#i'm ignoring prototype 2 because... because i can that's why

[silvexus]

Thinking about how fandom tends to forget that powerful characters can be... gentle, yes, but also they can be a little pathetic. Specifically, Alex Mercer from Prototype. Yeah, he’s absurdly strong physically, but emotionally he’s a mess. He has no sense of internal purpose other than Find Information and Do Whatever Someone (Usually a Woman; Usually Dana) Tells Him To Do. The only thing he really has his own initiative for is hunting down Karen Parker after her betrayal and taking the FIREBREAK nuke out over the Atlantic. There’s really a solid chance that the more people and information he collects, he’ll eventually end up like WOPR’s series of tic-tac-toe games and just become paralysed because every move he could potentially make could bring Blackwatch back down on him and his sister. He’s the most power individual on the planet except maybe PARIAH and that means nothing because power means nothing when you are physically outnumbered. Maybe he has nothing to fear personally, but everyone around him? Vulnerable. And no one is strong enough for that. Not even ZEUS. Really. What could be worse than that? What could be better?

[tagsecretsanta]

From @sofasurf

From @sofasurf to @janetm74

My prompts were:

1. Steam.

2. Stripes/striped.

3. ‘Did you have to?'

I think I've managed it!!

DINER 

"Yellow car no hit backs!" 

The sounds of a scuffle and indignant squawks. John's tone held a warning, "So help me Gordon, if you lay a  hand on me!" 

"Na ah! No hit backs allowed!" 

"Oh I won't hit you." 

There was silence in the car as the other four contemplated John's words. 

"Man, you have zero chill," Gordon huffed turning to look out the window while Alan sniggered. In the front seat  Virgil and Scott exchanged amused grins. 

"Remind me again why this was a good idea?" 

"Because, Johnno, we have a few days off for Christmas and Alan has never been on a proper road trip." Scott  accelerated round a corner causing Virgil to grab at the handles. 

"Car not One, Scott! Car not One!" 

Scott ignored him catching Alan's eye in the mirror and winking. Of his brothers, Alan was the one who shared  his appreciation for speed. The mountain side whipped past on either side of them. "The point of a road trip is  to enjoy the scenery not travel back in time." Virgil complained while Scott pretended he hadn't heard him 

It wasn't often they indulged in frivolous perks of wealth. When Scott had mentioned their road trip plans to a  friend, who happened to also be the CEO of Ferrari, the offer to test drive the new SUV prototype had been  more than the speed freak Scott could resist. It was big enough for all five of the brothers to travel in comfort,  though Scott had yet to relinquish the front seat to test that theory. 

"Right well, remind me again why I agreed to come!" John was prepared to be pedantic. Close proximity to  Gordon occasionally had the effect. 

"Ah, Johnny, Johnny," Gordon draped his arm over his brother's shoulder. 

"Don't call me that, Fishface!" 

"Jonathan, Jonathan," Gordon ignored the daggers shot his way, "It''s because you love us and because we  promised we'd stop off at that new lab so you can talk all geeky about geeky stuff while the rest of us normal  humans go Christmas shopping." 

There were sounds of a scuffle from the backseat. It was all in jest however, everyone was in good form and  beginning to unwind though, perhaps they were due a break from the confines of the car. Scott caught John's  eye this time waggling his eyebrows. 

"Now kids, don't make me stop this car." 

He then performed another stunning manoeuvre that Virgil felt was more fitting for the air than the asphalt.  However, his older brother was, it appeared, genuinely enjoying himself and Virgil would put up with breaking  the land speed record for that reason alone. 

"I'm hungry." Alan peered longingly into his long finished bag of Doritos.

"Eos recommended a dinner just through the next town. It's about 30 minutes from tonight's stop. She says  their page is down, weird, but that she thinks it seems our kinda spot." John peered at his tablet. 

"She was right about the motel last night so that works." Scott agreed and the state of the art central console  pinged as John sent the location through. Scott glanced at the display, "Just an hour further on. Can you wait  that long, Allie?" He caught his baby brother's eye again, meaning clear. 

Alan put on his best whining voice, "I don't think I can Scotty. I'm starving. I feel faint." 

"Did you have to? Brat!" Virgil chocked out as Scott pulled even more power from the engine. His whoop of  delight brought a smile to the faces of the others in the car. 

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A much shorter time than it should have been; the five brothers had selected a quiet corner booth of the small  diner. It wasn't busy which suited them well. It had some twinkly lights, a small tree and upbeat Christmas tunes  playing softly in the background.  

John and Gordon made for the restrooms while Scott slipped into the corner and flopped opposite Virgil, all  long relaxed limbs. He spread his arms along the back of the seat and let his head fall back against the  surprisingly comfortable cushioning on the booth; just the right height for him.  

Alan, as always drawn to Scott like a moth to flame slid into the space below his eldest brother's outstretched  arm. He said something that made Scott laugh, and Virgil's heart warmed at both Alan's obvious delight in his  hero's response and how chilled Scott appeared. Should nothing else happen on this trip, Virgil would consider  it a hit for that reason alone.  

"Right, I'm starving!" Scott reached for the menus left for them by the waitress. Virgil and Alan followed suit.  Each took one and read in silence a moment. 

"Um, guys?" Alan had turned to the middle page and was staring at the menu. 

"Hmmm?" Virgil was still reading through the appetizers. 

"Scott, look!" Alan dug his eldest brother in the ribs. Scott followed the teen's outstretched finger and his eyes  widened and he immediately flicked his menu to the centre. Virgil did the same.  

‘Thunderbird Specials’ the centre section of the menu had hand drawn pictures of the Thunderbirds One  through Four and a slightly inaccurate representation of Five. Each had corresponding dishes.  

In a rush? Thunderbird One steak burger with fries and our unique hot sauce. 

More time to chew? Thunderbird two- tomahawk steak – great for sharing 

Thunderbird Four our famous surf and turf. Fillet mignon and our locally sourced fresh organic prawns. All day breakfast with our mouthwatering Thunderbird Five pancake stack and creamy asteroid milkshake Thunderbird Three our unique coffee triple expresso. They don’t call it rocket fuel for nothing! “Eos set us up!” Alan exclaimed. 

Scott and Virgil exchanged looks, “It would appear so!” Virgil said while Scott flipped further through the menu  looking for an explanation. 

John and Gordon returned at that moment- Gordon bouncing excitedly on his heels. “Guys, you are never  gonna believe this.” 

“Eos set us up,” Alan repeated lifting the menu to show them. Scott batted it down, checking over his shoulder.  “Don't draw attention!” Virgil whispered as the teen giggled a little.  

John rolled his eyes at them, “Yes. It would appear this is Eos’ idea of a little joke. I thought it was strange I  couldn't see the online menu.” John slid into the booth beside Virgil while Gordon dropped on Alan's other side  swiping the menu despite his protests.  

“There's a picture of dad and some dude on the wall over there!” Gordon pointed the direction he and John had  come.  

John met Scott’s gaze and held it a moment, “It’s a picture of Dad and the owner’s son. He was in that refinery  fire, remember right back near the start of IR?” 

“The big one in Texas Dad fought with top brass about for weeks after?” 

John nodded, “Seems Dad pulled the son out just in time with Thunderbird One. There is a little bit about it  under the picture.” John’s face was hard to read, memories of Jeff were always bittersweet.  

“Really?�� 

John smiled, “Yep. And it appears the owner hasn't forgotten. Proceeds from the Thunderbird menu,” he  gestured the pages open in front of them, “Go to a charity that supports rebuilding in disaster areas.” 

“That's pretty cool, right?” Gordon was grinning.  

“Yea,” Virgil agreed.  

“Way to go, Dad!” Alan said his tone impressed and Scott dropped his arm to pull the teen in for a quick side  hug.  

“Way to go Dad,” Gordon repeated back his own tone softer with a little something unreadable in it.  

Scott simply nodded a soft smile on his lips. He seemed to lose himself in memories a moment and Virgil  tapped his ankle gently with his foot under the table causing his older brother to meet his eye. He nodded in  reassurance. All good.  

They sat in silence for a moment, each lost in their own thoughts.  

“It’s pretty cool, right?” Gordon broke the spell. “but if you want the absolute coolest, check this out!” and he  produced a bundle of papers from behind his back. “Thunderbird colouring sheets!”  

And just like that the spell was broken and chaos descended in the table. 

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The food was exceptionally good. Obviously they had to sample all the Thunderbird menu and the argument  over whose dish was the best looked set to continue until next Christmas. They had pulled the crackers orbited  with their meal and squabbled good naturedly over the tacky prizes and each now sported a jaunty paper  crown.  

Gordon and Alan had listened engrossed as John and Virgil had regaled them with the tale of the Texas fire  with Scott chipping in little details. Dad in action had truly been impressive and John, although he would deny  it, was a gifted story teller when he chose to be. 

Now a quiet contentment had descended in the group. Virgil sat back, stomach full and observed his brothers. He clutched his Thunderbird Three coffee and allowed the steam to curl up lazily in front of him. It had a  pleasing kick though Three’s pilot was still complaining that three older brothers had stated “No” in unison when 

he'd tried to order one for himself. He and Gordon, also banned from that much caffeine before being trapped  in a car with the others, were appeased with hot chocolate. Apple pie and chocolate cake had also been  consumed. Road trips were hungry work.  

John was quietly messaging Eos who was delighted her subterfuge had worked while the three opposite him,  yes the Commander of International Rescue included, were finishing off their colouring pages. Scott's tongue  was poking out the side of his mouth in concentration, a small tuft of hair sticking up from where he’d run his  hand through it, as he finished colouring Thunderbird Two blue. The argument had been brief and Virgil had  

decided not to sink any further to his level. His own completed green version of One had a festive santa hat in  lieu of her traditional nose cone. John meanwhile had been mildly offended by the inaccurate Thunderbird Five  option and so was egging the others on in their colour wars.  

“I mean we should be pleased they don't have an accurate image of our top secret satellite, Johnny!” “Don't call me that. And that's not the point, Scooter. Here, you haven't used this shade of blue yet.” 

The battle between Alan and Gordon had almost come to blows when Alan had finished a red version of Four  only to see the blue and yellow stripes the aquanaut had given Three. 

John and Scott had added fuel to the fire by appearing to seriously consider the benefits of a respray for each  accordingly and much brotherly silliness had ensued. Virgil did however make a note to keep a track of blue  paint supplies as John was sneaky when he wanted to be and was watching Scott's drawing with barely  concealed mirth.  

There had been a hairy moment when the waitress had appeared to recognise them, or at least Scott. He had  placed a finger to his lips and his teeth had practically sparkled as he smiled at her silently requesting she not  give them away, sealing the deal with a little wink. She hadn’t divulged their identities, serving then with wide  

eyes attentiveness; though a napkin with her number on it had been dropped on Scott’s knee as she refilled his  coffee much to his surprise, Gordon and Alan's glee, and a murmur of, “unbelievable,” from Virgil.  

Pucture complete, Scott looked up and met Virgil's eye. Virgil motioned to the other three and raised his  eyebrows, Scott’s indulgent smile matched Virgil's own. Moments like this were all too rare. Scott sat back  stretching his long arms along the back of the seat again, content like Virgil just to enjoy their company.  

Virgil was called in to referee/ judge the which Thunderbird looked best in the new colour competition that still  raged. When he looked back at Scott a few minutes later the eldest’s wasn't looking at them but at something  behind Virgil's head, his expression a strange one Virgil couldn't quite read; thoughtful, wistful even? Virgil  turned in his seat to see what had grabbed Scott's attention. He immediately recognised what Scott saw.  

A woman who couldn't be much older than Scott himself was wrangling a small team of children into the booth  by the door. Four boys aged roughly between twelve and four by Virgil's guess, she had another baby, a little  girl who couldn't have been older than one in her arms. The baby had blonde hair and was waving a stuffed toy  excitedly. He watched as the woman handed her to the oldest looking boy who immediately started to make faces and bounce her up and down, occupying her while the mother helped the other boys out of their coats.  

Their excited chatter and the baby's infectious laughter drifted across the diner all clamouring for their mother’s  attention as she attempted to answer several questions at once. It was chaos and to the two brothers watching,  achingly familiar.  

One of the younger boys needed the restroom and he and what looked to be his next older brother passed their  booth, heads bent in discussion their conversation just audible, “I already explained, we can't ask for ice cream  cos it makes mom worry.”  

Virgil looked back at Scott who caught his eye and looked away. Seeming to shake himself a little as if to clear something from his head, Scott used his long reach across the back of the seat to tap Gordon on the shoulder,  stealing his second last bite of cake as Gordon moved too slowly to stop him.  

“Ugh! You are the worst, Scooter! Remind me again why I let you hang out with me?”

“Because you need his signature to access your trust fund,” John helpfully supplied spearing Gordon’s last  piece. 

He and Scott high fived while Scott slipped out of the booth to settle the bill.  

“Actually ‘bout that...” Gordon turned puppy dog eyes towards his oldest brother.  

“Told you, Squid, I am not signing off on you buying a Christmas tree farm in Vermont.” He ruffled the  aquanaut’s hair as he passed. 

“You have no vision, Scooter!”  

Scott’s laugh floated back to them as he made his way to the counter.  

The other four brothers watched enthralled as their waitress and another server both jockeyed to serve him. 

Scott’s dimples were on full display as he leant in the counter bending his head towards the girls  conversationally. Virgil could swear he could see their eyes changing shape to little hearts, “Does he even  know he's doing it?” His tone was reverential.  

