplay. For many people, the fact that this game has Open World Video Game design, complete with things to check off on your map and Assassin's Creed towers, is a major turn off, but for me I think that a lot of that stuff was mostly fun and at worst easily skippable. Plus, the fact that I was having a blast with the combat gameplay in this one compared to FF7 Remake made me a lot more motivated to go do combat challenges and world bosses and things of that nature. I felt like there were lots of ways to make your characters specialized in neat ways, and with a couple of exceptions (sorry Red and Cait, again) I really enjoyed the gameplay flow of each character, especially getting Aerith a perfect setup to let her blast multiple 9999 damage Firaga's back to back, that's just good gaming right there. I also generally enjoyed how much of a minigame collection Rebirth is, running into some new bespoke game every hour or so was pretty fun, and I think that the hit-rate on the minigames being fun was pretty high. Thankfully i'm not a masochist who wants to go for the platinum trophy, that would probably change my mind real quick. Overall though, I thought playing this game was a real blast, with a few bosses and encounters that I felt were more annoying than needed.

One quick shoutout before we talk about the ending goes to the music, the sound team for this game put their whole fucking ass into the music in this game, all the rearrangements of original songs were great to listen to, and the fact that so many sidequests, characters, and one off areas had their own bespoke tracks was really incredible. Top Prize goes to Salmon's Theme though:

so with all that said, let's talk the ending: I didn't really like it!

Let's get into it. This game, in it's nature of covering the middle parts of FF7, inevitably draws its way to the most iconic and talked about plot elements of JRPGs ever: Aerith's death. From the moment that we realized back in Remake that this game was about doing something new and metatextual with the story of FF7, the first question on many peoples minds was the following: will she still die?

and the answer is...........Kind Of!

In the (overlong imo) final stretches of the game, there is a real lack of clarity in what the hell is happening in general, as Cloud and Aerith wind their way through other worlds/timelines/dimensions/whatever and the game cuts between different outcomes before ultimately showing that Aerith does in fact die once again, in pretty much the same scene as the OG game. Except not really, because the game does a very poor job at letting you know what happened to her before throwing a seven phase final boss at you, where she even comes in at the end for a 2 on 1 fight with Cloud against Sephiroth, where afterwards she and Cloud have a few moments before the rest of the cast comes in and gets approximately five seconds to realized that she's actually dead. Except for the fact that Cloud still talks to her and sees her like normal.

I'm really not too concerned with the exact details of "what is happening here" because ultimately its a bunch of multiverse stuff that I don't really think is that engaging, but there are other things that bother me a good deal.

I felt that, as a player, I had no idea what kind of emotional response I was supposed to be feeling during the last three hours of the game. I was ready to be sad, I was ready to mourn the loss of a character that I had genuinely come to love over the course of the game, I was guarded every time she was on screen towards the end, but then in the moments before the big boss fight where Sephiroth comes down from the sky and stabs her, I felt it was very unclear if what the player sees there is supposed to be understood as a vision of something that could and did happen before, or something that was happening to Our Aerith, I wasnt sure if this last boss was something that I should have been fighting fueled by my grief and sadness, triumph in having avoided fate, or anything else.

Second, and the thing that honestly is sticking with me more the more I think about it, is for how much they build up Aerith and Tifa's relationship through the whole game at every possible opportunity, the ending felt really unconcerned with giving Tifa the opportunity to grieve the loss of a dear friend. For everyone who isn't Cloud, their friend is dead! And we don't get a chance to see them have to deal with that in any real way. We see them find her body, then we see them sitting shocked and deciding to move on in the aftermath of this, then we see them gassing up the jet and leaving towards Part 3, and the whole time the game is more concerned with Cloud and Aerith-who-is-not-here sharing knowing glances and words. I think that for a game that is so much about building up the relationships between everyone, and especially between Aerith and Tifa, I think they really dropped the ball in the end for everyone.

