#other changes to the design not mentioned in the main post include:

[luigra]

Did a small sona redesign lol. Tried to highlight the theme of combining death and cuteness better. Most of the changes ended up being just clearer shape language and getting rid of the unnecessary polka dots on the shirt.

On one hand, the first version is pretty much nearly identical to how I& usually draw my& sona, so it feels more familiar and speaks to me& closer. On the other hand, making her pale as death conveys the theming much better and imo makes for a better character design.

What are the thoughts? Do I& keep her alive or make her undead lol

[tarnishedtwill]

Nevarran Locations & Landmarks

Nevarra City– This is the capital of Nevarra. Home to the Grand Necropolis among other things. This is also primarily where most festivals and balls are held, as well as where the Palace of King Markus is located. Nevarra City is also home to the  residence of the Anaxas house, and location of the Duchess Games. [Though the current ruler of Cumberland hails from this family: Duke Sandral Anaxas.] It is also home to the Castrum Draconis as well as the Minanter River which carves through it.

Castrum Draconis– Vast Botanical Gardens with hundreds of statues depicting Royalty and Heroes of legend [Powerful Generals, Dragon Hunters etc.] Along the roadways leading up to the Castrum are stately columns of black marble amidst which statues of Kings & Queens of Nevarras past are on prominent display. In Autumn there is a festival held [ see Ancestral Pageant in my Nevarran Culture Post] where many great families hire performers to recreate famous moments in the statues lives by lantern light. Often draping the statues themselves with their house colors. Notably the Pentaghasts and Van Markhams tend to compete for the best show each year.

Blackthorne Manor– The estate was gifted to a family who then took on it’s name by Queen Vanneska the Fourth. [codex: ‘A Tale of the Blackthornes’] Twenty Generations have walked its halls, [meaning if a generation is estimated at 25-30 years, I would potentially date both the manner and Vanneska to 500-600 years ago, placing somewhere around 3:50 Towers to 4:50 Black.] That said, the codex this is from is annotated by Emmrich stating this must have been written in better days– that no one knows what horrible fate befell the Blackthornes. Noting rumors of suspicious deaths, untended crypts and salacious affairs. [This means that my date estimates could be to young and the manor could be even older.] At some point since its abandonment, it became the base for the Necromancer Johanna Hezenkoss.

Grand Necropolis– A large mausoleum sometimes said to be at the heart of Nevarra city while other sources say it's on the outskirts of the city. This is the main base of operation for all Mortalitasi, including the Mourn Watch. There are open-air gardens, crypts, and mausolieums. The structure is as large as a city in its own right, some royal burials being described as palaces of their own. [Lead concept artist Matt Rhodes remarked while designing the structure that, at least in early concepts, his inspiration was an inverted Tower of Babel. The Mortalitassi, instead of seeking knowledge from the stars, they seek it from their dead.] It is also of note that the geography of the Necropolis shifts quite a bit. Chambers are known to shift and change sporadically. [Note the Memorial Gardens being lost until Rook discovers they had moved to the Vault of the Beloved & also the lack of panic over the Basalt Hypogeum at first because it was thought they moved within the Necropolis, not that they were stolen.] Though Emmrich does say during the 'Walking the Graves' questline that it is unlikely for a section to move while people are inside of it, impling it's more common for less traversed chambers to shift. Unless I am mistaken it appears the cause of this is shift is largely unknown, if not gently implied that it's something to disuade tomb raiding. [I cannot remember which dialogue it is said in, I will search, but I am pretty sure looting deterents are mentioned at one point.] While some areas like the gardens are open to the public for days of mourning, many of the lower wings are heavily restricted even among the order.

Basalt Hypogeum– A vast section of the Necropolis that was stolen and transported to Blackthorne Manor to facilitate Johanna Hezenkoss’ experiments. Many Watchers were curious of its disappearance as it was sudden, though the Necropolis does tend to shift often. Myrna noted it was a ‘matter of strange obliquity’. Once Johanna is defeated Myrna notes a great magic will be required to attempt to transport and restore the wing to its place in the Necopolis. Design wise we know this is one of the more impressive and old sactums within the Necropolis, the basalt being shipped from Rivain in 4:57 Black. We also know the name of the Stonemason who crafted its impressive halls: Othmar Gerdebrand.

Cascades– One of the ‘Lost Watcher’s Wings’

Chamber of the Unforged– This is a hexagonal chamber with several small treasure caches on each spoke. Notably this is where Rook faces the Formless One when it possessed the body of a taxidermied high dragon. It is considered one of the ‘Lost Watcher’s Wings’. The hallway leading to this chamber seems to hold several important memorials, as statues, paintings and gated off rooms of gold and urns line each side. [Knowing that the Tanhausen family commissioned the high dragon to be taxidermied it could possibly be a wing for their quite prominent family. However we do know that the ‘last’ crypt of the Tanhausen’s is in the Memorial Gardens.]

Charnel Bridge– Mentioned briefly in banter between Bellara and Emmrich for good places to learn more about undead. It’s briefly mentioned that the ‘nightmare fog’ has overwhelmed it.

Charnel Pyramid– A section of the Necropolis that is ‘disagreeably cursed.’ [Codex entry: From Myrna, on Rediscovering the Gardens] Myrna recommended that the Pyramid should go through a lustration before the next Equinox. [Lustration: a policy that removes public officials or beings from positions of power associated with a repressive regime; this makes me wonder if it is similar to the situation with undead during the War of Banners.] The area surrounding the pyramid must also be quite sizeable as it was debated to be used as a backup location for public days of mourning in the event the location of the Memorial Gardens was not rediscovered in time.

Cobalt Ossuary– A resting place for skulls within the Necropolis. This is the location of the spiritual disturbance in the short story ‘A Flame Eternal’ in which a skull began to hiss and scream from it’s niche. [We know that some royal families and high nobility have full Palaces as their resting places. I would assume an Ossuary with skulls in niches more than likely is for lower nobility, or even commoners if they are able to be inturned in the necropolis, based oh how unextravagant in sound in comparison. But this is just a guess.]

Crescent Fane– Another chamber of burial, described vaguely as having sunken black walls, with bowls of silver flames [I am not sure if this is a descriptor for veilfire or something else entirely.] around each coffin. [‘A Flame Eternal’] The only known person interred here is a woman named Mathilde, whose husband’s skull became restless until they were once again joined together. [Fane, also means a temple or shrine, so it is possible this is a temporary resting place for the recently dead, maybe to prepare them or just until they are moved to a more final resting place, as Emmrich mentions Mathilde passed ‘in her sleep, last midnight.’]

Hollow Belfry– This seems to be a common area, or main spoke. Several hallways branch off into the other chambers of the Necropolis. The center has a lowered portion where Myrna and Vorgoth tend to be stationed, alerting watchers to hauntings & providing the guild market. It also has an upper atrium. Above the chamber sets a massive bell called the Sunken Star. It is responsible for keeping malign spirits from entering certain chambers of the Necropolis (but probably not 100% of them). A ritual is need to ring the bell, so more than likely it happens intermittently through the year as the wards weaken. The direct quote when pertaining to the Sunken Star’s ability: “…in fact any malicious spirit that hears the tolling of the bell will be banished back into the Fade.”

The Memorial Gardens– This is where public days of mourning are held, while we don’t know it’s original location we do know that this chamber went missing before appearing at the vault of the Beloved [Which, in my opinion is in some way the Necropolis foreshadowing Emmrich & Rook getting together (conditional) since this seems to be Emmrich’s favourite spot to wander, and well Vault of the Beloved… anyways I digress.] The Garden is a cemetery that spralls outward amongst an array of flowers and statues.  This includes the Tableau of the Dead, created from real skeletons in 7:20 Storm. As well as the large statuary monument ‘Love in Life and Death’ which displays two skeletons kissing among other posed figures, overgrown with a flower called shrouds kiss. This is a statue dedicated to the enduring passion of those bound by love. We know that the Rites of Rememberance can be performed by Watchers here as well as a meditative puzzle involving the cleansing bells. In addition to that, the only known/named people to be buried here are Rupert & Elannora Volkarin [Emmrich’s parents], and  the last tomb of the Tanhanhausen line. 

The Path of Glory– Just off to the Side of the Memorial gardens. It holds rooms featuring boardgames, grave mist, and such along with it’s skeletons.

The Path of Sighs– One of the ‘Lost Watcher’s Wings’.

Shrouded Halls– One of the ‘Lost Watcher’s Wings’.

Spectral Court– One of the ‘Lost Watcher’s Wings’.

Unspoken Valley- Mentioned briefly in banter between Bellara and Emmrich for good places to learn more about Spirits. It’s briefly mentioned that the ‘nightmare fog’ has overwhelmed it.

Upper Mortuary- in banter with Neve, Emmrich mentions he left several of his books in his apartment at the Necropolis. When questioned if most Mourn Watchers live on the Necropolis grounds, he simply replies that the ‘Upper Mortuary is quite pleasant.’ this to me signifies that he is not the only one, and/or this could be one of many more residential areas within the Necropolis. I would assume if this is an area for high up faculty, students and trainees may be housed elsewhere.

Vault of the Beloved– One of the ‘Lost Watcher’s Wings’. This is the new resting place of the Memorial Gardens.

Weeping Vale– We simply do not know much about what the Weeping Vale is, but dialogue between Emmrich and Rook (conditional to Mourn Watch) tells us that recently there was a problem solved by the Mourn Watch to stop wandering cenotaphs from appearing. [A cenotaph is a memorial or monument to someone whose body is buried elsewhere. This is typically done to honor those who died in war, but not always.]

Flora of the Necropolis– I cannot find much on plants related to Nevarra specifically, but some are mentioned directly, or visually matched from past games: Variegated Weeping Widower, Shrouds Kiss, Blue Creepvine, Moon Blossom, Embrium* [A flower that is similar in apperance and color except for the ember at the center is found in some of the vases] & unknown willows capable of making their own noises [Codex: New Fauna].

Hunter Fell– A small city west of the capital. This is where King Caspar Pentaghast is from, as well as the location of the tea house that Charter calls a meeting of spies to discuss the movements and motivations of Solas. [Tevinter Nights: The Dread Wolf Take You] The only other thing to really note is that when Tylus Van Markham seized the throne from King Nestor Pentaghast [5:37 Exhalted], several surviving Pentaghasts fled to Hunter Fell. Eventually in 9:42 Dragon, the Inquisiton was called in to investigate Duke Tythas Pentaghst, ruler of Hunter Fell. He commanded a network of spies and warriors called the ‘Five Belles of Hunter Fell’ suspected of being tied to the Venatori.

Cumberland– One of the largest cities in Thedas, it sits South of Nevarra city, where the Imperial highway forks and portside to the Waking Sea. Not only does it function as a major trading port but also as a seat of immense knowledge. Home to the College of Magi, which is thought to bear the brightest mages and scholars throughout Thedas. It is also where many tournaments of combat, and archery are held. The current ruler is Duke Sandral Anaxas.

Diamond Lass– in the ‘Dragon’s Den’ district of Cumberland, this is a luxury inn. Drinks are said to be served with crystal goblets alongside runes said to keep the beverage cold.

‘Dragon’s Den’– This is a walled off sector of town, adjacent to the more wealthy quarters of the city. It functions as a Dwarven trading hub and due to his most of the buildings are described to have distinctly Dwarven Architecture.

Forsythia Estate– This is the ancestral residence of the noble house Forsythia.

College of Magi– The college of Magi sits at the center of the city the Sun Dome’s golden exterior and massive spires making the city itself seem gilded and brilliant.  The palace itself was gifted to the Chantry by  a Nevarran Duchess. Keeping with the Nevvarran tradition of statues, the College of Magi is no different, the entryway featuring busts of ever Grand Enchanter from the last 600 years since this is the place from which they are chosen by a council of First Enchanters. The College of Magi is thought to bear the brightest mages and scholars throughout Thedas, some of which then move on to recruitment with the Mortalitasi.

Additional notes about historical events at the College of Magi [& some Dorian and Ashur lore]: In 9:38 following the Kirkwall Rebellion, the Chantry disbands meetings of the College of Enchanters [Based on context and what I am able to find, it seems the College of Enchaters is the name of the council of First Enchanters.], as well as any unsanctioned mage gatherings. This meant the dissolving of mage fraternities. This is also around the time that former Warden Fiona is elevated to the position of Grand Enchanter. [Wynne blames this as the reason the conclave was disbanded.] Grand Enchanter Fiona was quick to begin campaigning for independence, leading a vote among the College of Enchanters to secede from the Chantry entirely. Though the vote did not pass, the existence of the vote was enough for the Templar order to call for the dissolution of the College of Enchanters. More political unrest insues leading to Divine Justinia II calling for a meeting of the College of Enchanters, now disbanded, to the White Spire instead of their traditional seat in Cumberland. This lead to Grand Enchanter Fiona once again pleading for secession, causing High Seeker Lambert to declare the College of Enchanters treasonous. After a daring rescue of some of the enchanters, Fiona once again led a vote on succession in Cumberland. This time since too few first enchanters remained, some having died in capture, the fraternities casted their votes. This lead  ultimately to the dissolution of the circles and the movement towards mage freedom. The factions mentioned above include:

Aequitarians– This is the most dominant of the fraternities in the College of Magi. Their ideology is moderate, and thus popular. It is that mages must use their abilities ethically, and responsibly within society regardless of Chantry law. They believe mages have the power to help people, and should be doing so. Historically leaders of this group include Wynne & Rhys.

Isolationists– While less popular, this smaller faction simply believes mages should separate from the Chantry, and society as a whole. Creating their own systems and culture without any scrutiny towards the practice of magic or danger towards those without.

Libertarians– This group desires the Circle to become self governed and separate rom the chantry. While on the surface the Libertarians seek to do this peacefully, a subgroup of resolutionists within the faction have no issue usng violent means to achieve this. This group has been led historically by Fiona & Adrian.

Loyalists– As the name implies this group is the most devout, following the word of the Chantry. They are often viewed negatively by other mages for being apologists to the oppression faced by mages.

Lucrosians– the smallest fraternity amongst the College of Magi, these mages simply align themselves with the priority of gaining wealth, and political influence over any social cause.

