#Taz's character design might change as well

[artfullwishing]

T H E D A M N E D

Meet the main crew of "The Damned" (original known as DAMN!).

In a world where demons, ghosts, and ghouls exist, the Detective Agency of the Monstrous and Normal, or DAMN for short, send out agents known as the Damned to seal away spirits, prevent cultist movement, and neutralize those who have made Pacts.

Watch as Naturals, Supernaturals, and Unnaturals try and exist in the City of the Golden Light, Durron.

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Might do some meet the character posts later or reblog with more info.

[moveslikeanape]

haha, i do love cats! i have two of my own, with matching names: daisy and lily.

not sure how much you already know about twisted wonderland, but i'd like to try and explain it a bit, attempting to be as brief as i can: it's a mobile game with gacha mechanics and an anime art style, but if you've ever heard claims of it being a disney villain dating sim, that's not actually true! the characters are simply inspired by disney villains in terms of design and backstory and/or personality (riddle rosehearts is based on the queen of hearts!), while the villains themselves are legendary figures who once existed in-universe. the main focus of the story is on the player character, a normal person who's been transported into a magical world, learning about each of the boys and helping them with their interpersonal problems, but there's no romance. it might not be for everyone, but i'm a big fan of the ways that it uses the original disney movies to tell its story and the unique spin it puts on things. and it actually has an entire event based on HoND! you should let me know if you do check it out.

right?! i've been a huge disney fan since i was a little kid and i don't see that ever changing, i love disney movies and animation in general far too much. but it's crazy how much things have changed. starting with princess and the frog i have a streak of seeing every new WDAS film in theaters (the only exception being raya and the last dragon because of covid, but i did watch it at home as soon as possible). but after i saw wish i regretted going to the theater and wished i'd saved money to see something else. every film they currently have announced is a sequel, and pixar has several upcoming sequels as well. not that sequels are always bad, of course, but when they're so focused on sequels over original ideas it makes me fear that disney/pixar is just making them for money and not because they truly think they have a great story to tell. i'll probably wait for reviews to decide if i wanna see any of them.

if you'd like to check out the blog i mentioned, it's "feelinganimatedblog" on wordpress. they have a lot of reviews of animation-related books as well as highly detailed reviews of disney movies. i haven't fully read their tarzan review, because it's very long, but the part i did read had some interesting info about the production of the movie!

it's funny that you say that about germany loving tarzan, because i have an online friend who's from germany. he's never been super into disney or seen many of their movies, but lately he's been watching some of them and he told me tarzan was his favorite so far! i wonder what it is that makes it so popular there.

ooh, it's cool that they expanded on kerchak's character like that! i love when disney uses their stage musicals to flesh things out that wouldn't have fit into the limited runtime of an animated movie.

oh yeah, i forgot that they removed tantor. in that case i suppose it makes sense, but i do like how in the original movie tarzan has a female best friend in terk, and she's not involved in any sort of weird love triangle with jane. it's another thing that i think makes her pretty unique as a character. whenever i do listen to the cast album i'll definitely let you know!

awww, that's awesome! Kitties are the best, and I love that they have matching names! I have 2, Taz (going to be 18 soon!) and Oliver. And my dad has 2, Oero and Beckett)

Oh wow, twisted wonderland sounds really interesting! That's such a neat idea, will definitely have to check it out.

Sequels are fine if they are few and far between, or if they really have something interesting to add to the original story. But the rate they're coming out at is insane. It's easy and cheaper for them, because the characters are already designed and have a fan base, they just need to find a new situation to drop them in. The fact that there's going to be a 5th Toy Story movie?!!! Between the constant sequels and the never ending remakes it's getting so boring. I used to get so excited for new Disney movies, but now… I got far more excited about the 4K edition of Snow White (a movie I've seen so many times I know it backwards and in a format I can't even watch!) than any of the new movies that have been released since Moana.

I used to pride myself on knowing the all Disney Feature films in order of release (I grew up in the 90s, and I actually remember important events in my life by what Disney movie was released that year… like, my I know my mom got remarried in '98 because that's the year Mulan was released), and at the drop of a hat could tell you who animated which characters. I actually had to look up which movie came out before Wish, because I just don't remember any of the recent ones.

That's so sad you regretting seeing Wish in the theatre. Disney's fallen really far when that's the case. I'm almost glad I live in a small town and our theatre never even got it. Everything I've heard/seen about it so far makes it easier to just wait until it's on Disney+

I had a quick look at the blog, and I'm definitely going to have to find time to read through it! I love that in the beginnings of the movie reviews there's a section about what was going on in history the year the movies came out.

lol, you'll have to ask your friend if he has any ideas as to why Germans love Tarzan.

I think the little expansions the broadway shows have with story and characters is one of the reasons they're so popular. It's already exhilarating seeing the shows live, but it's even better when you get to learn new things about the characters you already know so well.

I've always thought the avoidance of a love triangle (or even just the suggestion of any inter-species relationships) was a key factor in making Terk male. Seems like in most media if you have a male character and a female character hanging out together all the time they have to fall in love at some point. It worked in the movie because with Tantor you had a group of friends, but maybe they thought if they had Tarzan hanging out with only a female Terk, people might get the wrong idea.

[podcasts-in-review]

The Adventure Zone

The Adventure Zone is an actual-play, RPG podcast and a spinoff of the comedy podcast My Brother, My Brother, and Me, that follows the 3 McElroy brothers and their dad Clint as they play through several different long-running campaigns. The first arc, Balance, has 69 episodes, the second, Amnesty, has 36, and the third, Graduation, has, at time of posting 22. Podcast episodes fall generally around an hour to an hour and a half, and the first two arcs are completed, the third is not. TAZ also has several mini-seasons and one-shot eps as bonus content. 

Now, for the breakdown:

Plot/Writing - 7.5/10: I’m gonna be honest, I didn’t really enjoy how TAZ was plotted or paced when I initially started out listening to Balance. However, since the first few episodes were really just Griffin finding his feet as a DM, the plot definitely improved through the first season and into the second, and a similar thing occured with Travis as DM for Graduation. Both Griffin and Travis excel at crafting tight-knit, well thought out stories for their players with plenty of dramatic moments not crafted by the dice, but what suffers as a result of this is a good sense of player agency and action. In fact, many of the best scenes of the show are when TAZ’s players upset the DM’s plans and take the story in their own directions. This type of “railroading” is most apparent in Balance, but similar situations are also common in the other two seasons. I do not think this distracts from the plot too much, but it can be jarring if you are used to RPG shows more driven by player choice. Since TAZ is an RPG podcast, I can’t really comment on its writing, but character and NPC dialogue is always entertaining, and, though TAZ does struggle with consistent RP in the beginning, it eventually gets better and better.

Characters: 10/10: TAZ’s characters, simply put, are amazing. While most of the more minor characters might be one-dimensional or only there to help the main group with one important thing, the main cast and supporting characters definitely feel more like fleshed out human beings that fit into the craziness of TAZ’s worlds perfectly. The main cast of player characters are all complex and fun to listen to, from Merle’s plant seduction to Aubrey’s bunny rabbit to Fitzroy’s boycloaks, and all of them develop and change as people over the course of the series. The main 3 characters across all seasons get well-developed backstories and meaningful relationships with the many many side characters, who are really what make TAZ stand out. All of the side characters TAZ’s DMs create are hilarious, memorable, and contribute to the plot in their own ways, and many of the more major ones even get their own well thought out character arcs. 

Voice Acting/Sound Design/Technical Aspects: 9/10 - For an RPG podcast, TAZ definitely goes above and beyond with its sound design, including voice filters for special voices and its own original soundtrack for all of the campaigns. The TAZ soundtrack is definitely one of my favorite things about this podcast, and tracks range from synth-heavy and intense, to somber and relaxing folk-ish music for Amnesty, to a more orchestral sound for Graduation, all in keeping with the genral tone of each arc. Due to the fact that it is an actual-play RPG podcast, not a lot of voice acting in the traditional sense occurs, but each character develops their own voice and the voices are sometimes done extremely well, sometimes not, though the character voice consistency definitely improves from season to season. 

Tone/Genre:10/10 -TAZ is definitely a comedy podcast. If you are looking for a lot of serious emotional weight all the time, this is not the RPG show for you. This, however, is not to say that TAZ never has its emotional moments, and there are definitely times where I genuinely felt for the characters, in both their happiest times and their dakrest ones. However, these moments can often be overshadowed by the truckload of goofs, gags, and funny ha-has this podcast delivers. There have been countless times where I’ve had to keep myself from genuinely laughing at Taako’s jokes, or Master Firbolg’s one-liners, or just.... everything about Ned Chicane, and this podcast is truly amazing at switching between genuine heart and dramatic moments,to funny in-jokes on a dime, and this ability to combine laughter with genuine emotional depth so easily really serves the podcast well. Like its characters, the worlds of TAZ are just as wacky, weird, and sometimes batshit insane, and really lend themselves to establishing an overall tone of the narrative, but never go too far as to completely shatter the suspension of disbelief due to their firm grounding with their multitude of characters. 

Overall, TAZ is a wonderful, feel-good podcast for anyone interested in a fantastically told, funny as hell, RPG game with surprising emotional depth and some of the most memorable characters in pretty much any podcast anywhere. Despite its humble beginnings as a spinoff created on a whim, The Adventure Zone, over 3 campaigns and 100 episodes later, is still going strong as but a simple comedy series that became so, so, much more. 

[stormdemonbunny]

Conclusion on the whole project

This project has helped me improve the way I work on illustrations and improve my skills in painting and background work. Before this project my backgrounds were extremely basic and simple but now, I have added more interesting backgrounds to my own personal illustration.

It has forced me to create universes for each of my idea which I something I’ve always want to and this brief gave the excuse to create them. My fursonas where just that, fursonas but because of this brief they got a universe to live in and a job, also it gave me the initiative to update Kira’s references and making a proper reference for Zen. I used Animal Crossing to help me design the café after my first initial sketch had very little detail and did not show the idea for the café.

Along with Zen and Kira, my dungeons and dragons characters got a universe and backstory as well. Emerald, Tanzanite, Sven and Vera are all D&D characters that me and my partner own for when a campaign is played, they are currently no being used so I thought this was the perfect opportunity to create their worlds and illustrated what they do. Taz and Em, the dragonborn’s were both artificers but were never given anything more than that, so to make them fit in with the Cloth Cat brief I gave them specific subjects to study. I enjoyed designing the artificers room as, this project has shown to me, I enjoy designing rooms. The artificers room was my favourite to design as I loved the concept of them living in a home with an oversized tree as the support structure.

After sending off my first PDF and how rushed all the artwork was, I realised that my time management was an issue. With things going on at home, and struggling to make time to work on both dissertation and client studies with my dissertation topic being so heavy and research based I focused to much on that rather than equally separating my time between both projects. If I had separated my time better and focused equally on client studies work I might not have been so stressed when Cloth Cat didn’t understand my ideas. Time management has been an as issue with my work for some time now, and it’s something I need to change and fix.

Overall this project has shown me that my character designing is good but needs more expression work on their character sheets which is something I will be definitely doing in my own personal work. It has also shown me that I can create backgrounds for my illustration and it can appear like a full illustration rather that a character dropped onto a background that does not match. This brief has definitely helped me better my artwork overall.

If I was to do this brief again I would take more time on my initial sketches and poetry my ideas better and stronger. I would take more time on working on characters references with more expression work. I would also work harder on my background work and not be afraid to use a program or game to help me build the world. However, I am very proud with my final illustration and story ideas and would possibly continue with the goblin story this brief created.

[duhragonball]

Potpourri

I’ve been thinking about various storytelling things, not really Dragon Ball related, but I figured I could write them all down here and make something out of it.    Yeah, like an old school Livejournal post, except I can’t write a sassy message in the read-more cut.

Okay, first, I’ve been watching a lot of AEW Dark episodes on YouTube, because AEW puts out a new one every Tuesday and it’s easy to fall behind on them.   So it’s like reliving wrestling angles that I watched on AEW Dynamite back in June and July.    One of these angles was a world title match between champion Jon Moxley, and “The Machine” Brian Cage, who debuted by winning a ladder match in dramatic fashion, along with his new manager, Taz.

