#instead of simply being shadow's backstory

[a-little-monotonous]

sega give me more maria content and my life is yours

[reel-fear]

Honestly the funniest thing abt Don't Starve lore is just that Wagstaff made a robot born from someone's death, full of trauma upon having several out of body experiences that started crashing out and then threw it into the nightmare hell word and somehow didn't expect it to become the most bitter evil angry person ever. If my only exposure to humans was Wagstaff honestly I would've turned out worse we're lucky WX hasn't strangled their fellow survivors in their sleep yet.

As far as I know we don't really know when WX became truly evil and honestly I think it would be very interesting to imply idk, being mauled by hounds and tossed around in an uncaring unforgiving world for years with some canon evidence even suggesting they don't remember too much of life before the constant, might've been why they turned out. Like that. Esp I think it says everything WX can confront Wagstaff stare him down but Wagstaff just avoids their gaze, one of these people is guilty [and knows it too] the other is not.

Also Wagstaff's quote for the nightmare throne implying he meant for WX to die in there ='].

WX feeling the need to tell a Wagstaff inspired machine she's better than her creators, telling another to never trust Wagstaff. I think it screams yet another thing Wagstaff tossed the second it became clear it wasn't doing exactly what he wanted [as WX says about some of his machines discarded like trash] rather than him saving the world from an evil robot born evil.

Also makes for an amazing Frankenstein comparison, make life, don't give it a name, be horrified when it has emotional problems, dump it in the woods, oops it came back- [I know that's not exactly what happened but y'know]

[etheries1015]

What about Diasomnia going into MC's dream? They had been through Lilias time of war and magic, his tragic backstory and beautiful history, and suddenly they were in your...much less "exciting" world.

A boring life seemed to be a harsh description of what your world was, but there wasn't many other words to properly describe your world and your life. The reality was as such; boring. Every day was the same - work whatever that may have been, home. Work, home. Work, home. And although you may have had people around you, there wasn't ever truly a time you seemed to be...happy.

A lonely life. A boring, magicless, mundane, and slow life. That was how you would describe your world- the color grey, vibrant hues stripped from its core leaving behind a shadow that never seemed to leave your side.

Of course, there wasn't anything inherently wrong about living a slow and boring life; however it just never seemed to feel right to you, experiencing little to no excitement, no danger, no risks...the place you felt most at home was the comfort of your own mind.

You seldom spoke about your life prior to Twisted Wonderland to any who would inquire, you had a laid out response every time someone asked;

"There isn't much of a story to tell."

And suddenly they, Lilia sebek and Silver, were standing in front of you.

You, who was sobbing into your hands inconsolable.

You, who was absolutely miserable

This wasn't their fun sunshine prefect they knew,

This was a shell of a person who hated their mundane life.

Sebek Lilia and Silver all stared at you from a distance as you simply stared at the sky with a somber twinkle in your eyes. It was useless to come up to you- there was no way you'd understand where they had come from, and no way you remembered magic. Instead of marveling at the prospect of being inside a place completely opposite of Twisted Wonderland, they were instead silent in their sadness staring at the prefect they had come to love.

You looked up at the sky which was turning dark, taking notice of a singular star that had planted itself directly above you. This star was particularly beautiful- beautiful enough for you to decide that perhaps it had the properties to bring you peace of mind.

"Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight," You hesitated before letting out a breathy chuckle while shaking your head, almost as if you were making fun of yourself for speaking such words.

"I wish I may, I wish I might, have this wish I wish tonight." Another stretch of hesitance reigned as you simply stared at the dark sky, contemplating whether or not it was worth trying. You seemed to have made up your mind, letting out a sigh and offering your wish to the star.

"Please, just...Send me somewhere. Anywhere but this place."

A moment of silence seemed to tease you at your request, and you sighed yet another pathetically melancholy sigh. The three boys truly pitied the sight before them. Although not a backstory of betrayal, war, or fantasy, seeing you so disheveled and in a state of disrepair was a different kind of tragedy.

The silence that rang was rudely interrupted by the sound of clicking against the ground and a neigh of a horse- you didnt have a moment to realize what was happening until it was far too late. You stood up in a mere second of panic as you saw a horse with a carriage in tow, a large black carriage you hadn't even a split second to notice the details.

You heard the sound of voices calling out your name

Before the carriage had come and made impact

ultimately granting your wish.

[liixlabrat]

hey gang welcome to: me ranting about the differences in fandom satbk lancelot and lancelot in arthurania (in an observational way) + some other things regarding the differences in satbk compared to legend (mostly my thoughts abt the casting. hint: i don't like it)

disclaimers:

- this will be a long post so it will be under a cut

- this will have a HEAVY lean towards the vulgate cycle in terms of characterization because that is what I'm most knowledgeable about.

- satbk is mostly based on thomas mallory and chrétien de troyes' work. there will be inconsistencies because of this

- i am a believer in dldr in fandom spaces. this isn't a critical rant about characterization. this is more about me talking about something I'm passionate about because i find it interesting

- this will also not be about MY characterization of lancelot bc that needs to be its own post (though my own thoughts will be mentioned)

- fandom's satbk lancelot will be called lance and arthurania lancelot will just be called lancelot for my sake

tws (all arthurania): rape, incest, drugging, kidnapping, death. stay safe, most of these are once mentioned in passing.

i find the differences between lance and lancelot absolutely fascinating simply due to the fact of how different they are. while a lot of lance's characterization can be excused by drawing parallels to shadow, it's still EXTREMELY different

the general consensus on lance (from what i can gather) is that he's a loyal knight who sticks by arthur's side through thick and thin, extremely stoic, and unwilling to say no to arthur (plus some shadow traits like being stubborn, prideful, caring etc etc)

and while that conclusion makes sense considering the information given about lance in satbk, it is incredibly different to actual lancelot.

lancelot is the best knight. he goes actively stir-crazy when forced to stay within arthur's kingdom, and knights don't enjoy times of peace because they are people made to fight. so more times than not, he's not in arthur's kingdom, and it's rare when he is. he's also not stoic in the SLIGHTEST. he openly worries (a lot), gets angry (a lot), cries (a lot), and wears his heart on his sleeve. he is DANGEROUS when he's angry, pretty much to the point of madness. he's also protective of those he cares about. at one point he actively left the round table because arthur fucked up (bad) and to be convinced by several people to return back to arthur's court. hell, he isn't even loyal to arthur! at all! that's his THING!!

lancelot isn't lancelot without guinevere. make it romantic or platonic he's still not lancelot without her. because guinevere is who he's loyal to, guinevere is who gives him his strength, and guinevere is who makes him a knight. (this is likely the reason why lance is such an inaccurate lancelot)

now in terms of satbk, transfer these traits to arthur/sonic and yeah, you can make it work. have your doomed medieval yaoi (even though theres already doomed medieval yaoi in arthurania but i'm getting ahead of myself)

another thing that i notice a lot of differences in is backstory

lance's backstory varies from person to person (commonly attributing parts of shadow's backstory) but i don't know how many people who write these backstories know lancelot's backstory??? or story in general?? like i genuinely have no idea

so bam. here's lancelot's story summarized:

lancelot was born in benoic (france) by king ban and queen elaine. his name was in fact NOT lancelot at the time and instead his name was galahad. when he was a baby benoic was overthrown by king claudas (which. king ban sent out pleas for help to king arthur. guess who left him on read. king arthur.), his father dies soon after bc he fell off a horse, nimue abducts lancelot/galahad, and his mother becomes a nun out of grief.

nimue raises lancelot in a place thats disguised as a lake (its not a lake) with two of lancelot's cousins (lionel and bors). lancelot doesnt have a name anymore at this point and is instead called "the child" "the fair foundling" or in nimue's case "my prince." he doesnt know about his actual origins and believes nimue to be his actual mother. he learns archery, swordfighting, academics, etc etc

he grows up, leaves at either 15 or 18, gets knighted, falls in love with guinevere, so on and so forth

in the case of vulgate cycle (i'm unsure if this carries over to other versions) he goes under several identities (white knight, red knight, black knight) before revealing himself as lancelot. he only learns of his name (and origins) when he conquers dolorous guard and finds his tomb. (which. yes lancelot owns a fortress and he renames it to joyous guard) this all happens relatively early on

everything else varies so i'm not going to tell a specific story bc the only one i'm very familiar with is vulgate.

however: something that i've seen several times is morgan (arthur's sister) kidnapping and drugging lancelot. the motivations vary (from wanting lancelot herself or from hating guinevere) and the actions themselves vary but it's a consistent event. i've personally read both him being thrown into a dungeon and him being actively manipulated

anyway after more varying events: the court finds out about guinevere and lancelot's affair, a civil war breaks out and camelot falls

