#and it's cool to see they're still committed to do better/different

[arabela25]

I find this very interesting

[iamadequate1717]

Stede's Strange Day

I want to talk about Stede Bonnet's very strange day. Let's look at the progression of just what Stede sees.

He spends the night with his boyfriend for the first time, and his boyfriend brings him breakfast in bed like Doug did for Mary. They talk about their reunion. Stede is very happy right now!

His boyfriend tells him that he envisioned him as a beautiful merperson and that he thinks he saved his life.

They get dressed, and they go out on a breakfast date on the town. Stede tells Ed about the letters he wrote, and Ed loved that!

Stede then discovers he has a fanclub! Ed laughs and is happy for him! They're going to go down to Jackie's so Stede can enjoy this some more!

Ed throws in some light banter/teasing about this turn of events, and Stede literally squeals before they run off giggling together.

They get to Jackie's, and Ed continues to encourage Stede!

Ed leaves him to it! "Enjoy the night" are his parting words.

So Stede enjoys the night!

He's being accepted! And he still talks about his boyfriend while being fawned over!

Everyone tells him he's awesome! He offs an assassin while saying something cool! No one is making fun of him!

After a bit, he goes to find Ed to share in his fun! He's had a great day.

Only, he's immediately met with this with no context: Ed regrets being with him! Ed is leaving immediately!

Remember: Ed's last words to him were "Enjoy the night!" This is complete emotional whiplash. Stede knows right away what the problem is, but Ed shuts it down.

Ed wants to be a fisherman! A proclamation completely out of the blue! Stede tries to talk him down. That fish wasn't so awesome that it should completely change Ed's life trajectory, casting Stede out of the way.

Ed disagrees and abandons Stede with no real explanation or listening to what Stede was trying to say, which isn't a great move for a healthy relationship.

Basically, Stede spent a few hours (only a few hours!) enjoying himself (in a manner that Ed encouraged him to!). He did nothing awful (because murder is cool in this show), and was a lot tamer than what Ed and company were doing in 1x8 (turtle vs crab is mean!).

I'm going to go more into Stede defense in another post. "Last night was a mistake" is an egregious phrasing to use with the man you love who has self esteem and trauma issues (we know what he means but it can be interpreted much worse), but Stede took it in stride. But for some reason people act like Stede committed war crimes with the fish comment? Ed sharing his day and Ed excising himself from Stede's life are different contexts and the fish is viewed differently in each lens. It was an OK fish, and Stede did nothing wrong. Stede is right that Ed is a coward, and I don't think Stede saying a few slightly harsh things in the heat of the moment when being blindsided like this is a character flaw.

Ed behaved appallingly in shutting down the conversation and refusing to even give context to what was going on. With 1x9&10 and Stede deciding Ed was better off without him, I saw plenty of comments about how Stede couldn't make a major life decision for Ed like that. With this, Ed has made a major life decision for Stede (I'm going to dump him and remove myself before he can choose piracy over me!), but I have yet to see the same comments, and I know exactly why that is.

...

More Stede defense!:

[piratecaptainscaptainpirates]

I've been thinking this morning about the connection between Ed still having the Blackbeard beard in Stede's dream that opens s2 and Stede's main fear in this episode being that Ed's life is better off without him.

When Ed shaved his beard in s1e9, he and Stede obviously understood that in very different ways. For Ed, it was a chance to shed the weight of being Blackbeard, to for the first time fully commit to literally seeing who he is under the famous beard and reputation. Stede misses that - for him, shaving was a violation that was done to Ed ("what've they done to your face," he asks, not "what did you do?"), a violation that was Stede's fault. I honestly think it's pretty well-implied that no one even cared about the beard not being "regulation," Ed's long hair certainly wasn't standard, either, and that's just the easiest explanation for Ed to give when he's not even sure himself what he's feeling. He just genuinely wanted to shave his beard, but Stede takes it as a punishment, a sign that Ed has been hurt by him. When he thinks of "Blackbeard brought to ruin," he thinks of Ed's sweet, vulnerable, beardless face looking up at him, and he worries that Ed has been hurt and violated because of him.

Stede's dream is very much a wish fulfillment. He dreams of killing Izzy, getting the cool pirate-y dialogue, running across a beach to Ed in romantic lighting. He dreams, essentially, of things going back to the way they had been, with Ed easily forgiving him and the only real difference from their s1 dynamic being that they now both know they're in love. He dreams of an Ed with the beard because he's scared the real Ed with no beard has been hurt by him in a way that might be impossible to move on from. He's scared Ed with no beard, with that tangible reminder right on his face of what he gave up for Stede, is better off without him.

[masterjedilenawrites]

Gello! It's nice to meet you! Though i am dropping by to ask, what are your thoughts on Crosshair having like a long-term relationship? It's like a year plus some months.

Welcome, nice to meet you too! 🤗

I hope you were wanting a whole rambling post on this, because that's what I've got for ya. 😅 I have no self-control when it comes to imagining Crosshair in a relationship.

Crosshair would have never planned to be in a relationship of any kind. It would've been something he just fell into, finding a person he was actually, genuinely comfortable with and not wanting to part from them. Sharing life with them quickly becomes the new norm, so when he's asked about the status of things, or about the future and what he wants... he's confused. Of course he's committed. Isn't that obvious? He's not interested in keeping his options open, not when he's found probably the one person in the whole galaxy that cares for him this much. And once Crosshair commits to something, he's not letting go.

Day to day, he doesn't change much. He still has his routines, his preferences and his annoyances, his skills and his shortcomings, all the things that make him him. But to the few who know him well, they see the difference a long, loving relationship has made in his spirit. He just seems lighter somehow. Less severe, more comfortable. Still grumpy at times, sure, but everyone knows his partner will help him come around when needed.

He's not a pushover, or wrapped around their finger in any way. But he does trust them. He listens to them. And they are the type of partner that would only try to change his mind when he was truly being unreasonable. They filter a lot of petty complaints out, things his brothers or the general public go to them with, and they only occasionally agree to the point of then giving Cross an earful. He takes what they say to heart and makes the correction, albeit still in his own stoic or sassy Crosshair way.

He finds it natural to make decisions in tandem. He's not one of those super protective boyfriends, so if his partner wanted to tag along on missions, he'd be cool with it. He keeps an eye on them same as the rest of the squad. But if they would rather settle down somewhere and keep different hobbies, he'll be supportive of that, too. Just so long as he's free to do his own thing as well. (Gun to his head, though, he'd confess he prefers doing things together.)

Communication is his weak point. Though he gets better over time, he still struggles to vocalize what he really feels. So he'd really only be with a patient and intuitive partner. Someone who can sense when he's holding back and knows how to gently coax it out of him. Anyone else would have left him early on, too frustrated or pushy to make a longterm relationship work.

