#i like the characters mostly the lore intrigues me

[kideternity]

My not really being a visual novel guy versus my desire to play through digimon survive at least twice so that I can become mega ultra besties with Ryo

[kristsingto]

Thinking about the Mock-Trailer for The Ex-Morning

Pathapi is said to be the Best Reporter of the Year in the beginning. How. I want to know his career accomplishments so badly? I need to know how he got here!

I’ve been considering why Pathapi acts the way he does in the beginning. Has he always been like, since his university days? Or was it perhaps heartbreak and the passage of time that’s made him more like this? 

Aou is being made to play the exasperated best friend in Be My Favorite and the rival with coffee thrown on him in The Ex-Morning. Someone give both characters a raise. And a boyfriend!

I looooove the trope of the arrogant, whiny jerkass in a successful position who gets humbled. And that paired with him rebuilding his reputation with his ex-boyfriend of all people? I am so ready to see Pathapi’s character arc, and the things Tamtawan makes him do in this trailer makes me think he’ll get more in-tune with the spirit of good reporting and why it’s so important.

How does Tamtawan know and decide to come back? Obviously, he wants to help Pathapi and is still in love with him, but why did he leave? WHY DID HE LEAVE? Later in the trailer, when present-day Tamtawan leaves, it’s after he’s told “Tam. You have two options now.” What are the two options? The way Tamtawan leaves and the look on his face makes him look regretful, but what exactly is motivating him trying to leave here? Why did he leave in the first place? Does Pathapi know? His face looks half confused rather than just heartbroken!

What has Tamtawan been up to? I am intrigued.

The SOTUS reference in their university days flashback? I am obsessed. They were so sweet in that one frame, it makes me wonder how they fell in love. How different were they? How much of the same remains in them? How did they fall in love? Oh my god!

The transition from Pathapi being awkward with shirtless only-clothed-in-a-towel Tamtawan to taking his own shirt off and asking if Tamtawan has an ulterior motive to fluster him is hilarious to me. I love how forward Pathapi is here! And Tamtawan getting flustered is amazing. Oh my god, I love this trailer. It balances a comedic tone, angst, tension, etc all in one show. Can’t help but adore it.

“You’re still the same selfish jerk.” I need to know what happened! I said this above and I’m saying it again. I am intrigued.

Uni Tamtawan pulling Pathapi by his tie? I am obsessed.

The umbrella scene is both so very P’Lit and so very much a SOTUS reference, it delights me. I wonder how many SOTUS references we’ll have in the show proper.

I wonder if the car accident will coincide with the climax of the show.

That! Last! Scene! I suppose this is a scene when they’re hooking up but not properly together, seeing as they’re flirting, shirtless, and probably just had sex, but still won’t admit they still like each other. This sounds great to me.

I’ve mostly not talked about the meta elements here, because I feel it’s less about the contents of the actual trailer and more about the nature of the series as such a KristSingto RPF-type plot. Anyway, I love it. Everything about the meta of this series is perfect to me, and exactly what I wanted. This show is SO fun to think about when you know about the lore of KristSingto in real life. I’m half expecting Tamtawan to have hazed Pathapi at this point!

Side note that is not a side note: I LOVE THEIR ACTING! I love their characters!

Is this vers? I’m going to say it’s vers or Top Krist until proven wrong, because that last scene? Well. Let’s put the KristSingto into the KristSingto.

I love the small cast and the focus on KristSingto! I just need to say this. I am so excited for this comeback, in-part because it really is just Tamtawan and Pathapi’s story.

Tamtawan is supposed to mean “follow” and “sun” whereas Pathapi means earth/soil/ground. Coming off of KongArt, where Arthit is obviously “sun,” and KristSingto, who compare themselves to the sun and moon, this seems so definitely meaningful. Aof and Lit, I need to know what you’re cooking! 

The coals scene is sooooo perfect, both for the characters AND KristSingto themselves. Again bringing it back to the meta of it all, but, oh my god? This is perfect? Aof wrote a screenplay that was KristSingto RPF? On that note, I keep thinking about the idea of KristSingto channeling their feelings from the irl work-partner “break up” and it makes me go a little crazy. Especially with Krist talking about all his efforts to bring Singto back, and how he over-thought it when Singto left. And even more so seeing as they say they’re basically playing themselves.

The lyrics of the song used in the trailer are so fitting, I am now looping it and thinking about Pathapi and Tamtawan forever and ever.

I noticed that Tamtawan goes by “Tam” but did I miss it for Pathapi in the trailer, or do we get no indication of his nickname? I’m curious.

The “Begin Again” for the new Peraya Party speaks to both KristSingto and their new characters, and this is again making me go, oh god it’s true they’re just playing themselves.

I said my ideal KristSingto BL was a vers exes-to-lovers that parallels reality. Evidently, I was not alone.

Is it just me, or do the Pathapi + animals and Pathapi + soil degradation water scenes feel a lot like certain episodes of Friendship with KristSingto? Just me? Maybe it’s just Krist. I love him so dearly.

So much is revealed in this trailer, but that somehow makes me more intrigued about what is not being revealed to us?

Krist still goes for the top lip and Singto still goes for the bottom lip when they kiss. This kills me every time. I am so excited to see lovey-dovey Tamtawan and Pathapi!

[mfdragon]

Hey there

Thoughts on ‘A Glitch in Time’ and if it’s canonicity will affect the Good Vlad AU?

If you’ve addressed this before, I’m sorry, but I didn’t see anything, and I’m kinda intrigued on how that dynamic would work

I have answered this kinda but I can go into more detail now since some time has passed.

I loved Glitch in Time! It was FUN; it was CREATIVE; and I loved just seeing all the characters again having an adventure together. I enjoyed the lore exploration, the extra nuance they gave Dan and the veeeery interesting future plot potential with him and Vlad 👀

It made me real happy (and sad as well) to see how happy Jack was to see Vlad again, despite everything. And yea speaking of Vlad oh ma lawd I NEVER THOUGHT ID GET TO SEE HIM FINALLY OPEN UP ABOUT HIS TRUE FEELINGS!! Happy also to see Danny was weary and didn’t trust him completely but still the ending was interesting, held a lot of potential and everyone is in a good place.

Now as for my own story; it’s interesting that the comic revealed that Vlad’s obsession was fueled by fear. I thought that was very interesting and it does make sense, since being abandoned and left in pain is probably his biggest trauma. However, I always liked and suspected his obsession was more linked with anger, since it’s connected to revenge and being blinded by rage. And that’s mostly what I’m going to be focusing on in my au. I don’t know if I’d be adding Dan or Danni into my story, especially since my au takes place after TUE but before Secret Weapons. (Mostly because the cloning thing for me was like, ah hell I can’t redeem this guy once he gets to THIS point like damn son. And attempted Jazz-icide as well; can’t forgive him for that at all :/)

Sorry for the ramble and I hope some of that made sense ✨

[peachesofteal]

ok hi it’s me I was the one who asked for more detail about the fae boys and I don’t have a fic fleshed out but I have Thoughts.

