#as my take on characters are often... particular xD

[lexiluxray]

your rendition of sycamore is scrumptious, I eat it up every time

Fhfhfhf thaaaanksss I hope I'll keep feeding you well 🧡🧡🧡

As I'm not immune to compliment on my artstyle on a character I adore, I feel the absolute need to draw said character MORE each time I'll receive an ask about it u_u

[jacksintention]

At times I can be wrong of course, but often I think it's so obvious that someone's view on a character or story (and most of the time lack of sympathy/understanding) is caused by a lack of personal experience

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

I love how creative Twst can get with how it warps the histories of the Great Seven through amelioration/neutralization, but the story of how the filet mignon de porc aux pruneaux dish came to be compared to the events of that particular situation as told through the film... ngl definitely caught me off guard XD

[Referencing this post!]

Yesss 😩 That’s my favorite part of every hometown event, honestly (even more than meeting a new character)! It’s so cool to see how TWST takes its source materials and adapts its story to inform unique cultures, holidays, customs, traditions, clothing, food, climate, and more.

I was kind of expecting the heart thing to come into play at some point but not for a pork-based dish. I thought maybe venison (deer meat) would be prized because in the telling I’m familiar with, the huntsman kills a doe and tries to pass its heart as Snow White’s… and maybe that Fairest City would have an emphasis on “heart healthy” eating (ie low fats, fresh fruits + veggies instead of preserved, little red meat, etc.).

It’s interesting that TWST’s take presents pork, a traditionally very fatty meat, as a common in Fairest City. As I said in the original post, this aspect of their food culture comes from the story of the huntsman (I have been told the the Disney version involves the huntsman providing a boar/pig’s heart, not a deer’s heart). I wonder if it’s also in part because pork works well within with the busy lives of those in the entertainment industry. They are often busy moving around for shoppings, doing shoots, etc. (The fat on pork provides more than double the energy of both protein and carbohydrates.) This trait of pork’s would also make it a hearty meal for huntsmen, who are athletes and need the energy!! 🤔 I could be overthinking it though, the explanation doesn’t have to be more complicated than providing the base story about the huntsman and the Fairest Queen.

[displacedentities]

Took a lil break from the comic to take care of some serious business with my work, and get back on my bean bullshit /pos

100% the fault of the animated series on youtube by @rodamrix, recently rediscovered it after several years and my god!! It's come so far, and I love it so much!!! And it made me miss the space beans in a way I haven't in a long time ;u; So I remade my Among Us character, using features directly from my preferred in-game outfit!

Say hi to Cyan-tist (Cyan)!

I'll info-dump on my bean below the cut xD It's really long, you've been warned!

Backstory

Cyan worked in the specimen laboratory at MIRA HQ, occasionally taking trips off-planet for fieldwork and sample collecting. Cyan was very attached to her many pets, and would get engrossed in her work studying her specimens.

Unfortunately, she was caught alone in the specimen lab one day, and the impostor- Orange- who snuck into MIRA via transport vessel, sought to gain a new ally. Orange cornered and converted Cyan into an impostor by infecting her with the parasite, and once she turned, Cyan went into a feral hunger rampage, mindlessly killing and eating all of her pets and specimens in the lab. The grief of losing her beloved companions and all her work snapped her back into control of herself, only for Orange to praise her for the carnage. Outraged, Cyan turned on Orange, killing and eating him, too.

Not wanting to die for killing a seemingly innocent crew mate, Cyan outed herself immediately to her crew, handing over Orange's remains as well as their weapons during the meeting. Because Cyan never killed any actual crew mates, her crew decided to let her stay, on the condition that she be observed at all times via her Glitch Console (the Twitch pet lmao). She uses Glitch to stream her continued work in the lab, and keep in near constant contact with the rest of her team - it's also MIRA's way of keeping tabs on her, since she's on thin ice as a known impostor.

Cyan has a vitriolic hatred of other impostors, and can hardly conceive of another 'friendly' impostor like her existing. Whenever a hostile impostor shows up, all of her team have an alarm button on their tablets to call her, and 'deploy' Cyan to 'fix' the problem. This has regained some trust with her closest friends in her crew, though Cyan prefers to stay isolated in her laboratory with her new pets. She would love to find a cure for her condition, but is resigned to existing as she is, and it can't bring back the pets she lost. Cyan is soft on animals, robots, her fellow crew, and children, and has misused science lab equipment to make treats for young visitors. Don't mess with her work or she'll bite you.

Abilities

Cyan-tist is a Shapeshifter variant Impostor. She cannot turn into everybody she sees- however, she can transform into anything living she has ever eaten. The higher percentage of the creature she consumes, the better the disguise. She can shapeshift clothing from her own body matter. The 'cat hat' she once wore has become a physical part of her, the ears functional for hearing and movement, and the eyespots capable of sight, producing tears, and emoting.

Due to her initial feral rampage in the lab, Cyan can transform into a wide variety of crewmate pets and lab specimens- her favorites being the three forms of her former companions: a Doggy, a Headslug, and a Squig. She often uses these to spy on new arrivals undetected, attempting to sus out foreign impostors from the cohort. Cyan can adapt features to her existing body at any level she wants- for example, she can gain the fur coat of the Doggy, the wings of the Pouka or the Goose, or the tentacles of the Squig without needing to fully shapeshift. The Doggy form in particular has a heightened sense of smell, allowing her to detect if the scent of a foreign impostor is present, though it may not be sufficient to identify the specific individual from a crowd.

Cyan-tist's adaptive shapeshifting is powerful enough that she can gain the unique attributes of other impostors she has eaten. This includes her advanced chromatophores for changing color, which she acquired from Orange, the first impostor she killed and consumed. Very few impostors since Orange have had anything noteworthy to add to her repertoire of skills. Cyan swore to never eat a crew mate.

Completely self-indulgent Rodamrix Animated Series thoughts

Okay I couldn't help it, I wondered about what would happen if Cyan were to be present in the series. !!!SPOILER WARNING IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT, DO NOT READ THIS PART!!!

Original series- If she didn't adapt to the sudden climate shift of the impostor takeover, or stood with the crew in any capacity when they began to spread out of control, Cyan-tist is most likely dead. She would not have gotten along with many- if any- of the impostors within MIRA HQ, and actively would have stood against or tried to kill them, making her an enemy. I can't imagine Big Purple let her live if she tried anything. If by some miracle she DID survive, Cyan is most likely operating as a plant within the impostor hideout, smuggling supplies or otherwise tipping off the survivors as to the movements of the horde so crewmates can escape or avoid being discovered.

Alternate series- Cyan-tist is completely unaware of the plot that Crimson and the MIRA HQ heads have for selling off impostors/parasites and dissenters as test subjects. As such, she continues to operate in her specimen lab, on constant watch for new impostors to show up and threaten her crew and friends. The future arrival of Red, Purple, and Pink would set off HUGE alarm bells for her, and she would be on high alert the moment she detects they're impostors. Cyan would HATE Purple as a known killer impostor, be sus of Pink's no-thoughts-head-empty behavior- though she'd discover quickly he could be distracted with snacks- and not trust Red until his own crew vouches for him. Once the Skeld survivors confirm Red is innocent and a fellow 'good' impostor who saved their lives, Cyan would back off, but keep her eye on all of them.

