#its pretty thematically appropriate anyway

[baalzebufo]

so I know I havent finished the nurgle warband yet but... well i wanted to build vampires too. oops

built up kritza and annika to use em as the leaders of a warband built out of the crimson court. theyre using the card/statblock of prince duvalle hence the smaller bases, just flavoured differently because honestly. im in love w these two designs. kritza especially is too awesome Not to use, i love you ratboy

i love the idea of making them a warband that is basically deposed and exiled nobles and their small group of supporters/sycophants seeking to muscle some political power back. these two are together in a 'were married and also keep trying to poison each others coffee and stab each other in the back' way. yever seen the vincent price version of house on haunted hill? Like That.

no plans to do any kitbash or conversion stuff on these folks because honestly, the base models for the court are already cool as hell. just gotta put the rest of em together and figure out my colours 👍

[utilitycaster]

Level Up: Bells Hells Level 12

As always: are there errors or major omissions? Let me know! Your preferred feat or spell isn’t listed? That’s because it’s not my preferred feat or spell, and you should make your own post for your own preferences! Additionally, because level-ups are no longer done at the end of sessions but are rather their own separate videos, I now include speculation for the next level(s) since there’s often very little time to speculate on the current level.

Chetney: He could take another rogue level, as Fearne has, but I think leveling in blood hunter is by far the wiser choice, though Travis does have the rare carte blanche for being good at mechanics award I just made up. Anyway, rogue would give him cunning action, but blood hunter is a big one: hemocraft die goes up to d8, unarmed strike bonus goes up to +2, and he not only gains another use of hybrid transformation per rest but also can now regenerate a small number of hit points at the start of each turn while injured, which will improve his already impressive tanking prowess. Looking forward: I think he should stick to the single rogue level, honestly, and keep leveling in blood hunter. 12 is an ASI level, so: ASI to strength, int, or con, all key stats, would be best in my opinion. He could even out his wisdom score, but also he's rarely been badly afflicted with bloodlust and this party does not lack for wisdom but does need all the int, str, and stacks of HP it can get.

Laudna: You've already seen my thoughts on sorlock before (if you haven't, basically: I think it's not as strong as people think) so this is a bit tough to optimize. Anyway, warlock 4 is a very narratively valid choice if Marisha wanted to level in order to indicate the impact returning to Delilah has had. It would grant her an ASI/feat, another spell, and another cantrip. Personally, I am once again asking Bells Hells to get some intelligence; as a warlock base Laudna's WIS save is already pretty solid, though a DEX bonus wouldn't hurt her either. I don't actually have a ton of feats in mind since she came in with a bunch of feats. Meanwhile, if she continues in sorcerer, level 9 is something of a milestone level and grants access to 5th level spells (and a new known spell) in addition to the usual sorcery point increase. Ultimately this is a tough choice - I think sorcerer is the superior choice mechanically, but warlock might make more sense in-story. Looking forward: really dependent on which path she takes, honestly, but if she does level in warlock I think she should level in sorcerer next. [Note from JUST NOW: she's taking sorcerer; place your level 5 spell bets now]

FCG: It's an ASI level for the non-multiclassers of the group, and: Wisdom. Up wisdom. I don't care if it's a +1 feat or a +2 ASI, either are valid, but increase wisdom. Last time I mentioned skill expert and observant as options; skill expert is I think the better choice since Orym has observant covered. Looking forward: it's a quiet but powerful time for clerics; level 13 grants seventh level spells and pals, all of them are bangers. Plane Shift and Resurrection are the famous ones, but Fire Storm? Divine Word? Etherealness? Symbol? Not a dud in the bunch.

Fearne: She took rogue last time so I do hope she takes a druid level, because cauterizing flames seems thematically appropriate with the shard and with embracing her power -both its healing and harmful sides - and also it's a fantastic ability. If she does take rogue, I feel like thief is the subclass that makes most sense because in combat, she's going to be relying on druid powers, and thief provides some great out-of-combat utility (and is generally an underrated rogue class). Looking forward: I do like the idea of thief Fearne, but also, level 11 is when she gets Transport via Plants, which is pretty key. Level 11 has a bunch of other great druid spells, as fans of Keyleth during the Briarwoods arc would know: Heal and Heroes' Feast both overlap with FCG's abilities but it doesn't hurt to have access to both; giving Fearne Conjure Fey is particularly funny; Sunbeam rules and she's done great things with Daylight; and Bells Hells is already learning the value of Wind Walk.

Imogen: ASI level and I say even out your stats: + 1 each to INT and WIS. She has a lot of feats already and the only one that I think makes sense to take now is War Caster, but right now she does not have a great wisdom save bonus and again, even a +1 to INT wouldn't hurt (plus she is, iirc, proficient in investigation, making her better at it than anyone but Chetney, so another point in that won't hurt in this part). Looking forward: I am assuming she's going to keep leveling in sorcerer and if things happen re: Predathos or Kord it will be represented by a subclass change rather than a class change or multiclass, but watch this space. Anyway, level 13 is time for seventh level spells, and my vote is for teleport since FCG can cover Plane Shift, but I must admit I do love Prismatic Spray.

Orym: it's another ASI and he gets a zillion of them! My boring ASI-loving ass says +1 to INT and CON. He could also take Sentinel although the big three generals can all probably teleport so I don't know if it's that useful, but Mage Slayer probably would be. Looking forward: At level 13 he gets a second use of indomitable, which is great but there's not a ton to say about it. At level 14 he gets another ASI and he should take whichever of the recs I have up here he doesn't take at level 12.

Ashton: An ASI to them too. I feel the move is to max out strength at this point. The CON loss sucked but their CON was already very good; focus on hitting a little harder. Sentinel and Mage Slayer are also valid options for them, though I'd go for the ASI and let Orym, he of the zillion ASI levels, take those. Looking forward: Brutal critical comes at L13, and a path feature at L14; as their subclass is homebrew I have no idea what that feature might be, but I'm excited.

[some-murmurings]

i'm happy that video essays are a popular format on youtube now. i've loved the genre for years and, with care, it's a reliable source of accessible education.

that said, the popularity of video essays on youtube makes me feel like my brain is leaking out of my ears. it is so easy to immediately tell when an author has no actual investment in the genre and sees it merely as a vehicle for #Content™️©️®️

There are three basic qualities I see suffering the most for this

1. Length

I see so many of these newer channels pumping out 8 hour pieces that are closer to exhaustive book reports then they are tight, well written examinations of something and, while I LOVE the diversity inherent to the video essay format, this is a terrible way to explore a topic. It's boring, lame, and extremely profitable.

Quinton Reviews is a good example; I like his work occasionally, his recent thing on Dan Schneider was genuinely pretty good. It did still suffer from the resulting pacing sickness from overloading on information and underloading on composition & organization. Wendigoon is an even better example. Most "iceberg" style vids also are (not u jan misali. never u.)

Also, there's no defined rule for the length of a video essay. They can be 5 minutes long or 5 hours, flash fiction or a full-bodied thesis. Shots of tequila or a whole bottle of wine can both get you drunk.

2. Pacing

Obviously related to length but this is another problem; video essayists have always struggled with this and it got worse recently anyways.

A lot of that "information overload" is to blame. It's important that, when researching, YOU come to a strong, nuanced understanding of a topic through disparate sources. It is, by nature of the format and genre, an extremely bad idea to try and make your audience learn the information the same way.

We don't need a thousand sources spread across several dozen sentences, we want the 3-4 (max) best sources on a given subtopic concisely synthesized into a coherent idea.

Use music, jokes and relevant graphics to make this information as engaging and interpretable as possible without sacrificing accuracy. It's okay to abridge and note that you were, in fact, abridging. We don't need to know every detail about every single thing loosely related to the topic.

Dan Olson from "Folding Ideas" is a good example of this. His script writing and camera work does an extremely good job of creating effective flow with an appropriate amount of detail & nuance. So, pacing, basically.

3. Topic

U can tell some of these jamokes don't give a fuck or shit about the thing they're discussing. Worse still when it's some inane internet drama they're recounting like its "news."

To be clear: the best video essays are OFTEN on topics you have no previous interest in. Roblox_oof.wav by HBomberguy is an easy example. This shit is a complete mess thematically but, because the author engages deeply and effectively with the topic, it literally doesn't matter. It's an insanely good video you should spend all 2 & 1/2 hours in rn. Go. Watch it.

Nor is internet drama a bad topic to cover. You're allowed, encouraged really, to discuss the weird bullshit people do to each other but like... this is closer to a soap opera than it is a national news headline. Looking at you, "Turkey Tom" or whatever the fuck your name is.

There's something to be said, too, for how quick people are to make an essay about a still moving situation. I know the algorithm is an insatiable maw of content hunger but, counterpoint, ONLY MAKE A VIDEO WHEN YOU CAN ACTUALLY DESCRIBE WHAT HAPPENED. If there's reasonable suspicion stuff isn't done, SHUT THE FUCK UP. It's okay if you misjudge a timeline here or there, you're allowed to admit fault and correct yourself, but, like, cmon.

Also something to be said about how quick so many essayists have ALWAYS been to talk about someone else's business without permission, particularly intimate partner violence.

4. Style/Presentation

Video essays are an extremely novel format, particularly for education, so there's a genuine debt of easy-to-adopt styles. And, because of the recent growth, there are a lot of new people entering the space with very little experience in it.

