#god what a monster of a project this was to work on. ive never finished a comic before

[aru-art]

two-headed calf by laura gilpin

[cassiopeia-core]

obsessed

leo valdez x daughter of hecate reader

a/n: calypso is nice in this one, reader is vv insecure (self-projecting lol), also ending was kinda rushed bc i didn't know how to finish it, also not proofread :)

song: obsessed - olivia rodrigo

(calypso is a pisces for the plot)

La-da-da-da, da-da-da, la-da-da-da-da La-da-da-da, da-da-da

when leo and calypso broke up, the entirety of camp half-blood was flabbergasted. why wouldn't they be? leo had literally sworn on the river styx for calypso, dying and resurrecting for her then rescuing from her cursed island. the perfect couple.

however, what camp half-blood didn't know was the reason behind the breakup: you. while leo did truly like calypso, deep down, he always knew that you, his best friend, had a special place in his heart.

after leo and you got together officially, rumours starting spiralling about how you'd used 'black magic' to capture leo's love and the matching sun and moon necklaces that you two always wore was cursed or something??? you'd always thought these rumours were ridiculous; you'd literally gotten him the necklace before he'd even known calypso.

Cause I know her star sign, I know her blood type I've seen every movie she's been in and, oh god, she's beautiful

but naturally, although you'd never admit it, you were insecure. calypso was smart, funny and beautiful. she was a goddess for gods sake. you tried to push those negative thoughts down, the thoughts that fed the growing monster that was jealousy inside of you. you were obsessed with her.

you literally had a star sign chart featuring her and leo's signs and their compatibility rates. they were so compatible, perfect for each other. being a daughter of hecate and all, you took these things very seriously. but you could never let leo know. what would he think of you then? you didn't want to lose him more. so everytime he would hangout with you in your cabin, you made sure to cast the Mist over your charts, disguising them or making them appear as though they were nothing.

She's talented, she's good with kids She even speaks kindly about me, ha-huh

hoping to break the good girl image everyone had of her, you always dreamed of catching her slipping up and badmouthing you.

like right now.

you'd been heading back to your cabin after dinner when you heard the voices of Calypso and her friends. you were ready to stear clear and hopefully go around them without catching attention but as you neared them, you realised they were talking about you???

you quickly shrouded yourself in the Mist and crept closer. eavesdropping probably wasn't the best idea but you were determined to prove that she wasn't the good girl everyone thought she was.

"girl, have you seen leo's new girlfriend?" you heard one of her friends snicker. your heart picked up its pace and your ears strained to hear more.

"there's no way he'd rather be with a witch than you calypso, who in their right mind would do that?"

your heart plummeted when you heard calypso sigh, "guys, i've moved on, leo's moved on so there's really no point in badmouthing y/n. also, she is one of the sweetest people ive met. please don't think so lowly of her."

needless to say, you slunk ashamedly back to your cabin.

But I can't help it, I got issues, I can't help it, baby

you couldn't sleep.

couldn't stop comparing yourself to her, couldn't stop doubting why leo could possibly leave her for u.

they were perfect together, like warm flames embracing the smoldering logs in a fireplace on a cold winter's day. but you? you were nothing. you were like the useless mantelpiece above the fireplace, watching on as the flames danced to their full potential.

so you decided it would be best to break up with him

coming to a cold, hard conclusion, you swung yourself out of bed and out of your cabin, and headed towards bunker 9, where undoubtedly, your hardworking boyfriend would be slaving away at the forges.

upon hearing you arrive, leo dropped his work with a clatter and pushed his hair out of his eyes. "baby!" he sang, making his way towards you. "look what i - "

"leo," you interrupted. he looked so excited, eyes brimming with love and enthusiasm, looking at you like were the most beautiful piece of art in the world. you almost stopped yourself from saying your next words but - "leo, i want to break up"

he came to a halt before you. "w-what? did i do something wrong? i'll fix it please, please, please don't do this. just tell me what's wrong? i love you baby please."

you could feel your heart shatter at the sight before you. eyes wide with uncertainty and face full of confusion, the upset on leo's face made you want to turn back time take back your words.

"leo, im so sorry. i love you so much too but, i'm so obsessed with your ex. i feel like a fucking creep! i can't help but think that we're not meant to be and calypso is perfect for you." you managed, chest aching, desperate for something to hold onto, to cling onto. "you're wasting your time on me. i'm not worth it."

"aww baby," leo pulled his arms around you. you sobbed into his shoulder, not caring about how dirty your pajamas were going to be after this. "baby, please don't think like that. you're my forever girl. my one in a million lifetimes. and i love you for you."

you sobbed harder and leo's grip on you tightened. "mi vida, i swear on the river styx that i will try my hardest for you to never ever feel this way again. just promise me that you'll stay with me. i'll love only you, baby. promise."

and he kept it till his very last breath.

a/n pt2: ummm (idk what this is but i love leo soooo)

divider creds: @animatedglittergraphics-n-more 

[teeth-and-tea]

ANIME & MANGA I HAVE BINGED IN THE LAST MONTH: May 2021

I've Been Hunting Slimes for the Past 300 Years and Now Ive Maxed Out My Level: incredibly long name aside, cute af slice of life that suffers Same Face Syndrome. I'm still happy to watch it because of how feel good and fluffy it is though, Im probably gonna forget about it in two or three years tho. 8/10.

Don't Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro: I found out this was a webcomic first and suddenly all the HORNINESS made so much more sense. A Femdom, Degradation, Humiliation, Dacryphilia Bullies to Lovers story disguised as a high school rom-com which, I'm not going to lie, misses SKEEVY CITY by mere inches on a regular basis. However, I'm a Dom/Switch and this entire relationship sets off my dom brain center like New York City just shy of midnight. So if you're into that sort of scene, this anime is for you. If not, it's still fascinating but you're probably gonna be a little put off by how mean the Girl!Bully is to the guy MC. Unless you find out something about yourself, in which case, congrats! Stay safe, sane, consensual, and learn about the traffic light system on top of safe words, I promise you'll have a better life in general after that. Still Ongoing, currently 10/10.

Fruits Basket: IM GONNA CRY I LOVE THIS ANIME SO MUCH???? The original anime came out when I was in... I think middle school and my parents were really strict on what I watched so I never got to experience the first wave and I never bothered to watch the show ever after I moved out of the house years later. However, now that I'm much older I honestly can say this is one of my favorite anime to date, and all the characters are charming, lovable, with their own problems that I can connect to or sympathize with, and I love the MC which is always a treat tbh. Except Akito. Akito can suck a sandpaper dick. I'm only on S2 tho so no spoilers! Anime 11/10.

Monster Girl Doctor: went in thinking it was gonna be a monster girl who's a doctor with a homoerotic assistant (her name is SAPPHY okay sue me for thinking it) and ended up watching the entire dubbed harem series. Honestly, I've seen worse and this one has consistent follow-through on interesting characters and backstory enough for me to shove aside the blatant under-monstrousness of the female monsters and the harem-ness of everything else. Dubbing is honestly really good, which is a treat, and the monster designs are not the worst and the MC is tolerable. Honestly, I don't mind having watched it! The mix of cgi and the traditional animation together work pretty strangely though, and it often doesn't flow super well. 7.5/10

So I'm a Spider, So What: Dubbed version which honestly isn't that bad. Took me a bit to get into it, but after realizing that it's got a mismatched timeline a la The Witcher, it made so much more sense. Heavily done in cgi, and you can definitely tell between the 2D and 3D animations, but not the worst in the world. I went in not expecting much but it ended up being an Issekai I can stand and even enjoy. On god has a decent story... with the spider. I'd be a liar if I didnt say I skipped some of the human parts just to get back to the best part of the show. 8/10.

Somali and the Forest Spirit: I'm so fucking nostalgic for this thing it makes me want to go and hug my dad. About a human girl under threat of being eaten with a monster-dominated world. Very obvious "humans fear what they don't understand" message but instead of the humans learning tolerance it's what happens when they get annihilated first so like, kudos for the mangaka for having the guts to do that. I cried like a baby regularly. It's really good, I watched the dub and ID WATCH IT AGAIN!!! 9/10.

To Your Eternity: Oh my god. O h my g o d. Fell in love on the first episode, ngl. About if an immortal being learned how to be a person from scratch. I love it. HOWEVER. Keep a box of tissues on you at all times because you're gonna need them. I'm only on EP7 because that's all that's out right now but just know. I love it. Not for everyone but certainly for my "what do we define as human and the human condition" ass. 12/10.