[txttletale]

what would you say are the flaws of thirsty sword lesbians? i got it in a itch.io bundle a while ago and i've been on the fence on whether or not to run a campaign with it since

things about tsl that suck

the name. its bad. im sure it was really funny to everyone involved when they pitched it in a brainstorming session and were like 'haha what if we actually called our game thirsty sword lesbians XD' but as the name of an actual game that you have to play and talk about with real people it fucking sucks. instantly dated. sounds bad to say aloud. awful

on a related note, the game has a particular sense of humour--a certain tone and tenor that was super in vogue among, like, millenials who livetweeted steven universe in 2018. there's a move in one of the playbooks called 'i ship it!'. there's another move called 'big dyke energy'. i personally find this shit incredibly grating and insufferable, but if you think it's fun, hey, more power to you. not necessarily a con i just wanted to be a hater

okay those two complaints are just me being a hater but i do have a much more serious one which is that the game's themes are at war with each other in a way that i find bafflng. like, 'you are queer people fighting against systemic oppression' is baked into the rules, to the point of forming an inextricable component of two of the playbooks--the game is built around the idea that you're going to be Fighting Oppression in a major way. like it is very unsubtle about that and often looks directly at the camera and says 'This Is About Homophobia'. but it's also a core part of the game that you're going to be doing, like, flirtatious swordfighting, getting seduced by and seducing Hot Evil Women, longingly gazing at your homoerotic nemesis. and this is also baked into the mechanics, there are special social moves you can only do while fighting someone! so you end up with this really bizarre paradox that to take both these elements to their logical conclusion you need to create a world where all the representatives/enforcers of Homophobia/Imperialism/Capitalism are sympathetic lesbians. and it's not doing something interesting with that either, this isn't the masquerade or helicopter story--it's not highlighting this or asking you to explore this--it's just kind of stumbled into this bizarre unforced error by not thinking through what the logical result of its mechanics & tone is.

now of course it's possible to play around that last one and figure out different things to do with it. the campaign i've been running has the players within a v. broad united front against imperialism, so i've made their homoerotic rivals are ideological enemies within that united front--but the fact that we had to work around the implications of the system as written is kind of a problem with the system!

and, since i don't necessarily want to put you off running TSL, here's my list of things about tsl that are good

the playbook design is incredible. a lot of the supplement playbooks fucking suck but every single playbook in the core book is like, peak PBtA playbook design--mechanically unique, thematically fulfilling, rich with opportunities to shape the world by implication when you design your character. they do really fun and interesting narrative things with the way the playbooks are designed and i like them all a lot.

the social move setup is my favourite that i've ever seen in a game--the phrasing behind the social moves means that you can never roll to 'make' an NPC do something or 'persuade' them to your point of view, only to make them 'give in to desire'--which is obviously phrased to enable seduction as a core gameplay mechanic, but it doesn't have to be played that way! other moves allow you to ask questions and figure out what NPCs want and what motivates them--you have a mechanical basis by which you can figure out that an NPC wants friendship, or security, or power, and the 'give in to desire' phrasing means you mechanically benefit from offering them that thing to get what you want from them. it really elegantly and cleverly circumvents the 'mind control persuasion check' problem that i've always found to be a deeply & profoundly antisocial way to model interaction (as inherently zero-sum, combative, dominatory) & leads to much more emotionally satisfying stories and tense and interesting social encounters

you know those are actually kind of the only two things. but they're really, really good things!

[gffa]

Hi there! I’m someone who’s been following you for Star Wars for a while but I’ve become really interested in your DC comics posting recently, and I was wondering - since the franchise has been going for so long and has so many instalments - what you would say to someone who wants to start reading these comics/watching the shows/movies but doesn’t know where to start? Have a lot of the comics been retconned? Is there a particular order one has to read in? Where does one even find these comics…?

My interest in this franchise was literally sparked by the Jason Todd telephone poll so I’m definitely interested in reading more about him - he seems like a character I’d like - and the rest of like, the… Batfamily, I think they’re called? I just have no idea where to start lol - my knowledge of DC is limited to seeing bits of Teen Titans GO when I walked past my little brother watching TV, and watching the Lego Batman movie with him xD

Also! If I’m correct, after observing the fandom, Talia seems like an interesting, complex female character (with some bad writing), like Padmé or Bo-Katan? I always love those kinds of characters, just wondering if I’d got the right impression of her.

Hi! You've got a solid idea of things so far, so hopefully, this shouldn't be too hard of a climb to get used to the structure! And I'll do my best to explain the structure of comics without getting too lost in the weeds about it. 😂

INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW: In my view, comics aren't meant to be a single coherent whole and it's helpful to drop that idea before you get started because otherwise you'll drive yourself around the bend in a fruitless attempt to make everything line up neatly, when it just never will. There is no one single "true" version of the characters, there is no one single creator who is the highest authority on a character, no matter who created the character or even who is most famous for writing them, these are shared characters being written and drawn by a multitude of authors and artists who all have varying takes on them. The characters should stay true to a core personality and traits, but the flexibility of an author to write a character differently from the last person who wrote them is a feature not a bug imo. I like to think of comics as stories being told by different authors playing with action figures and we're in the audience enjoying these stories, regardless of how some authors fit really well together and others completely clash with each other. You can try to make them mesh (sometimes that's fun!) or you can just shrug your shoulders and pick what you like out of the pile of comics that have been handed to you (you'll probably drive yourself less over the edge this way!). Jason is particularly difficult on this aspect, because he often doesn't have a regular book to be written in and his overall place/point in the Batman comics is murky at best somedays and so he is wildly different from author to author. I personally enjoy this, because I think it works for Jason as a character who has some core beliefs, but also is kind of a mess who doesn't really know what he wants, so he veers wildly from one reaction to another. You can read comics in a variety of ways, but I genuinely do not recommend trying to read "in order" because it's a nightmare to try to keep track of everything once it's been a few years and the numbering of these series is the most confusing thing you'll ever meet. Instead, I think it's better to focus on picking up trades (collections of comics that originally came out in single issues, but are put together in a single volume that tells the whole story of that particular run) that sound interesting or come recommended. (And, honestly, it's not even satisfying even if you did do all the work to read them in order. Throw out the idea that comics have a coherent timeline, because they do NOT.)