Physical intimacy for him is a private affair. He hates the thought of having eyes on him in these moments. Even a "chaste" kiss makes him feel too vulnerable to be seen by anyone other than his partner. So how quickly they progress in this realm of their relationship will solely depend on how much privacy they're able to get.

All in all, he's a simple man in a relationship. He will give his partner anything with the expectation they return it in kind - trust, benefit of the doubt, attention, space, care.... Again, he never would have sought this sort of thing out, never thought it was possible to feel the way he does, to have even met someone like them... But now that he has, he can't imagine his life any other way. If anything were to happen to them, or if for some reason they had a change of heart and left (though let's be real, his perfect partner would never), he isn't going to be in a relationship ever again. It's them or no one. So really, a longterm relationship for Crosshair is more a lifelong relationship.

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[kli-kli]

Any song can be curtwen-coded if you're delusional enough BUT for me, the most saf-related song will always be Working for a Knife by Mitski, and listening to it again roday hit me with a lot of thoughts and feelings.  Because 'working for a knife' itself means working towards something that will destroy you. It shows the correlation between what you have to do and what leads to your inevitable end. 

So, like, pre-canon espionage? Fits. Curt's return to the profession? Fits. Owen as a DMA? Fits!

It also fits Tatiana and her past, although she is the one who manages to get away from it (all the best for our girl <3).

I cry at the start of every movie I guess 'cause I wish I was making things too But I'm working for the knife I used to think I would tell stories But nobody cared for the stories I had about No good guys

It's about Curt and Owen pre-canon, when the work ceased to be what brought them together and began to get in the way (along with other factors) of their future together, or any future for that matter. Maybe it's the moment when Owen gets fed up with spying and starts to consider all the ways his life could have turned out if he'd made a different decision in the past. It's when he sees all the 'what ifs...' that never got a chance to become reality. Or maybe those are the short moments when Curt—the one who loves what he does because it's his dream and because it's cool as fuck—begins to see that it made his alcohol problem a little bit bigger and his wellbeing worse—even if he'll never admit it out loud.

It's the final realisation of what their end will be. They'll die on a mission at some completely unexpected moment. They're working for the knife — for something that will get them killed one day, without giving them any chance for a normal life together.

Tatiana, whose life has been marked by violence since childhood, who is thrown into this environment against her will, with no control over it. Until she finally manages to regain this control, but even then she cannot be fully free and is forced to act on behalf of her blackmailer. 

I always knew the world moves on I just didn't know it would go without me I start the day high and it ends so low 'Cause I'm working for the knife I used to think I'd be done by twenty Now at twenty-nine, the road ahead appears the same Though maybe at thirty, I'll see a way to change That I'm living for the knife

Curt is returning to his profession after four years of grief and stagnation, but despite taking that step, he is still in the same place, dwelling on what he did, when the whole world moved on like nothing happened. But eventually he goes back to being a spy, something Owen would have wanted for him. His healing journey can begin, right? Even if he's returning to something that was slowly destroying him in the past — things will be different now, right??

Owen is so committed to his revenge that it's impossible for him to move on completely (no matter what he says in the finale, like be for real). And of course, he has his goal, and everything will be fine once he achives it. But for that to happen, he has to work for another organisation. They can present themselves as a better alternative to government organisations all they want, but we don't know how they really treated Owen. But what we are sure of is that, at the end of the day, he ended up dead.  So, in the end, it is always dying for the knife, no matter which one. 

I always thought the choice was mine And I was right, but I just chose wrong I start the day lying and end with the truth That I'm dying for the knife

So maybe going with Chimera's plan was the biggest mistake. Or maybe 'the knife' was just his relationship with Curt all along. Maybe in his mind that was the wrong choice that he made, that got him killed twice.

And Curt, during his grieving period, tried to pull himself together, get out of alcoholism, and move on. But that strong resolve to get back on his feet came every morning, only to disappear every evening, when he no longer had the strength to lie to himself that things would get better. And Curt post-canon, who gradually, more and more clearly, sees that he cannot destroy Chimera alone and that attempting to do so by himself was not the best choice.

Or maybe the worst choice was killing Owen on that staircase. 

[pikkish]

I'm new to the fandom, just played 2016 and Eternal in quick succession. Eternal's DLC left me really dissatisfied, but I can't really explain why or how. Based on that poll you made, it's clear you've got some Opinions on the writing, so I was hoping you would like to share them? I feel like I need someone to mull over that whole story with. You can message me privately if you wish!!

Hi there! Welcome to the Doom fandom! I hope you enjoy your stay here more than you enjoyed TAG's writing! And you're more than welcome to come yell with me about Doom and its related games any time!

You're more than correct in your assertion that I have some Opinions about modern Doom's writing, in fact, I have quite a few of them. Most of them can be summed up as "the writing is just plain bad," which is probably also the reason you're unsatisfied with it. It's inconsistent, it regularly sacrifices coherence for the sake of something that looks cool for trailer shots, it has a lot of details that very much could be interesting plots but are simply ignored after their first mention, and at least a few more things that I'm forgetting, it's been a little bit since my last playthrough of TAG and these are just the major ones off the top of my head.

Take Hayden, for example. In 2016, he's the classic egotistical, powerful CEO of a major weapons industry, who maybe didn't necessarily intend to get a ton of people killed, but now that he has, he's gonna stick to his guns and insist he's still in the right, this was an unfortunate accident, but what he's doing is necessary, for the good of humanity, can't you see? He's the good guy! He's just trying to make things better! And he's dedicated to this course well enough that he's willing to betray the man who's there to save him, and boot Doomguy back into Hell at the end of 2016.

Then you get to Eternal, and he's inexplicably changed his mind for no good reason? And it's not like he's learned his lesson and has become more humble for it; sure, he got his rear handed to him by demons, and he emphatically states that the creation of Argent Energy is an "unholy union" that "cannot continue," but at the same time, he still acts constantly like he has everything under control and heavily implies that, were he in charge, this situation wouldn't be so bad- as if he weren't in charge when it got this bad. It's like they wanted him to have the exact same attitude (and therefore, ability to deliver dramatic voicelines) as in 2016, but didn't want to commit to him being a villain, so they just went "ok! he doesn't like Argent Energy any more," and went with it, then never felt the need to explain how or why this complete shift in attitude came about. As a result, it feels like Hayden has no clear motive or goals, and falls pretty flat as a character in general.

