#does that get better? is the shenanigans and actual story worth it?

[flintbian]

Can someone tell me what gtn/The Locked Tomb series is actually about? Unfortunately when people recommend it they often just say "lesbians necromancers in space" and that just ain't enough,,, but I see it all over my dash and I'm curious 👀

[uraniumbones]

And actually while we're talking about the parallels between Bill and Stan let's talk about the differences. Cause honestly that's just as interesting. Bill seemingly had immensely loving and supportive parents but faced a lot of ridicule by those outside his family. Stan's parents were the complete opposite for him and he wanted very badly to become someone they could love. For Stanley everything he does is about his family and for Bill everything he does is for acceptance (Yes world domination is about acceptance by the world). And that's so interesting to me because in both cases that's not going to work. Stan changing himself was never going to make his family care about him. And changing the entire world was never going to make people like or accept Bill. When Stan loses Ford any reasonable person in Stan's position would've probably given up. That machine built by a genius and a demon? Repaired and operated by a highschool dropout? Who knows what'll even happen if you open it again. But Stan just got to work. And didn't stop working until he got his brother back. Bill though, after the Euclydian massacre he moved on to a new world. No desperate time shenanigans, no search for technological or magical solutions. No pleas to the axolotl. It seemed impossible and so he did not try. In the end Stan "gets his life and family back" not because he has become someone worth loving but because his family's perception of him changed. I.e. Ford and the twins started to see him as a hero. He would have done anything for his family his entire life anyway. He has always protected Ford. He has always protected the twins. But all the sudden they see it. Bill does not get any of that acceptance he had wanted from the world.

And when it comes down to it I think regrettably that is it vulnerability and honesty that saves you. The reason Ford never understood Stan as he was was partially a bit of self centeredness and arrogance (not in a judgemental way this was def influenced by the way people treated him as a kid) but its also partially because Stan never tells him anything. When he's on the streets homeless he doesn't tell his brother, when he's acting out and causing trouble and being louder than the kids who would bully Ford about his fingers he doesn't tell his brother that. Like if someone saw the full picture of Stanley's story they would absolutely feel for him. To be honest that's what made this fandom like Bill Cipher! We got a better picture of him. We understand why he is the way he is. Bill doesn't wanna show weakness, doesn't want anyone to look down on him. He wants to be the one in control. But look at all the AUs people have where Bill integrates into the mystery shack and gravity falls at large. It's about seeing he's a person. He's not only made up of hatred and malice. It's literally just empathy lol. But it makes sense that people don't have empathy or understanding when they don't know your agony. And that requires you to put down your tough guy act a little.

[realchemistry]

Everything that went right and wrong with 9-1-1 season 7 (according to me, duh!)

Let me start by saying that I enjoyed the season a lot, but that doesn't mean that it was flawless and I thought the finale didn't deliver. So, this is me pointing out what I did and didn't like and why, and how I wish it'd happened instead.

Also: it's a short and somewhat rushed season due to the writers' strike, this I know. You know who else knew? TPTB. So, nope, it’s not a valid excuse for any of its shortcomings. If they tried to bite off more than they could chew, that's on them.

Everyone knows that having a three-episode arc for the honeymoon was a bad choice, it was clear because the episodes dragged due to it and the Bathena drama made no sense. Let's say they had to keep up with the tradition and that it's a huge budget deal to build those sets so they had to milk them for all they were worth. Fine. It could've still been made more interesting, but wrong choices were made. I didn't appreciate the whole pirates taking over thing, and the season ended with the cartel, which... why do you want to have POCs being the bad guys so badly?

So, let's go by the assumption that having a three episode arc for Bathena's honeymoon was the only choice possible, fine... but didn't Madney deserve a lot of attention as well considering they got freaking married? Why was that not a two-parter? Why not have a first part with cases and some fun bachelor/bachelorette shenanigans, and have Chim disappearing be the cliffhanger? Why not dedicate a big chunk of the second part to that, like they did, and then actually give the wedding some breathing room? Sure, it mirrored their kiss after the whole Doug debacle but these are two main characters who got married. It's a drama show but the drama gets old if there are no bright moments in between.

The inclusion of Amir was interesting because of what it brought up in Bobby. Plus, the actor was clearly great and he was such a big deal that he, well, he was given A LOT of screentime. This made me mad because the show, as previously mentioned, was short on time as it was. Having a new character come in and have such a huge role would make sense if we were talking about a full season. As it was, his presence meant that some of our regulars were pushed to the background. Their storylines suffered for it, and while the show usually does this, it's sorta okay when screentime is divvied up between the regular cast. When it's an outsider... well, I have some issues with that. Like, we literally know more about Amir than we do about Ravi at this point. Also: Amir was clearly an amazing person and he was wronged time and time again. Athena got to play solo-cop as it's her thing, and we're supposed to think she was being heroic instead of downright wrong and abusing her power? If I were Amir, I'd sue her and I'd burn their house down for real (not really, but you know what I mean). They put this man through hell. Sure, Bobby saved him... which felt such a white savior redemption thing. And I know the show and the character said otherwise, but it still felt awful and then it just got worse. In any case, they could’ve made this story play out with more nuances instead of devoting so much of a short season to it to the detriment of our stable cast. 

Buck had an amazing start of the season, finding himself and his truth and sharing it with his family. The fact that they had him entering the dating scene with a character like T*mmy... I didn't like that. Any random person would've been better. But, also, I don't wanna be that person but this is my blog so I'm gonna be: Oliver clearly hasn't been enjoying the latest interactions between these characters to the point where their scenes, few as they are, are actually hard to watch. The last one was literally the most cringe inducing moment of TV I've ever witnessed. Instead of Buck exploring himself, we have him reacting to the odd, negative and out of place comments that T*mmy keeps throwing his way. It's just weird and not at all the happy story Oliver was hoping for, so I get him. I hope this gets better next season, with BT being bones and Buck being able to thrive instead of falling back into a revamped awful dating life.

On the other hand, this season was the Buddiest of them all. Well, I mean, it had the most hints of it actually happening at some point. When Buck talked about there being underlying sexual tension in the premiere, it was just ashslgjñhjsdñgjsñdg. They were comparing Chris's interactions with girl friends and boy friends but we all know that wasn't all that was. We had Eddie talking about how much growth Buck had done from being a playboy, which funnily enough he never got to meet, to the person he's today. Another great indicator were the whole 100th/101st episodes, with Buck clearly wanting to get Eddie's attention due to jealousy, which everybody could see, and the ~reveal that the episode was from Buck’s POV which was also incredible because that man is so in love it’s just insane. But, even most importantly maybe, was Maddie's scene with Buck... It was a mirror of her calling him out on his guy crush on Eddie from season 2, with the circled with a heart around it, but the next episode it got real. To me, her words and her face spoke volumes: first she couldn’t believe Buck was with Eddie’s friend, then she told him he might not be sure of his own feelings and finally that if there’s something he needs to tell Eddie, he will, just in his own time. That was NOT about Buck being bisexual, it was Maddie reading right what Buck was reading wrong: how Buck had been jealous because of the way he feels about Eddie and how he was putting his feelings for Eddie into somebody else. Someone safe for the time being, all things considered. That's a thread waiting to be pulled when the right time comes if I ever saw one! I've been giddy just thinking about it ever since, tbh. We also had a Buddie scene in pretty much every episode, and I absolutely adored them in the bachelor party because they were so in sync, as they were all season long actually. The parallel of Eddie asking for Buck’s help at the end was nice as just that, but the story... I’ll rant about it later. I love that Oliver has been pushing the Buddie agenda harder than ever, so I'm hoping he's talking Ryan's ear off about it and that they'll demand it from Tim soon enough.

Onto Eddie, the problem with the whole Kim thing actually starts because they killed Shannon in the first place. They should've never done that, I've always thought this way. She was a great character and seeing Eddie co-parent with his ex would've been great storytelling, he could've still had a breakdown due to divorcing her or even her dating again or whatever. Besides the insanity of Kim going back to his house after learning the truth, the fact that Eddie broke down and caved in was understandable. I actually thought that was pretty well done. The problem was all that followed. We don't care about Marisol because the show never made us care about her, so her part in all of this is completely irrelevant.