OKAY. so theres a distinct lack of galahad in said backstory and it's like that for a reason. because galahad is an entire thing in of itself

a common thing that i see is lance raising galahad. this in fact didn't happen with lancelot, and while i do think lance WOULD raise galahad, it would also be miserable for lance specifically. (and galahad too probably)

see, while the time of when galahad was born varies from source to source, the time i see most often is when he was freshly a knight or just entering camelot (not in vulgate). the fact that galahad was a result of elaine of corbinec drugging and raping him because he saved her from morgan boiling her (which made her fall in love. but she also knew that she was not lancelot's true love so instead she tricked him) makes the situation much worse. the reason why lancelot spared her was because she was pregnant with his child. events happen again three years later (minus the child and the boiling water) except this time guinevere found out and banished him for a year. during all of this galahad was raised by a convent

(during a fit of madness, elaine showed him the holy grail which cured him. they got married and i am in a pit of despair.)

galahad gets knighted at 15 by lancelot because it was the one time he ever lost a fight, then he dies between the ages of 15 to early 20s because of the holy grail quest. (tldr: he ascended)

so. thats arthurania. time for me to complain about segas casting because HOLY FUCK ITS ASS

the ones i'm not commenting on are lancelot, gawain, galahad and lamorak as shadow, knuckles, silver and jet respectively all of them are bc i think they're fairly accurate with the exception of lamorak because i know fuck all about jet or lamorak

however the largest atrocity is sonic as king arthur. BECAUSE KING ARTHUR FUCKING SUCKS DUDE. benoic fell because king arthur didnt respond, nobody likes him, he's had several affairs, a massive hypocrite (look at the previous point), a shitty ruler, camelot is still running because of lancelot (whos literally only there because of guinevere), and he hates his own kid WHOS MOTHER IS HIS OWN SISTER. I CANNOT THINK OF A LESS SONIC CHARACTER THAN KING ARTHUR. i know in my heart and soul sonic would fucking HATEE him. i'm convinced the only reason why sonic is king arthur is because of being a main character. (but even then the stories are NEVER about king arthur! they're always about his knights!!)

if it were me, he'd be galehaut. a strong, well liked ruler who despite taking over 29 kingdoms their people adore him. hes ambitious, charismatic and absolutely SMITTEN for lancelot. ("i will die if you are not here with me" is something said many times. hes also very serious about this sentiment)

idek who king arthur would be

the next one is amy as nimue. while it's not AS bad as sonic as king arthur, she doesn't fit as nimue. in my heart of hearts she would not be a teasing fae who abducted a kid to be raised as her own. however someone who sounds like they would do that is one (1) rouge the bat. (plus shadow and rouge family parallels!!)

amy would probably be guinevere. it just. makes sense. sweet to her people, generous with her words, a good leader. checks out

blaze as percival is not something i have an issue with but its more like i think her being queen blaye of malehaut would fit her more. (tbf blaye is a vulgate exclusive i believe). blaye took care of lancelot when he was injured from dolorous guard, accidentally fell in love, never confessed, and was planning to get married to galehaut. (however, if i'm being so fucking real guinevere, blaye, galehaut, and lancelot are all in a polyamorous relationship. this also opens the door for blazamy & sonadow so there's a win there!!)

if i had to assign percival to anyone it'd probably be espio. he's close with silver and while i dont know a lot about either of their characters it Just Makes Sense with the minimal research i did.

anyway. this was mostly an excuse for me to yell about arthurania lancelot i'll be real. love that guy. there's absolutely shit that i forgot to mention so if i remember i'll probably tack it on at some point.

[oathkeeper-of-tarth]

During a casual "Isobel is horribly underappreciated" chat, I was doing some fawning over just how impressive everything that Isobel does and quietly endures is (immediately after being pulled from the grave in a nightmare version of her own home! while everyone she ever knew and loved is either dead or an undead abomination, including, she fears, she herself!). I was reminded of the exchange with Jaheira if you find out the truth about Isobel's backstory, which ranks among my favourite little bits of writing and character moments in the game.

Player: I've been looking into Ketheric. I suspect Isobel might be his daughter. Jaheira: Do you. Well, let us not leave you in suspense, then. You are right. She is. Player: It's more than that. She was dead, and something brought her back. Jaheira: Something malign? Or some blessing of Selûne, perhaps? I do not know what restored Isobel's life to her. But I can see what she is doing with it. If she wished to see us drowned in darkness, Isobel needn't have lifted a finger. Instead, she holds out her hand. I choose to take it. I choose to trust. And not just because I have no other choice. When I find myself needing a reminder of just who Isobel Thorm is, I simply step outside and look up.

The dialogue flow features some more options:

Player: And you trust her? She's all that stands between us and the shadow curse. Jaheira: Exactly the point, wouldn't you say?

Player: You already knew. Why didn't you tell me? Jaheira: Because it isn't my tale to tell. And because, in truth, I do not know the half of it. Only this:

Which then converge into the part I adore that I quoted up top.

After this, there's a couple more responses with some gems:

Player: I'll need to speak to her myself. Jaheira: If it will help. Only remember: I bear more blame for the shadow curse than Isobel does. And she can no more control her parentage than you can that thing in your head. Player: I tried to talk to her about it. She won't tell me anything. Jaheira: Perhaps she chooses to do, rather than say.

And the closing options, with some nice on-brand Jaheira:

Player: All right, then. Trust it is. Jaheira: Then you're a stronger soul than I. I at least have had time to prepare that high-minded little speech.

Player: 'Trust'? You tried to kill me the first time we met. Jaheira: And now we are the best of friends. You see? The power of trust.

Player: Not good enough. Jaheira: Look around you. You shall have to learn to live with 'not good enough', I'm afraid.

Combining all of this with Isobel's sad little "Who would trust the next-of-kin of Ketheric Thorm?" a bit later on sure hurts!

But in conclusion, if anyone, including Isobel herself, starts piping up with some "sins of the father" type nonsense, Jaheira is putting a stop to that, and I love her for it.

[nev-jpgg]

Rook design and some fraction thoughts

Finally finished my Rook design!! I re-wrote a bunch of lore including his fraction and backstory cause Veilguard was just... Unsatisfying, and I found myself not really wanting to think about him. But with rethought story it is now much more pleasant

In case you wonder what this rewriting included:

Shadow dragons as a fraction simply did not work for me for two reasons.

First of them being, why would we need them when Lucerni are already there? They were dismantled in Veilguard off lore, but in my humble opinion it looked more as very lazy explanation. So I left Lucerni be, instead writing shadow dragons as shadows of the Lucerni. Lucerni are the light bringers, but where there is light, there is inevitably shadow. Shadows of the magisters do controversial work for them (spying, assassinations, freeing slaves, stealing comptomat), while keeping the reputation of their magisters clean as a fresh snow. This adds complexity to the fraction (not everyone would agree with having a shadow, Maevaris most certainly wouldn't), gives more ties to the world, allows main character to make controversial decisions and knowledge about Tevinter politics. As well as allows foreshadowing of more of Tevinter than just Docktown

Second reason being, we don't really see what they fight against? We are told that there are slaves in Tevinter, and we liberate them, but we never actually see how slavery affects the world of Tevinter? We never meet slaves and I'm sorry, but some skippable dialogue npcs are having in some random moment does not count. Playable backstory would partly fix this problem. In Agni's case, getting a mission of freeing slaves, either freeing them but risking massive exposure of shadow network, putting magisters of Lucerni at risk (his choice), or not saving them, both options resolving in possible massive regrets for tye game to exploit in the future. If we just could see what our character is fighting against, this fight would have so much more value

Wow it was a really long post, wasn't it? :D

In case you've made it till the end, thank you

[theangrycomet-art]

Drift's Jettrine AU

Crack at the Drift Fam + Jetfire but in TFP instead of RiD.

the trine need some tweaks; sharper detailing more muted colors, but i feel like this is a good start.

i love how cohesive the Drift fam's designs are in RiD, and i need to figure out a better way to integrate that with their "new" paint jobs without completely sacrificing their color pallets.

Random Lore/Backstory:

Deadlock's was one the Decpeticon's most dangerous

The minicons backstory with Shadow Raker is still canon, with Jetfire thrown in

(JETFIRE AND SKYFIRE ARE SEPERATE ENTITIES)

While all three are Deployers, they have aeiral altmodes as well transforming into jets, with their Earth altmodes are Bede Bd-5J's specifically

i guess this technically makes them triple changers??? but that doesn't seem to be as big of a deal in the Aligned verse (gestures to the Rescuebots' (+Rescuebots Academy) whole deal in mild confusion) so i hesitate to refer them as such so yeah

Slipstream was previously known as Jetstream before she transitioned (🏳️‍⚧️)

Has had the hardest time breaking her stealing habits, and is very protective of what she thinks as hers (this extends to her family as well as her weaponry)

Jetstorm lost his right optic in an "accident" before he joined ShadowRaker (no one would hire a "broken ugly" minicon when there were so many perfectly functioning cute ones ready for hire

still prone to reckless rushing and the subsequent overthinking and overcorrecting (feeling the need to prove he is useful and worth his mentor's time)

Jetfire is a slight pyro maniac which he shamelessly denies even as he sticks a shatterbomb to someone

he also has a terrible luck when it comes to weather, and gets easily lost without his trinemates

Deadlock split off from Shadow Raker after being mocked/baited one too many times