And then, to take it into TAG, there's the Seraphim, and don't even get me started on how much I hate that that's his name, "seraphim" is the PLURAL form of "seraph," it's like how "Guy" is a real name but then if they decided to name a character "Guys" instead, and it drives me crazy-- whom they go to some lengths to confirm is, in fact, the same person as Hayden, but then, despite the fact that Samur is sick and dying from the moment you revive him, for some reason, Hayden has to turn back into Samur. I suppose there's maybe some indication that Samur and Hayden are actually different people implied by Hayden referring to the Seraphim in the third person through the beginning of the Atlantica level, but there's still never any explanation given for that, whether they are or aren't the same person, or why you need to bring Samur back in Hayden's place.

And then, you beat Samur up, and guess what? He immediately stops being relevant to the plot and is almost completely forgotten. And that's a recurring theme in modern Doom! Olivia Pierce and the Khan Maykr both share the same fate, the moment they're dead, they practically just stop existing. Sure, there's the statue of Olivia in Nekravol, and, like, a single mention of the Khan in one of TAG's codices, if I remember correctly, but personally, to me, both of those feel more like the devs giving you a wink and a nudge and saying "haha hey, remember them?" like it's more of an Easter Egg than them actually having any significance.

And then there's the whole mess that is Davoth. Admittedly, having the Divinity Machine be fueled by his power, and Doomguy being enhanced by that power is thematically appropriate, what with the whole reason Doomguy wins being that he's even angrier than Hell. I also think something like the Divinity Machine and Dooomguy becoming superhuman did have to happen eventually, because how many times can one man singlehandedly beat back the whole of Hell itself before he stops being just some guy? But I don't think it was executed very well.

For one thing, I don't think it was a good move to imply that Doomguy always was some sort of pseudo-god super entity right from the start. Sure, like I said, he did inevitably have to stop being just some guy, but him being just some guy was a good bit of the charm of classic Doom in my opinion. All we knew about him was that he loved his pet rabbit, and was more willing to punch his commanding officer in the face than follow an order to shoot civilians. And yeah, if you take that, and also assume that the story cards are Doomguy's own internal monologue or at least a representation of his attitude, then you can't really say he was ever a blank slate character, but he was still just some guy, and he was relatable for that. And going "well, actually, he was a godling from the very beginning" just doesn't feel very good in my opinion, and feels like a big retcon besides. (And we'll get to more "well, ACTUALLY" stuff in a bit, but first I wanna finish up the tangentially Davoth related stuff first.)

All that aside, if we take it at face value and say sure, Doomguy was always something a little more than human, always destined to become the ultimate warrior, rather than making himself into the Doom Slayer by surviving Hell, then there's still not really any reason for Davoth to have looked exactly like him, beyond going "you-- but EVIL!!" for the drama of it. I think there was maybe one codex entry that says Davoth's whole soul-stealing operation was for the sake of providing his own people with immortality, which is to say, he was fighting to protect his home or something to that effect, so an argument could be made that his looking like Doomguy is an attempt at exploring "this is you, gone too far, this is you if you ever let go of your morals, this is everything you risk becoming," but, again, it's mentioned like... once, in one codex, and never explored or elaborated upon further. If I remember correctly, Davoth himself never even acknowledges this, it's just the codex entry, and he just goes on about how he'll kill Doomguy and destroy everything he ever loved. If they really wanted to make him a sympathetic villain like that, then they should've actually given us the opportunity to feel that sympathy for him. Let me see the people he's trying to protect- is it an idyllic paradise, oblivious to the lengths being gone to to keep them comfortable? A broken, dying people who should have gone extinct long ago, but for this thievery of the lives of others? I know Hell is supposed to be Jekkad, corrupted, and even in theory, that's fine- you could say Davoth's become so ruthless in pursuit of this immortality for his people that he's blinded himself to how it's also destroyed that which he was attempting to save- but you can't really see that. It's still just Hell, not really any sort of remnant of something worth saving.

And speaking of that. Trying to make Davoth a sympathetic villain at all feels like a bad choice to me. Doom is about fighting demons, about carving a bloody war path through the ultimate evil of Hell itself, and about feeling viciously satisfied about doing it. Making it about a desperate man who can't accept that he failed to save what he cared about, and making about killing that man before he does any more damage in attempting to do what he's already failed to do just doesn't feel good the way the rest of Doom does. And beyond that, TAG doesn't even succeed in the emotional gut punch that would come from it, had they managed to make Davoth into an actually sympathetic villain. It's like they're trying to strike a balance between the gratuitously violent and exhiliratingly triumphant feel that Doom is known for, and an emotionally impactful story, and as a result, both end up landing somewhere between mediocre and just plain bad.

I don't have a good segue into this bit except to say it's coming back to the "well, ACTUALLY," thing I mentioned earlier, which is: there are a lot of parts that feel a lot like a six year old kid is just making up the plot on the spot, like, for example, "Doomguy LAUNCHES himself out of a CANNON and he has a MAGIC SWORD and a PET DRAGON that carries him to the MAGIC CRYSTAL in the MIDDLE of the PLANET." Granted, these ones are pretty small and relatively inconsequential in the grand scheme of things, and, yeah, okay, they do look pretty cool. But they don't really... fit? Yeah, it's not like classic Doom didn't have this too, In Doom I alone, Doomguy gets pissed about not getting a reward for beating up the barons, practically just jumps off the side of Deimos, and then finally gets to go home when a secret teleporter just opens beside him after Hell decides he's "too tough" for it. But that all fits in classic Doom, because it's not trying to be a serious, grimdark story. Classic Doom is goofy, and it knows it, and it doesn't try to be anything else. But modern Doom tries so hard to be a very serious, dramatic story and also keep the sillier bits of classic Doom, and- yeah, okay, I already made this point once, but here it is again- it ultimately kinda fails at both as a result.

But then there's the bigger of these, namely VEGA. You spend the majority of both 2016 and Eternal with him as your main companion, and, as far as I can remember, there's never really anything to indicate that he's anything other than what he's introduced as, a sentient AI, created to help manage the Mars base. And then you get to the end of Eternal, and- after basically making you sacrifice him for a second time- with next to no buildup, go, "well actually, he's the god of the bad guys." And I'd complain about that plot thread also being brought up and then dropped with no further elaboration, except they do elaborate on it, and that's basically all that TAG is about. They spend the whole of TAG 1 telling you how VEGA is the god of Literally Everything, and how he made Davoth, then didn't kill him when he started to get out of hand, and aren't you MAD at him, for making all your problems, for being too merciful with his own creation that he loved, and don't you just wanna DESTROY the thing that would give him power again?

And then you get to TAG 2 and they spend the whole time going "WELL ACTUALLY it's DAVOTH who's god and VEGA STILL couldn't kill him and he's been LYING to you this ENTIRE TIME." It almost feels to me like a bad fandom interpretation to justify not liking a character, except worse because they're actually the ones who made the character and wrote the story, and I'm not entirely sure why they intentionally tried to make VEGA a helpful, likeable character, gave him a backstory that arguably makes him more sympathetic than Davoth, and then went "actually we hate him now and are gonna do everything we can to try to make you hate him too."

