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disgruntledspacedad · 3 years

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Better Love Notes

If you’re confused about location, timing, or characters in my Narcos AU series Better Love, this is the post for you.

Better Love is an AU reader insert series that begins midway through Narcos season two. Because it is AU, and because Narcos is complicated af anyway, I wanted to take some time to clarify what things in Better Love will be different than what you're used to seeing in the show.

Hannah “Ears” Aarons

First, I think it’s important to clarify that Ears is more of an OC written in second person than she is a generic reader insert. I might refer to her as “you,” but Ears has a name, a face claim, a backstory, and a huge personality. If that bothers you loads, I totally understand and you’re free to duck out at any point, but don’t come at me. If you have specific questions regarding Ears’ background, personality, physical appearance, family history, or whatever else, get with me privately. I would love to introduce you to my chaotic sunshine child.

Official Job Title: Ears is officially an employee of the CIA, but she is not an agent (read: spy). She was brought to Colombia to be a liaison between Centra Spike, the DEA, and the CIA. She introduces herself to Search Bloc by saying, "I'll be your ears," but in reality, she was put in place to be Bill Strechner’s ears. More on that later. She has a background with the US Army that's basically useless (desk job), a ton of training and zero practical experience with flyover recon and radiofrequency tracking, and she's itching to do something real with her life.

Timing

Ears arrives in Bogotá around August of 1992 and falls in bed with Peña pretty much immediately. Horacio Carillo did die recently, but Javi did not start working with Los Pepes and Don Berna until November of 1992. Assume all of the drama with Martinez Jr. and Los Pepes took place around the time that he and Ears were on the outs - that's just another factor that led Javi to make the emotional, rash decision to work with the cartels that he winds up regretting.

There is actually a one year span of time between season two, episode six and the end of the show. Pretty much the entirety of Better Love (for now) takes place during this year, so if it seems like I’m really stretching things out, that’s actually because the show mushed it all together. I promise, guys, I have done my research here.

Locations

The majority of scenes in Better Love will take place in Bogotá, the capital city of Colombia. It’s important to keep Bogotá separate from Medellín, which is where the nit and grit of the hunt for Escobar takes place.

Getting to Medellín from Bogotá requires a one hour flight or an eight hour drive (Colombia is roughly twice the size of Texas, fyi). For a gringo, driving around the cities was dangerous, but driving outside the cities was suicide. Javi and Steve might take planes, or they might take an armored chopper, depends on my mood when I'm writing. Assume there's a landing strip nearby the embassy, because I'm lazy like that.

The U.S. Embass(ies): Centra Spike, Search Bloc, and the DEA office are all housed in the old embassy building that's basically right across from the new one (the super upscale nice one that actually functions as an embassy).

There's a lot of confusion and shuffling around in the show, so I wanted to clarify what goes where (also, the real Murphy and Peña had offices in the old, unused embassy, so this is sort of legit). For simplicity's sake, I am assuming that CNP (Colombian National Police) headquarters are also in or nearby this building. Ears might refer to "headquarters," "the office," or "the embassy," and it's all the same place. Basically, everything is centrally located in Bogotá, and when I refer to “the DEA office,” or “Javi’s office,” picture it from season one - two desks that are not shoved on top of each other, with glass windows and real filing cabinets. The CIA is also located here, as is Strechner's office and the fabled White Room.

These buildings are in Bogotá, nearby Peña’s and Murphy's apartments. I will differentiate between the New, Swanky, Functional U.S. Embassy by capitalizing it and giving it its full title. If I say “embassy,” assume I’m talking about the older one where Javi and Ears are based.

The Carlos Holguin School: This is the base of Search Bloc operations in Medellín, and the primary location that we see in season two of the show. Think of it almost as a military base - training grounds, barracks, bare-bones, no a/c, shitty food. Javi and Steve often stay at "the school" overnight while conducting operations in Medellín. They might also refer to this as “camping” or “the camp,” or “base.” It sucks balls. This is where Javi and Steve have their messy, shoved on top of each other desks that we tend to associate with the show. Javi and Steve still work from here just as often as we see in canon, there just won’t be as many scenes in this location because Ears is never there.

Javi’s apartment: Javi and Steve primarily live in Bogotá. This is the same apartment building that you see in season one, with the big steps in front of the building and then an even larger set of stairs inside. There is also a big set of stairs on the back end of the building that leads to an underground parking garage (we see this in the season one finale, where Steve gets snatched by Navegante). This building is a five minute walk to the U.S. Embassy, but Javi and Steve mostly chose to drive for safety and convenience. It’s in a pretty decent part of Bogotá. There is one small canon deviation in regards to the apartments: in Better Love, Javi lives upstairs, across from Steve’s front door instead of below him like we see in the show. They share a large front landing. I just really liked the idea of Javi having a view of the city from his bedroom window.

Ears’ apartment: Ears lives in a tiny little flat on top of a drug store, a place that she found on her own through the friend of a work friend. It’s also in a decent part of Bogotá, but not quite as safe or upscale as Javi’s. It’s about a ten minute hike from the embassy and fifteen minutes from Javi’s place.

Miscellaneous

CIA/DEA Collaboration: The relationship between the CIA and the DEA in Colombia was not pretty. The show makes it look like a personal conflict between Strechner and Peña, but in reality, it was so much deeper than that. These two organizations have opposing goals, and communication and sharing of information was a real problem. Basically, they squabble more than they collaborate, and there was a lot of backstabbing, underhanded fuckery, and generally getting in each other's way. Naturally, this is going to create tension between Ears and Javi.

Bill Stechner: The show makes it clear that Bill doesn’t give a shit about Escobar or the cartels except in regards to the power dynamics they create, but let me reiterate here - his primary goal in Colombia is to keep it from becoming a communist state. That’s all he wants.

OC Sicarios: Don't get Velasco (canon sicario) mixed up with Verdugo (my OC sicario). They are different characters. Verdugo is the guy who features in The Rules of Engagement.

Feo is another sicario who is an OC. More updates on him later.

Canon Deviations in Better Love

Series spoilers from this point on. I’m going to take it fic by fic, so if you haven’t read something and don’t want to be spoiled, stop at the bold print. Again, Better Love is super fucking plotty, so I thought it was only fair to give you guys a reference sheet. Lord knows I need one, too.

The Rules of Engagement: Introduces Ears. Horacio Carillo did die recently, but Javi’s role in his death is undetermined/not mentioned. Javi does start working with Los Pepes during Rules, but only after he and Ears have their fallout. All of the bullshit with Martinez Jr. and the Castaño brothers takes place during the time that Javi and Ears aren’t speaking.

Aftershocks: Establishes with certainty that Javi is working with the cartels. His primary contact with Los Pepes is Don Berna. This is going to be critical later. Also establishes that Don Berna has more connection to the Cali cartel than he does in canon.

