#I think there's a bit of that playing there too in his concept character-wise

[fragmentedblade]

Ratio isn't just socratic nor is his method just socratic. There's a lot of sophist too, with how he is paid and the Genius Society looks down on that.

[utilitycaster]

I remember a post you made about how Sam is good at flavoring mechanics story wise, like singing his bardic inspirations, and a different post you made about how Marisha has seemed to struggle a bit with character motivations, and also how Laura was being conflict averse this campaign. What do you think each player’s biggest strengths and weaknesses are?

I think I may have answered this elsewhere but it's certainly not tagged in a useful manner and I am currently on a train meandering through the dumb state of Connecticut so:

Sam is as mentioned very good at knowing what makes a good story and specifically good entertainment. However, I think he tends to be one of the cast members who most wants very clear GM guidance; his boldest move was in fact one that required GM involvement and pre-approval. Honestly these are two sides of the same coin; caring about the audience is good, but caring too much can be an issue.

Marisha, yeah, I think tends to lean towards very loose/find it along the way character concepts and I think she actually does better when there is a stronger structure for her character. I'm going to be honest - prior to Campaign 3 I'd say her strength was interpersonal relationships, and to be fair the interpersonal aspect in C3 for everyone was kind of a mess so it's not specifically her (and if future works are good I'll write it off as just One Bad Campaign/specific to one character and return to this as her strength), but as is, not so much as a player, but I do genuinely believe she is excellent at creative direction. I think her switch to pandemic programming was one of the strongest and smoothest I saw in the actual play industry (granted, limited) and I think most shows CR has done that haven't gone over well have been issues of scheduling or uh. fandom entitlement, more than any missteps on her part.

Laura's weakness is definitely nonconfrontation/worrying that she is doing the right thing. (She and Sam are not dissimilar in that, but Sam counterbalances it by embracing failure and she also struggles with letting a character fail). Marisha benefits from structure, as with Keyleth, and Laura benefits from having a character that either lets her turn those anxieties off, like Jester, or who leans into that being the character's fear, like Vex. Her strength is that she is one of the strongest actors in the cast if not the strongest (Laura, Travis, and Ashley tend to top my personal list in terms of sheer acting chops). Even when I've found her characters frustrating I've found her acting compelling, hence what I said about soap operas that one time.

Liam's weakness is, and this is extremely a personal preference - all are, but whereas I can make a semi-objective case for many of the others this is just me, being sappy as hell. I had difficulty with Vax for this precise reason while still generally enjoying the character's motivation and arc; Liam is in my opinion at his best when he deliberately goes for more restrained or antagonistic characters. Like, there's a time to be big and cheesy (eg, the final scene switch of friends around a table in the Chicago live show) but my taste is more sparing perhaps than most (for metaphorical cheese. not for real cheese). His strength I think is also kind of the flip of this coin; he is exceptionally collaborative. I think it's no coincidence that the twins and Caleb and Veth are two of the most enduring duos of "characters who came in together" or that he's managed to do successful romances with NPCs or with a guest actor; during C1 and C2 he was really good at drawing in Ashley when she returned from extended absences.

Taliesin's strength is that he has some of the most interesting and weird character concepts that lend humanity to people who would often be denied it by a narrative - the creator of a horrible weapon; someone literally without a soul; a gutter punk - and he commits to them whole-heartedly, even the uglier parts. I think his weakness is honestly kind of similar to Matt's DM weakness, which is that he straight up has maybe a completely random chance of properly clocking someone else's character's motivations. Like, either he absolutely gets it (eg, Vex) or he says things on Talks or 4SD about other people's characters that make me go "????" and then the actor for the other character goes "????" and I'm like oh ok I'm not wrong. (This perhaps most easily demonstrated with Shardgate, which, great moment, absolutely tops, but the fact that Taliesin the Player thought Matt was doing anything BUT signaling "DON'T FUCKING DO THIS" is ????? to me and always will be; I cannot see how he could have made that more clear.)

Travis, frankly, just Gets It, like, I think the Age of Umbra session zero is demonstrative of him just being able to immediately get to the core of a work. He's strong mechanically, he's strong as an actor, he is able to generate plot hooks from pretty much anything (RIP sidequests from Novos, in a different campaign you would have been great), and he is unafraid to take big swings. He's definitely made choices I am personally less into, but honestly my only real criticism is that he sometimes plays a more jokey character in between the Fjord, Cerrit, Nathaniel types that I prefer (and even then, Grog and Chetney go at least five times harder then their concepts would imply, and it is an error to dismiss them as jokes).

Ashley is also as mentioned a very strong actor, and I also think she is unheralded as a worldbuilder for her characters; Pike, Yasha, and Fearne all have characters or locations associated with them who, even when she's had limited screentime or the story has followed other paths, feel incredibly real. I also think that she's grown a lot mechanically over the course of C3 and shows a lot of promise and I'm interested in seeing what she does with Daggerheart. I think she can be indecisive; as mentioned, I don't really blame her in C3 for a number of reasons not to mention she does a great job of integrating that as a character concept, but I really do want to see her make bolder moves.

[mystxmomo]

Two more drow for the road?

I've been throwing around a few character concepts with Cari over the last week or two. The first one is the promised House Weapons Master for Sabdra's house. He's relevant during Enclave's early life. The second character is one I haven't talked about publicly before, but wanted to throw together the reference sheet for while I was in the mood to do design stuff.

Design notes for the two of them are under the cut.

Beltrin Torndar

I already talked a little bit about him in that big lore-post, and implied a little on what his role in the story would be. So his section of the post is going to be a little bit shorter, especially compared to the next one. But I've been sitting on this guy's design WIP for a hot second now, and honestly I want to be able to start posting stupid shit posts with him so we're just going to barrel into it.

Weapons Master for House Torndar, Beltrin is every bit as ambitious and arrogant as you'd expect him to be. He's not particularly good at playing the wider societal game of social chess, because he's a little too stupid to actually be cunning, but he IS good at playing the Sabdra game (: Where you both get Sabdra's attention and keep her interested enough not to kill you. So credit where it's due.

Clothing design, I wanted to soften up his clothing compared to what the normal angular Lolth-society style is. Given that he's under Sabdra's house, her fashion sensibilities are bleeding into what he wears, as he's dressing specifically to impress her and keep her happy with his presence. I also think the softer design choices are a fun contrast to his role as a strict melee fighter. He has no particularly strong feelings on this.

Normally I don't share name meanings explicitly, but his name means burned, burning, fire, flame // clan, house, merchant, of the house. However, the reason I picked it was because the prefix "Bel" has a lot of associations to me of real world prefix that I think can be fun (Belladonna like the poisonous plant // Bella just being beautiful in a lot of languages.)

==

"???"

Cari and I have been calling them by the title The False Chosen, and I'm going to keep doing that.

I want to do something with the note that some of Selvetarm's followers are working to free him from Lolth, and how little he cares or answers their prayers. So, the main point of conception for this character is as a chosen for a god, not chosen by the god themself, but by the church in service to the god. This character in particular is also born at the tail end of the Masked Lady era. Like Vhaeraun, Selvetarm is dead. So their goal is two fold - Bring him back, and bring him back "right." And take out anything in the way of that goal.

