#it's unclear how it's determined who turns into a vampire

[mayhemchicken-artblog]

That's a lot of guys he has bit do they turn

Nah, the mechanism for Becoming A Vampire is a lot more complicated than that in Varney the Vampire, and in fact doesn't seem to be explicitly linked to getting bitten at all. The main component to becoming a vampire is having another vampire do a funny little ritual over your dead body. Being bitten isn't a prerequisite so long as your vibes are rancid enough.

[silvermaplealder]

Vampire Feed Requirements (informational)

I wanted to go into some depth about feed requirements for vampires in the same sort of strategy that I use for livestock. I wrote a whole funny kinda guide on fanfic .net , but since I don't like that site anymore I wanted to edit my original guide and put it here for you guys to see (also no one called me out on my mathematical mistake where I flipped two numbers rip). I'm also adding a section on using a replacer blood.. Please enjoy my terrible sarcasm and humor. You have no clue how many times I have to write little guides like this for people on Facebook who obtain animals and have no clue how to feed them.

Before I can get down to the numbers of how much blood a vampire would have to drink to survive, I need to state several assumptions:

Since lore does not cover this, I am assuming that fully fledged vampires require blood as their sole nutrient source and are unable to derive nutrients from other foods (though they can eat it and it makes them feel “full”, they will not be able to get their nutrients from it and thus eating it would further starve them). Half vampires seem to be able to digest food just fine, so they can consume and get nutrients from human foods. 

I don’t know the internal anatomy of the vampires, but I am assuming that they have 1 stomach. A human stomach can hold up to about 1 gallon of liquid at max. 1 gallon of blood = around 8 pounds. However, in the bonfire feeding scene the vampires were gorging on blood. It's unclear to tell how much blood they ingested verses just killing for fun.

 I am assuming after they are turned into a full vampire they have new enzymes and proteins that help them with getting the nutrients out of blood.

We are doing all calculations based on bodyweight. I’m going to be using 180ibs as the weight of our vampires, though I'm terrible at judging weight. You can adjust this number for whatever stories you may need to in the future.

The first thing we need to do to get an accurate understanding of how much a vampire should be eating is we need to figure out their weight. When dealing with potentially dangerous critters, it’s okay to estimate to get a general idea if you don’t have a safe management plan to contain and weigh them. Judging from a distance using David and his boys as a general guide, I will assume they weigh between 150ibs - 180ibs. Since they are most often seen feeding together, we can put them into a single feeding group assuming that each will eat their own fill. As a general note, remember that there is usually a pecking order for pack animals, so be aware that one may get more than another. If this is a prolonged issue, consider separating during feeding. 

Now that we have a general number for their weight of 180ibs, we need to figure out another crucial piece of information: what kind of diet are they in need of? There are several main types of diets such as: growing stock, maintenance, and production. Growing stock is for young critters that need the extra energy to grow. Maintenance is for critters that are fully grown and are not putting extra energy out in production. Production is for critters that are actively putting energy towards things such as reproducing, lactating, or other work. Our four vampires here would be considered needing a “maintenance” diet since they are fully grown, and they are not putting energy towards some sort of production (though if they are actively being worked, consider that they will need more calories to help perform these activities). Most maintenance diets need for the animal to have around 2.7% - 3.0% of their body weight in nutritional food per day. 

Seeing the four vampires in question are moderately active and don’t exert too much energy in hunting (looks like a majority of their food comes to them/does not put up very long fights), we will be using 2.7% of their body weight for intake per day. We can determine 2.7% of their body weight with simple math: 

180ibs x 2.7% =  4.86ibs 

Reminder: when multiplying percentages, remember to move your decimal point two spaces to the left! So when you input it into a calculator it should look like this: 

180ibs x .027 =  4.86ibs

Great! So we’ve found out that 2.7% of our 180ibs vampire  is 4.86ibs. But here’s the catch: you can’t just feed out 4.86ibs of blood to the vampires since they require 2.7% of their body weight in caloric intake. Blood is around 55% water, which has 0 calories. 45% of blood is nutrient dense for them to digest (all according to a thing I found on Google). So in reality, feeding a vampire 4.86ibs of blood only gives them 2.187ibs of actual digestible content. Time for some more math! We will need to set up two fractions and cross multiply to find the amount of blood required for the vampires. 

Our first fraction is as follows:

2.187ibs of digestible content

 -------------------------------------

4.86ibs of blood

The fraction above tells us that we currently are only getting 2.187ibs of digestible content out of the 4.86ibs of blood we’ve given them. We will need to set up another fraction to show the amount of digestible content we want to get and find the number of how much blood will that require. 

That fraction is as follows: 

4.86ibs of digestible content

-------------------------------------

X amount of blood

Now it’s time to cross multiply the fractions, but due to the formatting it will not look pleasant on here. If you don't know how to cross multiply, feel free to look it up.

Remember: multiply the 4.86 of blood to 4.86 of digestible content, and then multiply the 2.187 with X to look as follows:

23.62 = 2.187X

Now just isolate the X! Divide both sides by 2.187

10.8 = X

We have now found that each vampire (estimated weighing around 180ibs) will require 10.8 pounds of blood PER day. For 4 adult male vampires, that is 43.2 pounds of blood PER day!

As a little conversion, 1 pound of blood is just about 1 pint. So we’re looking at around 1.3 gallons of blood per vampire per day, or 5.2 gallons for the feeding group.

Now, you may be saying to yourself, "Geez, that's a lot of blood and I don't know how I'm going to get that much to feed them." The first thing I'm going to say to you is that you shouldn't have gotten a vampire in the first place if you cannot adequately feed them. However, there is a replacer you can use. Animal blood can work to feed a vampire, but it will require more energy for them to convert the digestible calories into usable energy. They will require more caloric intake because their bodies have to work harder to convert the blood to usable energy. I would add an extra 1.35% (which is half of the 2.7%) of their bodyweight. Using the same conversion we did earlier, that looks like:

180ibs x 1.35% = 2.43ibs

Which, remembering that only 45% of the 2.43ibs is digestible (1.09ibs), we need to do the same ratio that we created earlier to determine that we would need an extra 5.42ibs of blood on top of the 10.8ibs we calculated earlier. In total, for a 180ibs vampire to be drinking animal blood, they would need 16.22ibs of blood, or 2 gallons, per day.

Don’t forget about other requirements for the proper care of your vampires. Ensure that they have free choice minerals and consult your local vet to see what kinds of mineral deficiencies are in the blood of your feed. You may need to give periodic vitamin or mineral injections.

[yanak324]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love 💖

Um hello @jjofalltrades - best ask ever!! It was surprisingly not very hard to select the stories that resonate the most with me. What was surprising is how varied they were in terms of fandoms... In no particular order, my five favorite fics :)

Old Love (m) - The Vampire Diaries/The Originals crossover AU featuring the one and only Caroline Forbes on a self-discovery journey that obvi ends with her and Klaus Mikaelson finding their way to each other. It's insane to think this story is nearly a decade old, but it's always going to be near and dear to my heart because it helped me deal with a shit-ton of grief...the true definition of art healing.

The Last Time (e) - Game of Thrones (TV)/ASOIAF modern AU focused on Arya and Gendry reconnecting after a decade apart. If you've been following me for some time, this one should come as no surprise. I've had this story in my head for 3 years and counting, and I am determined to finish. She my baby and I love her.

hold me, thrill me, kiss me, kill me (e) - Game of Thrones (TV)/ASOIAF modern au where Arya and Gendry can't seem to get their sh*t together and f*ck instead...lolol. Seriously though, this one is so special to me because I wrote it for @fineosaur, who is one of the treasures I discovered in the gendrya fandom. And it was also the easiest thing I've ever written I think...no thought here just inspiration.

surest thing i know (m) - Gossip Girl (TV) post-canon oneshot that fills in the gaps before the five year time jump in the finale. I did a manic re-watch of the original series in early 2021 and I discovered to my delight that despite me being a Dan/Blair shipper through and through, I couldn't let go of this idea of Dan and Serena finding their happy ending after the show did them so diiiirty in the final season. So I wrote my own fix-it...and it was such a liberating and fun experience. I still reflect on it from time to time like the dork that I am.

you undid me like a fairytale (m) - Game of Thrones (TV)/ASOIAF modern au where Arya has to contend with some very intense and unclear feelings for Jon's bestie, Gendry...featuring appearances by grumpy!Gendry, perfectboyfriend!Ned, and one of my favorite love confessions I've ever written. Also helps that I wrote it for one of the sweetest humans ever @beautifulinsanesanity. <3

Honorable mention goes to my 2020 Gendrya Big Bang submission: after me comes the flood. It wasn't the easiest fic to write but it turned out exactly as I envisioned & I got to work with the talented @thedesignateddriver on the fan art.

[yeonban]

SEND ME A SENTENCE + ‘𝚃𝙷𝙸𝙽𝙶𝚂 𝙳𝙾𝙽𝙴 𝚆𝙷𝙸𝙻𝙴 𝙷𝚄𝙶𝙶𝙸𝙽𝙶’ 𝙿𝚁𝙾𝙼𝙿𝚃𝚂.

@truethes​​  asked:  “I  missed  you.”  +  [ TEMPLE ]:  sender  presses  a  soft  kiss  to  the  receiver’s  temple  while  hugging  them.  /  ash  and  gear  because  im  sobbing  real  time...

The  warmth  emanating  from  Ash’s  body  into  his  own  feels  alien  but  welcome  nonetheless,  a  softness  that  marks  the  next  step  in  their  strange  relationship;  one  that  Gear  hadn’t  thought  would  ever  come  to  pass  (  not  when  their  bond  had  stagnated  at  an  indecipherable  angle  for  almost  a  millennia  during  their  days  of  cohabitation,  not  when  promises  turned  lies  had  kept  them  apart  for  over  two  centuries,  not  when  their  long-awaited  reunion  had  made  the  werewolf  wonder  if  he  had  ever  even  been  a  friend  in  the  servamp’s  eyes  )  -  but  this  is  neither  here  nor  there,  and  Gear  realizes  the  past,  however  recent  it  may  feel  or  how  long  its  effects  may  wish  to  linger,  ought  to  remain  in  the  past,  at  a  distance  where  it’d  be  unable  to  bother  the  present. 

Always  a  man  of  the  future,  a  being  capable  of  adapting  accordingly  to  any  sort  of  change  that  had  or  will  take  place  across  various  millennia,  Gear  initially  almost  believes  this  change  to  be  no  different  from  the  rest  -  but  this  isn’t  an  everyday  occurrence  /  isn’t  a  change  that  simply  happened  and  that  he  should  take  in  stride  like  every  other  one  that  has  crashed  in  his  path  from  the  roman  empire’s  days  of  glory  &  until  the  contemporary  era  -  this  is  a  change  he  had  thought  about  long  before  it  had  become  a  viable  alternative,  one  they’ve  both  worked  for,  a  change  that  prods  and  manages  to  stir  the  remnants  of  hope  he  still  holds  in  his  rigid  heart  (  and  it’s  hard  to  sway  him  like  this  nowadays,  yet  Ash  never  fails  to  surprise  /  never  fails  to  bypass  his  sturdy  walls  as  if  they’re  made  out  of  paper  rather  than  stone  /  never  fails  to  cause  both  hurt  and  comfort  to  extents  Gear  hasn’t  felt  in  so  long  he  had  almost  thought  himself  immune  ).

There’s  a  whisper  close  to  his  ear  that  brings  him  back,  a  voice  so  muted  it  might  as  well  have  expressed  its  fear  of  ruining  the  moment,  of  shattering  this  fragile  act  of  mutual  vulnerability  they’ve  chosen  to  showcase  to  each  other;  and  Gear  repeats  the  statement  again  in  his  head.   I  missed  you. 

The  irony  of  the  one  who  left  to  declare  this  to  the  one  who  waited  doesn’t  go  unnoticed,  and  he  briefly  contemplates  pointing  it  out  as  he  once  would’ve,  offering  a  snarky  remark  or  mentioning  it’s  his  stomach  that  uncertainty  had  made  a  home  out  of;  him  who  wondered  if  Ash  had  meant  to  discard  him  from  the  moment  he  had  left  their  shared  house  or  if  an  unforeseen  incident  had  taken  place  on  his  journey  to  explain  his  abrupt  disappearance  (  he  couldn’t  die,  but  death  was  often  not  the  worst  scenario  that  could  happen  ).

Still,  there’s  something  about  Ash’s  newfound  determination  that  stops  him  from  commenting  anything  negative,  instead  prompting  him  to  simply  take  the  sentiment  and  its  honesty  in  &  attempt  to  reciprocate  it  verbally  at  least  half  as  well  as  the  blond  had.   ❛   Yeah...   ❜   The  affirmation  is  hushed,  muffled  by  his  close  proximity  to  the  vampire’s  shoulder,  and  despite  his  reservations  (  he  had  never  been  an  expert  at  using  words,  that’s  one  fact  that  hasn’t  changed  since  his  childhood  )  Gear  manages  to  repay  vulnerability  in  kind.  Not  to  the  “idiot”,  “dumbass”,  “stupid  cat”,  but  to...   ❛   I  missed  you  too,  Ash.   ❜ 

Contentment  fills  the  air  once  the  silence  settles  anew  &  Gear  closes  his  eyes,  presses  his  face  deeper  into  the  fabric  of  Ash’s  shirt  and  finally  allows  his  body  to  relax  in  another’s  embrace  after  so  long  that  he’s  amazed  his  muscles  haven’t  forgotten  how  to.  There’s  nothing  &  no  one  in  this  moment  that  he  bothers  to  perceive  other  than  them  themselves,  and  so  it’s  unclear  how  much  time  has  passed  between  their  short  exchange  and  the  sudden  sound  of  shifting  disturbing  the  silence,  but  before  Gear’s  eyes  can  snap  open  to  inquire,  warmth  begins  to  spread  from  his  temple  to  the  rest  of  his  body  &  he  registers  the  presence  of  soft  lips  on  his  skin  as  the  source  -  yet  another  bold  move  from  the  man  previously  known  to  shy  away  from  anything  and  everything,  and  Gear  can’t  deny  that  it's  a  pleasant  surprise,  both  the  touch  itself  &  the  other’s  display  of  increasing  confidence.

