#poke male character poll

[cutekittenlady]

[albed-hoe]

Heart-pounding Performance

Characters: Lyney x M!Reader

Summary: Lyney may be a bigger fan of Teyvat's greatest male popstar than he thought...

Warnings: Fluff, mentions of big crowds (I could never be a celebrity just for this lol)

Word count: 837

A/n: I’ve been obsessed with I Am by Ive (lol) for a couple of months now, but that didn’t really inspire me for anything I just felt like promoting my favs, go stream rnnnn!! This is by far the winning vote of the poll for the moment, if you haven't voted yet click this link because there are still 3 prompts that are pretty close and a bunch of days left on the vote!

You did have your fan base, but it seemed as if none other liked you as much as the Great Magician of Fontaine did.

A few months ago, Lyney had been caught up in an impromptu street magic performance at the Court of Fontaine. The crowd of onlookers huddled close with wide eyes as he made various objects disappear, seemingly into thin air. However, just as Lyney was about to make a whole deck of cards fly from one hand to the other, his eyes swept across the crowd only for them to lock onto yours. Unlike most of the crowd, you were watching with curious eyes, but without making a sound. Although you were further behind everyone else, Lyney still could not help himself from getting lost in those pools of [E/C].

And although it felt like he had been staring at you for an eternity, only a few seconds had passed before the whole deck of cards came fluttering down from the sky, scattering around his feet. The cards brushing against his face finally snapped him out of his daze. He stared at the cards in disbelief while he tried to find his bearings.

“Ah-” Was all he managed to utter before a shade of red crept onto his face. He, the Great Magician of Fontaine, had just messed up a trick in public. This was all because he had been ogling the greatest male pop star in all Teyvat, yourself.

All he managed to do was scratch the back of his head in confusion, his blush darkening when the crowd began to laugh. Not only that, but you were there watching, of all people… He looked up to see you smiling at him, chuckling in amusement. Great…

As he bent down to begin picking his cards up, the crowd got bored and dispersed. A few moments later, an elegant hand grabbed the same card he had just reached for, brushing against his. He lifted his eyes and met yours, his mouth hanging open.

“Oh, apologies, I just thought I’d help you pick them up!” You pulled your hand back and rubbed it nervously, looking away from Lyney. His mouth closed, and then he smiled politely, feeling better that he was not the only embarrassed one.

-

That was how you had met each other, attending each other’s shows every so often thereafter. Lyney knew of you before you had met in person, you were, after all, a very popular singer. His sister would even poke light fun at him for being a stan and for his puppy crush on you. What he did not expect, however, was to fall completely head over heels for you after your first meeting.

All this brings him to his current predicament: some of your fangirls were screaming at the top of their lungs at your performance, blocking the view of you on stage. Lyney was not tall, so this was a reoccurring problem for him at most of your concerts. His annoyance only grew as you finished performing a song, having seen you for a total of about three seconds. As you began talking to the crowd, the group of fangirls would scream their answers back at you at ear-piercing levels of noise.

“You know, I don’t think this night would be complete without inviting a lucky fan on the stage…” You said, his ears perking up. “Let’s see, how about…” Your finger travels across the audience, fans screaming louder when it passes by them. “You, over there! With the blonde hair!” Lyney looks up, your finger pointed at him in the crowd. One of the fangirls in front of him starts screaming, mistaking your pick for her.

“Haha, not you, silly. The boy behind you!” Confirming you meant him, Lyney gets ushered up the stairs to the stage by a security guard. He takes your outstretched hand in awe as he admires your tousled hair glowing in the spotlights. Your smile captivates him as you pull him towards the center of the stage.

“Hey guys, isn’t this the Great Magician of Fontaine, Lyney? What in Teyvat is he doing at my show?” You ask the crowd playfully. Oh, this was going to start some Twitter (not X eww😒) discourse later.

“Well, it’s good that he’s here, because I wanted to give him a little present on stage before we finish tonight.” You put the microphone down and turn to him, taking his face in your hand and speaking directly to him.

“Hopefully, this doesn’t start too many fan wars.” You tell him before leaning in and pressing a kiss on his cheek. The crowd goes wild as you pull away and smile at him. Lyney hears the girls who were blocking his view go crazy before he smiles back and holds your hands in his.

“I hope so too...” Twitter blew up over the next few days, but both your stan groups cross-stanned and shipped you together before the show, so their dreams came true as well.

I’m not super satisfied with this one but my brain was dry asl sorry :( I’ll probably be back after the weekend since I’ll be away without wifi. See you all soon!

[yumedoca]

Non-Urusei Yatsura fans, which of these IS NOT an actual character? (Answers)

The poll is over and thanks to all who voted since it's pretty fun to see how UY characters may seem from an outsider's POV! And since many were curious, here are the answers for the poll. The characters are listed in no particular order, except for the last who will be the fake one so if you just want the actual answer, just scroll down to the end; and since the poll was aimed at non-UY fans, I'll provide context for the real characters' descriptions so there will be character spoilers ahead!!

A cow monster, who is also the most handsome character in the series.

This is Rei, the female lead (Lum)'s ex-fiancee. The description I gave may sound kinda weird but it probably wouldn't sound as weird if I had stated that he has two forms: one being a mostly humanoid form and the other which is the cow monster one. He swaps between forms at random, mostly depending on his mood and comedic timing.

A princess who wants to lose her virginity.

This is Princess Kurama. She's the princess of the alien race, the Karasutengu (Crow Goblins). Since her royal line was fading away because there were no more humanoid men on her planet, Kurama decided to find a suitable man to mate with, but has no luck when it comes to that since her standards are way too high for the any of the males in the series.

A fire breathing bumblebee.

This is Ten. Like his cousin Lum, he is an oni alien and his abilities are to fly and breathe fire. Ten ended up getting a good number of votes in the poll and I'm guessing it's because people thought I meant a literal bumblebee. I gave that description to poke fun at his character design and I'm pretty sure most UY fans were able to recognize him from the description, and his resemblance to bees has been stated in canon too. But if you did vote Ten because you thought he was an actual bee, I am so sorry, please don't kill me, I should have added the word 'alien' or 'kid' to the description.

A school nurse who regularly beats up her male students.

This is Sakura. She is a shrine maiden and a school nurse at the main high school in the series. I don't think I need to give much of an explanation for her description; she's hot and all the male students are horny so it shouldn't be a surprise that she beats them all up.

A woman hater whose diet consists of baseballs.

This is Tobimaro Mizunokoji. He hates women, which is most likely a result of spending time with his rival's sister who treated him horribly when they were children (and she still does, by the way; we'll talk about her next). Oh, and as the description says, he can eats baseballs whole.. and is able to spit them out entirely too.

A teenage girl who kills boredom by plotting and attempting murder.

This is Ryoko Mendo. She is a rich, well mannered young lady and her favorite hobby is torturing her big brother and his rival (aka baseball boy from above) in many different ways for fun. I wanted to add a bit more to explain exactly how sadistic she is but the wiki does it better, so have that instead:

She will throw grenades and bombs at people while acting calm and composed, and yet will cry over them when they return to her charred to a crisp. She often acts in total secrecy without telling anyone of her plans, such as setting bombs in a giant Christmas Cake, turning a giant Christmas Tree into a firework, and retaliating to people by setting off bombs near them. She also shows an interest in black magic, having used hypnosis and voodoo dolls to torment her brother.

So yeah, she's fucking insane and I love her for it. Have my favorite Ryoko image ever as a bonus:

A sheltered girl who ends up falling in love with her brother.

This is Asuka Mizunokoji, younger sister of baseball boy from above. I feel like her she needs the most context since I think this might be the most questionable description of them all.

As per tradition, the women in the Mizunokoji family are not allowed to meet a single male until they are 15, this includes their father and brother; which is the case for Asuka. Because she has never seen a man, she doesn't know what they are (or anything that falls under 'men', like father, brother, etc.) and was raised in isolation by her mother and her family's all female guards. But her first, unfortunate encounter with a man, which happened before the arranged day ends up terrifying her and as a result, she gets a phobia of men, no matter who they are... unless they are a 'big brother'. You see, when her female guards' explained to her what men are, they unintentionally had them sound.. scary; but they also tell her about 'big brothers' (since she'll have to meet hers) who are a special type of man who look like her and are very nice. Eventually, she finally meets her big brother, Tobimaro (who didn't even know she existed till then by the way), but since the description on what a 'big brother' given to her was incredibly vague and because she has no knowledge of how siblings work, she ends up falling for him unaware of how big of a taboo it is. Naturally, it is a one-sided crush since Tobimaro knows better but that won't change the fact that it causes a lot of trouble for him.