As for Chris, I honestly have SO many issues with his reaction. Him being confused would only be right, but being that mad with Eddie? I honestly feel like I'm missing something because the two of them have developed such a strong relationship that it feels like Chris's reaction was totally OOC. Why wouldn't Chris want to know Eddie's side of the story? Why would he want to leave his dad and his house? Why would he want to leave the state? Why would he want to go live with his grandparents? Sure, he has a good relationship with them at this point, but we can only gather that by... imagining it, for the most part. How long since they been around? Why not mention that they were visiting or that Chris was with them when he was away to set the stage? It honestly feels like it was all improvised and they wanted to leave Eddie without Chris and this was all they could come up with. There were other ways that could've actually made more sense to get to this place, but they chose to do it in a way that's both hurtful to the characters and to their progression throughout the seasons. Make it make sense!!! There's also the fact that the finale script was all written under the assumption that Eddie and Kim were kissing when Chris showed up. That didn't actually make the cut. This is clearly a consequence of rushed scripts and filming schedules, and while we can interpret every scene saying they kissed as an exaggeration or simply a wrong interpretation of the situation, it actually made me very mad. Having characters rehash what happened the episode before so the people who missed it can catch up is normal but I hate it with my whole heart. Those people can go to hell, but if they're gonna spend time of the finale doing that, the least they could do is make the facts fact. Sure, Eddie was going insane and he said it was hard to explain but everyone in-show very much believed that Eddie kissed Kim. This is upsetting because of the exact reason why that kiss was cut, as said by Ryan in an interview this week.

On top of this, Chris is 13 years old. Eddie letting him go is not it. Eddie has every right to tell him he's staying whether he likes it or not because he's his father and he gets to decide where he lives. The show tried to make the whole thing come out as noble but I thought it was bullshit. From what we know about Eddie, he wouldn't just let him go: he would either tell Chris to stay put or go with him. The fact that, again, they clearly wanted to have Eddie alone for whatever reason, and they couldn't find a better way to pull it off... that's just bad on TPTB's part.

Hen and Karen were put through hell once more for no reason. Why can't the big obstacle for them be simply getting through Mara? Why do they have to get to a good place only for it to be ripped away? Don't say it's drama tv, I don't care, people on screen deserve happiness, damn it! They most of all, tbh, and the fact that Denny was so upset just made it 5464641636469 worse. Then we had Madney helping out, which was lovely but completely unrealistic from a legal pov and also... why can't HenRen just get what they want without a het couple's intervention? So Ortiz has enough power to get Mara away from them but she didn't know that the people wanting to foster her were part of the 118 even though she had something to do with Gerrard being reinstated? I know this is what Tim implied on his socials to explain why someone as shitty as Gerrard would be taken back by the firehouse... which, I don't know if that even makes sense? Does she have the kind of power to do any of this?

A lot of questions now:

Why was a random woman given so many precious minutes of the finale just so Athena could have a car to go after an innocent man? Why does she keep getting away with asking for personal favors, recklessly involving Maddie too? Why wouldn't the editor of the episode give us a frame at least of Buddie by Bobbie's hospital bed? This made me particularly mad because it actually looked like Oliver and Ryan were not there filming (though we knew they were), and that's why they kept showing their backs. Maybe they had lines, maybe not, but a few seconds while Chim, Hen and Maddie talked would've been nice... since it clearly seemed like nobody was particularly perturbed by Bobbie's state. I'm sorry but I can't fear for his life when his wife is away trying to get revenge and his team are just... there. Also, why are him, Athena, the aforementioned neighbor and Amir allowed to just walk into a house that suffered that much fire damage? Wouldn't the structure be compromised? Plus, Athena and Bobbie kinda were awful to Amir, first killing his wife and then accusing him and all, so why would he want to talk about anything with Bobbie, nevermind say he's earned his family? He was wronged so badly, he didn't owe them a thing, it's honestly ridiculous. Then Bobby came back so fast... but he had quit before and forgot about it? The Gerrard reveal was actually not something I hated because I love a good shake up. I bet he'll last three episodes at most. We know this isn't gonna be good exactly, and it makes zero sense, but a change in dynamics is always refreshing and could put some things into perspective. I hated when Buddie weren't partnered, but I ADORED the way Hen was weirded the fuck out by the closeness she is not used to having with Chim while on the field, so I can't wait for some of it.

Things I wanna see:

More May, more Ravi, Eddie’s sisters. More Buddie. No dating people to fill up time for either of them. Eddie’s gay/demi awakening (I swear, if this is not where his story is going, it will all feel like such a waste, much like during his previous breakdown). Chris and Mara going back home soon. Gerrard and Ortiz getting what they deserve.

This is so long it's insane, if you've read it, I thank you. If I think of anything I forgot, I'll add it later. If you have anything to contribute, please do. I'm around and I'd love to discuss this show and all its intricacies.

[lyricfulloflight]

I am super nervous for the next season of 911. Like I don’t dislike Tommy but I also don’t like super love him either and I. Am. Nervous.

I agree with you about Tommy - I'm relatively neutral about him as a character.

I also don't tend to be someone who makes predictions much at all - I'd rather just be surprised.

I will say though, the fact that there has been little said about Tommy and little promotion of the Buck x Tommy pairing (it has been mentioned, but not as much as Buck and Eddie's friendship/relationship), makes me lean toward the belief that Buck x Tommy is likely short term.

But, as a Buddie shipper I am also aware that I could just be seeing what I'd really like to see in the promotional material we've had so far... shrugs.

I am excited about a lot of other things for this season though!

Seeing how the 118 manages with Gerrard (don't want him around for long, but interested to see how this affects all the characters and how they, hopefully, lean on each other to cope)

I want to see calls again! And the 118 working as a team during emergencies.

I want to see silly chatter in the fire engine and family meals!

I want ridiculous calls, and weird calls, and humorous calls!

They've been open about Eddie going on journey to discover himself, who he is without Chris, just as 'Eddie,' and I am so here for that!

I want some sweet moments between Hen and Karen and Chim and Maddie as the navigate the situation with Mara

I am honestly kind of thrilled with the whole 'bee-nado' situation because it is so implausible that it makes me giggle, but the fall out has so much potential for drama and action

Bobby as a technical advisor on 'Hot Shots' has so much comedy potential and I cannot wait to see it

That's a lot to be excited about I think!

One of the things I love about 911, is that yes, it brought me Buddie and I love them and I hope we are fortunate enough to get to watch them become canon. And that could possible happen this season.

But I don't love the show just because of Buddie.

I love all of the 118.

I love Chim and his devotion to Maddie and the power of their story, a story about finding a new love, building a better, stronger relationship with someone you truly love and trust and you loves and trusts and respect you back.

I love Hen and Karen and the endless pool of love they have for Denny, Mara and all the foster children who have come into their lives over the seasons. Those ladies have so much smarts between them they just knocked me over with it sometimes.

I love Bobby and his journey of redemption. The difficult path he has been walking to feel he actually deserves happiness in his life. I adore how he and Athena fell in love, and yet their past loves have never been dismissed, ignored or demeaned for their current love story.

(I will also miss the Bobby and Michael shenanigans -both the healthiest and yet most chaotic relationship between the 'new' husband and the ex-husband I have ever had the pleasure to witness).

Even though I don't always agree with Athena's choices, I would want her on my side, fighting beside be because that woman is fierce and she does not back down from a fight.

I love Eddie and his giant heart that he is always simultaneously giving freely to everyone and yet hiding away at every turn. As a fellow parent, I admire his amazing parenting skills and his trust and respect he has built with Christopher. If they aren't able to build back that trust in their relationship this season it will truly break my heart.

I left Buck for last, because he is my favourite. He has such a big heart and hardly any sense of self worth and all of that is wrapped up in this infectious energy that I simply cannot resist. I cannot wait to hear more Buck facts, his childlike energy about topics he's passionate about make me smile so much. I want the world for that man. (I also really enjoy him battered and bruised and covered in blood, but that says more about me that about Buck...)

In conclusion, I love 911!

Yes, I watch partly for Buddie, but I love the show as a whole. And I think we have a lot to look forward to, especially with a full season that, hopefully, won't feel rushed.

