#but they're not relevant to the plot despite being the first tag

[diedinparadice]

Yeah, I could go for a found family multi chapter fic with tagged romantic relationships that aren't explored too deeply, but in that kind of comfortably uncommitted kind of way where you could technically read them as friends since their relationship is mostly just a plot device to advance dialogue and avoid cluttering the story without a surplus of copy and paste friendships. Why do you ask?

[cupcakeslushie]

Okay. I've been tip-toeing around this AU for a while now, but I just got caught up, and now I think I have a (decent) grasp on what's going on. So I wanna go over everything I know so far to see if I'm right or wrong on anything. Don't know if you'd be willing to correct me or not. Either way, I hope my mistakes can help you understand what to clarify to other fans like me. But, I also have some questions. You probably won't be able to answer most of them, but it's at least worth a shot.

First, where's Venus? Like, why is she not in your comics that are (sort of) separate frome the canon now story. The ones that skip to the future way after all the turtles reunite. Did she die? Did she escape? Is it because she wasn't introduced yet when you made those comics?

Two, why do you keep on making references to the future timeline? I know you're planning on possibly making your own stuff leading up to the events of the movie. It just gives me a jumpscare when I see certain...imagery in those comics. I guess you're hinting at what your version of the future apocalypse would look like, but it just hurts to see. Specifically in the comic explaining both the events and aftermath of the movie and the bad future timeline. It's starting to really confuse my brain as to where this story is headed. What's meant to be the main focus? The Hamto's reuniting? The aftermath? Or the future?

Third, did you make all those min-comics before you started the actual AU? Or did you do them during?

Fourth, are any of those mini-comics relevant to the actual story now? Or have you changed your mind on a few things? It's just that everything is so all over the place, I don't really know whether to trust if they're accurate. I know most of them are just there for funzies, but the longer ones concern me. I guess I'm just not used to the storyteller doing sequel, start, prequel, start, sequel, prequel, prequel, sequel, and then end. Or maybe it's just me, and I'm sleep deprived.

My little observation speech is gonna take a while for me to get out in your asks because when I get theoretical, my speech gets long, and my proper English goes down the drain. So I'll be back. I appreciate your work very much. Despite the pain it causes me, it's still amazing.

I’ll try my best to clear up what confusion I can!

1. As far as Venus. The answer is kind of a mix of, I was still figuring out her design and backstory while coming out with some of those early comics, and then, once I had that down, I wanted the boys to grow strong bonds as a main cast. That’s why a lot of the side characters are only making small appearances in the Sep!AU Life stories, as those are mainly for the boys reconnecting. (Usagi shows up the most because I love him and am totally biased towards him).

This maybe hasn’t been stated outright, but I wasn’t really expecting so many ppl to like Vee as much as they do, and now im trying not to spoil too much of her story. It’ll unfortunately just take us a while to get to the meat of it. Since the boys reconnecting takes up a lot of the early s1s2 story, Im trying to follow the familiar Rise blueprint of Draxum, Shredder, Krang, and then in s3 we’ll have crazy fun new stories with the extra characters.

Ive also decided to take this little nugget from one of the Q&As, and use it for Venus instead of Jennika. It was a much needed bit of inspiration to explain why Venus sorta disappears for a while and will go through some major physical changes (not yet revealed) before the family can figure out a way to reach her.

2. I’m not sure if you mean jump scared in a bad/triggering or neutral way, but if you need me to tag anything on those posts please let me know!

The glimpses of the future timeline, are being scattered throughout wherever they parallel the present story in little ways, but that’s only for now. As we get closer to the movie plot, bigger chunks of the future will be revealed, because the future versions of the boys will have a larger role to play in the present timeline. So we will need more backstory than what the canon got. And also I just enjoy drawing my future versions so sometimes I don’t think too hard on a reason. I just like throwing them at ppl with no warning or reason.

When s2 ends, I plan on collecting all the future related stuff that’s been released, and recapping it for easier reading. Right now, it’s just little sprinkles of foreshadowing to give ppl an idea that, ‘oh crap. The doomed timeline is a bummer’. In my mind, I guess i thought it’d be kinda like a fun scavenger hunt for clues, but maybe ppl don’t like that 😅

3. All of the side-stories were written as the main comic was/is being released. A lot of them resulted from asks that just spawned the need to expand on certain ideas, or a desire to give all the turtles their time to shine.