Pre-nereid snatching, Ghost mentioned trading favors across dimensions, and roping in the rest of the 141 to help.

One of those was a deal with a witch, Soap went in Ghost’s place (in disguise of course) and asked for some help figuring out the blood magic bit (the little piece that was so obvious and Ghost couldn’t believe he missed it) so Soap’s like ‘great, thanks see ya never!’

and this is all fine and good for the witch, until news of a nereid becoming a fae’s wife hits across the magic world, and the witch can’t help but notice… how similar that spell was to the one she gave a man with a mohawk and- motherfucker. Well. She has a reputation to uphold, so she spends the next several months hunting down the fae (she knows the infamous Ghost wouldn’t show his face to just anyone, so it had to be one of his companions. Then she figured out Soap is the one with the mohawk, and puts it all together).

So when she finds him, she’s clearly furious, but trying her best to remain polite and Soap can’t help but laugh at how adorable it is that this witch is demanding an apology for tricking her.

and that’s really all I’ve got off the top of my head but I just think Soap with an angry witch wife is absolute perfection.

Okay… okay 👀 I love this! 🩵 Let’s say she’s a reader character…

You track him down in the mortal world. After all, the guys realm is nearly impossible to travel to, especially if you’re not from there. Which you’re definitely, definitely not. Your magic is completely different than Fae magic, existing within the confines of the tangible power mostly, fire, water… blood and bone. Your kind comes from the mortal realm, existing in the same pockets of forgotten lore and magic, much like the Nereids.

Here’s the other thing, Fae are the APEX in the magical realms. Even in worlds outside of their own, they are well known. Their power, intelligence, tricks and lust for bloodshed are whispered about far and wide. So imagine how you feel when you realize you inadvertently gave one of them the key to abducting a Nereid from her watery home? You would be devastated. Not to mention, every being knows that blood magic is witchcraft, not Fae magic. So your own community is turning their back on you because you’ve done this, you’re the one who allowed this to happen. You’ve betrayed them, gave away the knowledge of a magic that has lived well protected for centuries, all because you allowed yourself to be tricked by a handsome mortal? Who wasn’t even a mortal at all? How could you not see that… how could you be so blind?

Because you were flattered, that’s how. You were struck by how sweet, how kind and clever he was. You were entranced by his questions, his interest in you and the bookstore, hypnotized by the way his graceful fingers stroked the spines of your most treasured volumes. You weren’t like the others in your coven, you weren’t chased relentlessly by warlocks, weren’t praised for being an eternal beauty, you spent more time with your books and spells and cauldron than you did with with your peers. The few friends you had included your familiar, a mortal girl who worked in the shop with you, and your aunt.

After months of research, tearing apart grimoires and reading tea leaves, you finally figure it out. You finally learn the spell you need to track Fae, and then you cast it to find Johnny. You don’t have much to go on, but you remember his eyes, the sea glass blue shade that shimmered in the afternoon light when he approached you in the bookstore, following you into the back room. You had been completely charmed by him, and thus disarmed… distracted by clever words and his pretty face, letting yourself flirt with him by asking about his mohawk and intriguing accent.

You had been a fool.

So you shuttered the shop early one day, pulling his true form to your mind’s eye, the confirmation of the truth curdling your stomach as you cast the scrying spell, the presence of his magic shimmering all throughout the plane until it led you to a pub, a mere four blocks away.

Your rage, your shame overshadows your fear… a mistake you realize too late that day, far too late until you’re standing in front of him with your hands on your hips… spitting mad, magic swirling around you in violent hues of red and purple while he chuckles openly, admiring how your hair seems to float in the air with the electricity of your rage.

“You used me.” You hiss, fist unclenching, raising in front of your body like a weapon. “You tricked me, you Fae bastard.” Your finger extends, pointing right at him, and in the blink of an eye the air shifts, and he drops his glamour, exposing the true strength of his power, the tips of his ears, the mighty weight of the magic he carries in his veins.

Your words die on your tongue.

Johnny may not know much, but he knows well enough to never, ever, let a witch point at him, for a hex will surely come after.

His hand darts forward, strong fingers wrapping around your wrist and pulling you close, close enough that he can incline his head above your ear, voice razor sharp, lethal and cold when he whispers,

“Did you just point at me, little witch?”

[preservationofnormalcy]

Out of universe:

I just discovered this blog, and I had a question I couldn't find an answer to on the FAQ page. How does this concept compare/differ/relate to SCP?

OOC: Well, I’m definitely inspired by SCP (among other things people have pointed out in the almost 70k notes on the posters post, like Control, Portal, Omega Mart, tumblr user melinoelabs, some others I’m sure I’m not remembering). I’m a fan of SCP, I think a lot of people following me are.

As far as comparisons, there’s definitely a lot of thematic overlap between SCP and OPN, enough that fans of the SCP will probably be fans of this.

That being said, there is no intentional lore/story similarity between SCP and OPN. They are not meant to be in the same universe, and no actual lore characters/features/etc are meant to be in both unless they came from somewhere else first. Aside from very general and basic concepts like “cognitohazards” or “memetics” of course, but I’m sure SCP didn’t really come up with those, just popularized them.

As to how it differs, I can point a few things out from an author’s point of view, so take the following with whatever grains of salt you’re comfortable with.

1) I am, intentionally, building a world that is a little brighter than many settings of the same type. There’s horror and intrigue, absolutely, but there’s fun, and silliness. When brainstorming or sounding-board with my friends and co-writer, I often use the phrase “that’s goofy, but the goofiness is not disqualifying”. I mean, two months ago, an LSD-powered Alice in Wonderland themed AI saved Halloween. There’s a little bit of ambiguity, of course - the intentional clash between the “voice” of Norm who is a fundamentally optimistic person with a bias vs the darker tone of Meghan’s interviews (found in the #interview tag) is something I’m cultivating, but I hope overall it’s clear I’m intending a brighter, less grim dark tone.

2) SCP relies on a lot of wholly original content - SCP-173 did not exist as a concept before it was written, whereas much of my work leans on a basic assumption that every existing myth, legend, or folktale is at least a little bit true. The “kitchen sink” approach. SCP of course does deal with Bigfoot, or fae, or what-have-you, and I have a good chunk of concepts that are wholly original as well. It’s a mostly-true generalization that I do keep to as a design tool. Most of the posters rely on well-known concepts and the ones that don’t can be ascertained from context clues like the etymology of “Ontophage”. This is also a factor in my appreciation of real-world concepts like bureaucracy humor.