Yours: Establishes that Connie Murphy is a badass biker bitch with a heart of gold, because I think the show did her dirty. She loves Steve and Steve loves her. Ears and Stechner get to know each other a little better, and Javi doesn’t like this one bit. Ears starts thinking about a leak in Search Bloc, and how dangerous that might be for Javi.

Bang: Javier Peña gives Ears a shady ass, probably trafficked gun for her protection. We don’t know details of where he got it. Solidifies the bro/sis relationship between Steve and Ears. Implies heavily that Javi is doing some shady things with some shady folks. A light introduction to the theme of weapons trafficking in Colombia, which was a massive problem that is barely even mentioned in the show. It will feature heavily in Better Love.

The Shoebox: Introduces the character of Arturo, Ana Delgado’s shady older brother. Ears starts wondering if Ana knows more than she should. Confirms that the Fernando Duque arc does take place in Better Love, and that Javi is genuinely torn up by it like he is in canon. This leads Ears to start thinking more deeply about that leak in Search Bloc, and she begins to actively collect evidence with the intention of sniffing out the rat and keeping Javi safe. Mentions sex trafficking, a major problem in Colombia at the time, and also a minor theme later on in Better Love.

Shit Hits the Fan: Establishes that Arturo Delgado is actually a hitman working with Los Pepes, and that he and Javi have gone on some raids together. Javi is desperate to keep this a secret from Ears, who is friends with Ana, both for her protection and because he’s kind of ashamed of how deep he’s in with Los Pepes. Establishes that in the wake of the Ferando Duque debacle, the Castaño brothers did not reach out to Stechner for help, but instead decided to put a hit out on Javi to either kill or scare him off. Javi is no longer working with Los Pepes, but he never did find out that Stechner was the one who set him up in the first place.

The White Room: Bill Stechner reveals to Ears that her purpose in Colombia is to be his own personal spy on the DEA. He is investigating a mysterious sicario named Feo in relation to a massive russian weapons ring. Bill wants Ears to report everything that the DEA learns about Feo because he suspects that Feo might have connections with FARC, a communist guerrilla group that is Stechner’s public enemy number one. Ears realizes that she’s in deep shit, and also realizes the depth of the resentment between the DEA and the CIA, and how much their goals in Colombia actually oppose. Stechner is revealed to be a real bag of dicks here.

Closing notes

Whew, okay. I will update this post periodically if more information becomes necessary or if you guys have questions, and I’ll reblog it if I do. I’m going to go ahead and tag my taglist folks in this, just because it’s a huge information dump. Of course, you probably don't need to know these things to get the gist of what’s going on in Better Love, but if you’re a chronic overanalyzer like me, it might be helpful.

Also, let me know if you guys want a list of the characters who are major players in the series. I know I had to make one for myself but I wasn’t sure if posting it would be overkill (this is probably already overkill, tbh).

Tags: @jedi-mando, @aerolanya, @pikemoreno, @bitchin-beskar, @mostly-megan, @huliabitch, @starsandmando, @starlight-starwrites, @thirstworldproblemss, @knittingqueen13, @yespolkadotkitty

Javier Peña tags: @magpie-to-the-morning, @tiffdawg, @danniburgh, @1800-fight-me

Mad love to you guys if you’ve stuck around for this long.

#Javier Peña #Javier Peña x reader #Narcos #pedro pascal #Narcos fanfiction #Javier Peña x you #Javier Peña fanfiction #Better Love #the rules of engagement #better love notes

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clownattack · 3 years

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Castor - character bio

I’ve been struggling with getting a bio out for Cas for waaaaay too long now, but i feel pretty ok with how it looks currently - i'm going to repost it on my art blog with some drawings of Cas and Hjalle in the future (hopefully). If you want to skip most of the nonsense and just get a feel for her personality, the section under the bio paragraphs is FULL OF POINTS.

links to drawn refs here and here

Longpost under the cut

✦ Early life in Hjalle:

Being born into the noble family Aran, Castor’s early life consisted mostly of being pampered by the attendants and strict education. Cas was a rowdy kid, and with time, lack of affection and validation from her family served to amplify the trait - she went from occasionally disobedient to full-on antagonistic towards her parents, and the nobility as a whole. She began to sneak out; spending her time outside of the Fort, spying on the guards and trying to bribe knights into taking her on as a page.

When Cas turned nine a sibling came into the picture, and she made it her duty to assure Aster’s upbringing would be better than hers. She poured everything she had into Aster, but soon developed a brash and overbearing streak, unyielding in her focus to teach the meek little sister to stand her ground. Aster became torn between Cas and the parents, who in all fairness, treated her much better than their firstborn. This would remain the case until Castor’s dragon-induced injuries.

In her late teens, Cas was seldom seen in the fort - to everyone's great relief. Her mood was always sour, she gave up on her studies and only seemed to care about Aster and joining the hunting parties. Her parents reached their limit when Castor announced she would not become one of the renowned judges of House Aran - this led to an explosive argument, which concluded with Castor storming out. For the following two years, she lived and worked with rangers tasked with protecting and providing for the town.

It was in those years that Cas acquired her battle prowess and scars, the most prominent being a gift from an especially large and angry dragon. A single swipe of its tail tore Castor’s chest and forearm open, forcing the hunting party to rush her to the fort in (what the hunters expected to be) a futile attempt to get her family to provide medical help for their dying kin. The reception was cold indeed, and if it weren’t for Aster’s hysterics and outrage over her family’s indifference, Cas would have not survived the grievous wounds. The upside to this event was a new high tale to impress people with, and strengthening the bond between two sisters. The downside - Castor was now under her parent’s thumb. They made her accept the position of inquisitor; to make up for the hassle she caused them. Taking up the mantle turned Castor’s world upside down - not only would she have to work in close proximity to her father, but her dreams of being knighted were shattered, as inquisitorial duties stand in stark opposition to virtues of knighthood. As Inquisitor she was tasked with investigating and interrogating for the court - the latter, as Aran tradition had it, was extraordinarily bloody.

✦ Vesuvia:

Almost as soon as she arrived, the city sparked something in Cas. This was unexpected to say the least; she was certain the years of gruesome work as inquisitor numbed her to simple joys of life. The sights and sounds of Vesuvia however, made her eager to explore and see how everything ticked - and the more she saw the more she wished to remain in the city. After attending the Masquerade and becoming acquainted with Asra, Cas was prepared to do anything to stay - even if it meant sucking up to the Buffoon count and begging for a job. Lucio proved to be anything but opposed - he’d heard of the “bloody good shows” (pun intended) Castor was infamous for, and was eager to take her off her parents hands. This led to working parallel to the count and his court, but also enabled Cas to dabble in magic under Asra’s tutelage.

This slight betterment of Cas’ situation would not last long however, as The Red Plague took complete hold of the city mere months after she took up her residence in Vesuvia. After perishing, and being brought back by Asra, she very slowly regains certain memories and traits - her sister, love of astronomy, sword skills. She sneaks out, snoops, and is a handful overall; but Asra is happy to see Castor’s “new” self free of bitterness and pain.

