#its more abt how all of the protagonists are so fucked they had to work on a 5 euro per hour job

[deadsh33p]

Just asking if you are ever gonna talk more abt your ocs? i'm really curious abt them + they look cool

I'd love to but I doubt anyone actually cares lol. Though maybe one day I'll post some drawings I have of my ocs

[beescake]

i am in love with your sollux i think

sollux love party :]

if you’re interested heres some of my personal fondness thoughts on him.. big warning for the mega long read ahead aye

as we alr know sollux's rejection of participation somewhat mirrors dave's rejection of heroism, but even without getting cooked to completion i still find sollux's character v compelling beyond the fourth wall

as someone who doesnt get a pinch of that Protagonist Sparkle to begin with, he can openly say he wants to leave anytime…. and unlike dave, he actually Can leave the scene anytime. but he can never be truly Free from the story via permanent character death like the other trolls.

his irrelevancy is indeed relevant - he’s there so u can point him out.

while his image is intended to be a relic of past internet subculture, his role is not only about hehehaha being a Chad or a 2000s cyberforum 2²chan haxxor ragequit gamebro.

his continued existence also happens to add a Bit to the overarching themes of homestuck! a Bit that gives him longer-lasting thematic relevance compared to the trolls who could’ve had more character potential but didnt get to survive beyond the main story.

the Bit in question:

his defiance contributes to the illusion of agency (treating characters = people with autonomy). he’s “aware” of it, and that recognition is worth noting enough to forcibly keep him alive as both reward and punishment.

considering how his personality & classpect is designed its definitely a very haha thing for hussie to do LOL. he’s made to be op asf so he's resigned to doing dirty work, gradually deteriorating along the way but never truly dying. as fans have mentioned before, him openly rejecting involvement after a while of grim tolerance is like if the sim u were controlling suddenly stopped, looked up and gave u the finger while u were step six into the walkthrough for Every Possible Sim Death Animation.

but since he’s just a sim… the more he hates it, the more you keep him around. if ur sim started complaining abt your whimsical household storyline you’d definitely keep that little fuck.

but yeah i like that sollux is just idling. the significance of his presence being that one dude who's always reliably Somewhere, root core Unchanged, no individual ambitions (possibly due to fear of consequence?), and design-wise: a staple representative product of his time.

compared to dirk's character, who has aged phenomenally well into the present (themes of control + AR + artificial intelligence, clearer exploration around navigating relationships/sexuality, infinite possibilities of self-splinterhood and trait inheritance), sollux's potential is really... contained. bitter. defeatist. limiting and frustrating in the way old tech is.

the world continues moving on to shinier, brighter, more advanced automated things - minimalist and metaverse or whatever but sollux is still here 🧍‍♂️ going woohoo redblue 3d. (tho personally i imagine his vibe similar to what the kids call cassette futurism on pinterest mixed w more grimy grunge insectoid influences eheh)

conceptually-speaking,

at the foundation of it all, the rapid pace of modern development was built off the understanding of ppl like sollux in the past, who were There actively at work while the dough was still beginning to rise

thats one of the cool things abt the idea of trolls preceding humans! the idea that trolls like sollux excelled back when lots of basic shit still needed to be discovered, building structures like networks and codes from scratch, and humans will eventually inherit and reinvent that knowledge in ways that become so optimized it makes the old manual effort seem archaic, slow, and labour-intensive.

but despite information/resources/shortcuts being more accessible now, much of the new highly-anticipated stuff released on trend still end up unfinished, inefficient, or expiring quickly due to cutting corners under severe capitalistic pressures

meanwhile, some of the old stuff frm past generations of thorough, exploratory and perfectionistic development still remains working, complete, and ever so sturdy.

those things continue to exist, just outside our periphery with either:

zero purpose left for modern needs (outdated/obsolete)

or

far too important to replace or destroy, bcs of its surprisingly essential and circumstantial usefulness in one niche specific area.

which are honestly? both points that sum up sollux pree well.

dramatic ending sorry. anw are u still on the fence or are u Sick abt him like me </3

[rainbow-crane]

Personally I do think the most common thing abt people regarding udg is that it has the best villains in the franchise considering that 1. They have actual motivations and 2. As children were manipulated both by junko and monaca but are still capable and willing to commit atrocities. They’re not ‘flat’ villains like how junko just wants to cause worldwide despair with little reasonable motivation.

I think its also important to note that udg is good for context because it feels like it makes the games feel tied together and we actually see what’s going on in the rest of the world rather than just hearing about it happening and being like ‘oh okay that’s a thing’. We finally got a game that had the ‘show, don’t tell’ of the tragedy. If the dr team had even slightly better writing skills and morals (and less.. questionable scenes and save points) I feel like udg would have been a really well rounded game.

SPOILERS BELOW

and for a game that only actually kills a single member of their main cast it still feels like everyone’s in danger. And I do like that while they massively redeemed toko’s character they didn’t just make her perfect; she’s still a huge simp and a petty prick by the end of the game, but she does go through a lot of development.

Personally if they had better writing I would have loved to see a sequel where the girls and the WoH (minus monaca) have to try and rebuild everything while obviously still dealing with the moral conflict of these kids (seeing as in that one snapshot of the anime we see that they are working with toko and komaru already. Also monaca goes to space in an Amazon delivery van which is. Something). I want to see the other survivors being against their efforts: and considering what went down in chapter 4 of dr 1 I’d really love to see aoi be a main antagonist considering that 1. She and toko already hate each other and 2. She has very good reason to be vengeful all things considered with yuta (who everyone just seems to forget about. When komaru said she could see ghosts I was waiting all game for him to come back as a new mechanic. I think he deserves to be relevant. As a treat).

SPOILERS OVER

anyways, ramble over

Dude you're so on point with like. All of this. UDG is probably one of if not the best part of the entire series based off its character building and how well it builds upon the Tragedy, plus the best protagonist the series has ever had, and so many people just never played it because it was marketed as a side game and not a main installation and I HATE IT GO PLAY UDG IT'S WORTH IT I PROMISE-

I'd never thought about having Hina as an antagonist in a sequel but that's actually a really cool idea! We did get a good look at her more vengeful side once before so it'd be great to see that part of her again

Forever angry that instead of a UDG 2 we just got a singular ep of DR3 with Monaca fucking off to space and That's It

[jabberwockprince]

thinking abt kingdom hearts again and we really underestimate just how much of a Regular Fella Sora is, like. ITS REALLY FUNNY TO ME

his two best friends are so protagonist coded and he's just part of this entire thing because he Just Happened To Be The Closest Genuinely Nice Person Around™ - Riku has white fuckin hair, is really buff at the age of 15 and he's the one that wanted to leave destiny islands the most because he's not content with living peacefully, he wants To Know Whats Out There, he's literally the protagonist of some edgy anime. and then KAIRI is a girl who FELL FROM THE SKY LIKE A SHOOTING STAR, was adopted by THE FUCKING MAYOR???? OF THEIR CITY??? and has amnesia. AND THEN SHE FINDS OUT SHES A PRINCESS OF THE HEART, VITAL TO THE STABILITY OF THE UNIVERSE

then a few games later, you find out that Riku and Kairi both inherited keyblades from actual veterans when they were BABIES. LIKE THEY REALLY ARE CHOSEN ONES, WHETHER ACCIDENTAL OR NOT and Sora is just the uber driver for the heart of a Really Important Guy????

and then you gotta take into consideration that Riku was literally just adopted by King Fucking Mickey and possibly trained with him. Kairi had Lea to train in a POCKET DIMENSION WHERE THEY HAD ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD WITH MASTER YENSID'S MAGIC AND SHIT

meanwhile, Sora literally got out of bed one night and left to find his pals and never fucking stopped to question what the actual shit was happening to him, he only has Donald and Goofy who Cant Fucking Offer Anything Of Substance except being decent parental figures for this random ass kid

no wonder sora flunked the mark of mastery exam, he's literally had ZERO proper training (no we're not counting the coliseum, they didn't teach sora anything that he didn't already know) so he pulls every stunt and every move out of his ass ON THE GO. sure, his mark of mastery exam was rigged but look at me. if TERRA couldnt do it because he showed the SLIGHTEST SLIVER of evil purple fart (and even he was doomed to fail bc of Xehanorts manipulation) DO WE REALLY THINK SORA COULDVE DONE IT??

this is sora kingdom hearts, he can't work a fucking cellphone. he's the nicest person you'll ever meet. he's had his brain, heart, soul and body rearranged a couple times. he ocasionally chills out with winnie the pooh. he keeps losing his powers at the start of every goddamn game and has to relearn everything. he's, essentially, Mickey Mouse's humansona. his Nobody Roxas, A GUY IN A CULT THAT CASUALLY KILLS OFF THEIR MEMBERS, had more integrity and input in the short year he was alive for than Sora ever did in the entire saga. he rewrote an entire timeline and died for it. he watched Sully from monsters inc send his evil goth pseudo-twin into texas.