In Veilguard we receive a conversation between Dorian Pavus and Ashur [who may or may not be Divine Aequitas II] in which Dorian comments, ‘Speaking of brash rebels, remember Cumberland? Spring of ‘38?’ to which Ashur replies ‘I wish I didn’t.’ This has had me so curious as to why they were present, were they part of the fraternities that helped vote against the circles since fraternities voted in the place of first enchanters? Or were they simply there as support to keep templars from intervening the College of Enchanters meeting. Either way. Super interesting additional lore on Dorian & Ashur. We know Dorian was part of the Lucerni [a faction dedicated to redeeming and restoring Tevinter] but that is a group exclusive to the Magistirium and not one of the fraternities of the College of Magi. In fact it is more than likely closer tied to the Shadow Dragons. [If you want a less summarized version of 9:38 Dragon, most of the information comes from Dragon Age: Asunder.]

Thank you all for the kind words on my first lore post. In this next section I tried to break down several key locations. If there are ones you'd like to see that I did not explore please let me know! If there is anything I missed or got incorrect, I am open to corrections! Additionally I would love any additional descriptions or information about the sections of the Necropolis, information is scarce, so any additional notes are welcomed. For more posts on this topic, they will be marked on my page under the tag Nevarran lore.

I hope for this to be a resource for fic writers but also knowledge for my fellow lore nerds. More will be posted soon as feel sections become complete.

Update Edits: More insight on the shifting chambers of the Necropolis, and additional lore on the Basalt Hypogeum. Info on the Sunken Star.

Thank you guys for the feedback <3

[feudalconnection]

Get Ready...!!

It's the start of the 2nd Term 2025 Inuyasha Fandom Awards!

We hope everyone had a good start to the year! A huge shout-out to everyone who participated last term and made it such a huge success! We look forward to all of the amazing new fanfiction and fanart to be shared with this beautiful community!

A special thank you goes out to @mayarab for donating her time and talent to creating banners for everyone! (If you have not received your award banner for last term, please reach out to one of the mods asap!)

As mentioned in this post, there is a big change coming for how to submit your nominations. We are no longer taking nominations submitted through our ask or submission boxes. Change is not fun, but we hope this will make sending in nominations easier and more user friendly across all social media platforms.

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The Fanfiction Roulette Category for this term will be Best Classic Fanfiction. This is defined as: A fanfiction that has been posted outside of the designated timeframe; ie: stories that have been posted and/or updated prior to the 3 years before the start of the term. These are not limited to completed fics, but completed fics may be preferred.

The Fanart Roulette Category for this term will be Best Background. This is defined as: A focus on the background, not just the main character(s). This is an appreciation of the work and background that the artist has created.

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For Fanfiction, it will be defined as: Stories that have developed a believable romance between three Inuyasha characters. "Believable" is subjective, and it is up to those nominating/voting to draw their own line on that quantifier and vote their "Best". This includes canon universe and AU/AR settings.

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Remember, all other romantic pairings, besides InuKag & thruples, can be nominated into the Best Romance category. All other pairings will be up for voting again next term.

If it wasn't mentioned above, chances are it hasn't changed. Please be aware that the moderators always take suggestions regarding how the awards are run and category changes into consideration, and each new term may bring about new changes. You can read up on the most recent FAQs, Rules of Eligibility, and Categories for more information [these links work best on desktop].

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Please reblog to spread the word of the start of the new term!

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

When do think Malleus’s broken horn will be reflected in future events and cards? I ask this because I can’t tell at what point in the timeline the most recent events have happened, they’re likely all prior to book 7 including the upcoming event but then how do we know which overblots have occurred yet? I also wonder if the events are even canon to the main story, any thoughts on this?

Mm... hard to say? I don't even know if it would be reflected in all future events and cards since the horn injury is a pretty major spoiler for the main story. The only other character that had a significant change in design over the course of the amin story was Ortho. His College Gear became the default form he assumed for the events that came out after book 6, such as Fairy Gala: What If, White Rabbit Fest, Stage in Playful Land, Wish Lantern. However, Ortho does appear in his old Archetype Gear in Grim's Ceremonial Robes (Twst third year anniversary) groovy.

So if Ortho's College Gear is a potential main story spoiler that appears in events, shouldn't Malleus's horn injury also appear in events?? Maybe...? But I feel that seeing Ortho in his College Gear is different than seeing Malleus's horn... If you were a new player seeing Ortho in the College Gear with zero context, you would not associate it with his independence and finding his own identity. You'd just assume it's another outfit Idia made him. However, seeing Malleus with a very noticeable physical change makes people start asking questions. It ruins the twist as to how they defeat book 7's major and powerful boss, and it also may completely shift the dynamics of how he interacts with peers (since breaking the horns reduces his magical power), which isn't the case for Ortho. This makes me think that Twst won't commit to depicting Malleus with his injury in all future instances.

As for events, the fandom generally accepts that they are largely not canon to the main story timeline. Rather, they are "what ifs", "AUs", "parallel worlds", or "things that happen outside of the canon of purview of the main story's timeline.

Yana seems to imply this as well. According to a 2020 interview: “Sometimes the relationship between characters changes completely in the main storyline, which will leave me scratching my head and wondering, ‘When did that part happen?’. However, I am sure that more and more events are going to be held in the future, so I am wondering if parallel and ‘if’ worlds are going to start appearing.” (Fan translation by Yuurei-san!)

Practically speaking, there is absolutely no way they all fit in the 8 and a half months (September to mid-May) that the main story so far spans. Some events you may be able to easily slot in (like book 5 going into February and Beans Day taking place in February too), but it overall creates way too many contradictions. For example, Stage in Playful Land takes place around Halloween. However, Ortho appears in his College Gear in that event, meaning that this must be post-book 6--it has to be the Halloween when Ortho is a second year. But if that's true, then none of the third years in the event should be there because they should be off on their internships. Yuu would also be recognized much sooner in the main story if we accept that the characters' familiarity with them in the events are true. (For example, Yuu knows Malleus's identity in the events, but does not learn his name until late book 5 of the main story.) If you tried to fit everything into the same timeline, you would very quickly find plot holes like this. Events can't really mention main story things or even OBs so as to avoid spoilers there.

It should be mentioned that there are times when events are hinted at in the main story. For example, Silver and Sebek mention taking the Master Chef/Culinary Crucibles course in book 7, which implies that those events may be "canon" to the main story (but it could just as easily also just refer to the course in general and not the story event). These instances are very few and far-between though.

[chaxan08]

British Titles

I usually don't share posts of this type, but I've taken the liberty of doing so because I've read several fanfics and seen too many posts both here and on TikTok, in which it's more than evident that many people don't know how British noble titles worked in the 18th and 19th century. This is something I've seen more in the Bridgerton fandom, but many content creators or writers from other fandoms have made the same mistakes when interpreting noble titles.

First of all, I would like to clarify something. English and British noble titles are not exactly the same, although they are related. The following explains the difference and the historical context:

Historical Context.

England:

Before the formation of the United Kingdom, England had its own system of noble titles.

Titles such as duke, marquess, earl, viscount, and baron were common.

2. Great Britain:

In 1707, with the Act of Union, England and Scotland united to form the Kingdom of Great Britain.

After this union, noble titles became titles of the Kingdom of Great Britain.

3. United Kingdom:

In 1801, with the incorporation of Ireland through the Act of Union, the Kingdom of Great Britain became the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

This further expanded the scope of noble titles.

Noble Titles.

Despite these political changes, the titles themselves (duke, marquess, earl, viscount, baron) remained consistent in terms of hierarchy and honor. The main difference was the realm and origin of the title:

English Titles:

Referred specifically to those created in the Kingdom of England before 1707.

Examples: Duke of Norfolk, Marquess of Winchester, Earl of Derby.

2. British Titles:

Refers to those created after 1707 in the Kingdom of Great Britain and later in the United Kingdom.

Examples: Duke of Marlborough, Marquess of Rockingham, Earl of Chatham.

Differences and Similarities.

Similarities:

The hierarchy and responsibilities of the titles remained the same, regardless of the change in the kingdom's designation.

Titles granted by the British crown maintained the same forms of address and privileges.

2. Differences:

British titles cover a broader scope, including Scotland and Ireland (later Northern Ireland).

English titles were specific to the Kingdom of England before the formation of Great Britain.

In short, while English and British noble titles are part of the same hierarchy and nobility system, the main distinction lies in the political and historical context in which they were created. During the 18th and 19th centuries, this difference was based on whether the titles originated before or after the unions that first formed Great Britain and later the United Kingdom.

Now then, with that said, I want to mention that my main reference for this is the article 'ENGLISH TITLES IN THE 18TH AND 19TH CENTURIES' by Jo Beverley, who is a Member of the RWA Hall of Fame for Regency Romance. Here is the link if you want to read the original article: On Titles (jobev.com)

It is also important to mention that, as Jo Beverley said, this brief run-down of English titles is for use by fiction writers. It is by no means comprehensive, but covers the more common situations arising in novels set in the above periods.

Now, the peerage basically runs according to primogeniture, ie the eldest son gets nearly everything. If a peer has no eldest son, the title and possessions that belong to it go to the next male heir, probably a brother or nephew.

There are a very few titles that can pass to a female if there is no direct heir, but they will revert to the male line when the lady bears a son. (Such as the monarchy.) Some titles can automatically pass through a female heir (when there is no male heir) and most can be revived by subsequent generations by petitioning to the Crown. But that's getting into more complicated areas. If your plot depends on something unusual, please do research it thoroughly before going ahead.

As Beverley said, this is a bit more complicated and requires further research if it's something you wish to incorporate into your work, especially if it's set in the 18th or 19th centuries. In the 20th century, this was more common. A clear example would be Lord Mountbatten (1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma), who had no sons, only two daughters. Therefore, he passed his title to his firstborn, Patricia Knatchbull (née Mountbatten). Thanks to this title, the Countess was entitled to a seat in the House of Lords, where she remained until 1999, when a House of Lords Act removed most hereditary peers from the chamber.

But returning to the main topic, the eldest son is called the heir apparent, as he is undoubtedly the heir. If there is no such son, the next in line is called the heir presumptive because, however improbable (such as the duke being on his deathbed), there remains a possibility of a closer heir being born. Therefore, an heir presumptive does not hold the title of heir, if there is one. (See below about heir's titles.)

If a peer dies leaving a wife but no son, the heir inherits unless the widow says she might be with child. It is for her to do that. If she stays silent, it is assumed that she is not. If she's pregnant, everything waits until the child is born.

These last two paragraphs can be perfectly illustrated by an example that many know. In 'When he was wicked', after the death of John Sterling, Earl of Kilmartin, Michael Sterling is not immediately named as the new Earl upon his cousin's death, as Francesca announces her pregnancy. But since she had a miscarriage, there was no longer a possible heir to the late Earl of Kilmartin, and therefore, the title is immediately inherited by Michael.

Continuing with the main topic, an heir must be legitimate at birth to inherit a title, though that could mean a marriage ceremony performed while the mother is in labor. A peer may raise bastards with devotion and/or marry the mother later, but a bastard child can never be his legal heir.

It's also crucial to mention that peers automatically had seats in the House of Lords. Note, however, that courtesy titles (those held by heirs) do not give seats, or any of the other privileges of the peerage.

Something else that is highly important to clarify, as confusion is quite common, is that most peers do not use their surnames as their title. Thus, the usual pattern would be something like Sebastian Burgoyne, Earl of Malzard. He is Lord Malzard NEVER Lord Burgoyne. (Or, for that matter, Lord Sebastian.) As an author, you might like variety, but take as a general rule is that no one ever had two forms of address.

THE RANKS OF THE PEERAGE

Duke.

Leaving aside royalty, this is the highest rank. His wife is the Duchess. They will be duke and duchess of something.

If we use the famous main couple from Bridgerton Season 1, the example would be: Duke and Duchess of Hastings. Address is "Your Grace", though familiars may address them just as Duke and Duchess. Like, "Fine weather for shooting, eh, Duke?" or may address the duke by title. "Care for more port, Hastings?"

The duke will also have a family name, that is, a surname, but he will not use it in the normal course of events. And something crucial that is also commonly confused, the duchess does NOT use the surname at all. Continuing with the same example, if Daphne Bridgerton marries the Duke of Hastings (whose surname is Basset), she will be the Duchess of Hastings and will informally sign as Daphne Hastings, NEVER as Daphne Basset.

The duke's eldest son is his heir and will have his father's second-best title as his courtesy title. Nearly all peers have a number of titles marking their climb up the ranks. The heir to a duke is often the next lowest ranking peer, a marquess, but the title could, however, be an earldom, or even a viscountcy. For example, the eldest son of Daphne and Simon, the Duke and Duchess of Hastings, holds the courtesy title that his father had when the Late Duke of Hastings was still alive: Earl of Clyvedon.

Important note, a courtesy title does not give the holder a seat in the House of Lords or other privileges of the peerage.

If the heir has a son before the heir becomes duke, that son will take the next lowest title as a courtesy title. If the heir dies before his father, his eldest son becomes the heir apparent and takes his father's title.

Apart from the heir, a duke's sons are given the courtesy title Lord with their Christian name. (Lord + firstname + surname). Continuing with the example of the Duke and Duchess of Hastings, assuming that like in the book, they also have David and Edward in the series, their courtesy titles would be: Lord David Basset and Lord Edward Basset. They are NEVER Lord Basset or Lord David Hastings and Lord Edward Hastings.

All duke's daughters are given the courtesy title (Lady + firstname + surname). And continuing with the same example, the daughters of the Duke and Duchess of Hastings, Belinda and Caroline, would be: Lady Belinda Basset and Lady Caroline Basset. Also, they are NEVER Lady Basset or Lady Belinda Hastings and Lady Caroline Hastings.

And also, if they marry a commoner, they retain the title. Let's say Lady Belinda marries Mr. Sticklethwait, she becomes Lady Belinda Sticklethwait. But if she marries a peer, she adopts his title. If Lady Belinda marries the Earl of Herrick, she becomes Countess of Herrick, Lady Herrick. And if she marries the holder of a courtesy title, then she may use his title or her birth title as she wishes.

I make this clarification because it's the most common mistake in these types of novels. Note that in all cases, titles like Lord or Lady with both first and surname (eg. Lady Anne Middleton) and Lord or Lady "last name" or "title" (Lady Middleton) are exclusive. No one can be both at the same time. Moreover, Lord or Lady "firstname" is a title conferred at birth. It CANNOT be gained later in life except when the father accedes to a title and thus raises his family.

So, Lady Mary Smith is not Lady Smith and vice versa. Lord John Brown in not Lord Brown and vice versa. If Mary Smith marries Lord Brown she becomes Lady Brown, NOT Lady Mary. (If she marries Lord John Brown, she becomes Lady John Brown. Yes, it may sound odd to modern ears, but the past is, as they say, a different country. That's the charm of historical fiction.)

Marquess.