That said, the next time I hear that fucking "influencer cadence" I'm gonna EXPLODE. You know the one, they slow down towards the end of a sentence to lend "gravitas" and overarticulate every. single. word. to, idk, build credibility?

It's shallow and obnoxious and I hate it. Nothing makes me skip a video faster than a boring intro & a predictable cadence. Be honest about the way you speak. If you struggle to create rhythm & flow with your voice, use music! Seriously, music sampling is a super valid method, most indie artists would be JAZZED to have their stuff in parts of their video. A lot of orchestral stuff is in the public domain, especially a lot of famous "classical" works. Put Beethoven's 5th in your video about potato farming in russia, God might not be real and if she is she'd ALSO think it's funny.

Another problem: predictable cuts & generally uninspired editing. I know editing is a pain in the ass but, like, it IS still a creative process. You do have space to do interesting stuff here and, if you can't focus for that long, literally just make a shorter video.

It's okay if 95% of your transitions are purely functional, the trick is to make those 5% REALLY silly to keep your audience on their toes.

5. Tone

You don't need to be "an authority" on a topic to make a good essay about it. It helps but, as long as you're clear & honest about the limits of your understanding and you've done your due diligence, you almost certainly will be fine to talk about anything you want.

If you want to build credibility quickly, consider starting with disambiguation instead of dry recitation. Dates matter less to me than actually understanding a topic better. Even better if you come across like another autistic person infodumping about whales or w/e.

I'd keep going but my phone's gonna die. U get the gist. Lots of format problems that algorithm-brain is exacerbating.

[ominous-feychild]

Happy Worldbuilding Wednesday! What would you say is the defining trait of any of your settings?

Omg, this is a very difficult question to answer because I do a LOT of worldbuilding, haha. But let's see...

I think, technically, the most defining traits of my settings is how different they are? I hop around the (in-universe) world in each individual story, and each in-universe country is inspired by real world cultures. But mostly drawing inspiration from ancient cultures because I explicitly prefer ancient history to modern. Plus, it's more fun to research. Which--ha--I'm definitely in the minority for feeling this way, I know!

I actually mentioned this recently toward the very end of another post I made recently, but I'll restate it for convenience's sake, haha... and then go into more detail.

Glavnran (tAR) is Slavic (drawing primarily from early Slavic history, while I do my absolute best to figure out what the folklore was like before Christianity got its grubby hands on it. A polytheistic spinoff of Christianity exists in my story, appropriating a lot of its themes and imageries. That religion exists nowhere near Glavnran, so it has no place there. Also I think I've made it clear I dislike Christianity.)

Jhandar (tAR) is Indian (off the top of my head, I can't recall if I was taking from any specific era, but I'm drawing on inspiration from Hinduism and there's a prominent caste system. Jhandar is also an empire, drawing inspiration from Rome and especially the rule of the Qin Dynasty of China. While not exactly thematically relevant, it's fun and helps explain some things I wanted happening in Glavnran/the surrounding countries. Oh, yeah, Glavnran is under the thumb of the Jhandan Empire. It's why there's so much tension between the Glavni and Jhandan peoples.) (Also, the blue-and-red coloration here isn't a "good-and-evil" thing. To anyone who's read anything about my writing, it should be VERY clear that Glavnran isn't a great place and is, in fact, full of crime and -phobias of all sorts. It's based on their temperatures/climate, haha. I would've put Glavnran as orange but that fits other countries better.)

Lynsmouth (SaS) is Western European (the Western World gets a lot of focus in media, so Lynsmouth and the country it takes place in that I've definitely named get to be the Token "West" in my writing. It gets inspiration from all over Western Europe, but I've primarily focused on France and the Netherlands for it. It's also got Italian-style mafias, haha. They have the Christian-adjacent religion where they glorify a single god. It is, however, subtly dying out, because of Lore and immigration of a sort. The "new arrivals" so to speak have their own religions.)

Kihroin (RFtA) is Northern African (as in Islamic. I'm most likely leaning most strongly into Morrocan inspiration for anything "modern", but obviously most strongly leaning toward ancient history. Islam itself obviously won't appear in my writing, as I'm working within a fantasy world with provably real pantheons of gods. I haven't decided how I'll adapt their hyper-religiousness into Kihroin, especially because I'm personally uncomfortable with religion (though I bet you couldn't tell) and yet want to adapt something that major to their modern culture(s) into my writing. Yet another reason RFtA isn't a current project.)

Cirrane (RFtA) is Latin American (given that actual Native American history is incredibly difficult to get our hands on--cough cough THANKS COLONIZERS, THANKS CHRISTIANITY cough cough--it has a lot more modern inspiration(s) than ancient. Howeverrrr... that's not necessarily a "bad" thing considering that Cirrane is a very bad place and I know plenty of people will @ me accusing me of racism for it anyway. Nah, man, it's pretty much everywhere in my writing! It's almost like it makes for a better story! Also my Mexican gf approves of what I'm doing with it, so take THAT, SJWs.) (Oops, I ranted there for a second. Long story short, it takes a lot of inspiration from all over Latin America! That applies to the other two "Latino" countries too, though, haha. Besides that, it's also stolen quite a bit of imagery from Rome. Ah, that must be where the Evil's from. /hj)

Tzakah (RFtA/tCC) is also Latin American (one of my favorite places in all of my worldbuilding!!! Is also extremely tropical. It's a lot more "original" of a culture due to worldbuilding stuff, but it still takes a lot of Latin American Inspiration.)

Minogua (RFtA/tCC/???) is the last Latin American country (explicitly has a previous history of colonization that they've (relatively) recently shaken off through rebellion and ousting the authorities from other countries. Tackles a lot of those issues a lot more directly and has them more modern than the other two. Though it makes sense considering Tzakah was previously part of Cirrane. Regardless! There's lots to possibly tap into, but Minogua so far only has characters originating from there. Well, and minor plots relevant to those characters but y'know. I definitely want to eventually make a story placed there eventually to more directly explore its themes!)

Honorable mentions/speedrun:

Isagnea (tAR, though idk how much it'll show up, and ???) is Italian (not very worked on, but it's the home country of some side characters... hence why it's not really worked on. It'll definitely see more attention if and when it becomes relevant. Most likely, it won't be until if/when I work on another story focused on those characters. Or, y'know, it appears in another story.)

Ilyich (tAR, tho it likely won't show up more than once) is Slavic (country Glavnran was once a part of, before they split off (not peacefully) over religious differences. Methinks a Christian-esque religion might actually be rather hated by the Glavni people...)

Shilyma (tAR, mentioned but not visited) is a Slavic/Asian mix! (so, yknow, likely would take inspo from Mongolia? Not too developed, but is like Tzakah in that its origins are unique.)

Anispe (tAR, end of series, and ???) is Greek (spoilers! 😁 But Jhandar is actively at war with it, trying to get them under its thumb as well! I have Plots to eventually make a story centered on Anispe before it was Anispe, too!)

Shaoraigh (SaS) is Celtic (an oldie but goodie! I did a good bit of worldbuilding here in the past even though it's never appeared in my writing. One of its gods are VERY important in the worldbuilding, however.)

Drønhals (SaS) is Celtic/Norse (Freya's home country, was once part of Shaoraigh (in-universe) but they separated over religious differences!)

Tulidin (tCC) is Chinese (I'm probably changing its name eventually, though. Also has minor worldbuilding and a character originating from there.)

Shoutout to misc unnamed countries that exist, but I've never gotten around to naming them for one reason or another! Like, for example, the Jhandan-Glavni colonies Rieka and Adilzhan are from and the Hawaiian-and-Japanese-inspired country hidden away from the rest of the world. (Wish I could make it Pure Hawaiian, but... you try doing research on Hawaii. Join me in my hatred for Christianity.)

Can you tell I've been writing/working on this world for ten years?

This post has gotten WAY longer than I was expecting (though really I should've figured, smh) so I'll make this last bit quick:

The technology contained within each country/story is very different, both due to wealth gaps and time period jumps! There's... a lot of worldbuilding. The Arcane Rifts takes place approximately 200 years before Sun and Shadow and Rising From the Ashes (which are connected to each other), so that on top of the exploitation from Jhandar means they're not going to have the greatest tech for example. Sorry this was so long! Hope you enjoyed reading!!!

Also, apparently I have more of Western Europe in my worldbuilding than I thought. Now I'm disappointed in myself.

Also-also, I misread this Ask. I thought it was asking for the defining traits in everything... whoops. I made this WAY harder on myself than I needed to.

Tagging those interested!: @the-golden-comet @the-letterbox-archives @honeybewrites @darkandstormydolls @mysticstarlightduck

@urnumber1star @aalinaaaaaa

[aethersea]

📓!

There’s an atla au of star wars that I have tried so hard to bend into a shape that I can actually write, but alas, all I have are ideas. This is the one that’s in the wips folder as Everything Changed when the Clones Attacked, which is ironic bc I cannot for the life of me figure out what to do with the clones. Maybe they’re being brainwashed at Lake Laogai? Or something???

Anyway. The story has two parts, prequels and sequels. Details under the cut, because this got a bit long.