Pissed, he'd planned on simply stealing Shadow Raker's favorite ship and skipping town but he ended up stumbling across the Jettrine being when he was searching for supplies

it was easier just to take them then try and weasel his way out of it, and they surprisingly went along with it

struck out on his own after a while (and needing shanix for energon for the triplets he'd picked up) and caught Megatron's eye

Joined the decepticons as a mercenary and starting getting clean, rising in the ranks. Deadlock was no 'Wave but he held Megatron's favor

when Deadlock found out Megatron still worked with Shadow Raker, he didn't take it well

the start of the deterioration of their relationship- Deadlock being outraged that Megatron tolerated someone who saw his men as objects/tools/etc from one under his command and Megatron... really not giving a shit about the details

Shadow Raker's forces were damn good at their job, they were all treated well, and he was a proven loyal decepticon, so what did it matter if he gave out punishments and stole a few things here and there (SR is obviously not stupid enough to steal from Megatron or it would be a different story)

Megatron allowed Deadlock to storm out, assigning him the occasional mission as he blew off steam and meandered

Deadlock isn't happy with the direction the Decpeticon cause is going but has no idea what to do about it (because if it pans out to nothing then he killed and committed so many war crimes for NOTHING)

his newly acquired students, however they became such, aren't particularly bothered with politics and are far more interested in what this old man has to teach them

Eventually Deadlock gets orders to return to the Nemesis to get a personal debriefing on the chain of command

thinking Megatron's finally gonna address the issues he'd been seeing, he made it in record time

... to find STARSCREAM in charge

Flat out turns on his heel and dips out at THAT shitshow

Deadlock gave the Trine their headpieces/ ornaments about a year(?) into their training, though at the time they'd been unpainted

COMMISSIONS OPEN

Height ReF

[kittytale-i-do-what-i-want]

The freedom fighters and could or should they come to IDW

I’ve seen some people claim that the freedom fighters legally can’t come to IDW cause they’re owned by Ken Penders no they’re not they were made during the DIC cartoon era, and as we found out from several legal documents in such Sega owns all of those characters that were made during that time so legally, Sega can use the freedom fighters and any other Characters in those cartoons anyway, they want 

Now should the freedom fighters come to IDW? personally, I think yes I think there’s a place for them to despite what some people say. Would they need re-working? Yes they definitely would, but I think they have their place besides the fans just wanting them to come back desperately.

Now, when I say the freedom fighters the group I’m talking about are Sally Acorn, Bunnie Robbot, Antoine D’Collet, Rotor, And Nicole



For sally instead of her being a princess cause I’m not sure if that would work anymore make her the daughter of some kind of politician like a mayor or representative so she still has those kind of political connections, and knows how to move around in that kind of environment. Also, if she ends up interacting with her have her be may be a bit of a mentor to Lanolin and show her how to be a proper leader, and Sally could understand the struggles Lanolin is dealing with. 

Now I’ve seen some people suggest instead of bunnie, being roboticized cause we’re not allowed to do that anymore. Have her have some kind of Iron Man suit and well that would be fun. I have a better idea. Just have her robotic limbs be prosthetics have her either be born without her limbs or have lost them at some point and now she has very advanced prosthetics either made by rotor, Nicole or tails. Hell, if you want to her to still be struggling with these new limbs have her lose them during the infinite war, and remind everyone how devastating that was for some people.

Now there’s not much I would really change about Antoine besides some backstory stuff cause I think he’s a very solid character and I think pretty much you could plop him into IDW without really changing anything.

Now rotor I’m not sure what to say about route or not because I don’t like him but because from my understanding, Archie didn’t really do a lot with him so there’s not really much to say, another character I think could basically be plopped into IDW without much really changing.

now my girl Nicole now if she was still allowed to be an AI again, I don’t really see much changing about her just kind of give her, her reboot Archie backstory and you’re good to go. But I’m pretty sure Sega would say no to Nicole being an AI so what would I do instead? Simple have her be the guy in the chair for the freedom fighters. the person who works with technology behind the scene and helps out that way, maybe she’s chronically ill and can’t really leave where she lives that much, and this is her way of helping out or simply just what she’s good at not everyone needs to be a Frontlines fighter. 

Bonus, Mina mangoes

Mina, I think it would be the easiest to randomly just place into IDW. Just have her be an in universe popstar that gets dragged on an adventure for one reason or another maybe have Amy and shadow be fans of her and have jokes in IDW about shadow kind of liking pop music

Bonus bonus, honey 

Have her be Mina’s fashion, designer, and have Amy be a fan of hers as well let my girl out of her classic prison please I beg you 

[for-the-love-of-this]

An analysis of how the main theme of the amazing digital circus ties itself to the characters.

Heads up! This is mostly what I gathered from episode 4. Therefore, I only put my focus on Gangle and Ragatha (and Kinger for a general startup). Hold your horses for Jax's respective episode unless you guys can integrate him into this analysis at this current time. I personally believe we don't have that much information on everyone, but I worked with what we got.

First of all, the show is about understanding your identity.

As in knowing who you are, and valuing your self-worth.

This would explain why abstraction is confirmed to be a LOSS of individuality.

Here's a quickie on Zooble's case because it's already been spelled out for us in episode 3 that they don't feel right in their body. It's a literal identity crisis that hopefully will get resolved, even if it's gonna be a long road ahead.

Now, for an opposite to this scenario. Kinger is labeled as crazy. But that's further from the truth. Because he had his wife, and she helped him stay sane.

She's gone now, yes. The deal unfortunately came with her sacrifice, but she's the reason he learned to love insects. It's a quirk that had built his former character, and it's that connection to his wife that keeps him alive when consumed in darkness. So, in a way, he is already abstracted. Yet ironically, he's the one that has the most clarity. It's the light that drives him "crazy," but his individuality is still intact in the shadows, and he'll likely remain that way.

That talk he had with Pomni may have been a reflection of what his current state is, so if you put those words into perspective–

HE has a memory to hold on to. (Not a happy one, but one that he says he has control over)

HE is strong, and will get through it.

To put it simply, he has control over his inner self. This is why I find it hilarious that Jax said Kinger (and Gangle) is the most mentally stable character. He likely didn't mean to be, but he was right.

And now that I mentioned Gangle, her true self (as we see when she embraces the mask underneath the happy one near the end of episode 4) is the tragedy side. And that's the face she adorns for most episodes. Jax (and an NPC) unintentionally helps her true self come out, but because he breaks the comedy mask, it's by force and not her own will. She still doesn't have full control over herself, and this is further emphasized when Pomni was the one that needed to ground her back to earth–er the circus.

The tragedy mask being her true self is also why the comedy mask was doomed to fail from the start. Gangle has put up a literal mask to handle the struggles of "Spudsy's." We didn't get the chance to witness how stressful the "job" was, but it's likely because it wasn't the adventure itself that brought her to crumble. It was more from keeping up a fake identity, hence why she almost abstracted. Near the end, she has control over true joy for a moment, and basks in it before that confidence gets run over.

I'm getting ahead of myself here... but what if the truck, a gas-powered vehicle with blaring headlights, is symbolism for gaslighting? Gangle might have had many occasions where her joy/dreams (e.g. becoming a comic artist) were shattered. This is reflected onto her avatar, but the fragility of this character she is broken down to wear doesn't have to define her as a person.

Let's compare her with Ragatha, who is under the stupid sauce for most of the episode. This, in my opinion, is refreshing for her mental state. She's leisurely letting her guard down and being allowed her true feelings to spill out. I'm not saying it's a pretty picture to be cold-hearted, but it's the real her. Besides, she can still hold a conversation and shows interest in an NPC's backstory, so she's still nice deep within; and curious to boot.

However, if she had been switched with Gangle's situation (as in Gangle had a dose of that truth serum instead of her), Ragatha's irritation with Gangle's happiness would've not just increased tenfold, but it would fester up mentally and she would avoid at all costs to make it known.

If you think about it, everyone had a chance to abstract this episode, EXCEPT for Ragatha. The stupid sauce was an active ingredient to increasing sanity (in a manner of speaking). Everyone else is miserable for the most part, but they were able to manage with their own guide in the end.

Ragatha needed the extra dose. Because without it, she could lose her sense of self... and she still could when that relaxant wears off. Or worse, she'll get addicted to being "blacked out," and it then won't be any different from being engulfed in darkness/abstraction; losing her self-control completely.

As Gooseworx said, no character's personality is simply black and white.

But I wonder, why do they stand on black and white checkered flooring in the main room of the circus? There's also the cover image that Netflix decided to have for the show.

It's just another way of hinting that the circus is testing their individuality.

Don't you think it's ironic to use checkered flooring when a chess piece has the most stability to navigate the circus grounds? (Specifically in the dark)

And if you look closely, everyone is standing on a white tile, except for Jax and Ragatha. Jax is LITERALLY standing on black and white (likely because he's a gray character), while Ragatha is standing on a black tile. Basically, on the dark side. Make with that information what you will.