Vibe-wise, they're based on HEAVILY on the way slasher movie villains move and feel. One one hand, it's the constant, suffocating threat that comes with something that always seems to be able to keep going. On the other hand, most slasher movie villains are often written to be rather sympathetic figures lashing out due to the circumstances they were in. I think that contrast has always been rather interesting, and something I hope to play into with this one. Their motivation is honorable, and they clearly have a point of trauma in their backstory given the scars and lack of arms. But do we ever get to know it? Do we ever get to understand them? Or are they a threat before they're a person now.

I want there to be an intentional and true denial of identity within their presence. They are a reflection of the most extreme version of what drow society expects of their soldiers and people. Because even when separated from Lolth and fighting against her, the trauma of what their society exists around remains.

Honestly? Easiest physical character design I've ever done. Other than the prosthetics (of which I want to do a full study on, in the near future) and scarring I want them to come across as an otherwise standard drow warrior. Their armor is taken entirely from FR official art, their hair is pretty standard elf hair without much style variation. I almost gave them the spider-leather cloak seen on the first drow in the official art as well, but I think that's too much accessorization for what we're going for here. Perhaps it's something they could wear in the future... one day.

The only other note for their physical appearance I want to add, for my benefit, is in regards to the hair. I've always found it really charming when edgy emo hair covers up something like a scar or mark. I wanted to subvert that a little. Their hair is covering up the side of their face that remains unharmed. Perhaps theres something of a metaphor in that, perhaps not.

Despite all of that, I do want there to be this layer of like? Sincere innocence with them. I think that they are going to be another one that I would mark as "noticeably young by elf standards." Despite everything about them and their goals, they're very sheltered socially and in environment. So perhaps under the bloodshed and violence, a bit of curiosity and innocence remains.

[lazy-sixteen]

Replaying Pathologic 2 before I play Pathologic 3: Quarantine

Nice

I'd played it on a lower difficulty the first time, mostly bc I suck at combat

I didn't have too much difficulty with food/thirst/infection this time around even keeping all the Bound alive and saving babies, but god the combat

Like 5/7 of my deaths were the Worms in the Abattoir. Though got to say, I did really appreciate the Living Blood more given that I had to bleed for it.

2. Things 2 does that I like better than Classic

The Combat - I know it just complained it was harder, but once you've played a bit the combat in 1 is just too easy. I didn't even have to save scum to kill the Foreman

Infection/Immunity - Mechanically, just greatly improved. Not only in that I often felt immunity didn't do shit when I was playing 1, but also in that it adds to the story/characterization for the Haruspex to be far better at surviving the play with his medical knowledge coming partially from the Earth

Difficulty settings - From an accessibility and just a spirit of fun, I think all games should have these. Even if "Pathologic is supposed to be hard" is the point, what a 'hard' game is varies between people. I only believe in the 'git gud' philosophy of gamine for fishing minigames

A lot of character stuff - The moving portraits are gorgeous and expressive, and the characters in general feel so much more alive and fleshed out. I makes it so much easier to have a strong emotional reaction as the player, whether that is a 'good reaction' ( i would die for u, Murky💕) or a 'bad one' (sending Big Vlad to the pit😎)

The Herb Brides and the Abattoir and even the Worms are in general all so much more developed as concepts. The Abattoir specifically is gorgeous and awe-inspiring rather just a big cave. I had chills the first time I played that section

3. Things 2 does that I like less than Classic

I miss the first game's writing style. I do understand why they had to tone it down if they wanted you to really connect with the characters, but still...

I don't dislike P2 Aglaya , but she just isn't on the level of P1 Aglaya who came to town doomed but seething with betrayed spite wanting to at least take down her in-laws, accidentally seduced/got seduced by one protagonist, developed a will to live which she expresses by cucking the other protagonist out of his "Unlikely Ally, Maybe More ❤️?" role and shoving off her "Doomed Love Interest" fate onto bc she's meta aware

Really, really downplayed the Ripper aspect of Artmey's character - the games incentivizes being a goody two-shoes doc hard, and deincentivizes too much organ harvesting :(. Well, at least Artmey continues to have lots of lines where I genuinely can't tell if he's trying to be funny, trying to flirt, or threatening someone's life -at least we still have that

4. This rolls back to 2, but god the emotional core of this game hits hard.

You could let everyone die and still "win", you could leave that baby to cry the reward isn't that good, you could just care about yourself - but you won't because for Artemy the game is about love

And there are so many moments where that love just hurts - Notkin being infected and begging you to protect his friends, Murky saying she's always loved you, the children in the Tower where Artmey can't follow saying they send their love, cutting Nara while she promises this is all okay, the Earth's heart after all the pain and blood it took to craft saying it loves you, Sticky infected and saying to save the others first, that you can end both plays saying you chose to end as Artemy - as someone who loves and is loved

5. Death is my friend

One one hand, like in the sense that the Dead Item Shop is so, so useful.

But like theme wise, death is your fellow traveler, it is something inevitable and accepted, it does not have to be "Defeated" just temporarily overcome while you still need to keep living

Mark Immortell will even comment at the end that he didn't like Artemy's play because he wasn't afraid of death

6. "Hey, they bring up adults hitting their children a lot in this game where one of the big themes is trying to understand why your parent did something" -> killing Isidor Burakh was the one valid thing Oyun's ever done

No like really, a lot a lot. Sometimes it's serious like the Fellow Traveler's dialogue at the Dead Item Shop, sometimes it is silly like Artemy jokingly asking if Lara's going to cane him during the School House dream segment, sometimes it is oft hand like while he's grousing that Maria's father should curb her behavior

Which ties back into the constant talk that Isidor (one of the town's collective "father figures") wasn't afraid to break a bone if it set wrong, unafraid to use violence to fix something that wasn't 'right' - and then his violence of releasing the Plague onto his metaphorical child, the Town

Like you can choose to say that he never hit Artemy as the player, but that guy definitely hit his kids

7. The diagnostic + treatment mechanic is cool as fuck

And while it is very video-gamey, it does correlate amazingly well with the actual practice of medicine - that you have to treat pain while balancing out that pain is often your leading diagnostic clue, that you can't just say 'antibiotic' you have to know What/Where you are treating

Also just that to understand or cure means that you have to hurt/cut the human body. Like yeah doctor's aren't typically taking infected kidneys to brew antibiotics, but they do order painful biopsies to cure cancer, take living organs for transplants, etc.

i feel like someone on the dev team worked in medicine at some point

8. Actually, I like the endings. I think they fit perfectly into the Haurspex's famous, "Any choice is right as long as it is willed."

I will die on the 'they are both equally good, equally painful endings" hill

Either choice is about love, about choosing to live. Either choice requires you to take that step - forward or backwards - by killing.

9. The Albino creature thingy is so cute, the bulls are so cute, Murky's ugly little doll is cute!!!!

This doesn't have anything to do with anything, I just think they should fund Pathologic 3 with bull and creature plushies. This is bad idea, but it would make me personally very happy.

