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wheneclipsefalls · 2 months

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Little Gift- Introduction

Pairing: Soft Dark Neteyam x Human Fem Reader

Beautiful Neteyam pic by @cinetrix2

Sumarry: The RDA are forced to negotiate with a certain Olo'eyktan. Luckily, there is only one thing he wants.

Warnings: dark, dubcon/noncon, suggestive, kidnapping, aged up Neteyam, dom/sub dynamics, bondage, humiliation, dark Neteyam, swearing, power imbalance, etc. (not exhaustive) MINORS DO NOT INTERACT

A/N: I had this idea in the middle of the night two days ago. This will be the introduction of the mini series. It is dark content so read at your own risk.

tiyawn: love

mawey: be calm

oeyӓ: my (possessive)

Masterlist

The rope is coarse against your wrist and ankles, tied tight enough to leave squirming out of the question. However, it's the thick fabric gag that has you grinding your teeth together in discomfort. They leave you no opportunity to ask questions. No way to understand your fate before it unfolds.

Colonel Quaritch had been even more cold and distant as you were prepared for the mysterious treck. You had been in the middle of packing your stuff, preparing to return home with the rest of the RDA when you had been dragged away and dressed against your will.

Now kneeling here in the middle of Pandora’s forest wearing little more than sparkly scraps, you have never felt more exposed. The intricately beaded top does little to nothing to cover your hardening nipples and it’s easy to catch some of the Colonel’s brats sneaking a glance occasionally.

“Colonel,” Lyle calls to your left. “For a final touch.” He holds a large pink ribbon in one hand, eyes snapping over to your small form with a smirk.

“Be quick.” Quaritch grumbles but he doesn’t hide the amusement painted across his face.

You attempt to scoot away when Lyle approaches you but he wrangles you back into place one handed. Another recom keeps you still with hands on your shoulders and before you know it Lyle is using the ribbon to tie a big bow directly over your breasts.

You muster every hateful thought into your heated glare, not that it does much to kill his mood.

It’s obvious that you are the one left out of the joke everyone seems to revel in. Several times you wonder if all of this is some sick prank. Dressing you up only to drag you into the middle of the woods and leave you for dead. Perhaps even kill you themselves.

However, thirty minutes of kneeling in the mud with a small army on high alert around you proves plans to be otherwise. There is something ominous about that pink bow tied around you, something even more suspicious about the traditional Na’vi clothing that has somehow been made to fit you perfectly.

“That bastard sure likes to take his sweet time.” Mansk huffs.

“What more did you expect from one of Sully’s filthy half breeds?” Quaritch sneers, readjusting the heavy artillery into his shoulder.

“Makes a lot of demands too. Swear if we didn’t need these resources-” Lyle starts but is cut off.

“And yet we do. So shut your trap and pay attention.” The Colonel snips at him. It’s almost comical to see how fast Lyle straightens and goes back to scanning the terrain for movement.

Always the Colonel’s bitch.

You wish this ridiculous gag wouldn’t stop you from finally speaking your opinion freely. If you are about to meet your demise, the least they could let you do is get some long awaited satisfaction.

Tension bleeds into the atmosphere. The former marines snap to attention and guns are locked into place, the formation fanning them out to combat any potential threats.

It takes several dreadful seconds for you to see them but finally a pair of golden eyes just barely shines through the thick forest. They are in the trees, crouched to the ground, in bushes, some even swooping overhead on banshees.

You marvel at their ability to hide in the nooks and crannies of the forest. However, even now you recognize that they are choosing to be seen. They have decided to make their presence known.

Your heart thunders.

Tied and kneeling between the two juxtaposing crowds feels like being offered up as a human sacrifice.

Do the Na’vi believe in live sacrifice?

Perhaps they too put up dead to their deity as a sign of loyalty.

And you are pampered and primed for the taking.

“Signed, sealed and delivered as promised.” The Colonel grunts, boot clad toe nudging your vulnerable form.

Dread slinks through your veins.

What have you done to deserve this?

The Na’vi that steps out into the open is one that you can recognize instantly. Even a human of low status among the RDA knows what Jake Sully’s eldest son, and now Omatikaya Olo’eyktan, looks like. His face has become a focused target that the RDA have been working to exterminate for months. Now, it feels all for naught as they have been brought to their knees and forced to leave Pandora with little resources. The same reason you prepare yourself to say goodbye to this mysterious planet for good.

However, that was the idea before you were prepared like a trussed up main course for the taking.

You struggle fruitlessly in the binds once more and Neteyam’s eyes center on you. Peering up at him hurts your neck as you are once again reminded of how tall and muscular the Na’vi are. His shoulders give the illusion of spanning out even further with the traditional feathered mantle he wears.

His head slants to the side before he is prowling closer. You attempt to jerk away from his large hand coming to your face but that only ends in you falling back on your rear. His lips turn down as he inspects your tied wrists. There is nothing you can do as he holds both of them easily with one hand.

“I was told she would not be harmed.” He speaks lowly, voice thick with a Na’vi accent.

“She put up quite a fight. Even getting her to hold still during the shot was a pain in the ass.” Quaritch replies.

You remember all too well the fear that had overcome you when they brought out that long needle. The developed serum was a success naturally but it still racks your anxiety higher to fully breathe Pandoran air without your mask. Even more so, you feel strangely more exposed in front of this Na’vi legend without the glass to separate you from him.

“I don’t appreciate excuses.” His golden eyes flicker towards your face and a small smile appears. “But I am pleased to see it fits.” Long fingers trace the lines of your necklace top before toying with the ends of the pink boy.

You stiffen beneath his touch, eyeing the sheathed dagger across his chest.

