#AN HIS LORE!! SO SUPER HOOD
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Danny Phantom Masterlist
I realized I've accidentally become a Danny Phantom fic writer and I don't know what to do with this information...other than make a masterlist, i guess.
I add on parts via reblog, so I will put the lastest date when i update the link in MM.DD.YY format! (*) denotes completion, for now. Extras (ie. ** or ***) denotes bonus updates I hadn't planned on!
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Magician!Danny AU - 9.27.23*
Danny learns sleight of hand and goes through Hijinks and Shenanigans. There are some DC offshoots where Zatanna is involved, with some inevitable angst from another user.
In the Interest of Medical Attention Addition - 10.02.23*
DCxDP - Red Hood goes missing. Danny, an eldritch horror tourist, just wants to be helpful. These two things are, unfortunately, related.
De-Aged Danny Angst Addition - 10.06.23*
DCxDP - Danny, having been capture and experimented on, gets de-aged with memory loss and some...physical complications. One of the Bats finds him. Dad!Dick Grayson implied.
Booo-merang Trouble Addition - 10.10.23
DCxDP - Jason gives off an ecto-signature, and tries to find a runaway/hiding/injured Danny in Gotham.
Baby Danny vs. The Joker Additions - 10.16.23*
DCxDP - De-aged Danny in a bat onesie wreaking havoc on the Joker for Funsies, and sort of getting adopted by Jason. There are a plethora of other reblogs that aren't included in the link, but this is where I've mentally stopped the AU at (personally). Highly recommend going through them for the fanart!
Candy Crush AU Additions - 10.31.23*
DCxDP - Additions written for @long-live-astronerd-ghost-king's Candy Crush AU. Dead on Main. LOTS of other reblogs that aren't included in the link, but this is where I've mentally stopped the AU at (personally).
Luck Rush AU Additions - 12.02.23*
DCxDP - Additions written for @virgamsysxvolumes's Lucky Rush AU. Please go read it, it's so good!!! I've also designed some stuff for this AU, but Vivi has released some official art for the AU in the masterlist too!
Phantom Siblings and the Batfam - 12.05.23*
DCxDP - Prompt fill: Danny and Ellie are de aged. Dan and Jazz are co-parenting as the older siblings. Completely unrelated, half the batfam are flirting independently at Jazz/Dan, and the other half are dealing with the chaos gremlins.
Super Strength Shenanigans - 12.10.23* [AO3]
DCxDP - When Danny gets an internship in Gotham, concerned for his and his identity's safety they figure out he has super strength he can't control for human-standard fights. Shenanigans ensue.
Horror Movie Child!Danny AU - 12.18.23* [AO3]
DCxDP - Danny is adopted into the batfam having a coming of age movie, whilst the Batfam are going through Summer Horror Special.
Puppy!Danny AU - 12.28.23* [AO3]
DCxDP - Danny is Ace the Bathound AU! With Bonus Dan as Titus, Dani as Haley/Bitewing, and Jazz as Sparky and Dog. There have been multiple tags for this, so please be warned you WILL cry at part 3. Now with meme post. Any additional non-story posts will be under "phantom pups" tag!
Villain!Jazz AU - 04.07.23* [AO3]
**Disclaimer, NOT Jazz centered and heavily DP leaning** After lots of thought this AU will be exclusively updated on AO3 from now on! Please subscribe to it on AO3 instead of following it here :)
He’s fine… right..? - 02.05.24** [AO3]
Two-shot psychological horror based off some fanart of Danny crying melty tears.
Casseroles and Confrontations Additions- 03.10.24
DCxDP - Batman sends a few of the Batfam to Amity Park to investigate the ghost sightings. When they get there, however, Jason refuses to step into the town due to some instinctual feeling he has. Check "#casseroles and confrontations" tag for non-story lore!
NOW WITH AMAZING FANART by @animal-123-crazy
MORE CUTE FANART by @jamiethebee
Kon-El and the Phantoms - 02.07.24
YJxDP - Young Justice, specifically Kon-El, meets their newest member, Phantom's clone. Who just so happens to be a big fan.
Mama Canary AU - 04.23.24 [AO3]
JLxDP - Suddenly de-aged Danny meet Black Canary and accidentally ghost-wails at her...except all it does is push her back a couple feet, and make her think he's the cutest lil' canary in the world.
Preschool Teacher Danny AU - 02.18.24* [AO3}
JLxDP - Clark comes across a meta-teacher with a class of seemingly meta toddlers. He asks if there's any room for Jon. Not sure if I will continue on Tumblr or continue on AO3, or both. Will update when I decide--this will probably be mostly ongoing as Naynay gives me more stories of her gremlins!
Sunshine and Stardust - 02.16.24 [AO3]
YJxDP - Danny is a clone of Superman AU, but he's a failure, a test dummy. Amidst the days of pain and experimentation, he hears another clone is being made.
Teen Titans and the Lost Boy Addition - 04.11.24
TTxDP - "After being on the run for a long time, Danny somehow stumbles his way into the middle of a fight. This leads to him joining the Teen Titans (much to his confusion)."
Thoughts about Death - 03.27.24*
"Do you ever think about how sacred life must be for Danny?" Oneshot.
Grunkle John AU - 04.23.24
JLxDP - Batman finds out that John Constantine is basically Danny Phantom(high level threat, ghost king)'s weird uncle. I tell you the story of how that came to be.
Not so Little Merperson - 05.02.24*
YJ/JLxDP - Superboy gets Prince Eric'd by Space Whale Danny, and all Kon wants to do is find the smoking hot not-so-little-merperson that saved him. If he has to pester Aquaman for it, so be it. Oneshot.
Estranged Brothers Dick and Danny Addition - 05.06.24*
DCxDP - Mr. Haley summons Danny to act in the circus, not expecting the Grayson's to take such a shine to him. The Grayson's die and Dick is adopted by Bruce, but Danny has to stay... Oneshot.
Phic Phight Phics:
Forgotten Fire: A little bit on who Ember McLain was, when she was alive. Complete.
Open Secrets: Everyone knows AU. (except, Danny doesn't know they know). Complete.
In Front of My Cereal? Crackfic for the prompt: Danny shuddered. The old man yaoi energy at that table was insufferable. Complete.
#my writing#danny phantom#masterlist#very short when i lay it out like this#but then again each one is p damn long#dpxdc#<- i wrote those tags when I first started#look at me now#why is this so long#what has my life become#i really shit them out really fast huh
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do you have any good reverse robins fic to rec?
oh hell yeah!
Reverse Robins: Joker Junior series by miyaji_08
i rec’d the second fic in this series over here for the timkon of it all, but the series—two parts, both complete—is also one of my absolute favorite reverse robins stories. it goes the joker junior!tim route, so heads up for A Lot of tim-centric trauma, but gives tim (and everyone else) so much healing, too. it also gets creative with the robin of it all, as in, the call sign for batman’s partner is different from the jump because dick wasn’t around to originate “robin” for it, which i always think is a fun extra detail. the batfam characters are great and the young justice crew is also great, so read for top-tier hurt and comfort and great characters and satisfying plot and tim and damian competing to see who is the most Tired big brother of the bunch.
blood of the covenant by envysparkler
robins are angsty in any order, but man does this hit the angst sweet spot, which in turn makes the soft parts feel even softer. i genuinely can’t decide what my favorite dynamic is in this AU, between damian & tim (damian wracked with guilt, tim hurting and still wanting an older brother even if he’d never admit it) and tim & jason (no spoilers but chapter 4 especially lights my brain up like a supernova) and tim & dick (i think about the part where dick grayson [tiny, cheerful] uses tim [undead, annoyed] as a jungle gym like once a week).
Wing Beats in Reverse by firefright
a longfic where jason gets kidnapped by the mysterious red hood, who turns out to be jason’s not-so-dead predecessor. the jason pov here is great, and i was so compelled by how this AU explored his place in the bat family, and how it managed the emotional fallout from the kidnapping. tim is also so interesting in this—it does something i love in a reverse robins concept, which is make tim’s motivations (and lazarus pit effects) less about anger/hurt/revenge and more about ice cold logic, about being the villain so the bats don’t have to/whether they want him to or not. plus some league of assassins trauma as a cherry on top. also, kon gets to show up for a bit. (as a fair warning—and spoilers ahead—the fic has a somewhat hopeful ending for tim, but doesn’t reach full reconciliation in the scope of the plot.)
i woke up so worried that the angels let go by circees
a short but potent batkids age reversal au that’s also a grisha au, starring duke as the coveted sun summoner that damian is trying to deliver to safety without mentally adopting a new brother (damian fails on the second part). even with my limited memory of grisha lore i could tell a lot of thought was put into this au, and i have a feeling it would be even better if you are able to catch all the details. i also love that even in a fantasy world where some of the bat family have magical abilities, duke is still extra special—a great analogy to being a metahuman among the bats.
The 90s Are Back! by RedWritingHood
saving the two silly ones for last to lighten the mood! in this one, red hood!tim gets de-aged to sixteen and meets all his new siblings. it’s like .01% angst and 99.99% shenanigans, and pretty much all the dialogue is super quotable but Dick holds out his hands like he's calming a bunch of wild animals. "Okay, I know everyone's real upsetti spaghetti right now, but I think we all just need to calm down." might take the cake.
Clowns Don’t Kill People by mademoisellePlume
very short, very silly reverse robins brother shenanigans, in which tiny dick grayson isn’t scared of recovering joker junior!tim because dick, having been raised in the circus, doesn’t associate clowns with evil yet. the fic is fun (and a great palate cleanser if you need a break from the angst above), and the author’s note at the end made me fully laugh out loud.
#reverse robins#fic rec#batfam#when tim as the undead robin is done well it's so 🤌🤌🤌#once again i reserve the right to add more later because i def forgot some
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His Sunflower
Chapter 5 🕺
We boutta fly through these next few chapters to get to my lore idea so I never forget it 🫡
As the week of midterms went antagonizingly slow, Festus and Sunni were arguing, which pleased Coryo and Sej, but they didn't show it when Sunni told them about their most recent fight in the art room.
"What? Fes, why would I abandon Sej and Cori?" Sunni asked as her boyfriend watched her sketch out her next painting. She was sitting by the window, getting a headstart on the painting for class. Her teacher had wanted the class to paint the people, things, or places that made each person happy. Sunni, being the overachiever that she is, had to work twice as hard because of what she had planned.