Ok, I'll stop here because that took forever to write. Also, I took some help to write the above part from Asuka's page on furinkan.com, I needed a reference for the entire paragraph because Asuka and her shtick needs one hell of an explanation.

A TV addict with zero social skills.

This is Shingo. He is a boy who went missing during an experiment when he was small and because of that, he grew up by himself (asides from some animals) in a jungle. His only source of entertainment there was a TV, which only has historical dramas. As a result, he became very attached to TVs (he used to think the TV was his grandfather, and no I will not explain), even after he was found and brought back to society. He is also terrible at socializing since he grew up on Japanese historical dramas which are incredibly outdated. He is already weak when it comes to interacting with men, but he is the worst when it comes to interacting with woman since he has no respect towards them (again, because historical dramas). I find it funny he got a lot of votes and according to tags, it's because his description sounded more normal than the others, which makes it even funnier because he's like the only character who actually watches TV (asides from watching TV during lunchtime and stuff).

A cowardly kid who aims for a life of crime.

And here it is, the fake one! With how many characters there are, it was hard to come up with someone (for some reason, I can't be creative when I really want to be) but after I posted the poll I realized that there is a minor character who fits half of the description: He is a kid who aims for a life of crime, but he is pretty strong willed and isn't exactly what you would call cowardly or timid (His name is Kintaro, in case you are wondering- he is only in the manga and 80's adaptation).

And that is all! Thanks for joining me here and I hope you have a great day ahead!!

[serregon]

truly sorry for barging into your inbox, but i am a terrible gossip and i remember the poll you made and am curious what's the silm take that still boils your blood, you seem to like to say the most controversial shit and get away with it, how can I obtain such power? i don't have the will to poke the sleeping bear.

its all good nonnie, asks are welcome here! it’s hard to pick a single worst take, there are so many gears-grinding takes from Elwing Was A Bad Mother to Lúthien Colonized Fëanorian Culture to The Fall Of Gondolin Was Kinda Idril’s Fault Tho. because of course the female characters have to deal with the brunt of the bad takes while male characters who did objectively worse things get the get out of jail free card.

but overall, my least favorite take is anything that tries to justify the Fëanorians’ actions and paint them as morally gray heroes because of how much it’s painted the image of this fandom’s most popular characters. I’m saying this as someone who likes the Fëanorians, I’m saying everything here with adoration for my stinky sons. they’re villains, full stop. sympathetic villains, maybe even anti-villains, but villains nonetheless. and I find them so interesting and unique because of the role they play as villains. they’re villains who have good in them, villains who have done heroic things in the past, villains who hate the fact that they are villains, they’re a tragedy of fallen heroes who could have been saviors instead of destroyers.

but half the fandom runs with this idea that they were actually the good guys, anti-heroes at worst. half the book is about them, that means they must be the heroes! and I’m just like, did we read the same book? maybe you could describe their actions pre-Nirnaeth as morally gray, but they had no excuses after that. attacking a neutral kingdom to the point that said kingdom basically ceases to exist is not a morally gray action. hunting down the refugees from said ex-kingdom and destroying another neutral nation is not a morally gray action. I am grabbing you by the shoulders and shaking you they were so blinded by the Silmaril that they ended up doing a lot of Morgoth’s work for him!

and this whole thing is kind of a microcosm of how fandoms take interesting villains and declare them their blorbos, and in the process they make a version of them that isn’t a villain and essentially strip away what makes the character interesting. happens a lot with Maeglin too.

and honesty idk how I’ve gotten away with my takes. I guess it’s bc I’m not close with the big names in the fandom and most of my silm mutuals are smaller blogs. maybe there’s someone screenshotting me and whining about me with their discord buddies. if that’s how you’re reading this hiiii👋

[hxhhunterxhunter]

Onii-Chan (x child reader)

⭐️Chapter 15: Bai Bai!💧

(Also sorry for spamming chapters, I’m trying my best to catch up the book with my Wattpad and Quotev book since its on the 24th chapter and this is in the 15th lol)

Y/n was sleeping, curling up with Mr Oinks and Foxy. Her arm was bandaged up from being broken by Hanzo. She was softly snoring as she was sleeping. 

Gon had left a few moments ago after hearing that the Hunter exam ended and that Killua failed, so he went to confront Illumi about it. Satotz had left as well with Gon, leaving the female alone with her animals. 

Soon a butterfly flew into the room and landed on the head of the small child as she slept peacefully.

Soon the door opened to be Hisoka. As he entered the foxy plush emitted some bloodlust to scare off who ever had entered.

"It's just me~" Hisoka said as he headed towards the 3. He poked the child's cheek as she started to open her eyes. She moved on her side and looked at Hisoka.

"Hiso...chan..." She mumbled softly as she sat up, rubbing her eyes with her one hand, considering her other arm was broken.

"We have to get going little fox~"

"Okie...but can I say bai to everyone..." She mumbled as Hisoka had helped her off the bed.

"Alright then~" Y/n smiled happily. "Okie! I won't be long big brother! Let's go Mr Oinks!" Mr Oinks jumped off the bed and followed the female out of the room.

~~~

"Mr Satotz! Menchi-Neesan! Buhara-san! Grandpa!" The hunters looked at the small female who ran over to them, with her plush in her arms.

"You're awake now, is your arm feeling better?" Satotz asked the female who nodded her head slightly. He also handed the girl her hunter licences and all the items that the other applicants got when they were in orientation.

"Thank you!" Menchi smiled at the polite child and patted her head.

"You're a good kid, go and become a gourmet hunter will you." The child was happy with the headpats.

"Bai! I'm gonna be the best hunter! I will be every hunter in the world!" She waved bye to them as she went off.

"Stay safe."

~~~~~~~~

Y/n jumped and hugged Illumi.

"Illu-Oniisan! Bai Bai!" She squeezed him in a hug as Illumi patted her head a bit.

"Bye for now Y/n. I'll see you again." As Y/n waved bye to Illumi, soon her eyes sparkled at seeing Gon, Kurapika and Leorio.

She ran and jumped onto Gon for a hug. 

"Onii-Chan!" She hugged the male, calling him Onii-Chan like her brother. 

"Lil sis!" Gon smiled and hugged the female back, also being careful about her arm.

"I'm gonna miss youuu. I have to go with Hiso-Oniisan soon."

As Gon and Y/n slowly stopped hugging and Y/n was put down on the ground. Leorio ruffled her hair.

"Stay safe Munchkin."

"Thank you leo-Oniisan!" Kurapika bend down to the girl's height and hugged her softly and soon pulled away.

"Stay safe..sunshine." He smiled softly at the female, who smiled brightly back, like a sunshine.

"I'll miss you all! Bai Bai!" She waved to them as she skipped off with Mr Oinks and Foxy. "Tell Kil-Oniisan I say bai!" 

"Ready to go?" Hisoka hummed at the female as she went to him. She nodded her head.

"Lets go Hiso-Oniisan!"

"It's not Oniichan anymore?"

"No! You lied in the forest so you aren't my Onii-Chan! Gon is my Onii-Chan now!"

"You're so mean Y/n-Chan~ I said I was sorry~"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And the book is finished...

.

.

.

FINISHED SEASON 1 HA! you thought this was over. No it isn't! (unless you are from the future and saw the future chapters then obviously you knew it wasn't over or read the last note in the previous chapter) 

This is only season 1 of Onii-Chan. I decided to make each arc a different Season. So Season 2 will be coming soon~

Which is the Heaven's Arena Arc. Which will be the transitional season for Y/n to separate from Hisoka, from a poll vote, and go with Gon and Killua.

Also I'm gonna add a side chapter for just extra information about Y/n and a few cute scenes between Y/n and the characters, along with her reacting to some comments hehe (cuz some made me laugh and I wanna make Y/n react with them)

Thank you for all the support so far on this book with 400 + hearts on Quotev and 13 k + reads on wattpad, and with getting it to number 1 on the HunterxHunter tag. 