Those Snow White Notes: A sports anime without any sports. About shamisen playing which is cool because I never realized how cool this instrument was??? Its neat af. OP1&2 are by Burnout Syndrom so know theyre fire. Gonna be real, its pretty alright, but not extraordinary. You can tell they were using the characters as archetypes rather than actually characters which kinda kills a lot of the emotional value you could've had, but I'm still gonna watch it. It doesn't make me cringe as hard as other sports anime tho so I consider it toptier in that regards but if you're a big sports anime fan you might be bummed out by it. Every single musical performance is INCREDIBLE tho. A solid 8/10.

Toilet Bound Hanako-kun: THE ART OMFG IT'S SO GORGEOUS. Listen, if you took coptic markers and gave them an animation budget with some manga panel direction thrown in there, that's this anime. It's beautiful. Gorgeous. I'm in love with the aesthetic every second. Story? Really good. Characters? I love the MC and his evil little twin brother asshat. Demons? Not super imaginative but I'm carrying on happy as can be anyways. Dubbing? A bit shaky at times but I found the voices charming if a little off for some of them. I'm already waiting for the second season with popcorn at the ready. 10/10.

Prison School: I watched this directly after Hanako-kun and it was like I got slapped in the face by sweaty unwashed titties and some fedora wearing schmuck's piss kink. No character is likable or redeemable. I finished it, but at what cost? 2/10 and only because a character shit his pants and I laughed.

Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle: watched this right after Prison School and it was NECESSARY tbh. Its so CUTE and honestly, im not even kidding you, the fucking funniest anime I've seen in months. I watched the dub and the VAs are having the time of their lives working on this anime not just giving it their all but literally just going ham. Its great. If I read this im sure id be bored outta my mind but the VAs giving it a joyous performance make it an insta fave for me tbh. 9/10.

Sk8 the Infinity: i watched the dub with my bro and I can confirm that its a spectacular show because we both loved it and we have vastly different tastes. Incredibly SUSPENSFUL AND STRESSFUL for an anime about skateboarding but we finished it in a single sitting tbh. The last episode is not dubbed for some reason but we still loved it. Like if Free! was less obnoxious but the only fan-service here is Joe ♡ a beefcake who owns my lesbian heart. I think there's exactly one named female character tho and I legit couldn't tell you what it was if there was a gun to my head. So, over all, 9.5/10.

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: I'm going to be entirely honest, I went in thinking it was going to be a boring isekai of no value. I was right about the Isekai part. It was honestly pretty interesting and focused on nation building like you're playing civilization rather than the usual "Get Stronger" narrative or "Get Some Pussy" narrative most isekais take which is delightfully refreshing. Granted there are flavors of that in this which means it doesn't alienate the big isekai watchers out there, but it's not the whole dish and it doesn't make me want to cringe the same way others do. You've got a slime MC just vibing and building a nation of monsters nbd. Does lose points for making the female monsters more humanoid than their male counterparts but makes them back by only doing perfunctory fan-service and nothing that makes me want to cry... except the butt sumo episode but in fairness it was all a terrible dream. Literally, the MC refuses to dream anymore after that. solid animation, decent voice acting, decent story, made me realize how HUGE this is in the Light Novel community???? There's like 18 fucking novels and that's WILD. 8.5/10.

MANGA:

Spirit Photographer Saburo Kono: a one shot special by the mangaka of The Promised Neverland! Honestly a really delicate touch of both super creepy and really touching, and I'm not gonna lie I'm bummed that this isn't a bigger project but the single chapter makes it a good taste for their style. I've been wondering if I wanna read/watch The Promised Neverland and now I think I will. 10/10

Deranged Detective Ron Kamonohashi: from the mangaka of Hitman Reborn comes this Sherlock and Watson derivative! Not even 20 chapters out yet with a sort of spotty schedule, I honestly love it even thought it's exactly as you expect. HOWEVER. Kamonohashi the "Sherlock" character uses mental pressure to kill all confirmed murderers and it's up to Toto the "Watson" character to save all those people before Kamonohashi kills them! It's just recently introduced a "Moriarty" family of crime lords (not a big spoiler don't worry it was obvious) so the tension surrounding Ron's past is amping up rn. Personally, I think the art is GORGEOUS, the characters engaging, and the story quick enough to keep my interest. Most mysteries are solved within a chapter or two so you're not stuck 20 chapters into one locked room mystery which is just peachy tbh. RN, 10/10. If this gets an anime, I anticipate a legion of fangirls who ship the two main characters along with their many friends. I've been alive too long to believe otherwise.

Don't Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro: Yeah I read the manga after I watched the show. A slower build than the anime, but it works for the format, if theyd done the same with the show then I don't think it wouldve done as well. Honestly? Cuter tbh but just as horny. You dont start really LEARNING about your character until like, chap 65 tho and no real "drama" happens until like 75. A good chunk of the chapters are like 8pgs so its a breeze to get through. I love these slow burn idiots of the century. 9.5/10 because you can DEFINITELY tell the mangaka does hentai too.

Yugen's All-Ghouls Homeroom: one-shot by the mangaka for Food Wars, it's no wonder there's this constant perviness from the MC, a guy who can see and exorcise spirits. Takes place at an all girl's finishing school with KICK ASS monsters tbh, kinda bummed its not longer. The MC? Blatant monsterfucker who is also a CONFRIMED monsterfucker???? Idk i vibe with that single emotion. Everything else is hit or miss. 7/10 for monsters and cool concept, lost points for the MC very pointedly being okay with admitting he'd wait for the teenagers to be adults tho. Creepy af. Could live without that.

Hell's Paradise: I finished the entire 127chps in 3 days and I was really enthusiastic about it 90% of the time thinking about how deep it was and then I actually thought about it and I ended up being very neutral about the whole thing tbh. The art is fantastic tho, but DEFINITELY deserving of the M rating. Tits. Tits everywhere. But not tits to be ecchi over, no, monster hermit tits on beautiful women-ish figures. Now generally I give that a pass but a huge theme in the story is that men and women are "no better than one or the other" but like, lady tits are what you see 99% of the time. Men tits are few and far between. I call bullshit on most of the "deep" themes is what I'm saying, so it's like the mangaka was trying for those deep thoughts but missed the margin a little too far for my preference. That being said, the MC is a married man who loves his wife which automatically makes him my favorite character so like... idk so many good things, so many misses, but overall really spectacular themes and imagery. Unique but classic all at once. It's getting an anime and I have NO IDEA how much censorship they're gonna be doing but they're going to be doing SO MUCH. Oh yeah, and one guy is a plant/human hybrid who fucks a 1000 year old plant-hermit which makes him a canon monster fucker. And one canon non-binary character who I, a nonbinary, actually like. So like... gosh I've got mixed feelings. 8.5/10.

Choujin X: From Sui Ishida, mangaka to the mega hit Tokyo Ghoul comes this brand new manga!... Of one chapter, lol. Not really binge-y because it's just the one chapter out right now but I'm already keeping my eye on it. The grasp on anatomy in the art is PHENOMENAL and you can see Ishida flexing his art skill which is great. Can't give a true rating but I'm giving it a tentative 9/10 because I'm excited to see more.

Shag&Scoob: technically not a manga, its an ongoing webcomic I binged an subscribed to in one day and I just think it deserves more attention. Starts off funny with "what if Scooby Doo had a gun" and has been led to "what if all cartoons are aliens that survive and receive their powers by the humans that love them in an epic war with Martians." On god, its good. I finished the current series in a couple hours so it's a breezy read, highly recommend it. 9/10.

To Your Eternity: Yeah I watched the anime and then finished all current 143 chapters in like 3 days. GOD IM WEAK. I don't buy physical manga unless I know I want to remember the story forever and I'm already budgeting for the current books out. Yeah, this is a good series. That being said, definitely not for the faint of heart or those who suffer under common triggers like suicide, molestation, death, etc. It's all framed as bad and necessary to the story don't get me wrong, but it's there and has lasting affects on the characters. Incredible story telling by the creator of A Silent Voice. Keep tissues nearby at all times. 12/10.

[axemetaphor]

im definitely not ripping off my friend by making a list of au ideas i have no siree //gonna slap this under a readmore cause i. well i say a lot. all of the time. i tried so hard to format this Good but tumblr fucked me up i am so sorry

so first-off i know i already have one WIP AU (Auckland) on ao3 so i wont talk about That one cause like. spoilers. i actualyl have it like 80% created so its likely gonna truly get finished for once and i dont wanna ruin shit

the other one ive posted about is something me and ben (catgirlrepublic) have worked on together its not at all close to done or anything but it's. a fun little crossover. Between jdate and my fuckinuhm. Original characters story “Untitled Villains Project”. the sketches of the comic version ive started is actually my pinned post 👉👈 its like the first chunk of the story, i think half of part 1? yea.