[karmathehalflander]

Self care is finally bringing the Dear Evan Hansen merpeople AU you were obsessed with in middle school into a reality

And here’s the finished pieces for the main five! I absolutely adore them. Sea life is my special interest so I love mermaid AUs

My reasoning behind why they are each animal varys wildly. Some I thought about in depth some are for one stupid reason. If you’d like my full in depth design notes and character details and some lore ideas they’re bellow the cut. Feel free to scroll if you don’t want an in depth hyperfixation induced info-dump.

So starting out with Evan: when I first conceptualized this AU back when I was in middle school all I really had a concept for was Evan who I knew I wanted to be a dumbo octopus. Shy, camouflage to hide from predators, generally just silly little guys it felt right to me. I also thought Heidi should be an octopus for no particular reason and them both being in the same animal family would make sense. (I’ll get around to drawing the parents eventually Heidi will be a blue ringed octopus)

-he can change color and camouflage

- because Evan is only part Dumbo Octopus he’s actually taller than you would expect leaving Jared the shortest (because Evan is on the taller side I’ll die on that hill also Jared needs to be a short king I don’t make the rules)

Conner: so originally he was going to be a stingray like Zoe honestly for no reason other than aesthetic but I didn’t want them to be based on the same animal and I had a strong concept for Zoe already so I decided to change Conner. I originally didn’t want to do shark because it felt to obvious at first but sometimes obvious is the way to go. And now I’m so glad I changed it to great white because I liked the overlap of how sharks are viewed by society and how Conner is viewed by his peers. Violent, evil, dangerous but in reality just doing their best to survive and, yes, they do sometimes hurt people but it’s never done out of malice but out of confusion and a need to survive. (I live morally grey characters) I chose great white in particular because they’re the stereotypical “big scary shark” everyone would think of. I also think the color palette suited him.

- Conner is half stingray but you don’t see it in his appearance at all. He takes after his dad (Larry is a great white and Cynthia is a stingray. I’ll make drawings for them at some point promise)

Zoe: She was the one I had the clearest idea for and I was very excited (I love her) I knew I wanted her to be a spotted eagle ray so I could give her spots that look like stars. There was no consideration of her personality when making her a ray at first but it honestly makes sense. They’re graceful, but ultimately don’t like conflict. I see them as artsy creatures like if a sea creature was to go to play guitar it would be a stingray. Idk it just feels right to me.

-obviously Zoe is half great white but you can’t really tell. She is slightly taller than her mom and has extra spikes on her arms but that’s it.

Alana: I knew I wanted her to be a dolphin immediately. Smart, energetic, playful it just makes sense. Now what species I wasn’t sure of at first but then I thought a pink river dolphin and it was perfect. I associate her with pink for whatever reason. I think she looks nice with it. Her drawing is my favorite of the bunch. I’m most happy with her design too.

- I need a reason for a river dwelling species to be in the ocean with everyone else so idk just imagine she transfered for some reason

- in this AU we’ll assume that fresh and salt water doesn’t effect merpeople

Jared: I drew Jared last because I had no clue what I wanted him to be. I considered a turtle for a bit I think it would suit him looks wise but I also considered otter, clownfish, a crustacean of some kind (the list goes on) then I considered seal and had the thought of a selkie Jared butt naked running through the local village causing mayhem, stealing from convenience stores, dumpster diving outside a fish market, and generally being a menace and I couldn’t resist. This was actually what made me warm up to him as a character because it was so funny to me and I ended up really liking his design.

-seals don’t have paw pads by the way but I couldn’t help myself suspend your disbelief for me

I don’t have a lot of lore or story ideas as of yet for now they just kind of exist in a void. Idk this is so self indulgent I’m just having fun with it.

(As a side note I have not researched which ocean this AU takes place in and I don’t want to right now I’ll do it eventually though I promise)

[tea-potato-gt]

Book three of “The Moth and The Bear: The Summer Road” as memes (part 1)

@keydekyie @themothandthebear

Here’s book one memes / Book 2 p1 memes here / Book 2 p2 memes here / Book 3 p2 here

I’m trying something new/different with this one, I wrote down my live reactions/thoughts. Not all of them will be funny, more like a jumbled mess of words I quickly typed out as I devoured this book. LMK what you think.

One other side note: if you see “Ruyak vs ___” that’s usually pointing out a foreign concept/job/object/idea to Ruyak, not necessarily him fighting, just understanding or overcoming it.

———

Prologue & Chapter 1

Kaelin is missing some toes 🦶 When did that happen??

Things Ruyak doesn’t believe in: more than one kind of bug and dragons.

Chapter 2

Kaelin waving through a the window. She is gonna have to become a mime to communicate with others lol. 🤫

Ruyak vs beats

The return of Ruyak vs bugs (Bugs are winning. They are in his ears).

Aww Ruyak is making sure the people of this town don’t try to sacrifice Kaelin. That’s so sweet 🥹 🤭 Attack BearFriend unlocked.

The “Hey stop flirting with my patient” is wild.

Kids holding up the beats to throw as a threat.

Chapter 3

Ruyak vs children. (The winner? Children.)

Oh no. She’s got PTSD. ☹️

“He loves you.” “We are talking about the same person, right? The mountain of fur with a face on it that’s been guarding my hut like a dragon on a treasure trove for a week?”

This healer ships them (and I do too 🙂‍↕️):

Chapter 4

Character development, Ruyak is letting people call him a “bear demon” to his face.

The Professor returns!

Ruyak vs Secretaries & Professors

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Page 108-109 had me kicking my feet and giggling like crazy! I love them.

Chapter 7

Ruyak casually breaks a tree, “But I worked so hard.” 😖

Wise words from Ruyak on pg 121 (Kaelin didn't know he had it in him lol).

Ruyak vs Kaelin’s tent. The winner? Ruyak! (Yay!)

Chapter 8

Page 138 *kiss the girl plays in the background*

Chapter 9

Hand naps 🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️That is how she should sleep from now on🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️

He’s ready knife the b*tch who even looks at her funny.

The random list of explanations for Kaelin is so funny to me. (149)

Kaelin let him sniff her ONE time and now he’s never going to stop.

Chapter 10

Ruyak is literally so thoughtful. He gave her flowers for the bugs and asked Leta to get Kaelin a new head scarf. 😭😭😭

He gets bit by a VENOMOUS Drake and is like:

This scene is giving Beauty and the Beast, when Beast saves Bell and she helps treats his wounds.

Chapter 11

When they pull up to the solstice celebration:

Is it bring your pet to the solstice day? Why are there so many?

The switching between the other language bit:

I guess this is how Ruyak feels when Kaelin is talking to other humans. But I NEED an exact translation please! 🥺 I wanna know what Ruyak horrible insult he said to make Lirirak clutch his pearls.

What was that guy trying to trade for Kealin? Ruyak was like: “I’m not going to sell you my f*cking wife.”

“You’re my Kaelin, is what you are.” 187. Excuse me while I go scream into the void.

Chapter 12

The other Kanai talking about their different Adinen ceremonies. Oop. Ruyak be jelly.

The fact that Kanai really have a lot of rules and expect human to already know/understand/follow them is wild to me.

