#i think i remember seeing snippets on youtube for something

[renma-posts]

Did you know that there are drama CDs for Servamp, most of them are just light hearted little non canon stories of characters interacting, Tsubaki and Belkia show up in alot of them. You can find quite a few of them on yt

Oh they do?? I didn't know that! I'll have to check it out!

[felassan]

Snippets. 🐺💜 DA:TV spoilers under cut.

Carly: Lucanis is "pretty average [height] everyone else is ridiculously tall" [source]

John: "getting absolutely dummied by an encounter in the game you work on as your day job is a uniquely humbling experience" [source] Trick: "Me desperately doing side quests to bulk up before the next big critpath beat because I KNOW I am not currently good enough at Rogue to beat that meat grinder at my current level and gear without dropping the difficulty back down." [source]

John: "hands up if you’re in game dev and have ever caught yourself searching Google for a guide to the game you’re working on that’s not even out yet" [source]

Flaming greatswords? ^^ [source]

Jay: "God, I remember the concept art for this scene" [source] (the scene in the gameplay reveal when Solas sheds a tear when it fails)

Kala: "Thinking back to playing Dragon Age Veilguard with the Council and all the fun we had, the crying (mostly me) and the shock at some of the surprises (especially Caitie) and I can't believe that's gonna be the entire fanbase soon. I can't wait to experience it with everyone" [source]. "I genuinely cannot wait for everyone to see Veilguard. I *know* for a fact there is going to be things people will freak out about, just like we did. There's A LOT people will love. Everyone will have stuff they don't like, which is inevitable, but there's so much to love" [source] Caitie: "Holding hands and sharing headphones because i unlocked the [redacted] scene first ❤️ Fond memories 😭😭" [source]

Trick on some of the chairs in the Lighthouse library group screenshot: "As much as I ADORE the idea of Solas sneaking out of Skyhold with a U-Haul packed to the brim with furniture and all the good mage gear you gave him, I expect it's likely just a common Fereldan style." [source]

Caitie: "If it helps- ive also seen silly ‘head canons’ and jokes thats will end up true haha" [source]

Caitie: "I'm not sure if we can say where we ended up in the story- but we got farther than the GI guy did it seems! By quite a bit. Did not get close to finishing it, however." [source]

Kala: "Pssst… we saw the companion rooms and the Lighthouse and it was really something amazing 👀👀" [source]

edit/update:

here are some more snippets which were posted by the Dragon Age official YouTube account in the livechat on one of the videos last month:

"There are lots of hairstyle options, we’ll have much more to share on the character creator in the coming weeks!"

"It wouldn’t be a Dragon Age game without a visit to the Deep Roads!"

"Our team spent a lot of timing refining combat and making it feel fluid and fun whether you play as a Warrior, a Mage, or a Rogue"

"It wouldn’t be a Dragon Age game without consequences! Your choices will influence the world of Thedas, as well as relationships with your companions"

A user asked "Are you a Fen’Harel spy?" Dragon Age replied "👀"

[pro-sipper]

What do proshippers generally believe about shipping real people? Stuff like creator x creator or celebrity x reader?

That it falls under the umbrella of "you should be allowed to write anything you want". Once again, it's not my personal thing. There's no real life pairing I read for, and the whole "blank x reader" is not appealing to me at all.

But I have no problem with people writing that stuff, or knowing it's out there. I saw someone a while back say that it's basically just writing about another character, and I agree with that. No matter how much a creator posts or how open a celebrity seems with their personal life, we're still only seeing a tiny snippet of their lives. We have no clue who they are when the cameras aren't recording because we just don't know them. And whatever someone chooses to write about is mostly stemming from that particular persona that they happen to put on for the world and that's it. It's completely separate from our reality because they're basically just writing about another made up character

The problem I have, and it's what I imagine most proshippers also take issue with, is when people start blurring the lines between fiction and reality. To me, there's a world of difference between posting something on ao3, and speculating on secret relationships in the comments of someone's youtube video. Or between talking about something on tumblr, and tagging the person directly on twitter.

I just don't understand people who condemn rpf and talk about how gross and invasive it is, but think it's funny to tag celebrities on twitter to bring up (what they think is) cringe-worthy fanfic tropes that people have written them into. Or people who print out fanworks to shove into an actor's face at a meet and greet and ask them what they think about it. That's where the lines get crossed, to me.

I think ao3 and tumblr still have an air of mysticism to them. A little secrecy, a little privacy. In the sense that someone in the public eye would have to put in a little work to find this stuff for themselves. They'd have to go to the site and search themselves up to find anything. As opposed to just about anyone in the world being able to force this content in their line of sight with a simple @ on a site like twitter.

So to me the problem isn't that this content exists. The problem is when people don't know how to keep fandom stuff private. Write all the rpf you want but remember at the end of the day these are real people, not your blorbos. You don't know them. It's inappropriate to say these things to them personally (which yes, also includes tagging them on twitter or in the comments of their videos). But it's also inappropriate to run up to them with other people's content just to say "look what these FREAKS wrote about you!!" And I think people either forget or just genuinely don't care about the latter.

[accidentally-in-fictional-love]

Happy Birthday David Dastmalchian 🎂🎉🎁🎈

To celebrate, I'm stealing borrowing from my friend's @polkadotjohnson amazing idea of making a Top 10 Loved/Hottest roles of his, with an honourable mention for both~ Here's 30 of my most adored characters of his with little snippets for each, it's a looooong read, and if anyone else wants to make their own, here's a tierlist I made for this exact purpose 💗💗💗

10.

💘 Love of my Life - Dr Fearless

My cringefail boyfriend, I love every single headcanon I hear about him. He was so damn cute even before I fell in love, and now every time I see him I start giggling and kicking my feet lol 😚 I adore how much fun DD has with him, and honestly I’m gunna dress as a vampire for Halloween this year /)w(\ been like 20+ years but I really really wanna do it!

🔥 Hottest Role - Whistling Marauder (Bird Box)

Mother of mercy. We rewatched the whole movie just for him, so naturally he shows up near the end and then died ;w; but that outfit, holy hell. Oh my god. I’m such a sucker for bad boys and this guy is going around forcing people to stare at this eldrich being that’ll destroy you or drive you mad. And he looks goddamn great while doing it. Gunna attach myself to the chain on his jeans. Okay I’m normal again, what a way to start off the list lmao

❣️ Honourable Mention - Luke (Singled Out)

Douchebag. Shitty brother who’s also great if only to save his own ass. Thief. Pure idiot. Irresistible. I knew the moment I saw the clips on youtube that he would so be my type, and seeing the full pilot only proved that. Dude picked a burger over getting his sister, he would treat me so wrong half the time, but then he’d make me waffles and it’d be all better 😊

9.

💘 Love of my Life - The Writer (Making Love)

This one breaks my heart so much. I’ve been in a relationship like this before, and I really want to save him from his. He’s beautiful, he’s talented, his outfit is hot as hell with all the rings and bracelets and necklaces, not to mention the undone shirt buttons, he’s got the emo bangs, he is the complete package for me. The only reason he isn’t higher is because I fell for many others first. I almost never watched this one because my brain was going haywire trying to imagine what kinda scenes I’d find in something with a title like that, and sure enough my face was so red the entire time since I watched with headphones and it starts with him whispering right in my ear, like him asking, ‘Do you love me?’ nearly made me cry, I love him so much. If I could bring specifically him to life I would love the hell outta him until he stopped needing such a painful, self-destructive fake love with the Woman QwQ

❣️ Honourable Mention - Nick (Love is an Elevator)

This one is just a silly little guy /)w(\ right from the start he’s so adorable, I would melt if anything even close to his interaction happened to me, and him just swooning and saying she was beautiful before bailing in tears is so me-coded TwT I would love to go out on a date with him!

🔥 Hottest Role - Abra Kadabra (The Flash)

Abra was so tricky to place because I love him, but as soon as I remembered his buckle outfit from his second episode I knew he had to go under Hot. Like, again, I’m so weak. I love his attitude, I love how he just wants that applause for his showmanship, his ‘powers’ are cool as hell, and DD has the wand in his home now and I think that’s so damn cool 😊 The reveal with him wanting to bring back his alternate timeline family was so sweet I almost cried, and he definitely didn’t deserve to be killed out so instantly right after his redemption. Not even a fan/watcher of the show, but in my head I’m having Flash warn him about it since he’s from the future, so he’s fine now 😌

8.

💘 Love of my Life - James Lewis (Teacher)

James was also incredibly difficult to place because I love him so much ;w; The entire movie I was rooting for him, guy did nothing wrong in the face of what was going on around him, and granted he did take things too far, but… villains are hot 😳 so I won through that entire movie. And he lived! And kept getting to teach! I remember I pointed at the screen when he was putting books away cause that’s my job lol I felt truly close to him in that short moment 😂 Anyway, Arabella didn’t deserve him, like she wasn't into it from the moment they met, every single time he talked she would do this 😬 guy was going through hell and was very clearly in a bad place all around, I can’t fault him for drunkenly saying the wrong thing if it were me, even if it did really hurt me. Gunna give him a new wedding ring to put on when he gets outta prison.

❣️ Honourable Mention - Hector (Premature)

He’s so cute!!! I may be weak for villains, but I adore his sweeter roles as well, I’m so glad I got to see him. If I moved to a new city and he was my neighbour I’d know I’d be okay, because honestly he needs to be my roommate like yesterday. A chef who’s afraid to cook because of OCD, I’m sure he’d be able to help me with my own cooking from a safe distance, and I already have some practice as my sibling has OCD and is very strict about how her food is handled, so I’ll have come full circle. I just need to make him more okay with cuddles first…

🔥 Hottest Role - Denham (A Killer of Men)

Denham was another one that was hard to place, because that axe twirls makes me insane, but with what little screentime he gets it all evens out. Another great villain, he’s just senseless violence in a bloody wedding dress and he works it. Love the look, love the vibe, if the world ended and the whole gang was coming at me I’d be honoured if he was the one who got me (I swear I’m not that deranged lmao just thirsty)

7.

💘 Love of my Life - Simon Lynch (Almost Human)

Even now I feel like Simon should be higher, especially since I’ve written my fic about him as well as my deep dive. I’ve said it before but my heart really went out to him, the deep dive says way more than I can fit it here, which probably means he should be higher lol so give that (and maybe the fic too 👉👈😌) a read if you haven’t already, all my love for him went into both.

