#is multiple characters aware of the loop

[fortune-maiden]

the third route of even if Tempest feels like the third route of Raging Loop haha

(we’ll see if it also ends in the end of the world I guess lol)

[multishipper-baby]

Kinda want to write something about time loops because time loop narratives are fucking awesome but I don't what fandom to write it for. I mean I have a few options but nothing concrete yet.

[cypherscript]

Comic Con-versation

Had this little blurb idea while I was mowing at work, I seem to get these a lot while doing that...

This comes from the idea that during the episode Reign Storm, when Pariah Dark rips Amity Park from the land of the living it's not quite put back into its right dimension which ties into Reality Trip when Danny finds out there's a comic book series about him that heavily goes into his backstory to his dread. The universe? DC where Danny Phantom is essentially the same level as DC is here.

____________________________________________________

The Justice League was currently called into a meeting, not that is was a new thing for Billy aka Shazam. What WAS a new thing was that Constantine, workaphobic/smokeaholic Justice League Dark member, was the one to call in the meeting. Billy gets deposited by the zetatubes and sees some familiar faces around the table; Batman, Nightwing and Red Robin on one side while Flash and Kid Flash/Impulse sat across from them adamantly talking. Constantine stood by the projector controls with huge stacks of comics, newspapers and magazines.

One of the comics catches Billy's eye; a young man in a hazmat suit looking into a screen that loops onto him watching the screen titled Masters of All Time. He quickly flies over and snatches it from the pile, "Awesome! I didn't know we were aloud to bring comics up here. I've been meaning to catch up on this series." He kicks up his feet and starts reading.

Constantine gives a tired look at Shazam, "You mean to tell me that you know this series? I've just spent that last bloody three weeks studying this bollocks."

"Of course, who doesn't know about Danny Phantom?!"

The remaining league walks in at that point as Batman, Nightwing and Flash raise their hands. Impulse flashes over and reads them in a second.

"Dude that's so crash, these are CLASSIC~. Dad had an incomplete set that he gave me for my birthday. Oh dude! Reality Trip, I remember this one; Danny, Sam and Tucker are chased-"

"HEY! Spoilers!"

"Sorry."

"Constantine if you can just start the meeting about why we're here?"

"Right. As Shazam said; this is a comic book series about a ghost themed superhero. Sorta like Deadman but not magical." Constantine types into the console and brings up multiple pictures of Danny Phantom's scenes from the book. "The comic book series has been running for nineteen years, it's had multiple adaptations and crossovers. Thousands of roleplaying accounts across multiple social medias, millions of enjoyers of the media across the globe."

"How is this a problem for us," Aquaman asks as he flips through one of the comic books. "It's fictional."

"Yes and no." John presses a key and a real life picture of a town comes on screen."

"Holy Geez! Is that Amity Park?!" Red Robin exclaims as he takes over a personal console and makes a 3D render of the city, rotating and zooming until he finds a brick building with a heaping monstrosity of metal atop of it with a sign stating Fentonworks. "It's real..."

Batman looks at Red Robin calculatingly, "I wasn't aware you partook in that kind of media."

"It's a guilty hobby."

Constantine clears his throat, "It appears real. This city didn't exist four months ago and not just that." He pulls up an actual picture of Danny Phantom in the flesh, "This has magical bullshit written all over it and the only thing to explain it is a Tulpa. All of the evidence points to it; millions of thoughts based on one subject, it suddenly appears out of nowhere and there wasn't a blip on our systems."

"Is a tulpa that much of a problem," Wonder Woman asks as she looks over the pictures of Phantom and Amity Park."

"It can be difficult; seeing how this character's powerset changes more than Supe's does and he's just as strong. The problem is if it's NOT a tulpa and the comics are prophetic."

"Why," Batman asks straight to the point.

Constantine looks through the stacks of comics and pulls out two of them; one with a black gauntlet wearing a green skull ring taking up the front page and the other a grim scene of a large blue skin version of Danny Phantom with fire like hair standing amidst skulls and ruin buildings.

"This first one is about a King of Ghosts ripping the city from their plane of existance, he manages to defeat him in single combat and return his city to his world. Sound familiar?" John gestures at the images of Amity Park. The second is where the problem comes from; this is an evil version of the stories hero, corrupted after the lose of his family. He destroys his world with Amity Park being the only remaining city."

"Ok," Flash asks bored as he flips through the comics.

"Ok? Ok?! It's not bloody ok. It hasn't happened yet but other things have happened exactly as they did in the comics!" He pulls up videos of Danny Phantom and Danny Fenton being split apart and a satellite feed of a massive armored vehicle firing at something that can't be seen.

"The next part is Doomsday! Those two events happen directly after the city is ripped from its dimension and dropped into this one. We all die! Dark Danny comes back in time to reassure his future, we have to stop this."

The Justice league shares a look as Constantine keeps ranting about the incoming apocalypse from a comic book.

"Constantine when is the last time you had a vacation?"

[egscomics]

I brought up the subject of villainess stories (wondering if I made my character Hope a villainess reincarnation protagonist), so let's do this.

"Villainess" premises in manga I have read (and in one case, seen advertised), just to give a general idea of how varied it can be:

1 - Isekai in which a person is reincarnated as an otome game Villainess, and wishes to avoid the fate of that villainess. Probably the most well-known.

2 - Isekai in which person is reincarnated as an otome game heroine, but is in love with the villainess instead of the intended love interests (to be fair, I'm only aware of "I'm in Love With The Villainess" for this one).

3 - Previously a villainess in the same world, dies, reincarnates in the same world later (haven't read, seen in a plot synopsis)

4 - Died, only to time travel back to when they were younger for various reasons (possibly unexplained). In some cases, the premise is they've died multiple times (in at least one story, over 100 times).

In some cases, the character (either the actual person, or who they've reincarnated into) is an actual villainess, but in others, they're a falsely accused villainess.

For example, the protagonist of 7th Time Loop is a category 4 villainess who is falsely accused of villainess behavior, and in Lady Rose Just Wants to be a Commoner, she's actually reincarnated as a the main protagonist, but accepts villainess accusations to take control of her own fate.

Enough tropes are shared that I'd still call them villainess stories, but there's an asterisk to be had, there (but then I almost universally support fine print clarifying precise meaning).