"Because, my darling, they don't understand the love we have for each other. They hate us for it. Did you forget how Sejanus reacted when you told him the news?" Festus drawled, not really wanting to be here. The art room smelled awful to him; all the oils and paints? Not for him, but he dealt with it that way she didn't think he didn't love her. Well, he didn't, but Sunni couldn't find that out. Not yet.
"They don't hate us, it just came as a shock cause we've only known each other for about 3 months," She replied, setting her pencil down to look up a photo she had taken of her center piece.
"And how do you know what? Did Sejanus tell you that?" Festus snapped, a frown appearing on his face.
"Yeah, actually," Sunni sassed back, glaring at her boyfriend. "Say Sejanus' name like that again and see what happens."
The pissed off look was surprising to Festus; all he had seen Sunni do was smile, laugh, beam, and grin. He had to tread lightly when talking about her cousin because if he wasn't careful, she'd pick up on his true nature.
"Right, sorry, love," He said gentler, earning a bright smile of approval on her face before turning back to her work.
"I don't forgive you just yet, Fes, you'll have to earn your forgiveness."
Coryo had grabbed his shovel, as the three of them were in his family's apartment when she told them, but she told him no and bapped him on his head like he was cat.
It was like a factory reset for him; he hadn't been touched like that since he was a kid, so it had worked, and he sat back down, putting his shovel back in his closet, mumbling a quiet fine.
"Has he been working on improving?" Sejanus questioned from the floor, running a hand through his hair.
"Yeah!! He's not a total ass like you guys say," She replied, beaming. "Yeah, he has his moments, but he's super sweet!"
'I could be better for you, Sunni. Better than that lowlife player and cheater,' Coryo thought, pulling his white hood up to rest on his head before glancing at his notebook that was squeezed into his mattress. How Sunni hadn't seen it yet, he had no idea, but was he grateful she hadn't? Yes. Yes, he was.
"Sun, it could be a front; he could still be a bad guy," Sejanus warned.
"Yeah, yeah, I know, but he's changed! I know it!"
Then the party came. The boys plan to have a sideshow exposing Festus to the entire senior class during the party was ready, with photos (comprising of from texts to photos of Festus on dates with different girls) from sophomore year as proof, was ready and on a USB drive.
They were dressed in casual-ish clothing. Sejanus was wearing black jeans and a baggy band t-shirt. He didn't feel like dressing all nice like people usually expected him to do so—he also wanted to blend in as most of their class loved wearing band shirts on no-uniform days and since this was Clemensia's party, there would be no-doubt that a lot of people would be wearing band t-shirts.
Coryo, on the other hand, was wearing blue jeans, which had rips up and down them but he didn't really care; they were styled that way so people wouldn't pick up on his financial situation and he looked good in them too. He wore a large short sleeve plain white shirt and an oversized dark red hoodie over it with a gold chain he borrowed from Sejanus around his neck. He liked his simplicity. Not too "poor-looking" and not too fancy either. It was a perfect mix of what he needed to show and comfort.
The boys were waiting for Sunni by the door of the estate, and when they saw her, Coryo's jaw hit the Titanic.
Sunni had curled her hair a little, just to make it bouncy, and was wearing a white dress where the sleeves rested on the arms instead of the shoulders. It came down to the middle of her calves. She was wearing gold-coloured heels, which were the kind you had to tie on you, so you didn't fall out of the shoes. The only accessory she had was a silver necklace that had a jeweled sunflower.
She looked stunning. She was way too good for Festus. She was a goddess. Someone to be worshipped. Not be manipulated by Festus.
Coryo tried to speak as Sejanus answered the door.
"Festus!!" Sunni exclaimed, seeing him at the door. She giggled and wrapped her arms around her boyfriend's neck, kissing his cheek, as Festus embraced her body.
"Hi, baby," Festus greeted, smiling and sending a triumphant smirk to Sejanus and Coryo as the two glared at him.
Tags: @etfrin @hearts4court @snows-wife @delusionalbunni @kiraflowersworld @victory-scream0462 @curled-hair-red-lips @morallygrayboys @phoward89 @xoxo-eyeballs @thereeallink @graciouslyc @acidaciruela @wanda-maximoff-enthusiast @firstworldproblemthings @nowitsmissing
#coriolanus snow#coriolanus x reader#coriolanus smut#coryo snow#coryo smut#coriolanus snow x reader#coryo#coryo x sunni#coryo x reader#coryo x reader smut#coryo x oc#coryo x you#coryolanus snow#coriolanus snow fanfiction#coriolanus imagine#coriolanus fanfiction#coriolanus snow smut#coriolanus x you#coriolanus x sunni plinth#corio x oc#corio x reader#the ballad of songbirds and snakes smut#the ballad of songbirds and snakes fanfiction#the ballad of songbirds and snakes#tbosas x reader#tbosas memes#thg tbosas#tbsosas#tbosbas#tbosas
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Girl thank you so so so so so much for writing yandere!Konig because LEMME TELL YOU I did not know I needed him until I stumbled upon your blog. Reading Just Friends was like a breath of fresh air, your characterization of Konig's character was AMAZING. Seriously, I think you've ruined all other Konig pics for me lol! I loved how unhinged and scary he was but also how caring and kind he was towards Engel <3
BTW have two questions regarding Konig in Just Friends!
1. How old is he in this fic? (apologies if you already mentioned this in the fic I have a terrible memory)
2. At what point in his and Engel's relationship would he finally allow her to look at him without his hood on? What kind of experience would that be for both of them? Also, what do you imagine him to look like? (sorry I'm now realizing this is more than 2 questions)
By the way, I just read Man-Sized and wow that was a phenomenal fic, I gotta say I love love love your interpretation of Ghost's character. I feel like Ghost is a tough character to write but you really nailed him!
Thanks in advance! (I'm gonna go binge the rest of your awesome fics hehe)
Thank you so much sweetie!! You shower me with compliments and I've read your message so many times, it always puts a smile on my face 💕 As for your questions:
1. Considering that this is an AU where König is not a colonel, and because some of his mannerisms are a bit boyish, I’d say König is somewhere around 27–32 in this fic...?
2. Removing the hood completely, even in Engel's presence, is super challenging for König because the mask is not only a comfort object, it's his shield against the world. He can't bear anyone to look at him and what's been done to him, he actually thinks himself a monster (a thought planted in his mind by his father).
I'm actually getting slasher vibes from Just Friends König's relationship with his mask; I don't know if you're familiar with the lore on Michael Myers (Halloween) or Jason Voorhees (Friday the 13th), but the mask means everything to all of them and so it does to König. It transforms him into a hero, a soldier, an operator, a functioning human being. Without it he's reduced to scarred, vulnerable, weak man.
So... it will take time before he would take it off and even more time for him to be comfortable with hanging around without it (if that's even possible). But Engel has learned to love his scars, so I'm sure König will eventually lower down that shield when they're alone ❤️
I’d imagine the first times happen when they’re cuddling and Engel lifts the mask to kiss him. Days and weeks pass, more cuddling ensues, and König lets the cloth stay up longer and longer when he sees she’s not repulsed. Engel kisses his scars, caresses his face, tells him that he’s handsome and that she loves him – it doesn’t transform König from an abused, bullied, broken man to someone cheerful and outgoing, but it allows him to at least ease into the fact that there’s someone in this world who doesn’t fear or hate him. He's been blessed with a woman who doesn't think he's a monster, so he is even more convinced that Engel is a heavenly being because how else would she be able to touch and love him like this...?
(3.) I actually shared some pics earlier on what I imagine König looking like, but I'm having second thoughts about it which is why I don't want to share a link to that ask. It may sound odd but it's always been really hard for me to imagine what's under that hood! People seem to have so many different headcanons on what he looks like, I think it's really cool. I have nothing, I wish I had something 🥲 His face has always been just blurred, sensored void to me, the only thing I imagine is that König has dark blonde/light brown hair (he might prefer a short military cut because he's a freak for all things army) and that he has thin lips?
And she even tells him she likes it when he’s without the hood, tells that she likes to see his face and wants to just watch him and kiss him. König will eventually lose the hood more often when he’s with her. It's not for his sake, but hers. If Engel wants to see him, who is he to deny her? It makes his heart and chest tight, but he’ll just have to live with it. Besides, Engel’s lips and touch feel better than being inside that baggy darkness all the time.
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Tag Team AU Synopsis – Something Ventured, Something Framed + Escape of the Palisman
Synopsis Masterpost Link
Previous [Lost in Language + Once Upon a Swap]
Next Part [Sense and Insensitivity + Adventures in the Elements + The First Day]
Starting to double down way more, but we have a Luz-centric ep and a sibling ep today!
Something Ventured, Something Framed
There’s not much plot I wrote for this one. Luz goes to Hexside to tutor Amity, since she basically fired Lilith from the position in Covention. Amity gets some Luz lore, mainly that she’s the same age as her and that she was taken in by the Emperor when she lost her family.
Eventually, Amity notices that Luz is a bit uncomfortable getting stared at by the other kids, and she pulls her to the bathroom to change her into a Hexside uniform.
(hood is up, so ears aren't showing)
On their way to a classroom, they run into Gus. Luz and Gus hit it off pretty instantly, as Luz recognizes the acronym on his HAS president crown. Luz introduces herself as a Human appreciator, and Gus gets his nickname. They get to talking about humans, but at some point Luz’s learned-bias against humans comes up.
(This isn’t stuff that Belos taught her necessarily, but it’s definitely something she picked up given how much he says she’s helpless without Hunter to protect her. It's more self-depreciation than anything she'd think about anyone else.)
Luz goes to the bathroom to angst about knowing less about her own humanity than someone who isn’t even human (cool visual of her looking at her ears in the mirror and sighing), when Amity comes in and comforts her a bit. It doesn't work super well considering she has no idea what Luz is going through and Luz can't exactly tell her.
Their goal in tutoring is to get Amity to learn the spell she learns in Adventures in the Elements, the purple fire spell. After a few failed attempts, Luz's haphazard explanations of how she thinks casting spells should feel, and generally hitting a brick wall, Luz tentatively shows Amity the fire glyph and explains some of the glyph theory behind fire spells in general – you need to know what you need in order to cast it.
