#so this is more of a basic character with sentinels name

[stagark]

Warmth Amidst Dust

Gender-neutral Reader & Jiyan Comfort

Minors DNI - this blog writes dark and sexual content.

Content warnings: Panic/anxiety/ptsd attacks, left vague but reader experiences extreme dissociation and derealization and struggles to breathe due to anxious thoughts. Mentions of minor character death, paranoia on reader’s part. Basically, reader has a panic attack and Jiyan holds you while you breathe. Please be aware of the tags and do not read if these topics may trigger you.

Can be interpreted as romantic or platonic! You are a soldier under General Jiyan who has pushed yourself too hard recently, causing panic attacks. General Jiyan noticed and offered a shoulder to hold while you relearn how to breathe.

Word count: 1.5k - Also read on Ao3

You never once thought you would ever thank the dust of Norfall Barrens. As a rookie soldier you had grimaced through it, determined to protect the city you loved despite the discomforts and hardship of enlisting in the Midnight Rangers.

But now, three years later, it was a welcome respite from the sharp, biting winds. The particles stuck to your sweat-slick skin, a grimy but effective layer that allowed you to fight the abominations with a shield from the bone-chilling wind streams. The icy breeze got to you over time, seeming to attack your skin at every opportunity, leaving your limbs tender and your bones brittle.

Unexpectedly, what relieved the wind chill the most was another gale, one scripted by your trusted general, Jiyan. He moved like a deadly dancer guided by a loong dragon’s spirit. It was clear your sentinel itself chose Jinzhou’s general, his unwavering sense of justice an arrowhead directing the war against the Lament’s effects.

A composed man who overflowed with warmth and care at his core, he warmed every space he ever entered both with his aero resonance and his very spirit. The medic turned leader was almost universally beloved, a man who faught alongside his soldiers, a voice of strength and reason so desperately needed in and out of the battle field. His mere presence strengthened resolve against the Lament’s corruption, igniting and directing soldiers’ will to fight for their home like the strong tendrils of wind that uplift gentle embers into roaring and ferocious wildfires. His guidance inspired you and so many others, and you worked hard to earn your place in a unit directly below him.

The call of your name by one of your companions shook you out of your thoughts. In the relative safety of your camp you were able to let your mind float following your shifts on watch. You tended to do that more often these days. Only in battle was your mind sharp; otherwise you were simply a shell of a human, no different from a golden echo on the field. Warmth graced your hands in the form of a bowl of hot soup, the scent of spices wafted into your nose, a very welcome surprise. Such commodities were rare these days, perking up even your dulled senses.

“Come on, I know you’re tired from your shift but we have a feast prepared today!” a new fellow you fought alongside with today called at you with a smile. You managed to offer one back. A feast in these parts meant warm food and extra proteins, and spices it seemed, this time. A welcome blessing in this hell. While you’re sure you would be glad, truly, your soul never stirred in celebrating any longer. Years of war had stolen your life force, only your determination and spite sustaining you. But it was easy to wear a mask of normalcy, falling into habits to alleviate your mind of a little bit of stress, letting your consciousness float and watch your body acting from above you, a spectator instead of a player.

The warmth of the bowl certainly sang to your body, blood pumping heartily from the sustenance. But your mind was as barren as the lands you camped on, a floating ghost devoid of nearly everything, that only came to life with skill and sharpness gifted to you in battle by adrenaline.

That very familiar chemical rushed through your veins, releasing your body from its cold prison and igniting your muscles to tense, ready for action. A foreign sound had resonated around you, causing the adrenaline to release. The call was loud at first, a deep bellow sounded, followed by quick, breathless exhales of mirth and an echo of the very sound by vaguely familiar voices. It occurred to you then: laughter. The noise was laughter. You shifted your gaze around the camp, finding the young soldier who handed you a bowl howling heartily with some senior officers. How long had it been since you had heard laughter for it to sound so foreign to you?

You truly didn’t know.

It wasn’t unwelcome, but it was a disruption to your routine that allowed the voices in your head to rise louder, your mind waking to make sense of the new occasion.

What was the joke, why was your comrade so happy? asked your mind. Mild annoyance traipsed through your thoughts, uncharacteristic, but an understandable ally. This was not a place for disruptions. Anything could happen here.

What if there were TDs creeping up on the camp right now? What if they had heard the ring of joy and legions of them were gathering to snuff it out, racing here in ground-shaking gallops like horsemen of the apocalypse. You had seen so many of your allies, your friends, fall to those beasts. Resounding memories of their cheers of camaraderie in the early days echo throughout your mind, cruelly juxtaposed with visuals of their brutal deaths. The monsters taunted you, holding your loved ones’ image captive and jeering at you while they poisoned your world, your beloved city, your home.

The world around you seemed to distort at the thought, the sky dropping. You were caged in by some invisible force, and noisy panic bubbled in your chest. Air began to feel denser, a newly elusive substance your lungs had to chase. The very thing you began craving seemed to mock you, seeming to grip your ribs and crush them inwards while refusing to let you draw in a breath. Your chest stuttered and attempted to heave before being yanked back by your achingly empty lungs as you began hiccuping for breath. Only when your airways started to sting and your face began to numb did you realize your situation and manage to gasp for breath.

You didn’t know how long had passed after you wheezed the sound of panic. You felt nothing until the bowl you were clutching was removed from your lap. A large hand came to rest on your shoulder, replacing its warmth. A scent so familiar that it unconsciously calmed you followed its motion: a fresh forest breeze tinged with the sharp sting of metal. The air began to flow in smoothly, enriching your body. A cooperative ally once more.

“Breathe, soldier,” the strong voice rumbled.

General Jiyan. Your general, Jiyan. The air once again blessed your bloodstream, feeding every inch of your body and once again giving you the gift of life. You had begun to breathe slowly and deeply, just as you had learned in training. In for four, hold for four, out for four. The familiar timings of the count served to calm both your body and mind.

The presence of safety, of your general’s strength near you, was a very welcomed gift. You sighed from your chest once the world had returned to clarity and life size in your vision and you once again heard the murmur of celebration around you. Unfortunately, your reaction was not unfamiliar to you. The toll of seemingly endless battle drew on your very soul, leaving your body weak and weary. And yet, after dozens of times, not even a decorated soldier under the great General Jiyan could manage to snap yourself out of the hell on Earth that was your own mind, not on your own, not in a way that left you sane.

“I’m sorry, general. I let my head get the best of me. Thank you for-“

The hand on your shoulder squeezed gently but firmly, a message to stop talking. As you looked up to gaze in the golden eyes of your general, you were met with pure gentle care. His understanding smile reached his eyes.

You caved to your pure exhaustion. Wordlessly, he let you relax into him, your head coming to rest against the front of his shoulder. You sighed once more, lungs filling to capacity and deflating equally in rhythmic undulation as your spirit came back to inhabit your body, bit by bit. Your general was so warm, so caring, so safe. Eyes closing against his form, your breathing slowed even without your measured counting. One steady hand gripped your side while the other came to rest along your shoulder blade, forearm resting comfortingly against your tired back. He rubbed gentle circles firm into your spine, grounding and soothing the ache in your muscles.

“Don’t speak. Ive seen you pick up extra shifts, push yourself hard. It is the most worthy of causes, no one here faults you, least of all me. But your work is done today, soldier. Rest.”

There was no hint of a waver in his voice, no false sympathy or concern. This was General Jiyan. This was safe. You nodded into his chest, accepting the help you so desperately needed. Jiyan hummed his approval as he continued to soothe your back. You could feel him brush away the dusr, replacing its tentative shield with his own unrelenting one. Your very bones seemed to breathe again, and your thoughts wandered not to the chaos and havoc of the war, but to the warmth and comfort of your general’s presence as you were surrounded by a joyful camp, grounding you instead of letting you dissociate. This was safe, and so, you breathed.

[theminecraftbee]

so a thing this fandom does that remains FASCINATING to me, as a function of the fact a lot of this fandom is people's first fandom or only current fandom, is just... assume a lot of things it does is a scourge that this fandom has invented or doesn't exist outside of it? or like, is uniquely bad here? and i won't deny that sometimes mcyt fandom is a bit more intense by virtue of numbers, but like...

duo names: confusing fandom-injokes to describe duos and groups tend to be an anime fandom thing specifically for many historical reasons, but they're not uncommon. hey quick--if you haven't been in KHR fandom, can you guess what 1827 is? no? i'll give you a hint: that's actually a ship name. or, ygo fans, tell me the difference between puppyshipping, prideshipping, violetshipping, and rivalshipping. my hint is that they're all kaiba ships and two of them are actually the same ship. good luck!

reducing characters to a specific trait: have you read fic in another fandom before? i would recommend you go do so and come back to me. my example here is "sasuke likes tomatoes", for the record.

common au fanon that's confusing to outsiders: my deep cut here is "when i got into certain tv fandoms i was baffled by the existence of sentinel/guide fics", which is a slightly older tv fandom thing so many of you probably don't know what i'm on about. but trust me: in certain fandoms it's ubiquitous and unless you've watched a completely different tv show you're gonna have to entirely pick it up from reading fic. oh hey, hybrid aus and watcher!grian, nice to see your relative here,

fanon being treated as canon: did you know there's this whole bnha character, naomasa, who is treated as canonically having a lie detector quirk? did you know that, best i can tell, that's not in canon anywhere, it just got echoed through fanon enough that everyone treated it as canon? 'fanon trait becomes so ubiquitous everyone assumes it has to be there' is not a new thing. also, batfamily fans, i have been lead to understand the tim and coffee thing is also this.

characters being treated badly to make a different dynamic look better: the fact we have the term 'character bashing' tells you all you need to know, here. if anything my one complaint on this front isn't even that it's happening--it's that i wish bashing and/or "not [character] friendly" was tagged a little more frequently, haha.

characters being reduced to their family dynamics: tale as old as time. "even the family dynamic thing" yes even that. just because this fandom tended to be particularly ship-adverse in the past didn't mean it didn't do basically the same behaviors as any fandom with shipping did with those dynamics, just gen. and other gen fandoms also do that. yes, down to the "and shipping reduces them to a ship, unlike my gen dynamic, which is very in-character; why can't people just be friends?" thing. some of you have to have been marvel fans right.

characters being reduced to their ships: some of you have to have been marvel fans right.