[b00m-b0mb]

hgi i followedyou bc you like rhythm heaven too but Im akso interested in yuor ocs now,,,,,,,, Coudl yuotalk abt them 2 me pleas they seem so niceys.,. .. .,.,

A!!!! AA!!!!

I am honor,,, wAAA. YEAH! I love RH so much! I'm definitely going to end up with more RH ocs in the future other than Maccie and WIP Lost Girl <3 but but,,,,,,,,

Oh em gee if we're talking my original!!!!!! stuff I have so many ocs!!! idk where to start gah!!!

Lemme list some of my stories,, I am excited! sorry if I don't make sense! I'm notoriously so bad at words,, if I somehow interest you I am always down to talk about my ocs‼️

Also some context, all of these are hypothetical game ideas in my mind. But also just,,, my blorbs :] also obviously they're all WIPS bc lollll orz

UH THIS IS GOING TO BE A LONMG POST IM SO SORRY!!!

So the only stuff I've currently shared things of (like doodles) are:

Dancing Light - "rhythm metroidvania" I'm rewriting this + it's cousin story to include new themes (basically the world actually being loosely connected to a mind/person you dont exactly get to see) but the basic gist is that, the protagonist, Vene (V) is a "rebirth" of the Candle (you can loosely compare this to Avatar TLA/LOK if you want! To make a balance in the world..) Eir job is go re-light the Lamps across the land and hunt down Intrusive Darkness- which are like sillay monsters ey literally hunt and EAT!

The world they live in functions its gears better with music, like an encourgement to work. (Which darkness' songs have warped it to) But, V actually can't sing well and, despite being the chosen one, V is inherently disadvantaged to past incarnations of the candle. (Disabled coded) BUT!!! Vene's friends contribute a melody to help power V through the adventure! And the idea is as the party grows, so does their hunting songs. They're like punchy toony creatures I'd love as a children's game.. They're sillay and argue a lot but are good kids and YEAH!!!!

The villains / bosses are "the archetypes" (placeholder) and they're basically giant "god equivalents" haunting the land. Or sort of reclaiming it. They actually broke it apart into 2.5D space- residing in the dark oceans/canyons between the broken layers!

V - Protagonist / Player. The Candle, brings balance. An enraged child who will not let fate write eir story. Fights violently, with tooth and nail, but is a pure heart deep down. Autistic coded + struggles with eir forming relationships.

Ludd - V's BEST FRIEND/RIVAL, and unknowing son of the final boss. He's a good hearted kid who cares too much about his image. Used to bully V, but their constant fighting turned into a respect for one another (they're like 8-12 this is pure chaotic sillay) He's an embodiment of darkness.

Mash - V's self proclaimed Guide/Mentor. And also Messenger of the Floating Shrines (a small group of "god equivalents" for the world lore). He's an uptight little wizard. He's bossy + naggy, and he and V completely clash and argue constantly. (+V mocks him) but.. they grow to care a lot about one another! Big brother Mash real.

Locke - Son of the Seawitch, Reocurring Miniboss!!! He's a sillay seal of the dark sea, who is also Mash's rival in school (before he sunk it). He's actually Ludd's older cousin! A lot of what he does is pure loyalty to his mom. And. a little fruity towards the mash potato.

Louise (placeholder, haven't shown) - Ludd's older sister, who lives with their father. Fucked up teen who only knows how to be a vessel of destruction! Recurring mini boss like Locke. But with pure malice + hatred for V (girl, eyre 11)

Moonie - Traitor. An embodiment of light.. dimmed and working with darkness! Moonie is like, super in love with Louise. She also used to be a Messenger for the Shrines of Fate but upon seeing what they had in store for V, betrayed the light and intends to be there when the world ends. She slanders the Candle with acts of arson (again, girls, ey are 12!! /lh)

^^^ these last 3 all get redeemed at different points (Moonie on+off before permanently, Louise next, Locke last.)

💥

Truth & Grit - "pseudo horror" OKAY THIS IS LIKE ONE OF MY FAVEEE STORIES. I've rewritten it a million times. Currently, the basics are- this is a peek into this world's "mythology" in real time.. AKA you are the myth that will be in the future you will never see? But, the myth of before has been reborn inside of you-Truth and Grit. ITS ITS. THEIR STORY. THE. VISION. This world is formed entirely to their perception, swapping between a Silly (Side T) and Serious (Side G) style. Two unfortunate queer guys who are drawn into, infect, and kill one another (but like tragic queer platonic love way) it's complicated. Uhm I don't know how to do these ideas justice but I love these guys. Guys who die again and again. Guys who become the sun/moon. Guys who are just a story which ends when they do (final rest) GUYS WHO ARE SILLY AND SPEND YEARS TOGETHER TRYING TO DO SOMETHING WITH THEMSELVES AUGHU!!

I can't get into all the ideas of lore without making this way too long,, and it's shifting all the time (what isnt though!!! So maybe I should give myself some slack..) so I'll spare but ACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Insane.

Truth Patooterton - My favorite oc what the fuck. Sheltered by his Father his entire life (for being Her, his mother's, child), this socially unaware freak is yearning bad for escapism. A fixation on stories of outlaws he's heard while working at the saloon, and, somehow, blessed with the luck to see the enticing face of Grit "Doe"- he follows the cowpokey against his will, and slowly weasels his way into Grit's life. Few chapters later: is a professional hostage /lhj. He is like. A bastardization arc. Pathetic. Adapting to survive, curious/nosey, and lacking a spine to uphold boundaries. Self destructive. (Also did I mention "god" was reborn into/kinned them?) ITS. Complicated. I love this asshole. Who makes so many terrible decisions. Who risks it all JUST to live a life that was lived. Sobs. Also! Truth is agender/nb :] but passes as a man for his own safety. + has impromptu top surgery during the story, requiring a recovery period. Dude goes thru the horrors.. Love this sillay. I put him thru it. And hate love him thru it all!!!

Grit Lunandr - I am rewriting so much of his lore! Ugh! But basically he is divine through hereditary means (completely different force than what Truth is inflicted with) and is rejecting the nature of the existence he.. didn't ask for. Much like how Truth is dangerously self destructive, Grit is dangerously self neglecting. ??? Anyway mysterious cowboy who you find out is kind of a doofus. Strong heart, flimsy morals. He knows the world, but he doesn't get it. (Have I mentioned he and Truth are neurodivergent coded too? Agh) He's made. Countless mistakes in his life. He feels irredeemable. He tries to minimize any wrongs, but keeps making them. And hasn't forgiven himself for the things that are coming to bite him in the ass now (# the plot) Grit is a man stuck inside a beast, and he sees it the other way around, that he is the beast corrupting a man. Or something??? UGH it's hard to make this make sense without sm. Context and ideas and things to change/flesh out... But we love Grit. Yes we do. He's so. I love him. He's a good guy.

^^^ I'll spare you Fable family + Sophie + the mommy issues (which goes into the world mythology/lore shit) of the guys, so the post isn't a thousand years,, ily T&G... Call this sillay road trip world tour with the Horrors and Existentialism and Gore and Queer identity and YEAH!!!!!! I need to post more ab my ocs omg

💥

Infested with Strings - "puzzle graphic adventure" OKAY IVE BEEN ROTATING THIS A BIT. Rewriting hell.. Basically! Post apocalyptic world where thousands of art/audiences voices collaged into a 3sided anomaly which enveloped the world/made it it's body. (They are the "Figures" or, Powers of Influence: SWING, MUSH, and the odd one out, GUTS) There's a theme of live theater/puppet shows, and it's a musical experience in my delusional dreams. /lh Uhh.. basicslly. DRAMA? Lol

You play as Montgomery Guy (recently transitioned ftm, late 40s-early 50s), the protagonist. Ex-Marionette, and awoken from a "living suicide". But, Taylor Bizmun is the Secret Main Character!!! the one the Figures want, the one being exposed to a world she's been locked off from for the first time, the one confused, lost, and unintentionally breaking apart this reality more. We are running on TAYLOR'S SUBCONCIOUS SCRIPT- and youre going to keep repeating it until its just right. Until we get the Right Ending. (Which is The Final Show/Opera/Whatever I Call It) Because while her Father, Tax Bizmun, is the Marionette/Puppet Master, the Figures don't want him, they want her. To replace him. (But, the Vessels/Voice of each Figure, 3 people chosen by SWING,MUSH, + GUTS, want to steal Tax's place as well. Tax is/like a father to each of the candidates)

The story takes place in Devil's Ditch, which is where "Society is Healing Itself" from the brutality that killed the world.. this is fundamentally wrong, and things have been escalating to a boiling point between rallies of people, average citizens, people from the outside, etc. Something BIG is coming!!!