Tldr john fucking Somehow is able t oget into contact with a certain curious scientist from another reality who’d just love to study the Soy Sauce, most certainly not for her own nefarious purposes

John and Dave meet up with the scientist, her name is Boss, and her lab assistant, Toxic, and after a bit of a preliminary Vibe Check where john determines her trustworthy (which Dave doesnt agree with,) the two agree to be taken to the world UVP is set in. from there they stay in Boss’s lab (big old fucking abandoned military lab). John and Toxic are fast friends due to mutual love-of-chaos. John n Dave get to fuckin, camp out on an air mattress.

The day after they arrive, the two get split up, not exactly intentionally; big plot points of UVP are liek. Fueled by Boss sending Toxic to go fetch her “research materials,” which are usually important artifacts

Fuckin side note i guess i have to explain my dumb bullshit: Boss’s, uh, field of expertise so to speak is actually fckin, basically the scientific study of magic and superpowers n shit like that. This shit’s all real in that world. Toxic’s got fuckin superpowers, so do 4 other main characters, whatever. It’s got a bit to do with spirituality, iss Boss’s hypothesis. So she has Toxic fetch important artifacts that might have “energies” to them. The thing is actually way more fuckin complictated than that, this is just Boss’s initial hypothesis.

Motherfucking anyways. So Boss gives Toxic a job to do, and John get excited about how Cool that sounds, and ends up going with Toxic, leaving Boss and Dave alone. Neither is thrilled about this. But Dave and Boss get to have a bit of conversation (while Toxic and John are off bonding and having a good time) and come to a… mutual grudging understanding of some kind. They still dont like each other though lmao

Theres gonna be deeper shit going on but we havent sorted it out yet/tbh havent like Written For It in a while but i still like thinking about it a lot lol

Also pretty sure our endgame is john and dave steal toxic and bring them back with em lmao boss is kind of not nice and toxic would most certainly be better off in Undisclosed. Actually theyd fucking love it. Theyd become a local cryptid im sure. Undisclosed’s mothman is a teleporting spike baby.

I have. Another crossover AU that i might. Post something about for halloween? Maybe? If i have it finished?

Crosses over into, you guessed it, another one of my original-character projects. God, am i vain or something?

I promise this is just because i think blue and dave should get to team up to beat up some monsters

Quick briefing on my fuckinuh. Original character story, this one doesnt have a name (yet? Idk lol my work never actually goes anywhere sso who gives a shit). It centers around two grim reapers, Red (26, bi woman) and Blue (22, aroace agender asshole). In this reality or whatever, grim reapers function kind of like low-level office workers. They get told who’s going to die + when by some middle-management types, and upper management only involve themselves when punishment needs to be doled out. These Higher-Ups can be seen as analogous to Korrok; they’re decidedly not human, never were, and fucking terrifyingly powerful. Additionally, grim reapers are sort of .. designed to be “background noise” people. In reality theyre supernatural beings and, uh, look Real Fuckin Weird (the whole deal has a neon aesthetic im terrible at drawing uwu) but most humans just perceive them like extras in a movie. A body’s there but the camera’s not focused on it.

To the narrative: the shit starts when Red n Blue get relocated to Undisclosed. Relocation is something that just happens every now and then to reapers; they usually work in teams, but they get split up into different cities to avoid any strong bonds forming (a counter-union strategy from the Higher-Ups).

Red, Blue, John and Dave end up running into each other for the first time in a McDonalds where John n Dave are getting some 4am “hey, we just survived another horrific monster fight” celebration burgers. John and Dave are the only two people who can see how… strange Red and Blue are. Nobody else notices.

John unintentionally pisses Blue off, leading to Blue whacking him upside the head with a dildo bat. They all four get kicked out of McDonald’s. Dave and Red both are less than thrilled

Blue and John end up resolving their differences, somehow. Red and Dave briefly bond over their dumbass best friends being, well, dumbasses. They all part ways amicably.

somehow-or-other (idk yet) they end up running into each other a few more times, and eventually john invites them over to his place, and the four (plus Amy now!) get to know each other a little better

while there, Blue gets a text about some guy who's gonna die and John offers to drive them to where that's gonna go down. they take him up on the offer and get to have a bit of one-on-one conversation

after that ordeal though Blue has had Enough of people and bails, leaving John to head home alone

theres a sort of mirror-development going on with the five of em. Red, John, and Amy would all like everyone to get along, though theyre a bit tentative about it (John moreso than the other two, actually, jsut cause. well Red n Blue could still be Sauce Monsters). Dave and Blue on the other hand do Not like people enough for this shit, and Dave's not unconvinced theyre Sauce Monsters. he will not trust them until proven he should

the story's kinda nebulous but i got an idea for some Shit going down that involves both Sauce Monsters and also the Higher-Ups to have some fuckin absolute chaos go down.

Oops! All Trans

Everybody is transgender. Everyone

Ive actually workshopped this one both with ben (catgirlrepublic) and ghost (ghost-wannabe) lmao its a fun lil concept ive had from the get-go cause i mean. What’s an internet tran gonna do other than hit all their favourite media with the Everyone’s Trans beam

Dave transitioned post-high school and faked his death for it. People go missing in Undisclosed all the damned time, after all. He moved to the next city over, transitioned fully, then came back as a completely new man. Yes i know this doesnt exactly fit with the “everyone knows David from high school” thing alright, hush.

Anytime anyone brings up John’s old best friend (pre-transition Dave) John throws an entire fit like an overdramatic grieving widow. Full-on sobbing “why would you bring her up?! I miss her so much—” to the point that people just stop bringing up because Jesus Christ That Sure Is Uncomfortable KJHGFDS.

This is a scheme he and Dave came up with prior to Dave leaving, though Dave hadnt exactly anticipated John putting on this much of a performance about it— but it’s stopped Dave from ever having tto hear his deadname again, so hey.

Amy transitioned sometime in middle school/early high school. Her family was super supportive and loved her a ton and most people just know her as Amy. she was super shy her whole life really so. Yeah. people just dont think to bring it up lmao also i Feel Like big jim would absolutely wallop anyone who gave her trouble of any kind

John’s nonbinary (genderfluid specifically) and not exactly Interested in transitioning ? like hes fine with how he is. mostly.

he came out to Dave in high school but hes not out to anyone else exactly. Maybe his bandmates. Probably any other trans person in Undisclosed knows, too, cause theyre safe to tell lmao. Johns mostly a “he/him out of convenience” kinda nb who’s cool with any pronouns but does prefer they/them most. Dave and Amy use they/them when the trio are alone

Also this is a totally self-indulgent caveat that i think would be great, Dave’s actually agender but because he's transmasc and transitioned when he thought there were really only two options, and being Boy at least felt less weird than being Girl, he just kind of assumed he was a dude. It’s only through a lot of (like fucking years and years hes probably in his 30s/40s when he puts 2 and 2 together on this one) talks about gender with John that he realizes he actually feels like No Gender. Masc aesthetic with none gender.

I Just Think It’d Be Neat Is All Okay

Also Amy came out to Dave about being trans early on in them seeing each other and his response was to get very nervous before blurting out “me too” and then just being too embarrassed to talk about it for the rest of the day. Hes got a lot of hangups on talking about it actually it takes years for him to get comfortable in that

by contrast when Amy comes out to John about it his response is to yell “EYYY ME TOO” and give her a big ol hug lmao

I think itd be neatt if Amy ran a like. Transfem help/advice blog on tumblr. Kind of helped-with by John who can give her transfem nb insight for certain asks. I also just think that would be neat.

Cowboy AU - i put this one last cause its got drawings to it actually. Theyll be at the bottom

Basically just. Hey you ever watched a western. I think they look neat

This is another one me n ben have come up with lol

The soy sauce and all that shit still exist, im not sure where korrok fits in yet but ill figure it out

Theres no real like solid narrative yet ? but heres the barebones of everybody’s arcs.

John

Johns an absolute troublemaker, Of Course. Hes wanted in several towns for absolutely stupid shit. Hes a loner who shows up, causes chaos, gets drunk, does some drugs, runs away if people get too mad at him

He definitely had the same kind of deal with the soy sauce as in canon— he was at some kind of party, somebody offered it, he took it cause why the fuck wouldnt he, now he can see monsters and shit

Hes kind of a mooch also. Like. dont let him stay in your barn man he’ll never fucking leave and drink all your booze.