In the prequels, the elderly Master Yoda of the airbenders is Avatar, and in his old age he’s stopped traveling the world and instead dispenses his wisdom from one of the great Air Nomad temples, nestled deep in the mountains where only Air Nomads can reach. He’s unofficial leader of the council of Air Nomad elders, which is….not great, really, not how things should be, but it’s mostly been okay. He’s been a good avatar overall, and it’s only in later years that he’s leaned so heavily toward the Air Nomads, and really none of this is enough to push the four peoples truly out of balance. 

Our story starts with Qui-gon Jinn, an airbending master traveling with his apprentice, helping a besieged queen from a minor Earth Kingdom escape her city. (I saw a post once asserting that the Earth Kingdom is actually a collection of largely autonomous kingdoms that all loosely recognize the authority of the Earth King in Ba Sing Se, and I like that a lot, so that’s the worldbuilding I’m going with here.) Qui-gon agrees to take Queen Amidala to the Avatar’s council to beg their aid. 

Along the way, they encounter a young boy living with his mother. The boy can do a bit of earthbending—and also a bit of waterbending, and a bit of airbending, and a bit of firebending. Which is impossible, because Avatar Yoda isn’t dead, but there he is, bending all the elements anyway.

I don’t think there’s slavery in the atla universe, but we could probably get away with indentured servitude of some kind, and Qui-gon acquires Ani in much the same way as he does in canon. He takes him to Avatar Yoda—and Yoda rejects him. Says, essentially, “This is weird as hell but it’s also not my problem.” (Frankly I can’t come up with an actual good reason for Yoda to do that, but just go with me here.) So Qui-gon angrily responds that if the Avatar won’t take responsibility, he will, and then gets himself enmeshed in Amidala’s political problems to boot. 

And then he dies.

Something something evil emperor, yadda yadda you know the drill. (Though I think the empire isn’t going to be the Fire Nation, despite the thematic appropriateness of fire spreading unchecked to consume all in its path. Palpatine is gonna usurp the Earth King, I think, and I do feel the prequels’ themes around entrenched systems with deep flaws, which are too big to fight as individuals and too implacable to change, will fit well with atla themes around earth.)

The sequels portion of things is even less plotted out. All I know is that Luke grows up in the same nameless patch of Earth territory his father grew up in, and he doesn’t actually discover he can waterbend until he’s practically an adult. It’s a shock to everyone—except, somehow, weird Old Ben who lives in the desert, who tells him that the next Avatar is supposed to be a waterbender, and won’t explain why he’s so convinced Luke is that Avatar given that he’s pretty emphatically not from the Water Tribes. 

Luke is finally convinced when he manages to airbend, under Old Ben’s suspiciously skilled tutelage. He can’t pull off any other elements, though, so they go off on a road trip to that swamp where you see spirits, to try to reach the past Avatars and get some guidance.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to both of them, Leia has grown up knowing she can firebend. This is kind of an alarming skill for the princess of an Earth Kingdom to have, and even more alarming given that she’s already an earthbender. So she’s kept it secret, and no one but her parents has ever known.

They can meet in some way analogous to the Death Star raid in A New Hope, idk I have zero plot in mind here. The point, as far as I’m concerned, is that the Skywalkers have fundamentally broken the Avatar cycle. Anakin shouldn’t exist, and yet he does, and he was born while Yoda was still alive. If he hadn’t existed, the next Avatar would be a waterbender, and that’s Luke—except he’s from the Earth Kingdom. If Anakin is a true Avatar, then the next one would be an earthbender, and that’s Leia—only then she shouldn’t have been born until after Anakin’s death. Nothing makes sense! Even Yoda and all the other past Avatars together have no goddamn clue what is going on!

Imagine their consternation when they discover that neither Luke nor Leia is the Avatar: it’s actually both of them together. Luke has air and water, Leia has earth and fire; Luke can visit the spirit world and be the bridge between humans and spirits, and Leia can speak to kings and maintain the balance between the four nations. The two of them, together, can defeat their father, defeat the emperor, and restore harmony to the world.

[scrapcheese]

ALSO I THINK WHITE FROM THE NEW CH IS ALSO TAKIYA

TWO DRAGONPOSTING IN A DAY????? ANYWAYS... Chapters 142, 143 and 144 dropped, and with it we have a new charcter named White. But is it really a new character? Here are the reasons I think the new character is Takiya :3

1. Takiya is not among the people who were kidnapped, but he's also not in the human world

^^ Those who were kidnapped are Saikawa, Georgie and Take

^^ Yet Takiya is also gone with Fafnir

===

2. We see Fafnir talking to this character in the chapter even though we know he's very much a shut in recluse

This implies that they have some sort of connection, at least enough for him to willingly be interacting with them in a fairly civil manner.

===

3. The character's name is White, thematically the opposite of Fafnir

Like Fafnir's color scheme is mostly black, it would only be thematically appropriate to have his buddy be a character that has an almost entire white color scheme. Yin yang energy, you know?

===

4. We are going to have a Tohru vs Fafnir battle in the upcoming chapters.

Surely it would only be right to have some sort of confrontation between their human partners, Kobayashi and Takiya? Like come on parallels and stuff are cool and basically what was kind of happening in chapter 141 between the two pairs.

===

5. Following my "Kiyama is Takiya" theory that I'm pretty certain is true because of THESE REASONS, I think it would make sense for Takiya to have some sort of defender/hero alter ego.

We are shown that he has travelled to another world, plus its mentioned that he has been to this specific one multiple times already.

ALSO he has a sword on him, and it might be the holy sword that he had in the bonus chapters? Maybe it's a different sword and the holy sword is with Kobayashi now but you get the idea

===

6. HE SAID THE KING THING. READ MY KIYAMA IS TAKIYA THEORY. IT MAKES SENSE I SWEAR JUST READ IT

White is Takiya who is also Kiyama. Kiyama wants to look for a king like Obayashi, and found him in kobayashi (who I believe is related to Obayashi in somewhere, like the name Kobayashi could come from "Ko Obayashi" which means "Child of Obayashi, which would explain why she doesn't really have a first name in the series)

I know I'm kind of grasping at this point but I SWEAR I MAKE SENSE. I PROMISE.

=========================

I mean, there could also be the possibility that this is another character that came from the oneshot, like King Obayashi or his kid or something along those lines. BUT I WANT TO BELIEVE THAT THIS IS TAKIYA BECAUSE I NEED HIM AND FAFNIR TO HAVE MORE SCREEN TIME PLEASE

Andddddd THATS THE END OF DRAGONPOSTING FOR TODAY YIPPEEEE!!!

[lakesbian]

ok. the alecs. by first to most recent

and the pancake

ahem okay

this is the alec that everyone draws the first time they draw alec. hair not fully curly. vaguely fitting the description of A Little Guy but otherwise nondistinct. 4/10 this is what alec looks like from a distance of 15 feet if you squint

proof of the rule wrt alec that the masks people make up for him when they forget his canon design (literally just a blank white smirking mask) are always accidentally thematically relevant or interesting. wake up puppet boy. curly hair win but the outfit has not been fully faggified yet. 7/10 this sufficiently captures the essence of alec. i shouldve done a five-star rating system i like it better. oh well vibes-based 10 star system it is

these are all already scoring higher than many alecs because they come with the default understanding that he 1. is smalled 2. has curly hair and 3. is gnc so we can get into more specific critique. not actually a skirt wearer but that's my fault for trying to cram him in them anyway. it just will not take he just doesnt like skirts or dresses except for dead princess ghost nightgowns. he doesn't wear the super fancy clothing in public unmasked for a few reasons but, like, that's functionally a nitpick--it's alec looking like alec in clothing alec would, at one point or another, wear. 9/10

haunted doll AND more specific facial features and moles AND gayass clothing. and the mandatory curly hair. 10/10, this is what alec looks like

he's got sleek black riding boots instead of lace-up ones but like. yeah these are all far above the usual bar for attempts at drawing alec. little guy poofy gay outfit etc etc. on a tangential note people Should give him fun fancy mask designs of their choosing but also so many people do that that i kind of wish i could see a few drawings of him with the mask he actually has LMAO. anyway 6/10 i think the inaccurate boots and smiley cute-looking mask shift his energy a little to be slightly peppier than it should be but, like, that is alec.

automatic aishy bonus points and we have a spot-on alec costume w the boots n little tights n poofy shirt + a sassy little pose that emphasizes the alecness. 10/10 thats alec. wait 11/10 you get an aishy bonus point

thats alec. curly hair gay outfit haunted doll who hates being alive stare soft/conventionally pretty facial features etc etc. 10/10

the leftmost one feels a bit more alec overall bc he has thinner lips/a less defined and more littleguy face shape but both of these are alec. 10/10 i wish i had your ability to capture the depression stare he's never aware he has

yeagh thats the little guy. same general 8/10 range as the other ones 👍

this is a jean paul and not alec and its also a Fursona which is, like jean paul, on a different scale than alec. 10/10 jean-paul and fursona though. White boy named pancake would you come to his birthday party. jean-paul is even more frou-frou and baby princey than alec and this is appropriately so. and jean-paul bnuuy is cutesy and fancy like a childrens story beenyrabbit doll whereas alec bnuuy is creepy. so 10/10there also. holding him lovingly

[pinkprimrose05]

Looking aggressively

can you please do Sora for the fave least fave otp thingy??