Taz does a lot of the color commentary for these episodes of Dark, and Cage debuted around the release of Episode 35, so after that, Taz started using his announcing job to promote the upcoming title match and gloat about how his guy Cage was going to destroy Jon Moxley and win the title.   Taz’s main argument was that Cage is absolutely jacked, which made him a success before, but now he’s got Taz coaching him in all the cool stuff Taz used to do in ECW: suplexes, submission holds, etc.    Taz sells you Brian Cage’s world title victory like a lawyer presenting a case to a jury.   At the center of Taz’s argument was his claim that Cage was simply too big, too strong, and too prepared for Jon Moxley’s finishing move, the Paradigm Shift.    Taz predicted that Mox wouldn’t be able to apply the Paradigm Shift properly, and even if he could hit it, it wouldn’t be enough to stop Cage. 

The plot twist came from real life, when Moxley had to stay home because his wife contracted COVID-19.   There was a lot of speculation that he might get sick, and even if he didn’t, that he wouldn’t be able to appear for the title match.   Fortunately, it didn’t come to that, and the match was simply postponed an extra week.    During that time, Taz accused Moxley of ducking Brian Cage, which I wasn’t crazy about, since I didn’t like coronavirus being used in a wrestling angle.   On the other hand, it did give Taz a couple of weeks to run down the champion unopposed.   At one point he reintroduced his old FTW title belt and gave it to Cage because the world title match had been postponed.    Good stuff.  

So finally, Moxley comes back, and he did one promo before the title match, and this was his chance to respond to all the shittalking Taz had been doing.   It was brilliant, because for weeks, Taz had been declaring victory, and he shut it all down in one quick segment.    He brought up Taz’s claim that the Paradigm Shift wouldn’t work on Cage, and Moxley just said “well maybe I won’t try to use my finisher on him.   No, instead, I’m going to target his left bicep, which was surgically repaired last year, putting Cage out of action for several months.”

And just like that, the tone of the show changed, where suddenly it looked like Cage might be in trouble, because his camp only seemed to have a perfect game plan, and here was the champion announcing his own counter-strategy in advance.   “You talked shit about my wife being sick, so I will reinjure your arm.” 

And it was awesome.    At one point Moxley went for a pin, and Cage kicked out, only for Moxley to reverse the pin into a submission move on the arm.    There were points where it seemed like he couldn’t decide which arm to target, and eventually I realized he was going after both of them, switching from one to the other as needed.   It’s smart, because if you go after the good arm, he’s gotta use the vulnerable one to fight you off, and by doing that Cage basically handed it to Mox for his next hold.  

Finally, Moxley had Cage trapped in an arm hold, and the whole time he was looking Taz in the eye, basically waiting for a submission or a ref stoppage, and Taz had no choice but to throw in the towel to save Brian Cage’s career.    It was a beautiful finish because it sewed up the whole story.   Cage never tapped out, so he still looks like a relentless badass, but Taz had to let discretion be the better part of valor.   He mocked Moxley for playing it safe when his wife got sick, so Moxley forced Taz to make the same choice.    Great stuff.   

Second.   I’ve been reading Darth Vader comics since Marvel started publishing new Star Wars stuff again.    Disney bought Marvel and Star Wars, so it was only a matter of time before the comics began to reflect this.   The smart thing they did was to give Vader his own title, which I like because I’m not that into the adventures of Luke and Han.   

The first Vader series was twenty-odd issues featuring his fall from grace after the Death Star’s destruction, and his rise to command of the Imperial Fleet.     Basically it charts Vader’s career between Episodes IV and V, though there’s plenty of room for other side-stories.   

The second series flashed back to the final scenes of Revenge of the Sith, and tracks Vader’s actions before A New Hope.   It doesn’t cover the entire period, but it hits a lot of the important notes.   How he got his red lightsaber, how he trained the Inquisitors and hunted down the surviving Jedi, and how he built the castle on Mustafar seen in Rogue One.   So it handles everything important Vader was known to have done between Episodes III and IV. 

The third series, currently ongoing, starts right after Vader’s final scene in Empire Strikes Back, and I would assume it’s going to lead him right up to his arrival at Death Star II in Return of the Jedi.   I’m really into this, because I feel like this is an especially overlooked stage of Vader’s career.    Starting out, it seems to be mostly about Vader investigating how his son survived Padme’s death, as he seeks revenge against anyone who hid the boy from him.    Of course, nearly everyone involved in that cover-up is already dead, so I’m not sure where this is going to lead.   

All three volumes of the Vader title focus on the utter futility of Vader’s quests for power and revenge.    His hunts for Jedi survivors was just something for him to do in his spare time, since the Jedi were no longer a threat to him.    His castle on Mustafar was designed to give him special knowledge of the Force, but it only revealed truths that he already knew, or had long since rejected.    His plot to regain the Emperor’s favor after Yavin was very satisfying to watch, but also pointless: The Emperor needed him too badly to dispose of him, and Vader’s still a patsy whether he’s the #2 guy in the Empire or the #5 guy in the Empire.    And now this new series sees him chasing ghosts, trying to make sense of Luke’s refusal to join him.     He wants some sort of answer to his dilemma, but the only answer he’s ever going to find is the one in ROTJ, where he sacrifices himself to kill the Emperor, the one thing he cannot bring himself to contemplate until the time comes.

What saddens me, a little, is the realization that there doesn’t seem to be anywhere else for Marvel to go with the guy.   We’ve got an arc of Vader between Episodes III and IV, an arc between IV and V, and now V and VI, and that’s it.    The only way to do another Darth Vader series after this would be to go back and cover one of those three periods of his career.   And I’d be up for that, but the three series Marvel has done seem a little too decisive for this.  Like they purposely planned these comics because they weren’t going to revisit the character again for a while.   At least, not as the star of his own feature.   

I guess I could deal with that.    Maybe Marvel could finally get around to exploring the Sith career of Count Dooku between Episodes I and II, or work out some loose ends with the Emperor between Episodes VI and IX.    The main thing that’s been on my mind about Vader, though, is this idea that the character could just be done, and laid aside.  

This is something I’ve often observed about Cell and Frieza in DBZ.   I still think it’s dumb how they brought back Frieza after Trunks killed him, because there really wasn’t anything left to do with the character after he got turned into a cyborg and instakilled.   There’s nowhere to go after that.    His character arc was to start as the Final Boss of the entire Universe and then to get reduced to a pathetic, minor threat.    You can bring him back, but your only choice, dramatically speaking, is to reset the character, which means putting him back on the same track he’s already covered.     There’s no way to bring back Frieza and not have it be a retread of stuff he’s already done once before.

Cell might have some interesting applications beyond his original story, but he’s too much of a slave to his purpose.    His job was to carry on Dr. Gero’s revenge scheme, and that all ended when the saga ended, so he just seems out of place whenever he appears after that.   This is why I’m glad Toei and Toriyama haven’t brought Cell back, although at this rate it feels like it’s only a matter of time.   The thing is, if they brought him back, what else could they do with him?

With Darth Vader, all of his most important moments have already been covered in the movies, so all that’s left is to produce some side-story content.    The old Expanded Universe tended to steer clear of Darth Vader, probably out of respect for George Lucas’ prequel plans.    Later, the Clone Wars projects gave us more Anakin Skywalker than anyone knew what to do with, which is basically Darth Vader content, but not quite.   That’s why I dig these Marvel books so much, because there’s never been such a sustained effort to tell a Darth Vader story like this.   But once it’s run its course, the only way to keep using the character would basically be to start over.     I have a hard time seeing Marvel do that.  They’d have to get a new writer to retell those years like the first set of comics didn’t happen.    That could be very entertaining, but it doesn’t sound likely to happen.  

I’m not terribly worried about getting my Darth Vader fix in the future.   They’ll keep making stories about him long after I’m dead.   It’s just that I’ve been thinking about the limits of what you can do with one character.    I’ve long thought that you can always find gaps in the narrative that can be filled in with new stories, but maybe that isn’t true.    Maybe at some point, for some characters, there’s a finite amount of things to do with them.    You look at all of the Anakin Skywalker Clone Wars stories, and I’m sure someone could write a few hundred more, but would it really accomplish anything that hasn’t already been covered?   Is it possible to “use up” a character?   I probably won’t know for sure anytime soon.  

[notafeeling]

Infinitesimal (Part I)

A/N Infinitesimal (originally titled in a haze as “LOGAN IS BARRY BLUEJEANS”) is a Sanders Sides AU set in the world of The Adventure Zone: Balance, a DnD podcast made by the McElroy brothers. If you have not started The Stolen Century arc and don’t want spoilers, do not read.

Pairing: eventual logince (Logan/Roman)

Genre: scifi; slowburn

Warnings: temporary character death; TAZ-canon-typical violence

Word Count: 7.5k

Summary:

Logan had always thought that being a human meant he had to work harder and faster than everyone else to truly make a difference in the world. When his home is consumed by an intergalactic force known as The Hunger and he’s forced to go on the run through space with six others for a century, he realises that that’s not exactly true.

Or, Logan accepts an offer to join the Institute of Planar Research and Exploration and to travel around the mysterious planes that control his planet for a few months, but ends up hopping realities and dying a whole bunch alongside his mismatched crew members, learning how to love somewhere along the way.

-

Logan knows that, as a human, he has certain limitations in this world. For one thing, his 80-year expected lifespan is nothing compared to the centuries-old elves and dwarves who are considered teenagers. For another, it means he can’t rely on magic. He doesn’t have enough time to spend it mastering something he was never meant to have.

He turns to science at a young age.

The stars call him from outside his dirty, cracked window, and he dreams of the day he can fly among them. He wants to touch, he wants to grow, he wants to be something more.

Even at 8, he knows that his world doesn’t have the technology for that, and won’t for a very long time. It doesn’t stop him from yearning, though.

His parents send him to an academy at 15, only because he managed to get a scholarship. He graduates at 17 at the top of his class.

It’s still not enough.

He devotes the next five years of his life to mapping the stars and their constellations. Nothing that hasn’t been done before, but Logan’s determined to do this on his own.

If he won’t be able to live among them, then he’ll commit them to memory. Maybe he’ll travel along the constellation Pneuma Cascade in his dreams.

-

Having two suns is a fact everyone on Phaethon has long since accepted. The early civilisations made entire mythos surrounding those two stars alone, and children of his world are told stories of two lovers who chase each other endlessly. The second is dimmer because of his eternal pining, but he will follow the other to the end of times. When parents are asked why, they reply “because they’re in love,” and that’s all there is to that story.

Logan’s long-since moved on from folklore and the notion of love. Instead, he wants to know how. How can these two massive celestial objects coexist without succumbing to one another's’ gravitational pull? How does his planet, as small as it is, only orbit around the two without being sucked in?

Those questions give Logan purpose.

-

At 30, Logan finally has something to show for all his research.

The problem with examining two suns is that first of all, you shouldn’t look directly at them, and secondly, they’re too far away to properly study.

He devises a tool. It’s mostly cylindrical, and the otherwise hollow interior contains several panes of glass. Originally it was designed to filter out the sunlight, but Logan quickly figures out how to magnify the image he’s seeing.

(It’s kind of embarrassing that it took someone with corrective lenses for his short-sightedness to figure that one out, but all that matters is that it works.)

It takes him a few more years to have a perfected prototype. And he sees something no one else has.

He can see the suns in shocking clarity, but he doesn’t care about them (too much) anymore. Instead, he focuses on the slight rift between them. It’s not exactly a rift, more like… a divide. A shift.

Logan spends countless hours studying this, almost forgetting to breathe at times. This is what it’s all been leading to. There’s more! He can be more, do more!

It doesn’t take him much longer to figure out that the second sun is a double of the first. No, not exactly a double.

The second sun comes from the Ethereal Plane. The existence behind theirs, to put it simply. So it’s not a double, more like… the same one, but ever so slightly behind.

And the divide? It’s a weakened point between his plane - the Material Plane - and the other. Which means-

Holy shit. If there are other weakened points to other planes, then they could travel. He could explore! Not just magic-users who pop into the Ethereal Plane for brief moments, nor necromancers trying to break into the Astral Plane, no. Everyone.

Notes and ideas spill furiously from Logan’s mind, down through his arm and onto a thick, leather-bound journal. He lives off of caffeine and adrenaline as he completes his paper on Interplanar Travel, and not long after, he’s contacted by Thomas Sanders, the leader of the newly established Institute of Planer Research and Exploration (IPRE, for short).

Thomas offers him a position on the team of explorers that will be tasked with travelling across planes and, hopefully, beyond that at some point. He explains that although not too long ago, their world certainly didn’t have the technology, ever since the Light of Creation fell there’s been massive leaps in scientific advancement.

(Logan must have been holed up in his study during that time, as he has to pretend he knows exactly what his future boss is referencing.)

It’s everything Logan’s ever wanted, so of course, he accepts.

-

YEAR 0.