The Discourse: yeah this is an "actively running show" fandom thing, but also a hiatus fandom thing. ask a homestuck about vriskourse sometime. as much as i hate to say it, it probably made doomsday discourse look cute.

and those are just like... some things i've seen people complain about on my dash recently. idk it just hit me there are probably fans in mcyt fandoms who are assuming that some things (like hybrid aus or duo names) are the kind of things that only happen here, so i thought i'd offer some examples of other places they happen! i also have even more examples if you'd like.

to be clear: this isn't shaming anyone for complaining about any of these things. lord knows i go complain to my friends about it all the time, just the other day i was complaining in the category of 'they keep bashing my guy'. it's more of just... a gentle reminder that maybe we're big, maybe we're loud, maybe we have problems... but these problems aren't always unique.

so uh. we're all suffering together i guess...?

[nugromancer]

Recap Notes from the Dragon Age: The Veilguard Game Informer Article

I watched a livestream by YouTuber Jackdaw and pulled what I could from the article presented. These are things I found interesting or exciting.

⚠️ We're entering Massive Spoiler Territory here so proceed with caution!

The first 2-page spread is recapping everything we've seen in the gameplay trailer so. Nothing really of note here.

When Rook passes out after the intro's climax, they wake up in the Fade with Solas (Hello??) who explains that some of Rook's blood got into the ritual, and now they're connected with the Fade forever. (Oopsies!)

The two "Mystery" characters that show up at the end of the climax are Elgar'nan, Elven god of Sun and Vengeance, and Ghilan'nain, Mother of Halla (or, if you've read Tevinter Nights, Mother of Monsters/Mad Scientist/Elf God Frankenstein)

Solas was trying to create a new prison for these two because the one he fashioned before was failing. And Rook ruined everything for everyone. (Oopsies again!)

It turns out the place you land in the Fade is The Lighthouse, which has been Solas' hideout. There's a table set for One which is supposed to show how Solas has been.

So basically:

Solas has also painted all over the walls of the lighthouse. :)

The library is where the team will have it's meetings and decide what to do next.

An elf Rook has extra dialogue options wrt the Fade

The team decides to go back to Arlathan forest, but they don't arrive back to the temple/castle from the climax. Instead they encounter a Sentinel, which is a "demon infested suit of mechanized armor" (HELLO??? 👀 Ghost in the Machine / Possessed Gundams Real)

We get to meet Strife and Irelin from the comics/stories! Yay!

They're looking for Bellara; full name confirmed as Bellara Lutara (we love a good rhyming name)

Longer cut scenes

Rook's story is about "What is means to be a leader"; how you respond to things changes how characters interact with Rook.

Special Relationship Meter on each companion's character screen (just like DA2!)

Both warriors and rogues can parry (though rogues have a larger "parry window") and while Mages can't parry, they have an automatic magic shield, providing they have the mana for it.

Bellara specializes in lightning and healing magic

"Despite the dire situation, Bellara is bubbly, witty, and charming."

If you encounter an enemy with a specific weakness, you can equip a rune that will temporarily change your magic to something else. eg: Sentinals are weak to lightning magic. If you only have ice magic, you can equip a lightning rune to change your ice attacks to lightning based ones "for a brief duration."

Bellara has a "Tinker" skill which is needed to deal with "Veil Bubbles". Rook can get this skill too, so you don't need Bellara in the party with you when dealing with the bubbles. (I can't tell if it's specific to Veil Jumpers or not.)

Darkspawn are showing up farther and farther away from the deep roads due to the blights "radiation-like spread," so we'll be encountering them more often than we have in previous games.

Relationships now have Levels, which in turn gives you Skill Points to spend on companions. Bespoke gear, abilities, etc.

Mages can use magical daggers 👀

This was confirmed already but I still love it: We'll be travelling across Thedas using our own (*coughs* technically Solas') network of eluvians.

Not open world, but a mix of linear story-driven areas and larger areas for exploring. (Again, we knew this, but I'm glad they didn't nerf exploration completely.)

Mini maps are still around. Linear story areas won't have a "fog of war" filter over them.

"Veilguard has the largest number of diverse biomes in series history."

[littlemisstfc]

How The Bayverse Failed Optimus Prime

Hello, hola, こんにちは。

Welp, it’s been eighty four years since I have written a Transformers essay for Tumblr, huh? I do deeply apologize for my months-long hiatus on this funky T app. I was busy being a gaslighting, gatekeeping girlboss in the wilds of the bird app and that funny video app I think the kids call Taki Taki. Huh. What an odd name for an app. 🧐

Wait, what am I talking about? Wait, I remember. Anyways…

Oh, sweet little Bayverse, my dear archnemesis. Everyone and their mothers have the universal opinion of all opinions: the Bayverse is fundamentally flawed. Even if you hold nostalgic opinions about this franchise, by all means more power to you, you cannot deny that it’s a film series that is basically an 12 year old edgelord’s wet dream. Loud, obnoxious, filled with every horrible stereotype of the human race imaginable (from women to people of color to people with common sense), and lacks an understanding of what made Transformers special. If this movie was a person, it would call me a slur. 😭 But that’s a discussion for another day, and I’ve already made a video about the misogyny of the Bayverse if you’re curious. Check that out in your spare time! 👍🏽

In a nutshell, the Bayverse movies are not good, and there’s no better representation of why the movies lack a basic understanding of the franchise it was adapted from than a character that is essentially a childhood icon for many people:

Optimus Prime.

Everyone and their mothers hold a universal opinion that is sadly present: this man is a maniac who basically says, “GIVE ME YOUR HEAD.” However, Imma about to say something that not only caused a flame war when I brought it up a while back on Twitter, but reflects how the portrayal of Optimus in the movies is flawed in insidious ways:

Optimus is the victim of bad character writing as well as the lack of understanding his core personality. Thus, as a result, this resulted in the, “Bayverse Optimus is a psycho phenomenon” that demonized his visible mental health issues. He was a traumatized individual affected by the tragedies he had to endure throughout his entire life, and the movies did not do his hidden character arc justice. Come along with me on this journey of understanding Bayverse Optimus as a person, not as a demonic caricature that is unfortunately common in the fandom.

3, 2, 1, PINGU.

A Tale of a Bot: The Long Road to A Broken Mind

Optimus’ current personality and outlook on life in general is a result of having a life filled with betrayals and tragedy. Having been orphaned at a young age after the Fallen has killed off the lineage of the Primes, he was taken in by Sentinel Prime as a pupil. Having worked with other Autobots in revitalizing Cybertron into a hospitable world, he was selected by Sentinel to lead the Autobots. At the same time, his true heritage was revealed. However, feeling overwhelmed by the responsibilities of his prestigious family history, Optimus turned down Sentinel’s offer. He accepted the responsibility of co-leading Cybertron with his childhood ish friend Megatron, as he is the fair to the latter’s firmness. However, throughout their rule, they clashed multiple times over multiple scenarios such as the arrival of enemy invaders and the discovery of a relic. This was mostly fueled by Megatron’s own resentment and jealousy towards his co leader due to Optimus’ Prime heritage. The boiling point that exploded into war was Megatron and his followers ambushing Prime and his companions while on a trip to Metrotitan. Thus, along with the apparent death of Sentinel through the latter’s ship being shot by Starscream, this drives Optimus in adopting a rage induced mindset towards Megatron. The one he grew up, the one he confided in, the one that he adored so much, the one who has betrayed his trust all for a vain and arrogant quest for the ultimate power. It lays the framework for Optimus’ jaded, yet hopeful outlook on life, something that the movies at least did a job in conveying. It’s also helped by Peter Cullen giving it his all as usual in conveying his sadness buried underneath his stoic demeanor. Thus, along with a few more shenanigans in the comics, this is where the first two movies started.

I appreciate the comics existing, because they took the time to actually develop Optimus’ personality and his mental state as seen in the film series. We see him as a hopeful, naive bot who hopes that one day, Megatron can change his mind and Cybertron will be alive once again. Unfortunately…the one predictable aspect of life is its unpredictability, and god dammit…it reared its ugly head as all hell breaks loose after a certain old bot returned in Dark of The Moon. Dark of The Moon is the true outlier among a sea of mediocrity and awfulness, for the best element it got right: how Sentinel’s betrayal deeply affected Optimus in the long run. This is someone who raised him when he had nothing, someone he deeply loves as a father, someone he trusted whole heartedly. And how does Sentinel repays Optimus’ loyalty and adoration for him in DOTM? Tricking him and the others into leading him to the Allspark, since UH OH he is a Decepticon spy all along, killed the Hit Me With Everything You Got robot, helping Megatron invade Chicago, and planting Seeds in order to revive Cybertron by killing Earth. Optimus saw his mentor going down a path similar to Megatron, which essentially broke his idealistic viewpoint into devastating shards that could never be put together again. I find his confrontation with Sentinel after defeating him in battle very compelling, because you could feel the heartbreak, the anger, and…the disappointment that his mentor is not the the man that he loved as a father. It was Sentinel’s choice to go to the Dark Side, it was Sentinel’s bed to lie on,

Sure, the day was eventually saved in the end. However, everything that Optimus knew and all the people he loved is gone officially. He got his main band of amigos, that’s good. However…he is basically alone in dealing with his thoughts. The universe is a cruel mistress, and it keeps putting our Flamin Hot Cheetos boyo through the ringer.

We get to Age of Extinction, years after the Battle of Chicago. Now on the run thanks to the American government being the American government, he has no one. His friends are also in hiding, Autobots are fugitives in the planet they sought refuge in, and humans are willing to turn him into the authorities. This drives his mental state into something even worse as it is, as years of trauma and stress has finally caught up to him. Like, dude legit needs some weed to soothe his nerves and it is HAUNTING. Reduced to a broken, traumatized man in the safety of a barn, he is left with major trust issues. However, one day, a kind human by the name of Cade Yeagar did the unthinkable: he didn’t turn in Optimus to the authorities. Instead, he chose to repair our Flamin Hot King out of the kindness of his heart once he realizes that Optimus is no ordinary car. Even with the pressures of his family’s financial situation, Cade still chose to help Prime. This is the first step to breaking the first wall of Optimus’ mental state: his trust issues. For a movie infamous for being one of the worst movies in Transformers history, it does a surprisingly excellent job in portraying Optimus’ and Cade’s relationship in a natural progression. They’re both bird of a feather; they’re both tired fathers raising a rebellious teenager while also trying to make it in this crazy ass world. Thus, with Cade still helping him even when his life is in danger multiple times, Optimsu learns to open up to other people for the first time in probably centuries. He reconnects with his teammates, he begins to regain his faith in humanity and the universe, and he opens his spark again to love. By the end of the movie, Cade became the person that Megatron and Sentinel had failed to be, someone who is actually similar to Optimus’ other close friend Elita One. 