I would have never thought people would have loved this book as much as I loved writing it. This book was really fun to write and I'm excited for season 2 of Onii-Chan to come soon ^^ 

~ Skypie

[monstersandmaw]

Embers - male dragon shifter x reader (light nsfw) - Part Nine

Things are starting to get traction now... :) Hope you enjoy this one, and again, I'm sorry these chapters are shorter than maybe my usual stories are, but that's the format I'm going for for this long-running series, so I'm sticking with it! This one is 1228 words, so not too miserly!

One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight

The ‘murder mystery dinner’ was still a couple of weeks away, and you still had no idea what to wear to it, but you’d figure that out later. Hanging out with Mikaeïl and getting to know him took up a lot of your spare time. On one of your earlier dates, he took you to the Old Trollbridge museum and art gallery, a place in which - ironically, given your career as an artist - you’d never set foot. Often you met for a quick coffee in town - the number of espressos that that boy - rather, wyvern - could knock back in a single sitting was concerning at best, but he seemed none the worse for it.

Watching him open up over time was a treat that you hadn’t perhaps expected in this budding relationship. You’d - quite wrongly - assumed that someone who was over two hundred years old would have had all their shit figured out by now, but perfection, it seemed, was not obtained in a mere two centuries of existence. He was vulnerable and funny, shy and even a bit goofy at times, and it was easy to see why most of his students must have absolutely adored him. He was the quintessential inspiring academic: often lost with his head in the clouds, unaware of how the world really worked in many ways, extremely knowledgeable about his chosen field, and surprisingly interested in what you did.

The topic of his late partner didn't come up again, though you were definitely curious, but you did enjoy a number of dinners together, some out in town, and others at his house. On one such evening, he cooked the most gorgeous pasta dish, herby and aromatic but not too fiery because, apparently, he couldn’t handle spice.

“Excuse me?” you gaped when he’d dropped that bombshell. “But… you’re a dragon, right?”

“Wyvern,” he’d corrected, waving a wooden spoon at you as if it were a lecturer’s pointer. “Please,” he’d added over the top of his circular spectacles with mock seriousness. “There’s an entire two limbs worth of difference between the two of us and that, my dear, is a lot of difference.”

“Oh?” you’d said, half snorting and half giggling. “I… see?”

“No you don’t,” he retorted playfully, shaking his head. Turning on his ‘patronising teacher voice’ while the pasta sauce bubbled away like a witch’s brew in the pot beside him, he turned to face you with one hand on his sharp, narrow hip. “A wyvern,” he said in a very slow voice, “Is bipedal. Related to the dragon, and with a tail which often ends in a diamond- or arrow-shaped tip or barb. Some have poisonous scales and spines, while others do not. Our sea-dwelling cousins, imaginatively known as the sea-wyverns, frequently have fishtails in place of our barbed tail.”

You burst out laughing and his own face cracked into a wide grin.

“I’m glad you find me amusing,” he said in his usual voice. “But seriously, a tolerance for capsaicin has nothing to do with the ability - or lack thereof - to breathe fire.”

“I love you,” you blurted before you could stop yourself, and he went very still.

A slow, surprised smile dawned on his handsome, porcelain face and he laughed quietly. “Come here and say that again,” he said, opening one arm and inviting you to hug him.

“It’s not too soon?” you said as you stepped over to him, flushed and hot and a bit clammy with nerves now.

He shook his head, his red hair tied back in a scruffy bun. “If that’s what you feel, then it’s not too soon to acknowledge it. And… I have grown very fond of you too. I believe I might also be in a position to say that I love you too.”

“You’re such a prude,” you grinned, poking him in the ribs. “Only a professor - and a dragon, sorry, wyvern - would be so ‘verbose’ about it…”

Mikaeïl’s lips twitched but he suddenly seemed insecure, so you rolled your eyes and snaked an arm around his slim waist. You had yet to see what his body looked like underneath, but from the way he barely moved as you tried to tug him close to you, you figured he must be incredibly fit and lean.

“I’m sorry,” he said, turning his attention to the pot of sauce and stirring it without dislodging you from your place at his hips. “I must be a great bore to you at times.”

“If you were, do you think I’d stick around?” you countered and he made a side to side motion of his head.

“Perhaps not,” he admitted.

You reached up on tip toes and planted a kiss against his smooth cheek. You wondered fleetingly if he was like an elf and couldn't grow a beard, or if he was just fastidious about shaving immaculately every morning. You’d not been near enough to his bathroom yet to spot a razor. His cheeks flushed, as they always did when you showed him affection - verbal or physical - and he tucked you tighter against his side, planting a fond kiss atop your head.

That night, it turned out, was not a night for finding out about what lay beneath his shirt, or whether he kept a razor in his bathroom, but it wasn’t long before you were invited back to the mansion, and this time, he asked if you’d like to bring an overnight bag.

“We’re getting serious then,” you had grinned over the phone that morning, doodling idly with your stylus and trying to tweak a font that wasn’t working on a business logo commission.

“So it would seem,” he chuckled. “But if you’d rather not, then -”

“Mikaeïl,” you said flatly but gently, “I’ve been ready for this for a while now. I’m honestly glad you’re ready too.”

“I am,” he said, sounding a little dazed about it.

On your first visit to the house it had seemed strange to be there without your enthusiastic niece, Celia, as a chaperone, or under the guise of work, but he welcomed you inside again and this time, he kissed you on the threshold the moment you were indoors.

As before, when things got heated for him, he began to growl softly, but here in the safe privacy of his home, he pushed you up against the wood of the front door and kissed you breathless to a soundtrack of his rumbling growls. His strong hands pinned your wrists beside your head and you felt your knees go weak as he held you there and kissed you senseless.

Finally, however, he did pull back, breathing hard, his eyes glowing like embers. “You’re gorgeous,” he said before closing his teeth over your lip and sucking until it tingled.

“Mikaeïl,” you gasped, tilting your head back to allow him better access to your neck as he kissed along your jaw and down to your racing pulse. “This is new…”

“I’m ready; I want you,” he whispered. “Is that wrong? Is it too fast?”

Your answer was simple. You’d had chaste date upon chaste date, with barely a peck on the cheek, and he’d driven you wild with it. “Then why are we still standing in the hallway?”

“You’re too distracting,” he laughed, pulling back. “Are you sure this is alright?”

With a fond smile, you nodded. “More than.”

—

Part Ten

I really hope you folks enjoyed this one! Don’t forget to let me know if you did enjoy it by leaving a like and/or reblogging it!

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[bringbackwendellvaughn]

Some Light Christmas Fun

i saw a bunch of my posts had been flagged as inappropriate by tumblr and appealed all of them so they now can show up. even the one about my obsession with psylocke. one i couldn’t appeal though (because it was a reblog) was a reply trying to identify all the characters depicted in The Raft as candidates for the Thunderbolts in Thunderbolts #155.

So now I am going to repeat some of what I said, add some more thoughts and try and identify them all.

This is actually one of my favourite past-times working out what stock background space fillers could reasonably be established characters. Let’s be honest, most of these were probably not meant to be anyone and were just people Kev Walker drew to fill up a room. But, within the story itself, they all have to be established super-villains who would be considered as applicants for the Thunderbolts. For identifying these, there are a few things to refer to here - the characters who are ultimately chosen to join the team are probably there, the next issue identifies some of these people who don’t make the cut, there was a poll featuring a vote for who you wanted to join the team (Shocker won, i voted for Madame Masque), some of the characters appear in other issues of Thunderbolts, some star in a preview story in Enter the Heroic Age and then in Heroic Age: Villains, Steve Rogers proposes several inmates of the Raft as potential future recruits for the Thunderbolts - some shown here.

1. Bison (Billy Kitson) or Man-Bull (William Taurens) Bison is a Thunderstrike enemy who later showed up on Crimson Cowl’s Masters of Evil in Kurt Busiek’s run on Thunderbolts. What we can see here is that it is an orange furred man, but the face cannot be seen. I am inclined to say that this would be Bison since Steve Rogers recommended him as a potential addition to the Thunderbolts in Heroic Age: Villains. This would be slightly off-model for him and it seems we should see his horns poking out here, but Bison is confirmed as being at The Raft and has that reason for being there. Alternatively it might be Man-Bull who is later shown to be at the Raft in some issues of Hercules. Then there is also Griffin (John Horton) who was a poll choice but like Bison’s horns, we should be able to see his wings, so I am definitively removing him as a possibility here..