While they do that, Gus goes through some stuff of his own – mainly, Mattholomule succeeds in stealing the H.A.S. presidency from him since Gus doesn't have human Luz to fall back on. He's walking outside the room Luz and Amity are training in after losing the presidency when he recognizes the glyph as something that Hunter brought up in Hooty's Moving Hassle – that if you see someone using one, chances are you can't do magic naturally. He connects the dots as Luz not being able to do magic (not necessarily that she's human), and gets some context for the whole "magic-less = useless" spiel she went on.
After they stop training, Gus approaches them and he and Luz hash it out. Luz admits that she probably doesn't know a lot about humans, and that Gus was probably right. Gus says that they can learn a lot from human ingenuity, and that the fact they do the things they do without magic is inspiring (hint hint).
Then Willow probably comes in, has tension with Amity, recognizes Luz's voice as the GG, and Gus freaks out as an ending gag.
Escape of the Palisman
Luz and Hunter are on a GG mission in the Bat Queen’s woods to gather palismen for Belos.
Eventually, they hear a screech, and all hell breaks loose as the bat queen appears. Luz is kidnapped while Hunter is fighting off the babies. He chases after them, but is quickly lost when…
Flapjack appears!
(i had this written before the name reveal, so Flapjack is Rascal in my notes occasionally).
Cut to Luz, who wakes up from being kidnapped and finds herself in the Bat Queen’s cave. They talk about the situation, mainly that Bat Queen is pissed and figures she’ll take the Emperor’s child since he keeps taking her own. Some dialogue about how Luz feels about Belos taking her in and BQ’s views on that until Hunter appears and frees Luz, and THERE’S FINALLY A TAG TEAM SIBLING FIGHT.
It’s pretty slapdash, though. Luz gets knocked out, the staff is kicked away, and Hunter is cornered by BQ.
He escapes on Flapjack with the bag of palismen, the staff, and Luz. He lands in a clearing and Luz wakes up.
They go back to the castle. There’s probably a scene where Belos chews them out, and the way he talks to them kind of hints towards him being more pissed at Hunter than Luz.
Previous [Lost in Language + Once Upon a Swap]
Next Part [Sense and Insensitivity + Adventures in the Elements + The First Day]
Synopsis Masterpost Link
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S, I was musing on another post and realized that of all the Bat Clan, Jason seems to most often be treated as the most malleable by writers.
What I mean is, most other characters personas and histories do not change nearly so much as Jason's has/does. Efforts to do so also tend to be roundly rejected (Like Tim being an acrobat) or just like, steadily drift back to what they used to be (Cass's backstory).
Meanwhile Jason has been an acrobat, a homeless kid, a terrifying super villain, a magic sword guy, a parent/teacher to wayward vigilantes/criminals, an, enemy and ally, with different families and histories all the time.
Why do you think that is/what are your thoughts on it?
see, this is an interesting question because i thought about the very same thing when i saw a recently popular post about how the right to a consistent storyline is a privilege only of the batfam and all other characters else might be subjected to a major retcon that makes them completely unrecognisable at any time (maybe we saw the same post?)... and my first thought was exactly the same: jason does not have this privilege at all.
i think there's plenty reasons for it, starting with the fact that he was introduced in the very... unstable for the dc editorial times, especially when it comes to the (at the time contested) role of robin, which put him at risk of either complete retcon or erasure at the very start. and both in a way happened.
in a consequence of his retconned background and aditf, his character, on a meta level, naturally challenges the idea of batman as a whole. and i don’t mean the red hood era nor the no-kill rule debate. i mean his very status as a victim, a victim not only of the joker, but a victim of the system as it is and a victim of vigilantism, and a victim of the narrative, a sacrifice that brought the comics into its new era. and it has to be said that even pre-crisis jay was on thin ice as at the time dc faced the issue of explaining what the child is doing in the field at all (something that they did not have to worry for a while since dick was an adult!). personally, i think moench rose up to the challenge, but it was still not satisfactory for o'neil who wanted things to get darker (and who wanted it so much that he was unhappy enough even with collins' work and limited his involvement in the title). all of this becomes even bigger problem post-aditf and post-utrh. there's of course the role of victim blaming, as dc was actually criticised quite thoroughly for the voting event and the graphic for the time content (the death of a child was simply not something you were supposed to show in a medium like that in such a way), so jason's personality and circumstances had to be changed to fit the always-doomed narrative. then, the writers started to simply avoid the topic or adjust his character in different ways to explain the tragedy in a way that would not make bruce's decisions re: him seem questionable (this involves for example aging jason up in rebirth!). and now, especially contemporary comics are not interested in the in-universe politics and society, cannot address jason's victimhood nor properly assess his relationship with the major themes of the title. jason’s background and personality cannot be written with care as (and i know i say it all the time. but it's true!) the genre doesn’t take itself seriously anymore and is not interested in any challenges. and he’s not the only character facing this fate; this is also the issue with talia or even kon. tropification, “dynamics” etc.
but there's also another side of it. writers do know (or at least rightly have the intuition) that jason's general themes & history (his incredibly close connection to gotham, for example), no matter how problematic for them, at the same time make him stand at the core of the batman lore. this makes him also a litmus paper for the title. if you want to make a definitive statement about batman, referring to his biggest failure and perhaps even the biggest trauma is the easiest way to do so. if you want to talk about ethics, here's the character who (presumably still...?) is known for killing. if you want to defend the legacy from accusations of promoting reactionary attitudes, here's the guy born into poverty, you can make him into a stereotype and ridicule him so that batman's attitude seems reasonable and progressive in comparison... etc.
and then there are times when the editorial wants to just push him out of the mainstream titles, since he messes with it so much. so we get all the international missions, weird team ups and mystical cults.
but as i said at the beginning: it all boils down to the fact that jay really got the shortest straw in terms of the time when he was introduced, which makes him a character both incredibly salient and inconvenient. and so he is always subject to the whims of the current dc overlords with little regard to his history.
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Mor'iargalthil: Some Garb & Lore
Mor'iargalthil is an imagined place in the northwest Grahtwood region during the Third Era, based off of ESO's established lore (which I have not played because I'm not super interested in playing a TES MMO, no shade tho).
The "av Mor'iargalthil" of Zath's name means "of/from an inhospitable grove" in Bosmeris (non-canon extension of canon language). Here he is in traditional Galthili garb, though he would have been much younger the last time he was there. He doesn't have antlers of his own like some Bosmer do btw, those are just sewn into his hood.
To make a long story shorter, Mor'iargalthil is a small clan of descendants from Gil-Var-Dell survivors who retreated to more isolated places. They're generally a dour and wary group. Galthili Bosmer observe the Green Pact, but are more entwined with neighboring Wood Orcs than other Valenwood Bosmer. This cultural exchange unexpectedly resulted in Galthili Bosmer incorporating Mauloch/Malacath into their pantheon alongside Y'ffre. Their traumatic history with Daedric Princes instilled a complicated mix of reverence and hatred, but Mauloch resides in a grey area and is an exception. His fables speak to them as people who feel they too were "consumed and twisted" by another force.
Here's some extra doodles and more clothing details under the cut.
Those aren't permanent tattoos, they're more akin to henna. Zath was born under the Serpent and it affects many aspects of his life, so he often adorns himself with the inauspicious sign.
Zath's hood is separate from the rest of the bow sleeve and can be attached to the beaded leather mantle instead.
Speaking of the hood, it has openings for the ears to keep that super cool merrish hearing unobstructed.
His thumb guard is made of mammal leather - I imagine most Bosmer use thumb-draw instead of finger-draw so that they can move around while keeping an arrow nocked.
These Bosmer use a lot of reptile parts for their leather and shells. Gators, turtles, etc., perhaps even the occasional Daedroth since regions of Tarlain Heights likely still have remnants of that influence.
The front half of the foot is exposed for tree-climbing, but the heel remains cushioned in soft leather. Bosmer unfortunately refuse to put those dogs away cause they gotta grip that tree bark.
As for the horn bow, I'm pretending Bosmer do some Special Stuff to make the horn more flexible, or it's just Magical Creature Materials(tm).
#my art#tesblr#tes oc#the elder scrolls#tes fanart#bosmer#valenwood#mor'iargalthil#zathiril#dear brother#bosmer lore#btw if people want to play in my fake made up place feel free#just tag me or somethin#i do this with all my lore nonsense youre allowed to use it as long as you dont have ill intentions in doing so#fuck it edgy bosmer OCs are cool
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So this might be a super weird and bizarre question, but do you have any clear references/designs for Henry’s hooded poncho in Monkey’s Paw, even just a rough sketch? I’m a big fan of all the character designs in Monkey’s Paw, but that hooded poncho really caught my eye for some reason. I’m a bored knitter and it looks super cozy (I know it’s a drawing but still lol) and once I started thinking about how to make one I couldn’t get it out of my head. Since your art was the inspiration I thought I’d ask :-) No worries if not!
thank you so much for reading/enjoying!! im so proud of all that work
I am not a knitter, so I must admit I haven't thought much about what it would actually take to make this thing. but I am such a sucker for a good poncho so I just had to throw one on the first fantasy man I saw. and I didn't have these references before today but I'm glad to have them now, so if I hecking change the length again because I'm too lazy to look at older pages when I'm sketching I can hold myself by the face and point at this lol. Here's how I've been drawing in in the dream:
BUT the dream is also my contextual excuse to draw simpler than things in their world actually are. (to spend more time Making Comic and less time falling prey to my own perfectionism) One day maybe I'll get to drawing the epilogue for this thing and I'll be drawing the fully tricked-out version for every panel Henry's on. ...buuuuuut in case that's a million years from now here's a reference set with more details! again, not a knitter, so idk how difficult it would actually be to make this thing, but the main differences are just a wider collar pinched together by two bead-loop-things and some braid and oak leaf patterns down the shoulders and arms
(headcanon lore: his momma made it for him while wondering if he'd ever make it back from where the portal took him. when she tried to throw it away an Oakvalian found it and kept it safe until he really did come home and they put in on his body while he was in the homunculus in the dungeon. so he woke up wearing it and recognized the knitting immediately)
#thank you for getting me to dig this back towards the forefront of my brain#i have some sketch pages that deserve to be finished#monkeys paw#dndads#henry oak#ask ka#me talking#kineticallyart
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Hi, feel free to ignore this ask, or point me wearily to the FAQ if i missed it, but can I asked what inspired the world of Lore? Specifically the holistic nature of it, where different tales live side by side. I am a…hopeful, one-day fairy and folk tale scholar, and in my studies I’ve seen this concept pop up in a lot of more modern retellings/reimaginings, and one of my projects has been to see if i could find a source. When i say inspiration/source, I don’t mean singular piece(s) of media that gave you the idea (if you have one id love to know it though!) i more mean sorta your own internal source, the emotional trigger that led you to grouping separate fairy tales into one larger world. I know theres a lot to be said for the simple concept of “because it fucks, thats why” (some of my favorite interpretations of tales spawn from similar concepts) but if you have the time or energy, id love it if you’d be willing to ponder deeper motivations.