Soon, The Last Knight arrived and things got worse for him. Subjected to brutal torture at the hands of Quintessa, who tried to force him to love her as a mother, he reached the breaking point of his sanity. An empty shell of his former self, a representation of everything that he went through, the painful reminder how he felt about himself for so long…true, he was rescued by Cade and regained his grip on sanity in order to save the day. However, it means that he’ll have to carry the scars of the single most traumatic moment of his life so far… honestly, say what you want about The Last Knight. However, through this one hidden gem underneath a pile of mediocrity, lies a character that suffered for so long to find the love and happiness he desperately wanted, that suffered for the liberation of his people, that suffered because his lineage ensures that he couldn’t find happiness possibly for a long time…

But an Autobot has no tears, and therefore he suffers so much more.

So, riddle me this, dear TORB Nation: how does the movie portray a genuinely compelling character arc that reveals another side to Optimus Prime?

BLOWING UP SHIT AND BODIES BODIES BODIES ON THE MOTHERFUCKING FLOOR, AMERICA, FUCK YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The movies not only twisted such a character arc into simply nothing more than, “Optimus angy,” but it’s genuinely disgusting that his visible mental issues was thrown under the bus because heaven forbid, we have an emotionally complex protagonist. They don’t understand who Optimus Prime is. Optimus Prime is someone who pushes through his sorrows and chooses to remain a kind person in spite of said trauma. However, the movies twisted his character into another angry badass robot, never highlighting his kindness, It only highlighted his sadness. I cannot believe that Imma about make this comparison (mostly because one of these outcomes is arguably better than Bayverse in all ways), but fuck it. I need to say it:

EVEN MOTHERFUCKING TRANSFORMERS PRIME KNEW TO SHOWCASE THIS VULNERABLE SIDE OF OPTIMUS THAN THE BAYVERSE EVER DID.

Like, TFP Optimus is a pretty brick with no personality trait other than Badass Stoic Optimus that plagued the 2010s. Still, still, still, it made sure to highlight his vulnerability in a respectful and careful manner. Said respectful and caring manner is barely there except for hidden bits from time to time due to the lame ass, “Primes don’t party” logic and moments that personally grind my gears, but that’s a story for another day.

Anyways, my point is that Michael Bay would rather focus on style than substance when he’s not busy terrorizing women. Even if you’re an apologist for him, it resulted in the movies being broken for better or for worse. Mostly worst. Because of the movies being broken, it continues to do an even worse job in The Last Knight, as it focuses on the same stupid shit as usual and throws Optimus under the bus as usual. He isn’t given time to breathe, time to fully flesh out his personality and state of mind in a caring and graceful manner. Like…this honestly upsets me just as much as the disgusting elements of the Bayverse as a whole.

This Optimus Prime is someone who was me when I reached my breaking point in the lowest moments of my life. I understood where he was coming from, I understood his pain and anger because of all the heavy shit he went through. For a long time, he has a special place in my heart as I got older because he represents who I was in a time of my life where I was just as vulnerable and broken as him. So, don’t ya’ll (especially those on Twitter) ever fucking say he is a psycho because to me, that shows the ugly side of your personality. He was me, he was a character that came in a point in my life that helped me through difficulties in my life. He is a character that has the most bastardization of any character I adore in fiction, because of the insidious nature of the movies he was in for a decade. 

Bayverse Optimus Prime is more than the “GIVE ME YOUR FACE” guy. He is a character with hidden LAYERS that is done dirty by the Bayverse movies. I will continue to repeat this statement: He is more than, “GIVE ME YOUR FACE.” 

Conclusion: Why Are Y'all Booing Me? I have a third eye.

I have to put up with this “Bayverse Optimus is a psycho” bullshit for YEARS, I deserve to be a feral gremlin DAMMIT. After a long time of seeing one of my favorite iterations of Optimus Prime be reduced as a funny murder guy by the non Tumblr fandom, because of the Bayverse movies bastardizing his character, I have to put my foot down. If y’all can’t see my viewpoint, that’s fine. However, I’ll continue to be a passionate fan of this Optimus Prime and gatekeep him from the fans who demonize my boyo into nothing but a caricature. He is the big titty goddess in this household with so much more going for him. I’ll never stop to be his ace attorney for as long as I live, because he was someone who was me. Someone who opened the doors to introducing me to one of my favorite characters in all of fiction. He was the light in my darkest hour…

Anyways, good night Tri State Area. Pingu.

[milli-moi]

I reblogged this as part of a thread on people’s thoughts coming off the Thunderbolts mini comic run but I’ve decided to post it on its own as well. I’m actually not sure how much of this even seems relevant to the original conversation… but I wanted to chime in on the topic as someone who is a reasonably new comic reader.

Tbh I actually still find myself struggling a bit to keep up with writers and story arcs in my head (couldn’t work out what SoL was until right now - sentinel of liberty, right?)

BUT so far I have pretty much exclusively read black widow comics or issues she features in. (I discovered that on the marvel comics website you can search by character and it will give you every issue they are in - sometimes that’s meant she has one line and I am left wondering why the heck I read a whole comic book for that lol)

Personally I have noticed I don’t pay a lot of attention to who has written an issue, but I know I have my favourites. I actually could pin an artist before a writer- Phil Noto is a god amongst all others - but it’s interesting to hear the different thoughts here.

I’ve seen a few posts with people mentioning Nat’s thought process in the Thunderbolts mini run and my ear pricked up. I LOVE writing fanfic that is based on Natasha’s inner thoughts, she is so full of depth. I would definitely think about writing this sort of thing BUT I feel I need to get my source material right in my head.

Basically the tl;dr is this- what should I be reading or re-reading? I think the names and the arcs can make it quite difficult for those getting into comics to understand what they are looking for, and the amount that characters can bounce around between issues and titles makes that even harder. I usually only know what I want to read because tumblr told me…

I know and love the Brubaker and Liu writing but I can’t say I know what the Higgins run was (is this the run following the 2012 end for Winterwidow?)

I just hope that there is more good to come for these two- they need and deserve it.

Please comment anything that might help me in a quest for fanfic thoughts on this, or just generally. Sorry my response was probably a bit of a ramble and may not have all made sense (adhd meds being messed with = brain confusion).

[aubins]

TOA Anniversary Munday

Celebrating TOA and the people who contribute to make our group what it is.

Repost, don't reblog. Only fill in what you feel comfortable sharing!

Happy anniversary, TOA! Here's to many more years spent together.

Name: darcy, but i also go by qiu!

Pronouns: they/he

Birthday (no year): january 9th

Where are you from? What is your time zone? sea & gmt+8

How long is your roleplay experience? god who knows HAHA not me i fear

How were you introduced to roleplaying as a whole? .........kik..........and then amino when i really got into it a bit more lmfao

How were you introduced to TOA? through the heart & soul ad on twitter!

Do you have any pets? unfortunately not i must live vicariously through family & friends

What is your favorite time of year and why? i do love the -ber months generally. it's nice to have cooler weather as someone who lives in a tropical country though it's not by much these days i fear

What is your IRL occupation? i'm a full-time university student atm studying psychology!

Some interests and things you like/enjoy? writing of course but for less obvious answers: piano, photography, badminton, archery, history, mathematics, languages, etc etc i like learning basically haha

What non-Fire Emblem games do you play? 13 sentinels, somnium files, life is strange, genshin impact, honkai: star rail, zenless zone zero, pokemon. prosekai sometimes. and i love love the ace attorney series so much miles edgeworth among us is the funniest shit i've ever seen

Favorite Pokemon type & Pokemon: fairy type! and it's both mimikyu & ditto really i couldn't pick but i think i said ditto last year so i will say mimikyu this year haha

Tell us some funfacts and trivia about yourself! i used to do international math competitions when i was younger! haven't done since the pandemic but they were good fun i do love math & competition haha so put them together i'm bound to enjoy myself

How did you get into Fire Emblem? my brother bought fe3h & i decided to play it too. i simply never made my way out of that rabbit hole

What Fire Emblem games have you played? fe11, fe12, fe16 (+ hopes), & fe17 + i've watched playthroughs of tellius & sov! nothing much different from last year except i've since watched a playthrough of awakening as well. still haven't finished my actual awakening playthrough but one day...

First & Favorite Fire Emblem games: i said fe3h for my first last year but i think it might have actually been heroes now that i'm really thinking about it LOL not seriously in the slightest though i'm p sure i dropped it after the first few days until i properly got into fire emblem. don't have much of a favorite but i enjoy 3hopes purely because musou gameplay tickles a very specific part of my brain

List your 5 favorite Fire Emblem characters across the series! yuri, alear, est, shez, and lucina

Who was the first character ever to make you go “ooh I like this one in particular” and why? Can be any context and reason! yuri. to no one's suprise least of all my own but also the whole ashen wolves house really. you could say i really like those guys in particular

Any Fire Emblem crushes? 😳 nope

If you’ve played (or are familiar with) the following games, who was your first S support? Who would you S support nowadays? - Three Houses: claude & yuri- Engage: gave the pact ring to veyle my first playthrough then reset it after. honestly i don't know though maybe gregory or timerra

Favorite Fire Emblem class? i like mage cannoneer. funny guys

If you were a Fire Emblem character, what would be your class and stats? Would you be playable? dancer except i play you a silly tune on my keyboard. high speed & dexterity and ok magic stats then everything else is probably dogshit LMFAO

If you were a Three Houses character, what would be your affiliation? fear the deer!!!