A  sigh  escapes  the  werewolf  then,  out  of  satisfaction  rather  than  weariness  or  annoyance,  hands  grabbing  at  Ash’s  clothes  to  pull  him  even  closer  into  his  personal  space  so  Gear’s  head  can  come  to  rest  wholly  on  his  shoulder;  words  low  enough  to  not  disrupt  the  peace  yet  clear  enough  to  be  heard  by  the  one  they’re  meant  for,  breath  drifting  calmly  over  Ash’s  neck.   ❛   You  know...  I  could  get  used  to  this.   ❜ 

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

if carlisle and dumbledore were put in each other's respective stories / dilemmas , how do you think they would react? how would a carlisle cullen have dealt with voldemort/grindelwald? and how dumbledore would have dealt with vampirism, etc? i almost view the two of them as a sort of foil to each other, not yet able to articulate why or how though

I mean, they'd live completely different lives, because they're completely different characters. It's very unlikely they'd end up in the same situations.

But alright.

Carlisle is Dumbledore

Carlisle's born in a working class family that quickly begins to fall apart. His father's sent to prison, his mother dies, his sister has a chronic illness that will never disappear, and it's just him and his brother left with very little chance of a future between them.

Handsome Gellert Grindelwald moves in next store with grand, new, ideas concerning the muggles.

Now, this particular Carlisle won't be Christian, he's a pureblood wizard and we can pretty safely assume that the Dumbledores were no more religious than any other wizarding family is.

It's a little up in the air whether Carlisle would be seduced by Gellert or not. Gellert is learned, foreign, and has all these radical, new, theories that weren't very prevalent at the time (well, anti muggleborn sentiment was, the facism was new). On the other hand though, Carlisle is also a man who once radically changed his own beliefs to something that went against nearly every edict of his previous religion. This is not a guy who takes things for granted and is not afraid to both confront himself and the true nature of the world he lives in.

And he has a deep respect for human life that, had it been any lesser, would have undoubtedly led to him eating humans as a vampire.

So, I'm going to say no, or if he does, it lasts up until Gellert says, "We should totally make the muggles our slaves." The muggles may have irreparably damaged Carlisle's sister, they may be hated by society, but they are free thinking beings who should be enslaved to no one. Carlsile raises his pacifism flag.

As a result, Gellert probably thinks he's a tool. Hot, of course, and intelligent, but a useless tool. Without somebody to bounce ideas off of/confirm his radicalization, Gellert has little to no interest in Carlisle or any of the Dumbledores. Gellert spends his time in Godric's Hollow then goes elsewhere, Ariana lives, at least for now, unclear how long her lifespan was going to be otherwise, Carlisle does not have the Gellert incident, and he and Abeforth remain on good terms.

Carlisle graduates Hogwarts and either is a) bullied into taking Flamel's apprenticeship opportunity by Abeforth who screams "DUDE, GET YOURSELF A FUTURE or b) immediately sets about trying to find a relatively high paying job so he can support the family. In the case of B, I imagine he goes to work for the goblins who seem to hire those straight out of Hogwarts with good enough grades. In the case of A, well, he goes to study alchemy.

Knowing Carlisle, he does a bastardization of both. He studies alchemy under Flamel and then works nights as a bartender in Paris or something to that effect. When he finishes, what career he does then is out in the air.

Given that, as a vampire, he had all the choices in the world open to him in terms of education (and tried many different things) before eventually settling on and sticking with human medicine despite the dangers, I think that's telling. Carlisle probably tries to get a job in something healing related.

However, that strays more into the "What if Carlisle was in the wizarding world" vs. "What if Carlisle was Dumbledore" so we'll say that the idea of teaching appeals to him and he returns to Hogwarts for the Transfiguration position.

This all goes well except then there's a first world war on, the muggle world goes completely insane, and no one understands why Carlisle's so upset.

And now we enter the world where Carlisle starts really making choices in Dumbledore's shoes.

First, Tom Riddle. Carlisle, I imagine, makes 100,000 times of a better impression than Dumbledore on the young Tom. He does not, for one, light his wardrobe on fire and threaten him. Carlisle might think this kid is weird, but he lives in poverty and an orphanage, much of his behavior can be explained from that. I imagine Carlisle becomes determined to take Tom under his wing.

I imagine at first Tom thinks this is excellent, LOOK HOW MUCH HE'S MANIPULATING THIS ADULT! And then he realizes that, no, Carlisle is perfectly aware he's a little shit. He just likes talking to Tom after classes about how to fit in with pureblood society/weird esoteric muggle philosophy.

Trouble is, Carlisle is so damn likeable (see his friends all over the world), that Tom can't help but like him. When the Blitz begins, and Carlisle undoubtedly offers Tom (and any other muggleborn who was not moved to the country) a place to stay, that seals the deal, the wizarding world might suck but Carlisle's a pretty cool guy.

Of course, Tom still thinks the government should be reformed or overthrown, but he and Carlisle actually sit down to talk about things like communism and facism (Carlisle's not a fan though the modern, muggle, form of democracy not practiced in the wizarding world is a weird concept to him).

My point being, it's unlikely this Tom Riddle becomes Voldemort or even really aspires to become him. You want more on that topic, check out these posts.

Grindelwald meanwhile, becomes a bigger and bigger deal, and things start looking... bad. However, it's not immediately obvious that Carlisle's the one who should do something about it. He's not a duelist, he's a professor, and his job is to teach the children. He may have been alright in school, but that was decades ago now. More, unlike Albus, he feels no personal responsibility, he knew Gellert, briefly, yes, but they had no real connection. Gellert spoke about insane things and Carlisle said, "Mm, don't like". Add to that that Carlisle's a pacifist, he's going to insist that someone trained for the position do the job.

Given canon, this means that Grindelwald likely invades and takes over wizarding England and, with a strong enough foothold, enacts his "enslave the muggles" plan. Which very well might result in a nuclear holocaust as Grindelwald was likely not keeping up with muggle technology and the muggle world war.

The muggle world collapses, which in turn causes society collapse, and the world may or may not be a nuclear wasteland that Tom and Carlisle get to wander around.

If Carlisle by some divine intervention has a prophetic dream of "YOU MUST DEFEAT GRINDELWALD OR DOOM DOOM DOOM" then he goes and tries to defeat Grindelwald. Considering Grindelwald has the elder wand, he probably needs Deus ex Phoenix to win, but if it worked for Dumbledore it might work for Carlisle.

Well. No one saw that coming.

Carlisle's an overnight sensation and a national hero, the hero of Western Europe even. He's suddenly being presented medals, honors, seats of power, and Carlisle desperately tries to refuse, feeling very squeamish that he's being given these things because he took it upon himself to murder another human being (yes, even a war lord).

Tom finds this funny and Abeforth is ureservedly proud and tells everybody.

All Carlisle wanted to do was teach children and now he has to reside over trials in the Wizengamot. This is terrible.

As for what happens to the wizarding world from there, well, inertia probably carries it along for a good while. However, antimuggleborn sentiment is still on the rise an even without Voldemort I imagine there's quite a bit of unrest.

I imagine Carlisle, not wanting in any way to be a political figure, is not nearly as outspoken as Dumbledore on anything. He just wants to be headmaster, guys, leave him alone.

Tom may or may not go into politics and do it for him. But he probably ends up teaching too and just laughs as the country collapses.

Harry Potter is an ordinary student who has no prophecy surrounding him. Carlisle did not recruit children to join an illegal resistance movement nor does he have a plethora of spies and moles in the ministry.

Harry Potter canon does not happen.

Dumbledore is Carlisle

Well, Dumbledore undoubtedly also burned witches and very much believed in their existence. An irony there. He may chase the vampire, probably isn't first in the mob, in which case he remains human or dies.

If he does survive being bitten, I imagine it pains him for a while, but I don't see Albus having the same willpower as Carlisle. Or at least, not as much, Albus probably ends up eating people. He at first probably tries to be picky and eats those who harm society in some way (pick your poison for what that means) and then over time becomes less picky.

They're just humans, after all.

Albus probably isn't invited to stay in Volterra, he's not all that interesting. He doesn't become a human doctor, he's just your ordinary vampire. He might hang around libraries as much as he can but that's about as far as that extends.

He probably turns a Gellert equivalent at some point as a mate and they have a grand time together.

Edward is never turned nor the rest of the Cullens and Bella dies in a parking lot.

[churchofcaine]

Storyteller advice: Combat and Movement

So you want to run a combat scene.

You’ve (probably) played other tabletop games and had a good time bludgeoning weird creatures to death. You’ve likely played VtMB and enjoyed the basic gunplay or even the janky melee combat. So you, as the young, naive storyteller crack open your (pre-V5) rule book and suddenly your head explodes with a migraine.

This is because the rules are scattered, the initiative system is crazy complicated, and there are a dozen maneuvers for melee and ranged combat. If you’re a veteran of tabletop games, you may look at some of the melee combat maneuvers and have some questions like “can people attack when grappling?” or “how does someone shoot a gun multiple times in one round?”

Well no worries, because I’m going to explain the combat system to you, why it is bad, and recommend some tweaks.

Combat by the numbers

Everyone involved in combat rolls 1d10+Dexterity+Wits to determine their initiative.

Starting from LOWEST initiative, each character declares what action they will take. You may ready an action to go off when another action occurs, such as dodging an attack.

Characters may move a distant of half of 20 + (dexterity x 3) yards in a turn and still attack.

Each character rolls their Dice Pools (Strength/Dexterity/Manipulation + Whatever) for their action.

If you’re making an attack, you roll Dexterity + Melee/Brawl/Firearms. If you’re doing a melee maneuver, you’re rolling Strength+Brawl generally. These are generally at difficulty 6, which means that a success occurs when your ten sided dice rolls a 6 or higher.

If you’re doing multiple actions you must split your dice pool. In Vampire 20th anniversary edition, this means you take the lowest dice pool of all your actions, and allocate dice to each action. For example, if you’re driving a car and shooting out a window, and your DEX+drive is 6, but your DEX+firearms is 4, you divide your 4 dice between driving and shooting.

If you hit, you roll damage. For melee, roll strength + your additional successes on the attack roll (you only need one success to hit). For guns, add their damage value + additional successes. Maneuvers may or may not do damage but will use the same pool as melee attacks if they do. Some damage may only allow you to roll your Fortitude. This is all at difficulty 6.

If you are hit, you roll to soak the damage. Roll your Stamina + Fortitude (if you have it).

Actions are resolved from the HIGHEST initiative order to the lowest, but all actions occur simultaneously.

Additional Celerity actions occur here.

Storyteller describes what happens dramatically.

The turn ends. Return to step 1.

Why this is a terrible system and you should never use it

There are THREE ROLLS involved for one person taking ONE mundane action. If you’re part of a 5 person group, that is a minimum of 15 rolls before you account for any opposition.

There are too many steps for one turn of combat. This can lead to an entire session being 2 or 3 turns of combat. Boring.

Damage is horribly inconsistent. If you roll a good attack roll, you could roll a terrible damage roll and not do anything. If you roll a good on attack and damage, it can be more damage than even an Elder can soak.

Initiative makes NO sense. The developers seemingly intended for players who did well on their initiative to have foreknowledge of the actions happening around them, but the ability to interfere with other actions is limited. If you go to tackle the guy trying to punch your dainty Toreador friend, he still gets to punch them since actions occur simultaneously.

It is unclear how disciplines can or cannot affect combat. For example, Dread Gaze reduces dice pools, but does it affect the dice pools of the goon shooting at your friend the turn you activate it? Does Shroud of Night increase the difficulty to hit if you’re higher in initiative than your attacker?

A variety of modifiers can change dicepools. Disciplines, firearm maneuvers, melee maneuvers, injuries, and circumstances can add or subtract dice. This can be very difficult to track in addition to figuring out WHEN each addition or subtraction applies.

Soaking is horribly inconsistent. I have been in games were Gangrels high in fortitude and stamina have gotten thrashed due to bad rolls. This more than anything makes players upset because they can never be sure if their “tanky” character is going to be put into Torpor from a bad roll.

Once you’re injured, you’re done. Injury reduces your dice pools, how fast you can move, and how many actions you can take. By default, you can heal only as much blood as you can spend in a round and cannot take any other action while doing so. Rules as written seem to imply injury penalties apply to soak dice as well.

Movement is both too complicated and too lenient. Even a character with 2 dice in dexterity can move 13 yards (39 feet/~12 meters) and attack someone. There is no tactical movement since every character can zip around all but the largest battle maps (If you use that). Injury reduces movement drastically, eventually giving slow static move speeds.

Splitting actions is a mess and never works out well. The game seems to assume everyone will split their dice pools and that’ll somehow balance the game since everyone is trying to dodge and attack. In practice, it’s best to roll your full dice pool on attack and overwhelm the person’s dodge. Celerity where you get either additional dexterity dice or actions, and you completely breaks the combat system by allowing multiple actions at full dice pools.