Ugh I'll keep characters brief. Not all of the main faces but whatever.

Montgomery Guy: Protagonist/Centerpiece. Amnesia. World's first absent transgender father /lhj. Redemption arc.

Patrick Rick: Partner character. Recently demoted. (only reason he's working with Monty) Hanging in there. Disabled. Unenthusiastic about the future.

Tori: Sketchy late teen running an unlicensed gas station. Self destructive downspiral.

Taylor Bizmun: Leashed/bubbled teen. Sneaking out. Confused and impressionable girl, exposed to the horrors, wants to write her own fate.

Tax Bizmun: Marionette/Puppet Master. Savior Complex. Estranged man who has become completely void of his original intentions+self. Dictator of The Ditch.

Varrik: Vessel of SWING. Tax's bastard son, and celebrity of the theatre. Taylor's secret? (Is it?) Halfbrother.

Heather: Vessel of MUSH. Tax's pity case. And one of the only people he let near his daughter (Tay)

"Strike": Vessel of GUTS. A child soldier from the outside who was "rescued" by Tax. Plans to stab him in the back someday. Taylor's.. brother.

💥

Bloodyfame - "rhythm game / platformer" THIS ONE IS SILLAY. Basically a trilogy game idea (in the format of a 3seasons reality show Dracula runs) This is mainly a CONCEPT bc I need to flesh out the story/events/especially the cast. But some of the key factors r so fun to me!

Basically, Dracula (the original vampire) is a siren of not just bloodlust, but attention. He was banished long ago (doing gladiator esc battles + rings for the people) but now, close to being free again, pulled a bunch of unfortunate souls down into hell, inside his mansion, to play his little Reality Show :]. With help from Boogey(man) and Death, they run Bloodyfame, promising the winner vampirism.

S1 - hosted by Dracula + Death.

S2 - First half hosted by Boogey, second half hosted by Nina Dracula

S3 - Hosted by Dracula + Nina

The game aspect is running/platforming through challenges in the castle. And ofc, the actual games of the challenge! Where you slaughter demons, or attempt to injure your competitors but like.. In Rhythm Heaven Styled Rhythm Games. ITS HARD TO EXPLAIN ONE DAY I WANT TO TRY AND MAKE MOCKUP ANIMATIONS THOUGH CRIES

Jackie - Protagonist / Winner of S1. Part of an unfortunate incident that got her tied into this mess. A teenage trans girl who's going to prove she can crawl up from anything.

Rio - Jackie's kind of codependent buddy. He's been an anxious spaz since this started. Curator of the incident.

Chris - Jackie's soon to be ex boyfriend. Completely snaps with the desire to win and garner fame. Victim of the incident.

Delilah - A strange child Boogey brought along. Becomes a secondary mascot.

Luci - Dracula's spawned son. Too scared to actually draw blood, hides behind Delilah's schemes. Secondary mascot.

Apricot - Jackie's friendly? Rival. And protagonist of S2. Her precision and rhythm are Perfect. But she melts like ice. Cold competitor, who in S1, wants to win over anything.

Jamie: A werewolf! Sweet boy. Good boy. Just wants everyone to get along / be friends. Loyal, and has a hard time keeping secrets. Madly head over heels for Apricot. He doesn't know why he's here!

💥💥💥

Oh wow! We've made it this far!!!! I'll speed-up through these honorary mention stories now.

"Tell Don't Show" (placeholder) - "RPG Horror Visual Novel" A super computer time machine has been in an unstable loop for years, only affecting an unfortunate mountain town a few miles from the facility. During a fieldtrip, the students and chaperones are enveloped into a secret side of the building and are toyed with upon loop. Protagonist, Eli, is a new addition to this looping. And Ami, secret main character, has been suffering through it since the beginning. This is a reclaim of Corpse Party w/ scifi shhhhhhhhhh.

💥

Junk Em Up! - "platforming graphic adventure" Robot/Alien imposters + a sillay toony world! Protagonist is Dookie, a junkem working at Junk-Or, who's a newbie taking on cases, and an endless list of cartoony shenanigans + sidequests from the vibrant citizens of Violobe.

💥

Merry Go Reset - "exploration horror" A mall becomes one with a dead author's soul, his bastardized art corrupting his being, and absorbing unfortunate mallgoers into tragic stories. Small child "Mary" and her big sister "Niffy" are the two main characters. Mary is guided by a mysterious inky cat she calls Chesher :)

💥

OKAY and I won't explain these for now but. Flatlines (yume nikki inspired, art/artist relationship), Sophie & Karma (sequel/add on to Truth & Grit), "Goo Pals" (cousin story to Dancing Light), Diving Purge (just a concept with cool creature), Fraudulent Fears (rewriting wip, comedy) + "Colorsuckers" (mainly a concept)

LOL SORRY IF YOU REGRET ASKING ME NOW I AAA!!!!!! My life's work are these guys!!!!!!!!! Going insane about them all the time.. one day I hope to make them all real,,,,,,

[lakesbian]

General thoughts about the reveal on who the Maggie in the Toronto arc was?

Also general thoughts on the arc?

i think its fun that she and blake are both connected (& she's the last tether blake has to anyone knowing he exists) via having both slipped through the cracks due to Whoopsie-Daisies. also say what u will about literally everything else in wb's writing but i like how girls in wildbow novels are more often than not grungy and a little weird. already talked abt the goblin thing some in the last maggiepost but i do really like the goblins. "pure distillations of the dirty abandoned scraps of the world which exist solely to kick you when you're down" is an extremely coherent and fun spin on goblins. the constant "fat = gross" associations are insufferable but the rest is solid. the padraic thing isn't one of the iterations of maggie's prophecy but it does feel fitting for her character that the girl who was initially inducted into being a practitioner via living somewhere that was slipping thru the cracks was fucked over for a Second time via slipping thru the cracks. i hope she is fucked over a Third time by it for rule of three. also i was in fact correct previously when i said this:

i also think she’s probably still in over her head without realizing. she’s manipulated into ordering someone’s murder and then is like “you know i think i can make up for this one AND go on a fun little adventure to add to my scrapbook of knowledge at the same time.” that’s not how reality works! you killed someone! and then tried to semi-earnestly befriend slash mooch from their cousin! she’s only been a practitioner for six months–i think there’s a very fundamental disconnect btwn the maggie that’s lucky enough to still have parents she can be a normal silly teenager with and the maggie that’s making forays into The World Of Backstabbing, Horror, Murder, and Fates Worse Than Death. and i think that disconnect will result in strain for her as the fact that she’s sort of doomed to do some really awful things, have some really awful things happen to her, and/or both sinks in.

except instead of just Strain. that fact had to sink in via her doing, as sandra put it, the magical equivalent of crashing a car 2 learn respect for the road. YA protagonist maggie holt died in the crash now it's just wannabe goblin queen mags scrambling 4 purchase in the wreckage. i believe in her i hope she captures sooo many crass little creatures. i'm glad that buttcheeks stuck around he's fun to watch :)

i don't feel like we actually know johannes yet. the thing about the really successful practitioners is that they're doing less Desperate Violent Scrabbling to maintain their positions and subsequently have more luxury of ostensible niceties and lofty philosophies. they should throw a bucket of mud on him and toss him to the wolves so i can see what he's like when shit gets real. also the entire arc is a really funny demonstration in how severely being a thorburn has fucked blake over. everyone is sooo much nicer to maggie than him he's out there playing on hard mode. this is what i mean when i say that alec would b a diabolist, diabolism is fundamentally abt when you are marked Rotten by the world by virtue of the family you've been born into, defined more by their legacy than by anything about yourself, even moreso than the other brands of practitionerism.

hmm anything else. oh yeah i think we should flog wildbow for crone mara. ok thats all. OH yeah and Not Being Maggie Holt Anymore is a really funny way to skip out on the other iterations of the prophecy. its that fairy bitch's problem now. i have a lot of thoughts on pact faeries but that's a post for one of the "why are pact creatures good" asks just know i'm rotating them in my mind rapidly

[insertsona]

SURPRISE!!!! LAST MINUTE PROPAGANDA JUMPSCARE !!!!! VOTE CUPID FOR @pink-oc-tournament AS THE ULTIMATE PINK OC !!!!! PLEASE !!!!

you should vote for him because i like him and hes cool and also gnc as fuck and also i'll share cat photos on main if he wins lmao

anyway . who even is cupid? i shout about him occasionally and claim hes super important but i've never once explained him . well . heres his toyhouse . but also im gonna talk abt him under the cut :D

cupid is not the protagonist of the story hes in even remotely . in fact its kind of hard to be when he's not even around . he had a few close friends and generally had a pretty normal life . he Was a naive, easily trusting lover boy .

cupid was the first of 8 to 'work with' Michael (michael now being an incredibly well-known celebrity, but at the time was far from it .) and disappeared february 17th, 2008. cupid had been manipulated, used, and discarded once he outlived that usefulness.

he was missing for three years .

both cupid's presence and lack of presence in the story are what make him incredibly important.

how quick he was to fall in love influenced how michael treated his later victims.

his sudden disappearance is the reason his friend Lucifer (another charavter very key to the story) changed so irrevocably . though not even remotely intentional, his disappearance was responsible for deepening the wedge between lucifer and Kaden (one of lucifer's siblings . also like . one of the actual protagonists lmao) letting mike's later involvement deal that much more damage

in fact. most if not all of lucifer's actions in the main story link back to cupid and his disappearance .

the date he disappeared - 02/17 - is the passcode for the safe containing the ways to fix all 8 of the malwares mike gave to each of his respective victims. (the malwares is a whole other story just trust me on this)

him being found and helped lets lucifer finally Heal .