If you were an Officers Academy student, what would be your boons, banes and potential budding talent? - Boons: sword, reason - Banes: axes, faith, heavy armor - Budding Talent: bow

If you were an Engage character, which nation would you originate from? solm is my favorite but i'd probably want to live in firene

How do you pronounce TOA? 🤔 separate letters

Current TOA muses: just this guy right here

Past TOA muses? marianne, caeda, est, kvasir, clarisse, & timerra! if there's been anyone else i'm very sorry to have forgotten you haha

Who was your first TOA muse? If you no longer have them, can you see yourself picking them up again? miss marianne von edmund :softsmile: anyway probably not & she's in good hands now besides

Do you believe you have a type of character you gravitate towards writing? i'm sure i do but i wouldn't be able to name it myself haha but i like to think i tend to have some kind of variety in character archetypes and tropes i enjoy writing

Do you have characters or types of characters you don’t think you can handle writing, but wish you could? if i like them enough to put in the effort i could write most anyone i think

What kind of scenes, situations etc do you believe you enjoy writing the most? anything that significantly alters the relationship between two characters. even better if it's for the worse really i do enjoy antagonistic relationships. but yeah i loooove developing relationships between muses. especially with a muse that barely trusts anyone besides themself. yuri never does what i want them anyway to do so it's great for me, really

Do you have any scenario in mind for your muse(s) that gets you thinking “man I hope I get to write this one day”? i would really love to write yuri during their time as a student at the officers academy. or an au where they are a student at the officers academy in present time. i'd like to explore their role as count rowe's “son” more in depth one day as one of if not their longest lasting identity (excluding their actual one obviously LOL). less specific but i just love aus in general i would love to do more aus

Favorite TOA-related memories? est & sirius getting their attacks redirected at one another and whiffing all of them always makes me laugh. the harmony lance phalanx strats were also funny i do think fondly of that arena. happyland was really fun though one of my favorite events so far for sure :] i blow a kiss to north island yuri's home away from home & east island week 4

Present or past tense? present tense is my general go to for roleplay but i don't mind either or

Normal size text, small text, no preference? small text is easier for me to parse personally but i don't have any preference from my partners

Got any potential muse delusions to share? 😉 not so much delusions as they are old muses but i do mourn that i never quite got kvasir & timerra off the ground as much as i'd have liked to. if i ever find the time i'd love to revisit both one day. shez is also a constant plague upon my mind i just love a purple guy what can i say

[amageish]

So we got some more Exceptional X-Men info... and I have some thoughts!

First off, the press release didn't provide pronouns for the new characters which is unfortunate as I really would like to know how to refer to them! Still, their designs continue to look cool - and I hope Melee keeps their unique body type across different artists.

The solicit did have one tidbit that stands out to me though...

EXCEPTIONAL X-MEN begins with Kitty trying to get as far away from all things X as she possibly can. After the actions she took during FALL OF X, Kitty craves normalcy and takes a job as a regular-degular bartender. She’s definitely NOT getting ready to head up an all-new team of wayward young mutants while avoiding the watchful gaze of Emma Frost. Nothing but work, dating and staving off depression. That’s it. Let’s see how long it lasts…

It looks like Pryde is going back to being a bartender! It was previously announced she'd be a barista, but it seems like they've switched back to full-on Mekanix vibes, which I am quite excited by - and feels pretty appropriate to this story?

For reference, Kitty Pryde became a bartender in a 6-issue mini-series written by Claremont in 2002/2003...

The books was partially Claremont grappling with the changes to the status quo made by Grant Morrison, whose work he did not agree with at the time... but his method of processing these changes was sending Pryde back to Chicago where she tried to be "normal" while processing the trauma caused by the destruction of the mutant nation of Genosha...

So uh. In other words, this is basically Exceptional X-Men's premise 20 years earlier - it's also about Pryde in Chicago grappling with identity and trauma related to a mutant island's destruction.

Comic storylines are always cyclical, for better and for worse, but this is a really interesting one to revisit IMHO! I am very curious how Ewing will tackle the subject matter - and especially the idea of what mutants have the privilege to pass as human and hide their mutant identity...

Mekanix is also, uh, a pretty notable book in the queer history of Kitty Pryde too, as it starts her relationship with Xuân Cao Mạnh... When a building collapses around them, they nearly share a kiss before being attacked by sentinels - causing Kitty to state that people like them can never relax their guards, which feels like an intentional double-reference to their mutanthood and their queerness...

This moment is also relatively unique among Kitty Pryde queer moments as it has consistently been followed up on? New Mutants Vol 2 has Xuân talk about to Dani, without naming Kitty specifically.

Liu's Astonishing X-Men also references it, with Kitty continuing to be close to Karma and her siblings...

And Trungles' Karma in Love mentions it pretty directly - with Karma apparently having some complicated feelings about Pryde that she doesn't want to address... as she straight-up just runs away when she sees her.

ANYWAY. The point being: This book could also be a good one to explore Pryde's potential queer identity, if Marvel Corporate is on-board with them actually, uh, doing that now...

[mockedandmonitored]

Introduction!

I just realized I didn't have one of these so gonna fix that real quick for some info.

Salutations anyone and everyone reading this and welcome to Sentinel Security, and where you can find where the Mocked n Monitored AU started. I'm Mxter Mystery or to fit the blog you can call me Sentinel.

What is this AU?

The Mocked & Monitored AU (Named by @gamie99, thank you very much btw, sorry this is the second thing), is basically a universe where the Alliance lost the war during around after episode 47. This will however be taking place after a decade of the original conquest and explore a more dystopia society type thing rather than the classic war story.

Canon characters translated into the AU /Nicknames.

Just some simple nicknames and to clear up who's who. Any other character you see named are most likely OCs.

[Cobalt = Titan Cameraman] [Garnet = Titan Speakerman] [Amethyst = Titan TVman] [Dual = Plungerman] [Polycephaly =. . you know who this goober is, Large TVman.] [Scarlet/Maroon = Assassin Speakerman.] [Jazzpunk = Speakerwoman.] [Flashpunk= TVwoman.] [Cyberpunk = Camerawoman.] [Cocoa = Brown Cameranman.] (more to come)

Interaction/Ocs!

Just like any askblog, I'm open to questions, suggestions and such. I will also be sending out roleplay/writing prompts which anyone can answer and reblog with their own characters/OCs. I of course will be watching out for any OCs sent within #mocked&monitored. If you want to throw your characters in there, Go right ahead! What are they doing? How have they adapted to this situation? Are they chilling in this new era or are they trying to start a new uprising? It’s up to you. I’ll be sending a roleplay prompt after this shortly.

Disclaimers.

Im putting this here and to get it out of the way. Take everything within this section seriously as I will do the same. Boundaries mean everything to me and I will refuse to touch any topics including stuff you'd find in 18+ corn websites. If any other dark or excessive topics are ever in within these posts, the trigger warnings will be put at the top. I will however try avoid those. I will refrain from answering any adult asks and such.

Thank you for taking the time and care for reading this info card! The next this is currently being worked on, expect one or two things per month, will of course try to produce more but not sure if that will be so. In the meantime, happy writing.

[kachikirby]

Welcome to My Garden!!

This is the Tumblr account for Twitter user KachiKirby. I go by the same name on other social media platforms, too.

And yes, "English SD Gundam Queen" is an actual title I was given due to essentially being a walking encyclopedia of SD Gundam lore and one of the few English-speakers who have studied it extensively. I wear this title proudly.

I'm also the world's biggest Vassal Duke Strike Freedom x Valkyrie Gundam Hazel shipper. I love Saddrac Knight Saga.

Feel free to draw any of my OCs and tag me if you do!

Toyhouse | Ko-fi Page | Bluesky | Comfort Character list

Comms Status: OPEN (0/3)

Other blogs -

@theorganizationofficial - Ask Blog for my Kirby AU

@artofrikka - Blog for just my art

This is a multifandom blog, so rough list of some things I like:

Gundam (Especially SD Gundam, but mainly the older OVA and BB Senshi works like the Musha and Knight Gundam stuff.)

Kirby

Mecha anime in general (Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet is my favorite of all time. Other favorites include Back Arrow, Star Driver, and Mashin Hero Wataru)

Bleach

Black Jack and other Osamu Tezuka manga

Vanillaware games (Especially 13 Sentinels, Odin Sphere, Muramasa: The Demon Blade/Muramasa Rebirth, and Unicorn Overlord)

Live A Live

Fate/Grand Order (+ Fate series in general. I have specific servants I hyperfixate on in particular.)

Classic films (Favorite director is Alfred Hitchcock)

Gegege no Kitaro

Mononoke (The TV series)

and more...

Quick Links:

Link to Table of Contents for GranEssex Chronicles

Link to SD Gundam Masterpost

Important tags to know:

GranEssex Chronicles (tag for my Kirby OCs. Will also be the tag for my Kirby AU. This is followed by character names.)

wow cool art op (basically means "art by op")

rikka random rambles (Random talk tag)

art of rikka (tag for all my art)

it came from the magic box (asks from the ask box)

kirby light novels (for the Kirby light novels I've translated)

sd gundam manga (for the SD Gundam manga I translated)

Rikkaposting (shitpost stuff)

i'm dying of laughter help (stuff I think is funny)

rikka hot takes (for when I post my cringe takes)

art from other homies (drawings from other people, comms or otherwise. drop a visit to them!)

baileycore (posts related to stuff that my bf @gundam-bailey specifically likes or things that remind me of him)

-Terfs, p3dos, zoos, and pr0shippers, fuck off-

[catcake24]

So I have this transformers au. I’ve been working on it for awhile but not really planning on doing much with it lol. So here it is. I like to call it my “Oops all Ocs au”, or “Quintesson Occupation AU”

So here’s the basics: This universe takes place wayyyyy back during the time quintessons took over Cybertron and was using it as a factory. The Cybertronians themselves don’t even realize they can think and feel, because the quintessons basically install their own viruses which suppress emotional and critical thought.

However, these viruses don’t work super well anyways. It’s hard to keep a living being from seeing its own living nature, so instead they also have manufactured a narrative that “you are all unthinking machines”. So many Cybertronians who manage to break out of the virus think they are defective machines, and are scared of stepping out of line and being scrapped.

This is where our main character comes in - M-572-456. Or M for short. He’s a warframe, and slowly regains his consciousness alongside his brother F-572-456 (or F for short). At first, they both think they are the only ones - defective machines who have gained free thought. M is smart though, and slowly realizes that he and his brother aren’t alone in their consciousness. There are defectives everywhere, in every level of manufacturing and products. Eventually, he and F join a small group of defectives who meet when the Quintessons are asleep.

Things are good enough for awhile, with this group gaining more members slowly and they start an escape plan. When they do manage to escape however, it quickly becomes clear how much bigger this is than just their small group when they meet a nice bot named A-3.

A-3 is an archivist, data management for the “factory”, and has uncovered something drastic. He found out on his own after gaining his own consciousness that the Quintessons aren’t their masters or creators, they’re invaders. This planet existed before them and it’s likely bots like them did as well, but Quintessons took over the planet and destroyed almost all of their history and only saved the old blueprints medics made of their bodies. M doesn’t quite believe it, but the evidence that A-3 has is staggering, and believes that at least the quintessons are aware that they have a habit of developing free thought and have been violently trying to suppress it.

M eventually decides this can’t stand anymore, thinking of all his friends and brothers in the facility he just fled from. How they all deserve freedom like he now has. So, he rallies all the bots he can into a group to fight for all their freedoms (something A-3 was struggling to do) and chooses a name for himself. Megatronus, the freedom fighter.