“I really don't know. Sometimes?” John replied folding his arms as the waitress reached across to bat Scott's  arm conspiratorially.  

“His powers must only be used for good,” Gordon covered Alan's eyes, “You are too young to see this Allie.”  Alan batted his hands away, ducking to continue watching the display at the counter.  

Judging from the way the waitress was listening intently and kept glancing at the family in the booth Virgil was  sure Scott's not inconsiderable powers were indeed being used for good. He didn't doubt for a second the  family that reminded them so much of past times would find their bill paid with a healthy ice cream allowance  added. People often thought that Virgil was the soft hearted Tracy brother; he just didn't have to hide it so  carefully from corporate sharks. 

Judging from the way the waitress’ eyes widened slightly as she retrieved the handset from his brother, there  had been a healthy tip added to their own bill as well.  

As they passed the family, now tucking into burgers and fries with gusto, the tiny girl tossed her toy into the  ground. Scott bent to pick it up, smiling at the mother who smiled back in tired gratitude. He flung his arm  around Virgil's shoulders as they walked towards the car.  

A yellow Mustang pulled into the parking space in front of them and Gordon and Alan looked at each other, frozen like gunslingers at high noon.  

“Yellow car no hit backs.” 

John beat them to it, walking between the two giving them each a solid cuff to their heads. Their outraged cries  floated on the crisp air drawing the attraction of the older two. It was the little things at Christmas really John  thought. He hung back slightly watching as his four brothers crossed the parking lot, the sky was trying to snow,  a few flurries escaping the black clouds.  

“Thanks, Eos,” He whispered into his open Comm before hurrying to catch up with a shout of, ”Shotgun!” that  sent the others scrambling to reach the car first.  

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[fefeman]

Change in my Transhumance project

Alright, so short explanation of the direction I'll be taking with transhumance. It's some pretty big changes, but I felt I'd be stuck if I didn't make them.

First, I'll restart the project on Godot. A restart was necessary: I realized that in the old prototype, I made a lot of messy decisions because I was also working on my student project... Now that I have a clearer idea of what I want, I'm going to start with a cleaner base.

As for why I chose to switch to Godot, two reasons : 1) UE5 is hella powerful of an engine, but considering I'm going to try to make a smaller scope game, this felt like overkill. 2) I want to dive deeper into Godot, and I feel its uses is more comfortable.

Now, that means a few things are going to need to be remade, but all in all, being able to make a cleaner base for the game will be worth it.

Secondly, I'm changing how I'm going to use the herd for the game. In the old concept, the herd was something you'd lead from start to finish. Now, they'll be scattered in the levels as a form of "collectibles" that the player can ignore, but need to 100% the game.

This way, I can more easily reward exploration by creating branching paths in the levels where the creatures will hide while having different paths depending on how many creatures the player needs to navigate.

It also makes the difficulty more dynamic: the more creatures in the herd, the harder it is for the player to control them.

There are also some smaller decisions :

The "pet" you'll be able to control directly will be a dragonfly and a mole-like creature.

I'll do 3 levels, to keep this project manageable - I am probably going to lean toward a lower poly art style

Anyway, that's were I'm going, I'll try to bring news in the coming weeks.

[vro0m]

vro0m's rewatch - 171/332

2016 Russian GP

Okay. Round 4. Let's see if Lewis can turn the tide. Aha and this time I have access to the pre quali build up as well. Ferrari is facing reliability issues. Seb will have a grid penalty for a gearbox change and now they're struggling with Raikkonen's car as well. 

Another big story of the weekend is Daniel trying a halo type thing prototype on his car. It's a cockpit basically. It's not entirely covered, like you can get in the car from above like with the halo, but instead of the y-shape of the current halo, the half circle is covered in some kind of windshield. It seems dangerous to put any type of material on that that could shatter and cut the driver. Paul di Resta has some stupid opinion on it like most commentators do at this point, saying things like "most drivers think we should keep it open and be able to see the helmet, that identity" which is. Fucking ridiculous. Apparently though, RBR is pushing for it mostly because they think if they start developing it now it might give them a headstart as far as aero goes compared to Merc which is. On brand. Brundle is saying "shouldn't F1 be risky?" which is insane. He thinks we start with the halo and we end with "driverless cars" to take all the risk away. I'm banging my head on the walls from the stupidity, that's more than I can handle for real. Horner is defending the thing. He says from a purist POV he agrees, but the FIA is pursuing it and their concept is a more "elegant" solution than a "flip-flop style halo" that was tested earlier in the year. I have no idea what he's referring to there. He also says of course a purist wants to keep it open but there's been too many incidents over the years where something like this could have saved someone's life to ignore it. 

Massa organised a race in tiny kart cars between Daniel and his own son around his terrace I believe? It's funny af. 

Unfortunately, during quali, Lewis has the same engine failure that he got in China and can't take part in Q3, leaving him 10th on the grid. Of course, Nico is on pole.

Lewis is unsurprisingly unhappy about it. He's over being interviewed. In his usual attitude he's looking around, giving short answers, ready to go. He's gonna need a new PU and that means another penalty as well. The journalist says the season is really testing him in terms of making him work hard. "Definitely," he answers with a curt smile.

She asks how he copes with it because he seems to be taking it very well, very chill. (I completely disagree with that.) He takes off his glasses, lightly wipes his eye, makes a hand gesture as he's shifting weight on his feet, shakes his head and smirks. "There's nothing I can do," he says.

He's so frustrated. She says he's still in the fight for the championship and he's not gonna give up. "I never give up, so…" he says, defiantly. That's all. 

I don't understand why but in the end he didn't get a penalty for the PU. He does start 10th. Johnny asks him how he feels going into this race starting from 10th after a couple frustrating races. "Pretty chill."

Johnny wheezes. "Is that it?" Lewis smiles, mischievous. "You must be pretty hungry for it though," Johnny goes on, "because you know, you know how important it's gonna be to get a good result, the car is very very good around this track, so you've got an opportunity, do you think, down turn 2?" Lewis says there's a lot of opportunities ahead, he's chill, what will be will be, he'll give it everything he's got. Johnny asks how is his motivation, as good as ever? "Absolutely. I've never ever in my whole life ever struggled with motivation, so that's never even in question." 

Toto is interviewed and Crofty reports that many fans on twitter are spinning conspiracy theories about sabotage and Mercedes going against their own champion and shit like that. Is that how all the bs surrounding brocedes began? With stupid fan theories? Toto says he's not gonna answer to every lunatic that tweets and some of them are abusing the team. He denies all allegations and says they feel awful about him not being able to perform as well as he can. 

Niki is also against the halo which is preposterous. 

Anyway. It's time for the race. Here's how they line up then : Nico, Valtteri, Raikkonen, Massa, Ricciardo, Perez, Seb, Kvyat, Verstappen and Lewis. 

Formation lap. 

And they're racing! 

Just as I was about to say it's a clean start, it's not. Reaaally not. And just as they come out of the first round of contact, a Ferrari spins. I'll wait until we know more to tell you precisely what it's about. But Seb has crashed for sure. VSC. Lewis is up 5 places though! Hulkenberg is also out. Safety car. Perez is limping to the pits on three tyres and apparently Ricciardo has pitted as well. And Kvyat. And Ericsson. Those are looong stops. Gutierrez is in as well. That's a lot of damaged cars! Seb is driving the moped back to the pits himself lol. 

Okay so. Someone's RedBull hit Seb from the back. It's Kvyat lol. Maybe these two are still salty about China? It sends Ricciardo, who was wheel to wheel with Seb, wide. Meanwhile in the back, someone also collided with someone's back, who was sent spinning, collected the same person as he went AND another car that made contact with a final car by trying to avoid getting hit. Seb was still able to keep going at that point, but someone hit him again shortly after and that's why he crashed. He is PISSED. Who's the second one then? Safety car coming in. And we go again. 

So it's now Nico, Raikkonen, Valtteri, Massa, Lewis, Verstappen, Alonso, Grosjean, Magnussen and Palmer. But Valtteri attacks! He's ahead, and right behind, right at the same time, Lewis overtakes Massa. Verstappen attacks Massa as well but he's not letting it happen twice. Now it's Alonso attacking Verstappen. But that's also not happening either. Kvyat and Ericsson are battling for P15 and Kvyat, who's definitely not my cup of tea, maintains his track position by going off track which is arguable. Especially after already taking out one driver. Lewis is closing on Raikkonen who's closing on Valtteri. Valtteri defends. It's Lewis' turn. He's ahead but well. Raikkonen had to avoid contact there. "Get in there Lewis, come on man!" Bono rejoices on radio. On a on-board replay we see it's Kvyat who ran into Seb BOTH TIMES. So maybe Seb was right about what he told him in China lol. Anyway Lewis is breathing down Valtteri's neck now. Kvyat pits. Ted thinks he's about to retire. Indeed the mechanics are not touching oh no. It was to serve a 10 seconds stop go penalty. He's out again. Gutierrez also gets a drive through penalty for the collision on lap 1.

And it's lap 10. Nico, Valtteri (+5.8), Lewis (+0.4), then Raikkonen, Massa, Verstappen, Alonso, Grosjean, Magnussen, Palmer. Oh and Rio Haryanto is also out of the race. No idea when it happened. Lewis is falling back a bit. Too much dirty air I think. It puts him way closer to Raikkonen now. Like DRS range close. One lap later Lewis is closing on Valtteri again. He sets his best lap of the race, chasing. And Valtteri pits. He's back out in P7. In a real BDE move, Seb went straight to RBR's pit wall to talk to Horner about Kvyat.

And Lewis pits. It's a longer stop than the Williams'. THEY ARE WHEEL TO WHEEL! LEWIS IN THE PIT EXIT AND VALTTERI DOWN THE STRAIGHT! Valtteri stays ahead! Good job, Williams ! But Lewis is still very very close, it's down to the pit stop, really. Come on, come on… Massa pits. Lewis gets on the inside and overtakes Valtteri! He's already on Alonso, who was close ahead. And he made it very easy. And Lewis sets another fastest lap. 

That's lap 20. Nico, Raikkonen, Verstappen, Lewis, Valtteri overtakes Alonso ! Massa, Jenson, Perez, and I don't know who's P10 because Raikkonen pits so the graphics disappear. Lewis is clearly ahead, but Valtteri is behind Raikkonen! So that's Lewis back in P3. Nico pits. His stop is shorter. Of course he's still in the lead, 13 seconds ahead of Lewis, who will be P2 as soon as Max pits. And he does. All that's left to do for Lewis is chase Nico. Sainz gets a 10 second time penalty for forcing Palmer off track. 

On lap 30 there's racing in the midfield. Lewis is still 12.2 second away from Nico and that gap is not closing much. Raikkonen is P3, Valtteri P4, Massa P5, Verstappen P6, Alonso P7 and then there's a 4 way fight for P8 between Magnussen, Grosjean, Ricciardo and Sainz. Nasr gets a 5 second time penalty for "not respecting race directors instructions regarding turn 2". But then Nico hits traffic and Lewis gains on him like crazy. On lap 34 the gap is down to 8.4. And Verstappen slows down, parks his car on the side. He reported issues on his way to the grid earlier on. "Something with the engine," he says. DRS is disabled, yellow flag. 7.5. "You there, Bono?" Lewis asks. "Affirm Lewis, we’ve got a bit on at the moment mate." And then we immediately hear another message although I doubt they happened simultaneously : "So Lewis it looks like we’ve got a water pressure issue, water pressure issue." That's yet another mechanical issue for Lewis then. He loses speed. 

On lap 40, the gap is back up to 11.4. We're in for a boring ending I'm afraid. "Lewis the situation has stabilised," Bono says. So maybe not so boring? Can I hope? But the gap is still expanding, actually. We're almost done and it's 15 seconds. So yeah. Boring in the end. 

And it's the end of the race. 

So Nico, 25 seconds ahead of Lewis, Raikkonen. 

While Nico finishes crowd surfing his team, Raikkonen is casually chatting with dictator Putin in the cool down room. It's insanely cringe each season. Lewis gets there and shakes his hand while still wearing his helmet. Btw Putin is surprisingly short now that I think about it. Nico takes ages before he salutes him as well. Never do you see such a silent cool down room. Everybody is visibly tense and uncomfortable. Lewis stays away, back to the small crowd in the room. 

They nicely wait for all the officials to get away before they start with the champagne and Lewis immediately hands his bottle to the Merc representative rather than spray it himself and stand slightly to the side while he drowns Nico in it. He's smiling though, he's not doing it out of spite. When he gets the bottle back he pours some down on the man as well, then cheers with Nico and they both drink, synchronised. 

Lewis says it wasn't the easiest first corner. He's happy for the team and he got the points so he's satisfied. He says it was quite easy to overtake Valtteri who didn't seem to be defending. He has no doubt he could have won but then he had a problem with the engine "again". He's calm, not cheerful but not annoyed. 

In the end, Brundle asks Nico about the 42 points lead he has. Nico says it's only been 4 races, "Lewis is gonna come back of course you know, I mean he's on it and as motivated as ever so… Early days."

Horner says he could only apologise to Seb as it was Kvyat's fault, btw. 