10 months later, and he meets his teammates. He’s already known and worked closely with Thomas (soon to be Captain Sanders) for the past few months, and he’s certainly earned Logan’s respect, but the rest of the team has some… shortcomings.

For one thing, he isn’t sure why they need two wizards who also double as cooks (Roman and Virgil) though he supposes the fact that they’re twins who seem to have done everything together makes them a package deal.

And, okay, he gets why they might need a cleric, but surely Patton could also double as the journalist (a young tiefling named Kalumnia), or vice-versa!

Also, if they have a ship that can withstand the heat of passing between two suns and the extremities of space, then why can’t they add a few weapons? Why do they need a security officer? Can’t the twins do magic?

He doesn’t have much time to convince Thomas to hire more fitting members (why not a maintenance crew?) because he meets all these people right before they’re given matching red robes with IPRE emblazoned on them and are told to walk onstage in front of the largest gathering of humans, elves, orcs, tieflings, dragonborns, etc. that Logan’s ever seen in his life.

He’s more than happy to let his Captain manage the questions from various reporters while he sits back and attempts to get to know his crewmates. After all, he’ll be living with them for a few months, possibly longer if the mission is a success. Might as well get comfortable.

“So,” Logan murmurs to the person he’s seated next to (Roman? Or maybe Virgil?), “why did you sign up for this?”

The high-elf casts a cursory glance in his direction as his twin whispers something in his ear, making him snort. They’re definitely laughing at Logan, which. Okay. He can deal with childish behaviour.

“Look! His ears are going red. You embarrassed him, Ro,” the furthest one says.

“I did not! You’re the one who made me laugh!” Roman retorts.

It’s a relief when Thomas calls him up to the podium.

“Salutations. My name is Logan and I’m the Science Officer of IPRE.” His voice rings out all around him and reporters call his name. He chooses one at random - a young human woman with wild hair.

“Hi, Linda from Phaethon Press here. I read your report on Interplanar Travel and I’ve been blown away with the progress you’ve made since!”

“Thank you.”

“Anyway, could you explain what you’re hoping to find or learn from your journey?”

Logan’s struck once more by how much he has to explore and a wide smile spreads over his features. “Well, not much is known about the other planes. The Ethereal Plane is usually only used for short periods of travel because of its ever-changing nature. To stay there too long would leave you clueless about how to get back to the Material Plane. And we all know about the Astral Plane, where the departed souls from our plane go. While we don’t have any concrete goals because of our limited knowledge, we do aim to explore the other 9 planes. We don’t know what we’ll find - maybe new life forms or energy or-”

Roman fakes a cough as he exclaims, none-too-quietly, “Nerd alert!”

Logan clears his throat. “Uh, so, we basically aim to explore and research the planes.”

“You don’t say,” he hears Virgil mutter.

God, he can’t imagine living with these people for the next few months.

-

The night before they leave is spent drinking onboard the newly-christened “Starblaster”. Logan makes a face every time he hears the name, but it was suggested by a drunk, giggly Roman and backed up by the equally intoxicated members of his team.

He wants to put as much distance as possible between himself and the twins, so he joins Patton and Kalumnia, who spends half the conversation listening and the other half writing down everything that’s happening. Logan has to admire her penmanship.

“Goodness, I wonder what other planes there are?” Patton wonders aloud.

Logan’s interest is piqued immediately. “Oh! I’ve actually been thinking about that a lot. We know there’s some sort of Celestial Plane because that’s where clerics draw their power from- though I suppose you already know that.”

“I do, but I don’t mind!” Patton smiles.

This guy is infinitely better than the twins, Logan decides. “So that, the Ethereal and the Astral are the planes that have the most impact on ours, so they must be closer or at least, larger and more prominent than the other planes. Therefore, the other planes aren’t likely to bear any sort of intelligent life, but the magic there could be completely different.” Magic that he might possess.

“That’s so cool!”

Kalumnia nods. Her bright, golden eyes watch Logan as he continues to talk, pointed ears perked. Patton asks questions and his own brilliant blue eyes widen whenever Logan mentions something he previously hadn’t known. Even Missy, the security officer Logan has avoided due to the scowl she wears, wanders over and joins the discussion.

For the first time in his life, Logan’s listened to. He could get used to this.

-

It turns out he could and should get used to it because as they leave Phaethon, a thick, suffocating darkness descends on it. They catch a glimpse of 11 other planes before black tendrils shoot out of their plane and pierce the others, and slowly drag it into its massive, incomprehensible form.

“Head for the rift!” Logan yells as his Captain maneuvers them through space.

Columns shoot out at them but the Starblaster dodges them with ease. Alarms blast, ringing sharp and shrill as they rocket towards the two suns, picking up speed each nanosecond.

He, Kalumnia, Thomas and the twins are huddled at the front, staring straight forward into the divide.

Patton and Missy are the only ones brave enough to watch as everything they’ve ever known, everyone they’ve ever loved, is consumed.

They just have to get to the rift. If they do that, they can break through to another plane. They can survive, they can run. They just have to get through, and they’re almost there, so close-

“Right!” Logan cries. Whatever’s attacking comes through the rift, barrelling straight for them.

Thomas jerks his controls to the right, tilting the ship so far that Logan crashes into the side.

His crewmates scream as they collide with something, sending them spiralling through space. Hungry black surrounds them, reaching out, trying to ensnare them and pull them in, but it only ends up flinging them in another direction.

“Change of plans!” Thomas yells, lifting his controls high, trying to break free.

The monster makes one last desperate grab, colliding with the bottom of their ship with a loud clang!

They’re flipped end over end, further and further from the rift. Further from the other planes. Logan’s head bounces off of hard metal, his body thrown around like a sack of bricks. There’s a snap, and then burning pain shoots through his right arm. His vision fades as the pain magnifies, becoming so intense it's unbearable. The panicked yells of his teammates seem so distant, but he manages to pick out a scream of “Roman!” and Patton making one last, desperate effort to heal them.

Black greets him soon after.

-

YEAR 1.

Pure, white light surrounds him. Threads of light stitch him together, restoring his body, and it’s not long before it unravels and reveals the rest of the IPRE members. Logan watches as its wisps are drawn away and disappear from sight, fading into the night sky. Except… he’s on the Starblaster’s deck. So it’s not the sky, it’s… It’s space.

There’s not a single scratch on any of them - apart from the battlescars Missy shows off proudly, but they had always been there. Nothing shows that they had just survived an attack on their home planet, unless… Unless they didn’t survive? Or Logan dreamt it? Or…

A sob breaks the stunned silence surrounding them. Virgil pushes past Logan as he runs toward Roman, tackling him to the floor.

“You died!” He screams. “You died. You were dead. I saw it; I saw your body in front of me, Ro. How are you- how could you-”

Roman pries his arms out from under Virgil and wraps them around his brother. “Shh, it’s okay, I’m here,” he murmurs, stroking Virgil’s purple hair. His eyebrows are knitted together, trying to remember what happened.

Logan does the same.

“Are we- did we die?” Patton whispers. “Where are we? Where’s Thomas?”

At that, Logan realises that there are only six of them. He bolts towards the cockpit. The rest of the team, barring the twins who seem content to fuss over each other, follow in hot pursuit.

The door slams open as the four of them charge through. There, at the controls, is their Captain.

He bolts out of his chair and spins around, hands raised as he readies a spell. When he sees his crew, his whole body relaxes and he goes limp. Missy rushes forward to steady him.

“You’re- you all disappeared,” Thomas breathes out as he’s lowered to the floor. “You all were taken by this- by this light, and then I was surrounded too! I came to back in this chair and you were all gone. I thought- I thought I was alone.” His voice drops to a whisper at the end there and even Logan has to inhale deeply to stop the panic that rises when he imagines being forever alone in space.

Patton grabs Logan’s wrist, pulling him towards Thomas and Missy, and Logan doesn’t fight it when he’s scooped into a hug.

Patton’s arms may not be able to reach around all of them, but they’re warm and comfy and remind him of his parents. At least they didn’t die at the hands of that… thing.

Logan’s the first to pull away. “We need to take stock of what we know and what we have. Our first priority is to figure out what that being was and if it’s going to attack us again. Then…” His gaze catches sight of a plane. And another. And another! Excitement stirs inside him. “Then we explore.”

-

It takes them around ten minutes to realise that the twelve planes they’re flying around are completely different from theirs. It takes Logan two days to draw the conclusion that by not jumping through the rift and being thrown off course, they somehow managed to enter a new… planar system? Reality? He couldn’t say.

Basically, there’s no going back home - if their world even still exists.

Roman and Virgil are the only ones who don’t seem to care at all.

Logan doesn’t know much about them (other than the fact that they delight in tormenting him) so he doesn’t want to judge, but their carefree attitude is somewhat rude to Patton, Missy and Thomas who are in mourning.

On the third day, they decide to test their luck on this new Material Plane. As Thomas eases the Starblaster into it, they’re greeted with luscious green forests and wide, stretching savannahs and grasslands and mountains-

The likelihood of that is astounding, and Logan spends quite some time with Kalumnia chronicling the biomes of this planet.

But that’s about where the similarities end. There are no oceans, though there are lakes and rivers, so water isn’t a problem. However, the fauna is even more interesting.

The population of this strange place is mostly made up of giant creatures that are up to ten, twenty, thirty times their tiny, Phaethonian frames.

“Now I’m not the only dwarf,” Patton jokes when they first hover above the planet, trying to find a safe place to land. Logan lets out a stunned laugh, but it's more from the joy of a new discovery than anything else.

-

That night, Logan lays on the deck of the Starblaster, admiring the countless new constellations and planes, all his to explore!

It’s so clear, up here on a mountain in an undeveloped world, far from artificial light sources. It’s serene, it’s beautiful, it’s-

“Ro, let him be a nerd in peace.” Virgil’s furious whisper cuts through the pristine air and immediately, Logan has a sour taste in his mouth.

“Hush, brother.”

Logan resolutely keeps gazing up at the stars, ignoring as Roman’s boots clack against the metal. He ignores it when they stop by his head, and he continues to pretend Roman doesn’t exist even when he plonks himself down beside him.

“You’re missing out on a glorious feast, you know,” Roman says at last.

Logan tries to detect the sarcasm or the hidden meaning, but he either needs to brush up on his social skills or there isn’t any. Which, coming from Roman, is impossible.

He slides his eyes to his left. In the starlight, Roman’s usual vibrant red robe and equally crimson hair are paler, softer. Instead of his constant smirk and perfect death stare, he seems almost wistful as he too stares into the sky. Logan tears his gaze away and clears his throat.

“I’m fine with freeze-dried cubes of nutrition.”

Roman laughs, and that too is gentle compared to the harsh delight Logan had committed to memory after only a few days. It’s hard not to memorise it when it’s being directed at you more often than not. “Weren’t you the one talking about rationing? C’mon, Lo, me and Virge went through all that effort to take down one of those beasts! Aren’t you going to at least try it?”

Maybe Roman just has a really annoying whiny-voice or maybe he’s hungrier than he thinks because Logan actually considers it. Then he remembers that they don’t know if the meat on this planet is even edible, let alone feast-worthy. “Who said you could call me Lo?” he replies instead. It comes out harsher than he intends.

Roman scoffs and jumps up on his feet. Logan frowns and looks up at him, only to find a scowl as Roman avoids his eyes. “Fine, whatever. Sorry for trying to include you, I guess.” The clacking of his shoes is considerably louder as Roman stomps back to his twin, who murmurs a quiet “I told you so.”

Logan’s insides squirm uncomfortably. Something in him urges him to apologise, but he fights back the feeling. He didn’t do anything wrong. He just wanted to ensure the food wasn’t going to kill him. What’s so wrong with trying to survive?

(Later that night, he sneaks into the kitchen and finds a plate with a slab of meat and a couple of roots. He throws away the note that reads “You’re welcome -R” and braces himself for the first forkful of his new diet. Instead of the strange, bland flavour Logan expected, when he bites into the mouth-wateringly tender meat, he’s met with an explosion of tastes. He can see why Thomas insisted on tasking both Roman and Virgil with cooking now.)

-

The Light of Creation falls early the next day. Logan misses it (again), but when he wakes up, it’s to Thomas flying the Starblaster at breakneck speed towards where it fell.

“Why has it come here?” Patton asks. No one has an answer.

They find it a few hours later, and already, the surrounding fauna looks… smarter?

There’s a cacophony of sound as a mixture of bleets, honks and moos turn into something singular, cohesive. It’s the sound of language.

“After only this much time?” Logan questions.