[starkdirewolflove]

X-Men ‘97

I had recently rewatched the original series so when it was hinted that the two part story One Man’s Worth would be a clue/tie in for the three part finale I knew it was gonna be about Nimrod and time travel shenanigans. When Fitzroy kills Xavier it creates the dystopian timeline where the X-Men never existed and Magneto is mutantkinds leader and greatest hero, Bishop and Shard take dystopia Storm and Wolverine to the 50’s to stop the assassination of Xavier, fail then go to the future and travel back to stop Fitzroy again only they are being targeted by the Nimrod sentinel who is sent to make sure Xavier dies and humanity can live as the dominant species. The second time around goes better since they are just able to stop Xavier dying and seemingly destroy Nimrod. The dystopia timeline gets erased, Bishop gets lost in the timeline on the way back but eventually links up with the X-Men in their fight against Apocalypse in the Beyond Good and Evil arc. Now with Bastion’s backstory being revealed in Tolerance is Extinction Part One it shows that Nimrod wasn’t really destroyed he fused onto the janitor at Xavier’s university who was married to the waitress at the diner Xavier and the others were at and they turned out to be Bastion’s parents and he was conceived to be the first human/sentinel hybrid and grow up to destroy mutants.

So basically everything that is happening is Bishop’s fault cos his future is so shit he keeps travelling back to the past (90’s present) to make things better for himself but every time he does he makes things worse for the present timeline, his future timeline and even Cable’s time even further in the future.

Also I was a bit disappointed Val Cooper wasn’t actually Mystique in disguise, she was just a two faced bitch that was working for the bad guys all along while pretending to be an ally to the X-Men then got scared when she got caught in the crossfire of a genocidal attack. I think her releasing Magneto played into Bastion’s plan because he knows Magneto is gonna go nuclear on humanity after Genosha and seeing all the world leaders that backed up Bastion’s plan while he was being held hostage and every mutant on the planet is gonna follow Magneto now. Even Val Cooper agrees that Magneto Was Right.

[halfagone]

What would Danny do for work?

I have a quick question to my fellow Danny Phantom fans... When you imagine Danny picking a career/job, what do you headcanon for him? And this is if he can't- for whatever reason- be an astronaut. This is a hypothetical question, it's not- like, going to affect any of my stories in the future or anything *chuckles nervously*

For me, it's always depended on the headcanon I choose for any particular story/AU. But that gets complicated when I have multiple headcanons that could offer opportunities for him.

For example:

Astrophysicist/Aerospace Engineer - He can't be an astronaut, but that doesn't mean he can't still do some kind of work that involves his love for space.

Engineer - In a similar vein, he could be a regular engineer. Especially if he takes after his dad, Jack, more and maybe even creates his own prototypes and inventions.

In a subset to engineer, in my story weekend wonders, Danny is majoring in biomedical engineering. This is because in this AU, the accident gave him chronic pain, and that's how he gained an interest in this field. This could also work great if he gets attention from the Justice League in a DP x DC crossover, or the Avengers in a DP x Marvel crossover; Danny could just as easily work with heroes who have disabilities or chronic pain from many decades of work as heroes. It helps that he personal experience with the same struggles, after all.

Translator - If you headcanon that Danny can understand a lot of languages (or maybe even them all) due to ghost speak, then Danny could totally use this to his advantage with work. Plus!! This offers many different avenues that could be used to your advantage. Want Danny to be connected to the UN in some way before debuting as Ghost King? Have him be a translator that works there. Want Danny to be busy often with his royal responsibilities/ghost fighting? Have him be a translator; he can work remotely or stay self-employed/on contracts.

Teacher - Danny doesn't have great experience with educational staff, so I could imagine him going into this field of work due to nothing but spite. And! He could teach ectobiology, or just ghosts in general. He could do so many topics: Biology, government, history, hell he could do a whole semester on how physics work in the Ghost Zone.

Blacksmith/Ironsmith - Okay, this one is more self-indulgent, but imagine if Pandora teaches him how to fight with a sword and then he gets obsessed with the sword itself that he wants to make one that's perfectly suited for him and this just dominos into going full-blown into this field. (Trade skills are still important, and sadly, don't get as much attention even when they can usually offer fairly decent pay without the thousands of dollars worth in student debt.)

Writer/Author - If you wanted him to be more artistic, he could be a freelance author/novelist or something similar. I feel like being an author would be one of the better choices for him because, again, if you were writing a story where Danny would be busy with a lot of other responsibilities, then he could largely work on his own schedule. Plus! I can totally imagine him hanging out in Long Now with Clockwork when his head is just full of ideas for a story but he wouldn't have the time to write it otherwise. So he kind of uses Long Now to get that time, but he can promise it's for a good cause, stop laughing, Clockwork!

Actor - I really love the concept of Danny being an actor, just for the laughs if nothing else. While this could be a pain if Danny does actually get famous, since that's a lot of media he would probably prefer not to deal with, the concept alone offers a great deal of shenanigans. And... if he does get a good movie deal, he could very well be set for life afterwards. He could be one of those one-hit wonders in television or something.

If anyone has other possibilities, feel free to add! My head is constantly spinning with even more ideas, I might just add some myself.

[dearweirdme]

https://www.tumblr.com/dearweirdme/740407316667662336/hi-rain-i-saw-you-say-something-about-jkkrs?source=share

you obvious haven't been in the taekook community for a long time or you haven't branched out outside of tumblr much because if you had you'd know that taekookers are (much like jkkrs) more tae biased than they are jk biased. like the whole story tkkrs built is about tae being the only victim in the whole vminkook shipping situation, jungkook the unfaithful man, and jimin being the "other woman" who seduces him and jungkook sometimes falling into his traps or sometimes he's forced by the company to play along. it depends on the situation and how it affected taekook/tkkrs.

and this isn't saying that jkkrs are better, i'm not defending either sides because i belong to neither as im not a shipper to begin with, i have just been in this fandom long enough to see how this whole shippers situation has started and played out to this day. and the one major thing i've noticed that both sides of shippers have in common is that they both care about the non-jungkook half of their ship more, and jungkook is mostly treated like a prop from both sides. for jkkrs, he's the "supportive boyfriend" who's only worth mentioning when they want to hype up jimin and make him look superior, and for tkkrs he's your typical 19-20th century husband who has a "job wife (jimin)" who's a potential homewrecker if she succeeds in seducing the husband, and whom the "real wife (tae)" gets jealous of and the couple are her victims.

so yeah, both sides don't really gaf about jungkook much outside of using him to either prop up their fave or victimize him. jungkook stans mostly aren't shippers and they're either ot7 armys who see both hyungs as jk's closest friends, or they're solos who have no tolerance for either one of the two and drag both the entire time. which is why vmk solos are always fighting with each other and why jjks in particular are always caught in the middle of ship wars, because they're the only ones who actually defend jungkook from the crossfire.

Alright anon, get of your condescending high horse, I'm sure it was possible to send me an ask that was more conversational. I could very well be wrong, and I believe I did state that I was talking from my point of view, most of my followers are perfectly able to understand that for what it is.

What are we taking as as a measuring point for fandom behavior then if you're so against my Tumblr point of view? Twitter? TO me that's like basing your opionon on food by going to MacDonalds. Sure you'll get some nice stuff there, it's fast, it's simple, it has something for everyone... but does it give you the whole food experience? Probably not. You'll not likely be able to remember much about the food you tasted there except for that it was good (or bad). (Not wanting to trash Twitter completely, I know there's good stuff on there and I'm definitely exagerating to make a point 😁). Twitter is designed to be fast and short and by that design it makes it more difficult do go into deep discussions. Twitter is great for pushing content and activating fandom, not so great for estimating how fandom shenanigans work, because your view of it will be heavily biased by the loudest voices.. not the most sane ones.

Tiktok's algorithm wil make sure you get no-where. Instagram does not give you a sense of volume and is more about images than about discussion.

Tumblr is ofcourse small in comparison, so we don't get a sense of volume. But it does allow room for discussion. It's also real easy to go back to former posts because it works as an archive a bit. So please don't treat Tumblr as though it doesn't count in forming an opinion.

So sure I might be off, but you might be as well.