Sorry for the long ask, im absolutely obsessed with your characters and the worlds you create by taking archetypical settings and twisting them into something new and intriguing. Thank you for sharing your art (in all senses of the word) with us!
Thank you! And I very much love overthinking fairy tales and their existence SO I SHALL DO EXACTLY THAT!
For me, the reason I just plopped down every fairy tale into the same world, aside from a simple "Because everyone else does it and it's my favorite type of fantasy world" is because it makes so much sense to me.
There's a ton of repeated themes and characters in fairy tales to the point they have a classification system to make folklorist's lives easier when categorizing them. There are so many different Cinderellas, and I don't mean just the European one, as it's a fable that has been found all around the world. There are very much big differences in each story but the literal age old tale is still noticeable.
I took a mythology and fairy tale class in high school where we talked about "The Hero's Journey" which is like a template nearly every story falls into regardless of where a story is from. And for me, it was wild seeing just how many shared tropes humanity has as a whole in our storytelling.
A character that pops multiple times, aside from Prince Charming, is the Big Bad Wolf. OF COURSE it's because wolves were (and still are somewhat) dangerous animals and so that is how they are characterized in fables such as Little Red Riding Hood and The Three Little Pigs. But it's still noticeable that these stories overlap with each other so fitting them into a single world just makes a lot of sense.
Another gigantic reason is that we all live in reality. There's a general understanding of what can and cannot occur on Earth. We know we can't fly without some machine to aid us or talk to animals and have them speak our language back to us. And many mythical beings can potentially be traced back to specific interactions early humans had with rare instances in nature and a need to have a reason "why?".
In fairy tales, reality is fantastical. Numerous tales have talking animals, super natural beings, shapeshifting, characters defying death and recovering from "should have been" fatal injuries, and being able to live happily ever after with never ending love.
We humans don't really get that. Especially that last part with happy endings and love. Sure, we can live a peaceful life or try to but there's this level of joy in some tales that only exists in fairy tales. And love so so much more complicated than the typical "love at first sight that lasts forever without problems".
With all these elements that land fairy tales in a different realm of reality than us, I thought it made sense to actually make a realm (or rather a planet) that explains why things in the world of fairy tales are so much more different than us and even somewhat explain why our reality doesn't have magic in it.
It basically traces back to that age old human urge to explain the unexplainable with some story.
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Hi! Any thoughts on the 'hidden track' at the end of the Bonus DLC Tracks for the new Dragon Age Vinyl set? "D'Read Koda" can be interpreted so many ways but 'dread bear'? Coda, the musical notation? (Do you suppose there's any connection to the bear and maiden graffiti art we see several places in Inquisition [or any connection between that mural and the one from The Missing {moon atop the bear and halla horns on the maiden?}])
Hi! Thanks for the ask! :D And yeah, I've been super curious about this as well! (And also the pre-sale for the vinyl now starting at the same day that the final volume of The Missing is coming out, May 10th 👀 but ALSO everything about the cover, like the GOLDEN CITY (omg???), the enormous DRAGON (Mythal???), the vines/tree branches (like Mythal's vallaslin/visions of her conquering in Trespasser??), the ECLIPSE in the background (according to Dalish mythology Mythal "created" the moon/"An Eclipse as Fen'Harel stirred"??), the summit/mountain beneath it (!!) and that single hooded person (with a staff resembling the headpiece of one of the two figures in the 2020 teaser mural/symbols in the new cinematic)?? The potential LORE revelations on this thing are absolutely bonkers, but I digress! 😂)
Anyway! I actually thought something similar when I first saw that mysterious hidden track name, that it has to be some kind of anagram or wordplay, given how much BioWare LOVES to do those and also with the musical term "coda" being spelled with a "k" for some reason, but what stood out to me especially was the random apostrophe that's in there, since the devs are also known for their (internal) "disputes" about the extensive use of apostrophes in DA for the elven language and names. lol
So to me the odd spelling plus the random apostrophe points more to it being an anagram for a specific elven term, but I have yet to decipher what it could be. 🤔
My second thought was if this "hidden track" could actually just be the final part in the "extended version" of the Lost Elf theme (starting at about 10:13), but then I looked up the game's files and noticed that this specific tune actually plays (though only once) when you first get to the Darvaarad and the full piece is about 2:40 minutes long (the hidden track being only 1:08), leading me to think this is probably what's titled "Qunari Atmosphere" on the tracklist. And after going through all the Trespasser music files I could find, there was nothing hinting at something like "D'Read Koda" either. :/
But you're right, "Koda" is also a term in the Dakota language meaning "friend/ally" or "little bear", but I'm completely at a loss as to what that could refer to. For all we know, it could be a reference to frigging Storvacker. 😂
As for your second question though, since you brought up "The Bear and the Maiden" painting/mural in connection to the mural in volume 3 of The Missing, there are actually a few other interesting aspects to this that I've been thinking about, but before I start rambling get to that point, let me just put the rest under a cut so people don't get spammed with an exhaustingly long text post. lol
First off, for reference, this is the painting we're talking about, featured in various places throughout DAI!
People have made quite a few speculations about this imagery over the years. For one, given that it is not exclusively found in elven ruins and filed under "Fereldan art" in the game's files, some people assume it could depict an old legend of the Alamarri. Others have suggested that it's actually just a little easter egg in reference to the "The Bear and the Fair Maiden" song in ASOIAF. lol
But by far the most popular take on this, is that this is depicting the elven gods Dirthamen and Ghilan'nain. Based on Ghilan'nain's sacred animal being the halla and the lady with her all white appearance and her antlers kinda resembling one as well. And Dirthamen's sacred animal being a bear (among others, I think). Which would pose the question though, why these two are portrayed in such a way, when there's nothing in the lore that could give us an explanation?
To me, it almost looks like the maiden is trying to calm the bear down/keep him in check, who has gone out of control and is now turning into a wild beast (that can apparently also breath fire? lol). With what we know of Ghilan'nain now, it's definitely possible that her horrifying experiments and creation of all kinds of freaky creatures might have inspired such imagery.
So, while I can see how you could draw a parallel to the mural in volume 3 with the way they're positioned/embrace each other, I don't know what else to derive from this, other than that it would point to the bottom "red one" being Ghilan'nain and the "green one" being Andruil and not the other way around, or that Andruil was maybe able to shapeshift into a bear? lol But if we're going with my assumption that the bear is losing control over itself, maybe it could refer to the stories of Andruil succumbing to madness from hunting the Forgotten Ones in the Void. As opposed to the mural in the comic, where they seem to be rather peacefully in love (to me at least).
But while we're at it, let us go back to Ghilan'nain and Dirthamen's potential connection real quick (because I've been thinking about it 😶)! What's interesting to me, is that these two have actually been mentioned together in the lore, too, looking at this ancient elven writing for example that is only revealed to you when using Veilfire at the Temple of Mythal:
"His crime is high treason. He took on a form reserved for the gods and their chosen, and dared to fly in the shape of the divine.The sinner belongs to Dirthamen; he claims he took wings at the urging of Ghilan'nain, and begs protection from Mythal. She does not show him favor, and will let Elgar'nan judge him."
"For one moment there is an image of a shifting, shadowy mass with blazing eyes, whose form may be one or many. Then it fades."
So there we have the two being involved in what appears to be a judgement on someone serving under Dirthamen, because of Ghilan'nain's actions. While we don't know how much of this actually happened, it definitely makes you wonder about their intentions here. Why would Ghil do this? And why specifically to someone serving under Dirthamen? What was the outcome? And what does this tell us about their relationship? (And now that I think about it, what if this sinner was actually the bear in the mural? lol)
As for the sinner himself. Now, I don't know about you, but when I reread this codex again after several playthroughs, particularly the “shifting, shadowy mass with blazing eyes” at the end, I thought “Wait. That kinda reminds me of something......”
Look, I know it doesn't appear that way when looking at my blog for like five minutes, but I certainly don't think that every single codex entry on elven myths should be automatically assumed to be about Solas. 😂 That being said, I can't help but feel like there's a connection to be made when looking at this other ancient inscription, that can be found in the final chamber of the Solasan Temple:
Faintly carved into the stone is a figure bound in chains. Two other figures have turned their gaze from the central image.
The script below the image is ancient, though Solas is able to provide a partial translation:
Pride in our accomplishments and in our hearts. That same pride became (a word meaning corrupted or altered) within him, he sought to claim (indecipherable), cast from favor and so he was bound.
Hidden from mortal eyes, death lies within.
To me, this text always seemed to perfectly match up with the ancient writing in Mythal's temple. A person being judged for claiming (godhood?)/daring to fly in the shape of the divine (a dragon?), put in chains and "bound" as punishment (by Elgar'nan?). And again, there are two figures involved. If the events of these writings do connect, was this "sinner" the one belonging to Dirthamen, taking wings by the urging of Ghilan'nain and them now silently accepting Elgar'nan's judgement, making those two the "figures turning their gaze"?
The thing is, if I'm presented with an ancient elven text about someone's PRIDE being corrupted in a place called SOLASAN temple, how in the world am I NOT supposed to draw an immediate connection to Solas here? 😂 I'm not saying that the sinner in this story had to be him per se, but if the age-old theory about Solas having been a spirit of Wisdom once who somehow turned into Pride is true, then there's still the question of how or why exactly this corruption occurred? And, if anything, the story of this sinner would provide at least one possibility for what happened to someone who had been corrupted in ancient times.
"Cast from favor and so he was bound."
If Cole's cryptic comments in Trespasser are actually about Solas (and Mythal?), then it's safe to say that Solas was himself bound ("He left a scar when he burned her off his face"), which does make SO much sense, considering that he values free will above everything, his furious reaction to the Well of Sorrows is SO telling, oh and also, he lead a motherflippin Slave Rebellion. 😂
But if we're looking for further potential connections between Dirthamen, Ghilan'nain and Solas... Well, Dirthamen is not only called the Keeper of Secrets, but is also always associated with sharing wisdom, knowledge and giving counsel to those in need. His symbols also include two ravens. Wolf and raven being known for pretty cool 80s synthwave music having a special bond in many real life myths and legends.