Kaelin getting six silver coins. Okay Material girl💅*Bow and arrow had been aquired.*

Chapter 13

“I hate scaring you.” (204) 🥺🥺🥺

Every time they have played ‘the game’ up to this point, I’ve thought she needs to climb a tree. Now she climbs the tree! 🌲

“He needed to stop wondering what Kaelin’s little form pressed against his lips would feel like.” No. No, you don’t. It should keep you up at night until you act on it. 🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️

Chapter 14

Ruyak vs. letters (and couriers)

“Why wouldn’t my father at least write? Why didn’t he send me… something.” That’s what I’ve been saying!!!!

👏PAY👏YOUR👏CHILD👏SUPPORT!!!👏 He better have a GOOD reason ISTG 🙄

Chapter 15

“Aega, can you open your eyes?” asdfghjkl

Me after reading that chapter:

They are so precious! Him helping her through her panic attack. 😩

***

Sorry this is so long, I had a LOT to say 😅All jokes aside, thanks for reading! Book 3 part 2 is here

[silverware-is-interesting]

got some sketches of the band au

Note: these are not final, design's are likely going to change when i eventually clean them up. they all technically have 2 outfits (onstage n offstage) these are just the onstage fits

idk what to make the tag for this au tbh "kinitopet band au" seems kinda boring... ANYWAYS! Have a terrible overview of the concept so far. n the band members too ig

Meet the KinitoBAND (placeholder name while i think, i'm open to suggestions though). They're a rather niche yet beloved band who play a multitude of different genres. all of their songs have a rather upbeat nature, or, they used to. lately they've been leaning more into rock and sometimes it just gets a little... strange... wonder why that is? they're actually more like vocaloids(???) that are programmed like Kinito with the react response algorithm (Kinito's i more advanced, but they've all got it) so if they ever did interact it'd be alright. the programmer (Sonny C) had initially only meant for there to be a vocalist but there was a decision somewhere to make a band (so there's a drummer and a guitarist too)

Let's get into the characters

Kinito The vocalist + tech Kinito is a fan-favourite, to be expected of the one who is always in view front 'n center. personality-wise he's similar to his canon counterpart, just a bit (emphasis on bit) more chill. i've imagined him to get a little... parasocial with his fans who probably just went for the music. he has a bit of a persona on stage, you could say. he's more energetic and in general might be a little more aggressive than usual, especially lately.

Sam The drummer Sam isn't quite as popular as Kinito, but he's got quite a few fans who might not gravitate towards Kinito like almost all the promotional material wants you to or people who like the drums. personality - Sam has a calm, almost 'cool guy' demeanor. he acts relitivley the same on and off stage. Jade the guitarist Jade, unfortunately, is the least popular member of the band. She's got a couple devoted fans, but noticeably less than the others. just as intended. personality- she's quite resourceful and the most upfront about things of the band. she's generally louder than the others, not on purpose, she's just not the best at maintain a good speaking volume.

[vindicated-truth]

I've just finished reading @rumpleteasa's translated character notes from Beyond Evil's official script book (thank you once again for all of your hard work 🫶🏻) and there are two details that stood out to me.

I think these were initially written in by Kim Sujin with the intent to have these expanded on the actual show as relevant to the plot, but for whatever reason was scrapped from the show, quite possibly because of lack of time.

Beyond Evil was slated to have only 16 episodes after all, so they had to compress Kim Sujin's initial script—though I think if they had more episodes, it would've been worth expanding on, if only to also spotlight these characters more and give even more depth to the story.

Nam Sangbae was in love with Han Jeongim, Jaeyi's mother

You can read the full details in the translated script book, but this specific detail, had it been expanded in the show, would've been another (and more convincing) red herring written in possibly spotlighting Nam Sangbae as a possible suspect in Han Jeongim's disappearance: a crime of passion borne out of heartbreak.

It would've also explained why Jaeyi was so terrified of Nam Sangbae after she saw him at the station the night she was also supposed to kill Kang Jinmook. There would've been more of a suspicion why Nam Sangbae wanted Kang Jinmook killed, because of the possibility that he could've been Han Jeongim's killer and wanted to silence Kang Jinmook before he could reveal the truth, much in the same way when Jinmook revealed to Dongsik that he wasn't actually his sister's killer.

2. Bang Juseon possibly tried to seduce Lee Changjin

The script book's character notes expanded on her character a little bit more and said that "she was trying to seduce some old guy who made a fortune in the development boom" in order to "give her rotten father some pocket money."

There are two "old guys" in the story who is said to have made a fortune in the development boom: Lee Changjin and Han Kihwan (through marrying into Lee Suyeon's family).

Reading the notes, it's more likely that this old guy she tried to seduce was Lee Changjin, which, had it been expanded in the story, would've also been another red herring painting Lee Changjin as her murderer.

It also now makes more sense why Kang Jinmook decided to kill her: he sees her also as somewhat of a "slut" or a "whore", which he hated seeing in women. He also hated Han Jeongim for it, his perception of these women as seductresses who need to be "punished".

If you also connect this to Nam Sangbae's character notes, it's possible also that the "man" Han Jeongim was supposed to meet up with at Mount Simu, where Kang Jinmook killed her, was in fact Nam Sangbae, who was now trying to court her and win her over again now that her husband has died.

Which, again, also would've spotlighted Nam Sangbae as further of a suspect in Kang Jinmook's death if he wanted to kill Jinmook out of heartbroken revenge.

This actually makes sense in the story too, but perhaps in the end the showrunners decided to have Sangbae focused purely on his relationship with Dongsik.

While having Sangbae focused on Dongsik had also been a good decision story-wise, I would've still also liked to have seen this backstory of his love for Jaeyi's mother play out, because it does give Sangbae more dimension and depth as a character, one who had his own heartbreaks and losses to deal with too.

And it would also explain why Sangbae was the one who had consistently established Jaeyi's butcher shop as their constant meeting place: perhaps in some way, he was also honoring Jaeyi's mother, and was also secretly hoping to find her, too.

It would also strengthen the idea of Dongsik and Jaeyi as pseudo-siblings—parallel to the pseudo-sibling relationship between Joowon and Hyeok—if Sangbae sees Jaeyi as his surrogate daughter too, out of his love for her mother, similar to how he sees Dongsik as his surrogate son.

That would've been a beautiful concept too: the parallelism of Dongsik and Jaeyi both losing their own biological families, yet somehow they have both managed to forge a new family all their own under the care of Sangbae.

2.B Bang Juseon's possible affair with Han Kihwan

This is actually the less likely scenario, but still an interesting possibility had Kim Sujin and the showrunners decided to go down this path.

Because Han Kihwan values the "image" of perfection in his life, he couldn't possibly have it revealed to the media that he had an affair with a younger woman, so when Kang Jinmook killed her, it gives him a double purpose to have the Munju case covered up because it hits two birds with one stone: his hit and run case with Lee Yuyeon, and this possible affair with Bang Juseon.

It'll also make more sense why it was both Juseon's and Yuyeon's death that were highlighted in the beginning, because of the possibility that both deaths all lead back to Han Kihwan, making him double of a Devil than he already is.

However, I can also see why, for storytelling purposes, it was whittled down to have Kihwan's sins focused on his sins against Dongsik. It gives the story more focus that way, especially with regard to Dongsik, who is the show's central lead.