Hopefully that answers some questions! Feel free to ask more. I’ll be traveling the next few days so I might be a little quiet, but ooc stuff is a nice change of pace.

[fanfic-lover-girl]

Harry Potter characters that I like

In response to a Romione fan who thought I hated every HP character and hated everything about the series because I don't stan certain characters and ships, I want to mention here the few characters I like.

For me, I like a character usually if:

they have an interesting personality and background

I feel sorry for how they are generally misunderstood or bashed by fandom (sometimes I take great pleasure in being a contrarian haha) or treated by the author.

their wins feel earned in the narrative and I feel inspired

So here is my list!

Draco Malfoy + Malfoy family

I love Draco so much. I admit that I was drawn in mostly through fanon but as I explored the books more, I really enjoyed his book character a lot. He has a vibrant and entertaining personality and I like how meta he can be sometimes. Every time he proclaims how bad Hagrid is as a teacher or how Hogwarts sucks as a school, I just want to hug him so badly. I also like his parents and their interactions as a family later in the books. Narcissa is my fav mom, no contest. I just think that JKR wasted his potential. Draco is the most developed Slytherin kid and his character should have represented hope for a better future. But of course, JKR only cares about her lions (and Snape who she tried to retcon as a lion too lol) so screw Slytherins. And the NPC houses.

Black family

Gosh, I absolutely ADORE the Black family. The Black family is the most intriguing set of characters JKR ever wrote in HP. The Black family lore, the constellation theme, the dark history, the tragedy. Chef's kiss! Screw making a marauders' prequel!!! Give me a Black Family series! You shouldn't be surprised that Sirius Black is my favourite marauder. Compared to Sirius, James Potter is an utter bore.

Neville Longbottom

I often wish Neville was the chosen one instead of Harry. I think Neville's story is more tragic than Harry's. It must be torture to have your parents alive but practically dead. And Neville just feels more heroic to me. A lot of times, I hate Harry's hero's journey because JKR keeps letting Harry win due to deu ex Machina. It was nice seeing Neville gradually grow into the man he was at the end. And Neville's rage at Bellatrix just felt more visceral compared to Harry's with Moldy Voldy. I just like Neville, he's so sweet and he deserves better friends.

Percy Weasley

On the surface, I don't care much about Percy but I do feel sorry for him. Ron and the twins treated him like trash. His family just had a hate boner for him. Poor Percy. I can vibe with a family black sheep character. I don't like how people paint him as the bad guy for walking out on his family. And I appreciate how distinguished he is as a Weasley. He is the only Weasley member not to bow down and kiss Dumbles' backside like a brainless puppet. It's a shame it backfired on him but I admire his logic.

Luna Lovegood

To be honest, Luna was a nothing character to me until I began reading Druna fanfiction and I realized how adorable her character is in the books. She makes me smile and I like how she used to talk back to the trio in the beginning. So funny when Luna told Harry that people thought Hagrid was a bad teacher lol! I think Luna is the only HP girl I like...also maybe because I really like picturing her with Draco. No shame!

Severus Snape

What a beautiful and tragic character. Like Draco, Snape is such a pleasure to read. The man is pure entertainment in written form. I don't love Snape the way I do Draco, but I like picturing him with a better life. 'Snape drops out of Hogwarts' is one of my favourite AO3 tags. I love how he dedicated his life to good even though life was cruel to him and gave him a bad hand. Everything about Snape is so intriguing and I like learning more about him. Definitely one of JKR's best characters.

Ron Weasley

I hate the golden trio but I find Ron the most tolerable and the most interesting. It's a shame I found myself disliking the guy in the epilogue. People complain about the movies ruining Ron but JKR was ruining Ron in the books too. Ron started out as so intelligent but gradually JKR made him slobbier and dumber. I like how Ron was the common sense guy. Once again, Ron had to be the one to tell Harry what a complete trash disaster Hagrid was. Lord, I hate that man! Shame Hagrid's spiders didn't kill him!!! I wish JKR expanded on Ron's chess ability. Ron showed promise as being a leader of the trio (Lord knows Harry was a disaster) and Ron being strategic would fit with his chess skills...but JKR never followed through. My fellow HP critic, chicory, mentioned this passage:

‘Hmm,’ said a small voice in his ear. ‘Difficult. Very difficult. Plenty of courage, I see. Not a bad mind, either. There’s talent, oh my goodness, yes – and a nice thirst to prove yourself, now that’s interesting … So where shall I put you?’

applies more to Ron than Harry and I have to agree with her.

There are also several instances of Ron just being a sweet friend to Harry and Hermione and I wish he had better friends. I don't care what Romione/Hermione fans say. Hermione does not deserve a guy like Ron. Never did and never will. I don't even think Harry deserves Ron either. Ron does so much more for Harry than Harry ever did for him. I would have preferred if the Luna friendship was developed more for Ron. Ron has his infuriating moments but his great moments offset them. Out of the trio, I think Ron is the best character and sometimes I wish he was the protag instead of Harry.

Well, let me end it at 7, the perfect number! I can't fully word why I like or love some of these characters but this is a gist.

Of course, there may be other characters that I enjoy for what they are in the story (the Death Eaters, Dumbledore etc) but I don't care about them enough to mention them. Blessings!

[authorchia]

⋆｡˚ ☁︎ ˚ 𝚂𝚖𝚎𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚎𝚊 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚏𝚎𝚎𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚔𝚢, 𝚕𝚎𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚜𝚘𝚞𝚕 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚜𝚙𝚒𝚛𝚒𝚝 𝚏𝚕𝚢. ⋆｡𖦹 °

𝚅𝚊𝚗 𝙼𝚘𝚛𝚛𝚒𝚜𝚘𝚗

AHA! I knew I would make a dedicated post for my personal r1999 crack ship! If you see this post you're in for a ride because I will make you interested in this ship~

As you may know from the title, I ship Shamane x Eternity, or I also like to call it SeaGoat/Capricorn. I already have a few reasons and headcanons for this couple, so heads up! Long post incoming below!

💙 Ship name origin

It was a usual day in the r1999 discord server, and at that time they were talking about ships and stuff. I playfully asked if there's a good name for my ShamaNity ship. Then I got a revelation that I can call them SeaGoat because of Shamane's udimo and Eternity's sea/ocean theme! And one of the members said "...Capricorn". At first I was confused so I googled it AND I FOUND OUT CAPRICORN IS A SEA GOAT! "THIS IS GENIUS" I said, so that's how I adopt the ship name! Though I know it doesn't really fit with one of Eternity's voiceline. But if I name it OceanGoat... it's- uh- you get the point.