❣️ Honourable Mention - James Harris (The Employer)

Another adorable character, the bar flashbacks had me blushing every time. We all knew it’d be him, but I’m so glad he pulled through at the end. I want this one to be happy, especially after everything he went through. Absolutely cutiepie, gunna be the one to pay for his dinner after he gets home 😊

🔥 Hottest Role - Dwight Pollard (Gotham)

Since I go into all of his roles blind, I had no idea what to expect for this one, but from the start I was hooked. Having him be a crazed cult leader with the biggest, most feral smile and laugh ever stole my heart the things I would let this man do to me sakndskjds I liveblogged his eps to a friend of mine who’s seen Gotham and has been trying to get me to watch it for ages cause I love DC, so she was thrilled as I sat here screaming about everything leading up to his ending :’D I’ve gotten some encouragement to write him, so when I do it’s gunna be so insane I’ll have to tag the hell outta it lmao (btw making these gifs nearly killed me oh my god I need him)

6.

💘 Love of my Life - Joshua Whitmore (Cass)

All the pain I went through trying to get this movie was worth it because it all led to him. I love him, I adore him, I’m so incredibly glad that so many others got to see him and love him too thanks to my trials and tribulations. DD’s only artist role, I got to connect with him on a personal level not shared with the others, and my desire to make sure he’s safe and taken care of is so strong that I wrote 26k about him, they’re two of my most favourite things I’ve ever written. I’ve thrown the ending of the movie out and completely placed it with my own, which can be found in my fics, and until Hugh Schulze DMs me personally and tells me what his vision was, that’s what I’m sticking with forever. So rest easy, he’s free from New York and buyers and dealers and the street and he’s safe and happy and painting again ;w;

❣️ Honourable Mention - Thomas Schiff (The Dark Knight)

The OG, a lot of people’s first roles of his, including mine. I remember seeing this movie in theaters when it came out so that means I saw him up there, on the big screen, and something about him stuck around in my brain until I finally realized my love QwQ Even if he isn’t as fleshed out in my mind to make the actual list, I still needed to include him in some way, I hope he got placed somewhere that wasn't Arkham after Batman stepped in.

🔥 Hottest Role - Cam (Relaxer)

I will never watch Relaxer again. Couldn’t even do it while I was making his scenepack cause so many horrible things happen to Abbie I couldn’t take it. But Cam, oh my god, I need this man. Someday I wanna write this huge fic about the reader trying to date him, and there’s no redemption. He’s still terrible at the end. But that’s what we all love about him, how shitty he is and how the potential is there for him to make us all worse. He sucks, but in the best way, and I kinda need him to maybe bully me please 😳 (making that first gif nearly made me blackout why is he doing pushups)

5.

💘 Love of my Life - Bob Taylor (Prisoners)

When I started adding names to my list of men I loved, Bob wasn't even on it at first I think, despite liking him in the movie. Then I saw more with him and added him to crushes. Now I’m fully in love with him, and he breaks my heart every single day. He was hurting for so long, even when we were watching I couldn’t place the blame on him while the rest of my family were convinced just like Loki that he was the one, but no matter what I couldn’t. The second I saw his sweet smile I told them there was no way it was him, and sure enough I was right. Another character who didn’t deserve what happened to him, I’ve been slowly helping him with my headcanons, but in my personal queue I have a fic planned for him and he will have no more sad days when I do 😭 I also have a bunny plush I’d had for years, my dad bought it for me and it’s been sitting on my bed ever since, and when I’m sad I hold it and pretend Bob gave it to me, it’s honestly got me through some much needed therapy because if he could go about his day with that kind of trauma then I could be brave and call about my own mental health :’)

❣️ Honourable Mention - Lonny Crane (The Belko Experiment)

This one’s a bit of a double whammy, cause I love him, but the switch to violence had me staring 👀 Either way, he didn’t deserve his death, but since it is a killing game type movie he was doomed from the start, at least his seemed instant 🥺 Someday I’ll write a fixit for him too, it was just too much for him back to back to back, he really didn’t deserve his final moments to have him as a villain even though I would really love to be lifted up like that aklskjdskds okay I’m normal again

🔥 Hottest Role - Ray Watkins (The Rookie)

Have you seen this man? No really, have you seen him? The twirl, the shirt lifting on his hips, the cold but also fun villainy, the nonchalance to mask the cruelness underneath. I need him. This one is not a Want, he is a Need and I need him. I hope that he gets to come back in the future to fully wrap up his plot along with the cop’s plot, pleasepleaseplease, otherwise I will die unsatisfied.

4.

💘 Love of my Life - Kurt Goreshter (Ant-Man 1-2)

I believe he might’ve been the second role I’d ever seen, but only after I really got into the MCU after Endgame. I skipped Ant-Man in my original watches, since I was mostly just into the Avengers and Cap (mainly Bucky lol) in general, but when I finally did a full marathon I really enjoyed the first movie. Cannot remember my feelings for him now since it’s been about 4 years, but I do know when I went back to rewatch in March I fell the second I saw him 🥰 the hair, the accent, the outfit AGAIN, and those hand tattoos, this is another Perfect Man. My crush on him is incredibly strong, it told me that yeah I was really starting to fall for DD (at that point I’d just seen Demeter a few times, and then Oppenheimer on accident) and it officially kicked off my marathon that eventually led me to my collection I have today. 

❣️ Honourable Mention - Lester Billings (The Boogeyman)

My family actually watched this without me way before my crush began, so when I saw he was in it I just had to finally sit down and watch it myself. Cue me hurriedly typing to my sibling when he showed up lol this man is SAD! He’s so beautiful and sad, I just wanna make a new family with him (I would be a parent for him, that’s the extent of my love) so he can be happy again. I love the backstory I made up for him way more than the original story, sorry Stephen King but you made him awful and I don’t want that one. I’m gunna save this man and he WILL smile again, that’s a Ray Guarantee.

🔥 Hottest Role - The Vampire (Cora)

Now, to start, this one falls prey to Very Bad Writing Choices. I will not deny that. Like, even with the allegory of the whole thing (that I did not see cause I just saw a short vampire story honestly) it's very much Not Good. But that’s why I’m removing him from the short and keeping him. In fact, go read polkadotjohnson’s fics on him, they’re fantastic and I adore how she wrote him. I someday wish to do my own, because otherwise everyone who can’t look past the Very Bad Writing Choices are getting straight up robbed of this one. Those double fangs need to introduce themselves to my neck pronto, you see what I’m saying? He’s so goddamn hot, DD needs to play a very serious vampire role again so everyone can see the Vision, he wants to do it, I need to win the lottery so I can fund this movie myself, that’s my new life’s goal.

3.

💘 Love of my Life - Jack Delroy (Late Night With the Devil)

The first movie I saw in theaters after my crush began! My friend saw him in a tweet about it and linked me to it so I thought it was already out, but I ended up having to wait two weeks and it nearly killed me ;w; I went in completely blind, which is good cause the trailer spoils so many great shots unfortunately, and the entire time I was swooning. Like, I usually whisper to my sibling during movies if we have comments, we’re very talkative at home when we watch stuff, but this time I was just sitting there staring with hearts in my eyes without pause. I’m in love with this man, plain and simple, I’m so glad I was able to get to see it since it didn’t come to the theater closest, we had to drive an hour away and when dad joked about me paying for the tickets since I was the one who wanted to see it, I did in a heartbeat. I wanted to see it again, but it was only there a couple weeks, so by the time I was able to go it was gone and I’m still upset about it. I’d sell my soul for this man, I love writing for him so much, I’m so glad my crush on Wojchek bloomed just in time for me to see this.

❣️ Honourable Mention - Hank (Virgin Alexander)

I avoided this one at first because the trailer was making me cringe and I was going crazy over what kinda sexy awkward role he’d have in it, but I was pleasantly surprised in the end. I think the movie is actually cute, despite some stuff still making me cringe, and Hank is literally the most perfect boyfriend. If he showed up randomly in my life I would date him in a second, hands down. He’s so shaped like a friend, I know I’d always have fun with him even when we’re not Having Fun, and that’s all you can ever ask for in a relationship 😊

🔥 Hottest Role - Breck Montanari (Double Black)

Okay first of all I gave him that last name. Second of all, I wrote 70k about this man and I am so in love with him that I own him now. I’ve taken him from Sara Woomer, he’s mine now. He has a full past, gave him a future and a partner, there’s no way I couldn’t have fallen in love with him. Unfortunately that fic will never be shared as it’s private, but know that, again, until Sara Woomer DMs me personally and shares everything else about this world, this is my new canon for him. And the cult. And the entire area where he lives. And several of the members. And the new Double Black who was such a chill dude that I made my bff love him too. This is my secret legacy. He only lost out to my #2 because there’s no way he couldn’t be my #2.

2.

💘 Love of my Life - Wojchek (The Last Voyage of the Demeter)

The reason I finally learned his name QwQ I went into this movie blind, dad really wanted to see it and I love horror so I went with him, and the second I saw him I said, ‘Oh that guy! I know that guy!’ since by then I’d seen Kurt and Abner a few years earlier and vaguely remembered him. I spent the whole movie then dreading his end thanks to the opening lines, and I’m pretty sure I quietly yelled at the screen when he fell and then got got after praying he’d be okay TwT After Abner, he’s the first DD role I ever shipped with, and when my crush officially restarted I ended up writing my entire plot for him and Addy that night before bed. I love him so much, he’s my jolly sailor bold who stole my heart by crying over the thought of having to lose his home. He’ll forever own a special place in my heart because of all this, I can’t imagine anyone else taking this spot.

🔥 Hottest Role - Murdoc (MacGyver 2016)

Murdoc was the first TV role of his I checked out after I saw as many movies as I could that interested me (mostly all the ones on Prime sans a couple, my collection was very very small by then) and the moment I saw him be mentioned I was ready to go. The Alice in Wonderland vague text, running and then getting shocked before falling two floors, showing up with that hair, I was not prepared for everything else they were about to throw at me. Murdoc is one of my most favourite characters now, he’s so much fun, I adore everything about him, I’ve only edited with him twice and written him once, but I need to do both so much more! This one is hot as fuck, he’s adorable, he loves his son, he’s got tools, he’s utterly sadistic, he’s a silly little guy. This is another Perfect Man, I cannot wait to decide on his plot with Addy because there’s too many fun possibilities I honestly might just make multiple.

