#i do wonder if we're gonna get to see some of the other related characters too. kinda twst-style.

[egophiliac]

i don't think u need to worry about poppy ikemen anymore, new ride kamens character is kr kamui who is our lord and savior dan kuroto

DAN THE DANGEROUS ZOMBIE MAN!!!!!! I was SO excited when I saw the reveal, he is absolutely the funniest possible character choice hands-down. oh my god. I'm so glad he made it into this game.

also Kamui just looks incredible. instant favorite. this is the kind of man I can picture standing naked on a cliffside and screaming at everyone about his imminent ascension towards godhood. he is the incarnation of that one iconic Gina Linetti scene.

[pikachugirltits]

Magic x Marvel: Idle Speculation

I have a lot of random thoughts about the upcoming Magic the Gathering x Marvel crossover, and I thought it would be neat to just ramble about them in a post, especially so I can hopefully find that post again later when the sets release and see how much I was right about. I'm just gonna bullet point this because this is kind of a stream of consciousness sort of deal:

We know that we're getting multiple "tentpole releases" a.k.a. more than one full set for this particular crossover. I'm thinking at least one is going to be a straight to Modern draftable set similar to the LotR set, but I don't think they're necessarily just doing that for all the sets. I speculate that the other (or one of the others if there's more than two) set is going to be a gimmick draft set, such as 2-Head Giant or Commander draft.

I personally am hoping one of the sets is a Commander draft set, and that our partner variant for the set goes the Stranger Things route and just creates a subset partner variant. I propose the name Team-Up, to represent the ubiquity of team up storylines in comic books. (I actually made an entire post about this but Tumblr's wonderful search function is choosing not to find it on my blog.)

Ooh, if they do go the Commander draft route they can make the Prismatic Piper equivalent a Skrull or something

I really, really want a Squirrel Girl card that makes squirrel tokens that I can jam into my Chatterfang deck. Squirrel Girl is my favorite superhero and I just want her on a card so, so badly.

I think it would be cool to have a Mjolnir equipment that in addition to its other effects also has a bit of trinket text along the lines of "equipped creature is a God in addition to its other types."

Thor and Loki and any other Asgardian that represents an actual god should have the creature type God. It already exists. Like sure, we could make Asgardian a creature type if we wanted to, but that's the coward's route.

I saw someone make a comment on Reddit about adding Hero and Villain as creature types, but I really, really hope that doesn't happen. It runs the risk of making the creature types in the set super repetitive, and we're already gonna see a lot of that from the sheer number of human characters. Sure, we'll have some mutants and aliens and robots to occasionally break things up, but it'll be much worse if the class types among cards aren't varied.

Like seriously, let's use the movie Avengers lineup. What's better...having four Human Hero cards, a God Hero, and whatever we do with the Hulk...or a Human Soldier, Human Scientist, Human Archer, Human Rogue, God Warrior, and whatever we do with the Hulk

Yeah, actually...what are we gonna do with the Hulk and related characters? In a vacuum, I would probably type the Hulk as Mutant Berserker...but for IP reasons I wouldn't be surprised if the Mutant creature type is reserved solely for characters with the X-Gene. I don't have an answer for this, just wondering...

Oh, and since I mentioned the MCU, I do want to say one thing, if they're smart they'll base the sets on the comics and not the MCU. Gives them a lot more material and characters to pull from

Booster fun treatment should lean into this and be comic book themed, but I think they would also be smart to offer some Secret Lair drops featuring alt art versions of the characters based on the MCU...if they're willing to deal with the likeness rights and whatnot.

Multiple tentpole releases does mean multiple commander precons. Some themes I could easily see them basing decks on: the Avengers, X-Men, Spider-Man/Spider-Verse, Guardians of the Galaxy+other space themed characters, a deck for a bunch of the more mystical Marvel characters probably led by Dr. Strange, S.H.I.E.L.D., A.I.M., Villains in general (from my memory Marvel doesn't really have a singular Legion of Doom type team up of its iconic villains, but I'm definitely picturing a Villains deck that tosses a bunch of iconic villains together in one deck...you could call it the Masters of Evil as a deep cut though.)

If Gambit gets a card, he should have an ability that lets you discard cards to deal damage to a target to represent Gambit throwing cards at his enemies. (This is the kind of wink at the camera stuff I love in UB products.)

Koi Boy should get a card purely because he's a canon trans man and Magic really needs some trans masc representation.

[notwonderlandsworld]

Can you do a fic where the bat kid just has a full mental breakdown because of what happened to Cassie and they miss there bff

I decided to make it a bit short because I don’t wanna entail too much on the Cassie situation (I lowkey think it's because i’ve never learned to cope properly, or I do it too fast lol) Hope you like it! Don't forget to comment and reblog!

*IMPORTANT NOTE: Must read previous fic "Becoming" to understand plot points*

SPECIAL NOTE: all of my child fics/daughter/son/sibling fics will be with an adopted reader and not a biological one. Biological would mean that half of these parents/couples would be mixed, so no I won’t be doing biological. Especially when it comes to predominantly white characters.

pairing(s): Batfam x Child!Reader

warning(s): mention of sensitive issues, mentions of possibly unhealthy coping methods, ANGST, tis sad

word count: 1.5k

You never coped with death before.

As far as you could remember, you have never had to deal with the loss of someone. Having no clue of biological parents or relations amongst the early stages of your childhood, there was never an experience at hand.

You'd jump throughout various orphanages so much until Bruce/Batman came along and turned your world upside down.

Before you were never one to keep close friends. Why bother? It’s not like they’d last long.

That idea completely changed after meeting Cassie.

When you were placed in the same room as her that night, she didn’t shy away from you. She was very keen on making friends, despite your stubbornness at first.

It wasn’t out of spite for her at all, you had just been so used to pushing aside people due to no real experience in establishing friendships amongst previous peers.

When you eventually got settled that night, Cassie seemed to miss the mark on your notions of sleeping. “Psst!” She called out, tucked under her covers but still up and awake.

Your brows furrowed, eyes closed with no intention to open them. Maybe if you didn’t answer she’d get the hint.

“Hey!” the voice yelled in their whisper a little louder. Sucking in a breath, you turned your back to the girl. Just ignore it (Y/N).

“I know you’re awake. C’mon! Talk to me.”

Jesus fuck, did this girl not know how to take a hint? Pulling the covers up to your nose, some shuffling was heard followed by silence after. Good.

Yelping, there was a harsh dip on the bed. Eyes flying open, you looked around to find the culprit. Glaring, low and behold there was Cassie laying down beside.

The teenager smiled, “I wonder…” she seemed to ignore the harsh scowl directed towards her. 

“The fuck! Why are you on my bed?!”  you demanded an answer. But she continued rambling off til you retaliated with a kick to the ankle.

“Ow!” Cassie reached down to soothe the oncoming bruise. “The fuck was that for?”

“What do you mean? Asked why you came over my bed! I’m trying to sleep!”

“Well maybe I wouldn’t have to if you talked to me in the first place.” Cassie retorted back with a smug look spread across her face. Your intrusive thoughts were demanding to kick her onto the floor, but went against it.

Groaning, you threw the covers off and made your way to the desk between the two beds. Falling onto the chair, you leaned back while glaring at the culprit now alone on the mattress. “We're only gonna talk for five minutes, then I'm going back to sleep.”

Cassie smiled, sitting up straight. “I’ll take that!” she stated before beginning her ramble.

Needless to say, the five minute talk ended up being over two hours. It was strange how quickly you grew to befriend the teenager in the span of 6 months.

The caretakers were surprised to see you more befriending towards the other kids a few weeks after. It soon became obvious where the shift in attitude had come from. More or so, who had caused the shift in tone.

You had become closer with Cassie as the days grew by. She explained her life throughout the years, and she was experiencing her teen years. Listening to her ongoing story made you realize how alone the two of you truly were.

But she rest assured you; “Don’t worry!” she’d say, “We’ll take care of eachother from now on, and in the future too!” She almost felt like a sister after. She began to feel like the sister you never grew to have.

It’s crazy how that was all stripped away when Bruce Wayne adopted you. The idea still engraved into the back of your head suddenly felt more and more bleak.

You and Cassie weren’t together anymore.

The chances of taking care of one another became more and more bleak. It made you feel guilty. Maybe if you had told Bruce to take her in as well…then things could be different. You could feel tranquil. You would feel complete, knowing that you had Cassie by your side.

But that didn’t happen. You didn’t speak to Bruce or your family about it. You went without protest. And now here you remained in the Wayne manor, a letter addressed to you from the orphanage addressing Cassie’s death.

‘It’s crazy’ you told yourself as you mourned for her. As you sobbed uncontrollably when you first discovered, there was a voice in the back of your head that wanted to come forward.

It terrified you. It was hard to push it back, not allowing it to come forward, because you already knew Cassie wouldn't want you to blame yourself. Yet the barrier was broken and soon the repeated chants kept stabbing at you.

It’s all your fault.

It’s all your damn fault.

Why didn’t you say anything before?

Why didn’t you tell Bruce to take Cass with you? Because of you she’s dea-

Any attempts to block them were pointless at this point. You tried so hard but couldn’t help giving in. They’re right. They had a point. Why didn’t you speak up sooner?

The voices kept chanting louder and louder, it was getting hard to breathe. You couldn’t even figure out what to do. What could you do at a time like this? Your instincts responded for you.

You ran. It seemed like the easiest option right now.

It was a good thing Dick caught up. Otherwise who knows where you would’ve ended.