For instance, when I was doing Donnie’s section of the main comic, it was a good few months where we hardly saw anyone but him and Venus. I wanted to just mix it up, and give Raph some love with his ‘Raph Time’ short. When Leo was front and center in the main, we hardly saw the others, so Mikey and Donnie got their little ‘Secrets’ short (and it was also I fun thank you for EW making it so far in the tmnt sep competition).

4. Anything that has been reworked/revised or just plain dropped should have an ‘Edit’ note because yes—I have gone back and changed some things, but more so from the asks i got in the early days, and some movie idea drafts.

All the short comics done in the last year, especially the ones that are listed in my pinned post, are canon and fall somewhere in the timeline. They’re like supplemental reading though—extra meat to give the world and the characters more personality. They do have particular backstory plot and important info in them, but nothing that shouldn’t eventually be re-visited/repeated in the main story.

um I hope that cleared up some things! I know it’s kind of a crazy amount of lore. I’ve tried my best to organize it in the pinned post, huge timeline, and search bar tags, but I know it’s getting harder and harder for newer ppl to jump in as it just get bigger. Thanks for reading regardless!

[sleepyorchidmonster]

Twst Rwby Au, but it's just the twst characters in the plot of rwby.

Silver as Ruby because of the silver eyes, and the fact that they both look up to their parents. Malleus is Yang, but still as awkward as ever, dude can't socialize unless you talk about gargoyles or weapons to him. (Also Yang's name means sunny little dragon, so it's PERFECT)

As for the rest of the team, Leona is Blake because cat people (Farena is the leader of the White Fang but was killed by Adam, so there's this whole revenge quest in later volumes). He and Malleus are a couple just like the bees!

Kalim as Weiss! Both white haired heirs with too much on their shoulders, though he is much nicer than V1 Weiss.

Oz is Crowley because headmasters with ulterior motives and a big relevance to the plot. Yuu is Oscar, they're suffering SO MUCH. Grim is a grimm, but he just behaves like a cat and protects Yuu.

Riddle as Pyrrha. Both talented redheads with potential and a sense of duty that ended up kickstarting the plot (Riddle's overblot and the Fall of Beacon).

Still not sure about the rest of JNPR, since part of me wants to add Trey and Cater as Ren and Nora, while the other wants Jamil and Azul to be part of the team... maybe add Ruggie and just make it a second year team. Or forget renora and let it be just the octotrio annoying Riddle until his untimely demise.

Team STRQ is just all of Malleus and Silver's parents. Meleanor is Summer Rose, still haunting the narrative, Lillia is Qrow, training all the kids and being the fun uncle/parent, Levan is Raven, following the tradition to leave their loved ones for reasons. The Dawn Knight as Tai.

Whether they are all dating or it's just Meleanor/Lillia/Levan with Dawn knight tagging along as the calm uncle it's up for debate.

Rambling a bit here, but Ruggie or Azul for Jaune would be interesting... Ruggie doesn't have a semblance and forged his documents to attend Beacon Academy, but ends up as Riddle's partner, who, despite being mad at the rule breaking, notes that Ruggie is smart and skilled and the lack of semblance shouldn't be a problem, it will come sooner or later (Ruggie made a really good first impression during initiation, also Crowley didn't seem to care for the lie, so no problem).

As for Azul, well, he also forged his documents and is SO SELF-CONSCIOUS of lacking a semblance or not having the best stamina, but his team encourages him and he becomes a talented sniper. Then Riddle dies and it's depression time, especially if we keep the bit where Pyrrha locks Jaune away for his safety. He just thinks he is holding people back and blames himself.

I tried to add a few ships, but mostly went with the characters and themes that matched. It also helps that rwby and twst are based on fairytales, though only a few people actually match. Since we have Kalim as Weiss instead of Neige (the team wouldn't survive if it was three NRC characters with a RSA student).