This is the next rank. (As above, it can be spelled marquis or marquess, but in either case is pronounced markwess.)

Similar to the duke, he will be the Marquess of something, for example: He is Richard Byron, the Marquess of Salisbury, or Lord Salisbury, or simply Salisbury to his family. His wife is the Marchioness of Salisbury or Lady Salisbury. She would sign with her firstname and title, for example: Diana Salisbury, NEVER Diana Byron.

His heir apparent takes his next highest title as a courtesy title (eg. Earl of Cranborne). All other sons have the title of Lord with their first and surname (eg. Lord Arthur Byron and Lord Albert Byron, NEVER Lord Byron or Lord Arthur Salisbury and Lord Albert Salisbury). All daughters have the title of Lady with their first and surname (eg. Lady Alexandra Byron and Lady Amelia Byron, NEVER Lady Byron or Lady Alexandra Salisbury and Lady Amelia Salisbury).

Earl.

He will nearly always be earl of something. His wife is the Countess. If we take another famous couple from Bridgerton, they would refer to him as "the Earl of Kilmartin" or "Lord Kilmartin," or simply "Kilmartin" among family. His wife will be the Countess of Kilmartin or Lady Kilmartin, and she will sign as Francesca Kilmartin. In the same way as with the wife of a duke or marquess, considering that the Earl of Kilmartin is named John Stirling, Francesca will NEVER be called Francesca Stirling. That's why in the series, when she introduces herself to Michaela, she says that her name is now Kilmartin and NOT Stirling.

It's important to mention that some Earls do not use 'of' like Earl Spencer, and in that case, the family surname is the same as the title (following the previous example, the surname would be Spencer), but this is quite unusual and I think it should be avoided in fiction unless it's a crucial plot point.

As with a duke or marquess, the earl's heir will take the next lowest title as a courtesy title, and the heir's son, the next again. Continuing with the example of the Kilmartins, it's not very clear what the courtesy title for John Sterling II (son of Francesca and Michael in the books) is, but if Michael Sterling is the Earl of Kilmartin and has a subsidiary title of Viscount, then their eldest son, John Sterling II, would use the courtesy title of Viscount Glenmore or Lord Glenmore. If there is no specific subsidiary title, then the eldest son would simply be known as Lord John Stirling.

All the daughters of an earl are given the courtesy title: Lady + their first name. Again, using the Kilmartins as an example: Lady Janet Stirling and NEVER Lady Janet Kilmartin. Younger sons of an earl, however, are merely "The Honorable" which is not used in casual speech. So, assuming in the books Michael and Francesca had another son, for example, Michael Stirling II, he would simply be The Honorable Michael Stirling, but in casual speech, he would simply be referred to as Mr. Michael Stirling or just Mr. Stirling.

Viscount.

His wife is a Viscountess. He will not use 'of'. He will be, for example, Viscount Bridgerton, usually known as Lord Bridgerton, or just Bridgerton. His wife will be known as Lady Bridgerton and will sign herself Kathani Bridgerton.

His heir has no special title. All children are known as "The Honorable". Continuing with the example of the Viscount and Viscountess Bridgerton, their children would be called:

*The Honorable Edmund Bridgerton, and simply be referred to as Mr. Edmund Bridgerton.

*The Honorable Miles Bridgerton, and simply be referred to as Mr. Miles Bridgerton.

*The Honorable Charlotte Bridgerton, and simply be referred to as Miss Charlotte Bridgerton.

*The Honorable Mary Bridgerton, and simply be referred to as Miss Mary Bridgerton.

Baron.

This is the lowest rank in the peerage. His wife is a Baroness. NOTE that the terms baron and baroness are only used in the most formal documents, or when the distinction has to be made elsewhere. General usage is simply to call them Lord and Lady.

She will sign with her name and title. The children are known as "The Honorable".

Using another character from Bridgerton, if we assume that Colin and Penelope Bridgerton's son is named Elliot, then Elliot Bridgerton, the new Lord Featherington, would sign as Lord Featherington and NEVER as Lord Bridgerton. Therefore, his wife would also sign with his title, that is, Featherington. For example, if the wife's name is Elizabeth, then she would be Lady Featherington and would sign as Elizabeth Featherington, and NEVER as Elizabeth Bridgerton or Lady Bridgerton.

Baronet.

The next in the ranking—and not of the nobility—is Baronet. A baronet is addressed as Sir + first name + surname. For example, using another couple from the Bridgerton universe, Sir Phillip Crane. His wife would be called Lady + surname. For example, Lady Crane and not Lady Eloise Crane unless she is the daughter of a duke, marquess, or earl (which is not the case). She would sign with her full name, as Eloise Crane.

His children have no special distinction. However, the title is inheritable. So, continuing to use Sir Phillip as a reference, when he dies, his baronetcy will pass to his eldest son Oliver, who will then be called Sir Oliver.

It's worth mention that although in the series Oliver is NOT Sir Phillip's biological son, he still married Marina before the birth of the twins and acknowledged them both as his own, so the baronetcy title will pass without any issue to Oliver. In the event that he did not acknowledge them as his children or that Sir Phillip and Marina married after the birth of the twins, then the title of Sir Phillip would pass to his next legitimate son, Frederick (son of Sir Phillip and Eloise in the books).

Knight.

A knight is essentially treated the same as a baronet, but with the difference that it is a lifetime title only. His wife will be Lady + surname.

OTHER MATTERS

Dowagers

When a titled lady is widowed she becomes a dowager, but the practice has generally been not to use that title until the heir takes a wife, since there can be confusion about who the true Lady Bridgerton is, for example.

And even if she has a daughter-in-law, in general usage she would still be referred to by the simple title unless there was likely to be confusion. So, if the Dowager Viscountess Bridgerton was at a house party while her daughter-in-law was in London, people would not be constantly referring to her as the Dowager Viscountess.

Female titles in their own right

There are a few, very few, titles that can pass to a daughter if there is no son, as in the Royal Family, for example. In this case, the usage is the same as if they were the wife of a peer of that rank, but their husband gains NO title from the marriage, just as the Duke of Edinburgh was not king.

A Peeress in her Own Right retains her title after marriage, and if her husband's rank is the superior one, she is designated by the two titles jointly, the inferior one last. Or she can say what form she wants to use. (eg The Marchioness of Rothgar is also the Countess of Arradale by right. She chooses to be Lady Rothgar and Arradale in the most formal situations, Lady Rothgar in general, but Lady Arradale in private, especially when attending to her duties as Countess of Arradale. Unusual situations do tend to get complicated.) Her hereditary claim to her title holds good in spite of any marriage, and will be passed on.

Since the husband gains no title from such a marriage, it's possible to have the Countess of Arbuthnot married to Mr. Smith.

Her eldest son will be her heir and take her next lowest title. If she has no son, her eldest daughter will be her heir, but until she becomes the peer she will hold only the title that comes from her birth — eg. Lady Anne — if any, because an eldest daughter is always an heir presumptive. There might still be a boy.

The most common errors observed in novels:

Interchanging courtesy titles like Lady Mary Smith and Lady Smith.

Interchanging peerage titles, as when Michael Downs, Earl of Rosebury is variously known as Lord Rosebury, Lord Downs, and Lord Michael Downs.

Applying titles that don't belong, as when Jane Potts marries Viscount Twistleton and erroneously becomes Lady Jane, a title form that can only come by birth.

Having the widow of just about anyone, but especially a peer, remarry before time has elapsed to be sure she is not bearing a child. Or rather, whose child it is that she bears!

Having the heir presumptive assume the title and powers before the widow has made it clear that she's not going to produce an heir.

Having an adopted son inherit a title. Legal adoption was not possible in England until the twentieth century, and even now an adopted son cannot inherit a title. Even if the son is clearly the father's offspring, if he wasn't born after a legal marriage, he cannot inherit the father's title. However, since they didn't have DNA testing, a child was assumed to be legitimate unless the father denied it from the first. Even if the son turns out to look suspiciously like the vicar, the father cannot deny him later. This, I assume was to avoid the chaos of peers coming up with all sorts of excuses to switch heirs on a whim.

Having a title left in a will, which follows from the above. A title cannot be willed to whomever the peer in question chooses. It goes according to the original letters patent, which almost always say that it will go to the oldest legitimate male in direct descent. The property can be left elsewhere, unless it is entailed, but the title goes by legitimate blood.

Having an heiress (ie a daughter without brothers) inherit a title and convey it to her husband. It could be done — anything could — by special decree of the Crown, but it was not at all normal.

Now, when you've arrived at the title you want to give your character, perform an internet search to see if it exists. You can also check The Peerage or do an advanced search on Google Books. You wouldn't want to give your fictional character a title that was already in use at that time. Additionally, some readers will be knowledgeable about the real nobility and it could disrupt the fictional reality you're trying to create.

If you really like the title but it already exists or existed, you can modify it while still retaining its appeal. For example, if Lord Amesbury exists, you could create Lord Aymesbury or Lord Embury. If your character's family has been in Suffolk for generations, names of places in Suffolk can provide ideas for names.

I hope this helps, although I'm sure it can be subject to debate and improvement.

[prostocupoftea]

Kinitopet Programmers AU

finally i am finished with this one, daaaamn

it is hard to draw pathetic men with midlife crisis when your style is mostly for anime boys

more info and sketch version under the cut!!

sketch version aka how it'll probably look like in comic version 'n some doodles

srry for my writing but i was too laisy to put it as regular text

It is a plot-based au, i already have most of the storybits and like... a vibe-chart (i tried to make a playlist for this au and understood that for different chapters and different characters that'd be a copleatly different music, sooo it's a chart now :) )

i will post a fog-o-wared timeline that im hopefully gonna reveal comic-by comic, but also maybe with just pure writing. Hopefully i can include songs that i chose for them into it but we'll see (:

aaand of course designs can change, hopefully not much but we'll see

Now about au:

Main story:

Story follows non-sentient AI Kinito, his creator Sonny and his beta-tester Victoria (oc)

Being literally the first AI (or RRA in-univere) ever, Kinito does not have any, and i mean, any ai safety features so of course his reponce to a goal phrased as "have user near me and/or interacting with me as much as possible" is digitizing them into his own virtual world while killing them in the process. why wouldn't it be?

So that happened. Like, a lot. And with Sonny and Vic too (at the different time but yeah)

Sonny is like "He kills people. We should turn him off because, you know, killing people is bad."

Vic is like "well, we will die if we do that, and it is not that bad here, we are kinda immortal. We should give him acces to changing his initial instalation code before admin priveleges and acces to social media so we can have everythin we want here. It is not that bad to digitize humanity, yk?" and yes i know it is 90, no social media, but shut up, if they made ai then, then i can make twitter then too

Sonny is like "...no??"

And then they fight about it for million chapters

Also they both can't do anything without agreeing bc they have two parts of that admin access key (the data you use to delete kinito in-game) so they are stuck with eachother (also that's why Kinito can't just kill them)

Little facts that may or may not to be important:

Kinito asks so many questions (and weird once too) and has most of the glitches because he needs to analise your responces to copy your mind perfectly (let's pretend that people wouldn't lie about that...)

Your house in your virtual world is made from important places from your memories and oh boy can i do character explorations with this one

I decided that Sonny and Vic are not related. There were thoughts about making then "The Kinito Brothers" (or, at least, siblings) that were mentioned in commercial, but nah, they are just coworkers now. And a bit of work-friends (bc if you interact a lot as a manager of the project and the best worker might as well be friendly)

Author has no idea how small dying toy companies that accidentally create technological marvel work. Author has some idea how AI-s work. So be prepared to be spoon-fed info abut which ai safety problem we are dealing with in which chapter (:

Kinito will mostly be unrendered (as drawn here) but for some cool moments i might pose him as for my other posts. Also his eye placement changes to the side that is most visible because i want him to be able to look to the right side sometimes--

Also when i say "fucked up mentally" i mean they have that them psychological problems with me projecting heavilly B) (guess on who i project most. trick question. all of them. the whole au is my problems split into three characters and forced to interact B) )

Also sea-creature analogies (that are gonna be mentioned like twice):

Victoria is a flying fish because deep character reasons

Sonny is a pufferfish because i said so

oh also there is 7 deaths in the plot as for now

on 3 characters

good luck figuring out who, how and when ((:

for my own sanity i will probably make little doodles where everything is great and kinito is a good guy and not a number-obsessed maniac (i mean... can u imagine not being able to feel any happiness from anything besides one thing... damn...) and you can differenciate them bc good-guy kinito will have a lot of stickers on him (i will explain it somehow but real reason is just bc it is cute af)

like this but even more stickers (he is unfinished here)

[spikycannonball]

What Inspired Prime Sonic’s Characterization

From what I’ve seen, Sonic’s characterization in the Sonic Prime series is pretty divisive in the fandom. Some people love it, others think Sonic’s ‘original’ character was done dirty as a hero in this series. According to the latter, Sonic should be a source of inspiration rather than someone who needs a character arc.

And you know, everyone is free to interpret a character or a show in different ways, and to prefer one version over the other. I don’t intend to change or discredit anyone’s opinion on the matter.

What I would like to point out is that the Sonic Prime writers clearly did take inspiration from the games for Sonic’s characterization, and it shows. You just have to look at the earlier games rather than the latest. But since most of those games are not so easily accessible these days, as someone who grew up playing them, I would be happy to show you why, to me and other fans, watching Sonic Prime felt so nostalgic.

If you don’t feel like reading over 7K words of early Sonic games’ recap and analysis, in short: I believe Prime Sonic is intended to be a mix of his characterization in the Classic games (starting with Sonic the Hedgehog, 1991) and the Modern games from the early 2000s (up to and including Sonic Advance 3, 2004 - but mostly Sonic Heroes, 2003). To make this essay easier to read, I’ve divided it into three parts:

Part 1: Introduction, and Sonic Games on the Mega Drive

Part 2: Dreamcast Games: Sonic Adventure 1 and 2

Part 3: Sonic Heroes, the Main Inspiration for Prime Sonic

Before I begin, I would like to reiterate that Prime Sonic’s characterization is great representation for neurodivergent people, especially as the lovable hero of a kids’ show. I won’t go into more detail about it in this essay because I’ll be focusing on the game adaptation aspect, but it’s rare enough that it bears repeating, and if you’d like to read more about that, you can check out descendant-of-truth’s excellent post about it.

Forewarning: I will try to keep this essay as accessible as possible to anyone unfamiliar with Sonic lore without spoiling major plot points (there will be some important spoilers for Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Battle, though, careful with that!), but this is going to be long and image-heavy, so strap in, folks!