I feel like there are probably more types of villainess stories, but I mostly wanted to make it clear that it's not just isekai reincarnation.

[sanctus-ingenium]

u guys wanna see more WIPs... similar to the last post, here are Some WIPs

all of these were started in sai before going on to procreate. before going back to sai again in the case of the strength card

so Blue Sky/Out Of Time... yeah it’s extremely self-explanatory, it’s very obvious what this scene depicts and i’m sure everyone gets it (this is a joke i’ve had multiple people dm me asking wtf this even is). the one element that absolutely NEEDED to be there was the LED digital clock with a bullshit time on it, and i decided to replace it with an AIRE warning sign instead and put the LED readouts in the bg. the warning sign in this setting serves the purpose of informing ppl when there are hostile faeries around. i knew what the colours would be from the beginning, but it took a bit for me to realise what sort of shading style i wanted (it took forever). but i did know i wanted to contrast the very sketchy black void against the cleaner and almost cartoony/comic book style rest of the drawing, to emphasise the fact that the foreground sky and background void are made of two very different things. again i used a colour shifting brush to quickly make all the shards of sky different colours, but originally i planned to have some of the shards be dark or night time (with stars or the moon etc). unfortunately it didn’t work, it was too dark and pascal got lost against it.

My Eyes Are Up Here is pretty obviously the exact same scene with the same character, in the same field, but with a different sort of atmosphere. i sketched this in sai then did the final in procreate. originally it was going to have a black background

i really like this version tbh but the blue works better. i think he looks good against dark backgrounds where it’s kind of hard to see wtf is even happening there

so about the neon signs..... i’m well aware that the sketch has way more promise than what the final ultimately was, and that’s because i found that i didn’t have the technical or artistic ability to pull off the complex neon signs like i wanted to. i couldn’t get it looking good enough so i had to scrap them. but these signs will be back, i want to draw them properly and do them justice. the gif was unplanned too but i thought it would be fun to have the flicker be very intermittent so that if you scrolled past it you might not even realise, or you’d have to stick with it just to catch it looping. i used GIMP to make the gif and change the frame rate, and this actually took a very long time because i had to preview it over and over. anyway if you WERE to get lost in the púca’s field, in this story, you would see neon signs like this encouraging you to follow them.

Strength is actually the last drawing i ever made that ended with a paint-over in sai, and the oldest drawing here. as such i actually don’t think it’s representative of my current ability but i do have a soft spot for it for sentimental reasons lol. the reason for the paint-over in sai was because i drew this at a time when i still did not trust procreate to be able to place the level of finish on it that i wanted

the background took me a thousand years to figure out. literally it was so annoying that i considered scrapping it for something simpler. but the idea was for it to be a kind of fairytale-ish lost in the woods sort of look while also appearing like the blood vessels around the human heart. the branches were also supposed to be heart-shaped in cross-section but i spent so long zoomed in painting them that i forgot to zoom out to see if all those fine details were actually visible, and it turned out they weren’t. i was disappointed that i couldn’t get félix’s tattoos to look right but that’s what i get for making a character with shit tons of both tattoos and body hair. i also got rid of the foreground branches really soon because they weren’t adding anything and muddied up the readability of his pose

the swan is from a daemon au and bears no relation to my other swan characters. i just like swans a lot

[fuckyeahdindjarin]

Fuck Yeah 3.7k booster club sleepover

I hit this follower milestone just before the end of 2023 - a year that has been so incredibly hard, a year that I got through with the support and love of every single one of you. Thank you for being there for me, I love you all so much!

I've been seeing posts that some lovely people in the fandom have been feeling left out, and I understand that making connections can be daunting, especially with all the negativity recently. But it's important to remember that most of us don’t bite - quite the contrary 😉

So. I'm well aware that there are accounts that are multiples larger than mine, but I want to use what reach I have to lift up those who need a boost. I also like to think that my followers are an incredibly supportive bunch, so hopefully this is a fun way to put 'smaller' or newer creators in touch with new readers and friends ❤️

Send in an ask with an emoji (or several) and jump right in with the boosting!

❤️ Boost a fic that has less than 200 notes (an entirely arbitrary number) and deserves more love! Self-recs are very much encouraged!

✨ Boost a writer, artist or creator that deserves more love! If you're so inclined, tell us all the wonderful things about them too!

🌈 Boost creators/creations that are underrepresented in the fandom. Self-recs are very much encouraged!

💘 Are you looking for hidden gems to read for a particular character? Send in a Pedro boy and we'll open up the floor for some fic match-making!

🐣 Are you new to the fandom and looking to meet new friends? Come say hi!

Anons are welcome too, but please leave an emoji as a moniker so I know who is who. All posts will be tagged fuckyeahboosterclub for easy access.

I'll leave this up for as long as I get responses. As you can imagine, I've been quite out of the loop recently and haven't been sharing and reblogging half as much as I used to, so I'm hoping this is one way to get back into it. I look forward to meeting y’all! 🥰

[starfxkr]

kie has the potential to be such a likeable character but the writers keep failing and idk why

because sarah is just angel baby pookcakes who needs a break from the world and needs a big hug , she had potential to be a very dislikeable character but i think the fact that she knows she is a kook and doesn’t try to deter from that since S1

and she quite literally has lost everything just for her friends and embodying the idea of being a pogue instead of having like a foot in both worlds

which i think is what makes people turn away from kie as a character, she has a foot in both world yet doesn’t accept she has more than the rest of the pogues and the whole self righteous thing comes off just jarring

another example is cleo, she a baddie through and through

she is the pougeiest pogue to ever live and she doesn’t have anything except the rest of the pogues

also she is just angel face so how could you ever hate

but kie has such a potential to be a great character if she acknowledges her privilege in both worlds and they stop passing her around from boy to boy

she did pope wayyyy too dirty alongside snowbunny

need the writers to step up with their writing in kie because no teenage girl acts like that ever

yes u nailed it like kie doesnt land with people because she constant feels phony, disingenuous, and wishy washy. like you said sarah was well aware of her privilege and she uses it to help them like multiple times, whereas kie rejects it so fully that it loops around to her just seeming like a rich girl in her rebellious phase.

sarah never denied being a kook, she always knew she had tannyhill to go back to whereas with kie it feels like shes just slumming it until she can go back to her nice fancy house on figure 8. her inability to accept her background is what causes friction not only with the fans but also why it makes no sense for her to be with jj because hes constantly calling her out about it. hes always throwing digs at her and i cannot see them having anything more than their shaky friendship unless she gets a grip because jj will never get over it. and kie in general with all of them can be insensitive in the way that rich people tend to be, she almost trivializes what they go thru or brushes it off because she inherently has that disconnect. since she straddles the fence she both defends the pogues against the kooks but also acts like they can always get out of their situation nbd.

which is why i think it was actually smart if unintentional to make her a sort of environmentalist hippy chick. rich people get into environmentalism because its safe. they don't have to actually help impoverished people because they can focus on the sea turtles.