💙 Their dynamics

Good lord, they give off so many dynamics... But looking at their voicelines and in-game lore:

1. I can pretty much tell they're both yappers (in a good way). Eternity talks about mostly about seafood and about her experience as an immortal, while Shamane talks all about his journey being a shaman and some giving food to us (Vertin). I can see them talk back and forth about their experiences from their respective lives. They could know how each sees the world through the eyes of a mortal and an immortal. I like to think the suitcase feels lively as the both of them always talk to each other, no matter the time or circumstances (✿ᴗ͈ˬᴗ͈)⁾⁾

2. THEY'RE BOTH OLD. In the current global roster, Shamane is the oldest of all the male characters (being 45 y/o) while Eternity is the oldest of all the female characters (being over a century old because she's a vampire). They definitely act like an old married couple. They'll be the suitcase crew's parents like isn't that just the sweetest thing?

3. Their Ultimate animation Just look at these!!!

Shamane represents the sky while Eternity represents the sea/ocean, and it really tickles my neurons thinking about it. NOT TO MENTION Shamane's ultimate also has what it looks like some sort of lake? The point is that they both have something to do with water on it!

4. They both can fill their loneliness This more just me doing some headcanon, but from Eternity's voicelines, I can tell she's pretty lonely. Being an immortal has its advantages but also comes with a price. I haven't seen Shamane's full backstory, but judging from the trailer, he definitely went through a lot on his journey to become a shaman. As the two gets closer, Eternity would find him amusing yet inspiring for he's still alive after going through so much as a mortal and Shamane would find her intriguing and would be curious about the immortal's life. They slowly find solace with each other, the shaman receiving simple yet genuine love and care while the vampire gets to have someone who can have fun and relax together. Though Eternity knows they won't last forever, for Shamane's life is nothing but temporary in her eyes. She will be lonely in the end, like she always have, but at least she got to experience something new...

💙 Last words

Aaaaaand that's the end of why I ship them! If you made it this far, WOW! You certainly are a reader, my friend! Have a cookie for compensation~ 🍪

[saytr]

Hey! :3 Just wanted to say, seeing you interested in Hazbin Hotel made me give it a chance (even if I watched it mostly through reactions on YouTube, but I'm planning to actually watch it fully by myself, not just several episodes I liked the most). And although there are some things that are not really for me, characters seem quite vivid and intriguing, and I overall liked it? Especially Charlie and Alastor, they are awesome! Lucifer is funny, and Vaggie is cool, too. My friend didn't see the whole show, but she saw the pilot episode and she liked AngelDust as complicated character he is.

Kinda late, sorry XD

BUT I AM GLAD YA ENJOY IT! I am happy that Hazbin is taking off so well, i love the lore of the peeps and can't wait for all the story which is gonna be told! <3

[bern-the-bridge]

Emily Might Have Bitten Off More Than She Can Chew

(Hazbin Hotel Spoilers)

Do I know in depth lore about Hazbin Hotel or Helluva Boss? No. However, I have a degree in creative writing, I’ve seen an unhealthy amount of animated shows, and I’ve analyzed every frame of You Didn’t Know roughly a jillion times. So, I think I’m qualified to share my observations.

So from what I’ve seen from the fandom, a lot of people are already pointing their fingers to Sera and blaming her for letting the executions happen, which is valid. However, like she said, there’s a lot that we don’t know.

First of all, let’s take a look at the character designs for Sera’s and Emily’s partial angelic and pure angelic forms.

So one obvious change is how they both have more eyes. Yes, multiple eyes are a reference to the appearance of biblically accurate angels, however it’s more than that. Sera and Emily introduce themselves while in their pure angelic forms before transforming into their humanoid forms. And like demons, later in the episode they only transform into their partial angelic forms when they feel strong emotions, mostly anger. And they specifically transform after it’s revealed that angels are actively executing demons.

When she finds out about this, Emily’s eyes are literally opened. She now gets a glimpse at the false utopian society they had built.

But Sera clearly has more eyes than Emily, indicating her higher ranking among the seraphims and her age. But it’s also an implication that she knows much more than she lets on. Emily might have gotten a taste of the brutal reality they live in, but Sera is much more aware of the situation, and there’s a lot that she’s purposefully hiding from her.

Sera also has eyes all over her body, which could be a suggestion that she is all seeing. However, while she does have eyes all over her body, they all face the same general direction. From the frames we’ve seen at least, there are no eyes behind her or on her sides. So she might believe that she is all seeing, but even she has blindspots and instead tunnel visions on her own priorities. And because all of eyes face forward, she only focuses on what’s in front of her, her people.

Furthermore, while Emily only has her eyes opened after she discovers the truth, Sera already knew about the exterminations. Which means when she transformed into her humanoid form, especially in front of demons, she’s quite literally turning a blind eye to them.

Then of course, there’s the scene wherein they sing You Didn’t Know.

From what I’ve seen, when most people analyze Sera, they reference the first image. We can see the fires of hell reflected in Sera’s eyes, which is an image usually used to show a villain watching the evil they have wrought. However, this can also be seen as a symbol of the distance Sera has placed in between herself and the exterminations. The actual image of the flames are contained in the eyes of her humanoid form, which downplays the severity. Yet her predominantly white color scheme becomes tainted with red, meaning she could be oblivious to how corrupt she’s become. But what actually intrigues me about this frame is that Sera isn’t looking at the scene in hell. She’s looking at Emily. All of the destruction she’s caused, she did so for Emily and her people.

And what I don’t see enough people talking about is the second image, because how it’s framed is also normally used for villains. After the first time Emily looks at the scene, she doesn’t really look at it again. She instead looks at Sera or Charlie or the other angels. She literally has her back turned to the atrocities in hell, which can mean a handful of things.

It could just be a way of portraying her ignorance. Because Sera kept secrets from her and because Emily never thought to question their system, she wasn’t able to try and help sooner. However, it could also be a hint about what could happen next.

I think Emily is gonna mess up somehow by trying to stop the exterminations. Like Sera, even when she grows more eyes in her partial angelic and pure angelic forms, Emily’s eyes all still face the same general direction. In fact, if you look closely, they seem to be even more fixed towards one point than Sera. Her extra eyes are always concentrating on what her humanoid eyes are looking at. Maybe Emily will be so fixated on saving the demons that she neglects her duties as a seraphim. Maybe she gets blindsided by whatever Sera’s withholding from her because she can’t see the bigger picture. Maybe she ends up doing more harm than good. Maybe something bad happens and it winds up being her fault.