❣️ Honourable Mention - Willy Cunningham (The Domestics)

Now… you might all be thinking… why the hell is this guy a #2 honourable mention in the face of all the others… and the answer is… I’m a freak 😀 I’ll never say, but my eyes were opened to him, and my god, I will literally never be the same. I just need him and that insanely feral energy okay, lemme have this.

1.

💘 Love of my Life - Abner Krill (The Suicide Squad)

The love that started it all, I think I fell for him the moment he walked outta his cell and got teased. The love I feel for him goes so deep, it only compares to one other, and whenever I work on my plot for him and Addy I always get choked up. The ultimate one who didn’t deserve what he got, I actually refused to watch the movie again after he died, straight up did not watch until my marathon started, and as soon as I saw him in that cell it all came back. I instantly fell back in love with him, and thus his Addy plot has the most love put into it to make sure he’s happy and safe. I thought that maybe there’d be another to win my heart as my marathon grew, but nope he’s still there sharing it with my other #1, and seeing him can instantly bring a smile to my face no matter how I’m feeling. 

After the movie I read the trivia again and my crush on DD himself began, so it’s all thanks to him and Wojchek that I’ve met the people I know today and have created so many things in such a short time. When I hit my lowest low in years I just sat at my desk and held the funko I have of him and just cried it all out, and it honestly helped me get out of that spiral. Thanks to him I now have a Polka-Dot Man collection (still missing one figure and maybe a signed print and poster 👉👈🥰) and if I could get a plushie of him to join the ton I already have I’d buy him in a second. Maybe someday, if I have any courage, I’ll bring my funko or something to a con where DD is attending and get it signed, either him or my other #1, and I’ll cherish it forever.

❣️ Honourable Mention - Jude (Animals)

Like all the others, I went into this movie completely blind. I didn’t know DD wrote it or its significance to him until after it was over and the credits rolled. So the entire time I was watching I was falling in love with him, he was so incredibly my type in the moments he was actually happy that it’s insane, I spent the whole movie just saying how much I would date him in better circumstances. We were sadly betting which one of them was going to die as things just got worse, me and my sibling were watching so miserably, and then we were rewarded with a happy ending despite the bittersweetness. And then the credits rolled, after me repeatedly wondering why he’d accept a role like this after knowing at least about his addiction and it all fell into place. I haven’t been able to watch again so far now that I know a lot of what happened to Jude also happened to him, it breaks my heart too much, but I still love him deep down and I hope he was also able to heal after the credits rolled.

🔥 Hottest Role - Johnson (Reprisal)

Tied for first with Abner as the ultimate love of my life and claiming this one all to himself, Johnson is the Most Perfect Man. Literally, no other DD role can top him in my heart aside from Abner. I honestly almost skipped Reprisal entirely because the promo image on his imdb didn’t grab me (I’m such a fake fan I’m so ashamed of myself), but when I was done with everything else and wanted to see more, I downloaded it without ep9 since he wasn't in it, and started watching. What followed next was me falling so in love with the show that I spent forever trying to get that missing episode back from near dead torrents cause I needed to watch it even though he wasn't in it. Reprisal is my Roman Empire, I am constantly thinking about it and him and Matty, not just for my fic but just because I love it all so fucking much. 

Johnson himself is so fascinating, I’m incredibly in love with him and everything about him, he’s unlike any other role DD has played that there’s a complete disconnect in my mind, he’s just Johnson. He’s so goddamn hot I missed out on literally everything the first round because I was watching him so hard, Matty and Ethan were nonexistent to me and I’m madly in love with Matty now so let that sink in, and when I rewatched it immediately after with my parents it was like I was watching for the first time. I’m loving writing for him (and Matty and Ethan of course) so much that my thoughts go back to him daily, and it almost always includes me being on the verge of tears because of how insanely good this script is and how these boys bring me so much joy while also shattering my heart. 

Making the gif below no joke did make me cry like this show is my greatest weakness right now you guys don't even understand how much it and Johnson mean to me.

I need to edit more for him and them and the show in general, if I had endless money and all the confidence in the world I would truly fund this show single handedly so it can finish the way it was supposed to. I’m so mad at Hulu for giving me the greatest love(s) of my life before taking him away years before I’d ever know him, with no physical media or merch to at least collect to numb the pain. At some point I need to get some promo pics printed out as actual posters, I need this show on my wall so I can always see him.

[gacha-incels]

My current theory is that ( Puts tinfoil hat )  The ongoing gender war stuff in both CN and KR have definitely shifted how some 'waifu-collectors' see the female player base and therefore male characters in gacha games. There's definitely an ongoing narrative that women are the root of toxicity and more devs should adopt the waifu-only policy to appeal to as few women as possible and gatekeep their safe havens. The irony is that most of these people advocating to exclude women are using the vocal minority for their examples as to why, which is exactly what they don't want done to themselves. Basically, women should only play Love and Deepspace and men can play GFL2/AL/Snowbreak/Nikke etc. As long as women 'stay in their lane' they are satisfied, even though it's been shown that both men and women will pull for characters of the opposite gender and vice versa. Mixed cast games are trying to err on the side of caution because if they don't appeal to this crowd enough (by skewing the gender ratio harder, or by making more fanservice designs) then they will be brigaded on social media for appealing too much towards women or radical feminists.

omg yeah I feel like “gamer” men say this outright around the world from east to west. “women are coming into our games and making the women less sexy and everything more toxic” etc. attitude has ramped up. though it was always bad if you remember, in the west at least, the absolute insane violent tantrum reaction to Anita Sarkeesian for making like I cannot stress this enough just pretty basic feminist videos about video games. It was like seeing grown adult men have the same type of screaming tantrum a toddler would have when you tell him he can’t have an expensive toy at the store. except instead of one kid sitting on the floor screaming it was an unbelievable amount of men worldwide sitting in their computer chairs screaming and writing graphic rape threats and making full video games where you violently beat her. For the crime of just one woman talking about fucking Mario or whatever. THIS is how these men react when you do something as benign as that. I posted some more about this here.

you have no idea the insane shit that gets blamed on female fans or female employees of mixed sex gachas. A lot of that has been already posted here obviously so I’ll post something new I saw just so we can archive some more examples. Recently one of my friends from the infrared blog I sometimes repost here showed me this strange phenomenon happening on the Genshin impact leaks subreddit where a good amount of guys were accusing the developers of the game of being fujoshis because they thought a new female water character was being nerfed so that a previously released male water character would be the strongest water character. I thought this was a joke (my mistake) but it spanned a LOT of comments and got extremely heated. Later I found these comments in another thread there

Like this is the thought process. This sucked -> ok so probably a woman wrote it -> well most writers graduated from liberal arts schools, and most liberal arts students are women, so it was definitely a female writer. This is how easy it is for this type of “gamer” male to blame anything they hate on women. They did this for one of the stories in HSR that was disliked as well. If you look up “有男不玩” there are videos on bilibili but also some on YouTube where you can get snippets of how these guys are thinking about female gacha players. They share some similarities with all gamer men who think women are more frivolous, unskilled and don’t like action games. there were particular comments that reminded me of how Korean incels wrote about women, in that games should stop pandering to us altogether because we don’t have enough money, or if we do have money it’s because it’s coming from a boyfriend or male relative, or we’re all just playing f2p. ironically a huge amount of merch sales, IRL events and fan-PR like fanart comes from female players and they are usually the ones to stick around the longest I believe, but these guys only understand the money aspect of these games.

There are a lot of ones that were interesting but I don’t want to use too many since I was working with MTL, and then looking up individual phrases, and then retranslating some, and then looking up context, etc. lol. so when I have a better grasp on this I can make a better post.

in regards to how they find it ok if the games are sex segregated yes exactly,I posted about this earlier and probably a couple months ago too but this was most recent so it’s easiest to just copy here

[rayshippouuchiha]

I have not even watched AssClassroom and still ur watch Wednesday has me hooked! I know snippets and about the ending (unfortunately) from YouTube shorts and Tumblr but ahhhhh!!!!

No spoilers about the ending though don't worry.

I have been contemplating a question though...

If an Izuku who had ranaway from Chisaki's lair with Eri in tow had been in Ass Class... How would have things gone???

Like Izuku is 'Saving' embodiment. So usually i would see his presence as a natural counter to Koro sensei or really anyone he cares about actually dying. He kind of just...breathes life into those around them. But there would be no way Pre U.A Izuku would be able to make much difference to canon, not when he still is naive about much of how the world works. Wouldn't question things he doesn't understand but has been conditioned since he was born as to be normal. Doesn't realise yet that heroes can be wrong. That heroes are humans, and that villains are people too. So what if things were spiced up?

Pre U.A Izuku has a nasty habit of suppressing his hurt and anger when it comes to himself. Can't even think of fighting back and winning. And has been hurt so much. Has been failed and abandoned by everyone around him since he was four and failed to manifest a quirk.

And then there is Eri. Who has never known kindness, has always been tired. But still finds it in herself to help the boy who breathes but looks dead, who was brought here after her, but has carried a weight of grief years in the making.

And then something changes. The moon gets destroyed, everyone panics, Izuku possessed by some unholy force seizes his chance, takes eri and gets the fuck out of dodge.

No where is safe. Hassakai is hunting them for sports, and one too many missed calls with the gang members have convinced Izuku that they are on borrowed time. They can't go to Heroes or police, one too many bribes and gazes that look through them but not at them, and the hero commission with their child soldiers (Izuku knows. Chisaki likes to rant) has them scrambling.

Except. There is an octopus. And there is a reward. There is an opportunity. There is a threat.

Izuku has never been able to fight back when it comes to himself. Can't think of hurting someone, bringing them the pain he was put through. Has always been too kind.

But.

Izuku also has a little sister now. A sister who for some reason sees him as a hero. A sister who saved him. A sister who wants him, who cries out at night, not from what Chisaki did to her, but out of fear that her Zuku-nii would leave her.

Like her mother did. Like her father did.

And Izuku who doesn't remember his father's face, but remembers his kindness. His love. Remember the sting and betrayal of screaming for him, not a hero but DAD. Understands.

Izuku doesn't like hurting others. Doesn't understand those who can kill others and laugh and live with themselves. But looking at the sleeping face of his baby sister cradled against him. He knows bone deep and heart deep that he is willing to cross lines he never would have imagined for her sake.