In the post race, Lewis seems satisfied. He thanks the guys who flew over the previous night to fix his car and his engineers who stayed up late. About the water pressure issue, he says he's just happy he was able to finish the race. He says it wasn't due to pushing too hard, it's just another failure. "We just need to do a better job," he says, given they have few engines to go around for the year. The journalist says they get a lot of tweets from his fans saying it seems like the team has decided it was Nico's turn to win the title and a lot of conspiracy theories. His face is uncharacteristically controlled, I can't tell what he's thinking about this, he's usually so easy to read… He says what he can say is his side of the garage, his mechanics, are definitely having a hard time. He hums. Pause.

He has complete confidence and faith in them. It's an unusual situation for them (the mechanics), the majority of them were on Nico's car the previous year, and Nico's current guys were with him since he's come to the team, he smiles. "And all of a sudden," he shrugs, "you know, we've swapped."

He shakes his head. "For no apparent reason, but… that is not the reason why we're having these issues they're somewhere else, I don't know where these little issues are coming from but for sure, the team, the guys in the background, they need to work hard to try and rectify these." He says in testing they did 800 km a day and the car was thought to be bulletproof. "And all of a sudden… Hah!", he chuckles shortly," We're having all these problems so… No I would say that… Don't jump the gun." He smiles, very very calmly, confidently. "I don't believe that that's happened, it's not happened in the last three years and I don't have any reason to believe that would happen now." 

Huh. That's very very interesting. First of all I didn't know about the mechanics thing. So I went to read to see what that's about. Nico says it was because the two sides of the garage were at war and Toto decided to swap them to stop the feud. Something that was also stated by Mercedes. Lewis said later in the season he would tell his true feelings about it only 10 years later. Anyway it seems it will come up again during the year so we'll see. Lewis said it threw him off basically. Which is not surprising just generally speaking but also specifically when it comes to him. I mean we've talked at length about his trust issues lol. It must have shaken him. 

Second of all, he's very very calm and confident about his answers. I feel no hint of the paranoia he sometimes shows when he gets under pressure at that point. I would have expected him to start ruminating already but it's not the case. Either he's learnt to lie better or he's sincerely not worried about it. I would go for the second option because I don't believe for one second he's capable of hiding how he feels to this day lol. It's good to see, because you can tell he's evolving. I'm doubting that it will last in the long run though. 

Brundle says right after the interview he felt on the podium he was in the waiting room for the dentist and none of them seemed as happy as they should've been. He says Lewis has a thousand yard stare. He indeed seemed weirdly controlled. Johnny mentions that during the drivers parade he also was only able to get 3-word answers out of him and you wished he'd be slightly more outgoing. Then Brundle points out he was again sitting alone at the front. I feel like they're mixing things up. Lewis never likes to talk to them or anyone before the races, but that might also just be a matter of focus. It's very distracting having to do all of that right before you have to put such a performance in. Most other athletes don't have to do that. But yes, even through the thick composure you can tell Lewis is unhappy about the mechanics situation, and the engine failures of course. In his post race interview, the moment he talks about the swap is the only moment the composure slightly breaks. He's gracious towards the mechanics because he knows they don't wanna be working with him either, but he also says "we need to do a better job" and then "they need to work hard and rectify [the issues]" which tells me he thinks globally the team isn't doing its best at the moment. 

Oh I paused to write all that and actually Johnny does say to Brundle he doesn't mind Lewis separating himself from the grid because that's him getting himself in his bubble and focusing on the job at hand. 

Nico is happy but he also points out Lewis had issues. He's asked if he can take that confidence into a straight fight with Lewis, which they haven't had yet this year. He says that's what he's here for. That's the best racing "because he's the benchmark in the end," he smiles. He looks forward to it happening again. It's always gonna be a hard battle against him. He's still as motivated and quick as ever. She asks if he misses it, if he gets the same sense of achievement without it. He says he can't say he really missed it because it's awesome to win, he wants to win and it doesn't matter how. "But of course the ecstatic feeling isn't there, it's there when I win a battle against Lewis, you know? That's what really gets the ultimate thrill." Omg you guys are so gay. 

[terraxcloud]

Life

I'm sorry if I haven't been around/available/"there". This is probably the best time to actually "stay", but...at least I'm still around after so long. Outside of life and its ills, I was wondering about drawing an extremely dumb overly exaggerated comic starring Sherlotta getting Isekai'ed to the Desert Southwest. I just wanted to do it to make fun of Forspoken for fun. Don't think much of it right now.

You already know what I'm going to say about the FF7 Rebirth theme (spoiler) song...it's about Terra Branford and nobody will believe that, blah, blah, blah.

"No Promises to Keep" is a reference to the FF6 Opera's:

"Must I forget you? Our solemn promise? Will autumn take the place of spring? What shall I do? I'm lost without you. Speak to me once more!"

Why is Aerith singing a song about "promises"? Well, if Tifa sung the song, it would make a lot of sense (Midgar Blues doesn't fit Tifa in the same way)! Since Aerith sings the song, people will just become confused like always, but they'll inevitably think about the "End of Disk 1" moment and if Aerith will be "saved" despite 2 and 2 not coming together (to be fair though, Aerith doesn't really have promises, but why mention their existence if that's the case?). The only real notable promise that implies lasting longer than a scene (I think) is the one Aerith gives to Zack in Crisis Core where she wants to "sell flowers under the sky" with him (it hasn't happened yet, but why make the entirety of FF7 Rebirth have a theme song about that one thing?)

People only have this idea that she is either "saved" or "not saved" and that's the only thing that can happen outside of...Tifa getting the latter instead. If Aerith survives then the story is clearly changed (which they promised not to do). If she is not saved then...what's the surprise they're cooking at the end? If Tifa dies then it's clearly surprising since her most important part comes later and now she's gone...but then again, they would need to change the story! If Zack appears in the OG timeline, well, that would be way too much of a change and I don't believe that has any purpose in happening (not that it can't, but it makes no sense right now).

Why is everyone so focused on Zack anyway? Is Square-Enix just going to change the entire story just to make Zack be in the game doing stuff? Everyone is latching onto Zack like he's the solution to everything, but it's clear that a lot of the background story of Remake is being ignored...and almost every other game in the FF7 compilation and the series.

It has to be a surprise that's bigger than Zack's appearance, and the only thing I can anticipate that can trump that which isn't just "100% not hinted" is Terra's appearance. We are already thinking about Aerith and Tifa dying, but that's the thing...we're thinking about it! We weren't thinking about Zack before he magically appeared for no apparent reason! It's likely they did this so that they can do it again. What in the world can happen in FF7's universe that would be as surprising as a character not from FF7 appearing in it? Someone dying? That's not surprising, that's expected.

I already see comments how the song reminds them of FF6 and "Eyes on Me", a song about Squall and Rinoa...who are designed after Cloud's FF6 prototype and Terra (and their Dissidia story hints at FF8 connections because the love story from FF6 is a real thing that keeps being reused in other games in small chunks). Y'know, protecting people, flowers, orphans, pets, someone leaving just to return, being brainwashed, shooting stars, guy who wants to be a hero, witches, childhood friend, some guy who thinks he's better than the main character, yep.

The original promise comes from FF6. My working theory is that Tifa and Aerith's Midgar stories were once for one character (Terra). The main character of FF6 (who was cut) promises he'll protect Terra AND he also ends up saving her (in contradiction to FF7's promising one character but obsessing about not being able to save the other).

A "saving" part still exists (with Locke I guess), but Terra's story lacks a lot that it would have had with the missing character (the same one who became the main character of FF7). Other characters in FF inherited parts of Terra's missing story elements (those characters have "Moogle Girl" bangs with Eiko [Terra's childhood] and Sherlotta [Terra's cat (Tifa's Traces of Two Pasts hints that)] being the biggest).

This is the very beginning of Terra's story in the original Dissidia. The kid is "Onion Knight" from FF3 (NES) who is secretly representing Cloud as a child. Cloud ends up appearing to "save" Terra soon after in the center of the planet (basically where Cloud tells Tifa that "he'll meet her there" in the OG ending). Onion Knight is represented by "Oates" from FF7 Remake. Terra is looking at the stars when her story starts, which is another hint by Cloud...

This star appears in the FF6 Opera and became a story element in Tifa's promise scene before it was removed in FF7 Remake (it appears in FF8 because it's origin is the FF6 Opera, not FF7). Cloud is talking about Firion's dream to fill the world with Wild Roses, but he's just mocking it since it sounds "childish". And yeah, Cloud would end up sharing that dream with Terra during her Dissidia story since "Filling the World with Flowers" is cut from FF6 and no other character in FF does such a thing to that degree...those random fields of flowers in FF8, FF15, etc. are a symbol of this cut "dream" from FF6. There's a reason why Terra's clothes are full of them, y'know. Aerith's concept art lacks flowers btw. The story element in Crisis Core where Zack and Aerith have a dream to fill Midgar with flowers is and always was connected to Cloud & Terra's Dissidia scene because these four characters are connected. Zack is designed after Cloud and Aerith is designed after Terra. These things aren't the way they are for no reason.

Zack <- Cloud -> Sephiroth Aerith <- Terra -> Jenova

Zack is Cloud's friend. Sephiroth is Cloud's antithesis by design. Aerith is Terra's friend. Jenova is Terra's antithesis by design.

I'm jumping pretty far by saying Aerith is Terra's friend (they're designed after each other), and I know that, but my entire profile involves lots of "jumping". Don't make me start talking about the Phoenix Tower in FF5 where enemies that look similar to Aerith, Terra, and Jenova appear (designed by Nomura none-the-less)...I dislike talking about that.

Well, enough of that. I don't want to bore you. Aerith hints at a "surprise" in Remake when Cloud decides to pick...grass...for the orphanage.

"I gotta hand it to you, I never would've thought of that. It'll definitely take them by surprise."

The orphanage most notably represents Terra because how many characters have orphans in their story as much as she has? The white flower means loyalty, which is represented by a moogle...and Terra's represented by them a lot. The yellow one implies that Cloud will meet this person "some time in the future". You can't ignore that. At the point where the main theme of FF7 Rebirth is sung, Cloud has met every notable character in FF7 except Zack. The FF6 Opera and Loveless are about "meeting someone again after leaving/being left by them" and the "Midgar Blues" is about "leaving someone".

Does it make sense that it's Aerith? Aerith IS with Zack in his timeline and Aerith already did low-key reunite with Cloud when he fell from "heaven". How about Tifa? Perhaps in the beginning, but that's long gone now in her own words when she was talking to Cloud in Aerith's flower garden.

The Reunion is about Terra waiting for Cloud back in FF6 limbo as the song sung by Celes states. "Reunion" was originally a bad-guy story element with Sephiroth and Jenova, but Cloud and Terra represent the good side of it. "Hollow" states that instead of waiting, Terra herself will come to FF7R. That is the expectation and Zack's story allows this to happen as anything can happen there without ruining the OG story.

If there was a big change in the OG storyline then Zack's timeline didn't serve much, if any purpose! Why would they have made it then!?!

Yet, everyone's expecting some change to the OG storyline, so it's not surprising that they'll make it seem like that'll be a thing before or when the "surprise" happens. Let me just use the Aerith quote again:

"I gotta hand it to you, I never would've thought of that. It'll definitely take them by surprise."

I still feel that FFXIII-2 is the original rough-draft of Zack's storyline...we'll wait and see. Serah is clearly made after Terra and Lightning is made after Cloud, but was Noel made after Zack? He does come in a meteor and starts doing timeline changing stuff like it's his sworn duty, oddly enough.

I haven't tagged any posts recently...guess this will do.

There's something missing...oh yah.

This is when Cloud goes to look for a person who'll show him "the reason why he fights". The "That's a promise" crumb trail goes like this in order:

Aerith & Zack promise to sell flowers under the sky together. Of course, Zack dies and gives his sword to Cloud, which is the main storyline of Cloud's in Dissidia. Zack gave Cloud his "honor" and "dreams" (filling Midgar with flowers) along with the sword, but in Dissidia, Cloud doesn't understand why he has it.

Cloud promising the other FF protags that he'll return with an answer as to the reason why he fights (which he talks about at the end of FF7 with his "A very personal memory that I have".) He tries to skip over Sephiroth and he gets his crystal "the white materia", but he just continues onward to find his answer.

Onion Knight telling Terra that he'll "always protect her". Cloud then meets Terra after OK disappears and they converse about the flower dream which is similar to Zack and Aerith's in Crisis core before that first "That's a promise".

Cloud's "Reason to Fight" is to protect a person, and this was originally for Terra as that was the original promise hinted by the FF6 Opera. This is his "very personal memory"...it's very personal because only he knows it. To see that it was hinted all the way back in OG FF7 is surprising, but it is what it is. Cloud knows something he's not supposed to.

Thank you for reading this perspective.

[tokillamockingbird427]

For the fanfic ask game: F, V and Z!

F: Share a snippet from one of your favorite dialogue scenes you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

“But I think I get it now. People pretend to hate what they fear. I don’t think Logan ever really hated you, he was just scared. Still is scared.” 

From Ouroboros! Au where Logan dies, his consciousness hijacks his 16 year old body back in 2017, right after the ODIN strikes. It's Rorke saying this to Hesh, on how he thinks he turned Logan in his and Hesh's future reality. This version of Rorke wasn't in the pit long enough to be "properly turned" because Logan came to kill him, but changed his mind and broke him out. Proud of it because I really do think this is how the Federation will/did turn Logan. Maybe even how Rorke was turned. It also helps clarify Logan's motives, which had been pretty ambiguous up until that point.

V: If you could write the sequel (or prequel) to any fic out there not written by yourself, which would you choose?