“Yeah, well. That’s kind of what happened in our- in Phaethon,” Thomas explains. “When it fell, it didn’t take long for people to start inventing things. You invented your little, uh, cylinder thing-”

“Telescope.”

“Yeah, telescope, when it fell.”

“It was a work in progress!”

“But you only perfected it after the Light, right?”

Logan can’t say for sure, so he stays silent. It’s not like it’s a bad thing to make scientific advancements, it’s just… He wanted it to happen from his own merit. Not because some mythical light suddenly gave him the ability to.

“So,” Virgil pipes up from where he’s leaning against the wall, “should we take it?”

“I really want to steal it,” Roman says.

Logan sighs. “Can we at least see what these animals do with it first?”

“No! I mean, yes, but we shouldn’t steal it,” Patton says, wide-eyed.

“It’s not stealing,” Virgil replies. “It’s not theirs.”

“But it’s not ours either!”

“Not until we take it.” Roman pats Thomas’ shoulder. “C’mon, Cap, let’s get this thing.”

They wait a week and then bring the Light onboard.

-

In the following months, Virgil and Roman rope Patton into learning the new animal language and over dinner, they talk in a series of grunts and honks that make Logan infuriated. He pretends he isn’t trying to figure it out by delving into the food (still as delicious as the first time, if not more) but at some point, Virgil and Roman confront him.

“Want us to teach you?” Roman asks, and Logan, pride be damned, nods.

-

Missy starts building herself a home. She gets Logan to make a saw and then she chops down a tree (and she only needs the one). After a month, she has a nice home that she and Kalumnia often stay in.

Patton studies the flora while Logan studies the fauna, and together they help Kalumnia with her chronicling of this world. Dwarves must have some connection with a nature god because the plants lean into Patton’s gentle touch. Flowers spring up underneath his fingers and he thrives out in the jungle.

Thomas remains on the ship, but he’s never alone. They meet up for dinner every night (Missy loves climbing a mountain every day, for some weird reason) and they talk about the progress they’re making in this world.

Logan can speak the language too now, and even though he hated it before, more often than not he, Roman, Virgil and Patton are communicating in it.

It’s a nice rhythm they’ve settled into. Logan thinks he could get used to this.

-

Another month passes. Everything goes to shit.

Patton notices it first. The grass is dull; the wind quiet. The sky is darker and the lakes are no longer a clear crystal blue. He tells the others about this and Logan wonders if it’s because of their ship, or their presence, or maybe the Light.

He’s answered a few hours later when the 13th plane arrives.

Its form is bigger this time. Darker. More violent. Shadows pierce down from the sky and form humanoid shapes - some short and stocky, some with pointed ears, some who look human - and Logan’s struck with a terrifying realisation that these shadows are people from Phaethon. Or, he should say, were.

Logan and Patton aren’t far from the ship, and the twins, although they like to explore, have been sticking close by recently. Kalumnia had already been in her study onboard, and Thomas is at the controls when Logan enters. Missy, however…

As Thomas brings the ship up into the sky, the rest of them search desperately for Missy. They know they can’t stay too long. This thing, this beast, it’s stronger. Smarter. They need to escape before one of the shimmering black columns pierces their ship and they’re bound to this plane.

“There!” Virgil cries, his elven eyes picking up Missy’s struggling form.

She’s fighting valiantly, taking out multiple shadows with just one swing of her axe. The animals around her stomp and charge, but it’s not enough.

“I can’t get close enough!” Thomas says, weaving the ship through the black.

“Fine!” Roman shouts, and then he runs out of the cockpit and onto the deck, then flings himself overboard.

Virgil rushes to the edge. “Bro, what the fuck?!” He calls, before he too leaps over the railing.

They see the twins float downwards, blasting off spells as they go, and it’s not long before they’re down there fighting with Missy.

Roman’s body becomes a force of fire, burning bright as he flings massive fireballs into the fray. Virgil summons a massive bolt of lightning and the resulting thunderclap is so loud it hurts Logan’s ears.

“We have to go,” Thomas murmurs. Logan and Patton’s heads whip to him. “We have to go, now!” He says more forcefully this time, and Patton starts arguing with him.

“We can’t leave them behind!”

“If we don’t leave then that’s just more carnage, more bodies for that thing to consume. We’re leaving.”

Logan has never, ever, heard such a cold voice coming from Thomas. But he understands.

“Look, Patton,” he begins, “when we left Phaethon, I died. And so did Roman. But we came back. I don’t know how, and I don’t know if it will keep happening, but we need to leave. Or else there’s no hope for them.”

Patton tries to argue, but Thomas is already flying them away, out of the Plane, then out of the Planar System. He doesn’t react when Patton pulls at his arms, trying to get him to turn around. He’s not cold, he’s calculating. Thomas- Captain Sanders is making an executive decision and Logan knows he can’t change it.

The black follows them, and he sees it withdrawing from the planet in favour of pursuit. The cogs in his head turn as the white threads from a year ago weaves around them again, and Logan manages to cry out “It wants the Light!” before he’s wrapped up entirely.

-

YEAR 2.

Logan wakes up on the deck of the Starblaster, Virgil behind him. Like last time.

He furrows his brows and races back to the cockpit, and sure enough, his captain is there.

When everyone piles in, Logan’s in the middle of theorising.

“Every time we leave a planar system, we’re brought back to our original positions,” Logan says, mostly to himself but Kalumnia starts to transcribe what he’s saying in her journal. “That thing-”

“The Hunger!” Roman supplies.

“Not your most creative name.”

“Got a better one, Virge?”

“Fine, the Hunger wants the Light of Creation. When we left with the Light, it left the planes alone and tried to follow us. When did the Light fall on Phaethon?”

“About a year before the Hunger came,” Kalumnia murmurs.

“And it was about a year after the Light that the Hunger found us on that plane, too!” Logan clasps his hands together and straightens up. “Is there a blackboard on this ship?”

Kalumnia nods and leads them to her study, then wordlessly hands Logan a piece of chalk.

It’s the first time Logan has been in here, and he’s blown away by the countless journals and books from their home planet that remain on the sturdy oak bookshelves. There are also sketches pinned to a corkboard, mostly depicting the strange life they had encountered on the other planet. They’re only sketches, but the extraordinary amount of detail blows him away. How had Kalumnia kept this to herself all this time?

He shakes his head and gets to work. “So, what do we know?” He asks, then divides the board in two. He labels one column “Already Know” and the other “Need to Know”, then scribbles some notes in the former.

“The Hunger’s shadows looked like Phaethonians,” Missy says.

“Yeah, but they could change their form at will. I would blast one with fire and the black would disperse before coming together as a new Phaethonian.”

“It was stronger this time,” Virgil adds, shaking ever so slightly. Roman wraps an arm around him.

Logan nods and continues scrawling. “That means that when it consumes a plane, it adds it to its… collection. Its army.”

“We just left a plane full of massive creatures! How are we supposed to fight that?!” Roman exclaims.

“Well, no. As I said previously, when we left, it followed us. It started to withdraw from the Plane.”

Patton turns to Logan. “You mentioned the Light before we- we reformed. Why would it want that?”

He shrugs. “That’s why we have a Need to Know column,” he answers, then adds that exact question to the board.

“A better question,” Virgil steps forward and takes the chalk from Logan, “is how are we reforming?” He looks around expectantly.

“There’s this light that surrounds us - almost like thread.”

“I think I know what that is,” Captain Sanders says at the same time Kalumnia adds, “It’s the Bond Engine.”

Seeing their blank looks, both of them shake their head.

“We’ve been living on this ship for a year. How do you not know what the Bond Engine is?” Kalumnia has a rare smile on her face as she and the Captain launch into an explanation.

“The Bond Engine doesn’t use any fuel, it runs on bonds.”

“Bonds are what tie us to the Planar System. They’re the experiences and the connections we have to the planes, and it allows us to travel between them without the risk of ending up in a black hole.”

“How come we were able to leave both Phaethon’s System and the other one?” Patton asks.

Kalumnia and Thomas shrug, but Logan’s quick to reply. “It must be the Hunger. We haven’t been able to leave any Planar System until it comes. It must… cut our bonds with the planes. That would mean we don’t have ties to the Astral Plane, so if we die, we don’t go there. Instead, the Bond Engine brings us back onto the ship, in our original positions.”

“So what I’m hearing is,” Roman begins with a grin that he shares with Virgil, “we’re basically immortal, right?”

“No, because we do still die, we just come back-”

“Technicalities, technicalities,” Roman dismisses. “Anyway, this year I’m going to do some wild shit!”

“If you die on me, I’m going to be so fucking pissed,” Virgil threatens, but he also seems excited to be able to do whatever without consequences.

-

The Light falls into an ocean. They’re unable to retrieve it when the Hunger comes and instead, fly away as soon as they see its black pillars descend. Call them cowards, but at least there wasn’t much life on this planet to begin with. If there was any, it’s all gone now.

-

YEAR 5.

Logan hadn’t meant to become friends with the twins. It’s more like that they decided they were going to hang out with him, and he hasn’t been able to shake them since.

He finds he doesn’t mind, which is a feat in and of itself, considering he hasn’t had friends for the roughly four decades he had been alive for.

-

One night, they’re stargazing. Well, Logan is.

Roman and Virgil are wrestling each other next to him and surprisingly, Virgil wins.

“How are you so strong?” Roman whines, flexing his arms to show off his quite impressive muscles.

Virgil shrugs. “I chug my bone juice,” he replies, and Logan decides not to question what he means by that. “Do you give up yet?”

Roman laughs and charges Virgil. His momentum carries him forward and he crashes into his twin, then he swipes his leg out from under him and pins Virgil to the ground. “Take that!”

“Oof, my bones,” he deadpans, and Roman helps him up.

“Are you two done?” Logan asks.

Instead of insulting him, like they would’ve done five years ago, they nod and sit beside him. Logan’s chest flutters when Roman leans into him easily, knee gently bumping his own every now and again.

“So,” Virge begins, and judging by the glint in both his and Roman’s eyes, Logan has a right to be worried.

“We were thinking,” Roman continues, “that we don’t know much about you.”

“And we know everything about each other!”

“So why not tell us about yourself?”

Logan sighs. “What do you want to know?”

Virgil considers this, then asks, “Do you have a last name?”

“No.”

“Cool,” Roman says, “It’s Bluejeans now.”

“What?” Logan splutters. “You can’t just give people last names! And these jeans are comfortable and practical!”

“Whatever you say, Mr Bluejeans, sir,” Virgil mock salutes.

Logan tries to argue with them, but it’s clear he’s getting nowhere. “Fine! Have it your way, Virgil… Purplehoodie.”

Virgil laughs, and okay, it wasn’t his best work, but it’s not like Bluejeans is any better. “So what? Roman and I are twins. Does that make him Roman Purplehoodie? I don’t see a fucking hoodie, nor anything purple. That doesn’t make sense, Lo.”

Logan doesn’t react to the nickname. Instead, he exclaims, “Neither does Bluejeans!”

“You wear blue jeans!” Roman protests.

“And your brother wears a purple hoodie!”

“Not all the time!”

“Almost all the time!”

“Oi, keep it down!” Missy shouts from somewhere inside the ship. “Some of us are trying to sleep.”

“Don’t worry, we’re just playing card games in here!” Patton tells them.

“They ain’t need to know that!”

Even though Missy was bluffing, they stop arguing.

“Do I get to ask a question now?”

“Fine, shoot Mr Bluejeans.”

“I’m never going to get rid of that name, am I?” Both Virgil and Roman shake their heads. “Alright. Can I ask a question now?”

The twins glance at each other and shrug. “Seems fair.”

Logan ponders for a moment. He doesn’t really have any burning questions, but he supposes there had been one thing he was always curious about. “Are you two identical?”

Virgil’s gaze flashes to Roman, then back at Logan. The movement is so quick he almost misses it.

Roman leans back on his palms and puts on an easy smile. Logan knows that he’s only pretending, but he doesn’t get the chance to backpedal before Roman answers him. “Nope,” he pops the p.

Logan waits a moment, then opens his mouth when no explanation follows, but Roman must have changed his mind about how much he wants to share.

“I’m trans,” he blurts. Logan watches as Virgil’s arm snakes around his brother and studies Logan for his reaction.

He doesn’t miss a beat as he says, “Oh, but you look too alike to not be identical.” It’s awkward and kind of clumsy, but he genuinely means it in an “I thought you were identical twins” way and not a “How can you possibly look so masculine?” way. Virgil and Roman seem to pick up on it, at least.