That he is willing to play the long con and sully his own dreams if it means his sister can be safe. If it means his sister can live. If it means he can be selfish enough to stay with the only family he has left.

His rage always suppressed comes surging forward like a tide. Filling him until he is nothing but a puppet dancing along to the strings of his grief, rage and hurt. Desperation incarnated in his endeavour to not lose anymore family, to keep his sister safe, to never be hurt again, to crush and incinerate those who dare to look down on him and hurt them, to watch people squirm and writhe and gasp under his blank gaze. He who no longer wants to be a hero, he who is dreamless, he who desires and needs control in his life. He who unknowingly resembles his father. He who is the child of the devil.

It's better than being a dekunobu with no limbs.

So now he is heading off to 3E, hiding in plain danger, a place where no one would expect him to be. He is going to cash in favors, make deals, learn... assassination.

And then after the octopus is dead, he is going to come for Chisaki.

Except. Things start to go awry.

Except Koro sensei cares.

Except Koro sensei learns, almost too late that there is a threat bigger than himself lurking around the edges, watching and waiting in amusement as his blood walks the same path as him.

OH Oh this is too good and I want to read it

[cinnamonbunpuff]

how a song changed my year.

achilles, achilles, achilles come down, won't you get up off, get up off the roof?

it's officially been one year since i first heard this song. it's kinda crazy how much can happen in that time, in reality and in mentality.

i still remember stumbling upon it. i'm sure i've seen it on my recommended in the past but this was the first time i really listened to it. it was late and i was sat on my bed, recovering from a cold. stressed over my barely-started application for some of the UC schools i never saw myself going to. i paused to take a little peruse through youtube, where i saw this performance. based on the song of achilles (a familiar name), and choreographed to achilles come down (an unfamiliar title).

i was drawn immediately in. not just by the smooth flow of the dancers portraying their characters, but by the power of the lyrics and how it affected what i was seeing of achilles, patroclus, and briseis.

and so i decided to look up the actual song and its lyrics, to see what they really were. and they were beautiful.

today of all days, see, how the most dangerous thing is to love,

this song, all seven minutes and two seconds of it, has seen me through so many monumental changes in my life. from growing positively mentally, to graduating high school and starting uni, to familial tensions.

how you will heal and you'll rise above, crowned by an overture bold and beyond,

it's honestly a wonder how i haven't grown bored or tired of it yet. and i think that's because every time i sit and really listen to it, there's always something new i'm discovering or interpreting, whether that be compositionally or lyrically.

to start, it was realising that the only instruments are strings - definitely a cello, and in all most likely a string quartet. as a violinist myself, i love hearing any use of strings in modern songs. having a whole song relying on the softness and dynamics of them though? that's gonna get me every time. how almost the entirety of the song is underlaid with the eighth notes of the cello, and throughout the verses the intermittence of the higher strings.

as i grew familiar with achilles come down, i discovered the power that all the lyrics held. there were a select few that drew my attention, from either how poetic they sounded, to how they seemed to mirror an aspect of my life that i didn't know could be put into words.

loathe the way they light candles in rome, but love the sweet air of the votives,

then there were the sections of spoken french. i thought that the addition of a second language in the song really added to it as a whole, but upon looking up (and attempting to translate what i could), i found that they added another level of melancholy. because what better way is there to make the song more emotional than including snippets of french philosophy about the value of life?

qu'on appelle une raison de vivre, est un même temps une excellent raison de mourir

through this year, i've found myself coming up with scenarios in my head, with this song playing in the background. mostly it's been with characters of my current hyperfixations, but i've found myself in these situations as well. it's definitely a reflection of who i see myself to be, but i hope it's also an envisioning to who i hope to be.

thank you to achilles come down for finding its way into my life. thank you for the past year, and i hope the next is just as exciting.

throw yourself into the unknown, with a pace and fury defiant

[kaddyssammlung]

A deep knowing that this incarnation will change everything

“even when we run with death”

This, again, about the little snippets that we have from the director's notes from that graphic novel and also some lyrics.

I always assumed that Vessel is a bit like me and that he has a strange knowing. This knowing is about this incarnation being the last one of its kind. Something will end but I don't know when and also when I say that something will end I mean this in a positive way.

What do I know for sure?! Not much?!

I had a vision in 2016 and I never knew what to do with it. I saw myself surrounded by hmmm how do I say this “galactics”, all kinds of beings such as fairies and angels and I watched them heal my physical body and also my energetic body. This felt so real as if it was something that I remembered. It felt familiar.

I never thought about that ever again.

“My redemption, eternal ascension setting me free”

Then I started hearing all kinds of things about “ascension”. Everyone explains this in a different way and also there is so much weird stuff on the YouTubes and everywhere. So I'm trying to explain this in my own words, because they feel right.

In my opinion / perception this is something that can be see like a giant enlightenment. So many humans remember their true self and therefore their power and become enlightened. This has a ripple effect because we are all connected (“quantum entaglement if you are interested in that). Everyone who gets enlightened causes other humans to have the same experience. And then one day the whole planet follows.

That's how I see this in my own words. Maybe that makes sense. Maybe not....

Anyway we are returning Eden. No one takes you back to Eden, we are taking ourselves back to Eden. Eden to me is home. The home that I miss so much. It's a frequency or a state of being. Everything is in harmony again.

And everything else?! Idk....I assume this will happen within the blink of an eye but shortly before it will look as if the sky will fall down on us.

“And take it to the broken skies at last”

There are so many “weird lyrics” that you can read or that I interpret in that way.

Ascension does set us free again because we were trapped on this planet. But that's a whole different story.

So when Vessel sings how ascencion and how it sets him free...I can only think that this can be applied to all of us.

And also since it will probably look as if the sky will fall down on us....yeah well....

Whatever..I know that most of you are probably like: what?! Totally fine!

You know....I'm weird XD and also: I'm not saying that this has to be the case.

It's just a strange knowing that I have but that I can't explain

[vampiremeerkat]

Is there anything you've made (whether it be art or a fanfic or whatever) that you regret/disown?

To me, to regret/disown something would entail crying big tears and pretending it never existed, but I document my stuff, regardless if it's dead, alive, or never lived. But here are some projects I remember killing out of dislike:

I deleted a storyboard music video starring Edd from Ed, Edd n Eddy called "Where Will Edd Go". Found the imagery and song used too dramatic for the topic it discussed, which was his messy hair. --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I deleted a drawing/fake playing card starring Edd, again. I included it in another Deviantart submission featuring a bunch of unposted stuff, eventually. It's shrunken down to size, but you can see it was parodying Edd fanart. Didn't find it ironic enough and was too over the top, so removed it. --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I deleted a Goofy Movie fanfiction that was still going. It was about Max going crazy after failing to save Goofy in that waterfall scene. I think it sat on Fanfiction.net for some years and might've been my first entry, but remember the writing being long-winded and it was another one of those edgy projects I couldn't stand anymore. --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I deleted a video of me playing around with a stuffed Simba toy and singing a Lion King inspired rewrite of "Mamma Mia" by ABBA. As you can imagine, I was a preteen at the time. Or was I. The only comment it garnered was critical and I rightly concluded to be a failure and thus removed it. --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I've never reuploaded certain Youtube videos after getting banned multiple times. This concerns all kinds of projects, mainly dubs, music videos, and comedic snippets of Inuyasha and Disney stuff. The reason is more or less the same for all videos: They were a product of the time and objectively unfunny. --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I cancelled a Beetlejuice (cartoon series) comic that was mostly done. It starred a developing romance between Beetlejuice and Lydia, but he's known this girl since 6th or 7th grade, I can't cheer for that. --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I cancelled a Portal 2 fanfiction around chapter 2 or so. Wheatley is human in that one. I like some of the ideas presented, but I don't care for his thirst for Chell anymore, if I ever even did. A strange fanfiction. --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I cancelled the prequel to How to Save a Life after it was mostly done. It's that Ed, Edd n Eddy fanfiction where Edd is a rabid vampire and has to be put down like a dog. Vampire Edd is flirting with Sarah in the prequel, but this bitch 12. I don't think I had officially settled on everyone's age back when How to Save a Life itself was being slapped together, hard to say. Coming back to the unfinished text document, I couldn't continue. --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I cancelled a Mioo, Dorost Ast joke animation starring human Persian trying to kiss human Meowth after it was mostly done. It didn't take long to make it and I hated it at the end. Looked bad and was too nonsensical to want to redraw it.

[maleyanderecafe]

I absolutely adore the One-Eyed Ripper series, I remember watching the song videos as soon as they came out back in the day. It's a shame, I don't think that anyone translated the visual novel yet, I would love to play it, also love the (two?) yanderes in the series, they're so cute. I was surprised when I entered the blog for the first time and saw the banner picture, i remember thinking something like "Wow, other people KNOW these series" lmaoo.

Oh same here! I remember seeing the first song in my YouTube inbox one day and getting really excited for a male yandere. I think around that time I also got into vflower as probably my favorite vocaloid. Yeah, me too. The demo has been out for a while but I don’t think (other than a few snippets) that it’s been translated at all. I remember attempting to do a review on the game itself on my backup blog.

Haha, a lot of people ask me where my banner is from, so it's nice to share the knowledge. I am both surprised and happy that you know this series too! I hope it one day gets translated or otherwise continued!

[longeyelashedtragedy]

snippet of the beginning of dubcon anthony gordon/frank phonesex fic. set after anthony's england nt callup.

The conversation has been on his mind for months now.  Since Everton.  It traveled with him to Newcastle and it’ll be joining him at St. George’s Park.   He’s even called upon the conversation recently.  To his benefit, he sees, but this wasn’t without its problems.  

When you sell your soul, it might text you from time to time.  

He scrolls through his messages again, resting his thumb on the one he’d responded to.  One swipe left and he could just…delete it.  But instead—the conversation.

You always have to work hard and be smart.  Just like I did, and you’re just like me.

Anthony thought: Am I just like you?

It sometimes took Frank a while to get hard again, but when they had a lot of time together they liked to use every second, so they put in the time until Frank was ready again, kissing and hugging and cuddling and talking.  Anthony had realized Frank loved to hear himself talk.  He played humble, and everyone in YouTube comments was sure that he was— “great guy, top bloke, one of the nicest people you’ll meet.”  And he loved to hear himself talk.