CONTINUITIES AND DIFFERENT ERAS: The ONLY context I think you need (other than a general sense of the Batfam, we'll get there in a minute) is to understand that there are sort of four "continuities" that you're likely to run into, and this is EXTREMELY simplified/streamlined, so nerds don't come for me on this unless you have a better streamlined and simple version. 😂 - Anything published before 1985-1986 is all "Pre-Crisis" and while reading a lot of the older comics can be super fun, they're generally not super relevant to current comics - In 1985-1986, there was a comics event (an event is where multiple different comic books are all written to be part of a bigger storyline, whereas normally, they don't cross over that much, each book usually has its own self-contained storylines) called "Crisis on Infinite Earths" (which is different from "Infinite Crisis") that was basically a way for DC to streamline all the different versions of the characters running around into one manageable universe. This ran up until about 2011 and I'll often refer to it as the "preboot" or "post-Crisis" continuity. (This is where Jason's death happened, in the storyline "A Death in the Family".) - In 2011, DC wanted to reboot their entire universe with an event called "Flashpoint", with the purpose of creating an all new lineup of 52 comics that new readers could jump right into, which isn't a bad idea in theory. The problem was that people were really attached to the preboot versions of the characters, a lot of the Nu52 comics were really badly written, and there was almost no collaboration. You expect a certain amount of contradiction just by the nature of comics, but there were major issues with "nobody is talking to each other, so everything is a giant mess".

- In 2016, for a variety of reasons (probably including that sales for Nu52 had dipped back down pretty far again), DC rebooted their universe again, with "Rebirth", which is the continuity we're in now. I'm still catching up (I left when Nu52 happened) but I think a lot of preboot events are leaking back into the continuity, but that's not the same as saying it's equal to the preboot continuity in total. This is also the era that I generally talk about the most because I've found it genuinely the most engaging to get back into! Generally, as long as you understand those four eras of continuity, I think you'll be fine in understanding how things are put together. If you want to know where something falls, just check the date and that'll tell you! But, honestly, yeah, background details change all the time, so even within a single continuity there will be retcons--just that there are MASSIVE differences in the Nu52 era that might confuse you if you're unaware of the reboot shenanigans. (Or if you want to understand how Jason returned--like, preboot continuity has the explanation that Superboy Prime (don't ask) punched reality so hard that it shook Jason back to life, even if they never found out about it, that's what happened. I think Nu52 said Talia dug him up and put him in the Lazarus Pit? Don't quote me on that. I flamed out hard on Nu52. Rebirth continuity, they have no idea what the hell happened and I'm not sure there's an explanation. I just assume the Reality Punch leaked back in or something.)

SO, LIKE, WHAT'S THE DEAL WITH THESE CHARACTERS? AS SHORT AS I CAN MAKE IT: - Bruce Wayne witnesses his parents being murdered in front of him and this traumatizes him so badly that he withdraws from life to obsess over it, eventually travelling the world for several years to learn every kind of skill he can, until he comes back to Gotham at, like 22 years old or whatever and becomes Batman to fight crime. The only rails on this ride is his butler Alfred who basically raises him from the time he's eight and Alfred is working MIRACLES here, but there's only so much even he can do. He is absolutely Bruce's father figure, even if they rarely frame it in those terms, because Thomas Wayne (Bruce's father) is such an important figure in their lives and because Alfred is extremely British. - Bruce is Batman for a few years, usually depicted as being super grimdark because he's shut his heart against loving anyone ever again because the pain is too much. But then one night he's at a circus performance and there's a terrible "accident" where a little 9 year old boy (shhhh we ignore any other versions than that he was nine, dammit, it's important for the thematic parallels!) witnesses his world-class aerialists parents falling to their deaths. Dick Grayson's grief and loss spark something in Bruce and he takes on this grieving, angry, brilliant little boy as his ward. Now, not even God can stop Dick Grayson, who is going to get justice for his parents' murder, so eventually Bruce reveals that he's Batman and Dick basically barges his way into creating his sidekick persona, Robin. Bruce is not a fan of this, but seriously. He couldn't have stopped that kid, he tried. He could only put a leash on him. Dick brings light and joy back to Wayne Manor and they have the most fascinating relationship--they're father & son, they're brothers, they're best friends, they understand each other like no one else does, they fight like no one else in that family does, they love each other, they're so angry at each other, they're co-dependent and absolutely batshit about each other, they basically raise each other from the time Dick came to Wayne Manor. - Dick eventually grows up and starts clashing with Bruce more, especially as he gains his independence. Different versions happen differently in different continuities, but eventually it hits a boiling point and either Bruce fires him as Robin or Dick quits because he can't deal with this. He goes off to become Nightwing, while Bruce eventually meets another kid who (in the most common version) tries to steal the Batmobile's tires because he needs the money. Circumstances happen, Bruce eventually ends up adopting Jason Todd, who becomes the next Robin. Things are relatively stable for awhile, until Jason learns about his birth mother and runs off to try to reconnect with her, except the Joker's got his sticky fingers all up in this situation, and it results in Jason dying in the exploding building.

- Bruce is Not Doing Well after this, so in comes our favorite horrible little stalker gremlin Tim Drake, who hunts down Dick Grayson and says, hey, you gotta become Robin again because Batman's going to get himself killed if you don't. Dick is like, no, I fucking do not. Tim responds with, well, guess I gotta do it myself then and basically barges his way into being the next Robin. He bonds with Dick as a brother (who is far and way Tim's favorite, imo), he does his best to be as good of a Robin as he can be. - Things are better after that, they're fairly well into Batfamily territory by this point. Jason comes back and, originally, it was supposed to be a trick, it was a villain pretending to be him, but was later retconned to actually be Jason who came back and... it's complicated. I don't think they really knew what to do with him once he came back, so he kind of ping-pongs around with varying levels of villainy for awhile. - Then we get to the time around Batman R.I.P. where a lot of shit happens all at once, especially for Tim. Bruce dies fighting a Justice League villain, Tim also has his bio-dad die around this time, his relationship with his ex-girlfriend/good friend is kind of going to shit, the boy he's in love with (not canon at the time, but current day storylines basically confirm it was true) also died and it wrecked Tim, like he lost his MIND over Conner Kent's death, there's this annoying little shit Damian Wayne who has showed up as the bio-son of Bruce, and then suddenly Bruce also dies. And Dick has to become Batman because Gotham needs Batman and he's in mourning and dealing with Jason being back and everything OFF THE RAILS as various people are like, "No, I'M going to be Batman now!" and Dick has to shut all that shit down and take up the mantle himself despite that he doesn't want it AND deal with Damian being an emotionally traumatized 11 year old baby assassin who has been abused into being a killer his entire life (I mean, it's comics, don't take it too seriously) and he needs something to hold onto or he's going to leave and go back to killing, so Dick and Alfred give the Robin mantle to Damian, which pisses Tim off because he's not doing well and sees it as a betrayal (while Dick was asking for his help as an ally, that he was ready to graduate to being more than just Batman's sidekick) because he's lost so much. - So we have Dick & Damian as Batman & Robin (THIS ERA WAS SO GOOD), Tim as Red Robin (fandom way overplays Tim and Dick's tension, they come back together after their dramatic few months), and eventually they find Bruce who was lost in the time stream (don't ask) and then, WHAM, Nu52 happens. But basically, that's the Robins timeline. I'm skipping over Steph's turn as Robin because it was so short and it was clearly set up just to knock her down, as well as not touching on Cass much because this is long enough as it is and I'm trying to circle back to focusing on Jason-friendly stuff.