There are definitely more things I could bring up, like whatever the whole deal with the wraiths and the World Spear is, and probably a handful of other things I'm forgetting, too, but it's getting late and I gotta get up to go to work tomorrow. At any rate, thanks for stopping by and giving me an excuse to finally yell about these things! Feel free to stop by and chat with me about video games whenever you want, I love getting to hear other people's thoughts on these things just as much as I love getting to give my own.

[lunarw0rks]

So this is my thots for the Alejandro x f!reader x Rudy HC,

SFW:

I usually see the Ménage à trois with them being childhood friends or unit members, but I was thinking

- AleRudy and their underlying feelings that never really got addressed and they were fine.

- They meet reader in a normal setting, she's not military or a childhood friend

- nobody was looking for a relationship or arrangement, they all just sort of hit it off at some Vaqueros house party and they started hanging out

- But there's always attractions you know, AleRudy didn't know how to bring up the topic but they've been friends for so long so they were honest about liking reader and reader after having crushes on both of them was probably feeling very morally conflicted.

- The next time they met up was so AleRudy could tell the reader about them not minding sharing since they're basically a throuple anyways with their dynamic so why not try and see if it works. Turns out reader wasn't going to hesitate AT ALL like they thought.

- Reader had some ideas of her own since she wasn't blind to AleRudy's not so subtle situationship, she decided to open that can of worms and they were cool with exploring that dynamic too in this whole thing.

- They all fell rather nicely into this arrangement because it had been happening in its own way unofficially.

NSFW:

- Reader is a switch/dom leaning, Alejandro is a switch/dom leaning, Rudy himself is just happy to be there and willing to try things since he's basically vanilla but not inexperienced since him and Ale were manwhores in uniforms when they first joined the military.

- They discussed consent, kinks and limits at length so everyone was comfortable and on the same page

- They decided they weren't going to plan when and how they executed their spicy time since it seemed too stressful and awkward.

- Spicy time just happened one evening after the guys got back from their latest mission, they were over at readers house, showered + fed well. 3 just on the couch drinking and watching House of the Dragon (Alejandro was bullied since it was 2/3 votes).

- Alejandro was the one who initiated it really since he wasn't as invested in the show & he didn't have to reach very far, readers legs had been over his lap, barely covered by a shirt she took from one of them so when his hands started straying nobody was surprised.

- Rudy and reader watched the whole thing and gave up the TV immediately. Rudy took his opportunity to kiss reader while Alejandro.....

- Do they end up in Paris? yes.

You can change this as much as you want to , take out stuff, add the spicy spice too since I'm surely not good at writing it the way I read it👀 This is now yours to do as you see fit.

"take out stuff" MF THIS IS DIVINE !!

with these two, it was sort of an impulsive decision. i don't think ale/rudy are dating each other... more like they're both dating you and it works out better that way.

i feel like, since they're such good, childhood friends, there's next to no jealousy (aside from playfully). they know each other well; fucking joined the military together and are still committed !!

you would think there would be a lot more disagreements since rudy and alejandro have such different personalities — but it works in your favor. you have variety, literally and figuratively !!

and with the nsfw side of things, it's not always all three of you. more often than not, it's you with just one. besides, when one is out or at work, you get lonely. that's one of the perks of having two boyfriends — you rarely sleep alone. unfortunately, with rudy being ale's right-hand man, they do ship off at the same time. those days/weeks are the worst. you're never left in the dust, though— it's the definition of "pampered". and every so often, you'll share them ;)

[lizablee]

I'm so happy about Imogen and Laudna but I can't help but feel sad about FCG, and I think I've worked out why.

When we compare what Imogen and Laudna have with FCG and FRIDA, it makes it clear the difference between a long and true love built on friendship and a romance built on infatuation. These two automatons finally met someone they had a bunch in common with and immediately fell in love, Romeo and Juliet style. As in stupid love. Romeo and Juliet were young, dumb and full of daggers. FCG only has a few years of memories and has been blown away by this more put-together version of themself. Suddenly, they were ready to attach all their self worth to this person, to the point where just a bit of attention from FRIDA is enough to distract FCG from their impending breakdown.

And now FRIDA is gone, and they know they have a job to do and need to be fine. They can't afford to let themselves feel abandoned or lonely. They try to downplay their own feelings, try to minimise their pain. That's what they need to do to be useful. Suddenly they are back in the company of the people they care about most in the world, but it's a little colder. Nobody cares about FCG the way FRIDA does. Except, maybe...

Ashton and FCG FINALLY have a one-on-one chat with each other, but while most people seem to be celebrating them supporting each other and being happy for each other, I'm looking at it like

Because Ashton is having a manic episode. I've been there. They are there calling themself worthless, calling themself ineffective. They are trashing themself and swearing to turn over a new leaf, be useful and heroic. They are on a mission, moving so quickly and purposefully that everyone around them seems to be slowing down. Suddenly they are frustrated and disgusted by the same self destructive behaviour that has always been woven into their character. And hating it in themself, they start to hate it reflected in others. Especially FCG, who deserves better, and they've always thought so. But success! FCG is in a loving relationship now. It's different from their weird, co-dependent friendship. Because of course it is. Now surely FCG has a reason to live. And Ashton can finally relax and stop trying to save FCG. They can stop focusing on themselves and focus on the goal. After all, they both feel better now, right?

Right.

FCG, on the other hand, is hearing Ashton go off and feeling happy for them! Because FCG is just as brain broke as Ashton. FCG thinks it's cool and normal to throw yourself into a new lifestyle because you don't like or trust yourself. They just committed themself to the worship of a goddess they barely know! And also the Changebringer!

"I am so tired of saving you from yourself."

What a thing to say to FCG, who is constantly trying to save everyone else. Ashton doesn't mean it in a bad way, they are just not seeing the full picture. They think FCG's slef destructive problems are kinda solved now. FCG has a boyfriend after all.

To be clear, FCG isn't offended either. They would be tired of saving themself too. They are already pretty convinced of their own lack of value, beyond their utility to others. In the future, I think they'll hesitate to tell Ashton when they're not doing well. Because Ashton was so happy when he thought he didn't need to save FCG any more.

They're still close to snapping. They will probably snap soon. We will just need to wait and see what happens when they do.

But what do I know, it's fuckin Sam Riegel, he will probably have FCG double down and become a full blown Gods squad religious nut and still make us cry somehow.

[maleyanderecafe]

10:16 (Visual Novel)

Created by: catsket

Genre: Fantasy

I've actually been waiting for a while to do a review on one of @catskets's games since they also made a bunch of other games, and now I can! 10:16 is a game made for the #yanjam and it connects a bit to the other universe of Art without Blood (it has a reference for it, I'm pretty sure). Catsket always has a very ephemeral feeling in their games, so they're always fun to play.

