#i was too invested in this idea when the similarity hit me

[nyxierinasarts]

I've been seeing a lot of Swap!AUs for The Amazing Digital Circus and I thought I'd take a crack at it.

Most Swaps just kinda have Pomni in Caine's clothes. But I thought that it'd be more interesting if Swap!Pomni was closer to Caine, in not having a full face. So Pomni here is really just some floating eyes on a hat with hair. Cursed? Probably.

I might do Caine and the rest of the circus in the future. Who knows.

[waywardsalt]

>:3

[thesirencult]

PAC READING: YOUR DIVINE FEMININE'S AURA

Discussing your feminine's general aura and characteristics. Friendly for both men and girls/theys who like girls. You can also pick it to see how your aura is as a feminine ❤️

Book your reading by sending me a private message xoxo S.

Pile 1

7 of pentacles, 8 of pentacles, 10 of swords

Your DF has the aura of a sweet herbal witch. She lives in her little cabin in the woods and like a fairy she works on perfecting her craft. Greens and purples look great on her.

This is a slow and steady energy. This is someone who loves taking their time. She loves learning and implementing her skills. Making coffee becomes a daily ritual and same goes as washing the dishes.

Her attention to detail is immaculate and that can drive you crazy sometimes but you know that with all that good comes some bad. Very well presented, you can take her anywhere and all eyes will be on her. Very earthy, stable and focused on building a foundation for all things practical before she jumps onto commitment.

Her steady "working on myself" attitude stems from getting backstabbed one too many times. She knows that she has to build herself up and after that all her dreams will manifest. She is into self development and may love going through that tag on Tumblr. She may even be a blogger herself.

She is investing in herself and doesn't shy away from learning about accounting or law. Nothing will stand on her way to that cute fairy cottage *aggressive cute walk* 😉.

Pile 2

9 of pentacles, queen of swords, the magician

Whoever has this DF as a counterpart or has that aura, WOW. Miss Independent. A handful. We love seeing that *sprinkle, sprinkle* here. CEO. That's C-Suite energy!

This woman is someone powerful and dominant. Like a race horse you will always bet on because you KNOW, it will always come first 😉 (pun intended). She works very very hard for what she wants and similar to pile 1 she can be in accounting, finance and law. Good with numbers and her hands. I bet she has a dirty sense of humour.

From the first moment you see her you will know she is the real deal. Others blend in the background while she power walks in the room. Penetrating stare and red bottom high heels, her allure is different. She doesn't have to show dominance, others feel that she is the boss. Mami energy. Ferocious when someone comes for her loved ones. She could even be in law enforcement.

Red and brown. Symbolising high energy that's still grounded and serious. Do not cross her.

Pile 3

King Of Swords, Knight Of Wands, Ace Of Swords

Now, this one? A handful ! Try to tie her down. You just can't. A brat.

This person is very fluid. They don't care about terms and conditions. They are highly intelligent and her mind walks a thin line between spirituality and logic. The most unconventional, they will find a solution no one sees yet it's right in front of them. Highly intellectual and well versed in philosophy and math.

This reminds of a movie with James Franco where he played a start up founder who was into spirituality. A crazy genius. A party is a party and they will be there.

Partying in Ibiza? They've done that. Phuket for a Muay Thai Camp? That did that last year! Eiffel tower to try a croissant with pistachio filling? They just got back yesterday and guess what? They hate pistachios.

This person is the type to run a start up company focused on clean energy and when shit hits the fun they will call an astrologer and ask for recommendations. They respect everyone. They will listen to your mom and dad when they talk about their days and take mental notes of great ideas. They know great ideas come from the most unconventional places and fields.

Pile 4

Page Of Cups, Page Of Swords, The Fool (5 Of Swords + 8 Of Swords + 5 Of Pentacles flew out)

This can be my age difference pile. They will run you to the ground lol.

This is someone with lots of mental capacity. You ask them about World War II and they will tell you how Nazis and Churchill used astrology and why the war happened and after 5 hours you will be listening to them about Ancient Mesopotamia. "How did we get here?" You will think.

Well, it doesn't matter cause you love listening to their voice and their warm heartfelt laugh. They look innocent and pure and even if they try to intimidate you you will let them think they can but in reality they look like a cinnamon roll and they are a cinnamon roll. Their life was not the best and they have lots of trust issues. They may look innocent but their eyes hide a painful past. Like a kitten thrown out and left out in the cold they feel lost and unappreciated.

You listening to them means the world and you will be shocked at how appreciative they are and how loving with you. They are very romantic and they may have great expectations and daydreams about their love life.

I get that you might start off as friends and meet in a very random way on a daily run or while getting groceries or a tire changed. You will immediately fall in love with them and they will seem like they don't suspect a thing. Let me tell you, they know, they are just too scared to show their feelings and until you grab them and kiss em you won't know how much passion is brewing underneath this innocent and clever facade. They might turn into pile number 2 in a few years lol.

Ready for everything, you will always be a warm embrace and their home when they come back from exploration. You will love how they yawn while reading a book and how they stretch when they wake up showing revealing their tummy. They are cute to you, even if everyone else sees them differently, that's how you view them. They might be a black mysterious cat but you think of them as a tired little kitten waiting for a safe home that will accept them as they are.

[sleeby-bo-beebie]

Ok SO! Reading the journal pages in TBOB I wanted to line them up with journal 3, and they line up SUPER well! (I mean, why wouldn’t they!)

Some lineups/ things I noticed while looking at them together:

‘My Assistant’ page Fidd’s photos of loved ones keeping him grounded- the picture of he and Ford in his desk!!

Journal starts on June 18, next dated page is August 3rd. He mentions the hide behind but doesn’t chronicle it until well into July. This furthers the thinking I’ve had that Ford doesn’t always write chronologically, or rather has different things in different journals (he just doesn’t always write in actual page order I think)- esp considering that he puts portal info in 1 & 2.

‘Cipher Speaks lines up with being written before “My Muse” as he names Bill directly, but ‘My Muse’ being written after as a re-do, hence the note to self to keep secret, and burn the page. This is in spring/ summer of 1981

Next, my muse and me, which is brings us to 1982, as “it has been a year since I met my muse” this page puts context to the next 40ish pages of J3, which chronically various cryptids. While the ghost pages are at toward the end, we can assume that perhaps he had the coordinates when writing but did the chronicle-ing after. Here’s where it gets confusing- the next page in TBOB is June 15, which helps because after August, we get July 18th in J3. So, we can conclude that August is August of 1981, and there’s a year skip to July of 1982. My Muse and Me is placed before the august 3rd page, but not too close to My Muse.

The Birthday page of TBOB is of 1982, and happens sometime probably after the ghost pages? Definitely before “My Muse has Spoken” (I think bill def settled in on ford being his portal guy after their night out)

Then Fidds joins. They go on their trips, the bunker, etc! We hit “An Encounter” and we get “we have nearly completed the portal and will soon be ready to test” This lines up with “A voice from the past” , as Ford is adjusting the TV for F’s first portal test.

The next dates page is Jan 17, testing day. So, of course, the Winter Break section happens before this. I think it goes before the page on them being super tired (the one directly after ‘an encounter’) so my guess is, an encounter, a voice from the past, then the page across from an encounter, then winter break, then the page about being tired, if that makes sense? (It’s the positioning of the blueprint style pages that say “the time has come to test” that put them after)

This also lines up for me with his convo with bill about his homeworld, and then mentioning bill being distant on ‘a winter break’

We get ‘snowed in’, and I think the disappearing child footprints are definitely a reference to Dipper and Mabel time traveling!

Some chronological pages next!

I think ‘My muse returns’ happens right after the final winter page, my reasoning being that Bill plants the idea that Fidds isn’t fully invested, and this lines up with Ford being “worried about his resolve” on the blueprint page. “Despite his concerns”

The childhood photo pages next, with “perhaps my muse was right that F is getting too close” (bill was def jealous of their holiday)

“Dream, or Warning?” Daytime of Jan 17, “F has invited me to dinner at Greasy’s tonight to toast to tomorrow’s test”

Jan 17th page happens next, an hour after their dinner, including the “it was just as my muse had warned me” Bill has succeeded in convincing ford to isolate himself from Fidds.