“Genetics, dumbass,” Virgil replies, and the three of them laugh. “Honestly, the scientist should know this!”

“I’m an astrophysicist, not a biologist.”

“Those words? Fake.”

“You can’t call words fake.”

“All words are fake!” Roman and Virgil retort at the same time.

Logan goes to argue. Then he considers it. And okay, maybe they have a point. Especially their words. He’s not sure if they’ll find another Planar System that speaks Common - or any of Phaethon’s languages, in fact. It doesn’t stop him from wanting to learn the others’ languages though, so he gathers up the courage to ask a second question.

“Would you two mind teaching me Elven?”

-

YEAR 12.

It’s a good thing he’s fluent in Elven now, because this new place is entirely elves. It’s literally called Elfington.

He and the twins have no problem fitting in, and to their surprise, neither does Kalumnia.

She shrugs and with an abashed smile she admits, “I know all of Phaethon’s languages.”

Roman and Virgil share a wide-eyed look. “That’s how you always knew about our pranks!”

“We thought you were a mindreader or something!” Roman adds.

Kalumnia laughs. “I do know that spell, but I wouldn’t invade your privacy like that.”

-

That year, he and the twins almost exclusively talk to each other. Kalumnia joins in on their exploits around town, and Logan notes that she’s much less reclusive than at the beginning of their journey. He supposes over a decade of selective company would result in that.

Wait. Holy shit. Had they really been doing this for a decade?

Logan catches a glimpse of himself in a store window. At fifty, he expects wrinkles around his eyes like the ones Patton’s had since day one, but no. There aren’t creases in his forehead, no grey hairs, nothing. For all intents and purposes, he hasn’t changed one bit.

Maybe Roman and Virgil weren’t too far off when they joked about immortality.

“And they call me vain!” Roman huffs as he comes to stand beside him. Despite his comment, he leans in to fix his hair in the reflection, running his slender fingers through newly-dyed red. It’s like this at the beginning of every cycle, and for the past week they’ve been on Elfington, all Roman has talked about were the hairdressers and the possibility of dye.

Logan’s friend is always excited when they begin a new year just because he gets the colour back in his hair. He suspects Virgil shares the same enthusiasm, but at least he doesn’t talk his ear off about how he should be able to invent dye when it starts to fade. For starters, he’s an astrophysicist, and secondly, he’s busy, thank you very much.

He wants to study the Light. Considering it has such a big impact on both the Starblaster crew and whatever plane it falls on, they need to learn more about it. Maybe one of these cycles, they can find a way to fight off the Hunger.

Logan doesn’t know how that would work, but this new world that’s positively teeming with life renews his motivation. He doesn’t want to see them get destroyed. He doesn’t want them to fall to the Hunger.

They’ve already recovered it so he wastes no time in setting up experiments.

Around the second month, Roman starts popping into the Starblaster to “make sure he isn’t nerding too hard” (his words, not Logan’s). At first, it’s only for a few minutes. Roman asks a few questions about what he’s doing, Logan responds with questions about what he and Virge have been up to, and then Roman goes back to Elfington.

As time passes, Roman grows more and more keen to help. It gets to the point where Roman and Logan do their experiments together. Kalumnia records for them, keeping track of what they’ve found (the Light of Creation emits waves of some form of energy) and what they need to know (what the fuck is that energy). Missy mostly makes sure that the pair eat and drink when necessary, occasionally throwing them over her shoulder and dragging them to bed.

Even Captain Sanders checks in on their progress (and with the two of them working together, it’s truly remarkable)!

The only one who keeps his distance is Virgil.

Logan finds out the reason for this on their tenth month.

It’s a typical afternoon. Logan had visited Elfington for last-minute supplies, and he had been carrying armfuls of metal parts and spell components when he heard low voices around the corner, where his newly-appointed lab was.

He pauses. He quickly figures that one must be Roman (he had told him to go ahead, but he must have wanted to wait) and therefore the other is Virgil. He considers making his presence known, but it sounds like they’re arguing. And the twins never do that.

He doesn’t mean to eavesdrop, honestly.

“I know why you’re doing this,” Virgil hisses. “You want to stay here.”

“I do not! And even if I did, what’s wrong with that? We haven’t had a home since we were fucking twelve, why can’t you just settle down?”

“This isn’t about that and you know it.” When Virgil continues to speak, his voice loses the anger and instead takes on a much softer tone. “Roman, we have the Light. There’s nothing else we can do for them.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Yes, I do! In case you haven’t noticed, we’ve been doing this thing for over a decade. We either get the Light and some people die, or we don’t and everything gets consumed by the Hunger. We’ve tried fighting it, we’ve died, and honestly, I don’t give a shit about the planes anymore!”

“How can you say that?” Roman murmurs. Logan’s equally surprised by that revelation.

“Look,” Virgil sighs. “We’ve been to like, four planets with life on it. And each time, we decide it’s a grand idea to make friends! Why not build our bonds? But at the end of the year, it’s the same thing. We fly away and we watch those people get torn apart into nothing. They’re dust. We’ve only had each other for so long, and you and the other five people on this ship are the only people I can count on. Everyone else? They’re dust, Roman. If we see them as anything else, we only get our hearts broken. And I can’t take that. Not for however long we’re stuck on this ship, going through the motions.”

Roman’s silent for a long time. Eventually, though, he says, “You’re lying.”

“What?”

“You’re lying,” he repeats, more forcefully. “You can try and pretend like you don’t care, but I’ve seen you with those kids. I know you care about them as much as I do. And I know you’ll fight for them at the end of the year.”

“Because they’re us, Ro!” Virgil’s outburst shocks Logan. He knows he definitely shouldn’t be listening at this point, but he’s frozen in place. “I mean, seriously? Two elven siblings, living on the road? When I see them, all I see is me and you as preteens forcing ourselves to entertain sickos by streetfighting just so we can eat. All I see is you giving me your one jumper because you know I hate the cold even though you were freezing just as much. All I see is us fighting over who should have the last scrap of food, not because we wanted it, but because we wanted the other to eat. So, of course, I’m going to fight for them. But at the end of the day, if it comes to saving you or saving those children, there’s no choice.”

Logan hears Virgil stomp the opposite way and when he’s sure Roman’s alone, he steps into the corridor.

Roman’s back is to him. Logan takes another cautious step forward, then another, and as he gets closer, he can see how he’s shaking. Roman’s fists are clenched at his sides, head hanging low.

“Roman?”

Roman straightens his back and raises one hand to his face. Logan can’t see what he’s doing, but when the hand comes back wet and Roman turns around with red eyes and a watery smile, he can hazard a guess.

“Hey, Lo!” he greets, far too cheery. “Let’s get to work!”

He doesn’t have time to ask what’s wrong because Roman grabs his arm and pulls him into the lab. All day, he interrupts Logan when he goes to offer comfort, and his smile is too wide, too forced. Logan doesn’t understand why he feels sad too.

-

At the end of the year, Roman pulls all-nighters alongside Logan. He and Virgil have long since made up, but his brother still steers clear of the lab. Logan doesn’t blame him - he’s never heard the pair fight before, and he’s sure it’s something they want to avoid.

Roman’s project that he had Logan helping him with is almost complete. It radiates a golden hue and its form almost replicates the Light exactly. It’s far from perfect, but it might just work. At this point, that’s all they can really hope for.

When the Hunger comes, they’re ready. Roman and Logan order Thomas to bring the ship over a mostly empty country (some mountains bordering an ocean) and they fling the fake Light down, watching as it splashes in the water. Immediately, the black smog that was chasing them dives down.

The Starblaster uses this chance to dart away, hurtling through the skies at breakneck speeds and it's not long until they breach Elfington’s atmosphere. The Hunger chases them, having figured out what they’ve done, and it seems angrier, more determined.

Little darts of black break free of its form and head for the ship, determined to bring them down. Thomas banks right, then left, before dipping down low. The other IPRE members have long since learnt their lesson about seatbelts, but they do rub at their necks during this process.

Roman and Logan share a smile. Most of Elfington was saved. Not just some, most.

Maybe they can win.

-

A/N That was the first part of Infinitesimal! If you enjoyed it, feel free to ask questions/scream to me about it because this is possibly one of my favourite concepts and I will take any opportunity to talk about it.

I hope I was clear with the whole Planary System stuff. If not, there’s more of an explanation coming in the following parts as well as some romance and maybe a touch of necromancy! Who knows? ;)

[sternerstufftoys]

Hooray! Hooray! It’s a Harley-Harley-Day!

Did you know that there are toys out there that don't turn into cars? I didn't.

I don't like it.

Still, it could be a lot worse. Hello there Harley Quinn.

I can't remember a time when I wasn't aware of superheroes in popular culture, and Batman has a large part to play with that, despite the fact that I was never really in to the concept at any point in my childhood. Perhaps it's more a case of superhero concepts being utterly saturated into wider culture, that they had, by the 1980s, lost a lot of the mystery and intrigue that they once had had. He-Man had an alter ego, so it couldn't have been weird to see Bruce Wayne have one. Hong Kong Phooey was around to send up both costumed vigilantes and the 70s martial arts craze. Hell, the Transformers disguised themselves as mild-mannered F-15s, so a guy wearing a mask to fight crime wasn't enough to turn my head. Not even the Tim Burton films were all that interesting to me aged 5-10.

But Batman: The Animated Series? Oh, that was something else entirely. While it handily piggybacked off the popularity of Burton's films, BTAS owed more to the sheer brilliance of WB Animation during the 1990s. Taz-mania, Tiny Toons, Animaniacs of course, the criminally underrated Freakazoid (which took loving potshots at BTAS itself), all parts of a golden age of animation that those of us old enough to remember should consider ourselves lucky to have experienced. A golden age that afforded WB the freedom to break from the norm and use their resources to create a kids cartoon with a serious tone, deep, thoughtful stories, an easily-recognised visual tone with its art-deco retro-futurism, and crucially, not just created to sell toys.

Yes, I'm aware of the irony of mentioning that in a toy review. Harley Quinn then. Among many near-perfect moves by the show was to introduce a permanent sidekick for the Joker, an equally-deranged woman who idolised her boss and could be more or less counted on for her loyalty to Mistah J. And that was pretty much all Harley was to begin with. The series would go on to explore what a relationship with a psychotic criminal would be like - one-sided and often abusive, but Harley was always going to be on Joker's side, and indeed, a sidekick. Now, nearly 30 years on, Harley has become almost an icon of surviving abuse, of moving on, of rejecting toxic relationships, and defining oneself on their own terms. And for being repeatedly shipped with Poison Ivy.

I suppose that's why this figure feels a little out of place. A modern(ish) toy that represents Harley in her original form, and designed for the adult collector - the interchangeable hands, heads and complete lack of accessories is testament enough to that. But it's those same adults, the ones who have carried Harley from the early 90s to the current day, who are responsible for her myriad changes as a character. The fans that sympathised with her abusive past, who loudly supported every step she took away from the Joker, the DC writers and artists who listened and followed the trends and allowed Harley to breathe free as her own character on her own terms, even the shippers that desperately wanted to see her kiss a green lady... and then given this toy as a reminder of how much smaller Harley was back in 1993.

It doesn't help that as toys, this entire series is somewhat lacking. I've mentioned with Transformers the idea of figures being articulated but not poseable, and ho boy does Harley fit this bill. Every joint is there, but the range of motion is poor, especially in her legs. She can't bend her hips far, her knees won't fold in properly, and it only barely matters anyway because good luck getting her to stand on those dinky little feet.

Yup, screen-accurate to a fault, these figures. For Batman this means being basically an upturned triangle, but for pretty much every female character until Amanda Waller was introduced half a decade later, they might as well be stick figures with boobs and bums stuck on. And giant heads to muck up the balance even further. It's a relief then that the screen accuracy is so damn good.

Yeah, forgive me. While I do love the fact that Harley is by now a predominantly emancipated character, I do still love this design. I know it's become symbolic of the Joker's hold over her, I know, I know. I know we're looking at a thoroughly damaged and abused woman here. But it's still a great design. Shut up. And the heads are downright hilarious, being a sultry purring face and a wide-eyed goofball. I'd prefer if she came with a mallet and hands to grip it, but let's be honest, she'd only fall over again, wouldn't she?

I like Harley Quinn. I like that she's become defined by her ability to change, in a genre which so often traps characters and refuses to let them grow. I like that she's found fans who find her empowering. I like that she is such a fun character that Margot Robbie essentially pushed for the new Birds of Prey film because she loved playing Harley so much she didn't want the godawful Suicide Squad to be her only credit as the character. I kinda like this figure as well, but not for those reasons, more in spite of them. She looks kinda nice I guess.

