#I've her lore like. mostly figured out this whole time I just like keeping it a secret for funsies

[orb-the-watchman]

Just occurred to me that I've had Brichbam for almost two years at this point and I have still kept the vast majority of her backstory hidden

[whiteboardartstudios]

Goodbye, Gendaen

fan art for @mtqcomic

Thoughts and LONG ramble under the cut! (includes spoilers!!!)

A while ago (like last week maybe?) I realized that I've been following this comic for almost a year, and I still haven't drawn Mysta yet! I figured that with the recent end of Chapter 3 and that *huge* lore drop (I was NOT expecting that oh my goodness the theory wheels are turning in the void that is my brain) now would be a pretty good time to draw her! So that's where this came from! :D

I thought that it would be fun to draw Mysta looking sort of like a knight? Partially because it makes for cool posing and composition but also because I think that if she was in D&D she would be a paladin due to the whole "Hero sent by Destiny" thing (I considered sorcerer or warlock as well, but her moveset is mostly melee at the moment so I thought that paladin fits better. Plus this opens up the possibility of Gendaen being an Oathbreaker paladin, depending on how that whole situation with the Crimson went. (also now I kind of want to put the main cast of mtq in D&D even though I don't actually know a lot about D&D ToT. I think Eth would be a ranger maybe multiclassed into something magic-related, because rangers have a favored enemy mechanic that gives them advantages on fighting a certain type of enemy, which could be Crimson enemies for D&D Eth. Yele is (kind of obviously) a druid because of the whole dryad thing, and Zaïl is definitely giving rogue energy to me.)) Anyways, D&D-related sidetrack aside – hello??? End-of-chapter-3 lore drop? (/positive) I have SO many questions. First of all, what happened to convince Gendaen to switch sides? For someone who allegedly spent his entire life trying to cleanse the Crimson, it would've taken one heck of a worldview-upending revelation to get him to join it. With the information we currently have, it seems pretty clear that Gendaen isn't mind-controlled or corrupted or anything – not just because of the reasons Eth gave in page #169, but also because from all the interactions we've had with Nelun Soma'o/Gendaen, he seemed to be pretty chill? I pointed out in my first fan art post that it doesn't seem as if Nelun Soma'o is being built up to be a villain character and is instead more of an antagonist with a slight mentor role, and I think that still kind of holds up now. Gendaen definitely wants Mysta to help him and/or the Crimson with something, and as Yele said in that recent comic, things aren't really adding up. I'm still slightly suspicious of the Order of Learning as well (insert person pointing at conspiracy theory board meme here lol), since you would think that if Gendaen and Eth are really close then Gendaen might have told Eth about the whole Crimson situation, right? On Page #250 (which is marked as 150??? probably a typo but idk) Gendaen says that he didn't want Eth to be roped into this whole situation, which could be a reason for keeping him in the dark – though if he knew Eth really well then he might have suspected that Eth wouldn't just let him disappear and would go searching for him. Another possible reason (in my theory) if the Order is evil or something and Gendaen learned something that he shouldn't have learned, maybe he knew that Eth wouldn't believe him because of his loyalty to the Order? I may just be connecting random dots and calling it a picture here but *something* is going on and until we get more clues on what that may be, I'm sticking with this theory lol :P EDIT, I was rereading Gendaen's character sheet and it says there that he has a strong code of honor and fights for the underdogs (not the exact phrasing but it's close). 👀 does that mean the Crimson is in some sort of underdog position? 👀

Anyways back to the drawing a little, I gave both Gendaen and Mysta a sort of braid-like element in their designs to sort of tie them together a bit visually (Mysta's is on the sides of her head, which is kind of hard to see so I added a little ribbon to show that parts of her hair is tied back, and Gendaen's is in his golden hair accessory thingy). I think that there's definitely some sort of correlation between Gendaen's disappearance/switching to the Crimson and Mysta being sent to Sol Ybberia, and I also think that both of them are going to play an important role in whatever happens in the future, hence the braids (to show that their destinies are kind of intertwined, as the two Heroes of Sol Ybberia). I also thought that it would be fun to put Gendaen in a stained glass window instead of actually physically being present, because up until the Nelun Soma'o reveal, all the things we know about Gendaen are basically all from Eth's recollections of him, which for me definitely paints a bit of a "Character haunting the narrative" kind of vibe. I also think that with the Nelun Soma'o reveal, the somewhat glorified (for a lack of a better word – I think Eth might be a little biased when it comes to Gendaen, considering that Gendaen has been missing for about 5 years, if my math is correct? 5 years feels like a long time to me and I think that if a person important to me has been missing for that long then my impression of them would definitely start warping to how I want to remember them/who I wanted them to be and I might start unintentionally ignoring the things that doesn't quite match that image in my head. Speaking of/case in point, Eth's reaction to the Nelun Soma'o reveal!) image of Gendaen that we had got thrown in a metaphorical blender with our idea of the Crimson at the time, and it just makes things a whole lot more complicated in a very interesting way. (If you look at the bottom right of the image you can see Nelun Soma'o's cloak coming out of stained-glass Gendaen's cloak, which I thought would be a fun little detail to include). Hence, the stained glass is kind of the "perfect Hero who disappeared to advance the plot" Gendaen and we can see Mysta kind of splitting the glass with her Rotted Fork from a composition point of view, referencing that huge lore bomb she dropped a couple of pages ago and how that changes our (or at least my) perception of Gendaen as a character entirely. I really do like the plot twist, as I think it makes Gendaen a more 3-dimensional character with more complicated motivations and narrative significance, as before I mainly knew him as "predecessor to Mysta" and "one of Eth's sources of motivation", but now he my understanding of Gendaen also extends to things about Gendaen himself and not just about his role in relation to other characters (for example, "Gendaen is helping the Crimson for reasons currently unknown" or "Gendaen is planning something that involves Mysta??? and he's in the Void??? And apparently Mysta is supposed to jailbreak him out at some point in the future?" He definitely has something planned behind the scenes, I don't know what it is and I want to find out).

MORE THINGS about Gendaen (can you tell that he's my favorite character at the moment ToT), what's up with those last words? If I'm correct (and I think I am, I scrolled all the way back to the page where the gods were introduced just to check this ToT), Nomù is Compassion? How is compassion related to Gendaen's alliance with the Crimson? I mean, when you think of the Crimson, compassion definitely is NOT the first value that comes to mind. Right now it seems that to me, Gendaen's plan with Mysta and the Crimson and the Void is connected to Nomù somehow? (the "I won't disappoint you" is definitely interesting). I don't have a lot of thoughts or theories on where this might be going, I just thought that it was something interesting to metaphorically chew on for the next while. It definitely seems like it has some sort of narrative significance, at least.

There might be more things that I wanted to talk about, but I can't really think of them off the top of my head right now (it might be due to the fact that it's currently quite late in my time zone ToT I am sleepy) so that's all from me for now :D (Also dropping the version of the drawing with just the lineart here because I think it looks really cool)

I hope you have a really nice day and/or night! :D

*a starry rift in space opens up in front of me and I faceplant into it like it is a mattress* (gotta make that dramatic exit!) [Image ID: The first image is a colored and rendered image of Mysta from the Mysta's Terrarian Quest webcomic standing in front of a stained glass window of Gendaen. She is holding the Rotted Fork spear from Terraria, and she has a determined expression on her face. The stained glass shows Gendaen with his back turned to the audience, and one closed eye is visible. His cloak is flowing to the right of the image, where it emerges out of the stained glass as it fades from green to dark grey. Crimson vines, green trees, and white clouds surrounds Gendaen in the stained glass. Outside of the glass portrait, real crimson vines are creeping along the stone walls that the portrait is on, framing the portrait and Mysta in the middle. A red light source is shining down from the upper right corner of the drawing. End ID.] [Image ID: The second image is a work-in-progress version of the first image without any color and only some minimal shading, with all shades being in monochrome. Mysta's lineart is noticeably darker compared to the line art of the background. End ID.]