Sure thing!

Favorite thing about them: The Layers.

Take it this way- Sora's like a teeny tiny piece of sweet candy, hidden under a sad, dull wrapping of loneliness. And another of prickliness. And another of misled loyalty and beliefs. And a final, garishly bright one of childish enthusiasm, that leaves you wondering which of them is the real wrapper.

The answer? All of the previous. The contradictions and conflict shaping Sora's character are so strong they reflect in his deck too, in one of the arguable best shows of thematic references from an archetype in the franchise's history. Neat.

Least favorite thing about them: Obligatory "he deserved better" aside, I actually have little to no gripes with Sora. Like yeah okay his "oooh very mysterious" disposition in arc 1 was kinda grating on first watch, but he grew on me exceptionally fast. Perks of being a tiny piece of sugar concentrate, I suppose.

Favorite line: As you can tell from my previous answers, I rarely if ever remember particular lines. However, I do have to give a shoutout to Sora in Ep136 specifically, because by god, the emotion carrying through his voice is just perfect. And by perfect I mean it punched me in the feels so hard I was reeling for the rest of the episode the moment he shed a tear. Twice.

brOTP: To the surprise of nobody ever, it's Yuuya. I actually oscillated a lot between him and Yuzu while typing this out, but then I got the very compelling argument of rewatching all my favorite Sora bits- and it turns out there's more Yuuya in those. Figures.

I really wish they got more personal screentime together, because their relationship and foil status seemed very important in the S1 finalé and then... never got brought up again? Not that prominently, anyway.

I will, however, applaud Episode 80 and its aftermath, and even Episode 136 for the aforementioned punch in the feels- i.e that time when Sora finally mustered the will to reach out to his friend first... and promptly came to the crushing realization that it was far too late. I can't explain in words how important this moment was to me. Ow.

OTP: Error 404 - Not Found

nOTP: Standard disclaimer applies here; as long as it's appropriate, it's fine.

Random headcanon: Having decided to settle in Maiami when all was said and done, Sora put in genuine effort to skip a year in middle school- and passed with flying colors!

...All for the purpose of going to the same class as everyone. Now they'll never be safe from his boundless silliness for the foreseeable future!

(Shhh, nobody tell him about college.)

Unpopular opinion: I feel like it's pretty hard to find a hot take for this kid; most of the fanbase seems to be in agreement about their sentiments toward Sora, and I'm no exception to the hypothetical rule.

Song I associate with them: When Can I See You Again, by Owl City. Yes. The Wreck-It Ralph ending. I don't quite remember what stuck the song to him, but I'd wager that younger me watched a Sora episode in succession with the movie and went "oh this kinda reminds me of him".

Favorite picture of them:

The puppy eyes shot from Ep5 is a Very close second, but I'm weak to cute winks. This is peak kawaii by Sora standards until someone reminds me of an even cuter shot.

[superpussyking]

Hello king, I am here to ask about your favourite hcs for Jonah Magnus :] also hope you’re having a good day!

Hi and thank you!

I have a lot, and they tend to cycle through which ones are my favorite- obviously autistic Jonah is so real to me I can't believe I haven't seen anyone else talk about it. Especially because I have seen people talk about autisic Peter (which is also very true) and didn't connect the two.

I think he's trans in every direction. Specifically transfemme Jonah. It's pretty personal to me so I don't wanna get too deep into it. But it follows my rule of thumb which is you can not live past 135 years and continue to be cisgender. The way you see yourself will change. mix that with society changing the way gender is viewed and you get a gender fucky body hopper who just stays male presenting bc its more convenient.

And now for me and my friends unfinished tma pacific rim au. Jeager pilots get a tattoo for every kaiju they kill. Jonah has so many and they are entirely covered up by his work clothes. Anytime you get the rare chance to see them it's fucking terrifying.

I tried to put as many refs to different entities as possible but I didn't get them all lmao.

I don't think he'd do this in cannon- but I think it would be incredibly epic for him to have a lot of tattoos that no one sees under his clothes. It's thematically appropriate, it would be hot, I could imagine him using tattoos as a way to satisfy his need for control. If he's going to get a new body every 40 years anyways, might as well do a little decorating.

On that I think he's chill with recreational drugs and is dissapointed he can't go fucking crazy anymore because it's bad for health. I also think he's scared of doctors. No evidence for that it just makes sense he'd be scared of doctors.

Thank you for the ask I didn't realize how long this post would get lmao- I hope this satisfies bc I like talking about him :]

[bakurasilver]

Mathieu spitting incident roleplay???

So after the spitting incident I knew I needed to do something with this, it just did not feel like I could ethically ignore it. Provoked or not, and he very clearly was, spitting at people is just not a great thing to be doing (now all I can think of was that this was an unenriched and stressed Mathieu demonstrating a natural threat response 😭). It was probably a spur of the moment dumb decision, but I just didn't feel as though I could pretend it hadn't happened. Definitely not saying anyone else could or should have to write about it, but for me at least I needed to write him accepting the fact that it was Not A Great Decision (tbh I imagine I spent far more time angsting over this than real Mathieu, who usally seems to sail through controversy) before I could go back to writing him being emotionally mature enough to look after Wout.

Anyway so I'd just written that fic where he wants to play on the swings because he never got the chance to as a kid, so I was still thinking about the idea that Wout had worked very hard through the years with his therapist to ensure he stayed mentally well-balanced, and Mathieu just... hadn't.

So it starts off with them agreeing that they'll roleplay this out with Wout pretending to be some sort of therapist that young child Mathieu's been sent to talk to (Wout is reluctant, because he's not an expert, but he knows Mathieu won't talk to anyone who's actually qualified. Mathieu is blithely confident, sure that they'll faff around for half an hour and then Problem Dealt With, he can move on.)

But as soon as they begin, things begin to go off the rails. As soon as Wout comes back into the room, it's obvious that despite his I Don't Care I Was Right front, underneath it Mathieu's terrified that if he isn't perfect then he's flawed and only worth discarding, and that only when he's successful does he have any value. The two of them start building a house out of Lego, but Wout doesn't know how to help Mathieu deal with what is at its root the product of being praised and feted when he won a race, and being told to use disappointments to push himself harder... and neither did I.

Now I absolutely need to say I really don't think real Mathieu is angsting every time he loses. I just don't think he does! I think he's annoyed about it for a day or so maybe, but like he said in that recent Matt Stephens interview, he sleeps pretty well. I'm sure he doesn't lie awake thinking about all the might-have-beens if he'd lived a less gilded life, and even if he does, it's none of my business what goes on between real Mathieu's ears.

But, at least in the land of fanfiction, he's got such a tantalisingly narrative shape that you can shine a light on him from so many angles and get an intriguingly-shaped shadow. You can project almost any reading onto Mathieu and think, oh huh yeah I can kind of see that making sense. He's so plausible in so many scenarios because there really aren't any inner depths visible. Whether or not they exist in real life, it's so tempting to give in to the urge to give him some thematically-appropriate ones.

Anyway, there it sits, waiting for Wout and me to work out how to convince Mathieu that making a mistake does not mean he's an irredeemably bad person. Which I would very much like to do, because as it ends currently Wout is having a one-sided discussion inside his head about how Hitler isn't a helpful example, and Mathieu is curled up in a ball with his face buried in his knees having a cry. I can only hope that at some point I'll work out what comes after this:

“That was a good choice you made just now, telling me how you’re feeling,” said Wout, gently rubbing Mathieu’s back. “I know it isn’t easy, but I’m really proud of you for coming to see me today. Sometimes we all make bad choices, that’s part of being human, but

(Mathieu feels he's disappointed Wout, it ends in a note to myself at the bottom, as though I didn't know that!)

[antialiasis]

Chess - 1990 Long Beach version

Honestly I was very pleasantly surprised by this one? It's apparently a slightly modified take on the Broadway version, which I had the general impression was pretty poorly received, but whether it's Broadway or the modifications, in many ways I think this one works best of the three versions of Chess I have watched so far.

Florence is distinctly the main protagonist here; we open with a sequence with her child self and her father who's been teaching her to play chess (he's the one who sings "The Story of Chess"), and the narrative is pretty focused around her generally. Florence actually plays chess in this one! Not even just as a child, with Freddie too! She gets all the added Florence bits that were in the Sydney version but also more focus otherwise (the book here has a lot more dialogue and less singing than the previous two). The pacing is solid, they do sell the romance okay, Anatoly is sympathetically troubled as he is suffocated by political pressure (Molokov goes a lot further in this one, telling Anatoly all about how by the way Svetlana's lost her house, and so has his brother, oh and his brother's five-year-old son has had an """accident""", since he defected).

(Walter, meanwhile, is made less of a total asshole in the end here, which feels a little funny given in the first half he definitely felt like a total asshole and I feel kind of disoriented by exactly at what point he stopped being that or whether there was any kind of sensible trigger for it. I can't help but feel like this version made for American audiences wanted to make the American government the Good Guys and the Soviet government the Bad Guys, which is pretty eye-roll-worthy. Chess in Concert made them both manipulative assholes, but in distinct ways, and that feels a lot better thematically.)