[creatrixanimi]

@kineticallyanywhere Here are the RvB taz au designs!!! This was seriously so fun. I can talk about all of this for days tbh. You can find the original post here. Im gonna put my notes under a read more because it got..... long.

Grif/Taako: Grif totally looks like he fell in the witch section at a Halloween store and it’s amazing. It was so weird drawing him in Taako clothes because usually he gets stuck with T-shirts and shorts so this was a nice change. tbh Taako and Grif have a lot of the same tragic backstory and sibling tropes. Also the fake stupid thing they both try to pull. and the “taako is good out here” kind of thing.... Tbh There is a lot they have in common. Grif is just significantly less secure and more jaded as a person rip XD

Kai/Lup: ok so she looks like a sexy pirate and I think she would dig it. I really need to draw her doing cool pyrotechnic fire stuff because it fits her so well. 

Caboose/Magnus: I don't really have much to say about him other than he is the best boy and I love him. Plus I think he would love Steven to death. 

Donut/Merle: At first I couldn't see him making that good of a Merle but when I thought about it more he would be a great Merle. He would be the type to try to fuck a plant monster and befriend the physical embodiment of death and destruction because he's Donut. Also, he would 100% forget that he can heal people all the time. 

Tucker/Barry: His design was hard because it’s so simple but I feel like his robe would just be a slightly more classy hoodie lmao. As for character, I’m glad Tucker gets to be a nerd for once. He's so smart. Also I'm a total sucker for Sucker. So I like bim as Barry for that reason and I’m also down for what you said about Wash being Kravitz and Kai, Tucker, and Wash being reapers! 

Sarge/Davenport: Sarge makes and amazing gnome tbh. He’s so cute but he definitely has small dog syndrome. Also, Sarge would be overjoyed that technically everyone is a red in this universe XD. 

Simmons/Lucretia: I spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to make Simmons look as graceful and pretty as possible. When drawing this had an idea that like.... instead of aging in wonderland he lost his eye and arm so that he could get his cool cybernetic limbs. Simmons in this au is so sad. I can't stop thinking about the scene with Taako and Lucretia where Taako threatens Lucretia after they get the memories back but with Grif and Simmons and it’s so sad in the best possible way. And then there is Simmons and Sarge and that whole mess where Sarge’s entire brain is wiped. Simmons would feel so bad about that but I think Grif might never let Sarge live it down.

Carolina/Killian: I don't think you included her in the original post but she would 100% be Killian. idk who Carey would be tho. 

I didn't include some characters you have and haven't talked about because I wanted to keep this manageable but I need to eventually draw Wash..... whenever I stop avoiding drawing him like the plague (he's easily the hardest for me to draw for some reason). And I think Matthews might make a good Angus lmao. And Huggins as Noelle. They are practically the same character tbh. I'm gonna stop before this gets ridiculous but I LOVE this au.

[softshelltaakos]

alright, folks! if you know me you know that i 1) received the taz graphic novel for the holidays and 2) have hated the taz graphic novel since before it came out, and that 3) actually reading it in no way improved my opinion.

let’s review.

disclaimer: i love the mcelroys. i truly do. taz has gotten me through some very difficult stuff and i have a tattoo. all this to say i’m not doing this because i hate them or because i like hating things — on the contrary, i’m doing this because i care a lot about the podcast and analyzing things is what i do for fun and also because, like, it has issues that i want to talk about!

there are spoilers for the graphic novel and the whole of the podcast under the cut.

this is part 1, in which i’m talking about the actual storytelling and writing; for character design thoughts, you’re gonna have to stay tuned because i’ve been working on this for three and a half hours and i have shit to do. so!

let’s start off with the things i actually liked. there are a few!

the main characters get little intro cards, which i think are pretty cute. this isn’t all of them, but here’s a sampling (forgive my messy collaging):

[ID: four panels.

the first introduces magnus burnsides, a barrel-chested white guy with auburn hair and a fluffy beard and sideburns. he’s saying “trust me, if the law hassles us, i’m the guy you want at the front of the wagon. but look, if you want to drive so bad, i might let you spell me the next time the dwarf has to stop for a pee break.” there is a scroll with his name listed, as well as his race (human), class (fighter), and proficiencies: battle, carpentry, and “everything else... apparently”

the second introduces taako, a skinny mint-colored elf wizard. he’s blonde with pronounced lower lashes and a big pointy nose. he’s saying “hell, no! i’ve got stuff to do. i’ve read the books. adventurers are supposed to, like, forage for food and shit. bor-r-r-ring! no, thank you. not for taako.” the proficiencies on his title card are spell-casting, transmutation, and gastronomy

the third introduces merle highchurch, a brown dwarf with white hair pulled back into a bun and a big poofy beard. he’s saying “i’m studying my cantrips!” and his title card proficiencies are “healing... supposedly,” “religion stuff,” and bleeding

the fourth panel introduces griffin mcelroy, a white human man with brown hair and glasses wearing a collared shirt. he’s saying “guys! it’s me: griffin! your dm!” his title card shows his race as “actual human” and his class as “dungeon master,” while his proficiencies are podcasting, karaoke, and “weaving a rich tapestry of drama.”]

then there are a few cute references to other mcelroy stuff:

[ID: two side-by-side images. the first is a photo of justin mcelroy wearing a bib with “shrimpin’ ain’t easy” written on it in crayon. the second is a close-up of a similar bib on a goblin -- though the text is distorted, it’s the same phrase.]

[ID: magnus thoughtfully says “unless...” and the other boys echo him in traditional mcelroy fashion.]

barry also wears underwear that read “meloincloths” around the waistband, which i didn’t take a picture of because it was small and also i didn’t really want to take a picture of barry bluejeans’s underoos. but that’s cute!

as it mentions in magnus’s titlecard, there’s a running joke about him being proficient in everything. that gets some play in the podcast but it comes up a lot more here and i think it works pretty well and establishes early on that magnus is cocky and headstrong and all that. it’s actually introduced in the very first panel of the comic, where he mentions his vehicle proficiency, and then it comes up several more times.

there are some moments that shift out-of-character dialogue to in-character dialogue, and i think it works sometimes. notably, it occasionally happens with griffin’s dialogue, which i think is a good way to include his voice without constantly breaking the fourth wall. it’s done some, obviously, but it’s not to the point that it’s intrusive.

[ID: a panel featuring taako approaching the other boys, who are playing cards while they wait for him to scout the next room out. magnus asks, “would you say it is spooky... or beautiful?” and merle cuts in “or spookily beautiful?” followed by magnus finishing up with “or beautifully spooky?”

taako responds “if you were a gerblin you would actually find it a pretty chill den to, like, hang out in.”]

i also like the introduction of the voidfish static. i think it’s appropriately dramatic and does a pretty good job of emulating how it’s presented in the podcast.

[ID: a panel featuring killian, an orc woman with a crossbow. the lighting is dark gray-blue-green and she’s shouting something unintelligible marked by a cluster of consonants and a shaky, brush-strokey speech bubble distinct from the other speech bubbles stylistically.]

the scene where taako grabs the umbra staff is also appropriately dramatic, as is merle trying to talk down gundren/bogard from the gauntlet’s thrall, but those are full page images and very large, so i’m not including them.

then there’s this panel of lucretia, which slays me:

[ID: a closeup of madame director lucretia, a black woman dressed in blue with white hair, though her eyes are out of frame. she’s holding a white oak staff in her hands. she’s stopped mid-sentence and there’s a little jaggedy line near her head indicating surprise.]

this is lucretia turning around and seeing the boys for the first time since she dropped them off at their respective “homes.” she’s caught off-guard and i think this is a beautiful way of noting that without giving too much away, and this is a good moment of foreshadowing that she knows much, much more about them than she’s letting on. she catches herself quickly and gets back into the swing of things, but i think this is a very lucretia panel, and it’s probably my favorite panel in the book.

now it’s time for the negative.

first off, a nitpick: there are moments where the characterization feels very off -- at one point magnus is said to have been the kid who “always reminded the teacher that they had forgotten to hand out homework,” which... does not really match what we know of young magnus. at all. travis describes him as “a good but kind of rebellious kid, like he was probably kind of a little bit of a turd [...] who was kinda sarcastic” (ep. 60, the stolen century part one) which feels super incongruent with the homework thing.

my issues with characterization come into focus most strongly with taako. while a lot of moments get his voice down pretty well, there’s a major issue in his presentation, which is that from the very beginning, he’s bragging about his tv show.

[ID: several panels in which merle and taako are talking. the first is a wide shot with taako’s voiceover saying: “--and then the lights come up, and there i am, standing under a magnificent banner that reads:”

the second is taako posing under a spotlight, speaking in large, fanciful script: “sizzle it up with taako”

panel three is merle asking disinterestedly “so it’s a show... about cooking?” and taako replying emphatically “it’s about life!”

in panel four he adds “...told through the perspective of fine dining.”

another panel collaged in features a cookbook with taako’s face on it labeled “perfection: cook the taako way” and taako excitedly saying “i know that smell!! that’s my recipe for haunch a la taako!! it was in my very first cookbook!]

now, we all know that by the end of the show “taako -- you know, from tv?” has become a catchphrase of his, and i understand the desire to retcon that kind of thing into his personality from the start. it seems like a natural way to add character early on when in the podcast, the boys are still pretty underdeveloped at this point.

here’s the issue. neither tv nor the title “sizzle it up” are mentioned at any point during here there be gerblins. in the eleventh hour (e48, part 8 of that arc) we’re told that we’re six years out from the mass poisoning in glamour springs. while the maxfun donor bonus episodes, like the liveshows, play it a little bit fast and loose with canon, and this episode was the 2015 bonus episode (e48 didn’t come out until september 2016,) that’s the only real explicit sizzle it up development we have until the eleventh hour. i’ve transcribed some of the bonus episode below, as transcripts for it are not available via @.tazscripts.

justin: taako-- i’m sitting in a corner by myself with my hat sorta pulled down low so people don’t recognize me. and i’m just trying to eat my meal but i keep changing the items that i’m trying to eat into different substances, so every few minutes you hear from my corner of the tavern:

taako: damn it!

clint: i hate asparagus!

griffin: i turned this sandwich into wood!

[...]

justin: mainly, i’m just trying to be nondescript. 

[...]

justin: the whole time i’m talking to [the tavern owner] i’m like, keeping my face down so he doesn’t recognize me.

griffin: why would anyone recognize you?

clint: why?

justin: well, taako, uh, used to host a cooking show. it was a very, very, very popular cooking show. uh, and--

griffin: what was it called?

justin: what?

griffin: the show.

justin: sizzle it up with taako.

this episode is when the boys take the job with gundren off of craig’s list, so the time gap between this and episode 1 is negligible at best. there is a moment where the other boys recognize taako and he doesn’t lie about his identity, but:

taako: (begrudgingly) yeah, i’m taako, i’m disgraced, you might have heard about the [poisoning] thing.

so... he’s clearly not putting himself on display the way he does later in the podcast. in episode 40 (lunar interlude III: rest and relaxation) which came out in may of 2016, we get the first reference to the poisoning itself:

taako: one time i transmogrified something that, uh… i transmogrified it into something you really shouldn’t eat, ever? for life, to live, i mean? And, uh, a lot of people ate that. and that went... so sideways. um... i-- i just decided i would never again cook for people i cared about, because i couldn’t risk, um, y’know, something happening to them. until i get this under control, i guess.

so we know that even at that point this is still something that troubles taako greatly. one might even say... he’s traumatized! and doesn’t talk about it! he does not go into detail about sizzle it up with anyone over the entire course of the podcast except for june while she is literally possessed by the chalice and forcing him to relive it. So. kind of a weird character take.

to skip ahead a little bit, most of the moonbase stuff is fine, but there’s one omission that feels very weird to me.