[nalyra-dreaming]

Sorry if you’ve answered this but I don’t remember seeing it. What are the chances that with Daniel taking on some of the aspects of David in TotBT that he also gets his ending re: a new body. I just wonder how long Eric would want to be filming a show that’s this intense and I would think (if that was what happened) it’s always been the plan so he would know it. So it’s not like Rollin is dropping him, but that’s just the plan for his arc. I can’t see how this would happen, but I almost would think it more likely if they could get him in his own younger body, rather than a totally new actor (although I guess we’d have a season to get to love that actor by then).

Hey!

(Oh, I HAVE talked about this, but obviously tagged it so outrageously badly that >I< cannot find it, except one lousy post, so 🤪)

I am not sure if you know the later books, but there are possibilities.

Having an actor who is a bit older as a main character is always a risk for studios, and I say this with all the wishes and expectations for Eric to be with us for a long time yet. Still. There is always a risk.

And they're obviously setting up the body switching plot already, the concept of a soul, too. As said before, I take the switching eye-color as a hint for now, we'll see. Fareed is already there.

In the later books there are a lot of medical possibilities.

I have no idea what will happen, body-thief-wise, a lot depends on decisions that are already set in Rolin's brain and the decisions that are being made in the writer's room right now.

But these threads, these hooks do not exist in a vacuum. They were introduced for a reason. And a meaning.

There are clones in the later books. Created bodies, too.

I know Rolin has not talked much about "Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis"... but then he did not talk much about "Merrick" either, and Merrick clearly was taken in for s1 & 2 already, for both Claudia's diaries and Louis' attempted suicide. And her ghost and motivations will likely play into s3.

So the fact that Rolin does not talk about PLatRoA might weigh in similarly.

I do expect Daniel to be played by Luke in the end. Again, to make that clear, that is not something I necessarily want or need, just something I expect, given the way certain aspects were already introduced.

The details of that are "un-guessable" right now :) - but whatever they will do, I bet it will be clever and unanticipated, and I'm very much looking forward to that. :))

[jq37]

So, Jumanji by way of Last Action Hero. Ok, Never Stop Blowing Up. I'm in for the ride. They managed to put together a great table for this one. I'm delighted they got Rekha back in the Dome. It's exciting to see Alex Song-Xia again. Izzy is always a treat. I'll never say no to more Jacob Wysocki. And of course Ally and Ify are always strong performers. We're in for a good season.

What a crazy start! I'm so glad I watched Last Action Hero a few weeks ago in prep because those vibes are very apparent (in addition to Jumanji 2 of course, but I'd already seen that).

A quick rundown of everything going on:

Ally Beardsley as Russell Feeld as Jennifer Drips

INSANE swings from Ally right out the gate. I love that Izzy was both in character thirsting over Russell and out of character being like, "Pull it back." Also, I think they're the only one playing a girl movie character so that's interesting. This season is gonna be such a trip pronoun-wise. Wonder what direction Ally wants to go with that.

Ify Nwadiwe

as Wendell Morris as Vic Ethanol

I was STUNNED to hear Wendell's voice come out of Ify's body. I didn't know he had an Urkel-esque bone in his jacked as hell self. And I assumed that once the PCs turned to their MCs (movie characters) they'd use their MC voice but nope. It seems like he's still doing the Wendell voice which is wild. I love a sweet nerd so Wendell is one of my early faves for sure. Very much the vibes on the main character from Jumanji 2 turning into the Rock. Also, Vic Ethanol is my fave expy name.

Isabella Roland

as Paula Donvalson as Jack Manhattan

Izzy had, by far, my favorite movie bit with her and Brennan walking into that chicken bit which was golden. Sometimes a bit drags on too long but they drove that to the exact funniest point and then left it there. Chef's kiss, no notes. Very much looking forward to seeing this very tightly wound mom in this unhinged setting.

Rekha Shankar

as Usha Rao as G13

Something I really respect is building a character who is specifically bad at the main thing they have to do and a woman who barely has grasped the concept of phones having to be the hacker is so funny. Rekha, you've done it again. I didn't notice until it was pointed out on Twitter but one of the fave movies listed on her card is literally the first movie ever made (The Horse in Motion). And her immediate 1 when trying to do hacker stuff is a portent of more hilarity to come I'm sure. Love to have her back in the dome.

Alex Song-Xia

as Liv Skyler as Kingskin

Also, love to have Alex back in the dome! I loved them in Mentopolis and they picked such a fun dichotomy of characters to inhabit in a teen girl who's giving me Vanessa from In the Heights with a little compulsive shoplifting plus truly just Kingpin from Marvel. I found her really endearing and she was also one of my faves.

Jacob Wysocki

as Andy 'Dang' Litefoot as Greg Stocks

I'm not as familiar with Jacob as I think some others are but he matched the table's energy right away. I would think the aliens thing was a weird swing except that there's someone in one of my games who has a very similar deal (their PC not the actual person lol) so it's kind of like yeah, that's a normal thing for a PC to believe. Maybe it's because I just binged all of The Bear but he kind of reminds me of a more assertive Fak. And it's a very funny contrast to a suave James Bond-type (also, Stocks/Bond. Ha).

So it looks like we have Fast and Furious, Die Hard, and James Bond. Kingskin is Kingpin from Spiderman and maybe just repping mobster flicks in general. G13 also seems to be a generic hacker. And Jennifer Drips is a generic femme fatale.

I think it's interesting that everyone seems to be a protagonist except for Kingskin who is an obvious baddie (unless he comes from a Breaking Bad type world where it's bad guys all the way down and no real heroes).

Also, I'm curious about how they'll cross over with each other. In Last Action Hero, it was kind of implied that many action movie scenarios take place in a shared universe (which is why you had Arnold in the same police station as a talking cartoon cat and other archetypes waiting to get paired up with their wacky mismatched sidekicks). Could be something like that, but we'll see.

Anyway, yeah! I wasn't sure how this season was gonna look but I'm VERY down for it now that it's started. Oh! And the animatics???? Amazing! D20 just keeps outdoing itself!

[kerizaret]

Ok so it's An centric because of course it is. It's mine. It's also an au of an au so a lot of pairings likely won't make sense lol beware of that

I don't remember too much about the settings just that the Tenmas are the royals as is thr usual, also there is magic but it doesn't play that much of a role. I'll work on digging that up later...

The basic concept is that the cast lives in this high-ish fantasy world with a less than good kingdom, and Radder were once upon a time a group of knights, but Nagi happened and after that Taiga stayed loyal to the knights order and Ken... Didn't. And since the army or the knight order are like Basically the only well-paid jobs, they're not well off. Managing, but not well off.

Fast forward to the present day An is a bit of a brat who likes to do minor crime and steal stuff, not out of malice but more of a "stick it" attitude to the rulers (she knows Ken dislikes the knights, but not why), except one day she decides to steal something too fancy from the rich bakery and gets caugh red-handed by the hood of her shirt (literally). And basically you know that thing where a wise mentor catches a thief and makes them join forces of good saying "you'd be better off using those skills for goos"? Well, basically that, but An and (disguised) Taiga.

Since the justice system in the kingdom is... Not good, An is dragged to the castle and sat in front of a choice of a) either her father pays a fine for stealing (like x100 the times what the stolen thing actually worth "to discourage crime") b) she joins the knights to train and eventually pay it off herself, because she has a lot of potential and Taiga knows it. And An, being who she is, would rather walk off a cliff than do that to her dad.