The J3 “No!!! curse the world” page and TBOB’s “I was wrong about everything” seem similar at first, but I think “No!!!” Was first- it details what happened in the portal test, and has very fresh anger to it.

It’s a bit tough to place the next pages, but I think the pages before TBOB’s “The war in my mind” happen before the page of all the codes, where he writes “he is taking advantage while I sleep” in “the war in my mind” he is already worried about burning the journals, which is a concern presented previously on “hiding places” him getting kicked out the library pairs well with his lack of sleeping and freak out in the diner.

I do think the zom-bills page happens after the incident at the diner, as he is surprised that Bill calls him Sixer, but then doesn’t mention it when he calls him that again on the zom-bills page.

Everything “a war in my mind” and after takes place after the codes page, but before the “Trust No One” page. Bill definitely wrote the ‘blank’ blacklight page about being summoned while he was possessing Ford.

On the diner page, he mentions there being only one person left to trust, giving fodder for bill to prank him by trying to call Stanley. He’s given the 72 hours. He finishes that entry realizing he can’t contact Fidds, and makes his pro/con list. He writes his final journal entry, saying “all that there is left to do is wait for S”

And that concludes my hopefully sense-making idea of what pages go where!! If you have both books, I definitely recommend looking at them together!

I’d love to hear any thoughts on this! It was really fun to go through the pages. It got a little tricky at the end, but it’s definitely likely that Ford wasn’t writing in page order anyways, being paranoid and sleep deprived.

I’m so glad we got these pages, as they really beef up the lead up to the end of Ford’s first section of journal 3! And of course, give us lots more about Ford and Bill’s relationship and how they talked to eachother. The notion of bill being able to still enter ford’s mind after Ford learned the truth was always so compelling, and I’m so glad we got to see how that actually played out!

[chrliekclly]

if you ever want to talk about your thoughts on joyce .. Peeks over the corner of your blog. i love talking and hearing ppls thoughts on joyce sooo much even if they're different from my own!! and your analysis and stuff is always so well thought out

i hope u dont mind if i answer this publicly to take advantage of th request nd get my ideas out ther (also tyvm im happy u like my insane takes on these idiots, iv ben thinking abt them for almost 10 years)

i said a lot here so gnna 'read more' it

iv ben building trans charlie n my head fr, like i said, nearly 10 years. i used to view him as cis bcuz i always try to take as much frm th source material as i can wen i craft my HCs nd i had v personal (stupid) hangups insofar as him explicitly referring to his junk multiple times nd bottom surgery simply not being on my radar as a naive littl trans idiot deep in th sauce tht transmen oftn fall into w phallo being viewed so so poorly

evn still i leaned towards transmasc charlie nd always lovd moments tht let me imagine, for a moment, it being true, like his discomfort w taking off his shirt [hundred dollar baby, charlie kelly: king of the rats, the gang exploits the mortgage crisis, young charlie and mac deleted scenes, etc etc etc], or bonnie yelling abt ppl stealing her "charlie-girl" [the waitress is getting married] which i lovd to see as her accidentally misgendering him while drunk off her ass.

having grown out of my phallo issues (nd if ur reading this and u still view phallo super poorly, please do some research and grow too), ive in recent years fully subscribed to transmasc/nb charlie, and view his timeline something like this:

baby -> elementary: charlie refers to himself as a boy, doesnt "come out," simply has no idea he's afab. bonnie lets him dress however he wants and refers to him as asked. when charlie gets confused about his genitals, bonnie says his dick will grow in later lol, makes charlie wear a dress in public restrooms and tells him its just a game

middle: puberty hits and charlie gets confused and scared. bonnie puts him on blockers w.o explaining them ("my mom used to vaccinate me like every month" [the gang gets quarantined]) charlie goes on content and oblivious. STP acquired because hes "a late bloomer" and his dicks still not growing in?? weird. confides this in mac once, but he doesn't understand.

high: charlie finally registers that he's trans after forgetting theres a health class 1 day and not being able to skip it. throws him for a loop a bit but he becomes actively invested in his goals. he gets to start T and wants to have surgeries. "what guy hasnt done some extensive research on his own genitalia?" [mac is a serial killer]

college (aged): able to surgically transition (ty medicare) and continues on with life as we kno him now

joyce, imo, fits neatly into these views.

as a transmasc nb who came out young nd prefers to be seen as just A Guy by strangers, i grew up v vehemently against anything girly that might get me misgendered, but th more i began to 'pass,' th more @ home n my body i felt, th more and more comfortable i am w femininity, th more i wdnt mind putting on a dress, as long as th general public wd see me as "a man in women's clothes." n my mind, i prescribe something not exactly th same but v similar to charlie.

i see charlie "i dont really identify" kelly as afab and nb. i see joyce as a "character" he originally created to distance himself from the dysphoria of putting on a dress as a young trans boy, but that became part of him as the hard lines he drew in the sand as a child became blurry with age and self acceptance. charlie's comfort with himself allows joyce to evolve into a more solid persona, one he enjoys embodying and allowing to become a permanent facet of who he is. he's ok with being referred to as either. they're both him.

so maybe joyce comes out a bit more outside of the bathroom now.

[the-s1lly-corner]

So I just remembered the hanahaki disease trope and I think it’s perfect for Jax (You could include Gangle and/or Zooble too, they’d be p interesting)

Jax is horrible with showing vulnerability and confessions are quite vulnerable… he can’t really die in the DC but he can still suffer

Jax and Zooble with Hanahaki disease !

not explicitly x reader but you can still perceive it as such and im still tagging it as such so those who want it uhuhuhuh this post sure is gonna be interesting :0! honestly between all of the cast, i think these two are the most likely to suffer from hanahaki, gangle is a maybe but i cant think of anything for her sob sobs and i can kind of see caine also possibly getting it due to not understanding romantic stuff but thats assuming he can sick and also assuming he doesnt immediately confess to the reader upon realizing his feelings shrugs

JAX:

just going to say it flat out, if this were the real world jax would likely die before confessing anything simply because he hates the concept of being vulnerable, as well as being the one to have to open up... god this wouldnt be so hard if it were the other person suffering; as terrible as it sounds... though, i dont think jax is the most.. emotionally mature of the bunch so he likely would have a mindset like that... in the beginning, after he notices the first petals he probably starts hiding them when he realizes whats going on.. probably legitimately starts swallowing the petals because he cant stand the idea of someone seeing him cough them up... and i dont know the health risks of digesting flower petals, especially ones that just spawned inside of you, but that probably worsens his overall health. thankfully (if you can even say that) he cant die in the digital world.... which... allows things to drag out for longer, and its going to take a lot for jax to just swallow his pride and confess something of this nature... even if it means hes in excruciating agony... though, i can also see him just wanting to get it out of the way when he finally hits his limit, as humiliating as it is

just saying, if hes ever cured and actually gets with the person hes in love with, theyre going to have to work on his fear of vulnerability

ZOOBLE:

very similar to jax in terms that they also dont like being perceived as vulnerable. but for a different reason. jax doesnt like showing that kind of stuff off because he thinks love is gross and yucky! how dare he be flustered when someone calls him cute! zooble, on the other hand, more so doesnt like the idea of growing an attachment. especially in the digital world where your mental state is so vital to your physical state... nope too risky and they dont want to make the other person feel they need to keep going to spare them the hurt blah blah blah, stuff like that. though... this makes me wonder where the flowers come from, since zooble doesnt have a mouth... maybe they just... spawn out of where the mouth would be? i think that would make it easier for them to hide it for longer, until someone actually sees the petals actively coming out... less of a clean up too, since they cant bleed... but perhaps they are covered in a black residue, not too different from the stuff pomni throws up in the pilot.. shrugs.. between the two, zooble is more likely to crack and confess, though. jax has his pride to protect, but zooble isnt nearly as invested in their ego.. though i do think they try to play it off after the confession.. shrugs

[mimicdragon]

Prompt: What are your feelings on (neomata)? + an aside on shifts and shifting

Neomata to me, after looking up what it meant, is definitely the most important thing to me for my identities. Without them I don't think I'd find any point or purpose in even saying I feel these identities or have any real connection to these concepts. For the most part, there's a few things that don't fall under that but like 80%? Yeah, without neomata I'd have no reason or feeling to think it's important or worth acknowledging.