I know this is already super long but instead of a part two, I'm adding these last few notes here, because I let these notes sit for two nights before posting them and now I feel like there is something to say about Pomni's role in this take (even though I've already made a post about her name's possible significance as the main character).

She already said what she doesn't want others to feel in the circus; to feel like nothing. As the newest human trapped in the circus, there's really not that much of her identity to be lost quite yet. Of course, she forgot her real name, but she is labeled with a new one that means "remember/don't forget."

I'm sure everyone that arrived there was in denial of their predicament, but with time, they likely forgot how they used to act around others in the real world. Their memory loss of their names would tie with the loss of their identities.

Now they mold themselves to compliment their new names and bodies. But it's not their true selves. And there's a chance that Pomni is there to remind them of their origins–to remind them of their individuality.

And okay, I'll add Jax after all, but briefly.

Now that I considered Pomni, it reminded me that his actions have shown what HE doesn't want others to feel; to feel in control.

Being in control means (in this hypothetical theme) recognizing your identity. It's a polar opposite desire from Pomni's.

What he wants: "Funny" things happening to people. Blood. Death. Chaos. Guns.

It's a miracle that Caine has been gracious with the characters, especially him.

But... that's all I really got. I'm not sure how to elaborate on his problem with identity really, which is why I gave that warning at the start.

Feel free to add your opinions or your elaborations! This analysis got longer and longer before I knew it, so I hope this reaches enough people.

[kerubimcrepin]

LIVEBLOG: Wakfu Season 4, Episode 7

Grandpa piss, being a part of the Remote Viewers Division doesn't prevent you from being a deadbeat. KILL him Eva.

What were YOU doing at the devil's sacrement, King [insert name here] Sheran-Sharm!

I love women who are tortured for an eternity and then die in some way that will not kill them in a way that matters #signaliscore posts

Man haha I wonder if this might be saying something about Yugo (and Joris, but that goes without saying on this blog)

I have seen people criticize this moment, but let me be the devil's advocate: after seeing years of fans saying that Flopin is the boring twin, or that Eva has no backstory, them getting a problem-causing grandpa is literally so good.

And I think I understand why Flopin did this, since he says himself that he actually feels like the boring twin... I understand why he felt like going with this man, to learn about this guild, and where he comes from.

[starts hacking up blood] you know what other duo of demigods in this franchise had a twin who felt like they were living in the shadow of their sibling and his wonderful white fur—- [is shot by animal control]

I loooove comparing all the characters in this show, because it's genuinely a good way to approach Krosmoz, since Tot likes exporing the same themes (immortality/family) over, and over, and over, and over. And what I can say rn is: man, having normal parents makes jealousy-based plots much more tame. Atcham went in a "I want to be great like you, so I need to end you, you don't care about me like I care about you anyway" direction instead of a "I want to be great like you, so I'm gonna leave and work on myself, and then we can stand side by side someday"

I do think he is going to hurt his sister in some major way with this decision and in the end it will be a bitter, or bittersweet memory <3 I believe in the power of toxicity <3

To elaborate on the thing I said about titles, Astra is the ruling queen (to be precise, she is the daughter of the king of Bonta who was mentioned in seasons 1-2 and OVAs, who seems to have passed away); while her wife is either queen-consort, or a princess-consort.

However, Wakfu kingdoms may have worse, weirder rules than real life about inheritance.

The reason I am not getting my panties in a twist about the same-sex aspect of this (besides me supporting toxic royal yuri + being against homophobia or whatever) is that this is a magical universe, idk. they could adopt or get magically pregnant. It's literally a non-issue for me. UNLIKE PEOPLE NOT UNDERSTANDING THE CONSORT SYSTEM AND—-

Joris is present in all the kingdoms as Yugo's emotional support mediator/ambassador, except for Brakmar. I assume they simply do not let this fucking man into their palace, and rightfully so. He's literally a Bontarian narc. He'd use that chance to steal documents or some shit.

Btw I find it so funny how he keeps the same neutrally haunted look.

If a Bonatrian political leader goes for a week without wanting to start genocide against a people who isn't into the main 12 gods, they start getting the shakes from withdrawal.

I imagine living for hundreds of years and experiencing unimaginable suffering would make one pretty averse to being bossed around by some random guy who was born into wealth and has not known a second of grief in their life.

I feel it is important to point out: Joris was the one who made sure the meeting with Astra happened. He also felt this was important enough to try and organize meetings with other kings and queens. This is a dangerous situation.

As always, absolutely nobody listened. Nobody ever listens.

As I was saying, I imagine living for hundreds of years and experiencing un—-

I think the fact that Joris went with them has to say something about him. Yes, it is probably his sense of responsibility — he doesn't exactly want bad things to happen...

But also it explicitly puts a wedge between him and the Bontarian government. He values Yugo more.

[samasmith23]

How Goro Akechi effectively serves as a dark foil to the Phantom Thieves' brand of rehabilitative justice

So... I understand that Goro Akechi is a pretty divisive character within the Persona 5 fanbase (especially his pre-Royal incarnation), but I have to admit that I honestly found his backstory and role as a sinister foil to the Phantom Thieves to be legitimately intriguing. Elements which are revealed during his boss fight in the game’s “Cruiser of Pride” arc!

When the Phantom Thieves infiltrate the Meta-Verse to confront the Shadow of the corrupt ultra-nationalist politician, Masayoshi Shido, who’s palace takes the form of a gigantic yacht sailing through the ruins of a sunken Japan, they are suddenly confronted by Akechi in the ship’s engine room. Having just betrayed the team during the previous arc, Akechi is revealed to not only be the true culprit behind the mysterious wave of mental shutdowns & psychotic breakdowns (which included the deaths of two Phantom Thieves’ member’s parents, Futaba Sakura’s mother Wakaba Isshiki & Haru Okumura’s father Kunikazu Okumura respectively…) that have occurred throughout the game’s narrative as part of Shido’s conspiracy to get elected as Prime Minister, but that he is also Shido’s illegitimate child. Essentially, Akechi was the product of a dubious affair between Shido and a sex worker whom the former later discarded when he discovered that she was pregnant, driving her to depression and suicide shortly after Akechi's birth. Akechi spent his entire childhood being passed around as a “problem child” between various foster homes (highlighting Japan’s problems with how the country treats its orphaned children) before later being granted the power of a "wildcard" persona-user, as well as knowledge about the existence of the Meta-Verse by the false god of control, Yaldabaoth.

While Akechi was a societal outcast similar to the members of the Phantom Thieves, he took the wrong message from his experiences. Akechi misguidedly believes that the only way to truly oppose the status quo that looked down upon him is to not only become a part of it (i.e. caring only about his good grades & celebrity status) but to destroy everything that he hates by reducing himself to Shido's right-hand assassin in the Meta-Verse, perpetuating mental shutdowns & psychotic breakdowns on Shido’s political enemies simply to get some semblance of recognition & validation from his abusive father before exacting revenge on him (whilst exploiting his "ace-detective" celebrity status to "solve" the crimes that he himself committed).

Essentially, once Shido finally became prime minister Akechi planned to whisper the truth about being the former’s illegitimate child, telling Shido that he was only able to get where he was due to the son he abandoned and labeled as a potential “political scandal” before murdering him.

Despite Akechi and the Phantom Thieves' mutual dislike of Shido, the former is so fixated on vengeance that he does not care about the innocent lives he ruins and destroys in the crossfire to satisfy his own personal bloodlust. Instead of legitimately trying to reform society like the Phantom Thieves do, Akechi becomes a pawn of the very same systemic corruption that was responsible for his initial suffering. Akechi cares only about his own hatred & jealousy instead of empathizing with others who were also victimized by society’s ills. This contrast is visually reflected through the juxtaposition between Akechi and the Phantom Thieves’ leader, Joker, when they confront each other in the engine room of Shido’s yacht. While Joker is portrayed as standing strong alongside his teammates & friends, Akechi stands alone in the opposite end of the room, confused & angry. While there is a part of Akechi that regrets his horrible actions and even recognizes the potential for him & Joker to be friends due to their similar backgrounds, he's too far gone into his obsessive vendetta against Shido that he refuses to turn back and now desires to kill the Phantom Thieves in a misguided attempt to ease his internal conflict.

During the boss fight with Akechi in Shido's Palace, the detective prince repeatedly dismisses the Phantom Thieves' efforts to appeal to his common senses, believing that concepts like friendship and teamwork are foolish "cliched bullish*t... in this eat or be eaten world."

While this attitude of Akechi's might seem unrealistically cartoonish on the surface, it actually makes sense when considering his background of being unfairly labeled as a "throw-away child" by Japan's foster care institutions. YouTuber LadyVirgilia goes into far greater detail about this in her excellent The Truth About Goro Akechi analysis video. There, she states that an overwhelming number of Japanese orphans are incapable of being legally adopted due to impoverished parents voluntarily relinquishing them from their care while still maintaining legal guardianship over them. Additionally, LadyVirgilia discusses how violent hierarchical power structures often form among the children within these foster homes, with younger orphans sadly being subject to bullying & abuse by their older peers.