SOME OTHER FUN FACTS!!!!

cupid and his story is loosely based off my deltarune oc Loveluck (who is also very pink), but he's a seperate character !!!!

he eventually gets a boyfriend that actually treats him right lmao

his birthday is valentines day !!!!

hes pansexual :}

he was just barely 19 when he disappeared ! hes 22 as of the current point in the story (late febuary 2011)

his favourite colour is red !

without him rrfd Would Not Be The Same

his spotify playlist has like three entire one direction albums in it

contrary to what youd expect, cupid is one of the few characters that doesnt forgive michael for his actions . however, hes willing to move on from it and hopes michael is doing okay with kaden

[solipseismic]

i hope you know that every day i wish i could read your book and really enjoyed reading the nanowrimo tidbits you sent, you should infodump about it 👀

CROW ... this is so so sweet i am kissing u gently on the mouth . also this is great timing bc i am just about to compile a vigilante's guide to knowing when to die into a goog file that i can send to my friend (part of our bargain in me convincing him to do nanowrimo w me this year)

snippet from book 2 for u:

The Rift gave a sudden convulsive shudder. Skysteel felt it all the way to her ankles as it threw her out—and away. She was freefalling before she even knew it, pinwheeling through the air like a shitty paper airplane. Sky-ground-sky-ground-BUILDING passed in a dizzy blur right up until she smacked into a billboard with a comedic sound. She would have laughed, except her lungs seemed to have gone on impromptu strike at the time of impact. It really was a hard-knock life, huh? Black spots swarmed her field of vision. An Avian shrieked at the sight of her and dove, the razor talons of its feet extended fully and bladed wings gleaming in the bright sun. Poltergeist and Eidolon were both yelling something over comms but she couldn’t parse anything—all she could see was the golden light of the Avians surrounding her, all she could feel was the agonizing feeling of the Rift splitting open wider far above her. The golden light of the Avians turned blinding. Skysteel’s secondary eyelids dropped down for a split second. But— That was no fucking Avian. A man shining like a blue sun reached down and gently plucked an Avian off Skysteel’s prone body laying in the ruin of the billboard. One moment his hand closed around its shoulder and the next—it was a still-glowing pile of fine, off-white ash on the ground. “That was stupid,” he said. Skysteel took the hand he offered and heaved herself up out of the pieces of billboard she’d fallen to the ground with. “That’s what I want on my headstone,” she told him, wincing and touching a hand to her ribs.

anyways i rarely talk abt a vigilante's guide (which some of u who have been following for a long time may know under the previous title of "demon city" and / or "demon eyes" and so all the stuff i've posted abt it r under those tags) bc it's like That One Big project for me. like u know how brandon sanderson has the stormlight archive that kind of is the hub / culmination of all his works across the brandonsandersonverse (official term is brandon sanderson's "cosmere")? for me that's vigilante's guide. also it's exceedingly self-indulgent is the other reason.

it's gone through like 50 different iterations bc it's existed in my brain for nearly as long as i can remember (i think over a decade at this point) and the Ira Neda i talk about (my supreme blorbo, if you will) is the protagonist! i have ambitions for it spanning five books with the second (formerly "demon eyes") titled a vigilante's guide to destroying the world but right now books 1 and 2 are existing in the same doc (DEMON MEGADRAFT) because i'm trying to see what gets shaken out of it while i play with a non-linear timeline between the two

as a result, there are a lot of ideas that are getting spun into it (and even more ideas that i've had trial runs of before editing or cutting them entirely) but it's got the run of the mill superhero genre setup: we have a recognizable earth set in the near-ish future / a time that's somewhat similar to our own, we have a bunch of vigilantes running around fighting ordinary crime and supervillains (tho these are mainly just called "terrorists" in-world bc, well.), and different people have different powers from different things (but mostly it's because they're alien / part alien lol)

book one (knowing when to die) follows ira neda's arrival in anehaven, a (fictional) city in new york, where she is trying to unravel the circumstances that led to her twin brother's death several years ago. she promises herself, her family, her friends, and a lot of strangers that she isn't in that vigilante business anymore, if she ever really was: she's retired now. she just wants to live a quiet life (lie) and she doesn't intend to instigate anything (lie) and she is never picking up the mantle again (lie). but anehaven, like ira neda herself, has secrets of its own. the city is alive--and it hungers. people have been disappearing from the streets without a trace for over a year now, more and more with each month that passes. she makes some friends (criminal empress and her two partners in crime as well as ... actual partners), she makes some enemies (her fellow vigilantes) there are three questions now that have no answers: what happens to these people? why does the sidewalk have teeth? and who the FUCK is this other guy calling himself a vigilante?

book two is a little more abstract on account of I Still Haven't Figured out Subplots for it, but it's your stock alien invasion with ensemble cast: here we introduce cori sanchez, the (also) (formerly) retired HUSH, a mirek'ar necromancer; alec iakabos, SOLSTICE, and noah harper, EQUINOX, whom you can think of as "gosh, i really was VERY inspired by wildstorm comics when i was fifteen, huh," if you're familiar with apollo and midnighter from them; along with some familiar faces from the first book--alan and blue wilson (POLTERGEIST and EIDOLON, respectively) and ira neda. names capitalized to make it easier for me to keep track of them lol.

[iliadette]

What are some reasons to actually like Spirk + Star Trek?

I'm an ORV fan but I used to watch Voyager as a kid and I've seen a one or two of the newer movies a few years back (dark something something?) I stayed away from the Star Trek fandom as an adult because I mainly associated it with racism and misogynistic nerd guys.

Hi, anon. Sorry if this ask will take a long time to appear, English is not my first language an I am bad with words on a good day.

You're probably thinking of Into Darkness. It's the second reboot movie. There's a lot of different opinions about those lmao. Personally, I love them even though they do have bad bad points, but then again, I love everything about Star Trek, even at its worst.

There's no denying that there was a bit of period-typical misogyny in the original Star Trek, and it got worse in the long run after Rick Berman was selected for production. Latent misogyny, hetero and amatonormativity, as any 60-to-90s show does. To deny that would be stupid. But.

Star Trek was one of, if not the first, tv programs to depict people of different races working together, as equal as they could get in a military-like setting, in a time when segregation and Cold War were still a thing. A Black woman, an Asian man, a Russian one, a Scottish one, all holding a major position in a government vessel, all iconic characters to this day. Censorship never let him, but Gene Roddenberry, the original creator, always intended to include queer people in ST, as I will explain better later. ‌The original series had episodes which very clearly condemned nazism, racism, the Vietnam war, genocide. The Ferengi race of the Next Generation were created to be a satire of western capitalists but were wrongly pegged as an antisemitic stereotype. If a major character is disabled, they have accomodations made for them, they don't have their disability erased, though I hear that Strange New World kind of fucked that up. An episode of TNG was in protest of conversion therapy though people didn't like how it ended. A major theme of Deep Space Nine revolves around colonialism. It had the first black protagonist (commander and later captain); the first female first officer in the franchise to have a major role, who formerly fought in a resistance movement against a the occupation of her planet by a fascist imperialist race; the first trans woman in all but designation, who btw very much kissed another woman in an absolutely iconic scene; a canonically very neurodivergent doctor. Voyager had the first female captain to star in a series. Seven of Nine's character is particularly dear to me because while it's obvious that she was added mainly to boost and entice the male audience with her sex appeal (and well, I am sapphic and far from immune), it's also obvious how much the writers and Jeri Ryan cared for her storyline and growth. She's such a complex character, I really love her. Seven-centric episodes are always a treat for me. I can't remember anything else off the top of my head, sorry abt that (I also haven't watched Enterprise and the newest series yet so I can't talk about that).