He runs into Dave when they happen to just, cross paths in the same town. the bullshit John stirs up ends up involving Dave in a way that makes it seem like it's his fault too, and they both get run out of town

after that he just tags along after Dave. hes decided this guy's Cool he wants to stick around. Dave is pissed at first, but not enough to shoot him or anything, and eventually, John grows on him

Dave

Dave also is a loner but unlike John hes simply so fucking awkward and bad with people. He doesnt feel like he belongs anywhere so he just travels

He’s the stereotypical Lone Ranger tbh. He wanders from town to town, solving their problems, though hed deny its out of any moral obligation (it kinda is, a little bit, tbh. He does like feeling useful). He shows up, fixes things, leaves. He's kind of a legend but most people think he's hiding something dark. other people jsut know him as that guy who farted real loud in the middle of the saloon and promptly skipped town out of sheer embarrassment. you know how it goes with Dave

He ends up involved with the Soy Sauce when a snake (not Actually a snake,) bites him. The snake’s more like the wig-monsters, really. Anyway, it injects him with the soy sauce, he fucking trips balls in the middle of the desert, he can see monsters now

He runs into John and shit goes tits-up, as said, but they become traveling buddies after that. he'd never say so, but he's glad for the company, actually. it's nice. hes not used to companionship but he feels a strange kind of easiness hanging out with John....

not sure how the Monster Dave concept will like fit in to this reality but like. trust me i want it in here. I'll Figure It Out.

Amy

Amy’s been living in a town John and Dave end up passing through and she is very curious about these two new Handsome Strangers who claim to fight monsters and just kinda. Persistently tags along til they let her join for real

Her family’s all dead, unfortunately, just like in canon, and she’s been living alone for a few years before meeting John n Dave. she had nothing left in that town to stay for, she'd been fantasizing about escaping on wild adventures for a long time and this felt a little like a dream come true. (Dave still gives her a spiel about how Difficult it is, but really, her fantasies were pretty grounded-in-reality already. i jsut think thats how she is, yknow?)

Shes the first person to react to the whole “we see monsters” shit with a kind of “oh, okay. neat” kind of response lmao

John and Dave fix whatever the fuck is up with her town (maybe that’s where the Korrok shit can fit, who knows) and Amy ends up being integral to that. After, she insists they take her with them because “they need her now” and Dave just cant really say no. John too is very much "the more the merrier!" and hes actually glad to have another person along he loves people lmao

At the start she has long hair but after she joins them she chops it short with a knife for convenience

also she still is an amputee. justt. idk. it was a wagon/stagecoach accident rather than a car accident lmao. just to clarify since i hadnt mentioned it, i wouldnt rob her of her ghost hand or yknow. all of the significance to her character that Missing A Hand has. although also now im going to have to research what was used as painkillers way-back-when, but im betting shes still got, like, her pain pills, they probably had those, maybe i wouldnt have to try too hard there. old timey medicine could be WACK though,

Shitload

Yeah hes in tthis shit mostly cause i liked designing his cowboy self lmao

Hes a kid (like 16, 17, technically i think in those days that was more Young Man than Kid but whatever. Hes Young i mean.) who got possessed by the Worms out in the desert and, by his family’s perception, just went missing!

Hes also a wanderer, but he ended up at the same town john and dave met in, at that same time, and starts following them after, already aware of who/what they are.

He keeps his face covered 24/7. actually he covers a Majority of his self for reasons. kinda want him to be a slightly more horrifying Worm Entity rather than human idk,

I kinda dont have much for this boy yet sorry Shitload

images !

with some editing notes for me cause im doing a very specific aesthetic with this lmao. i might change some lil details/colours though ...... idk

im also kinda 🤔 about shitload's colour palette. i want things assoicated w the sauce to be black'n'red predominantly but i think his palette might mirror dave's too closely. also im working on a korrok design i jsut am too busy to draw it now

[firstpuffin]

The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening remake

-Note: It’s kind of embarrassing to admit but my comments around the visuals of A Link to the Past and Link’s Awakening are straight-up incorrect. The two games did not share the same visual style and I honestly don’t know why I said that; I most definitely knew better. Still, I’m not going to get rid of it because the internet needs more examples of people admitting to be being wrong.

I say a lot that I want to be positive, but it’s really gonna be hard with this one. See, at the latest Nintendo Direct it was announced that they would be releasing a remake of the 26 year old game, The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening. As it happens I was already considering writing something about this game in a “Games from my Childhood” article, but that would actually have been positive! This one is… well, I’m going to at least try and balance every negative with a positive.

-at least the title screen looks good-

  So where to begin: I won’t cover the story because spoilers but how about some personal background? The game came out a year before I did (ha! bad jokes) and I have no idea when I got my grubby little paws on it, but it was a part of my life genuinely for as long as I can remember, along with the Pokémon games. I never completed it as a child, but my memories of it were so good that I returned to it as an adult and completed it, learning its sad secret.

-hey! according to this it released the same year I did; me getting my years mixed up I guess-

  Link’s Awakening (LA) was originally a pet project made outside of work hours which is why it borrows resources from other games such as the Mario series, but it was eventually released to critical acclaim. The gameplay is much the same as its immediate predecessor A Link to the Past (LttP), but with a number of new items and a unique soundtrack. Visually it is much the same as well, although its original release was black and white for the GameBoy with Link’s Awakening DX adding colour for the GameBoy Colour.

  So let’s start with the visuals as that is most of what we have right now: the original shared its visuals with LttP what with them using the same assets (tools, resources etc) and LttP had a sequel recently that looked really nice. But the upcoming LA remake looks nothing like it; I wouldn’t expect it to but when a defence of the artistic choice is that “it’s an update of the original graphics” (so why not use the assets from the LttP remake?) or that it somehow “reflects the atmosphere of the original” except there’s no reason for it to be any different to, again, the LttP remake. And in response to the “atmosphere”, LA was one of the darker yet in some ways more whimsical games; this new style is childish to the extreme.

  Don’t get me wrong, I love something that is good and childish, but there is a level when it stops being great and starts to feel like they condescend to the player. Bright colours, simple faces, high pitched noises- Oh god the noises!! I’ll expand on the sounds later but I’m still on the visuals. I’ve heard the game described as looking like Claymation, which isn’t wrong, but my immediate thought was that it looked like cheap plastic. And after watching it again and again as I discussed it with a friend, this opinion stuck.

-tell me this doesn’t look like claymation; this isn’t a game, it’s an animated short film-

  You know how shiny and tacky cheap plastic usually looks? Imagine an entire game like that; an entire world like that. Fans of anime may understand what I say next, but there is a large element of “chibi” in this new game. Large head, tiny body. It’s often seen in short 4 minute spin offs of popular series.

-as you can see, chibi is hardly meant to be taken seriously-

-just to hammer things home-

  So shiny plastic, silly chibi art with a soulless expression. Oh yeah, that. Link’s eyes have zero soul behind them. Zero. He’s a freakin’ monster. Have you seen those Funko Pops? You know how empty they look? Some have said it somehow reflects the original game’s art again, but back then they didn’t have the technology to make him look soulless and young me always thought he looked determined; it was really cool.

-determined; dead inside-

Okay, so I said I would try and be fair, and I have shat upon the plasticine toy-box long enough, so here’s what is good visually. The areas are actually really nice. 

Ignoring the nail varnish sheen on everything, things are really detailed. There is an unfortunate trend in games, likely due to technical limitations, to have flat textures. Basically, imagine the difference between a tile or wood panel floor, and a picture of a tile or wood panel floor. But this game looks to have really tried in these areas. The grass looks thick and lush, tiles look like more than a photograph on the floor and even the flat flowers on the ground look decent. Just a shame it all looks like LEGO. Actually, a LEGO Zelda game would be awesome. But this is not that.

  I haven’t explained that very well, it’s an area that I am new at but I will say that clearly a lot of care has gone into the assets and the world. It is not a lazy game in any way.

-don’t tell me those trees and rocks and- well, everything, don’t look like LEGO-

Next I’m going to talk about the sound. First of all, I’m convinced that they have artificially increased the pitch of Link’s voice so it is painfully sharp to the ears. I’ll admit, I have an unusual sensitivity to lights and sound and thus I prefer darker colours and quieter sounds; I avoid clubs like the plague and not just because I’ll likely catch it there. So maybe, just maybe, I’m noticing something that won’t be a problem for most, and is just unfortunate for me. And let’s ignore that it doesn’t match the darker tone of the game.

  And the music? Also quite high pitched. And super cheery. It doesn’t have either the dreamlike or dark tones that could be expected (and just thinking of how it could be dreamlike gives me shivers; it could be so good) but is instead inanely cheery. In fact, I hope they sped everything up for the trailer and the pitch is just an unfortunate side-effect.