Now, taking a step back, I’m gonna explain the larger timeline quickly:

- Megatronus isn’t a prime in this AU, but a well known historical figure. He’s the one who helped unite their people together, which is why Megatron named himself after this figure.

- The primes themselves are a title rather than a demigod like in some continuities, and Optimus is the 13th prime so far. The order these primes are: Prima, Primos, Prime Nova, Solus Prime, Nexus Prime, Guardian Prime, Megatronic Prime, Alchemist Prime, Onyx Prime, Micronus Prime, Zeta Prime, Sentinel Prime, Optimus Prime. Each one inherited the matrix at some point, and after Optimus would be Rodimus.

- Megatronic takes the place of the “fallen” prime instead of Megatronus, and is known as the fallen because he betrayed the Autobots for the Decepticons leading to a military dictatorship which Alchemist Prime was apart of and eventually was the one to end it.

- the whole theme of this AU is that the Cybertronian race has been in a cycle of war and peace since the quintessons were expelled from their planet, that every time they find peace again it becomes corrupt and the other side rises up again. The Decepticons and Autobots have been at war ever since they first expelled the quintessons, but it stops and starts again over and over.

- the Most recent war, the one we all know of between Megatron and Optimus Prime, has only been going on for a thousand years. But for millions of years before that, their race has been divided.

- A-3 mentioned above is obviously young Alpha Trion, and he’s old as dirt in this au. No one else matches his age, and he’s only been around for so long due to tenacity, medical assistance, and divine intervention. He’s the one to find the Matrix of Leadership after Megatronus’ death, and becomes the guardian of it with a special connection to Primus.

- Primus in this AU isn’t literally a god, but more like an elder being which is close to a god. His body was found while he was dead/sleeping, and the Quintessons used it to create their factory after eliminating all the beings living on it. This made Primus mad, but he couldn’t do much about it after he woke up. He created several artifacts in his core, where the Auintessons couldn’t get them: among them was Vector Sigma. This supercomputer is important because it can program life and consciousness, something no other computer can do. So Primus sent pulses out from Vector Sigma for centuries, which is how so many Cybertronians were able to gain consciousness despite the Quintessons best efforts.

Back to the story, Megatronus founds his group the Warcons who lead the resistance with all those who can fight. A-3 handles more covert missions, which the Domestibots handle. These two groups were always apart of the Cybertronian resistance, but would eventually become the Autobots and Decepticons.

They would find ways around the virus the Quintessons used, and fight for their planet over a gruelling three thousand years. However, Megatronus never gave up hope that they could be free and his hope was infectious. After his death, the resistance continued with his closest friends leading the charge. A-3 would travel down into the planet, looking for secret tunnels they could use, but would return with the matrix.

One of Megatronus’ friends was an ambitious but also kinda crazy guy, a former gladiator for the entertainment of the Quintessons. A-3 would approach him with the Matrix, and told him that it was an artifact which would give them great power but also be a great burden. It would keep his memories and part of his being alive forever, and pass on whatever wisdom he had to the next bearer. This way, they might be able to win against the Quintessons.

He took it without a second thought, and became the first Prime - Prima.

From here, the story gets more blurry in my mind. Basically the matrix gives Prima a direct line of contact to Primus, which he tells everyone who will listen and is how the matrix becomes the basis for religion on Cybertron. A-3, now Alpha Trion, makes more excursions down and brings back more artifacts as well - among them the Sword of the Protector.

After Prima’s death, Primos would choose a Warcon to lead their resistance alongside his Domestibots, as the divide between them as been growing bigger and bigger over time. He became the first Lord High Protector of Cybertron, and finally these two would finally expel the Quintessons from their planet.

After this, they make sure to have Alpha Trion write all the history of this war down for future generations. The pair spend the rest of their lives trying to bring the newly named Destrons and Protectobots back together as a people, and would somewhat succeed, but all would unravel after their deaths.

Megatronus never knew, that when he and A-3 would divide their forces it would become a chasm which would rip their people apart for millions of years.

This was a lot of the bigger ideas and plot I had for this AU, but I might make more posts about things like the primes, the lord high protectors, and more miscellaneous stuff. This is a BIG au, but I don’t have much to use it for aside from planning fanfics lol.

[duckielover151]

Calling all 13 Sentinels fans!!!! I'm hoping one of you has the information I'm looking for...

Most people know this game is like a love letter to all things sci-fi. But some of the characters are based more specifically on older anime/manga. (Like I know Yuki is based on Sukeban Deka/Delinquent Detective. Megumi's story has some major Madoka Magica vibes, etc...)

I was wondering if anyone knows if a specific influence was listed for Tomi/Miyuki Inaba?

I ask because I stumbled across this 80s magical girl anime today... It's called Magical Angel Creamy Mami. (Which, yeah, was giving me major hentai vibes, but it's actually really cute and innocent.) Listen to this premise and tell me I'm not the only one seeing similarities:

A young girl named Yuu--whose parents run, get this: a crepe shop-- discovers what's basically an alien mothership. They beam her up, give her magical powers, and using those powers, she quickly becomes an insanely popular idol.

Possible icing on the cake? Here's what these two look like:

Am I crazy? The whole thing sounds way too similar to be a coincidence to me.

(And it just goes on and on... Yuu is... not cruel on purpose, but she's pretty headstrong and absolutely the type of person who hurts people's feelings on accident, which is so Tomi in a nutshell.)

[hermitcrossovers]

School very much be a bitch, I'm agreeing with you there!

Anyway, the 3rd Life dragon riders AU!

I say 3rd Life but it's more like 3rd Life-centric, with Empires season 1 on the side, some very niche helsmit headcanons that could probably get my main blog revealed because of how niche they are, and the smallest amount of canon timeline fuckery :D

I'll focus on 3rd Life for the time being tho

Basically, it all starts with Dogwarts (well, Evo technically but Dogwarts start the main plot). It started with Martyn getting lost at sea after watching his island be destroyed and ending up on the Defenders of the Wing island! Ren quickly follows, as with Skizz. Etho takes longer (by a few months) but they arrive as well. BigB takes the longest to make it, as well as the longest to learn to trust.

The five of them are a close-nit group before long, spending their days adventuring into the woods and sailing around the island. They all came from places where exploration was a must, and it's weird to be contained.

So they leave. They only leave after come newcomers arrive, ones who ride dragons. BigB suddenly isn't alone in being a rider, and Cookie (his speed stinger) makes close friends with the new dragons. Etho wants to learn how to ride a dragon, as with Ren and Skizz. Martyn decides to help the rest of the crew explore the world and try to find the dragon riders from the Edge.

Things don't exactly go to plan, and they get shipwrecked on a (thankfully) friendly island. They decide to make an outpost there, because what else can they do except rebuild the boat?

It's during this stay that Etho and Skizz meet their dragons, a changewing and a triple stryke respectively. Dogwarts doesn't end up leaving, no matter how many times they say they will.

Enter Grian and Scar! Who misread the situation entirely!

You see, Grian, Jimmy, BigB, Martyn, and Pearl are the only survivors of the island of Evo. Grian escaped the Watchers, a group of dragon hunters, by the skin of his teeth. BigB and Pearl took longer, but they got out. Martyn and Jimmy were rushed away before the Watchers attacked. Ever since getting out, Grian has sworn to find his missing friends and protect them.

One day, Grian saw Martyn and BigB from a distance while flying on his sentinel named Watcher. He watched as the two of them attempted to outrun Skizz, who was training Gaze (his triple stryke) to track others. Grian thought that Dogwarts was keeping his friends captive, and didn't think to learn more.

Scar on the other hand, is deserving of Dogwart's wrath. You see, Scar had attempted to gather a bunch of crystals to sell, only to be stopped by Etho and Ren. Those 'crystals' were actually dragon eggs, something Scar didn't know about. Scat got away with one egg, a terrible terror that would soon be named Llama, on his flightmare named Vex.

So basically miscommunication starts a war of sorts. Nobody here has the braincell.

I'll explain more about the Flower Husbands/Hobbits and the Crastle-alinged individuals later, my hands are hurting a bit and the ask box is getting laggy - 🔮🐦(magic bird anon)

(oh and I didn't mention it yet, because it happens later in the plot which I still need to explain, but Ren's dragon is a scuttleclaw named Red Winter, and Martyn's dragon is a slithersong named Listener)

This is so heckin pog! Ok so pretty obssesed with everyone's dragon and also the idea of the Dogwarts gang travelling together is so cool!!!! I love that they're all fighting bc of miscommunication it's so in character!

Was the island of Evo destroyed or is it just left abandoned now that all the survivors have left? 👀👀

Curious abt my dear flowers husbands too 👀

-Mod Jer

[annalyticall]

Thoughts on Mass Effect 3 and Mass Effect Trilogy

Well. It's over.

I'll keep it real with you chief, Mass Effect 3 was by far my favorite of the three games. That might be controversial given what I know about the divisive endings (basically the only thing I knew before I started these games), but as a newcomer to the series, Mass Effect 3 had a lot of what I was looking for from the previous entries. I also realized that fundamentally I can't compare these games to Dragon Age because the truth is I still like the Dragon Age games more individually but I do like Mass Effect more as a unified trilogy.

Again, I played Shiv Shepard, colonist Sole Survivor, Sentinel, and Paragon. I played her with survivor's guilt in ME1, with a burning hatred of Cerberus for bringing her back from the dead (and for the Akuze thing) in ME2, and a mix of burning hatred of Cerberus and a survivor's guilt over Earth in ME3. I don't think I ever mentioned this but I intended Shiv to be Irish/Korean, full first name is Siobhan

You see that bit of red? Those are renegade points I got every time I talked to the Illusive Man.

Major Story Decisions: Continued relationship with Kaidan, let Mordin cure the genophage, killed Councilor Udina myself with Kaidan on my side, secured peace between the geth and quarians, killed the Illusive Man myself, and chose the Destroy ending (which I'll get into later). I entered the war with 8000 war assets and the only character deaths I saw were the scripted ones (Mordin, Thane, Legion, Anderson, presumably EDI). I also beat James' 182 pull-up record.

The Pros and Cons lists are a little tricky for this one since I found a lot of the good came with some bad and a lot of the bad came with some good, but I'll try to keep it all in neat bullet points.

Pros

Satisfying Ends. From Mordin curing the genocidal disease he helped perfect to the control-hungry Illusive Man driven crazy by the same control he sought to have, everyone gets a nice and neat bow on their character arcs that had been set up since the beginning, or at least since Mass Effect 2. Honestly, playing ME3 made me like ME2 more than I had before since I could now see the consequences of my actions on the characters I grew close with in the previous game. Speaking of...