I can easily see other people not having the same feeling towards them; even finding no real importance to them but for me I can't really say I have any strong feelings towards my identities without the inherent knowledge I have around them and what I unlock over time.

Mostly I think the importance lies solely in the fact I don't experience 'shifts' or phantom experiences. Because of that, I don't have anything that directly links any connections between me and these identities, beyond this knowledge that I feel inherently is knowledge of my experiences or life or inherently just being.

I never feel like I am suddenly more one in 'the mind' of one identity than another. I can sure feel more one kintype than another, or closer to a heartype than another; but it's not as shifting is described. It's more like similar to the mood of wanting to play one video game over another. Finding yourself really up to writing after a long time of being disinterested. There's no real mindset change just 'oh I think I'm more up for that right now'.

It's something I feel like people outside of me can look at and go 'yeah that's shifting' but I never once related to or connected to anything on shifting I read. The definitions themselves directly don't sound like what I'm experiencing.

Instead it's more to me like, as I find these bits of my identity, I'm always them. There's no change in that. It's just sometimes I'm more 'in the mood' to acknowledge that aspect of myself more. Like someone wanting to invest more time in their writing some days, and other days maybe wanting to be more into their drawing, or maybe this is the day they want to work out instead. Those are all hobbies the person has but they don't always put effort towards them at any time? No idea how good of an analogy that is.

Basically since I never feel like I'm looking through the word through a specific identities eyes, I can easily start to push them away from myself as maybe being too into an oc, or maybe having an imagination; but when that neoamata hits and reminds me of how much it feels like knowledge of apart of me; I can't just push that away. That feels like removing apart of myself not just some oc. Just then it turns into that oc is a way for me to interact with apart of myself but a bit separately. Or the imagination is me reliving or trying to even learn more about myself I haven't found yet. Like trying to fill in the pieces.

no idea if anything there makes sense from an outside perspective but I damn well tried.

[solokabuto]

So what are your Fate yuri rarepairs?

Thank you so much for asking!!! I treat fate women like immensely complicate barbie dolls i can roll around in my mind until they slot together in ways that make the deeply ill recovering catholic lesbian in me squeal so you may or may not notice some general themes, I’ll be including hcs and fic ideas in here because my brainrot is terrible rn so have fun with this:

Dobrynya Nikitich x Morgan Le Fay

Now this is largely due to the fact that i noticed similarities in them (white haired mothers that are more than they seem and definitely not who they seem with fucked up daughters that have pink hair and pent up rage) and admittedly I’m not in Tungsuka sanctuary so I don’t have a vantage point on Dobrynya’s personality like at all outside of adorable fanart but they seem like they’d be cute. They’re one of those couples that would largely only exist in au’s where Dobrynya runs the daycare that Morgan drops Baobhan at or something. And the entire story is just Baobhan being terrorized while Dobrynya and Morgan make out in the background.

Okita Souji x Nitocris

That moment when you (living vessel for your brother’s vengeance who immediately committed suicide upon fulfilling your goal due to perceiving the cold embrace of death as warmer than the cruel clutches of your fellow man) come across another girl (a hollow mockery of a human being born and bred to slaughter without a care who relates better to broken bones, sinew, and blood than she does to living beings and can kill her friends at a simple order)and link up (have intense homoerotic discussions about death dying and purpose) over tea and wine (cups of literal blood) and fuck nasty (memento memori style)

Olga Marie Animusphere x Ereshkigal

If you haven’t read Afterlife by nd7878 and you have any form of attachment to Olga or Ereshkigal or see the similarities between the two please read it, it’s amazing and I love it so much it fulfills my Olga Marie cravings very well. Anyways i think these two are cute, like super cute like insanely cute and I’d like to imagine Olga would bring out the more forward and irritable side of Ereshkigal and the two would clash in a way that’s still friendly. I dunno she’d make eresh more lively and make Olga feel more loved. I really love afterlife, please read it.

Jeanne D’ Arc x Barghest

I just think the idea of a woman who already sees herself as an offering, offering herself up to a worthy warrior who desperately wishes to stop destroying things she loves to be incredibly interesting. Especially because in my mind Jeanne would probably have little issue with letting Barghest eat her regularly as long as she recovers decently enough. They’re interesting i have fic ideas for them i think Jeanne would enjoy being devoured gruesomely. The knowledge of having a set place for your body to go rather than being burned and desecrated just to be tossed into the river and washed away. I am far too invested in Jeanne D’ Arc. A part of me thinks she would enjoy having something resembling a proper corpse since she was torched to ash and thrown into a river rather than properly being laid to rest. I have vivid images of their entire routine can you tell u have been plagued by yuri visions for far too long?

Baobhan Sith x Galatea

You know how popular girls in hs always have that one girl that isn’t popular or important or really much of anything to a majority of the student body that they don’t play about? Yeah that’s Galatea to her. They hit it off over sculpting because Baobhan has a general affinity for art that includes her love of fashion and eventually they become friends which is incredibly strange to Baobhan because she is deeply unused to being cared for and loved by anyone that isn’t her mother and even then the way she goes about it is very much not like her mother (it’s okay Morgan you tried sweetie). I just think it would be nice to see Galatea slowly help Baobhan build a healthy relationship with love, loving and being loved. They’d be cute. I also think Galatea would find having her blood sucked to be an interesting experience considering she probably finds the fact she has blood to be quite novel.

Merlin (Prototype) x Morgan Le Fay

With benefits. I don’t know what to call their relationship so they’re just with benefits. Morgan would just vent out her frustration on her while Merlin just takes it because why the hell not, being half-succubus has its perks. Additionally, she’d rely on Merlin to have a few moments of complete thoughtlessness and freedom from the stress and general fuckery of Faerie Britain by just allowing herself to fall for the effects of her beauty. Honestly it’s more so method of relaxation for Morgan then a genuine relationship but I think it’s interesting. They probably have insane conversations about the world that usually end in Morgan forcing her to shut up because she says something she doesn’t want to hear but isn’t untrue. Occasionally in moments of weakness Merlin will ask Morgan if she wants her to take her away to Avalon and leave this place for the faeries she hates so much, and Morgan will always refuse dispute herself.

[theratlivinginyourcouchcushions]

Equivalence AU Mabel ideas!

I wanted to experiment with God!zar(?) Mabel, bc I hadn’t seen any designs for it yet. I was also going to try drawing Mabel in her super-demon-y form, (which is apparently blinding white with abyss for eyes and tiny burning pupils) but was two invested in the outfit to really lean into it.

Now for some of my headcannons!

While drawing Mabel, I started thinking about her bird wings, and what kind of traits she might have similar to animals (like dipper and cats) and then it hit me. BIRDS.

An entire class of animals characterized by their ability to DEFY GRAVITY FOR HOURS TO DAYS AT A TIME. (And the ones that don’t are pretty cool too) and I got to thinking about how cool birds are, to achieve this through nothing but MILLIONS of years of evolution. (My thoughts on this are not very organized, but I hope you get the gist.) so anyway, what cool things do birds do, and wouldn’t it be cool if Mabel did them too?

Mating dance. Since it’s pretty much canon that Mizar is still alloromantic and allosexual, wouldn’t it be goofy if she would do a funky little dance when trying to ask people out? (She definitely did this for Henry as soon as she was corporeal for him)

Roosting. Basically making nests in high places out of things she likes, probably perches in it to preen her feathers. (I originally had a similar hc for Alcor, but whatever, they’re demons. But maybe he roosts like a bat instead:) )

Preening. She has a set of ridges under her lip (in front of her gums) for preening her feathers. Her loved ones have little tools to mimic them, and help her get hard-to-reach places. (She often falls asleep during this, similar to Dipper with his hair.)

Migration. I’m still not super organized with this one, but she might try to take off during the winter for long periods of time before coming back, or maybe just circling around to get out energy. Either that or she just tells people that she’s flying south for the winter when she doesn’t want to hang out with them. (This was also a hc meant for Dipper, but now I’m wondering if he tries to hibernate during winter.)

So those were my Equivalence AU headcannons, now for the design choices I made!