EDIT: Forgot to add image ids, they're here now TwT

[iknowshocker]

you’re querying a bonkai inspired book? AHHH i hope it finds an agent and gets published because ive been looking for their dynamic in trad pubbed work + other media. hmm basic question but what was it about the ship that made you want to write original work inspired by it?

hii!! yes, it's called The Forgotten Legacy (or maybe The Unwanted Heir, that's TBD lol). I'm pitching it as a Witch-coded Bridgerton inspired 8 book series (Witcherton, if you will), and I'm so unbelievably obsessed. I've had such a fun time injecting it with true to life witch lore and specifics on covens/pantheons/and practices across the globe.

Each book will focus on one of the Attwood siblings - starting with a childhood friends to rivals to lovers new adult story.

I run a yt channel where I recap fantasy media and the stars aligned for me creatively this time when I reached tvd s6. I had just finished a project and was ready for something new, and Kai is like the closest thing I have to a muse. He sneaks his way into all the MMC's I write, but this time I just went all in.

I've always been drawn to the secrets of the gemini coven/the flashbacks from their childhood we don't get to see. So I decided to build my own magical family/world where I could figure all of those things out, add to them, and do what I wanted with the all the intersecting arcs.

The biggest thing I changed is that only the dad is cruel, so my MMC grows up with a mom/siblings/and specifically a twin that truly love him. The family is still majorly screwed up, don't get me wrong, but they have this drive to take care of each other that makes my heart ache. I liiiiive for sibling angst, so figuring out the individual dynamics between the siblings has been ridiculously fun. Close sibling friendships might be my true weakness ?? so it was really important to me to develop that relationship between my MMC/his twin sister and explore what it looks like for them to go into my version of the merge loving each other the entire time.

imo if you boil Kai down to one core emotion its Desperate with an underscore of Rage, and my MMC is Desperate with an underscore of Sorrow. He's living with the knowledge that he could single handedly destroy his entire family, or save everyone with his death at his sister's hands. He gives up basically everything to be a good big brother and protect them, sacrificing his own happiness in the process. (don't worry tho he still has the inherent darkness, sarcasm/the wit we all know and love - he's an emotional mess and i adore him!!)

As for why I find Bonkai inspiring, again I think it's all the possibilities of the ship itself. I was so excited for Bonnie to have someone who was 100% obsessed with her, and I think if given the chance she would have been that person for Kai, too. He's never had someone love him/protect him, and if they'd been a couple I think Bonnie 100% would have stood between him and the rest of the geminis.

I wanted to finally see a badass (mostly healthy) witch couple, and bonkai would have just ?? decimated everyone else on the board. So with my writing I explored the dynamics of them being willing to do anything to keep each other safe/plus the complexities of their individual power/what it would be like if they could work together.

I focused a lot on the opposing personalities/undeniable understanding that bonkai has. So they still fight but there's that element of ...uh, do you guys need a room or ?? They remind me of magnets - you can never tell if they're going to make out or try to kill each other or both. I added the elements of a childhood friendship between my FMC and the twins, so there's some fun friendship dynamics there, too.

thank you so much for asking, anon! I hope I answered this okay, lol. I have so many thoughts bouncing around about the series as a whole it's hard to condense them.

xx

[pinkprincessia-art]

It disappeared before I could reply, but I would love to see more art for Story of Evil. I found you and loved your artwork and style, so when I learned you did Vocaloid aus, I knew instantly I would love anything you produced. So in general I wouldn’t mind seeing any Vocaloid story for FE, but Evillious Chronicles has a hold on my brain so anything pertaining to that would be lovely!

My bad I have a bad habit of deleting txt posts after a bit every now and then

OOo thank you! Hearing that means so much to me!

I used to do alot of Vocaloid type of AU art, when I was younger and it was always so much fun.... and then I stopped for some reason and after a lot of unfortunate life events happened a couple of years I was like "Oh why don't I go back to doing this? I had so much fun, but do it with FE" and its been a bad case of the brain worms ever since.

The Evilious Chronicles have always been my favorite song series... at first I told myself I was just going to go based on the songs and not all of the outside lore (it was tempting! but with this being a side passion project I really didn't and still dont have the time to go and hope I could find good translations read all of the light novels and do a deep dive) But its fine because my idea was "what if pocessed by evil dragon" rather than being the vessel of a sin.

I ended up choosing mostly Nohr siblings (because bias) minus Elise because she is too pure... and I think it ended up being pretty solid. Daughter/Servant of Evil - Corrin Twins (obviously... it really started because I craved a love triangle between Corrin Laslow and Azura.... and it fuels me.

I actually have plans to add illustrations for the Daughter of White. It took me a while to figure out who to put in Haku's role.... and I finally decided on Felicia. It felt the most right.)

Evil Food Eater - Camilla It seemed fun.... and cannibal camilla doesn't feel wrong I ended up giving the Kaito role to Kaze (for morbid shippy purposes)

Gift From the Princess who Brought Sleep - Azura I had a hard time picking for this one, I sat on it because at this point I had already decided I wanted to stick to mostly the Fates cast if I could (minus one). And Elise.... really-really didnt fit any of them the more I played around with it in my sketchbook the more I liked it for Azura! (Also yes I through Laslow in there too because he is my fav and I love him and I stuffed in everywhere I could)

Still working on how I want her dress to look but I like sketching when I have the ideas to come back to later. Corruption of Judgement - Leo

There was just no thought, I knew it had to be Leo. Also yes it means I will be drawing Forrest as "Master of the Court"

Duke of Venomania's Madness - Xander I.. was not sure about this one! But at this point I was pretty much sticking to Royals and those with ties to Nohr. Once again I plan to draw Laslow in Kaito's role because I am predictable and simplistic like that.

Tailor of Enbizaka - F!Robin/Grima The only NONE Fates related one. I could have stuck with it and picked a Hoshidan Princess... but idk I like the idea of Robin slowly descending into madness and murdering chroms family one by one and then him.

Muzzle of Nemesis - ???? I dont remember if I've mentioned this one because I think I might have but I'm gonna try to keep it on the downlow to keep with the whole "Master of the Hellish Yard" Vibes.

Adkadoiaj sorry for the word vomit is that, this is the craziest most involved fan-project I've ever done. And its insane how much thought I ended up putting into it, when at first it just was gonna be all "Ahahha I wanna draw Art-"covers" to my favorite vocaloid songs" Now each one is gonna have a handful of pieces to them.

[goddessalexissara]

Trying To Predict Fire Emblem Engages Emblem Roster

So with Engage coming out with 4 waves of DLC, I've already said who I wanted, but if we want to try and figure out who actually will show up we can use a few methods. A is using vibes, purely the vibes, this person has the vibe of someone who might get in. B is using history, these are the characters IS choses to highlight in media, they get the most FEH alts, Cipher Cards, they were in Awakening DLC with new art, etc. C is using story importance, which is a subjective mater, mostly vibes but you could basically go "characters who appear in cutscenes and typically can't die". D is by popularity, using Chose You Legends Polls we have the data IS uses to sell us units, we know they use it to make banners.

Here is me doing method D, which is an easy to do method of looking at the newest CYL, most modern fanbase opinions and the winners because we have no idea how well they would have done in future polls. We also have no idea how well the Three Hopes characters would do cuz they weren't out last CYL.

If purely on popularity, Gatekeeper would be our next DLC character technically he got the most votes other than Edelgard ever. However, we all know those votes were puffed up by bots. I also put Lysethia there twice, that was an accident. I also don't think Adult Tiki or Female Byleth could show up as anything but skins for their counter parts.

Ultimately I think popularity is a very small factor for the DLC, they already put in the most popular Fire Emblem character of all time in the DLC and it's bought as a pass. I think it will matter a lot but it won't be like, we can't do this if they weren't in the top 50 of CYL. Maybe top 100 is more the cut off but I didn't wanna keep putting things on a list.

The final method we could use outside of hacking IS's computers and then just seeing what they are working on is method E, the mechanical method.

Instead of thinking about things that aren't going to add to the function of the DLC like the deepest lore and stuff, we only focus on what unique things a character could bring to the table. This does include some fairly popular characters for the games but also some not as much popular characters. For the examples I just picked the characters I like most to fill the examples here but a lot of these have more options I simply didn't include because i'm not betting on them.