But if something can give you the advantage on top of your hard work—I don’t mean anything illegal—

Yeah, thanks Dad, I know—

—But if anything comes up that you can use to your advantage, don’t be afraid to use it.  If you don’t, everyone else will.  You don’t want your hard work to be for nothing.

The way Frank said the word nothing always stuck with Anthony.  Now, sitting in his parked car, he hears it again in Frank’s accent and feels how the word tickled against his neck back then.  Frank knew his shit when it came to the system.  Things hadn’t always been easy for Anthony.  Some of his teammates had lived a life he never could have lived.  So he didn’t want it to all be for nothing.  

He’d still felt Frank’s breath against his neck when he responded to the gaffer’s text.  And sitting in the car, looking at it among the flood of congratulations, he feels it again, hears the way he always dipped in and out of East London and Press Conference, so many people in that head fighting with each other to stay in and to get out.  Even now, sitting in his car.  He can’t shake it off.

And then make sure you show the proper gratitude.  No matter how big you get, there’s always someone bigger.  They can help you, or hurt you, and they’ll eat their own no matter how proper English you think you are, so always do what you can to make sure they help you.  You understand me?

Yes, gaffer.

My good, smart boy.  I can’t wait to see you shine bigger than Goodison. 

Frank’s come dried onto his cheeks and chin, Frank’s thumb stroking over it.  Stiff on Anthony’s skin when he moved his mouth to speak. 

He shakes the memory off, tries to bring back the buzzing he’s been feeling since the call-up.  He unlocks the car and then he gets the call that he knows has been coming.  GAFFER.  But Eddie is his gaffer now.

And still.  He’s never changed it.

He ignores GAFFER’s call, but he hears Frank’s words in his ear again, as much as a takeover of his senses as Frank’s damp, sticky, soft cock was as it pressed against his ass during that conversation.  He doesn’t remember anything with as many of his senses the way he does his times with Frank.

And then make sure you show the proper gratitude…

And he remembers snuggling against the gaffer’s strong chest, feeling the plump tits and hard nipples brush his back.  Yes, gaffer.  I always will.  You told me you liked that I don’t take things for granted.

That’s right, just how I was raised.  You’re such a good boy, the pride of England someday, I can feel it.  Now.  You’ll help your Frank out with your mouth, won’t you?

He’s not surprised when the missed call does not go to voicemail, and just seconds later, Frank calls again.

It’s late at this point. Frank has a family.  Shouldn’t he be putting his kids to bed, or whatever the fuck he did with his family?  In Everton it was like he was a guy away at his first year at uni.  Staying up late, eating whatever, never mentioning people back in London.  Sometimes they’d come to games—up to Liverpool, or to Everton away—and Anthony tried not to even look in their direction. He could vaguely picture Frank’s famous wife, and his two little kids from his phone wallpaper, and Harry and Jamie Redknapp, but he didn’t want to see them or learn who his aunts sisters nieces nephews were.  He never wanted it to be serious like that.

He answers the second call because the breath burns his neck and the words tickle his ear and Frank’s thick Everton body presses against him, urges him.

“…Hi, Frank.”

“My boy. Wanted to congratulate you in a personal way.  You deserve better than a text.”

My boy.  It’s familiar, too familiar.  Entitled is the word.

[felassan]

Some more snippets of interest and insight from Mark Darrah, from some older Mark Darrah on Games YouTube videos where he was livestreaming playing Dragon Age: Origins some months ago. (Multiple videos are covered in this post, so the source video of each bullet point is included there) -

"I'm pretty sure that the [in-world] Dragon Age will be an age that lasts a suspiciously long time, as long as there are Dragon Ages being made. I don't think they will drop 'Dragon Age' because it's such an identifiable part of the franchise". [source]

"I totally cannot spoil what the original Black City was supposed to be. I'm pretty sure that the approach to lore in DA has always been to leave it ambiguous to allow the future to go where it needs to go. Though that being said, DA:O was definitely built with the assumption that it was not getting a sequel." [source]

"The Calling is presented as taking decades to kill you on its own. So Alistair would still be alive in DA:I and DA:D if he went that way. I think, if I remember the lore correctly." [source]

"DA:O introduces a lot of hanging plot threads that aren't necessarily resolved. Orzammar potentially sets up a civil war, there's potentially werewolves running around. There's a lot of stuff we've been able to kind've ignore, but there's a lot of stuff that's still out there. The line of succession for Ferelden is open isn't it." [source]

[on the Warden's quest for a cure for the Calling] "I don't think it's established that the cure is actually found is it. Or just that they're looking." [source]

"Likely any cure for the Calling would be to extract the Taint from the person, so you would basically cease being a Grey Warden at that point." [source]

"I think they're treating the Trespasser epilogue slides as canon." [source]

[during DA:O epilogue slides] "You can see, this leaves a lot of threads in a lot of potential different directions that Dragon Age has been dealing with since then, since 2009." [source]

"The resistance that there was for toolset for Frostbite was a feeling like, 'this engine is proprietary, it does a bunch of stuff that we don't want other people to be able to steal'. That's basically not even true anymore. There's actually a feeling now within EA that user-generated content, UGC, is incredibly good, that it's basically free marketing. Like you say, Skyrim has been going forever. So that's why, EA has a really complicated relationship with UGC. What they want is basically, everyone to make TikTok videos and things about how great the game is. They don't necessarily want you to make DLC or Twitch stream the thing but they also recognize that this is not a, you don't get to have one without the other really. Yeah, the 'cost of free ads from fans is fan DLC'. That's pretty much, sums it up perfectly." [source]

"CD Projekt uses slightly different language than BioWare did for DLCs, expansion packs etc. I would not classify the free DLCs from The Witcher as expansion packs, they're DLC. They called them expansion packs but from my perspective, an expansion pack is larger than that but it's a spectrum for sure. The thing I would say about CD Projekt in general is they're amazingly good at picking the right language. So what they did on Witcher 3 is they said, they added a tiny bit of content to each of their patches and said 'this is DLC, we're going to give it away for free, aren't we amazing?' And then they made their DLC a little bit bigger and then said 'these are expansion packs, we're gonna charge for that', brilliant. Honestly brilliant. Because it makes them, it's a great PR move, it also meant that they got a, every time they released a patch they essentially got an article on the gaming sites. It's something that BioWare and frankly DA in particular is pretty bad at, like, naming things, and using language that makes things sound better." [source]

[on The Sims] "'Buy a thing and then later they release more stuff to add to your thing', it's an amazing business model. It's also a business model that EA does not understand, they, like BioWare, suffer from being a thing that exists within the sports-focused EA ecosystem that, constantly trying to explain that 'our players are not the same as your players, you need to let us do what we know how to do'." [source]

"We had a free-to-play version for DA multiplayer, that was Hendrix. It's not on the, EA didn't want it to exist so it was only on the servers for a little while, a couple of months, but it was actually there. I'm sure it's not up anymore." [source]

"I don't know if Frostbite is gonna die. I think there's a very good chance that what's going to happen is, it may become the next sports engine. FIFA is a monolith and has taken over the driver's seat for that engine. I don't think they're gonna be very interested in switching again. Even if active Frostbite development in general goes away, FIFA will keep going and then a bunch of other games live in the rain shadow of FIFA, like NHL." [source]

"If it was up to me, I'd probably have forced Mass Effect onto Frostbite. And I would be strongly inclined to keep Dragon Age on Frostbite for at least one more game because you've built the foundation. The best engine to use is the one you just used. But I don't know what's gonna happen after DA:D to be honest. BioWare seems to be addicted to throwing away work they've done in the past. And it was never up to me." [source]

"Frostbite isn't a recruitment negative but certainly it's a lot easier to find people that already know how to use Unreal. What you actually see in programming is some people, it's not a universal, but some programmers, they don't wanna work in Unreal because they feel like someone else gets to do all the cool programming bits." [source]

"The question for Awakening is should it have even been an expansion pack, or is a different solution to have made it, say, 40% bigger and made it a full-sized game. This is, I think, the reason why expansion packs are so rare these days is because, it's easy to imagine a path from an expansion pack to a $60 or $70 game and then you're getting somewhere between 80-120% attach as opposed to 30% attach. I suspect this is the primary reason why expansion packs have kind've faded away, because 'I'm gonna ship every year' is fairly accepted within games these days. So honestly the pitch for Joplin's live service was 'we're not gonna do a live service, we're gonna do a game, and then we're gonna do another game in 18 months and another 18 months after that. And maybe we'll do one piece of DLC in there, but we'll just be like dunk-dunk-dunk' and the economics for that are great. So that's why expansion packs are gone I think." [source]

"That's the fundamental problem of DA:O not knowing it's gonna have sequels, it leaves the world in a very quantum state. There's still stuff that's hinted at in those [epilogue slides] that are happening sometime in the future that I think are gonna probably at this point be ignored. Probably the biggest issue of DA:O is that it leaves the world in a state that probably wasn't intending that there would be a sequel." [source]

"When we were discussing doing a remaster for the trilogy, my pitch was to essentially retcon it [DA:O, DAII and DA:I] into a trilogy, to make it the 'Champion's Trilogy' or something to that effect, where you group the three games together, imply that they were always intended to be a trilogy kind of, and then that does a couple of things. It packages them into something that stands on its own a bit better, but also lets you potentially change what you're doing with the player character going forward. If you've decided that, okay, we've changed player character every single game up until now, but maybe we're not going to do that going forward, by packaging them together in a remaster you kind've give yourself permission to do that. Certainly DA:D is gonna have a new player character, given that the one from DA:I is missing a limb." [source]

"We probably oversold the Wardens in the marketing for DA:O. Because essentially, what we did was establish them as the coolest thing in the world and then yeah, so the series has definitely been dealing with the aftermath oh 'but not Wardens? Therefore not cool' forever since then." [source]

"But a new player character means you have a harder job every single game, because you have to get people interested, you don't get the shortcut of 'Shepard is Shepard, you know Shepard'." [source]

"Anders is the one that made us rethink how we introduce romances, because a lot of people ended up in romance with him that didn't mean to. We'll see if they come back to that in DA:D, but I think that because of Anders in DAII, DA:I was definitely trying to not 'accidentally do anything to you'. But it does mean that it is very player-controlled and very player-initiated. But maybe they'll be willing to go back to that a little bit." [source]