While these facts are not explicitly stated about Akechi's backstory within P5 Royal itself, they can easily be heavily inferred due to the game's heavy emphasis on exploring themes related to Japanese sociocultural issues. It’s implied that the institutional failings of Japan's foster care system (combined with Shido's abandonment of his son while he was still in the womb), ultimately contributed to the development of Akechi's warped perception of the rest of the world. Due to being dismissed as a "throw-away child" and being forced to grow up in an institution that is unfortunately subject to high rates of systemic abuse & neglect, Akechi spent his entire life feeling unwanted & loved. Ideals such as friendship & companionship became foreign and unrealistic concepts to him due to having experienced nothing but society's cold & uncaring apathy.

Essentially, Akechi became deeply jealous & hateful toward the rest of the world, misguidedly compelling him to want to prove his superiority over the rest of society by manufacturing his status as "the celebrity ace-detective and honors student who ultimately brought down Shido." But when Akechi encounters the Phantom Thieves and befriends their leader Joker, he begins to experience his first genuine bond of companionship. Despite developing a legitimate appreciation towards Joker, Akechi is simultaneously confused & unable to fully process these newfound feelings. Akechi becomes envious of Joker's ability to rise above his similar status as a societal outcast by befriending & protecting others like himself. Consequently, Akechi projects his own failings & inability to legitimately rise above his tragic upbringing beyond his false celebrity status onto Joker & the Phantom Thieves, cruely dismissing them as "the trash of society" and blaming them for interfering with his revenge plot against Shido. This empty & hollow existence that Akechi chooses to live is further reflected by the sole two personas that he utilizes during his boss fight: Robin Hood, who represents Akechi's false celebrity & justice-abiding gentleman facade, and Loki, who embodies Akechi’s true personality as a deceitful trickster & psychotic murderer.

I personally couldn’t help but find all of these elements to be rather interesting & insightful about Akechi’s role as an antagonist/rival to the Phantom Thieves. It honestly highlights the tragic nature of Akechi's situation, since while he had the potential to utilize his deductive knowledge & skills as a "wildcard" Persona-user similar to Joker, he instead allowed himself to be consumed by his own hatred & madness.

The parallels between Akechi & Joker are further evident through the latter also being a victim of Shido’s abuse. Specifically, the corrupt politician wrongfully sued Joker for “assault” when he tried to stop Shido from drunkenly forcing himself upon a woman. In contrast to Akechi however, Joker is motivated by his negative experiences to fight against the unjust status quo that figures like Shido represent to prevent similar abuses of power from ever occurring again to others. Additionally, we also see dualistic parallels between Akechi and other members of the Phantom Thieves, such as Makoto Nijima who similarly previously upheld the misconception that “good grades and following orders are all that truly matters to be a worthwhile member of society.” Whereas Makoto outgrows this mentality by instead choosing to utilize her status as student council president to help her suffering peers rather than for her own academic career, Akechi conversely exploits his intellect as an “ace-detective” to perpetuate societal injustices for his self-centered vendetta against Shido.

In essence, if the Phantom Thieves embody the potential benefits of rehabilitative justice then Goro Akechi embodies the dangers of retributive justice (aka, revenge). To reference two of my favorite movies, Batman Begins and Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi, not only is there a strong difference between justice and revenge (one is about altruistic harmony whereas the other is about personal satisfaction), but the most surefire way to victory is by fighting to protect what you love rather than fighting to destroy what you hate...

The distinction between justice & revenge is made abundantly clear at the end of Akechi's storyline in the baseline game (i.e. before the Royal exclusive Third Semester new content), where following his defeat at the hands of the Phantom Thieves Akechi is suddenly approached by a cognitive duplicate of himself that dwells within Shido's palace. In addition to the Cognitive Akechi emphasizing the futility of Akechi's quest for acknowledgment & vengeance against Shido by revealing that the latter always intended to dispose of his right-hand assassin once he was elected prime minister, the cognitive duplicate also reveals the true depths of Shido's depravity when he states that he only ever viewed Akechi as a puppet to fulfill his own ambitions. While it is true that Akechi was so obsessed with revenge that he allowed himself to become a pawn of the corrupt status quo, it is exceptionally cruel to learn that this is how Shido has always viewed his own son (which is further punctuated by Shido later revealing to the Phantom Thieves that he secretly always suspected that Akechi was his illegitimate child due to how much he reminded him of his mother). It is this revelation in particular that allows the Phantom Thieves to better empathize with Akechi's tragic upbringing & circumstances. Even though they still seek to hold Akechi accountable for the murders that he committed at Shido's behest, the Phantom Thieves simultaneously recognize that in a sense, Akechi was also a victim of both Shido's cruelty and the systemic injustices of larger Japanese society.

This effectively culminates in the bittersweet resolution to Akechi's storyline in the base Persona 5 game. When the Cognitive Akechi duplicate offers his real-world counterpart one last chance to "redeem" himself in Shido's eyes by killing the Phantom Thieves in his stead, Akechi for the first time in his life decides to be his own person instead of being defined by the labels Shido and society had imposed upon him since birth. Choosing to no longer be a puppet of Shido's corrupt machinations, Akechi rejects his cognitive duplicate's hollow offer by instead turning his gun on the duplicate and his Shadow minions before sealing the engine room's watertight doors between himself and the Phantom Thieves. At the very end, Akechi was finally able to acknowledge that his desire for false appreciation from both his abusive father and larger society was ultimately worthless. Akechi ultimately sacrifices himself to allow the Phantom Thieves to escape, recognizing their true justice while entrusting them to do what he was incapable of by holding Shido accountable for his crimes & reforming society.

From a certain point of view, one could argue that the Phantom Thieves indirectly inspired a change of heart in Akechi by proving to him the validity of their sense of justice.

Overall, while I was initially indifferent towards Goro Akechi at the start of my playthrough of Persona 5 (and even outright skeptical & suspicious of his motives given his vocal opposition to the Phantom Thieves), by the time I got to his boss battle in Shido's palace I ended gained a deeper understanding and appreciation for what the developers at Atlus were attempting to convey with his character. Akechi effectively functions as both a cautionary tale about the dangers of allowing oneself to be consumed with thoughts of revenge, as well as a dark parallel to the Phantom Thieves who seek to legitimately reform society for altruistic rather than self-centered reasons. It was these elements that ultimately elevated Akechi into becoming one of my personal favorite members of P5's cast (right behind Makoto, Futaba & Ann...) from both a narrative and character writing perspective (especially with the Royal edition's overhauled confidant line for Akechi, which better fleshes out the latter's rivalry with Joker, and the player now has to progress manually instead of it being automatic)! And I am definitely curious to see how Royal's exclusive "Third Semester" content further fleshes out Akechi's character since I'm aware that he plays a major role in the new story content.

[archivedblog16]

Yappy Stella Anon again.

I want to have hope for her in season 3 but I simply can't. With what they've made Stella into now, she's literally too stupid to pull anything off. The theory I hate the most with her, is that Andrealphus 'always hated her' and now that he has Stolas's power he's going to kick Stella to the curb. THAT feels most likely rn, sadly. That the story will want to get rid of Stella entirely and have Andy take her place and she can be cast away and die or something. After all 🥺 it what she deserves :3 🌈 we can have our gay ice king take over now (⁠ㆁ⁠ω⁠ㆁ⁠)

Agony, makes me MAD. What I personally thought was happening in the first season was that this lack of attention Stella is getting from the story and from the characters, she was going to use that to her advantage. As it was, she wasn't threatening! Stolas didn't really care, Blitz definitely doesn't care. But Stella matters when it comes to the grimwoire, if that makes sense. In Truth Seekers when Stolas is like "If YOU get in trouble then I get in trouble. WE don't want that!" Building that if shit happens to Stolas, Blitz won't have the grimwoire, and that's obviously a problem. Stolas's problems will inevitably be Blitz's. So Stella, going under both of their radars while they deal with their personal dramas and escapades and distractions in the form of smaller antagonists, will work in the shadows to torment Stolas and have Andy more like a partner in her escapades to be The Worst Ever.

Stolas is finding happiness in this new "relationship" with the imp? She'll ruin it, seed doubt, she already knows Stolas(married for years, she knows whether she likes it or not) so she uses striker to snoop and give her information on said imp she can use to make their already failing relationship worse. Rip that away from him

The actual Octavia manipulation. That's less manipulative and more of nurturing the pain Octavia ALREADY feels from Stolas's repeated failures. Goddddd whyyyyy did they make her relationship with Octavia openly obnoxious it's a WASTE

And THEN the final scheme with Andrealphus. THEY, TOGETHER have been planning the trial to "usurp her horny ex-husband's power". It's not a last minute plan because Stella is soooo stupid. The plan from the beginning will be that either Stolas runs away with his imp, tattered relationship and no power. Or he stays in his sad terrible little life with no imp and monitored power he'll keep. But in both scenarios, he doesn't have his daughter, Octavia is still hurt. The real loss for him. And yeah this is all very Stolas focused but was willing to do that if,,,, y'know the drama was good.