Third, I was a believer in the idea that they could do something substantively different with the story of the game and what it was trying to do, which I now don't really know that the writers of this game care to do. In the second game in a series that has had a lot to say about fate and its changeable nature, and promised Something Different, what is the ultimate result? Aerith is still gone, they left her on those plains as they flew off to Part 3, and it remains to be seen whether she's going to come back and be a real character or if she's just going to continue to be Cloud's force ghost over his shoulder while everyone else has to deal with her being dead. I wish the game had taken bigger swings! I thought it was going to!

At the end of the day, I don't think this was the worst thing on the planet or anything, I still had a really good time playing it and I really like the gameplay and the characters, I just feel like I have to temper my expectations on them delivering on anything interesting with the main narrative thrust of the project going forward.

[sebeth]

Who's Who In The DC Universe #2: Batcave, Batgirl

Batcave by Howard Bender & Gary Martin

Located beneath Wayne Manor

The ultra-secret sanctum sanctorum of the Dark Knight Detective

Discovered by Bruce Wayne when he fell through the rotted flooring of the old manor barn he originally intended to use as his headquarters

Wayne once maintained a second Batcave in an unused subway tunnel beneath the Wayne Foundation building during the days when he lived in its penthouse

The second Batcave now serves as the sometimes headquarters of the Outsiders

Everyone knows the Batcave – it’s the most famous superhero headquarters of all time. The Batcave is featured prominently in all Bat Family titles, Batman cartoons, live-action adaptations, and video games.

Batgirl by Brent Anderson and Terry Austin

A PH.D graduate of Gotham State University, Barbara Gordon began her career as a quiet librarian, which left her time to pursue her interest in the martial arts.

On her way to the Policeman’s Masquerade Ball, wearing a self-designed Batgirl costume, Barbara saved Bruce Wayne from Killer Moth

Babs enjoyed the excitement and danger and decided to become a hero.

She later served one term as a Congresswoman in Washington DC.

Babs is now an Associate Director of Humanities Research and Development

She is now a semi-retired vigilante.

The Barbara Gordon version of Batgirl is one of the most famous heroines in comic book history. She was in numerous Bat titles from the 60s thru the 80s, made multiple appearances in the Batman 60’s tv series. Batgirl, along with Supergirl and Wonder Woman, was featured heavily in all of DC’s merchandising – attire, coloring books, etc, from the 60’s through the 80’s. Silver Age Babs adventures tended towards silliness but Bronze Age Bab is my jam.  See Secret Origins #20 and the 1987 Batgirl Special for two prime Batgirl stories. The Killing Joke tossed Babs in the fridge but John Ostrander took her back out and transformed her into the phenomenal Oracle.  Batman: The Animated Series would bring Babs back as Batgirl and she would feature in the various BTAS series as well as Batman Beyond. She would make appearances in multiple Batman animated movies, the live action Batman & Robin, the Birds of Prey tv series (as Oracle), and the Young Justice series.  She also made appearances as both Oracle and Batgirl in the Arkham Asylum and Gotham Knights video games. Babs may be the most featured female in comic book adaptations.

Back to the comics, Babs as Oracle continued her groundbreaking role in comics as the information broker of the Bat Family and the founder and leader of the Birds of Prey. Unfortunately, DC decided to remove much of her education and career accomplishments so they could de-age Babs to be Dick Grayson’s first love and yet another teen protégé of the Batman. Babs was easily 5 to 10 years older than Dick in the Bronze Age era. Babs flirted with Bruce Wayne, went on a date with Clark Kent, and almost married Jason Bard. This is the main reason I dislike Babs & Dick as a couple – if you must diminish one character to make it work, it is not a good pairing. There are many other reasons I dislike the pairing, but I’ll leave that to another post.

Barbara returned to the Batgirl role in the New 52 for no other reason than Silver Age nostalgia.  Babs has outgrown the role and her shoes had been nicely filled by Cassandra Cain and Stephanie Brown. Barbara went from the unique, important Oracle – one of the leaders of the Bat Family and extended vigilantes – to one of a dozen vigilantes running around the Gotham rooftops.