[dragonomatopoeia]

Air's Bizarre Christmas Rom-Com Reclist

I am a fan of Romance Media, but even more importantly, a fan of mediocre art. As such, I have watched a lot of christmas romcoms. I have in fact watched Too Many christmas romcoms. While freelancing between jobs, I would put them on in the background as mindless noise to keep me company while writing copy.

This means that I am uniquely positioned to create a rec list of christmas rom-coms that meet a very specific set of criteria:

Is the movie interesting enough to make me actually Watch it instead of half-listening to it in the background?

Are elements of the plot bizarre enough to make me yell "WHAT" at the screen?

Would I rewatch the movie in the company of friends?

Any movie that fulfills all three of these criteria is eligible to join those privileged few, the elite ranks of My Christmas Rom-Com Rec List

A Chance for Christmas (2021)

Synopsis: "Influencer Christina Chance gets the opportunity of a lifetime: a lucrative sponsorship from the brand of her dreams. However, she soon discovers she's stuck in a time warp where the same Christmas Eve repeats itself over and over again." Commentary: This is a Tubi original, and it lives up to all the mess that status bestows. That established, my favorite parts of this movie are that the main character and love interest have the same kind of obsessive, perfection-driven marketing brain poison that lead them to try to min-max a time loop and learn zero lessons for the vast majority of the movie. There's a kind of frenetic, self-absorbed energy to each of the characters that's fascinating to watch. At one point the main character attacks a man dressed like Santa in an act of misdirected rage, and the love interest holds her concerned family back while yelling "SHE NEEDS THIS LET HER GO SHE NEEDS THIS". Also, the kids are actual characters with inner lives instead of props! There are structural issues with the movie, and in my perfect world, the protagonist would quit her influencer job, but overall, I enjoyed it.

A Christmas Movie Christmas (2019)

Synopsis: "A Christmas movie fanatic and her cynical sister wake up to find they are now the stars of a Christmas movie." Commentary: I have a soft place in my heart for scripts written by actors who have been trapped in this Christmas purgatory for years. There's a certain sensitivity to The Way Words Work that is nonexistent in most of these films. Especially since this industry relies on Never Retaking Any Line Read Ever because these movies are basically made on an assembly line. That is to say, this movie is a love letter and a list of grievances wrapped together in a metatextual bow. All of its jabs at the genre feel like they come from a place of familiarity rather than scorn, and the actors are obviously having fun. Line deliveries and elements of blocking feel like they have actual character work put into them, and one of the love interests feels like a Christmas Homunculi with no understanding that a world other than snowglobes and sugar cookies exists. But on purpose this time! If he encountered a turtle flipped on its back, he'd start feeding it christmas cookies, and the movie is Very Aware of This. It's fun.

Baby It's Cold Inside (2021)

Synopsis: "When a travel agent up for a promotion is directed to forget her tropical vacation and instead visit the world-famous Ice Hotel, she discovers that her sacrifices are more than compensated." Commentary: I'll be honest. This one is mostly here because the editing choices made me feel like I was losing my mind. I ended up dragging my roommate down to the living room at multiple points so that they could witness the same thing I was seeing. The jarring cuts, dropped story beats, and lines that lead nowhere make for an unforgettable viewing experience... except for the part where I have forgotten literally every other element of the movie. Except for the inexplicably evil love rival who becomes niceys at the end. I like her. Girlboss. This isn't even the only Hallmark movie that was set at and filmed at Hôtel de Glace in 2021. Truly the most Hallmark movie on this list.

Christmas Perfection (2018)

Synopsis: "Darcy's been striving for the perfect Christmas since childhood; thanks to a magical figurine her dream finally comes true." Commentary: I have already written up my thoughts on Christmas Perfection in EXTENSIVE detail here. Needless to say, I watch it every year. What a fascinating text. What an odd timeloop. It should have been gay.

Snowmance (2017)

Synopsis: "Each year Sarah builds her "Snow Beau" snowman with her best friend Nick. After another breakup, she begins to wonder if she'll ever find her own true love. A little Christmas magic brings her Snow Beau to life." Commentary: I cannot believe the snowman actually came to life. The snowman came to life and he's not even the primary love interest. Nick sucks in a normal possessive childhood friend love interest way, fuck Nick, everyone hates Nick, sure, but THE SNOWMAN CAME TO LIFE? THE SNOWMAN CAME TO LIFE AND HE TRIES TO SELL THE PROTAGONIST'S HOUSE!!!!! SHE LIVES THERE!!!!! This movie made me scream out loud multiple times. It is not good. Please watch it.

Timeless Love (2019)

Synopsis: "Megan wakes up from a coma in a hospital. The husband and 2 kids she just dreamed about aren't real. At her first job interview, she meets Thomas from her dream - or was it a vision years into the future?" Commentary: Listen to me. Listen. The establishing scenes of this movie are played completely straight. For the first chunk of the movie, it feels like this is going to be a dramatic, serious movie in a way that Hallmark Christmas Romcoms fundamentally are not, which makes it EVEN WEIRDER when it suddenly pivots into your classic nonsense. It entrances me. Who let this happen? Why is the medical professional who is assigned to help Megan with the trauma of losing her coma-construct family and recover from being in a literal coma cartoonishly evil? Why was the information Megan obtained from the coma dream accurate to real life? Why is she suddenly okay with losing her coma children as soon as she found the real-world version of her coma-husband? What a fascinating text. I have no clue what to do with it. But maybe you do. I'm folding it into your hands. Whatever happens next is your decision

[conflictofthemind]

Your recent post about electromagnetism was great, but I want to know your theories on how time travel will play into the plot of season 5. I hope they won't use time travel to "fix the past" and rewrite the timeline (although I doubt that will happen).