So number one is Robin, they are mechanically significant because they could recall into any class sure but that became a standard feature. They also have a fairly unique class, sword plus magic but three houses also added that to the pool. Instead what Robin has is narratively unique mechanics. Robin is the big bad with the power to revive the dead, corrupt people and turn into their true giant evil dragon form. This instead is what makes Robin stand out because their a playable character with this kind of ability as opposed to just normal baddies who might also have that but aren't like usable in the games. I think Robin can bring dark dragon transformation and some of the enemy mechanics to the player side.

I think the avatar mechanic is already covered but I did want to put Kris there just to like mention, that is mechanically significant but we have Byleth and Corrin. Similarly Minerva I put here because I think she represents a mechanic type better than any other character, the axe flying wyvern rider. She is so big to the developers and does play a very special role mechanically in the series she deserves a little shout out.

Now we have our thief lords, these two basically are especially important thief characters. A type of character who could bring super thief abilities to the table could bring in mechanically some significant special strategies. It seems like a solid set of mechanics to throw in as bonus content.

Dancers are a series staple but only a few of them are like super important in their stories, I didn't include Ryson but Leanne is standing in for her whole family. I think Azura is probably a dead lock for the DLC but I think a special dancer presents mechanically some new avenues. We know Byleth can do a 4 way dance with their best move but other advanced dances could be brought in, dances that do buffs, dances that add extra move, dances that give you immunity to break, etc.

TMS and Heroes are both mechanically different games that IS apparently owns the rights to. TMS is basically just engage but in modern day and Heroes is like Engage but a gacha. Still they both bring in mechanics that are not present in Engage that could be represented through a representive from their games. They would represent the game itself more then themselves as a character bringing in like specials or elemental magic systems or whatever. Idk that any of these happen but their worth showing here.

Then we have the Pegesus sisters, the characters in the most games and the original users of The Triangle Attack. We don't know if this mechanic is returning but this ring could provide a version of the mechanic if it isn't. Lining up Three Fliers next to a unit so long as one has this ring allowing for a super special attack or damage. In general they could add some more positioning importance on the player phase.

Of course we have the beasts, the best of the best here. Beast units are present in 4 games in the series. These units are very popular even if they don't place at the top of popularity polls. Mechanically each kind of beast has something a little different but the core is they shapeshift into an animal of some kind and use that as their method of fighting. Having beast transformation would be something totally new and bring that to players allowing them to experience a fairly significant part of FE history through an emblem ring since at present we do not know if any beast units will be in the game, although it is always possible they are simply unrevealed. It could even be a set up for the story, maybe there is a secret nations of beasts of fled the lands afraid of humans and the emblem rings play a story role along with the new mechanical role. Doubt that's what will happen but it's possible.

Then we have our final few units here, these are units who are wholly uniquely positioned in the franchise. Summoner is the only Fire Emblem character to ever have a gun. Xane is a shapeshifter who is able to turn into your allied units, which could make for an amazingly fun ring. Hector is the only armored lord in the series making him the most significant armor character by far. Tanith has a very unique mechanic the likes of which we will likely never see again, she was able to press a button and summon allied units, generic pegesus fliers that you could use in battle. Tanith's ability might be a little similar to the summoner class but unlike that class these are explictly soliders that exist in the army, a ring could push that mechanic allowing allied units to spawn on the map. Then Elenica's class is wholly her own, a staff/sword/flier is a wildly fun combo allowing for some of the strongest healing in the series. This unique class positioning allows for her to provide a lot of interesting things in terms of mechanics.

----

Alright here is me rambling about methods we can use to try to predict DLC for this game. Ultimately we don't know the number of extra emblems we're getting, it could be as low as 4 new rings and the high ceiling is infinite. So without those kind of boundaries we really don't even have a means of calling accurately. If I had to say a 4 most likely I'd say like Robin, Azura, Hector, Camilla totally on vibes right now my main hope is that there is just a decent amount of women represented. I'd like the gender ratio on emblems to go back to 50/50 [at present men have 1 more unless there is a secret 13th ring and that secret ring is a woman like Alears mom or Female Robin]. It be really easy for the game to just add a bunch of men because their the most important characters and call it a day.

Ultimately, I believe this will be a mix of methods, where they kind of consider all the factors, looking at their time frame, and decide what it is they want in their game. At 30 bucks I do hope we see at least 8 more engage rings, preferably 10 to match the 12 emblem rings in game. For now, we just have to wait and see. Tell me who you want or think will get in.

[separatist-apologist]

Will you explain Ariana's origins though?

Fine. A little Separatist-Apologist lore.

Back in May of 2021, I (new to the fandom), decided I wanted to write an elucien fanfiction. I knew almost nothing about the fandom and at that point had read like, 3 total fics across the different Lucien/Elain ships just kind of getting a feel for things. I knew two things for certain- I wanted Vassa to be Elain's friend, and I wanted Lucien to have a reckoning with his family.

And so I started Call It What You Want To

I knew I wanted Elain to have a Day Court friend and I wanted a reason to keep Eris around in later chapters, and so I very lazily dreamt up Arina. Here she is, for the first time ever, on chapter 6:

She took a breath. She could figure it out. Elain was certain there was more to her than pretty dresses and dancing at parties. She stood, prepared to find Lucien and force him watch her try on clothes all day when a soft knock interrupted her plans. Elain opened the door and found Helion, utterly shirtless and in a white kilt embroidered with shimmering gold, looking down at her with a too-bright grin for how early it was. Next to him was perhaps the most beautiful woman Elain had ever seen. Her golden skin rivaled that of the domes she’d seen on the palace itself, though it somehow paled when Elain took in her long, shiny blonde hair falling in a glossy sheet to her waist. Her meadow green eyes were peering back at Elain with open, unabashed curiosity.

One of Helion’s lovers, Elain decided, soaking in the woman’s bright blue dress. The hem cut to her mid-thigh and the strap twisted over one flawless shoulder, making her tan seem more prominent, more beautiful.

“Elain, you’re awake,” Helion interrupted Elain’s obvious ogling.

Elain nodded, turning her attention back to the High Lord.

“I planned to give you a tour today, but I’ve been detained so I thought I’d leave you in the very capable hands of one of my best scholars, Arina. She’s going to show you around, answer any questions, and generally make you feel welcome.”

Arina nodded solemnly.

I don't think she has a terrible amount of depth in that fic, and her and Eris mostly happen outside the periphery of the story. Originally, Elain had two female friends and I scrapped the other because I was losing track of all my characters. So she stayed, which kept Eris coming back, which was important given he later kidnaps Elain. Back then there weren't all these Eris ships to choose from.

And I HATED Azriel back then. If you re-read my earliest works, I almost never include or mention him, and if I do he's a massive (silent) bastard. I don't know if Azris was even kicking around back then but part of the why arina/why not Azris is I don't like Azriel. Occasionally, in a modern AU or when Fitz writes him with Eris but in canon and in most other works, he is just not it for me.

I did write Neris, later on- No One Likes A Mad Woman but that was pretty short-lived for me.

Anyway, when I was working on I Know Places, I was lamenting how I missed her and wished I had done more with her, and someone sent an anon saying. she could come back. And that was all the encouragement I needed. She has been in every fic I've written in which Eris is featured (minus the aforementioned Neris), because I like her. And she's fairly popular with the people who consistently read what I write, AND for those of us who have been hanging out the whole time, it feels like a group project almost.

And I guess lastly, my OC's are decently popular and creating and utilizing her convinced me to work more on my own original writing.

[floripire]

speed watching my way through s4, let's go!

4x01: flori is there when mali-landon's minddive is happening and she just winces through the entire interaction / monologue because "that's what i tried to tell you all, you're gonna have to deal with his conscious mind because he's aware of it all, instead of his subconscious mind which you're aiming for! it'll bounce back on us, too, he'll have access to our minds as well!" but she joins kaleb and tv!doctor s in mali-landon's conscious mind to keep him busy, despite the fact that mali-landon can definitely turn the tables on her and make her relive her own memories if he so wishes and he does: she starts in kaleb's, then moves on to her own (which is a mixture of the night her parents died, the night she turned into a vampire and sue died, and her stay at and break out from the detention facility). once everyone's back in the real world, she stays with kaleb for a while to make sure he's good before she goes off to find loren and mia.