:( Instead the trial is a last minute thing with no build up despite being Immensely Important, motives are just sort of tapered on to the main romance and things just sort of Happen Around Them for it to continue, Stella is wasted for her brother that randomly appeared to steal the show and be "The Mastermind" when it WAS leading for Stella to take that role(in the shadows and playing everyone on strings just because she's "Likes tormenting you!"), and I am sad. I am frustrated and sad. Does this make sense, punching the walls. Stellaaaaaa

Season 3 is supposed to be about the goetia and Stella will have her backstory, so that will be interesting. Andrealphus backstabbing Stella, I do not believe and can’t see that happening. If Andrealphus was truly that fake, he would’ve done it the moment Stolas was stripped of his powers and title. Andrealphus is a massive weirdo but bro is loyal for Stella.

Stella could’ve been cooking and scheming in the background but she doesn’t. Instead Stella is just the dumb and pretty girl. Like girl knew about the grimoire/Stolas relationship with Blitzø and didn’t use it to her advantage. That’s frustrating part. Anon, they made Stella into a cartoon villain (not in the good way, super goofy). Some people are giving Stella way too much credit than she deserves 😂

The funny thing about the Mastermind trial was that in the concept art Salem (ex Spindlehorse employee) made Stella was literally in the trial with Andrealphus. Stella could’ve done so much.

[official-sonic-team]

sonic movie 3 review

okay let’s discuss the major changes they made in this movie

gerald is alive and well: instead of execution, gerald was simply imprisoned for the past 50 years. he’s 110 and they don’t explain why he’s still alive. assumingly it’s because of shadow’s quill but they don’t actually explain it. he manages to vie for freedom by completeing the eclipse canon schematics for GUN to build. but gerald is very much alive and a very large, active player in this movie

Maria’s death: a GUN soldier does not shoot her. an accident during the shut down of the project shadow causes chaos energy to explode. maria is killed in the explosion. gerald, who was in the blast and roughly the same distance as maria, inexplicably lives. they don’t explain that. but the takeaway is 1) maria dies from an accident 2) she doesn’t even die trying to save shadow. worth noting there’s also no “sayonara shadow the hedgehog”

shadows backstory: shadow was NOT created by Gerald robotnik. a meteor crashed into earth and he was inside. the scientists were researching him as a power source. he is again 1) not created by Gerald 2) NOT a cure for maria. maria probably isn’t even sick they make no reference to it gerald just likes having her around apparently

the final story: ok where to start. 1) there is no space colony ark. shadow and maria and gerald are in some sort of underground military base and that’s where every thing happened- no ark. 2) there is NO biolizard/final hazard. he’s referenced one time as a Godzilla rip off and that’s it since gerald don’t make shadow. 3) the big final issue is that gerald set the eclipse cannon to destroy earth. Sonic and shadow manage to divert the cannon fire. however, the eclipse cannon’s power core becomes destabilized and if it blows, it’ll decimate the atmosphere of earth. Sonic fell from space during them pushing the laser away from the earth so shadow is the one who pushes the eclipse cannon far away from earth while eggman stabilized it long enough for shadow to do that. the cannon blows up and eggman and shadow are presumed dead.

there is no chaos control: shadow uses it like a handful of times during the initial team sonic fight and then it’s not really used ever again. they don’t chaos control the eclipse cannon they just push it around. no fake emerald either.

the moon being destroyed: is an accident. while they’re trying to divert the laser from hitting the earth they accidentally hit the moon. it is not an intentional show of power from eggman, it’s just an accident.

i think those are maybe the BIGGEST changes. obviously no rouge either. they also treat the GUN commander as a good guy who dies Heroically.

one of the other big differences is that there’s a super sonic & shadow fight. shadow critically injured tom by accident and sonic uses the chaos emeralds to turn super to fight shadow over it. sonic eventually decides to not get his revenge, and his resolve in his own character inspires shadow to help him stop Gerald’s plan of destroying the earth.

i think I’ll just break this into pros and cons

pros:

this was definitely better paced than the previous two movies. it felt a lot more like a sonic adventure

tails and knuckles have a meaningful role to play and aren’t completely shoved aside

i think they handled shadow vs sonic fights relatively well? im still not impressed by them not entirely being seen as equals but he’s not ridiculously overpowered, sonic manages to do a good job against him.

cons:

WAY TOO DIVERGENT FROM THE GAMES. they made so many unnecessary changes. shadow’s backstory is just an entirely different character

the gerald/eggman b-plot was actually unbearable. firstly i despise jim carrey as eggman so he was also never going to be good as gerald. it’s just slapstick everytime they’re on screen together and it’s SO dissonant to the shadow & sonic storyline it’s actually unbearable to watch.

incredibly stupid how they tied eggman to the major plot they very easily could have kept him releasing shadow

they just made no effort to explain anything about gerald. why is he still alive. how did he survive when maria didn’t. like if you’re going to change up your adapation you need to explain WHY and HOW this happened.

honestly im not super impressed with sonic’s revenge plot because shadow and sonic could have easily been tied together by the fact they both lost someone (maria and longclaw). i think it probably doesn’t help that i don’t like tom. also im not usually interested in revenge when the person isn’t even killed? tom still lives and isn’t even like…. permanently injured or something from shadow. so it looses its value to me in that way. i think sonic’s inability to work with a team also doesn’t make a whole lot of sense given sonic 2 and him working with maddie and Tom before. like i understand he has isolation issues but it’s been expressed that these movies have taken place over YEARS so this doesn’t feel like an entirely reasonable arc

all in all i think this is a 5/10. if i didn’t have any knowledge of sonic it could maybe be passable. but the gerald and eggman routine is genuinely unbearable when the movies tried to hit on some deeper levels and themes.

[artificialchaoscola]

i think another interesting anti-shadow concept would be playing with his fear factor? like we see in shadow generations, maria ir scared of black doom and clearly appalled that they are connected by blood.

in shadow 05, i believe its shown that a younger commander towers saw the moment where both gerald and black doom are looking over shadow while in his pod; maybe it could have been maria instead and as she connects the dots she cant help but develop a fear of shadow. she wouldn't have interacted or known him at that point to know he has a good heart, so i dont think its too unbelievable.

just imagine what affects it would have on shadow to still want that connection with maria but her being to scared to reciprocate. maybe he would internalize it and relish in being seen as scary; or maybe his whole view of humanity would be even worse, considering maria never would have shown him the good in it.

this is such an interesting concept so sorry if i rambled!

NO RAMBLE MORE!!!

It's very much true that Maria was a positive influence on Shadow, allowing him to see himself more as a person rather than just another "heartless" alien or weapon. So if you made Anti-Shadow's Maria afraid of him, unable to connect on a personal level, his early years would've been full of drowning in self-loathing. That could then be turned into a coping mechanism where he pretends to not care about how others see him, leading him down a path where the worst actions are taken to protect his feelings, or he ends up relishing in fear because he knows nothing else. I imagine the Black Arms in Moebius' world would not be a race that thrived on devouring other species either since Archie liked to flip things on their head, so there could be something there as well. Like, perhaps the Anti-Shadow was made to only be a cure from a peaceful Black Doom and Gerald, but Maria feared Shadow anyway. And despite BD, Gerald, and G.U.N. being "better" on Moebius, no one provided Shadow with a stable environment to grow emotionally. Every child growing up in the world needs someone as a source of comfort. You could also parallel him to Scourge in this way as well, as emotional neglect was prominent in his backstory too.

Also, random, but I think that Anti-Shadow should probably smile a lot. Not in the Sonic way, confident and welcoming, but more in a way that puts people on edge by how unnatural it looks. Where our Shadow simply doesn't emote a ton, Anti-Shadow being expressive in an off-putting way would be cool!

[akutasoda]

im not ready to get older

genshin ver

synopsis - throughout childhood you two were inseparablely close, however time tends to fade things

includes - kaeya, ningguang, baizhu, thoma, alhaitham

warnings - gn!reader, terminally ill reader, reader dies, maybe ooc or non canon for some as i am unsure of their backstory, spoilers for backstorys, childhood lovers wc - 2.5k

a/n: guess what song i was listening too when i came up with this

kaeya alberich ★↷

after the fall of his homeland, khaenri'ah, he found refige in the ragnvindr household. but outside of that he had nothing else left. until you found him.

him and diluc were out with crepus doing whatever, he wasn't paying attention, and he spotted a small child seemingly getting told off by an adult. now kaeya, not knowing what minding his own business was, slipped away and got closer trying to hear what was being said. 'you know you cant be out if your condition!' 'i know but why cant i go out and have fun once in a while, it gets to boring being couped up at home' he watched as the child stuck out their toungue at the adult before they seemed to make a run for it while the adult was in shock and yet again he followed. now he was more invested in helping the child get away.