  On the plus side, the trailer opens with a cool cinematic and I swear the music changes from a nice, cheerful rendition (I don’t dislike cheerful in-and-of-itself) of the Zelda main theme to the death squeals of various instruments that I mentioned before. On top of that, it ends on a really nice vocal version of the LA theme, Ballad of the Wind Fish. If the trailer had been the cinematic and that closing song alone then I would be beyond excited about the remake. Thank heaven it wasn’t, I’m not sure my love of the series could survive such a plummeting disappointment.

-and here’s the actual trailer for your perusal- 

So I’ll finish here. I was originally very pleased, excited even that they had decided to remake what was a favourite, underrated and apparently forgotten game, but I kept my expectations low because I knew what to expect from these companies. I thought I did anyway. I was still disappointed. I thought I had prepared for the worst. Still, at least it gave me something to write about.

  But, the game has clearly had a lot of work put into it and gameplay-wise it actually looks to flow really well so I’m sure it controls like a treat. But the visuals and music are too big of a deal for me to let slide; if it keeps up like this then it could literally be painful for me to play. Still, games do change a lot from the initial trailer to its release and I even put forth an idea of why the sound may hurt me so much here. Maybe the final game will be a lot better. Unfortunately, the things I want to be done in games and such rarely are, and I am often alone in my complaints.

And finally, yes I am aware that the famous and incredibly popular Wind Waker entry in the series also had similar complaints and became, as I said, incredibly popular. I wasn’t a part of that crowd, I was too young and honestly, Link’s Awakening was the only Zelda game I had actually played at that time. 

[plunder-heaven-and-devour-god]

My emotional think piece whilst Notre Dame de Paris and crying and listening to the movie soundtrack

Not to be that absolute ASS BUT I HAVE TO SAY SOMETHING

I want to unearth Victor "biggest fuckboi in Paris" Hugo and beat him over the head with his own fucking shin bone for getting me so MELDRAMATICALLY IN LOVE WITH A BUILDING IVE NEVER EVEN BEEN TO.

I just finished the fifth part of Notre Dame de Paris and god I want to tell him

Even though you said :"this will kill that, the press will kill the edifice" you said that printing/press/writing killed architecture as the primary method for humanity to express/share/cement ideas for the masses and to enscribe themselves in history.

You said that the accessibility and the thousandfold architects in writers killed the edifice and in doing so became the second tower of Babel. Gutenberg's printing press became the second register of recording human thought.

Does he know that his book saved the edifice? His book instilled love for Notre Dame de Paris and restored it after centuries of mutilation and decay? HIS BOOK SAVED THE EDIFICE.

His supposed venom for architecture acted like an antidote in this one case and in this one case crippled his own argument.

Not to mention

I'd have to ask him what does he think about visual mass media becoming the third register of human thought? How would he feel if told that film and photography have killed Gutenberg? How would he feel if he know that writing had joined architecture in the grave he so cynically condemned it to.

How would he feel that visual mass media overtook the canon of his printed word. That his story has been superceded by context and reimagined several times on film? How would he feel if a a multi billion dollar American conglomerate rewrote and redistributed the story of Notre Dame de Paris and became the story in the public conscience? How would he feel knowing that Alan Menken's score is what first comes to mind first and not his words, or that of the actual edifice?

Yes all other arts are used to support architecture like masonry, sculpting, painting, and metalsmithing. But those he claims have become divorced from the edifice. They have done the same for the printing press. Being divorced from other arts those methods are no longer tethered to the recording of human thought in Hugo's mind. The author states that the exercise of architecture has become hollow without the weight of being the method with with humans record their world.

But

Unbeknownst to him they come back in other forms, in other methods, other arts to support and bolster the story and character of different facets of the story of human beings. He says architecture had died, but maybe it merely reincarnated. This new life is used to bolster another human register. If not the book of Notre Dame de Paris then the edifice, and if not the edifice than the 1939 film, if not that then the Disney version. They all congregate every now and again to support some core love and sentiment and continue to lay down the stones in a long winding and untoward present into the future.

Hugo both rails against and praises Gutenberg for the printing press. He also takes a seat amongst the writers committing this architectural murder.

But what would he say if I told him that the book exists in all it's different forms on the internet for free, and even more radical and enlightened version of free thinking. I got his book on the Gutenberg Project site where books entering the public domain are free. To quote Hugo's other french playwright counterweight "all for one and one for all". His work is up on the internet for free for all and more ironically carries the namesake of the man who he says enabled the murder of architecture.

More radical that the dogmatism of architecture, the accessible and far reaching appeal of writing, or even the new universality of the visual mass media. Is the internet the fourth tower of Babel? Or is it too early to tell if the web and social media count as just one more tier in an ever climbing skyscraper of visual mass media? What would he think of the way that we could consumed and recorded human thought when it is near effervescent in comparison to the stones that he praises? What about YouTube as a platform or Twitter? How will his story transform in this information age to bolster a cathedral bordering on eight hundred years? Where does that put us in his world view?

Although I do think these different iterations and transformations that his story has undergone would horrify him. The story's ability to stay relevant has these different methods of recording human thought to thank. Hunchback has gone through the story of the edifice, the printing press, and now visual mass media. (I'm also hardcore riffing off of Lindsay Ellis' great video that does a way better job than me expressing this.)

I think he'd be even more horrified to know that the Disney Version is so character centric that the focus if his original story has been relegated to support for the characters. In actuality, it should be the reverse, Hugo makes a whole book of a host of characters who exist to populate the cathedral. But in this day in age in the western world we are preoccupied with the power of individuals, not the towering and lofty mysticism of Catholic dogmas. The story now belongs to the characters and the individual instead of the edifice belonging to the people.

Architecture, in it's golden age according to him, was for the caste/the priest/history, and would the march of time it turned into the work of individuals and artists. And so has his own intellectual property, the public conscious does not remember ANANKE at the beginning of Notre Dame de Paris but they remember the inviduals, not the dogmas that the architecture so visibly preoccupied itself with, but with the individuals in it's story and the individuals who the story now belongs to.

What would he think?

Not once has a film adaptation, our modern human register as it were, accurately captured the story he made. Which is for better or worse, it's gone through the hands of American capitalists, movie monster buffs, and a German fleeing the Nazis.

What he would have wanted was what The Ark did for the Hermitage St-Petersburg. He wants an epic film made of one continuous shot of the arcades, cloisters, towers, and arches of Notre Dame in a succession of epochs with people milling in and out of frame in different period dress. That and a cacophony of music from the bells recorded straight from the bell towers.

Instead the dead guy got several movies about a melodrama between an ugly wretch, a Madonna whore, and a Catholic priest. And I wouldn't even say that Hugo likes his characters, more like populates the building with then. He tolerates them sometimes, sometimes he likes them, sometimes he hates them.

He writes about the burden and cruelty that Quasimodo endures but never gives him a happy conclusion, or any closure. He treats him as the public does.

His self insert character of Pierre Gringoire is infused with his dry wit, and often ridicules his own self absorbed poet's nature. He down right puts himself through the ringer and takes several too self aware jabs at himself.

He tries to make Clopin the king and noble but still puts forward this bigoted image of the Romani people. He makes him magnetic but does not feel back the thick veneer of discrimination. Why? Because Hugo makes it very clear it's about the cathedral and not the people.

Esmeralda gets the shortest end of the stick, balancing the whore/angel dichotomy equally throughout. She's made a vessel for want of the male characters and the reader. Not to mention she's not actually Romani but a poor stolen white girl who was made a part of Les Cours Des Miracles by an accident.

Frollo is strangely not as potent in this version, especially if you're coming off any of the film versions. He's austere, and the word 'learned' used over and over again, his quiet abuse masquerades as quiet charity but he is the front for a huge anti-clerical sentiment.

The individual is not Hugo's concern but the building. So I'd love to hear what he would say of what the building and the book have become.

[gokinjeespot]

off the rack #1208

Monday, April 16, 2018

 Today is going to be challenging here in Ottawa. Freezing rain overnight has left thick ice on everything. It's going to take a lot of muscle and time to scrape off any cars parked outside overnight. Penny has been going at hers for half and hour and she still hasn't left for work. I would normally go out and help her but I caught a bad cold and I feel like poop. I probably got the bug on the flight home from Cuba last Tuesday. My immune system let me down this trip.

 Our week at the Brisas Guardalavaca resort in Cuba was near perfect. Beautiful sun every day. I took one of the resort bikes out for a ride on one of the only cloudy mornings, got rained on a little but made it back to the resort unscathed. I donned mask, snorkel and fins every afternoon but one to swim out to look for tropical fish on what remained of the reefs after last year's hurricanes. I'm happy to be home but I wish winter would finally leave the area. Just going to stay in today and try to get better.