4x02: flori vc: i am keeping this shirt and no one can do anything about it! because she's stoked about the whole movie in the square thing even though she can't be there in person to help out with the event. flori thinks it's kind of unfortunate that king kong was the chosen movie. i do think that she'd be with the anti squad + the super squad to help research while the others do the community service to make up for the last football game fiasco. (h: "that looks perfect. why doesn't our transfusion braid look like that?" / w: "uh, they recommend lion's hair." / h: "and what did you use?" / j: "shoelaces, mostly." / f: "but we could have another go at it if there is something - anything - left of that sphynx or any of the other creatures that we've dealt with so far. i'll call blaise and thea, they've gotta know something." / j: "we'll make it happen, hope, we promise." / w: "have you figured out who we'll be transferring into malivore yet?" / h: "i'll give you one guess." / f: "oooh, i'll play, it's gonna be that weird white guy, right? the one who disguised himself as vardemus before? sorry, word still travels about as fast as a vampire can run here, that never changed. news has wings, while the ground has ears.") at one point she's probably put on mali-landon watch and they talk about what happened in 4x01 aka her memory (triad, her sire, etc.) before clarke shows up. after the transfusion ritual fails, there is a moment in which flori just swears spectacularly in english and tagalog (because she's a sore loser and tired of all of this) and everyone looks at her like ??? and she's like: "that motherfucker had one job! one! job! and he fucked it up like he fucked up everything else!" plus, also, clarke worked for triad and maybe everyone else forgot about that but she will not be doing that, thank you very much! who's to say he's not just here to drag her back? "he might have turned over a new leaf but i don't trust that, i don't trust him, and i'll rip out my earrings and step into the sun before i go back to that hell-hole!" she's also there at the end of the episode where mali-landon chokes ethan with the chains.

4x03: mali-landon is out of his cage and back at the school there is a lot of arguing going on about whether or not hope should go full tribrid. flori stands off to the side with mia and loren, listening in on the conversation too. (personally i will be ignoring the upcoming dragon kaleb thing unless i can tie that into the night world lore i've established, potentially making him related to the drache family.) later on, kaleb and mg do the trolley problem and i feel like flori (directly or indirectly) gave mg the idea for that. it sounds like something she'd use to walk herself (or others) through a difficult problem or choice. flori is there during that big meal outside and she's sitting next to mia and loren while wade tells the group about that one time hope spelled a blowhard professor to only speak ancient babylonian and cringes when dorian reveals his favorite hope memory. as hope, josie and lizzie walk away to do a final spell, flori whispers not her favorite memory but an apology that she is sure hope will pick up because of her lupine hearing: "i am so sorry that i, along with many others, put you on a pedestal for so long. i will endeavor not to do it again. it is my sincere hope - pun not intended - that we'll get the chance to actually be friends and make good memories together too. i've never been to new orleans before. i think i would like to visit when all of this is over."

4x04: w: "one banshee candle and all the salt from the kitchen, as requested." / j: "hey, i thought we were helping you." / js: "believe me, i need all the help i can get." / j: "okay, well, do you need me to channel another monster? because i totally crushed it last time!" / f: "not if you actually want me to hemorrhage." / js: "no, i actually need you, wade and flori to be my last line of defense." / f: "which would be a much stronger line if loren and mia were here too. loren's a bennett witch and mia's a damn good wolf." / j: "..." / f: "you're also a damn good wolf." / j: "thank you, but wait, what do you mean, we just sit on our asses? no way!" / js: "it's important. i need you to clear out the school. make sure that no one can get in or out of this room. no matter what happens." / j: "we'll check in every thirty minutes." / w: "and we'll order pizza." / f: "i'll call the mystic tap to make sure they still have the good stuff on hand." much, much later on when cleo makes her entrance at the end of the episode, flori is relieved but saddened to hear about landon's fate.

4x05: hope has flipped her humanity switch and is now mia and with doctor s dead, flori is preparing herself to chase down every possible lead on hope even if it means she drops from exhaustion halfway through. the super squad is ruptured. but flori considers herself part of the anti squad first and foremost so she can still talk to kaleb and to the other members if need be.

4x06: flori is there during the simulations. she's getting her tongue pulled out, her fingers broken, her neck snapped, her head cut off and her heart ripped out. and watching as the same happens to her friends and loved ones. trying to fight simulation!hope doesn't work. trying to talk to simulation!hope doesn't work either. flori always goes down before cleo does so she doesn't know about the red oak stake. js: "are you skipping class now?" / ls: "we all grieve in different ways. we were supposed to meet up and go through spells hours ago. where were you?" /js: "trying to figure out what to do about hope." / ls: "our father is dead and you're more concerned about the person who killed him?!" / js: "dad wouldn't want us to give up on hope." / f: "and we might not have to. i just got off the phone with aradia crowley and she told me that the old powers are resurging in response to hope becoming the tribrid. to balance the scales a bit, the wild powers have also been activated: four people with special gifts. it may be a drop in the bucket, but we have to try. i'm gonna go see if i can track them down digitally and if not, then i would like to request a prolonged leave of absence." / ls: "granted." / js: "we can't do this alone." / ls: "watch me. or don't. 'cause you'll be going off, doing whatever else." / js: "if you'll figure out a spell, i'll be there, i promise." flori is not present for the training session (and even if she was, she'd want to sit it out). she is, however, present at the end of the episode; j: "look, uh, i shouldn't have said what i did." / k: "dude, it's... you're good." / f: "hi, i'm so sorry to interrupt, but if you're going after that thing on route fifty, would you mind dropping me off in harmony afterwards? i've got family there. and they know more about the wild powers than i do. oh, and speaking of knowing things: you should go for the eyes when you take it down. i'll wait in the car."

4x07: hope comes back to the school. flori is not present for salvatore idol (or whatever the darker equivalent of that is) as she is still in harmony, virginia.

4x08: flori formulates her own plan to find and work with the wild powers. she checks in with mia and loren and with the super squad. (in josie's simulation, flori is a technician who works together with wade, a nurse, and has a crush on jed.)

4x09: josie leaves the school and mystic falls, meanwhile, flori comes back to the school with new allies, new family members, and with a fully formulated plan to deal with the old powers. the sucky part of the plan is that there's a high chance flori could get hurt.

4x10: from this point on, my canon diverges significantly because i do not acknowledge the gods storyline. lizzie still turns into a heretic. aurora still enters the picture. but that's about it. instead of the gods, aurora is after the old powers to get tristan back.

4x11: flori works together with cleo to stall or stop aurora who is also looking to get her hands on the old powers so she can bring back her brother.

4x12: hope returns to mystic falls, still without her humanity.

4x13: hope comes to the school, looking for an army. not to fight the gods, but to stop the old powers from destroying the world. in all honesty, flori thought that hope might want to deploy those powers - those ancient forces of magic - to get landon and her parents back.

4x14: flori is there when vardemus does his chess game thing. meanwhile, hope's humanity is flickering, trying to get back in one inch at a time.

4x15: flori spends this episode working with the wild powers in preparation to push back the old powers.

4x16: hope's humanity is back on. flori visits her in the holding cell before lizzie shows up.

4x17: aurora doubles down on trying to get her hands on the old powers to restore her brother to the point of trying to summon hecate witch-queen, the ancient queen and ancestor of the hearth-woman (aka harman) witch tribe. hecate witch-queen and flori have a conversation about her role in the plan when hecate witch-queen astral projects to her, claiming that while flori might be a vampire, she knows a hearth-woman by heart and soul.

4x18: ft: water would just make the chain reaction bigger, you have to make a chemical solution to stop it. i asked an expert, you know, the one with a mind like a steel trap? the one you should talk to, maybe? she's worried about you." later in the episode, flori is there when hope gives her speech. instead of ken, aurora kills kaleb but he gets restored back to life.

4x19: aurora dies by hope's hand and the final battle begins.

4x20: through everyone's combined efforts, the old powers' resurgence has been stopped. though not without heavy losses. afterwards, flori attends so many funerals she's stopped counting them. while she's very stressed at the thought of potentially losing her home, she also realizes that she has one waiting for her in harmony, virginia, too. still, when she hears that the school won't be closing it's doors after all, she's relieved.

post canon: flori graduates from the school and goes on a roadtrip to find jed's sisters, gets drawn back to her own home town, fights the hunter trio after a reverse headdive and finds out that her sire wants to kill hope but that she's first on his list because he thinks she's a weak link in a long chain that will ultimately lead to her, anyway. at one point, hope kills derek and flori splits her time between immersing herself into the night world properly and trying to roll up whatever remains of triad industries together with mg. aside from that, she also does cyber security for the salvatore boarding school going forward.