I talked a little bit about them at the start, but I still want to talk about it so, here we go!

The fashion was all based on @that-ghosts-art / @that-ghost-pal ‘s Mabel/Mizar designs, and I was very happy for the chance to test out different fashion styles, as well as the braid and shifting tattoos. (For the tattoos I just drew whatever I felt like at the time, and I added a scorpion barb at the end of the braid just for fun.) I added gold-tipped feathers to the wings, and some extra pink bits in her eyes (except for the angry one) I also gave her a crown instead of a top hat.

For God!zar(?) I tried to give her wings a more feather-y feeling than God!cor’s, and made the chest star more like her symbol on the cipher wheel. I muted the colors, and messed with her crown bc God!cor’s hat is a halo, and I didn’t want to copy that directly. I struggled with the hair color for a while before deciding to just bite the bullet, so please excuse any eye scorching color choices (It was originally planned for galaxy hair, but that was given to the wings, and I’m not great with overlapping colors)

Thanks for reading this far into my ramblings, and take a few moments to marvel at the existence of birds (and bats!)

Edit: I’m just now realizing that I forgot to draw the fire.

[excanadianbacon]

I’m gay for a raccoon and the raccoon is just as gay as me send help

Okay…

So, I understand “hopping on the gravy train” is kind of cliche, but I promise I have a good reason for it!

…I guess I should start ‘Rambling on about it’ then!

(I’m so sorry, none of these puns were intentional, but they were too good to miss)

—So, Indigo Park;

what even I would’ve expected was another quick cash-grab game in the mascot-horror genre, turned out to be a game that managed to make me start binge-watching livestreams and video-essays about the game, it’s characters and its development on the whole,

Just like every other millennial and gen-z’er out there.

I know it’s absolutely normal for people to become invested in something so quick…

But it’s been a long time since I’ve felt so attached —so spoken to,

especially when I haven’t really been part of those big ‘band-wagon’ trends at all,

at least with the exception of forcing myself to watch shows with my friends —which again, I don’t do much of that either.

From what I understand, there are technically multiple small factors that have led me to become attached to this game.

But frankly, there all of really part of the one major reason why there’s just, that, ‘something’ —a “spark” if you will—that makes me click with a game for the first time in so many years that it physically hurts.

He’s the star of the show, the elephant in the room:

Rambley;

A cute, furry-raccoon —who likes trains!

Now, as anyone who knows anything about me will tell you, these two factors are inherently weaknesses in my mental psyche.

Why, you may ask? It’s simple!

Firstly, —I too— like trains.

Also, I come from Toronto, Canada — a city famously (or to some infamously) known for its love-hate relationship with its unofficial mascot: the trash pandas! They’re an animal which I got to know well over 13 years, 10 months and ~15 1/2 hours of being a Torontonian.

—Which leads me to the second-half of the other reasons I resonate so god-damn hard with the game, and Rambley in particular:

Isolation

It felt quite funny that the number of days that poor-old AI racoony’ spent alone in the abandoned park was almost exactly double that of the days I’ve been a ‘Quasi-Canadian’ living in the United States, with not much interaction with my family back “home”. I had a single trip back for the first time in multiple years.

—It brang back a lot of memories which so happened to be similar to the ideas mentioned during Rambley’s post-chase exposition.

That little break in his character just made my heart literally melt and shatter and implode all at the same time;

“A little heart-to-heart” as they say, but just.. the way he breaks and talks like a true person, things he isn’t sure about, didn’t know, shouldn’t have done, is painfully, gushingly personal somehow!

It’s also extra cool when he gets excited about restoring the park, as being a former (small) volunteer and hearing about railway preservation stories, you start to realize and appreciate just how much having that other person helping you means when fighting in these “David and Goliath”-esque battles to keep old or unloved things going when everything is telling you it’s impossible.

(Side note, the extra lines where Rambley showcases his sentience and lets you into the staff-only area after realizing Mollie is chasing you made me love him just that much more, and is also what makes me feel the game is just that extra bit special.)

Long story short (TL;DR):

The honesty, personality, and just general likeness of the characters hits very close to home for me,

if for no other reason than that I happen to have (in concept at least) similar experiences in terms of feeling (though thankfully not literally being) isolated from friends.

Cheers, Critters!

—A.

[blade-that-was-broken]

I’m still stuck on your idea that John Dory is like influential enough to the pop genre of music composition and song writing that his work is analyzed in college level music composition and music theory classes. Cause it’s like one thing if every song he ever wrote is in the top of the charts but it’s another thing to get featured as a person of interest in a music composition class and it feeds so well into my theory that JD spent the 20 years he was traveling on Rhonda and not really working living off of royalties cause he could have been writing textbooks on song writing and shit. He could have been like contacted by colleges and asked to give Ted talks and guest lectures on how to blend multiple voices into a near perfect harmony.

John Dory is like the Lady Gaga of the troll world not in the sense like their music is remotely similar but because they both view music as art and are perfectionists with it. Because they hold their work to the highest standard and make sure it’s the highest possible quality. Which I think is like partially the root behind why JD went so perfectionist with the band in particular. Regardless of why it started and why it ended JD cared deeply that every aspect of their performances were revolutionary, were perfect. People compare jds perfectionism and demands of his brothers to velvets demands of vener and desire for fame. But they really could not be more different in reality because as their songs reveal JD cares about perfection he will not cut corners with his work with his performances. He wants his art to be 100% flawless and be a revolutionary work of art because he is an Artist and performance is his canvas. I don’t think that JD cares about being famous or making money beyond enough to support his family and invest in his art. Velvet is fundamentally different. She doesn’t care about the quality of her and veneirs work, doing any of it herself or her fans at all she just wants to be rich and famous.

Kinda getting off topic here but anyway I think JD would be delighted that people are analyzing his art and being inspired by it because he put hella work into it. Brozone was his passion project that combined his two favorite things his family and his art and he definitely loves his family more than his art and he doesn’t really care too much about hitting the perfect family harmony anymore beyond saving Floyd but I still really do think he is proud of the work he put into brozone despite hating the way it ended and would be so flattered that other are dissecting the meaning and depth behind his word choices and music composition. And I also think if the troll world had like Broadway JD would love musical theatre so much. Anyway this is my official take on why I see jd as a music/art/theater snob.

Thanks for coming to my ted talk

One: I love when people do the whole "thank for coming to my ted talk" it makes me laugh and I love to laugh.

Two: I think it would be so FUNNYYYYY. Even more so if John had absolutely ZERO clue about what was happening. There is SO much he could have done but like, naw, he's just gonna become a perpetual camper/survivalist and have virtually nothing to his name that HE knows of. Like, one of those famous rich hermits except he doesn't know he's famous or rich. I'm sorry, just way too funny.

I love the idea that JD puts so much thought and care and study/hardwork - along with his natural talent - into his music. Like, sure, it probably helps that he's naturally good at it but I think he really tries to do the best he can. And I think Brozone would be very limiting in certain areas. Like, yes, there is his whole blending of individual parts as a whole, harmonies, and group work. But Brozone is probably meant more for entertainment than much else. It's a performance. When he leaves and if he keeps writing, I think he'd expand in the things he does. Or whatever. I've got too many thoughts and feelings haha lol

OOOOHHHH I kinda like that thought. I don't know much about Lady Gaga or really listened to her music but I understand the perfectionism thing. I always used to say practice makes perfect (and more recently, practice makes progress) so I think I can understand the concept alright. I think it's so interesting people compare him to Velvet sometimes when honestly, they seem like polar opposites. Velvet doesn't want to work at all, she doesn't care for her craft, she doesn't want to practice, she has no talent or even tries to work up to having talent. JD on the other hand, worked too much, put everything into his craft and probably practiced too much. He's got the talent, sure, but he also WORKED for it too.

I think a part of him would be delighted because - HOW COOL - and a part of him would be like but... why??? I know people tend to see him as egotistical or whatever but I think he really loved what he did and he put a lot into it. Idk how much his family really cares about their music, especially anymore, but I think JD would still be proud of it and guess what? He should. It was popular and people liked it. He should be proud of what they accomplished, even if nearing the end things got out of control. it couldn't have always been that way.