That's how she ends up living in a royal castle as a trainee with an Attitude and meets (not necessarily in the castle, but just by Being Around these people)

1) Nene, a senior in experience but not in age knight, who is horrible with making friends & overall much more jaded than An is, but An is literally dead set on making friends with her

2) Touya, a son of a renowned court magician currently on house house arrest for almost taking off into the wilderness with a rogue

3) Akito, the aforementioned rogue/exiled knight, who literally cannot stay away from the castle for some reason??

4) Shiho, his partner in crime with much more brain power than he has

5) Kanade, a white mage/priestess/healer with a bad reputation for not using her magic unless she absolutely has to a d wasting her talent

6) Mafuyu, an apprentice white mage from a known family and very confusing, definitely out of the ordinary powers

7) Rui, a dark magician and alchemist with ties to both the royals and Nene that An literally cannot wrap her head around

8) His Highness Tsukasa being his best self (obnoxious & out of touch. He'll grow dw)

9) Saki, the princess & like the only person An considers to be fun to hang out in this Wretched Place

and the rest of them.

It's more of a collection of random scenes & scenarios & ideas than a full blown au if I'm honest; Annene is the central piece of it. I don't know if it's worth anything, I just think An is funny. She really struggles to take things seriously & copes with humour until it hits her that Oh fuck, she's actually stuck there forever and will just have to do whatever the royals tell her to. Even if her morals go against it. And she might die. Welp. Because she's my stress ball and putting her into moral dilemmas is my favourite hobby

Tl;dr:

THATS SO COOL ANS AMAZING I LOVE IT an you poor girl lmaooo.... ohfhh I do wonder how she finds out the truth n all.... ALSO POOR KEN THEY JUST KIDNAPPED HIS DSUGHER HES PROBABLY WORRIED SICK 😭

The side characters are so interesting... kanamafu especially 👀

Man Jay your aus never disappoint I could read them forever

[dreamsy990]

so 358/2 days, amiright? heres my thoughts

this game is just. god its an emotional rollarcoaster

i guess ill start with the things i dont like!! which is mostly the gameplay. i dont really mind the mission structure shockingly (i like being able to roam around but having a clear goal makes things easier for my adhd ass, and i think the miniature storylines are very good for the most part) but i simply could Not get into the combat. especially coming off of kh2 it feels so stiff and unfun to play the only part of the game where i enjoyed the combat was fighting riku at the very end. i think the panel system is okay but i dont like that levels take up space. why did they do that.

story-wise, i dont like the retcons!! a lot of the ones i take issue with are very minor but things like roxas only fighting riku once instead of the implied multiple times (even the dialogue doesnt make sense when you change that, why does roxas say 'how many times do i have to beat you' when theyve only fought once?) are the kinds of inconsistencies that just annoy me.

im also a little bit annoyed at the very concept of this game at all. i think roxas worked just fine as a character without this game. it feels sort of unnecessary in the grand scheme of things. also, xion. i love xion, dont get me wrong, but i dont think she adds anything to the series over all. thats not to say she doesnt add anything to this game because shes a great character and i love her, but shes just. kind of like this game in that if you got rid of her i dont think it would really change the narrative so much.

BUT DESPITE THAT ALL!!!!!!!! i fucking ADORE this game. it is genuinely so full of charm and soul that i just cant bring myself to dislike it. i think this is one of the best written games in terms of dialogue. every scene (at least for me) hit exactly as emotionally hard as i think it was meant to. i was laughing at demyx's antics and crying at xions death and yelling at saix and i think thats exactly how the game is meant to be seen.

days at its heart is a slice of life. its working a 9 to 5 its going through a depressive episode its losing friends its grieving its making fun of your coworkers its living. its a game about life and i love that.

this game really did make me forget that axel roxas and xion dont get a happy ending. i spent so much time looking forward to them making up that i forgot that roxas ran away. hell i almost forgot that xion died.

days is emotional and its story and its characters are just so fucking good. the conflicts all felt very real and you can tell exactly where everyones coming from. the way axel roxas and xion fall apart hits so fucking close to home. but god damnit if axel had any good communication skills like half of this could be avoided

its also one hell of a love letter to axel's character. hes always been one of my favorites (he recently earned first place) and i think this game does him a lot of justice. hes trying to do good. he wants to keep everything together he wants to be there for his friends he wants to make things right but he just cant. its just AUGH its so fucking good

that thing about axel's characterization really also applies to roxas. i dont have much to say about him beyond the fact that i think it does his character very well. also tism. hes so autism.

i kind of like the very limited graphics too. sue me i enjoy low quality games. the hands are not animated and they all have two expressions (blinking and not blinking) and their weapons are flat and im living for it. the very few fully animated cutscenes are good too!!

the (real, i dont count riku) final boss is unfortunately very easy. you can just stand directly in front of her and mash a she wont hit you its too easy but vector to the heavens did mess me up a bit. also earlier scene but "ill always be there to bring you back" with the other promise playing over it? fucked me up man. yoko shimomura is once again killing it

i cant believe roxas didnt get to go to the beach.

i have to give this game a 9/10. its writing is incredible but the gameplay could use a lot of work. its just not fun to play. but again the characters, emotions, and music all make up for that tenfold.

[msfbgraves]

It makes me sick that the writers are going to give Kreese redemption. WHICH IS TOTALLY UNEARNED!!! If violent, toxic, and evil Kreese can get redeemed, why can’t Terry??

Idk what anyone says, Kreese should have died in S5 after the therapy scene. The only time he was ever good and likable was when he was younger and especially with Betsy (who was perfect for him, and a sweetheart from what little we saw). I think if she had survived, she would have kept him in check, because he could never bear to lose her.

I don't think it should be anyone's job to keep people in check, but yes, maybe. If he was ever anything like how he remembers himself with her. I feel that the writers never gave a good reason for how these supposedly sweet guys turned into the the Terry and Kreese we see later on. Still, what we saw of Kreese and Betsy was very sweet and I would have loved for them to have been happy together.

And also, I think the whole 'redeem the villain, mess up the nice guys' CK has been doing has gotten incredibly old and they didn't have the skill to pull it off, character wise. There was no need to redeem Kreese. Give him some depth, sure, spending time with a character a bit longer will do that. It was interesting watching S2 Johnny with an unredeemed Kreese. Of course there must have been some good between them too to mess up someone for life. And that's what it could have been about, I've written a post about it once before - Silver's return could have been about Johnny realising how fucked up Kreese always was by seeing Terry's lingering hold on Daniel. These things can hit you like a sledgehammer when suddenly seeing them played out in front of you with someone you care about. But that would require empathy, and these writers are still grappling with the concept that Kreese was a bad influence in TKK1 somehow.

Also what's so interesting about Terry is that he kinda already starts out redeemed? For all his deranged "Danny, Danny Danny!" he let him be for 35 years? Let him have his family? Terry still thinks he deserves a medal for that. And yet no word of thanks from his boy! Did he think it was easy, hm, driving along those billboards and not kidnapping him? He's made some psychiatrists very rich but he did it! He refrained! Abstained! Kept him undetained! And this is the thanks he gets? Hmpf! Ah, well. No matter. He's here now, and Danny always did make him work for it. It's half the fun! (Aka, leave Terry insane we like him that way).