[ID: three panels. the left is a shot of the elevator hallway leading to the voidfish’s chambers. thb follow killian towards the elevators; johann is walking away from them. he’s a black human man with natural hair dressed in a silly bard outfit with a violin strapped to his back. he’s carrying a ton of scrolls.]

these three panels are the only time we see johann in the book. in the podcast it’s johann that escorts them to the voidfish’s chambers and inoculates them. it makes sense that this has been changed to lucretia in the gn; it gives her a much stronger entrance and cuts down on scene changes. but it also cuts out a lot of establishing things about johann that are all extremely important and set up not only his character arc but several core plot points.

it’s during that scene that we hear that johann’s greatest fear is being forgotten, and that that’s exactly what will happen to him and all of the other bureau employees when they die. it’s during that scene that we learn the basic mechanics of the voidfish and the mission of the bureau. it makes sense that some of that is going to be handled at the beginning of the next book (presumably) and i’m glad that lucretia is introduced here, but the gn adjusts it so that killian takes the boys into the elevator. that’s johann in the podcast, and it easily could have been johann here. it would’ve been a good chance to establish at least johann’s fears, which would be a weird and creepy setup for the voidfish mechanics when they do get revealed.

it’s just odd to me that johann, who is the reason for the song half of story and song, gets the short shrift here.

i’m gonna wrap up with one last thing. i wanna talk about arms outstretched.

griffin: and you’re both getting pulled into the rift now, and-- but with a 20, taako, you fight against the pull and both of you are flying backwards towards the center of the room, back towards the catwalk. and merle, you’re standing in front of the two liches, one in the form of magnus and one not. lydia just is there in her spectral form. and you’re standing next to a taako who’s gone completely catatonic.

[...]

griffin: okay, then, m—magnus and taako, you two are flying back towards the center of the room. the pull of this rift is still trying to suck you in. and out of nowhere, just merle turns around—turns his back to the two liches—and just outstretches his arms and as he does, you see, like, spectral versions of his soul-wood arm sort of reach out and grab you and he’s also pulling you back in too, now. and he rips both of you towards himself.

i don’t think it’s a stretch to say that this is one of the most emotionally charged moments in the show, and it’s that because it’s a moment where we see, crystal-clear, real character development and growth.

magnus, who rushes in, who has never wanted anything as much as he wants to be reunited with julia, actively resists the pull of death to help his friends.

taako, who’s good out here, who is so selfish that an entire town died because of his ego, risks his life to help his friends.

merle, who can barely feel his holy connection, who barely ever even heals, breaks planar bounds to help his friends.

we’ve been with these characters for 56 episodes. we’ve seen their worst regrets, we know their tragic backstories, we understand why they’ve been the jackasses they’ve been, and now we see them moving past that to work as a unit. one might even say as a family!

arms outstretched is a moment that has been earned over the course of those 56 episodes.

enter the graphic novel.

[ID: a full page. flames are everywhere and panels are intentionally chaotic. dialogue reads:

merle: maybe now would be good?

magnus: i’m a hero, not an idiot.

taako: actually, you’re both idiots!

he outstretches his arm from his position safe in a well.

taako: come on!

merle and magnus reach for taako’s hands. there is a closeup on their arms: merle and magnus each hold one of taako’s with one hand. then there’s a panel showing an explosion.]

this is obviously intended as a way to foreshadow arms outstretched. and typically i’m not against foreshadowing! i think one of the benefits of the graphic novel is that it’s an opportunity to insert foreshadowing in cool ways that were not necessarily possible given the in-progress nature of the podcast -- like i said earlier, that lucretia panel is a really great example of it. you can’t foreshadow arms outstretched in episode one because you have no idea it’s going to happen.

but here’s the thing. you also can’t foreshadow arms outstretched in episode one because it hasn’t been earned. these characters are not those characters yet. they don’t know each other. taako actively shuts down the title of “friend” earlier in the book. they’re not even coworkers yet. and you could make an argument that in the face of death, taako would try to save them, but... would he? really? he’s a pragmatist, and that’s putting it nicely. during the stolen century the only person he tries to get to safety at the risk of his own neck is lup, and, uh... neither of these guys are lup. hell, he doesn’t even know about lup right now, and we see in the podcast that not remembering her leaves him colder and more self-centered. he knows people are dust, but he doesn’t know there are people that aren’t. i truly don’t buy it.

the nature of adaptation is that things are going to change, and that’s fine; but this is such a major shift that it left me really jarred and unhappy with the writing. in the podcast itself, we get this:

killian: c’mon c’mon c’mon c’mon!

clint: decision made.

justin: yeah, i follow her.

travis: i follow her.

clint: me too.

griffin: the three of you dive into the well.

it makes sense that the gn adjusts this slightly so that magnus and merle try to pull some heroics and save everyone; i don’t have a problem with that. that’s a good adaptation of character that hadn’t exactly been seen yet, but comes to be a core enough part of the characters that it makes sense to insert it earlier. but even then, they could’ve gotten to the well without taako’s help. it’s just such a weird rewrite, and i really think it weakens the impact of arms outstretched itself.

i’ve been meaning to get my thoughts on this out for nearly a month at this point so if you’ve stuck with me this whole time, wow! thanks! i appreciate it! i’m not a professional, and obviously the mcelroys signed off on this, so i don’t really have space to say “oh, taako would never do this” or “oh, magnus was never like that” on a canonical level -- i know travis says something along those lines in one of the ttazzes. but as i said at the very beginning: this story means so, so much to me, and it’s really deeply frustrating to see an adaptation that handles things so... weirdly.

[sincerelyensouled]

Liam’s master post of their TAZ OCs

Alright, so this is going to involve pulling some of my art off my Instagram from 2017 so that’s going to be an event(tm). So as a fun second half to this post you get to see my art progression (provided in links so this post doesn’t get too long). 

TAZ: Balance

Alicia

Alicia is a tiefling sorcerer who works as a reclaimer at the Bureau Of Balance. Before she was hired she was a Fantasy Anthropologist and explored the world. Her thesis was trying to do research on the war caused by the Grand Relics, but all her leads were turning up loose ends. By evidence of Angus McDonald, Lucretia has a tendency to hire those who are a threat to the BOB and the exact same thing happened with Alicia. While working there she was proposed to by her fellow adventuring party member and BOB employee (which might be Cam, I haven’t decided if it’s Cam.) However, before they were married he left on a reclaiming mission and never returned. 

Eventually, Alicia was sent to Wonderland, and without her typical adventuring party. With her she had a fighter/monk named Morgane and a male ranger whose name I’ve forgotten over time. And they were the absolute worst. Alicia ended up losing her left ring finger, fucked up some of her fights, some life force/HP and her left eye. Though all this she always chose trust in “trust or forsake.” In one last-ditch effort she sacrificed all the memories of her fiance. It didn’t work. I never created a solid ending for these characters but it didn’t work. 

Alicia studying while working at the BOB (not described)

Trying to stay posi in Wonderland (not described, contains non-graphic imagery of an eye socket/eye trauma)

Cricket Fangbattle

Cricket was repurposed into a character I played in a campaign called “Employees of the Month” but I’m never giving up her fan OC origins. Tilly “Cricket” Fangbattle is the younger sibling of the two canon Fangbattles,  their parents are seasoned but retired adventurers. She was born with her legs twisted together, which ended up in her father nicknaming her “Cricket,” and later it was discovered she had Cerebral Palsy. 

Cricket’s two favourite things were to listen to her older brother Jeremy play his music and when the whole family sat by the fire at night and her mom and dad would tell old stories about their adventuring days. Although these stories came with a warning to never do something as dangerous as that, the warnings were ignored by every Fangbattle kid.

Jeremy was the first to leave. He became a bard, despite his father practically begging him not to. As soon as he left the music in the house was suddenly tragically missed, especially by Cricket (she couldn’t really do much else with her overprotective parents). Father Fangbattle then changed his tone slightly and started trying to convince Carey to play music (which explains why Carey explains how she explains how her dad wanted her to be a bard which contrasts what Jeremy/Scales says in the Flop House episode no one even listened to.) Carey grew ever more frustrated and eventually left to become a bard.

Cricket left home herself after some more time had passed, determined to make a name for herself as an adventuring storm sorcerer. 

[and then Employees of the Month happens]

First Cricket art (not described)

Cricket after campaign influence 

TAZ: Commitment

[unknown]

Ok this is honestly the most bare-bones OC I’ve ever had and I can’t believe I’m talking about her but uhhhhhhh Commitment. Anyways she’s a sweet lolita hijabi and was one of the failed tests for the augmentation process before Addison, Flanagan and Mary marked the first success. She did receive a power, shadow manipulation (basically Mage Hand made of shadows) but she was unstable. The Do Good Fellowship just kinda left her in the basement... falling apart both mentally and physically.

I probably won’t do much with her. She doesn’t even have a name and her core components have been given to other OCs. Angel’s Breath (Both images not described) got the “cute dressing to hide the darker side of character” bit (not a conscious decision for [unknown]) and the shadow manipulation was given to Aviv. 

I have no art of this character

TAZ: Amnesty

Mel

This is Mel, short for Melody, a second-generation Chinese immigrant and one of the older members of the Pine Guard.  She found herself in Kepler due to her other job as a meteorologist and somehow got caught up in the cyptid scene. She was active at the same time as the Fire Elemental Barclay mentioned all the way back in the Water Elemental arc but was out of town for the event. 

She did several test to see how Sylphs adapt to life on Earth. One included taking Dani, a Sylph that relied on the hot springs and not a charm for the “anti-feral,” as far away from The Lodge (with a supply of spring water in a mason jar) as possible to see how she faired. (It didn’t go well, she got pretty sick.)

She eventually left due to the stress of it all (after Thacker’s disappearance) and went to go live with her older sister, a doctor who lives several towns over, but not before setting up a little weather station/instrument shelter behind the lodge.

The reply to the Roswell post that started Keplerains

Ritz

Iris “Ritz” got her nickname from the Hornets after eating too many crackers on the first day she joined.  They just got home from college after studying to become a graphic designer and are trying to prove to her parents she can stay home with her friends and get a successful career instead of moving away.  She’s not the best at stunts but that doesn’t really matter, she’s really just there for her friends. She’d do anything for them, even if it means leaving out her contrasting opinions. 

Also, her family owns way too many dogs! They’re a breeder for golden retrievers and also assist in training and supplying service dogs! 

The post I copypastaed this description from because I JUST posted it

[galacticjonah]

Hi! I was wondering what your inspirations were for your character designs for taz they all seem so well thought out and seem to really reflect on their character. So i was wondering if you have a system for creating character designs or do you just.. do it? Thanks.

Hey!! Thank you for this question - I absolutely looove character design. 

I have no defined kind of process. I often have very clear mental images for characters based on their traits and behaviour and so I don’t do a ton of design sketches but often just go straight to a polished result.

That design then changes over time. I think that kind of change is the most visible in my Taako! 

My first, second and final design. It changed over time, with fandom input and the continued story. My personal goal is often to try things that are unusual and far from the typical fanon idea of characters, things that feel right to me. 

I try to be variant, inclusive and creative, which is why you won’t find many white people amongst the things I draw, for instance.  If you struggle with that, real life people might help. Look up actors, models, look at their faces to find shapes and looks that please you and fit what you need! My John design was heavily inspired by Orlando Jones. 

For me personally it’s always important to keep things simple. Details are dandly, I love them, but can you take all the clothes off of a character and still have them look like who they are supposed to be? Can you take them out of their enviroment and they’re still a stable being in an empty space?

Feel comfortable with your design, make what’s right for you and then it will feel right for others as well. 

I hope that was helpful in any sort of way and not just a long weird mess, haha. Thank you!!! 