WHERE TO START: Ask a dozen different people where to start and you'll get a dozen different answers! I think starting anywhere is fine and it's going to depend on what you like--for example, I'm personally not that into the animated DC movies (not enough of my Blorbo) but "Batman: Under the Red Hood" is generally very well-regarded as an updated version of Jason's return and is nicely self-contained if you want to watch it without much other context. I also think watching the Justice League animated series from 2001 is fantastic if you want a funny, charismatic, streamlined adaptation of what the Justice League is like. (Batman: The Animated Series was groundbreaking at the time and a really good adaptation, but very dated by this point in time, so I hesitate to recommend it too much, even though it's beloved to me.) The Wayne Family Adventures is an absolutely adorable, delightful webtoon adaptation that is very light-hearted compared to the mainline comics! I like recommending it to new fans because I think it's super easy to start reading without too much extraneous context and gives you an idea of the characters' relationships to each other, so long as you understand that it is EXTREMELY soft and is much in the vein of LEGO Batman content--you're not supposed to take it super seriously, there are times it's deliberately crossing into something like parody territory, but that doesn't mean it's not genuinely funny, charming, and a great read. @fantastic-nonsense has an incredibly thorough list of recommendations for comics by character here, and you can scroll down to the Jason Todd section and start reading there! Or you can check out the "A STARTING POINT: BATMAN IN OTHER MEDIA" section because I pretty much 100% agree with everything she says about the various adaptations. I like recommending "Young Justice" as an introduction to DC, so long as you understand that it's a loose adaptation and that the team compositions and various relationships are not always going to be accurate to comics dynamics. I have my own comics recs tag, but I'm more Dick-focused, so your mileage is going to vary on how useful you might find my recs! But basically, you can't go wrong with starting with "A Death in the Family", then "Under the Red Hood" (movie then comics) and "Red Hood: The Lost Days". Basically, anything by Judd Winick has a good chance of being a solid read for him. It's hard to recommend Jason comics, because so many of them are either not great or require knowledge of the events that are going on around the same time--but, honestly, once you're familiar with the set-up, I do think you can pick up almost any trade and pick up context along the way. I personally also loved "Robins: Being Robin" series, because all five of the Robins working to solve a case together and being unhinged weirdos at each other is my jam. (But I like pretty much anything Tim Seely writes!) I also always recommend the 2016 Nightwing series because Dick is my Blorbo, but I also think "Robin & Batman" by Jeff Lemire is a fantastic story to understand who baby Dick Grayson is and his relationship with Bruce, and both "The Long Halloween" and "Dark Victory" are some of the best Batman comics I've ever read, but they can be tough to get through if you don't like Tim Sale's very stylized art.

WHERE TO FIND THESE THINGS TO READ? The movies and animated series should be on HBOMax and/or Netflix, and comics I always recommend hitting up your library to see what they have--so many libraries have a ton of comics available, especially digitally! And, if you have a library card, it's very possible that your library partners with Hoopla, where they have a ton of Batman comics! You can also check out DC Universe, which has almost all DC comics if you get a subscription.

TL;DR: If you want bigger context on how all this stuff works, start with either "Justice League" or "Young Justice", they're really cute, fun adaptations. If you want to get straight to the Jason stuff, start with "A Death in the Family" --> "Under the Red Hood" --> "Red Hood: The Lost Days" --> "Batman: Urban Legends vol. 1". (And, yeah, you have the right impression of Talia! She often gets written as a villain, but she's also often a lot more complex than that, it really depends on who you get to write her. The corner of fandom I hang out in is generally more generous to her, but some of the actual comics can be kind of rough. But she's complex and has a lot of sharp edges, so, you know, I love her, too. 😂)

[dgiacomo]

Hey mun I have a question about Giacomo’s age

Why do you depict him when he’s like 20 during ScarVio’s events? Since I see people normally depict him in his late teens :O

[I've met with an awful lot of resistance about his age, honestly, though mostly from people off of this website (thankfully!)... but there's absolutely a reason. Multiple, really!

Before I start, let me just state that what I'm about to say is my opinion/analysis of this media and mine alone... the fact I interpreted it in this way doesn't stop anybody else's interpretation from existing or change the base material. These are purely my thoughts behind why I did what I did a whole year ago now (wow).

---

Ok, so first of all! Yes, it's very easy to sit and go "this is a school so everybody in it is going to be between the age of 11 and 18 THAT IS A FACT" and usually, that's the thought lines I'd go to as well... but the game explicitly and often reminds that the faculty is an academy.. and that people of ALL AGES can be in it... there's even a guy who... says he's been flunking for 60 years or something and he needs to get credits?! Come on, dude. XD

But yes, the fact is that they have explicitly stated that attending and grades do not equal age... in the DLC even there's somebody who says you can't determine somebody's year group by their age/vice versa because of this fact (so Blueberry also runs on the same rules). Students can also fail and fail and fail and take the year over and over basically indefinitely and not be kicked out as long as they attend in some way.

So. Somebody studying at the academy isn't a child is the fact you can gather from that. That's what they're trying to say, I'd guess.

---

So that's the base work for the theory. Another aspect was that back when the game had JUST released... I actually saw a lot of people complaining that Giacomo, in particular, "looked like an old man being all 'hello fellow kids'"... back then that was a popular take, people interpreted him as older and it was weird to them that he was supposed to be a student when he looked OLD to them.

That was another step in the theory.

---

Next comes the actual game content. When I started this blog/comic, I had a handful of story segments I wanted to tell and explore, I basically planned all of it before I started (and we've seen a lot of them at this point, but not all). I needed to determine all the information I knew before I started. That was;

Team Star are a bunch of students who were bullied in the past.

At least 1.5 years before the game starts, these students carried out their plan to beat the bullies

In these 1.5 year prior flashbacks, they are all the same heights and build as in the "current day"

Giacomo was student council president at least a while before the 1.5 year prior flashbacks

They have advanced skills in things like auto mechanics and seamstry

What that tells me is that these characters had reached their mature heights at least 1.5 years before the game began... for girls that's around 14/15, but for men that's 16-18. For Giacomo in particular, he has a very broad set of shoulders and a sturdy build (in the base game, a year ago)... so he has reached his full shoulder/chest broadness which men only achieve when they are 20 or older.

That told me that Giacomo AT LEAST was over 20 years old in the flashbacks 1.5 years prior to the game. He's at least 21/22.

---

Then I looked at his past. He was student council president at least some time before the 1.5 year prior flashbacks. We've seen his student council hair, it's short. Hair takes time to grow. From my notes here I worked out that he must have been president at least 3 years before the game to allow his hair to grow out that much before the flashbacks.