Recommendations for a more fun and dynamic combat

You do not have to take my ideas as gospel. Take what works for you and your friends, leave what doesn’t.

SOAK LEVELS: A vampire has a static soak rating of their Stamina + Fortitude and an aggravated soak rating of their fortitude. If damage is under half this rating, they take no damage. If it is over half they take 1 damage. If it is over their rating, they take the difference+1 in damage. This makes vampires reliably tough and eliminates an unneeded roll.

ENVIROMENTAL DAMAGE. The only time you should roll soak dice is when damage comes from an irregular source such as sunlight, fire, falling, or the rare electrocution.

TAKE THE INITIATIVE. Initiative is 1d6 added to your static rating in Dexterity and Wits. This makes initiative less swingy and eliminates ambiguity.

MY TURN ON THE TURN ORDER. The first turn in combat, characters declare their actions from LOWEST to highest. Then actions resolve from HIGHEST to lowest. You roll for the action on your turn and any effects are immediately applied. After this first turn, it goes dungeons and dragons style. Highest to lowest, effects immediately occur. Do not re roll initiative.

THROW OUT MOVEMENT. I personally do dramatic movement, where there are no set movement speeds and players move as the drama of the scene allows. Getting shot from a distance? Gonna take a turn or two to get there. See your friend getting beaten through a window? You can jump through the window and risk damage or take a turn to enter the house. Find what works for you and your trope.

LET THEM DEFEND. If a character doesn’t move, allow them the chance to dodge or block if circumstances allow.

INJURIES FOR DRAMA. Don’t religiously observe injury penalties. These should only kick in during significant fights and should be fairly applied. Injuries should never affect soak ratings

WE JUST WANNA SURVIVE. If someone wants to take an action while healing, default rules require a stamina and survival check. Ignore this. Use Willpower instead. Every Vampire has some dots in this, and it allows your thaumaturge some hope once he is hurt.

SPLIT THE DIFFERENCE. To take multiple actions, increase the difficulty of each subsequent action by 1 and reduce the dice pool of each action by the total number of actions being taken. If the dicepool is 0 or less, they cannot take that action. For example, if a character tries to jump a wall, trip a bad guy, and shoot him while he is down, the first action is Dexterity+Athletics-3 at difficulty 6. The second is Strength+Brawl-3 at difficulty 7. The third is Dexterity+Firearms-1 (+2 for shooting at someone prone) at difficulty 8.

GRAPPLING WITH MORALITY. Grapple and hold are two separate actions but have ill defined effects. Hold says they cannot attack and can only try to break the hold, but grapple doesn’t mention that but talks about it doing damage every turn. My recommendation is when you are grappling, whoever rolls higher on a Strength+Brawl does damage to the other and neither person can attack another target until they both stop grappling. Hold restrains a person until they break out, but neither the holder nor the person can take any physical action besides trying to escape

TAKE A BITE. Normally you can bite someone after tackling, grappling, or holding a person. This makes strength builds very one sided, where each turn they’re going to try to tackle and then do a Strength Aggravated damage bite. This is only worse if they also have Celerity and can bite entire rooms to death. Instead, only allow bites after a Hold is established, then another roll to Pin. This at least allows the person being held to escape. Instead a Kiss can be done during a grapple or tackle to drain blood.

[duhragonball]

Battle Tendency Liveblog JJBA Ch.48-52

This is the “Joseph vs. Straizo” arc, so I’ll just lead off with one of my favorite moments from the entire JoJo franchise, when Joseph furiously declares war on Straizo with tears in his eyes.   In the anime, voice actor Tomokazu Sugita delivered this with such intensity that it actually overshadowed the machine gun.

None of the dubs or translations can do it justice, including this panel from the JoJo’s Colored Adventure scanlation project.   This is a faithful translation of Joseph’s line, as far as I can tell, except they always leave off the last part: “宣戦布告だぜ!!”  In romanji, that’s: “Sensen fukokuda ze!!”    And it means  “This is war!!”  

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Last time, we saw the Joestars treating their new friend Smokey Brown, to dinner at a fancy Italian restaurant.   Some mafia jerk caused trouble, Joseph whooped his ass, and then a second mafia guy apologized and shared a rumor he recently heard: Robert Speedwagon was found dead in a Mexican riverbed, apparently killed by a Tibetan monk.  

From there, we see that Joseph immediately realizes that this must have been Straizo, and Erina suspects that it must have something to do with the Stone Masks and the battle with Dio fifty years ago.   Smokey warns Joseph to consider the source, but Joseph is pretty sure it’s credible information, since mafia guys are all about money.   I’m not sure what that has to do with whether he’s telling the truth, though.   Either way, Joseph slugs the guy for just blurting out such terrible news in front of Granny Erina.  

Now, at this point, Joseph and Erina are making all these Phantom Blood references, and Smokey has no idea what they’re talking about.   And I think seeing this panel helped me understand Smokey’s role as a viewpoint character.  When the Part began, it seemed like Smokey was sort of the narrator for the thing, which works because he’s a good viewpoint character, and he seemed to be settling in as a sidekick like Speedwagon and Poco in Part 1.   But shortly after this he just vanishes from Battle Tendency altogether, and then he shows up at the end like it’s no big deal.   I never quite understood that, and I think this is the sort of thing that fuels the “Araki forgot” memes, but it actually makes a lot of sense.  

See, Smokey’s primary function is to be the viewpoint character, specifically for the readers who missed out on Phantom Blood.    BT is a direct continuation of the previous part, in a way that none of the other JoJo parts are.   Most of the main BT cast was deeply affected by what happened in Part 1.   A few of them lived through it, and the ones that didn’t have personal connections to it.    So they constantly talk about Stone Masks and Dio without really stopping to explain any of it.   Well, if you don’t know what they’re talking about, you can take heart in the fact that Smokey doesn’t know either.   So as long as he can keep up with the story, so can the uninitiated readers.  For now, all that matters is that he’s impressed by the Joestars’ great kindness, and he’s intrigued and disturbed by these hints of a tragic past in their family.  

And eventually, Smokey learns just what happened to the Joestar Family, or at least everything that the reader needs to know to follow Part 2.   But that doesn’t happen until near the end, which is why he shows up to hear the secrets revealed.   But for most of the story, he steps aside, because that’s mostly about Joseph dealing with events in the here and now, so Joseph can act as his own viewpoint character.  

But is Speedwagon truly dead?   The story flashes back to the previous night, after Straizo killed his own disciples and clobbered Speedwagon.   They’re in this temple where Speedwagon discovered more Stone Masks, like the one Dio used, but Speedwagon also discovered an immortal man petrified in a stone column.    Straizo was enlisted to destroy this “Pillar Man” with his Hamon power, but instead he wants to use one of the Stone Masks to turn himself into a vampire.  

Before he does this, he reads Speedy’s translations of the writing on the walls of the temple.    The ancient Aztec cultists who built it said that the Pillar Man was immortal and had many powers, but he was vulnerable to the sun, just like the vampires from Part 1.   But the writings warn that the Pillar Man created the Stone Masks because of this weakness, and one day, “when he befriends the sun, the world will be his.”  That doesn’t seem to follow, since the only thing the Stone Masks seem to be able to do is make new vampires, who are just as vulnerable to sunlight as the Pillar Man.   

Anyway, Straizo doesn’t seem to care.   He just doesn’t want to die of old age, and he’s become disillusioned with the Hamon power he has, so he’s turning heel and going full goth on us.   To avoid Dio’s mistakes, he plans to eliminate any witnesses, including Joseph and Erina.  Then he’ll go into hiding and figure out a long term plan, with the rest of the world unaware of his existence. 

You know, now that I write that out, I’m amazed by how similar that plan is to what Dio ends up doing in Part 3.   In Part 1, he set about turning a whole town into zombies, and planning to unleash them on the world without any real agenda.    But in Part 3 he eventually holed up in a swank mansion in Cairo and took great pains to stay hidden while he acquired more power.   Parts 5 and 8 carry that same idea even further, with villains who go to great lengths to cover up their very existence.   

At any rate, we only see Speedwagon pass out in this scene, so it’s unclear whether he actually dies or not.   Really, using Speedwagon in this way is a pretty smart play.   He’s an old man, and he was never going to survive another 50-year time-skip into the next part, so it’s safe to assume that Part 2 is his swan song.   But how will he die, and when?   It could be at the very start, or maybe somewhere in the middle.  

Anyway, Straizo just walks up to a cafe in New York to confront Joseph, and Joseph whips out a machine gun and shoots his ass.   This whole time, Straizo had assumed that the untrained grandson of Jonathan Joestar would be easy pickings, but Joseph’s a lot more skilled with Hamon than he expected, and he’s tricky too. 

As Joseph fires on Straizo, he recalls how worried Erina was about all this.   The story kind of glosses over it, but Joseph seems to have worked out Straizo’s entire plan.   I guess that’s not much of a stretch.   He and Speedwagon were together with a temple full of Stone Masks, and then Straizo turned on Speedwagon.    Why else would he do that, unless he used the Stone Mask to turn into a vampire like Dio did?   And once you arrive at that conclusion, it isn’t hard to figure out what Straizo’s next move would be.    And that’s how Joseph was so prepared for this.    After the shooting stops, Smokey freaks out about Joseph murdering a dude, but Joseph was expecting a vampire the whole time. 

I also like Joseph’s line in the flashback.   Erina isn’t worried for herself, but for Joseph, because it looks like he’s being pulled into this same tragic fate as the rest of the family.   But Joseph resolves to face this head on.    “If this is my fate, then I accept it.”  Pretty sure Will Zeppeli said the same thing when he discovered that he would die saving Jonathan.  

There’s similar “call-to-adventure” moments in the other parts.   Jonathan has his when he accepts Zeppeli’s offer to train him to battle Dio again.  Jotaro has his when he defeats and saves Kakyoin, then learns what’ll happen to his mother if he doesn’t go.   Josuke has his when Angelo shows up and he has to avenge his grandfather.   Giorno kind of always had a hankering to take on Passione, but I think things got serious once he had a choice between killing or sparing Bruno.  There could be no turning back from that point.  For Jolyne, it was the moment she had a clear path to escape the prison but decided to go back in because that was where her enemy was.    For Johnny, it was that one battle where he chose to crawl towards the danger to save Gyro instead of withdrawing to safety.   For Gappy... I’d have to study that a bit.   

But for Joseph Joestar, it’s this moment.  Erina never sent Joseph to learn the Ripple from the Hamon monastary, and she seems to have taken great pains to keep him out of trouble, but now trouble has come to them, and Joseph isn’t about to back down.   

So yeah, bullets don’t actually kill vampires, but Joseph was hoping to destroy his head with some of those shots, or at least slow Straizo down long enough to finish him off.   Instead Straizo reveals that he has the power to shoot high pressure fluid from his eyes, the same move Dio used to kill Jonathan at the end of Part 1.   He calls this “Space Ripper Stingy Eyes” which is either stupid or brilliant depending on your mood, I guess.   He used it to protect his head from the machine gun fire, and then he uses it again to shoot Joseph... except he hits Joseph’s reflection in a nearby mirror, and I guess he didn’t notice the real thing standing behind him.

What makes this fight so awesome is that these two are determined to kill each other, and they each have extremely simple moves to defeat one another, but they have all these tricks and schemes to protect themselves.   Joseph manages to hit Straizo with Hamon, but it does nothing... because Straizo was a Hamon master before turning into a vampire.   He can’t use the Ripple without destroying himself now, but he still knows how to defend against it.   For instance, he’s got this scarf woven from dead bugs, because it conducts Hamon energy far more effectively than his own body.    So it just absorbs Joseph’s attacks and disperses the energy harmlessly away.   

Does it really have to be made of dead bugs?   I feel like Tonpetti just told him that as a prank.   “No, really (snort!) the only thing that works is dead bugs.  (tee-hee!)   It smells awful but you have to wear it (ha!).”

But Joseph has his own tricks, like... putting a dozen grenades on his opponent’s back when he isn’t looking!  Seriously, there was zero opportunity for him to do this.    One moment he steps over Straizo’s body to see if he’s still alive, and the next moment he supposedly planted all these things on his scarf.   I get that he could pull a string connected to the pin without being noticed, but that’s the only part that makes sense about this.   It’s still awesome, though.   If Jonathan had access to explosives, Part 1 would have been a lot shorter.  

I really think this was the battle that set the tone for Stand Battles in later Parts.   Araki loves these off-panel tricks in combat, and they’re a lot easier to explain when all of your characters have magic super powers.   If Joseph had Hermit Purple in this fight, there’d be no problem at all.   He could just use Hermit Purple to snake through the ventilation shafts and hook up all the grenades.   In fact, it’s tempting to suggest that Joseph was unconsciously using Hermit Purple throughout Part 2, but I don’t want to get into that right now.

Anyway, explosions don’t stop vampires any more than machine gun fire.   Straizo’s body is in pieces, but the pieces just slither back together and regenerate.   Wait, wouldn’t his head have been vaporized in that blast?   Also, Straizo spends the rest of this battle in the nude, so we know that stupid scarf is out of the equation.   Why didn’t Joseph just go back in the cafe and finish Straizo off while he was still in pieces?

Again, it’s easy to say “lol Araki forgot”, but I think it’s a lot more sensible to suggest that Joseph forgot.   As clever as he is, he went in with the Ripple, a machine gun, and a dozen grenades, and Straizo had an answer to all three.   He doesn’t want to press the attack because he’s out of tricks.   All he’s got left is another Hamon attack, which means Straizo will see it coming.   Or he’s still worried about the scarf, and hasn’t realized that it’s gone now.    In any event, he’s running away, creating some distance before Straizo can make his next move.