[32345454577]

@grungepit the entire apology (roughly ~13 paragraphs) is on @theadventurezone tumblr page, which is run by Griffin. This is gonna be long, so strap in lol. Also, I am unable to link anything because I am on mobile. I do, however, have many posts from POC and Jewish people under my personal tag "mcelboys." I understand though if you don't want to take the time to go thru it as it also has regular joke posts littered in. It's a catch-all, my apologies. People of color and Jewish fans (and the white fans who back them), are upset because of how flip-floppy the brothers have been. The brothers claim that there are no "canon" designs for the characters of TAZ, but continuously back white designs. In the comic pages shown, the "official" comic (drawn by the artists that Carey Fangbattle is named after (who draws ALL of the characters white)), the first designs of the trio were all white. Then, in the new designs shown, Magnus is white, Taako is a weird mix of pale blue-turquoise green (and many Mexican fans have wanted him to be a Mexican skin tone), and Merle (known as a dead-beat dad) is (light) brown/black. The brothers have continuously told fans that they are listening, but fans who want change have not seen any viable "proof" that things are changing. Lucretia is the only actual "canon" character who is black/POC, Lup (a trans woman, some fans are upset that that fact is only mentioned once. I'm not sure why it's necessary why it be mentioned more than that one time though?) is basically "forced" into a relationship with a joke character (who is meant to canonically look like 50 year old Tom Arnold), and Taako has been made green. Now, Taako being green is an issue in-and-of itself. His "quest" (a joke at first, like his name. The reason is addressed in the apology) is to invent the taco. He is also meant to be a Sun Elf (I believe? Also an order of the High Elves), who have dark skin. Mexican (and non- alike) fans want Taako to be Mexican. Though at this point, I'm sure people would be over the moon if the brothers just said Taako did *not* have white skin. It's also about representation. Griffin addresses in his apology on the official TAZ blog that the brothers did not want Taako to be seen as a "stereotype" because in about the first ~30 episodes Taako lies and steals a majority of the time. On green Taako: it's about antisemitism and just the fact that people who originally drew Taako white can now say "well at least he isn't white!" which is a huge cop-out. The antisemitism: there is no legitimate, scholarly written "proof" that green skin=antisemitism. But, many Jewish people have voiced their displeasure on the fact that it's often paired with big noses and evil characters. Green skin also first appeared on the Wizard of Oz with the witch. She was evil and bad. Also cunning and wily. The latter are very often seen as Jewish traits with antisemites. Paired with a long nose and several, several Jewish phrases, Taako doesn't look so great now. People are also upset that Justin recently quoted Coco Chanel (a Nazi supporter) in the most recent episode. I don't fault Justin for quoting Chanel at all, because if it wasn't for tumblr I wound *not* have even known Chanel supported the Nazis. Like, at all. So I'm giving him buffer on that. Another recent debacle happened with Travis over twitter. People were telling him things about Lin Manuel-Miranda and Hamilton (God that's also a *whole* other can of worms because of slave-owning glorification. But, I digress. Also I've never seen Hamilton and quite frankly, I don't care for it or LMM). When non-white fans were upset & tried to educate Travis, he would end up blocking them. Now, I know some people can be very aggressive when they are upset, but that isn't the point. Its also not the point that Travis might have been a bit overwhelmed. It's the fact that Travis was silencing upset fans and not listening. The brothers are still very good friends with LMM (and who cares? That's their thing), but who's to know how LMM feels or if the brothers have told him about how people feel about Hamilton? LMM is also a very busy man too, so I'm not saying it's easy to talk to him, either. To say in short, we expected too much from a demographic (cisgendered, heterosexual, white, men) that has continuously let down anyone who is different. People/fans have also been sort of "baby-ing" the brothers with words of "oh no no no, don't worry, you're doing your best!" or, "people will always be upset with what you do! Fuck 'em!" Which isn't good. The brothers are adults and should be able to take criticism. Also, you should listen when a huge majority of people are upset. They aren't "sensitive snowflakes" or what-have you. They're people who deserve respect. I think I'm missing some things? But my head hurts. Also I've typed a lot & words get jumbled in my head and thoughts get lost easily. So my apologies again if I've missed anything that doesn't answer your question.

[chuicide]

Vital Data On Maintaining Heritage Chickens

Hen are important all around the world for many reasons. Among these reasons, two stand out a lot. These include the demand for their meat and eggs. Those who keep poultry for meat and eggs are too many. It is however necessary to have a look at many issues if you want to maintain heritage chickens. This is because there are issues you have to additionally do to maintain them wholesome and productive. Before you resolve on a breed to rare, you need to consider your intentions with the rooster. Some folks simply want pets to maintain in their compounds for various causes. By understanding your precise intentions for preserving the hen, it is easier to even decide on the breed as effectively because the number you could keep. Those that keep poultry as pets hardly have huge flocks. It's because will probably be costlier conserving so many pets that every one want some attention. If you desire a pet, you want to maintain a manageable flock of one or two so that you don't need to make too many sacrifices to support them.

The final word reason is that the iMovie can not accept M2TS files immediately. Well, putting in an acceptable codec, part or plug-in could assist, nevertheless, it is simply too complex for us common customers. Then the simplest means is to get a M2TS converter program which might convert the M2TS files to DV for importing to iMovie. With the M2TS Converter, you possibly can convert M2TS information to iMovie supported codecs: MOV, DV, MP4, 3GP and import M2TS videos to iMovie for editing without downloading any more codec on Mac. You can even extract audio from the unique videos and edit the M2TS information via trim, break up, crop, set decision, apply effect, merge, and many others, using the M2TS converter. Then, with an easy-to-use M2TS Converter program, you won't ever worry about the steps on changing M2TS videos to iMovie. Step 1: Download M2TS Converter for Mac on your Laptop and run it. Step 2: Add M2TS information, set output and save it. Click on Add Video so as to add M2TS information; click Profile drop-down checklist to set output format as MOV, DV, and MP4 ,etc. Click the Output icon to pick the specified vacation spot folder.

But it surely isn't just Truffle. Younger Toddy, the Toddster has modified dramatically too. Little Toddy drying off in the solar earlier this morning. Todd is our little pie-face. His mother is white with a white pedigree. Toddy was born brown with a white face and two white entrance feet. He's somewhat cracker and a real favourite. When the Toddster was per week or so old I looked over his fleece fastidiously for any sign of black or white fibre. Was he just a brown pie-face or was he rose grey? No, it was just brown, nothing else. Properly yesterday I looked at Toddy once more and blow me down his fleece has modified color utterly! The first inch or so is brown but the subsequent inch is dark grey! Not solely that but his neck appears to be getting lighter. Is he turning into a gray? Goes this occur with grey alpacas? We've got by no means had one before so do not know! Taz has additionally changed dramatically. He has all the time been a rich chocolate brown and nonetheless is however for the first month of his life he had a fleece with no character to it in any respect. Yesterday after i appeared, (Sue had informed me to test him out as she had seen some change) his fleece is now changing into all crimpy. It's an enormous daring crimp but from dead straight to massive daring crimp in a month is impressive. Not solely that however he's now finally beginning to grow into his nose!

At the identical times, various and amazing shade make them attractive to human beings and photographers. Writer: Rosana Standard wisdom about the sexes—and most movies marketed to males underneath 24—work from the premise that men's and ladies's brains are simply essentially totally different. The medical spin on this has been that testosterone, in addition to offering further oomph for muscles, is a key part within the wiring of the male mind. Writer: Robin Mackenzie I at all times have the belief that the animals were the kings of the earth tens of millions and tens of millions of years ago when the earth began. However with the rise in human civilization, the animal species began decreasing. There are a whole lot of animals which have grow to be extinct (end of a particular species). Publisher: William E. Marks The Arctic is an unlimited, ice-covered sea surrounded by treeless, frozen tundra teeming with wildlife - including organisms dwelling within the ice, fish and marine mammals, birds, land animals, and human societies. For thousands of years earlier than the presence of people, the polar bear reigned as the very best predator in the meals chain of the frozen Arctic. At present, the very existence of the Polar Bear species hangs in the balance as humankind makes a heroic effort to save them.

Sufficient place for the chickens to stay comfortably is essential. The birds should be perfectly groomed. In industrial coop it is essential that the chickens should look healthy and lively. The perfect look of the chickens will give a good return when they're presentable to clients. Some providers at the moment are coping with pre-constructed rooster coops. Web supplies all the data necessary for such people. These designs are also presented by the hardware shops to view and judge physically. The choice will depend upon the associated fee. Chickens could be raised in any circumstances. Own consumption is very important for rising the chickens. However for commercial raising you want to take care of the birds with the assistance of vets. The world and the setting of breeding are crucial. At the moment there are pre-made coops available for chickens. These designs can be found within the web and are simple to seek out and decide one of the best accessible coops of your selection. It is very fascinating to see that in North America many households are raising their very own rooster for self consumption. This helps in permitting households to have one of the best chickens of their home. The chickens will lay their eggs that are the most effective and tasty food in every single place. The meat is of course delicious. In case you require elevating a coop for chickens then it's advised to telephone consultants like chickencoopplans123.com.

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[albino-ottsel]

Important Information On Maintaining Heritage Chickens

Chicken are necessary all over the world for many causes. Amongst these causes, two stand out a lot. These include the demand for their meat and eggs. Those who keep poultry for meat and eggs are too many. It is however necessary to look at many things once you want to maintain heritage chickens. It's because there are things you need to additionally do to maintain them wholesome and productive. Earlier than you decide on a breed to rare, you need to think of your intentions with the hen. Some people simply need pets to keep in their compounds for different reasons. By understanding your exact intentions for maintaining the chicken, it is easier to even resolve on the breed as nicely as the number you might keep. Those that keep poultry as pets hardly have big flocks. It is because will probably be costlier protecting so many pets that every one need some consideration. If you want a pet, you want to keep a manageable flock of one or two so that you don't should make too many sacrifices to assist them.

The ultimate motive is that the iMovie cannot settle for M2TS files immediately. Well, installing an acceptable codec, part or plug-in could assist, however, it is simply too complicated for us common customers. Then the simplest method is to get a M2TS converter program which might convert the M2TS information to DV for importing to iMovie. With the M2TS Converter, you can convert M2TS information to iMovie supported codecs: MOV, DV, MP4, 3GP and import M2TS videos to iMovie for enhancing without downloading any more codec on Mac. You too can extract audio from the unique videos and edit the M2TS files by means of trim, split, crop, set resolution, apply effect, merge, and so forth, utilizing the M2TS converter. Then, with a straightforward-to-use M2TS Converter program, you won't ever worry about the steps on changing M2TS videos to iMovie. Step 1: Download M2TS Converter for Mac in your Pc and run it. Step 2: Add M2TS files, set output and put it aside. Click on Add Video so as to add M2TS information; click Profile drop-down listing to set output format as MOV, DV, and MP4 ,and so on. Click on the Output icon to pick out the specified destination folder.

Nevertheless it is not only Truffle. Young Toddy, the Toddster has changed dramatically too. Little Toddy drying off within the sun earlier this morning. Todd is our little pie-face. His mom is white with a white pedigree. Toddy was born brown with a white face and two white front feet. He is a bit cracker and an actual favourite. When the Toddster was per week or so outdated I regarded over his fleece rigorously for any signal of black or white fibre. Was he only a brown pie-face or was he rose gray? No, it was simply brown, nothing else. Effectively yesterday I checked out Toddy once more and blow me down his fleece has changed color fully! The primary inch or so is brown however the subsequent inch is dark gray! Not only that however his neck appears to be getting lighter. Is he turning into a gray? Goes this occur with grey alpacas? We now have by no means had one before so don't know! Taz has additionally changed dramatically. He has at all times been a wealthy chocolate brown and still is however for the primary month of his life he had a fleece with no character to it in any respect. Yesterday when i regarded, (Sue had told me to examine him out as she had seen some change) his fleece is now changing into all crimpy. It's a giant daring crimp but from useless straight to massive daring crimp in a month is spectacular. Not solely that however he's now finally starting to grow into his nose!

At the identical instances, numerous and amazing coloration make them attractive to human beings and photographers. Writer: Rosana Typical wisdom concerning the sexes—and most movies marketed to men beneath 24—work from the premise that males's and women's brains are simply basically completely different. The medical spin on this has been that testosterone, in addition to offering extra oomph for muscles, is a key component within the wiring of the male mind. Publisher: Robin Mackenzie I all the time have the assumption that the animals have been the kings of the earth tens of millions and hundreds of thousands of years in the past when the earth started. But with the rise in human civilization, the animal species started lowering. There are a variety of animals which have turn out to be extinct (end of a selected species). Writer: William E. Marks The Arctic is an enormous, ice-lined sea surrounded by treeless, frozen tundra teeming with wildlife - together with organisms dwelling in the ice, fish and marine mammals, birds, land animals, and human societies. For hundreds of years earlier than the presence of people, the polar bear reigned as the highest predator within the meals chain of the frozen Arctic. At the moment, the very existence of the Polar Bear species hangs within the steadiness as humankind makes a heroic effort to save lots of them.

Ample place for the chickens to remain comfortably is important. The birds should be perfectly groomed. In commercial coop it is very important that the chickens ought to look wholesome and lively. The proper look of the chickens will give a great return when they're presentable to clients. Some suppliers are now dealing with pre-constructed hen coops. Web provides all the data mandatory for such individuals. These designs are additionally offered by the hardware stores to view and decide physically. The choice will depend on the associated fee. Chickens will be raised in any circumstances. Personal consumption is very very important for growing the chickens. However for commercial raising you wish to take care of the birds with the assistance of vets. The world and the atmosphere of breeding are crucial. At the moment there are pre-made coops out there for chickens. These designs can be found in the web and are easy to seek out and decide the best accessible coops of your alternative. It is extremely fascinating to see that in North America many families are raising their own rooster for self consumption. This helps in allowing households to have the perfect chickens in their dwelling. The chickens will lay their eggs which are the best and tasty food in all places. The meat is in fact scrumptious. In case you require raising a coop for chickens then it's suggested to cellphone specialists like chickencoopplans123.com.

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