 Domino #1 - Gail Simone (writer) David Baldeon (art) Jesus Aburtov (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). Killer Instinct part 1. It's my lucky day. The merc with the facial tattoo is back on the racks and she's being take care of by a writer and artist team that I like a lot. This story starts off with Neena Thurman's birthday but may end in her death day. If I didn't like this whole issue and the many guest stars so much, that last page guarantees that I will be reading the next issue.

 Immortal Men #1 - Jim Lee, Ryan Benjamin & James Tynion IV (storytellers) Jim Lee & Ryan Benjamin (pencils) Scott Williams & Richard Friend (inks) Jeremiah Skipper & Alex Sinclair (colours) Carlos M. Mangual (letters). The End of Forever part 1. I used to get excited when I saw Jim Lee's name attached to a new project because his art was so fantastic. At least to me it was. His X-Men and Batman stuff made me go "wow". Now I look at his art and feel meh about it. This latest New Age of Heroes book introduces a team of immortals that are brand new to me. None of them made a positive impression. I didn't finish reading the Dark Nights Metal stories and this team ties in to that series so that's probably why I couldn't get into this debut. These Immortal Men will be short-lived.

 Xerxes #1 - Frank Miller (story & art) Alex Sinclair (colours). I really liked 300 when it hit the racks 20 years ago. This new 5-issue mini promises to be just as good. This time the Greeks and the Persians go at each others' throats in 490 BC. I have an interest in ancient history so I'm going to follow this story to see what happens.

 Exiles #1 - Saladin Ahmed (writer) Javier Rodriguez (pencils & colours page 4) Javier Rodriguez (pencils) Jordie Bellaire (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). Here we go again with Blink leading a team of heroes to save the multiverse. This first issue introduces two team members and the big bad guy that they'll be facing. I liked this debut. It reminded me of the Unstoppable Wasp book with young Nadia. I really enjoyed Javier's art in Spider-Woman so I'm giving this new book a chance.

 Batman #44 - Tom King (writer) Mikel Janin & Joelle Jones (art) June Chung & Jordie Bellaire (colours) Clayton Cowles (letters). I loved the silent scenes where Selina picks out her wedding dress. Those pages are interspersed with flashbacks showing different times in Batman and Catwoman's tumultuous relationship. The lead up to the wedding has been amazing. I'm starting to get a bad feeling about the blessed event however. The "'til death do us part" part may be a nasty surprise that the creative team are going to spring on us. I really hope not.

 Oblivion Song #2 - Robert Kirkman (writer) Lorenzo De Felici (art) Annalisa Leoni (colours) Russ Wooton (letters). Still liking this adventures in monster land series.

 Runaways #8 - Rainbow Rowell (writer) Kris Anka (art) Triona Tree Farrell (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). Julie Power/Lightspeed is all grown up. I remember reading Louise Simonson and June Brigman's book when it first hit the racks in 1984 and loving the Power Pack kids. I never would have thought that Julie would mature into the woman she is now and would be dating Karolina. Julie's visit to her girlfriend's is interrupted by a surprise villain who wants Victor's head. I was surprised because I thought he was a good guy now.

 Superman #44 - Patrick Gleason & Peter J. Tomasi (writers) Doug Mahnke (pencils) Jaime Mendoza & Doug Mahnke (inks) Wil Quintana (colours) Rob Leigh (letters). Bizarroverse part 3. Thank Darkseid this story is over. This climax had more Bizarro characters so the confusion I felt while reading this issue was increased exponentially. Even the sound effects were Bizarro. I hope we get back to normal next issue.

 American Gods: My Ainsel #2 - Neil Gaiman (writer) P. Craig Russell (script & layouts) Scott Hampton (art) Rick Parker (letters). Find out why this arc is called My Ainsel.

 Spider-Man #239 - Brian Michael Bendis (writer) Oscar Bazaldua (art) Brian Reber (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). The Sinister Six deliver their stolen S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier to the buyer. A special guest star team helps Miles to stop the handover. Somebody is going to die I bet.

 Detective Comics #978 - James Tynion IV (writer) Javier Fernandez (art) John Kalisz (colours) Sal Cipriano (letters). The villain tips his hand this issue. I just noticed that all the ad pages were in the back of this book so that reading the story was a lot smoother. I wish every comic book was printed that way.

 Avengers #687 - Mark Waid, Al Ewing & Jim Zub (writers) Paco Medina (pencils) Juan Vlasco (inks) Jesus Aburtov & Frederico Blee (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). No Surrender part 13. The Avengers find out what they're involved in as Voyager confesses to her duplicitousness just in time for the bad guy to ratchet up his threat to destroy the planet. The scene between Jarvis and Bruce Banner bodes well for the return of the Hulk.

 Avengers #688 - Mark Waid, Al Ewing & Jim Zub (writers) Kim Jacinto  & Stefano Caselli (art) David Curiel (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). No Surrender part 14. The Avengers need every hero they can assemble to defeat the Challenger after he crowns himself the Grandmaster Prime. It's going to take a lot of sacrifice to save the doomed planet. Who will not survive is the question.

 Old Man Hawkeye #3 - Ethan Sacks (writer) Marco Checchetto (art) Andres Mossa (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). Clint is hunting Thunderbolts and Bullseye is hunting Clint. We all know that Clint doesn't die in this story because he still has to go on a road trip with Old Man Logan. I'm curious to see how he survives Bullseye.

 New Mutants #2 - Matthew Rosenberg (writer) Adam Gorham (art) Michael Garland (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). The team gets sent to the Arctic to deal with a giant problem. Meanwhile a new New Mutant makes a surprise appearance on the last page. Maybe Doug Ramsey will show up too.

 Amazing Spider-Man #798 - Dan Slott (writer) Stuart Immonen (pencils) Wade von Grawbadger (inks) Marte Gracia (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). Go Down Swinging part 2. I love the design of the new Red Goblin. The sacrifice that Peter has to make to keep himself and everyone he loves safe is huge. Now we'll see if he can come up with a way to beat the Red Goblin without his web shooters.

 Marvel 2 in One #5 - Chip Zdarsky (writer) Valerio Schiti (art) Frank Martin (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). Ben and Johnny find themselves in a universe where GalacDoom has eaten everything except Earth. Now he's going to eat it too. Then what? There's nothing left to eat. Not very bright, GalacDoom. Seeing the Silver Surfer and Emma Frost doing the Smallville thing was cool though.

 All-New Wolverine #33 - Tom Taylor (writer) Ramon Rosanas (art) Nolan Woodard (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). Old Woman Laura part 1. We jump into the future where Laura is queen of Madripoor after the good guys win Doom World War. Wait until you see who the POTUS is. Laura has only months to live due to a genetic glitch and one of the items on her bucket list is to kill Victor Von Doom. Someone shows up in the last panel and April 25, when the next issue hits the racks, can't come soon enough for me.

 Astonishing X-Men #10 - Charles Soule (writer) Aco (pencils) David Lorenzo (inks) Rachelle Rosenberg (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). A Man Called X part 4. As much as I liked Aco's art in the Nick Fury mini, I didn't think it suited that spy versus spy story. It's perfect for this reality warping story though. The team tries to save the villagers of Fetters Hill in the Scottish Highlands from the villain Proteus before he can spread his madness even further. I'm interested to see how they do that.

 X-Men Red #3 - Tom Taylor (writer) Mahmud Asrar (art) Ive Svorcina (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). The Hate Machine part 3. I don't remember much about the villain Cassandra Nova but it's clear she's one very nasty person in the first three pages. I'm not usually a fan of super hero teams but Tom Taylor writes the All-New Wolverine and Gabby and Laura are on this team so this book stays on my "must read" list.

 Star Wars: Darth Vader #14 - Charles Soule (writer) Giuseppe Camuncoli (pencils) Daniele Orlandini (inks) David Curiel (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). Burning Seas part 3. Vader is sent to the oceanic planet of Mon Cala to hunt down some surviving Jedi that slipped through the Empire's clutches when Order 66 was executed. The defiant Mon Calamari are thwarting his efforts. Mmm…calamari is yummy.

 Captain America #700 - Mark Waid (writer) Chris Samnee (art) Matthew Wilson (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). So disappointed that a time paradox was used to beat the bad guy. All that matters to Cap fans is that Steve is back in the "present" and the series continues.

[stylessemantics]

"You love me, right?" maybe where Harry is asking the question after a fight or something...

This isn’t the best I have to admit, but I wanted to try and write some thing and kind of help get my mind of my pain from the surgery for a bit. Sorry for taking ages and Thank you for leaving a suggestion! Also wittle vulnerable harry melts my heart. Under the cut cause it went on for ages for which i apologise profusely.

You and harry didn’t fight often. Instead you had little arguments and discussions like grown ups that you are and made decisions that affected the both of you as a couple, together. Harry was never one to lift his voice or get angered at the little things and neither were you. 