"Tevinter Nights does a really good job of staying away from violating canon. The thing with, the further you go away from what's in the games the more you are, the less well it's gonna do, so that's not necessarily a problem but it is something to keep in mind that you don't, you're trying to make money with your novels. Setting it in a time period that people don't know is great for the core fans but isn't necessarily gonna do super amazing. The advantage that Tevinter Nights is, because it's an anthology, you're able to just, everything kinda just stands on its own and therefore you're able to just stay away from the major characters to a large degree." [source]

"Varric's definitely not quantum, he's in good shape. Dorian, I feel like Dorian is guaranteed to be around [as in quantum], but maybe not, maybe I'm wrong about that. But the games have gotten better or at least more conscious of what they do with companions as it's gone on, in terms of trying to, being at least aware of the fact that you might want these people to come back, so maybe at least understand the quantum you're putting them in. There's a bunch of followers in DA:I that you might just not recruit. Like Blackwall's pretty easy to miss. Dorian can show up but he doesn't die if you don't recruit him, he's alive. The biggest thing for quantum is 'are they alive', in which, in DA:O there's a lot that don't make it. Then you have to deal with, well they might be [killed/not recruited?] or something but the biggest thing is, if they're alive you can probably make it work." [source]

"I have a feeling that Desire Demons are going to be just, ignored, or, honestly I mean one way to, I think, Desire is seen in a very narrow light in DA:O. I think if you go, if you move into Desire being a much broader concept, you have a lot of options there. I think if you approach Desire in a broader sense I think you have some opportunities. But then you kind've end up with the DA:I problem with the Fear." [source]

He also talked more generally about DA:O and the franchise and things in general. These bits are collected under a cut due to length -

"Orzammar is definitely the place in DA:O that actually looks like Dragon Age. Everything else is kind've generic late 2000s fantasy, pretty much the same as The Witcher. For example, Ostagar has a more generic fantasy visual" [source]

"You know, other than DAII, DA does involve a lot of crossing the entire country to turn around and go back doesn't it" [source]

Chat asked "How well does the vanilla game DA:O play on modern hardware?" Mark replied, "I'm playing it on modern hardware, I don't have everything cranked way up and currently I'm running it in a window. It's running really well. The only thing that happens is if you turn the graphic settings up too far it will blow up because it will run out of memory. It's a 32-bit game and so if you cross 4 gig it will explode. But there are some mods out there that get you around that. That's the only problem with it is that, if you turn it up too far it will become unstable. I'm worried about stability problems during the [Battle of Denerim] part of the game" [source]

"I always found Redcliffe Village in DA:O a bit confusing to move around" [source]

Chat observed that the soil in Redcliffe would be be bad because of all the darkspawn and undead that were there. Some users theorized that the people there moved to a different part of the nearby land to make 'Redcliffe' again. Mark commented, "One of the reasons we felt okay pretty much redesigning Redcliffe in DA:I, because it's kind've broken. You know, we don't show it completely destroyed here but certainly it's hard its struggles" [source]

"I don't know who came up with the ogre-sync kill. Sync kills are really cool for bosses, they become a lot less cool for things when they're constantly happening but they're usually, unfortunately sync kills are often something that end up being de-prioritized as a feature, because they don't actually have a gameplay effect so they're kind've just aesthetics. So they often actually get cut for time reasons" [source]

Mark mentioned that he "certainly [has] some degree of lingering crunch trauma" [source]

[during the Battle of Denerim, when many creatures are on-screen] "DA:O does a good job of selling large groups for a game of its time. We must be doing a trick, something to get all this, because this is way over the creature count limit for DA:O. It's possible that we made special creatures that are way cheaper. Or it's a mixture. Waves is part of it. They aren't dropping any loot so there's definitely something going on" [source]

"Shouldn't there be people in the Wardens who have a bit more training in dragon killing?" [source]

"We probably should have auto-levelled unlevelled party members before the Battle of Denerim" [source]

[on the elves in the alienage during the Battle of Denerim] "Where'd they get the bows? Pretty sure it's frowned upon for elves to have weapons in alienages" [source]

"People do play DA solo which makes it difficult to have any sort of puzzle or anything that requires a group" [source]

[on Sandal] "I told the team if you put him in DA:I you gotta put him in everything because he basically then becomes a central figure of the franchise. So they gave him a rest. So you can blame me for him not being in DA:I" [source]

Chat asked "I'm curious why BioWare never brought back the army spawning mechanic from DA:O to DA:I, I always thought it was epic and underrated". Mark said "We talked about it in DA:I, it was actually a UI thing, we didn't have time to do the UI properly. I mean there's a lot of reasons why you don't get to play with your Inquisition well in DA:I, like to play with the organization, which is actually too bad" [source]

[while fighting baby dragons during the Battle of Denerim] Chat asked "Why are the baby dragons there in the first place?" Mark said "Someone wanted another addition to the combat. But it doesn't really make a lot of lore sense" [source]

[on lock bash] "I like what we tried to do in DA:I, giving you different things for different classes. Didn't really get used effectively. But it does strike me as weird, it didn't at the time, but playing through this, is like, you go into a space, all the chests are locked, you kill everyone, no-one has a key. Like, whose got the key to that chest?" [source]

"DA:O really does do some impressive army stuff given the chunkiness of its engine" [source]

[at end of DA:O] "Probably should have shown Morrigan leaving" [source]

"Alistair would be a fine/adequate king. He just needs a policy wonk to give him ideas" [source]

[during DA:O epilogue slides] "These are the ones that set up the quantum for the rest of the game" [source]

[during DA:O epilogue slides] "It's interesting that we called Dagna a mage" [source]

"I think DA:O still holds together. I mean it wasn't a very attractive game in 2009 and certainly it doesn't look better now than it did then, but I think it holds together. Some of the storytelling choices are problematic from a now perspective, almost everything in the Pearl, and then the whole broodmother bit could be, I mean it's a bit too far, it was probably a bit too far even at the time honestly. The combat holds up pretty well, because it's not 'push a button and immediately do an action' it has aged pretty well. The animations are kinda clunky and things don't line up very great but that's not that bothersome. It would be much more noticeable that it was a problem if things were a bit more direct" [source]

"DA:O has WASD in large part because Oblivion had WASD controls. I remember the transition and being kind've confused as to why you would do that, but yeah it's the right call. In the time that this was in development it became pretty universal" [source]

"How involved was I in Anthem? I was in charge of Anthem for the past 16 months. So a damaging amount" [source]

"Will I do an Anthem stream? I will probably do at least 1 Anthem stream. I might play through the story, I'm not gonna play multiplayer. I might play through the story and play it in pure dark pattern, forcing it to let me play it by myself, but we'll see" [note this video is several months old] [source]

[on Awakening] "Other than Destiny, this is pretty much one of the last expansion packs there ever really was with a retail presence. It's honestly a way better business than DLC. DLC you're attaching, maybe 10% of your people are gonna buy it, whereas expansion packs, 30%. You can spend a lot more money and make a lot more money with an expansion pack" [source]

"I think the idea for DA multiplayer getting harder when somebody died was to try to make the match start to end so that you weren't waiting. I don't know how effective that is, probably not very, but I think that's the thinking" [source]

"I don't think we really were, pretty much I think DA became a series when BioWare got bought by EA. I don't remember the exact moment but you can see by the slides at the end of DA:O there's a bunch of stuff that isn't really completely thinking about the fact that we're gonna have to pick up this ball in future" [source]

"Frostbite shares a lot with Unreal as well from a tools perspective. It wasn't done quite as intentionally. It's funny because the tools for Eclipse for DA:O, there was a specifically-designed wall between the two project streams to prevent this engine from taking too much from Unreal. There was a worry that Epic was going to get mad at us and sue us. Which given everybody elses' engine development was probably unfounded" [source]

"I imagine that a Blight probably increases Warden recruitment. I think it makes sense that people would be interested [right after a Blight was stopped] because you're the heroes on the block, but given what the Wardens know about Blights and things you would think that the responsible thing would be to actually cut recruitment way down, keep the order alive and then as they sense a Blight starting to come, ramp the recruitment way back up again. But I don't know that they know that a Blight is coming early enough to do so, so I guess the worry would be that if they don't keep their order relatively large then they wouldn't have the forces necessary to fight a Blight. Though of course you wouldn't expect another Blight right now, we just finished with one [Mark was playing Awakening's opening sequence at this time]. I think it's, there's darkspawn to fight and despite what they may claim, it's about being big enough to have a political impact on the world so that everyone doesn't ignore their existence and then they show up and no-one remembers who they are. Duncan talks about knowing it was coming but everyone not believing him so it does imply that they know at least some time beforehand. But you probably don't wanna wait til 1 year before it starts happening before you start rebuilding your forces" [source]

"The reason why Awakening was able to ship so close to DA:O was because DA:O moved a huge amount really late in development to do the consoles. So Awakening was pretty much mostly built in 2009, you know in the last 9 months of DA:O development, which was mostly porting it to the consoles. There's no way you were getting an expansion pack out within five months of that size without [this]" [source]

"Awakening is a masterclass in 'people who are familiar with the fools using the tools at their disposal to do some amazing stuff" [source]

"One of the challenges with expansion packs is they kind've have to fit inside the umbrella, even if they're taking place afterwards like this one does [Awakening], they can't raise the stakes too much. Whereas if it was a full-fledged sequel it could kind've do something new, kind've has to. Which is part of the problem with Awakening, given where DA:O leaves the world it's kind've hard to, we didn't really know where we were gonna go for our sequels yet, so that's probably why" [source]

"The problem with not sequel-ing Dragon Age is then what you would have been doing is probably trying to make a fantasy RPG in a new setting and then having this impossible comparison to DA constantly happening, and every single difference being a potential criticism, you can see why that, being a potential big problem. Much as I wouldn't want to wish it upon other dev teams, DAII is what allowed DA to be a series, because it kind've is the one that eats the rock of 'this is not like my previous game' and it kind've gets rid of the worst bits of continuity errors. And so to a large degree I would say that by DAII being this sort of thing that's rushed out to fill a financial gap, it allows the series to become a series. But you know, I wouldn't say that's the fix that everyone should take" [source]

"The problem you have to remember with DAII and 'more time' is very quickly you run into Skyrim releasing, and releasing DAII then, regardless of much much extra effort you put into it, after Skyrim is not a good thing. It has to kind've live there in a pre-Skyrim world. There is stuff that can be done for sure, but there's a limit to what you can do" [source]