Does ST have bad moments? Misogynistic, racist, homophobic, ableist, amatonormative moments? Hell yes. Some episodes are really cringy and have very bad writing. But there are more good ones than not, and those are the ones I live for, the ones that can give you a message that stays with you, where there was somebody in the crew/cast who read the script, saw something terrible, and went "this will not pass on my watch" and worked together to fix whatever they could. I'm sorry if your experience with Star Trek was with dudebros who think "the woke of the latest series ruined the franchise".

Now, about K/S. I believe with all my heart that nobody needs a reason to ship any two or more characters together. That said, I think Spirk is one of those ships where you have to wear anti-ship goggles not to see the potential (but no big deal if you don't). They touch each other all the time, they risk their life and career multiple times to save the other. This is not inherently a sign of non platonic feelings, and they sure aren't canon as we usually mean it, but.

Writers sure had a field day sprinkling suggestive bits (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) all throughout the franchise, especially queer writers (Theodore Sturgeon, writer of Amok Time and Shore Leave, may his soul be blessed for all eternity).

Bonus for how they look at each other. (1) (2) (3) (4)

Roddenberry himself described their relationship as one of love. It's not mentioned in the series, but in the books it's revealed that they share a telepathic bond that connects their souls, which in Vulcan culture is called t'hy'la which can mean "friend, brother, lover". This definition was created specifically for the two of them, so this is a very obvious wink/nudge, if not an outright acknowledgement that "yes they're in love, but homophobia exists so this is all we can do."

In The Motion Picture when Kirk looks at Spock like a lovesick puppy after a long separation, and the simple feeling not much later.

And can anyone dare to say that those death scenes from The Wrath of Khan and Into Darkness are supposed to be platonic, or what Kirk says about Spock at the beginning of The Search for Spock, that his death feels like he lost "the noblest part of his soul"? And what about "Not in front of the Klingons"??

The books, too, have some very interesting nuance.

Sooooo yeah I absolutely think that Spirk is and will always be the one ship that best comes to mind when it comes to ST. In my eyes and in those of a lot of people they're canon in every way that matters, and if either of them had been female there would have 100% been a marriage in one of the movies, à la Riker/Troi. They'll forever be my ST otp, though I'll occasionally indulge a little bit of Spones and McSpirk. I could even like and reblog other ships like McKirk or Spuhura but only in fanart and only in moderation. I personally wouldn't be interested in reading fanfiction about those. But every ship is valid and equal in fandom, and none is superior just because it's canon and/or had a major role in the birth of shipping culture. Which is the very point all this behemoth of a post originated from, I guess.

This.... Has turned into way more than I thought. Sorry about thay. I hope my answer was satisfactory, anon. Also that I didn't bore you. Hope you have a great day, and thank you for reaching out. ❤️🖖

[yuukei-yikes]

give 5 of your favorite takane headcanons plzplz *big eyes*

this has been sitting in my inbox for a few weeks cuz i was trying to come up with something i havent drawn/talked about before but whatever Lets fucking go even if i repeat shit OK FIRST OF ALL. THE FUCKING SLEEVES. takane post str keeping the ene sleeves bc of sensory issues my beloved <3 i think he rly tries to laugh it off at first kinda like in denial but eventually gives in (or like in that comic i made haruka talks her into it and how its ok a lil bit too)

i also drew this in a harutaka i posted but takane randomly giving static shock to people when they touch them ajdhnsakdjskf <- something having the long sleeves also helps with cuz that way he doesnt have to actually touch anyone. victims of this most often are haruka (by accident) and shintaro (on purpose). also its hair randomly standing up bc. static. this makes no sense ofc but i think its a funny and silly way to translate takane's power in her physical body. the more time he spends as ene the more charged with random electricity its physical body is. RIP harutaka kisses they kinda hurt. u can make the our love is electrifying joke only like 3 times before it becomes annoying. eventually takane thinks haruka becomes immune but in reality he just gets used to it

this is kinda canon ig cuz of that saiyuki comic abt enoshima(was it enoshima. i might be misremembering LOL whatever the picture contest one) where its implied shes been playing for a living so streamer vtuber ene REAL. a hit bc its an insane fucking model to have. when asked who made it enes just like ohh sorry the guy who made is my teacher who died lol!!! maybe theres a bunch of conspiracy videos abt it because ene stops going online for 2 years and then theyre back but instead of a silent stream like it always was its THIS. huge hit though. its awesome. streamer takane is so real not only does he use its power for a job but its also basically "kay time to go to work *falls asleep*" takane being the only? mekadan guy who actually loves their power and actively uses it post str will never not be funny they/she/he/it takane btw. if you even care. bisexual nonbinaries eating hot chip and lying. blue hair AND pronouns. ALSO THE BLUE HAIR ive also drawn this a few times but takane chopping all its hair off+dyeing it blue my beloved. post str takane is never rly drawn with the long hair he has when she gets his body back but ummm i think itd be funny if post str they had it and cut it straight to short from there. i do not want to see the no9 novel ever tbh im fine with it being buried and dead but omg....takane design without the stupid fucking pigtails im BEGGING id kill to see a canon takane design without them. but i live in my delusion and in it theres short blue hair and pronouns!!!

not so much of a takane headcanon more of a general one but also sort of related. im so fascinated by what saeru must've told haruka and takane's parents. haruka was gonna die anyway so his dad wouldnt be surprised but theres No Body? i think for him he was probably a little gaslighted abt seeing him dead and by how he is described maybe he wouldve been fine with never looking at his son dead+convinced to have a closed casket by his old pal mr tateyama and just buried an empty casket for haruka.

but for takanes grandma its so complicated bc she had no REASON to have takane disappear like that. basically i think saeru gaslights gatekeeps girlbosses so hard like gaslights both’s parents to hell and back but especially takanes grandma bc harukas dad is more or less covered but with all its money and resources it can cover up haruka and takanes disappearances altogether so takanes just. Gone. and this poor womans rly has no answers, no closure, no nothing. takane just vanishes!!! grandma enomoto protagonist when. i think itd be funny if she went full on old woman conspiracy theory mode or just tries to move on with this huge mystery behind. takane and grandma reunion i want to see it. haruka with his dad too tbh im rly curious what theyd tell them and what theyve been told LOL

i think haruka and takane dont go back to their families immediately bc they have no fucking clue what to even say so they stay in the hideout for the time being (would the dan move to the tateyama house post str? i read this in a fic once i think itd make sense and i always go sniff sniff imagining mekatrio+mary saying goodbye to the 107 apt). but for takane it sort of becomes urgent bc um it starts becoming apparent she needs its meds and the dan does NOT have the funds so while haruka can wait it out takane is like forced to go back home. i think at first takane would try to pull thru bc with its powers he can still hang out and stuff but its rather haruka/shintaro/ayano being like UMMMM... YEA U NEED UR MEDS. yuukei quartet visiting enomoto grandma WHEN!!!!!!they go 4 emotional support/help to explain i thinks. i think they wouldve known her back then too cuz in the sixth novel haruka mentions they go to takane's house for ayano's bday party after the gaming event.

ummm... sorry this got long. sits down. sry theyre all moslty post str headcanons LOL post str my beloved

[arolesbianism]

Oh ya I never did actually share all the swaps in the dst roleswap au huh. Uhhhh list and basic ideas below the cut babey

Wigfrid (Wilson): basically just Wigfrid but if she never auditioned for Wigfrid and got into a few too many fights with different directors and then moved out into the middle of nowhere to pout. She and Wanda were also penpalls, and she is also autistic as hell

Wx-78 (Maxwell): after having debatably accidentally maybe murdering a fellow scientist they fled to britain to remake their identity (they still named themself Wx-78 lol) and while they were there they picked up a young easy to manipulate eager young "scientist" as their "assistant" and took him with them back to the us to attempt to rebuild their resources and continue their research. I made a whole other post abt them already so I won't go through it all here but long story short they got attached had a breakdown over getting attached and fucked over his life only to have it backfire on them spectacularly and they ended up on the nightmare throne rip

Wilson (Charlie): the previously mentioned young scientist, he was picked up by Wx as a teenager, and proceeded to idolise them for a while, but began to grow impatient and itched to make his own scientific discoveries. Soon after, he found the codex, and initially researched it in secret, but eventually got fond out and was forced to hand it over to Wx. The two would continue to research it together, but eventually Wx abruptly called off any further research into the constant and the two got into a big fight. Soon after this, Wx kicked out Wilson (who was in his early 20s at the time) and in an act of desperate rage Wilson attempted to break into the lab a few days later to steal the codex, leading to a bit of a wrestle between him and Wx which ended in them both getting dragged into the constant