Except to you this wasn’t a little thing.

You were going to bed alone pretty much every night. And you could feel him lay beside you late late at night, only for him to be gone before your alarm even rang. He was overworking himself, spending torturous hours in the studio preparing his first solo work. You were proud of him, beyond what words could ever express, but you also felt tossed to the side, and you worried about his wellbeing. All these sleepless night were only making him get moodier and pickier with his work and you were sure he was probably driving everyone at the studio a little bit insane with his perfectionism. It wasn’t healthy for him or his work and you weren’t about to stay quiet and say nothing about it after months of the same old pattern. “Harry”“hmmm...” he didn’t take his eyes off the piece of sheet music in front of his eyes. This was the norm now. One worded answers and noises acknowledging your presence but not really paying attention to you. Whatever it was he was stuck on today – a note, a chord, some play on vocals that he wanted to get just right but didn’t really feel as real and raw as he envisioned – he didn’t let go of it until he got it right, only for it to sound terrible in his ears when he took it to the studio, and then back to the drawing board.“Harry pay attention to me” you demanded with a strong voice. You weren’t about to play out yell at him but you were tired of him being so dismissive and blinded by all this work. He had to take a break and he had to realise that he needed one. His eyes lifted up to meet yours with a confused glint. What was going on? “Jesus, finally... Don’t you think you need a break?”“What? I’m good” he was slowly turning back to his papers but you had enough. Putting a hand on the sheet music you got his attention back.“You’re not good. You’re not sleeping. You’re not eating...”“That’s not-”“If you say that’s not true I will rip this piece of music Harry. You’re a bit too obsessed with this and it’s not good for you and you need to take a fucking break, that is not a suggestion” His eyes widened offended. This was his work, this was everything he had, and he was not leaving it until it was perfect.“This is my album we’re talking about... It’s my life’s work its...”“It’s literally taking you away from me. Did you notice I cut my hair? That I’ve been making your favourite dishes for dinner this past week? That our 2 year anniversary was 5 days ago? When was the last time you freaking went to bed with me? Talked to me!? Shared any of your music with me, Harry?! Think about it!”“Well I’m sorry! But this is everything to me. This is all I have. And I’m sorry that me working hard on my life’s work is making you feel slightly left aside. But this is my all!”

You took a few steps back. You weren’t even slightly angry at the fact that he forgot your anniversary, or that he didn’t notice your hair. You were okay with him not always going to bed at the same time as you. That was so tiny to you right now. But you were definitely offended and quite frankly taken aback by the fact that you meant nothing and his work was his everything. Sure it was his first solo project and you understood the big looming cloud of doubts and fears that brought alone. But for fuck’s sake that’s what you were there for right? To help in whatever you could. Get his mind out of the creative gutter. Be there for him. But you were nothing compared to the latest note he added to a song called ‘Carolina’, and nothing more than a body he laid beside at night if he decided to go to bed. “Then this is your everything?” you ask with a tiny whispery voice. “This is it. This is all you have. All you are. All you’re willing to do.”“Y/N...” The glint in your eye that resembled a tear made him take a second look at you. It opened his ears and he heard your every word. And he heard the pain in them.“Marry it, Harry. Fucking marry it then. Let it consume you. You’re not eating, or sleeping and I’m concerned about your health. You’re stuck in the same note and forcing it instead of letting it flow through you like you’ve always done before. Fine. I hope your album worries about your health too... About making you dinner, running you baths, I hope it wants to talk to you, because the last thing I want to do right now is look you in the eye” You let out softly, still careful to not raise your voice at him and fled the home studio to lock yourself in your room and calm down. 

And you left him to think about how you were right. Your hair was shorter, and looked very lovely, but he hadn’t noticed. He wondered when did you cut it but he couldn’t place it. And he couldn’t remember the last time he asked you about your day or told you about his day for that matter. The last time he showed you a snippet of anything he was working on. Asked for your opinion. He realised that it was bad... He shouldn’t need to rack his brain for the last time he gave you a good morning kiss. That’s unacceptable. That’s simply horrible. He realised that his eyes were burning with tears in the sudden realisation, and they also burnt from staring at the stupid piece of paper titled ‘Ever Since New York’. His own scribbles looked foreign to him, like he didn’t write them himself. Like this wasn’t his work that he worried so much over. This didn’t feel right. His effort for making this album real and honest felt like a facade because he wasn’t being himself. He was letting all of the fears of going solo and the doubts on his own writing skills consume him and make him a work-a-holic monster. It was making his supposed “everything” crumble and feel like a complete lie. And this album wasn’t all he had. He had you. He had you crying in your bedroom because he’d literally tossed you aside.

He felt relieved leaving the studio and his desk. Like there wasn’t a cloud of fear and doubt over his head, and he knew it was because you cared about him enough to make him realise he needed a break, or else none of his songs were going to ever be finished. He knocked on the door, jiggling the doorknob and realising it was locked.“Y/N... I’m sorry, please... Let me in?” he whispered, hoping you could hear him. It took him a few seconds to hear the lock passing and you were opening the door to him in an instant. God he didn’t deserve you, he thought. You were in all your right to be so mad at him and still you had kept your voice low, and were opening the door to him when he had fucked up so big. “Baby, you’re right... I... I don’t know what’s happening. I’m scared” he admitted and you hugged him tight. You knew he was scared. He had to be. This wasn’t like the other times he’s put out music. This was something colossal. This was a monster of an album. You knew he was scared, but you hoped he’d shared the weight with you instead of drowning in it alone. “I know Harry. But I’m here... I’m always going to be here” there was soothing silence and back rubs for a while as Harry felt like he could breathe again. It was nice to feel your arms around him, and he scolded himself in his mind for neglecting this for so long... If only he had let you hug him maybe the album wouldn’t feel like such a shadow over his head, and more like a walk in the park.“You love me... right?” his voice wavered as he asked. He felt like you were done with him, and after calling his work his everything like he didn’t have you in his life, such a central piece... He legitimately wondered if you were just completely done with him. Taking a step back from the embrace you looked him in the eye and smiled. How could you not love him? All of him and his quirks and fears and worries. How could you not love his hard-working personality and his tender heart. How could you not love how passionate his is and how honest he is and how brave he’s being allowing himself to be and appear vulnerable for his work. How could you not love every inch of him?“I’m always going to love you Harry... No matter what. Album one or one hundred... I love you and I’m going to love you through them all... I’m here always.” 

Still recovering from my surgery. Today the stitches hurt like a bitch and I decided to go through my drafts and finish some things up. Once more; Sorry for taking ages and Thank you for leaving a suggestion. I hope this is worth your while! I know it’s not the best and my mind didn’t really go through the whole plot to try and make sense of it.

Prompt taken from THIS four-word-prompts list

MasterlistIv, xo.

[gamerzcourt]

PC 2018 Report Card: Year In ReviewPC 2018 Report Card: Year In Reviewvideo games

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PC 2018 Report Card: Year In ReviewPC 2018 Report Card: Year In Reviewvideo games

2018 was a fantastic year for video games, a non-stop hit parade of amazing titles all over the scene–AAA blockbusters, indies, and everything in between. If you’ve got a Windows machine with the right hardware, you’re already in a good position to experience the overwhelming majority of it. The PC has continued to be an outstanding place to play video games in 2018, and with some companies making interesting technological headway this year, it’s also the place where the first steps to the next generation of games are already taking place.

The Walls Between Console And PC Continue To Fall

If you only have a PC, you might find yourself feeling left out when a major console release rolls around. That’s certainly still the case with Sony and Nintendo, but Microsoft’s Play Anywhere initiative, introduced in 2017, continued to see a small handful of Xbox One releases come to Windows 10 as well. The critical consensus was mixed on Sea Of Thieves and State of Decay 2, though both have seen continual content updates since launch. Forza Horizon continued to be a welcome asset though, so we’re looking forward to seeing what Microsoft Game Studios has in store for 2019, especially with its current focus on acquiring major developers.

Meanwhile, Japanese third-party publishers like Capcom and Sega continued to recognize the value of their PC audiences, and we saw more traditionally console-only franchises make the transition to Steam. Ports and remasters of existing games like Yakuza 0, Devil May Cry, Shenmue I & II, and Katamari Damacy appeared, but we also got significant new releases like Valkyria Chronicles 4, and the mammoth Monster Hunter: World, and we also have Devil May Cry 5 and Resident Evil 2 Remake to look forward to. With the higher potential power of gaming PCs, multiplatform titles overall continue to perform better, too, and there were few instances of dodgy PC ports this year. At least, not to the extent of Nier: Automata in 2017.