After this point, the “game events” take place. I like to imagine Castor braving an amalgam of Nadia and Portia routes, with a fistful (or multiple) of courtier drama. Castor is tasked with an investigation, slowly but surely unravelling how deep the corruption runs in Vesuvia, and how much of it can be attributed to the courtiers. The conclusion of her story focuses on first facing off against the court, then the Justice Arcana.

✦ Physical appearance

Light olive skin, she picks up a slight tan in Vesuvia.

Dark gray eyes, striking marbling on the iris.

Long girl - 176 cm tall, loves being the “tall friend” (and manhandling people close to her). Being taller than her is taken as an indirect challenge.

She has a rectangular body type, could be described as a “runner’s body”.

Prominent scarring across right forearm and torso, missing right breast.

Tastefully disheveled. Her hair has a constantly windswept quality, and the gray streaks seem to be especially unruly.

Inherited the “Aran silver” (early graying), she tries to ignore it. “The more you hide it, the more it shows”.

Secretly really bothered by the many similarities to her father. Avoids looking at herself too much, and whenever she does it feels like he’s looking back at her, judging.

Only ever smoothes herself over before important court meetings and social events. She doesn't know how makeup works, so before any party she asks Asra to sort her out. Cas looking prim is both a treat and a source of friendly jabs.

✦ Character traits

Power walking by default. This can be somewhat intimidating, and she won’t stop if someone is in her way - just put them to the side and continue.

Puts up a really convincing pretence of formality and refinement.

In actuality she finds this facade tiresome, and just wants to talk fast about battle/hunting feats or astronomy. Maybe show off her pyromancy.

Loves socializing, it recharges her batteries.

Dilligent worker.

Tends to overwork herself and neglect her relationships.

Often scatter minded and wanting to do too many things at one time.

Doesn’t appreciate people instigating physical contact or getting up in her face. She needs to prepare herself for it, or be the initiator.

Stubborn as a mule. Never knows when to stop pressing people.

Extremely callous at times.

Annoyingly overbearing

Most of this springs from a place of fear - things had a habit of getting worse whenever her family imposed decisions onto her. In her mind, if she’s the one holding the reins, everything will be better. And if something does fail - she will be the only one to blame.

Starting arguments comes much too easily to her, but she’s just as quick to introspect, and seek out the person she argued with to apologize and approach the issue in an appropriate manner.

Forgives easily

Eternally scoffing at astrology. She knows shes being bigoted, but at this point its almost like an inside joke between her and Asra. “Astrology? It's baby stuff. PSEUDOSCIENCE!” (she cries as she worries over her afternoon tarot reading and preparing pretty horoscopes for the Shop...)

A huge hypocrite at times. “Do as I say, not as I do” could easily be her motto.

Both the upright and reversed Knight of Swords card sums her character up perfectly.

✦ Occupation & Residency

Vesuvia:

Beginning of her story follows the game canon almost to a T - Cas lives with Asra in the Shop, and works there. It bores her to death, and she plays tricks on every customer just to entertain herself.

After being officially hired by Nadia as the Palace Magician, Castor moves out of the shop and purchases a modest house in Goldgrave, much below the value of what Nadia offered her, and what she could afford. It’s convenient and that’s what matters to Cas. She continues supplying the shop diligently, and takes over whenever Asra runs off.

Nadia insisted on Castor having an office in the palace. It grew on her with time, and after The Devil is dealt with it becomes her little “hub”.

Hjalle:

Cas lived with her family in the castle site until 17 years old.

After denying her parents their plans for her future as a judge, she hunkered down in a hunting lodge outside of the town, and spent almost two years living that way - she still thinks of these two years as the most joyous time in her life.

The only thing she ever used her family’s wealth for was commissioning the construction of an extravagant observatory. Reminiscent of a gothic fortress, the stark exterior is contrasted with insides filled with artwork and art-nouveau ornaments. The central chamber is a vast library with a powerful telescope in its apse - it is a sight that could take the breath of the most haughty of nobles.

There’s a tiny living space below the main chamber, furnished sparingly, but with a lovely fireplace (in Hjalle, its a necessity). It’s where Cas stays after becoming the inquisitor/whenever she visits after the in-game events.

✦ Trivia

Cas is 23 years old when she first arrives to Vesuvia - 28 at the time of The Devil’s downfall.

She freed Merlin from a merchant’s cage in the Red Market, during one of her outings in the three year interlude after her death - Asra fumes after they find out she snuck out to the market - yet is amazed that Cas found a familiar.

Cas regained her first memories via touching objects linked to her past life - a letter from Aster, articles of clothing, a sword...

This self re-discovering takes a turn for the worse when Cas finally finds a large, ornate knife - the one she inherited after becoming inquisitor. The memories it resurfaces are a staggering blow to Castor, completely derailing the beliefs she had about her own person. She thought of herself as a paragon, and remembering the torture she inflicted upon others, the lives taken in the name of “justice” made her relapse into bitterness and disenchantment. She deals with those feelings as her investigation into the courtiers progresses.

Predominantly uses pyromancy, other types of magic are strictly used for her work at the palace, and rather sparingly.

Could be best described as a battlemage - enjoys being in melee range and assaulting her quarry with both sword and fire; the latter being used more as a way to distract or stagger the enemy than actually harm. There's no fun in just burning them up!

Doesn’t cook for herself, although she has a natural knack for it - will only cook for guests and short people.

Her dislike of Lucio clashes with gratitude for employing her when she first arrived to Vesuvia - he was the knife which cut Cas off from her parents, and it’s something she could never forget.

Demiromatic/sexual.

She was offered to be knighted by Nadia after defeating The Devil. Cas declined - It’s much more than a title to her, and accepting seemed like mockery (considering her past as inquisitor).

Short fuse, she learns to better control herself while working in the palace. But if someone really pushes her the nearby candles miiiight get a bit out of control. Or she’ll just throttle them.

Hates her full name - Castor is such a mouthful. Sounds stuck up too...

#mc cas #castor aran #apprentice castor #oc bio #longpost #im pretty sure this is just incomprehensible #also text formatting on tumblr SUCKS i never knew until now #ive beed rewriting this for SO LONG NOW and im TIRED #so ill just leave it here #and if i ever feel like i can do better #oblivion is but a click away #begone #post #i cant write so PLEASE forgive me for the sins contained in this

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spockandawe · 3 years

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11, 12, 46, 60?