While hugging your adoptive brother, you couldn’t help looking up at Bruce. How did he react to this? He’s an adult, so he should already know by now.

Maybe he’d provide some answer.

However upon landing on his features, you grew fearful when you realized even he didn’t know how to react.

Bruce simply stared back, bothered and unsure.

-

You’d figure it would be easier after the funeral. Turns out that would be a lie. It only grew worse. After you discovered the murderers of your friend, things went blank.

It was Damian who had helped you with the aftermath of it all.

The betrayal of Tamika was the cherry on top to the entire catastrophe. You hated every single second of it. There were so many mixed emotions running through the entirety of your mind.

Not a single one was invited or welcome, yet they seemed to overtake your space easily.

You thought there'd be some satisfaction in brutally massacring Tamika and Markus, and luckily it was there. Knowing they wouldn't be able to cause pain anymore had brought some reassurance. So there was that at least.

If only you hadn’t known them. Then you wouldn’t be dealing with the feeling of betrayal right now. It wouldn’t hurt as much.

The one thing that kept bothering, the thing that kept furious at yourself, was the pain you felt after committing a gruesome painting.

You despised how you felt pain; you were feeling guilty at Tamika.

Grasping at the sides of your head, it took everything within you to not bash your head against the corner of a shelf. You felt like hurting yourself at the thought of feeling an ounce of sympathy for the same staff worker.

Just…why? Of all people, why did it have to be her? What did you do to Tamika…What did Cassie do to Tamika? There were so many questions left unanswered, and they’d remain that way forever.

In the midst of it all, there would be a blank space from now on. 

Sliding down the wall of your room, you pulled your knees up to your chest. Staring blankly at the window.

You wondered around what time Damian would come home. What he would order next. Maybe tomorrow he’d make you confess your crimes to Bruce and the family. Maybe it’d be thrown under the rug.

Maybe the police would arrive tomorrow—

You could feel the emotions ready to rush out, and you didn’t want them to.

But the distractions didn’t seem to help take your mind off things. “Please…” you begged no one, trying to stifle the upcoming hiccups.

Feeling it slowly creep up, your body grew more and more shaky. The jolts were uncontrollable at this point. Lifting yourself up from the floor, you grabbed at one of the pillows on the bed, and hugged it close.

Letting out a sob, you bit into the pillow to muffle the sound. After prevailing so, the sobs grew louder, leading to stuffing your entire face into the cushion. The last thing you needed was anyone coming in asking if you were ok.

The reality was that no. No you weren’t okay.

The one person you considered your dearest friend was murdered by the hands of someone you almost trusted with all your well-being.

No amount of comfort would feel helpful right now. Being alone was the best option at the moment. It was the only way you knew how to cope with the recent murder of Cassie. 

Was it the best option? Who knows; you never coped with death before.

I'm very sorry if it sucks I tried :) I've also been gone for a while. Let's just say because of health and work. Mainly work lol.

[maranull]

Hey, I hope you're having a wonderful day. You're always a pleasure to see on my dash. Take however much time you need with this, if you still want to respond.

I was thinking about Malenia again. Specifically cooking for her.

See, my love language is making soup for someone. Cooking for them in general, just making their stomachs fool etc. I just love seeing people eat my food and enjoy it. It makes me so happy.

Any headcanons to Mal's favourite food? How does she react to breakfast in bed? What kind of soup would be her favourite? Any kitchen-related headcanons are fine.

If you like this little scenario you can also write about other characters if you want.

(⁠ ⁠˘⁠ ⁠³⁠˘⁠)⁠♥ thank you for doing this

Hug! Hi hi! My day was a bit meh but got much better writing this. Hope you're doing good too! (～￣‿￣)～❤ Right back at you about the dash. <3

That's so, so very sweet.

Malenia:

Oh, tiny note for the headcanons: She still has her eyes for this one. Also, we're in the modern AU, but I don't mind rewording it to fit the in-game world if you wanna :)

Fav food:

Hmm... I headcanon that even thought she doesn't have a sweet tooth, she loves honey. So, favourite food... I think homemade bread with honey. Sometimes, when she knows she'll be out of the house for the whole day, she makes a couple slices and takes them with her for the day. She likes how the honey seeps in after a while and makes every bite feel even more sweet.

Breakfast in bed:

She's generally a pretty early riser, so you gonna have to be up at like 4am to manage to catch her in bed with breakfast. But you do!

She's kinda caught off guard and takes her a second to realise what's going on. Then she just kinda stares and doesn't say anything, just looking at you with silent overflowing affection. She asks if its for her and before you open your mouth to answer she drags you down and gives you a long kiss. "When did you make it?" "Did it take long?" "Wait, did you get enough sleep?" "How long have you been up?" <- Some of the questions you get after she releases you and starts eating. She eats with a big smile on her face, the kind you feel she reserves only for you. In the end, not a single speck of bread escapes her.

After the third time you do something like that, she picks up on it, and pretends she's asleep even when she hears you in the kitchen during early mornings.

Fav soup:

Her favourite soups tend to be sour. I'm specifically thinking something like Romanian sour borș but I think she also likes thicker soups, as long as they have some nice sourness in them.

Random kitchen headcanons:

Malenia can't cook for the life of her

Anything that requires any sort of heating, she will manage to fumble somehow

Still, she's an amazing help in the kitchen, as she can chop literally anything, at any exact size you ask her and faster than a Michelin Starred Chef

She likes watching you cook so she'll often lean in a corner out of the way, sometimes silently, sometimes striking quiet conversation

~

I kinda went all over the place with these, I hope you like them!

And I swear, your scenarios are the most fun to write for. Thank you for this and all of them!!

Btw sorry for taking a bit, work has picked up so I'm generally struggling to find writing time during the week.

❤

[immortaldesiresproject]

Hello friends!

Welcome to update #2! I’m very excited for this one. I’ve worked very hard for the past couple of weeks and been busy with both this project and one (not related to ID whatsoever lmao) for administration at work!

Before getting started, I do want to apologize for the inconsistent updates and posts. Please bear with us, as we’re now a small team of four; Mir: @timetravesty, our new writer Ava: @buttercup--bee (we’ll have her introduction for ya’ll soon), Ally: @marcolinfanmarcooo, and myself, Dev! We are working hard behind the scenes and trying to get the ball rolling a little faster for all of you wonderful people!

One of our members, Ally, is taking a step back due to the tropical storm Nalgae that hit the Philippines on October 29th. Please check out Ally’s page to learn how to support or donate. Her family was heavily affected and they deserve all the help that they can get.

I also want to let you all know that I’m not going to be answering certain questions that come into the ask box. Reason being is… We don’t have the answers for some of them quite yet. I don’t want to answer anything and give false promises! While there are things that are subject to change during the writing process, we haven’t quite started on the scripting yet. We’re getting there though! I’ll still be answering questions, but it’ll just be the ones that we’ve been able to answer behind the scenes. However, we won’t give specific spoilers!!

For general and writing updates: 

As soon as I have all of the primary assets ready to go, I'll be ready to start building the UI! I'm aiming to get a character creation menu done to showcase what the general layout of the game will look like. Maybe ya'll might even see a mock scene from us in the future, if the UI is strong enough ;)

We are piecing together the direction of the story right now and we’re heading in a wonderful direction. We’ll have more updates for you soon in terms of story progression and the general completion. One thing I can tell you is that vampires aren’t the only spooky bois in this world…

For asset and character updates: I’ve been working on new MC sprites between F!MC’s and M!MC’s, new clothing, and new hairstyles. I took some time to evaluate how I felt about the original F!MC’s I had finished. I initially created just one new sprite sheet, and the rest looked, well, boring. I started from scratch for a lot of them, and while it takes forever, I’ve been having fun! Quite a few of the M!MC sprite sheets are done, but there are tweaks I’d like to make before releasing them to all of you. You’ll get to see the new M!MCs soon, I promise you!

Admittedly, I have more erm -- edgier clothing because I'm an edgelord. One of the things I've been working on is making other style and varieties of clothing to ensure it's inclusive to everyone and their preferences. Another fun addition I'm aiming to add are accessories, much like @itlivesproject. Hopefully this is exciting news, but I have two new body types for both F!MC and M!MC. They vary from: fit, thin, and thicc. There are also eight different sprites for both F!MC and M!MC!! I was very excited to see that both the MC Sprites and the new outfits tied for first place in the poll a couple weeks ago! New hair/hijabs was a close last second/third(?) place, so naturally, I’m gonna show ya’ll a few of those too!

Thank you all for your support! It's meant the world to us and we're so thrilled for this project to continue progressing.

Ya'll just make me wanna

[nobodysdaydreams]

THIS WAS SO GOOD OH MY GOSH! (or my reaction to Wolf359's "Change of Mind")

Well dear readers, you've been hyping this up a lot, so I'm pleased to finally be able to bring you my reaction to "Change of Mind", because I, Bods B. Nobody, have finished my finals, so I get to relax now.

Hahahaha...just kidding. No, no, I have a TON of stuff that I've been putting off to study for finals and write essays that's almost as bad as the finals themselves. Almost. Man I hate logistics. Doug and I really are the same person. I think it's the ADHD, but of all the fictional characters I've seen, he is one of the most surprisingly relatable.

I'll be reacting to this while doing chores, but please enjoy! And I apologize in advance if I don't react again for several weeks, I'm visiting family and friends for the holidays and won't be able to sit down for a while. But I hope to listen to season 4 soon!