Wanda (Wendy): our secondary protagonist, this is basically just a Wanda who never invented time travel lol. She is still alas not immune to the consequences of other Wandas who fiddled with time though, as soon before being dragged into the constant two separate versions of herself tried to travel to her world, both dying in the process. Now she is haunted by both a 17 year old version of herself and a god knows how many year old version of herself who are both yelling at her to invent time travel and are both refusing to elaborate on anything ever. She is very stressed all the time but hey at least both ghosts seem invested in keeping her alive

Abigail (Walter): less of a boy scout and more of a kid who eats random berries that have been laying in the dirt for a week. She didn't die in this au, but after she dragged Wendy out to some woods for a fun lil adventure, the two got separated, and after hours of searching, she ended up having to be dragged home as soon after Wendy was declared missing. Not fully understanding what was going on, Abby packed up some snacks and headed back out in secret to try to find her sister. She ended up getting super lost, and after a few nights, she finally broke down as she found a torn up remnants of one of Wendy's belongings, hungry and cold and just wanting to bring her sister home. Unfortunately for her, a certain figure would offer her a way to reunite with her sister (but hey, they weren't completely lying)

Wendy (Wx-78): its this point onwards that things start getting less detailed as we get into the "Im still working on it ok" zone. But long story short, Wendy died in the woods, a certain little boy did a fun lil dubiously scientific science to bring him back, yay. Unfortunately, he lost most of his memories, and ended up just wandering sitting around for a good while feeling empty and meaningless, leaving him to be very vulnerable to being manipulated by our favorite dipshit

Walter (Wanda): lil guy who has been stuck in a hell of a timeloop, to the point where he has long since lost the ability to remember the start of it. All he rly knows is that he has a weird curse going on, and that he has a watch he doesn't remember how he got that he has to use to stop it. Well more like prolong the inevitable. He's generally similar to canon Walter, but with a bit more of a not rly present vibe abt him. He has issues lol

Wes (Wigfrid): now here's where we start getting rly vague. My basic idea for Wes is that he's a famous actor who kind of ended up where he is by accident, and has basically spent the past few years constantly in character and never showing his face out of deep rooted anxiety. This habit continues strong into the constant, where he always strictly sticks to the character of whatever mask he's wearing. His different masks are based off of canon don't starve characters, but I'm not gonna go into my hypothetical kits for this au here lol

Willow (Wolfgang): having been forced into a sort of heel like role for most of her life, shes used to being treated like a villain and has learned to revel in the role. To the point where she very much started taking it too far lol. I imagine she still worked for Them to some extent, but in a much more. Openly violent way. I could go more into my ideas for her, but thatd just turn into kit talk so moving on

Wickerbottom (Woodie): she definitely has a colorful past, having amassed 3 werebeast curses and a decent amount of enemies, but I'll admit I uh. Don't have very detailed ideas for her backstory. I'm thinking she probably knew Wolfgang and Woodie, and that her werebeast forms are a werebat, a werecat and a wereghost, but thats abt it

Wurt (Wormwood): rly nothing too fancy here. She's a treeguard probably, she considers plants friends, she likes to learn, wow

Wormwood (Wurt): same sitch here, hes just a friendly merm

Webber (Wagstaff): the mystery boy himself, it's him! Im going to proceed to not elaborate as he's very important but I still need to develop him A Lot

Charlie (Webber): she cave spider

Winona (Warly): either an ex linecook or a survival chef or smth? Idk I feel like there's potential here but I still need to chose a concrete direction to take her

Maxwell (Wes): he's just William lmao

Woodie (Willow): local canadian haunted by fire. Idk man he's probably kinda depresses

Wolfgang (Wickerbottom): I'm gonna be real with y'all he's Wickerbottom cause that was the last thing I had left over. I imagine he probably got wrapped up in her drama back in the day and was left to maintain her library after she disappeared into the night at some point. After that library fire happened and similar sitch as canon except he is very much not happy abt absorbing so much cursed knowledge and is just shaking and crying anytime he has to apply said knowledge

Warly (Winona): Im gonna be real I have like nothing for him rn but Ill get to it I prommy

Wilba (Wortox): Wilba jumpscare! I'm gonna be real I just wanted an excuse to include her. I'm thinking she's Claus's kid and has gimmics based off of that, but otherwise no real thoughts abt her atm

And I thinkkkkk that's everyone? Idk it's 1 am if I missed someone Im sorry but also I need 2 sleep

[cielospeaks]

and this time for the real yr in review!

statistics:

grade- no grade babyyy im an adult (but no. im working. lol)

how i spent birthday- actually did something for once! got together w a friend and went to the conan cafe + conan movie! it was fun!

first date to come to mind- oh its gotta be jan 18

why?- using expert (average) strategy i had calculated it to be my only day to go to nwh at an imax theater in order to get the past 8:00 discount and the free stickers. turned out i had work which i wasnt told abt but that was ok bc like i said the movie was at 8. went leisurely shopping in seria and went to royal host tho i had no appetite bc of nwh hype and also i was reading death on the nile. then the imax show was amazing and i still have the stickers, they are my prized possession

something u gave up- i think i gave up caring abt fgo plot bc it all sucks lol. but actually i switched jobs. turned out it was not better, but not worse. absolutely necessary but there are still problems. but thats for me this year to figure out.

someone hot- like :/ how you gotta tell me this. i do completely platonically think the characters from that movie were hot/attractive/nice to look at. theyre just there and im down to see their shenanigans.

best media- i really liked reading mysteries oh my gosh. also seeing the raimiverse movies at last was very good.

worst media- i think its gotta be g b f. like. g o is bad but ive known it would be bad, so its not really notably so. f e h is the same way, like b6 was bad, the tempest trial painted its protagonist in a disfavorable light, but tbh i didnt mind it bc everyone stayed in character unlike last years. g b f has characters as interesting as captain fucking nemo and messes it up. i think the one event i didnt dislike this year was the disciples one and that was just bc it was true neutral. no big bad, no “oh player character you’re so op swoons”, no hamfisted morals, no fetishizing actual problems people face irl, and thats considered a win. not like i like g b f writing considering i stopped playing around the muse event, but they messed with garebear specifically so they earn my ire.

favorite things overall- idk. i wouldnt say favorite bc its actually really frustrating but i feel like having to face more like. irl problems (like mortality, the passage of time, interpersonal strain, ect) is good for me. i dont like it ofc but i do care about people around me so for their sake and my own i need to deal with these too, rather than just get pissed off abt second rate authors of games. that being said a real favorite thing (tho even thats a little bittersweet) was def n w h. like from january to the summer at least i was on a high feeling of hype and happiness abt the story and overarching franchise. im still not a m c u enjoyer but im a huge nwh fan. oh and also things like the g b f museum and g o fest turned out to be surprisingly like. super fun! so that was great!

what ur looking forward to next yr- its up in the air now but itd be nice to get a steady job that pays decently and covers things but doesnt sign me up for things i cant afford. like that would be ideal and id like it to happen. but again idk. i guess im looking forward to seeing what the year holds, good or bad, and trying to make the most of what happens. idk i cant think of anything in particular. except junko nendoroid. oh and sal and izou standies w my gofest goods! and the conan movie! and- (cut off rambling abt fandom stuff)

[7-oh-ta1]

Oh yeah I never said how I felt abt lis2 as a whole rather than just the ending I got. Yeah 7/10 had pacing issues due to the episodic release structure and lost itself a bit but pulled back together for the final confrontation and I was moderately satisfied with the ending considering they probably just wanted to be done with it since it didn't take off like the first game lmao. Sad bit is that I don't understand why it didn't!! I enjoyed it a lot more than the first by a longshot, probably because even tho it edged on corny with its attempts to show it's themes it also was more than a coming of age story with a not like other girls protagonist bec I was a big reader when I was younger and I've read 10 different stories like it, this one is just has indie music

---

Lis2 had it's fair share of weird attempts at making a statement but falling flat. The main themes of loyalty, morality, and racism are consistently brought up and I appreciate that they tackled such topics without attempting to hide the very ugly and disgusting parts of it -- that's exactly what early lis2 tries to accomplish. I don't need to tell you why racism is bad. The "do or die" nature of loyalty. Choosing what's morally correct over what you truly want. Teaching Daniel a balance of both, like Sean has.

Then in the end it says, "you can be separated from your cute little brother forever, who will always surrender to the police because he doesn't want to hurt anyone" OR "you stay together with a lunatic who uses violence first to solve his problems & is dangerous not only to your enemies but to YOU, he's already permanently disfigured you with little remorse."