[adversary-to-inamorato]

I LOOVE your IGBP AU tbh! :) your story was super cool, I'm so excited for the next chapter, and i love also the way your write it! I'm so into it, i was shocked when SMG4 came back in the loop!!!

Some questions :

--> will SMG4 get out of this loop?

-->How will you portray SMG34, I'm curious abt this haha, since it can be interesting to see how it is put

-->Will each "loop" be the same or be different?

-->To the Previous question, does SMG4 will somehow loose memory, or a character? Temporary or permanently?

-->How many chapters do you think this story will have? (you can skip this question I'm just curious lmao)

-->Does any characters will know abt the loop?

-->Tv hardware? Will be shown, interact with the others? Hmmm

I'm SOOO sorry for all these questions, I'm sooo curious abt your AU, LIKE İ LOVE IT, I LOVE YOUR STORY❤️

Omg omg you're my first ask hgsngsnhn I cannot keep this cool and mysterious persona (that I already heavily failed) anymore RAGHHH iM SO GLAD YOU THINK SO HERES A LIST OF RESPONSES

- Yes he will, this will be angst with a happy ending! I will add more tags and tw and cw the more I add on (I'm not evil I swear)

- How I portray them is based on their current canon personality from what I have observed so far from MAR10 Day till latest episode. BUT with a dash of psychological elements that they (unwillingly) have to face during the whole shenanigans.

(help me these two are stuck in my brain matter it's almost parasitism- but it's actually comensalism)

- the loop will be the same, but it's up to the characters to change or alter how they go through it. E.g: Same place where it all starts, but different endings when they change their actions such as SMG4 didn't make any of those Toad Legs models, the whole meme reaction thing. This is because he is aware of the mistakes he had done and trying to fix it while he still can.

- It's more of a brain-fog kind of thing. (Temporary) Memory loss is quite common with people with depression/developing depression. There will be serious topics in this fic that might be triggering so I would have to warn y'all beforehand because working on this actually made my friends worry about my mental state AHAHAHA

- I'm glad you asked! IM WORKING ON THE INBETWEEN(s) RIGHT NOW AND ALREADY HAD THE MIDDLE AND ENDING DONE. I already posted the introduction. So far 6 chapters and there may or may not be more. I've been working on this since November and it's driving me as crazy as the guy.

Oh, did I ever mention that? Hehe, forget it.

- Unfortunately, no. Mario would probably have a glimpse of what's going on but not entirely. It is about his recolours after all-- I mean guardians.

- n̵̨̛͉͚͎̯̘̮̭͓͇̪͎̘̥̖̱͖͆̽̓̇͜o̴̧̧̡̫͙̥͔̞̼̝̪̝̜͇̜͓͈͍̎̌̇̔̊͂̃̆͑̑̀͑̐́͝ͅ ̴͚̜̹̪̊̉̌̑̎͋̌̕c̷̞̘̬̟̓͂̀̚o̴̡̰̜̜̮̮̘̺̲̰̅̌͂͐́̋̋̕͝m̴̨̡̧͓̱̼̫̝̞̝͎̮̘̜̬̣͙̼͉̣͛̉̈́m̵̡̛̰͎͙̟͙̮̲̪̗͓̰̹̰̪̦͍͕͑̈́̃͂̀̈́̇̾̚ȩ̶̢̡͎̟̻̙̭̰̞̰͎̤̬͔̣͖̗̜̽͋́̆͒͂̑͗̌͛͆͂̽͘͝ͅn̷̩͇̙̳̫̬͓̓̃̾̆͂͋̃͌͆̚̚͜͝t̴͍͙͍̪̩̥̫̥͍̳͒̏̽̑̽̑̀̋̔̈̎̈́̎͊̾̆̑͆̂͂

That wraps it up! AND NO PROBLEM I HAD SO MUCH FUN ANSWERING THEM! and it helps me reflect on what other kinds of stories I should do with these two goobers ( or three! I really love Mario 💓) I hope I can get the next chapter up as soon as possible, if my work doesn't give me overtime again- ugh. I'm glad you love my work! It means that the ungodly time I spent drawing (still unpublished) and writing (also unpublished) wasn't a dud!

Thank you so much for expressing your interest and curiosity, anon! You made my morning a bit less bitter and a bit more better. (Incorrect grammar but this is nsrs). I hope I could deliver up to your expectations!

I hope.

(Might do a fan-fanfiction take on the BR AU a certain artist made though, I do like the concept. But I need permission probably lol so I'll work on that.)

Thank you so much! You really made me feel worth something :DDD

[purplekoop]

So like. I think people already figured out where I was going with this.

Ashe B.O.B.

Role: Tank Health: 500 (250 normal, 250 armor)

So when I implied that I'd be turning "Ashe" into a Tank, I think at least somebody saw through me there. Obviously there's a number of thematically appropriate ways to bulk up one of the existing non-tank heroes into a tankish stature, but Ashe is probably the farthest removed of any of the cast from the kind of biological or mechanical shenanigans I've been relying on for tankifying the cast so far. Luckily, I didn't need to, because B.O.B. is right there, and I feel like playable B.O.B. is what people have wanted since late 2018 anyways. So, here we are.

B.O.B. is a character design who I think needs no substantial changes to fit as a playable Tank. He's big, he's made of metal, and that's enough justification for me. In the lore he's actually specified to have his chassis fit with extra armor plating, so it makes sense then that he can take a hit better than other "civilian class" Omnics like Zenyatta.

There is one thing I feel would need to change about B.O.B. though for him to fit as a playable hero: he probably needs a voice. This is for technical reasons more than anything. Overwatch as a game very much relies on audio cues to communicate a lot of information, with things as obvious as ultimate voice lines and automatic callout voice lines to things as subtle as the sound of your weapon changing when you're running out of ammo. The only hero who doesn't talk is Bastion, but I doubt another hero who uses non-verbal sounds to communicate wouldn't work as well in addition to Bastion. It'd be a bit confusing to discern what beebly-boops are coming from who, especially for new players. This is also (at least presumably) why Roadhog talks a lot more in-game than he does in the supplementary media, where he tends to only admit one or two lines per story compared to only being slightly less chatty than other heroes in actual matches. Of course, the very obvious and inherently agreeable solution here is to give B.O.B. a very stereotypical posh british butler accent. Between that and at least one of his abilities, I'm imagining a personality somewhere between Alfred from Batman and Dudley from Street Fighter.

But alright, enough yapping already, time to get into the Big Omnic Butler's kit. In general, B.O.B. would be a more aggression-focused tank that plays better in offensive scenarios, but still offers his team with substantial protection while impeding the enemy.

His simplest ability is one we're used to and terrified of already in game: his Arm Cannons. I actually had to do some in-game testing to see how the animation for his firing actually works, so I'll explain how it'd work for the playable version. The Arm Cannon is a 6-barrel rotating weapon, as you can see here.

Each pair of barrels will fire two hitscan shots one after the other rapidly before switching to the next pair via rotation in a seamless fashion with no downtime between rotations. However, the weapon's fire rate will speed up as it spins up, making continuous fire build up to an increased DPS. However, the spread of bullets will also increase as the spinning speeds up. The cannons also don't need to manually reload, instead relying on an overheat system like (normal OW2) Orisa, which will cause the weapon to malfunction for just shy of two seconds. The bullets also have damage falloff that favors close-range usage harder than most hitscan weapons. While this weapon can headshot, it has a reduced 1.5x multiplier instead of the standard 2x, making precise aim less mandatory. This weapon excels at laying down suppressive fire with minimal downtime, especially at close range, but has a risk-reward element in balancing the spin-up speed and the overheat mechanic. Also worth noting that for the sake of simplicity, B.O.B. only has a right-hand Arm Cannon, unlike his non-playable counterpart who swaps hands whenever he switches targets.