Tagging the mutuals who got me invested in this, and if you want to be tagged or untagged from these posts, lmk, or you can follow my blog or simply follow the tag "#bods wolf359 reactions". Anyone who has followed me for a while knows my updates are inconsistent, so I apologize in advance for that and for any spelling/grammar mistakes in my posts.

@sophieswundergarten @oflightningandstars @acollectionofcuriousreblogs @herawell @commsroom

Change of Mind:

Oh hi Lovelace. But which one are you? Alien robot clone Lovelace, or the original?

Or maybe someone or something else?

And do you know who you are?

Oh a lucid dream!

Flashback to the old crew! Interesting...Hello Hilbert. I'm not learning how to spell "sell burg". Selburg. is that it?

I see what we're doing. You're gonna make me like the old crew and make me listen to them die and all of Lovelace's trauma? Oldest trick in the book: utilizing flashback land at the right time. Why don't you just take us back to Doug's car crash well you're at it? Oh! Or maybe we can listen to Minkowski's husband hear that his wife died? Oh, no, wait, take us to when Hera tried to escape Pryce's facility, I actually want to see that.

Oh she and Lambert seem to have a bit of a rivalry going on. It's like Doug and Minkowski. They annoy each other, but if anyone else tries to hurt them, they'll go nuts (and probably feel real guilty no doubt).

"Everything alright?" When is it ever alright? This entire show, I don't think we've had one alright day.

Only a matter of time before Hilbert pulls some BS.

LOVELACE IS DOING THE INTRO I LOVE IT! I love when they change who does the intro (I say as I'm sure to eat my words when Cutter and/or Pryce does it).

I'm sorry I have a hard time keeping track of the names. At least Lambert has a distinct voice.

Oh do these two other characters have a bit of thing going on? I love the accents. It's a good way to help me distinguish them, even though I still can't tell who is who. oh yeah Hilbert I know. And geez man no need to be a buzz kill.

Lambert, the people who wrote the manual are sadistic lunatics who need to be imprisoned.

Ah Australian accent guy!

preach it Australian accent guy: "Zip it sir!"

"There's good stuff in these manuals, or they wouldn't be up here either."

Hm. Not sure about that one Australian guy. But we can't be right about everything.

Oh but he is right about Cutter. Cutter DOES get creepier every time. 🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩

"I AM NOT" ...wait. Is Lambert voiced by... (*quick and careful google search to avoid spoilers*) ...Zach Valenti, yeah I heard it that time. Well that explains the nasal voice.

I love how Doug and Sam are both communications officers, and yet so different from each other.

I love Rhea. But I do wonder. Why does she only communicates by beeps? At first I assumed it was because she was an earlier model, and Hera was an upgrade with a voice for easier communication. But then Pryce had that line of "There is a reason I give these things my voice...". But it seems you didn't always have to do that Pryce. I wonder what Rhea did that made her so nervous?

Message from Command? The empty man again? Oh..."your complaints will be processed upon Lovelace’s return to earth?" Cutter was probably giggling to himself when he wrote that.

BOX 953? BOX 953? FINALLY!!!!!

I swear. Cutter and Pryce intentionally send up the most organized, by the book, responsible person they can find up paired with the most ADHD, I don't care, I don't want to be here person they can find just for the purpose of making Hilbert miserable when he has to listen to them fight.

"Who will fight for what is right?" Yeah, I'm sure Lambert and Lovelace will, unlike you Hilbert.

Ah yes the big box. The mysterious big box. We're finally gonna open the great big box. 🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🎊🎊🎊🎊🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

Is it an alien? Is it a death machine? OH THE SOUND IS BACK!

Right the bolts. But we can do it, please please do it, I've waited a long time just open the box. Shut up Hilbert, no one cares what you have to say, I just want the box open, and you are gonna betray everyone anyway because you're crazy and think Cutter is gonna use Decima for good stuff, but he's gonna use it for eugenics, calling it now, because, guess what? When I was studying for my final, I realized from my lecture notes that "Goddard" is the name of a eugenicist who later apologized for his work, but not before other eugenicists took it and ran with it. And I don't believe that's a coincidence.

🎶 Opening the box. Opening the box. We're finally opening the great big box! 🎶

And..........

.....it's a....machine thing. A weird mechanical machine thing.

...

Okay!

6 openings on the machine...PUT YOUR HANDS INSIDE?

No. Nope. Not doing that. Don't like that. Don't do that.

Oh that sounded painful. That sounded...

Gross. Cutter.

THE WAITING ROOM?

...

THE WAITING ROOM?

I SWEAR THAT I AM NOT LOOKING FOR TMBS PARALLELS IN EVERY MEDIA I CONSUME BUT COME ON. IT HAS THE SAME NAME. THE SAME NAME. And I suppose the first fandom you join tumblr for never truly leaves you, does it? I've only spent about a year on this site, still learning.

Mental blank space? Oh gosh this is gross.

"Of course it's inside your head. But why should that mean it's not real?" Dang it Cutter I was gonna use a similar line in my fic and now I can't. You just can't stop giving me reasons to hate you can you? It's like an Olympic sport to him. Props to the writers though.

Imprint of Cutter's personality? That's the worst personality you could have picked.

Oh I see. Lambert's complaints did this... oh dear... well he's gonna learn his lesson about complaining now...

Complaining = Cutter's torture box.

He's taking them on a "Field Trip?"

With Cutter? I doubt it. *camera cuts Doug moaning*

What happens if they don't solve the mystery before time? And is there even a real timer? And why do I get the feeling YOU KILLED THE CREW CUTTER?

"Talent show went wrong or some sort of incident" I love the irony. I also wonder whether or not some of these crews are clones or whether these trips have happened before. It's a possibility.

Oh great. Australian man has people he cares about on earth. You guys really want to rip my heart out on this one don't you?

Oh who is this? What captain? Who's surrender? Explosives? For who's plan? Who is paying for it? What?

Well. What a nice obliging fella. I love Australian man. He's one of my favorite characters. I'm sorry about name thing.

"From A to E, all my love" Interesting. I wonder that too. Not sure we have characters by those names. Well, Alana, but she's dead and that doesn't really fit her.

Oh a diary. Emily. Who is coming? Are these people supposed to be "fills ins" for them. Like to show them what might happen if they went crazy or rebelled against Cutter? This is messed up.

Someone would do that? ...oh. If this was a real event, Cutter is making Hilbert live through it all over again. Which means Hilbert has to act like he doesn't know what's going on but also does because they are being timed.

I hope they use that for comedy: Hilbert: "oh look! Clue! I mean um...I think, I was not here this did not happen I do not know."

Katherine who? Who destroyed the samples? ...four glass tanks.

What um...what happened to the fifth glass tank? The spiders? Something worse?

Oh my gosh. The heartbeat coming from the box when Doug found it. The fact that it was so large...no wait, this is a simulation, never mind. I thought I had something there.

Cutter you can't edit the simulation that's not fair. Back on the Hephaestus? Why do I doubt it. Oh Rhea. Good work Rhea! But um...I have my doubts...

"A shame not to know" it is, but it would be even more foolish to investigate.

"I have a weird feeling we're not at rock bottom yet...I don't want to crash into it..." oh you have no idea Lovelace.

"It could be important" not in the way you think Lambert. Not in the way you think Lambert.

"There's a thing following us" I knew it wasn't over yet.

The empty man cometh.

...Oh great. Lovelace that's not funny. Doing stuff like that triggers the dramatic irony.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

The Dramatic Irony Cometh.

Ah! Here it is. Who said "Tell me about it?" Was that Doug? How would that even be possible? Was that Cutter? This is weird. I can't tell whose voice it is exactly.

Oh Australian man is getting closer to the truth. Kinda makes you wonder, doesn't it Hilbert?

"Is anyone there?" Someone is always there.

Aw poor Rhea. She knows what's happening to Fischer. :( Or she's mocking Hilbert.

"How did I end up back here?" You're still in the simulation.

Who is there? The empty man. He escaped his box! Or you're still in the simulation. Or both.

Rhea is calling out your BS Hilbert.

Dmitri?

How does she know his name? And why do I think Rhea isn't the one doing this. I do like the idea of the ship's architecture changing.

No change in the star. Yet something is happening.

Empty men time!

Or...empty...dog? Time? What's with the growl?

Wings? Tentacles? A what? Monster YOU imagined?

Well then. We're still in the simulation.

"Oh come on, don't tell me you haven't figured it out." Who is that?

Is that Cutter? Why did he sound almost normal for a second. Oh no that is him.

A singing telegram would be nice.

"So we never made it out?" ...in more ways than one.

Yeah. Rhea can't be here. She's not connected.

Called it.

...um. Who is THIS?

57 COPIES? Aries. Don't like her. Is that how it's spelled? Aires? Eres? Erase?

If it's in your heads she very much CAN hurt you.

And the temporal stuff is interesting. A story out of order. So technically...oh my gosh there are so many theories I can make out of this. But I gotta keep cleaning so I'll just let the episode play out.

The next room? When does this end?

Ah Hilbert. I was wondering where he was.

A week of time? TIME DIALATION?

Okay...if anyone has seen black mirror and saw my entry for Pryce on my post about Christmas music that reminds me of Wolf359 characters, you'll know that I already know that Hui is about to come out of this a scarred and desperate man. (some of you might already understand what I'm talking about...)

This is terrifying. Hui has to be horrified. Lovelace...oh and they're making Victoria ask for the clues, this is cruel. The speed up sound effects make it so much worse. It really is like Black Mirror.