It's like the messaging changed halfway through development. The first two episodes absolutely felt as though Sean was doing the right thing, because the police would racially profile him and lock him up away from his brother, who would go into the brutal foster system. America is unkind, and Sean & Daniel are victims of multiple situations that are completely out of their control. (Keep in mind this was peak Trump America and he was very aggressively encouraging violence against poc, specifically mexicans.) Without an adult, they're almost helpless to survive a country with no compassion for two orphans. Sean ran in the first place because the justice system is fucked. Then, by the end of the game, we're outright told due to Daniel's morality system that submitting to the police and "answering for your crimes" is the morally correct thing to do. Huh??

The whole point was that Sean didn't even kill that cop he was accused of, so what exactly is he answering for, morally? Everything he did after that was because the law was wrongfully pursuing him and he was a child with absolutely no resources and no help. He can make less moral decisions sure, but why does that mean GOING TO PRISON FOR A CRIME HE DIDN'T COMMIT? What did he do that he needed to answer for, morally? It doesn't make sense to me. Was the message, "no matter how hard you try you can't keep running, so just take it and don't put up a fight"? Really? Mind you the main themes are RACISM, loyalty, and morality. What the actual fuck are they trying to say with this game? They bring up topics, and never actually SAY ANYTHING ABOUT THEM!! Is the message, "life is unfair", maybe? Because it certainly wasn't just STRANGE. Also yeah, that's usually how conflict in a story works, I don't know why I had to sit thru the 9 hours of this poor kid getting his shit rocked just to for it to say, "that sucks, huh? :(" I will kill us both.

Despite these things bothering me, I actually DID enjoy experiencing the story. Lis games aren't about the destination or how you get there but the experience of travelling at all. I really liked Sean as a character, yeah he does annoying teenage boy things here and there but, well. That's what he is. One thing I wish was different is that after his initial development from lax brother to protective guardian, Sean never changes at all throughout the story and I really wish he could've grown a tiiiiiny spine instead of just becoming the punching bag of the game the last couple hours. Daniel was also really likable and super realistic as a kid dealing with life or death situations, developing from relying entirely on Sean to outright refusing to let Sean take the lead. I think ep 4 was easily the weakest chapter and it really backtracks on ep 3, where Daniel was straight up a direct danger to Sean. (Not just destroying his eye, but he repeatedly knocks Sean to the ground, refuses to even hear him out, and threatens him with that display at the lake) Still, I like em. :)

Even though the messaging is very stilted and the final two episodes feel like they were just. Balls off the walks high and took two coherent ideas and fucked them up, I still enjoyed the game. There were times at the end that it felt like it was written/planned around the same time of ep1 or ep2 because it felt less stiff. I would've been very happy if there was a sequel or anything tbh connected to the story of the brothers because I came to really care about them!! <3 Alright, back to complaining enough sap!!!!!!

[reel-fear]

Gotta say I can't stand people acting like Appledusk genuinely loved either of his mates. He didn't love Reedshine enough to be faithful, and he didn't love Mapleshade enough to not canonically stand her up for weeks, nor did he care about their kids enough not to actively (if indirectly) call them mistakes.

And no, apologists, MAPLESHADE was the side-chick. This stupid idea that Reedshine must've been the second mate because she was pregnant later is one of the stupidest things you could possibly say. Why are you implying you need to be pregnant and/or have kids to be fucking married??

And slightly off-topic, but "Mapleshade used her kits/Mapleshade babylocked Appledusk!" Is all around dumb.

THEY ARE FERAL. CATS. THEY DO NOT HAVE FUCKING BIRTH CONTROL. What do they WANT her to have done when she realised she was pregnant? Eat a deathberry?

And using the first "Appledusk is mine, these kits will make sure of that" line as "proof" is stupid too. Look at the actual context of the line in the book instead of watching one YouTube video.

Remember also: Appledusk has been standing her up on their nightly meetings for weeks to the point she had to tell him she's pregnant at a gathering. She did not just go to speak with him "because she thinks she's above the rules." Was she just meant to never tell her husband who she believes loves her she was pregnant?

Mapleshade sees from where she is hiding when Reedshine walks up to Appledusk and cuddles with him. She walked away and saw another woman move up to her husband (who she believes is monogamous and not a prick having an affair, Maple has no idea she is actively his side-chick) and flirt and snuggle him. She just told him she is pregnant, and this other woman is flirting with him. ANYONE would get momentarily jealous at that.

And even in some universe Mapleshade did genuinely think something was going on between the man she loves and Reedshine, IT TURNED OUT CORRECT. Appledusk IS having a fucking affair.

Obviously, it's not Reed's fault, it's entirely and 100% Appledusk's, but still.

And apologists need to stop using Maple thinking about Appledusk when the kits are born to back their "she used them to trap him" bullcrap. Is a new mother not allowed to think about her husband and wish the father of her children could meet them?

And bonus when they twist everything to say this but completely ignore Frecklewish and Oakstar literally stating that they want to raise the kids as weapons and nothing else.

YEA YEA... Like my biggest problem with the way ppl talk abt Mapleshade is all this shit being used as justification for why she deserves to have her life ruined and her babies die is HORRIFYING. Moth flight is shown to be incredibly easy to make jealous, Jayfeather and Lionblaze have blind faith in Starclan to tell them how to solve everything. ivypools motive for being in the df is kinda petty and she KILLS SOMEONE TWICE IN THERE. and Lionblaze only contunies to MURDER AND MURDER AND MURDER as the books go on. Hollyleaf murdered the person she saw as responsible for hurting her family only to take it back and hurt her family by unleashing the secret anyways.

Stop acting like Mapleshade deserved her tragedy at all. Compared to other warriors protagonists who also have blind faith in starclan make dumb and morally reprehensible choices she isnt any different than them. And on the babylock thing. it takes two to tango and if Appledusk didnt want kits or didnt want to stay with Mapleshade any more... Why did he "yknow" her??? Its entirely his own fault. She cant get an abortion or take a pill to not get pregnant unwanted pregnancies in warriors are so common they're becoming something the books themselves are addressing as wrong and bad. [this also works for the "she was seeing the guy who killed flowerpaw and freckles brother fucked up' excuse, I believe the time frame between that happening and maples kits being born was mentioned to be close enough that its likely Maple n Dusk had those kits BEFORE that incident. And like I said cat abortions dont exist so once again fuck Frecklewish fuck her grief she attacked and screamed at babies Im glad shes in hell <3]

When we start talking about mapleshade people suddenly switch to a mode where anything is okay unless Mapleshade did it and will do ANYTHING to twist the narrative to protect the horrible people around Mapleshade. Sure Mapleshade was dumb and naive and thats one of the biggest reasons her life falls apart. But making bad decisions and doing bad things shouldnt be punishable by kitten death in a world where Moth Flight or Clear Sky or Grey Wing get away free with the HORRIBLE actions they have taken. Bramblestar is stupid he takes actions only to boost his inflated ego and hurts his wife why did Starclan punish Maple for her wrong deeds but not him? She put blind faith in Starclan isnt an excuse BECAUSE BLIND FAITH IN STARCLAN IS BASICALLY REQUIRED IN WARRIORS!!! we only recently got arcs showing Starclan in a flawed light so no Mapleshade doesnt actually do a lot wrong by warriors standards people are just fucking dumb. Anyways if anyone reads this and feels the need to give me a nasty reply or get defensive bc Freckle, Apple, Oak and whatever the name of the riverclan leader was deserve to go to hell for their crimes. You better have passages from the book to back you up or I will eat you alive.

[spaciebabie]

PLEASE tell me about your oc lore that comic was SO INTERESTING I'm on my hands and knees begging for more pls

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU FOR THIS ASK I LOVE TALKING ABT MY OCS SM

I HADTA GET MY NOTES OUT FOR THIS ONE!