[missmiseryguts]

GUESS WHO KINDA FINISHED THE CONDUCTOR IDEAS

It's gonna be mostly writing + sketches cause I'm struggling a lil bit on drawing Conductor but MAIN DESIGN W/O COLOR AND A GOOFY DOODLE FINISHED!

I saw a dragon + MU in a prince-like outfit for Act 2 and my brain immediately went "Fantasy??? Fairytales perhaps??" I imagine he was inspired by his grandkids and fairytales he heard growing up as a child! Unfortunately, as he kept going, he became more focused on one-upping Grooves and winning the Annual Bird Movie Awards, and the vibes of his movies changed for the worse unfortunately. :(

He still has an explosive temper, but tries to manage it or at least tone it down in front of the cameras. Unfortunately, if you choose him as the winner, he pulls the same stunt Grooves did in the original. I imagine he even accuses you of rigging the previous Bird Awards via time travel (even though it's your first time there... Idk he's prolly delirious by this point lol)

Also imagine Bow Kid or Hood Kid telling the winning bird about the time travel aspect to the Time Pieces?? Or one of them notifying the losing bird that Hat Kids is in danger?? I'm pretty sure it was hinted that M.U had an effect in the Dead Bird boss fight, but IDK if it's canon or I just remembered a hc.

Also does a bomb still get strapped to Swap!MU in the second phase or is it something else?

(P.S: Lemme know if I'm overstepping a boundary!! I was reading this over and I'm scared that it reads like telling you about the characters in your own AU lol)

HELP POOR MU LOOKS SO SCAREEDDD.. Also I'm so loving this idea what... Conductor making movies and plays based on his grandkids ideas is so cute and the way he LOSES SIGHT OF HIS ORIGINAL VISON??? I saw a headcanon post one time about something like this... I LOVE THAT SO MUCH.

Him keeping his temper would be pretty funny.. especially if he tried to hide it. Grooves is more passive aggressive and cold, I want him to take on some of og conductors traits?? Like his recklessness and apathy towards his workers.. Conductor I can see being very short tempered, but he just does breathing exercises to not yell at anyone HELP. Like MU makes a mistake and he just starts counting to ten before telling her that shes doing great LMAOO

And I wanted Hood and Bow to have a role in this chapter too! In the finale they might be the reason the winning director knows about the timepiece power, but not because they told him.. maybe because they try to steal it, fumble a little, it rewinds time after being dropped, and then the director who saw it happen goes crazy?? Bow realizes they've fucked up, and drags Hood out of there before they die HAHAHAH or something.. in the other acts I was thinking maybe they're in the 'O Romeo O Romeo!' act and they are literally forced to be the villain.. in my og concept I was gonna have Hood forced to act as the damsel in distress because Conductor caught her sneaking around, but then ashfluffys gave me the FUNNIEST IDEA EVER to make the damsel an owl so that idea changed, so she and Bow might play as a villain in that act? I'm rambling now BUT for the DJ grooves levels I was thinking they're in space rush? The act where the spaceship is crashing towards earth! I can see them maybe getting stuck on there trying to find a timepiece and trying to race Mu to the end, sabotaging her, etc, or all that..

ALSO I FUCKING FORGOT ABIUT THE BOMB???? YES HELP OH MY FUCK HAHAHAH.. and for the stage in the fight where the parade is meant to follow you, idk, maybe- the fucking dragon comes back and tries to set you on fire HELP

I really want to work on Grooves' levels now ,,, I've worked on Conductors a lot, and I do have clear visions for Grooves' levels, I just gotta figure him out... Design wise and stuff. I don't normally draw the less humanoid characters, not my forte, but here's a crack at Conductor! I drew your design for him and tried to make up another one!

Mus guitar actually turns INTO a sword, a rapier! The prince costume does that.. I was thinking of a custom "royal medallion" to cue the costume change or something.

You know the whole "losing his creative vision" could actually be a damn good storybook. I don't know what the title would be, but it'd probably be his grandkids telling him a story, him remembering the ones he made as a kid, then he got to writing and producing a small local play for his grandkids and the other kids where he lived, it got the attention of big studios, he got hired at Dead Bird Studio as a director, ran into Grooves and his whole creative vision went down from there... OUUGHSGKHDFKHSHF

Anyways THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SHARING YOUR IDEAS??!!! You guys have no clue how much it means to me. I love hearing all your ideas for my au and working on it as a collaboration with y'all is honestly so much fun.. it rekindles my passion every single time. I don't think giving me ideas will EVER 'cross a boundary', I love hearing all of your concepts !!! I'll try super hard to incorporate all the ones I think fit, and to be honest, all y'alls ideas not only fit my vision but expand upon it and help me think of all the small details I never would have noticed beforehand... THANK YOU SO MUCH. IM INDEBTED TO EVERY SINGLE ONE IF YOU GUYS FOR HELPING ME MAKE THESE CONCEPTS MWWWWWAH 🙏 THIS AU WOULD BE NOTHING WITHOUT ALL OF YOUR SUPPORT

[helluvapurf]

Any thoughts on the design/character of Mammon, the Sin of Greed?

Ayyy, good question! Since the Mammon mid-finale's been out for awhile, it probably wouldn't hurt to chat about this fella some more! :>

Now, as far as Mammon's character vibe is concerned... honestly I don't really mind it? Kinda refreshing tbh to have a Sin embodiment be more of a straight-up asshole instead of secretly "nice"/chill (even tho I love Bee & Ozzie). His colors fit well to the theme of Greed too with all the greens, blacks, and bits of gold popping out too (almost a bit like a twisted play of the "Christmas = commercialism" concept?).

...Though, outside of that I'm a biiiit confused why they went with a spider-theming for him, anatomy-wise? .3. Unless they were going for a callback to IT's Pennywise ('cause yknow, clown lol)... I don't recall spiders being linked much to Greed symbolism? 🤷‍♀️ Also ngl, kiiiiinda hard to see all his extra limbs in certain frames too, 'cause when seeing full-body refs like this... at first glance I thought his arm on the right here was his ass lmao

Face-wise I'm admittedly a lil more "ehhhh" about 'cause like... idk I feel we've had that same "sharp jagged smile"-look in about 75% of our male HB (+Hazbin) cast by now lol .w.; Had they given him a different mouth (& maaaaybe a bigger-proportioned head? lol) I think it would've allowed some nice variety from what we're used to imo 👍

[infinibab]

back at it again with my knuxadow hadestown au

only this time,,, with a more divisive cast list!! + some explanations too! this might be a little confusing to those who aren't familiar w/ the plot of hadestown/the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, so i'll try to expand on it as much as I can.

(also would you guys believe me if i said i've actually been thinking about this au for like 6 months?)