Also... is this aging him? And a week of time...is that an earth week? We're talking about earth weeks right?

Took something from the person who killed them. Okay. Another clue.

Are you sure Selberg? If this is an old memory that Cutter is showing him, then I think he would be...unless this is different than what Hilbert experienced before.

"Everyone would have gotten spaced" ...right. Is there gonna be a big twist where they all got blown out the window on talent show night in season 1 and everything we're seeing is a simulation of their consciousness.

Ah the alien clones are here! Which means Cutter has known about them for a while.

They could also both be fake. Or both real, if they make an AI copy of his consciousness.

Additional medical exams? oh really getting into the questions now.

"I'm not Fischer" ... okay, but you have to have them both do it though...

...or not.

Okay so Fischer is the Australian one. But he could be fake too you should test him.

Good, asking them both questions. Smart. Good work Lambert.

I hate dark rooms too.

Change of Mind?

Sudden Death?

"If both of you press don't, you get to go up to the bridge"

IT'S THE PRISONERS DILEMMA ARE YOU SERIOUS? ARE ALL MY FANDOMS CONNECTED?

Lovelace Do, Lambert Don't, delete all Lambert's memories of manual, brain rejects desire to read? Don't do it Lovelace. Don't do it.

Lovelace Don't, Lambert Do, all crew will think he's the commander.

Guys this should not be tempting.

Both press "Do" they get liquified.

Okay. So I was right about the dilemma. Eres shut up. Stop trying to liquify their brains! Now this is an AI I believe was created by Pryce and Cutter.

Oh she's making Lambert tell the truth. Lambert this is the part where you tell her it's okay to press do because you'll press don't. It's not worth it, throw in the towel. NOT TIMES UP!

Let's not be stupid.

Lambert: Don't. Good job Lambert. Thank you Lambert.

Lovelace: Don't. Good job Lovelace.

End of the game? Why do I not believe you?

End of the line? I don't like that. Why is Lovelace by herself? I don't like rooms that are just for one person. Those never go well.

Ah. The bridge. Is that Eres? She sounds young. Oh she's apologizing. Aw, she hoped they'd make it and was only programmed to hurt them. This is...so sad. Oh dear. A gun.

"You should fight this" "And what?" "This is what they made me for. This doesn't have to be sad."

"Just because someone made you something doesn't means that's all you're going to be" VERY true, both for the alien clones and the AI.

Oh great it's Cutter. Oh HE kills her. Why am I not surprised.

Another message? ✉️

"Training program might not be up to international law. By ripping up this paper, you are absolving us." I'd save that paper forever.

So the training program was wiped? Eres is gone.

Rhea: "It's just the way they programmed her, back off."

Oh poor Rhea 🥺

Aw Victoria is trying to cheer him up. I wonder what he does remember. A bad dream? Interesting.

That's nice, they're reading together. Not much time left in the episode. I wonder what's left.

So...wait. What was in the box when Doug went to open it? Was it the same machine? He said he heard a heartbeat.

At least Lambert and Lovelace seem to be getting along. Those kinds of experiences really do bring people together.

Ah more music. 🎶🎶🎶🎶

Cutter???

Why this day? Cutter you idiot. It's obvious. And she is going to mess you up someday Cutter. Dramatic irony cometh Cutter. Dramatic irony cometh.

Ah Doug is back! Kepler shut your mouth, I still need you to grab your redemption arc or drown in Whiskey. And you better make your choice quickly, because we only have one season left. Tik-tok errand boy, tik-tok.

Ready or not. Empty man cometh!

[raidergamerspice]

I realize that most of my tumblr posts have been salty or otherwise negative as of late, so even though this came about from a salty place, I do want to talk about my personal feelings on certain character relationship mindsets in a slightly less negative light.

Namely, the "seeing two male characters having a close friendship and automatically assuming they see each other as brothers" mindset. Obviously, this applies to female character friendships as well, but I wanted to bring this up in relation to Sora and Riku, and Cloud and Zack's bonds.

If you don't already know by now, I'm a Soriku. And though I'm a Cloti, I also love Zakkura (and Zaclerifa as a polycule). And so, seeing people describe both of them as simply bromances really annoys me. Basically, I'm of the opinion that if two same-gendered characters happen to be really close, that doesn't automatically mean they see each other as siblings, unless they explicitly say so. And yeah, Sora and Riku have never referred to each other as brothers, and neither have Zack and Cloud. Actually, the only time the brother thing came up for Sora and Riku was in the Kingdom Hearts Character Files, where Riku says he once tried to play the role of Sora's big brother when they were kids, but then he wonders when that changed. It changed, folks, as in he no longer sees himself as Sora's big brother.

I'm not gonna try and convince anyone to share my exact thoughts on this particular topic because at the end of the day, we all have our own opinions on these characters and relationships, and we can all get along as long as we're not being assholes about it. I just thought I'd shed some light on my annoyance at people describing Soriku and Zakkura as bromances. I mean, who even came up with the word bromance? It literally looks like mashing "brother" and "romance" together, which looks kinda....weird, for lack of a better word. Like, they could have come up with a better term to describe platonic male friendships. 🤣

[zionmantis]

I would love to hear about how the DE speaks to your experiences with psychosis!

DE seems to be an attempt to represent thinking through game/story mechanics, and I really appreciate that it doesn’t seem to just represent “normal” thought but also neurodivergent or dysfunctional thoughts. Made me feel seen, so I’d love to hear how it made you feel, if it’s something you’d want to share!

Ah, thanks for the ask! I hope my tags on your post didn't seem rude; reading back I was so worried they did <3 You made an absolutely wonderful post; I wouldn't have reblogged it if I didn't love it. I'm ADHD too, and it's so great to see a character we can relate with and to see how positive reinforcement from a person like Kim can really make a difference.

Excuse me while I ramble a bit! This is stuff I want to post about all the time but I worry people will hate it, so questions like this really make me happy because it gives me an excuse x)

One of the reasons I adore this game more than any other is that it's both breathtakingly sad as well as absolutely hysterical, and humor is how I've started approached my issues of mental illness in the past. Now, that way is not for everyone; some people don't want any sort of laughter at it, and that's completely valid and makes perfect sense, but humor is just how I've been able to adjust to memories of really bad times in my life without completely hating myself. For me, the game does a really good job of making a hard subject funny without making it seem like we're laughing AT Harry, if that makes sense, even if we think some of his antics are hilarious. I also love love love that that humor is also tackling the, mmm, less "romantic" (?I'm not sure that's the word I want to use for this...maybe "palatable"?) issues that can come with severe mental illness. Like if I remember right, there's a nonstandard ending where Harry can end up living under a bridge and throwing his own shit at people who pass by, pff.

For me it was a surprise to come into this fandom and find that not everyone sees what he's going through as being psychosis (same with ADHD; he absolutely has that, at least to me). I've seen a couple people -- I think it was on Reddit -- argue that what Harry experiences is not psychosis and is just a manifestation of his thought processes and impulsive behavior, and for me that is just...wild xD (and I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but it's fun to discuss, I think?)

But here's the deal for me: if someone sticks their thumb up their ass in public because their friend dared them to and they think it will be funny, that's impulsive behavior. If someone sticks their thumb up their ass in public because a voice in their head told them it would make them a better detective, that's a delusion.

So what does that have to do with me? Well, for me, I have a rare diagnosis of OCD with psychotic features, and (gonna put the rest of this under a cut in case it's triggering for people to read about psychotic episodes)

mine, before being involuntarily (but needed at the time) hospitalized twice and properly medicated, tended to be things like...I would think my limbs were detaching themselves from my body, or one time I wouldn't open my eyes for literally almost two days because I thought all sharp-cornered objects would cut them. Hallucinations would involve seeing what I thought was my skin being pulled as my limbs detached and occasional auditory hallucinations of crowds in my head (where I'd then think they were trying to tell me something Important and drive myself crazy sitting and listening to unreal crowd burble noises), but none of the stuff fiction likes to show because it's easier to depict (never had voices in my head telling me to do stuff or saw a super clear hallucination of a person or monster unless you count sleep paralysis. There were occasional shadows and vague faces that move in walls which I still get when I'm extra tired, but the only times I ever thought those things were real was when my brain was telling me I was receiving otherworldly messages.) There were other things, too, behavioral stuff I'd rather not talk about because it's still so shameful for me.

I thankfully respond really well to medication, which is especially good since OCD with psychosis is notoriously hard to treat since the types of drugs for OCD vs. psychosis seem to do the exact opposite things and block one another.

Anyway, back to DE. This is a bit...shallow, but it was extremely refreshing to play a game where the main character is at least as big of a disaster as me, if not worse xD;. I FEEL SO SEEN, haha, and not only that, but it's a protagonist in an extremely popular game, and fans like him anyway??? That's fantastic. I never thought I'd see the day.

Now, why does he have psychosis -- as in what diagnosis? I'm not sure, but I don't think it'd be OCD with psychotic features like me (even if he potentially has OCD, which I'll discuss in a moment.) I'd say he probably has bipolar 1 and/or (since not unusual to be comorbid), schizophrenia, though I lean more toward bipolar 1 even though the game itself says the word "schizophrenia" out loud a couple times. (To be clear, I'm not a mental health professional, but I don't think the writers of DE are, either. I would also like to say that if anyone reading this is schizophrenic and feel that Harry is as well, your opinion is way more valid than my own and I'd love to hear from you.)