And Ghilan'nain is the only elven god we know of who was a "huntress of the People" before she ascended to become the youngest of the elven pantheon (possibly because of her relationship with Andruil or her ability to "create" things). As far as we know, Solas was also one of the People before he "became" Fen'Harel. So they were very much alike in that sense.
There's also the tale in which Fen'Harel gets captured by Andruil, because he had angered her by “hunting the halla without her blessing”. Some people have taken this to mean that Solas made a move on Ghilan'nain or that they had something going, so naturally, given that Andruil and Ghilan'nain are believed to have also been lovers, she was not very amused about that. lol (Which would make the rest of the story even funnier, where Andruil declared to “punish” him by making him “serve in her bed for a year and a day to pay her back”. lmao)
Which brings us finally back to the mural in The Missing volume 3, that could depict Andruil and Ghilan'nain embracing each other, perhaps even romantically (btw, if you want to know why I think so, check out my post on volume 3. :D).
I kinda joked about it at first, but if we assume that this mural was actually made by Solas as well, then you do have to wonder why he would even choose to paint such an intimate moment between Ghilan'nain and Andruil, people he arguably despises? Though it'll be interesting to learn what their relationship was like before his rebellion and Mythal's murder. I mean, who knows, maybe the before-mentioned tale actually happened and all three of them made out afterwards (willingly or not). 😂 (I mean, we're still talking about immortal beings here, so what else are they gonna do all day? lol) Or maybe Solas was just the Evanuris' personal portrait/mural painter at one point. lol
Anyway, to conclude, all of this is partially why I assumed for the longest time, that the two figures seen in the 2020 teaser mural could be Ghilan'nain and Dirthamen (also the fact that Dirthamen's vallaslin matched up perfectly with the silhouette of the right figure and obviously everything about Ghilan'nain and her horrifying experiments in Tevinter Nights).
...but with everything we've learned since then, I'm now actually leaning more towards it being Ghilan'nain and Elgar'nan (if you want to know why, I highly recommend watching this fantastic analysis!).
The only thing that still kinda irks me with this, is the fact that the only elven god that's known for wielding a spear like this is actually Andruil.
However, it is super suspicious to me how the "goddess" seen in this concept art seems to break out of what looks like huge ocean waves and how this "grey sludge stuff" from Ghil's ancient "pools" in Tevinter Nights was described to have "smelled like the ocean" AND the mention of (capital P) Pride in elven myths having "stopped Ghilan'nain's hand when she was about to destroy her creatures of the deep sea". 👀👀 (Also, is it just me or does the figure in the 2020 mural look like she's having algae hanging down her headpiece? Not to mention the tentacles. lol) So there's that.
Also, and I know this is the silliest reason, but I don't know if BioWare would expect new or casual players to keep up with all these long "complicated" elven names, since "Ghilan'nain" and "Elgar'nan" do sound kinda similar and people might get them mixed up. lmao So having Elgar'nan and Andruil might be a bit more distinguishable, just for the sake of making it a little easier for new players lol (I mean, they have changed names before to avoid this problem, like when the Tevinter city "Qarinus" was turned into "Ventus" because it sounded too similar to "Qunari", I think? 😂).
I don't know if any of this actually answered your question, I feel like I got carried away by like a mile. 😂 I don't know how I got from "D'Read Koda" on the vinyl to tentacles, but here we are. 😂 Those are my thoughts on.... a lot of stuff. lol
#dragon age the missing spoilers#tevinter nights#dragon age the missing#solas#ghilan'nain#dirthamen#andruil#tinfoil time#da4
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Ayo!?? Spidersona!? 👀🌟can you tell me more about Nora?
I'd love to!!!Tysm Clover,i was hoping you'd ask💖💜
So his full name is Nora Morales!!Not Miles' bio sister since while i am afrolatino like Miles,i'm half white while he's fully black so he's adopted!Specifically Jefferson and Rio took him in as a teen when he was living on the streets after his birth parents kicked him out for being trans(specifically transmasc genderfluid and bigender).His new family loves and supports him very much and vice versa!!
His base design is pretty much me but with long hair!Meaning he has a big nose,light brown skin,black hair that's naturally curly and is short!His aesthetic/style is 'pastel gamer' and once he gets character development by becoming Spiderwoman,becomes pastel punk too!!He always had the mentality of a punk but wasn't confident enough to dress the part just yet(also because i hate copganda,Jefferson is a househusband in his verse so he's allowed to go to riots and such)
Personality wise,he's super bubbly,kind,sweet and goofy but very insecure due to his trauma and never going to college due to his neurodivergence(autism,adhd,anxiety and mdd)making school too hard for him even though Miles has almost all the same disorders and is a star student and he feels like a failure in comparison to him.BUT he's a great older brother to him and never ever takes it out on him!!They're best friends in addition to being adoptive siblings <3 And Miles actually looks up to Nora tons and used to vocalize it a lot when he was little but stopped slowly as he got older,which was upsetting for him because he thought he didn't see him as cool anymore and there's a scene in Itsv where Miles tells him he never stopped thinking he was 'The most awesome big sibling ever' and Nora cries so they hug tenderly in comfort♡
He works at the same diner that closed down in Peter B's dimension!!As in his and Miles' version of it^
Like i said in my last ask,his love interests are Peter B and MJ and they're a polycule!!In the first movie,him and Peter B bickered a lot due to the whole 'pessimist and optimist' thing but were nonetheless nice to eachother and were crushing by the end.They're actually the official couple in Atsv instead of Miles and Gwen!!By that i mean Peter B comes with Gwen on her mission to Miles' dimension and the four are the mcs like in the first movie!!There's a scene in Atsv where Nora goes to visit MJ with Peter B and they're still just exes and friends but only because he's also in love with him and didn't make her feel like a second choice!The girls hit it off and once Btsv comes out,i will absolutely give them a getting together story in it(all three of them)and i'm super excited to!!!♡
His spider motif is the purple jumping spider so his unique Spiderperson power is jumping and his costume is purple and white with a cat ears hood,a white heart on the chest and some punk parts like spikes on the shoulders!
He's the big sister/mom figure of the Spiderfam kids and easily the adult Spiderman they trust the most!Hobie especially was happy to have another punk around
Whooped Miguel's ass for picking on Miles and Miguelito's ego was bruised big time LMAOOOOOO
That's pretty much all for now but i'll tell you if he gets more lore!!
#lovelyheartclover#nora morales#spiderwoman#miles morales#nora and miles#the morales siblings#peter b parker#mj watson#peternoramj#hobie brown#nora and hobie#miguel and nora#spiderverse#atsv spoilers#spiderman#real self shipping hours#askxaquestion
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Locke’s Mistreatment of Shadow & The Shadow Android Theory
So, welcome back to yet another analysis of the Sonic media, featuring Shadow the Hedgehog. I wasn’t really planning on this, but after reading Issue #145 of Sonic Archie, I realized there was something I wanted to address. Now, just as a note, if you guys like my Sonic Analyzers/Posts, you’re free to suggest which topic I should tackle next (I had been partial to addressing the fact that some people claim Lanolin is Sally 2.0. and why that’s disrespectful to both characters).
In any case, let’s go back to our actual story, Issue #145: Shadows of Hope. There are two particular topics I want to talk about here, first being that Locke the Echidna is an awful person and the second being that the writer of this Issue is either a believer of the “Shadow is an Android” Theory or he, as usual, didn’t care to do proper research.
Before I start, I’ll do a quick recap. This story features the return of Shadow the Hedgehog in the story after a lengthy absence, and from my understanding, the focus on him in this and future Issues was an editorial mandate due to his popularity and attempt to increase comic sales, as well as the fact that the year this Issue came out was also the year Shadow the Hedgehog (2005) came out. With that said, note that SEGA wasn’t heavily involved with the Sonic Archie comics, sharing only minimal information about the video games they were developing with the writers whenever they needed a promotion. There was also no way of getting a faithful adaptation of the video game since their attempts at adapting Sonic Adventure 2 proved that the comics cannot serve nor bend to the video games they are based on.
Also, trigger warning, this was written by Ken Penders, so be prepared for the mess he wrote. Things will get really disturbing.
So, not even a whole page in, and there is already a problem with this narration.
“Shadow was created onboard a lab located in geosynch orbit over the planet Mobius, and originally considered a product, a construction, a weapon, anything but what it truly was, a biomechanical lifeform!”
Biomechanical lifeform... are you serious?!
Now, now, I won’t be flying into another rant yet, because Sonic Heroes had come out by this point, and we know that Team Dark came across the Shadow Androids, robots that Eggman had created in Shadow’s image in that game.
Sonic Heroes implied that the real Shadow had died in Sonic Adventure 2 and that the Shadow in Sonic Heroes was just an amnesiac android. Shadow the Hedgehog (2005) later debunks this theory by having Eggman tell Super Shadow as he fights Devil Doom that he is the real deal and that Eggman had saved him when he fell after the battle with Finalhazard.
So, perhaps I should ignore this one as this may have been the lead theory at the time, right? Well, I would, except this is Penders we’re talking about. This guy prides himself in never having played the Sonic games nor knowing anything about the Sonic lore aside from the stuff SEGA tells him to write.
Oh, but it gets even worse, because Penders proceeds to basically dehumanize Shadow:
“By every known definition, it was sentient! It could think, reason... and feel!”
I don’t know what was even going through Penders’ head when he wrote this, but why is he writing Shadow as if he wasn’t even a living being?! Why is he acting as if Shadow is a mindless tool/weapon and not his own person?! Hell, this is just the tip of the iceberg.
The story starts in typical Penders’ fashion, with Shadow spying on Hope Kintobor. Note, her resemblance to Maria Robotnik is purely accidental, as she appeared in the comic before Sonic Adventure 2 came out, but the writers certainly milked this coincidence for all its worth. We also get a more wholesome interaction between the two once Ian Flynn takes over.
So, Shadow is spying on Hope, when suddenly, a hooded figure appears and... you know what, I’ll just transcribe the description from Sonic_Speed because their take on what happens in this story (you can find the timestamp in the comments of their video, just click on the link here) is hilarious:
Speed: “...until a hooded figure comes behind him and asks him for help. Shadow’s like ‘The fuc- No! Who are you?’