The story starts with a cool intro (and very nice music) before watching the main character (Angel as a default name) going to down an elevator into Hell. They reach one of the floors to be greeted by a graveyard and meet a muzzle wearing long haired person, who welcomes us to heresy, the sixth circle. He introduces himself as Dorian and talks to them about their trip down here, how it was strangely pleasant to talk to the other keepers on the other floors. The sky starts to grow dark and rain ashes, so the two head inside of the library (which looks like a cathedral)for cover. Dorian tells Angel that he collects books of different types of heresies and offers a drink to Angel. Angel seems to be going down the seven rings of hell to make a plea with Satan, believing that they were incorrectly brought to hell, as they are a devotee for the Lord all of their life. We learn how Angel died, while going to mass, they were trying to help with something on the roof, but a bird startled them and they fell to their death. Dorian takes a pendant from Angel to find out why they were sent to hell in the first place. The two start talking and we learn that Dorian was once human a long time ago. He was burned for leading some Romans astray, believing that religion was selfish thus the reason he became the keeper of heresy.

Dorian is able to point out a specific point in time that caused Angel's downfall, specifically when Angel laughed at the idea of feeding the 1000, which is an act of heresy. Despite all this, Dorian asks if Angel still wants to go down to make their case with Satan.

There are about five different endings to this, ranging from going to meet Satan (and presumably failing their case, thus running back to Dorian), staying with Dorian without knowing the truth, running away and nearly dying from the ashes with Dorian coming to rescue them. Or being thrown into the elevator and presumably being torn apart by the rest of the levels of hell.

The ending that reveals everything is when Dorian reveals that he was the cause of Angel's death. Dorian fell in love with Angel the first time he saw them, visiting as a raven outside of their house, knowing that they would end up coming to this ring of hell. Dorian wanted to see them as soon as possible and was the bird that ended up causing Angel to fall to their death. Dorian asked the other keepers to play nice, all so that he could see you. Dorian confesses his love, promising that they have eternity to figure out what to do- just the two of them.

Like I said earlier, I generally really like catsket's games because they all have an ethereal feel to them. They generally focus on religion or a higher being (like a god or the personification of a certain concept) and they are always interesting. 10:16 is no exception to this. The sixth ring of hell as described in this game is very much of a godly air (so to speak) and it feels outerworldly. I like the MC, Angel in this too. I think I stated this before, but I do prefer having MCs that have more character to them since I can better picture why the yandere might like them. So it is fun to see Angel have this kind of devotion only to be sent to Hell despite being a devout person. I suppose regardless, their fate was sealed, either forced to stay in hell for a minor sin they committed and because of Dorian's interference which lead to their death. I think it was good that the yandere ending was the last one I played because it really does tie everything together pretty neatly.

Dorian as a yandere is pretty cool. Though his reason of falling in love with Angel is pretty plain, I do like the efforts he goes to in getting them to stay with him, from killing them early in an accident, to getting all of the other rings of hell to be nice to them and even giving the reason of heresy to convince them to stay (its possible he could be lying about it though since he is the keeper of heresy but who knows). In a lot of endings, Dorian will let Angel go, either letting them run away or going down to hell knowing full well they will fail. Plus, I think his design is pretty neat with the muzzle that's on him. There are some references to casket's other games as well like Limerence or Art without Blood that are sprinkled in there.

I think the funniest (unintentionally) moment in the game is when Angel asks why he has a cathedral in hell to which Dorian essentially responds "I just think it's neat!"

Overall, like I said, it's a pretty fun and nice for a spin off game. If you do like this style, then the Art without Blood series does have another yandere in it, which is always nice. Plus the intro song is pretty nice and I love listening to it.

[love-toxin]

Perv!eddie camping outside your house for ages, so when you finally cum all over your panties you’ve touched yourself through, they’re still warm and wet for him to yank the second you’re washing yourself up

not me upping the ante and considering you doing the same thing to him, but with a twist.

Eddie keeps coming by and stealing your panties, yanking them right off your bed and escaping through the window and thinking you're none the wiser. obviously you notice, it's clear enough when you come back to your room and find those panties you need to wash gone and your bedroom window still open an inch. but you have a crush on Eddie, and you know it's him, so you let him do it because it feels a little like you're leaving him gifts--you've got no idea that he thinks of it exactly the same way.

but then you wanna do it back to him, wanna steal something of his so he might finally get the hint that you're seriously interested. but there's a key problem, and that's Eddie's apparent disinterest in wearing underwear. you're not sure if you're just unlucky and have caught him on a couple days when he decided to go commando, but either way it's frustratingly clear after the third time that you're not gonna get anywhere with thievery.

but you do get to see him jack off, because apparently he does it every night considering how punctual his routine is--it's so practiced, his hand slick with lube and gliding up and down his cock while he rocks into it, the fingers on his other hand rapidly drumming on his inner thigh like he just can't keep still. however, the fourth time you watch him through his bedroom window, something is different; he's got an aid you didn't know about. a fleshlight, one of those see-through ones so you can watch his cock twitch and leak as he thrusts inside it, jackhammers the poor thing like it owes him money, and gets you so wet as you watch you might as well mop up the mess with your panties cause they're already ruined. Eddie's a lot more violent with this one, muffled dirty talking to himself under the rumbles of heavy metal playing through his stereo, hands sweaty and slipping but never stopping his assault on that stupid little toy that should be you. you're so turned on you're getting jealous over a sex toy, but Eddie has that effect when he's being a pervert himself but never making the first move.

and because he's a pervert, he absolutely drains himself dry into that clear fleshlight. his balls must feel so light after that, after he forces it down hard to the base and whines out a string of 'fuck's and 'take it's and 'you like that?'s until his thighs are shaking and he's gasping for air, still hunched over the thing as he waits for his heart to slow and the temperature in the room to cool. he tugs it off, drops it gingerly on the bed, and stumbles off to the bathroom--and it hits you that that's your chance, you have to stop rubbing your poor, needy clit under your skirt and climb through his window to take what you deserve.

when you scramble in and lay your hands on it, it's still warm. feels like a trophy, a prize for being so patient--and you know what you're gonna do, you know it's fucking vile, and you don't care. you lift the toy to your lips, tongue already hanging out in anticipation, and dab at the edges of it with the tip. getting a taste for him, you expected it to burn you like battery acid, but it's incredibly, mesmerizingly pleasant. hot and sticky and salty, bitter, but not overly so. and you tip the fleshlight towards you, tilt your head back, and jam your tongue all the way inside to fully commit to what you really want.

