#yeah sure i'll fandom tag this

[echoesofaheart]

consider. mind but his crown is also a halo

[unhingedlesbear]

I'm sorry but it's the way I will ALWAYS see SMG fans have such aggressive hatred towards black characters and their only reason for it is "he's boring." and this kind of energy never seems to be extended to white characters they think are boring

You see it with Matt, Ryan, Alex, Nick K and Mark. Like yeah you don't have to like them, but people will put so much energy into hating these "boring" characters. Like if they're so boring surely you can just... not enjoy them and move on but no, it always has to be full on hate. Can't think why...

There's also something to be said about how SMG may often put less thought into characters who are poc which is an issue itself, but just focusing on the fandom here, the hate these specific characters get seems so iffy to me.

Anyway yeah, the SMG fandom has a racism issue. It has a lot of issues.

[lgbtlunaverse]

I understand it's just not how the term is used here but I lose it everytime I see posts along the lines of "a poor lil meow meow HAS to be morally reprehensible! if they haven't comitted atrocities they're not a poor lil meow meow" as if that's the objective dictionary-approved origin of the phrase when in reality it came from a kpop guy. Are you calling Min Yoongi from BTS a serial killer?

[hungerpunch]

stop engaging the person with a huge fanbase and giant platform about rpf ships!!!! stop engaging the person with [checks] almost 40k followers + monstrous amplification power through reposts, reblogs, screencaps, etc. about rpf ships!!! stop it stop it stop it STOP IT!!!!!!

[shmorp-mcdurgen]

PROJECT: FREEMAN

Okay i'm done waiting i'm dumping my new Half Life au here

The plot of the au is that the events of Half Life 1 (or at least. parts of it. vaguely.) are a large-scale experiment on Gordon (One he is unaware of by the way) to test a new HEV suit model, one that can heal normally fatal wounds, and even bring its user back from the dead. Said test is also used to simulate a possible resonance Cascade scenario in a safe environment. (well. safe for nearly everyone.) to try and prepare just in case one takes place.

(read more for more information.)

This is the HEV suit Mk. 5 (not to be confused with the one from half life 2, which is not canon in this au.) a suit made in 1998 with the sheer purpose of keeping its user safe and, more importantly, alive, no matter what. It is to be noted that this suit can not be removed by the user themself, rather it has to be removed by an authorized personnel. (being why Gordon doesn't just. remove it)

The test runs on for a full week, and Gordon is made unaware of the test even taking place, nor what is being planned for him during it. Scientists and other Black Mesa staff alike are ordered to not inform Gordon of the test taking place whatsoever, with the worry that it will "affect test results". The entire time, Gordon is only left with a vague feeling that its not real, but is constantly told that it is. (think. The Truman Show.)

However, as the test goes on, things start to go. wrong with the suit. resulting in. terrible things happening to Gordon himself.

I'm unsure if I want to elaborate further here, so for now i'll leave it at that. Lemmie know if you wanna hear more about this au cause. yeah /VLH

[uldahstreetrat]

I'd love to make a playlist for Q'ihnn but none of the music I consistently listen to ever feels the right vibe for him?

what encompasses a self sacrificing paladin who fights desperately to protect what he has because he has known so much loss, but who is also a little bit of a slut but in a way where he believes it's because he's inherently unlovable in some way, and who feels his friends see him more like a marble statue to be admired than an actual person

cause it sure as hell ain't yung gravy or wind rose

[rotisseries]

i have GOT to stop going and checking out the notes on... that one post.... but it's CRAZY to me that people keep reblogging it very seriously being like "HOW CAN PEOPLE LIKE HENRY HE MURDERED 20 CHILDREN"

you mean the fictional child murder?? you mean the fake fictional child murder?? you mean the fake fictional telekinetic sci fi child murder by fake fictional telekinetic sci fi murder man on fake fictional telekinetic sci fi horror netflix show stranger things??? YOU MEAN THAT FAKE MURDER???

no you're so right there's never once been a history of fandoms liking a guy even if he did a bit of fake fictional murder what an insane concept

[presiding]

What is your favourite thing about Billie Lurk?