Coming right up! :D

11. Tags You Mostly Filter On Ao3 For

Ah, you’ve made a critical mistake here, which is that... my brain has been largely broken and I have not read much fanfic in a long while, I mostly add things to my ‘marked for later’ pile :p I’ve got one or two authors that I know I adore and can keep up with semi-reliably, and once in a while I manage to consume something, but it’s not often, and that limited reading capacity is spread across all of mxtx and meatbun’s books

I will say that something I see a lot of for mdzs and which I have severely limited patience for is the ‘modern au’ concept. I’m not super opposed to it, and every so often I see a setting that’s perfect, like the yi city coffee shop au, but it’s... not very much my jam. There are exceptions, like just yesterday I added an xy/nmj fic to the marked for later pile, or there’s a wangxian + a-yuan adoption/immigration fic that I read and loved, but I usually won’t dip into this tag unless someone I trust is specifically recommending it to me

12. Saddest Moment

Oh, I know that the cliff scene is an easy target, even though it’s only the show, and it is very good, plus earlier in the nightless city when wei wuxian starts laugh-crying on top of the roof, or even earlier before that when the yunmeng siblings are tied up and being sent away on the boat and they’re all crying and holding hands underneath zidian.

But I read the book first, and this line absolutely destroyed me. It’s not a sharp pain, more of a quiet ache that gets worse the more you linger, but it still hits me terribly hard.

“Suddenly, he felt that the world had no place for him, despite how large it was.”

46. Favourite Fanfic / A Fanfic You Want To Recommend

HMM. Well. As I said, I’ve been absolutely awful at reading for a while now. But one of those authors I’ve managed to keep up with is the lovely @veliseraptor, and I can’t recommend just one fic, so I’m recommending two (I’m recommending them all, but I’m talking about two). First! The songxuexiao slow burn enemies-to-lovers, morally grey epic, if living can be this. And second! the yunmeng reconciliation + wangxian wedding fic that I never knew I needed so desperately, With Absolute Splendor. Both of these are unbelievable, and they star my two favorite hopeless disasters from this story, xue yang and jiang cheng. They both take emotional side threads from the show that end on a sad note, and put in the time to turn things around and bring them to a solidly constructed, happy conclusion. I love the main story, but I also love being happy about my favorite not-wangxian children, and the book/show don’t necessarily put the time in to do that for me, but these fics absolutely do.

60. Favourite Character Development

xue yang xue yang XUE YANG

Oh my god. I love him. I would love him as a one-note villain, but you know what I love even better? The growth from itinerant serial killer to contented homemaker. And... it’s not exactly character growth, but I love the gradual reveal of his backstory as he gets more entrenched in his home in Yi City. It gives so much more depth to his character, and adds extra flavor to his changing priorities in the yi city flashbacks. It’s sort of like... mxtx gave us a very simple, flat character in Shen Jiu at the start of svsss, and flashbacks gradually add depth that make me hurt terribly on his behalf, and Xue Yang isn’t as central to this story as Shen Jiu/Qingqiu is in svsss, but she really has this knack for setting up an unsympathetic character and then sucker-punching me later with feelings.

The thematic parallels between Xue Yang, Jin Guangyao, and Wei Wuxian have been discussed in a lot of depth by other people, and I’m not going to retread that ground, but it does fascinate me to realize that of those three characters, all of whom come from disadvantaged backgrounds and are overflowing with potential, Xue Yang was the one who settled on the most reasonable life goals. Wei Wuxian set his heart on protecting the Wen remnants and became the Yiling Laozu, Jin Guangyao clawed his way to the top of a major sect, Xue Yang... wanted to live in boring poverty, but boring poverty with a house and a family that were his. I’m not going to rehash all the meta I’ve written about him before, and it goes without saying that canon hurts me very much when it comes to his ending (seriously, go read that fic I linked above), but I love seeing a character make that emotional journey through ‘what do i want? what will make me happy?’ and settling on something so quiet and domestic, especially someone with the background he has. I just. I love him, your honor

#the untamed #spock replies #ask memes/#Anonymous

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synchronmurmurs · 4 years

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I'm not sure if fully works with the list buuuut, 001 for Bloodborne?

OOOOOO NO THIS IS FINE, I WILL ALSO TAKE ANY EXCUSE TO RAMBLE ABOUT BLOODBORNE THANK YOU 😭💖

001 | Send me a fandom and I will tell you my:

Favorite character: Ludwig. Most of my reasoning is pure conjecture of course, but I do like to think that he really did believe what he was doing was right. In his favour, nothing about Yharnam can be considered “right” or moral/ethical, the city was full of bastards and was insular as fuck, but he had the posterity of an entire city to think about. His rune, and I believe even his sword also implies he was “misled”, which potentially ties into how I feel the entire upper echelon of the Healing Church was just Pure Fuckery, and never divulged much of anything to anybody who didn’t need to know it. Ludwig made do with what he had, and did his best to prolong the life of a city he probably knew was rotting from the inside out.

Least Favorite character: THE LABYRINTH MADMEN. THE ONES IN THE CHALICE DUNGEONS WHO SCREAM AND RUN AT YOU CHRIST EVEN 5 YEARS ON I AM TERRIFIED OF THEM also the one with the twin sickles basically has Maria’s moveset, I’d recognise that slow double overhead any day. 😤😤

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): I got no ships to offer for this game lksdfh. But as an aside, I do have like... one from Dark Souls 2. Y’all can pry Pate/Creighton from my cold dead hands, I LOVE their dynamic so much, and I wish it was fleshed out just a liiiiittle bit more!!

Character I find most attractive: Probably Iosefka and Simon. 👀

Character I would marry: Valtr and Simon. I just like listening to Valtr talk, that man’s got a hell of a voice.

Character I would be best friends with: The messengers. The ones that run the shops in the Dream are particularly sassy, and I love them.

a random thought: I bought a PS4 on sale for Bloodborne, and it sat completely unused and still in the box in my closet until March 24 2015.

An unpopular opinion: I have a few lksdfh. Firstly, Bloodborne isn’t hard. The game is punishing if you play without trying to understand what got you killed, but it’s far from ruthless and unforgiving. Bloodborne (and by extension, the rest of the Souls titles too) doesn’t need an easy mode, because one is already built into the game, and it’s called multiplayer. Easy Mode is ringing the Beckoning Bell. It’s just unfortunate that you require a PS+ sub to access it, but I think that’s on Sony instead of From. Bloodborne doesn’t need a sequel, and shouldn’t get one. FromSoftware is at its best when making a fresh IP, because they’re really good at writing open ended narratives. Expanding on those ideas often breaks the illusion, and also, of course, calls for one ending to become “canon”. I’m personally not very fond of that idea. If a sequel is greenlit, I’m probably going to play the heck out of it anyway, but I don’t think I’d like it as much as I liked the first. This remains true for everything else they’ve done; I don’t like Dark Souls 2 or 3 nearly as much as the first. And Demon’s Souls is ofc very dear to me. I would also have really liked the version of Bloodborne that Miyazaki had in his head, that was had a more central plot and NPC interactions, but apparently Sony stepped in to keep it more in line with Souls Games Hard.

My Canon OTP: Me/Beasthunter Saif.

My Non-canon OTP: Me/Kirkhammer.