B.O.B.'s first ability is... admittedly something I made up for the sake of him functioning better as a protective defender style of tank, Portable Barricade. B.O.B. tosses down a device that extends into a rod-like shape with small wheels on the sides, then projects a barrier upwards. It's a rectangular barrier not as wide as normal Rein's but just about as tall, and it does barrier things like the normal game ones. However, Portable Barricade's unique trait is that after 1 second of being deployed, it will roll forward in the direction it was placed at about half of the normal forward move speed for players. This, obviously, is meant to encourage it be used for advancing pushes instead of holding ground, though the initial one second before it starts moving should give players on both sides time to react to its presence. The Barricade has about 1,000 HP, and will last after either rolling ahead for 6 seconds or if it collides with a wall and can't move any further. If it rolls to a ledge, then it will remain in place on that edge for the remainder of its duration. The ability itself has a somewhat long cooldown that starts as soon as it's thrown out.

This next one should feel a little more familiar: Running Upper. B.O.B. takes a split second to ready for a dash, then runs ahead at high speeds with his left arm ahead, and his right arm ready to swing an uppercut at any foes he collides with. The logistics of this ability are also pretty similar to Reinhardt's Charge, though the startup period is more brief. You still run ahead much faster, but your turning speed is restricted. B.O.B. also takes half damage from the front while charging, but this does not block any other effects of that damage. The uppercut itself functions like you expect still knocking any enemies near the impact range upwards, though its damage is reduced from 120 to 80. The duration of the dash is shorter than it is for the non-playable B.O.B., and it can be cancelled early by pressing the ability input again, causing B.O.B. to dig his feet into the ground to grind to a stop. It also will collide with other "Charge" abilities, such as Doomfist punch and another B.O.B.'s Running Upper, causing both players to fall to the ground briefly on collision. Just like the non-playable version of the maneuver, this ability is a versatile tool for both traversing the map faster and setting up for some potentially lethal team combos.

B.O.B.'s last normal ability is an homage to part of his iconography that isn't actually showcased in-game: Sign Swing.

B.O.B. manifests a convenient road sign to pull out of hammerspace, then swings it from right to left like a baseball bat. The swing is similar to a big Rein hammer swing (I sure am comparing these guys a lot huh), dealing 75 damage but in a slightly farther range than the hammer. The swing also does heavy knockback, launching enemies it hits flying a good distance in the aimed direction. This alone makes it a solid ability for swatting aggressive enemies away, but it has one more feature: any projectiles hit by the swing will be deflected back as B.O.B.'s own attack! The logistics of this are just like Genji's deflect, though the timing is significantly tighter to pull off due to the minimal time this deflection is active for, making it much harder to pull off a deflect on hitscan attacks, but not impossible.

His ultimate ability though, as you might've predicted, brings this role reversal to its logical conclusion: Burnout. B.O.B. calls in a favor from his long-time charge, and from the skies drops a series of dynamite-loaded crates. 5 crates drop in total, which B.O.B. can manually call drop points for by pressing Primary Fire during the ult's initial duration. The crates will explode after a few seconds, but B.O.B.'s entire team can speed up the detonation by firing at them, creating powerful explosions that ignite enemies caught in their blast, and even leave behind a lingering fire that can rapidly damage and ignite enemies who walk through it (though weaker than normal Torb's Molten Core). However, they can also damage other exploding crates, causing chain reactions where as soon as one crate blows, the entire battle field can be set ablaze. (honestly this ult is the concept I'm the most iffy about for this kit, but I like it fine enough)

So that's B.O.B. as a playable Tank hero! A faithful bodyguard through and through, he defends his team with both directly defensive abilities as well as means of tossing around the enemy if they get too close to his team for comfort, or he can just gun them down directly in tandem with those abilities.

Overall pretty proud of this one! Like Ashe is as a damage hero, I wanted B.O.B. to be a pretty straightforward tanky bruiser, with simple abilities that can be used creatively with a good deal of skill expression. I love the idea of B.O.B. teeing up an enemy into the air with his uppercut, then hitting a home run with them with Sign Swing. I don't think a flanking Genji (er. in this AU's case, I guess flanking Zenyatta?) would be too eager to dive back in for round two after that. The comparisons to Reinhardt were also me reaffirming his role as one of the more conventional tanks of this requeued roster. I have the vague goal of making sure that the broader niches of the roster are still cohesively filled even in this sweeping reiteration of the cast.

So who's next? Symmetra is another easy one that I've already made the bulk of a concept for, but I could also continue the Deadlock theming and do Cassidy as a support. Aside from the ultimate and maybe wanting one extra ability, I've already got most of that one figured out.

Outside of Role Requeue though, I actually would be down to figure out kits for other non-playable characters in the main canon! There's a couple that come to mind now, but the only ones I'm thinking of would I think fit best as supports, maybe one DPS, so I'm all ears for extra suggestions for the sake of variety. Not doing Mauga because like. That's literally just asking to be outdated and make me look like a silly doodoo head when I get it wrong. I'm gonna look like a silly doodoo head and get details wrong when we actually get teasers of his kit at Blizzcon anyways but I wanna save being wrong for the appropriate time.

[generouskittentidalwave]

Atom the beginning, does it work?

My answer being.. yesn't

OKAY HEAR ME OUT I KNOW IT IS A SORE SUBJECT BUT LET ME SAY MY PEACE

Atom the beginning I think is a great prologue to Astro boy regarding the parts that are the actual prologue to the OG story. It is meant to be an official prologue, and the story makes it like that (most of the time), I say most of the time as the manga runners nearing the time skip to the future decided to throw in the goofy ah time travel plot Tezuka made oh so long ago and used that as a way to make it their own reimagined world.

Basically, in Tldr, everything is an official prologue to the Astro story, but the character changes/add ons are caused by the time travel shenanigan which technically isn't official.

NOW THIS WOULDN'T BE A PROBLEM AS IT'S A VERY CREATIVE WAY OF GOING ABOUT IT

HOWEVER

There are some things they did good and some things could've been done better. For example I think we can all agree that they overwhelmed Tobio's character way too much way too fast with his abilities and traits, especially when his character is meant to be more of a temporary kid who struggles and leads as the pathway to Astro in his own unique ways. Although all of it fitted Tobio and his character perfectly the pacing made it a bit overwhelming/confusing at times. Sometimes they added in little nice details from the OG story and the OG prologue to the characters and stiey and then added in their own spin on things. Some of it was great, the personalities are perfect and spot on, the dynamics are perfect, their thoughts, actions, and designs are all perfect for their characters. Meanwhile other things could've been handled better, but overall aside from the changes and goofy ah time travel I love every little bit about it!

NOW LET'S TALK ABOUT THE PAIN OF MY HOMIES IN THE WEST

Listen, the access availability to this manga is next to NONE in the west, you really gotta hunt or get help from others just to find it, and the anime suffers the same way and unfortunately the anime didn't do the best review wise, so that caused more people to just avoid the manga and I think this is why we hardly ever see anyone talk about it or give it a chance.

SO THAT BRINGS US TO OUR CONCLUDING QUESTION

Is it worth looking into as an Astro fan? Is it good? Is it worth my time?

I say a big ol' HELL YEAH to ALL OF THESE

Listen, it may not be the greatest thing since toilet paper and it clearly has it's flaws, but the parts that are an actual prologue to the OG story and other bits when they get something right believe me they get it RIGHT. Besides the issues I mentioned before are in the future time skip part of the manga, most of the manga is about Oshay and Tenma having the bestie relationship while also doing robot fighting and getting into various dangerous situations while being struggling college students. I absolutely adore it despite it's few flaws and I think you will too so I definitely recommend checking it out if you can! ^^

[chillwildwave]

“Let’s call em what it is, it’s a masterpiece!”

Yep, I know what you were thinking, this is yet another concept illustration of Aaron Z from my upcoming fanfiction (I mean, you could tell from that lyric alone, right?) with a bunch of facial expressions that represent a certain way of how he reacts to some situations.

In this fanfic, Z deals with self-worth issues after accidentally messing up his dance practices and has a complex relationship with Robaire since he sees him as a perfect person and is willing to follow the same footsteps as him: by the end of the story however, he will change as a person who learns to accept himself for who it is and to improve his emotional well-being.

Now, here are some extra details about Aaron Z that wasn’t included on my concept art…

. He is Afro-Canadian and Chinese.

. He originally was going to become a dancer but when he auditioned for 4*Town, he already was chosen to become the main choreographer.

. Back at school, people often saw him as a timid yet friendly person who was willing to help those who needed it most.