[xenonmoon]

Some last note before moving to MK 2016 volume 3:

Pros:

I really like the subversion of the "it was all a dream" trope. It being "all a dream" doesn't actually solve things, it makes them even worse and messier

Pacing is great, using switch frequency and entity of the bleedout among each one of them to build tension towards not the final act of this volume's plot but what appears to be the middle one, turning instantly in a moment of surprise when all parallel stories instead of converging with each other drop out into Marc's. The second part with the confrontation instead of escalating again it de-escalate step by step from action to calm, heartfelt moments until only Marc is left, alone. Nice

I keep thinking using different artists and scenarios for each character is a BRILLIANT way to have a visual rendition of how different alters filter the situation through different lens

Despite being a bit cartoonish/exaggerated I liked how frustrating the police interrogation felt with its ableism towards Jake. Makes you feel the character's powerlessness in that situation

Leaving Vengeance (and the latter part of the 2006) aside, since they only features Jake and in a very ambiguous way that's very passable as Marc With A Different Name, Steven and (proper) Jake hadn't had a real active role in the narrative outside when Moench was writing them. It's nice and refreshing to finally see them back as being part of Moon Knight as they should be.

Steven's narrative is how the Bendis run should have been and you can't change my mind

Love love looooove how Lemire recontextualised the dubious writing the character's had over the years into Marc's point of view - how he thinks about his condition and how to deal with. He also does a plentiful of acknowledgements that are a HUGE step forward to stop considering having alters as something bad - despite still thinking he need to get rid of them to be "sane". But will get back at this with the volume 3

Cons:

Jeff Lemire possibly only read the first volume of the Epic Collection, so he knows the basics of the Oldies but not enough to use them effectively inside the plot. They're either "extras", background stuff, namedrops, or very vague and/or ooc. This leads to their appearances being one of those cases when the callbacks are best enjoyed if you're in the middle of the spectrum between not knowing the characters and knowing them fairly well: you either just heard of them (and/or seen very marginal stuff) or remember them by long faded memories. One of those cases where elements and/or a product holds itself up for most part by nostalgia or a very shallow knowledge of the source.

This also lead to potential thematically relevant characters to be cut out of the narrative, like Morpheus.

Jake's characterisation is. I don't know how to describe it. It was fine and fairly coherent with Moench's up until the confrontation scene, when by the way Marc talks to him it seems backbuilt almost from scratch to fit Wood's heavy drift (or switch with Marc's, can be also seen as that). That resulted in a weird superimposition between him and Moon Knight and while he is not identified as "the evil alter" it flies dangerously close by being at least the violent one. This is 99.9% what inspired MCU Jake's (I can't really say characterisation since we see him for like 2 seconds but. actions?). Detaching itself even from the last bits of Moench that the 2016 still kept the MCU incarnation took a long turn away from the comics' original concept and well. I think the moon knight tag is full of self-explanatory examples of the domino effect it caused on the long run. Sighs

Despite this run's approach to MK's condition being revolutionary in the context of the history of how this character has been written after the original run closed, there are some bits that are still based on misconceptions around how the condition worked - meaning, the core theory according to which there is one "real" or "original" identity in the system and the others all formed later and- ugh that they are or used to be childhood imaginary friends. Surprisingly, the original Moench run which was written back when people knew next to nothing about the condition is more accurate on this point since it treats all three (four considering MK) more or less equally as different identities of the same individual

Let's talk about Commander. I get it, Lemire needed an alter to function as a "placeholder" to Marc for the tripartite altered narrative that dominates the heart of this volume, but you can feel by the way he's treated that's kind the throwaway one. Or, at least, the most throwaway one once its purpose in the narrative is fulfilled

That's all I could cook up for this volume! Moving to the third and final one!