Most Badass Character: Valtr. He not only chased a beast all the way back to Yharnam, but when it ate his entire troupe, this madman then goes “fuck it” and decides he’ll return the favour, and he eats the beast back. Like the whole thing.

Most Epic Villain: Going by the sum of their bossfights as opposed to their characters here but big shoutouts to Laurence, Ludwig, Maria and Gehrman. Cleric Beast gets an honourary mention, because he’s still one of my fave bosses, even though he’s a bit of a chump. I just love his design to bits!! Big arm... soft tummy.... antlers... hgHGHGHHGhghghhg so goOD... I think this is also why I really love Manus’ design from Dark Souls 1!!

Pairing I am not a fan of: Me/Losing my 9.5 million blood echoes because I fucked up a jump in the Research Hall in the DLC. 🤣 I wasn’t mad, I just sort of went “hmm 🤔”. I wasn’t even planning on using those echoes anyway, so it was no big deal, but I miss having the big number in the top corner...

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): Why can’t I hug Rom.

Favourite Friendship: Me&the messengers

Character I most identify with: The pig in the sewers lksdjf Just haaangin’ out. Honestly, I have no idea. 🤣

Character I wish I could be: None of them. Nobody except for a small handful of NPCs survive the night. Yharnam isn’t a fun place to be lads...

#answer: artminion #ask meme #not dmc

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gracecarmella · 4 years

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Black Fashion and Where to Find It

I attend Parsons School of Design, a powerhouse known for producing some of the most well-known fashion designers working today. Marc Jacobs, Anna Sui, Donna Karan, Alexander Wang, Tom Ford, Jason Wu, and more have attended this infamous university, but there are some major names still missing: black names. Only 3.31 percent of Parsons graduates were African-American in 2014. This number is not unique in the slightest compared to other prominent American fashion schools, with the Fashion Institute of Technology with 8 percent of graduates being black and the Pratt Institute at only 1.9 percent. Comparatively, Asian-American graduates at the respective fashion schools were 10 percent at F.I.T., 13.78 at Parsons, and about 15 percent at Pratt. The rates of disproportionately less black fashion graduates are examples of not only historical underrepresentation of black designers in the industry, but also a systemic racial divide in America that African-American artists and designers bear the burden of immensely.

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(Parsons MFA Runway 2019)

I reached out to Nadia Williams, Director of Parsons Scholars Program and BFA Fashion Design graduate, and asked her about what the school was doing regarding diversity and inclusion. Williams explained a lot of Parsons’ initiatives were on the local level. “We do a lot of work with New York high schools that are in communities of color, exploring college education and careers in art and design. We have some spaces dedicated to racial minorities already integrated into into the school and its curriculum, but a lot can be said about how little black students we’re admitting.” Her words reflect a shared sentiment among every fashion education institution from Central Saint Martins to Vogue Scholars: Black people don’t have a presence. It seemed like a lot of black at Parsons were all to familiar with how different it is for black people in the fashion industry, as seen in my conversation with professor Karen Rippy. She’s been training the future forces of fashion in New York City for years (Fashion Institute of Technology, Pratt, Parsons) and has amassed an incredible retrospective on the industry and the education behind it. The following is an excerpt from my interview with Rippy:

Does your own personal identity play a significant role in your teaching/designing?

I’d like to say it doesn’t affect how I work. I guess with some exceptions, I’d like to keep my art and my identity separate. Being a black woman is apart of who I am, but it’s kind of refreshing for it not to be apart of everything I do.

Are there any experiences as a black designer you think differ greatly from your white contemporaries?

Almost everything! (laughs) It’s a lot harder to be taken seriously, even when you’ve done just as much work in a company. People are hesitant to even credit your own designs and sketches to you or give you more work to do without a feeling of scrutiny.

Who do you think have been the most influential designers of color?

Tracy Reese has been very relevant for awhile now, especially since she designed for Mrs. Obama. She has opened a lot of eyes and been the first to follow the path that she has and been extremely successful.

What are the most significant changes you’ve witnessed in the fashion industry during your time working?

I think the biggest change is just how fast people and things can come and go. Trends are almost even trendier now. There’s so much going on, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but the fact that ideas are shifting and ideas are becoming obsolete so fast is something to get used to if you’re used to the old ways like me.

Do you think the state of the fashion industry today has improved enough for designers of color since you entering it?

I want to say yes, because there’s just so much more room for us now. My generation has paved the way for yours to show off everything we can do. Technology has made it possible for everyone regardless of race to learn how to design and sew and just get a foot in the door. There’s still a lot of work to be done though. I’d like to see a lot more black students!

Rippy’s insights got me thinking about the career paths young black designers take and how they navigate an industry that has normalized the exclusion of black professionals. The design sector lacks comprehensive and actionable inclusion on an executive level. There’s more than enough money and audiences invested in black culture and art, and often appropriating it (see: Dolce & Gabbana). This is a phenomenon deeply connected with the anti-blackness of world economic practices. Designer Kibwe Chase-Marshall proposes a program tackle these issues to the Council of Fashion Designers of America and American Vogue (who already collaborate on the transformative Fashion Fund Award). The proposed program has three parts:

Design

Purpose: address the non-meritocratic appraisal of design talent that most consistently disadvantages Black professionals.

Design-studio racial stats disclosure.

Immersive hiring manager bias elimination training.

Pledge of commitment to creating equitable inroads for Black talent via meritocratic hiring practices.

Headhunting & Recruitment

Purpose: address the consistent denial of fair access and representation for prime opportunities for Black design talent.

Compliance with auditing of recruitment and headhunting practices by contracted third party.

Pledge of commitment to creating equitable inroads for Black talent via meritocratic representation.

Talent Pool & Academic Communities

Purpose: bring greater visibility to consumers, students, talent pool and media regarding overall industry commitment to change regarding inroads for Black design professionals.

Annual disclosure/endorsement by CFDA/Vogue of participating brands, along with statistics regarding the racial composition of their design teams.

Annual disclosure/endorsement of participating headhunters and recruitment firms.

Chase-Marshall’s corporate model for a new millennium of black fashion designers is ballsy: It targets the big dogs and and immediate institutional change. Aurora James of Brother Vellies told New York Magazine, “Fashion has a bad habit of making very surface-level changes. It’s not just about adding more black models. People don’t think about the factory workers who are, honestly, almost always people of color. How meaningful would it be to make something beautiful that is also empowering?” This raises the question: What designers have created empowering, culturally relevant, and successful names for themselves in the industry? The answer contains an array of black names who are reaching a level of relevance that used to be reserved for white designers. Fashion is undeniably witnessing a golden age of black creativity in high-end fashion.