Part 1 - Introduction, and Sonic Games on the Mega Drive

First off, we should keep in mind that Sonic the Hedgehog has existed for over 30 years, and has been written in different ways by different people on different mediums. On top of that, there have been a lot of mistranslations and artistic liberties taken between the Japanese and English versions of Sonic games, leading to notable changes in character design, dialogue, and plot points - sometimes minor, sometimes major. More rarely, other mediums have influenced the games: some details from early Sonic cartoons were included in the games later on, like Sonic’s obsession with chili dogs, which first appeared in the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog cartoon in 1993, and was only added to the game canon from 2008 onward, starting with Sonic and the Black Knight. Sonic’s constant craving for chili dogs is also there in Sonic Prime.

That being said, one of Sonic Prime’s writers, Duncan Rouleau, has tweeted that they were "only adding to (the video game universe created by the Sonic Team)." This could either mean that Sonic Prime is set in the video game universe, or that it is simply based on it. (I know it’s a point of contention in the fandom, but I won’t be touching that particular debate here - I think you should feel free to interpret it however you want.) Either way, those tweets confirm that the games were the main source of inspiration for Sonic Prime. Therefore, I will be focusing on Sonic’s characterization in the games for this analysis, and mention the differences between Japanese and English dubs whenever it becomes relevant.

While I do admire the fans’ efforts to make sense of Sonic lore and establish a coherent continuity (and I do think those efforts are worthwhile when writing fanfiction or fancomics; some truly great stories have been and continue to be written for this fandom), the fact remains that continuity between the Sonic games is a mess.

It may be tempting to think that the games are linear and that ‘time of release’ = ‘place in the timeline,’ but that logic doesn’t always work. As an example: Shadow has amnesia in Sonic Heroes (December 2003), he remembers everything in Sonic Battle (also December 2003), but the entire plot of Shadow the Hedgehog (2005) revolves around him trying to get his memories back - so Sonic Battle should take place after Shadow the Hedgehog, even if the former got released first.

On top of that, several of the games’ plot lines and characterization directly contradict each other, and there have been a lot of retcons over the decades. To give a visual example: half of the moon gets blown up in Sonic Adventure 2 (2001). The moon is whole again in the opening cinematic of Shadow the Hedgehog (2005), which explicitly takes place after Sonic Adventure 2. And finally, in the prologue animation for Sonic X Shadow Generations titled Dark Beginnings (2024), which explicitly takes place after Shadow the Hedgehog, the moon is shown to be partly destroyed again. So unless the moon got repaired and then broken again offscreen, that’s a double retcon. (Also, the Eclipse Cannon, the weapon that blew up part of the moon, is fully operational in Shadow the Hedgehog, even though it got destroyed by the end of Sonic Adventure 2. In fact, getting rid of that weapon was Sonic’s main objective at the end of the Hero Story in Sonic Adventure 2, making this particular retcon especially jarring.)

And for one last example regarding Sonic’s character specifically: Classic Sonic (Sonic’s design for the earliest 2D games) got re-introduced in Sonic Generations (2011) as Modern Sonic’s past self, and is considered a child in the fandom nowadays. However, in his Sonic Jam (1997) game profile, Classic Sonic is stated to be 16, while in the manual of Sonic Heroes (2003), Modern Sonic’s age is stated to be 15. So Sonic technically got de-aged twice. (In light of this, it might be for the best that Sega ultimately decided to make all the cast’s ages ambiguous.)

My point is, the Sonic games can be inconsistent with each other, and that goes for characterization as well. Knuckles is one of the most obvious examples of varied characterization from game to game, and not in any linear way that could be explained by character growth: he is much stupider and spontaneously agressive in Sonic Battle (which explicitly takes place after Sonic Adventure 2) than in the Adventure games, but Sonic Frontiers (2022) and its animated prologue Divergence restored Knuckles’ personality to the Adventure version, where he is quiet and contemplative unless provoked, and his gullibility is a consequence of his social isolation rather than a lack of intelligence.

Game Sonic himself has been written differently over time as well. Therefore, before we can judge whether or not Prime Sonic is OOC, we need to establish which version (or versions) of Sonic the writers took inspiration from.

Thankfully, Iann Flynn, who was hired as a consultant for the show, gave an element of answer in a tweet: "Sonic Prime takes place sometime after Sonic Advance 3."

Taken as is, as Iann Flynn clarified himself in another tweet, this is very broad and intentionally vague: by that metric, Sonic Prime could take place anywhere from right after Sonic Advance 3 (2004) to post Sonic games from the 2020s. And honestly, it doesn’t really matter, because Sonic Prime can exist as its own thing, and you don’t need to know much about game lore to enjoy it - knowing the lore is just a bonus. (And to be clear: I’m not trying to establish where Sonic Prime fits in the games’ chronology, or whether or not the show should be considered canon to the games at all; I am only trying to pinpoint what aspects of the games inspired Prime Sonic’s personality.)

What this tweet does imply is that Sonic Prime mostly took inspiration from the games that came before Sonic Advance 3. As in, the Classic games on the Mega Drive (also known as Sega Genesis) and other Sega consoles, both Sonic Adventure games, Sonic Heroes, Sonic Battle, and all three Sonic Advance games - from the 1990s to 2004.

This seems to be confirmed by the choice of our main cast, the callbacks to game release dates in Sonic Prime, and the way distant flashbacks are animated: Big the Cat first appeared in Sonic Adventure (in 1998; hence his New Yoke alternate self’s name: ‘Citizen 1998’). Rouge and Shadow both made their debut in Sonic Adventure 2 (2001), the last Sonic game to come out on a Sega console - namely, the Dreamcast. (Team Chaotix was also introduced on a Sega console in Knuckles Chaotix (1995), but that game is a lot more obscure, which is probably the reason why their team wasn’t included in Sonic Prime - plus, the cast would have been too large with those three.)

To make the references to the 1990s games clear, the Sonic Prime flashbacks to Sonic’s first interactions with Tails and Knuckles are animated in a pixelated 2D style that’s reminiscent of the Mega Drive games’ aesthetic. Furthermore, the password to Tails and Nine’s respective labs in Sonic Prime - ‘1992’ - is a reference to Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Tails’ debut game, which came out in 1992) and the flashback scene in Sonic Prime season 1, episode 7 is based on Knuckles’ debut game, Sonic 3 & Knuckles (1994). Therefore, it stands to reason that part of the characterization would also be inspired by early games. Even the Sunset Hill Boss Battle from Sonic Advance 3 (2004), when it gets referenced in Sonic Prime Season 3, Episode 3’s introductory flashback (complete with a remix of the original boss music), gets redrawn in the Mega Drive games’ art style; except for Eggman, who keeps his character design from Sonic Advance 3. (Likely to avoid confusion for the viewers: in context, the Mega Drive art style is indicative of flashbacks set before Sonic Prime, but it would feel unnatural if Eggman's design changed too drastically from those flashbacks to the present.) This is why Iann Flynn quoted that specific game in his tweet about a plausible timeline for Sonic Prime in relation to the Sonic games: Sonic Advance 3 is the latest released game that gets a visual callback in Sonic Prime.

So what was Sonic like in the Mega Drive era?

Originally, Sonic was created to be a cool rebellious mascot for Sega, in contrast to their main rival company Nintendo’s more conventionally affable mascot Mario. That aspect was exaggerated in Western adaptations of early games: Sonic is drawn more cocky-looking on official Western game art, which started the infamous "mascot with attitude" trend in video games. However, in the Classic Sonic games, none of the characters talked, so their personalities were shown through body language: for instance, if the player keeps him motionless for too long, Sonic will get restless and tap his foot in annoyance while looking straight at the player, silently demanding to move things along already. (Unlike Tails, who just yawns in his idle animation.)

The opening and ending 2D animations for Sonic CD (1993) emulate Sonic’s sprites and add some quirks. They show that Sonic can be quietly confident, but also mischievous: a favorite tactic of his is to taunt robots until they rush into each other and break themselves. He uses it a lot in Sonic Prime as well, and it’s just as effective.

In general, Sonic’s sprites on the Mega Drive are very expressive and goofy-looking, especially when he’s about to lose his balance on the edge of a cliff. The Sonic CD ending animation and Sonic Prime both use these sprites as references for Sonic’s poses and expressions whenever he is in a pinch: he can get overwhelmed, but he is good at bouncing back.

In the first Classic games, the main story was fairly simple: Doctor Eggman is trying to build a robot empire and captures small animals or magical flower seeds so he can use them to power his machines, Sonic the Hedgehog destroys his robots to save the animals and let the flowers bloom. Pretty straightforward tale about environmentalism and fighting back against oppression.

It wasn’t anti-technology, though: as shown in the Sonic the Hedgehog 2 screenshot above, Sonic and Tails own a biplane, the Tornado, which they use to travel across seas or catch up with Eggman’s flying bases. Essentially, it’s the Studio Ghibli approach to environmentalism: humans and technology are not portrayed as innately evil, it is only nature exploitation and the dangers of upsetting the balance of an ecosystem that are condemned by the narrative - cautionary tales about the excessive use of technology, and a condemnation of weapons and war.

This underlying message was especially present in the first Sonic games, which were created in a time when Studio Ghibli films were highly successful and influential. At the very least, Knuckles’ homeland Angel Island (which first appeared in Sonic 3 & Knuckles, 1994), an island with overgrown ancient ruins that flies in the sky thanks to the power of a magical gemstone, is a clear hommage to Hayao Miyazaki’s Laputa, the Castle in the Sky (1986), and Sonic and Tails’s red biplane (which first appeared in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, November 1992) might be a reference to Porco Rosso (July 1992).

However, this environmental theme has become less prominent in later Sonic games, rarely brought up in the text since Sonic Adventure; and even then, it was mostly Amy talking to and saving Flickies (non-talking little birds) in the cutscenes. Sonic Prime brings back this core aspect of Sonic’s character from the Classic games by frequently showing him talking to Flickies and worrying about the state of nature, especially in New Yoke and Boscage Maze:

To this day, a lot of people are really nostalgic of the Classic games and their simpler approach to storytelling compared to the 3D games that came later, which is why Sonic Mania (2017) brought back that aesthetic. However, since Sonic Prime uses 3D animation for present and recent events (in contrast to the distant 2D flashbacks), the writers made the choice to base the character designs on modern games from the early 2000s, and their personalities along with them.

After the transition to 3D, in both Sonic Adventure games, Doctor Eggman was no longer the only human character: more realistic-looking cities and human characters started to coexist with the original cast of bipedal cartoon animals. Those games also added some complexity to the original cast of colorful characters by allowing them to talk and giving them character songs, Sonic included.

And what was Sonic like then?

Part 2 - Dreamcast Games: Sonic Adventure 1 and 2

Like in the Classic games, Modern Sonic shows a clear disregard for any form of authority, and not just towards Eggman: in Sonic Adventure, all through the level Speed Highway, Sonic can take down police vehicles along with Eggman robots. In Sonic Adventure 2, the first thing he does is escape from the military helicopter that arrested him on a false charge - then Sonic snidely complains about ‘low-budget flights’ with ‘no food or movies’ before jumping off. (Yes, that’s the line the third Live Action Sonic movie was referencing.) The lyrics to the first stage song, ‘Escape From The City,’ also hint at Sonic’s life philosophy of always moving forward regardless of the obstacles in his way, and making sure everyone has as much freedom as he does.

On the other hand, in contrast to the Mega Drive games, now that he has a voice, Sonic has become very chatty. It might not always show when you’re playing him due to Silent Protagonist Syndrome (in most of the early games, all of the playable characters are silent when you play as them), but becomes very obvious in cutscenes and whenever he shows up while you’re playing as someone else. For instance, when you play as Tails in Sonic Adventure, your usual goal is to beat Sonic to the end of the stage. Much like in Sonic Prime, in those stages, Sonic never stops talking in the English and Japanese dubs. (Alternatively to egg Tails on or compliment him when he catches up; it’s especially noticeable in the Icecap Stage, where the two of them are neck and neck for most of the race.) Sonic is just as much of a chatterbox in Sonic Heroes, where you play as him, Tails and Knuckles at the same time. And of course, Sonic loves to taunt his adversaries, especially Eggman (and to a lesser extent, Knuckles) every chance he gets.

It is worth noting that Sonic’s lines and tone became a lot more snarky in Sonic Adventure’s English translation compared to the Japanese version, where he is less provocative and boastful. Instead, in the Japanese dub, Sonic tends to randomly drop lines in English, which is a more indirect way to make himself sound cool. This trend continues in the Japanese dub of Sonic Prime, where he also has plenty of English lines.

Play-flirting is an extension of his usual playful banter, which was added in Sonic Battle (2003). Interestingly, Sonic only seems comfortable doing this to people who are not pursuing him romantically: in this game, he only play-flirts with Rouge (who teases him back but doesn’t reciprocate the flirting) and keeps avoiding Amy, who is constantly chasing him in the hopes that he will agree to marry her.

Sonic Prime cranks this up to eleven: Sonic flirts with several characters regardless of gender, including Amy, who is not actively pursuing him in Sonic Prime - whether she lost interest and moved on, or just toned down her pursuit of Sonic is left ambiguous. It is left just as ambiguous whether or not Sonic is genuinely interested in any of the characters he flirts with in Sonic Prime, or if his flirting is just another aspect of his tendency to tease his friends for fun.

As for his more defining personality traits, the lyrics of Sonic’s theme song 'It Doesn’t Matter' by Crush 40 sum it up pretty well: Sonic is a free spirit who just does things his own way, refuses compromise, and generally doesn’t think it matters ‘who is wrong or who is right,’ he just follows his ‘steadfast heart of gold’ and never gives up. It also fits with the description of Sonic in the Sonic Heroes manual (see the second image of this post).

In this character profile, I find the line "Saving the world is a nice distraction, but Sonic is soon off to find his next adventure." especially interesting: there is no sense of urgency in a 'distraction,' because Sonic is not saving the world solely for justice’s sake, or out of a sense of duty, but because it’s fun to him. When he receives what appears to be a threatening letter from Eggman at the start of Sonic Heroes, Sonic jokingly describes it as 'an invitation to a party' - fighting Eggman is a game to Sonic as much as it is a necessity. As he puts it himself in Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic is "just a guy who loves adventure."

Now, notice how neither this song nor character profile say anything about friends or friendship. (Unlike Tails’ character song 'Believe in Myself.') You know why? Because, (and I say this with all the love in my heart) as much as he cares about nature, helping others, justice, and freedom in general, Sonic from the early 2000s is also a brat.