Aaron: *laughs* “Shadow’s being like ‘Aaah, I see, an Agent of Penders... Fuck off! I will not be tainted by your bad writing!’”
Speed: *laughs* And one of... You know what, that’s actually a pretty apt analogy, because the figure says ‘I respect your choice, Shadow, but I cannot accept it!’ and hog ties him!
Aaron: “You’re gonna get dragged into this plot whether you want it or not!”
So, yeah, our mysterious figure and narrator is Locke the Echidna, probably the most hated character in this comic besides Geoffrey St. John and King Max. Some of his crimes include microwaving Knuckles as an egg in Chaos Energy, then later on lie and manipulate him, faking suicide in front of his young son and making him believe for 10 years that he was the only echidna left alive. Even after their reunion, he keeps being emotionally abusive and lying father towards Knuckles and trying to control his life, all under the guise of “I’m your father, I know better”.
I’m not gonna lie, I legit cheered when Locke finally died.
Good riddance and no tears were shed, now Knuckles is finally allowed to be his own person.
Anyways, back to the current story, which is currently being hijacked by Penders’ OC. Note how Locke addresses Shadow in the narration, calling him a “creature”. This is their first (and only) interaction they have, and this is foreshadowing of how Locke sees Shadow.
Shadow has none of this nonsense, attempting to punch him, but Locke presses a button on his belt and envelops them in a blue light, with Hope running into it and being transported to somewhere else (speculated to be Haven, headquarters of the Brotherhood of Guardians, by Speed in his video).
There, Shadow proceeds to continue attacking Locke (YAY!!!), but Locke manages him to throw over his shoulder (BOOOO!!) and then proceeds to trap Shadow inside a glass tube, while still calling him an “It”. Unless we’re talking about Pennywise, this is just plain rude.
The situation Shadow finds himself in basically triggers his memories of what happened on the Space Colony ARK, of his awakening and Maria’s death (just ignore the thoughts in the second panel above, it’s just bad). I’m just gonna add “kidnapping Shadow and triggering his traumatic memories” to Locke’s growing list of “Reasons why Locke’s an awful person”.
Snapping out of the flashback, Shadow confronts Locke, demanding to state his intentions.
Okay, I will have to dissect this particular dialogue between Shadow and Locke, because it’s just that awful and incredibly infuriating.
Locke dares to ask Shadow: “Have you any idea what it’s like to lose everything?”
And Ken Penders (yes, I’m putting the blame on him) has the audacity to have Shadow respond: “I wouldn’t know! I’ve never had anything!”
How?! HOW CAN YOU EVEN WRITE SOMETHING LIKE THIS?! HOW CAN YOU HAVE A CHARACTER WHO LOST HIS ENTIRE FAMILY, HIS SISTER, SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT?! THE SOLE REASON HE WANTED TO DESTROY HUMANITY?!
This is disrespect to Shadow’s whole backstory on a whole another level! And no, you cannot pretend that Shadow forgot the events of Sonic Adventure 2 because he never suffered from amnesia in the comics. He remembers everything that happened!
Ken Penders should know this! He could’ve had Shadow tell Locke that “Yes, I too have lost everything”, but he didn’t. I don’t know why, but I believe that this was so Locke would come off less as an asshole. We are supposed to sympathize with Locke here, not Shadow.
I hate this so much!!
...
Oh, but it gets even better.
“That’s not surprising! From what I can tell, you’re neither biological, mineral, nor vegetable.”
Okay, let’s first address Locke’s (and Penders) IQ level here, because it’s that of a potato (I apologize to all the potatoes in the world). What the hell do you mean by “neither biological, mineral nor vegetable”?! So vegetables are now artificial constructs?! And you call yourself a scientist, Locke?!
*shakes head*
Oh, who am I kidding... We’re talking about a guy who thought microwaving his unborn son because of a dream was a good idea.
What I should be talking about is the fact that according to Locke, Shadow is not a biological lifeform... completely ignoring the fact that Penders wrote in the recap that Shadow is supposedly a “biomechanical lifeform”.
*calmly*
Penders, what exactly do you think the bio in biomechanical stands for? *scoffs* Yeah, I rest my case.
It also doesn’t help that this belief that Shadow is more synthetic than biological is reinforced in further Issues. Thank goodness it gets dropped soon, because I swear, I couldn’t read more of this nonsense.
Lastly, Locke tells Shadow that he believes Shadow is the key to helping him find the Brotherhood he’s been searching for.
Uh, Locke? SHADOW IS NOT OBLIGATED TO FIND YOUR GODDAMN FAMILY!! YOU KIDNAPPED HIM, TRAUMATIZED HIM, DEHUMANIZED HIM AND NOW YOU’RE DEMANDING HE DOES YOUR JOB!!! SCREW YOU!!
Anger aside, this interaction also implies something very disturbing, which had been addressed in another post (I just realized something kinda creepy) and you can click on the link presented, but to summarize, this person asked what exactly was Locke planning to do with Shadow and how was he going to use him to find the Brotherhood?
They noted how Locke (and Penders’) interpretation of Shadow was that of a violent creature with identity issues (or rather a self-aware android) and how Locke had been observing Shadow for a while. It isn’t explained whether Locke even knows that Shadow is the Ultimate Lifeform, and with Locke being able to use Chaos Energy, why would he need Shadow?
To quote the poster:
See, for all Locke should have feasibly known, Shadow would have been just another hedgehog. While it could be argued that Locke sensed immense Chaos potential in Shadow, that still wouldn’t have made much sense, because if Gerald had done his job and properly limited Shadow’s power, as well as have created a fully “sentient” squishy hedgehog being, as Penders specifically wrote in issue 145′s prologue:
“ … it could think, reason … and feel!”
… Locke shouldn’t have felt that power … and there shouldn’t really be any reason for Locke to think of him as anything but the real deal as a natural-born hedgehog.
Why would he have questioned what his make-up was? And yes, I do realize “Locke’s Gary-Stu status makes him l33t” is a possible explanation, but I’m speaking in terms of in-universe.
Plus, he must have seen Sonic in action at least once—which once more begs the question of why Shadow specifically. And why now.
Unless Locke knew something.
The poster suggests Locke did dig into the archives of the Space Colony ARK in search of other beings able to use Chaos Control and learned about Shadow, believing he could override Shadow’s original programming:
Here’s when I realized that not only did Penders probably intend to use Shadow as a tool, but if left to his own devices, Locke would have performed another Chaos energy experiment on Shadow.
Think about it. Nuking Knuckles didn’t go so well, what with him effin’ dying, so who better to subsequently do a follow-up experiment on than an “immortal” being who, per Locke’s twisted perceptions, may or may not even be sentient or real? If Shadow suffered ill effects, well, no harm, no foul—seeing how he couldn’t feel like other anthros, right?
“Do you know what it’s like to lose everything?” Locke asks, almost as if he doesn’t expect a response; and indeed, he even looks surprised when Shadow gives one: “I wouldn’t know; I’ve never had anything!”
Consider that Locke lures Shadow into an abandoned lab complex, and traps him inside a capsule “unlike any that have held me before” — paraphrasing Shadow here.
Consider that Locke calls Shadow “creature,” and even puts his biological status into question. That in subsequent issues, Shadow speaks robotically and bonds with a fellow droid, Isaac. That Isaac, Wiki Robot Extraordinaire, can’t ascertain whether or not Shadow is biological.
This is stretching the memory banks a little bit, but does anyone remember that one moment in issue 158 where, right before going into Rosie’s hut, Shadow repelled some oncoming Metal Sonic troopers with a shield he didn’t even know how he generated? IIRC, there was a display of Chaos energy in the following issue that Shadow was also at a loss to explain.
I’d wager that had this story played out, the temporary shield would have been a foreshadowing, maybe a byproduct of Locke’s tinkering, of the echidna’s effort to turn him into a supersoldier of some sort. Same as what Hunter turned into for Eggman.
tl;dr … I would have punched Locke into next Tuesday, Penders
Yeah, I did say that things would get disturbing. If this theory was correct (or if anyone else wrote this story but Penders), this would be horrifying. Not to mention the fact that Locke would’ve performed all those experiments on Shadow and be portrayed as being in the right. After all, Shadow couldn’t possibly be a real living being with feelings and wants and dreams and hopes, right? Even then, all this torture would’ve been waved off as being done for the greater good (aka for stupid echidna agendas).
Honestly, the way Locke/Penders dehumanizes Shadow is disgusting. It also shows just how much of a self-righteous monster Locke is.
Fortunately for everyone, Hope approaches the two, telling Locke to let Shadow go. He appearance triggers another flashback in Shadow’s mind... oh, and Locke continues calling Shadow “the creature” and an “it”.
Fortunately for us, Shadow breaks out of the glass tube and is about to beat Locke up (GET HIS ASS, SHADOW!).
Unfortunately for us, the next panel has Locke use his Chaos Powers, but Shadow still fights back (you’re doing great, sweetie!). Also, Locke, would you stop pretending like you don’t know why Shadow is trying to kill you?!
Sadly, before Shadow has the chance to kill Locke, Hope interrupts them, saying how she’s now afraid more of Shadow than of Locke... Yeah, of course Penders had to write that. He just had to put all the blame on Shadow, even though Locke literally kidnapped him!
Shadow snaps out of beating up Locke, yells at Hope how she isn’t Maria and how he doesn’t need any friends, and leaves.
While Penders will continue to write Shadow as if he was an self-aware android and dangerous weapon in the next few Issues, this interaction will never be brought up again. I believe there are several reasons for this, one being that Penders at the time was trying to return the story to status quo after Karl Bollers shook things up in his The Return to Angel Island Arc (the link presented leads to the Sonic_Speed video, with Speed and Aaron having covered the whole arc), hence why Locke is searching for the Brotherhood. Add in the editorial demands of promoting Shadow more because of his popularity and the fact that Penders is leaving after Issue #159 (they even called in Ian Flynn to edit the last Issue Penders wrote before him taking over in Issue #160 as lead writer), and his dislike for writing any story that doesn’t involve his OCs hogging the spotlight, it’s clear why this was never addressed in any form.