Consequences. Moreso than Dragon Age, it's fun to see how much my choices from previous games impacted my experience throughout the trilogy following a single character and her friend group. Of course, it's not going to be perfect - I AM miffed that my major game-ending decisions of ME1 and ME2 like saving the council, rewriting the geth, and destroying the collector base ultimately resulted in very little change in the story. Weirdly, it was the lesser decisions that mattered most - keeping Wrex alive, preserving the cure data in Mordin's loyalty mission, not cheating on my ME1 love interest, resolving Legion's and Tali's hostility, and reuniting Thane with his son were all very effecting choices on my story since they all add up into a pool of possible outcomes rather than dichotomous decisions (it makes sense Kaidan might trust me a little less in an armed standoff if I cheated on him I guess lol). And I appreciate that even the minimal choices were at least represented as war assets.

Gameplay. ME3 had the best gameplay of all games by far. I think it's telling when I could spend over 3 hours in the combat center just trying out different modes. Unlike in ME2, I didn't feel as restricted in playstyle with the introduction of a bonus power and a healthier shield. My favorite bonus power was Aria T'Lok's Flare, a large biotic blast critical in any fight with bunched-up enemies. I'm glad I got that one early on because it helped me survive so much of the game.

It looks good. Not that I hated the graphics in the last two games, but this one had some nice cinematic angles, richer colors, and grander set designs that made it more immersive for me to get into.

Pace and Scope. ME3 really pulled off the feeling of scale in a galaxy-wide conflict. It didn't hold back with its bang of an opening as we survive the reapers attacking Earth within the first 10 minutes, then slowly we see these behemoth machines devastate every other alien homeworld and invade more of the map in each story arc until it culminates in a grand final stand. I was worried the game would, in a sense, "nerf" the reapers since it took so much to take down just one reaper in ME1 and a single half-built reaper in ME2, but although we kill many more reapers in ME3, each one is an earned spectacle that requires either a lot of combined firepower or a giant thresher maw to do the job. Side note, I do like the irony of my sole survivor Shepard getting saved by the thing that killed her whole squad in the past.

Romance and Friendships. Listen, I don't think I've praised a Bioware game on its romance since Dragon Age Origins (Alistair my beloved) and while this game is still a little sparse in the romance department, the DLCs more than make up for it with a lot of great content for the love interests. I enjoyed the flirty, lively banter and the cute domestic scene in the Citadel DLC (Kaidan my beloved), and how worried he was about Shepard's safety in the Leviathan DLC. But even outside those addons, I liked the quiet moment shared before the final Cerberus mission, and while I typically cringe at Bioware sex scenes, I found this one to be, uh... tolerable. The romance in ME3 felt like an oasis after the lonely desert I suffered through in the last game lol. As for friendships, I loved the little platonic dates you get to go on with your squadmates both in the base game and the Citadel DLC. I never felt closer to these characters than I have here.

Cons

Contrived Means. Although I enjoyed the satisfying ends to many subplots and character arcs, I didn't enjoy the somewhat forced means it took to get there. I can forgive the last-minute sabotage that doomed Mordin to die since ultimately the end it led to was most fitting for Mordin's story. However, I took issue with a lot of the geth/quarian buildup, mostly involving Legion and the reaper codes. To be honest, I LIKED the geth being a completely alien hivemind and existing as a neutral anomaly that takes effort to understand and accept in ME2. The focus of becoming an individual (the original question the geth asked was actually "do these units have a soul", not "does this unit have a soul" as ME3 claims) undermined what I thought was compelling about Legion and the geth in the first place. Also, Legion's sacrifice felt unnecessary, especially when the reason for the reaper code upload not working was flimsy. And don't even get me started on the Citadel...

The Citadel. Holy shit, what happened there? I'm not talking about the Citadel as a location - I liked exploring the Citadel more in this game than any of the other games - I mean the Citadel as a plot device. For one, I was very surprised to learn the Citadel was the Catalyst when it was already an important plot device in ME1, where it was revealed to be a secret reaper mass relay. Now it's the key to a giant super weapon against the reapers whose original designers are never specified? Okay? But my biggest issue was that it was inexplicably "moved" by the reapers in the last mission despite millions of people living on it, then we can use it to blow up the reapers, destroying the Citadel and I assume most people still on there, so we're basically condemning millions of people to die and never get to see the impact of that decision. Granted, this is not much different than the weird 300K Batarian mass murder Shepard commits in ME2, but the difference is that these people are people we knew and spent a good amount of time helping and building relationships with throughout the game. What happened to Captain Bailey? What happened to Kolyat? The game never bothers to address that.

Kai Leng. Now, I don't expect every character to be wonderfully fleshed out. I accepted Kai Leng was just a plot device to stand in the way of Shepard and her goals, but his presence still left a bad taste in my mouth. He's never mentioned in any of the previous games, then he's introduced here as having a badass reputation despite his best move being a shield. He is so painfully one-dimensional compared to literally any other character that killing him didn't even feel good. I think it would have been cool if Kai Leng was someone else, maybe a character scorned by Shepard in the past who wanted revenge. Or, he could have been another character revived by Cerberus and abandoned in favor of Shepard, which was hinted at in his video logs but wasn't completely followed through on. I guess maybe I just wanted it to be Evil Clone Shepard from the Citadel DLC because even she was more compelling. What a waste of Troy Baker.

Let Me Speak. It's complicated because I do think ME3 has some of the strongest dialogue in the series (I didn't have the same jarring Talk No Jutsu problem as I did in ME1 because even when you're talking down a literal war, the dialogue feels earned and natural). However, the cutscenes went on noticeably longer without any input from the player character. It was frustrating since I felt like sometimes Shepard was railroaded into saying or doing something I wouldn't have chosen to do otherwise, but so is the burden of being a finale, I suppose.

Femshep Romance. Listen. I like Kaidan's romance. I like Garrus' romance. I like Liara's romance. If you chose to romance any of them in your playthrough like I did, that's great! You get a good romance. But if you're playing femshep and don't choose those 3 options... you don't. Thane dies early-ish in ME3 (which, I mean, I guess that could be good if you like inevitable tragedy) and Jacob cheats on you (which is terrible and I have NEVER seen in a video game romance before). And if you want to romance a girl? You get Liara or some minor side character, and that's it. You don't get Tali, Ashley, Jack, Miranda, or any of the several other female options that male Shepard has access to. Even in ME3, a male Shepard can romance Kaidan if they want a male companion to romance. Ashley doesn't get the same bi treatment. It's kinda sad just how limited femshep's options are for romance compared to their male counterpart.

The Synthesis Ending. Yes, I chose the Destroy Ending for rather complicated reasons that I will get into, but after watching the outcome of the other endings, I have a bone to pick with Synthesis. I discuss my opinion on the endings in a later section if you want to skip to that.

The DLC

Omega. It was fun. Not much more I can really say. I liked Nyreen as a character (and it was nice to finally meet a female turian) but I also felt her sacrifice was rather hollow. Aria grew on me and I was able to get her to spare Oleg at the end, but really, the shining star of this DLC was earning her Flare ability.

Leviathan. It's a double-edged sword because while I liked the expansion of reaper lore (and the extra dialogue with the LI and EDI) I also think that overexplaining the reaper backstory ruined a bit of their mystique. It also had strange implications for the ending, as the reaper AI explains its purpose in a more convoluted and obfuscated way than the Leviathan does, so it adds to the frustration of the limited ending dialogue choices given to call the reaper AI out on its vague statements.

Citadel. This is possibly the best DLC of any game I have ever played, I'm serious. With the exception of maybe Trespasser from Dragon Age Inquisition, never have I thought a DLC was so perfect for the story it was accompanying. Granted, I think the idea of taking forced shore leave is a little laughable when the fate of the galaxy is at stake, but I digress, the DLC was near perfect otherwise. It had fun in-jokes, meaningful time to spend with squadmates past and present, great scenes with the love interest, and, yes, I did spend 3 hours in the combat simulator just to get the rare One and Only achievement. And that pistol? It was the only thing keeping me from dying to brutes and banshees during the last Earth mission. I am not exaggerating when I say most of my enjoyment of this game actually comes from this DLC, and I consider its bittersweet ending to be the real ending for Mass Effect.

The Squad (including past Squad members)

Kaidan. Once again, I am listing the squadmates in relative order of how much I liked them, and Kaidan skyrocketed to the top within the last 30% of the game. I mean, I had to like him enough to romance him in ME1, but ME2 made me sour toward him, and even at the beginning of this game I was a little bitter that he was still so prickly about Shepard's forced involvement with Cerberus. However, after the hospital and the initial awkwardness of rekindling a strained relationship, I fell in love with his character all over again. He's not quite as deep as the other characters, true, but his human and down-to-earth presence is SO needed in a cast of complicated and eccentric aliens, and the random things he says are some of the only things I ever laugh at in this game. It almost makes me grateful for the mid-series break, because, for all the frustration, the relationship feels earned by the end. He might not surpass Alistair for top Bioware romance for me, but he comes close. Also, the unconditional reassurance he gives once realizing Shepard had actually been clinically dead and may not have been completely the same when she was rebuilt by Cerberus was so nice to get after the accusatory headache that was the Horizon mission in ME2.

Garrus. Admittedly, I don't think Garrus adds much to the narrative of ME3. Even when helping me cure the turian-ordered genophage he doesn't have much stake in the story, and then he has almost none after the genophage is cured. But that doesn't really matter when his purpose is actually just to be Shepard's rock. He is such a good friend and his presence is so comforting that I wish I could take him on every mission even if he's got nothing relevant to say. His farewell to Shepard at the end was the only other farewell besides Kaidan's that made me tear up. Shepard said it best: there is no Shepard without Vakarian.

Tali. I still love Tali, but she was shafted a bit by the lack of screen time she had in this game. It's a shame that she comes to the crew so late, although I guess it's understandable given that she's an admiral now. Still, I loved seeing her wistfulness as she dreamed of her new home on Rannoch, and her time in the Citadel DLC was very fun.

Mordin. Despite his fourth-place ranking on the list, I think Mordin is THE best-written character in Mass Effect. He has one of if not the best character arcs, and he's so likable that I can't not love Professor War Crimes. His singing as the building was falling down around him... it was so sad but a perfect way for him to go.

EDI. Her earnest and heartfelt quest to understand what it means to be human was endearing to me, and her relationship with Joker was great. I brought her along most times if Garrus or Kaidan didn't make sense to take. I am heartbroken that my chosen ending means her death, but it was a sacrifice I still decided to make, especially after she said she was willing to give her life to save the person she loved.