There was one incredibly notable third-party game that didn’t make its way to PC, however. Red Dead Redemption 2 released to near-universal acclaim in October, but Rockstar hasn’t made any comments about the potential for a PC version just yet. The PC version of Rockstar’s previous game, Grand Theft Auto V, was announced roughly a year after its initial release.

The Battle Royale For Battle Royale Intensifies

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds dominated PC gaming talk in 2017, capturing a lot of attention and spawning many imitators. But while PUBG hit its absolute peak popularity on PC in January of 2018, its player base diminished drastically throughout the year.

The obvious reason is likely Fortnite, which dominated the talk of 2018 to a much larger and more unprecedented scale than PUBG ever did–it’s become a mainstream cultural phenomenon. But PUBG itself is also to blame. The game had numerous bugs, technical issues, matchmaking problems, and a general jankiness that never really went away.

PUBG’s raw, early-access feel was endearing at first. When the concept felt new and exciting, it was easier to overlook its problems. But the charm started to wear off through 2018, especially since its competition was a more polished alternative. PUBG developer Bluehole eventually acknowledged that the game had numerous issues, launched Fix PUBG, a development roadmap that let everyone know that it is listening, they are working on it, and they want to be transparent about it. But that hasn’t stopped its player base from shrinking.

On the plus side, if battle royale is your jam, the PC is the best place to get access to all the up-and-coming competitors trying to make waves with their own unique takes on the popular format. Fortnite and Call of Duty’s Blackout aside, PC players also have access to SCUM, Ring of Elysium, H1Z1, Battlerite Royale, Fear The Wolves, Fractured Lands, Realm Royale, Cuisine Royale, Darwin Project, Maelstrom, and Radical Heights (R.I.P.), to name a few. How many will make it in the end? Probably just one, really.

Strategy Is Still Strongest On PC

Sure, the major consoles have their exclusive titles. But there’s one genre that you absolutely need a PC to experience the best of: strategy and management games. Statistics, spreadsheets, intricate battle commands, economies, sewerage systems–these games keep you obsessing over the smallest decisions and keep you up all night.

2018 saw the release of some exceptional new strategy titles, like the phenomenal Into The Breach, the slow and deliberate Battletech, the perilously stressful Frostpunk and the frantic They Are BIllions. These games brought engaging new ideas to the already stalwart genre roster available on PC. We also got great new releases from familiar series–Thrones of Britannia represented a successful, smaller-scale experiment for the Total War series, Football Manager 2019 once again did its thing, and Two Point Hospital was a pitch-perfect spiritual successor to Bullfrog’s classic Theme Hospital.

Meanwhile, the existing strategy heavyweights all saw strong expansions–Civilization VI received Rise and Fall, which added an interesting new dynamic to the ever-popular 4X game, and Paradox continued to roll out multiple expansions for its enduring roster, including Stellaris, Europa Universalis IV, Hearts of Iron IV, Crusader Kings II, and Cities: Skylines.

Valve Finally Releases A New Game

The company behind Steam, Half-Life, and Dota 2 among other things released its first new game in years during 2018, the trading-card game Artifact, based on the Dota 2 universe. It was designed by the legendary creator Richard Garfield (the person responsible for Magic: The Gathering and Netrunner), but its release was surrounded by heated discussion over its unique monetization model. While the base game costs $ 20USD, the only way to get new cards is to either buy more 12-card packs at $ 2USD each, or purchase them individually from other users on the Steam marketplace. This model mimics the real-world collectible card game market, but i seemed to irk players who are used to the more generous free-to-play model of its competitors. However, Artifact’s defenders tout that the relative cost of achieving a full set of cards compared to other games is comparable, and in cases better given the ability to resell on the Steam marketplace.

In more positive and less contentious Valve news, the company this year acquired Campo Santo, the independent studio behind Firewatch and the upcoming In The Valley Of Gods, so expect to see another Valve published game in 2019.

Discovering Indies And Early Access Games Is Still Best On PC

Though Xbox began experimenting with early access games in 2017, the PC is still the best place to try out a large variety of the freshest new game ideas. Wading into the early access pool naturally has its own perils (we’re talking about unfinished games, after all), but there are always games whose concepts are so enticing and executed so well that they demand your attention even before they’re finished.

Significant early access darlings that gained popularity this year included the widely celebrated Dead Cells, which finally came out of early access in August, the deck-building roguelike Slay The Spire, space survival game Astroneer, the aforementioned RTS They Are Billions, Crytek’s competitive western game Hunt: Showdown, among many others.

Elsewhere, Star Citizen is still in development, seven years later. The ever-growing spiritual successor to Wing Commander reached over $ 200 million dollars in crowdsourced funding in November of this year, and its scope continues to be almost incomprehensible. The 2013 phenomenon DayZ also reached its fifth year of Early Access, though we’re not sure if anyone is still playing that.

On the indie front, Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo have all been getting better in bringing indie games to their respective platforms, and other publishers like Devolver Digital are making sure their titles get released in as many places as possible. But, if you’re interested in the independent scene, the PC is still the place to be. Certain high-profile 2018 titles are PC only, like the exceptional Return To Obra Dinn, and others, like Into The Breach, released on PC long before getting announced for any other platform. Additionally, PC-exclusive services like Itch.io are still the best place to check out smaller-scale experimental titles.

New Technology Is Here. The Future Is Here.

2018 was the year that GPU manufacturer Nvidia took its next big step and revealed the Geforce RTX 20 series of graphics cards at Gamescom, which can very comfortably run modern games at their highest detail levels in 4K resolutions and at 60fps. But even though the raw jump in performance might not seem that drastic on paper, and the cards themselves are expensive, the 20 series pushes GPU tech forward with the introduction of a couple of notable technologies that look to the future of graphics rendering.

The 20 series boasted a major advancement in the form of real-time ray tracing, essentially a superior and realistic-looking way to render lighting, shadows, and reflections, though only a limited number of games are currently able to actually utilize this technology (Battlefield V is the only one at the time of writing). The 20 series also uses a new form of antialiasing, called Deep Learning Super-Sampling (DLSS), which uses a form of artificial intelligence to perform better polygon rendering without the huge computational strain that it typically requires.

Elsewhere, Google unveiled a limited test of its cloud streaming service, Project Stream in October. The company teamed up with Ubisoft to let a selection of users play Assassin’s Creed Odyssey through the service, which streams game through the Google Chrome browser, and by GameSpot’s own accounts, this actually runs pretty damn well.

With rumors of new consoles on the horizon, these two disparate advancements in both local and remote computational technology give us some good ideas of what to expect. We know a number of major games companies are looking towards cloud streaming as an option (if they don’t already have an active service), and we know that there’s always been a bit of a hardware arms race between Sony and Microsoft concerning who gets to boast about having the better graphical quality. So, to see functioning examples of both kinds of advanced technologies this year on PC feels like we’re already getting a taste of the next few years of gaming.

Other Matters, In Brief

Valve’s annual Dota 2’s tournament, The International, once again broke its own record of the largest prize pool in esports history. The final total was $ 25,532,177

Valve’s Steam Link hardware was discontinued and run out at trivial prices during Black Friday. The company plans to continue its Steam Link technology as a software-only platform, utilizing existing smart device technology from other manufacturers.

Valve announced a new Linux initiative titled Proton, which seeks to allow Windows-based Steam games to run from within Steam’s Linux client.

Seminal 90’s PC games Ultima Underworld and Star Control saw modern successors release this year with Underworld Ascendant and Star Control: Origins. Unfortunately, neither seemed to meet fan expectations.

Blizzard fails to announce a new Diablo game at Blizzcon, to the disappointment of its most rabid series fans.

The declining value of cryptocurrency in 2018 leaves graphics card manufacturers with huge amounts of surplus inventory.

Verdict

It’s unsurprising that the versatility and open nature of the Windows PC platform continues to make it the best place to play a large variety of games. Third party publishers are continuing to support their PC audiences, and it’s the platform with the biggest variety of independent and early access games. Big console exclusives from Sony and Nintendo will continue the elude PC audiences, but Microsoft’s Play Anywhere initiative continues to be a positive idea that will hopefully pay off with their recent studio acquisitions. Additionally, the PC still sees its fair share of platform exclusive games, especially in the strategy genre.

2018 was a great year for games, and because you can play the overwhelming majority of them on your computer, it was a great year for PC gaming.

The Good The Bad An increasing number of traditionally console-exclusive games make the transition Some disappointing revivals of classic PC games A strong year for PC-centric strategy games Red Dead Redemption 2 hasn’t been announced, yet Variety of indies and early access games is still largest on PC Nvidia paves the way for Ray Tracing support in the future

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