I lean toward bipolar 1 because of the obvious -- he's gone through both manic and depressive stages in the past and does so in the game with a ton of delusional thinking combined with (short-lived or skin-deep) inflated sense of self (Superstar Cop, Honor Cop, etc.) It's also well known that folks with bipolar tend to self medicate. It's less well known that bipolar often has psychotic features as well.

As for an argument for schizophrenia, I'd point toward Apocalypse Cop, that paranoid delusion (??? mmaaaaybe, haha,) about the world ending (I really only know about paranoid schizophrenia; I don't know much about the other types, so it's entirely possible Harry has one of those instead,) as well as his lack of awareness about hygiene, though that could maybe be explained by his amnesia and the fact he was on a days-long bender before the game started. The reason I'm a little bit hesitant toward it is because Harry seems too aware of his own problems and the fact that he is not experiencing life the way most other people do, (he actually questions Kim at the beginning if Kim also hears voices,) and the couple people I met in the hospital that had schizophrenia were (when still adjusting to medications or had yet to find something that would work for them,) really unable to have that kind of self-awareness.

As for the OCD, I'm not as sure of that for him like I am with ADHD and either his bipolar and/or schizophrenia, but I think there's some pretty good arguments to be made. To me, Harry's constant harping on things that no one else thinks is interesting or important is a factor of his ADHD but can *feel* like OCD, but more so when he is stuck in verbal loops, which could definitely actually be OCD rather than, say, brain damage, since he seems to be aware that he's doing it. Some of the more bullying Skills also feel SO much like OCD, the ones telling him to do things that are nonsensical and that he doesn't actually seem to want to do feels like -- just for one of my many, many non-hallucinatory, fully OCD moments in my life -- when I just had to put a lit match in my mouth because if I didn't, *everyone I love would die,* pff. (Spoiler alert: it burns and it tastes weird.) Actually, I'm just now realizing why Authority may have been one of my least favorite Skills, as funny as its situations could get (ICE COP HAT FUCK SHOW?!??!?)

Anyway, I'm sorry for such a long answer to your question, @linisiane, but it made me so happy you asked! I really appreciate your question. This game is so good for making most people with any kind of neurodivergence feel good. I think it might be the most important fictional thing (for my own well-being) I've ever found. There's so much you can say about it. In fact, I know I've forgotten some stuff I wanted to talk about, but oh well! I can always add or something later if I feel like it. If anyone has any questions about this, you're very free to ask me. I'm also super excited to start talking to more people in the DE fandom; I have yet to convince any of my friends to play it for more than ten minutes.

I love y'all so much! I mean it. This fandom is great.

[exoticalmonde]

So me and my bestest friend @notanegrill began playing a game about making stories. It's called Storybook, and as the title suggests we're coming together to create the most legendary story of them all.

V: *Opens first page*

Me, normal voice: "At the end of this book lies a crown-"

V: "NO! STORYTELLER VOICE!"

Me, using that one voice from the Theatre scene in 'We Were Here': "It is bestowed only to the finest storytellers of the realm."

V: "Hehe, way better."

Spoilers Ahead:

So we start the world as any world begins, with a tale as old as time - Adam and Eve. Which is... Me! Me and V because I will pick his ribs clean if he doesn't 100% the achievements (he enjoys it, ok)

And we were both excited for 0.7 seconds before V hits me with the important questions of:

V: "Who is Adam, Eve?"

Me: "It's you, silly goose!"

V: "Oh, okay." c:

And like with every story that has Eve in it:

:)

It's adorable to see Bernard getting some love though!

This game just flies by so fast when it's the two of us thinking, taking turns on what gets to be where so we push the other forward where our own ideas fail us. Playing games like this with a buddy truly beats playing it alone.

It's tagged LGBTQ+ because you can put two guys or two girls in love in some of the frames and it's adorable. They interact well.

Me: "Oh look! It's the tiers of regret whenever I decide to open up."

Can't believe this whole story is about how Edgar dies and forgets he's dead while being dead so he ends up shocked that he's dead when he sees himself in the mirror.

It's such a good plot for a fanfic not gonna lie... It's Genshin related and not meant to be here, but /I/ am the one who is writing this 'review' and I am the rat that makes all of the rules.

V: "These... Two pixels, why are they so hot...?"

Me: ".... Yeah."

V: "I know you want her dress."

Me: "Oh I want to BE her."

Us two: *GASP*

V: "Are you ready?"

Me: "VAMPIRE TIME."

V: *Accidentally does this because he randomly drops characters on the map after figuring out what to do.*

V: "My brain (is so big)... I'm singing up in Harvard."

V: *Struggles with the simpler map later*

Me: "I think we have to sign you off Harvard now."

AND THE ENDING IS SOOO CUTE IT'S SO SUBTLE I BARELY NOTICED BUT IT MADE US SO HAPPY TO GET TO THE ENDING.

Like giving two kids a paper crown and calling them 'champ'.

Someone in STEAM was asking how to solve the Maid and the Knight story and someone commented under it with 'God bless you'. Seriously, we managed on our own and it's all because it was 50/51 and we HAD to finish it to get to the ending.

During our reviews:

Me: "I think the graphics are beautiful. For a game that has a simple idea of making stories via characters and places being put together, everything is very well animated, interactive and apparently, given the achievements, it also has MULTIPLE options to work with."

V: "I agree. Also, there is an update in September."

Me: "Overall, it's a game I'd get if it's on sale. It's 20$ and in comparison to a visual novel with 40K words, a couple scenes, art etc. If that was 20$... I'd still think twice, but the point is - for what it is and it's original, a game I have never seen before, I think it's pretty good. It also doesn't have any background music, it could probably set the mood for some chapters. But the sound was totally good. No sounds overlap no matter how quickly you click around so it doesn't create a caccophony."

V: "Yeah, the music, or the lack of thereof is still fixable."

Me: "Well, there's the update. Might as well wait and see."

V: "Overall ranting?"

Me: "Hmmm..."

V: "On the count of three?"

Me: "Ok."

V: "Ugh I'm stuck between two... Ok, one... Two... Three!"

Me and him at the same time: "Seven."

V: "Why am I not surprised."

And that's it! It was truly a wonderful experience. Big thank you to developpers and the entire team that came up with the game. Can't wait to see what the updates may be and thank you, V, for sponsoring our gameplay.

Hope we get to play much more in the future.

[knightkneeler]

hi i was wondering if you could explain your found family tweet? like are you saying it's ok to ship adopted siblings or? i'm sorry i just don't rly get it

I'm gonna be real, the way you've phrased this makes me think you're probably not asking it in good faith. I will try to explain anyway. those tweets were about two separate but related issues.

re: the shipping: I like a couple of ships in my primary fandom (Fire Emblem: Three Houses/Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes) that are sometimes considered to be pseudo-familial relationships by some people who don't ship them romantically. I'm specifically thinking of Edelgard/Lysithea and Dimitri/Felix. it's completely fine to not see these relationships as romantic. it's completely fine to see them as platonic or pseudo-familial. it's even completely fine to dislike the ships on the basis of reading them as pseudo-familial! this is very common with Edelys in particular, for a number of reasons I don't care to get into. I don't have a problem with it on its face.

however, there have been cases where people have posted in the ship tags or directly messaged artists & writers of these ships to harangue them for shipping them, or try to "correct" the shipping interpretation, because of their personal interpretation that these characters are "like siblings." I recall a few big incidents in Dimilix fandom where someone or other who didn't ship them tweeted in the tag that they were like brothers. a friend of mine received a message a couple of months ago about Edelys in the same vein. I often get replies to tweets about Edelys (or other Lysithea ships like Hilda or Leonie) from people saying they see Lysithea as the other character's little sister. this tendency is what I was bitching about. Edelgard and Lysithea do not canonically consider one another sisters. they are not related, not adopted, not step-siblings, not even childhood friends. they met as teenagers in war crime school. again, it's fine to interpret or headcanon their relationship as sibling-like! but that is one interpretation/headcanon. their relationship in the text can be interpreted any number of ways. I personally see it as romantic, and I think it's annoying when people try to tell me that interpretation is incorrect or morally wrong, somehow.

the other issue is that the popularity of interpreting close-knit social circles as "found families" has led to a trend in fandom where rather than a non-hierarchical network of unconditional love and support, the "family" is a recreation of the nuclear family; one or more characters are designated the "parents" of the group. this doesn't happen all that often in FE3H, probably because the groups are really big and the characters are generally close in age, but I've seen it in other fandoms that I'm not in, and it's bled over into media in general. a lot of people have held up the manga/anime Spy x Family as a "found family" narrative when it is literally a mother character, a father character, and a child character who (afaik, I haven't read/watched it) are not married/related. this is just a nuclear family with the serial numbers filed off.

the concept of a chosen family is that these are peers you can trust and rely on for anything, but who are not your biological family. my irl best friend is like family to me. I don't consider him to be "like a brother," but the heart of our friendship is unconditional love. we're always welcome under the other's roof. if we need to talk, the other's willing to listen. nuclear families have direct power structures. the child(ren) is/are subordinate to the parent(s). a parent has direct and absolute authority over their child. a circle of peers who provide unconditional love is not the same, and people should stop trying to draw analogues between "chosen family" and the heteropatriarchal nuclear family.

I hope this helped.