[transgirl-gaming-thoughts]

I Don't Like Mario?

I'm writing this less because I think it makes for good blog content, and more because I just wanted to get my thoughts out. This is probably a really bad take, but oh well.

I recently bought NEW Super Mario Bros. for the DS because it's my favorite console and I figured I might enjoy a good Mario game for it! And credit where credit is due, I enjoyed most of the game. It's a fun twist on a classic formula, and it brought some new life to the franchise. However, it's not all great. In fact, in the end I don't think I ever want to play this game again. This was only the latest in a long line of disappointments from the Mario series.

I've always been perplexed by my feelings towards Mario games when it's one of the biggest names in gaming from my favorite publisher. How could I not enjoy Mario games? I think part of that may be the fact I never grew up with them and therefore have absolutely zero nostalgia for it, but there's more to it than just that.

This is mostly discussing 2D Mario games, by the way. I enjoy some good 3D Mario, and would even say Super Mario Galaxy is one of my favorite games of all time.

When it comes to 2D Mario, I find myself constantly disappointed by a few key factors: - Level Design - Characters - Story/Plot

Level Design First we have level design. Mario levels have a sort of style that you come to expect: pipes, blocks, etc. But this doesn't leave a whole lot of room for variation. Most levels feel the same, and I don't really feel like I'm going anywhere or making any progress because it's all the same thing. There's also lots of simple design flaws that I tend to see a lot of. Just for example, in World 8-3 of NEW Super Mario Bros. there is a sequence where you run from a giant eel swimming after you, and you have to avoid Cheep Cheeps, blocks, and other obstacles until you reach the end. Seems simple, and it's actually a lot of fun! Except at the end, you have to swim up to the top of the screen to enter the pipe to get to the flagpole. There's no indicator that you need to go up until you hit the end, and the eel will keep coming and kill you at the very end if you don't exit. Why? You just did the whole thing well enough to survive, and your reward for relaxing at the end is failure? At the very least, the exit pipe should be in the middle of the wall to make it more accessible to players in general, but no.

This seems to be a trend with Mario where they make bad design choices like this that ruin an otherwise enjoyable level. Sometimes levels are just bad, with too many enemies/not enough power-ups, etc.

Characters Another issue is with the characters. For the most part, Mario games are played as Mario and sometimes Luigi (Luigi's physics providing a sort of "hard mode"). In NEW Super Mario Bros. Wii and WiiU, two Toads are playable, but don't really have any special abilities. Way back in Super Mario Bros. 2 USA, Princess Peach was playable, and has been playable a few times since, such as her DS spinoff Super Princess Peach. But generally, you play as Mario, with Luigi sometimes added as an afterthought.

This general lack of variety means that Mario may be easy for anyone to pick up any game, but none of them are particularly interesting. You always know exactly what to do, and there's never any aspect of figuring your way through the world. It just gives an unoriginal feeling to all of it in general.

Story/Plot This last one is more of a small personal gripe, but story/plot. Mario isn't known for it's storytelling for the most part, and especially not the 2D games. I get that it's a fun, simple platformer, but I still love seeing some worldbuilding and some lore in even the simplest of games, and Mario has consistently failed to deliver.

These reasons and more lead me to the conclusion that I just don't enjoy Mario games. It's not that I haven't played the right one, or never learned how to appreciate them, I just don't like them. Again, 3D is a different story, but the 2D games are just not my thing. If I'm looking for a 2D platformer, I go for Kirby or Sonic. Sonic I feel like fixes most, if not all of, the problems I mentioned, or at the very least doesn't fail as bad. Kirby is always excellent as well, with the plot and lore being lighter on Kirby's end when compared to Sonic. I totally understand why some people like Mario, and that's totally fine! It's just not for everyone, and I think I've reached a point where I can see that, and stop trying to force myself to like it. I just have different taste in games, and that fine too. You may disagree with me, and that's great! We all have our own thoughts and experiences that lead us to have varying thoughts on the games we play, and I think that's a beautiful thing. So don't let my words stop you from enjoying what you love, but if you're like me, just know that you don't have to like something just cause everyone else does. Have your own thoughts on the games you play! I guess that's sort of the message I was building up to? This was less good blog content and more coping with my severe disappointment, so take it with a grain of salt I guess.

Thanks for reading, and be sure to ask questions and suggest new post ideas in my ask box! Stay safe, stay hydrated, and God bless! Happy gaming to ya!

~ Alex

[pokedocbedlam]

Headcanons about the Selkie Au and their time in the different regions even if it’s just what they enjoyed doing in that region or who their trusted friends were!

Sure thing! I've thought a lot about their adventures, though we'll see if I ever get around to writing them all. Here's what I've come up with so far, going through the regions in order of gens (and not including the spin-off games, I haven't played most of those, sorry Orre fans...)

This got pretty long, so throwing under a read-more!

Kanto: The twins have been to Kanto a few times, though they've mostly visited of late during their time living in Johto (see below). They helped set up the train lines between the two regions! They used to hang out a lot around the Cinnabar Islands, as it used to be easy for them to reach from Johto. Their Trusted Friend here is Professor Oak; they kept running into each other during Oak's journey, and he's one of the few who figured out their identity on his own. (Blaine also suspects them, but hasn't seen them to confirm anything.) The twins actually ran into Mewtwo soon after his escape, as they often would swim from Johto to Kanto and stop by Cerulean Cave before swimming back. They helped fight off a Rocket scientist that was after Mewtwo and helped guide him to safety in Kalos, but this had the unfortunate consequence of attracting Team Rocket's attention, so the twins had to leave the Kanto/Johto area after that, and likely won't return until Team Rocket's influence dies down.

Johto: The twins lived here before their current tenure in Unova! They helped set up the region's train lines, but when not riding the rails, they'd usually be found in either Goldrenrod City, or with their trusted friends in Olivine. Jasmine and her family have looked after the Selkies for many years, and is part of why they are the lighthouse keepers; the twins moved away when Jasmine was small, but she still remembers them, and they were one of her inspirations for becoming a Steel Gym Leader! In addition, Emmet used to be the terror of the Bug-Catching Competition, while Ingo was fond of visiting Kurt over in Azalea so they could craft Pokeballs together. The twins had to leave after rescuing Mewtwo, and the rise of Team Rocket has kept them from visiting. They do still chat with Jasmine and tune into their favorite Goldenrod Radio stations; on rare occasion, you can hear Emmet call in to throw curveball questions at Oak during his radio show.

Hoenn: Even though Hoenn isn't big on trains, the twins enjoy visiting here for a number of reasons. One is as a resting place between regions; there are plenty of spots for them to hide out and recuperate, whether they want to be around people in Sootopolis, or want to remain completely hidden on Mirage Island. The twins have a number of Hidden Bases tucked away for just this purpose! The other big draw of the area are the Lati twins, their Legendary best friends. Since the Latis can also take human forms, the two pairs of twins have gone on plenty of adventures together throughout Hoenn, generally with Emmet and Latias leading the charge while Latios and Ingo keep them out of trouble. Ingo and Latias will also sometimes team up for a Contest or two, while Latios and Emmet race along the bike trails. The twins actually have a couple families of Trusted Friends here! Their main one is Wallace's family, and Sootopolis as a whole is one they consider a safe place. In addition, their closeness with the Lati's have made them familiar with the Lati's Trusted Friends, which are Liza and Tate's family. The twins tend to visit both families for larger milestones, such as becoming Gym Leaders, or when Wallace became Champion!