Eddie's cum floods your mouth instantly--you have to cock it back and pause for a breath to keep from choking on it--but upon starting again you can take it much better the second time. it goes down easy, so warm, you gulp and slurp at the sides and pinch the end of the toy to get all the good stuff out. you find yourself licking it up from the inside out when it runs dry, getting every last drop and every taste of Eddie that you can, but it dawns on you when you're done that Eddie's gonna notice it's clean. you have to get out. have to escape before the water stops running in the room over and he wipes his hands on the towel.

drinking your crush's cum has had an adverse effect, however--you're so close to the edge, so eager to cum, that even in moving to get to your feet the brush of your cloth panties rubbing your clit has you doubled over instantly, begging and praying the powers that be not to let you cum right here and now. you're so close and so fucking horny, you have to hold your breath just so you won't smell Eddie's scent in the room and let it tip you over the rest of the way.

but the squeak of the door alerts you, and the sound of Eddie's breath hitching at the sight before him undoes you completely. dropping his fleshlight on to his bed, caught red-handed, you whimper and struggle to get any words out--but they all vanish into moans as Eddie watches you cream your panties standing up, still clutching at your skirt and keening his name as you leak down your legs and leave a puddle all over his bedroom floor.

[the-meme-monarch]

If they remade Balan wonderworld but good what changes do you think would be most important

ohh ive had this stewing for a while so it's not just gonna be "what changes would be most important" it will also be some nitpicking

-i think. you could make it a game with no dialogue. i think that'd be novel and cool. but the weird thing is the actual game doesn't really commit to that? balan talks in-game. anyway they need to like. Actually tell the story bc as it stands w all the context being in the book isn't really great. more comprehensive cutscenes. and also I'm no game dev but like. it doesn't play well. i feel like it could stand to be more puzzley and maybe they can use that to help portray each residents stories more/better?

-i think the wonderworld should just abide by real time bc w it originally existing outside time and space kinda. Doesn't make complete sense to me. It being 'these twelve guys are having issues at the moment" makes more sense to me. therefore. dropping the cass attilio romance. It was weird anyway. princess merry is cass' older sister

-instead of the illusions of themselves that lead you to their negati boss form, it's a shadow that you see on the walls/ground(bc they're a shadow of their former selves haha). maybe your shadow is replaced w theirs?

-im thinking their backstory cutscenes are each told through different creative mediums:

-Fiona through sand animation, Eis through oil pastel on glass animation(like mob psycho 100 has) , Lucy through like a series of paintings? Cass maybe something similar to the mechanical puppets that hers is already, have Sana’s commit with wooden carved sets in stop motion (wouldn’t have to actually be Real stop motion, just make it look like it)

-either Balan just doesn’t have a ‘true form’ or his true form still reads as black bc i will continue to be 😐 over that for-absolutely-ever

-Cass’ cat has to die. I’m sorry. or at least get hit and nearly die. also I’m thinking the accident also caused Iben’s parents deaths bc i heard somebody suggest that in frankenbugs’ playthrough of it and that sounded cool to make it connected. and Cass shutting out her grief like it never happened while Iben let her grief consume her bc of the same accident also sounds cool

-also abt frankenbugs i agree w them that I don’t think Lucy’s stage needs any changing i think hers is the best structured. i think everyone else’s stages need to be changed to match

-also maybe reorder the levels so they're in like. have the more intense problems at the end. like Bruce's being the last level seems kinda Whatever after cass and iben's levels literally involve death

-i think have their ‘why they’re in wonderworld’ cutscene play at the beginning of their stage when you first get there, and the ‘what happens after they leave’ play after their boss fight like normal bc idk where to put it otherwise

-I think it'd be neat if the hub world was the theatre instead of the isle of tims. what little we actually see of the theatre in the opening cutscene looks GREAT and i think that'd make for a cooler hub to get to all the stages w the character posters. i honestly don't really care for the tims (i like them in theory not really in practice) and much less the tower

and that's all i got rn but i might come back to this I'm watching the 1993 mario movie rn

[kitkatopinions]

So a couple of things stand out to me with this little gem from the commentary for V9.

They viewed Neo as she is as irredeemable. I one hundred percent disagree with the idea that there's a certain level of villainy that makes it impossible for someone to ever come back from, and if I did believe that, it would be like 'genocidal colonizers who want to take over the world' and not like 'formerly abused disabled woman who spent the better part of her on screen time working for someone doing much worse things than her who then developed a grief-driven misguided grudge and has done technically less worse things than most of the RWBY villains even including V9.' But this does make me feel a bit better in that the RWBY writers are less likely to redeem Salem and Cinder, who are two people that even though I think they can be redeemed, they probably should stay evil.

However, them saying they did want to give Neo a bit of sympathy (which is not the same thing as redemption) because of her past... Cool, actually. Yes, it's frustrating that other characters didn't get that sympathy despite having gone through similar or worse things than Neo went through, like Adam, but I'm not gonna want a formerly abused disabled woman to not get an ounce of sympathy just because a different character didn't get it in the past. But also, this does make me think Cinder, Salem, and potentially Mercury will get similar sympathies (I say 'potentially' Mercury because there's quite a chance that the writers are only willing to extend sympathy towards the women characters based on misogyny as they seem to be sometimes pushing a narrative that the women characters are unable to have made their own choices, but also Hazel is an example of them letting men have unfair sympathies they don't deserve and getting treated with a ton of sympathy like they're not responsible for their own actions too.)

It's worth noting that they were swayed by fandom opinion. "There's this really weird line of everybody likes her as a character," they say, as if they don't like or understand exactly why fans would like a character they invented, which is a weird thing writers do sometimes. And they go on to imply it was one of the reasons they had for not wanting to write Neo to have too bad of an end.

The way they talk about Neo committing suicide like it's a good thing... They are actively talking about how Neo 'has a chance' to ''pick a different person to be.' I mean, it was bad enough with the Paper Pleasers, but at least they actually were from the Ever After where (badly done or not) the implication was that it was slightly different than for humans, but Neo? She was a real person from Remnant! She killed herself, and they're like 'dum dum dum it's a sympathetic end for her because killing herself is a good choice actually that 'gives her a chance to be something better.' Like ??? That is point blank period glorifying suicide.

It's remarkable to me that the writers as well as fans think that the ending they gave Neo is even sort of a good thing for Neo that says that they're favoring her character, whether people think that's unjustified or good. The writers might've written Ruby to act a bit sympathetic (which I see as a step in the right direction for her being a caring protagonist, unlike when she cut off Tyrian's tale,) but Neo still didn't get any sort of good ending and in fact when you compare it to Hazel, it feels even worse. She spent the last several seasons playing lacky to someone who didn't respect her while she was grieving the only person who had ever treated her well, she then lost all will to live and reason for existence after Ruby was supposedly dead, then had her autonomy ripped away from her in one of the most meant-to-be-disturbing moments in the show, and a different being talked with her mouth and used her like a puppet, and then she committed suicide. How is that a good sympathetic ending just because Ruby had a two second moment of being like 'hope she does decide to commit suicide for good and become a different person who isn't so messed up?' Hazel got to die a heroic death after 'teaching Oz a lesson' and he was responsible for tons of deaths in Mistral and he beat Oscar on screen!