2. Shocker (Herman Schultz)  Shocker joins the team next issue and is depicted with this hair. I’d lock him in as a definite.

3. ? We don’t have much to go on here besides a sort of faux-hawk hairdo. I’ve ran down the list of who could be there and turned up squat. Maybe in prison, Badd Axe grew a mohawk style. Badd Axe was another of the characters Steve Rogers proposed as a possible team candidate. Blizzard is confirmed as being there next issue - maybe he shaved his head like this to try and look more tough in prison.

4. Bloodshed (Wyndell Dickinson) Bloodshed is a Spider-Man baddie and another member of Crimson Cowl’s Masters of Evil (there’s a lot of them here). He’s apparently grown a goatee but I’d be confident to lock him in as another definite here. He was another of Steve’s candidates from Heroic Age: Villains.

5. Grizzly (Max Markham) I am a bit obsessed with shoving Grizzly into the background of this run. It’s not without precedent, he is depicted in Enter The Heroic Age as being at the Raft, Steve Rogers nominates him as a team member and before this run he was a full-fledged member of the team. This character design mostly suits being Grizzly, he’s the right size and has his soul-patch. The one thing stopping me from saying it’s definitely him is he appears to have some form of faceplate on him. Maybe this was an inking or colouring error? Maybe - just maybe - it is bandages from when Ant-Man climbed into his ear and beat up his ear-drums in Thunderbolts #143. That’s really reaching, especially considering Grizzly had appeared since without his ears being wrapped, but I really want to say this is Grizzly.

6. ? This character receives a fair amount of dialogue bullying pre-transformation Mr. Hyde in the next issue. Possibly trying to deflect their own lack of power by bullying Mr. Hyde when he thinks that Mr. Hyde is a weak timid guy worse off than him. We have a very generic black-haired guy who would bully a weakling, so who could it be?

7. Mr. Hyde (Calvin Zabo) This is kind of how he is depicted next issue when he is in his non-Mr. Hyde form. A small man with black hair cropped at the sides. He is also shown in front of 6 in a line and is bullied by him for looking weak and nerdy. Here he is shown stood in front of 6 again, so this would make sense as being Mr. Hyde.

8. Amazon (Katrina van Horn) or Titania (Mary MacPherran) I want to say this is Amazon, formerly Man-Killer, as she is an ex-Thunderbolt who despite only being on the team briefly always kept showing up in the book. She was again recommended as a possible Thunderbolt in Heroic Age: Villains and while her hair has grown a bit longer here, this would make sense as being her. I’d still hazard a bit to say lock this one in though because, alternatively, it could just as easily be Titania who is seen as an inmate in Thunderbolts #144.

9. ? This one has been bugging me for a while. I so know this character. Has black vertical lines on the eyes, right? Or it might be Armadillo (Antonio Rodriguez) which someone seems to have identified as being in this issue on terrible website ComicVine (I think they just confused 11 with Armadillo though). He’d be a good choice to be here though.

10. ? There is a few characters this could be. Next issue depicts a character with a hairless head with a less human face which might have been the intention here but it’s in the back so never required this detail. If we’re going with that one, the guess would be Headlok (Murray Singleton). At the other end, if you want to say he’s wearing a mask and again it’s the result of lack of detailed, Scarecrow (Ebeneezer Laughton) - next issue shows his mask as being biege. He was a poll choice and actually receives dialogue next issue.

11. Blood Brother The survivor of the two Blood Brothers, we saw this character in Enter The Heroic Age and in Thunderbolts #156 he is identified and given dialogue. He is depicted speaking to 6 and Mr. Hyde (7) next issue. There’s no area of debate this isn’t Blood Brother.

12. ? Short guy with long hair. This seems like it could be an easy one but I’m coming up empty. Dare I suggest this could be Grizzly again?

13. ? A tall woman with nice black hair. Possibly Titania again. Otherwise, the best I can think of is that Moonstone acknowledges Black Mamba as being there next issue. It’s maybe a bit too built for her but it’s also the one that looks the most like Black Mamba. 

14. ? I’m pulling this one out of nowhere but this could be Asp. The hair matches and she is Black Mamba’s bff, so it’d make sense they’d be near each other. 

15. Powderkeg (Frank Skorina) Powderkeg is a real Z-list villain fodder guy. He is confirmed as being a Raft inmate in Avengers Academy #4 (a light crossover issue with Thunderbolts) and I want to say this is definitely him even if it requires a little bit more footwork.

16. Super-Skrull (Kl’rt) Confirmed next issue.

17. Skeleton Ki (Alisher Sham) One of Steve Rogers’ picks and this one is wearing a skeleton face mask so it seems quite evident it is him. Lock in Skeleton Ki as number 17.

18. ? This character is also depicted next issue, stood behind Blood Brother and 6 during the Mr. Hyde bullying scene. Based on that, it’s clear he is a male with long hair.

19. ? Absolutely no idea. Woman with corn-rows.

20. Dark Beast (Hank McCoy) AOA-verse evil version of Beast. Jeff Parker originally wanted this character to join the team but was blocked by the X-offices. Centurius filled his role instead. Dark Beast is shown on the cover to #156, was also one of the poll choices and him being drawn a bit poorly here might have been a last-minute alteration to try and change it to NOT be Dark Beast. This is definitely meant to be Dark Beast though.

21. Poundcakes (Marian Pouncy) Poundcakes is shown as a inmate of the Raft in Thunderbolts #159. The body type is a match and the hair is consistent with how she is shown in #159. Lock her in.

22. Boomerang (Fred Myers) He joins the team next issue. This is another case where this is obviously the character. 100% definite here.

23. Ox (Roland Bloch) Member of the Enforcers (and briefly the Thunderbolts Army). This is how Ox was drawn in Enter The Heroic Age. The colour of his hair has slightly changed but put him in the definite machine.

24. Mandrill (Jerome Beechman) This is Mandrill. Easy.

25. Troll (Gunna Sijurvald) She joins the team. This is undebatably her.

26. Bushwacker (Carl Burbank) Bushwacker is a former Daredevil and Punisher foil. This is definitely him. He was depicted exactly like this in Enter the Heroic Age. Definitely lock him in.

Here’s the bit in issue #156 which features some roll-call with not necessarily the character models depicted. 

Of those I can’t identify the first one (Blizzard because she mentions him? Really, any number of other bad guys listed below can fit this design), the next one is either 6 or 7, then up-front in that mask is Scarecrow (confirmed next 2 panels). Next that would b Bloodshed/4, and then possibly a miscoloured Ana Kravinoff, and finally Headlok and Super-Skrull.

Extra notes: - Centurius (Noah Black) is not depicted but joins the team.  - Blizzard (Donnie Gill) is confirmed as being there in this room as seen above but I don’t see any character that could really really be him. - Scarecrow (Ebeneezer Laughton) is as well but he’s been speculated all over the place. - Black Mamba (Tanya Sealy) likewise. - The leftover Steve Rogers’ suggestions from Heroic Age: Villains are Absorbing Man (Carl Creel), Answer (Aaron Nicholson), Badd Axe, Hydro-Man (Morris Bench), Lady Stilt-Man (Callie Ryan), Mad Dog (Buzz Baxter), Redeemer (Shep Gunderson), Ruby Thursday (Thursday Rubinstein) and Vector (Simon Utrecht). Some of them like Ruby Thursday are clearly not there. - He also recommended the Young Masters but none of them were ever even arrested. - The cover to issue #156 also features Abomination (Emil Blonsky), Absorbing Man, Batroc (Georges Batroc), Ana Kravinoff and Sandman (William Baker/Flint Marko) - none of these appear to be there and Abomination had been dead for a few years by that point. - I can’t find the poll itself, I can find a link to it but it just redirects to Marvel.com, and other than the winner (Shocker) and who I voted for (Madame Masque), the other choices are sourced from a forum post. Absorbing Man, Batroc, Brother(s?) Grimm, Dark Beast, Doctor Demonicus (Douglas Birely), Griffin, Ana Kravinoff, Living Laser (Arthur Parks), Madame Masque (Whitney Frost), Mr. Hyde, Sandman, Scarecrow, Shocker and Other. Noticeably nearly all the ones on the cover to #156 were listed. Other allowed you to write-in a choice but they shouldn’t really count towards this. Of these ones, Absorbing Man, Doctor Demonicus (deformed face with horns), possibly Griffin, Ana Kravinoff, Living Laser (stuck in energy form), Madame Masque and Sandman are obviously not there. - Some other confirmed Raft inmates at this time from other Thunderbolts issues include Axe (Jerome Hamilton), Corruptor (Jackson Day), Mr. Fear (Alan Fagan), Mo Money, Purple Man (Zebediah Kilgrave) and Titania. #159 gives us 3 previously unseen characters: Big Roy (a Walrus monster man), Man-Mountain Mario (Man-Mountain Marko’s cousin) and Indali (a normal looking woman who is the Queen B of the women’s wing of the prison). In other books we see Basilisk (Basil Elks), Blackout (of the Lilin), Crossfire (William Cross), Griffin, Hecate, Man-Bull, Vermin (Edward Whelan) and probably much much more but those are the ones that come straight to mind from Avengers Academy #4, Hawkeye and Mockingbird and a Hercules story. - While Crossbones (Brock Rumlow), Hyperion, Nuke (Frank Simpson) and Norman Osborn are all being held at The Raft, they are not eligible for the team.