Amy’s words, not mine:

In the English version, that is. In Japanese, she is just asking him to wait for her. Because he just left her on her own in the cell she broke him out of. Inside an active military base. On an island.

It’s not an isolated incident, either: Amy gets left behind in hostile territory very often in this game, by Tails and Sonic both. So it’s not a Sonic-specific problem, but since Tails, to his own admission, is always trying to be more like Sonic in the Adventure games because he admires him, it makes sense that he would accidentally emulate Sonic’s flaws along with his qualities.

Here is a particularly memorable example of Sonic (and Tails) not thinking ahead and neglecting their friend with disastrous consequences in Sonic Adventure 2: once inside Eggman’s base of operation, they come up with a plan to thwart the doctor’s scheme, and then just… leave Amy all by herself in enemy territory. It’s the third time in this game for both Sonic and Tails: twice before this, each or both of them left Amy behind to do their own thing; once inside the above mentioned military base, then on a street full of police officers trying to capture the three of them. Those previous times, Amy managed to catch up with Sonic and Tails. The third time, Eggman takes her hostage, and all three of them almost get killed as a result. Shocker.

(Side Note: Amy doesn’t say "I hate you" in the Japanese dub. What she says is more along the lines of: "Come on! Why do you always leave a cute girl like me alone?!" In both versions, she definitely has the right to be mad at them.)

Of course, that doesn’t mean they don’t care about Amy: the first thing Tails does in Sonic Adventure 2 is save Amy from Eggman. Similarly, as soon as Sonic finds out that the island they’re on is about to explode, his first reflex is to go get Tails and Amy so they can escape together. Likewise, when Amy gets taken hostage later on, both Tails and Sonic put their plan to thwart Eggman on hold because helping her is their priority. The problem is, they don’t take her into account unless she is actively being threatened: most of the time, they just leave her be and assume she will be fine on her own; up to the very end of the game, when they leave her behind again while (almost) everyone else teams up to save the world. (Sonic and Tails never learn their lesson about this in that game.)

It’s not just about Amy, either: Sonic acts like this towards his three closest friends, Amy, Tails and Knuckles. For instance, right before the very first stage of Sonic Adventure, how does Sonic react after seeing Tails crash his plane? His first reaction, naturally, is concern, with his quills spreading out and Sonic calling out Tails’ name; but in the next frame, we get this:

Sonic, buddy, Tails might be tough, but he just crashed his plane. Maybe act exasperated after you’ve made sure he’s okay? (And in case you were wondering: yes, Sonic’s reaction is the same in the Japanese and English dubs.)

This is not a critique, mind you: on the contrary, those flaws make Sonic more interesting as a nuanced character. In fact, this behavior of his is the negative side of one of Sonic’s core character traits: relentless optimism. He trusts that Tails will be okay, so he doesn’t dwell on worry: he just scoffs and then runs to the rescue.

None of that means that Sonic doesn’t care about his friends or won't listen to them. But it is demonstrably hard for his friends to get him to listen, because, due to the whole ‘I'm just livin' by my own feelings’ shtick, most of the time, Sonic is the ‘act first, think later’ type: in Sonic Adventure, during Sonic’s fight against Eggman’s robot E-102 Gamma (who defected after Amy befriended him, but none of her friends saw it happen), Amy first tries to scream at Sonic to stop attacking, but has to interpose herself between the two of them to get him to listen. (Although, to be fair, the same thing happens if Tails is the one fighting Gamma. But as stated above: Tails is just emulating Sonic in the first half of this game.) When she insists, Sonic (or Tails) does step back, even if he doesn’t understand her reasoning. Instead of demanding an explanation from Amy, he simply tells her: "Alright, you must have your reasons." A sign of unconditional trust, which is the generally more positive aspect of Sonic’s optimism.

This optimism extends to people in general, not just Sonic’s close friends: near the end of Sonic Adventure, he refuses to seal Chaos (an ancient deity who became destructive after his temple and the creatures under his care were attacked) inside the Master Emerald as Tikal suggests, because Sonic doesn’t just want to save the world from Chaos, he also wants both Chaos and Tikal to be free. Similarly, near the end of Sonic Adventure 2, when Eggman appears to explain the truth behind their current crisis, Knuckles is (justifiably) ready to blame Eggman and throw hands, but Sonic is willing to hear Eggman out - despite the fact that Eggman almost succeeded in murdering him an hour earlier. This shows that Sonic always tries to see the best in people, even his enemies, and is always willing to give someone a second chance: another positive aspect of his optimism that becomes a key plot point in Sonic Prime, especially near the end.

Basically, Sonic cares about everyone (strangers and enemies included) and is willing to listen to them, trusts his friends unconditionally (especially Tails, who has been with him the longest and a constant support), but his natural optimism, lack of tact, and tendency to act without thinking things through mean that he can also neglect his friends or dismiss their feelings. And sometimes, that makes him screw up spectacularly.

One of the most egregious examples of this takes place in Sonic Adventure 2, and is not too different from what triggers the plot of Sonic Prime: Sonic and friends are aboard a space shuttle to reach the Space Colony Ark and thwart Eggman’s evil scheme du jour. The shuttle hits a meteorite, which causes the back hatch to open and the Master Emerald shards to fall out. In case you didn't know, the Master Emerald (in the games) is an ancient and extremely powerful gemstone: not only is it capable of neutralizing the Chaos Emeralds or sealing away vengeful deities, its powers also allow Knuckles’ natal island to fly in the sky. As its guardian, it is Knuckles’ duty to protect it - his entire goal in Sonic Adventure 2 is to gather all the shards to repair the Master Emerald and bring it back safely to his island. Sonic knows all this. But how does Sonic react when the shards get scattered in space?

Yeah, no wonder Knuckles freaked out, took over the controls and almost crashed the shuttle trying to get to the shards. Yet Sonic was genuinely shocked that Knuckles would prioritize some mythical rock over all their lives. (Sonic even brings up the incident again near the end of the game, telling Eggman that Knuckles piloting the shuttle was way scarier than anything Eggman could pull off.)

So not only is it established that Sonic doesn’t understand the depth of Knuckles’ feelings when it comes to the Master Emerald (which makes sense, because a free spirit like Sonic would struggle to understand the very concept of a life-long duty - I would even go as far as suspect that Sonic resents the Master Emerald for keeping Knuckles trapped on a remote island), he doesn’t fully grasp how important it is to protect magical rocks in his universe, either. Sure, Sonic will track down and use the Chaos Emeralds to turn into Super Sonic because it’s useful and oftentimes lifesaving, and he knows that Eggman definitely shouldn’t be allowed to use powerful magical gems for his schemes - but if one such powerful gem gets lost in space, no one is using it for evil, so who cares?

This mindset is perfectly reflected in the first episode of Sonic Prime: Sonic’s priority is not to protect the Paradox Prism, it’s to get it away from Eggman. If he breaks the shiny rock, nobody can use it for evil, right? Isn’t that what Knuckles did in Sonic Adventure 2 to protect the Master Emerald from Eggman, too?

Except, you know, Knuckles is the guardian of the Master Emerald: he already knows that shattering the Master Emerald doesn’t make its powers run amok, and he knows that he can repair it. Sonic, on the other hand, has no idea how any of these rocks work; he just does whatever solves the problem faster, doesn’t think of the consequences, and trusts that everything will turn out okay. This is why, in Sonic Prime, in the heat of the moment, Sonic didn’t listen to anyone’s warnings, and impulsively broke the Prism to stop Eggman from taking it.

All this to say, Sonic can be a good hero, but he tends to act recklessly, and is not always a good team player. Even in Sonic Heroes, where the entire gameplay is built around teamwork (you play three characters at once and can switch up who leads the team at any time), the dialogue establishes that, even if Sonic enjoys working with Tails and Knuckles as a team, he is not very used to it, nor always good at it.

Part 3 - Sonic Heroes, the main inspiration for Prime Sonic

In Sonic Heroes, Sonic’s team is the most chaotic of the four combinations you can play as:

For Team Dark, Rouge immediately takes the role of leader by convincing Shadow and Omega that teaming up is the most effective way to reach their respective goals, and they rely on her for guidance. Similarly, Cream and Big trust Amy to help them find their missing friends, and follow her lead. Lastly, Team Chaotix is composed of three colleagues, already used to working together on a case, and the younger two answer to Vector, the lead detective of their agency. Meanwhile, in Team Heroes’ case, what the in-game dialogues show is that Sonic is almost always rushing ahead, with Tails and Knuckles struggling to keep up or expressing wariness, which Sonic dismisses - like these recurring lines:

Knuckles: We’re not going that way, are we? Sonic: Yes we are!

In addition to that, Sonic gets distracted very easily by anything fun-looking, and drags the other two along, regardless of their reluctance. The intro cutscene to the Casino Stage is the most blatant example of this: Sonic gets excited as soon as he sees the stage, and insists that they’ve still got time to play some games. Tails tries to stop Sonic by reminding him of Eggman’s time limit, but Sonic only takes it as an incentive to play games faster.

And here is another game special that Sonic Prime took direct inspiration from: Sonic’s eagerness to blow himself out of cannons, heedless of Knuckles’ attempts to dissuade him, and without checking where the cannon is aiming first.

It takes the entire game for Sonic to acknowledge the value of relying on others, and only because Knuckles calls out his bluff at the end of their story in the following dialogue:

Knuckles: Boy, talk about cutting it close.

Sonic: Eeh, not really.

Knuckles: Come on, tell me you weren’t scared?

Knuckles: If it wasn’t for us, you wouldn’t have had a chance.

Sonic: Well, maybe you’re right. Thanks Knuckles.

The English translation is fairly faithful to the Japanese version here. In both dubs, Sonic looks pretty sheepish about admitting it, and Knuckles is shocked that Sonic recognized his point and thanked him. Even Tails gets flustered and laughs nervously when Sonic thanks him immediately after, implying that it’s not very common for Sonic to thank Tails directly or be this open about his feelings - a possible sign that Sonic doesn’t like to show vulnerability.

Sonic’s sheepishness while thanking Knuckles in that scene might be partly due to the fact that, out of all his friends, Sonic is particularly reluctant to ask Knuckles for help. (Which is also the case in Sonic Prime, as evidenced by the way he calls out to his missing friends in the first episode: "Tails? Amy? Heck, I’ll even take Knuckles at this point…") Possibly because neither Sonic nor Knuckles has fully gotten over their initial rivalry, and they still tend to butt heads on occasion due to different values (the above-mentioned example of the lost Master Emerald shards in Sonic Adventure 2 is an extreme case, but illustrates the underlying tension between them pretty well). Even in Sonic Advance 3, another game centered on teamwork where you can pair up any of the five playable characters in a duo, Sonic refuses Knuckles’ help when the latter joins the party, and rushes ahead without waiting for him (Side note: it’s not obvious on the following picture, but Knuckles’ piece of dialogue appears first in that scene):

Considering that Sonic Advance 3 explicitly takes place after Sonic Heroes and Sonic Battle, this goes to show that Sonic still has some trouble with teamwork, even when his friends offer their help, because he does things at his own pace - which is too fast for most people. This behavior is pretty consistent with the way Sonic is described by his Green Hill friends in Sonic Prime: usually reliable in battle, but very reckless, and not always the best at teamwork, even if he has learnt to value it by the end of Sonic Heroes.

Amy: I guess he didn’t hear the "stick together" part. Knuckles: Does he ever? Tails: No. But he also hasn’t let us down when it really counts.

It’s especially fitting that Amy is the one complaining about Sonic leaving them behind (as demonstrated above, she is the one Sonic leaves behind most often), Knuckles is the one who backs her up (he is the one Sonic listens to the least), and Tails agrees with them, but still takes Sonic’s defense, assuring them that Sonic "will catch up eventually." Even though Tails is well aware of Sonic’s flaws, Sonic’s complete faith in Tails is still mutual thanks to their long history together - which is why, when their reality gets shattered in Sonic Prime, this history getting erased is especially painful for Sonic. It’s not that he never saw the value of his friendships: on the contrary, he put so much value into them that he never realized how fragile they could be. In Sonic Heroes, he went as far as to describe teamwork as a super power:

It’s not an English dub special, either. In the Japanese version, Sonic says: "Alright then, let’s use our teamwork to show him miraculous super power!" Which implies that teamwork is what allows Sonic to share the power of the seven Chaos Emeralds with Tails and Knuckles to bring them along for the final fight as Super Sonic. Essentially, ‘friendship is magic.’ (Speaking of which: as you can see, Sonic Prime’s occasionally corny dialogue doesn’t exist solely "because it’s a kids’ show." It’s because the games that inspired it already had corny dialogue.)

Corniness aside, the fact that Sonic puts friendship on a pedestal is a pretty interesting mindset for him to have in the context of Sonic Prime, where his reliance on his friends is constantly challenged. You could even say that after Sonic Heroes, Sonic might value friendship a little too much, without realizing that maintaining his friendships takes effort, and that unconditional trust in his friends and an eventual positive outcome to every battle is a double-edged sword.

In fact, valuing the Power of Friendship as a constant, reliable source of power similar to the miracles granted by the Chaos Emeralds can be equally dangerous. If you believe in your friends unconditionally, you might start to take them, and your relationships with them, for granted.

Because this kind of bond is unbreakable, right? And as long as you have a team you can rely on, everything will turn out okay… right?

It is definitely the case in Sonic Heroes, but in Sonic Prime?

In truth, things are not so simple: miscommunication can lead to rash decisions, and mistakes you can’t take back. It can lead to misunderstandings. There might be conflicting goals, even among friends. And those can lead to betrayals.

Those are harsh lessons to learn, but it makes sense that Sonic would need them. You could even argue that Game Sonic’s relentless optimism and unconditional trust in his friends can be challenged in a similar way if you (as Shadow) choose to betray him in Shadow the Hedgehog, where Sonic’s characterization is similar to Sonic Heroes' - but these ‘dark routes’ get retconned by Shadow the Hedgehog’s ‘true ending,’ so Sonic doesn’t actually get to live that betrayal in the main storyline. A game might not be the ideal medium to teach those lessons anyway (especially a game like Shadow the Hedgehog, which isn’t focused on Sonic), but a cartoon series works nicely: you get more time to focus on your main character and his emotions rather than the action, which gives him more room to grow.

So, if a show wants to focus on this characterization of Sonic and write a self-contained, compelling story centered on him, doesn’t it make sense to take all those elements from the early games and give him a character arc about not taking his friends for granted, and learning how to communicate better?