Some of the most obvious examples come from music artists crossing over into the fashion world, most notably Kanye West’s Yeezy and Rihanna’s Fenty empire. Launching her luxury fashion house under LVMH earlier this year, Rihanna has quickly made significant strides in both beauty and fashion. Her lingerie brand Savage x Fenty is indirectly credited with putting Victoria’s Secret out of business, as well as her makeup line creating a new industry standard with a 40-shade range foundation. What Rihanna is doing in traditionally white spaces is adding a legacy to the role of African-Americans in the fashion canon, largely because of her presence in social media and e-commerce spaces. Rihanna joins Virgil Abloh, Oliver Rousteing, and Shayne Oliver, black men who serve at the helm of luxury fashion houses Louis Vuitton, Balmain and Helmut Lang, respectively.

(Abloh, LV Creative Director, and Rihanna, Fenty Creative Director)

Virgil Abloh brought the streetwear aesthetic of his own brand, Off-White, to high-fashion after becoming Louis Vuitton’s creative director in 2017. His new position was undoubtedly a product of the cultural shift in fashion at the time, as seen in Supreme and Louis Vuitton’s collaboration that same year. Abloh’s recent FW 2020 pre-collection emphasis his direction for Louis Vuitton: camouflage, chest rigs, oversized pockets, sherpa jackets, and sequin-embellished suits, all characteristic of his work for Off-White. The fashion world is finally seeing how trendsetting people like Rihanna and Virgil Abloh are, and giving them access,” says Claire Sulmers, founder of blog Fashion Bomb Daily. Shayne Oliver resurrected his high fashion streetwear brand Hood by Air in 2012 and put the brand on hiatus to take up a position as creative director of Helmut Lang. “That’s our role: to wear it, look cool in it, put lifestyle in it, as opposed to being the person pushing the ideas out. Making clothes is not seen as a man’s job in black culture,” Oliver described fashion’s role in his life. His sentiment pushes one of the biggest oxymoronic strengths of the African-American fashion presence: in a society where black culture is relentlessly commodified, black people are still the best at selling it. “Diversity” and “inclusion” might be buzzwords in 2019 and into the future, but the effortless cool of black creativity will never fade to trends. Oliver Rousteing became the head designer of Balmain at only 25, responding to grumblings about his new placement: “People were like, 'Oh my God, he's a minority taking over a French house!”

A favorite of Parsons students and creator of “Brooklyn Birkin” is Telfar Clemens’ titular brand Telfar. The relatively new house created a strong brand identity with their sleek signature Shopping Bag and collections featuring flares, high-waisted denim, and deconstructed sportswear that caught attention from the influencers of 2019 looking for unisex sensibility. Tracy Reese made a name for herself after regularly dressing Michelle Obama in couture and delivering consistently strong collections since, making her arguably the most well known black woman designer working today.

One show that particularly stuck out to me at the most recent New York Fashion Week this past September was the unapologetically black Pyer Moss show. I sat down and watched the critically acclaimed runway collection, which was one of the highlights of an increasingly irrelevant NYFW and a peak in head designer Kerby-Jean Raymond’s career. The show was the final installment of “American, Also,” a three-part series that highlights the untold stories of Black people's major contributions to American culture. The live music throughout the entire runway was performed by the Pyer Moss Tabernacle Drip Choir Drenched in The Blood, singing soul, R&B, gospel, and hip-hop classics. From Anita Baker’s “Sweet Love” to tracks by Missy Elliot, the choir really seemed to contextualize the show in its blackness as well instilling a concert-like giddiness in the star-studded audience. Jean-Raymond’s designs didn’t disappoint either, clearly showcasing his musical inspirations: billowy eveningwear with dramatic draping was reminiscent of 70s divas like Diana Ross. Music-inspired details (piano keys hemming a top, a brown leather bag shaped like a guitar, guitar head print motif) and oversized suits were also all united under the show’s bold and contrasting colorways. I think the otherwise strong and thematically strong collection faltered towards the athleisure at the end, which felt overdone and branded with the Reebok logo.

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Jean-Raymond’s greatest strength remains in his practice of bringing black artists and black-owned brands to the forefront of his collections. “American, Also” contains the work of recently exonerated artist Richard Phillips, whose watercolor paintings (from when he was in prison for 45 years for a crime he didn’t commit) adorn pieces in this collection as vibrant prints. Gold jewelry designed by Johnny Nelson is also featured; the custom portrait necklaces depicting 21 famous black women musicians such as Aretha Franklin, Nina Simone, Janet Jackson, Mary J. Blige, Beyoncé, Lauryn Hill, Aaliyah, Erykah Badu, Queen Latifah, Rihanna, Janelle Monae, Solange and more.

Pyer Moss serves as an example of high-fashion made by and for African-Americans, forcing a space for itself in an otherwise exclusive establishment. There are other brands attempting similar collections, notably Gucci’s “partnership” with Dapper Dan. In 2017, Gucci was under fire for allegedly copying the signature design of Dapper Dan’s 1984 jacket. While many on social media called it a blatant disregard for black creativity, the fashion house quickly met with the legendary Harlem designer and agreed to work together on Gucci’s 2018 menswear line. “All luxury brands should look at Dapper Dan and Gucci as an example of what to do and what not to do,” said blogger Claire Sulmers. “But in the end, it’s a wonderful time to be a person of color in the fashion industry.”

Despite setbacks, it is a wonderful time indeed- with entering and influencing the industry has never been more accessible for young black creatives through social media like Instagram. A lot of black designers are rising to prominence with an online presence, where the high-end white establishment can never fully grasp. The extremely fresh and somewhat dystopian new class of “influencer” has a huge impact on what consumers and trends will follow. It-Boy Rickey Thompson and modern Club Kid Luka Sabbat have amassed huge followings for their Instagram styling and Youtube projects. Rappers like Playboi Carti, Lil Uzi, and A$AP Mob are perfect examples of music artists crossing over into the world of high-end fashion boosted by their Instagram or Twitter spheres. The trendiness of African-American culture that has historically been so coveted by the fashion industry is now publicly broadcast straight from the source.

Words: 2257

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mushbabe · 7 years

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Mass Cartoon Crossover AU

heyyyyy its uhhhhhh another fucking au writing from me

ties into this comic i did here, which i am making a sequel to

so if you wanted to hear my explanation for how shit like Who Framed Roger Rabbit, CN City, and canon crossovers might possibly work, clicky that readmore friend it’s about to get deep and overly thought-out

so like. basically: when a creator creates something, the universe for this something exists on another plane. the characters are all real, just more or less materially inaccessible to people on our plane. there are points in the various planes of existence where our plane and their plane meet, be the points natural or artificial. these points of meeting were used to film things like Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Space Jam, where visceral, fleshy organisms like ourselves could stand alongside the 2-D manifestations of our own minds. both humans and cartoons could enter the opposing side’s realm, but by no means is it natural or healthy for the state of the worlds, not to mention for the individuals crossing dimensions. as such, the scenes in both WFRR and Space Jam where any one person was not in their respective domain were filmed in intervals...