RANT UNDER READ MORE CUZ IT CONTAINS SPOILERS (EVEN THO IM PURPOSFULLY VAGUE) AND ITS ALSO A LOT

my GOD katherine quin- MY TRAGIC PROTAGONIST BABY WHO FEELS LIKE SHE ALWAYS HAS TA DO SOMTHIN ABT THE SITUATION EVEN THO SHE'S JUST A KID

i LOVE slow burns so everything in the story takes a moment ta kick off. you have katherine, "curiosity killed the kat" quin n her perfect parents, perfect friends n perfect life. everything is good. she's a kookie middleschooler abt ta go ta highschool, she's president of the history club, she's designated as the LEADER of the rexica manor field trip b/c of how dedicated she is ta learning abt their history.

she goes on the trip! it goes great, stupendous even! she comes home!! her parents are unreasonably upset for no reason b/c of a specifc thing that happens that i dont wanna spoil EERURUERUGUEGUEUGR

and she ends up learning a horrible truth. she's like, "i feel like we should do something now, with this thing i aquired maybe i can do something." n ppl keep telling her ta, "leave it ta the adults" "what are you even going ta do?", "everything is already in motion you just hafta wait till it all falls inta place" but-

FROM HER POV THE ADULTS HAVE BEEN STAGNANT, AWARE OF THE PROBLEM FOR 20+ YEARS N HAVENT BEEN DOING ANYTHING (spoilers? this is the incorrect mindset)

so she goes n does something STUPID. she directly puts herself in harms way, she puts herself in the forefront of the action b/c she thinks she can do somthing and the adults are forced ta acknowledge her b/c of this. they're forced ta include her even though they dont want to. again another child has decided that they want ta b involved in an ADULT MATTER and the only way they can make sure she n the other dumb kids stay alive is ta involve them so that they can watch over them.

time passes, a new character joins the fray. a deranged lunatic who will stop at nothing ta get what they want. they fucking flip the WHOLE WELL PLANNED OUT OPERATION THAT HAS BEEN IN THE WORKS FOR 20+ YEARS ON ITS HEAD AND KAT TURNS INTA A DIRECT TARGET.

people are hunting her. they want her dead. the police are aligned w/a new corrupt government that are after the thing she has designated herself ta protect (notice how i said, "herself" THE ADULTS DO NOT WANT HER TA PROTECT THIS THING) she's a fugative. she's an outlaw. she's protecting something the public percieves as dangerous, but she knows its not. her parents cant help her, n while she does have adults there ta aid her its obvi not the same. she misses her parents so much, she's stressed trying not ta get caught n die, having ta move from place ta place b/c of the threat of being recognized n the constant raids on the places she's at. i think that her birthday falls w/in this timeframe so like,,,,imagine trying ta celebrate your sweet 16 when your government is actively out hunting you.

AWFUL ANGSTY JUST THE WAY I LIKE IT

I HAVE HAD THIS WHOLE STORY PLANNED OUT SINCE I WAS 14 OH MY GOD I FUCKING LOVE THIS ARC!! ITS THE ANGSTIEST ARC OF THEM ALL AND AFTERWARDS THE CHARACTERS HAFTA SPEND THE NEXT ARC HEALING FROM THIS HORRIBLE THING WHILE DANGER STILL LOOMS IN THE DISTANCE.

THEY'RE IRREPERABLY SCARRED. PHYSICALLY, MENTALLY, KAT IS NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO SUFFERS FROM THIS!

and the best part of it is that some of it is her fault

[bootlickerhawks]

Thoughts on HNK 😈

Me, immediately after finishing chapter 97:

I had a general idea where the story was headed because of fanart I've come across, but even after you warned me nothing could have prepared me for the torrent of emotions I would feel ;w;

Apologies but this is going to be discombobulated af (my thoughts are all over the place >_<) and LONG (1.1k words) but that's a given with a story like HNK.

Reading this, especially in the latter half, is akin to watching a rollercoaster wildly veer off the rails only to crash in a crowd of innocent people…. And then it keeps going and keeps running over people in its path. the people, in this scenario, are my emotions :”)

THE CHARACTERS

Ship of Theseus and Phos > Phos’ development throughout the story makes us doubt if this is even the same character anymore. We see the first signs of it after Phos lost their legs and forgot about their promise to Cinnabar, and again after Antrac died, and then it becomes much more obvious when Lapis’ head is installed. This comes to a head when Phos can’t remember their promise after Cinnabar thanks them and when they can’t even recognize their past self on their way to Adamant’s desk. What makes the tragedy of Phos’ character work so well is that they do accomplish what they originally set out to do: Cinnabar’s poison is gone and they’re no longer isolated, Antarc is resurrected and the Gems are finally living in peace (as Lunarians*, more on that in the ART section). But Phos can’t even appreciate what they’ve accomplished because they a) don’t remember and b) CAN’T FUCKING SEE IT BECAUSE THEY’VE BEEN SENTENCED TO BE ISOLATED FOR 10 000 YEARS (jfc talk abt a fate worse than death)  

Overall I really adore Phos! The way they metamorphosize throughout the story is fascinating to watch. I loooooove the buildup of Phos’ suspicions towards Adamant and their downfall feels organic. This is a corruption arc Done Right! They’re truly one of the most compelling protagonists I’ve seen in a long time.

I kinda wish Dia and Bort’s conflict had more focus. Dia building up an image of Bort in their mind, finally gathering the courage to confront them only for Bort to pull the rug under their feet because they changed so drastically is great. I wish we’d seen more of it but I am satisfied with what we got.  Side note 1: I love character’s like Dia that are really cheerful on the outside but hide “nasty” emotions like envy and resentment only for those emotions to boil over. *chef’s kiss* I eat that shit up!  Side note 2: Bort’s character development is hilarious (and not to bring a dead meme back to life but it might be a Jojo reference? Strong stoic character grows up and becomes a marine biologist. Coincidence? I think not!)

Speaking of character conflict! I find it disappointing that most of the closure happened off-screen. Especially Welegato/Cairngorm and Ghost, the last time they interacted Ghost was breaking Cairngorm to prevent them from becoming independent. You would think that would create some uh “tension” to put it lightly. Rutile and Padparadscha (yes I had to look at the wiki to write that correctly) seemingly have a lot of unresolved issues, which makes sense given how fucked their relationship was, but I doubt we’ll get to see them addressed since the manga is ending soon (I think? That’s what I heard? The story does seem to be headed towards its climax).  On the flip side I understand why the author didn’t do it cuz it would have slowed the pacing down.

Cinnabar is my fav so I was really disappointed when they faded to the background, but since this story is mainly from Phos’ POV it makes sense that Cinnabar would take a step back once Phos starts avoiding them. This also explains why Dia and Bort’s conflict rarely has any focus because Phos doesn’t care about it (unless it’s to exploit it).  I do have hope that Cinnabar is going to play a big role in the climax. My theory is that they’ll stay behind with Phos after Phos prays everyone else away since they understand the pain of isolation (same reason they took Sensei’s side) but we’ll see. Everything depends on how Phos reacts (and we all know how notoriously unpredictable they are). 

I feel conflicted about Cairngorm/Welegato. Cairngorm is my other fav and they were one of the most interesting characters and had a fun dynamic with Phos but after the Moon arc they kinda became flat :(  I’ve said this before but there is a tragic irony that Cairn’s attempt to emancipate themselves ended up with them becoming dependent on someone else. I am glad that Cairn is happy and that Achmea hasn’t taken advantage of the obvious power imbalance between them (yet) but I had higher hopes for Cairn. Disappointment aside, I will say that I really enjoyed the scene where Cairn directly confronted Phos on the way that they treat people and correctly foreshadowed Phos’ fate : isolation.

Achmea is a character that I have a hard time pinpointing my feelings on… I think I like him?  I'm glad he doesn’t fall into the annoying “Everything went according to keikaku MUAHAHA” trope. He took advantage of Phos’ nature instead of actively grooming them into “becoming human”, I know it’s a very fine line but it’s a line nonetheless and I appreciate him for it. My tolerance for badly executed “control” characters is very low *glares at seraph of the end* 

Euclase is a character I didn’t really care about til chapter 96. I respected them and Jade for being the first to figure out what Phos was up to when they came back from the Moon, but other than that I didn’t care about them much. But chapter 96 changed that! Thank you Euclase for being the voice of reason!!! ​​🙌 Leaving someone isolated for 10 000 years is fucked up! Thank god someone pointed it out! ​​🙌 

And that’s it for the character section! Those are all the characters I have strong opinions on! (I didn’t include Adamant because I need to reread hnk before I can form a definitive opinion 🤔)

THE ART

The first thing that stands out in HNK is the art. Now, if I were more verbose I could comment on page composition and the author’s use of light and shadow, but I’m not so I’ll just say this: the art in HNK tickles the part of my brain that really enjoys art :D 

I love the character designs and the art, especially the body horror (shattered!Phos is ✨Peak Character Design✨). 

My one complaint(?) is that once the Gems became Lunarians I had a hard time distinguishing/recognizing them. But I’m thinking that might be intentional as a way for the author to comment on cultural assimilation? And given that the Lunarians are the same people that casually brought up genociding the poor fish people... I think it's intentional 🤔

The Buddhist imagery is beautiful. The first time the lunarians appeared I had to pause to appreciate what I was looking at. Sadly a lot of the symbolism goes over my head because I’m not well versed in Buddhist mythology, like Enma being the god of the underworld in Buddhism (I only know that thanks to a comment I saw under the chapter)   

My final verdict is that my brain chemicals have definitely been altered after reading HNK. Even if the author doesn't nail the ending the journey so far has been unforgettable, and I suspect that HNK and Phos are going to be living rent free in my brain for many years to come