Finally, there are blatant parallels between Emily and Charlie. While fans love to compare them, they tend to forget how much more naive Emily is than Charlie. And remember what Charlie does back in Episode Four: Masquerade? While attempting to help Angel Dust, her actions lead to setting the studio aflame and she indirectly hurts Angel. And it’s fascinating to me how a story set primarily in hell only has two significant scenes that predominantly shows fire, the scene wherein Charlie causes one, and the scene wherein Emily witnesses the angels cause them. So perhaps Emily and Charlie’s similarities won’t stop there, and Emily will wind up making some big mistakes with the best intentions.

All of this to say, I can’t wait to watch the last two episodes later, I’m withholding judgement on Sera until we learn more about whatever secrets she has, and I predict Emily will accidentally cause a huge mess.

[nayruwu]

I wanna know the lunaify gureshin lore please

ha ha! i'm so glad you asked!

i'm not trying to say the way their relationship is in canon is bad, because kagami just had different priorities in the story. i don't think a casual reader would think anything is missing, but i spend a lot of time thinking about these characters specifically so naturally i'd want to fill in the gaps.

right off the bat i think the way shinya introduces himself to guren is kind of... odd. it's his thing to mask his feelings and intentions, so for him to immediately overshare and dump all of that onto guren first chance he gets feels rushed and, quite frankly, out of character. even if he really wanted guren as an ally, it would have made more sense to observe a whole lot more first and try to gain his trust more slowly. imagine how much more charming it would have been if guren had thought shinya to be a spoiled hiiragi brat at first, and only slowly realised that hey, he's like me. the scene where seishiro punches him in the face would have been perfect for this. or, you know those scenes where a character accidentally lets something slip or moves in a way that reveales bruises or wounds they have and then they stand there awkwardly not knowing how to react? it's cheesy but i love fondue so it's fine.

one thing that i've seen in fanfiction a couple of times is shinya being ashamed of his past in the training facility, and intentionally never mentioning it to guren (thinking he, the selfless saviour of the ichinose, would be disgusted at his selfishness). and i really like this idea! shinya having tried so hard to be guren's friend and not wanting it to be destroyed. guren finding out and being horrified, not at shinya but at the hiiragi, because what the fuck are they doing to little children? the conversation that would have to follow after. it'd be intriguing development where they'd both have to open up and be honest. but recently as i was rereading the novels i realised that guren just... already knows about the trials. i can't even remember where exactly it was mentioned, but it's there in a side sentence, casual, without a second thought. booooo. boring. huge missed opportunity.

... which also leads into the next point. because even in resurrection, even when they call each other 'best friend', guren never really thinks about shinya. and i know how this sounds - of course he thinks about him! like, literally all the time! but what guren thinks about is how he needs him, how he wants him to live, how he doesn't want to exist without him, but he never really thinks about shinya himself. normally, you'd want to know about your best friend's life, try to be there for them, worry about their wellbeing. in canon, this is never considered. shinya doesn't ask for support, guren doesn't give it. i get that this is a really complicated issue considering that before the catastrophe they're mostly not that close and guren has like a million different problems to deal with & after the catastrophe his biggest concern is keeping shinya alive, but i did come up with a solution for this (sorry i went on a tangent there again the shinsanity is getting to me). so what shinya often does is put guren's goals and wishes above is own (be that by not being able to figure out what he wants and helping guren achieve his goals instead (canon) or quite literally being in love with him but never acting on or even acknowledging it (interpretation)). shinya knows that guren has a horrible case of saviour complex, has watched him repeatedly destroy himself to try and save someone else. so it would make total sense if he, having devoted himself to supporting guren, didn't want to become the reason he gets hurt. it would make for a horribly sad situation because there is no way guren would want to accept this but it plays right into his need to keep shinya at a distance, so there's nothing he can do about it.

let them snuggle.

just a glimpse into my dark, twisted mind😈

[bunnyboysrus]

I’ve been in the same boat: The Ren route dlc is actually the only one I’ve seen played out in full, and honestly, I don’t even care to watch the others because I know they won’t be able to compare. I even downloaded Patreon so I could watch the explicit parts of his route, which is something I’ve never done before for any creator/game/media.

I’ve also been searching AO3 but everything that has come up is either a wip or it feels way too ooc for me to get into it. There’s not a lot to choose from because the dlc came out just a few months ago.

No other character has had this much of a chokehold on me. I’ve been tempted to go watch through Ren’s routes in BTD and BTD2 to get a better grasp on his character, as well as rewatching a playthrough of the dlc for TPOF. I’m not even on ao3 but damn, im tempted to do all my research to write Ren x GN Reader fics, some personal Ren x myself, and even a fic of the events from the TPOF dlc from Ren’s POV

The Ren Hana brainrot is real and I have it. Thank you Gatobob

thank you gatobob fr. just to let you know, ren doesn't have his own route in the first BTD, he's a side character in someone else's, and his route in BTD2 is hidden within someone else's route, so there's a little trick to getting that, but there are good guides online for that. the way you described it sounds like you'd rather watch a playthrough rather than play it yourself, but in case you did want to play it ^

i love BTD as a whole so i do recommend playing the other games and routes in their entirety as well just to get a sense for the world lore cause many characters end up knowing each other in ways that intrigued the hell out of me. like, sano... sano has bitches.

and i also recommend looking out for the new game gatobob is currently working on, You Kill Me Every Time, from what I can tell it's going to be mostly about, if not entirely about, Strade and Ren, which I'm very very excited for.

if i ever do get around to writing a ren fic, ill tag you dear anon, and hope that it meets your standards

[valentinoceros]

One of the things I find most intriguing about the characters in Hazbin is the potential that the technical inhumanity of them brings.

Let me explain.

Something you see pretty much everywhere in this fandom, like in all fandoms, is people choosing specific characters to relate to, to project onto or generally sympathize with, and that is ofc totally normal and good for any type of media really. Often media is judged by how well you can identify with the characters in it (and based on that how real they feel) because we love to see ourselves portrayed on the screen, either how we would like to be or how we currently are/were, giving us the feeling of being recognized and understood. There are of course many, MANY more psychological aspects to this but you get what I mean.

Now, most of the time this works really well, because pretty much all media has humans for their main characters, which obviously follow the same psychology as ours, or at least they have non-human characters which are portrayed with mostly human minds. There are some excpetions to this, usually found in sci-fi movies and series (honorable mentions go to Star Trek and Babylon 5, although I find the latter does a better job at this), but even then there are many human charactaristics to morale/ethics/etc found.