Also, there’s a lot of bystanders gathering around, so it makes sense to take the fight elsewhere.   Some guy named “Bruty” tries to stop Joseph to impress his girlfriend, but that backfires spectacularly.  Was Bruty in the anime?  I feel like he wasn’t, but I don’t want to check. 

The one I do remember is this girl photographer.   Spider-Man hadn’t been invented yet, so in those days photographers just sort of wandered around with their camera, waiting for Spidey to debut.   This exploding vampire diner is the best she could do in 1938.  

I just really like this lady.   There’s a spark in her eye and I just assumed she would end up being Joseph’s love interest by the end of the story.    Well, we’ll get to that.  

Instead, she’s a hostage.  Joseph and Smokey run to the Brooklyn Bridge?   I guess?   It’s a bridge, I’m sure of that much.   Anyway, Straizo catches this lady and takes her with him to intercept them.   He threatens to kill her unless Joseph faces him again.   But Straizo offers to spare Joseph and never trouble him again if Joseph runs away.   This is because Straizo figures that if Joseph chickens out now, then he’ll never be a threat to Straizo in the future, no matter how powerful his Hamon abilities become. 

Joseph tries to call his bluff, but then Straizo rips out one of the girl’s teeth to prove he means business, and Joseph gets furious all over again.  I don’t think he was ever planning to abandon this fight, but he was probably hoping to get Straizo to give up his hostage at least.   Now he’s just pissed, and Straizo is impressed.  Joseph tries to act cool, but he just can’t hide his passionate feelings.    This is in stark contrast to Jotaro, who wagered his own soul in a poker game and bluffed his way to victory. 

So Straizo tries again with the Space Ripper Stingy Eyes, but this time Joseph blocks it with two shot glasses charged with Hamon power, and then he lands the decisive blow.   But before Straizo dies, Joseph demands to know why Straizo dumped Speedwagon and the others in the river.   Not only does Joseph want to give him a proper burial, but he doesn’t understand why Straizo would have dumped them in the river, since that was how Joseph knew to expect him.  

Wait, I thought Straizo wanted Joseph to know he was coming.   Oh well.

Anyway, Straizo explains that he had to do it, because the Pillar Man was absorbing the blood from his victims.   Straizo was worried that the Pillar Man might awaken, so he put them in the river instead to be safe.    Nevertheless, he suspects that the Pillar Man will reawaken eventually anyway, and Straizo now realizes that it will be Joseph’s destiny to face him some day.    Then Straizo just uses the Ripple one last time, and self-destructs. 

It always seemed strange to me that Straizo saw the danger of the Pillar Man and just left things the way they were.   Maybe he planned to deal with him later, or maybe he just didn’t know or care about it until Joseph defeated him, and he felt a moral obligation to warn someone. 

I guess he could have destroyed the Pillar Man like Speedwagon wanted him to do in the first place, but it seems like Straizo didn’t realize that blood would wake him up until after he was already a vampire, and unable to use the Ripple.  For that matter, it remains to be seen if Hamon will work on Pillar Men.   

Anyway, what else is going on?   Oh, yeah, Europe is getting closer and closer to World War II.   The official start of the war is usually considered to be September 1, 1939, but Italy invaded Ethiopia in 1935, and Japan invaded China in 1937, and Germany annexed Austria and conquered Czechoslovakia in 1938, the year Battle Tendency is set.  So we’re in this weird time period where there’s Nazis in the story, and the British-American protagonist doesn’t care for them, but isn’t trying to kill them on sight.   I’ll be coming back to this topic later on. 

I think the main reason for including Nazi Germany in this story was to draw parallels between their goals and those of the fictional villains.    The Nazis believed themselves to be the “Master Race”, the most “evolved” people, and this made them worthy to rule the world.   Araki notes that they turned to all sorts of sci-fi/occult/fantasy stuff in their war.   Similarly, you have villains like Dio and Straizo turning to mysterious Stone Masks for spooky powers, and then you have the Pillar Man himself, who apparently sought the means to “befriend the sun” and rule over the world.    So the Nazis fit into this theme of trying to claim some sort of supremacy over other beings.  

But what’s their role in this story?   Well, the Germans have an “information base” in Mexico, run by a guy named Stroheim.   He makes pretty ladies shave him with a straight razor, and if he gets a nick he makes them lick the blood off, and then he threatens to cut off their tongues.   Also, he trained his dog to not eat treats until given permission. He’s a sick fuck, is my point. 

Wait, no, my point was that his staff discovered the bodies that Straizo dumped in the river, including Speedwagon, who’s still alive, somehow.      I guess Straizo was going to finish him off but he got in a hurry when he saw the Pillar Man absorbing the blood from the others.  Not sure how Speedwagon survived that ordeal, but Stroheim’s men have been taking care of him this whole time, and he was unconscious until recently, so it might have been touch-and-go for a while. 

            Back in New York, Joseph doesn’t know what this is all about, but he decides to go to Mexico himself to get to the bottom of it...

[bamfdaddio]

X-Men Abridged: 1969

The X-Men, those dino-obsessed mutants that have sworn to protect a world that hates and fears them, are a cultural juggernaut with a long, tangled history. Want to unravel this tapestry? Then read the Abridged X-Men!

(X-Men 52 - 63) - written by Arnold Drake, Roy Thomas, Linda Fite and Don Heck, drawn by Werner Roth, Barry Smith, Tom Palmer and Neal Adams.

step aside, Wall-E, these Sentinels have nothing on your range of emotions (X-Men 59)

When we last left our X-Men, they were smack-dab in the middle of a big, convoluted plot! Let me refresh your memory:

The X-Men had to beat a hasty retreat;

Polaris had joined her father Magneto

Magneto was injured;

Iceman had quit the team because he still had faith in Polaris;

Eric the Red appeared, making overtures towards Magneto.

And the whirlwind continues! The X-Men (sans Iceman and Cyclops) sneak back into Magneto’s base! Eric the Red reveals himself to be Cyclops! They set a trap for Mesmero! Which is sprung by the wayward Iceman! But he has pertinent information! Lorna is not Magneto’s daughter, she’s just an orphan! Bobby (hilariously) has the papers to prove it!

magneto has now fucked up the relationships he has with all of his children before any of them knew he was their father. mad props (X-Men 52)

Lorna breathes a sigh or relief, glad that she doesn’t have to be evil anymore. (Because obviously, evil is hereditary. And even though she keeps sensing everyone’s ‘evil vibrations’, she stayed with Magneto out of her own volition. SO.) Without Polaris’ power to back them up, Magneto and Mesmero flee.

After this, the X-Men come back to live at the mansion again. No muss, no fuss. Roy Thomas, who’s returning to the book, wastes very little time undoing some stupid decisions made last year. In fact, 1969 has a pretty strong showing, with plotlines flowing almost naturally into one another, a bigger cast and the introduction of one of my favourite villains. It’s pretty palatable.

The one snag is a superfluous issue where the X-Men fight Blastaar and Jean kills someone. (Never comes up again, don’t sweat it.) I wouldn’t even mention it, were it not for this moment where Jean uses some super duper mind machine:

does this remind you of... anything? no? just me then (X-Men 53)

So, anyway, remember Scott’s beloved brother Alex?

i love that jean is all smiles about scotts terrible and all-encompassing ability to repress everything (X-Men 54)

I can sort of understand why that whole third Summers brother was such a huge secret for so long, considering Alex was not even kept a mystery and it still took SIX YEARS for him to be revealed.

Alex is barely introduced before he gets the old plot-bat to the face, getting mixed up in a fight when some pharaoh claims all mutants are pharaohs, being children of the Sun? Apparently, all of them are powered by cosmic rays i.e. the sunlight. Alex is kidnapped, as is Cyclops, and just as Cyclops ponders how happy he is that Alex is not a mutant despite him having the X-Gene, he is attacked by the pharaoh and Alex saves his brother using newly minted energy powers! Oh, the irony.

when I say that I want Alex to wear his old costume, I obviously mean this sexy Egyptian skirt-ensemble (X-Men 55)

Alex and the pharaoh are apparently two sides of the same coin, being charged by the same cosmic rays: when one waxes, the other wanes. The pharaoh locks Alex away in a tomb, cutting him off from those sweet, sweet sunbeams and taking all the power for himself. Like a Power Ranger villain, he grows in size and becomes… the Living Monolith! The X-Men take him down while Alex accidentally blows up the Living Monolith’s temple.

Alex, afraid of his own power, flees into the desert and is apprehended by… the Sentinels?! Surprise, bitch! Lorna is also abducted by them out of her New York apartment. Their next victim is Iceman, and they deliver him to… Larry Trask! (Son of.)

My favorite thing about Sentinels is that, despite the fact that they are objectively huge, they are still able to sneak up on people. Apparently, these murderous periwinkle toaster ovens are so quiet, you only notice when they rip open a roof to get at you. (X-Men 59)

Larry Trask hates mutants because:

They killed his father;

He’s a racist.

Determined not to repeat the sins of his father, Larry has a helmet with which he can use to take direct control of the sentinels, so hopefully they won’t rise up and rebel this time. Somewhere, Asimov is rolling his eyes.

On live television, Larry Trask baits Iceman into attacking him, trying to smear him and mutantkind in general. In the mean time, the Sentinels strike everywhere, taking Unus, Angel, Banshee, the Living Monolith… Even Wanda and Pietro. It´s a literal who´s who of sixties mutandom! The only exempt ones are the Changeling and Magneto, the latter only because he’s been a robot for a while now. Mesmero is just as shocked by this unnecessary retcon as we are.

Just as Larry orders the Sentinels to kill every mutant in the compound (including Bobby, Lorna and Alex), a family heirloom is ripped off his neck. Apparently, this medallion was some kind of protection: the late Bolivar Trask knew little Larry was a mutant and tried to hide this fact from the Sentinels.

The Sentinels turn on Larry faster than you can say “Is being betrayed by AI a hereditary trait?” The X-Men intervene and, after unleashing the might of Havok, they end up in a debate with the Sentinels, turning their own logic against them:

Protecting humans is more important than killing mutants.

So, to protect humanity, they must destroy the cause of mutation.

The Sentinels promptly launch themselves into the sun. Neat.

On a side note, the relationship between Jean and Scott is shelved for now? It seems like they’re dating, but also not? It’s such weird storytelling, especially because their annoying will they or won’t they has gotten so much focus in the past and the relationship between Lorna and Bobby is crystal clear:

Scott. Jean. Is it really going to take Chris Claremont to DTR you two? Fuck’s sake (X-Men 60)

Because Havok’s powers still threaten to overwhelm him, the X-Men contact a former colleague of Professor X… Professor Lykos.

Let me tell you about the sheer, amazing sixties wonder that is Professor Lykos. Originally, Thomas envisioned him as a vampire, but the Comics Code forbade vampires. So, instead, Lykos ends up a human who was bitten by a magical pterodactyl at a young age and who can only survive by draining other people’s life force. He can also hypnotize people into doing his bidding.

Yes.

Lykos suspects mutants might be the cure to his strange, strange ailment, and begins to drain Alex. But to his (and our) sheer delight, he turns into a pterodactyl!

I just love this damn idiot so much (X-Men 60)

Be like Sauron! Choose evil!

The X-Men barely figure in this plot. Ordinarily, I’d be bothered by the fact that these three issues are more about the villain than the heroes, but given that it’s Sauron, I’ll let it slide.

See, Sauron’s tale is a tragic one. Not only is he a weird pterovampire, he is also in love with a sweet girl whose father forbids him from seeing Dr. Lykos, because he is… poor! Gasp! (Those billionaires, not even a doctor is good enough for their daughters.) Sauron, slightly corrupted by his dino-side, realize that it’s a lot easier to just kill Tanya’s father than to impress him by robbing banks for cash.

When he attacks the man and sees the reaction of his star-crossed lover, Lykos realizes Sauron is far too much in control. Sauron is too evil! Lykos/Sauron promptly flees to a cold, distant region, the same place where he got bitten all those years ago, figuring he’ll stay in isolation and starve himself of the human energy he needs. But, just as he is utterly ravenously out of his mind, Tanya finds him! In order to protect her, Sauron sacrifices himself by throwing himself off the mountain… straight into the Savage Land..

The X-Men (sans Angel) follow him into the Savage Land. (It’s unclear why? To retrieve his corpse? Annoyingly, in the next arc, Sauron is not brought up again.) There, they run into Ka-Zar, who’s embroiled in a fight with… prehistoric mutants?

Angel, meanwhile, follows the X-Men in their footsteps, only to end up on the other side of the fight, with a strange white-haired man named the Creator who claims to be the mentor of these Savage Land mutates. Angel pledges him his wings, gets a snazzy new suit and flies off to fight the X-Men. Only then does the man secretly reveal himself: he’s… Magneto! (The true one, not a robot.) And he wishes to rule the savage land!

Angel and the other X-Men briefly fight, but soon the situation is sorted out and the X-Men go and confront the Creator. Magneto, who is way too hammy to ever hide his true nature for too long, reveals himself and the fact that he created these… mutates, including the creepy Brainchild. (He’ll become important later.) The X-Men defeat Magneto and he seemingly dies again.

Without Magneto there, the mutates revert to just being regular cave(wo)men:

I love that Ka-Zar, WHO HAILS FROM THE SAVAGE LAND HIMSELF, has no scruples othering his own kin. (X-Men 63)

The comic accidentally ends on a sad note: the X-Men confessing that they’d give up on their powers in a heartbeat. Not to nitpick, but while I buy that coming from Beast and Cyclops, this issue is less clear-cut when it comes to Jean and Bobby, who have a much better handle on their powers and, more importantly, present as human. It could potentially be an interesting issue to explore, but instead, it is swept under the rug, presenting the team (once again) as a boring but unified front. It remains one of my critiques of this era: the X-Men barely get fleshed out as individuals, other than the broadest of strokes (Leader; Rich Boy; Joker; Smart Guy; Girl). Pity.