Liara. While I like Liara, I still feel like there's something missing in her character that I can't quite put my finger on. That said, I like the friendship she has with Shepard. There's an implication to their interactions that suggest she never stopped having romantic feelings for Shepard even after I turned her down in ME1, but I like how she still wants to be a close friend to her rather than be bitter about it.

Thane. I think the story did him justice, giving him a pivotal role to play in the amount of time he had left. The prayer read as he was dying sincerely touched me. He wasn't my favorite in ME2 but ME3 gave him a boost for me.

Legion. Despite some inconsistencies I noticed in his writing, I still like my little robot guy. RIP, buddy, sorry your sacrifice was kind of for nothing.

Grunt. Similar to Thane, ME3 (and especially the Citadel DLC) made me like Grunt more than I did upon his introduction to the series. He wasn't as important, but his enthusiastic welcome and his "last stand" made me feel like a proud mama.

Samara. I liked Samara enough in ME2 to try to flirt with her, so I was excited to see her again in this game, but unfortunately, she didn't have much to do. Then again, she doesn't really need to, given that her arc is to accept being a mother to her remaining child rather than her jailor. I still felt like there was lingering unspoken sexual tension between her and Shepard though...

Wrex. It was good to see Wrex again, and I sincerely love how the game portrays his openness to cooperation as the key to saving his people.

James. I feel like James fulfilled the Krogan Companion role for me in this game, which is: I like him, but not enough to bring him anywhere. His flirting was rather alarming to me at first since I had every intention of reuniting with Kaidan and didn't want to turn James down so early, but when it became clear that he wasn't serious about any of it, I liked playing along, though really femshep doesn't have a choice in the matter.

Javik. Don't get me wrong, Javik is incredibly interesting and I think he's a critical companion to take on a lot of missions because the Prothean perspective is so unique and necessary in some instances (seriously, how did Liara not realize her goddess looked suspiciously similar to Javik). As a person, though, my Paragon Shepard didn't really gel with him. Also, my Shepard is rather sentimental and values memories, so I may have accidentally doomed Javik to a tragic post-game death with that memory shard. Oops.

Kasumi. Speaking of dooming people with memories! I told Kasumi to keep her lover's memories last game, which felt meaningful to my Shepard at the time since it happened before Horizon and I was still playing a lovesick Shepard who missed Kaidan and could empathize with her situation. That was, uh, maybe not the right call to make, and I'm a little sad that I basically condemned Kasumi to waste away her life reliving the past.

Miranda. I don't really have a lot to say about Miranda. She lived in my game, and I thought it was a good end for her character to finally fight back against her father. But she is rather bland to me, and I almost wish they kept her the cold-hearted bitch she was introduced as, just more sympathetic. You know, kinda like...

Jack. I like Jack A LOT more in this game than in ME2. I think putting her in a teacher role was a perfect decision that displays her impressive growth as a person and her ability to overcome her traumatic past to give future generations of biotics a better life. However, she is still Jack, and her inherent abrasiveness meant I always felt like I was walking on eggshells picking dialogue options with her.

Jacob. Unlike almost everyone else on this list, I downgraded Jacob. I didn't mind him so much when I was playing, really - I liked that he was having a baby and that meant he would get the chance to be a better father than his own was, and I liked the little get-together I had with him in the Citadel DLC. I thought he was still a little boring but nothing offended me. After learning he can cheat on femshep though? Yikes, dude.

Zaeed. I wouldn't say I hated him as I did in ME2. He was just... there.

Miscellaneous. I liked Samantha Traynor MUCH more than I liked Kelly Chambers, so I was glad to see her fill the role. She was resourceful and a bit awkward but not annoyingly so. Let's just say, if I was actually in the ME universe, I'd probably be Traynor. Steve Cortez was also a great addition. I grew to care about him a lot, and I'm glad Bioware gave us a face for the person driving our shuttle around lol. Diane Allures is, uh... there. Dr. Chakwas and Joker are great as always. That goes without saying.

THE ENDINGS

I want to preface this by saying I thought the ending before the ending, aka the Illusive Man standoff, was well done. I was a renegade every time I talked to him, meaning for my last action I was able to shoot him point blank and he was able to give an ending speech about how he wished Shepard saw the Earth as he did. I thought this was an interesting angle for my Shepard to take since she was so Paragon in ME1 that she was able to talk Saren down. Having the ability to do the same with the Illusive Man and not taking it gave me the chance to show some growth in my Shepard, finally willing to put her foot down and abandon the moral high ground when dealing with the person who both resurrected and ruined her life.

Now to the final endings. I will not be discussing the Control ending, as I immediately dismissed it as a possibility. It was what the Illusive Man wanted, and if my Shepard was anything, she was staunchly contrarian to Illusive Man's ideology. That's to say nothing of what I think of it, which is - eh. I think it's a good ending for a renegade Shepard, and possibly a paragon Shepard that wasn't as anti-Illusive Man as mine was. Still, the other two endings are what I want to talk about.

I will also not be calling the reaper AI the Star Child because I think it's misleading. To me, the child-like appearance seemed like a ploy to appeal to Shepard, and I didn't want to forget that this is essentially the same AI that appeared on the Arrival DLC asteroid I hurtled into a mass relay just to tell me he was going to destroy me. With that in mind, when he gave me my options and explained what synthesis would mean, I took a long, long time deliberating on what to do. The game presents this option as the unquestioningly best one to take. After all, it's the hardest ending to obtain, it's the option the reaper AI clearly favors, and it's the default platform you're standing on when it comes time to choose.

But here's the problem: if I were Shepard, even a paragon Shepard, even a Shepard who loves EDI and respects the geth, as mine did, I would not choose Synthesis. Because I can't trust that what he says would happen. I asked him why it would work this time around when all their other attempts at synthesis were horrific failures, and all he said was "they were not ready. You are ready." Even for a seemingly all-knowing AI, that's not enough to convince me to fling my body into a particle beam and potentially give up on this one and only chance to stop the reapers for good. Of course, as a player, I can use context clues to know that it WOULD happen. I'm playing a video game after all, and this choice is presented honestly to the player. But I decided to think as Shepard at that moment, not as myself.

He's also... wrong. He says conflict with synthetic life is inevitable, but it isn't. My Shepard knows this. She obtained peace between the quarians and the geth, and she's watched as EDI grew into her own kind and compassionate human consciousness. So while it sucks that they will have to die in the destroy ending, I ultimately chose it because 1) my Shepard can actually see it happen and know that she sacrificed her life for something real, not just a promise of what could happen, 2) destroying the reapers was what the whole galaxy unified to do and they didn't agree to anything else, and 3) destroying the reapers gives organic life a second chance to live and learn from their mistakes and to do better by synthetic life in the future. Maybe, in the wake of Shepard's sacrifice, the galaxy would see that they can work together, and ensure any future synthetic life will never be abused as the geth were.

But there was another reason I didn't choose Synthesis: it didn't make sense. I'm not talking about its practical application, although the space magic it takes to imbue technology into the DNA of every living organism in the galaxy is a little hard to stomach even by Mass Effect standards. I'm talking about its thematic purpose. Throughout all of Mass Effect, the main message has been that working together and sympathizing with people fundamentally different from you is critical to making positive change in the universe, DESPITE the differences. Synthesis, as a solution, is suggesting that conflict is inevitable until you ERASE the differences. This isn't letting people take the time and effort necessary to truly learn about and understand others, this is a no-effort solution that negates that very core theme. It's like saying there would be no conflict in the world if everyone on Earth were of the same race and nationality, because, one, that isn't true, and two, that solution erases so many beautifully diverse cultures that would have existed otherwise. To me, the Destroy ending allows the galaxy to rebuild what was lost while preserving most of the diversity that is so important to keep, especially since the diversity that was lost, namely the geth, theoretically CAN be rebuilt.

There's also another thematic problem: the conflict between synthetics and organics was not the main conflict in Mass Effect. Sure, it took up a lot of screen time in ME1, but it always felt secondary to the conflict between all other organics. There were tensions between the alien council species and the humans, there was tension between the krogan and the turians and salarians, there was tension between humans and humans, there was tension everywhere you looked. Your role was to be a mediator, a shepherd. You guided the people toward a better understanding of themselves and others, and by doing that, you were able to achieve impossible things together. Synthetic life was only a piece of that puzzle. But by making the conflict ONLY about synthetics and organics, it undermines the things we learned about other organics. If this solution was only meant for the quarians and humans, maybe it would make sense - these species have already achieved AIs that they could come into conflict with. But WHY should I make this decision for the krogan, an alien species not even close to developing AI advanced enough to go to war with? Why is it fair to them that I'm rewriting their DNA to ensure they never see a war that they might have never seen anyway? Haven't they already seen enough outside meddling in their bodily autonomy?

So I chose Destroy. And since I had enough war assets, I was able to avoid mass devastation, and somehow Kaidan seems to think Shepard is still alive. Oh, look, I guess she is. Not sure how that's possible, but I'll take slim hope. Overall, I was satisfied with my ending, although I was sad that I had to deny life to the synthetics that wanted it.

Then I watched the Synthesis ending and saw that it was basically perfect. Besides Shepard dying, everything is just better. Everyone understands each other now, there's no more disease, no more death, EDI is alive, and apparently, everyone is just cool with their new DNA. It was a utopia. And I thought that kinda went against everything I saw in Mass Effect. Sure, there are good choices, and some are definitely better than others, but rarely should there be perfect or easy choices. I'm not saying Synthesis should be a bad ending, by all means, make it a good one. Make it the best one, even. But it shouldn't be perfect. Maybe some people are upset that they were genetically altered against their will (hell, my Shepard had an existential crisis about this after learning how she was resurrected by Cerberus, and it's not a fate she would have imposed on anyone anyway). Maybe the husks and other synthetics that were once organics live a hellish existence in between existences and can never reconcile with their living loved ones. I dunno, something. Like I said before: thematically, it doesn't follow what was learned in the narrative, and therefore should not be the perfect solution to problems that the solution had nothing to do with.