[dedtoot]

watched the jsrf documentary recently and i am so unbelievably dissapointed

moved my rant from the tags to here. Spitted too much. Not like it matters to anyone except me cuz post is irrelevant now

Ok ik that i should not have expected something actually accurate from this video, considering how the fandom is and considering that from the very start i've seen the red flags so to say

One of these red flags is that jsrf is "literally LITERALLY just tony hawk games but roller skates". The first actually concerning thing i heard from others about it. It's my go-to way to determine that the person I'm listening to probably has no idea what they're talking about or a really missinformed. Never failed me so far

But oh man, even keeping that in mind, i did not expect whatever i got

Not only there were just no actual game analysis, which is wild, since you're like SAYING why this game is worth being played, but everything actually game related is a straight up lie

YEAH WE'RE GETTING TO LYING ABOUT GAME MECHANICS HERE

First, saying that grind combos areva rhythm game element. It could be just some weird wording, but it's just. Not true at all. Also calling this mechanic "silent". Whatever that supposed to mean. Not only it's not silent because Roboy tutorials exist and this mechanic is there, and nowhere us it said to be rhythm based, only timing based. And the tutorials ARE useful, since the controls were really expended here(using pretty much every button on the controller), but also that's not a silent mechanic purely for the fact that the character itself isn't silent during the entire thing.

Second. Saying that all characters got unique stats and that is showing off their personality. And uhh. What does that say about the love shockers and the immortals, with their stats. Or hell, clutch and jazz, who are literally right next to each other in the character select screen. It's dumb what I'm trying to say.

And not to mention the general overhyping of the game, by saying it's so so deep and thought-provoking oohhh(but then also never mention that one of jsr inspirations was movie fight club.why). And then just. Ignore that this is a game with not much dialogue. And then ignore every character aside dj k?????????

Like I'm not asking about talking about every single character, but at least like. Mention the plot relevant one's ??? Just the ones you can't possibly avoid. I know that dj k is the main man here but he alone does not move the story.

This kind of overhyping genuinely ruined my experience. Like i was under the impression that I'm gonna experience something out of this world and fun. But i came out of it disappointed. Mind you, i still have a lot to like about the game, but it's just. Not this. This is literally the the worst thing you can do when recommending the game. You will disappoint people. It's not this big grand thing because it wasn't allowed to become one. It's a sad but inspiring story about how even despite this, game is still liked. You don't need to pretty it up, lay out the truth.

Next thing about the video is that this is not a game documentary, but some random hot takes with some lies and long history lessons.

History lessons were a good part of it, but the fact that they put the us culture stuff before talking about the japanese culture is umm. This is a game made to portray a japanese culture from the time?? Like specifically. It's confirmed. To the point that one dev did not like the inclusion of grind city levels in jsr, because, in his mind, it was watering down its identity. Not to mention that this practice specifically existed just to make overseas audiences more comfortable, which is real fucking problematic if it's about something culture related imo. Anyway, he has a point.

Absolutely not denying the influences from other cultures here, because that's just stupid and wrong, but get a clue jeez.

And related to getting clues. This video used videos of actual protest while dj k's monologue was playing in the background. YOU JUST DON'T DO THIS. It's gross. It's weird to do even IF the game gets that real. And this game sure as hell doesn't.

Also do not understand who was this vid even made for, since fans will get nothing new out of it and newcomers wont understand what's the game is about and will be thrown into a sudden history lesson

So yeah highly don't reccomend watching

(update. i spitted out most of my problems with it and my comment was removed. so much for that free speech topic present and indorsed in the vid. also i made a vid that explains my points better)

[terramythos]

TerraMythos 2021 Reading Challenge - Book 1 of 26

Title: Annihilation (The Southern Reach #1) (2014) - REREAD

Author: Jeff VanderMeer

Genre/Tags: Horror, Science Fiction, Ecological Horror, Cosmic Horror, Weird, First-Person, Unreliable Narrator, Female Protagonist

Rating: 10/10

Date Began: 1/01/2021

Date Finished: 1/05/2021

Along an isolated stretch of coast lies Area X, a pristine wilderness which appeared decades ago and decimated all human civilization within its borders. The only people to enter since have been official expeditions overseen by the mysterious Southern Reach. Annihilation follows the twelfth expedition, an all-female party of four including a psychologist, an anthropologist, a surveyor, and a biologist.

The biologist has a secret; her husband was a member of the doomed eleventh expedition. He returned a shell of his former self before being quarantined and suddenly dying of systemic cancer. She seeks answers for what happened to him. But after the party discovers a strange underground staircase with a manic sermon written along the wall, she soon finds herself infected by Area X itself.