Oh man I have so many thoughts. This is a whole can of worms to open up (which I will be doing eventually). But yes I agree with you 100%, I don’t think it will end in them rewriting the timeline. Or if they do, it will be through a creation of a new one and all of the characters will still be able to retain their previous memories. There still needs to be lasting consequences for every action, and the impacts of each characters’ decisions plus the entire story should stay with them.

Right now the main pet project that I’ve been working on gradually is something I’ve been calling the “play theory” (kind of a shit title); basically that Melvin is what’s dooming the narrative and causing the main characters to be trapped inside of a time loop. I’ll explain it condensed here but the post I have cooking is already 6 pages at least.

It first came from that whole Melvin “star-crossed lovers” “Romeo and Juliet” thing, and lines within the TFS play that is… also inspired itself by another “star-crossed doomed” lovers play. There are so many weird meta layers to it all.

There’s multiple 4th wall breaks in TFS where Henry tries to escape the theatre and seems to be aware he is performing on a stage. There’s also a very pointed dialogue which is where I finally started making this into a fully fledged theory:

“It’s a sad song, I like the gay ones best”.

“It doesn’t have to be sad, you never know the ending until it’s sung all the way through”.

“Then let’s make it a gay one”.

“Sing your own ending”.

And what a weird theme to choose, because the answer “in the play” is actually no, it can’t. TFS is a sad song, a continuation of the time loop. A play. But that surely won’t be the case for Stranger Things, because we’ve been told that Will’s superpower is his heart and he gets a happy ending.

As Mike performs his “love” for the audience, the name Montague (for Romeo Montague) appears behind him.

Basically, the characters are conforming to the pre-written roles they have already been assigned to (by society) and are forced to enact, and re-enact, a tragedy of two doomed lovers. The curtain on a play closes but the next night the story begins all over again, to a new audience, always with the same ending. Like a time loop. Like a never ending story.

Mike’s decision to keep playing the role of Romeo to El’s Juliet will result in Will beginning the time loop. So Will starts the time loop, and I expect Mike will be the one to finally break them out of it.

[project-sekai-facts]

working on writing hypothetical events for my oc unit made me realize how messed up the prsk timeline is (do they realize the seasons keep repeating? do they know they’re in a time loop?) and i know it doesn’t matter much in the grand scheme of things but it makes my job so much more complicated bc i need to think about whether i’ll trap my ocs in the time loop with them or write their events so time progresses naturally like it would irl.

mostly just sending this ask here because i vaguely remembered you made a post about writing a timeline at some point and that compelled me to want to break down prsk’s story timeline for myself 😭

yeah i was gonna compile a timeline for the anniversary but put it aside for now due to various reasons, one of which being there's SO many continuity errors to work through

the characters are kinda in this weird state of being aware that they've celebrated their birthday and halloween and christmas multiple times, but not aware of the fact that they should be moving up grades and yknow, ageing. they acknowledge that the events of the past 3 years out-of-universe have taken place over one year in-universe, despite having celebrated new years day 3 times.

i seem to remember in one event or card story it actually being addressed that new students start high school in april but if that's the case then what class are they going into? none of the previous freshmen aged. those classes are taken. the previous freshmen just went back to the school after the holidays as if going up a grade isn't real.

[daylighteclipsed]

@generatedreflection Hope you don’t mind if I respond to your tags this way, since my og post is already kind of long! So running on the assumption that KH is a video game, or at least fiction/a story, in-universe and the characters are waking up and changing when they’re not “supposed” to…

I guess it depends on when the initial divergence from fate/the narrative/the program happened and how much it affected. Was Riku supposed to be our player character? If so, did Sora and Riku only swap physical places/external roles, or did their writing or programming adjust their personalities to fit their new places in the story/game so as to keep the narrative from diverging too much? Is this the first run through the story, or have there been multiple past loops we’re not privy to and that the characters don’t consciously remember but which still affect their hearts?

I’m thinking of ReCoded specifically, when Data Sora and Data Riku go on this whole adventure that’s similar to KH1 but different enough to shape them into their own people. Even after they’re reset to follow what’s written in the Journal, we know those memories remain in their hearts and in the hearts of their newfound Disney friends from the ‘real’ world, Mickey, Donald, and Goofy. So data KH1 will never truly reflect KH1 as we know it.

If ReCoded is spelling the big picture out for us, do Sora and Riku only start awakening during the one run of KH1 that we play… or have they been waking up because of one or more resets before that we haven’t seen? Is fate, destiny, the narrative, the program trying really hard to make this story play out the way it’s “supposed” to, but the boys keep swerving, developing more awareness and free will with every reset? Or is this the first run where things are different because of something the Master of Masters most likely set in motion? Or maybe what he set in motion has taken all these resets to come to fruition?

It’s a lot to think about. And I don’t have any answers. Certainly it’s interesting to consider all the different ways the story could go/is maybe “supposed” to go… If Sora and Riku’s roles are supposed to be flipped, with Riku as the champion of light and Sora as the one who falls to darkness… then it’s kind of ironic that they seem to be circling back to that now. Like rather than completely changing or swapping destinies, they just took a detour. They took the long way around, but the road still leads to the same place. Fate is fighting to correct course.

But I also think, you know, Sora could’ve always been meant to be the Hero and embody that archetype even if the Keyblade was not “supposed” to be his. I don’t think the one who wields Kingdom Key Light is synonymous necessarily with the Hero of the story or even the main protagonist. It’s also possible for Riku to pass on the Keyblade to Sora without falling to darkness.

Either way, the idea of Riku giving his crown/destiny to Sora, rewriting the story and essentially acting as the narrative for Sora in this sense, usurping fate, is interesting. Especially when you compare this to Data Riku’s role in ReCoded. He’s the vessel for the Journals, for the entire digital universe they create, and he protects it. He protects Sora’s story, the one we see in the games, which plays out how it does because Riku gives Sora the Keyblade.