"Mass Effect has, Shepard is too tightly associated with ME, so what do you do? Do you just keep bringing him back and making clones of him or something? That was definitely a problem in the case of Mass Effect: Andromeda because you had a younger player character, so therefore the tonal differences were seen as problematic. So it's something that you definitely have to think about" [source]

"With Justice, you do a pretty good job of explaining away anything that happens to Anders" [source]

"Oghren is here in Awakening in part because of again, quantum. Because Wynne could be dead, Leliana could be dead, Alistair could be dead, Sten could be dead or not even recruited. So you don't really have a lot of choices if you wanna bring a companion back." Here chat mentioned that Oghren can be dead. "Oh, so they do [in-game] respond to it [if Oghren was killed in DA:O]. He must have been the least quantum then. The place that you were most likely to kill Leliana in DA:O was at the Urn of Sacred Ashes, and I think we just sort've were like 'the Urn's right there so. She's fine'. Yeah, there needs to be a warrior [in Awakening]. I mean, we could've made a brand new character but. Sten was really likely to die. Lots of people didn't even recruit him. Hers [Leliana's death] is probably the most plausible retcon" [source]

"One of the things that kind've frustrates me a bit about the lore in DA moreso than ME is because it's so quantum, is the linear stuff in the comic books and novels have had, just picked canons on occasion. Which I get because you wanna have Isabela or Sten in the comics, but it does mean that it undermines the player agency there because it's like 'what you did isn't real, because here's what's real because we put it in a comic book'. I really don't like that but given the branching in the games you would've just had to have stayed away from those characters completely, which undermines the storytelling, so I don't know. I don't know what the answer is honestly. It's a good point that it's hard to imagine that Leliana's gonna be like 'sign me up for the Wardens' [source]

[on secondary media] "I don't disagree that you could do lots of prequels, but I think there's a limit" [source]

"The biggest reason why the darkspawn design changed from DA:O to DAII is that the DA:O darkspawn, mainly honestly the ogre, but they don't quite fit into our artistic palette, and there was a strong push from the art team on DAII to move the art direction into something that was ownable and so that's the main reason. It's really just an ownability perspective. But you can kinda see it in Awakening, because like The Withered is starting to look a lot like the DAII darkspawn, or at least he's headed in that direction" [source]

"One of DAII's big art direction things, Eclipse is really good at pushing polygons, so a lot of things in the art direction of DAII are pushing polygons. So they're spikier and they just have a lot more polys in them because it's one of the things it's really good at" [source]

"If you were doing a remaster you would keep the same engine. If you were doing a remake you would switch engines. It's not a remaster if you're switching engines, that's for sure" [source]

"I still maintain that Dog was essentially put through the Joining, but whatever. Technically probably everyone who has had contact with darkspawn blood is not a Warden, but it is a bit, I do think it's one of the things where the Taint and the Blight is a bit, is presented as being more bad than really is pulled off in the games" [source]

(pls note that in places there is a bit of paraphrasing of the info, the best source is always the primary source with full quotes in their original context)

[jmdbjk]

2023 predictions (humor me)

So now I’m gonna make my predictions for 2023 the best way I know how. Armed with bare bones basic facts fueled with rumors and gossip and hearsay and sprinkled with a few social media posts! Yeah! All you overthinkers gather ‘round!

I know perfectly well trying to predict the future is futile. But these are all the different scenarios rolling around in my head. Their solo music releases and their military enlistments are the two big things happening in 2023 and hold the most meaning to us. 

So remember I’m just wingin’ it, these are just my thoughts based on nothing except my overactive thinking and my need to lighten up the mood because gawwwd... 2025 is so farrrrr away... ...

The solo albums:

Y’all, all they’re gonna do is toss up some pieces of paper with their names written on them and they’ll get someone to pick them up one by one and read the names... that’s the order. Yep. Random. They don’t know. We don’t know.

Ok, changed my mind because I was just kidding... this will be the order of solo releases... maybe:

1. Yoongi 

...because he’s basically started up a Youtube channel (even though its still on Bangtan TV) where he drinks alcohol and chit chats with different people. And he’s showing us he’s got a Yoobooty and smooth moves now. The only thing that makes me second guess myself is we haven’t had any teasers of actual solo musical work happening except maybe one or two pics on Insta of his studio. But we know he’s the Magic Man when it comes to working on music. Drops whole albums like “oh, I did this... here it is.”  Maybe the album is ready, its just waiting for the random pieces of paper toss up. 

Actually, the real toss up is whether it will be Yoongi first or....

2. Jimin

...because the man has been clocking into work every day at 9:00 a.m. like he’s on a mission to be employee of the year or something. He sort of freaks me out when he goes to bed by 10:00 p.m. or is up and moving before 9:00 a.m. What happened to my sexy little vampire who sleeps all day? Everyone... EVERYONE... wants to show off they’re working with him and they keep saying Jimin is amazing, the song is amazing, etc. That’s mostly how we know something is coming. Soon. I’m sorta scared. I feel like its gonna hit like a freight train. Hopefully a freight train loaded with tight fitting pants and loose shirts that won’t stay on him. 

That being said, we actually have some pretty good evidence that Jimin will be on a song by BigBang member Taeyang. In January. Which begins today. That would be a great lead up to his solo album. Not that we need any more anticipation (see comment above about freight train).

3. Tae

...because he just said he’s been working on his fo-fo for two years. I know that has nothing to do with new music but it has to do with his warped sense of time. We know he’s been making songs for longer than that. JUST DO IT! PULL THE TRIGGER! THE SONGS ARE IN THE CAN! I don’t know though. I think we’d be seeing some teasers like we’ve seen with Jimin. I mean, Tae has had a pfp on his Insta from his fo-fo collection for quite a while now. Most of the year. And we had no idea it was from the fo-fo. Tae would tease his own music like that. What have we missed that could have been teasers? Just that he “threw away” those snippets he’s shared...but seriously... I think we’ll see some acting before music. Or maybe the acting will coincide with promotions for his solo release. That’s my prediction for Tae...sort of a maybe/maybe not situation.

4. Jungkook

....What can I say? He told us there’s a lot of things he wants to do in life and now he has a lot of time on his hands. So he’s out there riding his Harley and snowboarding, fueling those fanfics. However. This tour of meat restaurants that we’ve observed...he’s made that conspicuous on purpose. Signing autographs. He doesn’t have to do that. I am beginning to wonder if that will have something to do with promotions for his solo work. Hear me out: Hobi did some interviews on a radio show and IU’s show, Joon did some interviews on Youtuber channels and KBS news, Jin did some interviews with TV personalities/Youtubers... I can’t really see Jungkook doing any of that, being interviewed like that. JK is our free spirit who likes to hover in the background. Our little Gen Z’er thinking out of the box. So my prediction is JK is gonna walk us through an album of some sorts, song by song but be at a different meat restaurant while doing so. Along with showing us which restaurant has the best soju selection. Win win! Except we’ve not heard a single pin drop about whether he is working on something. So there’s that. Actually, strike that. JK is not gonna share his deepest inner thoughts on the songs he may ever release. He’ll just say, “they’re about Army” or “I was thinking about Army when I wrote that”... while stuffing his face with a wad of meat and radish. Sigh. 

Military service (ugh):

This only requires common sense. Which there’s been very little of that on all sides regarding this topic. We were so delusional, including moi. Anyway, here I am carrying on with the delusional only armed with my bare bones basic facts and all my reconnaissance efforts regarding hearsay (see what I did there?) ...

Everything we’ve been told points to a 2025 comeback. They said so. There is also a contract renewal in this timeframe. We already know Jin will be discharged on June 12, 2024. So here’s my irrelevant and wildly guessed at predictions for the others... whups, I meant here’s what my reconnaissance tells me:

Namjoon, born in 1994, is 28 years old and will enter the military by March 2023. Joon will be going so soon in 2023 in order to get back and start preparing for a BTS comeback. That puts his discharge in September 2024, three months after Jin is discharged. Joon himself said he will do his best to get them ready for 2025. 

Yoongi, born in 1993 will turn 30 years old soon (international age) and will enter the military by May 2023. He has no choice but to submit his paperwork due to his age. That would put his discharge by November 2024. 

Hmmm. Second half of 2024 now not sounding quite like the wasteland of radio silence I previously thought it would be...

Hobi, born in 1994 will turn 28 in February; Jimin, born in 1995, is 27 years old and they will both enter the military by September 2023. Just like entering in the dead of winter, I suspect the dead heat of the middle of summer is not a desirable time to enter military boot camp training so they will delay until the heat of summer has faded. This would put their discharge dates in March 2025. Spring Day indeed. However, this would make September 2023 blisteringly heartbreaking for two to go at the same time.

Tae, also born in 1995, is also 27 years old. Tae going or not going with Jimin and Hobi will be based on the timing of his solo release. He’s really sort of a big question mark for me as far as timing. Tae may go with Jungkook.

Jungkook, born 1997 just turned 25. I think he will be enlisted before November 2023. This would put his discharge date in May 2025. Barely in time for Festa June 2025. Festa 2025 would be a great time for them to gather around the table again and share their military stories with us.

Or...

Jungkook will not enlist in 2023. SAY WHAT? He does not have to enlist until 2027, I believe, if he wanted to wait. But that would mean another interruption for BTS as a group which makes me already go, yeah, naw, he’s not waiting. Except things will be very different by 2025. They will be established solo artists. They can slow the roll on BTS and balance it with solo work. Between 2025 and 2027 they could have a very long and successful comeback world tour. That would set them up for another break (JK’s military duty). And the others could fill the gap with solo work. When JK gets back in 2029 it will be time to prep for the Busan World Expo (if Busan is chosen) as well as another BTS comeback. 

But, shit happens. Right, 2022?

Other predictions:

Yoongi has a “really” “big” “something” that he is gonna try and he is “nervous” about it but will be a step toward his “dream”... which is... I have no idea so I will use my imagination: He is establishing a plum orchard and will produce his first fruit wine in 2025. 

Also, Yoongi will not cut his hair until it’s time for enlistment. 

Hobi will release some more music and/or have more collabs. I think he may do more live performances like at festivals and stuff through the summer. I think there is a chance he might be a fashion ambassador...for who? I have no idea.

Jimin will be riding out the wave of his solo release through the summer and I hope (for his sake) doing performances too, and some of them will be in the United States or other parts of the globe, joining the artists he’s collabbed with during their concerts.