Agreed. JD loves his family more than anything. I have a feeling he wouldn't have let 20 years pass if he knew they were alive. It's one of the lines in the movies (I found out you were still alive) that really hits me home for that. He was also the only one who came back soooo there is that too. And yeah! He literally straight up FORGOT about the Family Harmony until Floyd told him that was what was needed. And even after twenty years, he still whole heartedly believes in his brothers that they can do it (if we just practice a little) like that sweetie. Running on worry, adrenaline and lack of sleep, that dude just wants to save his brother.

AWWWW JD loving theatre would be so CUTE! Except I would love to see him both go to Broadway things and Children's plays. Like that would be funny! Here is this dude who goes to these serious broadway type shows but then he turns around and the next night he goes to some local kids Seussical or something.

I just love this so much haha

Okay also another thing...

Okay, I do think it would be funny if for those twenty years, what JD did for "work" was just sell the rights to songs he wrote on the road to other artists/trolls he came across. Like, as he is traveling and is writing different types of music, musicians be like dude this song is amazing and just my style and JD be like... I'll sell it/trade it for (insert whatever here). Like how funny? And then the radio is just flooded with songs that JD wrote, many of which people have NO idea he wrote.

Like could you imagine a song comes on the radio and Floyd being all like "I love this song!!"

And JD like oh yeah, I traded that song for a machete and two chickens. Awesome deal, I love my machete. Comes in handy.

Like could you imagine? I don't know why but I find the concept SO FUNNY

[madhatterbri]

Seven Minutes In Heaven | Luchasaurus

Summary: May I request Valentine's Day Prompt number 6 with Luchasaurus? please?

Going to a Valentines Day party as friends. Only as friends, of course, and nothing else. 😉

I'm using his real name here.

Requested by: @kcloveswrestling

"How are you feeling about that party tomorrow night?" Austin asked while watching you pack your gym gear. The two of you were just wrapping up at the gym. "You going?"

You raised an eyebrow in suspicion at your bag. This wasn't the first time he asked you this. In fact, for someone who seemed to like staying in, he was really interested in this Valentine's Day party. The party didn't sound like anything spectacular was going to happen. Just a bunch of adults with booze and chocolate. The latter was what had your attention. "It has chocolate and treats drizzled in chocolate. I'm in,"

All your gym belongings were packed in your duffel bag. He followed after you and continued to talk about this party. In all your years, you had never seen a guy so invested in a Valentine's Day party. The guy was special. At least he was to you.

"I wonder how the parking situation is going to be...," he drifted off once the two of you reached your car. You unlocked your trunk and threw your belongings inside.

"That's true. I don't think dinosaurs can drive very well. Need me to pick you up or something, Barney?" You teased and closed your trunk. He rolled his eyes at you yet smirked.

"Better driver than you," he pointed out, pointing at the dent from when you backed into a light pole. You were still sure it moved behind your car when you were backing up. It certainly moved when you hit it.

Austin picked you up as promised. The conversation was filled with flirtatious teasing. You were used to this banter at the gym, yet you could tell something was still off about him. He appeared nervous, but he wasn't one for social engagements. He parked by the house and led the way inside.

"Tis but a scratch," you interjected and kicked the dent with your foot.

"Dent is bigger than the crater the meteor caused when it wiped out the dinosaurs," he chuckled and took a few steps back. Your cheeks flushed, and you bit your bottom lip to stifle a laugh. Austin always knew how to make you laugh.

"Fine, if it gets you to stop insulting me, you can pick me up," you agreed. Not a lot of drinks, but you had planned on drinking. At least if Austin was driving, you wouldn't get into any trouble with any more light poles.

The house had balloons floating in the air and laying on the floor. Tables of different sizes had an assortment of treats. Pink, red, and white hearts were taped to the wall around the house. Your friend was happy that you two came together. Perhaps a little too happy for your liking.

"Let's spin that bottle then to decide. Youngest goes first," your friend finished her third bottle of beer. She placed the bottle on the living room table. Everyone wanting to participate gathered around in a circle, including you. Your friend peered between you and Austin. "Go ahead, Y/N. Spin it so we can see who you are gonna be locking lips with,"

Cheesy games were played, and you found yourself rather enjoying them. Austin seemed to lighten up with a couple rounds of bingo. He even won a few times. His relaxed demeanor was altered when someone suggested 7 minutes in heaven.

After your friend looked between you and Austin, she happily agreed to the change in games. With no hat lying around, she had a different idea to choose the first pair for the game.

You grabbed the bottle and spun it. You hoped it landed on your friend. Whatever plan she was hatching in her mind would be squashed then. Round and round the bottle went until it slowed to a stop. To your shock, it landed on Austin. Your cheeks flushed. He was your friend, but the heckling to come was going to be mortifying.

Your friends thought you and Austin had something going on. Your similarities between each other were uncanny. The way you two would follow each other and constantly hang out. You thought he liked you too, but he never initiated anything and you were too scared to lose him.

"We don't have to," Austin started but the hostess interjected.

"Of course you do. It's the rules. Y/N, get your ass in there. Don't get too cozy," she winked at you.

You stood up and walked to the closet with Austin quickly behind you. Once the door closed, the darkness engulfed them. The only light came from the space at the bottom of the door. The muffled chants of kiss came from the living room.

"We don't have to do anything if you don't want to," Austin offered. You smiled at his concern. He was always so worried about you. It was chivalrous to note if you didn't want to. A sudden realization hit you.

"If I don't want to? Does that mean you want to? To kiss?" You asked in shock. Austin shuffled his feet. You couldn't see his face but you were happy that he couldn't see you. Your face felt hot. Your stomach had butterflies. You were sure he could hear your heart pounding.

"I have for a while, yeah, if you want to, I mean, but we still don't have to just because I want to," he rambled on. His cool demeanor lost the moment he stepped inside the closet with you. He rubbed his hand on the back of his neck. This was the first time either side ever felt nervous around the other. You knew you had to take control.

You took the first step towards him. Despite the dark, you could see the silhouette of him. The silence was killed by your friends. They giggled outside the door. A couple of "finally" was spoken. He leaned in to you and shared a kiss. The kiss was sweet and simple.

The door quickly opened. The light from the other room shined like you were being interviewed by the police. Eyes watched your every move. You stopped kissing him quickly with the hopes that they would lighten up on the teasing. Austin placed his hand around your waist and pulled you close. Your head rested against his chest. He would always protect you.

"Seven minutes does it again. Came in as idiots in love and now well... not much changed," your friend shrugged with another beer in her hand.

"If we have seven minutes in here, then I think we have a couple more minutes," you pointed out and closed the door in their face.

[inventors-fair]

NPC Commentary: Notably Nameless

As much as I make a big deal out of not knowing all these references, it's honestly the things I most look forward to about these kinds of contests. Everyone bringing their own take on their favorite properties like dishes to a potluck is a delight to watch every time. Sure, some designs can be more resonant with some knowledge of the source material, but it's just as often that something that I've never even heard of before catches my eye.

Naturally there was no shortage of media from all over the spectrum this week. I am impressed just how much of variety of designs we had across the board, however. The difficulty with designing nonlegendary creatures designed to stand out is that there's often far less room to work with in making them unique. That's only amplified when you get into designing for Universes Beyond, as there's often much less to base their abilities off of than with named or prominent characters. Even still, you all performed wonderfully this week, and I think that deserves to be highlighted.

But enough of that, let's get into the meat of this.

@aethernalstars — Kandra from the Mistborn series

Well, this certainly goes about cloning in an unusual way. We've seen something somewhat similar with the most recent iteration of Lazav, but the restriction to only stealing cards the turn they hit the yard is a fun twist. That said, I'm concerned the initial payment is just way too high here. 4 mana for a 0/2 is a miserable rate, and then you need to invest at minimum 5 more mana before this actually gets to copy anything. A reduction in the numbers somewhere is probably warranted, and I would say you're better off cranking down the initial mana cost, given that the second ability doubles as protection. Also, I don't know if this is intentional or not, but given the current wording doesn't retain the ability to exile cards between transformations, its "pool" of transformations is essentially fixed the moment it decides to commit. It's an extremely interesting idea, but the current iteration unfortunately is a bit on the clunky side.