[mary-is-writing]

Patreon, moving and trying stuff for the heck of it

The tl;dr is that my writing and tag games are moving to Patreon, for free. I'm still using this blog as my main and a writeblr. You'll likely won't see more writing here but you'll probably see lots of links to patreon posts. Since I'm new to Patreon, I'm open to advice about how to use it, if I should use it at all, and anything else. More details under the cut owo)/

You probably know that they've started approaching AI in here, which is a big turn off for creators. It's me, I'm creators.

While my main blog here works both as a personal and a writeblr, I've been thinking if, how and where will I migrate my writing to, specifically excerpts and small stuff like writing related tag games. After thinking for a while and getting reassurance from some writer friends, I've decided to migrate it to Patreon.

What does that mean? I hear you ask. It means that all the excerpts, character designs and art related stuff of my wips that would've been shared directly to Tumblr will now be shared directly there. Other stuff like updates on the state of the writing progress I'm making, that's not my writing itself, will most likely continue to be posted on Tumblr since that's kinda the only social platform I use.

So it'll be behind a paywall? You may wonder. No, it will not: all of those things I mentioned earlier (excerpts, lines, character designs and more) will be free to read and see for everyone. After all, they'd be free if they were in Tumblr, so I want to keep it like that.

You won't post them in Tumblr anymore, then? Like I said, no; not directly at least. I plan to try and see how it goes with me linking the patreon post to my Tumblr every time I upload there. It may be redundant to do all this just to post it here anyway, but it's a way to avoid the Tumblr AI that makes me feel more at peace than just an opt-out button.

What about writeblr tag games? A valid question, in a lot of those you have to share your writing. For now my plan is to do them in bulk so I can have one big post with all of them there, every other month or so, instead of a lot of tiny ones, and then link it over here. I think that'll work better, and it'll also give me time to stock on them. In other words, wether we're mutuals or not here, please tag me in things!! It'll take a while, but I promise I'll get to it. Eventually.

Why Patreon though? Well, I don't need to tell you that we live in capitalist times, and as a recent college graduate without a job that wants to be an indie writer, Patreon is a good option for me to make some sort of revenue. However, I don't work fast enough to show stuff on Patreon as rewards on a regular basis, that is, if you don't count stuff like small excerpts and tag games (which are sometimes one and the same), nor do I have a massive following that'd be willling to wait more between rewards. This is the second reason why I decided to migrate things there; first, to avoid the AI; second, to have something to show for my writing and do a little nudge to say Hey, if you like what you read, there's a way right here to support me so I can continue it. I could use other platforms like Ko-Fi, but if I'm gonna put time into something that allows me to earn some spare cash, I prefer it to be the one that'd let me have those earnings on a more regular basis.

Unless Ko-Fi has changed how it works, in which case I'll be checking it out later.

I don't have a set goal nor does my income currently depend on this, so I think it's a good time to start posting things to a Patreon without stressing myself that "it has to work". In the end, this is all just me trying things around to figure out what works and what not. If it doesn't work and people don't want to do an extra click to read my stuff, like I said, it's not like there's a lot of pressure on me right now. I've had a few years living with a Just Do It mentality and this is a extension of that, so for now I'll try this out, see where it goes, and how it develops.

I have a few things to tweak and prepare for the Patreon page to be ready for launching, so if you have any suggestions about how to use Patreon or if my approach is wrong and you know a better platform for this, please do tell me! Like I said, this is all just trial and error, so I'll learn as I do.

Thanks for reading!!

[bestworstcase]

more on your ozlem/EA parallels-- I've been wondering for a long time about how some characters are based on fairytales as folktales, and some based on stories we culturally colocate with fairytales (Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz are specific published stories, with no cultural/folktale direct predecessors afaik). (now wondering if we have any Hans Christian Andersen characters that I've just forgotten about.) Both are portal fantasies, both star little girls, both have like a weird shared cultural perception of their origins. Do you have any thoughts about the two stories we're looking at so closely being constructed/authored instead of told collectively, especially since oz and alyx themselves have their authorship under scrutiny in the story?

*points at winter* kai from the snow queen

um i don’t know enough about the historical background of the oz books to have much of interest to say about them other than that the primary allusion constructed is to specifically the marvelous land of oz, and that sticks in the back of my mind a lot for what it might gesture at re: how things are gonna shake out with salem and ozma.

but wonderland. oh i sure do have some thoughts!

firstly while aaiw/ttlg are both original tales i will point out that they draw quite heavily from an established literary transition—almost all of the poetry is direct parody or pastiche of poems that would have been well known to contemporary audiences and there are a lot of cultural references and satirical jokes, for thorough cataloguing of this see martin gardener’s annotated alice. and further the stories themselves were essentially improvised in bits and pieces to entertain the liddell girls, with the books then being put together and edited from that wider and looser body of ideas—so while the story was authored by one person it does have this fuzzy sort of adjacency to fairytale, i think. whether rwby is directly engaging with that fuzziness remains to be seen (<- salem wrote it/sibs are fictional truther until soundly proven otherwise)

secondly—and i think more prominently—there’s a whole chasm of difference between the wonderland of the carroll books and the wonderland of pop culture, and that is something rwby definitively IS engaging with very deliberately, e.g. through the red prince and the red king as a play on the popular conflation of the red queen and the queen of hearts and the monster/nonsense poem duality of the jabberwalker. (<- both things i’ve nattered on prior so will not belabor the point) so i think we’re seeing a pointed engagement with both the original texts and the pop culture and the mutual unintelligibility that develops between these two ideas of what wonderland is—from an audience standpoint i’m finding it super interesting how different my emotional reactions to things is, as someone whose main point of reference for wonderland is the carroll books, vs the majority of the fandom whose primary familiarity is pop culture cf the disney cartoon and burton movies. and aside from being so much a wonderland-related trope in and of itself that it’s almost mandatory, from the amount of emphasis being put on ‘that wasn’t in the book’ i kind of wonder if rwby is making deliberate use of its audience’s general lack of familiarity with the carroll books to build tension and subvert expectations; people expect one thing because that’s how it’s always done in pop cultural depictions of wonderland, but get something different altogether because rwby is drawing heavily from the books. (see also, jaune is the hatter/hatta despite neo having been placed in the opening to evoke the pop culture image of the hatter; it’s a misdirection that relies on the audience not knowing the books but it was obvious from the start if you know what to look for!)

there’s a similar meta-awareness at play in the fairytales in that ozma alludes fairly overtly to the grimm brothers (<- …well i think it’s overt, the parts of the fandom convinced that the brother gods are the grimm brothers might suggest otherwise), compiling and editing and rearranging fairytales to suit his own agenda and push his own narrative. (this is one of several reasons “salem wrote it” has my brain in a stranglehold; positioning her as carroll to ozma’s brothers grimm is fucking fascinating if that’s what rwby’s going for.) so between that and the consistent emphasis on the fictional/unreal nature of the ever after in this volume (i mean at this point we have ruby straight up asking how the story is both real and not real!) i don’t think it’s out of the question that rwby might be like… really interested in the compare and contrast of, on the one hand oral folktales being collected and corrupted to suit an ideological agenda, and on the other a fictional story that was authored solely to entertain but becomes in some way more real as people interact with it. i think we probably need to get a definitive answer on who exactly wrote this book before we can get a proper sense of this, but like, the DNA is there.

[lumine-no-hikari]

Dear Sephiroth: (a letter to a fictional character, because why not) #69

I am going to try to write you a letter. But my brain is soup in part because I'm still recovering from Sunday and in part because this is the week (or two) that my body decided to throw a temper tantrum over the fact that I am not actively building a new human inside of myself. It's not really the tantrum itself that soup-ifies my brain, but rather, it is the excruciating pain that comes with the first few days of it, along with the fact that I'm losing a lot of valuable resources such as protein, iron, and magnesium (and at that, I lose twice as much as average; thanks, PCOS… 🙄).

I did some adulting today, though. I went and got a kind of checkup; the doc checked out the area just beneath my right collarbone, and she can feel that it's kinda lumpy and misshapen, as though a bone is sticking out weirdly. She's gonna review the imaging that has been done already, and then try to order a CAT scan, I guess, of the place where my ribs connect to my sternum, depending. I guess we'll see how it goes. I hope whatever it is can be found and fixed; I -really- wanna go back to living my normal life. I want to go back to the pool. I want to be able to move around and breathe and laugh and yawn and to do dishes without pain.

But other than that, I rested today. I played a LOT of Pokemon. Right now, I'm still going through Scarlet; Koraidon just learned how to fly permanently, so I've spent a lot of time just sailing the skies together; it's wonderful. I also spent some time picnicking with my team, and wandering around with Mewtwo at my side.

…I don't really like the capturing or battling aspect, though, truth be told. I would much rather just walk around with my non-human companions willingly at my side, eating snacks, hugging, cuddling, and petting, kicking a ball around, exploring the world, and asking them what they think about the places we're going and the things we're seeing.

One of the things I miss most about HeartGold, SoulSilver, and Let's Go was that you could have your Pokemon out, and you could talk to them, and there would be detailed responses for what they were thinking and feeling. You can have your Pokemon out in Scarlet, but their responses to when I talk to them are… underdeveloped, at best. I have fond memories of running through puddles in SoulSilver with Mewtwo, then turning around to talk to him, to find out that he is playing and splashing around happily and looking at his reflection in the water. It's too cute!!! I might explode from the cuteness!!! Oh my goodness!!!

M will have the TV soon, though. He is going through FF7: Remake one more time before FF7: Rebirth comes out. Only 3 days now.