you took refuge in an alleyway not too far away, you could only run so far before getting into a coughing fit. putting a hand on your chest and sliding down the wall to hide behind a trash can, you noticed a shadow heading your way. but it seemed to be too small to be your caretaker so you ignored it. until a mop of blue hair stuck his head round the trash can you were sat behind. 'and who are you?' you stated slowly trying to stand up again. 'well who are you?' 'i asked first so you tell me who you are i tell you who i am' .... 'fine im kaeya' kaeya? you've never heard that name before 'and you are? cmon you said you'd tell!' 'hmph im [ ]'. kaeya then proceeded to ask what happened back there, feeling hesitant to answer and say the truth you simply explained how your stupid annoying caretaker/s wouldn't let you do anything. kaeya would've asked why but the shout of his name from crepus dragged his head up, looking like a deer in headlights, to face a angry but relieved crepus. and that's the day that gave him another thing to refuge in. you.

you two got on like a house on fire much to many people's dismay. eventually when the two of you got closer you told kaeya about your 'illness', of course it wasn't the whole truth just what you're caretaker/s told you(you were children afterall), and that made kaeya even more determined to help you escape from them. which often lead to kaeya helping you escape from bedrest just to end up with your caretaker/s dropping him off back at dawn winery and you back home. eventually kaeya started feeling a weird fluttering sensation in his stomach but he didn't understand what it meant so he jist ignored it. now he wishes he didn't.

as the two of you got older he started noticing your decline in health but every time he asked you, you just brushed it off and said you're fine. you both knew better. but getting older meant getting wiser. and unfortunately kaeya knew that one day something would happen to you. he still didn't understand what he felt when he was with you but he wanted you to atleast stay until he figured it out. but it seemed the archons and celestia themselves wanted to be nothing but cruel.

a festival was coming up soon and you both were feeling really excited about going. and this time he felt like instead of sneaking you out he would ask your caretaker/s directly. he knew they trusted him to look after you and bring you back safely. so he knocked on the door and was met with a caretaker whos seemed surprised at him standing on the doorstep. he aksed if he could go see you. 'im sorry dear but they passed just last night'. an icy cold reality smashed him in the face. he knew you wouldn't stay long. he knew about it all. but it still didnt dampen the sting. he left shortly after. he wasn't ready to grow up knowing you wouldn't be there one day. but it had happened and his fears only got worse.

now sitting at your polished grave he stared up at the sky 'i never understood my feelings then but i do now.. now its too late'.

ningguang ★↷

she didn't exactly have an easy childhood. growing up in rags and barely scraping by. but she did have one thing, one thing that she cherised deeply. you two had met by pure chance. she had set up a small stall type business to sell trinkets and items she had made by hand and fatefully you were out on one of your few walks with your caretaker when you spotted the stall and the slightly cute stall manager. you begged to go over there and you had also begged to purchase a few of the items she had on sale as you found them absolutely adorable. ningguang thought not much of it aprat from knowing that you had probably given her quite a bit of mora to get by for probably a week if she rationed it more.

however not too long after that encounter. ningguang saw your face again headding towards her stall but this time no caretaker in sight. you introduced yourself and she simply asked if what you were doing when you gave her a small smile and went 'you looked lonely, i thought you could use some company'. she was confused, mainly, because why would she need company? she was perfectly fine on her own. but you simply insisted and with soem hesitance she let you stay but not before telling you if you impacted her sales you would have to go.

eventually you had became a normality in her life as ahe started actually making her way up in terms of mora, slowly but surely. and eventually you two were close enough to open up to her about your illness. this made her feel slightly bad about the way she treated you earlier on when you weren't her 'friend'(you insisted you were). but now she felt a motivation to not only improve her life, but yours aswell. she understood more that what you told her and she knew you probably wouldn't have that long and for some reason thinking like that made her feel uneasy about getting older.

getting older meant that at some point in her life you would not be here. she knew how she felt about you but she didn't think it was the time or place to bring something like that up. it was a losing battle. but time doesn't wait for anyone. now you were getting older and one day completely out of the blue you stopped visiting her. and she was no fool she knew what it meant. so she took some mora, she didn't care that she needed to save it for you she would spend as much as she felt she should (even if she didnt have that much), and left for your residence. she left her heartfelt regards and some flowers for your caretaker/s and left. ingnoring the pain that struck through her heart.

now she was probably the richhest person in tevyat. she had made her way up in the world. but there wasn't a single day that went pass that she didn't think if you and how she failed to make your life comfortable.

baizhu ★↷

much of baizhu's childhood was spent buried in books and medical scripts. he had a lot to figure out. how to end the contract with changsheng, and many other ways to advice in the medical field. his master often just let him be afterall. he had already suffered the loss of his hometown, and his parents and his master was more than happy he chose to help advance in the physicians field. but one day he met a child that peaked his interest.

he had seen you in passing glances after visiting his master always accompanied by a caretaker and you always seem weak and fatigued. for some reason it reminded him of himself as for his interanl organs were diseased, leaving him with the rare and seemingly incurable disease. so he brought upon himslef to introduce himself to your caretaker/s, perhaps because you two shared a similarity, albeit morbid, but perphaps you would like to seek comfort in someone who understood what you were going through. although it seemed your condition was much worse than he expected.

compared to his condition, yours was worse but it seemed like you had appreciated the company upon your bedrest periods as well as the fact that your caretaker/s let you go out more often if baizhu accompanied you! and not just visits to his master, it was quite a change in pace and you couldn't thank him enough. and eventually seing baizhu became a routine. and baizhu actually found himself genuinely enjoying spending time with you.

but at the end of every day he was painfully reminded that you were probably not going to grow up with him like he ever so secretly wanted. changsheng seemed to want to remind him, quite often, that you would not last as long as him as changsheng seemed to understand his emotions more than him.

but the dreaded day came sooner than he thought. not long after his master had passed it had seemed you weren't too long after. now he had to grow older without you. and he knew that what he could do to keep your memory alive is swear to help evey patient he can. but he still wishes you could've grown up with him and maybe he could've built up the courage to confess.

thoma ★↷

he did not have much aspiration for what he wanted to do later in life when he was young. and that was okay not many people do. but he normally spent his mornings atleast strolling through the streets if mondstadt doing whatever he fancied, which normally wasn't much. but one day you had spiced up his life.

you had ran into thoma when you were trying to hide from your caretaker and you asked him to hide you no questions asked. thoma feeling confused simply offered to help you hide. he looked at the direction you came from seeing an adult looking for you, looking quite concerned he may add. but when the adult disappeared you said a quick thank you before running off into the crowd.

you later ran into the same child in a similar situation. but this time to you it seemed like fate, he helped you hide yet again and you decided maybe just maybe you could befriend him and it would be so much easier to go out. so you offered and thoma felt compelled to become your friend aswell and that started what thoma wished was a lifelong friendship.

later on in your spurred friendship, when he was showing you around his favourite places of mondstadt, he had to ask why you weren't allowed out. and you simply stated about your illness and thoma couldn't help but feel bad about bringing you out now. surely to feel better you should stay inside? but you assured him yiu were fine and that was that.

later on, he introduced himself to your caretaker/s and felt compelled to help you and look after you the way a friend would. maybe eventually more than a friend. but over the years your condition worsend and eventually it gave him the realisation that you would die before you two could grow up fully together. and he didn't want that but he couldn't help that. so maybe he could help you live what little time you had to the fullest.

but eventually time would claim your life before thoma was ready to lose you. but it happened and it hurt more than he thought it would.

but now years later, working as a housekeeper. he still remembers you. and he vows to help the kamisato clan in the ways he couldn't help you.

alhaitham ★↷

being 'self-taught' meant he spent his childhood mainly learning from home however his grandmother inisted that he still spent sometime outside, the fresh air would do some good. however he saw no such need but it was know that having fresh air did good for ones health so he didn't complain, that much. however one think he could of never expected was to find a child, seemingly someone close to his age, hiding just behind his grandmother's house.

he had a half a mind to go up to you and tell you to go, but as he approached you noticed him a bit quicker than he could speak to you and you grabbed him to pull him down next to you and slammed a hand over his mouth telling his to shush. he was shocked to say the least. but felt compelled to not say anything yet as he saw an adult walk past to the side of where the two of you were. but he did yank your hand of his mouth.

when you were sure your caretaker was gone you stood up and started going the opposite direction before the child you had told to shush grabbed your wrist 'aren't you going to apologize' you look at him simply stated sorry and proceeded to walk off. alhaitham was left confused and slightly annoyed but brushed it off with little concern. he was never going to see you again so why bother with something that small. well he was wrong.

you had decided during your next escape that the small alley behind that child's house was a good place to hide until the coast was clear. but this time alhaitham had spotted you again but for some reason that escaped him he felt like just letting you be, but when you looked at him when you noticed your caretaker actually going down the alley and hoped he would let ysou inside. and to his surprise he did.

and thats how the young scholar found himself finding an unlikely friendship with you. he was curious about your frequent escapes but you told him about the illness. in all the books he had read he had never heard of it. but eventually you two stopped meeting outside of you running away and formally introduced himself to your caretaker/s as he found it too informal just meeting on your escape attempts.

eventually you found a way into the young scholars heart. even though he tried not to let it happen as deep down he knew you wouldn't last, he knew one day the excitement you brought his life would fade and you wouldn't grow up with him. and sooner than he wanted you had passed. and for the first time he didn't want to grow up. he wished he had longer with you.