. He had a job at Sears at the age of 18 until he had to retire his job due to his tight schedule with the group.

. He met Robaire at kindergarten and became a close bond since then.

.He is gay, although he tries his hardest to keep it a secret from the rest of the group as he believed they won’t accept him.

.When writing “Nobody Like U”, he didn’t want a rap verse initially since he felt like he wasn’t the best rapper; after Ro convinced him to give it a try, it actually paid off!

. When communicating with the group, he doesn’t smile much, he often laughs a little whenever something funny pops up, he also tends to lead the group through his dance routines… What the members don’t know is that he can get strict whenever one or two boys messes up.

. His favourite NBA Player was Micheal Jordan (that was the one who influenced his love for basketball as a hobby.)

. Before going on stage, he often uses affirmations in the mirror first thing in order to not mess up or do the wrong thing.

. The conflict between him and Ro started when Ro witnessed Z dancing and asked him to join the group, he said yes but was caught in a halt when Ro told him that he wanted more from him in order to impress his mother, this led to him telling Z that he’ll make him feel like a piece of nothing just so that he can use his skills to achieve everything he can.

Despite this, he and T have an OK relationship when outside of the studio to the point where T does his all sorts of shenanigans just to get Z talking, but in the studio, they actually work together well when it came to writing music: his relationship with Jesse and Tae Young can only be said as awkward. They don’t really talk much, yet they do make hand gestures sometimes as a sign of communication when in a far distance in the studio.

And that’s all I have for Z, I hope that you are all fuelled with anticipation for the fanfiction as I’ll be spending all of August coming up with plans for the chapters while also posting and communicating with all you awesome 4*Townies, writers and illustrators so that I can better develop myself as a writer!

Finally, make sure to like, comment, reblog and share this with others to show how much I respect you all as tumblr creators, 4*Town creators or not, no matter what, I’ll always respect all of you and keep you updated with some updates coming soon.

Don’t forget, there’s more to come…

[ac-liveblogs]

The only reason Shielder is even a special class is because the fgo writers will never let anyone (even another shielder) turn out to be a better character or better shielder than Mash. The class is stapled to Mash and it probably won't even be given to Galahad if ever gets added to fgo. And I'm not saying this to bash Mash btw. It's just how it is unfortunately. I'm in the boat that Mash's whole character arc is weak to start with but not gonna stir things up again.

Shielder is a special class for lore reasons, but I don't think it'll stay locked away forever and given Mash is completely free and the best in her niche, I don't think it's a huge problem or anything seriously worth complaining about if it is. I do have a few thoughts on the state of Shielder, though, which basically boil down to "if they're gonna do it, they're gonna do it soon".

Mash is no longer the best defensive Servant. LB6 aside, as far as the plot is concerned she's been locked to the heavily nerfed Ortenix since the Lostbelts started and she's been steering towards a more offensive build since Olympus. Once her new kit is complete (and presumably good), there is no way she'll remain a looping defensive NP-spammer - at least, probably not in Story Mode. At which point - why not introduce other flavours of Shielder?

Type-Moon has given potential other candidates for the Shielder class - Galahad, and I believe Achilles. I think Ajax was stated as well. If this was going to stay a special snowflake class, I don't think they would've bothered. Nasu's mind is an enigma, however.

Strange/Fake also has it's own special snowflake classes; Watcher and Gatekeeper. Other Fate properties have streamlined their unique classes into FGO's class system; Faker>Pretender, High Servant>Alter Ego, Voyager>Foreigner (for some fucking reason), so if we ever get S/F added to FGO and if S/F ever does anything with Gatekeeper... yeah.

Assuming FGO will address the Galahad Question and not just relegate him to the power-up zone, that'll probably be soon, and would be the optimal time for new Shielders to start trickling in. Also, if we get Shielder powercreep, no-one would actually have a leg to stand on if they were annoyed about it being Galahad that creeps Mash.

After all this time it would generate a lot of hype, and it would sell extremely well. After the circus of Pretender servants we've gotten this year, I just... don't think it's off the table forever.

On Galahad as a Shielder

As the resident Galahad fanatic truther, I've been heavily considering his potential trajectory in FGO if/should/when he becomes playable. Obviously, unless something radical happens in the plot, if there are other Shielders he'll be one of them. And if there's only going to be one other Shielder, it'll be him. Anyway, compiling what we know about Galahad, his potential classes (barring shenanigans) are -

Saber - Galahad has two swords; the Sword of Strange Hangings and the Sword with the Red Hilt. Galahad Alter has two swords, at least one of which is the Sword of Strange Hangings, and it's hard to say if that's the sword either Galahad or Mash possesses. That said, we've seen our Galahad in combat three times. He did not use his sword in any of those fights - not even in Lostroom, where it's his actual body, and he has the sword. He uses his hand-to-hand and his shield. Interesting design choice that he would intentionally ignore it.

Lancer - the Lance of Longinus is Percival's Noble Phantasm, so. Post LB6, I just don't think this is on the table anymore.

Ruler - barring shenanigans, if he's not a Shielder my money is here. While not a Saint, Galahad... well, if anyone's going to qualify. It would also line up pretty well with the Ruler class' element of "neutrality" and Galahad's apparent indifference towards the Human Order (so says Merlin). HOWEVER. There is a spanner in the works, and it's a big one; that Rulers aren't supposed to want the Grail. Galahad obviously did, but Alter said that Galahad never actually had a wish and seemed to be searching for it because that's what he was supposed to do - his ~destiny and whatnot. Realising this changed the trajectory of Alter's life, but I'm unsure if, given the circumstances, that would disqualify Galahad from this class or not. And if it does...

Shielder: Galahad has been conceptualised as a Hero of the Shield ever since the Tachie days. The two skills we know he has - Mana Defence and Lord Camelot - are obviously defensive skills, and given Lord Camelot is referenced even in other works I find it extremely unlikely (barring shenanigans) that Galahad won't get it. It's also Galahad's abilities that qualified Mash (and, once upon a time, Tachie) for Shielder in the first place, so...

Yeah, I just think it's his most likely option at the moment. Who knows, maybe he'll manifest as a BEAST and stay in NPC hell forever. I guess that's possible...

Interesting Miscellany:

Galahad's Lord Camelot is stronger than Mash's. In Lostroom, Galahad uses a Noble Phantasm to actively reflect Saber Alter's Excalibur back at her - not an ability Mash has ever had - and his shield, Around Round Shield, was conceptualised to attack any non-Galahad folks that touch it. This is interesting because it provides an obvious higher-tier alternative to Mash's B+++ rank Lord Camelot... and Bazett was released early this year with a taunt/counter NP, so it's definitely on the table and would be a well-established Shielder upgrade. It's also a pre-established skill that makes Galahad similar to Mash, but distinct enough to make it worthwhile making him a separate Servant.

Artoria Avalon, via her Knight-of-the-Round-centric NP Round of Avalon, is currently the only unit in the entire game to have Anti-Enforcement Invincibility, and that's now been the case for two years. FGO is definitely the kind of game to withhold skills for lore reasons, so at this stage one has to wonder why. Never mind that Round of Avalon draws visual parallels to both Lord Camelot and Morgan's Lordless Camelot, and she in turn also has a lot of both story and conceptual/design connections to Mash/Tachie/Galahad. That's... potentially less relevant than the first part, could just be recycling mats, but while I already have the tinfoil hat on...

LB6 took "Mash and Galahad will separate forever and that's GOOD because he’s MEAN" out back and shot it behind the shed. It's possible they'll reconcile their skillsets in some way (FK Lancelot’s formchange... exists as a template), or Mash might grow beyond him to focus on the Black Barrel, but "Galahad Bad" is no longer the flavour of the year. If that's the case, Mash just might stay our Galahad stand-in forever and he doesn’t drop at all. We might also get GalahadAlter!Koharu, which would just be the cherry on top! /terrified sarcasm

But the LB6 mats indicate there are Galahad materials in existence because apparently he was in the OG LB6 draft!!! So he’s real!!! Or at the very least, has an NPC sprite sheet...!