Feel free to contribute or ignore this.

[bedlamgames]

Q&A #100

Yes, been a hundred of this things. Totally a meaningless milestone which is one of my oldest tags on here (assuming any are left after the purge...) still I thought I’d do something for it. 

Specifically I’ve gone back over the old Q&A’s and found some favourite questions and answers which I’ll be including in this after the usual round of outstanding ones. Possibly also with some extra commentary where appropriate. 

Anonymous said: Hey. Any pair of characters connected by an Owned relationship/reputation seems to crash the game if you use either one of them on an assignment. Any chance of this being fixed?

- That should be sorted in yesterday’s update. 

Anonymous said: Got a Forest Goblin with both Dancer and Clumsy. This seems like a very strange combination, but imagining it kind of makes me want to laugh my head off.

- Agreed I think that just works due to being amusing. Less poetry in motion and more of a limerick. 

Anonymous said: In No Haven 0.871 the trait " Elementalist: Air " does not appear when using the estimate value function.

- Cheers for pointing out that oversight. Will sort.

Anonymous said: Hi sory english isn't my native langage, In No Have 0.871 TF Edition I have aquired a slaver But with a bug first i don't know how i acquire her and two she had noting , no name no perk jus a little description i will copy the full examine optin on it : - - - - ExamineName: Race: - Sex: - Status: - Reputation: Traits: Condition: 0 Will: 0 Estimated Value: 0 has a flat chest, a regular pussy, and has an unremarkable ass. She is the same size as most goblins, and .She is . 

- That looks like an empty character in all respects. I believe there was an issue with Ritual Casting where that could happen and is now sorted. If you see it happen again please let me know what you were doing when they appeared. 

Anonymous said: Hey Bedlam, watched stream where you discussed not selling slaves debuff, thing is i always imagined slavers being in this business for fun and pleasure first, and gold second. I mean why else would they agree to live in some Skyrim style, long abandoned really, hard to get to fort in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by hills and marshes(at least that how i imagine it)? So maybe you could make something like,"no new slaves, or slave training for X days, getting bored" or something like that?

- It wouldn’t be too harsh at all. Just a bit of a poke to encourage that you’re business model is based around being a slaver over the leader disappearing to the coast for a week and returning with suspiciously large amounts of gold. In that case you’ve got to think that your slavers might feel that they’re surplus to requirements :D

Anonymous said: I hope you're happy for taking so many hours of my life away from me lol. But playing this again; got a question about NH. Any plans on making some rival groups that we can interact with? Diplomacy, getting tribute, ect. It would be kinda cool to have rivals that push you along 

Glad you’re enjoying it! 

Likely yes. There’s ways currently now to set up a few ways to get tribute every so often. More groups though who are more hostile than the not-witches in the marshlands or the mistress of the Ensnared Rose are sure to be a thing sooner or later. 

doof-ex-machina said: Have you read the Gorean saga by John Nornan? If yes, did it influence your vision of the No Haven world? Gor explores a legal female-oriented slave system, yheah, but there are pretty close similarities with NH in regards to the numbers of ‘fodder’ and the ways of training. Anyway, me personally thinks your world is even better because magic and draenei/succubi boobs, duh.

I haven’t but I am aware of them in general. 

NH is a lot more equal opportunities than Gor where males doing it to females, females doing it to males, and all possible variations of that including others like futanari and sissies are likely to happen. Still high praise indeed, thanks!

And now onto some old questions starting with one from before where I realised beginning to combine these might be a good idea. 

onedrift from 2015:  Trying this again...what's your coder fuel of choice? Red bull, Monster, coffee? None of the above? Soon to be bimbofied slavemakers want to know!

- Heh, totally giving my nationality away (if it wasn’t blatantly obvious already) but the fuel of choice is copious amounts of Earl Grey tea.

Anonymous from 2015: Hiya, been a fan of your work for a long time, captions and games thanks for making them, but a question regarding whorelocks revenge, is it possible to get the tangle infection and bonds of insanity? in all my time playing them I never had either I dont think.

- Not in the current version. Basically I wasn’t happy with the implementation in terms of how they were removed so I disabled them for a bit till I can sort it out… which unfortunately has lasted quite some time.

Soon as I got this No Haven update done they’re top of my list of things to sort in Whorelocks.

(Oh zogging hell. Still not done that yet... Extenuating circumstance for sure with NH taking off and WR was still in RAGS at that point, but even so)

Anonymous from 2015: This is probably a poor place to respond to your open-ended poll question, but have you looked into Twine?

- I’ve looked at Twine and when I one day get round to Rough Landing 3 it’s definitely going to be done using it, but to me it looks like an incredibly poor fit for working on No Haven.

(Oh past me why would say such a thing even if it did make a lot of sense at the time. Let’s hope that guy was wrong)

Anonymous from Q&A #1: Title image is hype, cant wait for next update. recall you mentioned that you had enchantments planed for the update after next (or something there abouts) how far ahead have you planned ahead and any spoilers for the update after this one? :D

- Why thank you! I have several pages bullet pointed of what I have planned along with what I have in my head. For stuff not in the next update I’d say not counting more slave training assignments and options and more assignments in the other areas the big bits of content outstanding are;

Way more potions. (Still do do)

Enchantment/cursing of items system.  (Also still do do)

Crafting Devices. (Also, also still do do)

Ways to manage encampments when they get to large by sending slavers/slaves to new areas to provide ongoing gold/supplies along with the occasional assignment. (Oh dear, also, also still do do)

More stuff for you like going on every assignment, bad ends for some of them, more interactions, being enslaved and so on. Basically lots more sub and also some dom content for when you’re not managing the encampment. (Woo progress made! Bad ends for some assignments going on are indeed a thing. Still work to do as I do want to give Crossbones and Into the Depths the QAYL treatment sometime)

Special events that will occur every so often that will affect things be it for good and bad. This will include a way to get a lost slaver back though perhaps forever altered by their experiences. (Woo again this is done. Definitely could do with more done with)

Encampment reputation to reflect a slaver’s standing with how the other slaver’s see them. This will includes slavers becoming slaves and visa versa. (On a roll now as a great deal of this implemented)

More biomancy options and improving thanks to a multi-part assignment. There will also be other multi-part story based assignments. (Partially done and the biomancy multi-part assignment has been started)

And a bunch more basically but those are the priorities after this next update. Probably not all in the same update though.

Anonymous from Q&A #6: I would play the hell out of Paranoia set in No Haven.  

- Temptation to give slavers and you conflicting secret societies and agendas rising.

Y’know like…

Dire Panthers: A mottley band of young savage orcs, amazons and trolls out to raise hell by breaking stuff, setting stuff on fire and generally being a nuisance to everyone.

The Cooperative: A dedicated group of Frozen Queen cultists out to oppose the Human Empire by working together to make things better for the common people… till you know the Queen awakens and buries all the land in eternal ice.

Mage Smashers: Magic iz like wrong an’ stuff! We smash dem in dere stupid face till dey not so smart.