The one thing I feel for sure — a lot of this, the story changing and characters waking up/coming alive, comes back to Riku. From what we see of him as a little kid, Riku’s always been more “awake,” it seems, than his peers. Always questioning things and possessing a wisdom beyond his years. It’s like he almost knows (or remembers) things he shouldn’t. As Sora puts it, Riku says “some weird stuff sometimes.” And I think Riku is the one who starts waking Sora up. He encourages Sora to think about things that it doesn’t seem Sora would think about on his own. To ask questions. To see their world differently. And to consider worlds beyond their own.

I think he’s why Sora’s first line in the series is about awakening. “I’ve been having these weird thoughts lately. Like — Is any of this for real or not?” And I think Riku’s why Sora’s able to connect with and awaken/bring to life so many characters in the story. That might even be canon, actually, if Riku encouraging Sora to open his heart to Ventus when they’re little kids is what teaches Sora how to... By empowering Sora, Riku is the catalyst for a ripple effect of change that defies destiny and universal law. And it culminates in his KH3 sacrifice which allows Sora to rewrite how the Book of Prophecies ends.

I think that’s what Riku has always represented: Awakening. Truth. The outside world — whether that means adulthood, reality, new perspectives, or lands yet untraveled. He makes the darkness conscious by bringing it to light. Especially for Sora. Riku quite literally wakes Sora up after CoM and in DDD, and his light pulls forgotten/repressed memories up from the depths. Riku’s often associated with the sun — the kind of bright, harsh light that hurts to look at. That makes it hard, if not impossible, to fall back asleep.

Riku’s the sudden light in your eyes that has you groaning and rolling away when someone has to get you out of bed in the morning lol He’s the rude awakening. The truth is often not pleasant or easy. It often hurts. But inevitably, it becomes known. Inevitably, the sun rises and illuminates the dark. Dawn breaks, and the day and all its challenges must be faced. No slacking off. Chop, chop. It’s time to wake up, Sora. Destati!

Even Data Riku in ReCoded is the one who lifts the curtain for Data Sora and ‘reveals the matrix’ so to speak. “It’s time for you to learn the truth.” Riku offers the truth, perhaps quite literally sometimes if that’s what his iconic outstretched hand gesture represents — and it definitely seems to given how KH3’s tutorial/awakening parallels Sora’s dream in the KH1 opening. But it’s up to Sora to accept the truth. To face it. To take Riku’s hand and awaken. It’s Sora’s choice.

Anyway. Whether Riku is “supposed” to be the Hero or was always meant to be the Rival, he’s not supposed to love Sora as much as he does, and certainly not in the romantic way the games suggest he does… I understand your hesitation about gay intent in KH… But it really feels like the “missing”/unspoken piece here that makes so many people scratch their heads over Riku’s character arc. For Sora, it’s less clear (especially in English), but I do think Riku is in love with him. And I truly believe so much of “destiny” changing and characters awakening, Sora awakening, comes back to that.

Destiny in this case would be the typical formula of Disney fairy tales and the expectations of our heteronormative society. And awakening would be developing awareness of these limitations and smashing them… Perhaps reflected through Riku and Sora exposing the flaws in the Light and Dark binary that’s dictated Keyblade society and caused many of the problems their generation has to contend with.

Perhaps the door to the light, to truth, to awakening IS the closet door, then (insert joke here about Riku literally being the gay awakening)… But it’s a lot of other things as well. Awakening is discovering any truth. Every truth. It’s knowledge of the systems that limit and control you, of any unseen force that holds you back. It’s power to see through illusions and lies, distortions and distractions. It’s free will and independent thought. It’s self-actualization and true freedom. After all, you cannot break free of chains you don’t know are there.

That certainly makes the Master of Masters an interesting fellow… It seems like he wants change. He wants the characters to deviate from the script, to awaken, to develop free will… But at the same time, he’s pulling all the strings. He’s the eye always watching them... Does he truly want freedom, or does he want to be the one who decides what freedom looks like?

[raayllum]

Because @kradogsrats got me thinking about it with their Harrow and Pip and Viren meta so now I'm throwing in two adjacently related cents

The first is that there is absolutely a fucking Premonition going on with dreams in the show (specifically Viren and Callum's dark magic dreams as well as Janai's nightmare) which only makes sense because all of these are 1) connected to Aaravos and subsequently star magic, and 2) dark magic which loops right back around to Aaravos

There are multiple times that images and ideas are relayed to characters who would have no way of knowing these things in the present

For example, Viren is surprised and asks Kpp'Ar about his arm, even when we know that Viren was the last person to see Kpp'Ar before he got coined, and presumably would've already been hurt / Viren would've been aware it had happened. But that doesn't seem to be the case given the dialogue

This also means that the answer Kpp'Ar gives either has to be not truthful and purely something Viren concocted (about something he didn't know had happened), which wouldn't make sense from a character or an audience standpoint, because in an episode titled "Old Wounds" we're going to remember the one visible wound we see on screen. So if the wounds are real and Kpp'Ar is truthful, there's some wonky magic knowledge time space stuff going on (which does sound like Star and adjacent dark magic to me)

We see this again with Janai's dreams concerning Khessa evolving past the point of a reoccurring nightmare to one that actually gives her, again, what we're supposed to assume is the Truth, even though Janai was leagues away from Aaravos (although she did hear his voice) and the lack of discerning his whisper wouldn't suddenly go away for no reason

And we Know there's some overlap between the dark magic dreams and the current reality happening outside the dreams, considering Viren's material reality in 5x02-5x03 directly informs his dreaming reality ("You keep moving" -> "We have to keep moving" as one example)

Most notably with the flower, Claudia begins discarding it in the dream before she drops it in real life, with Claudia receiving the flower in real life before it appears with her in the dream. So the interplay is not consistent moving in one direction solely to the other, but very much does exist

We even see this noticeably (upon rewatches) with Callum's dark magic dreams featuring foreshadowing for future seasons. Not only does having the Key represent dark magic in the dream make extra sense because it is connected to Aaravos, who is also connected to dark magic of course, it likewise has the Ocean rune on display in particular, hinting at things that haven't yet come to pass, but things that very much will