I want to stress that I'm not judging anyone who chose the Synthesis ending. I deliberated it a long time for a reason: it is a promising conclusion if you want to avoid Control and you want to save EDI and the geth. I totally understand that. I just think the way that choice is presented and executed by Bioware is clunky and counterproductive to the narrative. I've also seen people dismiss the Destroy ending as genocide, and I won't argue that. It IS genocide, if you consider synthetics a valid form of life in this game, as I did. But I chose it anyway because doing so would stop the reapers who were the Ultimate Genocide Machines, and if there was any situation where genocide could be justified to stop genocide, uh, I guess that would be it. Sure, Synthesis would finally give organics a chance to understand and cooperate with the reapers, but that is only on the basis that everyone fundamentally change themselves at the request of the reapers under threat of mutual annihilation. The reapers had made no effort to truly understand and sympathize with organics outside of their one-sided conversations with Shepard until this point, so I didn't really feel bad I was killing them all, to be honest with you.

Okay, so, those were my thoughts on Mass Effect. This took a whole day to write. As frustrated as some parts of the game made me, I loved the rest, and I'm very glad I played it. Giving it a score like the other parts feels wrong, since I know now it's all part of a whole, but if I had to give it one, I'd say 8.5/10. I'll be missing my crew for some time, I think. Thank you to everyone who took the time to read my thoughts on this franchise!

Now onto Andromeda...

[specter319]

Now Announcing: Project Sentinel. A Call of Duty x Black Angel Squad Fanfiction

Background of Render courtesy of Callum Parker. Models by PvrpleSerot0nin Blender Rendering by Specter319 [Rendered to 8K Resolution]

Hey there! It's Specter again! And I'm very happy to announce, that after a very tedious month, I have big news to announce. I've been working hard on the editing stage, and I'm finally happy to announce the first Call of Duty Fanfiction story that I'm working on called, as you rightly guessed -- Project Sentinel. Though I won't be giving many details out yet, until launch day (because I want to drag this puppy out, let it simmer, even.) What I can state is the basics. Who, what, when, where, and why? Now for the Who? This project involves four of the main known characters, plus some side characters already known from the Call of Duty world: Simon "Ghost" Riley, John "Soap" MacTavish and Kyle "Gaz" Garrick, Johnathan Price. Plus, all the favorites are featured including a little sprinkle of Kate Laswell and Alex Keller. But you might be a tad bit confused, Who even is the 'Black Angel Squad'? Much like Task Force 141, or much rather, SpecGru and KorTac. The Black Angel Squad is yet another PMC. Only deal with affairs in their home base of Australia, never anywhere outside those dark blue oceans that hug the red dirt of the land they live on. They've handled many task operations, and have just gotten away with their lives to tell the tale. These are some new characters that only a few people have met. So, much like Task Force 141, I have the pleasure of introducing: Cameron "Striker" Hawkins, Damon "Ninja" West, Kaden "Rabbit" Lincoln, and Zack "Nemo" Hayes. Behind these callsigns, much like Task Force 141, is a unique reason, individually, as to why these names were chosen. And understandably, these will be eventually revealed, in time as to why they were given these callsigns. So What is this story about? Funnily enough, this story wouldn't exist without one thing that triggered a 'drop and run' moment in my mind. The next post after this will be a BTS post, what inspired me to continue to write this, recommendations, and the progress behind it. Though no blurb will be revealed thus far, I'm more than excited to see what people think about it, given I've seen only a few stories here and there in regards to what I'm writing. When is this project dropping and when is it set? Ah! Now this, I can actually talk about. The first chapter is set to be released in Late September, so it's really not that far away. A further date will be iterated on the BTS post. I will be posting it both on here and Ao3, which will be linked here and will come under a little hashtag which I've put under the post so you can easily find it. As for when it's set, the earliest event that happens in the book. Is Sunday, August 10, 2025. Why have you decided to do this project? I never thought that during my course study in university, I would be writing a Call of Duty fanfiction. But at the same time, I never thought I would be writing a story about a PMC, during my course study, and before I delved far into the depths of Call of Duty itself. The BTS will also include the likes of those who have inspired this fanfiction, and even the people who inspired the Black Squad. But for now, I leave you guys with a gift, I recently found the Blender files for the Modern Warfare II characters. (With a very special thanks to Flvck0 for the models, my brain has been going haywire over these, and this is why my GPU is going to kill me, even if it has all 12GB to its name) to give you just a hint as to what the Australian outback looks like when a certain two boys lay their hands on the red dirt that is, Australia.

[gritsandbrits]

The Sentinel fans who think he's "secretly misunderstood" basically want him to be Regina Mills from Once Upon a Time. Regina's essentially the most coddled villain in the entire history of fiction.

Once Upon a Time was a fractured fairy tale, with Regina as the Evil Queen. Regina slaughtered three villages, raped a man for 30 years, sent children to their deaths by sending them to the witch's house, and indirectly caused Emma Swan to grow up an orphan by trying to murder her as a baby (her parents had to send her away for her to be safe). Then when she didn't get a happy ending, she cast a Dark Curse to take everyone else's happy endings away and brainwashed the town so she could rule over them as mayor.

But none of that is the worst part. The worst part is, starting with Season 4, the show started to treat Regina as "The Real Victim of the Story", because Snow tattled on Regina when she was 10 and indirectly caused Regina's boyfriend Daniel's death. Regina made a show of turning good and started demanding an opportunity at redemption, but treated everyone else like they were being unreasonable for not forgiving her right away. Whenever someone didn't trust her "even though I'm good now!", she kept crying about how persecuted she was.

And the show sided with her, with everyone else having to act as her therapists. In one scene, the Charmings rush to comfort Regina and ignore their own daughter Emma. They acted more like Regina's parents than Emma's. (This is even though Regina is much older than the Charmings.)

Heck, Emma once had to apologize to Regina for saving Maid Marian's life, because that meant Regina couldn't have Robin Hood as her boyfriend. The show hammered in, "Regina's the victim. Regina deserves a happy ending. Regina is good now" ad nauseum.

Someone from one of the villages Regina slaughtered did appear once; a man named Percival appears with a grudge against Regina. But Percival is unceremoniously killed, with his death basically treated as unremarkable.

And the cherry on top? At the very end of the show, the final episode of season 7, the citizens of the town elect her Good Queen of Everything, so Regina is now uncontested ruler of several realms.

To summarize, if Sentinel fans were in charge of Transformers, that's how Sentinel's character would be treated.

I wish I could talk about things without y'all randomly shoving in an unrelated topic like what regina got anything to do with it????

[thevindicativevordan]

Comics this week?

Action Comics #1051 - Fantastic kick off to the Dawn of DC era for Superman. All of the Superfamily had a nice little character moment here, Kara welcoming the twins to the El family, Kon and Kenan have the makings of a great friendship/rivalry, Jon realizing his parents still have sex and feeling conflicted over the twins, the Irons' stepping up to change Metropolis with their genius, and unveilling a new tower bigger than Lexcorp's. Lois gets the article which sets the stage, and Clark of course remains the main character. His speech to the Superfamily in his apartment where he outlines his aim in bringing them together is classic Superman, and I'm usually not one for Superman giving speeches, but I loved that because it's him hyping his team to go out and kick some ass. Sandoval draws it all beautifully, the action scenes, the quiet moments, Lord let him stick around for a while and not get poached like Sampere and Federeci did. Nothing major with Metallo just yet, but his complaining about his skin grafts leaves me optimistic he won't be looking human for long.

Justice Society of America #2 - I'm becoming bored with this title quickly. Johns is seemingly only interested in Helena Wayne rather than the titular team itself, they mostly stand around getting killed off or gaping in astonishment as Helena infodumps. Giving it one more issue but then I'm out. Oh and "Justice Society Dark" is a stupid name, why not use the Sentinels of Magic Johns? You created that name!

Detective Comics #1068 - Ok Ram V you've finally hooked me. I love seeing Two-Face's inner war with himself, and I'm excited what comes next now that Two-Face knows Bruce is Batman.

One Bad Day: Catwoman - As a Catwoman story this was solid, but it failed to live up to brand name. If you're aiming to do a "Killing Joke" story for Selina, she should have been completely evil. For all it's failings, King's Riddler story understood the intent behind this brand, The Killing Joke completely redefined the relationship between Joker and Batman, while simultaneously pushing Joker beyond the pale in terms of what he was willing to do, and what his goals were. King's Riddler likewise showed Riddler tossing his old approach to being a villain, and doing so threw Batman off his game for once. This is just a bog standard Catwoman story. She wants to steal something, turns out she has a sympathetic motive for doing so, Batman says "don't", they flirt and kiss, and at the end Selina is... basically the same as ever. To really do a "Killing Joke" for her, this would need to be a story where Selina embraces being a villain, ruthlessly steals for selfish reasons, and steals in ways that are going to hurt innocents. Ending would be the BatCat romance dissolving for good, and Batman despairing that Gotham managed to finally drag her into the pit.

Human Target #11 - Turns out the femme fatale was the killer all along, who could have seen that coming. Great issue all the same, now we see if Chance actually dies next issue or if there's one last twist to come. He's the man who dies for other people as a living, can't decide whether it's more fitting for him to actually die or to pull one last con on death.

Lazarus Planet: We Once Were Gods -

Aquaman: Beautiful Manupal art, solid story. Could we maybe see Manupal write the next Aquaman ongoing?

Martian Manhunter: Odd plot but I enjoyed Watters voice for J'onn and I want to see a proper Martian Manhunter book from him.

Wonder Woman: Shocker I'm sure, but I liked the PKJ story. Didn't expect him to reference the clay origin, feels like some of the writers are trying to sneak it back into canon. If Gadot is finished as Wonder Woman perhaps DC might be considering restoring the old origin, since synergy wouldn't be holding them back anymore.

Shazam: Campbell did a good job as expected. What surprised me was that her Malik had a similar voice as Priest's, but minus some of the cringe that Priest gave him. Malik came across as a dweeb without being a cartoon, which makes him much more tolerable.

Blue Beetle: Graduation Day #3 - Not the Reach but an offshoot of the Reach called the Horizon are the ones planning to invade Earth? Or they've caught wind of the Reach planning another invasion attempt, and sent their own Beetles in an attempt to thwart them? Must admit to being confused on that point.

Sins of Sinister #1 - Good issue. Brings the focus back on Hickman's plots which has been missing for a while. The Moiras are in the hands of someone else, likely suspects are Destiny/Mystique, one of the other Sinisters, or the Sinisterized Quiet Council. But I'm leaning towards it being Moira XI, who is not shown to die alongside Nimrod. Moira XI using her clones to send knowledge of the future back to her past self - who then exposes the Sinisterized QC in the past and also uses the SoS timeline to get humanity afraid of mutants again - would be a way to make this timeline "matter" in terms of it having an impact on the "present".

Sabretooth & The Exiles #3 - Merely solid rather than transcendent the way the first two issues were. I am intrigued to see the payoff for that cliffhanger since I don't have a clue how that could happen.