Freddie, again, gets no redemption arc and no "Talking Chess"... but he does feel coherent in his pathetic, toxic, pitiable sort of way, in a way I didn't really feel in the Sydney version. In this one, Anatoly is actually the reigning champion and Freddie is the challenger (like in the Sydney version, it's just one championship match and it's Anatoly and Freddie all the way through); Freddie feels kind of generally portrayed as just not actually that great of a chess player, and has an insecurity streak a mile wide, angry about losing or being challenged. After Florence leaves him for Anatoly he's just made of raging impotent jealousy for the entire rest of the play; "One Night in Bangkok" is a montage of him boozing and womanizing instead of showing up to his matches for a while after she quits. "Pity the Child" is him in his hotel room and ends with him curling up wrapping himself up in his blanket, which feels pretty appropriate in its childlikeness.

During the final match (which Anatoly is late for, like in the Sydney version, but this time it's because he's desperately distracted by the whole we're-physically-threatening-your-five-year-old-nephew thing, and Florence actually encourages him to show up), Freddie is a nervous wreck and can't concentrate - only for Anatoly to throw the match and let him win anyway, for the sake of Florence and her father (yes, originally the whole point was his refusal to throw the match and then in this version he just casually does the exact opposite of what the original ending was about; welcome to Chess, apparently). Freddie obliviously assumes Anatoly just made a mistake and accepts victory, never to learn that he should've lost this one. All in all Freddie is a reasonably well-portrayed character here, I think - a character who is a terrible, pathetic, petulant bundle of issues who learns nothing, and I don't enjoy him the way I enjoy Chess in Concert Freddie, but he makes sense and you can feel a little sorry for him.

At the very end here, Florence actually reunites with her father, thanks to Anatoly's sacrifice; it's a little unclear exactly how, since Walter tells her Anatoly thought he was being exchanged for her father when really it was for an agent and they weren't able to find her father, but then I think(?) Anatoly's friends have just managed to hunt him down anyway? I gather in the original Broadway version, Molokov brought in an actor to pretend to be her father and it ended with Walter telling her actually sorry that wasn't your father, your real father's probably dead, goodbye. Which is profoundly twisted. Weirdly I don't entirely hate that, in that "politics screws everyone over terribly" is a theme here and boy, that sure is some politics screwing everyone over in the most enraging possible way. On the other hand, the ending here where Florence does get screwed out of her relationship with Anatoly but also does reunite with her father is nice and cathartic without entirely killing the overall vibe.

There were some slightly awkward bits with song placements and such. I particularly noticed how "Nobody's Side", which is placed after "Florence Quits" here, just doesn't make as much sense - her feelings about Freddie during "Nobody's Side" are obviously supposed to be way more ambivalent than she naturally ought to be right now after he's just gone full woman-hating dick on her and also nearly hit her. You see your present partner in the imperfect tense, now? You don't see how you can last? Did you not just already full-on walk out on him, Florence?! "I Know Him So Well" also just hits weirdly when Florence has known him for the space of exactly one (1) chess tournament, instead of for an entire year (I felt the same with the Sydney version). I was also actually expecting "Someone Else's Story" to come a bit later than it did - I'd been thinking that the line in it about "I could be in someone else's story / In someone else's life / And he could be in mine" was a major giveaway that it was originally written for Florence who actually has a specific him that she'd be thinking of there, but at least here, it happens before she gets to properly know Anatoly, which surprised me. (But then again "Nobody's Side", which is usually placed there, also has a line suggesting Florence is already thinking of Anatoly in a romantic context for some reason - at least that's how I read "The one I should not think of keeps rolling through my mind". It doesn't make any sense to me that Florence has anything resembling romantic feelings for Anatoly before the mountain/terrace duet. I'm just confused by this generally.)

Also, it bugged me that when Anatoly was obviously being threatened and coerced into returning to Russia, Florence seemed to immediately take it like he just wanted to go back? What are you talking about, Florence, why are you not listening to him or showing the slightest sympathy about this.

Overall, this version definitely feels a lot more... black and white than London/Chess in Concert (ha ha, chess, black and white). One of the things I enjoyed about Chess in Concert was it being pretty gray about things. Freddie is terrible but also increasingly unhappy about being manipulated until he decides to help Anatoly; Anatoly is sympathetically suffocated by politics but also spends the climax fiercely arguing with Florence and Svetlana on why he's not going to lose the match for their sake; Walter and Molokov are slimy and manipulative but all in a relatively benign sort of way. This one has much harder, clearer lines. Anatoly is a good guy: he's sympathetic, his marriage to Svetlana hadn't been much for many years and she's accepting of the affair, during the final match he makes a noble self-sacrifice for Florence's sake because obviously she's more important than a chess match and his freedom. Freddie is a bad guy: he's terrible and pathetic and abusive and while he has his Freudian excuse he has no redeeming qualities. Walter is a good guy, somehow, in the end: he tells Florence everything, and that they did all they could to get her father. Molokov is a bad guy: he threatens innocents and all his friendly remarks about his wife are lies because he's never even been married. It's not really bad, exactly, but it does make it a bit less nuanced, just not quite as interesting.

But, all in all, I think by itself this version was a pretty decent musical, which successfully kept me interested and made me care about the characters while it was going on. If this had been the first one I'd watched, I'd have felt reasonably positively about it. But I still wouldn't have latched onto it the way I latched onto my favorite bits of Chess in Concert, which were pretty specific to my brain.

[morfinwen]

For the Christmas ship meme, Tear in My Heart, Like Real People Do, If My Heart was a House, and Leah and Nate, if you like? Merry Christmas!

So this was originally asked .... hahaha, never mind. I finished answering these earlier, but i wanted to queue it to show up at a more "thematically appropriate" time.

Already answered Chuck/Sarah here.

Elizabeth/Darcy -- Modern!AU? Modern!AU

who starts putting up decorations in october: Elizabeth is in charge of decorating, and October is too early. Have all the leaves fallen off the trees? Is there snow on the ground? Are there skeletons and ghosts and monsters in people’s yards (if they’re in America -- don’t think Halloween’s a thing in England)? Then it’s not time for decorating for Christmas yet. Everything in its place. Darcy wasn’t really a “decorate in October” guy, but he does like Christmas, so once Elizabeth starts teaching him the art of “harmless mischief”, she starts finding her fall-scented candles getting replaced with ones that smell of gingerbread or pine, wintry scenes replacing other photographs or prints, and ornaments or other small decorations hanging in out-of-the-way areas. It becomes a game if she can find them all before the “actual” Christmas decorating season begins.

who buys the advent calendars: Elizabeth. Though that’s more a thing once they have children.

who places mistletoes all around the house: Darcy more than Elizabeth, but while she lives with them, Georgiana hangs up the most.

who wraps the presents for other people: The Darcys have mastered the art of wrapping. Elizabeth is in awe, and though she is never able to match their perfection, she does improve. Somewhat.

who puts the final star/angel on the top of the christmas tree: Before they have children, Darcy gives Elizabeth a boost to reach the top. She is definitely not tall enough to reach it on her own.

who’s the one that hates eggnog: Elizabeth might not hate it, but i don’t think she’s ever developed a taste for it.

who’s the one that bakes christmas cookies for guests: Group project. They have very … disparate experiences with both types of cookies baked, and how to bake them: Darcy grew up baking a few specific “posh” cookies (probably more like cookie bars and sweetbreads) in a very tidy kitchen with his mum and Georgiana, following the recipe to the letter and instrumental Christmas carols on CD. Elizabeth, the kitchen eventually became a free-for-all where multiple recipes could be going on at once, with younger sisters trying to sneak “test cookies” or ingredients like chocolate chips from other bakers, and the radio blaring Christmas pop at top volume. 

who sends out the christmas cards: Joint effort. Darcy has the neater handwriting and more experience writing nice-sounding generic Christmas greetings, but Elizabeth is better at adding the personal touch.

who knows all the words to twelve days of christmas: Elizabeth. That song was not often part of the Darcy Christmas playlist.

who’s the better snowman builder: Elizabeth. Darcy had never made a snowman before meeting her.

who starts snowball fights: Elizabeth does it more frequently, though after a few years Darcy will occasionally sneak snow down her coat or even toss a (very small) snowball at her.

who’s the one that wakes the other on christmas morning by playing christmas songs really loudly: Elizabeth wakes up their children that way, but not her husband. He’s usually awake before her, anyway.

Blue/Gansey

who starts putting up decorations in october: Blue, though the ones she puts up are usually … a mix of like Halloween and Christmas, like a skeleton with a Santa hat. Her decorations in general aren’t very traditional. When their place is decorated for pretty much any holiday, it looks like a particularly weird thrift store display got dropped into a high end department store's model room.

who buys the advent calendars: Gansey.

who places mistletoes all around the house: … Y'know, i'm ignoring canon on the subject of whether or not Blue can kiss Gangsey without him, well, dying, but … i don't think it's a tradition they take to for a few years. Henry definitely sneaks some up when he visits, though. 

who wraps the presents for other people: They wrap their own. Blue can’t stand Gansey’s magazine photoshoot-perfect corners and inoffensively bland wrapping paper choices, while her uneven wrapping style and eclectic wrapping paper put his teeth on edge; to say nothing of how it would be received at his family Christmas.

who puts the final star/angel on the top of the christmas tree: Gansey. 

who’s the one that hates eggnog: Gansey politely tolerates it.

who’s the one that bakes christmas cookies for guests: Blue. Cookie-baking was not a part of Gansey’s upbringing, and though he tries to learn, he’s just too … put-together and proper to fit into the mess Blue makes. She usually pushes him out of the kitchen to do the Christmas cards when she's baking.

who sends out the christmas cards: Gansey. Blue adds her own messages to the ones sent to the other members of the Gangsey and takes initiative on any sent to her family, but if she even sees any of the other cards he's sending, that's the full extent of her participation.

who knows all the words to twelve days of christmas: Gansey.

who’s the better snowman builder: Has Gansey ever built a snowman in his life? Even basic snowman designs are outside his capacity. Blue’s aren’t much better -- lopsided, awkwardly-sized things that fall or melt in ways that make them look even more bizarre -- but part of that is because she’s always trying to make more unique things than the classic “head, body, carrot nose” archetype.

who starts snowball fights: Blue.

who’s the one that wakes the other on christmas morning by playing christmas songs really loudly: Gansey does it once. Once.