Sinnoh: The twins stopped by here a few times before the events of PLA, so the Selkies already featured in the lore of the Diamond and Pearl Clans before Ingo's impromptu arrival. There will be a fic detailing the particulars of PLA in this AU, worry not! The twins have dropped by Sinnoh a few times since; Ingo always finds it bittersweet, seeing how much Sinnoh has changed since it was Hisui (and how the Galaxy Team was twisted into Team Galactic, while Pearl Clan scattered to the winds and Diamond Clan dissipated...). They always stop by Mount Coronet and its surrounding areas, as well as Jubilife and Snowpoint. Seeing as most of Pearl Clan has scattered to the winds, there are few left around who Ingo was able to remain close to...though he has kept ties with the families of other clan members he was close to. In a perhaps humorous twist of fate, it is Melli's family that has ended up as the main Trusted Friends, with the current friend being Lucian. Cynthia has also figured the twins out with her love of history, and while Flint doesn't know, he's similar enough to Zisu that he and Ingo became fast friends. With all these ties to Sinnoh Elite Four members, the twins have a habit of dropping by when in the area and challenging the Elite Four members to "friendly" battles. Everyone always has a grand time.  (Of note: though the twins don't encounter the other Legendaries here often, there will occasionally be a run-in with Dialga and Palkia, the latter of which loves to bring up the "hey, remember when you worshipped me for a bit? wasn't that funny?!" to Ingo. Which generally devolves into a brawl, usually begun by Emmet.)

Unova: Their current home station! The twins have visited Unova a few times in their past (yes, they've had at least one encounter with Reshiram and Zekrom back in the day), but what drew them to it in modern day? THE TRAINS. Soon as they saw Gear Station and all the railway lines, they decided to make Nimbasa their new home. They've befriended a lot of the big movers and shakers around Unova, and love to visit all of them and their various creative pursuits when they get a moment away from their subways! The twins deeply love their current lives in Unova, and have decided that this time, they're staying put as long as they can. Even when plot hits the fan, Unova is still their home. They have two Trusted Friends here. One is Drayden, whose family has looked after the Selkies for years; he helped them get established in Unova when they moved in, and is their uncle according to all the definitely legal paperwork. Elesa saw the twins as a child when they first arrived, and later figured out that the funny train men she encountered were also the seaside Pokemon she met years ago. Elesa functions as their main Trusted Friend here, being the one to look out for them when they have to go out to sea. Oh, and the twins are also on friendly terms with the Forces of Nature and the Swords of Justice (Keldeo is the only one banned from the Subway because...the twins still see him as a young little guy after all these years. He's itching to prove them wrong.)

Kalos: The first region the twins traveled to; it's also a bittersweet location for them, but one they keep finding themselves returning to. Part of this is due to Xerneas and Yvetal, who were influential in the twins' early lives; this will get detailed more in upcoming chapters of When Home is Far Behind. The twins do enjoy visiting still; they last lived here before ending up in Johto, during which time they helped set up the Kalosian railway (though they are DISTRESSED at the disrepair it's fallen into, and plan to return to fix it someday). The twins love all the different kinds of battle challenges set up around Kalos, from the cafes to the Chateu, so they like to go on battle tours whenever they visit! They even have a review list, where Emmet ranks the battles while Ingo ranks the coffee. Their Trusted Friend here is Wulfric and his family! Wulfric actually did meet them when he was young, and since he upheld the family tradition of maintaining the hidden Pokemon Sanctuary, the twins brought Mewtwo to him because they knew he'd help keep the newly created Legendary safe. Wulfric and family all refer to the twins as their cousins.

Alola: With how accessible it is by water, the twins have been to Alola quite a bit during their lives, and have lived on each of the main four islands at least once. They love racing the Mantine and Sharpedos or exploring the many caves! Their favorite of the four islands is Poni Island, which coincidentally is where Warden Calaba's family moved; their current Trusted Friend in Alola is her descendent, Mina! The twins briefly visited before heading to Unova, and Mina has traveled to Unova for art projects a couple times before being appointed to Trial Captain; she even has a couple paintings of the twins in Selkie form, though she keeps these in her private collections. The twins also end up partially back in Alola for a bit after the DittoDesigns incident in Selkie AU, so Emmet is able to recover and raise baby Emil away from prying eyes. It turns out that Arceus's Chosen in Hisui, Bedlam, is also initially from Alola...but how this plays into the story will be a question for another time.

Galar: The twins were born here in the Crown Tundra, though they were forced to flee after the Darkest Day. They have not been back since their initial departure, and only do so once Emil turns 10 so he can receive Calyrex's blessing, as all Selkies did at that age. Though the place is riddled with loss and heartache, the twins do still hold onto fond memories of their youth. They have no Trusted Friends here yet, though I'd like to think Sonia and/or Piers would make the cut, and they may have already befriended the twins if they've traveled to Unova. (I'm unsure if I'll have Pasio be canon in this setting...but Emmet is still definitely a fan of Piers' music.)

Thank you for asking, this was a lot of fun to jot down! And if you all have any questions/headcanons/etc along this train of thought, feel free to share!

[oh-atlas]

intro ophelia lore is just: lesbian vampire having just THE WORST time

IT IS <3 but here's the slightly longer version

Ophelia Tenebrae is mechanically a Vampire (Dhampir Stats) Ghostslayer Bloodhunter / (Future) Redemption Paladin

Her weapon of choice is a chain whip (a homebrew weapon I've been using on and off for three years w/ different characters)

The majority of her Bloodhunter abilities are flavored as aspects of her vampirism, though her rite of the dawn specifically connected to the fact that she wears a consecrated cross that is constantly turning her blood into light which is KIND of a terrible experience when you're undead.

However, Ophelia has a terrible self esteem, issues with self loathing, religious baggage, and survivor's guilt so it's FINE for her, she's doing GREAT.

Her main deal as a character is about how to love yourself when you don't like the person you've become and how do you learn to love all of the people you once were so you can love the people around you without being afraid they'll abandon you.

It's also about playing with what it means to be a monsterTM (untrusting of your control over yourself, dangerous actions to try to keep herself in check, punishing herself for things she had no control over and cannot go back and change, breaking into pieces when anyone shows her basic compassion and care)

Her whole insecurity and issues with loving herself while wanting to be loved and love others has a lot of parallels with Strahd's whole deal, it's very fun and sexy especially with the history they have.

She's one of the souls that has been stuck in Barovia since it became a dread domain so she's constantly reincarnating (and cannot remember her past lives). Said past lives include: a luthier / militia deserter, strahd's hot cello-playing vampiric trophy wife, and in this lifetime ward of the church of barovia turned sexy woodcutter turned exhausted shame vampire living in the woods.

She has several love interests despite being the most pathetic, wet-cat of a person ever (she's working on it, she loves SO much it is just hard to love herself), including: her childhood best friend in this life / a person she's been reconnecting with in several different lifetimes as they inspire each other to change and grow (luce 🥰), ireena kolyana, & COUNTESS STRAHD (her wife 😔 they're technically still married. Ophelia does not Know This.)

Ophelia and Defenestration go hand in hand. 💃🪟

Her entire motivation for joining the party is because she can't stand to be emo in the woods anymore and wants to do something about Strahd and regrettably, realizes, she needs friends 🤢 to accomplish this. Now she's there because she's worried and attached to Ireena and still needs the friends.

Ophelia is very cagey and hates talking about herself (she's convinced anyone that finds out what she is will hate her because she hates herself) thus comes across as very antisocial and standoffish. She does not mean to be rude. She is just INCREDIBLY socially awkward and was so even before she lived alone in the woods for fifty years.

She's very sweet and sensitive, but it's gotten her hurt so often (and she's hurting so much), she's resorted to numbness. When she lets herself feel it's often so overwhelming she starts to cry <3. Ophelia's also kind of a doormat, something she's slowly unlearning, and she's recently unlocked in this life the ability to let herself be angry at the people who have hurt her.

Ophelia has a habit of playing dumb, both as a self protection mechanism when authority figures / others are upset at her. It's easier to let it happen and say "I don't know" instead of standing up for herself. However, playing dumb is ALSO one of the only ways Ophelia expresses a sense of humor. She Loves Committing to the Bit.

She plays the cello (in multiple lifetimes), knows three additional languages other than common, can read and write music (mostly in her past lives), and likes carpentry and woodcarving.

Ophelia acknowledges that technology and the arcane are real and understands the basics of how they work but also REFUSES to learn anything more because frankly that is above her paygrade. She is a simple guy. She does not need to know.