Why does this matter? Well... when Harrow does show up in Callum's dark magic dream, he is notably chained down

Or, y'know, caged like a bird

Now, this could just be because TDP likes its poignant but hella on the nose symbolism on a regular basis. It likes to use a variety of symbols concerning freedom, with a multitude of metaphors just in this episode alone: navigating a storm and steering a sheep; keys and chains; the key; and verbally, books to go along with the idea of fate and destiny being "written" or being rewritten by yourself. And I'm willing to bet that that's Most of it

But also... the Claudia with the flower, Kpp'Ar with his arm, the cube with the Ocean rune, and all that stuff... alongside how blithering little we know about Star magic at the present. Hopefully "Dreamer's Nightmare," which focuses the princes and a town beset by horrible nightmares pre-series and set to come out early August 2024, could give some answers if S6 hasn't dropped by then

Regardless leads me to my second thing regarding what actually happened in that goddamn kindly bedroom between Harrow and Viren (innuendo half intended)

I think Harrow's soul got split

The main reason this makes sense to me is twofold on a plot level and then there's 1-2 things thematically, but let's talk about the most concrete stuff first

1) There is a significant chunk of time between the last possible chance Viren could've done the spell and when we see the binding actually fall

Now to be fair, there's a delay between Runaan's binding falling off and Rayla's (because story constraints) but it's worth noting that as Runaan makes his way to the balcony, only then does it begin to loosen. He's left the room and (rightly) assumed his job is done probably because he knew he was growing weak and still needed to send the arrow, but it's clearly something that gave Harrow a bit of time to like, Live. If Harrow had fully died earlier than that in some capacity, the bindings would have fallen off ahead of time, so Runaan did something and we know (thanks to the Flowers) that Moonshadow elves can enchant objects tied to souls, not bodies, even if other people can be fooled by their appearances

So although the novelization and the show indicate that Viren did something shady as hell ("If Viren wanted to defy his former friend one last time, he'd have to do it tonight"), it isn't something that could've fully killed Harrow at that time

Hence the split. As Kradogsrats pointed out, the Soulfang serpent spell is something that due to the unique nature of the specimen as well as it's not exactly something you can practice (S4 even emphasizes how specific ingredients have to be sometimes in order for a spell to work correctly as well as multiple TDP short stories showing what can go wrong if you lose concentration) it was something that could've gone so wrong so easily.

Some of his soul had to have stayed in his body (but possibly left Harrow momentarily unconscious). Maybe Viren thought he had failed and killed him, and that would explain why he does nothing in the hallway while the assassins are attacking (he seems to kind of know but not fully get what Runaan's binding means in 1x08), although he does seem to have a hint of reservation about Callum being there in the hallway, which wouldn't make sense if he was sure that Harrow was dead, because then who was gonna give a shit that Callum was there?

Another part of his soul could've gone in the bird, as the Soulfang was in the room and so was Pip (quite prominently displayed). Viren at least attempting the spell and it being partially successful would explain why dream!Harrow imprisons him further (after all, why not let it be Kpp'Ar, who literally got coined?) in addition to Pip. Harrow has Runaan's arrow in him during the imprisonment scene as well, so it seems likely that both Viren and Runaan had an equal hand in ruining Harrow's body on that level

The main reason I can see there being at least a partial piece of Harrow's soul in Pip is well

2) Runaan and Ezran

Even if we disregard the thematic irony of Harrow being trapped in the physical symbol of freedom (a bird), there is the fact that Ezran being able to talk to animals is like... the biggest tell that something is coming around with this goddamn bird.

Like Ezran's ability to talk to animals thus far has not had a lot of plot relevance, okay, outside of season one. Like him with Ava and the spider is the last time it's directly core relevant in ways that would be hard to get around. Like his bond with Zym could exist regardless as well as seeing through his eyes. Even if being able to talk to animals absolutely helped set that up, it's not necessary for Ezran to have the communication ability per se to have what he has with Zym, and thus far even as more animals have been introduced (most notably Stella) it hasn't really come into play.

The main reason to give Ezran an ability like this is so that he can talk to Pip. The main reason to remove Pip from the castle as of S2 is because - even in the original plans where Ezran didn't go home in 2x09, he would still would have off screen after S3 and inevitably run into Pip. So there's clearly something with the bird that will become evident upon him interacting with Ezran, hence why they've been separated.

At the same time, I don't think Harrow can wholly be in the bird just because that removes some of Runaan's teeth (and Ezran's subsequent potential beef with him) in ways the show just... doesn't do? I always think about how easy it would've been for Harrow to have no knowledge of what Viren had done with the egg/Zym until it was already over (which 1x02 kinda indicates) only for 3x06 to go "No, Harrow was fully conscious and complicit, even if he had reservations and it wasn't his idea." Our mistakes indeed. So I don't think it'd make sense to let Runaan completely off the hook, especially when we just spent two seasons giving Viren an atonement arc and showing that he can grow and change (and it'll be Runaan's turn afterwards -- especially because within the narrative of the show, killing Harrow is the Only Tangibly Bad thing he's really done, so if he's absolved of that than he doesn't really have a point of being here to the same degree).

Continent Split in Two

If Harrow's soul was split in two, not only would reconciling that (aka maybe letting it Leave Pip, the way the Moonshadow troupe and Sarai's breath had to be released) be a way for the boys, particularly Ezran, to get another shot at processing their father's death... It would also reflect the divide of Xadia itself because of dark magic, and how that literal rift metaphorically, magically, and literally, is being healed and mended over.

It would also have an interesting parallel of Claudia (presumably whether Viren lives past s5 or not) having to likewise learn to let her father go and cope/grieve in a healthier manner, and it would mean that Harrow never comes back fully formed (because Ezran has to keep being King, narratively / arc wise) but we finally understand what truly happened to him.

[sparxaf]

The Inscrutability of Alex

So I might be working on an S7 Alex fic. I mean, I'm probably not working that. But I could be. Maybe. Anyway, for mysterious reasons, I decided to replay the current episodes because I found myself confused by a couple things with Alex. And a second playthrough left me even more confused. I sent @mrsbsmooth a nearly three minute, babbling voice note, asking her if I was missing something, because I cannot figure out how to write him.