~

@bergdg — Roughs Tough from the Mistborn series

Whew, this one's an absolute house—design-wise and appearance-wise. A trampler with reasonable stats that consistently grows is already pretty scary, but a potential fight every single turn—even at instant speed—catapults this straight from "scary" to "terrifying." The ease of sacrificing an artifact varies pretty wildly from set to set, of course, but with the ever-presentness of treasure I can't imagine it would be too difficult in a limited environment. Despite not knowing the source material, I've got to say the flavor is very cool, though. Artifact sacrifice is an interesting pair with a rough-and-tumble collection of gangsters, but it also feels very natural. It's got me interested to see more of the organization to be sure.

~

@dimestoretajic — Dragon Slime from the Dragon Quest series

Aw, little guy! A pretty simple design all-around, but there's plenty of small details that catch my eye. I do like the use of red's often unused domain of ice and snow, although I'm not sure just having ice-related powers with no wintry visual theming qualifies this as being a snow creature. The classification is a little on the arbitrary side at the best of times, but that's one part that's fairly consistent. It's kind of funny that it can copy itself—an ability extremely common among Magic's various Oozes—and yet have it flavored as something different. Not questioning your decision on the flavor, just a fun parallel. It's an odd pair with firebreathing, though; that's one of the few abilities that doesn't improve with more copies. If anything the copy ability seems like it would play more like protection—if it's ever threatened, it can just make another in response.

@evscfa1 — Tonberry from the Final Fantasy series

And the award for Scariest Creature to Revive with Alesha goes to! This is an odd one, though. We haven't seen much design space explored with self-stunning yet, and this is certainly a very extreme example of it. While Sleep-Cursed Faerie was just an extremely efficient beater once it finally untapped, this one seems more likely to have opponents quaking in fear of when it finally gets to attack. I like the dynamic created by the fact that this gets to swing every turn once it sloughs off the counters. It really does feel like it's looming and slowly approaching, which I assume was the intention. The ability to choose the nastiest ability for the situation is also pretty delightful, though I do worry that the half life mode is notably more weak than the other two, while the hand attack is much stronger. While they're all reasonable if you played fair and waited four turns, there's plenty of ways to not play fair with this thing, and a full discard too early in the game is potentially ruinous. The sacrifice mode feels a bit redundant as far as your opponent is concerned, because blocking also usually loses them a creature of their choice.

@horsecrash — Nac Mac Feegle from the Discworld series

Certainly wouldn't want to see a horde of these surly fellows bearing down on me, though the faerie type could mean it's less of a horde and more of a swarm. I'm always happy to see more exploration of the design possibilities of squad, and this feels like a great fit. Besides the value that squad always brings, it allows you to hit the condition of three opponents attacked using fewer cards, which is smart. I do worry that it's a bit all-or-nothing, though. Their low toughness means that the gap between having indestructible and not is pretty gargantuan. Indestructible feels a bit out of character for monored, as well, and I think that first strike with an accompanying power budget increase could accomplish something similar. As an aside, the reminder text of melee implies a slightly different wording for abilities that scale based on how many opponents you attack. There's no reason to assume your wording wouldn't also work, but it's something to keep in mind.

~

@hypexion — Replicator Drone from the Stargate series

It does exactly what is says on the tin. Replicate on permanent spells is still largely unexplored, and while Squad fulfills more or less the same role minus some edge cases, I can understand doing it for the flavor. This one's really hard to judge in a vacuum, though. The first question is how hard it is to sacrifice two artifacts, which you have to do at least once if you want to get your mana's worth, and that largely depends on the density of artifact tokens or artifacts that want to be sacrificed. More than that, the question is if you're likely to have the tools to take advantage of a bunch of vanilla artifact creatures. Even outside of a specific limited environment, this one strikes me as a card that's absolutely dependent on other cards to synergize with it, which can be a pretty sharp turn-off.

~

@insect-glaive — Medium Blocker from Destiny 2

Well, it's definitely a blocker, no doubt about that. I assume Taken is the name of the race, but without any context on the source material I'm a bit dubious of Blocker as a creature type. Be careful with this wording, though: anti-sacrifice effects against your opponents such as Angel of Jubilation prevent permanents from being sacrificed to pay costs or cast spells, and defensive ones such as Tajuru Preserver prevent you from being forced to sacrifice permanents by your opponents. This does both, meaning that while your opponents can't crack their fetchlands, they're also completely immune to Fleshbag Marauder or similar effects. Uniquely, this also prevents opponents from having to sacrifice permanents to their own effects, which is potentially an outright benefit for them.

~

@jestingmaniac — Jabba's Hunter from the Star Wars series

We've seen a smattering of bounty counters over the years, and this fits right in. Plus, he high prominence of bounty hunters in Star Wars—including two of the main characters of the original trilogy—means I could easily see it promoted into a full archetype in a hypothetical set. In that hypothetical set, though, I'd worry that triggering on any bounty might be a bit too much for a common. You could have it grant the bounty reward alongside the counter in a similar vein to Mathas, but that might constitute an increase in complexity that would necessitate a bump to uncommon anyway. The flavor also feels just barely not quite there. The variety of bounty hunters I've seen from the series are a hugely varied group, so I think the card actually ends up being slightly too generic. A bit of flavor text could go a long way, I feel.

~

@just--a--penguin — Umbrella Waddle Dee from the Kirby series

Who gave this little guy all of this power? My understanding of the Kirby series is that the Waddle Dees are essentially just cannon fodder, so a statline as bulky as 3/3 is a bit surprising. While it's more in black's wheelhouse, green has flirted with above-rate creatures with downsides before. Granting flying is a good pick, too, as it's a form of evasion you're less likely to have a meaningful way to deal with. That said, I think this might be a bit too efficient with the downside only kicking in if it dies. Which is to say, if it never dies, which is perfectly feasible in a color like green, you've got a powerful, low-investment beater at common. Also, while this is dampened by your opponent getting to choose exactly where the counter goes, it can actually end up being a boon depending on the limited environment. It's mandatory, so your opponent is forced to make one of their creatures suddenly vulnerable to Plummet or similar cards. Touching on the flavor for a second, I imagine the flying counter is meant to signify Kirby gaining its ability, and you could reflavor it as just a creature picking up the umbrella. That said, it strikes me as a bit odd that it ends up with flying when the Dee itself only has reach. Maybe the other creature is just better at using the umbrella?

~

@mildewpyre — Rain Deer from Rain World

What on earth is going on in Rain World? Well, not on Earth, I suppose. At any rate, this curious specimen offers some pretty hefty protection to whatever wants it. It's reminiscent of the series of white and blue fliers that grant flying to something else on attack, but in a much more dramatic fashion. The vigilance combined with triggering on block is interesting too, as odds are you'll be granting the protection to a different creature on block than on attack. Given that protection, though, I do question to comically high toughness number. While I'm sure toughness matters decks appreciate it, given nothing on the board can damage it anyway, it's really only protecting from damage-based removal, which struggles to kill creatures past 5 or 6 toughness anyway. It's very fair, though. High casting cost plus low power means this needs to find something powerful to enable before it's a real offensive threat, which feels very green.

~

@misterstingyjack — Oberon's Attendant from A Midsummer Night's Dream

Here we have the only submission taken from a play, and from a true blue classic at that. Magic's no stranger to faerie courts, though, and I think that leaves this feeling a bit unfortunately generic. That's not your fault, of course—it's just that so much of Magic's faeries are taken from either the same sources as A Midsummer Night's Dream, or just directly from the play itself, that as a Universes Beyond card it doesn't have much to set itself apart. The gameplay, too, is definitely interesting and unique, but also nothing that couldn't work in existing magic settings. In particular, while we don't see them much nowadays, Dominarian faeries are primarily green and blue, and we've even recently seen a legendary faerie in those colors who deals in auras—that's Ivy, Gleeful Spellthief for reference. But enough of my bellyaching, let's dig into the meat of this card. Four faeries is quite the ask, especially on a card that does nothing to increase that number, but that's quite the reward. An almost debilitating level of tempo that pairs extremely well with both green's assortment of buffing auras as well as blue's assortment of debilitating ones. It might be a bit on the strong side as-is, but I'd be very interested to see more of it.