Fellowship-Fel: The denizens that lurk beyond our reality and infect our dreams with tainted nightmares are our friends! We must expose ourselves to as much corruption as possible to make ourselves like them. We see no flaws in this plan whatsoever, you see the chorus of whispers in our minds entirely agrees with us.

Psion: No changes need to be made whatsoever from the original version.

Trekksters: …and I think that’s enough of that, or further evidence of why I shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near RAGS or indeed tumblr when I have my old sourcebooks nearby :D

(Also apologies to most of you who have no idea what that was about!) (This is still far too much of a good idea)

Anonymous from Q&A #17: 2/2 and another hilarious one: Your succubus slave Jaeil was not looking so hot right now so Virholen just held her close and told Jaeil that everything would be alright. Jaeil was oddly quiet everytime you looked in on them and you wonder if they have resigned themselves to their fate. Condition: 45 (Change: 20) - Will: 47 (Change: 15)

After their mistreatment Jaeil sees no reason not to only care for them self as clearly no one else will leaving them hardened and even outright cruel. usc++

- You win best bug report in ages, that is beautiful :D

Anonymous from Q&A #37: Will there be other spirit races in the game besides wisps, such as undynes, gnomes, and dryads? And finally Im new to patreon. I decided to pay for the your character teir but ask for a unique because I dont really understand it. Is the “play your character” a scenario or what? And where do I go to talk with you on what I would like for it?

- True story, I had to google undyines and for ages I couldn’t work out what you were referring too as so many of the results were of that character from Undertale :D

Undines themselves would be no, but I do have a water spirit of a kind planned. (Still do!) Gnomes no, as I’m happy with Hakh Dwarven and the various Goblins as my short races. Dryads absolutely yes, and will be one of the advanced races. See the last Q&A for more details of those.

Thank you for your support! Those options are for those that want to play a specific character that isn’t available in the standard options or design a specific slaver that you can have in your encampment. If you want to see some examples of ones others have asked for before on the playable character front then Orc Wright Raptor, Lago’Mae Scholar or Goblin Underground Potioneer would be a good ones to look at to start off with.

As for the unique slavers then pretty much any of the slavers available under Strong Right Arm/Recruiter.

How much detail you want to go into is up to you. If you want to say oh I just want a Kitsune lady who likes to pole-dance then I’d put something together for your approval, or you can go full on detailing everything about them from their art, description, traits etc. and I’ll work with you to the point I’m happy having it as an option in the game. (Note: If you want an entirely new race like the Golems you need to go for the lore tier given the significantly larger amount of work involved)

For discussing please send me a message on patreon and we can take it further from there.

One thing to bare in mind is that patreon only charges at the end of the month, and so while I’m more than willing to talk it out, if you want to me to do a lot of work on your request I’m going to need to see a pledge go through first. It sucks I know, but this is the unfortunate reality of the internet that alas trust can only go so for.

I’m always happy to discuss things though, I really am, and some people have asked to pay some of their pledge upfront via paypal to get round this which is not a problem if that’s what you want to do.

valhallaimmortan from Q&A #47: I managed to get a elven smith who makes fancy armor that is usually masterwork quality, and equipped my ‘Basher’ Squad with it, the Basher’s are all Ogre’s who I recruited and I have a alchemist who seriously creeps me out with how many petrification potions he has been pumping out. I also like the Lago'mae Scholar how now the Lizard man is using her as his new project… poor Scholar… and I got to ask is it actually possible to recruit a keldan from the keldan mission in the city?

- I love this question, absolutely adore it, and you made the patron who requested the lizardman unique really happy when I mentioned it to them. If people want to send in their favourite/amusing/interesting slavers/slaves that have resulted from generation and gameplay I might do a tumblr post series on them called ‘Tell me about your Character’.

As to the question yes she should be on the critical result.

Anonymous from Q&A #61: Silly question. For clothing and armor, what in your mind is the major difference between micro, and impractical? I can’t really visualize a difference between the two when reading armor/clothing descriptions. Scandalously short is divergent enough that it creates its own image for me. The other two seem as if they would be interchangeable, but they aren’t since there is a distinction so what is it?

- Yay silly questions are always the best questions. Okay micro is where you have outfits that are recognizable bits of clothing but it’s incredibly brief so a skirt that’s more a belt than actually trying to cover anything whatsoever and/or a bikini top so teeny-weeny that it doesn’t even cover all of the nipples. Completely impractical though is the kind of clothing beloved by a certain kind of fantasy art which just doesn’t make any kind of sense whatsoever where looking good trumps any pretension of realism, and the only way it could stay on is either with copious amounts of glue or magic being involved.

Anonymous from Q&A #66: Hello again! I’m the guy who asked about the post-slave [slaver] titles. I’m going to very respectfully push the idea that ex-slaves should get unique titles. First, I honestly think having the unique titles is cooler. It’s more interesting to send a Chosen, an Acolyte, and a Hedge-Witch on an assignment than it is to send three Slavers. It’s a rarity thing, sort of? If you get a character who qualifies for one of those things, it’s a BIG DEAL. Secondly, it already changes with jobs, so…

- Alright, alright, you’ve twisted my arm :)

That should now be included for the most recent update along with a couple of new titles so that all of the more rare traits (not counting crafting ones) should have one. Let me know if there’s any issues as while it was a fairly straightforward change I didn’t get a chance to test that particular bit.

Thanks for reading and here’s to another hundred of these. 

[perfectackeracy]

actually you can dislike a character without relation to other ships. anyway that's not what i wanted to say, it's that people shove their ship trash or character stuff down everybody's throat; not only eruri or ereri shipper. i think that was what the callout post person wanted to say. (if this might seem rude to you, i'm sorry, that wasn't my intention)

Why tagging this post with “eruri”, then? This person clearly wanted to start shit and got their ass handled to them. That’s what happens when you poke at the bee’s nest.

Saw your reply post to the snk poll shout out and it's really well said since both Marco and Erwin are my top 4. Just one thing I'm a bit disagree with, we all know Erwin won the 3rd official poll and he deserves it. But the number of votes showed that not many people(only 3000+) were involved in the poll since snk got a even bigger community and huge sells in Japan. No offensive but IMO Erwin is overall the top 3 but it's still not enough to grab "the most popular character" title from Levi.

Even discounting the most recent poll, Erwin still ranked 2nd in the second poll. That’s huge enough to consider his popularity on par with Levi’s. For the sample size, it seems the 3rd poll restricted their measures and filtered their votes.

"Erwln is in the way of my otp boohoo" ughh it's the same shit both er*ris and er*mins pull on Mikasa! Always hating a character that interacted with one of the characters involved bc they "are in the way of my precious healthy ship uwu. It's disgusting. She and Erwin do not deserve that kind of stupid treatment (also I love you for your response on that "callout" you stand in my fav snk meta writers)

From my experience, the most troublesome fans I’ve ever met liked the following character: Eren, Armin and Levi. Their obsessive behaviors ranged from character thirst/worship to aggressiveness, male or female fans. Meanwhile Mikasa was either loved or hated. I remember chunks of 2013′s fandom either calling her an ultra-badass female or a failure to feminism. Male-dominated places either have her as their waifu or call her the biggest cuck since Eren isn’t interested in her. 

In a sense, she’s getting the same treatment than Bertolt: meek trio member who’s getting flak for having a flat character, only used as the protag’s doormat. Fortunately, people are defending her on that level, the same way I’m defending Bertolt against haters.

(Thanks for the compliment!

[cutekittenlady]

[anxiousdepressedintrovert]

Let’s talk about Choices

I got into the Otome game late. For a reference, TC&TF, all of The Freshman Books, Rules of Engagement Book 1, 2, half of three, and Most Wanted (Hiatus) were already done. Hero and ILITW were on breaks. (I’m probably missing a few but still) When I joined the fandom most of the books I was interested in had female only MCs. As a female I didn’t mind it. I did however, see the issue. 

The first book I played was Love Hacks (fite me, I love them). In it we were able to play as the MC as well as the other characters. (Not as much as I’d’ve liked) There was also a fair bit of choice with the MCs appearance (I don’t get the hate on the art, I loved it). As I played and poked around Tumblr, I realized that Love Hacks was the beginning (to me) of a new trend with Choices. 