Didn’t you take Art History? One thing that has definitely improved is the overall art-style. Artists experiment with panels and splash pages, stepping out of the traditional 2 by 3-grid that Kirby loved so much. It makes the stories more dynamic and, because the writers get more issues to tell their stories, the artists get more space to do their art.

I mean, check this ish out:

Fuck yeah, mental powers represent. (X-Men 57)

Ugliest Costume: None! I really like Havok’s black bodysuit with white stripes and the Sentinels design looks so much less dorkier than before. A+.

Best new character: Sauron, duh. Does he team-up with Dr. Doom at some point? That would be some ham-to-ham combat.

Most audacious retcon: There’s a second Summers brother?

What to read: 57 to 59, which is the plotline dealing with the much improved Sentinels. 60 and 61 if you have a soft spot for vampiric pterodactyls.

[discordiansamba]

supernatural vld au is now tentatively named what's hidden next to you (will soon be seen)! I’ve been working on trying to finalize the characters in this AU, so right now we have:

Takashi “Shiro” Shirogane: history teacher at Garrison High, popular with both students and staff alike. went missing at the same time as Samuel Holt, the science teacher and his son, only to mysteriously turn up five days later missing his right arm. gets involved in the world of the supernatural after one of Lotor’s generals attempts to kill him under the belief that he’s been sent by the rift creatures to further their designs, now under the protection of Allura

Allura Altea: an arctic dragon whose father disappeared under mysterious circumstances related to the rift. can assume human form and manipulate ice. she’s determined to protect Shiro because she believes he’s the only link she has to her missing father, but why the fuck does he live in the desert.

Coran Hieronymus Wimbleton Smythe: a fire dragon in the service of the Altea family, namely Allura’s father. her caretaker ever since her father’s disappearance as a young girl. am I shamelessly ripping off his dragon design from the monsters and mana episode? absolutely.

Lance McClain: allura’s childhood friend, an arctic merman. insisted on going with her after she heard about a lead about her father. he can use water-based magic and works well in tandem with Allura’s magic. This is his first time out among humans so he’s very excited. quickly befriends hunk and just as quickly is ready to fight keith. some things never change.

Hunk Garrett: a mage, specializing in earth magic, who comes from a long line of earth mages. he’s also taught himself kitchen magic, and his a top notch engineer if he does say so himself. local befriender of transfer students and semi-professional keith wrangler.

Keith Kogane: a student of shiro’s that he’s particularly worried about bc he expects his living situation is not the best. foster kid, good friend of Hunk and Romelle, cryptid lover, urban explorer, and local enigma. presumably human. emphasis on the presumably part.

Katie Holt: Sam’s half-vampire daughter, takes more after her vampire mother so she’s homeschooled, as opposed to her brother Matt. she’s searching for information about her missing family and zeroes in on Shiro as being suspicious before she clears him. she does think he’s her closest lead, however.

Adam Warner: physics teacher and Shiro’s ex-boyfriend who panicked when he realized how serious they were getting on account of the fact that he’s a werewolf. now both he and Shiro are trying to hide their supernatural-related secrets from each other. just kiss already, you dumbasses.

Romelle Pollux: transfer student from “overseas”, but it is unclear where and she changes her story every time. self taught witch, provider of charms and potions to the local student population. keith just thinks she’s really into crystals and you know what? he respects that. dresses like she’s straight out of an 80s/90s teen movie.

Lotor: half-dragon, half-vampire. was once Allura’s childhood friend before their differences in opinion on how to deal with their parents’ disappearances split them apart. now they’re full fledged enemies, as Lotor seeks to eliminate Shiro before he can become a threat.

Acxa: Lotor’s loyal right hand woman. half-dragon, half-mermaid. she agrees that the rift creatures need to be stopped, though she doesn’t always agree with Lotor’s methods.

Ezor: half-naga, half-human, all girlfriend. more devoted to zethrid than she is lotor, but she’s still pretty devoted to lotor.

Zethrid: half-werewolf, half-demon. will crush your skull if you look at either ezor or lotor wrong.

Narti: a mysterious woman with strange abilities who serves Lotor. rumored to be the result of experimentation with magic.

[sweet-sixteen-kraang-birthday]

Haha I guess that was mine? Dw I've done that before too 😅 I suggested marcel and klaus as a relationship dynamic you could ramble about? I've got super into the originals lately and you have good thoughts about that show!

Thank you for sending it again! AND OH YES KLARCEL

I love them a lot. I wasn’t interested much at first tbh—just didn’t like Marcel, which is so crazy now, to think about it.... because I fricking LOVE him. Why I ever didn’t before is a mystery.

When I think of them, I think of THAT SCENE in 1x11

Marcel so angry and crying and it looks like their going to fight BUT KLAUS JUST HUGS HIM. It was such a surprise and the exact moment that I fell in love them. I have so many feelings about that Scene. 

Klaus determined, fierce face as he pulls Marcel it. HOW HE HOLDS HIS HEAD. and then, and then his VOICE. “im sorry. you may think i know nothing of your grief but you’re wrong.”

MARCEL ANGRY BUT THEN WHEN KLAUS HUGS HIM how he holds Klaus’ shoulder and just. cries. FUDGE

THE HAND CLASPING NECK. KLAUS LEANING SO CLOSE TO HIM. MARCEL LOOKING DOWN.

“in the days that i have fled this city i thought you were dead” “it was years before i could speak your name so keenly did i feel that loss” FUDGE

MARCELS FACE HERE 

fudgefudgefUDGE

HUG AGAIN THIS TIME WITH MARCEL CLINGING TO HIM. KLAUS SAYING “im sorry. im sorry”

FUDGGE WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO WITH THIS?? Cry, that’s what. CRY. 

It’s just a good scene, i love it so much. It really shows the soft and love parts in the relationship as to the all the fighting that happen AND HOW MARCEL CLINGS TO HIM WHILE HE CRIES SO DISTRAUGT FROM DAVINA’S DEATH AND KLAUS JUST. HOLDS HIM. SAYING “im sorry. im sorry” 

“it was years before i could speak your name so keenly did i feel that loss”  THIS IMAGE. 

it’s even MORE sadder when you think about how Marcel was the one brought Mikael to their city (alongside rebekah) and just. Klaus “SO KEENLY DID I FEEL THAT LOSS” sorry but i CANT. 

i watched their reunion back in the backdoor pilot scene WHEN I REALISED THAT THERES ONE. and it was....dissappionting but i guess it made sense. Tense and unclear but when they go for that hug when they smile - you could that moment when it turns into clear happiness.  klaus seeing him on the stage signing THRIVING after he thought he was dead... after he came to the fact that he was dead and could finally say his name---

holy heck. it’s A Lot. and, and then. Theres that moment where sohpie “please” and the harvest girls don’t wake up and Marcel realises that Davina is not coming back THAT LOOK THAT PASSES BETWEEN THEM before marcel wooshes away

Klaus goes after him. oh FUDGE. im watching this scene on repeat btw and im SUFFERING its so GOOD the music and everything. I need to watch the episode.Anyways, beside the point “we still have our community” 

“I DONT CARE ABOUT THE VAMPIRES SHE IS DEAD DO YOU HEAR ME”

“you may think i know nothing of your grief but you’re wrong.” KLAUS UNDERSTANDING HIS LOSS BECAUSE HE FELT THE SAME AS HIM RIGHT NOW AS THAT TIME WHEN HE THOUGHT THAT MARCEL DIED. 

*KILLED* BY HIS FATHER, WHO HE THOUGHT HE BROUGHT BACK TO THE CITY

ANDDD theres that moment where Klaus talks about how he was jealous of Marcel in s1. Klaus saying “want to rule as equals. togather” or something along those lines.   It was so honest and IM. just.  

WHAT ARE THEY DOING TO ME 

I thought that Marcel was playing when he says yes or like agrees with Klaus then but HE WASN’T. Back to Rebekah and him scene.... when she catches him. And we find that he geninuely wants to take Klaus’ offer. 

I don’t kind understand them---there’s so compilcated to pin down. Marcel says to davina to find something to kill a original. And I don’t know if he’d ACTUALLY kill Klaus. I want to say no, but really. It’s uncertain. I can see a world where Marcel kills Klaus. AND THEN there’s Klaus bitting Marcel in 1x22 or was it 1x20 AND I DONT KNOW IF THEY’D EVER BE ABLE TO KILL EACH OTHER  THE SHOW DOESNT MAKE THAT PART CLEAR AT ALL BUT I LOVE THAT TOO  they love each other. that much is so clear but oh there’s also so much hatered in them. And Jealously! And other complicated emotions. BUT THEY LOVE EACH AND THERES MOMENTS THAT SHOW THAT  i LIVE for those moments

AND THE FLASHBACKS klaus pausing and turning back. standing there and watching marcel as he gets hit. MARCEL NOT GOING DOWN WITH A FIGHT and Klaus stopping that whip and asking him his name. Marcel saying he doesnt have one (i have a Lot of Feelings about young!marcel.) klaus CROUCHING down to Marcel. the EYE CONTACT. “you’re a survior” his face isn’t showing emotions here, an observation i thought was intresting.  “and survious need name” Marcel blink-and-miss-it smile. i have FEEELINGS. 

“how about marcellous?”

“marcellous?” his confustion ; ; YOUNG MARCEL IS A BABY AND I LOVE HIM.

“it comes from mars. the god of war” klaus standing up and OFFERING HIS HAND “it means little warrior”

THEIR SMILES HERE.

Marcel looking back, uncertain, but taking Klaus’ hands AND SMILINNG

KLAUS SMILING BACK 

(also abdjsdsj Rebekah and Elijah’s faces in the backgroung. Lol.)

*breaks into more sobs* oh my god. these TWO 

also... i find so very intresting at how both Klaus and Marcel have both changed their names---it was Niklaus and Marcellous before. Idk the reason for Marcel’s. But. It’s interesting. I would love to explore the reasons as to WHY Marcel changed it. 

Maybe it was a bite at Klaus---how he’s living his life now, he’s not going to be in Klaus’ shadow anymore. Or something. Idk. but i really love the idea of Marcel shedding his all name as a ‘fudge you’ to Klaus for something. AND KLAUS CALLING HIM MARCELLOUS DESPITE IT but - eventually they make up and Marcel still keeps the name but Klaus starts to call him by that name.

I really love the flashbacks. Klaus’ jealously at Elijah and Marcel (who were so cute omg. im Sad about them) and how he goes to Kol “hes family” about Marcel and HOW he takes Marcel when elijah makes the decision to break off their relationship and Marcel is SAD over it. i mean. DID YOU SEE HIS FAMILY Klaus voice is so SOFT when he says to Marcel “come along” and how he puts that arm around him and Marcel follows him, stung and still confused by Elijah’s words

AND THEN THAT FLASHBACK where they HUG - i cant seem to find the video, and i have no idea as to what episode it was but. Marcel was back from the war and it was a HAPPY HUG. i MELTED.  I just hope that it really happened and my mind didnt make that up, lol. If it did, then. Just ignore it. 

more flashbacks scene:

klaus getting angry over Marcel’s decision to go the war and him being like “fight for FAMILY” or along those lines. And Klaus going to war AND BRINGING THOSE WOMAN AS A GIFT TO MARCEL. 

oh my gosh. klaus thats not how you. i was crackling. but - oh gosh. Klaus is so possesive of his family and wants them all to be with him, right beside him. any news about them leaving him - even if they’re going for a short time - 

THE BRIDGE SCENE. that s3 part where Marcel brings Klaus to the bridgebut wait before i get to that i NEED to talk about 3x20 it was PAINFUL

davina’s dead. marcel CRYING. that gleam of tears in his eyes.  “im not your family. not anymore’ AND KLAUS TRYING TO GO OVER AND GIVE HIM A HUG “marcel, come on” but this time Marcel DOESNT take it

his NO as he pushes Klaus away

this HURTS. i hate how they did davina’s death here. i mean. the scene was SO GOOD. Marcel’s ‘i love you--’ breaking off and freya and elijah just. but ehh. backtoback to cami’s death (which was STUPID and the worst decision ever)---it didn’t go. And i really don’t just like the how they placed davina’s death here. the ANGST is so good but everything else meh

anyways back to Klarcel. Klaus protest to Elijah suggestion or was it freya? of killing Davina. I love that lil detail. He knows how much she means to Marcel and Kol. 

I don’t honestly remember the arc where Klaus finds out about Marcel’s betrayal and how he called back his father ‘cept the Klebekah moments tbh. Theyre were like on FIRE that arc BUT THE THOUGHT OF KLAUS FINDING OUT THAT MARCEL BROUGHT HIM BACK

THEN THERES S1 scene. 1x20 i think. 