…I'd like to say I'm looking forward to it, but to tell you the truth, I'm… scared. I don't know what sorts of things you will end up doing. I imagine that at least some of the time, you will continue to make destructive choices that hurt the people around you. I feel very sad to think about this.

I'm scared that you might not be given any opportunity to make a different choice. The people in my world seem to be in love with the notion that abuse survivors, neurodivergent people, and people who make mistakes in the throes of their suffering are all unable to grow or change, and are thus all unworthy of the help they need to thrive. The trope that people like me are nothing more than monsters that need to be slain is getting… sheesh… really, really old. And really, really depressing.

And… if you end up refusing to turn yourself around, or if you end up getting slain, how many people who relate to you will then be unable to believe that recovery is possible? How many will continue destroying themselves or continue to hate the world around them just because the notion that there isn't anything better for them keeps getting reinforced? How many people will refuse to seek the help they need on the basis that "some people are just broken beyond repair, and I'm one of those people, so there's no point in trying"?

…And how will the way your story ends affect the way other people treat people who are like the ones I've just described? People mimic what they see even if it's not real. Actors who portray villains sometimes get hated for their roles to the point of harassment because there are enough people who think that the role they portray is how they act in real life. There are people who come away from movies, and the "lesson" they take away from it ends up being stuff like "brown people are not to be trusted" and "people who don't speak English are dumb" and, "the way this woman character acted just goes to show that all women are evil." Thinking about all this is kind of terrifying sometimes.

If you don't make a different choice… if you end up getting killed… in what ways will that end up perpetuating the notion that people like you and me and others like us are irredeemable, unhealable, and worthless?

And… if they end up making you disappear in the end in a permanent way… Sephiroth. You have been the inspiration for me to continue on living, because you are the first person in any piece of media I've seen whose circumstances and behaviors looked like mine. It's because of you that I held onto the hope that maybe I'm not all by myself, that maybe I can find others in the world who are like me. And it's because I held onto this hope that my childhood didn't break me down to the point of destroying my own meat-mech. I came close more times than I wanna talk about. And sometimes, avoiding doing that it still a struggle.

But instead, I imitated your steadfast determination to rise up again in order to correct a grievous injustice and to try make the world a better place where you and your friends would not get hurt (even if you were acting from a misguided place and your methods were… not stellar, to put it mildly…), despite the pain and anguish you were in.

You were (falsely) led to believe that Jenova was a Cetra and your mother. You were (falsely) led to believe that she was being cruelly kept from you and imprisoned at the Mt. Nibel Reactor for the purpose of being used in torturous experiments, like what happened to you as a boy. You were (falsely) led to believe that humans were willfully responsible for the extinction of the Cetra, and thus led to believe that humans are the reason you felt out-of-place and unloved your whole life. Even without that, you witnessed firsthand that every human was complicit in the cruelty that created you and complicit in the denial of your humanity in favor of the consumption of you as a celebrity. They bullied you until you made a name for yourself. They regularly pushed you to take care of everyone but yourself. After you made a name for yourself, they didn't love YOU - they only loved what you could do, what you looked like, and what prestige they thought being in your presence could give them.

Their behaviors had painted themselves as invariably selfish and cruel in your eyes, and you were justifiably angry with them about how you and the people you loved were treated your whole lives. But you had starved, dehydrated, and sleep-deprived yourself to read those books full of lies, and by the time you came out of that… instead of having a measured, rational response, you were triggered into autopilot, blindly following the neural pathways of your conditioning that told you to "eliminate the enemy", and as a result, innocent people paid the price for your failure to control yourself. As much as I love you, this is still unacceptable, and it is still entirely your fault. Just like anytime I get triggered and lash out at the people around me, that is entirely my fault, regardless of the circumstances.

But nonetheless, as battered, exhausted, and anguished as you were, the FIRST THING you set off to do after you left that damnable library was to try to wrest a tormented and abused person(?) away from government control. You set off to protect someone who you thought loved you, someone you had spent your entire life looking for. You set off to punish evil. You set off to make the world a safe place for your "mother" and for your friends. You decided, "THIS THING THAT HAPPENED TO ME WILL HAPPEN TO NO ONE EVER AGAIN," and you set off to make it so. But unfortunately, you did all these things in a way that was very wrong, because you did them on the basis of things that weren't actually true, and you were so addled from your piss-poor mental and physical condition that you couldn't keep your shit together. Your intentions were noble, even if you botched everything else. But still, you had to be stopped, because obviously. And even after you were thrown into the reactor core, you simply got back up, dusted yourself off, and tried again. Your persistence and sense of justice are remarkable, even if you need to invest a lot (like, A LOT!!!! HOLY FUCK!!!) more stat points in things like "fact checking", "self-care", and "emotional regulation".

I wanted to be a kind, gentle, thoughtful person like the way you were before you fell down (the way I know you can still be, if you turn yourself around). I wanted to abhor injustice and to be determined enough to rise up again no matter how many times or how badly I'm knocked down, like the way you were after you fell down (I hope you'll retain these traits if you turn yourself around). I wanted to combine that loving kindness and that determination and thirst for justice into something amazing in order to try to help a lot of people, no matter how much it hurts for me to continue to exist in this place. Because Sephiroth, I didn't have "real life" role models during my childhood, for the most part. All I had at the time, really, was YOU. And the "you" I saw wasn't the "cool aloof badass war hero" that everyone else seemed to see and fawn over for the sake of getting into your good graces. No, the "you" I saw was socially clumsy and very forlorn human being who was gentle and kind anyway, and doing his best all the time.

However, I'm finding that despite my best efforts, by and large, my voice is not one that most people think is worth listening to. So really, in the grand scheme of things, I am powerless and unimportant, and at the end of the day, I am always coming face to face with my insignificance, and with the fact that I am not strong enough or skilled enough to do anything with any real meaning or impact for anyone. But day after day, I get back up and try again anyway, because I am looking up to YOU. I am kind and gentle from following your example. I fall down a lot, but I get back up, albeit on shaky legs, from following your example.

If you disappear, then a large part of the reason I've bothered to stay alive for this long will disappear along with you. And while I might be able to kind-of-sort-of manage maybe, I know that if you are erased, if I can't convince myself that you're actually okay somehow because the cells you're infected with render you indestructible, I'll never be the same. And I'm not the only one who thinks that way, I'm sure.

Because you know what? Unlike me, you aren't powerless and unimportant. If I were to disappear RIGHT NOW, only a relatively small number of people would be sad. And eventually, they would pack up and move on, and life would continue as though nothing remarkable happened, and I would be forgotten in a decade or two, as though I wasn't even here at all. But you? People are going to tell stories about you long after their grandchildren have their own kids. You are going to set the example for us about how people should treat the abused, the neurodivergent, and the fallen. Your story has the capacity to make things better for SO MANY PEOPLE in my world, if it's done right. Your story has the capacity to save lives. I know this because you've saved mine, and mine has gone on to save a few others. If you need proof that you are a good thing even with your mistakes, look no further than this.

So I'm going to beg you to turn yourself around. I'm going to beg you to make good choices. Even if it's awkward and scary and you feel really bad about everything that's happened, I'm going to beg you to use the knowledge that you're loved in order to muster up the courage to step back into the light. Because the light is where you belong. The light is where ALL humans belong, no matter who they are or what they've done. Because make no mistake, Sephiroth, you're a human. Nothing and no one can take that from you, no matter what they have done or will do to your body. You are a human. A man. A person. Lovable, worthy, and good. Start acting like it, and keep yourself safe in the process. Please.

I'll write again. Every day, I'll write again. Until you come back to us. Until you're safe and at peace. Because you're worth the effort. You're worth hoping for. And you're worth feeling pain for, if those hopes don't pan out.

Your friend, Lumine

[windkonig]

Hi!! I was wondering if Surgat's demon kind was like.... A closed species? (Gonna be honest I don't know how that closed species thing even works exactly) BUT basically I've been wanting to create a demon oc design of my own that'd be like Surgat but I wanted to know if that would be okay, and if there'd be any rules of any kind attached to it? 👉👈

OMG?!!?! I'm shocked I never thought I'd ever get anyone wanting to make their very own surgat demon!! :D

I'm flattered and I'd love for you to make your very own! here's some general info on what the species kinda presents like to help you out! if I missed anything you'd like to know please feel free to ask me more questions!