I'm pretty certain people only really get the chance to be student council president in their final study year (in real life, I'm not sure it's ever mentioned in game), it tends to be a privilege that final year students get... so he was in his final year when he was in that position... and his shoulders were the same, so he was at least 20 at that point as well.

That would make him at least 23 in the base game at this point!

Also, he's balding and has been since he was student council president XD And it's quite strong, he has a big old forehead. Looking that up, the first signs of balding can start (thinning etc) at 17 if you're particularly unlucky with genetics. I had to account for his balding to have progressed as far as it had by the time he was president, 3 years before the start of the game!

---

What made me decide for 25 for his age is just the thinking that for him, he probably went to the academy as a university age student. He had to have been bullied for quite a few years prior to be in his final year and that bitter.

That aside, I find it hard to believe a bunch of kids would be master hackers, master engineers, master seamstresses etc. over 1.5 years prior to how we're seeing them now XD I'm somewhat stuck on Ortega's age because he is SO SHORT but he always has been SO SHORT... but he's also a master auto mechanic. I find it very hard to suspend my disbelief that a 12 year old could build those Starmobiles on their own... considering they have all been in limbo basically for at least 2 years, I think they are all older than you'd think

(A side thought is that I doubt children could get away with playing truant for 1.5+ years without being expelled or given detention or something... It's only adults you can't force to attend an education and can only threaten with dropping their enrolment if they won't attend.)

----

Anyway, that's a simplified thoughts version of the gruelling process I went through to pick an age for him that made sense for me for this comic. I probably missed bits out that also went towards me deciding this age, if I remember them, I'll add them!

Thanks for reading if you got this far. =B]

[bubblesxo]

I love your fic!!! I fucking adore de-aged Bruce fics and Gotham!Bruce is such a fun way to go about it!! And oh, is there anything in particular you’re looking forward to writing with Bruce and everybody? Or anything you wanna share about the process? I’m super curious!!!

oh thank you so much!!! that means so much to me to hear <33 i'm really glad that you're enjoying the story! i agree, gotham!bruce is a really fun way to tackle the topic of bruce's youth.

i'm really excited to write more bonding between bruce and his kids, as well as some alfred and jim scenes coming up!! (of course, harvey will be making another appearance, don't worry! he's just basically in dix's position in gotham canon here---very knowledgeable, very seasoned, but a bit older at this point. he's happily retired with a wife, and is distinctly spending it away from gotham XD) this fic was made with family relationships in mind, so i'm excited for when bruce finally begins to trust them a bit and starts to care about them more. (as a sneak peak for the next chapter, i'll say now that damian makes an appearance very soon!)

speaking of alfred, i really need to lore drop about him more coming up.

anyway, one of my favorite things ever to include in the fic is bruce random lore-dropping. like, his family has NO IDEA about most of the stuff he casually says, it's just such good comedy fuel for me XD i need some comedy to offset the trauma that all of the characters have, after all!

i have some plot points coming up that i am so so so excited to write!!! more short-term, i have a character coming up that's been mentioned a few times in-fic already as a bit of foreshadowing. he's only in like one chapter atm but miiightt make an appearance later. *wink wink*

more middle-term, there's an arc coming up soon that is gonna be both angst and comedy gold. it includes a character who has been mentioned by name but not discussed haha. he's around for a while (meaning at least a few chapters as a very very prominent character and probably a few as more of a background character) and i know that people are probably gonna be super hype when i introduce him, especially from the time period i'm taking him from!!

finally, i have an important long-term plotline that's going to go on in the background for most of the fic. i was thinking about writing it in a bit more blatantly in about 4 chapters, but now looking at all of this written down, i think i'll shove that chapter into the next round and write something a bit more foreshadowy for now and less obvious. i don't wanna give the plot away too soon, after all! (if you try, you can probably guess the character i'm referring to here, though probably not his name...)

i'm thinking of doing a special babs chapter coming up to talk about her whole parentage thing in this ficverse, too! do you think that would be interesting to anyone? LOL

i also am going to start tying selina in more often in the future, which is going to be a ton of fun!! and looking back on all of this, i'm starting to worry about just *how long* this fic is going to be XD but hey, whatever! i'll go with my muse.

looking back on what i wrote, this seems to be suuuuper vague, and i'm sorry about that!! but mid-term and long-term ones are a bit of a surprise and a mystery, respectively, and i don't want to spoil the fun too much XD

thank you so much for the ask!! i love talking about things on here, especially my fic! feel free to send more asks if you ever feel like it<33 and of course thank you so much for reading and enjoying my fic !!<33

[lalaurelia]

I have been tagged months ago by @sunlitroom - thank you! It has taken me so long to actually post this, several things have changed XD

Last song: Come Along by Titiyo, which I have somehow unearthed in my very old playlist. Today has this song's vibe.

Current book stack: I am trying very hard to finish the wolves series by Maggie Stiefvater. I loved her Raven Cycle and wanted to read more, but somehow the Wolves of Mercy Falls fail to grab me in the same way, so it takes a long time to actually begin reading again. Not sure about the reason, maybe because it's an earlier work, or maybe the characters just don't click with me, I don't know.

Last film: I watch films so rarely, I have literally no idea. It was probably Barbie. Or maybe Dune. I loved visuals in both, but not so much the overall experience.

Last show: Now this one's easier XD I rewatched the first two seasons of Alex Rider and finished the last one. I'm kinda sad I won't see those dorks anymore, even if I found the last season's writing the weakest. Oh, and if anime counts, I've begun watching Dungeon Meshi and it's funny and cute and sometimes creepy (but what the hell is going on with Netflix subtitles, they're fucking lying in every sentence - do yourself a favour and watch a softsub not by them). It's been a while since I've watched anything ongoing. Having to wait a week for the next episode is an unfamiliar sensation by now XD

Current obsession: It is, most likely, still Gotham. I keep thinking about it so often, writing bits here and there, and plan to rewatch it again. It's funny, but nothing has really come close since Gotham that has this particular obsession value.