Leah/Nate

who starts putting up decorations in october: Leah didn’t decorate that early, but she did start considering where to put the tree, how to arrange the lights, what “regular” decor would be taken down to make room, etc.

who buys the advent calendars: Nate.

who places mistletoes all around the house: Nate.

who wraps the presents for other people: Leah.

who puts the final star/angel on the top of the christmas tree: Nate.

who’s the one that hates eggnog: Neither of them cared for it.

who’s the one that bakes christmas cookies for guests: Leah, and not just because of the aggressively-50s culture of her time period -- Nate would sneak cookies or add unauthorized ingredients, so after the Hot Sauce Fudge incident, he was banned from participating, by his parents, Leah, and himself.

who sends out the christmas cards: Leah.

who knows all the words to twelve days of christmas: Between the two of them, they could usually figure them all out.

who’s the better snowman builder: Nate. 

who starts snowball fights: Nate used to, before the war. He couldn’t find the same enthusiasm for it after the war.

who’s the one that wakes the other on christmas morning by playing christmas songs really loudly: Nate, unintentionally. Loud Christmas music is part of the Christmas morning celebration, and he would just forget about his poor wife trying to catch up on sleep after spending the last few nights buying, wrapping, and sending last-minute gifts and cards.

Thanks for asking!

[digitalcactusblog]

shaoyuan my best boy i love him i want to see him SUFFER

he's definitely not my Most most dnd pc (opal has GOTTA take the cake there) but my GOD he's is definitely Most in his own way

he's a high level wizard (lapsed) he's the BEST OLDER SIBLING YOU CAN HAVE* (*some terms and conditions may apply) he has an EMOTIONAL SUPPORT ROCK (pebble with eyes he drew on; its name is Geoff [short for "googley-eyed fucker"]) he's SLEEPING WITH THE PRIME MINISTER (prime minister equivalent in the world) (yes said prime minister is married) he's even DEPRESSED

okay jokes aside i fucking love him. i want to eat him. i want to turn him into a gumball and gnaw on him. i want to shred this motherfucker into a fire and see what happens. more under the cut because this got WAY more long than i expected it to KSJFDH

mechanically, he's level 4 rogue (subclass pending) / 2 warlock (undying subclass). by subclass pending, i mean that i picked one for him, but quickly realized i didn't like that rogue subclass very much, and now i'm going to see if i can find one that's a little less underwhelming and thematically appropriate

he used to be an extremely high level wizard (subclass also pending, but it's not super relevant now, so i'll do it laaaaater), because he was essentially the in-universe equivalent of a career tribute from the hunger games (AKA trained from birth to win Dogfights For Children). unfortunately, these Dogfights For Children were for specific children, AKA his family and some other families.

second unfortunately: he has an identical twin sibling.

third unfortunately: shaoyuan is a fucking tryhard.

a sane man and sibling would hear "you need to murder your twin, repeatedly and brutally, for the good of the family and its social status" and go, what the fuck??? no!!!

shaoyuan is not a sane man nor sibling. he goes hard and never home. he's either giving 100% or he's fucking dead. if you give him a target to aim for, the rest of the world will cease to exist, as far as he's concerned.

shaoyuan turned himself into an avatar of fear and terror, and tortured his fellow-aged peers (twin included) just so that he would have the psychological edge in all these Dogfights For Children.

his preferred method of destruction? acid. to quote one math you mercer, "only the most fucked up of assassin's kill their targets with acid!"

i agree, mr. mercer. that's why i made him do it 😊

anyway, the Dogfights For Children start at age 11 and end at age 18, and by the time he reaches the end, he's figured out, "oops, i'm kind of an awful person!" especially because that doesn't stop him from still going fucking hard and melting people to death that last time (even if the fear in his twin's eyes has haunted him for years now).

and then he goes home, sets his spellbook on fire, gets an accountant accreditation and bounces so that he can avoid his twin and also all his own psychological trauma forever thank youuuu

the world is post-apocalyptic, so you have bastions of society in major cities, then outposts leading from one to another for semi-safe travel purposes, but generally speaking, leaving the cities is a Bad Idea for most people. shaoyuan quickly becomes very good at stabbing (rogue) in order to not get killed by the post-apocalyptic monsters.

as far as society is concerned, he was like, an up-and-coming young wizard with a lot of talent and potential, and then he just fucking... washed out! he just fucking flopped! he's some mediocre accountant that makes the stupid decision of making his career depending on wandering out into Apocalypse Central! all his coworkers thinks he's nuts and/or gonna come back in a body bag (if at all!!!!)

meanwhile, his twin (shaoquan with a q) is doing pretty good 😊they went to college, then law school, and is now a full-on lawyer! they've also gone to fucking therapy like a reasonable person and is working on... you know, all the terrible things that's happened to them, as opposed to repressing it, and is doing pretty decent now in all respects.

meanwhile, shaoyuan is going on his tenth year of being the gold medal champion for the Trauma Repression Olympics TM, and recently just almost drowned in a river. this is significant, because the drowning was successful. he just didn't die, because a god fished him out.

this god is also his great great great (x a lot) grandfather.

yes, this is news to him too.

it turns out there's a whole lot of shit going on in the divine side of the world that he previously wasn't privy to, and now he is. because he almost died. and while he was busy almost dying, a spiritual manifestation of regret merged with him while on the boundaries of life and death, and now all his regrets are Literally haunting him, and have given him a turbo trauma chicken Second Forme (also known as the undying warlock's Form of Dread) (thank you trigun fandom for that phrasing. i'll never forget it.)

oh ym god shaoyuan is like a traumatized washed-up danny phantom.

anyways, his great (x many) grandfather tells him he should try and get unfused with this shade. which, considering shaoyuan's coping skills start and end with "conceal don't feel" is not going. great

ALL THIS WORDS AND I HAVEN'T EVEN MENTIONED THE THING THAT KEEPS HIM GOING EVERY DAY

[insert "do it for her" meme]

so, shaoyuan has two older sisters he doesn't really talk to (also twins). he also has a twin sibling he definitely doesn't really talk to.

most importantly, he has two very, very baby siblings (also twins) that he dotes on, that he would do anything for. and it haunts him, because he knows exactly what "anything" means for him. it means anything. that k.a. applegate about the definition of ruthlessness? yeah. he doesn't let himself have true goals anymore, because he knows that if he lets himself slip, he has no compunctions about doing heinous shit, as long as it brings him that much closer to achieving his goals.

however. his baby siblings, nianxiu and nianping, the babies of the family (they're like 17-18 years younger than him), are on track to be shoved into the Baby Dogfights blender, once they hit age 11.

and he's not going to let that happen. that's the sole thing keeping him tethered to this plane of existence, basically. "i won't let that happen to them." it keeps him going, and he's been using his connections between cities to arrange things to get them out safely, before their turn at Baby Dogfights can happen

and i cannot fucking wait, because shaoyuan is going to go full "caleb at the vergesson, crunching guards into naught but flesh and mush with gravity magic" in order to get them out

i just love me a character who seems one way on the outside (tired, depressed, washed-out once-prodigy, spineless babysitter) turns out to be infinitely More on the inside AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

i'm posting this before tumblr can eat the draft. more to come FOR FUCKIN SURE

[greatwyrmgold]

Dumb story idea: Murder game with microtransactions

Okay, let's see if we can make this less dumb.

Rambling about themes and stuff

When I say "murder game," I'm thinking something in the same vein as Mirai Nikki. An organized event where a bunch of people murder each other for some kind of (often supernatural) prize. For my followers who read Wildbow and don't watch much anime, think "Face". For my followers who watch much anime and don't read Wildbow, you probably thought of two or three examples before you read this sentence.

So. Microtransactions. They're profitable, but infamous for promoting a "pay-to-win" climate. And sometimes just being super crass (remember that time a Harry Potter mobile game designed its initial progression so you'd run out of free resources during a scene where your character is basically being tortured?), but let's focus on the pay-to-win aspect for a moment, because themes.

Pay-to-win mechanics vary greatly. Sometimes it's just paying to speed things up, to get the same benefits as a free player in less time (which still means being a much stronger player in the short term...and the long term if the power cap keeps creeping upwards). Sometimes it's a big boost explicitly restricted to paying players. Often, it's in between. Always, it's hated—especially by the free players, whose hard work is irrelevant in the face of players with deep pockets.