This character is described by multiple others as having "golden retriever" energy. Something he absolutely does not have. I'd say he's not even that playful. It's just bizarre for anyone to say that. Nothing about him is overly energetic. Both Raf and Bryson are much better described like that. Alex has the most whistle-whilst-mowing-the-lawn-in jorts-dad energy ever. Golden retriever he is not.

So okay, his energy doesn't match the description. That's not a huge issue on its own. But like...who is he? He says he's not cocky, just confident.

Hmmm. Never is a strong word, innit?

Now, a less cynical person might say that Fusebox is just writing a realistic depiction of someone who is unaware of his own cockiness, but since I am a cynical asshole, I'm saying that Fusebox is not in the business of nuance. They make the same amount of money whether they spend the extra energy to give it depth or not. So they're never gonna bother with that. This is just inconsistent writing. Now, we all know that Alex's most overtly acknowledged trait is his desire to "Take things slow." He says he's looking for the one, and he's not gonna rush that. He knows things move fast there, but he still wants to take his time. He didn't kiss Estelle on the first night. He was uncomfortable with Summer being so forward before he knew anything about her. So how does a guy who takes things slow answer a question from a virtual stranger about what he does for a living?

A dirty joke. Yes, very much setting the tone for his lack of cockiness and his desire to take things slow 🙄 Though I do enjoy MC responding with "Very presumptive, but good to know." 😆😆😆 Not to mention, when he finds out you can snog during the icebreaker, he's not like, "Um too soon." Instead his eyes light up like he can't wait. It's so baffling. So let's say maybe he's just a slow mover who is also really flirty by nature. That feels like he's sending mixed signals at best and manipulating you at the worst. Now this one really threw me for a loop. There's a gem scene where you can ask the boys to tell you something cute about themselves. Alex tells a story about having a crush on a gym bunny and how it led him to weightlifting in order to ask her out. But he kept putting it off and by the time he finally got the nerve, she was already dating someone. So he learned not to hesitate. He learned to just go for it.

Um... what? That's a strange perspective to have for someone whose entire ethos is "Take it slow." Now, I'm aware that he is very straight forward with MC about where his head is at, so perhaps he just meant that he doesn't waste time letting someone know he's interested, but he still wants to take the relationship slow? I don't know. Last, but not least, on night one, you couldn't even kiss Alex (unless I'm misremembering). You could only snuggle. But on night two, Alex says he still wants to take it slow, but he wants to a little something. So the game gives us some options. And the first choice was to do bits. Now, this might be my fault, but I assumed that "bits" in this case would be some kissing and making out. Heavy petting. Maybe some under the clothes touching. But, to my utter shock, no it's not just a heavy make out sesh. Nope. He finger blasts you. He straight up bypasses the face lips and tiddies, and goes straight to rubbing the bean and shoving a digit inside of your person. It's an awfully intimate act for someone like him who's only been alone with you three times, and beyond challenge smooches (if you chose to even take those), has still never really made out with, nor kissed you privately. I would like to clarify that I'm not judging how fast or slow anyone goes in their personal lives. But I am I'm judging this character's pace in relation to the things he's been saying about his pace.

I wrote most of this before the last batch of episodes so I'll only lightly touch on the fact that Alex seems nearly ready to ask you to marry him the day after bringing you to the villa. So "taking it slow" really went out the window altogether.

Long story long, there are aspects to Alex I like. I mean, I'm writing him right now (OR AM I?) so it's not all bad. But it's really hard to attempt any canon reinterpretation, when I can't even sort out what canon is.

It just doesn't make sense. Is he cocky or not? Is he a slow mover or does he believe in not wasting time? Is he an inner city gym rat bro, or is he a home-on-the-range papa who wants to build you a cottage, and make babies? Is his whole "slow burn" thing some kind of manipulation to hide that he's a fuckboy (which would be hilarious) or he's just very badly written?

I love a good, lively conversation, so go ahead and let me know your thoughts. But for those who are rather... overly invested in Alex, feel free to yell at me about his perfection and how wrong and dumb I am. I look forward to deleting your vitriol.

[sugar-omi]

oh my GOD SELF AWARE COVE HAS SO MANY POSSIBILITIES IM GONNA BE THINKING ABOUT THIS FOR AGES

JUST- the thought of Cove slowly realizing he’s going through a loop over and over and over and with every loop the MC starts to look and feel stranger and more far away to Cove and it’s driving him INSANE. Cove starts to keep track of these loops and notices that sometimes things get ever so slightly different or drastically different (say the players deciding to romance a different character or is doing a 100% platonic playthrough etc etc)

THE WHIPLASH COVE WOULD FEEL WHERE IN ONE LOOP THE MC IS ALL LOVEY DOVEY THEN IN THE NEXT THEYRE COLD AND INDIFFERENT TOWARDS HIM CAUSE THE MECHANIC OF COVE FEELING THE SAME WAY WOULD JUST BREAK UPON HIM BECOMING SELF AWARE

Cove having to deal with the feeling of closing his eyes as an adult only to open them and see he’s 8 years old again. What the hell just happened???? He was just at his own wedding with the love of his life and now he’s suddenly a crying child back on the poppy hill!!

AND THEN- and then Cove paying more attention to the MC as the loops go by and seeing them fade into this weird uncanny husk, they’re starting to feel more like a puppet than a person, and it terrifies him. What’s going on??? Are they okay?? Why is this happening to them????

Soon enough as he looks at the MC he finally notices and realizes that the MC “never existed”. This whole time the person he’s spent basically his entire life with never existed as someone in Coves world. No, instead they’re just a projection of someone else. Who? Coves not sure, but he feels like that whoever it is they’re the person who he’s actually been falling for over and over again.

And at that realization he come to the conclusion that he needs to meet this person beyond the veil, and he needs to meet them now.