Honestly, peak Ophelia endgame is getting to be wifeguyTM. She just wants to take care of someone and live a nice, quiet life. (She cannot cook for shit.)

and this is entry level ophelia lore. if i went into more of the details of her backstory this would get SO long and I think talking more about how Funny of a Person she is is more interesting and important to understanding why I'm obsessed with her.

[finding-fallen-stars]

YGO Questionnaire Part 2 Electric Boogaloo

So, my gf/bf @howaboutalittlehelpneos tagged me to do this again a... good long while ago, and I had wanted to wait until I'd finished my GX rewatch before trying this again. But ouch oof I accidentally also got through all of 5Ds again before getting to this lol

But the 5Ds rewatch definitely reshaped a lot of my thoughts, so... cracks knuckles. This won't be spoiler free, fair warning~

Favorite Series: ugh the formatting killed my original essay on this but okay GX and 5Ds are pretty tied in my book, now-- I love them equally, but in different ways! GX fulfills my love for subversive coming-of-age stories with a heartwarming, humorous, and also soulcrushing touch, and I love how each season brings a new story and new characters-- it's like reading installments of a novel series, and I think the formatting works wonders for it as a whole. It has some absolutely phenomenal character writing, too-- even the characters I dislike are ones I can appreciate for what they introduce to the story! And honestly, not enough people give the first two seasons of GX the credit it deserves: they're half the charm, really. How are you going to feel the full impact of the heartbreaking content in seasons 3 and 4 if you aren't properly attached to the characters?

But on 5Ds's side of things... it fulfills my love for stories with time loops, found family, human nature, and of course, love and death and how they intertwine. I love how the leading characters are just a bunch of broken kids from broken circumstances who all find a home with each other, and of course, how it highlights class disparity and how fucked up the prison/"justice" systems are. Yea, sure, maybe it underwent executive meddling and all, but I genuinely love it for what it is and I wish more people appreciated it... my only problem with 5Ds is the untwist with Z-ONE and then the ending s m h I adore it overall and I could go off for a long while on it. Overall, these are my two instinctive recommendations for anyone getting into Yugioh!

(look at these boys they're so important) Favorite Protagonist: Oh, believe me, absolutely nothing has changed here-- Yusei Fudo is and always will be my favorite protagonist, and my rewatch only solidified that.

I just... love him so much? He's seen so much hell in his life and carries so much guilt on his shoulders, but he still has room in his heart to believe in others and to believe that anyone can defy fate and find hope even at rock bottom. I love that he's initially introduced as this quiet, brooding figure when he really just turns out to be a huge softie who wears his heart on his sleeve half the time and wants to bring about change for Satellite and its people. Plus I just really love that his greatest flaw is something that would ordinarily be a positive trait-- he's Overly self-sacrificial, to the point where he's basically setting himself on fire to keep others warm, and that's not really framed as something Heroic

Just... he makes me so happy. I have two Yusei charms that I ordinarily keep on my keys (one was a gift from Zenzen) and they're a constant source of serotonin for me. He's Peak comfort character for me. Best protag in my book Favorite Rival: Same deal here-- still Manjoume!

look at him he's so important

While he spends a lot of the anime getting the good old damsel in distress treatment (getting suckered into a cult, getting knocked into a coma, becoming a zombie, getting fucking Killed, etc), I still think his character arc is really well-written overall and I only appreciated it even more when I watched GX again. I love the fact that he's got a soft heart he buries beneath the edgy facade, and that he's simultaneously really sharp and also kind of dense lol. He's just a fun character and watching how he evolves from episode one to episode one hundred eighty is such a satisfying journey.

Plus, props to him for being such a versatile duelist-- 50 wins in a row is HARD as is, let alone with a deck full of cards he just found laying around in the Arctic. Three ace monsters, three different archetypes... he's a really good duelist and I'm proud of him for it

Oh, but honestly, I don't really dislike any of the rivals-- I'm neutral towards Revolver and Reiji, but the remaining four (Kaiba, Manjoume, Jack, and Shark) compel me. yes I accidentally wound up liking Jack Atlas shhh Favorite BFF: Honestly, I really like most of the characters who fit this archetype-- Joey, Crow, Gongenzaka, Soulburner... I still lean a little bit more towards Joey, but I really appreciate all four of them. I'm gonna say Joey again, just because I find his evolution as a character the most compelling, but I appreciate the other three a lot. Soulburner has the best design though Favorite GFF: Oh absolutely still Aki, but I honestly... really love most female Yugioh characters? I'm assuming this is lead girls only, but like. I'm dumb and gay and I love Girls so this is naturally the most difficult one for me to answer lol

Aki just resonates with me the most because she's the prime example of how trauma doesn't always manifest in palatable ways-- when we first meet her, she's angry and lashes out at anyone and anything just because she wants the world to suffer in the same ways she's suffered, and then... we get to watch her grow from that, once she's free from Divine and able to heal the way she needs to heal. I know the second half of 5Ds didn't give her character the attention it deserved, but I'm still proud of her for winding up on the path she did-- seeing her channel her power and energy into wanting to heal and help others was just so good and was one of the few things I really Loved about the 5Ds ending.

oh, but like. Asuka Tenjoin and Aoi Zaizen are very close seconds for me!!! Aki just has a vice grip on my heart Favorite Villain: Okay, it's still technically Vector-- I think he's the most entertaining, well-written, and effective villain out of all of the ones we've seen so far, but... I also want to add Takuma Saiou and then all of Yliaster as honorable mentions?

As someone fond of tarot myself, I was naturally pretty intrigued by Saiou the first time I watched GX, but my attachment to him only grew the second time around where I actually got the chance to understand his character better. Plus, like... the visuals with him are fucking astounding and he's always so interesting to watch.

As for Yliaster, I just... really love how the big bad of 5Ds turned out to just essentially be a broken man desperate to save anyone and anything and three robotic reconstructions of the friends he'd lost. I still think the untwist with Z-ONE was stupid and I much prefer the idea of him and Yusei being the same person, but I'm still compelled by the other three-- well. Paradox less so, because we don't get a lot of Paradox lore, but. Aporia and Antinomy for sure.

ugh Yugioh has some damn good villains

Favorite Card: now that I actually play the TCG game...

Stardust is always going to be my favorite of all cards because it checks every box for me (my favorite YGO character's ace monster, space theme, what more could I want), but Aromaseraphy Rosemary has really become one of my aces in my best TCG deck! I'm still mastering irl plays, but I'm happy with my progress and I love my plant gang...

Favorite Episode: alright, here's where there's actually been a Lot of change, so...

Season 0: Episode 16: "Turnabout by a Hair's Breadth - The White-Robed Crisis" -- The more I think about this one, the more I love it; there's a... lot of corruption in the medical industry, and I've seen a lot of it firsthand, so just. Seeing a corrupt doctor get what he deserved at the end was cathartic, in a way? Plus, a Jounouchi-centric episode is always a good time.

Duel Monsters: Episodes 96-97: "Darkness vs. Darkness/One Turn Kill" -- this hasn't changed, I still love seeing Marik and Bakura bitch at each other for two whole episodes LMAO

GX: Episode 152: "Activate Super-Fusion! Rainbow Neos" -- This one hasn't changed and it likely never will-- I take so much pride in seeing Judai push forward, past the fear and guilt he's carrying, all to save Johan... it's cathartic and I never get sick of watching it.