Ahhh, chapter 2 "Old man" a one shot inside "Anthology" written by Aceinthesol on FF.Net. (They're on Ao3, and here too I'm pretty sure. @ace-landofthesun ?) In their words: Rorke lies to an Amnesiac!Logan and convinces him that he's Logan's father. I actually have a thing I'm writing based on this. (They did say everyone was welcome to the idea.) Though I added my own spin where Logan can see literal ghosts, and Elias is there. I've mentioned it before I believe. The Literal Ghosts Au. The conflict is that Elias has to figure out how to keep Logan ignorant enough to remain safe from the Federation's/Rorke's ire, while also revealing enough of the truth to get him away from them. (Logan gets renamed Leo in the prototype. Might change it.)

Z: Major character death–do you ever write/read it? Is there a character whose death you can’t tolerate?

Any character death can be major character death if I'm attached to the character. /J I can read it, I have written it (Ouroboros is the shining example.), and if ANYONE lays so much as a SINGULAR HAIR on Keegan Hesh or Logan, I AM GOING TO SCREAM. LEAVE MY BOYS ALONE. PLS.

From this list!

[redhairedwolfwitch]

A String of Hearts (3) - Freeze - Mary Hamilton x Fem!Reader - Batwoman

Part 1 Part 2

Summary: a string of hearts, or ceropegia woodii, is a trailing plant characterised by its heart shaped leaves, but what happens when the string of hearts between you and Mary, grows poison ivy?

///

You exchanged looks with Mary as she passed Alice the glass of water, being given it back with a done look as you rolled your eyes.

///

Sophie nodded as you dodged her swing, pretending like she didn't see Mary watching you practice sparring with her.

A huff left Mary's mouth that had you glancing over, getting tapped by Sophie as she realised you'd lost focus and Mary had left to sort out Alice.

"Why do you want to learn this anyway?"

"Because I want to help." You explained as Sophie frowned.

"You already help with all the notes from Oracle- you have more than Oracle's notes, don't you?" Sophie realised, as you huffed.

"You're perceptive. But I was thinking more stealth stuff, I can be sneaky. Then I found her mask, and the notes I had I finally decoded and found the second batcave, and I found a prototype Batgirl suit. Not sure if it was Oracle's, since there was more than one Batgirl, y'know."

"Like there was more than one Robin..." Sophie replied as you nodded, grimacing since you knew the story of the second Robin.

"The suit was mainly just a protective, just in case... but I figured I should learn some sort of self-defense marital arts y'know." You explained, dodging Sophie's swing as the two of you continued to spar.

///

"Ah, now you're in the middle. What is the dilemma? Do you tell fancy pants Batwoman that Luke's ignoring his PTSD symptoms or do you keep Luke's secret? Because you love him..." Alice smirked, making a heart sign out of her fingers as Mary grimaced into her tea.

"I do not love Luke, like that."

"No, you love Batgirl, like that, and she loves you. How the others don't spot the two of you oogling each other, I will never know... but a little piece of advice. I'd keep Luke's secret to yourself, telling Ryan will only fill you with resentment."

"How do you figure?" Mary rolled her eyes but still asked, as Alice pointed out the obvious.

"Because she'll ignore you. Mary, I'm sorry, do you not see your place on this team? I've been on it for less than a month and it's already glaringly obvious. They don't see you, unless they need you, just like daddy, and just like Kate. Batgirl is the only one who listens to you, but one day, she'll slip away too. So if you want to go on liking them, it's probably best you know your place." Alice explained as Mary huffed, drinking her tea.

///

"Mary's handling Alice, and Nora Fries is there. Let's head downstairs and see what's going on with everything else." You explained as you glanced over your phone, grimacing at the idea of Alice and Mary alone.

"How long have you and Mary- oh god, look! Batcave to Batwoman, are you there? Batwoman, come in!" Sophie exclaimed as she spotted Ryan's body temperature decreasing on the screens of the Batcave.

"Ryan, if you sleep, you die."

"It's so hard to stay awake..." Ryan murmured as Sophie sighed.

"Then maybe this is a good time to tell you I'm mad at you." Sophie declared, confusing you and Ryan.

"Do you want me to leave, so you two can have a Wildmoore moment?" You enquired, gesturing to the lift that you could take if they wanted you to leave.

"Me? Wait, is Y/n there too?" Ryan murmured, the hypothermia setting in as you shrugged, wondering what the hell Sophie was going on about.

"Batwoman, don't fall asleep on me! Batwoman!"

"Wake up, Ryan!" You shouted as the alarms for severe hypothermia began to go off.

"Batwoman, are you good? Batwing? Someone talk to me! Check in!" Sophie exclaimed as the two of you heard thumping over the comms.

"Yeah! Yeah, she's okay! She's conscious, I got her." Luke confirmed over the comms, as you let out a breath of relief.

///

"Are you flirting with Sophie right now?"

"What? I am not flirting with Sophie-"

"Do you guys want me to leave?" You teased, as Luke added he knew what flirting was.

"Guys! Comms on!" Sophie smirked, reminding each of you.

///

"I told Ryan that Luke shouldn't be in the Batwing suit. She ignored me." Mary admitted as she found you sat in the clinic waiting for her.

"Then they're both putting Gotham at risk..." you trailed off, staring at the newspaper for a moment before clearing your head.

"Where are you going?"

"To drop these medications off to Nora Fries. Do you want to come with?" Mary asked, gesturing to the white paper bags she was holding.

"I'd love to." You smiled, walking over to hold Mary's hand as the two of you left.

///

"I'll be over there, I'll grab us some doughnuts from that vegan place on the corner?" You suggested, kissing Mary's cheek as she nodded, pulling you back for a proper kiss before she walked over to Nora and Dee.

You were exiting the shop at the exact moment some leafy vines wrapped around Mary's ankles, tugging her into the undergrowth.

"Mare? Mare where are you?" You called out, carrying the doughnuts as you looked over for her, only spotting drag marks in the grass after asking Nora and Dee which way Mary went.

Mary was gone.

///

[cloudyevaa]

Mk sorry for the slightly random opinion but I was thinking about Kokomi and I think that people are making her out to be worse than she actually is. She IS a healer, and she heals very well, and she's also very good at applying hydro with her e skill. I won't deny that her burst is a little strange, though, considering you have to be on the field for it to work, but all you need to do is give her a little attack and boom she's great.

Also she pretty. And I'm glad I could condense my million thrilling tales in a single r5 one. (For Barbara bc I completely gave her Barbaras built weapon)

no need to apologise for stating your opinion!! in fact i'd love to get more asks like this LMAO, i love dissecting things, esp related to genshin. here's my take on the situation:

tldr; kokomi could've been great if mihoyo spent more time thinking about her mechanics

while i do agree that the hate for kokomi is definitely blown out of proportion, i believe that the hatred does not stem from malice, but rather unanimous disappointment from the community. mihoyo has been getting bolder and bolder with their experimentations and kokomi is the first character who has -100% cr; when you change up the meta that everyone's known and gotten accustomed to for so long, of course people are expecting kokomi to be very good gameplay-wise.

while she was advertised as a healer, everything about her screams supposed damage dealer - the way her ascension stat is hydro dmg bonus, the way her constellations boost her damage output and attempt to solve her energy recharge issues, and the way her damage scales off her healing bonus and attack. she's a damage dealer than can heal, a healer who can deal damage, but in reality, she is neither.

kokomi's predicament is similar to qiqi's - their main problem is not that they are fundamentally wrong, but that they're too good at the one thing they can do best, which is healing. the reality is that outside of the current spiral abyss, said healing abilities are completely useless, which is why part of the community is so dissatisfied with kokomi's release. this will change in 2.2's update with mobs that completely ignore shields, but that's an annoying gimmick that doesn't solve the problem of full-on healers being useless in open-world aside from that particular inazuma region. and while kokomi is good at healing, there are certainly f2p options like barbara that allows for the same off-field healing and hydro application kokomi provides.

what I'm essentially saying is that mihoyo wanted to make a sub-dps healer but achieved none of those because they could not balance her healing and her damage, ESPECIALLY since she cannot crit. barbara and her are not so different, being both healers and hydro catalyst users, but barbara is still held in higher regard because she can crit those 🥴 big numbers 😩. and barbara is free - unlike kokomi who is gated by a limited five-star banner. the thing is, mihoyo could've avoided this by either 1. making it so kokomi can crit or 2. making her dmg scaling EXTREMELY high. but i feel that mihoyo was transfixed on selling ei rather than her more, knowing that whales and players who play purely for aesthetic WILL pull.

she is very pretty and i love her regardless of her shortcomings!! but because she is so niche and is currently the only character of her kind, she's not held in high regard nor is there a specific use for her that cannot be replaced by other characters. even her weapon, the everlasting moonglow, is absolutely useless on everyone else except barbara ( and to be honest, it would only be good on a full-on healing barbara too ), plus it has been proven to be a worse alternative for a f2p catalyst, the prototype amber, which can generate energy and heal much more than it can. the everlasting moonglow's passive also doesn't work with kokomi, the character it was DESIGNED to benefit - charged attacks do not regenerate energy for kokomi despite her charged attacks having the highest dmg multiplier. there's a video by sevyplays (?) explaining this further so if you want to get a guide on this, feel free to check it out :)

overall, the fault is in mihoyo for neglecting to listen to the player base's critiques that could've saved kokomi from being such a hated character, which is another shortcoming to add to the long list of the mihoyo branch responsible for genshin impact's issues.

I'm not trying to deter anyone from using or pulling for our dearest pink general, of course! it is just disappointing as a person who looked forward to this banner that kokomi is underwhelming and clearly not thought through by the devs.

[shezowhero]

(Baby hairs Sunny anon) sorry I didn't see your other ask talking about it so you can ignore it, and as for rainbow high's diversity I'm am quite annoyed by it; most dark skinned girls get eyes any color than brown, Krystal, who's the most the darkest skinned character in the whole series, isnt a part of the main line of characters even though her color is indigo which is literally a part of the rainbow, and I hate that only 2 out of 6 of the main line are brown skinned (it's even worse their together as a group with Amaya or Bella). I've also seen people say that Ruby most definitely shouldve been black because of her style plus in the prototype dolls the green doll was originally going to be dark skinned too. Its really annoying considering that MGA has been quite diverse with their other doll lines like LOL OMG and Bratz

The diversity in Rainbow High is really weird compare to MGA's other dolls lines which have more diversity especially Bratz which is one of their most popular dolls. I've seen there being a huge demand and push for diversity in dolls so it's even weird there's so little diversity in Rainbow High. It's like they're not paying attention to the doll community/doll collectors. The push and demand for diversity is why we doll lines like The Fresh Dolls and other diverse doll lines.

I hope we get more dark skin characters/dolls with eyes brown/dark eyes.

Yeah Krystal should've apart of the main group since she's indigo and indigo is a main color in the rainbow.

Ruby probably should've black since she takes from black culture. The show in general takes from black culture especially AAVE.

[ladylynse]

So, I've seen you reblogging some random My Hero Academia fanart lately, and I was wondering how much of it you know? Why? Because I'm curious if you have any idea about a possible crossover with Danny Phantom. (it's surprising how well DP can be crossover-ed with basically EVERYTHING and still make sense...)

I have seen the show. I...think?...I’m caught up on the show. I have not read a word of the manga. 

For a crossover with DP, I like the idea of Danny falling into their world rather than the other way around; it’s just easier, even if you toss in a time travel/dimension kind of quirk thing gone wrong and rely on Clockwork to get them home again. Me, I’d do this one of two ways, depending on whether or not Danny ever has a chance of going home again. Or, perhaps more accurately, how slim that chance is, because he’d still have a chance.

Option 1: Danny’s stuck in their world. Forever. Or near enough. Because he was trapped in a thermos for years, longer than anyone would expect him to be alive, and his time doesn’t exist, it’s past, it’s gone, because it hasn’t just been a day, it hasn’t just been a month, not even a year, and every human he ever knew and loved is gone. He couldn’t even find his family if he tried. It’s been too long, the world’s changed, and there are these things called quirks now, and he just.... He holds onto the faint hope that Clockwork can get him back home, that Clockwork will agree to let him go back home, that this can just be a few extra days or weeks or whatever lived in his life but otherwise it’s fine and like he was never anywhere else, but the stable portals he knew are gone, he doesn’t know how to find and can’t create the natural ones, and ghosts like Wulf and Cujo wouldn’t even know he was back. 

He can’t remember very well how he got into this mess. Maybe Vlad caught him and buried him on the other side of the world; maybe Vlad tossed him into the Ghost Zone, never really expecting Danny to get out. Everything is muddled, confused, coming back in pieces, and not like a moment frozen in time where he gets out and immediately remembers everything. It’s not like it normally is. But maybe it’s because he wasn’t released like he normally is, since he didn’t get out until the thermos degraded to the point that there was a hole he could slip through. Maybe it’s just because he was in there too long. He...he doesn’t know.

Option 2: AKA my old standby for DP crossovers to worlds that aren’t enough like his own, a door or portal in the Ghost Zone. Maybe Danny meant to go through, whether he was exploring or running from something with five sets of teeth that was faster than it had any right to be, or maybe it popped up in front of him and he was through before he could change course. He doesn’t have more hope of getting home in this scenario, exactly, but he’d be more hopeful, because this obviously isn’t the same world, it can’t be, so he can get back and get home and it’ll all be fine. 