Tagging, if they'd like to play: @shadow-waterglow, @fandomfourever, @pigandpepper, @birdwatching-goesbothways, @jasadhyana

[secretmellowblog]

For the character ask game: Cosette, 2 + 25 👀

Thanks for the ask, even though I'm answering it late! (For this ask meme) #2. Favorite canon thing about this character? My favorite canon thing about Cosette is the way she parallels Jean Valjean-- not just in their traumatic backstories, but also in the way they both often "perform" politeness and kindness. Cosette needs to perform happiness for Jean Valjean in order to convince him to take care of himself, and it's...deeply sad! She has to 'trick' him into not doing self-destructive things by framing it in cheerful lighthearted ways, papering over difficult problems with polite nothings, pretending not to be that frightened or upset, and it's...very sad. And it feels like something that he taught her. The moments when she attempts to stop all the cheerfulness and talk to her father directly always tend to end with Jean Valjean breaking down-- like the moment when she asks "are you angry with me because I am happy?" or her attempts to ask directly about her mother, which both end with Jean Valjean shedding tears and avoiding her questions. There's something very realistic about that failure to communicate. I don't know whether Hugo fully considered this a negative thing-- but I do think he understands the way that children often put on a great performance of happiness in order to help their parents. Cosette is in many ways just Victor Hugo projecting his trauma over the death of his own young daughter onto Jean Valjean and Cosette's relationship, and like. As much as Cosette's writing is often deeply imperfect/ sexist, and as much as I think she should've been given more interiority and agency in the end of the story--- I think you can tell that Hugo did sincerely love his daughter? Cosette doesn't feel like a one-note cloying ingenue to me, but a fictionalized version of a real daughter Victor Hugo sincerely loved. I also think that Child-Cosette in particular is written very well! Lots of authors struggle to write children, but Hugo really captures a lot of the way children think and speak-- young Cosette isn't a cloying innocent ingenue, she's a starving frightened angry child, and it makes her teenage self far more interesting as a contrast. As a random addition: Hugo doesn't go into this, but it's fascinating how Cosette is extremely good at lying. She and Jean Valjean kind of share that talent. Very few people manage to trick Jean Valjean-- Marius fails utterly at pretending he's not in love with Cosette, and falls into all of his traps-- but Cosette manages to hide a secret love affair from him for a very long time. It's interesting how the two of them are very good at lying and concealing things from each other, and I don't fully know what to make of it.

Also my hot take is that anyone who thinks Cosette is a bland one-note ingenue should read Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities, and contrast her with Lucie Manette. XD I used to be obsessed with A Tale of Two Cities, but it's basically just "what if Les Mis was bad and all the criticisms about it were actually true?" That novel also features a young ingenue who takes care of her traumatized ex-prisoner father-- but unlike Cosette, Lucie has no interiority or depth, and doesn't feel like anything resembling a real human young girl. All of the interesting things about Cosette- like her naivete/coming of age story, or the way her excessive bubbliness is often an act she puts on for her father's happiness, or her silly funny dialogue, or her own hard past that parallels her father's-- just aren't there. Again, there are lots of places where I think Hugo's writing of Cosette fails; but there's also a lot of interesting details that are easy for people to explore and dig deeper into in fanworks.

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

My first impression of this character was that she was Fine, but not very interesting? But the more I got invested in the novel and the fandom, the more I appreciated her as a character! Hugo's writing of her is deeply flawed, and she isn't given enough attention in the ending of the book specifically, but there's enough really compelling stuff there to be a great jumping off point for fanworks. I think I already answered how I see her now in the previous question, but I want to add that I also like that she's nicknamed Madame LaNoir, or the Lady in Black. Goth Cosette is canon! That's very fun to me.

[egg-emperor]

honestly I just expect and accept that in a bunch of official media, even including the games with Frontiers to a small degree, will have the odd bits of OOC dialogue with Eggman. there are times where I still go "he would not fucking say that" because there's just no way he'd ever actually say and mean such a thing, would ever say it that certain way, would ever actually feel a certain way to say it in the first place, etc

but my priority now is what were they actually going for and does that part work for his character? sure dialogue is very important and adds a lot, I love writing it the most myself and making it feel exactly like what the character would say and how they'd express it. but it's just highly likely for people to get it wrong from time to time and I personally would say that they are really just occasional and small

overall I'm happy with what all the strongest parts of the writing points towards most and revealed intent by the writers, that's what matters to me. I'd like for all the dialogue and scenes to never miss but there will be times where the odd couple of lines shouldn't have been there or could've been rephrased, vocalized and written in a way that was much more in character for him if anything

but again, I'm happy understanding what they're actually going for and what all the strongest writing and main sources point towards the most. for example, I think game Eggman overall is fantastic as ever. I think there's just some flubs here and there as they explore already existing assets of his character in different ways but will settle into it properly over time and gain more solid footing for the better

as for things like takeovers, it's been OOC for characters since the beginning, they've forgotten facts about the games and/or accidentally replaced them as a result, they've even gotten the names of things in games wrong. it's just simple social media fun lol. but I still enjoy them overall because it's not the solid finalized fully stamped and approved published media like the games

the big writers aren't involved, it doesn't go through tons of checks and changes, they're written fast on a time limit often based on how funny they think it'll be. they made Shadow a Taylor Swift fan ffs XD of course a big majority of the fanbase will treat it like canon, most of those don't play or like the games much anyway. it's honestly out of sight out of mind now, really not interested in fandom shenanigans anymore

I couldn't care less about fandom's wild takes and overemphasis on any sides anymore. all I can say is people will find ways to twist and misinterpret literally anything and it's a losing game lol. my blog is just to gush about Eggman, analyze things, share my thoughts, discuss with those who ask in my inbox/replies and then I leave. it's all become much more enjoyable after stepping back from general fandom

and that's what this post is again now, just my two cents as usual. not directed towards any situation or people in particular, just an overall observation of recent fandom from afar as I've taken a step back and where I stand on it based on focusing on the official media alone and avoiding the opinions of random strangers at any chance I get. the way the world is supposed to be but the internet's existence changed lol

I'm really satisfied and at peace with official Eggman and this is how I handle any small occasional OOC moments. I still understand and like what they're going for based on what all the strongest writing and writer commentary points towards. I don't concern myself with what general fandom thinks and if they latch onto the small OOC parts, they don't have the power to influence anything beyond the social media acc

I also tell myself that sometimes writers on official media aren't as insane and obsessed about Eggman like me to the point I remember every line he's ever said and think very hard down to every last word and the inflections and ways it could be interpreted when writing him lol. so yeah chances are at that, they're gonna have him say some things where I feel it should've been different or removed at times

but again, as long as I'm happy with the official media with its strongest parts and especially the game canon media then it's all good with me!

[blastedking]

Hi! I hope you are doing alright.

When I first entered the Gloryhammer fandom a year ago, I genuiely thought all your art and comics were canon and made for the band, and honestly I'm still flabbergasted it's all fanmade content. So I wanted to know how you feel about all the stories you made, what place they had for you in your life and just in general what they represent for you. I hope this isn't too much of a personal question, all the efforts you put in this is fascinating to me, so I'm just curious about that.

Oh hey there! 

First of all, a bit thank you of course. Even though that notion of “thinking it is canon" would probably terrify some particular people xD But I think most do realise it isn't so eventually. I’m indeed just doing it for fun, as a hobby, trying to squeeze it into the free time I have between an actual job :’D

It’s an interesting question though, because the whole thing is naturally important to me, especially given the way I got into it. 