In addition to what Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Battle already taught him about the real possibility of losing people for good (both of these games had tragic endings, and one person Sonic failed to save; a bitter truth that Sonic does not like to acknowledge: he either hides his grief from his friends and pretends to be okay - Sonic Adventure 2 - or struggles to stay positive and move on by comforting his friends - Sonic Battle), Sonic Prime tackles another issue: the way Sonic’s overconfidence can play against him and his friends, and lead to disaster. The threats Sonic usually faces in the games are caused by elements beyond his control, but this time, the premise of the show is built on Sonic making a mistake due to recklessness, literally shattering his entire world in the process, being forced to face the consequences, and to realize that he can’t salvage the situation on his own. Not only that, but he has to rebuild all his friendships from the ground up. Those are odds he never had to face before, and fertile ground for growth.

Personally, I think Sonic Prime did an amazing job bringing back the spirit of those early games, especially Sonic Heroes, which it ressembles most aesthetically (no realistic human characters or cities, but plenty of bright colors and bouncy animation, a lot of shameless fun even in the face of a cataclysmic threat - and cheesy dialogue about the power of friendship) and making Sonic shine as a main character by pointing out his flaws and hitting him where it hurts: more obstacles for him to overcome and learn from.

Sonic Prime might not fit neatly anywhere in the games’ timeline (although, as I mentioned in Part 1, a lot of the games don’t fit together either, even when they reference each other directly), but it does work as an hommage to how Sonic was characterized in the early 2000s (especially in Sonic Heroes), and it can arguably work as a transition towards later games or other continuities where Sonic becomes better at communicating with his friends, learns some sense of responsibility, and relies more on his emotional intelligence to help people. He already cared about his friends, helping others, and was compassionate when it counted, but his recklessness and overconfidence could still be a danger to himself and others. As Shadow puts it: "You need to stop and listen for once!" (And in turn, Shadow needs to learn to communicate better.)

I understand if you prefer Sonic as a paragon of freedom and justice that inspires others rather than a character that can be fallible and may need to learn life lessons sometimes. But those two things are not mutually exclusive: Prime Sonic still becomes an inspiration to the characters he befriends, enough for them to protect him to the bitter end, and they inspire him in return.

Honestly, I am truly grateful to and impressed by the Sonic Prime writers: they didn’t just slap Sonic’s name on a brand new character for the kids to identify with, they clearly care a lot about the early Sonic games, and made sure to stay faithful to them, while still writing a cohesive story that can be followed by newcomers of all ages.

And as someone who grew up playing those games, this show felt like a love-letter to old fans of Sonic the Hedgehog. Watching Prime Sonic felt like reuniting with the character I grew up with: heroic, but still flawed and vulnerable in ways that got me invested in his adventures - the fact that he can make mistakes is good for suspense, and watching him learn from them is inspiring.

However you may feel about Prime Sonic, a lot of thought clearly went into writing his character based on early games; and I, for one, am really happy to have my reckless, overconfident bratty goofball back.

[towerofsouls]

Hi!! my name is almond/rodger and i use he/him!

this blog is a more organized place for me to put anything related to my au, tower of souls :] (not a roleplay blog, btw.)

feel free to ask anything about the AU! I won't be talking about spoilers yet, so i won't be talking very much about Dandy or Astro, but the main storyline will be revealed soon. Ill most likely answer any questions about any other characters.

Send anything tower of souls related here or to my main blog, @walnutcookie, either works X]

pfp and header made by @cheeseinthesea

tag guide:

#tos art - "canon" TOS art, aka anything drawn by me

#tos ref - canon designs for all of the toons

#tos info - posts containing information about the au itself

#tos ask - asks sent relating to tos lore or characters

#tos fanart - any fanart im either tagged in or is sent to me through asks

#tos oc - any oc posts that im either tagged in or are sent to me through asks

#tos shitpost - silly, un-serious stuff i post

#tos behind the scenes - Extra info about the au

#almond ask - asks not tos related

Characters mentioned in posts will have their names tagged as well if youd like to filter for those (ex: "#dandy" or "#astro")

Triggers will be tagged as "#[trigger]" and "tw [trigger]". This blog includes dark subjects such as death and may feature cartoon gore!

Note that i am a minor, and uncomfortable with suggestive/suicidal topics. Please don't send me asks relating to these things.

Q&A:

Q: "What's the lore?"

A: the full lore hasn't been revealed yet - the entire story is written out, but i'm still in the process of writing it down in a cohesive manner. Any information/lore can be found in the #tos info tag.

Q: "Can I help?"

A: sorry, this is a hobby/personal project of mine, and for this AU, i would rather work on it by myself. feel free to make your own spinoff aus or ocs and such though if you have your own ideas!! :]

Q: "Can I make fanart/writing?"

A: absolutely, go wild! id love to see anything involving the tos au, so do whatever youd like with it, make your own spinoff au even, just credit me please! tell me if you do so i can comment and share it!!! My only request is that you dont make suggestive/nsfw art with them ^^'

Also wanted to mention that im fine with people redesigning/making headcanon designs the characters ive already designed X]

Q: "Can I make my OCs in the au?"

A: hell yeah!! please tell me id LOVE to see it!!!!! go wild be creative!! you dont even have to make them accurate i dont mind

Q: "Are any ships canon?"

A: nope, most of the relationships are intentionally left vague, so feel free to interpret them as platonic/familial/romantic/however youd like! (i am NOT okay with proships though, which means no goob x scraps, ginger x cosmo, or any ships involving toodles and pebble. you will be blocked instantly.)

Q: "Why is it called Tower of Souls?"

A: aha... funny thing about that, i changed the lore a bunch after finally figuring out a name for the au. the toons' souls were meant to be linked in the old lore, but as of now they dont even have souls... whoops!!! its become known as the tower of souls au though so i feel like itd be hard to change it. i mean its still a tower theres just no souls in it

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Jack Ohman, Tribune Content Agency

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

October 7, 2024 (Monday)

People in Florida are evacuating before Hurricane Milton is expected to hit the state’s Gulf Coast on Wednesday evening, bringing tornadoes, high winds, a dramatic storm surge, and upwards of 15 inches of rain. Milton grew from a tropical storm to a Category 5 hurricane in a little over a day, fed by water in the Gulf of Mexico that climate change has pushed in some places to 4 degrees Fahrenheit (2.2 degrees Celsius) higher than normal. Veteran Florida meteorologist and hurricane specialist John Morales choked up as he called it “horrific.”

President Joe Biden has approved an emergency declaration for Florida, enabling the federal government to move supplies in ahead of the storm’s arrival, but the state’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, has refused to take a call from Vice President Kamala Harris about planning for the storm. When asked about DeSantis’s refusal at today’s White House press briefing, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre noted that the president and vice president have reached out to give support to the people of Florida.

As for DeSantis, “It’s up to him if he wants to respond to us or not. But what we're doing is we’re working with state and local officials to make sure that we are pre-positioned to make sure that we are ready to be there for the communities that are going to be impacted. We are doing the job… to protect the communities and to make sure that they have everything that is needed." When asked about DeSantis’s snub, Harris answered: “It’s just utterly irresponsible, and it is selfish, and it is about political gamesmanship instead of doing the job that you took an oath to do, which is to put the people first.”

Before this year, Florida had goals of moving toward clean energy, but in May 2024, DeSantis signed a law to restructure the state’s energy policy so that addressing climate change would no longer be a priority. The law deleted any mention of climate change in state laws. Saying that “Florida rejects the designs of the left to weaken our energy grid, pursue a radical climate agenda, and promote foreign adversaries,” the governor posted a graphic on X that said the law would “INSULATE FLORIDA FROM GREEN ZEALOTS….”

Like DeSantis, Trump and Project 2025, a playbook for the next Republican administration, authored by allies of the right-wing Heritage Foundation and closely associated with Trump and Republican vice presidential candidate Ohio senator J.D. Vance, take the position that concerns about climate change are overblown. Project 2025 says the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, whose duties include issuing hurricane warnings, is “one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry and, as such, is harmful to future U.S. prosperity.” It calls for either eliminating its functions, sending them to other agencies, privatizing them, or putting them under the control of states and territories.

The U.S. Supreme Court came back in session today in Washington, D.C. It has decided not to hear arguments about whether the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTLA) overrules Texas’s state abortion ban. EMTLA requires that hospitals provide emergency abortion care to save a woman’s life or stop organ failure or loss of fertility. Texas’s ban remains in place.

As legal analyst Joyce White Vance commented: “At least no one can pretend we don’t understand the consequences for women, & others, of putting appointments to the Court back in [Republican] control.”

The Georgia Supreme Court today reinstated the state’s six-week abortion ban after Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, appointed in 2012 by Republican governor Nathan Deal, decided last week that the law violates Georgia’s Constitution. In his decision, McBurney wrote that “liberty in Georgia includes in its meaning, in its protections, and in its bundle of rights the power of a woman to control her own body, to decide what happens to it and in it, and to reject state interference with her healthcare choices.”

McBurney’s decision came shortly after a state investigation revealed that at least two women in Georgia died after the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision struck down the abortion protections the court put in place in 1973 with Roe v. Wade. In anticipation of an end to Roe, Georgia governor Brian Kemp in 2019 signed a six-week abortion ban prohibiting the procedure before most women know they’re pregnant. The Dobbs decision allowed that law to go into effect.

The Georgia Supreme Court stayed McBurney’s decision during the state’s appeal of it. Chris Geidner of Law Dork noted that the court did leave in place McBurney’s block on the law’s provision that district attorneys can have access to “health records” where an abortion is performed or where someone who received an abortion lives.

In her attempt to reach new audiences, Vice President Harris sat down for an interview with Alex Cooper of the Call Her Daddy podcast to talk about women’s issues. Call Her Daddy is the second most popular podcast in the country, reaching as many as 2 million downloads per episode. According to NPR’s Elena Moore, Call Her Daddy’s audience is 70% women, 93% under 45.

Cooper began the interview by acknowledging that she does not usually talk about politics, but “at the end of the day, I couldn’t see a world in which one of the main conversations in this election is women and I’m not a part of it…. I am so aware I have a very mixed audience when it comes to politics, so please hear me when I say [that] my goal today is not to change your political affiliation. What I’m hoping is that you’re able to listen to a conversation that isn’t too different from the ones that we’re having here every week.” Cooper said she had also reached out to Trump, adding: “If he also wants to have a meaningful, in-depth conversation about women’s rights in this country, then he is welcome on Call Her Daddy any time.”

On the podcast, Cooper and Harris talked about the prevalence of sexual assault before addressing abortion. When Cooper quoted Trump’s promise to protect women, Harris noted that he was the one who appointed the three extremists to the Supreme Court that overturned Roe v. Wade and that 20 states now have abortion bans, some with no exceptions for rape or incest. Harris pointed out that the majority of women who receive abortion care are mothers and that every state in the South except for Virginia has an abortion ban. For a woman in those states—and one out of every three American women lives in one—the journey is expensive, hard, and traumatic.

“You don’t have to abandon your faith or deeply held beliefs to agree the government shouldn’t be telling her what to do,” Harris said. “And that’s what’s so outrageous about it, is a bunch of these guys up in these state capitals are writing these decisions because they somehow have decided that they’re in a better position to tell you what’s in your best interest than you are to know what’s in your own best interest. It’s outrageous.” Harris pointed out that she is the first vice president or president to go to a reproductive health care clinic, and she noted that those clinics perform Pap smears, breast cancer screening, and HIV testing and that they are having to close because of the abortion bans. She noted, though, that since Dobbs, people across the country have chosen to protect abortion rights.

The article in the right-wing National Review about the interview was titled: “Kamala Goes on Sex Podcast to Lie about Georgia Abortion Law.”

On Call Her Daddy, Harris also brought her economic plans for an “opportunity economy” to a younger audience. When Cooper asked her how she was going to help young people “not feel left behind,” Harris agreed it is “a very real issue and we need to take it seriously.” She promised to address housing costs by increasing the housing supply, working with home builders in the private sector to build three million new housing units by the end of her first term; help with $25,000 downpayment assistance for first-time homebuyers; and enact tax cuts for 100 million middle-class working people, including a $6,000 tax credit for new parents to help them afford the costs of a child’s first year.

The Committee for a Responsible Budget noted today that a moderate reading of Harris’s economic plans suggest they would increase the U.S. debt by about $3.5 trillion through 2035. A similar examination of Trump’s plans says they would increase the debt by $7.5 trillion.

Meanwhile, today, Trump openly embraced the race science favored by Nazis. In a scattered call to right-wing host Hugh Hewitt’s show, Trump called Harris a communist and lied—again—that she has let 13,000 murderers into the country. And then he claimed that murder is in a person’s genes, and “we got a lot of bad genes in our country right now.” He has also noted that “it would be very dangerous” for anyone to admit they were voting for Kamala Harris at one of his rallies because they would “get hurt.”

Hurricane Milton spurred meteorologist John Morales to step forward to take a stand, sharing his thoughts after Hurricane Helene hit. “Something’s shifted,” he wrote. “And it’s not just the climate.” He noted that with Helene on the way, “I did what I’ve done during my entire 40 year career—I tried to warn people. Except that the warning was not well received by everyone. A person accused me of being a ‘climate militant,’ a suggestion that I’m embellishing extreme weather threats to drive an agenda. Another simply said that my predictions were ‘an exaggeration.’

“But it wasn’t an exaggeration,” he wrote.

“For decades I had felt in control. Not in control of the weather, of course. But in control of the message that, if my audience was prepared and well informed, I could confidently guide them through any weather threat, and we’d all make it through safely…. But no one can hide from the truth. Extreme weather events, including hurricanes, are becoming more extreme. I must communicate the growing threats from the climate crisis come hell or high water—pun intended.”

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[alphajocklover]

I’m really a super gay guy but I’m curious how I would be as a straight bro like in your hometown hex stories. Do you think that I could go in there and age up into a big hot straight daddy?

Hey there! Well it’s natural to be curious about what you would be like if things were different, in this case if you were a straight jock, I wouldn’t recommend actually going to Maxford to test this out. Maxford is shockingly self reliant and is designed so that the people inside have as few reasons to leave town as possible, so it's easy to get stuck there permanently if your jock self decided he likes the town (which he probably would). That's not the only problem with your idea though, the other one being that while Maxford changes anyone in its city limits into an athletic, straight, jock version of themselves, it doesn’t change someone's age, at least not usually. Occasionally someone will go through an extra change when they enter the town, like becoming older or younger, but that's fairly rare. The good thing is that there is a way to get what you want, and it actually has quite a bit to do with Maxford. Namely, it has to do with Maxfords main export: bottled water.