But back to Hazbin Hotel.

Here we have a series set in hell, the place where sinners (according to christian rules) go, but of course not just anyone who's sinned but more specifically unrepentant sinners. (This is again a very simplified answer, but I'm not trying to have a discussion about theological accuracy of anyone's or any religion's understanding of who exactly goes to hell or not here, so we're running with this.) Essentially we have souls ranging from having been just a person who unapologetically sinned to actually Hitler-esque living in this place for pretty much eternity.

Notice how I said souls, not people.

Because people, by definition, refers to a number of humans, and as we can clearly see from for example the designs of these characters, they are no longer humans. And that finally brings me to my point.

Bear with me here, bc I'm not entirely versed in the Hazbin lore, so I don't know how much of this is already established, but the way I see it, souls, upon entering hell, loose their humanity. They may retain some aspects of their previous personality, most likely moreso the evil ones or to be specific the ones that caused them to go to hell in the first place, they might even keep some of their core memories from life but judging by how many things we forget even whilst still living I can't imagine death to not have an impact on that, and severely so. All in all they're totally new beings though.

And what makes us think that these totally different creatures, which are on top of it (usually) inherently evil, function, think, or feel, in any way similar to how we do?

There's no reason for them to be able to feel things such as remorse, empathy, or even love. And that’s what I find fascinating, that this could technically be a world with exclusively psychopaths (though that’s of course not a wholly accurate term in this case) and how that would function. Going even further, with this in mind, the way some of these characters act makes total sense - and I'm specifically talking about the "antagonists" here of course, like our collective fan-favorite Valentino.

This is, of course, just my own personal view of this, but for someone who's always enjoyed the darker parts of content in fandom this entire setting is just. Perfect.

BUT, and here comes the really big but, exactly those things I mentioned earlier they technically shouldn't be able to feel, (remorse, empathy, and love) are all things we see characters on this show experience. Y'know, the things that I said are human emotions. And that brings me to my BONUS POINT of this endless rant, which is about Charlie and the entire premise of this show. Because she might not even realize this, but Charlie is not actually trying to redeem demons for the sake of making them into angels. She's making them back into humans.

[littleclownopinions]

The Haunting Perfection of Ballora

Slight Content warning: Mentions of child murder

With Five Nights at Freddy's: Help Wanted 2 releasing sometime next month, we will be seeing the return of everybody's favourite ballerina, so I thought this would be a good time to start talking about her again. Now, as much as I hope this will mean the inclusion of some much needed lore for our girl, this is not what I wish to solely focus on today. Although we will touch on the topic, I'd mostly like to talk about Ballora's overall design and how she left such an impact on me in the short amount of time we had with her.

Ballora is arguably the single most humanoid animatronic in the game's canon. While Circus Baby is obviously human-like, Ballora is especially human because of her proportions. Her figure, her hands and her facial structure all really bring her to life. Now, here is where I will briefly interject to mention the "who/why" of it all because I think regardless of how little we know about Ballora, these questions play an important part in understanding her human appearance. Circus Baby is the only other humanoid animatronic we have in the game, but we know her place. Being modelled after and later killing William Afton's daughter, Elizabeth, she is an important character to the story and lore. So then, who is Ballora and why is she so human? Well, although I don't have any definitive answers, many have speculated that Ballora is, in some way, connected to/representative of Mrs. Afton. As a result, it's become difficult for me personally to separate her from the image of a motherly figure, which I think adds some layers to her creep-factor. I mean, a mother is supposed to keep children safe, right? ...Right?

Now, in Sister Location we get the following blue prints.

Points B and C are pretty self explanatory. Ballora can stabilise herself and alert herself to any objects that may cause a collision to prevent accidents. However, points A and B are a little trickier to discern any actual meaning from at first glance. For a full run down of all the Sister Location blueprints as well as theories on how the animatronics work together to fulfil their 'purposes', I'll refer you to this post by an unfortunately deleted user. The important takeaway is as follows: Ballora is all about audio. She can sing, play music and she herself can even hear. However, she doesn't use these features for killing, at least not primarily. She, like Funtime Foxy, is more of a lure for kids and adults alike, to gather them away from Circus Baby and/or Funtime Freddy as they are the designated killers. She uses her voice and her music related functions as bait to aid them. I highly recommend checking out the post if you get the chance.

Moving on, I wanna talk about Five Nights at Freddy's AR: Special Delivery. Scott Cawthon said on a steam post in 2016 "I would imagine that she actually glides on a track most of the time, but after leaving the track she uses all four limbs to crawl more like a spider." This is exactly what we see in Special Delivery. Ballora is one of the only animatronics to crawl at the player, rather than the usual walk/run. As Scott mentioned, it gives her a spider-like quality that I think contrasts her elegance in a super neat way. She becomes this really unsettling, distressing creature, rather than the dainty and beautiful ballerina we came to know in Sister Location. We also see in both games the long, sharp teeth that fill out her mouth under her face plates which I think add to what I mentioned above. Here's a lovely image of what her crawl looks like for any previously lucky readers than might have never seen it before. :)

I think Ballora is a really intriguing character to talk about. On one hand I do think there's a point to be made about her having some connection to the Afton family. Afterall, the other Funtime Animatronics are pink, the colour most associated with ballerinas. So, why was Ballora given a purple and blue colour palate instead? She was also built around the same time as Circus Baby, a character that was modelled after the likeness of a specific someone, so, surely she, being so humanoid, must have been modelled after someone too? Don't even get me started on her song. The amount of ways you can interpret the first 4 lines alone is something I think we all still struggle with. That said, I do understand people not buying into the theory. There hasn't been much tangible evidence to properly give the theory legs, none of what I've said can sustain it alone.

Regardless of where you stand with her in terms of the lore, I still love Ballora's design and overall aesthetic. The sad ballerina left dancing through the halls of an empty gallery, struggling to find her place in the story or the world she was born into. She has a melancholy about her but, as we see in Special Delivery, she also has this animalistic nature that makes her incredibly nerve-wracking to come face-to-face with. Overall, I think Ballora has a bone chilling design and I hope we see a lot more of her in Help Wanted 2. I don't think she was given the time of day to truly shine and reach her potential, but here's to the future of FNAF, I cant wait to see what it has in store!