[cupidsbower]

Debrief on the novel, The End of Happiness

A few days ago, I posted my Venom novel, The End of Happiness. It's been a pretty wild journey, so I wanted to decant it all from my brain. The EddieVenom BigBag came across my feed on Tumblr, right at the end of the sign up period in mid-March this year. The minimum word count was 10,000, and that seemed a bit of a stretch goal given all the real life stuff I had on, but doable. I had to make a quick decision, and so I kind of went -- I'm doing Health Stuff and it's getting me down, and I have that idea about the Symbiote Emperor kicking around, and it would be awesome to get some art! So I signed up, planning to write 10,000 words of silly space opera and get a bit of art, and finally explore the idea of the Symbiotes having names alluding to something other than murder and mayhem. Nice! I couldn't start writing straight away, as I had another project I needed to finish first -- The Star Trek story I wrote for Space Swap in April: When sorrows come. I'd already been writing that for a while, so I hammered out the end, and was kind of amazed it ended up being 6,000 words long. As soon as I posted it, I started work on Happiness, at last. The BigBang rule was that 80% of the work had to be completed, with an outline, by the check-in, in order to be assigned an artist. I managed to get around 8,000 words done, I think, and then put together the outline for the rest -- cool, cool, another 4 scenes, so it'll come in at 12,000 words. THAT'S FINE, I hammered out some more words and just squeaked by on the 80% rule. Phew. And then I put Happiness aside for a bit so I could made my VidUKon premiiere, Mind Fight. I needed a break from writing, and it was so worth it. I cackled the entire time I was making that vid. It still makes me laugh now. By the time I'd done that, I was put in contact with my artist, and I got so lucky, because ifer put their hand up for my story. Win!!!! That really put a spring in my step! I wrote another chunk of words off the back of my excitement for art, and realised I STILL had three of the four scenes in my outline to write. Hmmm. Maybe it was going to come in at 14,000 words. The project was starting to be a bit more than I'd planned on, but I could still do it. EVERYTHING WAS FINE. By this point it was June, and I had promised to run a mid-year Venom fest, so I put together Venom: Let There Be Chocolate, created the Ao3 community, set up the rules, advertised it a bit, etc etc.  And then realised - belatedly - that I needed to create something for my own fest - because the first year of a fest never has many entries. I cracked my knuckles and hammered out As the Asteroid Turns in about three weeks, which wasn't bad as it came in at 7,500 words. I'm super pleased with it too - it's another story I'd had in mind for a while and it was fun to get it written. I also used it to try out some of the techniques I wanted to use in Happiness, like Galactic Universal Sign Language, so even though it was a detour, I still felt like I was making progress. Through all of this, ifer was a trouper! Put up with my shenanigans and half written first draft with holes in it everywhere, and was full of enthusiasm for all the aliens. I hammered out the "turning point" scene so ifer could illustrate it -- the one with Eddie and Venom in the underground pool. I thought... Nearly done! and was so pleased with myself. LOL. Then I woke up in the middle of the night realising there was a scene missing, and went back and filled it in... and as a consequence realised that there was a whole B plot I needed to make the A plot work. FINE, EVERYTHING IS STILL UNDER CONTROL. Then I wrote the actual turning point scene -- the one between Eddie and Xan after the pool, which kind of came out of nowhere. My story-brain just does that sometimes and I've learned to go with it. It always makes the story better. ANYWAY, AT LEAST NOW I KNEW WHAT MY OWN STORY WAS ABOUT. Everything was FINE! Don't look at me like that! I was a little worried, to be fair. The draft was at 20,000 words and I still had 3 of the 4 scenes in my outline to write. But I figured things were properly on track now, and it would be a straight run to the end. And then. *internally screams* THEN... I realised I needed a C plot, to make the A and B plots work. Friends, at that point I was NOT FINE. The fic was officially out of control. It was not a fun little novella coming in at 10,000 words. It was a freaking full-blown novel. I'd be lucky if it came in at 30,000 words. I had birthed a monster, and poor ifer had done all that art, and I had to finish the fucking thing by the deadline because I could not let them down! I panicked a bit, read a bunch of Witcher fic to take my mind off things for a while, got sidetracked by my actual job and had to do a bunch of marking. And then realised the deadline was HORRIFYINGLY CLOSE. I was at around 28,000 words and still had two of the four scenes in my outline to write. I knuckled down and wrote 11,000 words in a week. NOTHING WAS FINE, EVERYTHING WAS TERRIBLE. But I had finally, at last, written all the scenes in my outline. Thank fuck for that. ifer swooped in and did the first pass beta and I submitted the darn thing for final check-in. For those of you paying attention, you'll realised there is still a pretty big discrepancy in my numbers. The actual word count of the novel is 46,000 words, not the 40,000 submitted for final check-in. Because, you see, I asked the wonderful maharetr to beta during the gap between submission and the posting deadline. This was a very good decision, as she looked at the final third - written in that whirlwind at the end - and immediately started whipping it into shape, which was sorely needed. The rough bits got smoothed, the jumps in logic were made sensible, the missing emotional beats were added. A few thousand words were added in the process. Great. Good. Things were once again fine. And then... I said, hey, maharetr, do you think there's a hole in this one place? Yes, maharetr agreed, there really was a hole where I had suspected there was a hole. Bugger fuck shit. I mean, no worries, 300 words would fill that hole. Piece of cake. LOLOLOLOLOL. The best part of a chapter and 3,000ish words later, the hole was finally filled, and the novel had gone up a rating from Mature to Explicit. Also, I had officially written some of the kinkiest sex of my entire fanfic career. A notable achievement to be sure. With that done, there was only one writing task left -- the epilogue wasn't quite right. The final changes to that were made on 6 October, literally the day before I had to post the fic. Thank you so much, maharetr, for holding my hand through that final terrible writing session. All the hugs in the world. It took me two days to get the post ready on the Ao3, with all the images, fake links, and other formatting. I was doing that in parallel with making final changes. I finished getting the draft ready at around 3am on the 7th October and pressed post. Then I collapsed into bed and slept like the dead. And here we are. Seven months later, a lot tireder, having written a 10,000 word novella in 46,000 words. FOR FUN. Don't forget that bit. I did it FOR FUN. It was a lot of work, but I'm super proud of my kinky romance-in-space novel. I know it's blowing my own trumpet, but my god it is really fricken good. You should definitely go read it. ;)

[If you’d prefer to talk over on Dreamwidth, this post is also there: https://cupidsbow.dreamwidth.org/467690.html]

[devildomcrybaby]

In one of the first lessons of the game, it is mentioned that the dance battles are stand-ins for MC's special tasks throughout the year and that some demons have tasks relating to trying to corrupt MC.

Maybe Barbatos is tasked as a potential corruptor and is trying to seduce MC so that they fall easier?

While his actions are fully behind Diavolo, he is a traditionalist so he might internally view MC as a pet rather than a person. While MC is cute, as a human their main purpose is to serve demons either as food or as a pawn.

He would probably be more comfortable viewing his relationship with MC through the lens of predator and prey, as things have always been. Not to mention, the only person he is confirmed to have a pact with has canonically not considered demons to be friends prior to meeting MC, so the idea of humans and demons genuinely caring about each other probably feels unnatural to him (the exchange program was never intended to "make friends" with the other worlds, only to understand them better - not even Diavolo expected it to go as well as it did).

Now that we are in... I think it's Season 4? They are starting to tease Barbatos as a love interest (an incident where MC makes him blush, and another where MC accidentally puts him under a love spell - which is the kind of shenanigans the Devs make the brothers suffer after they start crushing on MC), which is concurrent with other anti-human/angel demons like Mephisto coming around to the idea that not being a demon doesn't make someone lesser/bad.

It would make sense if his perspective was beginning to change, so future Devilgrams might feel more sincere since there will (hopefully) be some evidence of his feelings in the main story.

I completely forgot about this lesson, so much that I didn't think that dance battles were somehow part of the plot but a disconnected tool to progress in the game.

This gives me a completely new perspective on the dance battle interactions. It would be interesting to look further in, I think that Belphie too in the beginning might have been one of those demons seen how he tricked MC and didn’t exactly have a liking for humans in general. Now I would like to know all the characters that have/had this task. 