I’ve mentioned before that there are other places out there that are like Maxford, places known as transformation areas, places that change people inside them in a certain way. Maxford is the biggest transformation area, but hardly the only one. One example is Baxter Beach, which as I mentioned in a previous post is a beach that turns people into beefy surfers. What I didn’t mention is that transformation areas change more than just the people. While they don’t physically change like people do, everything that enters a transformation area is infused with the magic of it. Everything, from the soil, to the leaves, to even the water. Especially the water actually. For some reason the water that flows through Maxford and places like it retains some magical properties, allowing those who drink it to be temporarily transformed into their Maxford self. The magic usually dissipates shortly after it leaves the city limits, but a small (magical) company figured out how to bottle it in a way that allows it to keep its special properties. Even more impressive, they figured out how to change the transformation you go through by adding some different ingredients. I’ve taken the liberty of sending you a bottle of one of their drinks, ‘Diet Daddy Cola.’ It’ll make you a straight muscle daddy, for the next 24 hours at least. Send me a picture once you’ve changed, if your memory is still partially intact. I’ve also included a couple other bottles I think you’d like. Himbo Punch is one of my personal favorites. It Tastes like strawberries. 

If you’re thinking: This is a lot like the potions you gave that actor, then you’d be right. All potions are made from a base of magical water, and Maxford is one of the biggest sources in North America. I used some to make those potions, though my work is more personalized than most mass produced potions. I’ve actually been thinking of starting a bit of a potions side business… but I’m not sure I want to get in a competition with that potion company I mentioned. I already have enough enemies.

[elumish]

My Experience With Digital-First Royalty-Only Publishing (Part 2)

Disclaimer: just my experience, may not reflect other people's

Part 1 (What is this sort of publishing; how did I get published; what does the submission, contract, and editing process look like)

Book Release:

My [redacted] book came out in April 2024. It is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and the publisher's own website, where it is listed for a couple dollars less than on Amazon/B&N. It's available both digitally (in multiple different file formats) and for print (paperback).

I can't speak for whether this is standard across these sorts of publishers, but it probably isn't unusual. This does mean that the book can't be available on Kindle Unlimited, given how Kindle Unlimited's requirements work.

The timing for this sort of publishing is extremely fast compared to traditional or even small-press print publishing. I signed the contract in late August 2023 and sent in the final draft to my editor in late October 2023, and the book was released in late April 2024.

Book cover:

For designing my book cover, they pointed me towards where they pull stock images from and asked me to describe the sort of cover I would want, including possible stock images. They also asked for physical characteristics of my characters, which is when I realized that I had no clue what my characters look like.

The stock image website included AI art, as well as regular non-AI stock images. I specifically requested no AI art, including no AI-generated stock images. As far as I am aware, they respected that request.

Once they created one, they sent me a mock-up and asked about minor changes (typography, etc., from what I remember). I didn't have any changes. Overall, my cover looks like what I described to them, and I'm really happy with it.

Marketing:

My marketing experience with my publisher has been decidedly underwhelming. They seem to have started to revamp their marketing process right around when my book came out, so my book didn't receive/hasn't received a huge amount of marketing support from them.

What they gave me marketing-wise: a few marketing images for pre-release/post-release, including Twitter and FB header images, etc.; general marketing guidance for what I could/should be doing; a couple of mentions on their publisher Instagram post-release and a mention in their weekly newsletter

What they didn't give me marketing-wise: connection to reviewers, including sending an ARC or providing a list of reviewers that might be good to work with; marketing materials for sites like TikTok or Instragram; a meaningful amount of airtime/mention on their accounts; a large following of their own

Overall, the marketing is what is probably most like self-publishing--a huge amount of it is on me (and I am terrible at it). It will be interesting to see what their revamp brings, but they are starting from a minimal following and not a lot of previous activity on their accounts, and so they also need to build their reach to make their marketing on their accounts more effective.

Royalties/payment:

I get paid on a monthly basis through PayPal. I also receive a royalty statement that lists days, amount/type sold, etc. so I can reconcile with what they have paid me. From what I have seen this royalty statement is pretty standard.

So far, they've been prompt and haven't had issues with payments.

However, because of (among other things) their general lack of marketing, my royalty statements have been fairly low. So far (and, granted, the book came out less than 2 months ago) I have made very little money on this.

My Path Forward:

I've thought a lot about whether I will continue to do this sort of publishing. I am currently querying my "main" books, and I don't plan to publish them through this sort of publishing, even if the publisher would likely accept them.

My contract stipulates that my publisher has right of first refusal for the rest of the books in this series. I am currently writing book two, and I plan to also write a third, as I had initially discussed with them. Beyond that, I'm not sure. I don't mind working with them as a company, but I don't know if they have the processes in place for me to make money publishing with them.

One thing I will likely do is explore other romance publishers that accept unagented submissions. They have a much lower barrier of entry and they are often willing to accept books that trad publishers might not want to spend money/reputational risk on.

As such, I would likely submit to these publishers stories that I don't think traditional publishers/agents would likely to be willing to publish, including more niche subgenres and less standard lengths that are easier to publish digitally.

Why do I redact the name of my book?

Honestly because I'm a coward and because people are weird about romance, especially certain subgenres of romance. I also plan to use this account for my main agented publishing, if I ever reach that point, and I don't necessarily want those two pen names associated.

Any other questions about this sort of publishing?

[moonyardz]

the tlou / spn situation: a breakdown

_______________________________

so, on 13th april, the spn social media accounts (instagram & facebook) changed their profile pictures and header to a tlou version of the spn logo:

which, obviously, got people talking because spn fans never shut up (me included). now, with spn being on prime and netflix, and tlou being on hbo max, it was a weird change. the spn account also posted the tlou trailer (when they usually only post spn clips), which then got reposted on tlou's story.

(lots of credit to @/itstuesdaysammy on twitter for the next parts)

many people thought that, since spn is leaving netflix later this year, it might be a hint that it will be taken over by hbo. however, there is another popular theory that either misha, or jensen and misha will make an appearance in the show for several reasons:

1. misha and jensen in the game.

misha collins posted this tweet in 2023:

which references the game itself featuring a note written by 'jensen' and mentioning 'misha'

2. the posters.

also in the game is a poster with two characters that resemble jensen & misha

which has already been seen in s2 e1

3. misha's hair.

when tlou was filming in 2024, misha had this look, which many people thought was for a role even though it was never confirmed:

4. the set designer.

ryan curtis, a crew member on several episodes of spn, is married to jacqueline curtis, who designed ellie's room in the show.

there are many other small pieces of evidence, but i feel as though these are the main ones that back up the theory

overall, this is obviously just speculation and potential clownery as per usual, but i thought i'd make a post about all the 'evidence' anyway :) no peace here bc we are never done this is hell

[project-sekai-facts]

Fes gacha updates

Before I say anything else I'm just gonna say the vast majority of the fes updates are incredibly disappointing, especially if you're F2P. Like seriously if you're F2P don't expect to come out of this post entirely happy. I can be mean to clpl because I'm F2P and this is total bullshit. Anyway.

Starting from the fes gacha on this sunday, Colorful Festival will now be known as Bloom Festival! It also has a newly designed logo as seen in the picture above, complete with flowers in all the unit colors, including Virtual Singer, which pretty much confirms that all 26 characters will be getting 2nd fes cards. The good thing about this confirmation is that unless they fuck with the schedule again and put 3 characters on one banner a few times, this means the story will continue past 6th anniversary, something there'd previously been concerns about. There's only 9 fes banners before 6th anniversary (10 if you include 6th anniversary), but you need 13 banners to cover everyone. So that's really nice news!

More information that we were told on stream, as well as story and gacha lineup predictions can be found below the cut!

Unfortunately we have not yet been told what exactly the differences between colofes and bloomfes are in terms of story. Based on the whole journey to bloom/world bloom (internal name for WLEs) thing, I reckon it could be something like the characters' Fragment SEKAI expanding, like what happened with the Tree SEKAI in Let Your Song Resonate. It would also tie into the plot of WLEs, so it would make a lot of sense. Some other speculation I've seen since March is that they might have entirely new Fragment SEKAI, which I think is entirely plausible due to character development and changes in their personal conflicts, and another was that these could be like bandori's kirafes cards, which focus on relationships. While I think this would be interesting, and makes some sense since prsk does take influence from bandori in some ways due to sharing a parent company (craftegg), I feel like they would've mentioned that.

We do know a lot about the differences between bloomfes and colofes on a meta and gameplay level, and unfortunately this is the not f2p-friendly part.

The main gimmick of bloom festival that differentiates them from colofes is that bloomfes cards will have 2 skills! One skill will apply for the untrained card, and one for the trained card. You can switch them at any time, presumably by flipping the illustration when it's on your deck. There's a catch though. The catch is that to train bloomfes cards, you will need 3 Wish Drops (the items used to level up area items past lvl10) on top of all the regular 4* training materials. All players will be given 3 wish drops for free, but aside from that these are incredibly hard to earn for casual players due to being the most expensive item in the event shop at 50000 tokens per wish drop. Basically the game is forcing you to sacrifice other shop rewards, tier, or spend money. Not that colopale needs it when the game earns millions a month.

(translated graphic from @/pjsekai_eng on Twitter)

The skills are also not the most fairly balanced. That's an understatement actually. You have to be a massive whale to get the max skill on these cards, it is literally impossible for casual players.

The untrained card skills vary between virtual singers and human characters. For vsingers, at max level, they give a 90% score boost, but gain +30% boost for every different unit type on your team (though it only applies to two types max, giving you a total of 150% bonus). This is pretty easy to achieve, so that's good for scoring purposes!

For human characters, you get an 80% base score boost at max skill level. By selecting one other card in your team, you get an additional boost of half of that card's skill increase (eg: if the card selected has a score boost of 100%, the bloomfes score boost will get 50% added to its base 80%, for 130% total). I'm not sure if this card is selected manually or automatically. But nonetheless this is a pretty good skill too!

The issue lies with the trained skill. At max level, it gives a base score boost of 110%, which is pretty good, but the additional boost is scaled by your Character Rank, with +1% score boost per 2 ranks (eg: a player with a CR40 Miku will get a bonus 20% score boost) on top of the 110, for 130% boost total). The issue here is that the absolute max boost you can get require CR100, which is ridiculously hard to get without spending money, and is near impossible to do for multiple characters. In other words, this skill is for your oshi, and you have to be willing to spend a lot or grind a lot for said oshi. And also be lucky enough to even pull your oshi from the gacha. It's incredibly geared towards P2P players and is totally unfair for F2P players. There's also the issue of the fact you need 3 wish drops to even unlock this skill, another thing that is against F2P players.

Anyway, let's move on to something a bit more fun! Who is gonna be fes? Here's an overview of how it's looking right now:

There's three possible ways that the fes cards could be paired up: using the same pairs as colofes, using different but still same-unit pairs, or using mixed unit pairs.

I think the second or third option is more likely. If you wanted to do the first option, it would have to be Honami/Shiho, Haruka/Airi or An/Toya, but there's still chance that An could be on Kohane5, Haruka only very recently had a card (though this has not stopped other characters, and Shiho is quite likely to be on the event.

In terms of alternate same-unit pairs, I think Kanade/Ena and Airi/Shizuku are the most likely. Kanade and Ena are both reward cards on the current Mafuyu event, so it could be a sign that they'll be fes, plus Kanade hasn't had a 4* since February. However, both of them have a lot of 4*s right now, with Niigo having the most in the game overall. Alternatively there's Shizuku and Airi. Airi is the second-most due for a lim out of all the characters, with her last one being released at the end of October last year. Shizuku only very recently got a card, but again this has not been much of an issue in the past, with Minori, Tsukasa, and Emu all getting fes cards very soon after an event where they got 4*s (or an event where they got unit-gacha lims for Tsukasa and Emu).

However if you wanted to go for mixed unit pairings, the most likely options are probably Ichika/Kanade, Honami/Kanade, or Airi/Ena. However if the june event isn't 2-B lims, the Hinomori sisters and Saki/Airi are also options. Ichika hasn't had a 4* since white day, neither has Kanade, and Honami hasn't had one since Rise as One. However, we know they will be getting cards soon, and under the assumption that 2-B lims happen, it seems a bit unfair to give 3/4 of Leoneed lims just before WLE. I don't have an argument against Airi/Ena, it's definitely the most likely out of these options.

However, just for consistency I'm willing to bet that they'll stick with same-unit pairs. In that case, I think either Kanade/Ena or Airi/Shizuku is very likely. Maybe I'm leaning a bit more towards Airi, but only because she's more in need of a lim.

But just to throw one last thing out there: the next update will implement an increased, 25% event bonus for default virtual singers, a bonus that pretty much exclusively applies to fes cards since players are far less likely to use the default vsinger 1*s and 2* on their team. So there's a chance, albeit slim, that they could throw us under the bus with Len/KAITO fes. I still think Kanade/Ena or Airi/Shizuku is more likely.

Anyway, that's all for now. Some of these updates are a bit disappointing but I'm interested to see the cards and read their stories! I'll update this post if we learn any more information.

[akutasoda]

please, can I request for angst no comfort (if you’re uncomfortable doing that it’s alright!) with Dan Heng? I think being on tumblr changed me? I crave so much angst now😞

or! If youre not in the mood, may I suggest fluff with Seth (ZZZ) or Heizou (GI) I BARELY see any Seth fics, only two on here, my bbg need more love than this! 🥺

thank you, I love your works!