so now we’ve got two planes: ours, and the plane of our creations. like previously stated, each creation has a universe in which it exists and lives, a place where it is given purpose, a story, stuff to do, etc.. compared to our universe, these worlds are all incredibly small. though the sizes can vary wildly: from the universe of Ed Edd ‘n Eddy, which is more or less encompassed by the cul de sac that they live in, to the universe of Adventure Time (which feels expansive, but really is only made up of the places shown or mentioned in the show, and is by no means infinite like that of our own.) lets imagine that all of these universes are kind of tied together. think about wreck-it ralph when i say that there is a central location, a city probably, that they can all converge in and exist within.

to keep things homogeneous and as easy to digest as possible, lets assume the only universes that are inherently tied together are the universes from the same kind of media. 2D televised cartoons would all be tied into one place. 3D televised cartoons would converge in a different place. Anime/Video Games/all that good shit would tie in somewhere else respectively. We could imagine that this is because these similar universes are close in proximity as a result of being similar. and because they’re all so close, they all have an established point where they all meet. contrasting this, the convergence of two different kinds of media would be extremely rare and hard to achieve, but is do-able, and has been exploited by characters before (cite the Jimmy-Timmy Power Hour). for the sake of keeping with the natural order, these ties are temporary and will break off easily.

to illustrate this converging of similar universes, we could imagine this structure as a large central bubble with a bunch of other smaller bubbles surrounding it, each of them connected to the middle one by a thread.

DIRECTLY CONNECTED WORLDS

but !! these small, individual worlds can also be connected to each other directly! some of these connections are inherent, as they were part of their design upon their creation. a good example of this: the universe of Gravity Falls and Rick and Morty would have a natural thread connecting the two.

some of these connections can also be forged. these connections are typically the result of a crossover episode, and would exist between the worlds of Futurama and The Simpsons, and The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy and Codename: Kids Next Door since they all had crossover episodes with each other. In all likelihood, the lifespan of these connections is probably dependent on factors like the earnestness of the episode(s) in question (whether they were done for a cheap cash-in or because the writers were genuinely invested in these characters meeting) and how compatible these universes are (things like similar visual styles and how much sense the crossover makes. the crossover between The Jetsons and The Flintstones makes way more sense thematically than the crossover between Kim Possible and Lilo & Stitch.

THE HUBWORLD:

this is best understood when you think about the old Cartoon Network City bumpers that CN used to play in between commercials. They were large, semi-realistic urban environments where all of the characters from the programming of the time would interact with the world and with each other. CN City could be thought of as a district of this larger city where all these worlds converge. this is a place that, regardless of art-style or compatibility, everyone can just exist alongside each other.

so not all of the cartoons live here. lots of them live in their respective worlds for their own reasons (their show may still be ongoing and they need to actually be there for it to happen, or maybe they just prefer their own world) but they may make trips into town to run errands, visit, attend university or even commute to their city jobs. however, after a character’s show has run its course, plenty of them make the decision to move permanently to the city.

we know that each character can leave their original universe and travel to the central connecting one, but can they leave the central one to visit another person’s universe? i would say yes. probably not for extended periods though. unless there is an existing connector between the two character’s worlds, visiting wouldn’t feel comfortable, and the characters probably just wouldn’t want to. i imagine that, while it’s not exactly illegal or impossible to visit, staying for a long time is frowned upon. again, we can refer back to wreck-it ralph for comparison. visiting is fine, but eventually you need to go home.

IMPORTANT FIGURES:

a character’s role in the city and to others is determined by a lot of things. usually, one would find a job they can perform with their unique skills and/or powers. I’ve headcanon’d the roles of a lot of characters already. some ideas I’ve had:

The Powerpuff Girls are easily the ones in charge of protecting the city. They head Homeworld Security, the various police departments, and have a lot of people working under them. They can often be seen patrolling.

the city is headed by a City Council and a Mayor (there is also a Head Judge in charge of the court system, but they don’t determine any legislation, they just enforce it.) The Mayor is kind of shadowy in the au at first, but it’s pretty obvious that it’s Mickey Mouse. He’s concerned with corporate interests for the most part.

the Council is made up of elected representatives, each coming from different big names in the cartoon world (Nick, WB, Disney, Hanna-Barbara, etc.) The Council Chairman tbh has to be Bugs Bunny. he’s iconic, charismatic, and experienced, and so has a lot of sway in how things operate; it only made sense that he go into politics. a crucial part of the “plot” of this au is that Bugs and Mickey are bitter rivals. It’s understood by most that Bugs should be the de facto mayor, but through underhanded means, Mickey stays one step ahead of him. while Bugs isn’t exactly innocent either, he certainly stands for different ideals. Bugs is definitely a man of the people.

Professor Utonium is the dean of the university as well as the head of its robotics department, their most successful STEM department. he teaches a few robotics classes. Dexter, Edd, and Phineas would have all studied under him at one point

Without a doubt, Warden from SuperJail! is the warden of what’s probably the largest and craziest prison in existence. Only a mind like his could contain the biggest threats to the hubworld’s wellbeing.

i’ve thought about the placement of a lot of other characters too, but i only wanted to list here the one’s integral to the structure of the city.

with that said, all of the villains original to the connected worlds are very much still real and still able to wreak havoc on this metropolis. some won’t have a reason to concern themselves with it, while others will certainly make it a target. this includes extradimensional entities like Bill Cipher, Him, and Aku, who wouldn’t exactly be contained in the city jail. a main concern of the city government is how to protect the town from these major antagonists.

CITY DISTRICTS:

i was talking about districts of the city earlier. another district i was thinking about is Toontown, a space relegated to old fashioned, classic “toons”. Like, Animaniacs / Tom & Jerry / Merrie Melodies / Steamboat Willie / Roger Rabbit -esque toons. the one’s we all understand as the physics defying characters who can pull material from nothing (hammerspace) as well as take a shotgun shell to the face and live. The nigh-indestructible, goofy-ass, slapstick, foundational characters of animated comedy. this is gonna be one of the few districts that is actually somewhat segregational. I imagine that society views toons in a weird, kind of split way. on one hand, the Old Toons are to be respected. they forged a path and laid a foundation in entertainment and have helped bring all of this into existence. on the other hand, Toons are also considered outmoded. classic slapstick has largely reached the end of its run. the iconic white gloves, cigars, and dynamite have all come to represent a bygone golden era full of its own problematic ideals. their shows are analyzed now much like modern psychologists would analyze Freud: no one can doubt the significance of the impact they’ve had, but the faults are widely acknowledged. (for example, modern cartoons would probably criticize older toons’ shows’ lack of diverse protagonists, rampant themes of racism / antisemitism / blatant use of tobacco / objectification of female characters, for being unfunny or unchallenging to the viewer, or for just being visually unappealing as some newer cartoons might believe.) as a result of this mindset, older Toons are the target of some prejudice but also some high respect. it depends on which group you’re talking to.

List of City Districts

New Townsville (the one filmed for the CN City Bumpers). town hall, banks, business hub.