Klaus letting Marcel back in town for Father Kieran’s funeral. That Glance they share and Elijah saying “fix your past relationships” or something, i can’t quite remember. THAT SCENE BETWEEN THEM

i was screaming

“How did I fail you” HOW KLAUS SAYS IT. I love that Klaus gets to have such HONEST and RAW moments with Marcel 

and Marcel saying, “You didn’t” after Klaus turned around is awaking away. “you raised me”

THESE TWO. im CRYING. theyre just so so good. I love them so much. And season 1 was a goldmine for Klarcel. 

speaking of s1. I didn’t talk about Klaus and Marcel reuniting scene in 1x22. Marcel meant to use her as leverage--not really, he saved her because he doesn’t condone murder of babies and children!! his rule (why hayley is alive) and because shes his SISTER of course. Marcel slumped there amongst all his dead vamp guys. looking up to Klaus with hope in his arms (which meant he was staring down at hope that whole time before klaus got to him--which i have FEELINGS about. And Thoughts. Marcel & Hope. Oh gosh.  But this about Klarcel)

“i was too late” MARCEL someone give him a hug (pefferably Klaus)

I just realised that Marcel still has the bite here and is having hallucinations and stuff and just his FACE. oh my days. 

klaus voice as he here’s like “you saved my daughter so i would heal you and you’re friends.” its so SOFT and his smile. 

the way he says “here” FUDGE 

“this bite... all of this... i know it didn’t come from nowhere. it’s the last song of the note in a song that I started centuries ago” this QUOTE 

“when i brought your dad to town and for that, im sorry” theyre really coming for my life here

KLAUS CROACHING DOWN AND PLACING HIS HAND ON HIS SHOULDER. “no”

MARCEL CRYING AND LOOKING AWAY

KLAUS GIVING HIM HIS BLOOD. MARCE’S FACE AS HE DOES, OH GOSH. 

Marcel SMILE when Hope turns to him and giggles—this is such a sweet and cute moment between them. Hope in Klaus arms. Klaus being so SOFT with her. It’s a new beginning. I LOVE THIS REUNION SO MUCH.

And also, back on the quote on “the last note in a song I....” Marcel doesn’t know it but it was actually MIKAEL who was behind the attack and that Davina brought him back. Ahhh. What a LINE.

And also. I really loved Marcel and Klaus’ small moments in s1. Klaus manipulating and destroying Marcel’s whole work behind his back and Marcel not knowing. The part where they were talking about Thierry and his music. And many more that I am pretty sure exists but can’t remember.

“You hypocrite” about Marcel and Sophie and how THEY SHARE A LAUGH HERE. That whole moment was so good and funny. Klaus thinks that he’s distracting Marcel here but in fact it’s Marcel who’s distracting Klaus here—and then back with Davina and Elijah making their own deal and tricking Marcel. Not to mention Klaus telling Rebekah to seduce Marcel, as way to keep him occupied. this FAMILY. I love them so much. 

And oh Klaus giving his mother’s necklace to Marcel---the necklace that he hated because he found out that Esther was using it repress his wolf side, making him look weaker---oh fudge, the moment he says “you are the author of everything i am” that DELIVERING of the line

...oops getting off track here. Going back.

I find it so interesting that Klaus gave that Necklace to Marcel. And by Marcel words about it... he knew the history of it. I wonder about what lead to Klaus giving to Marcel and having Marcel to keep it for him (and the thought that KLAUS KEPT THE NECKLACE WITH HIM ALL THIS TIME DESPITE WHAT IT MEANT)

[nanakibh]

Final Fantasy Agito: Gaiden 2, Chapter 1 Characters: Player, Miyu, Machina, Rem, Lean, Qator, Sice, Trey, Arecia Note: Rather than focusing on multiple different stories, this gaiden recounts the end of another cycle. It gets referred to as the “third cycle” of FF Agito, but I don’t think it’s literally the third cycle of the world. I’m not sure where exactly it belongs in the overall timeline. All I know is that this is the one that was supposed to finally lead to the arrival of the true Agito had the game been allowed to continue.

Thanks to @reverse-vampire for the screenshots which made this translation possible!

Gaiden 2, Chapter 1 The Final Battle of White-Vermilion

--Player, do you remember? The time when you and I first met.

>A cutscene panning over the cemetery with narration from Tohno.

So it seems like… No one came.

…It must have really hurt.

…You must be lonely.

…But, I won’t forget.

I’ll… do my best to remember you.

>The cutscene ends, focusing on a bouquet resting on a grave.

When Player and I met and when we parted, in the first world...

Since that time, the world has turned through countless Spirals, and each time, I was also reincarnated...

[Setting: Classroom]

Miyu: --Player... Hey, Player. Miyu, concerned: What's wrong? It's rare to see you spacing out like this. Were you thinking? Machina: We've been fighting for a while. Even Player must be getting tired. Rem: Are you okay? Player, please don't work too hard. >Lean enters the classroom. Lean: ...Whoops, looks like everybody's already here. Sorry for makin' you wait. Machina, scowling: You're late, Lean. Where have you been? Lean, brows furrowed: I was near the lab and ran into Kazusa. Lean, sighing: He suddenly went, "Wait, could you try this medicine for me?" Machina: ...Don't tell me you drank it? Lean: He said it was for the sake of his research, so I really wanted to help him as a fellow researcher... Lean: But then the Rep called for me, so I had to refuse. ...Uh, why? Would there have been a problem if I drank it? Rem: ...Yeeeah. I think it was probably for the best that you didn’t drink it. Right, Player? Lean: Really? ...Wait, more importantly! Rep, you had something important to say, right? Please, go ahead. Miyu: Alright. I'll explain today's strategy. Miyu: Three months have passed since the start of the fullscale war between the Concordia-Lorica Alliance and the Rubrum-Milites Alliance. Miyu: The Lorican army has already been silenced by our onslaught. The Concordian army is steadily losing their momentum. Miyu: Presently, Concordia's last dragon unit has abandoned their capital's defense to attack the Militesi capital of Ingram. Machina: Their last-ditch effort at a counterattack... or something? Concordia must be desperate. Miyu: However, if we take down their dragon unit, they'll be unable to fight any longer. It should be easy to invade their capital now, as well. Miyu: Therefore, it was decided that we'll be dispatching elite cadets to the capitals of both nations-- Miyu: So that we can carry out plans to subjugate the capital of Concordia and support Ingram at the same time. Miyu: Player. You guys must hurry and head to the capital of Milites! Miyu: Lend support to our Militesi allies in Ingram and defeat Concordia's dragon unit! Rem: Roger that! With this, it's all finally going to be settled... Lean: There's nothing to fear when the cadets and the Militesi army fight together. Lean: Isn't that right, Player?

Rubrum and Milites... Even within the repeating spiral, it's rare to see a world where the two join hands.

And the Representative... Even at that time, I'm sure she could feel it.

Player... Inside of you, there's a strong power that connects people...

Miyu (over COMM): Attention, all cadets! This is Representative Miyu Kagirohi. Miyu (over COMM): Our objective is to support the Militesi army in their battle. Now is the time for us to settle this war with Concordia and Lorica! Miyu (over COMM): Let's grasp the future together! May the Crystal guide us!

[Setting: Ingram, Milites]

Lean: Alright, let's do it! Player, Machina, Rem. Now’s the time to do or die! Rem: Right! When this battle's over, there will be peace... Let's do our best! Machina: Alright, everyone, get ready!

...At that time, they still didn't know.

Because they didn't know, they believed strongly.

Hmm... I wonder if you, who hadn't forgotten, knew what would happen. Player.

That fact that that scene, which had been burned into our eyes hundreds of millions of times, would happen again...

>A battle begins where Player and the others fight their way through Ingram.

Machina: I can't believe that Concordia's dragon unit still has so much strength left... Lean: Their offense is rather intense. This must be what they mean when they say that a cornered rat will bite a cat! But it's not like we can lose, either!

Lean: Player, the timing of that attack was perfect! As expected! Rem: There are still a lot of enemies here! Stay alert!

Rem: They even brought such a large dragon with them...?! A really strong one is coming, everyone! Be careful! Machina: Kgh... Player, please lend me support! I'll cut my way through!

Lean: Hh... Huff... Huff... It's not finished yet. When this battle is over, the war will be over...! Rem: Right. The enemy's desperate, too... We can't lose now! Let's make it through this!

Lean: ?! Crap, that's... That's a really big one! Get ready! Machina: The number of enemies has noticeably decreased, though. If we can beat these guys... It'll be over! Everyone, let's go!

Rem: Huff... Huff... We... We won...? Lean: Yeah. It's over... It's finally over!! YEAH!!

After an incredibly daunting amount of time... Most things have become faded and hazy.

But... Player.

You're the one thing I can still remember vividly.

The good times we spent together and the things we believed in... Those were the things that helped me continue moving forward.

Even if I knew how the world would end...

[Setting: Still in Ingram]

Machina: ...It's over at last, Player. We won. Rem: Peace has finally come to the world... Rem: Our days of fighting have finally reached their end...! Machina: Yeah. ...But, if we aren't fighting anymore, what will we do? Lean: There are a lotta things I wanna do. For example... There are many various things I want to research. Rem: Huhu. I'd expect no less from a researcher! But is it related to magic or machine weaponry? Lean: That's just more research for the sake of war, isn't it? There are many things around us we don't know about. Lean: "How was this star formed?" "What's out there beyond this continent?" Those kinds of things. Lean: There's a lot more I wanna know. Rem: Wow... That's amazing. That sounds really interesting! Machina: I see. There's still a whole mountain of things we don't know... Machina: It might be nice to learn about those things, too. Right, Player? Rem: Umm, in that case, I want to take my time getting to know the country of Milites, the place where Lean grew up! Lean: Oh, that would be nice! Please, come visit. I'll show you around! Machina: Sightseeing in Milites... I've never considered it before, but that sounds like it could be fun. Rem: Hey, Player, what would you like to do? >There's a white flash and the sound of thunder. The atmosphere looks a little darker. Rem: Kyaaa!! Lean: Wh-... What was that...?! >The sky turns red, casting everything in a red light.

Qator (over COMM): This is Qator. Lean, respond! Lean: Brigadier General! Hey, what the hell's going on?! Isn't the fighting over?! Qator (over COMM): It's unclear! However, I can tell you that there's an overwhelming number of soldiers approaching our capital!

Sice (over COMM): Emergency transmission! Can you hear me, Akademeia? This is Sice! Sice (over COMM): Reporting an attack by unidentified troops in Concordia! Their numbers are unknown. There's too many for me to count! Machina: Sice! No way... It's the same over there, too!?

Trey (over COMM): The Militesi allied army has been wiped out by the mysterious enemy! We're also being attacked. At this rate-- >Trey's transmission is cut off. Machina: Wh... What is this...?! What's going on?!

[Setting: Terrace]

Arecia: It looks like the cadets have begun the final battle for their survival. Arecia: Struggle until you can struggle no more. And then, this time... Rise up to Agito. Miyu: Mother. Isn't it a little too early for Tempus Finis to be awoken? Arecia: There should be enough vessels to withstand the trials. Arecia: The battle between humans is over. If Agito still doesn't appear, then my experiment will end here. Arecia: This time, the world will end. Miyu: Not the Spiral, but... the world itself? Is this your will as the Mother Creator? Arecia: If an experiment fails no matter how many millions of times it's repeated, then it's time to abandon the experiment itself. Arecia: This might just be that time. Arecia: I wonder if it could be said that a possibility still exists in Orience. Miyu: ...Then, with my own hands, I'll be the one who determines whether Agito was born in the world this time. >The surroundings rumble and it sounds like something is activated. Arecia: ...Indeed, that was your role this time, wasn't it. Rursan l'Cie, the Judge. Arecia: I wonder when exactly you began cooperating with me...?

>Miyu's eyes turn purple and the purple l'Cie brand appears over one of her eyes. Judge Myuria: I believe... in the people who lived with me in this world. Arecia: Is that so? I hope the souls of the humans in this cycle can fulfill those expectations.

[k-liight]

it's been a hell of a long time since I did OC stuff, but here at last is my full cast for Warlock Enterprise! and by full cast, I mean all the characters that are at least somewhat important to the story. lmao there'll be other characters that are just kinda there for maybe like two seconds, and I may add more characters to the actual plot in the future lol. but this is everybody for now! I'm gonna ramble about them all like I usually do with my OCs so if you're interested keep reading dflfjbhgfdkgjs (also note that I made some major design changes to most of these characters LMAO)