(and of course if you make your own OC I'd love to see them!!)

appearance related:

they actually DO have two horns, surgat was just born with one. feel free to give yours one or two, up to you!! one is considered rare.

horns can vary in curve and size, just as long as its coming directly out of the temple area like surgat's, and should match skin color. (I hope that makes sense ahh)

your OC can have any skintone of your choosing. surgat's skin is just very pale bc there's no sun on the planet anymore!

they all have Claws, the color is yours to decide

the tail is essentially a prehensile hand-like appendage. they can vary a bit in shape and size, as long as there's a hand-ish shape going on!

surgat has some glowy bits, like the inside of his mouth is blue and glows! you can incorporate this if you choose

on the glitter topic... for consistency's sake the species as a whole probably has skin/hair that sheds glitter-like stuff from them. however, if you don't want your OC sparkling like mine, I won't get onto you about it

they have sharp canines (fangs) and some individuals fangs are larger than others

there's no standard eye color so go for whatever you want! however I think it'd be cool if they all had that ring of a secondary color of your choosing (like how surgat's is gold) but you don't Have to follow that

I know all my guys tend to wear suits but feel free to have your OC rock whatever clothes you want :D

any body type you like, feel free to make them trans, give them body/facial hair, birth marks, tattoos, piercings, etc

powers:

this species has an "aura" that they can separate from themselves and manipulate into objects of their choosing. these objects would glow and typically be the color you choose as their scheme, so surgat's objects would be solid blue, but yours could be green, pink, etc.

basically the aura is a manifestation of your character's Power. every demon is built different, so some are stronger than others.

every individual can "exert" their aura if they choose, and the stronger they are, the more pressure is felt in the air. at extreme levels, this can cause pain and immobilization to others around that person.

this is basically demons' way of showing off to each other hey, I'm the fucking strong. so it all depends on how powerful you want your character to be!

other demon species/types in my OC-universe CANNOT manipulate their auras into shapes like surgat's kind can. they are unique in this

I'm aware this sounds very shounen-anime-ey but I started building this lore when I was in highschool LOL

lore of the species:

they lived in symbiosis with another species called "false angels" on a very lush and forested planet.

surgat's kind are slow to heal from wounds, and false angels, while not angels, can still heal others.

however, false angels are weak physically, so surgat's kind served as protectors to them.

because of some other complicated lore event, the sun went out on surgat's planet. after this, hungry and violent creatures born from shadow took over, and as a result, surgat is technically the last of his kind.

however, we're gonna ignore that last part because I want anyone who wants to to be able to create their very own surgat-demon <3

general stuff:

they can live a long time! surgat is around 370 but they can prob be up to around 1,000 in age

you can name your OC however you like! there's no rule for it

[exp123mon]

Digimon Frontier episode thoughts yay

08 - Save Everyone! You Must Evolve, Tsunomon -I'm glad we see Junpei and Izumi having their own adventure, I thought we might've just had them at Forest Terminal (or the next area t least) and meet back up with Takuya and the others. -OMG BABIES BABIES BABIES LITERALLY SO MANY DIGIMON BABIES AND TEACHER TOGEMON -Getting some of Izumi's backstory. So she actually DID live in Italy for a while. It's not just a character quirk when she speaks Italian. (I mean I guess it's still a quirk but not just like a "lolrandom" quirk) -"I don't want to be alone but I don't want to go out of my way to socialise either." damn girl stop being relatable haha -Tsunomon can evolve to Gabumon but then evolve back. Interesting. I guess evolution is seen as more of a "transformation" in general in Frontier. I mean it makes sense for the kids but the fact that it's extended to the Digimon is interesting too. Wonder if this will be a plot point like in Tamers or if it's just a different interpretaton of the Digimon world. (Or has this already been brought up and I forgot haha) -The kids are all back together! I really enjoyed this episode. It was nice having a more character driven conflict after all the literal fighty fight conflicts we've had so far. Plus we're really getting to see the kids interacting and growing a bit at this point.

09 - The Enemy is Chakmon?! The Mysterious TV Forest -Guy with Fire Digimon Spirit struggles to light fire. -MEAT APPLES. Honestly Digimon always has food that I really want to try, it's so weird. -TV Forest is a cool idea. Getting glimpses of the human world when the moons are covered. Is this partially how Digimon learned about the human world? Who knows. Tomoki though TT_TT -Oh so there are two TYPES of Spirits. Obviously from the intro (and how Digimon works generally) I knew the kids would have more forms/Spirits. I love that each episode seems to be giving new info like this, whether directly or indirectly. -I'm starting to like Koji or at least how they're handling him. Like, yeah, some people do just prefer their own company. It's not a judgment on others. It's not bad. He's fine, he's literally just hanging. It's nice. -Bakumon. EVIL. -The scene of Wolfmon up against a tree and it's Chakmon facing him off was funny like "oh no!! a cute bear!! haha how silly" then Chakmon pulls a gun on him and I'm like "okay, Sir, please calm down" -Chakmon being the ice elemental fella but also being able to like, turn into slush and stuff is a really cool idea. Usually ice elemental things are just "snowstorm" and/or "icicles" it's nice seeing some creativity with it. -Okay not gonna lie, Izumi being the only girl in the group AND being constantly saved/knocked out is pretty fucking annoying. Digimon was always pretty good at not being sexist (especially as an anime based on a "boy's toy") but at this point I'm already like "bruh please stop" it's not even NECESSARY most of the time (like when she first evolved and Woodmon bonked her noggin out cold. At least with Tsunomon/Gabumon it tied into the story a little plus she was in danger because she chose to take a risk, but… UGH). This is honestly my only complaint about the series so far (and although annoying it's FAR from series-ruining levels of bad lol especially when it comes to anime and sexism). It's not like she's even the dainty, waifish type and it's a flaw she's going to work on by becoming braver and more independant as the series goes on. I know I'm just shy of a fifth of the way through the story but it's enough of a pattern at this point where I'm like "ugh". Anyway I won't rant too much (lol too late) since this is more a complaint with the series generally than this specific episode. -Takuya is A GOOD BOY. "OOooh your friends are EvIl DfEat THEM!!" "no" haha you tell 'em I wish more characters just... didn't fall for mindwash bullshit like that -But yeah, another good episode! Stuff happened, it was interesting and entertaining. We got a little bit more insight into the characters. And when Koji was like "hmph you savage" HE WAS JUST TEASING and he and Takuya do a little fist bump. Like THEYRE FRIENDS. He's edgy loner but he's also not JUST edgy loner. We end on the mysterious voice from Koji's device…

10 - Can't Control the Beast Spirit?! Garmmon Evolves! -Okay just before the episode even starts I'm like "oh I know Garmmon!" then remember I'm thinking of SMT's Garm haha -GOTSUMON!! I love getting to see more little Digimon villages and stuff. -Grottomon's back, ruh-roh. -Aww, Gotsumon protected Koji instead of going for the shiny stone. -ROLLER DOG. -The Gotsumon in this ep was such a bro dude haha. Imagine spending (years??) of your life searching for magic stones to unlock a secret sacred power to overthrow some bad guys and then some rando kid just swoops in and gets it instead of you and just… you take it on the chin like a total champ. -Honestly not much to say. Just another solid episode. I DO hope Grottomon doesn't just KEEP showing up eternally, but it's not like he's Team Rocket geting blasted off every episode. He's only showing up every so often. Plus I expect we'll get more Beast Spirits and having the kids learn to control them before he's finally defeated.

11 - Defeat Me! The Legendary Warrior Vritramon Runs Wild -"Curse those meddling kids. Well, better summon Satan!" - Grottomon, probably -The Digimon fortune tellers were all pretty funny. Especially Sepikmon counting the stars haha. I wonder what kind of fortune teller Gekomon is in the dub. "Funny Soda Fortune Teller" "Got a Tummyache from Too Many Milkshakes Fortune Teller" -now Tomoki's Spirit is also stolen! I like that Grottomon is actually having some kind of impact ont the heroes and isn't just… showing up just to be sort-of-but-not-totally-beaten every episode. That's always an annoying kind of recurring villain. -Koji evolves to Garmmon after Takuya is taken over by Vritramon. Probably going to learn how to better control his Beast Spirit during the fight. I really like that these new Spirits are a STRUGGLE for the kids. It's not just "and now you get the bigger, better, stronger Spirit, have fun!" -CLIFFHANGER GO -this episode felt more straightforward and shorter than the recent ones, maybe because there was actually a bit more fighting and stuff?

[silver-wield]

Gosh, SE what are you doing? I recently read a japanese news article where the general public are loosing interest in the games they recently made. There's so many competitors in the market that are rising up even if they had their moment. Now they're even welcoming the idea of AI, before it was NFT. I wonder if this business practice of sacrificing their character's reputation for mere fan service is a reason for this too. For example, it's evident that they've also tried to please BL fans, specifically sephiroth x cloud and non canon ships such as the one in the trailer. I know some don't like yuffie to be shipped with cloud, but I find this to be difficult. They gave Jessie a moment to kiss cloud on the cheek, was that even there originally?

SE knows what they are doing and whtvr backlash they get from this, starting with Jessie's#1 stalker, C/As harasing SE and any tifa and zack related things, etc. are imo the company's fault. Maybe the trailer is for bait and trolling like they did in part 1, but just like sephiroth x cloud fans, they really really believe this will be a real thing. It's easy to chalk it up to shippers gonna ship but I'm disappointed at this approach. Giving them an inch, and they take a mile. Why do they even deserve an inch though?

They did something like this in our Detective Conan fandom. Made a fanon ship kiss in a non-canon movie for the sake of fan service. Mind you, the studio made technically two kids kiss on screen even though the mc is in a serious relationship and never reciprocated any for the other female character. Now they think they also have a chance because of this fanon fan service.

I hate when they try to profit out of this. They say they're afraid of threats? But the one's who have to take the salt after are the one's who respect canon and care about the game. How are we supposed to enjoy this game in silence when SE themselves keep fuelling an awful delusion.

I think they're out of touch with their market and just throwing everything at the wall trying to see what sticks.

Xvi was a good effort but that old style mindset of being ambiguous and open ended to try and generate constant interest just doesn't work anymore. Players want their happy endings. Life is so shit all the time one way or another that we don't wanna invest 100hrs into a game that doesn't fully satisfy us.

And we want them to write female characters better. It's not an excuse to throw your hands up all "I don't write women well" and then expect us to be happy with shit writing if they're including romance in their games.

Get fucking good.

They need to stop obsessing over how to scam money out of us and just give us good content. That includes good translations. We're not idiots who let things like that slide and we react accordingly by not buying future releases.

Basically they're trying too hard to take our money and not giving us the quality we deserve for what they're asking.