[phantom-does-a-thing]

so phantom would you say you're past the point of no return with tma yet? is it joever as they say? could i have your detailed thoughts i like hearing detailed thoughts

also i just realized i haven't been following you woops

uhm... stares at my pile of fic ideas building up n kicks them under the rug.... uh no no I have uh no idea what you're talking about uhm.. tma???? never heard of it, dont know what that is uhm... (its joever for me)

I really am enjoying the characters, I like them a lot and the way of storytelling is SO interesting to me that I am so enamored by it. The worldbuilding is fun and it's like the exact type of horror that I eat up so much (what I like to call Evil Dimension /pos style horror where the horror is just intermingled with everyday life but for the most part it's kinda just normal tbh. Still horrifying in this case but it's a part of life for them).

The statements are honestly probably my favorite part because Imma be honest I think it's one of the best executions i've seen of the catch all be all style horror where you try to hit as much types of horror as you can to scare as large of an audience as you can. Bc everything still feels interconnected and like there's a point to it, not that they're trying to be scary just for the sake of being scary, it's giving you a reason to keep watching and to be scared. I'm also a little biased because there have been a few episodes that have genuinely scared me (like cold sweats shivering and trying not to panic kind of scared which I've never felt like that before from a media and I ATE IT UP) (though that was late at night and it was an episode that catered to my specific fears).

As a horror medium it's so interesting to me and I am so intrigued by it, not to mention the characters are silly and so compelling to me and I love all the characters so dearly. I have latched onto Jon like a chewtoy n I also really like Sasha. The short episodes are also like a goldmine for me because it's like rewarding when I finish an episode and I can actually get thru more than one in one sitting so it's really easy for me to listen to, I don't know what it is about it that makes it easier than other media that I interact with. Normally podcasts are hard for me but I've been having a pretty easy time working through it tbh and it feels a little easier for me. The mostly episodic style to a lot of the statements takes off a surprising amount of pressure for some reaosn so I'm just here enjoying the ride and the lil bits of lore.

Very fun, very enjoyable. And Jon's voice is so soothing that it makes it easier to listen to bc I like it all that much more.

[isfjmel-phleg]

March 2024 Books

Norby, the Mixed-Up Robot by Janet and Isaac Asimov

This one was a lot of fun! I should track down the rest of the series.

The World's Greatest Detective by Caroline Carlson

I was very confused about what era this world was mimicking (are they Victorian? 1920s/30s?), but it was a fun story and I enjoyed the dynamic between the protagonists.

A Dig in Time by Peni R. Griffin

I remember liking this one, but it feels like I read it years ago and I can't remember everything. Time travel with a family emphasis.

The Promise by Monica Hughes

Like Sandwriter, which this is a sequel to, I initially wasn't so sure that I liked this one, and then it went in an unexpected direction that took the themes in a more complex place, and I appreciated that.

The Yellow Fairy Book by Andrew Lang

I generally like fairy tales well enough, but this one was rather a slog to get through, and I ended up skimming a lot of it. There were some familiar favorites, but a lot of the tales were of the variety that consist of an interesting set-up followed by a seemingly incoherent series of events, and I regret I don't have enough interest in folklore to get much out of that.

The Romance of a Shop by Amy Levy

Interesting from a historic perspective mostly, but I didn't connect much with the story.

The Secret Garden of Yanagi Inn by Amber A. Logan (reread)

Reread so it would be fresh in my mind before the presentation. You already know how I feel about this one.

The Humming Room by Ellen Potter (reread)

Same as above. I have a post in drafts with some thoughts on this one that may eventually see daylight.

The Making of May by Gwyneth Rees (reread)

Already discussed this one.

A Bit of Earth by Karuna Riazi (reread)

Beautifully written and very readable and develops its themes well. Does fall into the trap of making the story about grief (Maria's late parents were frequently absent from her life, and she resents this, but she did have relationships with them in ways that her counterpart in the original book never did with her parents, so it's a completely different dynamic). I found this Colin to be somewhat underdeveloped, but I did appreciate the concept of his being fearful about failing to live up to family expectation, which is a reasonable translation of the original character's source of shame.

Charley by Joan G. Robinson

I don't remember much of this one. Didn't have any problems, just didn't have as much impact as other books by this author have for me.

Greenwild by Pari Thomson

A very derivative example of the Child Learns That They Are Magical And Special And Enters A Fantastical World Where They Must Take On The Villain sort of story. I wanted to enjoy it, but everything felt trite.

Doctor Who: A Brief History of Time Lords by Steve Tribe

This was a gift from my brother. I am a very casual DW fan and haven't really engaged with the show in quite a while (really should rewatch and catch up on new stuff but that's a pretty big time commitment right now). I think I would have got a lot more out of this if I were more than passingly familiar with Classic Who and all the lore in general.

Not Quite a Ghost by Anne Ursu

I was interested in this one because it's a retelling of "The Yellow Wallpaper," and the concept of comparing the difficulties of getting difficult-to-trace chronic illnesses taken seriously and diagnosed in today's world to the mishandling of women's medical and psychological conditions in the late nineteenth century intrigued me. However, this book didn't really know what it wanted to be. The young protagonist's struggles with her mystery chronic illness took up most of the book, but there was also a plot about a literal ghost in the wallpaper of her new attic bedroom that needs to be defeated in the end, and neither of these things fitted well together. One or the other of them would have been fine, but the combination left me confused about the nature of this fictional world and the themes of the book in general.

Comics/Graphic Novels

Benevolent Sisters of Charity (Over the Garden Wall)

This is the only one of the OTGW comics that I wasn't able to buy before it went out of print, so I ILLed it and realized that it was for the better that I hadn't. The story was incoherent and pointless and the characters were OOC. The art was much better than the story deserved.

Wayne Family Adventures Vol. 3

I've read these as a webcomic already but wanted it in book form too. These are entertaining; you just have to go into it aware that this is The Fluffy World version of everybody and they are characterized accordingly.

The Flash by Grant Morrison & Mark Millar

Not on a level with Waid's work, of course, but the highlight of this one was the storyline in which Linda dies and Wally manages to bring her back (some good Bart content here) and a delightfully meta short story in which Mark Millar meets up with Wally to figure out what story about him to tell next...and Wally is given a co-writing credit in the end.

The Flash by Mark Waid Books Seven and Eight

An effective end to this run. Waid points out in his Afterword that he's still got another story on reserve, so...anytime he wants to give that to us, that would be great. I'll be waiting.

The Secret Garden on 81st Street: A Modern Retelling of the Secret Garden by Ivy Noelle Weir (reread)

You know how I feel about this one. (I whipped it out at the convention to show somebody who was talking to me about CEN in the present day through leaving one's child to technology that that concept was used in this retelling, and somebody nearby oohed about what a diverse retelling it was as I flipped through pages. Which is, you know, more important than effective storytelling. It should have done both! We could have had both!)

Stephen McCranie's Space Boy Omnibus Volume 5

I've read this in webcomic form already, but it's a pleasure to have a physical copy of the latest omnibus.