Richard Duchaes is the confident dad who comes from a long line of demon hunters going way back into the early medieval times-- pretty much as far back as warlocks even existed in this universe! he can be quite goofy at times, but don't mess with him or his family unless you wanna see him go into angery papa bear attack mode. he's a very powerful warlock and wants his son Mason to even more powerful one day. he's very outgoing and supportive and likes to incorporate witty banter into his battles. Denise Duchaes is the sweet yet badass angel mom who can also be very goofy despite her magnificence. even around other transcendents, she'll keep in her human form, because her true angel form can be quite overwhelming. she's 90% pure light and can bend light rays at her will-- a master illusionist. when alone with her family, she'll carry herself in a dimmer form of her true self so as to not blind them-- that form is translucent and makes her look like wispy smoke. she's very protective of her children, but also likes to embarrass them both, as moms do, haha. Mason Duchaes is of course our hero, a young warlock who dreams of following in his fathers footsteps, but he's rather shy and a little bit behind in magical development. he has a degree of social anxiety making it hard for him to get comfortable around people, but he's very devoted to his family and very protective of his little sister Kalisha. he's down-to-earth and no-nonsense, but he knows how to have fun and it's very easy to make him laugh. he might get insecure of himself at times, but he's very determined to achieve his goals no matter how long it takes. he's more of a left-brain thinker, very logical in what he does and is able to make calculated decisions quickly. Kalisha Duchaes is Mason's adoptive younger sister who's extremely excitable and energetic to the point where she innocently thinks being in danger is fun. she's kind of a mystery baby, her transcendency is unclear and her parents have no idea where she came from. she was found in the woods at a mere three years old and the only thing she remembered was her own first name, and when Richard and Denise couldn't find her birth family, they took her into theirs. now, Kalisha is happy with her family and is eager to join them in the long line of demon hunters. she's quite pugnacious and enjoys fighting demons. she's a tough little rascal that gets right back up when she's knocked down. Amy Stilton is Mason's best friend and magic partner who's also here for a good time and has the unique ability to telepathically communicate with animals. Mason's parents discover that Amy is half-transcendent and half-banal, which is a big no-no in transcendent code of conduct. she also has no idea who her own father is, leading them to believe that her father is/was a transcendent who broke the rules. similar to Kalisha, her transcendency is unclear, so after Mason partners with her and dubs her an "honorary warlock", Richard and Denise set out to solve her origin mystery. she has ADHD and is thus a very creative right-brain thinker to balance Mason's logical demeanor. she's very energetic and emotional, and while she gets easily scared fighting demons, she can channel that fear into good fighting tactics. Sasha Stilton is Amy's aloof and standoff-ish mother who only shows her emotions when she wants to. she's rather trashy and sleazy, but she's also very mysterious in her ways. she smokes a lot a wears too much jewelry and makeup, but she's sympathetic as a minimum-wage worker and single mom. she seems cold at times, but she has instilled a great sense of responsibility in Amy. Maureen Burgstaller is Amy's best friend alongside Mason and also doubles as her school tutor. she's very smart and academic, but she's also sporty and loves working out in her free time. she's a star student and a loyal friend who has known Amy since they were knee-high to a grasshopper and helps her work with her ADHD. she's great with kids and wants to be a teacher one day. Edward Copperton is a wise and friendly old chap who's still very strong for his age and owns the local transcendent tavern, The Waning Gibbous, as well as the head of the area's Warlock Enterprise (which is where the name of the story comes from hollaaaaaa). he exudes kind grandfather vibes and shares mutual respect with Richard and his family. he's very fond of Mason and Kalisha and becomes a sort of mentor to them both. he's been worn down from years, no, decades, of fighting physical and emotional battles, but he is able to take something good from all of his experiences. he's rather prophetic due to his age, but never overbearing. Lucy is a bubbly and cheerful witch who loves good times and all things cute. she's extremely friendly and devotes herself and her magic to helping others. she herself is very cutesy and takes pride in being girly and powerful both. her magic is strong, but her passion is even stronger, and she can cast complicated spells with ease. Lora is Lucy's dark, evil twin sister who is much more stoic and unfeeling than her other half. she frequently teams with demons to get what she wants, but she doesn't strike a fair bargain and is very selfish even to them. despite her cruel nature, Lucy holds no hard feelings towards her. Quentin is an evil warlock and Richard's arch-nemesis since high school. he's very cocky and outgoing, and almost campy in his speech, but paring that with the many lives he's taken makes him all the more twisted. he's over-confident and has a dark sense of humor. he's very violent, but doesn't like getting his hands too dirty, though he just loves pissing Richard off. Kyle is a lowly demon and Quentin's acolyte/scapegoat. he's practically a slave to the evil warlock and is far too weak to rebel against him. he's extremely shy and unsure for a demon, and doesn't even like too much violence. he has a Stockholm syndrome towards Quentin because he believes he's the only one who sees the demon's potential. Grent is a smaller but much stronger demon who frequently annoys the other villains, intentional or not. he's incredibly obnoxious and doesn't seem to know when to shut up, which frequently gets him in trouble (not that he'll ever learn his lesson). while he is powerful, he tends to overshot himself, especially if it's to impress a clearly uninterested woman. he's obsessed with jazz music and thinks he's hot shit, but he's really not. Lady Ultimatum is a rouge vampire who feeds off others' fear. she has built her entire identity to being as terrifying as possible, and loves scaring people into eventually letting her get her way. she's a gambler, but she doesn't play fair at all. if she tries to strike an unfair "bargain" with you, you can turn her down, but over time, you'll be tormented in your nightmares by all your worst fears and eventually become so paranoid that you give in and accept her offer just to make it all stop. she's highly feared and loves every drop of it. Felix is a Norwegian hudrekall who works as a bartender/waiter at the Waning Gibbous tavern. he's very soft-spoken, but is also quite a flirt, and always pays a compliment where he can even when he's not flirting. nearly everyone is attracted to him and he knows it, but he doesn't let it get to his head and is very humble about it. he's sweet and soft, but he definitely has a mischievous side as well. Ildiko is a female warlock of Hungarian descent and Lucy's girlfriend. she's much more intimidating and less bubbly than her beloved, but she's very much a gentlewoman. she's been through a hell of a lot and has the battle scars to show it, plus the horrific marks of a severe burn to her lower face and upper torso which she covers. she's tough as nails and doesn't fuck around, making her well-respected in the Enterprise. and last but not least, Uriah is a new character added to the line-up; he's fun-loving twenty-something warlock who uses his magic in very creative ways. he has a natural ear for music, and likes to use soundwaves from his mixtapes to his advantage. sometimes he can be a bit naive, but he's still a valuable member of the Enterprise. he quickly befriends Mason and becomes like the brother he never had. damn, it took me like two hours just to type up this description XD but I think that's it for now! hopefully I can get back into the swing of OC stuff, especially for this story flbfjgkljds

[roidesrosette]

Blood donation? Blood donation.

God bless @narekashi​ for coming up with this genius name and enabling me to do this, i dont blame you thou i have a lot of fun

Yes, it’s me with another of my (mayhaps) contentless OC, please enjoy while it last– Jkjk, I’ll try to throw more content of her on here instead of Discord next time :’)

BLOOD DONATION:  Salvie/Salva/Sal, short for Salvatore

Age: ??? Gender: Salvie doesn’t like to define herself as anything  Birthday: 6/24  Height: 160cm  Status: Got revived as a vampire 

PHYSICAL  Appearance: Black hair usually tied in a ponytail, red eyes, sharp teeth, a constant “you dare challenge your god?” mocking expression (but doesn’t have the intention) 

Accessories: Poker case set, saber and gun

SOCIAL  Affiliation: On her own Occupation: Salvie runs a casino and is involved in a mafia Relationships:

Count: First met him when she was “adopted” by the bunch of vampires. He was offering to give them residence, but they all turned him down. Met him again when she was touring the world alone and made him an acquaintance, they became really good friends after that.

Leonardo: Met him when she was touring in Italy with Count. He kept treating her like a small child (still do), and they would drag each other like how he and Count would. He likes messing up her hair, she likes stepping on him when he’s asleep. Also a pair of good friends.

Arthur: Arthur was interested in Salvie and find her dominating personality challenging, but he knew well enough not to lay a finger on her. You just don’t simply go against someone who could lop off your head and had associations with the mafia. On the other hand thou, they were drinking buddies, and sometimes Salvie would pick up girls with him. They gamble a lot together too.

Dazai: They have an odd relationship. It might be because they’re somehow similar in a way, they know what line not to cross. They just have this weird bond that no one can put a finger to determine what it is.

Isaac: They don’t really talk much, she only knows he really likes apple from what she heard from Dazai, but that’s probably a lie…

Theodorous: God how Salvie loves to tease and sass him. Much like Leo, they would banter every time they met, but Theo always ends up leaving, flustered. He was too young compared to her, maybe a couple more years and his bantering skills might improve. They weren’t really on good terms, especially with how Salvie was involved with Shakespeare and the goddamn mafia, plus how close she and Vincent is.

Vincent: Pure, innocent baby boy. “I’ve only met Vincent for 15 seconds and if anyone hurts him I’ll kill everyone in this room and then myself.” Absolutely adores him and prefers him over Theo. Salvie admires how innocent he was, and that nature of him would always make her worry about him. She will also give him everything he wants or needs, just to see him smile.

Sebastian: When Count first brought him to the world, she was intrigued by the human who managed to charm him. So she would frequently visit just to see how Sebas works… Until he starts digging her information. She knew his passion well and understood that, but she would prefer if Sebas exclude her from his mysterious notebook.  

Napoleon: Salvie was very interested in him, being a demi-vampire, but she does not question him about it. If he isn’t willing to say, then she had no reason to pry. Along with Jeanne, the three of them practiced sword fights from time to time. Salvie would always be fascinated by both of their skills. You could say that their relationship is quite well.

Mozart: Salvie does not talk much with Mozart, but lowkey likes his performance. She would always attend a ball or an activity if Mozart is the one playing the piano. Salvie also finds his prickly attitude fun to tease, but would rather see Arthur tease him. They would only exchange words when it comes to music and that’s it.

Jeanne: Aside from sparring with him, Salvie also supplies weapons to him. She doesn’t question why, as that was the nature of her business. She couldn’t refuse too, since business is business, and he was a resident of Count’s, which she promised the dad before that she would sponsor his residents too, because he was a friend of hers.

Shakespeare: Basically (kinda) love at first sight. Both of them were born with chaos in them, and so they attract each other. She did not meet him when he became the first resident of Count, but she did hear about it. She met him in a ball. It’s a long ass story how they get together but yeah, these two dumbasses are doing fine and dandy as a couple, have their banters and bickers sometimes but all is well. Unless….?

Paired with: William Shakespeare (Maybe…?)  

PERSONALITY 

Likes: Gambling, attending balls (especially masquerade balls), hunting, going off adventures with her beloved horse, sword fight, overly sweet stuff  

Dislikes: Following a schedule/orders, getting treated like a feeble maiden/young child, proper meal, proper sleep  

Strength: She’s superb at gambling and swinging her sword, mediocre at drinking, she aced in “not giving a shit” 

Weakness: Hides her feelings a lot, tends to distance herself from people who know her to a certain degree, can’t sleep in peace ever

Personality: Let’s just start with: Salvie is chaotic. Very chaotic. Even the name “Salvatore” already tells you she spells trouble. She doesn’t like being bound by rules, schedules or anyone’s orders, she’s a free soul who decides every step. However, she isn’t reckless, each action she took is calculated and rationally think through, as she does not wish to take a step she regrets. That careful and meticulous approach made her seem wise–despite how young she looks–mature even. Well, but sometimes Salvie could be bratty too, since “her adorable looks is the biggest fraud” (quoted from Leo). She also has a bold personality, and that results in her sassing the great men fearlessly, yet that doesn’t mean she doesn’t respect them, in fact, it’s the opposite. She looked up to them greatly, as they were awesome enough to get their name engraved in history.  

Her biggest charm is definitely her carefree attitude. She’s just, y’know, damn chill. Salvie doesn’t have a care towards anything, therefore her pronouns and attire choices. Although her easy-going characteristics is an appeal, it’s sometimes a flaw as well. It made it difficult to get along with her as the specifics about her is unclear. Since she was so chill with everything, it’s certainly hard to pin down what are her favourites and stuff. Contradictorily, that light-hearted manner doesn’t apply to people. She unintentionally looks after people, even if she doesn’t want to care, she would still unknowingly do something for them, like leaving them a cup of tea on the table every morning. 

On the other hand though, kinda like Dazai, Salvie’s breezy and free demeanor makes it hard to grasp her true character, not mentioning the fact that she tends to sweep everything under the rug. She has a way with words that always, somehow, avoid the topic about herself, and that made her mysterious in a way. She was very quiet of her thoughts, especially things on her mind, rarely talking about her problems. She would tend to fend off questions about that with a gentle reassuring smile and a wispy attitude, as she disliked someone poking into her problems (and of course because she didn’t want to seem weak). 

HISTORY 

Backstory: Salvie was not recorded at any point in history, yet she was revived. She did not know why and did not question so. When she was first revived, she did not remember anything except her name. Dozens of questions were in her mind, yet there was no one to answer her. For what feels like an eternity, she wandered on the streets aimlessly until she met her kind. They were strong, independent, and raised her as if she was a newborn. Well, she was, kinda. The days gradually passed, and she too, came to understand that she had been reborn into a person–no, an immortal with unrestrained freedom, with unlimited time (not really, but you get the idea). As soon as she came to that conclusion, she bid goodbye to her friends, (guardians maybe?) and took a flight to achieve her dreams–to live how she wanted in her previous life. 

Family: Salvie doesn’t remember (or rather, it was insignificant to her) her family in her previous life. She only recognized the group of vampires that took her in as her guardians. 

Other history: How Salvie was involved in the mafia is… Well, chaotic. She was supposed to be on the tour with Count to Italy, to visit his long lost friend Leonardo, but along the way she somehow stumbled into an illegal gambling den, challenged the don (with very extreme conditions), defeated the don and accidentally become the new don of the mafia. After going through all the messy procedures, the news about a new mafia boss named  “Lord Salvatore” quickly spread through Italy. His nature was depicted as cruel and ruthless as he gets anything he wants, and no one stands in his way. Yet what’s weird was that the “Salvatore Family” was rumored to be civilized and noble, as they were ordered that no blood should be drawn unless it was required to. You can imagine the horror on Leo and Count’s face when they heard about this, and the compliments from her guardians. 

TRIVIA

Special abilities: None. (Her face as an instrument of deception)  Pet(s): A white horse named Vlad. Hobby: When she isn’t gambling or drinking, she will be out doing mafia business or just wandering somewhere else  Secret(s): Had a past lover who she later recalled and somehow disliked that shares the same name with her horse (which she then became devastated knowing that she named her horse after her past lover)  Habits: When she’s stressed or troubled, she will smoke from a pipe 

[cherriesink]

Sirius Artbook Vol 1

My Sirius BD came in a few days ago, and I thought to share some of the artbook. It actually clocks in at 92 pages and not the advertised 96, but I’ve been so burned by this anime that I don’t care it has nice paper.

Volume One is Jaeger-only, no vampires and no side cast.