I got into Gloryhammer by chance in March 2020 I think, and by May that year I started the first comic. All art from that time is pretty rough since I genuinely had stopped drawing for a year at that point, because I had started a new job and was still very bitter about having to stop doing art full time due to health reasons at the time. But I made room for this. I had the idea for this story line very early on - which I always called my “5 Year ULF plan” (which I’m still almost on-track on. Going to be 6 years now because stuff got added. Like the Powerwolf comic wasn't planned X))

So, getting into Gloryhammer, kind of revitalised my love for doing this stuff. Worldbuilding, making comics, art and stories.

It’s not been a smooth ride all the way, it is unfortunate to know that some people just don’t get that this is genuinely fun. But there are enough people who follow along and appreciate it. We may not be many, Gloryhammer itself is already niche, so ULF only takes another fraction from that, but it’s never been about clout.  (Like, there was this surreal moment when I posted (1) TF2 fan art in between the ULF stuff in late 2022 and it got like 2000 notes - which was like “ah right, it’s really about fandom size xD”) 

It IS an enormous amount of work though for sure. But it’s sufficiently varied. I finished the next comic a few weeks back (starting on the 22nd this month!!) And I am right now still in the “I never ever want to draw a comic ever again” phase xD but that will fade over the next months again. In the meanwhile I can focus on writing and other art. 

On a more theme related note concerning ULF and what it means to me,

The ULF worldbuilding carries forward a lot of themes and ideas and concepts I had been conceptualising for a long time already. Like ideas about immortality, magic, even the werewolves of Hatir are very closely based on Original content I’ve written before. It also focuses a lot on the idea of characters just not fitting in, or struggling to comply with the status quo in many variations. Which is also a theme that has been running through my stories since forever. There is definitely a lot in ULF that is either important or interesting/fascinating to me personally. (One would assume so I think xD) But at the end of the day, I do it because it's fun to me and I greatly enjoy the result this far.

It’s often very grim and dark - but in the end I always hope to get it to a brighter place. I still plan for a happy end for ULF. So there is hope in that :)

Thank you so much for the question! Answer got a bit rambly x) ❤️

[shnu-rock-san]

Day 7 - Family

And here I am finally completing the сhallenge on such a strong note. I didn't expect these designs would take me so much time and effort O_O Nevertheless, I'm extremely happy with the result!

So, all the fankids were created based on the Sims genetics, made more complicated and finalized by me afterwards. I assume they exist in the canon world AU, where Elyon amnestied Phobos but limited his powers and exiled him to Earth as a bastard, formally stripping him of his title. I cant imagine more realistic and comfortable scenario.

Not to spit rainbows, I will say that I think Phobos and Will are very average parents, they certainly try to be better than their parents, but in many ways, I suppose, they can f#ck up. The kids are psychologically traumatized either way XD Phowill are like children on themselves in my mind, so I often headcanonize them as a childfree couple.

The kids' names, by the way, have an interesting meaning: Abigail - "the joy of the father" (ironically) Alice - "generous, noble" Vincent - "victorious"

Vincent and his socks

He will pompously lecture you for three hours on why such socks are normal and why such a print is the only truly correct choice for socks. He will analyze their material, durability with adjustments for paint and colored threads, and explain why this particular character is appropriate and not someone else XD

[paladin-of-nerd-fandom65]

Roy Harper for the ask game. 1,3,and 12. Thank you :)

1. I love his divergence as a character apart from his fellow sidekicks at the time, making himself his own man his own way with gusto and distinction. Of course he bond with his daughter Lian remains forever a massive highlight that should never be overlooked or undervalued. Relationships like that are priceless when done well to which I can gladly say that particular one has been done all too well

If there’s a part to dislike, it’s more of what his moniker as Arsenal rather than Red Arrow have become for my consciousness when I hear it, mainly as a broody, emotionally stunted and utterly facepalming anti hero either under Deathstroke’s ‘Titans’ team or more tellingly as Jason Todd’s best friend. Like how the latter work anyways as a team people actually want to see? I ask you

3. Besides the whole Red Hood thing, the entire ‘Lian Harper getting crushed by a teleporting house courtesy of Prometheus, then Roy becomes Arsenal with a cybernetic arm in responses to it’ incident ranks pretty damn high on the most wretched things he’s involved with in canon

12. He regularly takes the Titans kids out for both training sessions, hangouts at theme parks and even tours of the JLA Watchtower. He often ranks among them as their second favorite honorary Uncle and second or fourth favorite Titan. Of course for Lian, he’s number one as her favorite Titan.

Thanks for the asks @confusedhummingbird Happy Turkey Day 2023 XD

[frostedsketches]

I'm not planning on going into full detail over the rest of the Mane Six like I did for Twilight, despite this, I think the Mane Six ships in the Hopes'nDreamsVerse deserve a bit more light and attention. There are some ships that are a bit unconventional and therefore need a little bit of explaning to be believable. I mean c'mon? When do you ever see Soarin and Rarity shipped, or Applejack and Double Diamond, or even Twilight and Star Tracker? ( I already did a thing on them, so go search it out of you're interested! )

So to curb your curiosity and disbelief, I will be explaining these ships, right here, right now.

Alright, well, Pinkie Pie X Cheese Sandwich and Fluttershy X Discord are pretty self-explanatory and don't have much to explain in terms of how they ended up together. The story of Rainbow X Thunderlane and Rarity X Soarin, is a bit more of a complicated discussion, given that it's more widely known for the husband's in these two ships to be swapped, and so you would probably think they would be. Well, I'm going to tell you why they aren't. . .

( Note: I LOVE Soarin X Rainbow and am partial to Rarity X Thunderlane, however they didn't work with the next gen characters I at the time had ideas for and wanted to design. Also Hopes'nDreamsVerse didn't used to be my main and I had never planned for it to be, but things change. My only regret really is that some of the ships I personally prefer didn't get to be a part of the main Next Gen that I strictly think happened after the show, so I can only save those for alternates, but really I'm fine with in the end )

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Being Wonderbolts together, it's natural that ponies within the fleet would form close friendships and sometimes even have romantic feelings bloom. Well that's exactly what happened between Rainbow Dash and Soarin, and Thunderlane and Cloud Chaser.

Rainbow and Soarin became fast friends, and even then, though she'd never admit it, Rainbow had quickly developed a bit of a crush that went slightly beyond her general fascination and hero complex towards the Wonderbolts as a whole, in fact she had always found Soarin to be kind of cute out of the stallions in the fleet.

Thunderlane and Cloud Chaser had already been friends before joining the Wonderbolts, and working together in such close proximity only escaladed their bond into something more. By the time Season 9 ended, in fact the evening after Queen Twilight's Coronation, Thunderlane proposed and the two pegasi got engaged. Only four months later were they married.

Rainbow and Soarin found romance and became in item around the time that Fluttercord and CheesePie were taking off, and though they were together for months and genuinely loved each other, in the end things took a turn for the worse. And that simply was their differing ideas for the future. Rainbow was perfectly content being his girlfriend and working on and rising up in her career, while he had always known that if he were to date he'd want it to be a permanent thing and to escalate, to eventually be something more, be something more to her and have something more WITH her. This is where the argument began, which eventually caused them to break up, though it left them both sore for awhile.