~

@nine-effing-hells — Chest Burster from the Alien series

Ah yes, finally, the Alien Alien. I do want to take a second to say that emerge is such a natural fit for the xenomorph's signature parasitism that I genuinely couldn't think of a better way to do it. Asking to emerge from something specific is a great evolution of the mechanic, and picking Human as a nod to one of the most iconic scenes from the first movie is great. I do think the emerge cost could stand to be a bit lower, though. While I'm not the most knowledgeable on how to balance emerge, and 5 life is undeniably a sizable chunk, humans aren't really known for their high mana values. Having to pay that much up-front for a body that's nothing impressive is a bit of a hard sell.

~

@party-in-the-ipa — Bladefish from Dungeon Meshi

First and foremost, I would advise you to be careful with hybrid costs. While it's been shown that you're allowed to bend the rules a bit, hybrid card crucially have to be something either color would reasonable be capable of doing on their own. Black fits just fine here, as they're not strangers to powerful creatures with downsides, and though flash is a bit uncommon in the color, it's hardly unheard of. Blue, on the other hand, just does not get creatures this aggressive or efficient, especially not at this low of a mana cost. Beyond that, this card's just really, really strong. 3 power that early in the game means it can trade with just about anything while simultaneously applying huge pressure on your opponent, which the downside isn't nearly enough to make up for. If it manages to connect even once, the most the death trigger can do is even the loss out, and they still have to spend a card to get rid of it. Even beyond early aggression, flash allows this to play as a surprise blocker that hits way above its weight class. It's not all bad, though. I love the life gain on death being flavored as, well, flavor. Hopefully Shock doesn't add too much of an aftertaste.

~

@real-aspen-hours — Adaptive Xenomorph from the Alien series

Great minds clearly think alike, because this is improbably the second xenomorph with emerge submitted. This one also zeroes in on the relatively unexplored design space of the characteristics of the sacrificed creature mattering, though this does it in a much less specific way. This is a bit beyond my ken, but from what I gathered, the xenomorphs supposedly emulate whatever they parasitize, which this does demonstrate well. That said, these kinds of keyword inheritance effects work best when they're able to gather keywords from multiple sources, which emerge inherently stymies by only allowing a single sacrifice. Besides the admittedly very cute interaction of converting temporary buffs into permanent counters, you're often trading a card in hand for a slightly larger body and menace. I could see that being an attractive option in some situations, but it seems a bit more finnicky than previous cards with emerge we've seen.

~

@reaperfromtheabyss — Hideous Zippleback from the How to Train Your Dragon series

Don't be mean to the poor thing, surely it can't be that bad. Although based on that ETB, they might be on the right track. This beastie would be right at home in Shadowmoor block, at least. The two abilities make for a very effective one-two punch, which according your submission is supposed to be the breath of each of its two heads. That's clever, and it's also really strong. The fact that it blankets counters across the entire board and has evasion means that as soon as summoning sickness wears off, it's essentially free to pick off the enemies piece by piece. While I get the reasoning behind allowing it to target creatures with any kind of counter—presumably to make it a bit more versatile and prevent it from being pigeonholed into strictly -1/-1 counter strategies—I'm not sure it ends up playing all that well. Principally, the most common type of counters are +1/+1 counters, which will often push creatures out of range of the damage, severely gimping the zippleback's effectiveness.

~

@snugz — Mettaur from the Mega Man series

This is about as simple as it gets, so I'm afraid I genuinely don't have much to say about it. It's functional, and as far as I can tell the stats versus cost for that effect are about right. But in a contest all about marrying design and flavor, I'm afraid I just don't get much of anything here. If anything, wouldn't an enemy that retreats behind a shield (or under a helmet, in this case) have an effect to make itself temporarily indestructible rather than a shield counter?

~

@squeezyboi — Life Model Decoy from Marvel Comics

We've seen clones that double as removal for the original before, but all of those are either more expensive to cast or more difficult to use, so this ends up feeling a bit too strong. While scrubbing legendary-ness feels appropriate for a decoy, the fact that this is best used offensively feels a bit off. Admittedly I don't know the source material, but "decoy" implies that the person is being replaced for their own safety, which lends itself more to copying your own creatures. That would also allow it to be a fair bit cheaper, as copying strictly your own creatures is a step down. But, I'm rambling. Point is, this is a really interesting take on a clone that I can see a clear flavor direction behind, but it's just not quite there in a number of aspects.

~

@stupidstupidratcreatures — Nurse Joy from the Pokémon series

There sure are a lot of Nurse Joys, huh? These kind of effects are always fascinating to me, challenging you with an extremely strict timing restriction to try and wring the maximum possible value out of them. There's surprisingly few of these effects that return to hand rather than the battlefield, too, and the hilariously specific restriction is a great nod to the source material. As far as gameplay goes, while you're unlikely to return the full six on average, I'd imagine you're still perfectly happy if this grabs back two or three. Plus, the flash means this can be leveraged both as an offensive option to recover sacrificed resources and as a defensive one to rebuild after a wipe. It's also far less likely to break the game than Second Sunrise and its sibling, which is always a plus. This was a strong contender for the winner's circle that just barely got edged out, but don't go thinking for a second that it's not great.

~

@tavi-en-astra — The Apathy from RWBY

A horrifying sight, to be sure, not least because of how effective this is at slowing the game down. That certainly fits something called "The Apathy" like a glove, though I can't say I'm particularly happy about it. The decision to give it 1 toughness is smart, just because its toughness is in practice far higher than whatever is printed on the card. The squad cost does strike me as far too low here, though. The lowest mana cost for squad we've seen so far is 2, and given how good the returns are on multiples of these, I would say 2 at minimum would be more than justified. The effect being split across multiple bodies also makes removing it with anything short of a boardwipe a pain, which is even more of an issue when the decks that would struggle against this the most are unlikely to be packing many boardwipes for fear of hitting their own guys.

~

@thetabbybadger — Treasured Nug from the Dragon Age series

As much as I want to love this adorable little guy, and believe me, I do, I think it's unfortunately just too weak. With its starting stats, you'd have to sacrifice two Foods a turn just to give it a reasonable statline, which is likely unfeasible. Also, I'm not sure if this is intentional or not, but the effect excludes any nontoken Foods like Three Bowls of Porridge, which feels like an unnecessary restriction even if the trigger was stronger. A better baseline stat spread and/or changing the trigger to give counters would help a lot. I do love the direction here, though! Tacking a bit of life onto every food sacrifice is a great way to play into what foods already do.

~

@walker-of-the-yellow-path — Imperfect Swordsmachine from Ultrakill

Blood tokens serve as a great companion for Ultrakill's bloodthirsty robots, but that also highlights a sore point of missed potential. From my knowledge of the game, these robots are quite literally fueled by blood, which presents a perfect opportunity to explore how creatures can interact with blood tokens, and simply making on one hit doesn't quite accomplish that. It's a perfectly good card, if a bit on the weak side—especially for a creature that wants to wade into combat as often as possible—but making a creature designed to fill in the gaps of the world rather than sell it feels like a bit of a lowball.

~

Thank you once again for all your entries! @spooky-bard

[toxicanonymity]

Do you ever struggle with feelings of discouragement or inadequacy if your fics don’t do as well as you had hoped?

I’m struggling with that myself. I try not to get so hung up on it but it’s very hard, especially when something I’m so proud of doesn’t do as well as my other works.

I don’t even feel motivated to write bc I don’t wanna set myself up for disappointment

Discouragement, sure, I think that's natural sometimes. But I really don't feel like stats have anything to do with adequacy. Baring my soul, yuck. But fuck it we ball. Sorry it's a long answer.

I don't think I've ever answered a serious ask aside from the time i created Dr. rock which hardly counts but I've seen a lot of people struggling with this lately and hope this might be idk comforting to a person or two without leading to debate/discourse.