Jungkook...honestly...it would not shock me if we do not get a full album from our bunny. Some collabs, maybe an EP? He will surprise us with something else. I don’t know what. 

BTS as a group: when they “reconvene” in 2025 they will not be the same BTS as we know it. That’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it.

Ok, I will check back on all of this in say... six months... and we’ll all laugh together at how stupid everything is that I just said. I mean, assuming I’ve survived PJM1 and all...

[amazingmsme]

odysseus is such an evil little bastard man he would definitely make polites think he’s winning before completely pulling the rug out from under him and of course polites never sees it coming, it makes the pout on his face after he’s got all the after-giggles out of him so much better. he’ll cross his arms and mumble something like “you’re awful >:(“ and odysseus just raises an eyebrow at him and goes “oh, am i?” and that’s all it takes for polites to immediately try to get up and run away

ALSO ALSO a discovery i made at 2 AM last night is that there’s a song that was cut from epic called “your light” about odysseus and polites and expands more on their friendship, there’s a snippet of it on youtube if you wanna listen to it, but now i’m sad that it was cut because ITS SO SWEET? - fluffvoid

YOU HAD ME AT EVIL LITTLE BASTARD MAN! Fr he’s so mean when he’s in a ler mood, literally nothing can stop him! Polites is his favorite to attack because he’s always so unsuspecting so he has the element of surprise almost all the time. No matter how many times Odysseus does it, Polites still doesn’t catch on! Because just as many times he comes over just to chat or hang out, so it’s literally a toss up whether or not he’s up to no good. & Polites always sees the good in people!

Like Eurylochus is skeptical cause he can see the mischievous gleam in his eyes & he looks at Polites like “I’d keep my distance if I were you. Remember what happened last time?” & Polites brushes him off like “that was last time! He’s not gonna pull the same move twice in a row”

Guess what? He pulled the same move twice in a row. Because sometimes doing the same exact thing is the last thing your victim expects!

& l just listened to it omg why would they cut that ut was so good & sweet! But maybe it’s for the best, they knew his death was gonna hit us hard 😭 that would only make it worse.

[nightmyst14-blog]

SO I was fooling around on YouTube and came across this song for Hollow Knight

Please take a listen, its pretty good!!

All Im thinking about is Crimson Knight! Madeleine. Ive seen people make that as like his corrupted form, like he's fallen from grace. or he's being controlled.

But the song has 3 voices tho. 2 male voices (one being deeper), 1 female singing.

Then I remember how I made Madeleine, Knight and Kougin-Amann family. So I wrote a short story inspired by this.

Angsty

They looked around the dark room, a waft of jam and burning metal came along, running a chill up everyone’s spine. House Madeleine received a call that the young heir was seen doing something odd near the church, two other Cookies seen with him.

Madeleine had to go on patrol due to suspicious activity happening around the Creme Republic. He was a little annoyed that he had to work during his father and little brother's visit to home, but the paladin's work was never done. Knight insisted on coming along to help, same as their cousin Kougin-Amann doing the same. That was said two hours ago...

Tea Knight stepped forward when he heard footsteps, holding up his axe in protest. He could sense that something was wrong. His eyes went wide once it came into light.

The two paladins and knight stood there. Madeleine's once pristine, white armor was now a soulless black, detailed with a red aura. His white wings now turned into horns that rested on his head.

Knight’s now cracked and dirty helmet covered his face, only his eyes showed in the dark. He clutched his sword in his pale hands.

Kougin-Amann's dress was ripped at the ends, her pink dress now turned to ash-gray, bits falling as she walked..

The group was shocked at the trio's state.

“MADELEINE! VANI! KOUGIN! ” Screamed Grand Madeleine, freezing up when seeing the hollow look in her eldest’s eyes. His once pale blue eyes were now a violent purple. The other two had a similar look. The three of them stared blankly, their armor seemed to radiate embers off of them.

“What…” Berry Madeleine said, looking horrified. "What h-happened to them..?"

My daughter-” Said Honey Madeleine who stepped forward, but was stopped by the second eldest sister, Lemon Madeleine..

Wait-” She said, holding her arm.

“Broken… Broken...” Spoke Kougin-Amann.

“Cast aside…” Knight said.

“The Divine said they protect us… But they LIED…” Whispered Madeleine.

They each raised their swords, pointing at the group before charging forward.

Writer's block is awful....

Now I dont know where this could go, if any of you have ideas or wanna add on to this, go ahead and let me know. Hope you enjoy this little snippet.

[sensitivewires]

I think the Hazbin Hotel fandom is a really great example of the fruits of fandom blossoming truly because it has been directly and indirectly cultivated *perfectly*.

What I mean by that is that, even since my fuzzy memories way back of watching the snippets of the pilot before it fully came out way young, and the streams, just listening to all the little jokes and facts thrown in and watching the animatics that people would make for the quotes from those streams. Then we also can take into account the fact that (I think) Viv pulled/changed/used most of? All of? The characters in other things beforehand; I remember seeing a comic of Angel Dust being interrogated by an angel, I think, which is what made me start paying attention in the first place. Which is cool to remember, actually. Either that or Viv’s Die Young animation is what drew me in, I also really loved her Meghan Trainor animatic/animation. And the animation about the town with different numbers of eyes!

The point of all of those background faded memory details was to explain my thoughts on how many different ways people were drawn in even before the pilot, or Hazbin Hotel, or Helluva Boss, were a thing. A part of (or multiple parts of?) the fandom could have at one time probably been considered the Vivziepop fandom and to this day still could be called that in some cases.

I also remember that during streams, a lot of fanart would be shown! And animations/animatics made by fans about the streams and the characters/upcoming show/pilot in general would be shown also, if I remember correctly. This encouraged artists to join the fandom, anyone who enjoyed consuming a lot of animatic content on YouTube (which was extremely popular at the time), and the LGBT+ community because as we all know a majority of the characters in Hazbin Hotel are LGBT+.

That even could connect into the art community again, since a large percentage of LGBT+ people are artistic and a huge and main, primary part of fandom and art cultures in most spaces. This show hit the EXACT demographic it needed to in order to become extremely and invariably popular both at the time and in the future.

We can also think about the fact that merch was being dropped I believe long before the pilot even was finished or posted, correct me if I’m wrong, and in batch drops with sale prices which are all fantastic incredible marketing moves. *Vox brain fritzing out here sry love analyzing shit.*

So, you’ve got art being made at a constant rate because of regular streams and buzz and interest and fixations generating. Take into account systems, take into account shippers (shipping is HUGE in the Hazbin Hotel fandom now but it has always been huge and a driving force behind the content’s incredible amounts of widespread popularity) and the fact that shipping is not only not discouraged but has been actively encouraged by people that have worked on the show from day 1 and from Viv herself. Then take into account the fact that art spawns fanfiction, and as soon as something ends up going viral for shipping art, it’s going to start sucking up not only a shipping fanbase like a thirsty sponge but also a general fanbase interested in what’s drawing the shippers to the form of media and if it’s good, like other scavengers being drawn in by crows yk

And then that generates cosplay because cosplayers live in every aforementioned community above and people are typically multitalented, especially with an artistic brain. A brain more prone to art is more prone to write and someone who is LGBT+ or interested in fandom is more likely to be interested in the cosplay community, which presents a unique opportunity to be and feel like anyone and anything that you want (I could even connect the fandoms for musicals to the this because cosplay connects to the theatre kids/theatre communities in general, which are intertwined in fandom, shipping, animatic/animation, art, LGBT+, okay y’all get it moving on now)

Basically what I’m trying to say is there was already too much content for anyone interested in anything about Hazbin to get through it all by the time the pilot came out, which is PERFECT circumstantial fandom food.

And then you actually do get to the pilot releasing, which was highly anticipated and if I remember right it was also delayed at least once. But the fancontent cushioned and continues to cushion any hiatus, and that’s what happened while we waited for the show to come out. Content KEPT GENERATING because the internet is fucking gigantic and fandom culture is like a grapevine that can’t stop spreading. The Hazbin fandom was basically like if someone planted mint but on the internet. The art style and colors are also very bright, unique for what mainstream animation has really been before, but it also is more adult than the things we have been getting such as the newer and groundbreaking tbh She-Ra leading up to making it possible to put this show out there, which makes it possible for adults to get into creating raw personal content for something mainstream that contains LGBT+ characters. There’s swearing, there’s musical numbers (musical fandoms again, ayy), there’s canonically LGBT+ characters and relationships and themes, there’s good grounds for subtext and in-betweens which comic artists and fanfic authors especially *love* as do shippers. And the best thing a fandom can have for growth is shippers.

Vox brain fuckin rocking up and down from his heels to his toes with excitement abt all this shit. Okay okay and so

Then the show went through the fuckery about if it was being properly advertised, if it was delayed again, I don’t even know I stopped paying attention to that tbh I was just waiting, and then it finally *comes out*, and it’s releasing, and the fandom goes buck wild.

If there wasn’t already mountains of content before, hoooooooly shit now.

This fandom does tropes like none I’ve ever seen, I just have to note. My personal favorite is Vox’s one-sided psychosexual obsession with Alastor lmaoreal

My point is—

These circumstances were optimal to drag people from *everywhere*, even some kicking and screaming that had quit fandom and/or shipping culture altogether for *years*. We have folks from every reach of fandom culture writing fanfiction and making animations/animatics, comics, art, comic dubs, cosplays, songs, everything we usually do yk for this one thing.

What spawned this post was the fact that I was reading a fanfiction on ao3 that was written so well that it read like a novel and the author’s vocabulary was reminding me of the amazing shit I used to read back in like 2015 in the destiel fandom, lo and behold the author’s note said they hadn’t written anything since 2011 and the last thing on their ao3 was from Fullmetal Alchemist. Like?? That’s so cool? Do y’all see what we have here and have y’all been seeing this, it’s fascinating and dynamic and very unique. The energy I see in the Hazbin fandom sometimes reminds me of the energy of the micro-fandoms that crop up yearly around the classic books and movies they make you analyze in school (The Great Gatsby is one of my favorite fandoms that is fed partially by this phenomenon).

I lost my point so I’d say this is about done, but fuck yeah! Hope anyone who actually finished this enjoyed my literal rambling about the popularity and cultivation of fandom of Hazbin Hotel bc I read a radiostatic fic on ao3 that was almost a religious experience.