In both cases, you can ignore the language barrier--write it off as a ghostly ability Danny didn’t realize he had, though that logic fails a bit when Tucker understands Wulf the best, or maybe Danny hearing it for years while in the thermos and just sort of absorbing it--through osmosis, if you like. But if you acknowledge it. If you accept the fact that Danny suddenly finds himself in a world where he can’t speak the language, can’t read or understand or even be sure he recognizes the language--because what is that, Chinese, Japanese, Korean? He has no idea. It might not even be any of those if it’s been how many years since, what with evolution of language. He just knows he doesn’t know the alphabet at all--then you can easily force other characters to interact with him once he gets in trouble (as will happen; it’s Danny) and maybe bring in a convenient universal translator hero support prototype, initially designed to help heroes better communicate with victims who don’t speak the same tongue(s) with plans for further development outside of heroing if it’s successful. Such a device would also give Danny a convenient excuse for when he says something that receives blank stares, as he can pretend it glitched.

Now. Danny will be trying to get home. That might be his entire thing--that and potentially acceptance that he can’t go home, depending on how things pan out. If he came through a portal/doorway, then he might be keeping an ear to the ground to find out why if there’s some reason why he’s here, but if he was just stuck in a thermos, he’s going to assume he got out because of pure dumb luck/erosion and focus most of his energy on finding a way into the Ghost Zone, which may or may not come back to bite him later. Especially if he didn’t just get out by chance or is here for a reason and doesn’t know enough to understand what that reason is.

The obvious thing to consider is how quickly Danny realizes these guys only have one ‘quirk’, even if they can use it in multiple ways. If he gets any inkling at all from them that having more than one quirk is odd and potentially suspicious, you can bet he’d try to hide it. He’s used to that. He’s had to hide from so many people. He can hide from these people, too. Or at least try his best. Me and my penchant for misunderstandings would obviously choose to have him hide his multiple abilities and not just, y’know, tell or show them straight away.

I mean.

Say they saw Phantom before they ever saw Fenton. Flying. Phasing. Shooting ectoblasts. That’s not normal.

And if Danny saw something happen and jumped in to help without entirely understanding the situation? He might try to take down both heroes and bad guys because geez, those people almost got crushed when that building fell, and another bystander nearly got flambéed, and he knows he’s destructive when he’s trying to save people, but still. Giant Lady is a pretty good distraction if you need a distraction, and she could get away from the good guys fast enough, and that guy just walked through a brick wall, so there’s a good chance he’s overshadowed even if Danny’s too far away for his ghost sense to go off, and--

Point is, they (some) might mistakenly peg Phantom as a villain, at least until the next fight where they have time to talk. Danny, who very definitely Not Going Ghost until he figures out what the heck is going on, is found in the aftermath and assumed to be a victim--a tourist, probably, since they can’t understand him and he can’t understand them--and probably picks an ability to call a ‘quirk’ even if pretending to be quirkless would be smarter because he’s not convinced he might not do something almost on instinct, and then where would that get him?

Danny does not overhear the speculation that perhaps this Phantom is after him. He does not overhear the concern of the UA students who witnessed the fight. He does not know how many strings were pulled to get him released from the hospital--where he Very Obviously does Not want to be, but he can write off weird abnormalities as, say, part of his Ice Quirk powers; after all, sneaking away probably won’t do him any favours, even if he has to get out of there before they realize exactly how fast he’s healing--or how difficult it was to get him released into the protective custody of the good people at UA (or, more specifically, those who rallied for him to get the opportunity). Because he’s wary and spooked and confused but still ready to fight, and they can see that, and they want to help him. They’re not even sure how much training he’s had with his quirk, since even after extensive questioning and a subsequent exhaustive search, they can’t find any record of a hero named Frostbite.

They can’t even find a record of Daniel Fenton. Not someone with an Ice Quirk who matches his description, anyway.

Which makes some people wary, even when others are eagerly including him, because what if he’s a plant, a spy, otherwise not on their side even if he’s not working with any known villains, and--

Hogwash. Poppycock. Pick your old-fashioned word for it, but that’s pretty much how your thinking is going, someone else would say. Because the kid’s got a good heart, and anyone can see that. He wants to help people. He does, even when it hurts him. He’s got the heart of a hero.

With what they’ve seen of him, it’s enough to quiet the mutterings.

Until the day Danny forgets himself and displays another Quirk in a way that can’t be explained, especially in light of all the other incidents that were.

(related - Dani)

[kirieshhhka003]

I'm the Dia anon again... So, I know I've been VERY annoying, and if this ends up begin too weird or difficult just ignore and delete it, I don't really mind ^^" but, what do you think would happen if Diavolo was both an android and a yandere? Like, reader is a mechanic that takes care of robots and they find him, half-broken, and repairs him, after a while, he starts developing this weird obsession over them and wants them to take care of him alone. What would happen? What are your hcs on it?

I had a lot of ideas for this request, so I decided to split the writing into two posts, so here’s part one. I also remember about your scenario request, I’m working on it(once again, English is not my mother tongue, so I have problems with writing scenarios). Thank you for your request, my dear Diavolo anon, I’m a fan of Detroit Become Human so it was pleasure for me to write this one💚

Yandere! android Diavolo x reader Part One

It’s most likely reader to find him in dump nearby their house, half-destroyed, with one leg and lots of spare parts missing. You payed attention to him because this android was just thrown away nearby a trash can, while all people usually leave droids at the special department where all unwanted robots are getting disposed of

His damages looked weird. It’s like someone beat him relentlessly. Androids don’t feel physical and mental pain, but, anyways, it was very cruel

When you found the owner of this android this person started to shout and swear you for calling them. “Why can’t you just leave me? What did I do to you, huh? Don’t you dare to bring this psycho back! Don’t you fucking dare!”

So, this android was yours now. He was strange, you haven’t seen this model before. You tried to find some information about him but encountered one interesting article

“Model Diavolo was a prototype of the first ever android programmed for love. Those androids were supposed to be the machines that could develop feelings for his owner and their family. This model really can feel love towards their owners, but something during their разработка went wrong and, as a result, Diavolo becomes aggressive towards other people who interact with their owner. Those model was prohibited by law and got out of production. Chief engineer and developer _Name_ has refused to make any comments about Diavolo model”

Android that can feel love? Well, you were interested. Yeah, Diavolo is illegal and you should call the police and hand him over to them. But he can feel, he can love. You can’t force yourself to give shuch a marvel away. You wanted to keep him to yourself, or you’ll be regretting for the rest of your life(oh, if you could know how much you’ll be regretting for keeping him)

So, you decided to keep Diavolo to yourself. First of all you needed to repair him before launching. Thanks god his software wasn’t damaged but his body was in a horrible condition

Part 2

Masterlist | Smut Masterlist

[oyemaggi]

Hey it's me again ,

It's 2 in the morning and I'm sitting on the porch , counting stars to overcome my bipolar instincts all alone with lot of things popping up in my head so here I'm writing it again in my notes to keep those things , to look back when i would be whole and have had overcame my all anxieties and FOMO , like how Loneliness haunts me in the middle of night as uncertainty pouring down . While world is sleeping and I'm feeling hell to the ground with lot of unanswered questions plus notes i never ever told anyone ,.... Does it only happens to me ? How ppl adapts to these fuckin selfish society things ? How ppl control their emotions ? How they cheats ppl over ppl and still feels better again ? Would I ever be loved by the person I wanted to spend eternity ? Like so many things.....

I guess there should be any subject in school to teach all these values ... (XD) and yes how our society can ignore such things ? Tell it prototype at the same time. If they does it's good and when i do it's worse than hell.

This is making me feel a big void in my heart all the time to end up with the suicidal thoughts sometimes as I'm not meant to be feel loved either appreciated here ....

but some responsibilities , priorities to choose family over anything keeps me up for a while ... ( The lesson my nanu taught me while i used to be a kiddo "FAMILY ABOVE ALL' )

I guess I'm somewhat somewhere built from overthrown sadness , emptiness ppl usually don't give a fuck about .... So a part of me always feels like heartbroken , betrayed and half empty w.r.t. all the efforts I've ever thrown uptill ppl .... Why do i care so much about every little things on my way ? And here comes a point 'all these care , love wala things only has always been given to them who always has ignored it , unlucky me here again !!

This is really weirdest thing anyone could ask from himself but here I'm hiding , holding all these emotions deep down , making ppl happier (basically entertaining) with the all those efforts to get back a simple hello form the hell* but it always fades away in between and leads me to the middle of nowhere .. I always question myself how/why ppl cares for us ? And in return i got nothing to hold on to just me only , for me only , a unlucky fellow ...whose happiness is momentary ....

and yea these days I've got an strange self destructive habit like smoking and drinking just because whenever i feel high it gives me happy vibes and feels like top of the world , that's the happiness for me these days !! Ppl has never understood me in this way even my closest ones , What i wants and always wanted just someone's support while fixing myself, not to fix me ... I'm enough to deal with these shits but sometimes all you needed is a shoulder to hang on to.... And it sucks all the time!!! Instead of giving me a little hope by hugging or telling things would be okaie why do just they makes it complicated and most of the time they all just run away ........

PS- Nothing feels right these days 😭😭

but anyway thanks @creatingnikki . Your writing inspires me alot & i really liked the way you use to pen out letters to self plus yes Offcourse your almost every post resonates my feelings , just hope you'd understand what I'm going through .....

- just an infj paper'cut survivor trying to express even not wanting to ..... x :(

[thechocoboos]

last one I promise: ffxv but in space?... OK I'll admit I'm starting to run out of ideas. have a nice day and good luck with school!

holy fuck i went way more crazy with this than I planned. so have fun. Keep in mind, y’all, this is a space au–things are defo different than the actual plot. also: happy ending

FFXV IN SPACE HC

The Regalia is a small prototype ship made for small trips to and from space stations and moons

Noctis’ father is the leader of a massive space colony circling a dimming blue star

Their space colony is running out of resources and energy as a result of a longstanding war with The Empire, a corporation that grew too powerful back when space travel became big and now aims to take control of every colony, resource, and inhabitable planet in the galaxy

so Regis sends Noctis and Co out on an expedition to build alliances and find potential resources that the Empire had overlooked

Noctis is a drifter who doesn’t want to take over his dad’s colony

Gladio is a soldier, a bodyguard in training for the leaders of the space colony. His family has always worked closely with the colony’s founders, so he was raised to follow in the footsteps of his ancestors and to protect Noct

Prompto is a lower level settler of their space colony

He ran into Noctis during their school days and latched himself to Noct like a leach (Noct never minded and even grew to like Prom)

Ignis is still an advisor, albeit a SPACE ADVISOR

He is well versed in most, if not all, of the known alien languages and settlements (he spent so much of his schooling learning languages that he dreams about learning them–granted they’ve become more of nightmares by this point)

He guides Noctis on their mission to find resources and build alliances, giving advice such as “Do not try to navigate that asteroid belt” and “stay far from the Black Hole of Ostenbar–many civilizations were lost there”

Granted that advice is always ignored, but hey, it’s the thought that counts!

One day on their expedition, he mentions rumors of a ship called The Oracle–a ship that opposes the Empire

Supposedly, it started out as a simple rescue ship that grew bigger and bigger and soon became a massive self sustaining ship that travels around the galaxy helping those in need

Noct and Co. realize that it may be their first step towards building alliances and aim to find The Oracle–it’s their first tangible mission

The Oracle, if you hadn’t already guessed, is run by Luna

She and her brother, Ravus, inherited it from their family

The Oracle had many run ins with the Empire as a result of its good deeds, and Ravus grew tired of the pain inflicted on both his people and his inheritance due to those assholes

He knew he could never deal with the Empire directly, especially while handling The Oracle, so he left the ship in the hands of Luna and ran off

He fell in with a group of good-natured space pirates and now raids the Empire’s smaller ships with his small, growing fleet and gives the resources he obtains from them to those who need it–kind of like a robinhood of sorts

(I’m expecting some SpacePirate!Ravus spin offs in the future–i’ll even take the transcript of pirates of the caribbean except with ravus and in space)

anyways

Ardyn is a strange deity who was once worshiped on a more primitive, jungle based planet

His planet is hot, humid, and full of bright, colorful creatures. Some of them are poisonous and deadly, and others are docile and harmless

His people made beautiful buildings of stone with carved designs and everything they made was otherworldly and beautiful, there wasn’t a single item of theirs that wasn’t art in one way or another

They made the most beautiful songs and their language was magnificent and elegant; it was as though their voices were woven from the stars

Keywords? Made. Was.