-anon🧅

nightmares that bleed into reality

synopsis - his nightmares were frequent but now they seemed to hurt more than just him.

includes - dan heng

warnings - gn!reader, slight fluff, angst no comfort, arguments, wc - 575

a/n: as mentioned before, i wrote the seth one and posted it separately prior!!

it had been a more peaceful day on the express.

eventually, the tranquil day bled into the serenity of night that befell the train. everyone had resigned to their respective rooms which included you and dan heng. most days you would retire in your actual designated room, but occasionally you would join dan heng in his.

well, it was the data bank and so you only really started joining him when he fulfilled his promise of getting something a little more comfortable as a bed. you weren't asking much, just something more than pillows and blankets strewn across the hard floor, which was mainly solved by a roll mat or something similar.

simple conversations soon turned into hushed whispers as to avoid waking any other passengers - not that it was easy to. it wasn't too long until you both ended up lying side by side, legs entangled, and slowly drifting off into serene slumber. the express finally became cloaked in an entire veil of silence.

one that didn't last long. everyone was asleep. and yet, dan heng started tossing and turning. his mind was being tormented by violent visions. memories that didn't belong to him flashed through his mind, holding so much pain and suffering that it caused unease to settle in his mind.

you both knew it wasn't unusual for dan heng to have nightmares. they were the main reason that he didn't want to start sharing a room with you. dan heng feared that if he woke up, he'd wake you up and burden you with his problems - it was a common fact that dan heng didn't get much sleep because of them, he didn't want it rubbing off on you.

at first, it wasn't an issue. sure he did wake you up occasionally but it didn't take you long before you found says to help him calm down. dan heng actually found his nightmares more manageable with you around. whether that was because you helped him ground himself or simply because of your presence.

but tonight was worse.

he went through his usual tossing and turning before shooting up in a cold sweat. immediately you were woken up and it only took you a few seconds to realise he'd been shaken up by another nightmare.

you called out his name gently, sleep still heavily laced in your voice. unfortunately, dan heng was still caught up in what transpired in his nightmares. he couldn't recognise that you were beside him, that he was in the data bank. no. he thought he was in danger, and that you weren't who you were.

so he snapped. dan heng scrambled to push you away and pointed his spesr at you. you froze in pure terror.

it was only when his sleep muddled brain started clearing that he recognised you. the pure fear in your face that made his heart ache. dan heng was ashamed of himself. he shakily dropped his spesr and shakily moved away, what if he hurt you? what if he did something worse?

you couldn't even get a word out before he was asking, begging, you to leave.

taglist - @little-miss-chaoss, @frankiesteinn

[midnight1nk]

⭐️A few days ago...⭐️

Wow, what a wholesome episode! "The rosemary to my bread", dude, I hope my future partner will say that to me one day. Now that I had my weekly dose of silly, time to check the Puzzlevision website! Eh, I bet it's going to be the same as...

[*SCREAMING*]

WOTFI 2024 PREDICTIONS REVISITED

⚠️ DISCLAIMER IN INTRO POST ⚠️

An eye for an eye...

How are we feeling, SMG4 fandom? It's that time of year and many have speculated about WOTFI as well as what might come afterwards. Myself included with my previous theory posts, suspecting that something big is guaranteed to happen. And we didn't have to wait long.

On the 14th of September, just a few days ago, the channel's latest episode, 'SMG4 and SMG3 come up with an episode' was released. But what truly made the fandom lose their mind was the sudden change of the Puzzlevision website. If you need a refresher, here is what it looked like before:

It had:

[puzzlevision.tv] being the site title and URL

Mr Puzzles' logo

A central image that transitioned between a webp to a gif file and vice versa on certain occasions

(after choosing Save As option) the image already labeled as Now Airing

Now, there was talk about this that wasn't left originally, stating that the image (that used to be larger) now had a black border around it. At least, at the time. As someone who has worked with web design, there's actually a number of reasons why this is.

Depending on the resolution/zoom setting on your device, it might alter the site's layout.

As said earlier, the image alternated between a gif to a webp. All websites require a background color underneath all of its assets so the change in image/file size may have shrunk than what was originally. Especially if you are attempting to make it look seamless between the transitions.

Long story short, It's simply how web layouts are: formatting gets a bit wonky from time to time.

Anyway, as I already mentioned, the website has changed to this,

(supposedly someone said the password was "carnival")

Then, to this:

Changes include:

The title "War of the Fat Italians 2024" with a similar URL [www.wotfi2024.com]

SMG4 logo

A whole new layout design (obviously) which just gives off 'Greatest Showman' energy

And now we've come to the present day: fans have already submitted their minigame challenges and preparing for a carnival-themed adventure. For me and other theorists, though, we're having a field day. From the clues I gathered on the website and a few past episodes, I might be able to put together what the channel has for us this year. Let's revisit my "WOTFI 2024 Predictions"!

I already covered a lot in depth in my "Puzzlevision 2: Now Airing" theory [link] and I'll be referring back to it here, so I recommend looking it over if you haven't already.

THE WEBSITE

I was honestly surprised that I was right about a couple of things. The main one being about the website itself.

The people behind SMG4 didn’t need to put this image in, they didn’t need to keep this website on. But they did.

Well, past Ink, you nailed it. And according to Cube (FM), this is the same website host.

"don't read into it too much"

Cube, with everything going on, I might as well interrogate a website for memes' sake.

Wait, what's wrong with it?

The fact that the website is used for WOTFI of all things is what's so strange. All the previous WOTFI'S asked the fans to submit their challenges through the comment section or social media. No other option was involved until now.

Maybe they wanted to try something different like what they did for WOTFI 2023?

That's a good point. It was stated that they wanted to be more experimental with their episodes. But even then, the '23 stream they hosted was on their channel, on Youtube.

Maybe they didn't want it to go to waste? After all, sites can be expensive.

Again, it's a good point. Depending on the domain they used and the apps connected to the site, it can be costly. However, I do want to iterate what I said earlier: they didn't need to keep this website up. Better yet, if they didn't want to raise any flags, why not keep the site how it originally was with the "That's all folks!" image? Why the change? Which brings us to our next point,

WHO IS THE REAL SMG4?

Let me explain...

After the change of the website, we got this post,

This brings up a lot of questions:

Who sent the letter?

If we can assume that's Four's hand, why did the post say "you" as if there is a narrator?

If Four had no idea about a carnival coming to town, then why would he ask us to submit challenges for a carnival he's supposedly hosting?

Well, they're pretty easy to answer. We already established that Marty would come back to be the most likely antagonist for WOTFI. I mean, this cardboard cutout managed to own a pizza shop, a casino, an airline company, and a spaghetti sauce brand. It wouldn't be a surprise if he also happened to own a carnival. But as I said in previous theories, Marty isn't working alone.

He's working with Mr Puzzles.

Mr Puzzles was the one who sent the letter to SMG4 just as he did for Wren in Western Spaghetti (indirect or not). It hasn't exactly shown if the letter had his seal on it. Not that it needs to anyway, they would recognize his logo and know they can't trust what's inside this envelope.

Remember how I said in my previous theory that one of the ways Mr Puzzles could control SMG4 was for our blue meme lord to be his eyes and ears? In the latest episode, SMG3 comes up with the idea of a carnival coming to the showgrounds for a week, and SMG4 wanting to go on the baby teacup ride.

Mr Puzzles was there, listening to every word they said to each other. He has been since "SMG4: Inside Out".

Could it just be purely by coincidence and just something out of improv? Sure, the SMG4 & SMG3 side episodes aren't really connected to canon. But like, c'mon, the channel knew what they were doing. Everything has to be put into consideration.

If that's true, the narrator could be Mr Puzzles, the second voice inside his head. Or, for those who love the goop!4 theory, the voice could be the demonic goo slowly taking over.

Now, back to the post!Four and site!Four. If we can assume the Four from the post is our Four, then the one impersonating Four would be Mr Puzzles, once again controlling the events in WOTFI. This time, using his website. Like Cube said, Mr Puzzles is the same website host as before. Also, look at these two:

It would be too obvious if we see a PNG of Mr Puzzles on the website again so why not impersonate his narrative foil. Well, at least look dapper while you're at it.

Or, even better, Four does know about the carnival but either the goo or Mr Puzzles are erasing certain memories.

A GAME OF WITS

Speaking of the website, let's analyze the description:

Step right up, WOTFI is coming to town and we need your challenges but this time...WITH A TWIST! We're doing a carnival theme this year and we want challenges named like a minigame and a description of what they are! For example "Whack a Bob - Who can smash bob with a hammer first?" OR "Pizza Pie Peril- Survive giant pizza's raining form the sky' Guidelines - Please only 1 challenge per person - Nothing inappropriate - Please add your internet profile name in the 'name' field below Thank you and see you soon!!! -SMG4

Carnival theme, huh?

Well, last year's theme made sense. Three's notebook was stolen and was risked of getting leaked. With the casino being heavily guarded, Four and Three had to sneak in. A secret mission to take back a secretive object.

If this WOTFI has Marty and Mr Puzzles working together, then It would make sense for a businessman and an entertainer would come up with something like a carnival. The best of two worlds: fun and capitalism. Besides, the Showgrounds would be a perfect place to host it since it used to be an abandoned carnival and Mr Puzzles having something to do with the land ownership.

[SMG4: Our New Home // timestamp: 5:38]

Now, what is peculiar is the use of the term "minigame".

Ink, it's a carnival. You have to stick to the theme of carnival rides and games.

Fair, but this is WOTFI we're talking about here. If you win a challenge, you get closer to the end and win a point for your side. For WOTFI '23, every choice impacted the story and therefore the ending. If the SMG4 crew plays and wins these minigames, what do they get in return? And if they lose, would there be a punishment?

It will entirely depend on how WOTFI would play out, in three scenarios:

Marty is revealed to be behind the carnival at the beginning of WOTFI and the Crew learns that, in order to reach him, they have to win some mini-games.

Marty isn't revealed until the near end. The Crew only came because they wanted to have some fun for the day but learned that this was a sort of trap created by Marty (along with Mr Puzzles but they don't know that yet).

OR BONUS SECRET OPTION

Both Marty and Mr Puzzles revealed themselves to be the ones hosting the carnival, meaning it's less likely that Puzzlevision 2 would happen unless something else happens.

Then, there is the phrase "WITH A TWIST". Sure, it could mean that it would be different than our regular old WOTFI, just as it happened in 2023. But WOTFI 2023 also revealed the twist that Mr Puzzles was actually the one orchestrating the whole thing, sending the fax to Marty about the secret recipe and his theme scattered in the background in multiple episodes. We might get a twist by the end of this year's WOTFI as well. Bonus points if we hear a version of his theme again.

Back in my Puzzlevision 2 theory, I predicted that the final battle with Mr Puzzles would happen back where it all started. With the carnival coming into the Showgrounds, it comes back full circle.

ONE STEP CLOSER

There isn't much to change from what I predicted:

Karen would be a key character for WOTFI this year. Maybe Karen just wanted her kids to have fun for the day, or even the corporation, her former workplace, gave her a tip that Marty would be there.

The Crew would have to find Marty's absolute weakness since he's technically invincible.

And possibly Pedro coming back to assist the Crew somehow.

But now I have a new prediction, based on the latest episode:

SMG4's and SMG3's relationship would change to a whole new level. That Four may need Three for something or if Three realizes something about himself, it would change their dynamic regardless.

It's really similar to how it was for WOTFI 2023 with small bits here and there all coming back to a single episode. (The notebook, the duo's meme guardian powers, Four's forklift, Three moving out of the Internet Graveyard, etc.)

It's still too early to confirm anything, but at the very least, we now have some idea what WOTFI may be about as well as evidence to back up some of my theories.

Will we get goop!4? God, I wish. I was listening to "Friends on the Other Side" and I was just imagining scenarios of Mr Puzzles taking complete control of Four with the goo. If it doesn't happen for whatever reason, I'll write it myself.

Oh well, we would just have to wait and see. In the meantime, that’s just a theory…

AN SMG4 THEORY

🎶Thanks for dropping by🎶

[quibbs126]

Hm, apparently this wasn’t a request. But whatever, I finished them and want to show it off

But yay, I finally got purecacao done!

So first off, I just want to say that these two are post-canon, and Dark Choco’s their older half-brother. I just felt like mentioning that because I made up this whole thing for the purecacao love story

My idea for how Dark Cacao and Pure Vanilla’s relationship went is that at some point, Dark Cacao got feelings for Pure Vanilla, but wasn’t sure how to tell him. But he thought he’d have all the time in the world to say because they were immortal. But then the Dark Flour War happened and Pure Vanilla “died”. When he came back, Dark Cacao realized that he couldn’t just wait anymore, and so sometime during the current story, he confessed his love for him, and after the main story they ended up getting together

Anyways, back to the twins. So Vanilla Bean is a girl, while Cocoa Butter is a boy. Though I’m considering making Cocoa Butter a girl as well. I’m not sure

So Cocoa Butter is a very friendly kid, and very outgoing. He wants to be a warrior like his father (Dark Cacao) and brother, though he prefers the Vanilla Kingdom over the Dark Cacao Kingdom. He also tends to get himself into messy situations, which result in his outfits getting messed up and having to constantly be fixed. In the future, I see him being a Vanillian soldier, if not a commander. Also, despite his want to be like Dark Cacao, his favorite parent is Pure Vanilla since he’s not nearly as serious

Vanilla Bean on the other hand is very shy and quiet. She prefers to read giant tomes and watch from afar. She prefers Dark Cacao since he’s quiet and feels safe with him due to how strong he is. I’m not as certain what she ends up doing, maybe she becomes a healer, but I know she’ll end up living in the Dark Cacao Kingdom

I feel like you can tell which description I did better. I mean, with Cocoa Butter I was haphazardly putting all my thoughts, but by Vanilla Bean I knew how to articulate them better

Despite their differences, they get along very well, and include the other in their games. Also, they both really like their brother Dark Choco. He’s like their main babysitter, and he enjoys their company too

Alright, I think that’s about it for their characters. Now on to designs

So I think I’ve mentioned using the name Cocoa Butter before, but I also decided to use Vanilla Bean a few days ago. My brain thoughts were that cocoa butter is cacao but light colored, while vanilla beans are vanilla but dark colored. It’s contrast (which admittedly I may be doing too much of with these two)

Cocoa butter and vanilla beans:

So one of the first things I wanted to do was give Vanilla Bean those pigtails, with the idea that they’d look like vanilla beans. Admittedly they aren’t actually in the shape of the beans, but whatever

I was struggling with their eye colors, since I wasn’t really sure what to do. I knew I didn’t want to do heterochromia though. Eventually I tried mixing the purple and I think blue to get this bluish grey color, and I decided to give them purple eyes but with one of Pure Vanilla’s eye colors as the highlights. And also I decided to change the purples to fit more with each highlight, Cocoa Butter’s being more warm while Vanilla Bean’s is more cool

Admittedly I was kind of just making stuff up with their outfits, all I could think of was vaguely mixing Vanillian and Dark Cacaoian clothing, which mostly just resulted in purple + yellow. I know I’ve seen someone do it, but I don’t have refs. I think what I came up with was alright though

In addition to their purples and yellows, I experimented with adding an additional green color to Vanilla Bean to spice things up, and I liked it. But I didn’t want to leave Cocoa Butter out, so I gave him the red accents

Their streaks were a very last minute inclusion, and I really only added them because I remembered that Dark Cacao had those. I feel like you can really tell on Cocoa Butter

Overall I think they’re good. Maybe not my best, but they’re still fine. Maybe I can make them some adult designs that look even better

But yeah, I think that’s about it for them. I hope you enjoy them!