Frankly, it’s for the better, and while I do know the real reasons why Penders left, I love to think that Shadow was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
#Sonic the Hedgehog Analyzer (Masterlist)
#Sonic the Hedgehog Analyzer#shadow the hedgehog#locke the echidna#hope kintobor#sonic archie#Screw you Penders!#sonic heroes#shadow the hedgehog 2005#sonic adventure 2#sonic the hedgehog#shadow androids
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youtube
Watch the 2024 American Climate Leadership Awards for High School Students now: https://youtu.be/5C-bb9PoRLc
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Hi, I don't know if you'd even answer this ask but I've been loving all your prompts and been sucked into the dp/dc crossover content.
Im curious about trying to make some oneshots or fics myself but I'm not well versed in dc at all except very basic knowledge so I'm really nervous.
Do you have any advise for how to start or suggestions to help some one jump right in?
Ok I'm gonna be using this slightly as an excuse to give y'all a DC reading guide and also:
Personal Opinion 1: You really don't have to read any comics to learn DC. I'd highly recommend going on Youtube and watching some summarizing History of the Batfamily videos so you know the general lore. Reading a bunch of solely DC-related fics also helps greatly. It can get you immersed in the world and learn tidbits of backstory and characterization without having to touch a single comic.
if you feel confident enough that you know the character? Go for it!! If you're still unsure and you want to write it anyways? Have a beta reader who's well versed in DC help point out moments that may be OOC or help fix characterization a bit. You never know how good you are at writing that character until you put your pen to paper!
Personal opinion 2: go to your local library, go to the graphic novel section, and see if any comics catch your eye. Pick it up and give it a read. There truly isn’t a perfect place to jump in for comics. Continuity is all Willy Nilly and confusing. There’s no perfect spot to jump in but there are personal recommendations or preferences that people will tell you to start on.
I highly recommend listening to podcasts about characters that you’re intrigued with to see if you want to spend the time researching and reading about said characters.
Other tertiary opinion.
I really only have Batman comic recommendations but a friend of mine gave me a list in order for Batman comics to read so here it is:
Batman Year One.
Batman Venom.
Batman Long Halloween.
Batman Dark Victory.
Robin Year One.
Batgirl Year One.
Nightwing Year One.
Batman Cult
Batman Death In The Family
Knightfall
Batman No Man’s Land
Under the Red Hood
Batman Zero Year
That’s what I got. You don’t have to read every single comic to know everything but at least reading a summary of the comic so you’re caught up and not confused as you go into the next comic is something I’d recommend. Batman Knightfall and No Man’s Land are super long and really a drag to read through. Like genuinely they’re painful as hell to read through. I’d recommend reading a synopsis online or listen to a podcast about it.
Other comics in general I’d recommend that I've read that I think are good depictions of the characters:
Superman: Up In The Sky. by Tom King.
John Constantine Hellblazer: Dangerous Habits. #41-46. by Garth Ennis & Will Simpson.
The Spectre by John Austrander.
Shazam! The Monster Society of Evil. by Jeff Smith.
Blue And Gold. by Dan Jurgens
Victor & Nora: A Gotham Love Story. by Lauren Myracle
Batman Vol 1 & 2 (The Court of Owls & The City of Owls). By Scott Snyder.
Again, there are definitely some better comics out there and a lot of comic runs I didn't add on. That's simply because I haven't read the others. Some of these characters you might not care for, and that's completely fine! You don't have to read them then.
Podcasts I'd reccomend:
Character Corner. Their takes and reviews are wonderful. I adore this podcast and found out about many amazing comic runs from this show.
Geek History Lesson. It has a gimmick and it's fun. It's not as in-depth as Character Corner but it does have a far larger array of Characters to listen to and learn about.
There's also is this ao3 post that has a batshit insane amount of info on how to navigate and learn about Batman and Gotham
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PLEASE INFODUMP TO ME ABOUT KH 👀 I love when people share the crazy lore about this series because I cannot keep track of it myself. Pick your favorite topic and go off my liege 👑
Oh it would be my pleasure. So let me tell you about why the stupid fucking mobile game is crucial to understanding the events of Kingdom Hearts 3.
So first off, there's a mobile gacha game called Kingdom Hearts Union X (technically set after the events of a Japan only browser game called Kingdom Hearts X, but it's easier to think of it all as one thing to save yourself the headache) that covers the events that led up to and surrounding the Keyblade War, an event that is referenced in Birth By Sleep, mainly by the game's final stage being the battlefield of said war, The Keyblade Graveyard.
Thing is, of course, the Keyblade War happened so far in the past compared to the rest of the series that a game covering it, while certainly interesting backstory and lore to the setting, didn't ever seem like it would super relevant to the events of future games, especially not when it was portrayed in a mobile game of all things.
And then KH3 came out and it was fucking littered with tie ins to the phone game. The big important connection we have would be Maleficent and her quest for a 'black box' the entire game, the box in question had up until then only been mentioned in KHX. The box was entrusted by a character known as The Master Of Masters to another character named Luxu, along with The Master's keyblade, which contains one of his own eyes and allows him to see whatever the keyblade sees, neither of their faces have ever been shown, but they wear the same iconic coats as Organization XIII. The Master instructed Luxu to keep the box hidden and never open it, as well as to observe the events of the future so that The Master could also witness them through his keyblade and write a book detailing the future. Luxu did just that right until the end of KH3. An extra scene at the end shows a hooded figure in the Keyblade Graveyard holding The Master's keyblade and standing next to the black box and the figure mentions that the keyblade is 'back where it belongs', and of course that keyblade is one we as an audience have seen before, it's the keyblade that our main antagonist, Master Xehanort, wields. Four other characters then appear, the union leaders from KHX, essentially The Master's other disciples and leaders of the different factions the player can choose from. They address the hooded figure as Luxu, though mention that he looks different, when Luxu reveals his face, it's actually Xigbar, the number two of Organization XIII. The way Luxu decided to go about watching over the events of the future was to pass the Keyblade along to someone else, then cast away his original body and instead hop from body to body and observe from the sidelines. The keyblade eventually made it's way to Xehanort and Xigbar was quick to present himself as an ally so he could continue to keep watch. Bascially the entire plot of the entire series trace back to The Master of Masters and his convoluted game of 4D chess.
And like, that's just the Big Thing, there's lots of other things that tie back to KHX. I won'tgo into all of them because we'd be here all day, but my personal favorite is that Marluxia and Larxene's original identies before losing their hearts, Lauriam and Elrena, are shown in KHX, both were keyblade warriors involved in the events surrounding the Keyblade War.
#thank you for the excuse to infodump lmao#i'm sure this is fucking incomprehensible if you don't go here#but i love the chance to talk about how ridiculous it is that a fucking gacha game is now the backbone of the lore
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See Thru: Need a Friend? (Visual Novel)
Created by: ItsYaBoi
Genre: Horror/Romance
I have been waiting for this one to come out for a while and it was well worth the wait. I think this game is rather well made with its different paths and possibilities. It really does feel like friend is... well, a friend. This game is r18 and it doesn't allow you to save or load so I had to go through multiple playthroughs to try to get everything. There's some more lore on their tumblr, @itsyaboi-43, so if you're interested, you can check it out there.
The game has about three different routes, with some variations depending on what you choose (like for instance the locations you and Friend visit), so I will be going through them starting with the "best" route, then the normal, then the bad route. Additionally, the MC's default name is Sweetheart so I will be referring to them as that for this recommendation.
The story starts out with a dream, of someone talking. Sweetheart finds themselves in an empty, dark street with someone hooded on the other side. They have the option to choose to run or hide, but either way the person lunges out at them and they wake up. Upon waking up, Sweetheart remembers that it will be the first day of college for them. They look around the room (you can see Alan from My Dear Hatchet Man), and attempt to read a book, before getting startled by Friend. Friend returns a key he had to the Sweetheart. Sweetheart gets changed into work clothing, mumbling how they prefer being a kid and not having to do adult responsibilities. Friend offers to drive them to work, but not before they go get some coffee. While driving, Friend touches Sweetheart's knee before asking if it's making them uncomfortable. Sweetheart worries that they'll be late again, to which Friend assures them that they will be fine. Friend mentions that they've talked to Sweetheart's boss and tells them about the compliments he's given them, something Sweetheart seems skeptical about. Friend tries to smooth it over stating he used his charm and the two do a little pinky swear.
They reach the cafe and order some drinks. When Friend goes to order, Sweetheart wonders about their rent and considers finding a new roommate. They wonder about how Friend got their phone number considering they never give it out, then rationalizes it by stating that it was probably something they gave to him a long time ago. Friend will come back with the drinks and if Sweetheart chooses the same drink that he gets, he will return with a sugar filled cake frappe. Sweetheart asks about how he got the boss's number, with Friend stating that it was in Sweetheart's contacts. Sweetheart will change the topic, stating that Friend is kind of suspicious before wiping something off Sweetheart's face. Upon realizing that they're late, Sweetheart and Friend head off to work. Friend states that since they're already late, that they should just hang out with him. Upon agreeing there are a couple of options- going shopping, going to the movies and going somewhere with Friend.
If you decide to go somewhere with Friend, he will first drop Sweetheart off at home so they can change. Friend offers to call Sweetheart's boss, though Sweetheart is hesitant because they don't want to be fired. Changing into a cute outfit will leave Friend flustered (which is what I always do because it's cute), though Sweetheart feels as though they are being watched by a stuffed animal. Friend brings Sweetheart to a cat cafe and introduces them to all the cats. Friend confesses and Sweetheart reciprocates, and upon going home they watch some shows together.
If you decide to go shopping with Friend, they will go to a mall where they go into Scorching Subjects (probably a parody of a Hot Topic) and the two reminisce together about the band they used to like. Friend offers to buy Sweetheart a shirt, and the employee will ask if the two are dating. If Sweetheart responds yes, they will be super flustered and try to apologize in the car, though Friend seems to be really happy and admits they like Sweetheart too.
If Sweetheart states that the two are not dating, the employee will attempt to flirt with Sweetheart causing Friend to get jealous and drag them out of the store. Friend because really protective and jealous of the two, and Sweetheart can either escalate the situation by scolding Friend or by calming him down by consoling him.
If you go to the movies with Friend, Friend will buy the snacks and go to watch Alive Pond with Sweetheart. The two hold hands the entire movie, causing both of them to be flustered. After leaving, they bump into a lady and a tired looking guy. They ask if the two are dating and Sweetheart responds yes. They try to tell Sweetheart their names, but are interrupted by a jealous Friend. In the car ride back, Friend admits they like Sweetheart as well.