Toontown (the one filmed in WFRR) - area reserved for Toons

Endsborough - slightly evil, run down part of town. bars, gambling, etc. hangout for the unsavory.

University District - the campus, dorms, student accommodations

Hillwood Metropolitan Area - expansive, unspecific urban area, main marketplace, apartments, schools. underground cultural haven.

Jump District - upscale part of town, nice stores, ritzy condos. opposite of Endsborough. favorite hangout/residence of hero-types.

Middleville - suburban residence area, lots of families living here.

Jellystone - large park

CITY GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS

I am also going to list my ideas for these:

Mayor - Mickey Mouse

Chief Justice - MENTOK THE MIND-TAKER (he’s from Harvey Birdman and he’s a great judge ok google him)

City Councilmen:

Warner Brothers / Chairman - Bugs Bunny

Cartoon Network - Grim

Metro Goldwyn-Mayer - Pink Panther

Nickelodeon - Phoebe Heyerdahl

Hanna Barbara - Top Cat

Disney - Stanford Pines (not Stanley)

Adult Swim - Dr. Mrs. The Monarch

THE GUILD OF CALAMITOUS INTENT

as one might imagine, the hubworld is going to be full of both heroes and villains. to manage the inevitable carnage, i thought i’d borrow an organization from The Venture Bros. the Guild of Calamitous Intent’s purpose (in this au anyway) is to fit villains with their arch-rivals and contain the amount of collateral damage their conflict creates. heroes and villains can only fight one villain/hero at a time, respectively. this is to prevent things like all-out fights between huge numbers of villains and heroes, which would destroy a good portion of the city. as well, there is a limit to how much destruction one pair of arch rivals can cause. charges are incurred otherwise. certain areas are entirely off-limits (schools, hospitals, etc. basically they follow the Geneva Convention here). the presence of the Guild would also be a good explanation for why villains only tend to target one hero most of the time. once one villain/hero is defeated, another one can take be fit to take their place. villains and heroes are both ranked in order of power and resources, and a villain is always paired with a hero of equal rank to allow for the fairest fight. arching outside of guild regulations is strictly forbidden and the Guild will hunt down a rogue villain/hero. groups of villains/heroes that are always together (the Teen Titans for example) will count as a single arch-able entity and will be ranked according to their combined power. So in this universe, Slade would be labeled as the Teen Titan’s arch-enemy.

while the Guild is originally a service for evil characters run by evil characters, they generally play a neutral role in the struggle between good and evil.

but there are bound to be evil doers who are too chaotic to follow guild regulations. these characters have to act in the utmost secrecy or simply be too powerful to be taken out normally; otherwise, the Guild will act upon them. the heads of the Guild are totally anonymous, and, while they’ve worked with the City before to impose certain regulations, they are independent of the government. All villains and heroes must be properly registered, but registered villains ARE NOT guaranteed safety from Homeworld Security. heroes and the police often work together to take down bad guys, and its a hero’s responsibility to keep their respective villain in check.

ANYWAY that’s what I’ve thought up so far for the overarching premise. I STILL NEED A NAME FOR THE CITY

i could just call it Big City a la Sheep in the Big City, but thats.... kinda dumb. idk i’ll think on it.

#mushysays #crossover au #crossover #mass crossover #cartoon crossover #cartoon network #nickelodeon #warner brothers #hanna barbara #animation #tv animation #spongebob #rick and morty #gravity falls #hey arnold #the grim adventures of billy and mandy #fusion fall #animaniacs

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chrisskinner10 · 5 years

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Starlog USS Christopher

Entry 3 - Stardate 15 May 2019

Canon and sci-fi franchises.

What are the benefits of adhering to canon? What creative potential exists in jumping off from it? Where has Star Trek (or other similar franchises) done it well or poorly?

One of the major benefits of adhering to canon is that it builds a mythology around your franchise. As ideas and conceits central to a series are reinforced over the years, the mythology provides a narrative framework that helps ensure that the central ideas and spirit of your franchise are maintained, even as characters, actors and the creative staff guiding the franchise change.

But canon can also be limiting.. By slavishly adhering to ideas that were relevant when the franchise was first created, and not being willing to evolve the central ideas and conceits, a franchise can become mired in the past, catering only to its existing fan base, losing it’s relevance to modern audiences and limiting it’s ability to attract new fans.

In my opinion, canon can become especially limiting when show runners start to place to much faith in the wants and needs of fandom. Many fans are very vocal in their dislike of any changes or evolution of their favourite shows... I have to admit that I used to be like this. I was obsessive about my favourite show (Doctor Who), and got hung up on any inconsistencies that may have crept in over the years. But when the show went on it’s long hiatus in the Eighties, I absolutely loved the novels that continued the Doctor’s adventures, and they took many liberties with canon, while completely evolving the notion of what the show could be. When it returned to our screens in the 21st century, I WAS NOT one of those fans who vocally opposed NuWho and mourned for the good old days. In fact I continually had to defend the show, and remember telling a friend that if they brought it back how it was, it would have been a 1 season return before it was placed back on the scrapheap again!

I think we are seeing a similar malaise affecting Star Wars fandom now, where fans are taking to social media bemoaning more diverse casting choices in the latest films, completely failing to realise that times have changed, and the films are simply reflecting what people expect to see in their entertainment today.

I believe that Star Trek has very effectively used it’s canon, whilst also not being afraid to evolve the franchise. The central, utopian ideals espoused by Gene Roddenberry have continued to shine through in each Star Trek series, and for me this is a timeless ideal that is central to Star Trek. Despite this, the show has been willing to change it’s tone to better match the climate of the period it was being produced, and explore issues relevant to the time it was made, evolving with its audience and building it.

Others franchises that I believe have not been shackled by canon are classics of literature, such as the Sherlock Holmes stories, H.G. Wells “War of the World”, Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein”, Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” etc. These timeless classics have been constantly reinvented in various media formats, as books, audio plays, movies, games, television series and who knows what to come. These timeless stories often have messages that are relevant across the years, or can be subtly updated to reflect modern society. Take for instance the TV series Sherlock, which takes the Sherlock Holmes character and very successfully transports him to present day London. No explanation is given as to why, they even do an episode where they plonk him back in Victorian England! At the same time, a US Sherlock series “Elementary” is also airing, taking place in contemporary New York City, in which Watson is a woman, and not too long ago there was a series of movies with Robert Downey Jr playing Sherlock Holmes. All were great, and while the canon probably does not fit between each or with Arthur Conan-Doyle’s novels, I find them all enjoyable and surely that is the whole point?

Similarly Star Trek was willing to recast the classic series crew, and place them in an alternate timeline when the new Star Trek movie returned to our screens in 2009. I would argue that this also turned out well, introducing a new legion of fans to Captain Kirk, Spock, and the rest of the USS Enterprise crew.

I’M MOVING UP!

I’ve received a promotion to Lieutenant

#startrekcourse #smithsonianx #scifi #startrek

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