The Empire found him one day and found his immense power very beneficial

They captured him and his worshippers, turning the worshippers into slaves and science experiments while they used torture and abuse to control Ardyn before turning him into the High Commander or the Empire

They brainwashed him into thinking it was Regis’ colony that had done him wrong, and he has it out for Insomnia Space Colony ever since

It takes a metric fuckton of cycles for Noct and co to finally find The Oracle, who is very willing to join the Insomnia Space Colony cause (my god is that a mouthful or what)

Sidenote: Cor is pretty high up on commanders from Noct’s colony, so he was out conducting business with other settlers at the far end of the galaxy

After the destruction of Insomnia Space Colony, he managed to get hold of Noct on The Oracle and relay the news

It leaves Noctis and the others crushed

They end up lost for a little bit, uncertain what their goal should be from then on

One day, however, The Oracle receives an SOS call from that same dimming star that Noct’s colony had orbited

The Oracle takes them there, and they find many, many survivors

The Oracle takes those survivors on board without a single word, and as Noctis sees the remnants of his people’s suffering at the hands of The Empire, he swears to bring an end to those fuckers as long as he lives (cue his new reason for living)

ANyways

Noct and co.’s favorite pit stop is a small colony on an asteroid called Crash Comet

It’s run by Cid, an old alien friend of Regis’ and his granddaughter

It’s the nicest gas station, diner, and mechanic outside of their solar system

They visit it regularly, especially after Noct learns how to fly the Regalia (he can’t avoid those asteroid belts even when he tries)

Gladio once asked why Prompto was with them on their expedition bc he genuinely had no idea why the kid was there

Gladdy was there for protection, Ignis was their walking, talking adviceman, and Prom? He had no idea

Prom lowkey didn’t know either, but he just held up his old lil camera and said some BS about being their historian

In reality, Noct really just brought him bc he didn’t want to be stuck in a tiny spaceship with Ignis and Gladdy alone, besides, he knew that Prompto always wanted to see the galaxy outside of their colony

They have many run-ins with Ardyn and The Empire–it always ends in a massive chase scene through the stars, a disappearance in a hectic asteroid belt, and another trip to Crash Comet

Noct, Iggs, Gladdy, and Prom have a blast on their space adventures

At least, up until their colony is destroyed

Still, they meet aliens from all walks of life and eat strange alien food at strange alien gas stations on the edge of the galaxy and make friends everywhere

They make alliances as they go, building up their own army of settlers, colonists, space pirates, and aliens alike to rise up against the Empire, with The Oracle heading their fleet

Prompto takes so many pictures that he ends up with a massive database of things ranging from aliens, planets, stars, flora, fauna, selfies, weird poisonous glowing bacteria–you name it, he’s got it (after their adventures he actually finds scientists and alienologists asking him for his pictures for research and references; our boi makes bank on his pics!)

Ignis tries every single different cultured cuisine he can get his grubby lil gloved paws on and he will eat ALL OF IT. he has been poisoned by the clashing chemical makeup on more than one occasion (but he still won’t stop)

Noctis hates trying new culture foods, like he goes for some of it but if Ignis tries to feed him one more Glockinshnid’esiria throat casserole, he’s going to vomit

Gladio towers over a lot of alien species they meet, but he also looks like a penny next to some of them (he lowkey feels insecure about it)

Gladdy likes to trade work out regimens with some aliens

He once tried working out with the very gruff, muscled Kleeverprongs, a species known to eat the muscles of their dead to become stronger and who begin weightlifting at 3 months old (he threw his back out and couldn’t walk for a week)

Prompto tries to steal small alien pets but Ignis threatens to throw him out the back of their cruiser if he so much as looks at one more Puffelzingor.

He once hid a small mouse like rodent in his shirt for three weeks, but it escaped and ate through one of Ignis’ prized pots (it’s one of the more expensive ones that can handle stardust and the harshest of acids)

Ignis hasn’t forgiven him yet. And he probably never will.

Sometimes Noct and Co. cross paths with Ravus

Ravus usually screams about them being the ones who got his sister tied in even further with the bloody empire and being the biggest thorn in his ass

There was one time where Ravus was thought to be dead in the middle of space, and none other than Noct and Co. rescued him (he had lost an arm and been abandoned by accident. Space pirates aren’t very bright sometimes)

He was less aggressive towards them afterwards, especially because he was stuck with them for about 2 and a half cycles (roughly 3.67 months) because the nearest welcoming outpost was at least a good hundred stars away

ANyways plot stuff:

So, throughout their journeys and travels, Noct and Co. slowly learn about some of the Empires more hidden histories and ties with differing colonies

They learn more about Ardyn, how he was essentially a tool used by the empire

THey actually travel back to the planet that Ardyn had been worshiped on and end up learning even more

At first, they thought he had just been a leader of some strange planet, but when discovering he was essentially a god? Oh boi, they were faced with a big moral dilemma

Noctis still wants to bring down the Empire, but now, he also wants to help Ardyn and Ardyn’s people

Gladdy is against it, of course, saying that Ardyn had still done terrible things and was still a terrible person who should pay for his actions

Noct mostly disagrees. He thinks Ardyn needs to pay to a certain degree, but to him, it was more important that they at least try to free his people and attempt to get the truth out there

He argues that it really wasn’t all Ardyn’s fault, that he was nothing more than a pawn who had been manipulated and lied to for nothing but selfish reasons

He doesn’t want to help Ardyn, necessarily, but he does want to make things right

It was truly at this point that his friends began seeing the leader that Noct truly is

Noctis and Co. were never really able to convince Ardyn as much as they tried; he was past the point of simply believing things

Still, he made a deal. A snarky deal with a smirk and teasing tone to his voice, but the look in his eye had been enough to give them hope

He told them, that if they were able to find his people and set them free, he just might be willing to strike up some sort of deal that would work out for both of them

Cue montage

The space bros go through hell and back trying to find out what happened to most of the worshippers

They break through and destroy so many Empire outposts and institutes that they probably single handedly cripple part of the Empire

Even so, with how hard they work to find out where the worshippers were, they had to ask for help

They asked both Ravus and Luna for help, as well as some of the more trusted allies they had made through their journey

In the end, they find that most of the worshippers had been killed. They manage to rescue those who had survived, and bring them to Luna’s ship for safety

They’re beaten and bruised with fearful eyes and they spend most of their time praying–it’s all they can do at this point

It’s heartbreaking, and it truly reminds Noctis and his friends that they weren’t the only ones who had lost their home

Luna and Noct both promise the worshippers that they would be brought back home when it was finally safe, but no one knows when that will be

The next time Noctis crosses paths with Ardyn, there is no snark in Ardyn’s voice–only the serious tone of a man who had lost everything

He demands that Noct bring him to his people, his voice harsh and sharp as he snaps. His eyes are furious and his stance is dangerous but Noct remains calm and tall, his eyes cool as he talks Ardyn down

Ardyn agrees to go with Noctis alone, he agrees to relinquish his weapons and trickery–all he wants is to see that his people are safe

The others aren’t happy, the air is tense in their cruiser as they return to The Oracle. Gladio silently fumes and Ignis is ready to pounce any second.

But Ardyn makes no moves. He waits, his heart still, his eyes sharp–he could be walking into a trap, and he knows it, but he doesn’t care, not if his people are there

Luna is respectful when Ardyn boards her ship. She doesn’t show any ill will despite what he has done–she knows he had been tricked, and she knows that all that really matters to him are his people. She respects that.

She leads him to the worshippers, and the second his eyes fall on them, he smiles–truly smiles

He feels relief, hope–glee

They look just as stunned as he is, their eyes wide and sparkling as they drop to the floor and bow

He only tells them to stand, speaking in an old, dead language that even Ignis doesn’t know

He asks them questions, touches their cheeks, their shoulders, their hands… He’s so gentle and careful, no one else can believe it

As they finish answering, he thanks them with a warm, soft voice, promising he’ll get them home safe–that they will all go home safely and that he’ll join them, that they will rebuild their beautiful civilization once again and no one will ever hurt them again

He turns and looks at Noctis, his eyes full of cold murder as his fury burns. He asks when they’ll launch their full attack–because he wants in. He quietly vows that he will bring down the empire–every last ship, even if it kills him.

It only takes a few more cycles for everything to be ready.

There are at least a thousand ships that come forward to help fight. Their alliances hold true to their words and promises and join The Oracle, bringing their own smaller allied ships and friends with them

Ravus brings at least 200 ships full of space pirates with a new, shiny arm at his shoulder

Noctis contacts older allies that his dad had made, as well as the hundreds of new ones he’s made through his travels–and those allies bring their own, as well

Luna has age old promises that are being fulfilled, her oldest contacts coming forward from the deep recesses of space to help fight the Empire

Even Ardyn pulls some strings, pulling a few of the Empire’s allies over to their side–after all, many of them had been loyal to Ardyn alone, in the end

With the Empire spread over so much of space, it isn’t a clean, straightforward war (then again, most aren’t)

The war lasts 81.7 cycles–nearly ten years. Strategies are stretched, lives are lost, people were worn down, but Noctis never wavers

In the end, the Empire crumbles–losing far too many of its ships and colonies, especially as the civilizations it took over rebel and fight back.

Eventually, there is only the head colony left–and Noctis’ side easily corners it.

Noctis isn’t alone when he approached the leader of the Empire. Ardyn goes with him, his losses just as valid as Noctis’

The leader begs. He cries, yells in desperation, falls to his knees and simply weeps–asking for Noctis to have mercy.

Noctis is cold as he responds, simply staring down the old man. He’s gotten what he wants–the Empire’s downfall. Yes, the leader needs to pay for his crimes, but he doesn’t care much for the logistics of that–so deciding punishment falls to Ardyn.

The details don’t matter too much–the Empire fell, Noctis was able to rebuild his colony around a new star, The Oracle was free to help the civilizations that had been under the Empire’s control, Ravus and his space pirates became the police of sorts–protecting people from unsavory sorts in space, and Ardyn was able to return to his home with the remainder of his people

Space was free again, its planets and civilizations free to return to run their lives as they pleased

Edit: Things I forgot to mention™

Arenaea is space’s local lesbian space pirate whose fleet was actually hired by Ardyn somewhere down the line

She was actually notorious and was a big rival of Ravus (they crossed paths on more than one occasion)

She’s lost a couple digits and a foot, as well as an eye in her pursuits but replaced them all with cybernetic implants (her eye can actually see in infrared, very handy in space)

Her cyborg foot has a built in high heel

She’s one of the most dangerous enemies and one of the best allies to have

No one crosses her and lives to tell the tale (unless she wants them to)

Insanely good strategist and is one of the best allies Noct has in the war

You can hear her loudly walking down the metal bridges of ships when hunting down mercenaries and criminals, her cybernetic foot and high heels clanging loudly (she likes to scare them--she could move quietly with no effort at all)

Anyways so weapons right

LASERS LASERS LASERS LASERSSSS

Ignis’ weapons are duel blades ofc, however, they’re HEAT DUEL BLADESSSS

With a click of his thumbs he's got some lasers shooting down the edge of his daggers and ready to burn the guts of his enemies as he stabs them (it’s pretty good at cauterizing wounds so his slices and jabs are well placed for instant death)

Gladio??? Yes, he still uses those massive as two handed swords. No one can rip that away from him

However

They, too, have laser capabilities

He keeps two laser pistols on either side of his belt for when they’re fighting in smaller quarters  

Y’all haven’t lived until you’ve gotten a mental image of sweaty gladio with burn wounds from laser rifles and holes in his tanktop shootin a couple of laser pistols with his beautiful manbun-ponytail thing and 10-year gap hair chillin out there, mouth turned down into a scowl as his sharp eyes aim

He also has a couple of electric cybernetic gloves that stun enemies with a single punch

Now. Noctis? Listen. He doesn’t use lasers--too much of a hassle

Our boi has a few cybernetic implants, kay?

Y’all ever played mass effect? His magic is basically like the biotics of mass effect

In other words, he still has magic, it’s just sci-fi magic!

His swords are made out of the sharpest metals one can find, and they glow because 1) I say so, and 2) they were forged from radioactive materials and stardust from the heat of a dying star because that’s how we do things in S P A C E

NOW PROMPTO

HOOO BOI MY LORD SO MANY LASERS

S O  M A N Y  L A S E R S

He’s got a laser rifle, he’s got a laser sniper, he’s got bullets that electrocute, bullets that explode, bullets that burn, grenades that stun, grenades that blow up, grenades that disintegrate only organic forms (helpful in space ships tbh)

He has a good trusty ole missile launcher type of weapon that launches concentrated laser ball missiles at shit

Also he’s far sighted.

Anyways; prom is always making modifications to his weapons (and gladio’s pistols) and is always the one to repair or alter the spacebro’s weaponry

He once smacked Noct for trying to fix a sword and somehow damaging its mechanics

Prom actually makes some serious cash fixing weapons at outposts and such, he also buys cheap weapons and bulks them up before selling them for like three times his buying price

He’s actually the most well-off out of them further down the line and he’s the one who brings in the credits throughout their journey because he’s the only one with some sort of income

Also i forgot to mention

Noct loses a leg in the war and gets a cheap prosthetic to tide him over until the end; then he gets a hella cool cyborg leg like Arenaea

Ignis does NOT go blind, however, he loses an eye in a fight with some space pirates who try to raid The Oracle and ends up with an eyepatch for a while

Later on, he gets his own cybernetic implant eye--it’s a lot like Arenaea’s actually

It glows red and the metal covers the area around his eye completely, reaching around towards the side of his head and disappearing beneath part of his hair

Ravus’ right hand pirate is an android

Gentiana is also an android

Cor punches Ardyn in the face the first time they meet during the war--yes, he does know that Ardyn is on their side, now

Cor was the one who found many of Ardyn’s worshippers and brought them to The Oracle

Also Cor is a cyborg

[mastrrt]

The Tigress Dilemma *fanfiction*

Usually, fanfic writers (such as I) have a hard time depicting complex characters such as Tigress, ergo this lack of this understanding about our characters can lead us to defile their original personalities and characteristics. I'm pretty sure most, if not, all of us are victims to the Tigress Dilemma, and this problem can only be resolved once Dreamworks has finished Tigress's arc. The Tigress Dilemma is basically what I mentioned above. We misinterpret Tigress and that could lead us to writing imposters instead. Now I have seen many fanfics, and all of them vary in the extent of how terrible their Tigress imposter is. I would say that for my fanfics, my Tigress imposter is pretty far off from the original character, but I feel I am getting there... it's a very slow progress, but every increment of time is making me better as a writer. Anywho, I'll be addressing some Tigress Imposter stereotypes. These stereotypes are the ones we want to avoid as much as possible. And if we do so, we can get closer to the original Tigress. Now, disclaimer, I am not here to tarnish the pride of any of you fanfic writers. I'm just here to point out my opinions and hopefully my opinions can do more good than harm. Also, to bring this blog a more positive vibe, I will be writing some Tigress stereotypes that we should all follow. But that'll be on the next post. 1. The 'Punk Girl School Bully' Type of Tigress. (LoA Tigress) Sleeves are for wimps... fat muscles... I got huge front teeth... i'll put your head on the toilet... pig anatomy on the facial region... you punk!... ILLL BEAT YOUUU UP!... girl that looks like a man... Those lines are all inside the ambit of any typical Buff School Girl Bully. And yeah, these types of people aren't the most likeable. Mainly because of their terrible ego and pride, their unmanaged temper, their constant screaming, and the fact that they bully. And these types of characters usually act upon their anger, and these types of characters are usually defeated by their own caprices. Now a lot of times, people usually confuse 'Punk Girl School Bully' as Tigress's characteristics.