Idk, I just feel like the entire narrative surrounding Neo's death feels like a big middle finger, even if MKEK intended to try to appease her fans. I thought volume 9 was going to be Neo's time to finally shine in the spotlight, but they brushed her aside to make the Cat a twist villain (like they needed a twist villain,) and then wrote the worst possible end for Neo they could have, and I feel like a crazy person because I feel like the only person who's bothered by it.

[justatalkingface]

So this was something I asked my Discord Buddies a while back but I wanted to hear your opinions on. What rules from here do you think BNHA needed the most?

...Huh. Alright.

1. This is something that, if anything, MHA is committing to too hard, with how they're 'redeeming' flawed heroes and the villains; the fact they're trying is basiclly absolving them, or for just wanting things to be better so... not that one. Effort alone isn't everything.

2. Yes two. Definitely two. Like, Mirko's entire creepy thing falls under that, and I guess how Shigaraki went full Eldritch Hand later on (I think that's cool, personally, but I'd bet that'd be unpleasant for a lot of people). There's also the lack of focus on so many things, and Izuku's entire dismissal of his character in particular, under this rule.

3. ...This goes back to how unfocused Hori seems on whatever his end goal is, and how hard he seems to be trying to dodge various themes that are still present and relevent (corruption, villains with points, etc), so pass.

4. I'm not quite sure how that's a rule... I assume that means, have a simple story in mind or something like that? Stay on target? In that much, Hori is covered, it's just the gaps between 'Izuku becoming a hero' and 'saving the day', or 'becoming the Number One Hero' that need work, so not this either.

5. This. God this. MHA has so much bloat, so many one-off characters awkwardly being brought back for the final arc, or just made for this arc, or plot threads that seem to exist just to exist (that reporter? Really? Really?). Underline this one.

6. ...Actually, yes. Like, Izuku is never challenged beyond, 'Fight this', really, and he's still got shy bones to him, so forcing him to social situations, or into the more public end of heroism, could have a lot of plot to play with and general story development.

7. I'm assuming Hori has this covered, though I get the feeling that ending may have changed? It's hard to tell with how muddied things are. Still, he does seem to be going somewhere, even if it's badly, so I'll call it a pass.

8. ...I. Don't think Hori has much of a choice at this point, on this. Jump is going to make him finish this even if they have to bring him back from the dead.

9. This seems ultimately a writer only thing, so... call it irrelevant? Then again, I wonder at what his list of 'impossible' would be....

10. I get the feeling he does this; Mineta, probably, and I think he's got to see something of Endeavour in himself for him to go to bat for him so hard. Ultimately, though, don't know enough about him to call it, but I don't think that this is a major concern.

11. I like this. This is related to the whole theme thing I keep talking about; Hori doesn't know what he wants this story to tell, and so it kinda wobbles all over the place, message wise. Mark this one, for sure.

12. Yeah, he probably could have used this once he got going. A lot of the stuff after MHA took off has been way too predictable, though I wonder at how much time he had at that point.

13. This! The reason so many people like the earlier characters compared to later ones is they had opinions; it fleshed them out, made them feel human. As time passed, there was less focus on the characters beyond their narrative role, which makes them feel hollow.

14. And this, I think, is my theme diatrade, if put in different words. Hori has lost his plot so he can't tell his story right. The theme now isn't the theme it was at the beginning, which is very bad, but worse than that he never replaced that theme. I'm not sure there is one anymore. If I had to name the 'essence' of MHA at this point, it'd be, 'I don't agree with you, so let's fight'.

15. *taps it rapidly* Izuku says 'Hi', Hori. Also, the entire Todoroki family, and basiclly everyone Bakugou has ever talked to. This story needs a heavy dose of this so damn bad, because people don't act like people in the situations they're in would, which makes it all feel so artificial.

16. Stakes are covered. Stakes are almost nonsensically covered, really, so we are more than good here.

17. ...I. If Hori had committed to it, actually committed to it, dropped the themes that he started with, full out, and gone with something new, instead of half assing mentioning them every other minute, I think the story would be better off. I also feel like his approach to main character could have used this, though ironically, I'd like it he'd stop dropping every other character willy nilly.

18. Considering he's throwing the story out the window to be done with it, irrelevant. Quality has got to be one of his last concerns at this point, and things would have to be changed on such a systemic level to improve the situation to make this kind of thing pointless.

19. This is more of a late-game problem, but yeah, shit like SFO being shot just before killing someone, which is miraculously able to actually do enough damage to matter, with no story prep before hand hurts the suspension of disbelief.

20. Irrelevant for our purposes.

21. I've said this as well, but too much stuff is happening just so it can happen, just because it's cool, at the cost of plot and character, and he's never realized that that is a bad deal to make. Very much yes.

22. Toga alone proves MHA needs an infusion of this; he clearly has ideas on how certain characters are like, where they're going, and what people think of that. The reality of the matter, on the other hand, doesn't agree with that idea.

This was pretty interesting, actually. Some of these are bit too geared to the actual writing process to translate well, but still, definitely good stuff here.

[daphnethebanjolover]

Thoughts on Kung Fu Panda 4 (spoilers ahead)

TAI LUNG IS BACK!

JK no he's not.

I can't believe Kung Fu Panda stole a villain idea from TUFF Puppy.

Po should have totally picked that cosplayer at the beginning.

The animation in these movies is so good. They've really come a long way since the first movie. The 2D bit during Po's vision is giving Bad Guys vibes.

I have not seen the third movie, so I don't entirely know what Li's deal is, but I was hoping there'd be more gay subtext considering the fact that the main character has two dads now.

I also wanna know more about this Kai dude. He looks cool. Maybe I should see the third movie.

That was definitely a Chinese remix of Crazy Train playing during the chase scene.

The thieves misinterpreting the good guys' proverbs as excuses to commit more crime but still help them out=top-tier writing.

Get those bunny kids some therapy.

DOUBLE JK TAI LUNG REALLY IS BACK!

I find it hilarious that Dreamworks brought Tai Lung back from the dead just to sass Po.

And other delicious callbacks such as Lord Shen, General Kai, and TEMUTAI, KING OF THE QIDON!

I don't think they'd ever explicitly refer to the Nickelodeon TV series, but I definitely saw a rhino in that crowd who looked like Temutai.