The real world is, in a sense, also pay-to-win. People with money can buy all sorts of advantages, getting better education, better housing, better opportunities to gain more money (often without having to do anything except invest some of your money). Bringing this real-world unfairness to the story would open a pretty fertile thematic vein and serve as a natural way to make our protagonist (who is not a whale)

Before I get to the premise proper: Some more recent death game anime have designed their games in a way that theoretically allows nonviolent conclusions to the game. Of course, for one reason or another, a significant number of players don't want to take the nonviolent route, because otherwise there wouldn't be a story. (Not that it's hard to come up with those reasons, since the author makes up the terms by which a game ends and the consequences thereof.)

I like the complexity this adds. The basic death game structure doesn't allow much flexibility; if A doesn't want to die, B needs to die sooner or later. This opt-out-of-murder thing does mean no "only one of us can survive this" angst, but that's pretty played out.

Anyways.

Rules of the Game

Imagine a world with futuristic technology, particularly biotech and the like, but a violently backwards value system. Only the worthy should rule, they believe, and only the strong are worthy. The world is run by private associations, and those associations are lead by the strongest within them. (So, Ghost in the Shell as written by Klingon Ayn Rand, kinda.) If you paid attention to the previous section, or the title, you can probably guess how the groups find their strongest.

Whenever an associations needs a new chairman, applicants enter into a big death game test of might. Applicants can choose to subordinate themselves to another applicant; this subordination makes them permanently ineligible for becoming chairman. When only one eligible applicant and their subordinates remain, that applicant becomes the association's chairman.

There might be smaller tests of might for lesser positions, but those are lower-stakes and hence less appropriate as a central plot. They'd work well as a way to build up the threat of antagonists, though. "Andrew Edison knows what he's doing; he's already won three tests!"

Arena

Should the test of might take place in public cities, like most death game anime, or should it have some kind of dedicated arena? The latter makes more sense; outsiders can't easily interfere (except by official channels), it limits damage to productive assets (and citizens), enables a more active level of surveillance than the standard panopticon.

So what would this arena be like? Well, it should be spacious and compartmentalized by enough cover/structures/whatever that teams can safely camp out and fortify said camp; nonstop gunfire until everyone dies would be quite a harrowing test, but hard to control, and harder to write a coherent narrative around. And it needs the infrastructure to distribute supplies, both for the microtransactions and for basic survival. And...

It would probably be possible to justify having the test of might take place in some Hunger-Games-style outdoorsy arena, or an abstract artificial space full of traps and environmental hazards. But I struggle to think of a reason why that would be better than a facsimile urban environment. Especially since we could lean into how shallow that facade is for symbolism. Also in ways that make it feel less like it's aping genre staples.

Which brings the question of how much of a city should be simulated. Filling it with android set dressing would stretch suspension of belief for little narrative benefit, but autonomous vehicles driving around the streets, mostly just serving as obstacles but occasionally being useful in schemes or to raid for spare parts, could be neat. And the occasional combat robot to serve as a hazard (or maybe to be directed via microtransaction) could also liven things up. But that's moving away from "simulated city" and towards "artificial environment". Which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Anyways, I think most of the buildings should basically just be empty shells, perhaps with a couple upper floors and/or some chest-high walls for cover. Because facade. Symbolism!

Team Stuff

I'm a bit conflicted on how permanent subordination should be. Can subordinates willingly abandon their superior and subordinate themselves to a different applicant? What happens if a subordinate's superior is killed—does the subordinate become un-subordinated? If so, subordinates have an incentive to kill their superior; if not, a superior's death leads to a bunch of subordinates with no chance of survival if they can't subordinate themselves to another eligible applicant—and what happens if the only survivors are subordinates?

There are two options I'm leaning towards. One is "loose association"; subordinates remain subordinates, but can more or less freely change masters. This allows social/character dynamics between characters to play into the story more, but limits rules-based politicking. The only rule is "Join the winning team before the test ends," and it seems like subordinates would logically bail once they realized their team is losing. When only one non-subordinated applicant remains, that player automatically becomes chairman; it's assumed subordinates of other applicants would rather join the team than die.

The other option is "strict teams". Once you subordinate yourself to Alice, you're Alice's subordinate permanently. If Alice dies, you're screwed; you can't sign on with another eligible applicant. "Unlead subordinates" only have one chance at survival: If all eligible applicants die, all subordinates become eligible applicants again. I like this one for a few reasons.

First, it allows the rules of the game to be leveraged against other players for some interesting politicking. Second, those unlead subordinates make for a distinct "team" in a way emerges from the rules without being stated by them: If the unlead subordinates can kill every eligible applicant (or force them all to subordinate themselves to someone else), then they're back in the game. But it's a different team than the eligible-applicant-headed ones, because the unlead subordinates don't have any formal ties to each other; they have some medium-term interests in common, but character/social dynamics come back in full force.

It turns the unlead subordinates into a scattered out-group. They have common interests, but little to prevent infighting and no coordination. Plus, there are probably systems that subordination-based teams can use (like team chat or maybe some kind of funds-transfer system) which aren't available to the unlead subordinates.

The eligible applicants and their subordinates casually hunt them, background violence between big clashes; they're just petty threats, after all. Maybe the active subordinates would benefit from the unlead subordinates getting their way, letting them have a second shot at victory (or at least a second choice of leader)...but that would require the unlead subordinates to actually succeed, and it seems far more likely that they'd just weaken your team before dying.

(I was trying to discuss two decent options and accidentally talked myself into choosing one...)

I'm also considering the pros and cons of tiered subordinates. Like, if an applicant with subordinates becomes someone else's subordinate, do their subordinates just become normal subordinates of their boss, or is there something to be gained from making it more complex?

While I'm here: I know "eligible applicant" and "unlead subordinate" are clunky phrases to repeat dozens of times, but I like them. Subcategories named by adding an adjective to the category name feels "formal corporate," if that makes sense. It feels like something that would be written in a business textbook or accounting ledger. Cold, technical, bloodless.

Microtransactions

Cycling back around to the stupid idea that started me thinking down this route at last.

People in power are, of course, going to use that power to influence the outcome of these "tests of might". So they accumulate wealth, and when the test comes, they use that wealth to buy advantages. That's kinda the point of this whole thing.

Since we're drawing a connection between the death game and (usually) mobile games, we should probably steal some of their mechanics. At the very least, have microtransactions be paid for with a "currency" that can theoretically be earned in-game (e.g, by killing other players). Of course, it can be gained in far greater quantities with real-world cash, from the applicant, their family, or "campaign donors". (Possibly, some donors would be more like investors or Hunger Games viewers? Keep the options open until someone actually decides to write this.)

But what are they buying, and how? If this was fantasy, it would be easy; they're buying boons, which they get by magic. But fantasy would clash with this story. It's mixing aesthetic/mechanical elements of modern mobile games with critique of how wealth disparity makes a joke out of the modern world's alleged meritocracy. That fits perfectly with cyberpunk, but poorly with the sensibilities of fantasy (which lie somewhere between ancient myth and the Wild West).

So. Cyberpunk. Suppose that all applicants have a certain base level of cybernetic augmentation. Maybe cyberarms or torso implants or what-have-you are standard in this society. (Which has further implications beyond the power system—for instance, people being forced to replace parts of their body with tools to keep a job.) Microtransactions could provide modules to upgrade those standard cybernetics, some of which are very powerful. Of course, smaller microtransactions could provide other things. Medical supplies and spare parts, ammunition, information, maybe food and cybernetic...energy...things. Sci-fi batteries. But the big-ticket items would be the modules. And maybe a "get out of death free" card, free resuscitation in case of death; no reason the rich and powerful should be subjected to the same risks as the plebs.

Here's how I imagine the module system working:

It's opt-out gacha. You can pay a lot to get a specific module you want, or pay less for a random module. You can pay more to get better modules; there's a "default banner" which can give any grade of module, and "premium banners" which guarantee you'll get a 5☆ module.

Applicants are limited in the number of modules they can purchase per unit time. Applicants of means don't buy more modules, generally; they buy better modules.

You can only install so many modules in your cybernetics. However, you can also give your modules to subordinates and allies if you want (or as ransom).

Recovering modules from the deceased is impractical; even if you avoid damaging them, corpses are swiftly recovered. But it's not impossible, if you have a good enough plan.

Most other microtransactions are unlimited. Control options like "make that big combat robot ignore my team" or "have vehicles cause problems for that one guy" would be exceptions.

Microtransactions involving physical objects would be limited to locations where the object could be physically dispensed. This probably involves some kind of dispenser machine—which can, of course, be destroyed by your rivals. Possibly, all (nearby?) players are alerted when a nearby dispenser is being used, for a bit of extra tension/systems to exploit. (It's also another reason to build your fortified camp around a dispenser location.)

These rules apply to stuff like food and ammo as well as big purchases. Resource management is key...unless you have enough resources that it's trivial.

Why play this rigged game?

Point 1: It's the only game in town. Point 2: Some people are idealistic enough to think it's fair, a genuine chance for the strong to prove their worthiness. Point 3: Some people might be forced into it, either literally (through individual contracts, or some policy written for the purpose, or something) or factually (they're out of options, so they go for the moonshot).

But that's pretty threadbare, isn't it?