You mentioned something you're proud of isn't doing as well as your other works, and I can see how that would be disappointing. For laughs, I'll compare 2 of mine. These fics are impossible to compare (as are most, I think) but I def understand the urge to measure yourself against what you see as the potential. Aches: <1k popular trope I banged out in no time, wasn't sure about it, literally thought "people don't have to like it" before I hit post. >4 notes per word. Left in Lincoln: >22k posted so far, challenging, writing it for months. Has possibly driven me crazy bc I had this passing thought the other day and not about TLOU. (I didn't feel like re-reading it all): "I should just rewatch the movie. . .wait." 🤡 The whole Lincoln series combined has fewer notes than Aches lmao. But it's far more rewarding in getting to see it come to life, quality of engagement, and stretching myself 😏. It's not for everyone, for various reasons. Surely would have better stats without the twist I went with. But at what cost??

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Often, if people don't read or like something, it's a reflection of their own interests, limitations, and assumptions. And the right "fit."

I don't rly read much in general, but specifically, I rarely read long stuff (if I do I prob scan a lot tbh). I normally only want, if any, just enough plot/premise to build sexual tension. I don't read fluff or angst. I don't have the attention span / commitment to get invested in original characters. I tend to avoid stuff similar to what I'm working on. I make assumptions - If there's no word count, maybe it's too long. I know a lot of the fics I skip for these reasons must be fantastic. Assumptions I experience - I've seen very popular fics in the wild that strike me as dark, creepy, or pervy but aren't tagged that way. So some things that are tagged dark, etc., including plenty of mine, might not be dark in the way people assume based on their own ideas, or based on what others do tag. Also some people think I only write dark when sometimes it's just horny (see master list).

I've sometimes found myself thinking "It sucks more people don't read this bc i bet they would enjoy it" (not just my own fics). It might sound egotistical but I think it's often true.

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Of course I want engagement because that means more people reading something which can mean more interaction, discussion, learning what you liked, what you think, etc. that's what I love.

But notes aren't rly near the top of what I care about, even though it does feel great to get them and I truly appreciate every single one.

Night walks doesn't get nearly as many notes as some of my other stuff, especially these days, but it's fun to write and I like to feed his feral fans who only get more into him with time. Same with raider: among those who do read and engage, I sense rising enthusiasm, thirst, and rate of falling in love with him (my bad). That's all worth more than 1000 likes to me. I have a good time writing these guys, so I write them more than other ones that get way more notes 🤷. I'm not saying notes don't matter at all, I know they affect exposure and engagement. But if just did what gets notes, I don't think I'd have such high quality engagement bc I'd just bang out more stuff with the most popular tropes instead of our fave Joels and those destined to become our faves bc they offer something special.

My outlook was the same before I had so many followers btw. Rock Bottom (22k) was what I felt like writing, still more ambitious than anything I've done in the Halloween fandom. I was disappointed it got way less attention than my one shots, but I know it's a banger, just certainly not for everyone lol.

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I'm sorry for what you're experiencing and feeling, but I think it's very common and hope you can reframe it to not feel inadequate. I especially hope it doesn't discourage you from writing. ❤️

[tayloralisonswift]

i'm so glad that that was your reaction to the clip. whew. thank you. your faberry fic-reading backstory is incredible. there was important scientific research to be done!

okay, so. i think ttpd is mostly quite bad. however. i have a friend who likes it a lot so i have listened to it a couple of times and it has grown on me a bit from repeated exposure. that being said, i cannot be bothered to do anything other than the most surface-level analysis when it comes to reading the songs as gay, which seems to be similar to your approach. high five!

my boy only breaks his favorite toys - is that one gay because he was her best friend and she felt more when they played pretend than with all the kens? see, it's so annoying with this album because there are male pronouns everywhere. sure, i can ignore them but it's annoying that i have to do so. down bad - yep, gay alien song, love that. i have no idea what or where the imaginary rings are. sorry to this song. yes, florida!!! has beautiful dolls and also florence welch and they looked extremely gay performing that one live. when i first saw 'bdilh is gay' in your message, i was like, 'what on earth is bdilh', so that probably gives an indication of how much i think about song. i get how some might argue that this one is gay but the matty healyness of it all is just exhausting. imgonnagetyouback might lowkey be the gayest song on this album? she sings to someone she describes as bubbly and pulls them into a closet? does anyone describe men as bubbly? i very much enjoyed your reading of i look in people's windows the other day, though!

anyway, this has all made me even more grateful for lover. it was so easy with her. i could say something gay about 17 out of 18 songs. those were the days.

yeah so i call my boy only breaks gay for a few reasons. 1. i like it so i want it to be <3. 2. best friend mention always drives me insane 3. the thing about the kens mirrors hits different - i've never cared about how men hurt me but YOU are different! to me that's very queer.

google says "wearing imaginary rings" is from fresh out the slammer, a song that my beloved meredith loves so i try not to insult, but having to google it will tell you how invested i am.

florida!!!'s performance was sooooo gay for a moment i had an out-of-body experience where i saw myself not as myself but as someone who loves ttpd. for that performance alone i was like maybe i can be that person. what would it be like to be them. and then i came back to earth.

completely agree on bdilh. it's about matty, unfortunately. it just is, and we all have to live in a post-but daddy i love him world. it's a cruel world, but we must face it nonetheless.

i only listened to imgonnagetyouback fairly recently (i didn't like the coincidental copying of get him back!) and when i heard the closet line i screeched. i agree, that's the most explicitly queer thing about the album. peter, too, references closets in a way that makes me wanna be sick. (paused answering this to write my insane peter take that i've just posted.)

it was SOOOOOOOO easy with lover, oh my god. reputation too. she was handing it to us on a platter.

[leofrith]

[20 Question Fic Writer Tag]

Tagged by @aeide and @ainulindaelynn 💖 I did this one a few months ago but a few answers have changed since then so I'll update those. 😊

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

Six now! Four one-shots, a short-ish multi-chapter which was supposed to be a one-shot that got away from me, and my longfic which at this point I should have just waited to post but am definitely still chipping away at.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

33,030 which is almost double my count from a few months ago. Woaaaaaaaaahhhh

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Still Assassin's Creed, now dipping into Baldur's Gate 3 as well.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Still the same five fics in the same order but with slightly different numbers:

Hideaway - 149

Bright Skies - 139

Press On, Move Along - 94

Out of the Cold - 43

Honor Bound - 29

5. Do you respond to comments?

Yes! Always.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Still Press On, Move Along.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Still Hideaway.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Still hate-free, for now.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Sure do 💀 and I've posted some of it since the last time I did this. I think the only way I can really describe it is emotionally-charged, because if I'm going to horny jail it will at the very least be in service of some kind of character development. 😭

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Still occasionally poke away at the AC x Star Wars AU, but I'm not super invested in it right now. But I'm sure that will change as soon as a new Star Wars thing comes out. Since I last did this I also went digging through the depths of my writing folder and found a Walking Dead x MCU crossover that I must have started when I was like 14 years old. Absolute fucking horror show that I am so very thankful I never wrote enough to post. 🤡

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Still no, as far as I'm aware.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No, except for yelling back and forth about ideas with friends. I would probably be open to it but also maybe not because I know I am extremely unreliable.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

Saying "all-time" favourite feels a bit much, but as far as mental real estate and also just sheer number of words written, Leovor far surpasses any other ship I've been into. 🧍🏻‍♀️

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Since I did that ask game a few weeks ago, the Inquisitor Ahsoka/Rex starting a clone rebellion/post TCW AU has been on my mind. But I know that, realistically speaking, I'm unlikely to ever be invested enough to actually sit down and write it.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I'm trying to make a point to read more fiction and while it's possible that the few books I've read thus far lately just haven't been particularly good, it's certainly made me way more confident in my ability to write dialogue that feels like it would be spoken by real live humans and not aliens pretending to be humans. Similar deal with internal monologues. I'm convinced that none of these authors read their work aloud.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Still generally the same—overthinking comma usage, editing while I write and therefore being very slow, going back and forth between being stuck because I didn't plan enough and feeling stifled because I planned too much. Etc etc.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I try to avoid it as much as possible, with the exception being words or phrases that are used a lot in canon.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Still Marvel :(

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

Honor Bound is still my baby, but I didn't expect to actually like A Different Kind of Solace as much as I do, mostly because I didn't really go into writing it expecting to hit the emotional notes that it does. Also still Out of the Cold. There are some banger lines there.

Not tagging anyone because this one has gone around a few times recently but if you want to do it, you're welcome to pretend I tagged you. 😌