(Answers are obvious possibly but i love when people talk about her👍)

thanks for the ask!! YEAH ME TOO I love when people talk about Billie! I can't say I have a favourite thing specifically, but I can explain why she's my fav. apologies for not taking this qn literally, but -

short answer: she’s really cool

& you can stop reading there, or, for the maybe 2 mutuals who might have time to read this my thoughts on her as a character, her meta, and her character as raw potential...

long answer:

i considered making this entire thing a gush so you could read a gush about Billie. but, part of what draws me to her is that she’s not always well written, and in fandom she’s underrated for a literal protagonist.

since you ask...

billie is a cool character

when I played Dh2 (hadn't played Dh1), I was excited to see a black woman with disabilities who was captaining a massive ship by herself. wow.

then I discovered Billie’s backstory with Deirdre, the way she responded to that, then having to survive while living on the run, and her bisexuality. as well as her history with daud & delilah. fascinating!

she’s an outsider who has so much to lose, and knows what it's like to lose everything - having lost everything not once but three times - but nevertheless speaks truth to power. she's so brave! she went and helped Emily & Corvo and she must have known they might kill her! plus, she’s smart, she’s funny, she gets shit done, she’s gorgeous.

but... the meta

mild critique of fandom & arkane incoming.

skip this bit if you want - you've been warned twice now - jump to tired Hayao Miyazaki and read from there if you'd like my thoughts on writing her.

i thought Death of the Outsider was going to be amazing and then... well. *sad trombone* i've written about that before so i won't keep banging on. i figured others must be disappointed too, so I joined a few fandom spaces in hopes of finding camaraderie.

most people with complaints about DotO didn’t like how the Outsider and Daud were handled. which is valid & I agree. but it seemed like most paid no attention to Billie; when people talk about her it’s with respect to Daud, as opposed to in her own right. you could argue for fandom misogyny because people don’t talk about adult Emily Kaldwin that much either, but in Billie's case, it’s misogynoir (compare & contrast with the popularity of thomas, particularly the popularity of thomas portrayed as a white man for no particular reason that i've been able to discern - i keep asking around, is it in the books???).

i think this is a LOT better now than it used to be, which is fantastic. or perhaps i have found the correct echo-chamber? ha.

ultimately, The Fandom is a fraction of the entire picture, and not even the important bit since The Fandom is not who these games are made for. you can't make money relying on only your hardcore fans even if all of them spent a fortune on merch, this is true for any AAA game.

while it's true that Billie is underrated from a fandom perspective - but Billie as an underwritten protagonist is squarely Arkane’s fault.

it was reasonable when she was a side character - the lack of info in Dh2 makes perfect sense (if anything there was more lore in Dh2 which is kind of wild)-

- but as a protagonist in Death of the Outsider?

.... there’s lousy writing, and there’s whatever is going on with Billie Lurk, a black woman who mostly exists as a foil or saviour for light-skinned characters. In her own game there’s barely any of her own lore except where it's relevant to saving two dudes.

lore hints at, but barely touches on what race means in the Dh universe (xenophobia is stronger in Dh1; separate essay i guess), but Arkane has patted themselves on the back for portraying non-white characters, which feels like the same thing as the aesthetic of diversity we're seeing in advertising currently because it’s in marketing trend guides. it's self-congratulatory and it's a missed opportunity for deeper storytelling.

you can see an example of diversity at its most shallow in the way that Billie’s written: there’s little engagement with her as an entire person with history & wants & preferences, and the world she walks through in that game feels like it has nothing to do with her. you could make a case for alienation as a theme, but then, how do you handle the titular premise of 'Dishonored' without ever letting Billie make changes in an environment without a chaos system? it's disappointing from that angle too.

in my opinion, whatever it's worth, it was an accident Arkane created such an awesome character - they needed someone to betray daud. congrats billie.

all this said, it makes her an underdog as far as characters to enjoy & create art & stories for. it's nice to find so many like-minded, switched on people! <3

billie's character potential

she’s got a wealth of unexplored lore, being deeply intertwined with both Karnaca & Dunwall’s fates & criminal underbellies, as well as her connections to the witches & whalers, and three Empresses.

she’s lived a few distinct lifetimes and in the games we get to meet her at two peaks (KoD & DotO) & a low (Dh2 as Meagan).

her voice is very distinct, her dry & often dark humour is entertaining & fun to write. her perspective is really interesting - she’s had the widest variety of void-powers of anyone canonically, and she’s also lived through the highest highs and lowest lows.

she's got everything going for her :) i couldn't really pick a fav thing!

[generic-sonic-fan]

I love and respect a Sonic 'verse that only has Mobians but leaving Eggman as the only human leaves me with so many questions.