I tried to play The Freshman from Book 1 but it got really annoying really quickly  and saw that the choices, when compared to Love Hacks were very limited. This was probably what turned me off to the series. I picked it back up From Book 3 and wasn’t disappointed. (ZIG) 

I then migrated (Before TF) to Rules of Engagement. I had previously read a book similar to the premise and was interested. I was surprised by the fact that we couldn’t choose our ethnicity for that book. I let it pass because MC and her family were half Filipino (?? Correct me if I’m wrong) (I was also heavily invested in party!Twin’s relationship with Blake. It was golden)

I started High School Story (I had the other app years ago and I wanted to nostalgize) and I was surprised that I had the option to play as a male. I didn’t because, as I said, I’m a woman and it wasn’t that big a deal. 

The difference came when I started playing Endless Summer (RIP). At first I was playing as a girl but I didn’t like the choices I had. So I started over playing as a young black man. I realize not much changes between MCs but I like the dialogue and choices I got better. (Taylor X Estela forever) it was a refreshing change of pace. 

That said, I realize how men who play Choices can get irritated with the lack of options to play as a male. We have 3-4 books where you can play as a male. and two of those aren’t even for the full book. (Correct me if I’m wrong)

I realize that designing and coding for multiple looks on multiple genders is a lot of work but I think half of that work could be cut in half if PB polled their audience to see what they wanted. 

I saw a post, it might have been a confession on an anon blog, that said something along the lines of “I want the next book PB releases to force the player to be male” and honestly, I agree. Switch it up. Make us play as a male. The dialogue, for the most part, could stay the same, as it did in ES. 

I wouldn’t have a problem playing as a male, so long as we’re given the same variety we receive when playing as a female. 

Along the topic of gender, shout out to Andy of ILITW for being the first (and only??) trans character from PB. And Cameron of HSS for being the first (pretty sure only...) non-binary character from PB. 

PB is starting to make strides by the way of, two out of however many is small but it’s still something.

That’s all I have for you at the moment. Thanks for reading!

[superkickingit]

Kelsi Likes Seinfeld

Go to the bottom of this post to see all of my Seinfeld recommendations including books, merch, articles, and more!

There was an echo issue with my audio in the segments while I am on camera. I am working to fix the issue if there is any way to, but until then here is the video if anyone still wants to see it:

Recently, I decided to start a weekly show called “Kelsi Likes.” The title is an anagram! Each episode is about a different topic with only one thing in common…that I LIKE it!

I’ll be doing episodes on wrestling, cartoons, my favorite movies, horror, my love of Halloween, tv shows, characters, my love for the 90s and so much more!

But this episode is about one of the most iconic television shows of the 90s...

Seinfeld, “the show about nothing,” that was actually about everything and anything!

Even if Seinfeld wasn’t your favorite show in the nineties or if you never cared to watch it at all, no one can deny that it has had a huge impact on the current social and television landscape. Seinfeld played a huge role in television history, in academic television analysis and in society itself by becoming a massively influential, cultural phenomenon.

In college, I wrote a paper titled “The Evolution of the Television Industry in the 1990s.” Seinfeld was one of the specific shows I analyzed and wrote about to prove my thesis: “television of the nineties was revolutionary and stands out from previous decades.”

Here are a few excerpts from the paper:

Hailed as “the best sitcom of all time” is NBC’s Seinfeld, which first aired in 1989 and ended in 1998. The show follows Jerry, Elaine, George and Kramer as they go through everyday life making fun of and analyzing everything and anything. Famously described as “a show about nothing,” Seinfeld’s striking appeal is the wonderful comedy writing and revolutionary idea of having a show that revolves around quirky, but regular, people and their daily encounters. TV Guide describes the show this way:

As put forth by the series itself, Seinfeld was a comedy about nothing.But in reality it was about the very worthy subject of modern manners-waiting interminably for a table at a Chinese restaurant, for instance...and it addressed these issues with all the acute observation and satirical brilliance of a Restoration comedy. It’s just that the manners of Jerry, George, Elaine and Kramer were often atrocious. (Lasswell, 235)

Nothing overly monumental happens to the main characters, but it’s the writing, the acting, and the premise of “nothing” that made this sitcom stand out above all others. It’s original. Even today, over twenty years after the show has ended, it’s still widely considered “the best” sitcom of all time. 

This show can be said to have single handedly defined nineties television and the uniqueness of the era. Entertainment Weekly describes Seinfeld as

...that brilliantly self-reflective series about a stand-up comic and his three pals, [and it] went on to become the defining sitcom for the ‘90s. In its eight years on the air, Seinfeld changed the tone of TV, our Thursday-night plants, the way we talk. It spawned enough imitators to fill Yankee Stadium, boosted sales of Jujyfruits and Binaca, and even made medical history--a journal reported that a Massachusetts fan laughed so hard, he kept fainting. It made a mint for NBC--and not a junior one either. (Gwinn, 11)

Always challenging TV “Political Correctness,” Seinfeld addressed countless topics that had never been discussed on television before.

Over the years, the quartet broke tube taboo after taboo, mocking deaf people, cancer, football-shaped goiters, and mental retardation. Even masturbation and oral sex slipped onto the airwaves, thinly disguised with masterful euphemisms. Not exactly safe, family, Tony Danza-type television. But it was precisely Seinfeld’s shocking deviations from formula that separated it from the sea of tapioca. The show gave us a peek at our Jungian dark shadow. It let nothing--not feelings, not death--get in the way of a punchline. (Gwinn, 11)

Overall, Seinfeld was a step in the opposite direction of the regular family-friendly sitcoms such as The Cosby Show and Happy Days that had aired in previous decades. This, however, is exactly why Seinfeld was able to flourish and succeed. In effect, the 90s television audience was left with a new type of comedy that has not since, one could argue, been matched in quality and content. 

I also asked some friends and family what Seinfeld meant to them. 

My friend Trace (who has a UCF podcast: @UCF_Knightline) described Seinfeld like this:

Well written and witty, the scenarios the characters found themselves in were absurd, yet relatable. Who hasn't lost their car in a parking garage or struggled with someone who is a close talker? The terms seeped into our public consciousness and decades after its debut, the show is still as relevant as ever.

When I discovered Jerry Seinfeld, simply put, his poke at little things made me laugh. My enjoyment of his comedy made me want to check out his new show. Seinfeld's core characters weren't written to be like-able, yet proved to be enduring and, ironically, quite like-able.

My 14- and 15-year old nephews have only recently discovered Seinfeld through syndication and laugh out loud as I did when I first watched the episodes during their original run and dozens of times since. 

It was billed as a show about nothing, yet became a show about anything and everything and remains my favorite show of all-time. No matter when I tune in, be it a few minutes in or only with a few minutes left, I watch and laugh and yell out the lines and ... yada, yada, yada all over again!

My co-host of my wrestling podcast, Paul, gave me a list of his favorite Seinfeld episodes! 

My dad, Donald, also gave me a list of his favorite episodes and had this to say about the show:

Favorite Episodes for the Show’s Lead Characters:

Jerry (Possibly the most innately funny lead of a sitcom of all time) = With 180 shows to choose from? Maybe The Puffy Shirt, Season 5.

George = A three-way tie between The Marine Biologist, The Opposite, and the “I was in the pool!” Hamptons episode, all Season 5.

Elaine = The Bizzaro Jerry and The Little Kicks, both Season 8.

Kramer = Any and all of his appearances since the Seinfeld pilot (there were only two episodes in which he didn’t turn up: The Chinese Restaurant and The Pen). If I had to choose one favorite, it would probably be The Merv Griffin Show (Season 9); Also love any of the episodes that feature a Kramerica Industries venture, i.e., the NYU intern assisted oil bladder system (The Voice, Season 9), and his other various “Eureka!” ideas like Make Your Own Pie pizza restaurant or his PB&Js sandwich shop, the Coffee Table Book about coffee tables, The Beach cologne, ketchup and mustard in the same bottle, and the aforementioned male brassiere twist. Should I also include the co-created homeless person powered Rickshaw endeavor, Jerry’s imagining of a future Kramer’s car periscope invention, and possibly the roll-out tie dispenser? Cosmo’s umbrella corporation far outdistances George’s more pedestrian and fictional Vandelay Industries that was made up for extending Costanza’s unemployment benefits as a would be latex salesman.