THIS is why Barbatos is scary. I really like this interpretation because it makes his character even more eerie. MC thinks they’re safe in the Demon Lord’s castle as they know they’re important for the exchange program, not aware that Barbatos sees them as a disposable object only temporary useful. It would take a great deal for Barbatos to recognize their worth. If there’s ever a chance for that to happen. Even if MC becomes a sorcerer as powerful as Solomon that doesn’t guarantee that he’d view them as equals or even a friend. In most movies even the humans that demons forge pacts with are expendable and usually end up dying if they get on the demon’s nerves or they simply stop being useful to their purposes. I feel that Barbatos would fit in this narrative.

Another thing that surprised me is when Diavolo revealed the reason why Barbatos became his butler. I thought it happened under more pressing conditions, like some kind of blackmailing regarding something more personal to Barbatos, not the wellbeing of the Devildom. I don’t know why but I find it odd for a demon to be so dutiful (Lucifer doesn’t count, I mean yes that’s part of his character, but it can’t be forgotten that he also is in debt to Diavolo and Barbatos isn’t).

I’m excited to see it, I just began season 4, the part where they tease the brothers for their feelings is my favorite one, even more than when something actually happens, that’s why I like the scenes with Mammon so much. It seems that they mean to go down that road, it does make sense that he’s one of the last to “fall” for MC given his characterization. I didn’t even expect for Diavolo to become a love interest “so soon”. If we follow this idea of Barbatos you just outlined it will be very conflicting for him to go from “demons don’t fall in love with their food” to “hear me out...maybe only this one”.

[fzzr]

Onegai☆Teacher More Than Holds Up

Onegai☆Teacher (Please☆Teacher, and from now on I'm not pasting the ☆) is a 2002 anime about a guy who marries an alien. Yes, another one. Also, she's his teacher. A show like that doesn't seem like something with much to hold up, but when I watched it back in the noughts I gave it an 8/10. I re-watched it recently with the intent to correct the record, to deliberately spoil my memory and see it with adult eyes. Bad news: I like it even better now.

You've heard it before. A 15-year-old guy runs into an alien babe and they need to be married now. In this case, the guy is Kei Kusanagi and the alien babe is his teacher and next-door neighbor, Mizuho Kazami. After a teleporter accident leaves them in a compromising situation, some quick thinking leads to them getting married so they don't get fired and expelled. This is made possible because Kei is legally 18 years old, having spent three years in a state of hibernation caused by a medical condition called "standstill". Despite the "of convenience" nature of the marriage, he still gets kicked out to live with her so that his uncle and aunt can have more "quality time" with each other.

Although all the signs point toward this being a teacher play ecchi show, they don't actually play that up as much as you would think. In fact, right when you think the obstacles to lewdness have been cleared away and it's time for a beach episode, surprise! This show has a plot and there's plot happening and it even happens to characters other than the principal protagonists. The core group of students each have their own things going on, and those things mostly get appropriate screentime and tie into the other relationships.

Without going into the details, the majority of the series takes a quite serious look at balancing your own feelings against others when there's simply no way for everyone to get what they want. The number one problem everyone in Onegai Teacher faces is allowing fear of pain - theirs or others - to pin them in place.

There are still some shenanigans. Urusei Yatsura references are made where appropriate. Sometimes things go wrong for no reason. But important things only go wrong for important reasons. Onegai Teacher manages to weave the shenaniganery of a saucy romcom through an emotional story without the two interfering.

OK but the whole "teacher" thing...

Yes, it's a problem if you're not into that. It actually gets more acute toward the end. The biggest strike against this show is in the title. The thing is, I don't care. It doesn't impede the core themes or messages at all. This isn't a show about a dude and his hot teacher-wife. It's about the things that keep people from being with the people they want to be with, both internal and external. It's about not getting trapped in the past or in your own head, and moving forward even when it means facing or doing things that may be painful.

Conclusion

Score: I can't believe I'm saying this, but Onegai☆Teacher is a 9/10. It doesn't make sense to me either, but I can't deny it. It's funny, it's emotional, it has something to say, and it does it all in 12 episodes. The music is good, the characters are solidly realized and layered, and the plot follows all the rules of good writing (if not good taste).

Recommendation: Out of all the shows I have rated 9/10, this is the second hardest to recommend. (Monogatari is the hardest.) If you can get over the hump of the whole teacher thing (or if you're into it) I think this is worth a watch. I must give content advisories against: underage alcohol use and sex under the influence, suicide, and (in case you missed it somehow) age differences outside the xkcd #314 guidelines.

Comparisons

Tonikaku Kawaii is about a guy who marries an alien. Yes, another one. Also, she's Princess Kaguya. Tonikawa is not about the challenges of building a happy relationship, it's about the rewards. If you just turn in your paperwork that cute girl's hand can be all-you-can-hold. There are challenges, of course - both Tonikawa and Onegai Teacher have a possessive little sister character who objects to the marriage for example - but in Tonikawa it's all about building up a life together and learning to love the other person more and more. Onegai Teacher takes a bolder look at the ways things can and do go wrong, and how you can't back down from those challenges.

I also went back to re-watch Onegai☆Twins, another show in the same setting that shares some characters. That one... did not hold up. The biggest offender was the whole "let's make sure he's not gay" episode, but generally it doesn't have as much to say and pulls three too many bad twist fakeouts. It does still have the same willingness to push the line, it just does it in ways that I don't think are justified. It's also less kind to its characters.

Final Thoughts

Since I started this kick of re-watching old shows last year, this was the first time something I expected to go down in score went so significantly up instead. Maybe I should give more things that I suspect won't hold up another chance. Kaminomi, anyone?

[necer0s]

So I finished my read of the 90s Superboy comic— plus Young Justice and Impulse, which I got sucked into along the way.  Definitely a fascinating read on all three counts, though obviously there were plenty of rough spots.  A few thoughts:

I love how every single member of Young Justice gets a character arc from the start to the finish.  (The middle isn’t necessarily so smooth at carrying it out, but that’s comics for you.)  No one personifies that better than Secret, who is the beginning and the end of Young Justice, but everyone gets one. Robin learns how to trust the team and show his face, Superboy learns how to open up and be emotionally honest, Wonder Girl learns how to step up and have confidence, Impulse learns a fear of consequences and empathy.  It’s very impressive.

Empress is a fantastic character, and I would love to see more of her. DC always has a good cast of magic-users, but not a lot of them are also good at actual fighting.  It’d be great to see her filling that role of magic user more often, especially in fanfic.  Just imagine— Gotham has to deal with some magical nonsense, and Batman really doesn’t want to call in Constantine. Tim has an alternative, but they have to pay for her babysitting.  It’d be great for a Danny Phantom crossover, since she specializes in contacting and contracting with spirits.  Zatanna’s a great magic-user for working with the younger heroes, but Empress has a nice touch of darkness to her that I think is essential to a DC mage.

Honestly, all the side characters in YJ are great.  Secret, Arrowette, Empress, and Slo-bo all have heartbreaking arcs, and almost all of them are self-contained to this one series.  In the world of comics, where characters tend to show up and then stick around forever, leaving and coming back and dying and resurrecting endlessly.  As much as I might like to see more of them, that’s a rare commodity and well-worth respecting.

There’s a lot of missed potential in various places among the three series, but one arc stands out to me: “A World Without Young Justice”, which follows up on the original villain that Young Justice faced together and has him use time-travel shenanigans to make the team into washed-up versions of themselves.  I really wish they had made the premise a little closer to the title, and shown us a world where none of the YJ members were ever heroes at all.  There was a great opportunity here to show us all the things that have gone wrong in a world without Young Justice— and by extension, show us all the incredible things these children have achieved— but instead they used that opportunity to sexualize Empress and make fat jokes with Cassie.

The Superboy series has a heck of a lot going on, and I’m genuinely not sure if the writers know about any of it.  Like, there are some very fascinating stories being told about child celebrities, clone rights, urban housing, identity... but they almost all feel like accidental side-effects of writers trying to tell a story about a “cool teen”. 

The Impulse series, on the other hand, frequently knows exactly what it’s trying to say and does a fantastic job saying it.  A more general read of Flash comics is definitely going on my list, because I love Bart and Max.  

All in all, an interesting and fun bit of reading.  I’m starting in on the 2003 Teen Titans, so we’ll see where things go from here.