Is he an alien? A mutant? Last-of-his-kind situation, a la Knuckles? Or, to get all meta about it, does he just simply exist, fulfilling the role of humanity's exploitation of animals and the environment in the name of industrialization as part of the themes of the narrative?

Could you argue that he's doomed by the narrative?

[inferno-mp3]

Day 1: Natsu Matsuri (Promare Blazing Summer Fever)

[alfhildr-the-word-weaver]

Currently watching this very cliche (but still decently enjoyable) Christmas movie and it has this horse girl subplot where the older sister is falling in love with horses, but there are these long, lingering shots where she's looking at this female farmhand working with the horses, and she keeps talking about how great and cool that farmhand is, and I can't decide whether it's actually a burgeoning lesbian subplot or just a heavy accidental implication, but it really does feel soooo close to overtly romantic.

Anyways my hot new ship is these two. Time to build it from the ground up ;)

[nalivaa]

Do you still draw Midam? I haven't seen any of your art come across my dash in a long while.

ah. well. it's been a while since i've drawn,,, anything tbh. my brain is being really mean to me lately and my art has been the unfortunate victim here. i'd love to draw midam! they're still my favorite guys! i just can't promise when so,,, sorry about that 😅

[cloud-the-forgotten]

*looking at your galacta knight and magolor interaction post*

Tell me about your au please. I'm so curious 🥺 /nf /gen

!!!!! /pos

First: context

TLDR: I can't fully explain without spoiling the fic(s) but both big and small changes have been made to the story/timeline! It was originally supposed to be a what-if scenario that became a whole AU. The main changes from canon are focused on Galacta, Meta, Morpho, Kirby, and a few more characters, but the fic I'm working on currently is mainly focusing on Galacta and Morpho (kinda)! There will be small ties to the Animeverse throughout this AU!

Anyway- I can't fully explain it without going into spoiler territory, but I plan on making this a multiple-fic thing! The fic I'm currently working on is mainly focused on Galacta Knight (and Morpho Knight, but mainly Galacta), it's primarily supposed to be a oneshot of Galacta's life before he got sealed, and the things that led to it. The AU technically starts with this fic, most of the games happen to be the same, except for games like Nightmare in Dream Land, Super Star (Ultra) (there are a few minor changes to this game), Return to Dream Land, Triple Deluxe, Planet Robobot, and by extension, Kirby Star Allies, and Forgotten Land! It's also somewhat tied to the Animeverse because [spoilers]

After the first fic, I plan on writing another fic that focuses on Meta Knight! I won't be going into this for spoiler reasons, but this fic is designed to lead to a little before the events of the first game!

After that, most of the changed games will be put into one fic! I'm not exactly sure how I'd do it (multichapter maybe? Or one big oneshot that has obvious time skip spaces between games?) but it'll most likely end a little before the events of Star Allies!

A lot of this AU was built to define the Astral race (Kirby's species) a little more, but the changes to the games were built entirely of what-if scenarios and "I haven't seen a fic for this so I'll make it myself" things that would better fit the AU instead of the actual plot of the games! It's slightly self-indulgent (slightly because wow I planned a lot of angst for this series), and so far there's only one OC planned to show up and (kinda) further the plot of the series, you might have an idea of what their role is if you checked the Galacta Knight and Magolor interaction post!

I've had quite a while to think about this whole thing (I've been working on the first fic since April. Writer's Block and burnout sucks) some things are subject to change since I'm technically still in the early stages of fleshing this whole thing out, but the first fic is almost done and I already have the whole outline for the second fic ready :3

[sennamybeloved]

uuhguhdguguhuughgfhuguguuuughhhhhhhhhh HES BEAUTIFUL.

[thegroundhogdidit]

bruno madrigal wasn't even that weird i treat the spiders in my bathroom like my own personal soap opera and i don't even live alone

[orcelito]

I always find it kind of funny what some other ppl consider "slow burn". Like I've been reading a fic that the writer repeatedly said was slow burn, but some 40k words in and they've had their first kiss...

I'm not complaining, but that just doesn't feel like that slow of a burn to me lmao. But Then Again, this is coming from the person who writes some of the slowest of burns... not the slowest, mind you, but like. In discacc, I'm pretty sure their first kiss happened around... what, 400k words in? Something like that. And they hadn't even officially Met (in person) until like some 70k words in.

And Then there's ITNL. Currently 74k words, and Wolfwood hasn't even officially entered the story yet.

We're in for the long haul, y'all :]