Hardly a day goes by in my life that doesn’t include an occurrence or interaction within it that I can someway, somehow relate to a Seinfeld episode. Guess that does it for now, gotta go watch some Seinfeld reruns. It NEVER gets old, kinda like watching the movie “Jaws”. So Kelsi Likes, “you’re going to need a bigger list.” LOL

Lots of people on Twitter also weighed in and tweeted about their favorite episodes: 

I also put out a number of Seinfeld-related polls on Twitter:

The last poll shown above references Seinfeld food bits, and there is actually a massive amount of food references throughout the entire run of the show! I found this fun article/list that compiles all the references and includes episode numbers and descriptions: Complete Food Tour of Seinfeld by Moze Halperin and Jillian Mapes from flavorwire.com

“Kelsi’s Kountdown” - My Favorite Seinfeld Quotes

The sea was angry that day my friends…

HELLO NEWMAN

SERENITY NOW!

These Pretzels are Making Me Thirsty

No Soup for You

Honorable Mentions: 

GET OUT

Just pop the top, and toss the stump 

TURN PIMP…I’M NOT A PIMP!

Jambalaya

You son of a bitch bastards

Schmoopy! No you’re schmoopy!

Yada yada yada

CABLE BOY…What have you done to my little cable boy? 

I was in the pool. 

Oh, No, I'm so sorry. It's the MOOPS. The correct answer is The MOOPS.

Here’s to feeling good all the time!

Believe or not answering machine message

You’re living in the past, man. You’re hung up on some clown from the 60s, man!

Well HELLLOOOO

Just Take One Dip and END IT! 

Shut up ya old bag

You’re an anti-dentite!

If this wasn’t my son’s wedding day, I’d knock your teeth out you anti-dentite bastard

In the video at the top of the blog post I also talk about my most underrated Seinfeld episode list as well as my favorite Newman episodes. 

“Kelsi’s Kountdown” - My Favorite Seinfeld Episodes:

The Chicken Roaster (1996 – Season 8) 

The Bris (1993 – Season 5) 

The Soup Nazi (1995 – Season 7) 

The Little Kicks (1996- Season 8) 

The Rye (1996 – Season 7) 

In the video, I also recommended a number of books, articles, and Seinfeld-themed merchandise. 

Here is what I recommended (including links!):

The book “Seinfeldia”: A very comprehensive look at behind-the-scenes facts and information about the show. You can buy it anywhere, including Amazon.

The Complete Series on DVD: Includes AMAZING, in depth bonus features, including interviews with the cast and creators, that will keep you entertained for hours.

Factinate Article: Includes a lot of very interesting facts and tidbits about the show

The book “Seinfeld Trivia”: Available anywhere, including Amazon

A Rolling Stone Article: Lists and describes the 100 Best Seinfeld characters

TwentyTwoWords.com Article: A visually appealing article that lists the best quotes and includes stills from the show.

Festivus! The Book: About the Festivus holiday tradition referenced on the show.

Seinfeld Funko Vinyl Idolz: Awesome figurines that can be displayed. I own all of the figures seen in the picture below except for Puddy.

ScreenRant Article: Written by Sean Harrigan this lists the best 15 Minor Seinfeld Characters

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New world news from Time: Out of the Shadows: Pakistan’s Transgender Candidates Step Onto the Political Stage

Each week, residents of Islamabad call in to Nadeem Kashish’s radio show to vent frustration with the problems bedeviling Pakistan’s capital: a lack of running water; chronic electrical outages; soaring rent prices. On air, Kashish’s voice crackles with energy, imploring listeners to vote and hold politicians accountable on their campaign promises. But the program has been flooded in recent weeks by a new kind of call: Well-wishers ring in to congratulate the 35-year-old transgender woman on her bid to take the political reins of the capital — a coveted constituency where she will face off against several political heavyweights.

“I am running against big names like Imran Khan and former Prime Minister Shahid Abbasi, and I’m not considered a real threat,” Kashish, who is running as an independent in Pakistan’s nationwide elections on Wednesday, tells TIME. When she’s canvassing voters door-to-door, some jeer and poke fun at her appearance; she has close-cropped hair, sometimes wears lipstick, and does not conform to gender binarism. “People hear about my election run and think it’s a joke, they just start to laugh,” Kashish says, imitating her critics with a high-pitched chuckle.

Kashish, whose family disowned her at a young age, is an unconventional politician. She lives in a group home of transgender people in one of Islamabad’s grittiest slums, Mohallah Noori Bagh, Bari Imam. Kashish is one of a handful of transgender candidates stepping up to run for public office. The Muslim-majority country of 207 million gave transgender citizens the right to vote in 2011, and this week will see three transgender candidates running for seats in the National Assembly, as well as two others for seats in provincial legislatures.

Read more:Cricket Hero Imran Khan Led Pakistan’s Team to Victory. As a Politician, He’s Riding a Populist Wave

Advocates estimate that Pakistan’s transgender community numbers half a million, though official census figures count them at 10,000. South Asian society has traditionally viewed the hijras or khwaja siras, as they are sometimes known locally, with a mixture of veneration and suspicion; believed to have mystical powers, many people fear their curses but invite them to bless childbirth and marriage ceremonies. During colonial rule, the British enacted the Criminal Tribes Act in 1871, which branded hijras and other social minorities as threats to public order and morality. Members of the marginalized group have historically been relegated to begging — even today, it is not uncommon to see trans men and women panhandling at stoplights in major cities.

Asif Hassan—AFP/Getty ImagesA Pakistani transgender activist poses for a photograph as they take part in a demonstration in Karachi on Nov. 20, 2017.

The transgender community has made tremendous strides in terms of legal rights in post-Independence Pakistan, though they still face discrimination, harrassment and societal exclusion. A 2009 Supreme Court verdict officially recognized the rights of those identifying as third gender, and in May, the National Assembly passed a landmark Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act enshrining basic rights and outlawing harassment and discrimination. But a string of killings just this year underscored the violence and discrimination still faced by the trans community. This month, a transgender citizen was shot dead at a wedding in the eastern province of Punjab, while in March another was murdered by motorcyclists in an apparent hate crime in the frontier city of Peshawar. The TransAction Alliance, a Pakistani trans-rights organization, has reported more than 50 such deaths in the last three years.

“Until you can influence the laws, you are their slaves — you are following rules and laws set by someone else,” says Nayyab Ali, a 26-year-old transgender candidate running in her hometown Okara, a city in Punjab, the country’s most populous province. Running on the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Gulalai party ticket, Ali is one of the few transgender candidates representing a political party; most have shied away from trans candidates, viewing them as novelty runs that attract attention but yield few votes. Ali, who was attacked with acid by a previous boyfriend, is hopeful that she can advance transgender, minority and human rights. “We are not just the voice of the transgender community, we are also the voice of women and minorities,” she says. “If you want a real change, vote transgender.”

Read more: Ahead of Pakistan’s Elections, Transgender Activists Push for a Seat at the Table

Activists say there are still barriers even getting the community to the polling stations, despite at least 25 transgender people serving as election observers. Separate male and female polling stations lead some to fear harassment if they are seen to be entering the “wrong” station. Others stay away because they lack identity cards listing them as being transgender, despite recent electoral reforms promising expedited documents. Moreover, many transgender people are registered to vote in home districts from which they have been ostracized.

“This is everyone’s story,” says Kashish, whose own family banished her from their home in Multan, seven hours away by road from Islamabad. But while she may not be welcome in her own home, Kashish has found a place in the lives of her listeners — even if elections don’t end in her favor. “My voice has traveled far, it’s reaching the whole world,” she says. “This is my victory; if you go in front of people and show your character, they will accept you.”

July 23, 2018 at 02:40PM ClusterAssets Inc., https://ClusterAssets.wordpress.com

[cutekittenlady]

Best Pokemon Male Character Poll FINALS Round 3

Round 1

Volo VS Ingo

Cilan VS Guzma

Grimsley VS Raihan

Giacomo VS Emmet

Round 2

Hop VS Ingo

Wally VS Guzma

Clavell VS Raihan

Arven VS Emmet

Round 3

Ingo VS Guzma

Raihan VS Emmet

[cutekittenlady]

[cutekittenlady]