[dovahhmonn]

By popular demand, I give you;

Mouse Before Murkoff

Backstory and Pre-Murkoff Mouse art below the cut.

She Danced for Ghosts, then Became One. 

‧˚꒰🍷💋ྀིྀི ꒱༘‧༉‧₊˚🕯️🖤❀༉‧₊˚..ೃ࿐

Mouse never had a name that mattered.

She was just another orphan lost in the system, shuffled between foster homes that never lasted, until eventually, they stopped trying altogether. By the time she was sixteen, the nuns at St. Augustine’s Orphanage in New York had already written her off as another lost cause. Not a troublemaker, not a saint—just a quiet shadow drifting through hallways, biding time until the day they finally let her go.

And they did.

At eighteen, she aged out, given a thin envelope with a few bills and a half-hearted “good luck.” It lasted her less than a month.

After that, it was the streets.

She learned quickly—where to sleep, where to beg, what alleys to avoid after dark. But winter was cruel, and she was too small, too thin, too hungry.

That’s when he found her.

She was curled up on a bench, her knees drawn to her chest, soaked to the bone in the freezing downpour. Her long raven-black hair, tied in a messy braid, clung to her back and shoulders, dripping like the rest of her.

People passed her by without a glance.

Until one didn’t.

The man paused, the rhythmic click of his shoes against the pavement stopping just beside her. He didn’t speak right away, didn’t shoo her off like the rest. Instead, he tilted his umbrella, shifting it so the rain no longer fell on her.

Mouse hesitated, then lifted her head, meeting his gaze. He was older, maybe mid-forties, dressed in a crisp black overcoat, his salt-and-pepper hair neatly combed back. A stranger. And yet, in that moment, he was the first person to look at her like she was actually there.

“You need a job,” he said simply, his voice smooth, like he already knew the answer.

Mouse swallowed, her throat dry. “…You hiring?”

The man chuckled, “Depends. You dance?”

She blinked, caught off guard.

“I—”

“Doesn’t matter,” he waved a hand, already making up his mind. “Come on. Let’s get you warm first.”

And just like that, she followed him.

The Velvet Rabbit wasn’t the kind of place you stumbled into by accident. It was an upscale gentlemen's club, tucked away behind a discreet black door in one of upstate New York’s more exclusive districts. The kind of place where the rich came to indulge and the powerful came to talk.

The man—Vincent LaRosa—owned it.

Mouse learned fast. She had to. At first, she worked the bar, cleaning tables, fetching drinks, keeping her head down. But Vincent saw something in her, something sharp and hungry, and before long, she was on stage, moving like she was born to.

She was a natural.

Men watched her, but she never let them touch. She was something just out of reach, a whisper of a girl wrapped in silk and shadows, dancing for ghosts.

But the 'rabbit' was more than just a club.

It was a business front. And business meant secrets.

Vincent taught her how to listen, how to move through conversations without being seen. Soon, she was running cash, passing messages, learning the intricate dance between crime families that ruled the city from behind closed doors.

But with trust came closeness.

She and Vincent had an understanding—something unspoken yet unbreakable. Their relationship never turned physical, but they gravitated toward each other in a way neither of them questioned. On slow nights, they would retreat to his office, lying tangled on the worn leather couch, whispering about things that didn’t belong in their world.

He spoke about retiring, about leaving before the weight of it all swallowed him whole.

She spoke about nothing, because she never planned that far ahead.

For the first time in her life, she had something.

Then she lost it.

It was supposed to be simple.

A drop—an envelope of cash to a dead drop site. She’d done it dozens of times before.

She never saw the tail.

Never saw the man watching from the curb, the rival who had been waiting for her to slip. By the time she realized, it was too late.

He cornered her in an alley, a wicked grin splitting his face.

“Funny thing ‘bout rats, sweetheart. They always track the same damn course.”

She ran.

Through the streets, through the rain, until she was choking on cold air and panic, her mind screaming one thing—

They know. They know. They know.

By the time she reached the club, she already knew she couldn’t stay.

Vincent wanted to fix it. To call in favors, to make it go away.

But she knew better.

Once you were caught double dealing they’d never stop looking.

So she ran. Again.

Years passed.

She drifted, never staying in one place too long, always looking over her shoulder. New names, new cities, but it never lasted.

Florida was supposed to be temporary.

She sat at a bus stop, head hung low, fingers curled into her sleeves. It had been days since she’d last eaten, her stomach gnawing at itself as she stared at the pavement.

That’s when he sat down beside her.

Clyde Perry.

“You look like someone in need of a fresh start.”

Mouse turned her head just enough to glance at him. He was smiling. Not the kind of smile that meant kindness, but the kind that meant he already knew she would say yes.

She hesitated.

“…And if I am?”

“Well,” he exhaled, stretching his arms along the back of the bench. “You’re in luck. My employer specializes in second chances.”

The words sank in slowly. A fresh start. A clean slate.

She swallowed.

“…What’s the catch?”

Clyde chuckled, shaking his head.

“Not a damn thing.”

And Mouse, a desperate fool,  believed him.

She never saw the end of that bus ride.

She never saw anything but the cold, sterile white walls when she woke up.

And from then on, Mouse wasn’t a dancer, wasn’t a hustler, wasn’t a girl with a past.

She was just another rat in a maze. 

Mouse had been played before, but never like this.

She was promised a fresh start, a clean slate—what she got was this.

The Sinyala Facility wasn’t a prison, not officially. But there were no exits, no way out, no one who cared enough to help. The walls were white, sterile, humming with artificial light that never dimmed. Cameras watched from every angle.

She wasn’t sure what she expected, but this wasn’t it.

She met Peggy on the second day.

The woman had been there longer—months, maybe more. A little older, maybe thirties? lean but strong, with a sharp face and sharper eyes. But what stood out most was the leg.

Metal, from the knee down.

Mouse called her Peggy, half in jest, but the name stuck. The woman smirked when she first said it, and after that, Mouse was stuck with her.

Peggy didn’t talk much about her past, and Mouse didn’t ask. There was an unspoken rule among the patients—names, old lives, none of it mattered anymore. They weren’t people here. They were numbers, files, projects.

Mouse tried to sleep that first week. She really did.

But the moment she closed her eyes, the whispers started. The screams bled through the walls. And worst of all, the static. That damn humming from the speakers above her bed.

By the fourth night, she just stopped trying.

Peggy noticed.

“You keep this up, you’ll lose it,” she muttered, leaning against the wall beside Mouse in the cafeteria.

Mouse stabbed at the slop on her tray, unblinking. “Already lost it.”

Peggy snorted. “Not yet. But you will.”

Mouse didn’t ask what she meant.

She learned soon enough.

The first trial was worse than she imagined.

She had been through some shit in her life—danced for dangerous men, ran messages between crime families, learned to fight when it was necessary. But nothing prepared her for this.

She didn’t even remember how they got her there. One moment she was in the dorm, the next, she was waking up in a cold, dark hallway, the smell of blood and piss thick in the air.

Mouse swallowed hard.

She wasn’t alone.

Somewhere in the dark, she heard them—them. The ExPop, the monsters they let loose in the trials.

She moved fast, darting from room to room, avoiding the cameras, keeping low. A few others were in there with her, but she didn’t trust them. It was everyone for themselves.

Then she heard it.

Heavy boots. Slow. Deliberate.

Shit.

Mouse ducked into a rusted-out barrel, tucking herself as small as she could. She pressed a hand over her mouth, her pulse hammering in her ears.

The footsteps stopped.

Then—

"There you are."

Before she could react, a fist tangled into her braid and yanked.

Mouse screamed, her scalp burning as she was ripped from the barrel and thrown onto the cold concrete. Her vision spun, her hands scrambling against the floor, but before she could rise—

ZAP.

The prod slammed against her shoulder, white-hot pain exploding through her body. Electricity burned through her nerves, locking her muscles in place. She convulsed, eyes rolling back, mouth open in a silent scream—

Then, nothing.

She woke up in the dorm, her body screaming in protest. Every nerve felt fried, her shoulder ached, and a dull burn spidered up her neck and across her cheek.

Mouse groaned, shifting slowly, wincing as fresh pain lanced through her shoulder.

She sat up.

In the dim glow of the overhead lights, she saw the mirror across the room. She felt her hair…the braid was a mess, strands ripped loose, her face pale and streaked with sweat.

She reached up, fingers brushing over the burned skin on her cheek.

Her stomach twisted.

She could still feel it—his grip in her hair, the yank, the helplessness.

No.

Mouse pushed herself up, limbs shaking, and stumbled to the sink.

She turned on the faucet, letting the water run cold.

Then she grabbed the scissors.

Her hands shook, but she didn’t stop.

One snip.

Another.

The long black locks fell, landing in wet strands around the sink. She cut it short, uneven, choppy—gone.

She gripped the edge of the sink, staring at herself in the mirror, breathing heavy.

No one would ever grab her like that again.

Never again.

From now on, she would be faster. Meaner. Smarter.

She wasn’t getting out of this place, but she would survive.