For example, a lot of fanfictions tend to write this: Tigress was clouded with anger. How dare this cocky prick make fun of her name like that? She charged at him, trying to land a double fist strike on her belly, but it has seemed that her muscles were so angry that she suddenly turned into an amateur fighter and totally missed the cocky mite's stomache. Now she was even angrier. She gave a frustrated yell and pounced at the prick, driving her feet into a powerful tornado kick, but the man has sidestepped and she was too angry to use that momentum to execute another kick upon landing. Oh she was so so SO angry that everything turned red. Even though the man was merely a stranger, his smart remarks was enough to somehow make Tigress want to tamper him, as if her anger was derived from personal matter. Oh yes, Tigress was so weak that her peace has succumbed so easily to something as superficial as an empty insult. It isn't like she's a warrior who learned integrity, who lived by virtues and proverbs, and learned to swallow her pride the hard way. Nope. She was just the average hot head. "You! You idiot!" She yelled, driving her fist into arbitrary turns and twist with the speed of a toddler's fist in a fit of frenzy. And yet, after delivering such 'efficient' attacks, the man had avoided her punches the Muhammad Ali way. What's next? The rope-a-dope? Is that how weak Tigress became because of her anger? Oh, and since she's sooo angry, she also became majorly stupid! Since she's losing, she might as well become more desperate to win and because of this, she kinda lost 9/10 of her damn brain. It isn't like she had experienced worst before. It isn't like she's been in a tower surrounded by hundreds of adversaries, outmatched, outgunned, out everything, and still managed to escape through a genius idea to catapult her and her Enterprise out the flaming tower THROUGH the toppling flaming tower.

Look, Tigress can be hot head, but she doesn't allow it to manifest in a way that hampers her during battle. She's a warrior who for sure learned patience. Yes, she might have let herself succumb to her anger during the first movie (by trying to fight Tai Lung despite her master's efforts to stop her) but do understand that it was because of that cursed snow leopard that her father was just outright terrible to her, and 20 years of desperation and overwhelming commitment to kung fu led her to think that defeating Tai Lung is the key to Shifu's heart. Watch the Second movie through and through, with the eyes of a scrutenizing critic. If she is angry, it is usually to appear intimidating or lethal. It's a great strategy, escpecially now that her opponents would surely hold back once they hear the low baritone of her growl. But never, never, never, never, I assure you, did she appear angry and let that rage make her a haphazard, stupid, mess.

Also, fanfic writers tend to also write this: Tigress crossed her arms and growled. Po was so annoying! He wouldn't stop babbling about his new dumpling recipe. If he says 'broccoli broth' one more time, she is sure her dormant side would burst. "SHUT UP PO! YOU ARE AN IDIOT! YOU ARE SO CHILDISH! YOU DON'T DESERVE TO BE THE DRAGON WARRIOR!" And then, Po cried and ran away from the kitchen. The rest of the five gave her a look that could compare to the menacing glare of a thousand men, and they all left her to find the weeping Po. She sneered, she didn't need them anyways. She didn't have a family. And they were no friends of hers.

Tigress is not like this! She values her friends, and she talks to them like friends. Do no potray her the LoA way, because she's not always grumpy... and she is, by chance, grumpy, it's mostly for a reason. When the other five are irritated or even disgusted of Po, you can see that only Tigress smiles. And when she is in an argument, she usually deliver herself in a calm and threatening. Yeah, calm and threatening can be together. Tigress works as a paradox. I think the problem here is that people mistake seriousness and grumpiness as neigh synonyms. DON'T mistake those two different words with the same definition. Tigress is serious, but rarely grumpy in the way LoA/ fancfictions potrays her (just compare KFP 2 Tigress to LoA Tigress (there's a big difference I tell you that (mostly because she doesn't haphazardly turn into a big bish (is this even grammatically correct?))))

2. The Morally Deficient Tigress. I hate you!... you've always been terrible to me Shifu. So I hate you too!... you guys are not my family!... i have no family!... brat times twenty... your spoon is stupid... everyone is stupid... I don't wanna do this anymore... i'll turn evil in six seconds if you don't assuage my ego... cold hearted... insults everywhere... long sullen silences followed by mean comments followed by even more long sullen silences... angst angst angst for no reason... teenage i-have-20-pounds-of-eyeliner-under-my-eyes prototype. this type of imposter Tigress is probably one of the worst forms of Tigress out there. You cannot just ignore that she has been raised by two kung fu masters, one has morals that are so polished and perfect, and the other one with flaws but regardless still wiser than most. She's also follows a regimented schedule of supreme discipline throughout the course of her twenty-eight years, so surely she has been taught hardwork, patience, determination and other virtues that any average olympian athletes would typically have. Despite being called cold-hearted, stoic, perhaps even mean, do remember that she is also a HERO. With a hero's heart and the strength of a hero's mind. You can not simply ignore that she's a good person who had saved, quite possibly, thousands of lives, expecting nothing in return except the heart of her father and a place to reside. Do not mistake badassery with idiocy. Do not make her morally deficient like she's a little child with the mindset of a brat on a bad day.

Here's some examples of this nightmare: "Why do you keep these stuff? You're so childish, you don't deserve to be the Dragon Warrior!" Tigress looked around his loft, threatened by the action figures and the posters of the masters that adorned it.

Po frowned, "But... but... items like these have very big value to me Tigress. Especially my action figures, I cherish them because it's a large fragment of my childhood memories!"

Tigress did not understand. Of course she did not, not only is she whimsy, grumpy, angry and stupid, she also lacks understanding and lessons that can usually be self-taught at the age of twenty. She acts like a little child and that's all her morality is limited to. "No! They're wooden things with no value whatsoever. Stop being a fanboy. Stop being yourself! I can't support you! You idiot."

And she left the room with grandeur ---Sharpei Style with the hint of swagger. Five days later... "It's all your fault why we're here Po! All your fault. It isn't like you made a wonderful plan and I kinda destroyed it after this cocky douche made me angry and I decided to fight him and ditch your plan. And since my dignity got the best of me, it isn't like I'm blaming you 100% on our unfortunate demise when I know 200% that i'm to blame." Po tried to speak, but Tigress continued, "Ya'll should have listened to me! Me me me me! Me me me me!" The end!

Okay okay, it's a little too exaggerated, but you get the point right? Tigress doesn't act like this. She is kind and nice, she's truly supportive even with her doubts, and she loves and values her friends, albeit these traits are not exposed because it's overshadowed by her stoic demeanor. Whatever... sometimes light filters through her facade and you can see her vulnerabilities.

3. The Profesional Becomes the Biggest Amateur. Gets defeated by a few alligators who could barely fight... can't get unstuck from a rope THAT ISNT EVEN KNOTTED NOR THICK ENOUGH TO CARRY TWO POUNDS... can't get out a sticky situation even though she has been through worse... pathetic tiger... no longer has super strength that she has been gifted with. Now I'm just a thread's breadth away before typing a full fledge rant. Yes! I get it. She has been defeated by people who Po can defeat. She has been defeated by Tai lung and Po was able to defeat Tai Lung. But that was because Po was in a special situation, and it was truly only Po who could defeat Tai Lung (I'll adress this in a new post.) Have ya'll ever of this rule, in both film making and book writing, that authors must refrain from degrading everyone's intelligence so that a single character can appear in the caliber of a genius? Basically, what I'm saying is that you cannot make the five (escape Tigress) leagues weaker than their original selves just for the sake of making Po or your main OCs appear stronger. One, that's a terrible illusion that even a blind man can see through. And two, that's just disrespectful for a The Five. Not only are the five overshadowed, but ya'll also heavily disregarded the fact that they are warriors that did a lot. You're forgetting that Tigress can do this

Do not forget that she is the person who can do so much more. If you want a story where Tigress becomes a damsel in distress, and Po is the one to save her, DO NOT get her kidnapped by five wolves. Or ten. Or even twenty. Because this tiger can handle of them easy. Make sure she is defeated by a whole fudging army, or a bunch of hooded warriors who are thousands of years old and are as good as Shifu in kung fu. Make sure her defeat is reasonable and respects what she can do. KNOW what she can do, so that you learn her limits. Give her a challenge, give her a run for her money. Don't make her pathetic just because you want someone else to seem not pathetic. Us fan fic writers say that Tigress is hardcore. Awesome. Badarse. So maybe we should write her that way. Some fan fics I read write that Tigress got defeated because she was hungry or tired and couldn't fight against a few adversaries. I roll me eyes. Bro! You cannot make hunger the reason why she's defeated😂 have you seen what she ate during the first KFP movie? Her meals consists of tea and a small, chewy block of tofu. Please. She had trained her body and mind to resist pain in a way that wouldn't affect her during battle. And don't go destroying her stamina either. If she can go the whole night just battling a bunch of wolves, without even so much as passing out then pulease, don't make tiredness as an excuse. But there are some exceptions though. Like maybe she got tired because she drained her chi. Then that's understandable. So much work.

[scripttorture]

Just something I'm curious about - in your torture in fiction posts that deal with sci-fi settings, particularly Star Wars, you list a lot of the torture devices as unrealistic because they're high-tech compared to real life equipment. Is this because you're trying to really stress how how real life torture is carried out? I admittedly haven't studied the topic as in-depth as you, but a lot of the devices used in Star Wars torture scenes seem fancy and space-age to us but in-universe (1/2)

(2/2) things like the droid used to torture Leia in A New Hope are very common and viewed as everyday devices. I guess I’m also asking if a character’s perception of what a common/“low tech” device is would factor into how they select torture methods, or if you think the general technology level of the story doesn’t matter much?

I guess it’s primarily about trying to get people to understand whattorture is.

We are surrounded by stories that, one way or another, suggest torturecan be ‘ok’.

We’re also surrounded by stories that, knowingly or not, get their imageof torture from taking what torturers sayat face value.

And the idea of using high-tech devices, complicated devices, in tortureis doing just that. It is believing these ignorant, pathetic brutes when theysay that what they do is actually ‘scientific’, that it can be ‘improved’, thatthey personally are ‘really good at it’ and that they personally are the specialexception flying against every piece of scientific evidence we have.

The idea of torture being high-tech is heavily linked to the ideatorture can be ‘improved’. It’s a cop out that says ‘well this time didn’t workI guess we need to build a better droid’.

It’s also heavily linked tothe idea that ‘clean’ non-scarring tortures are somehow ‘safer’, that you cancause someone massive amounts of pain and trauma but it’s ok it won’t damagethem. Because it’s ‘scientific’.

Please understand that this anger is not directed at you. This is thememory of sifting through eloquent, newspaper published arguments ‘for’waterboarding and too many conversations where I am asked to ‘prove’ torturecould never work under increasingly ludicrously sci-fi circumstances.

It’s the way so many people seem to automatically turn a discussionabout stopping torture towards ‘wellperhaps if we just tortured people in the ‘right’ way-’

It isn’t about what sort oftechnology is common in the setting.

Almost everyone has a mobile phone where I live. I think it’s safe toassume that the prisons and police stations where a lot of torture takes place have mobile phones, televisions,computers, microwaves.

There has never been a singlereported incident I can find of them being used to torture.

It’s not just expense, it’s practicality. The more complicated and hightech something is the easier it is to break and the harder it is to use withouttraining.

From the torturer’s perspective torture is all about using the least amount of effort.

Anything that takes longer, anything that breaks in use, anything eventhe slightest bit more inconvenient will lose out compared to ‘why don’t wejust borrow the garden hose and hit them with it?’

The torture devices of the past were nothigh tech, even for the times they were created. (Take a look at a rack, thentake a look at the types of ships Europeans were using at the same time forlong distance navigation). Using the vast majority of them boils down toturning a screw.

There’s also the question of the effort,time and money¸ that goes into creating high tech devices.

How big would the group of people behind that one droid have to be? You’dneed designers, mechanics and a way totest it just to get a prototype. The first attempt would probably go wrong,because it’s a complicated, high tech piece of equipment. All of the peopleinvolved in it’s creation need to be paid, housed and have access to thecorrect materials for the decades it would take to get one working model. Thenyou’d need to source materials in bulk, you’d need to assemble them correctlyand you’d need to persuade people that this thing is better than just using a bucket of water. That’s worth the moneybeing asked for it.