I am walking forever on the path from the border to base camp. It is taking a long time, and I know it will take even longer to get back. There is no one with me. I am all by myself. The trees are not trees the birds are not birds and I am not me but just something that has been walking for a very long time... 

Full review, some spoilers, and content warning(s) under the cut.

Content warnings for the book: graphic violence and gore. Lots (LOTS) of body horror. Some non graphic sexual content. Mind control/hypnotic suggestion is a plot point, but there's an implication it goes beyond that. There's a pervasive sense of unreality. 

Part of me wishes I could read this book, and series, for the first time again. Annihilation is a short read with a weird, disturbing horror story at its core. Area X feels vibrant and alive in creepy ways, and the mental effect it has on the few human characters is profound. It's basically a peaceful nature preserve, but there's something deeply unsettling about the state of decay, oddly aware creatures, pervasive sense of being watched, and how it twists the minds of the characters. The biologist's asocial view of the world colors how she interacts with the setting and the conclusions she draws about Area X, The Southern Reach, the Tower, the lighthouse, and everything in between. The result is an eerie story with a scientific, almost clinical narrator experiencing something beyond human understanding.

But only parts of the overall mystery surrounding Area X are solved in Annihilation; there is an explanation, there are enough hints to figure it out, but good fucking luck. You learn there's some kind of conspiracy and shady shit going on, and the biologist gets some things right... but also some things wrong. This is either infuriating or enough of a tease to encourage one to read the rest of the series (back in 2015, I was the latter). While Annihilation is self-contained, it leaves more questions than answers.

On a reread, everything is different. One thing I admire about VanderMeer is how he integrates hints and foreshadowing without making them too obvious; something I noticed with his Ambergris series as well. In Annihilation, some of this is thematic stuff that doesn't pay off until later books ("desolation tries to colonize you"). Sometimes the biologist draws the right conclusion for the wrong reasons (everything about the psychologist and how she seems burdened). Or some things are way more horrifying with later information (why the moaning creature is Like That even though the dolphins and other animals are almost normal).

Probably my favorite example, though, is eight pages in, the biologist mentions a weird vision she had. It's a throwaway line; just one of a dozen examples on how Area X affects the mind. With later knowledge, though, it's literally foreshadowing the biologist's fate in the final book, Acceptance. You can piece together later bits within Annihilation to see how significant this moment is, but I don't think most will. And there's just tons of stuff like that that doesn't come off as important, but is a little treat for anyone rereading the story.

I guess what I'm saying here is that as much as I like the base story of Annihilation, it's better in many ways on a reread. I wish I could remember my original impressions, because now they're inextricably affected by my knowledge of what happens later in the series. I know that the mystery of it all enthralled me, but I also know lots of people drop the first book due to a lack of concrete answers. If I were to read it again for the first time, who would I be?

Besides that, something I like about this book is the gradual dissemination of information. We start in the thick of Area X and the doomed twelfth expedition, but there are several sequences where the biologist will reflect on her past and her relationship to her husband, which add context to everything else. It's just a structural choice, but one I personally like; it makes her backstory relevant without detracting from the horror or killing the pacing. I like the glimpses of her “ordinary” life and how it juxtaposes/complements the bizarre nature of Area X. 

And the horror factor is just on point. VanderMeer really shines when writing horror because everything just feels... off. Something terrible is happening, but a lot of it is psychological or just out of reach. And when the creepiness is more overt (i.e meeting The Crawler), it's great, jarring cosmic horror.  Lighthouses are a special interest of mine, so I love seeing a horror story with one as a focal point (so to speak). I dig how Area X feels like a character in the story; the mark of a good setting, especially in horror.   

To me Annihilation is a comfort read despite being a disturbing horror story. I like seeing all the moving parts and knowing how it works, and it's a very short novel compared to Authority and Acceptance. I highly recommend this series if you're looking for a creepy, cerebral story which uses nature as the backbone for cosmic horror. For those who have seen the movie, it's a much different story with a similar tone, so if you wanted more... good news! Read the books! But they're also pretty weird and sometimes dense reads, so not for everyone.

I'll be rereading Authority next, which I remember is longer with slower pacing. Let's see how it goes!