Broadly speaking, I think there are two broad ways to justify people taking this risk without having the means to actually win. First, death benefits. Maybe someone who shows valor in the test of might (by killing other applicants) before dying has some fraction of their earned microtransaction currency cashed out and handed to their next of kin.

Second, networking. Joining the test of might gives you a shot at working directly for the future chairman! It's not just a chance to prove your worthiness to lead the association; it's a chance to prove your worthiness to the association's leader. If you bet on the right horse and impress the future chairman, or especially if you save their butt, they're likely to give you a good subordinate position. And maybe there's an expectation that anyone who willingly becomes your subordinate gets some kind of position out of it (if you survive and win).

That's better. Now onto something important.

Narrative

Alright, so...I feel like the primary themes should be obvious by now. Consolidation of wealth bad, equality under capitalism false. The veneer of competition is just a way to build legitimacy for people with power to maintain/expand their power. By contrast, non-hierarchical organizations and systems which actively distribute power are good and fair (to the extent that such systems can be portrayed in this aggressively hierarchical setting).

But that's just themes. What meat goes on this thematic skeleton?

One of the larger associations has a chairman opening, so it holds an exceptional test of might. Thousands of applicants flood in, some of whom held positions at other associations, all hoping for a shot at landing a decent gig at the big association.

Our hero is a mechanic with a bit of experience with handguns. He's contracted by an idealistic, hopeful applicant to become his subordinate and support his push for chairmanship. Said protagonist is mostly there because he can make cyberlimbs and modules work in ways that they aren't strictly supposed to work. Of course, he's not the only one contracted, and a few more applicants join the boss's team by force.

All of this establishes a normal for this kind of competition, but also contrasts the "normal" that other players expect with our hero's boss's attitude. He seems like a good dude; friendly, charismatic, pretty talented, and he pulled a top-rank module by sheer luck. The boss, the hero, and a few other notables on the team seem to be forming a five-man-band at the core of a bunch of misfit underdogs with the tools they need to take down this system.

And then the boss dies, along with some of the other major-seeming characters. Everyone on the team is an unlead subordinate, basically doomed to die. Some of the press-ganged guys start shooting the core members of the ex-team, chaos ensues, the hero and some of his former teammates barely get away.

Now that they're proper underdogs, lowest of the low, the story can begin. A story about trying to organize people at the bottom of the hierarchy, about trying to do something that could change things. Things they need to do to survive, but that doesn't make them easy to do.

I'm torn on whether this story should end like a modern dystopia or a classic dystopia. That is, should our protagonists ultimately succeed and Make A Change to the system, or should they be crushed by it? The former ending would be more uplifting, more empowering, more fun, but...it also goes against the core themes of the story. It would be the protagonists working hard, pulling themselves up by their bootraps, and beating their opponents despite the unfair advantages they bought themselves. The contest is fair after all! The people who deserved to win, did!

But maybe there's a third option. The hero's team tries to fight by the rules, gets battered for it, and decides to fuck the system. Forget the game, forget the rules.

Maybe I'll think of a good way to do that if I fill in the blanks in this outline. But that's enough for now.

[perpetual-fool]

-

I watched Noah Caldwell-Gervais' nine and a half hour retrospective on the entire Fallout franchise. It had some interesting points. Notably, there was the mention of the Interplay-fundamentalism that I fell for back in the day. Broadly, there was a myth being perpetuated that Fallout 1 and 2 were some kind of flawless masterpieces, and Bethesda ruined its good name with Fallout 3. And that's wrong in a couple ways. Interplay themselves ruined Fallout's middling reputation with Brotherhood of Steel. Most people wouldn't be aware of Fallout at all if not for Fallout 3's tremendous success. Lastly, Fallout 1 & 2 aren't that great.

The last point is kind of the weird one. I got sucked into this ideology without having even played the games in question. While my experience with 3 started to chafe after the novelty wore off, it was really just stories about the originals that swayed me. Like, 'you can find secret information about how the fantasy-science works, and then you can confront the big bad with it and convince him that he's wrong!' And that is cool, but most of the game is composed of not-that. I have tried playing a bit of Fallout 1, and aside from the roughness of its age, it's pretty sparse. The world isn't that detailed, characters aren't that deep, the combat and exploration don't have a whole lot to them. It's as if, the experience you're supposed to have is not what the game actually puts in front of you. What the game presents is just a suggestion, and you're supposed to imagine the rest yourself.

That's actually kind of significant. Noah's stories are compelling, and seem like they'd be accurate to a great extent. But he seems to be reading a whole lot into things. Notable there were a couple things he said he liked which I strongly disliked, which boil down to "I wasn't convinced". That could be a generational thing. Like, having one single cow in Arroyo to suggest ranching is a major food source the town was acceptable in 1994, 'cause you didn't have the processing power for an entire herd. But pulling (almost) the same thing in Novac in 2010 isn't, because I know you can do better. I mean, 'generationally', I'm about the same age as Noah. But we were a Nintendo household, so the first game world I really saw was Ocarina of Time; Lon Lon Ranch puts Dusty McBride to shame.

So hypothetically that's just a difference in expectations: I grew up with games that left little to the imagination, he grew up with games that required you to imagine everything.

I think it's more then that though. He's not just doing that with in-game lore, but with developer intent and other out-of-game stuff too. Again, I'm not saying I think he's necessarily wrong, but it's exactly the opposite of what I do. Is everyone else roleplaying irl? Bleh, but I need to avoid thinking about what others might be thinking. That's just going to erode my sanity. Though hypothetically, maybe I have a different way to think about these games? Maybe if I try playing in a different way it won't drive me crazy? But maybe I'd be just imagining a completely different game then. Like, say for New Vegas, the kind of thing that would make sense would be if certain types of weapons and ammo were available in thematically appropriate locations. Like, weapons the NCR uses are available at NCR outposts, energy weapons in places that deal with salvage, etc. Am I just going to pretend that Chet has all the cowboy weapons instead of the smattering of random bullshit that he does? Why not just imagine my own story and forego the game entirely then? Why play games at all?

Anyway. I'm trying out a strategy of being mentally absent as much as possible, so I'm gonna try not to think about it.

[catflowerqueen]

Lots of thoughts on today's SAMS episode...

It really is interesting to see them do so many “It’s a Wonderful Life” type plots, but it is rather thematically appropriate given the season.

I love how gentle Alternate Sun and our Moon were with each other, and I feel like this episode sort of answers the questions people were having on which brother Moon would choose if he had to? Well, sort of kind of, anyways. The way I see it, it seems like Moon chooses based on who is in the most immediate danger. He didn’t help the alternate Sun from Eclipse’s world primarily because he and Lunar were in the greater danger. But he was all too willing to help this alternate Sun because that Sun was the one in the most danger—or at least he wouldn’t lose anything by helping him. At least as far as he knows, because I am very worried about the fact that Lunar has not shown up in a while, and I really do think Moon should have taken the computer up on its offer to scan his processors. (And speaking of the computer—his relationship with Moon is really great. They both clearly care for and respect each other)

And as far as why the daycares look the same despite alternate Sun’s timeline being at least four and a half years, if not more, behind the canon one… well beyond the meta reason of it just being easier to use that one rather than go search around for the old model, it actually makes sense in-universe as well. Alternate Sun said they’d gotten a lot of donations, but that everything had been mishandled and no one had put much thought to tech… so what probably happened is that management just immediately starting putting everything towards getting fancy upgrades or nice looking facades in this universe, whereas in the canon one Moon made more of a push—possibly even through threats or scare tactics—for the money to be used on tech and maintaining what they already had, with the goal of a slower expansion as the business grew. And then, of course, this year he would have gotten to the level both technologically and financially that he could feel more comfortable in letting Monty and management spring for the stuff they have now. Though it is interesting that Moon was apparently both interested and active in the Daycare’s tech that early on, as I thought that only happened later once his leash had been loosened a bit.

Of course, the other possibility is just that it was really, really expensive to create our version of Sun and Moon, and the extra money the alternate Pizzaplex saved when they decided not to build Moon (since that would also mean Sun’s model doesn’t need to be as complex to accommodate for switching themes and retracting his rays) went directly into making the daycare look as nice as it did.

I also, again, have to wonder about the sort of ethics and history this world has as far as animatronics go. Given the fact that Freddy and the others are biomechanical and have even gone to high school, it seems like they do have more rights in this universe? So I don’t think they could just outright “scrap” them. Then again, it is possible that it was only Freddy and Roxanne out of the Pizzaplex who are biomechanical. Sun did refuse to say what happened to them, and Golden Freddy definitely would have intervened for his own son… and Roxanne might have used that spell specifically because she at one point dated Freddy (and I guess we are all forgetting that technically speaking the Roxanne that adopted Gregory was originally said to be different from the one who works in the same Pizzaplex as the rest of the gang. It looks like they pretty firmly retconned that). But we don’t know exactly when Monty used the spell, so he may have been more vulnerable here. Anyways, it’s just interesting to see that being scrapped after production is still a legitimate worry when that wouldn’t seem to fit with how the rest of the world runs, so I can only assume that biomechanics or Golden Freddy Shenanigans are at work with the rest of the crew.

Hopefully Moon feels better after helping alternate Sun, and can then go back and have an actual conversation with his own Sun. And figure out what’s up with Lunar.