5Ds: sweats. still all of Crash Town, but also episodes 137-147-- the Ark Cradle is one of my favorite parts of 5Ds and one of my favorite YGO arcs period, and even though each duel is a fucking gut punch, I love the emotional intensity and weight in each episode... It hurts but in a mostly good way

Zexal: Episode 143: "The Aloof Duelist 'Nasch': The Destined Final Duel" -- this one hasn't changed! Still hurts, still love it, I still weep over Ryouga Shark Kamishiro on a daily basis

Arc-V: Episodes 81-82: "Our Respective Battlefields/The Ultimate Falcon VS The Black-Feathered Thunder" -- Okay, honestly, this was hard because I... genuinely. really don't like Arc-V very much at all lol (it's just not my cup of tea, but more power to those who do like it!), but I thought this duel was a lot of fun! Shun is my absolute favorite from Arc-V and I really like the friendship he struck up with Crow a lot, so here we are

VRAINS (so far): Episode 25-26: "Virus Deck Operation/Three Draws Leading to Hope" -- honestly I am so biased because I just really love Blue Angel and I loved seeing her get a well-deserved victory like this lol. I'm not done with VRAINS, so this is probably gonna change, but anytime Blue Angel or Soulburner are on screen, I'm happy

Favorite Decks to Use: Aromages will always have my heart, but I adore Cyber Angels too! I'm building my Trickstar deck, my Synchron/Stardust deck (just waiting on Dawn of Majesty...), and my Magician Girls deck, too! Fusion, Ritual, Synchro, XYZ, Pendulum, or Link?: Synchros my beloved... but also Ritual Years in fandom: I've been here for just a little over one year now! and I wuv it... I'm never looking back Who am I tagging: no one I'm too shy

[ariabauer]

i've been dipping in and out of the carmilla fandom so some things don't make sense to me. what's the woman in black? how does that relate to ell? i'm so confused? help

I’m a novelist at heart so we’re going to plot the Carmilla movie out as if it were a novel based on what we know and some conjecture. 

Right. Hello. I’m on a 6:6:12hr cycle and basically living in the lab until these flies die so I’ve got a few moments to give you the high level version of the Carmilla movie plot as I understand it based on what’s been released. What I can’t provide you with here is proof. I just don’t have the time for a huge theory.

The movie takes place 5 years after the close of the series and Hollstein is living in an apartment in Toronto where Laura is a reporter for a Toronto newspaper and still doing her vlogs in some form. In story structure terms, this would be their ‘ordinary world’. We hit our ‘hook’ at the 5% mark with what I’m guessing is Laura having some seriously bad dreams (see trailer where she wakes up on Carm’s lap. shots like that, waking up, usually denote dreams). Her dreams are ghostly dreams that are a warning of something bad. Probably a result of ‘The Woman In Black’ (we’ll get to this more). Naturally, Laura can’t help digging.

Then I’m going to guess that we hit our Inciting Incident at the 15% mark. This probably Carmilla re-vamping.  Laura’s dreams were one thing but this is a big problem that needs fixing. In my opinion, if Carmilla was only un-vamped by a gods power then it would have to be something equivalent to effect that status or else Inanna’s power would have to wane. Honestly, I’d guess that at some point this is going to be a “I knew something bad was coming and Carmilla needed her vampire powers to confront it”. My only question is if that “I” is going to be one of the old gods or one of the new characters.That said, we know Sophia was on set for a little bit so I”m at least hoping they ask Ereskigal/Inanna what’s up. Like, I really don’t see how you could do revamping without talking about the gods that vamped and unvamped her to begin with. 

Between Laura’s ghost dreams and Carmilla’s revamping, Hollstein heads out to figure out what is going on. Usually this would be the 25%ish (probably more like 20% in this case) when you “leave the ordinary world for the new one”. Probably through Laura’s dreams, they know to go to a ghost house in what I’m guessing is Austria but who really knows. It just makes sense to me to bring us back to Carmilla’s roots if we’re going to bring Ell into it. I’d love to say it’s a house from Carmilla’s past but I have no proof of that. They bring together the gang to help them solve this condumdrum (obviously if Carmilla starts revamping the first person you call is Laf). 

This is when I’d wager they meet the Bronte sister who are apparently ghosts (i’ll admit i wanted them to vampires). This ghostly reveal will probably be the real 25% first plot point. The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd plot points always have to be turning points and this is where we hit the real ghost story stuff. The Bronte sisters (ghosts of the original authors) appear to be haunting the place and Laf probably finds a way to make them semi-tangible for dancing and whatnot. That said, we only have 2 Bronte sister and I have real serious and large theories/questions about what happened to the third. Again, I think they have to be somehow tied to Carmilla’s past because she just has so so so much of it. All through this, Laura is still having creepy dreams.

The 35-40% mark is when I’d guess that we really hit TWIB in black for the first time. I’d also wager that this is dance scene leading into the First Pinch Point. There’s some fun but then we hit that short scene in the teaser where Laura’s in her ballgown and just takes off in panic, I’m guessing that Laura sees TWIB for the first time, recognises her from her dreams, and takes off after her. 

50% is where you hit the middle of the story with the midpoint/second plot point. I’m guessing this is where we get the “TWIB is Ell” reveal both because it makes sense plotwise and because s1 (which was plotted amazing well) places the Carmilla Karnstein vampire reveal right at this point as well. (don’t ask me how much time I’ve spent looking at season/series plot as practice). Now everything after this get EXTRA conjecturey simply because if you’re going to give an audience spoilers, you always pull most of them from the first 25 (maybe 50) percent to keep your climax a surprise.

So to answer your original question, cupcake, Ell is The Woman In Black and played by Dominique (who you may know from Wynonna Earp). The Woman In Black is a literally reference to this other old novella that’s a ghost story and seems like is giving the Carmilla movie a lot of influence. Basically, TWIB is this woman whose son was killed in a carriage/swamp accident and not appears as a ghost whenever a child is about to die.

Basically, she’s a warning for girls and boys dying.

You know who else was a warning for girls and boys dying? Ell. In s1, she appears to all the anglerfish’s victims and tries to warn them “not to go into the light”. This clearly isn’t a vampire/Dean thing because she wouldn’t want to warn them. Ell’s doing this under some other power. From the movie, we can discern that Ell is still doing this and that her soul hasn’t moved on yet. That’s why I’m guessing that it’s Ell/TWIB in Laura’s creepy ghost dreams. She’s trying to warn Laura, the same way she tried to warn Laura in s1. The reason she’s appearing to Laura is because they already have that mental connection from Laura nearly being anglerfish food. What I can’t decide is if it’s Ell who revamps Carmilla or if she’s trying to warn them against the person who actually revamped Carmilla. 

Regardless, I’d wager that this is the point where we get the teaser stuff of Laura in the other old timey dress, apparently having tea with Ell, and the whole mirror thing. The whole thing is a little trippy mostly just flashes. That said, I do NOT like the idea of Ell as the antagonist of this story. I think that role should belong to the Brontes because ‘the vengeful ex’ is a trope I hate. I want Ell to help Hollstein, Laura not to have to be jealous, and Carmilla to get her reconciliation. Personally, I think a good way to villainize the Brontes would be to have their missing third sister who wasn’t cast be dead due to some action of Carmilla’s/Dean’s (probably in a carraige related event) and they want to get revenge but act all nice at first. That’s very old timey novella.

I’m sorry that I don’t have time to go into the mirror shot and Carmilla in the old timey dress but it doesn’t relate directly to your question. Just know there’s some super interesting stuff there but it would take a while to go through. That said, I have this theory that probably only Laura (maybe Laf and Kirsch) can see Ell because she’s a ghost and that at some point Laura and Ell share a body. That’s really the traditional reason for shooting a mirror scene like that where you’re surprised to see your hand move. A different face in the mirror would denote that you still look like you to yourself but everyone else is seeing something different.

Also, mirrors fit wonderfully into vampire lore (cough the mirror between us) and it would be cool to have them pop up.

By the time we hit the second pinch point at the 65% mark, we should have a good idea of who Ell is and hopefully have Laura understand her. I’d like if some of Laura’s growth could be not immediately jumping to conclusions about people. I’d also put the Bronte’s Evil reveal here.

The 75% mark or third plot point should be your lowest point of the movie, the moment when everything goes wrong and forces our heros to pick themselves off their feet to throw themselves towards the climax. I haven’t actually decided what this is yet but I kind of like something bad happening with/to Carmilla. Specially, I like that scene where it’s Carmilla all in black and grabbing old timey Laura. But until we get more information, we don’t really have anything to go on with that one.

At some point we have to hit our climax but again, without knowing who our antagonist is, I have no idea how to call this. I’d say that Laura somehow gets Carmilla back, Ell joins their team, and evil is vanquished. Somewhere in there, Ell and Carmilla get their reconcillation and then let’s end with a Hollstein engagement because I WANT IT AND YOU CAN”T STOP ME.

(for more details on all of this, you can see the post I wrote with my theories based on only the character names which turned out more accurate than expected). 

But there you go cupcake. With no research and written in 10 minutes based only off things I happened to remember, here’s what I’ve got. I tried my best. 

Hope that helps