Meanwhile, Double Diamond, Party Favor, and Night Glider often liked to visit Ponyville to see their friend, and in PF's case, sister, Sugarbelle. Them being on the farm so often left room for Applejack to get to know them, and get to know Double Diamond in particular. Party Favor, once he met Miss Cheerilie, often took time to hang out with her in Ponyville while Double Diamond became interested in life on the farm and often snuck away to watch Applejack do her work — though he was genuinely interested in the work itself, he also loved to watch her work in particular, let's just say he has a thing for buff ladies XD.

Friendship and eventually feelings blossomed over the course of months and though they eventually became a couple, they being such good friends and keeping their romance out of topic to others, never really mentioned to anyone else their relationship until someone poking around eventually found out and spilled the beans to everyone.

Eventually when Rainbow decided to move on and stop showing how it still affected her, Rarity, single and by now thinking she'd always be so, took it upon herself to be match maker for her friends instead, and started sending her on blind dates, that is until the day Rainbow finally put her hoof down and told her she wasn't ready yet, that she was still bothered by her breakup and needed a bit more time, when she finally came clean about that, Rarity apologized and ceased. Double Diamond and Applejack are engaged at this point, Pinkie and Cheese are newly married and Fluttershy and Discord have just found out really early on that miraculously they're expecting a foal.

The night of the Grand Galloping Gala came. Rainbow Dash ran into Thunderlane and Cloud Chaser and hung out with them when they weren't performing. Rarity however, after the Wonderbolts show was done, stumbled upon Soarin keeping to himself and conversation struck between them, both getting along well, Soarin opened up about the breakup with Rainbow and Rarity offered some insight on Rainbow's side of the story, they ended up talking until the Gala ended and they both said their goodbyes, walking away strangely with warm, fuzzy feelings in their chests and fond wandering thoughts of each other for the next few days.

Fluttershy and Discord attended the Gala, but were forced to teleport back home when Fluttershy started feeling terribly ill and faint. Later that night Fluttershy miscarries the undeveloped embryo, and though it was so early that it wasn't even living yet, Fluttershy mourned greatly for what had almost been.

Thunderlane and Cloud Chaser's daughter Tornado Racer is born and while Cloud Chaser is on maternity leave, Thunderlane finds himself running into Rainbow more and more at work, and though at first it's all innocent and friendly, both ponies know they've walked into a mess when they start feeling things they shouldn't and Thunderlane's feelings for Cloud Chaser begin to dwindle due to less time with her and more and more arguments and disagreements at home, Cloud Chaser has always had a few red flags that never got resolved and they shine through more than ever these days, so you see it's not only his feelings for Rainbow that are contributing to their falling out.

After a particularly bad fight leaving both ponies with severely damaged feelings, Thunderlane comes to realize he doesn't feel right with Cloud Chaser and comes to realize his feelings for Rainbow are intensifying as she's been a good listening ear and comforting figure to him after fights with his wife.

Though he loves his daughter and has a bad feeling about what would happen if he were to leave her, he needs to get these feelings into words, soon confessing to Rainbow who feels the same way, but despite her feelings she gets mad at him, telling him firmly that if he really wants to act on these feelings, he has to choose, either forget about her and be a faithful husband to Cloud Chaser or get a divorce to avoid being a cheater.

Thunderlane didn't come to work for a few days after that, but when he finally did, he informed Rainbow he had made up his mind; he had told Cloud Chaser how he had moved on and wanted a divorce. Rainbow felt extremely guilty, thinking it's her fault for ruining Thunderlane's prior relationship, but ultimately knows that things were never really harmonious between them and it might've happened even without her muddying the circumstances.

They were married only a few months after the divorce was finalized, Thunderlane never talked of kids to her so she trusts he won't pressure her to have them instead of focusing on her career. He knows that's not what she wants and he doesn't trust that he'd be a good dad after leaving Tornado, the thought of it hurts too much and makes him feel even more guilty.

Cloud Chaser of course does not take this kindly, though she was half of the reason it ended this way, she refuses to believe that she was part of the problem and harbors feelings of abandonment and resentment, she blames Rainbow primarily, a belief and hatred she passed down to Tornado Racer, who's childhood is destroyed by this, though after a few years Thunderlane hears of his ex's spiral and tries his best to gain custody of his daughter, Tornado wants nothing to do with him, Cloud Chaser won't let him take her and after years he ultimately loses the battle. Tornado does have solace with her Aunt Flitter who takes care of her when Cloud Chaser is unable, but of course it's not enough to make how her life is going completely 'okay' and doesn't stop her from being messed up in adulthood.

By this time Soarin and Rarity have started seeing each other and eventually become a couple. Applejack and Double Diamond are married though ponies still wonder how their so chill and non-romantic in public ( they're very affectionate when it's just them, don't get me wrong here ). Rainbow and Soarin, now both with new partners that they love more than anyone, rekindle their previous friendship which spreads between both couples, so all four become good friends, all hurt feelings healed.

Sometime between the birth of Fluttershy's foal and Pinkie's twins, and the birth of Applejack's foal a year later, Soarin proposes to Rarity and Twilight and Star Tracker become great friends, soon to be married as I will soon explain, and soon couples are married not long after each other.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So there you have the summerized story of how these couples came to be! Hoping to have more out soon, so stay tuned! Now go out and Idk. . . keep being 20% cooler then the poor souls who haven't found joy in MLP :D

[damnation-if]

something that ive really enjoyed playing the demo is how sopping wet and pathetic i can make my mc. i feel like all too often in IFs or VNs, the writers seem to strive to make the player character very snarky or bold or assertive or things along those lines. i much prefer playing a meeker and more demure character personally. i enjoyed making my mc burst into tears LOL thank you for cringefail pathetic mc rep <3 theyre going through a lot!! excited to see where this goes!

lmao well i did say some time ago that the mc at the start of the game is more or less the equivalent of a level 1 human peasant npc in dungeons and dragons... it's a Precarious situation to be in XD there are critters (housecats in particular) that are capable of taking down a level 1 human peasant (also a level 1 wizard under the right circumstances, but that's less salient here haha). becoming a demon raises the mc's CR pretty significantly of course, but it hasn't had a chance to make much of an impact yet.

that being said, i'm really glad that i made the choice to include a boldness stat that allows for both ends of the scale, both because it allows players to choose a playstyle they like best, and also because i personally sometimes don't like feeling like i'm being pushed to be either uber-competent or completely sopping wet in games also. i probably shouldn't be as happy with the idea as i am, since it added a Tremendous amount of variation to the initial meeting scene with Malkorath, but for story reasons i really am enjoying it!

there's currently only one particular choice that majorly affects the boldness stat (deciding to either follow Molly-May or nope the hell out of there) - and it's also the choice with the most significant longterm effect on the plot in the whole game thus far... and maybe will stay that way, until it gets way into the "actually deciding your own fate" parts XD