First are the character bios for the team, which are basically two pages each with website descriptions, screenshots, and some setting material.

Yuliy get four pages because he’s a special boy.

They also list everyone’s weapons: gimmick three-sectioned staff (Yuliy), “Willard’s weapon” (which is a Luger Pistol, but they probably don’t want anyone making that connection), thompson submachine gun (Dorothea), bull-barreled shotgun (Philip), and simply “a weapon case” (Fallon).

After that is a mere four pages of character drafts, which were also posted on the designer’s twitter.

Episode 1-6 summaries each get a page spread and are pretty much copy-pasted from the website’s story section, but hey at least it looks pretty?

The biggest chunk of the artbook (36 pages!) goes to rough keyframes. Artists aren’t listed, but it’s fairly obvious which are Sato’s cuts and which are regular staff.

Also, a few of Ando’s storyboards.

Interviews with the staff are sprinkled between story and animation pages. The different background colors were a nice touch. 

Not a full translation, but I’ll summarize a few points for each:

Mai Matsuura (Art Director)

She was the original designer for Agatha, Sachi, and Alexei.

The hardest thing to draw in the entire show was hair, everyone in the studio struggled with it. Though it looked simplistic, movement and bounce were difficult.

Personally, she had trouble determining Yuliy’s facial expressions since he’s not very transparent.

Foreheads were emphasized in Nishimura’s original designs, and so she kept that in the simplified art style.

Differential details: Yuliy and Willard are both very left-sided (i.e. most visual information), Phillip’s lower eyelashes are spiky, Fallon has small eyes, Ando kept telling her to give Dorothea a bigger butt.

She was unhappy how the “Thanks, Ryoko!” scene was emotionally unclear.

Yuto Uemura (Yuliy)

He was very excited to work with veteran staff, especially Horiuchi.

As things progressed, his portrayal of Yuliy gradually shifted from “revenge” to “this is my job as a Jaeger” character.

He tried to give a gentle impression toward teammates, but it might’ve felt cold with “an exquisite distance (lol).”

Family is a keyword for this show.

He thinks of Yuliy as a protagonist who keeps on going no matter what bad things happen. He’s a main character that feels heroic with an impression of principled royalty. (The point is he’s like Aragorn, I guess.)

There wasn’t much effort put into matching child!Yuliy, who felt more like an ordinary boy.

Kenyu Horiuchi (Willard)

Horiuchi immediately saw Willard as someone who wasn’t shaken much, cool and intelligent, but maybe carrying complicated baggage from the past.

Later on, there was an “Are you atoning for sin?” feeling.

Care was given to different nuances and tones when saying Yuily’s name, and guided by the director.

Breathing techniques were also important.

He has complicated feelings on being typecast into serious roles for older men, but also sees the show itself as one of his favorites.

Nanako Mori (Dorothea) x Shunsuke Takeuchi (Fallon) x Yusuke Kobayashi (Philip)

Kobayashi originally auditioned for Yuliy, but got a second one for Philip.

Mori describes Dorothea as someone who has a lot of yang (masculine) qualities and seriousness, but is able to switch to a cuter persona when talking to a friend.

Philip was directed to be portrayed as a “child of the times” who could switch between professionalism and childishness.

His “Don’t touch my hair!” lines were usually ad-libbed.

Fallon is kind and energetic like a big brother, but isn’t very deep.

They saw familial love and duty as big themes, between Dog-ville and Philip’s past and the Naoe drama. Takeuchi mentions the vampires were family too, in a sense.

Masahiro Sato (Animation Director)

It was a precondition to have good action staff, so Sato was recruited before the basic premise had been written.

He did about half of all action cuts.

Wolf Guy, the Doberman Cop liveaction, and old Hong Kong and Toei movies are listed as influences, but he laughs that the story turned out nothing like them. 

Originally, the werewolf element was stronger than the vampire element, since the vampires were added later in the planning stage. But lots of things changed, and only the three-sectioned staff concept was kept.

The three-sectioned staff was his baby.

Yevgraf’s stupid glitter leotard was his idea.

Finally, a few pages at the end for background art.

[solacefruit]

What’re your thoughts on the trope of a former antagonistic or villainous character changing sides (let’s say not because their ideals/what they’re fighting for changes, but because their ideas about what the best way to achieve that have changed)? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this, as it’s something I struggle with at times with a character of mine (her starting off on the side of the villains, and then changing sides to join the heroes is super important for her arc). Thanks a bunch!

Hello there! Thank you for asking. This is such a fun question! 

I usually get a real kick out of antagonist-becomes-friend (or at least becomes temporarily or occasionally non-antagonistic) tropes. I personally think you can split the trope a few ways, depending on specific iterations of it. For example, there’s the complete change of heart, where someone goes “oh damn I was evil and I don’t want to be anymore,” and then there’s the enemy of my enemy is my friend approach, where an antagonist teams up with the protagonist–or at least doesn’t act antagonistically–because they share a common, greater threat, but could lapse back into old habits as soon as that passes. 

I’m not entirely sure what sort you’re talking about–it’s a little unclear from your wording–but I’m going to guess you mean they’re a little more anti-hero than outright villain, given that their ideals apparently line up with the protagonist’s, but their methods previously didn’t. Unless you mean the ideals–i.e., “doing bad things,” or whatever–stay the same, but the character hides those intentions and acts like they’ve given up on that? I would say that latter one is actually not the trope at all: that’s just plain villainy and deception. Anyway! A lot more underneath the cut.

At the moment, my partner and I are watching Buffy (I’ve never seen any of it before), and this is a real timely question, because that series has a great example of both kinds of “villain becomes friend (becomes villain again)” tropes in action using vampires. On one hand, you have Angel, who is originally just a normal guy, turned into a vampire with a talent for being wildly sadistic, and then as punishment for that, he gets given a soul. That returned humanity and enforced sense of morality overwhelms him with guilt for all his past crimes, so then he chooses to do good things to make up for it. Of course, throughout the show, his soul flip-flops due to magic shenanigans and he reverts to evil version a bit, but I think that’s an interesting counterpoint to the other vampire: Spike.

He’s just a solidly bad dude, albeit often not a very capable one, and most of the time he’s an antagonist–except for in circumstances where his goals (typically not dying, getting his girlfriend back, whatever) align with the protagonist team’s. We’ve just got up to the part where he’s been fang-neutered, for lack of a better word, so he’s been sulking about unable to bite anyone and turned essentially into everyone’s weird, sullen, harmless roommate (which has been extremely fun). Once he realises he can fight–and kill–other demons, however, he perks right up and actively and voluntarily wants to participate in protagonist team’s world-saving duties, because it lets him be awful again, as long as he’s only awful to demons. 

What I like about these two is that they seem to represent two different conceptualisations of morality, but within the same show! Angel is thoroughly a deterministic case: when he has a soul, he is good, and when he has no soul, he is evil. There’s never any wavering either way–he never has a “but what if I chose to be good?” moment when he’s full demon (the implication for the entire show until that point being that vampires can’t and won’t make moral choices), and he never finds vampire sobriety a challenge as a souled being and is overall a soft, sweet guy. Angel is essentially two entirely separate people in one form: a “good” self and a “bad” self, both of which are more or less externally triggered by whoever is cursing him at the time. ***ooh, someone please ask me about Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde sometime, please, I can talk on that topic for a century***

Spike, by contrast, is a representation of morality as a forever shifting spectrum of choices. I think this is why I find Spike to be a more interesting character than Angel (although don’t get me wrong, Angel is nice and I like him). I like that Spike has such a wide range of emotions and motivations he’s allowed to experience and express, rather than being dictated his sense of self by fate and destiny, so on, and that–at least where we’re up to at the moment in this show–he’s doing “the right thing” (trying to kill bad dudes who want to destroy the world) for “the wrong reasons” (he enjoys the killing way too much and also is bored) and for now that’s working for everyone so everyone’s rolling with it. That’s just so fun to me. But I do tend to really enjoy moral ambiguity in general.

I think two other interesting case studies (I guess?? I guess we can call it that) for this is of course Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender and also I feel several characters from Steven Universe, but primarily Peridot! They’re great examples of why characters “switch sides” and how to do that in a way that’s convincing and true to character, which I think lines up pretty well with what you’ve mentioned wanting to do? In both the instances, there is very little personality shift, especially to begin with. Eventually, character growth occurs, but personality doesn’t change a whole lot, and I feel this is really effective for a lot of reasons but mainly that you don’t lose that character and have to replace them with a new one. You don’t Angel-ify them, is what I’m saying. 

Peridot and Zuko have a really similar major turning point for their shift in team: confronting an authority figure they trusted and revered. Recognising the imperfections in the person they idolise causes them both to massively question their own worldview, and their place in the world, and resultantly their role in what’s going on. Peridot rejects Yellow Diamond’s leadership and joins the rebels; Zuko rejects Ozai’s leadership and joins the avatar. What I like so much about this is what I like about Spike: it’s about choice. For Zuko and Peridot, it’s a choice to reject determinism and destiny and instead take on moral responsibility. And they do that without changing who they are. 

I feel like that’s vital for a successful team-switch story: the catalyst for their change should be something that changes their perspective, not their personality. Whether it’s an external threat that drives them to realise they’re in the same boat as the protagonist whether they like it or not, or it’s a major realisation about someone else/the state of the world and their culpability in it, I feel like a really good catalyst should–if at all possible–come about because of who a character is. 

For example, Peridot’s devotion to logic and reason is a signature character trait. When Yellow Diamond, the ruler she adores and believes to be the pinnacle of this way of being, blatantly acts in total disregard of logic and instead behaves foolishly out of emotion, Peridot renounces her. The other approach is more similar to a self-fulfilling prophecy, really: Zuko’s (albeit longer realisation) comes from a comparison between his father and his uncle and also from his experiences seeing how the world really is versus his father’s lies, all of which happens because Ozai banished him. Zuko’s sense of honour (which is from the beginning far more honed than his father’s!) can’t coexist in peace with the hypocrisies he’s witnessed in his family and nation, so he is drive to actually choose the real honorable path–which is to turn traitor to the Fire Nation.

I think these kinds of set-ups make for the most satisfying bad guy-to-good guy narratives, personally. I hope this has been an interesting read for you!

[jupiterjames]

It makes sense why you like Jack now. He's a Sam clone with the same damn tragic backstory!

Okay, I know this is hate, but Imma take a minute to rap on why I think it’s awesome! Because it’s AWESOME!

First of all, there are definitely similarities between Jack and Sam. It’s big and it’s deliberate. Lost mothers, potential for evil, powers they can’t always control or understand, blah blah, you get the idea.

Okay. Great. So, first of all, I’m glad this happened because we got to see Sam Winchester lose his fucking temper finally and for real at Dean. He never had the moment where he was able to say those things. Never able to tell his brother how badly it hurt him that both John and Dean kept a fucking bullet in their revolvers for him should he go darkside. And the thing that brought Dean back from the brink permanently, and not just until the dust had settled again?

Season 8, Episode 23:

Sam: “I mean, you think I screw up everything I try. You thinkI need a chaperone, remember?“Dean: “Come on, man, that’s not what I meant.”

Sam: “That’s exactlywhat you meant. You wanna know what I confessed in there? What my greatest sinwas? It was how many times I let you down. I can’t do that again. What happens when you’ve decided I can’t be trustedagain? And who are you gonna turn tonext time, instead of me? Another angel? Another… another vampire? Do youhave any idea what it feels like to watch your brother-”

Dean: "Just hold on.You seriously think that? Because none of it – none of it – is true. Listen man, I know we’ve had our disagreements,okay, hell, I know I’ve said some junk that’s set you back on your heels, butSam, come on. I killed Benny to save you. I’m willing to let this bastard, andall the sons of bitches that killed mom walkbecause of you! Don’t you dare thinkthat there is anything, past orpresent that I would put in front of you. It’s never been like that, ever.I need you to see that. I’m begging you.“

This was the turning point where Dean took his brother back. But, he’s not saying that Sam isn’t telling the truth. Because he is. Dean’s saying that he’ll take Sam over the other people/monsters he’s turned to. That he won’t become the things he hates because he can’t trust Sam.

And Sam felt, the whole time, like Dean would rather take any evil over Sam because Sam was the greater evil.

And that’s what’s happening with Jack. Or, that’s what could happen. Sam sees Dean treating Jack the same exact way that Dean treated him, only much more obviously and less passive-aggressively, and is telling Dean in no unclear terms that it’s not okay.

That Jack isn’t any more evil because of who he is than Sam was. That nature doesn’t determine nurture, because it didn’t for Sam. But Dean’s shut down completely, and won’t take the hard road while he’s unable and/or unwilling to start processing his grief. We may have seen him strike back at Sam with more emotion than he’s had the last 2 episodes, but he wasn’t angry in grief. He was simply reiterating the reasons he blamed Jack and was tired of telling Sam that. And probably also doesn’t understand why Sam doesn’t agree.

Now, Jack is going to bring back Castiel, not because Dean misses him, and not only because it’ll help clean the ledger a little bit so Dean won’t be so hostile towards him; he’s bringing back Castiel because that dead angel is the link to all of them, and the way that Sam and Dean talk about him, Castiel is the family’s mediator. The one who helps most resolve the conflict. Whether or not that’s actually true is beside the point right now, because Jack’s eked out that conclusion from how the brother’s have talked. Castiel is the one with the answers. The chips on the scale that will tip whether Jack will think of himself as evil or not.

So, do I think Jack is a Sam clone? No, I do not. But their similar stories are getting Sam the catharsis he’s been looking for the past five seasons, and Jack his place in existence.