The only high tech torturedevice that’s really taken off is the Taser. According to Rejali it took about8 attempts and a lot of time andmoney on someone’s part to get it off the ground. It was initially rejected bypolice departments as too difficult to use and too easy to break.

It’s not that police departments weren’tusing electrical torture, they just found that hand cranked magnetos, carbatteries and cow prods were a lot easier to use. Because they’re less complicated.

So no- I don’t think thatcharacter’s perception of what tech is ‘normal’ factors into what gets used intorture at all. Becausewhat we see in real life is that everyday technology doesn’t tend to get used in torture. It’s more effort for thetorturer, it’s more difficult to use, it’s more likely to break and in somecases probably more likely to get the torturer caught.

That last point may not be a factor in all stories but the rest of thosepoints definitely are.

There’s a difference between showing an evil organisation building abigger, ‘better’ bomb and showing them using high tech torture. In the formerthey’re investing in killing people more efficiently; they know they might notget the result they want first time but they also know it will eventually be ‘worth’the money. In the latter example they’re pouring money into a project that won’t‘work’ any better and (from their view more importantly) that their torturerswon’t want to use.

So yes it’s about realism but beyond that it’s what unrealistic tropesmean in these stories.

I run this blog because I want to change the narrative: because I wantto live in a world where pop culture doesn’tencourage or glorify torture.

And if you want to kill an idea you need to go for the joints.

Torture isn’t sophisticated.It isn’t complicated. And most importantly it not only fails, it cannot be improved. Brutality doesn’tbecome more acceptable just because it’s delivered via a shiny new package, itdoesn’t become less harmful just because the damage is hard to see.

I know some of the things I talk about probably seem odd or harmless toa lot of readers but this is about…tracking what those ideas prop up.

I hope that answers your question. :)

Edit: So there’s a counter argument in the comments which I’m going to respond to very briefly.

1) Torture ‘for’ information does not work.(See O’Mara and Rejali)

2) Scaring people you’re trying to interrogate has been shown to be a less effective strategy. (See E and L Alison)

3) Torturers are self selecting. (See Rejali)

4) Lie detectors do not work. (See O’Mara)

5) All the Star Wars movies I’ve reviewed so far have actually handled torture pretty well. The bad guys assume it ‘works’ sure, but the first three movies show torture failing consistently and they show it failing in realistic ways.

Disclaimer

[thebootybitchdragon]

So, first of all, I am super excited to have found somebody as excited about the clone as I am. I've been thinking about it a lot since Butch posted his video. But, I'm confused, because I thought this was ten years into the future? Wouldn't original Danny be older? Like 24 I think? Aside from that, you guys got some really good ideas about this character, and I've been laughing at some of the comments for a good few minutes.

AHHHH someone else who likes the clone!Welcome friend!!! 8) lmao, I was browsing the Phantom tag yesterday waswas so disheartened by how many people were irritable at all of thedesigns or downright kicking them to the curb. Which, isunderstandable, everyone has their tastes, and I agree that most ofthem are just…..Put Them Back embodiments, but it was still sad tosee so little interest in the Clone.

Because its such a good idea ripe withpotential, both for TUE levels of darkness and for hilariousscenarios. For once (ONCE) Butch has done okay by me.

And now to actually answer yourquestion, lmao: Yes, you are correct, the original concept was Vladfor ten years into the future, with a teenage Danny clone (I do admitthat’s super squick, like Vlad do you have no other hobbies besidesbeing fucking creepy? Go outside and play some tennis my dude.) sincethe video was a part 2 to the original Phantom concepts for the tenyear anniversary. However, at least in the ideas and concepts I’vebeen talking about and personally throwing around, I’ve gotten rid ofthe ten year span.

Because it literally doesn’t makesense.

I have contempt for the officialPhantom timeline bc its so inconsistent, but a majority of peoplehave it taking place over a two year time span, based on the twosummer episodes. (This is something I personally don’t agree with,but I have no evidence to argue it so I’m stuck like a petulantchild grumbling in the corner) and Vlad gives Valerie her gear in S1Ep10, Shades of Grey. I cannot recall if it was specifically statedin canon Vlad was using her to get Danny’s DNA, but I’m trustingthe wiki bc I really don’t want to endure re-watching Kindred Spiritsand D-Stabalized. If we assume that this had been Vlad’s goal fromthe start (something I disagree with and will touch more aboutbelow), that means that he’s been gathering Danny’s DNA for about ayear to two years if we estimate heavily with the nonsense timebetween the episodes.

In that time span, he figured out howto do the cloning, built the equipment, went through countlessprototypes to figure out all the bumps and snags, made severaldecently “functional” clones (Dani and the one he fucking murdersas a display), made the “perfect” one, and figured out exactlywhat he needed to stabilize an artificial hybrid of ghost and humanorigin.

In two years max.

It would not take him ten fuckin yearsto recreate a successful perfect clone. Even if everything wasdestroyed twice and he lost Valerie’s “assistance”. And thereason for that is because he already knows how. The hard part isdone. Once you know how to do something through so much trial anderror, you know what not to do and what you should do the nexttime around. Vlad doesn’t need to re-figure out how to make astable, perfect clone again, he can just get the equipment, the DNA,whatever and just do it.

Which he was most likely attemptingto already do in D-stabilized.

[Edit: I neglected to look on thewiki before writing this entire thing bc I was confident I know thematerial and apparently I need to get a reality check on my ego bc Iwas completely misremembering D-Stabalized. The fallowing should betaken with gratuitous lumps of salt bc I’m salty at this discoveryand also I haven’t changed anything in it.]

Why do you think hewas going after Dani? Why would he want that information of “Whyare you so stable?” if he wasn’t trying again? If he wasn’t at thepoint that he NEEDED to stabilize something? For future knowledge?Please. If Vlad was truly going to make another perfect clone, hewould not wait several months after loosing the first doing literallynothing but tormenting Danny and being an ass, nor until after he’sfigured out Dani. He was working on the Clone project for a long timeunder everyone’s noses in the first place, so who’s to say he wasn’tagain?

I’m saying Vlad wasliterally within inches of succeeding in D-stabalized. That healready had a second Clone ready to stabilize.

[Edit: I was incorrect in thinkingVlad only wanted Dani to learn why she’s stable, he wanted to use herto make another perfect clone. I was close, but not close enough. Iam still standing by my theory, however, canon can suck it. It’sstill at least feasible.]

Hartman suggestedin the video, as I’m sure you know, that the Clone (I call himDaniel bc there’s literally no way he’s not namedDaniel.) has some of Vlad in him. And this, my friend, melds so well with where canon dropped off.

Vlad wanted andattempted to stabilize the clones with Danny’s full DNA, probably soit would be 100% Danny, enough to the point he was willing to murderDani to figure her out/use her. However, after failing to get themid-morph from Danny (failure 1) and failing to get anything fromDani (failure 2), Vlad would be unlikely to try the same thingsagain. I would also like to think he’d also be unlikely to continuing to announce “OI I’M CLONEING YOU” to Danny, but it’sVlad so you never know.

He would be forcedto think of something else.

There is nothing incanon suggesting that Vlad couldn’t use his own mid-morph tostabalize a clone. He never brings it up, never explains why themid-morph is the critical link aside from the fact that it just is.There’s very little info about just how these clones are made, sothere’s no known rules to what could work and what wouldn’t. A possible reason this might not work is that it could function likebody parts or blood types, where you need a match in order for it tobe properly accepted. In that case, however, its just figuring outwhat you need to tweak in order to force an acceptance, somethingprobably made easier to do when you’re in control of the entiregenetic sequence you’re fiddling with.

This would not taketen years to do. None of it would. It would take at most, I think ayear. Maybe two, but that’s pushing it. I also have a theorythat Vlad was being so obtuse in Season 3 was to purposefullydistract Danny, but take that as you will.

This is all of myfancy way of explaining why my personal ideas are set so close to theactual canon and kicking that gross ten years to the curb.

As for my forgotten notion about why Idon’t think Vlad started cloning from Valerie’s beginning was becauseVlad was still mostly focused on Maddie up until Maternal Instincts,which occurs 6 episodes after Shades of Grey. Shades of Greyis only three episodes from Bitter Reunions as well.That’s a pretty small amount of time for someone still (reasonably)sane to go “I liked that kid, I want him to be my son. I shouldclone him.”

I’d also like to state that in the fourepisodes Vlad appears in before Kindred Spirits (not including TUE)but after Maternal Instincts, not once is his main goal Danny.Nor is it ever Maddie, either. Danny becomes a factor in MillionDollar Ghost, however his main goal is still stealing the portal. InReign Storm, he’s more inclined to use Danny than to try to make himhis son, bc again: his goal is the artifacts. In Secret Weapons, Vladisn’t even interested in Danny when he’s dropped in the middleof his lab. Tbh, I can’t for the life of me figure out what Vlad’sgoal was in the whole sibling battle thing, he really just fucked hisplans up himself in that one. In Masters of All Time, his goal wasthe cure, and again, had no problems using Danny as a pawn.

Kindred Spirits is the first place inthe entire series where we see the extent of how far he’s willing togo to get Danny to be his son. The first episode where it’s his maingoal.

I just realized how close MaoT andKinSpirits are, I wonder if Vlad triggered the Ectoacne flare workingwith the ectoplasm for the clones? Hmmm, interesting.

Anyway, the point is: Vlad kept hiscloning stuff a secret, but for how long remains a mystery. Mostlybecause there’s no point in time where it becomes obvious just howdesperate he is to have Danny. Is it when he saw an opportunity withValerie? Or is it after Danny ruins his attempts to get the Ring ofRage back from Pariah by blowing up the ectosuit so he was just like“Well fuck, now what do I do to keep myself busy?”

Getting back onto the topic of Cloneand Original Danny, there’s a second, lesser reason I’ve personallybumped the time skip, and that’s because there would be literallyZero conflict between a 14 year old and a 24 year old.

OlderDanny would kick his ass, trainingfrom Vlad be damned.

OlderDanny would also not be fazed asmuch as a younger Danny as his identity being perverted by a clone.This is because the age gap would automatically render them as beingtwo different people. OlderDanny would not see the clone as himself,at least not fully, because he’s already a mature adult. The clonecould not torment Danny with the fact that he’s him, that he’sstealing anything, that he’s threatening his notion of being andsense of self. Because OlderDanny has nothing to fear about a youngerversion of himself; he’s stronger, wiser, and different enough. Thedynamic simply doesn’t work. This is why Danny could be okay withDani: he doesn’t see himself in her. He doesn’t think of her as aclone, as the doppelganger. Because she’s a girl, she’s younger,she’s different. She isn’t him in his eyes.

With an identical copy, that’s notsomething you can avoid or ignore. Can’t deny that its not your facetwisting into that evil smirk that looks so wrong because itsfamiliar but not. Its you, but its not, and its uncomfortable,its an invasion of privacy, the ultimate identity theft. Its a personthat wears your face, sees with your eyes, speaks with your voice,thinks with your brain, and bleeds with your blood. And yet its notyou.

The closest thing Danny had to this wasDan. But Dan could be defeated. Dan could be made so that he neverexisted in the first place, completely avoided.

Daniel could not.

Daniel’s creation is out of Danny’scontrol, his existence never takes into account what Danny wants orcares, because its done at Vlad’s whims. And that’s the worstpart: the lack of control. To know that an identical yet completelywrong version of yourself exists against your will and you haveabsolutely no control over it is torture, especially for someone whoalready had cause to fear himself once before. Sure, Danny can fightDaniel, suck him up into a thermos, and maybe kick it into the ghostzone to try to be rid of him forever, but he would still existand he could always come back. Unlike Dan.  And there’snothing Danny could do about it.

What even could be do? Try todestabilize him? Ask clockwork to erase him from existence? Lock himin a thermos and bury him deep in the ice caps? Kill him?

Would Danny truly be the person to tryany of those?

In other words, the closer Daniel is tobeing like Danny, the worse effect it would have. So its all aboutmaximizing that to get the full potential of the conflict. Dannyneeds a reason to see Daniel’s creation as the ultimate line crossed,the “This has gone too far” moment. Danny needs a reasonto not only despise, but fear his clone.

There are some….problems, with this,and I’ve already used them in my argument: the fact that it another you is too different, you stop seeing it as yourself. AndDaniel is not an identical copy. He has aspects of Vlad in him.There’s a very fine line to be walked, between Daniel being similarenough that it hurts Danny while being different enough to count as adifferent character. The design alone might already doom it. But fuckit, you people can pry my inverted skunk haired baby from my colddead hands.

I realize that this is a very longresponse, and very little of it pertains to what you asked. However,I hope you enjoyed my analysis and my explanation of my personalreasoning. This was a lot of fun to talk about (I can’t remember if Igot into some of the things in other asks or if I’m recalling themfrom a thing I was gonna post but hasn’t gotten to yet. If thereare repeat things, I’m sorry! My memory is v bad.) and I thank youfor the ask!

I also realize that a majority of thisask talks about making Daniel Danny’s worst enemy, which goes againstthe “They slowly become bed buds” ask I got earlier. I receivedthat ask before I really had any ideas of what to do with Daniel, andsince I’m loving this worst enemy idea, the conflict isunderstandable. The friend idea is still on the table tho! All itneeds now is a climax, a trigger, a turning point. Something thatchanges the dynamic to start that “I hate you, but not as much as Idid, and I kinda sorta enjoy your company a little bit.” ball a’rollin.

Fuck if I know what that is tho lmao