Kung Fu Panda 5 is gonna be real different if we're going to have a new Dragon Warrior now.

Kinda lame that the Furious Five don't appear until the credits. They're supposed to be the icons.

Not Jack Black doing better than Britney Spears at her own song.

Overall, a solid 8/10. Whatever your faves have done, TUFF Puppy has done it better.

[cyrsed]

how do you get your colors in your art to look so good?

gonna resist the urge to say my colors aren't that great, and i'm gonna try and think about how i do color seriously.... also thank you for the compliment! i've always felt like i struggle with color but maybe i can still be helpful :B if this stuff is all super basic, apologies in advance

ig i already love bright colors, especially warm colors, but i feel like a lot of making visual art is bringing out the contrasts between colors, light and dark, textures, movement, saturation, curves and straight lines, etc., so that just means i usually try to think about the relationships between the colors a little more than the colors individually.

i also don't usually start with a solid color palette defined beforehand. i usually know the basic colors i want, but i don't typically choose them before i start bc that's too rigid for me, and i want to be able to adjust things or throw things out without worrying that i'm messing up the balance of a palette i already committed to.

so for this one

i used a lot of warm colors bc i loove earthy yellows and oranges, but i think it can make colors feel more vibrant if they're next to colors that contrast w/ it (warm and cool, or complementary colors).

the "gray" metal parts of the picture like the shelf stile coming down vertically, and the jar lids behind it, are green to contrast w the oranges and reds in particular, and there's some blue popping up in the zombie head and the shadows on the bottom shelf for the same reason, altho the blue is a touch on the greener, cooler side of blue (as opposed to the purpler, warmer side).

usually if i use a color in one place, i try to pull it into the rest of the picture for better balance unless maybe if it's the focal point. so i'm doing that with the blue, and the orange stickers to spread the bright orange from that big jar around more.

also i don't usually use straight gray/white/black, 99.9% of the time i'll use something tinted like that green metal stile, or the pinkish gray in the jar on the far right.

same here: it's mostly green and red bc i like that combo & they're complementary, but i did try to pull a little blue in as well through the shadows on the right ribcage and that one mystery organ under the green intestine, nd in the back of the leg.

that being said tho, it's not really "blue", it's more like nearly gray-purple that looks blue bc it's next to such bright warm colors. that's the magic of gray lol, it's very useful bc it's easy to make it look as if it's warm/cool depending on what colors it's surrounded with.

ig color for me is mostly about color relationships and saturation... the gray can look like blue if it needs to, and it can make the colors next to it look even more vibrant so the skin of this necromorph dude looks sickly and dead but the organs look pretty lively.

when i shade something i always try to use a color that's at least a little bit different from whatever the base color is. so in this case the base color was that kind of pale orange and the orange-ish gray, but the shadows are both super saturated & one is leaning more toward a sienna/orange (on the left side of the pic on the arm and ribs) and the other one is leaning a lil more toward a berry purple/red & i think that usually adds some nice depth to the color. also don't be afraid to add reeeally dark darks and really light lights, but imo the darks give colors the most life by contrast.

since this was a limited palette & not that detailed, i didn't worry about pulling that aquamarine anywhere else.

other than that, i just try to be bold with colors, and go for something exciting & not worry too much about whether it looks naturalistic. plus there's tons of colors you can pull out from regular objects/lighting/whatever else. this isn't specific to color, but the other thing i try to do is practice seeing what colors/forms are really there, not what i expect to be there.

a super basic example would be if i want to draw a banana, i don't want to just automatically reach for yellow bc bananas are yellow, i want to either look closely at the real banana i want to draw, and really try to see what colors are really there (which can be surprising tbqh), or if i'm not actually looking at a real one, then just try to pull in more color for the fun of it, like shading it with purple or blue maybe idk go nutso!

tl;dr i think i usually try to keep in mind

warm/cool color balance

complementary colors (altho tbh you can make any color combo look good, esp if you mess with warm/cool balance)

saturation (i keep a lot of things saturated, but also the contrast between saturation/desaturation can make the colors look more intense)

light and dark contrast

using tinted grays to imply a warmer/cooler color that contrasts with the main palette

color depth (shading with cooler and/or warmer variations of similar colors)

go nutso

[foureyes802]

I feel like every Space Ghost comic since 2005 is more interested in appealing to the dozen people left that love Space Ghost but hated Coast to Coast, apposed to actually working with the excellent characters and world building that Space Ghost and friends revived after the 80s. I'm not convicted we aren't going to get a Space Ghost comic better than a 7/10 by numbers space adventure until we get a Space Ghost comic that can admit the talkshow wasn't a mistake but was actually excellent. At least we still have that new episode of Jellystone to celebrate Coast to Coast turning 30 this year

See, the thing for me is that I do love the original '66 cartoon, independent of my existing love for c2c, but I still really dislike the post-'05 comics! They DON'T appeal to me because to give Space Ghost a super serious backstory and raise the stakes of his adventures and make him gritty and brooding (*unironically* brooding, as opposed to c2c) is to betray everything that worked about the OG and made it fun. More under the cut.

I *like* that he has a million different, incredibly specific rays on his power bands based exclusively on what kind of trap he's been caught in. I *like* that he constantly announces what's going on to the audience even though this is a cartoon and they're already looking at the screen. I *like* that the villains aren't super violent or threatening, even when they do things like taking Jan & Jace hostage. It's a lot like the Batman series from the same year, but Space Ghost was a cartoon that shared its own episodes with a *different* cartoon so each one has about 1/5th of the airtime to work with. And it worked! In part because of the stuff I already listed, and in part because it was committed to itself. "We have 7 minutes to take the children of America on an epic space adventure, and that's what we're going to do, dammit!" I can imagine the writers saying.

The other thing about the whole situation is, Batman had time to become gritty. You could argue he pioneered it, in fact. In the time that Batman was influencing the landscape of modern superhero comics, Space Ghost was... doing the talk show. And Cartoon Network comics about the talk show. When the '05-'06 comics tried to jump straight into full grit, basing the tone on what was already on the shelves in '05-'06, there was no buffer for that. It's especially jarring because Coast to Coast and The Brak Show were still freshly cancelled at the time, so that was likely the version most familiar to a lot of comic book shop regulars who picked it up. Maybe they loved it then, IDK. I haven't looked at contemporary reviews. When I read it maybe a year ago I thought it was so self-serious that it was trying to *shake off* its predecessors, like, "No, that stuff is dumb, we're trying to be Batman In Space now! It's so cool and grand!" And it wasn't NOT those things, especially because the art is legitimately really good, but it also didn't feel anything like Space Ghost. A "modern reboot" of the series would have to straddle that line for much longer for me to get into it, taking itself seriously but keeping itself fun first & foremost. Also I hate the way they redesigned and wrote Zorak.