Knuckles as Orpheus - I dunno this casting just feels like clockwork to me. Orpheus and Knuckles are both bold, earnest, and dedicated. They're both incredibly duty bound-- though they show it n different ways. Orpheus' dedication towards finishing his song parallels how Knuckles dedicates so much of his life to the ME. Hence why I can easily see Knuckles in the same situation Orpheus finds himself in. I also think it'd be fun if his Orpheus has the reputation of being naive and gullible. Like, just walk with me here. The weather is out of wack: spring isn't spring anymore, winter's lasting longer than it should, and summers are getting hotter and hotter every time. Now all of a sudden, some orphan with a guitar comes around saying he's working on a song that'll fix everything? Crazy talk-- but what they don't know is that he's telling the truth. Knuckles' Orpheus is a bit of a recluse. He does his job over at Hermes' place, and goes right back to working on his song. Nothing more, nothing less. He doesn't have time to argue with people about the legitimacy of his gift. He doesn't have time for anything. That is, until he meets Eurydice.

(Bonus: Also, also!! Performance-wise, when I think about Knuckles' Orpheus, I like to think of it as a mix of Jordan Fisher's and Justin Vernon's performances. Very nice and subdued, soft voice, but also also throw in a very fiery determination when things get rough (all this to say you guys should listen to Jordan Fisher's rendition of Wait For Me) I also draw a lot of inspiration from Hadestown's orginial concept album for Knuckles' take just in general!

Shadow as Eurydice (just as a heads up, I'll be using he/she pronouns interchangeably for Shadow & Eurydice here. sorry if you don't see the vision but it's simply mandatory) - Again, this is like clockwork to me.... Shadow's Eurydice is one that's gone through countless losses. She's wandered this world for a long time now, and she's seen how vicious and demanding it can get. He's seen the weather grow more and more extreme as the years passed by, and the only thing he could do was watch as the harsh conditions claimed everything/everyone he's ever cared about. So, just as Eurydice does, he turns his back against the world. Rather than live, Eurydice survives. I like to think that in true Shadow nature, his Eurydice comes off a liiiiittle (read: very) arrogant. I mean who wouldn't be? Especially if you were in her shoes? Still, despite his accomplishments, Shadow's Eurydice always hungered for more. He wanted to see the world the way the old folks and gods described it. Balanced, harmonious, and just, y'know. liveable? So when she meets Orpheus, she gets to see a sliver of that world. Shadow's Eurydice greatly respects Orpheus and his dedication to his song. He tries to play it off as the respect one would have for like, a good business proposal or whatever, but in reality, he's completely enamored with Orpheus' song (and Orpheus as a whole, obviously. why else would he agree to marry him?)

more under the cut btw. this got longer than i planned

Rouge as Hermes - My GIIIIIIRRRRLLLL!!! Sorry, I will cling onto this casting choice for ages it makes sense to no one but me. Rouge is like, the one piece holding this story together. She serves as the narrator in most cases, and she's the one most familiar with all of the characters. She knows the tragedy of Orpheus and Eurydice better than anyone else. Yet despite it's tragic ending, it's still her favorite story. Rouges' Hermes isn't too different from how she usually acts. Though with Rouge, her compassion shines through the most in Hermes' character. ALSO! Another change is that Rouges' Hermes is a lot more vague in her motivations. It's never too clear why she loops the story over again, or why she hopes for better ending. But one things's for sure-- she cares for Orpheus and Eurydice dearly. It's not often she meets a soul bold enough to bicker with the Gods-- let alone two! Hermes is a dear friend to the main two. Between them, she's known Orpheus the longest, and she has quite the sweet spot for him. That's actually why she offered him a job at her little pub, which will temporarily be named The Emerald for now.

Sonic as Persephone - It's a little fucked up when you think about it. But like, it's a really fun match in my opinion. To those unfamiliar w/ the plot: Persephone is only allowed 6 months of freedom each year. Otherwise, she's stuck alongside Hades down in the underworld . Sound a little familiar? (COUGH forces COUGH). Each year, the return of Persephone marks a fun celebration. It's a sign that spring is finally returning, and that times are gonna be a little easier, just for a while. Sonic's Persephone is very lax and approachable. Everyone tends to forget that he's one of the Gods. He gets excited every time spring comes around because he finally has the freedom to stretch his legs and mingle with the living! Persephone seems to know everyone, which is a damn near impressive feat considering how much time he spends underground. But hey, don't sweat about the small stuff! Sonic's Persephone knows how to make the best of an awful situation. When he's around, it's easy to forget the situation he's fallen into. It's like a fun party, whenever spring comes. But every party has it's end. Sonic's Persephone is a lot better at hiding his discontent with the deal. He only really gives an attitude to Hades. Down underground, he tries to lighten up the mood as best as he can, but it's a little difficult when everyone down there is a mindless husk. (Another issue to take up with Mr. Hades, it seems.)

Infinite as Hades - HEAR ME OUT, OKAY. It just works I think. Infinite and Hermes are similar in the sense that when they grab a hold of power, they latch onto it with an iron grip. Hades & Infinite are both powerful and imposing figures, but behind all that bravado, there's a weakness they refuse to let anyone see. After all, if that weakness were to come to light, everything they've built would come crumbling down. I think if I were to make any changes to Infinite's Hades characterization, I think I'd make his Hades a little more outwardly cunning. Someone who seems a little more untrustworthy and slimy, despite their words and logic being perfectly sound. A sweet talker who doesn't sugarcoat their words y'know? Seems a little contradictory, but it makes sense to me. Either way, he's incredibly proud of his growing empire. It's a testament to strength and resourcefulness. Hadestown is the city of his dreams-- the city he deserves, and he refuses to let anyone ruin his chances at bringing it to fruition. Still, Infinite's Hades has gotten awfully lazy. Relying on his workers to build his empire for him. He used to value a challenge, hell, he used to seek out challenges for himself. That's how he met Persephone. But then he grew overzealous. He took it a step to far, and when Persephone lost that final challenge, that fire quelled. They were no longer on equal ground, and there was nothing else that could reinvigorate that spark.

Vector, Espio, and Charmy as The Fates (Atropos, Lachesis, and Clotho respectively) - I was actually really torn on whether I wanted the Chaotix or the Babylon Rogues as the Fates, so this might be subject to change. EITHER WAY. I like to think these three serve as a more sympathetic version of the fates? They each have their own varying opinions on the characters and the actions they take (some being more optimistic, the other being more cynical, and one serving as kind of the middle ground-- but it's never all the same). If I di stick with the Chaotix... they are gonna get up to a lot more mischief in the background. i simply won't have it any other way.

YEAH. Woah that was may longer than I thought it was gonna be, and it doesn't cover everything I have in mind about this au. this is just the tip of the iceberg tbh. also!

I don't think I'll make a lot of BIG changes to the story. except for one. S0nfinite isn't my cup of tea so I don't think I'll make Hades and Persephone's story a conventional "love turned twisted/bitter" story. I'll find a way to make it parallel Orpheus and Eurydice's story in a different way. I've got some ideas, I just have to flesh them out a little bit more.

Anyways... I hope you guys like it. Listen to hadestown and you too, can fall down the rabbit hole with me. Take your pick:

Broadway Cast Album / Orginal Cast [Live] / Concept Album (It's a completely sung-through musical so you don't have to scour for scenes for extra context. That being said, I DO reccomend finding a stage performance if you have the time. The way the set comes to life... mwah. 10s across the board.)

ok bye fr now