This got kinda horror adjacent I apologize I got carried away-

NO THIS IS PERFECT

it tears him apart every time bc if you choose to romance someone else or not befriend/romance him, he can't say anything different since he doesn't have control over the system and he doesn't wanna alarm you

so he's forced to feel indifferent to you, and even in between he can't talk to you bc you're not real, the "you" that's here isn't interested in cove, and if "you" do take interest in him it's bc of the system, and everything is set in place as always

slowly he works out how to get to you, and he's leaning over you in his buff/lean, (tatted,) 6+ foot glory and teary eyed, asking why you keep playing with him, experimenting on him like this, making him watch you confess to baxter after he's loved you for 15 years. asking why you'd make that deal n choose his best friend derek over him.

well, it doesn't matter anymore. you can be together now, don't worry about his life in sunset bird, you can just build a life together just the two of you for now!!!

he actually prefers you like this compared to the game. you can say whatever you want without limits or prompting. and he can see your expression, hear your voice, actually touch you...

oh, and please don't go anywhere without him if possible or look at other men, fictional or real, with interest. he's everything you need, you've made him to fit your needs every time. you've came back to him hundreds of times in the end, so if you see smth you like on another man, cove will change his style, look, or behavior so just stop looking else were.

unless you can't, then he'll have to punish you. make you look him...

don't worry, he won't hurt you! he really could never do that, no matter how broken or.. well, twisted. he is

just wants to make sure you remember you're his, and he is yours. so if he makes you sit in his lap for hours, making you trace his face and body and features, telling him everything you love abt him inside and out, then just do it.

and if he decides to punish you in other ways, you can handle it right? you've played his 18+ dlc's multiple times, you read all those dirty stories abt him and you always kiss him n grope him when you can in the main game

he just wants to love you, and be loved by you for real. so indulge him a bit, won't you?

[thebansacredbanned]

Out of context WIPs game

Rules: Pick a bunch of your WIPs and summarize them as badly as possible, then ask your followers to vote on which one they’d be most likely to read. Multiple/all/none options are completely optional.

I was tagged by @tavina-writes and @wishthefish!

Trying not to tag people who I can see have already been tagged so @yletylyf @vaynglories @sinni-ok-sessi @circumference-pie have fun (or not etc)

[ineedlelittlespace]

please tell me about I Was a Teenage Exocolonist, if you feel so inclined? i don't know much about it but your posts about it have been making me very curious! (direct references to Murderbot you say?)

Oh, I would LOVE to ramble about I Was A Teenage Colonist! 🥰 I'm on lunch at work, but otherwise I would break out PowerPoint and do a proper propaganda post because IWATXC fully deserves one. (*Correction: I was on lunch at work when I started writing this. I wrote way too much and had to finish when I got home, which should probably tell you what you're getting into. My deepest apologies.)

So, it's like 50% visual novel and 50% video game. The story is what really matters, but how that story goes is entirely dependent on your choices. There are 29 (I think) different endings you can uncover (I've only gotten 4 so far), multiple different characters you can romance if you're into that, and tons of different areas (e.g. skill levels, friendship points, etc.) that you can focus your energy on to unlock new pieces of story content about various characters.

As far as the video game component goes, it's a deck builder where the memories your player character collects become your deck of cards to use in challenges. However, if you don't want to bother with that, there's a setting that will let you turn off card challenges altogether.

BUT here's the actual juicy stuff:

So, the story opens with you as a 10 year-old kid on a colony ship that's landing on your new home planet. The ship has been traveling for 20 years, so you were born in space.

The colonists left Earth to escape the capitalist hellscape it's become, and they're all a bunch of hippies, so the Preservation vibes are very strong! It feels a little like how the founding of Preservation was described in the MB books.

Once you've landed, however, you run into some big problems. 1) All of the ship's hydroponics were destroyed because it was a rough entry. 2) Some of the planet's wildlife is NOT friendly (as Murderbot would say, something's always trying to eat the humans). 3) Some of the planet's seasons are hazardous in a variety of unpleasant ways. 4) There are signs that this planet had intelligent life once. And that it might still...👀

Once you're there, it's all hands on deck to survive! You're a kid, so you do need to finish your education, but you balance that with working in various parts of the colony and deciding what role you want to take on as your main career. You can become a farmer like the player character's parents, you can become a scientist and hang out with the colony's AI (who has some things in common with ART), you can join the survey teams (like PresAux my beloved!) and go out to explore and document the planet...the options are endless!

Now, the problem with landing on a semi-hostile planet is that the odds are high that the colony is going to lose people. And you do. A lot of people, if you aren't careful. Some of the deaths are pretty heart-wrenching.

BUT

There's something special about your player character. Ever since landing on the planet, they've had...dreams. Strange gut feelings. Knowledge that they shouldn't have. Premonitions about things that are going to happen, about people they're going to meet... Sometimes, it isn't enough to matter, but the more playthroughs you do, the more your character knows because they do gradually become aware that they're in a time loop of sorts. This gives them more options and better odds for saving the people they love, whether that's in the form of having clues about how to stop the colony's famine or knowing where you need to be to save the governor from being killed by hostile fauna! The game runs from age 10 until age 20, so you have ten years to save your colony and sort out your life.

My personal favorite things:

So many things are extremely customizable, especially in terms of preferred pronouns, gender presentation, dating (or not dating at all---choosing not to won't deprive you of anything in-game) preferences, etc.

The little in-jokes (including the direct Murderbot reference!)

The art style is GORGEOUS! It's so warm and inviting and beautiful. And for big moments, you get these extra detailed full-screen scene cards that show up to point out that you're reached a milestone.

There are no real-time time limits/constraints, so it's easy to play without getting stressed.

The characters! There's such a broad variety, but they're so lovable (except for Vace---I can't STAND Vace). I'm especially fond of Cal and of the player character's dad (who reminds me of Ratthi in some ways).

The time-loop elements are handled so, so well. They add such a fascinating twist to the story while also fixing the replayability issue that so many games have. It gives you an incentive to start playthrough after playthrough just to get more information about that element of the PC's story!

All in all, it's my favorite game of the ones I've played this year, and a solid second-favorite of all time, right after Stardew Valley. Especially since I feel like I've barely scratched the surface of the game's content, even after four playthroughs! For anyone who enjoys gaming at all and happens to be a fan of Murderbot, of solarpunk as a concept, or of sci-fi in general, this game is a joy to play!

If you do end up giving it a shot, you know my inbox/DMs are always open if you want to come yell about it with me! Thank you for asking and for giving me a reason to infodump about it! ❤