Similar to the mall scene, if Sweetheart responds that they are not dating, the two will try to introduce themselves only to be stopped by Friend. Sweetheart can then similarly scold him or console him.
You have the option to have sex with Friend and he really goes off (he's pretty rough from what I can tell compared to other r18 ones I've read) and the last couple of shots are him confessing that he's wanted Sweetheart for so long and now they can be together forever.
Having the bad ending requires either rejecting all of Friend's advances and going to work or rejecting that the two are a couple when going out on a date and then scolding him. Going to work makes it so Friend "accidentally" misses the stop for Sweetheart's work place, before turning around and letting them go. At work, we see a cute picture of Friend and Sweetheart at Halloween and Sweetheart working on some emails. Upon leaving, Sweetheart walks home in the dark and wonders if they should call Friend. Responding no will lead to some glitchy behavior and the game asking again. Responding no again will lead to Sweetheart going home alone, and hearing someone try to get in. Friend will state that they did everything to be with Sweetheart and that they will never let them go.
A normal ending revolves around Friend and Sweetheart watching TV on the couch but it doesn't escalate to possible sex (since the two are still friends as it were), when Sweetheart falls asleep, Friend states how much they love them and how they wish that they loved him back.
For a demo (I think it's a demo?), it's pretty well executed and could probably work as a standalone game. One of the things that is very prominent in this is that you're not allowed to save- which makes the experience you do have more finalized than if you could. It definitely does give that vibe, but it is a bit harder to deal with if you're someone like me who is trying to get all or most of the options that it has to offer.
The game itself is pretty simple- having a day to hang out with Friend and possibly either go on a date or go to work, but I do think the way that the choices are made flow into each other pretty well, especially in the date sequences. The date sequences are all unique in their own way, meeting different characters and having a bit more bits of backstories of what Friend and Sweetheart do together in the past. One of the things I really do like about this game is that it does genuinely feel like we are Friend's well, friend. The two joke around, reminisce about old times, borrow each others things and make sure each other are okay and it does feel like we've known him for a very long time. Going to different places seem really casual, and doesn't feel strange or weird, something that I do admire in this game. His character design is pretty simple too, which I can admire since I do like simple but recognizable characters, though he really does look tired all of the time, haha.
In terms of more yandere actions, Friend mostly focuses on manipulation, though generally pretty subtle. A lot of the manipulation that Friend uses is generally something small and bypassable- going into the Sweetheart's house because he has keys from when they were younger, Sweetheart isn't sure if they gave Friend their contacts or not because perhaps it was something they gave to him in the past, Friend joking about skipping class to make Sweetheart consider doing it or Friend "convincing" the Sweetheart's boss to give them a day off. Normally, I'd be more annoyed that Sweetheart doesn't really pick up any of the manipulation clues, but with Friend, it works because the two are close. I think I'd have a harder time believing a complete stranger than someone that I've known for years, and the way Friend manipulates Sweetheart is done in a way that makes sense why they might not be as suspicious like forgetting if Sweetheart has given Friend certain contacts or accepting the key that Sweetheart probably gave to him when they were younger. I do think that this makes Sweetheart feel a lot less gullible because these are things coming from a long time friend. In terms of other yandere actions, he gives Sweetheart (presumably) a doll that likely has some sort of camera in it given that Sweetheart feels like they're being watched and has the option to turn it around. There's also Friend's reactions if Sweetheart corrects people in stating they aren't dating, where he becomes extremely possessive and protective over Sweetheart, getting angry and being aggressive towards anyone that gets near them. So about right for a yandere character. The final part is related to the glitches that you can see in the beginning of the game and if you decide to go to work and walk home. It's a pretty common staple for a lot of yandere games lately to have more meta based text, either directly or indirectly by causing glitches in the game. You can see it in other games like Picture Perfect Boyfriend, 14 Days with You, John Doe and of course, DDLC. While it's not wrong per say to have aspects like this, I don't really understand where the glitching is coming from in Friend's game. In the other mentioned game, there is usually something that makes it more understandable: Asher is in a virtual simulator based on DDLC so it makes sense that he'll glitch the game; John Doe's entire game is surreal so it's not totally out of character to be able to glitch out the game and Ren at least is a hacker and seems to have some control over what's going on in the game. For Friend it's... not really there. Granted, this is still technically a demo and it's not really necessary to explain everything or perhaps I'm simply missing something, but I do think it would be nice to have a stronger explanation to why he might glitch out the game.
The artwork itself is pretty decent I'll say. I like that Friend has a bit of an underbite from what I can tell ( I think it's cute). The backgrounds could probably be a bit better but it's not the worst that I've seen and backgrounds are hard to draw. I do also think it's nice that the sex scene only occurs if the two are together, which not only fits into Friend's orientation of being a demiromantic, but also feels more genuine and deserved when the two do get it on (he is... very passionate during sex, I will say that) Overall, I do think the other aspects, like the glitching and details are a very nice touch.
Honestly, I do think this is a very good game for a demo. It has a pretty good and fun premise of hanging out with Friend and I think it's a rather fun game to play through. Perhaps one day we'll actually figure out what Friend's name is amongst the various guesses that people are sending in as well as more about Friend's past. If you are interested in this game, please, go try it out.
#male yandere#yandere#yandere boy#recommendations#visual novel#ongoing#demo#see thru: need a friend?#stnaf
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hi yeah i have a little more i want to add on to the Duel Links AI Characters thing. This kinda blurs the line between Headcanon and Theory tho
A really weird thing that is either brilliant subtext or me just reading in to things too hard is the progression of the AI Duelists. Not like, the release of duel worlds and stuff, or powercreep, or anything like that. I mean theres two real, defined types of AIs in Duel Links.
If you look at a lot of the DM characters... theyre fairly flat. Like yeah I know thats also true of Téa/Anzu and Mai and stuff in the show, but it applies to pretty much the entire starting roster. The most odd yet obvious example of this is, oddly enough, Yami Yugi. My mans got Nothing. Hardly shows up in events, any place he would its usually Yugi(DM) instead, and he had very few gate interactions.
Now, think about that from a lore perspective. Yami Yugi is the whole fuckin' point of this. This is the AI Kaiba set out and tried to make, wanted to fill the gay ass void in his heart see again, and he's so... bland. Uninteresting. Why?
Turns out, its because of that very reason. He was the First, of course hes gonna be worse than the others. As time went on, Kaiba got better at making the AIs. And at first, it really was him making the AIs. Let me explain.
Again, looking at the earlier characters again, something becomes obvious. These characters are bland because theyre almost... missing something. If you look at everything they say, everything they do, something clicks. Its all stuff Kaiba either heard about secondhand, or was physically present for. He made the best approximation he could, on his own, but theyre just that: approximations. Easy best example is the first ever event character, Yami Bakura. A fascinating character in Duel Links lore, simply because he's the first Self Aware AI. A big question that comes out of this is Why, and the answer I believe is rlly cool: hes not Yami Bakura. Not even close. Like yeah obviously hes an AI clone, but thats not even what I mean. Kaiba knows so little about Bakura that he couldnt even make a complete personality. He just put a kinda mischevious personality in a Bakura Costume, gave it an interest in occult and Tabletop RPG games, and told it to do its best.
But this is Seto Fucking Kaiba. He doesnt settle for that. So, he got to work on a new, better system. A System that lets him use [insert bullshit explanation here, I like "uses the collective memories of players"] to truly copy people down to their very souls. And the first few times, it goes well. It really is an exact replica... and maybe, maybe thats an issue.
Pegasus J. Crawford has been dead for years at that point, but his impact on the game and large presence make it almost obvious in hindsight. If it were anyone but Seto Kaiba, this might have been the cue to say "hey maybe this is a little fucked up and I need more control over who gets added."
However, Seto 'As the owner of a major corporation I have to do that everyday' Kaiba dont roll like that, so he just leaves the Soul Printer on to do whatever the fuck it wants, and... yeah. After that point, every other AI, along with the duel worlds, is a result of the soul printer. Maybe he should have at least limited the scope to this dimension and the egyptian afterlife tho.
Theres also an argument that its not that the soul printer wasnt ready, its that he needed a playerbase to steal the brain power off of to run said soul printer, so he whipped up the first few to get started.
...sorry i forgot just how much brain rot this game caused me and ur earlier posts got me going again ;-;
OOOHOHOHOHOO THIS IS SUPERRR SUPER GOOD STUFF and I definitely think this is picking at what's really under the hood here. Transcend Game was all about Kaiba using people's (many of which being CHILDREN'S) brainwaves to create images and experiences, so it really would not be out of his ballpark to get the system running and just leave it to do its thing while he goes off and obsesses over shit like Why Isn't The Atem AI Right. It's Not Perfect. Why Isn't It Perfect.
and now you've got the AIs themselves producing 'brainwaves' and feeding memories into the system, and that's popping More AIs into the world in turn (i.e. Yuto's and Yuya's memories being the catalyst for Shay showing up, etc.) and they're...uh. starting to get self aware!!!! SO THAT'S FUN. It's like an ouroboros feedback loop of fake memories creating fake memories creating copies of what was once someone's memories.
All cuz SOMEBODY wanted to be king of a virtual reality even though he has more money than god and better things he could be doing 🙄
#THIS IS SUCH COOL STUFF THANK YOU FOR SHARING. I LOVE SEEING PEOPLE'S DL LORE TAKES#CUZ AGAIN. THERE ISNT REALLY ONE CONSISTENT ARCHIVE OF ALL THE LORE and it's a shame. this shit rules#asks#ask-maxie-boy#ygo posting#duel links madness
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youtube
Watch the American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 now: https://youtu.be/bWiW4Rp8vF0?feature=shared
The American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 broadcast recording is now available on ecoAmerica's YouTube channel for viewers to be inspired by active climate leaders. Watch to find out which finalist received the $50,000 grand prize! Hosted by Vanessa Hauc and featuring Bill McKibben and Katharine Hayhoe!
#ACLA24#ACLA24Leaders#youtube#youtube video#climate leaders#climate solutions#climate action#climate and environment#climate#climate change#climate and health#climate blog#climate justice#climate news#weather and climate#environmental news#environment#environmental awareness#environment and health#environmental#environmental issues#environmental justice#environment protection#environmental health#Youtube
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