Sinister Sons #1-2 plus additional material establishing the backgrounds of Lor-Zod and Sinson

A sort of response to the series Super Sons (which featured Jon Kent at his proper age and Damian Wayne), by the same author. This is going to be about a teamup of Lor-Zod (son of General Zod, was Chris Kent in another continuity, has apparently been Zukoed in this incarnation) and Sinson (a young, apparently orphaned thief who believes that his father must be Sinestro, the Green Lantern's arch-nemesis). So far the boys haven't done much more than fight, but I'm interested to see where this is going. (#3 is in the mail now!)

Lor is a horrid little piece of work, but his parents' recent treatment of him puts him in a more sympathetic situation, and I am hoping he'll get a redemption arc that would move him closer to his original version. Sinson is no angel either, but he's just a child who really, really wants a family and is clinging to the only hope for one that he has--and if that means he's a supervillain's son, then he's ready to follow in those footsteps to gain acceptance.

(Also he drew a mustache on himself with a black marker to look more like his alleged father, and that's so ridiculous and kind of endearing.)

[dynared]

Hello! I'm sorry if you're tired of this topic, but I can't help but be glad that I'm seeing more and more people criticizing IDW comics!

Once I also wrote a post about criticism of these comics, and my main problem was that there is absolutely no lore in these comics, and if there is anything, it is very little.

I just can't believe that for so long the authors haven't brought anything to the transformers lore. During this really huge amount of time and an impressive list of issues, I expected just a ton of worked-out world and everything else. And as a result, the depth of the lore was approximately equal to the depth of the drying puddle.

I don't understand why many fans praise these comics for the politics and the worked-out world, when this is absolutely not the case. Politics is mainly based on some personal conflicts and intrigues, we practically do not immerse ourselves in the structure and work of the political apparatus, ideas, influence on social structures and lifestyle, the response of different segments of the population to this. No, I understand it's difficult and the age audience is not suitable, but maybe you can't make the central theme of comics something that you can't describe and don't understand how it works?

The authors do not know how to describe a truly alien race and, despite their hatred of human characters, have made Cybertronians so similar to humans that it is absurd.

For example, why is functionalism bad? I understand why this would be bad for humans, but why for another species whose lifestyle should be completely different? In fact, this is the most logical way of life for an alien race, because what is the alternative? Is there an alternative? Can Cybertron switch to equipping itself with conventional technology? What will the Cybertronians who are released from work do, what other jobs and activities are there? The authors do not go into this much and we do not see clear ideas of what a Cybertron society should be without functionalism. Well, or I didn't have enough of what the authors gave me.

But well, we have functionalism. Why is it that the elite of society under this regime are mostly the owners of "useless" altmods? Why not those who transform into scientific or very powerful military equipment? In general, under such conditions, the power on the planet would have been seized by the military part of society long ago.

It's not worth talking about the fact that the usual daily life of Cybertronians is described in almost no way. Along with the culture, we have received very little information about it.

Oh, maybe we know something about the transformers themselves then, right? Not really. Basically you can only find headcanon materials. And what about IDW? Maybe they offered us their glossary, terms, schemes? No, there's nothing. Moreover, already at that time, fans on the forums came up with everything and drew the structure of transformers, and the IDW authors were too lazy to even steal any ideas, except for a few.

But if the authors can't work with these topics, do they describe relationships and love well? Again, no, literally all relationships are either built from scratch, or do not develop, or are full of manipulation, deception and emotional swings (yes, everyone's favorite "the only good" pair of Chromedome X Rewind), or end in nothing, as if nothing ever happened. And it doesn't depend on whether it was a gay relationship or a completely straight one, all the relationships there are very poorly written. If this, like Arcee, is a representation, then it looks more like a direct insult.

And, by the way, if love is for everyone, then where is the love between a transformer and a human? Oh yes, authors hate humans. Love is not for everyone!

And in general, it's good, the authors want to add love and romance, but it needs to be justified! Love relationships are not a necessary phenomenon for species, a lot of stars have to come together for this kind of social interaction to be like that. How did the Cybertronians come to this when they don't have any prerequisites for it? How did they get the Conjux Endura ritual (or did you want to say "bonding"? ;) ).Why does such a strict government, as we were told, disapprove, but not prohibit such types of relations, if in all other respects it is totalitarian and cruel?

How do Cybertronian diseases work? Why did Ratchet die of this disease, but not the characters older than him? This point is generally very similar to a cheap way to soften the reader.

I can go on like this endlessly, but I'll stop here. Roberts is not just a fanfiction writer, he is a very mediocre  fanfiction writer who may have a couple of interesting ideas, but lacks the talent to show them. And then, ordinary average writers understand what they are doing and why, and do not get paid for it. It's even more insulting for the authors of fanfiction, who, even for the sake of their strange plots and ideas, try and spin like they're on a frying pan, go out of their skin, coming up with a justification for everything inside the fanfiction. Roberts can't do that.

In the end, I respect the Kiss Players more because the author knew perfectly well what he was doing and wanted to anger the audience, and the audience reacted appropriately. The authors of the IDW comics thought they were doing something smart and great, but they weren't. But the audience presents it as something great.

P.S. I apologize for the mistakes, I use a translator.

There is no need to apologize, you managed to point out the issues with IDW Transformers and why no one really bothered to read them outside of that specific hardcore audience, and not even a general hardcore audience, but an audience that agreed with one specific interpretation of the material, and everyone who had other interpretations could go suck a lemon.

I’ve said it before, this is a prime example of “Writing a comic about a comic” where the use of lore and specific characterizations is so specific to the franchise that any story that is told is Greek to anyone outside of the bubble, which accounts for IDW’s horrible sales. Skybound’s story so far has been criticized by some hardcore fans as a G1 redux, but even if it is, it’s still a well told story with universal themes, consistent, easy to understand characterizations, and characters that are likable for the heroes and hatable for the villains. It has a clear tone, something both IDW and IDW2 failed at utterly. Roberts, meanwhile was a terrible writer, but he was good at engaging the audience the same way fanfic writers do, focusing on the relationships that get the most dialogue, and leaving openings for others to fill in, via discussion or their own fic. But that’s useless when it comes to engaging a general audience. Most of the audience didn’t want to do the work of filling in the holes themselves, they wanted to have the story do that, or at least provide enough context to paint a picture.

As for Kiss Players, while I don’t know if he wanted to purposefully offend the audience or just create shock value, it was a side story comic. It didn’t shape shows afterwards causing them to tank, and doesn’t have people looking at the last show aired and yawning out of sheer boredom.