Do sacrificial ceremonies require specific clothing?

Maybe dressing a sacrifice up in pretty ornaments and clothing proves to their deity its value.

Either way, you hope it’s fast. The Na’vi are trained killers, but at least they should know how to end a life swiftly.

“I would be pleased to see the resources you promised.” The Colonel bites back.

Neteyam sighs and purses her lips as if the small army around them is simply an annoyance instead of a threat.

“Trades are not historically present between the Omatikaya and your people. I am not opposed to taking instead. Remember that.”

You can hear the shifting guns behind you. The Colonel’s anger boils through the air and you are surprised to find no smart response coming from him. Neteyam leisurely tugs the ends of the bow, perfecting its shape and you are mortified to feel your nipples tighten beneath them. He nods his head and a few armed Na’vi step forward and hesitantly hand over a few tubes of minerals.

You recognize it as unobtanium, most likely the small amount left to mine from the last Home Tree. Your eyes widen. All of that for you?

It wouldn’t be enough to make the RDA’s trip a success but it would surely cut down the financial loss significantly. But why give it over? Just to kill you? Had their deity sent out a bounty on your head and if so, what had you done to piss Her off so immensely?

“As promised.” Neteyam rises back to full height, hands settling on his hips. “I trust you understand what is to come to those who do not honor this agreement.”

“Consider her a…peace offering. A special gift from the RDA.” You can hear the smirk in Quaritch’s tone, even the chuckle that Loyd fights to hold back. Your teeth dig into the fabric gag, praying more than ever that now would be the one time you would be able to rip him a new one.

Your own special gift before you leave this life.

“I tire of your presence, demon.”

Quaritch scoffs but you can already hear the shuffling of retreating boots as they slowly but surely exit the scene. The only home you have ever known and now it is nothing more than a memory. You’re left to the demise of the Na’vi like a shiny object to be collected.

And with the way Neteyam smiles and studies your form intently, you can’t have found a better analogy. Kneeling once more, large hands cup your cheeks, fingers encasing the whole side of your head.

“Oeyӓ tiyawn, you are shaking.” He tuts, features softening at breakneck speed. Eyebrows furrowing, you watch closely as he carefully parts the hair from your face. “So nice to meet you, properly that is.” He chuckles, as if telling a joke only he knows the context to.

Unease tightens your muscles and you’re sure that if your heart rate picks up anymore the organ will simply give out before they even have a chance to kill you.

He sends a look to the side and instantly the rest of the Na’vi party retreat back into the forest. Your forehead creases. What is a sacrifice without an audience?

Unless.

Neteyam’s fingers comb through your hair.

Unless the Olo’eyktan has decided to have his fun with you before you are offered up.

Tears spill from your eyes and you can’t stop yourself from trying to beg through the gag.

“Oh tiyawn,” His thumbs wipe away your tears. “You do not need to cry anymore. Not now that you are mine.”

A hiccup catches in your throat, wide eyes looking up at him.

“My sweet pet.” He husks, lips curved into a prideful smile.

Your heart drops to your stomach.

Pet.

How does he even know what that word means? The Na’vi do not keep pets. Perhaps he misspoke.

But when one large hand circles around the back of your neck and you remember one thing: this man was raised by both Na’vi and Sky People.

Frantically shaking your head in protest you try to get out words that will convince him to release you. It’s a strained effort with the cloth gag and his giant hand grasping your neck.

“Mawey, little gift, before you hurt yourself.” He lingers over the cloth gag and for a moment you have hope that he will remove it, instead Neteyam gives you a sympathetic smile. “My poor tiyawn, I would love to remove it but I think we will need to go over some ground rules first. I’ll need you to listen without distraction for that part.”

Your thoughts tangle into a million knots as vast ideas of what these rules may entail generate frantically.

It would be easier to believe that a Na’vi has no purpose for a Sky Person as a pet but it’s impossible to miss the lust swimming in his golden orbs. Nor the wandering hands that now come to squeeze your plush hips.

“You’re even more breathtaking up close.” He grins. When had he seen you from a distance? “Especially in proper clothing.”

You can barely see through the cloud of tears over your eyes so you miss when Neteyam unsheathes his knife. That is, until you feel the cold material against your ankles. Terror grips your heart but to your surprise the Olo’eyktan cuts the rope around your feet.

Foolishly you take advantage of this slight freedom only to be snatched around the waist and pulled onto his lap. Neteyam chuckles as if your escape attempt is the cutest thing he has ever seen. Your hips ache slightly at the stretch it takes to straddle one of his muscular thighs.

“Misbehaving already, hm?” He raises a hairless eyebrow at you, one hand slink down to settle over your rear. Luckily he seems more amused than angry. After all, you have to admit that there was no real chance of you outrunning him in the first place. And now that those muscular arms are locked around you, there is no hope of beating his strength.

Humiliation runs deep when you feel the first trickle of arousal stain your tiny loincloth. Neteyam’s thigh flexes and your pussy greedily takes the friction as an invitation. His nostrils flare, no doubt taking in your changing scent.

He doesn’t further your embarrassment, however. At least not yet.

“My father told me about these.” He muses, fingers playing with the bow once more. “It’s said to represent gifts. I always thought they were silly but now…” Heat runs straight to your core when his thumb dances over one escaped nipple. “I quite like the look of it on you, little gift.”

A whimper escapes your lips without permission, snagging his attention.

“Needy little pet, aren’t you?” A dark laugh rumbles his chest as his thumb casually slips underneath to bow to torment one nipple. “Do not worry, oeyӓ tiyawn. I’ll have you seeing stars before the night is through.”

Everything in your mind says no but Neteyam’s skin is warm and his hands are skilled as one teases your nipples while the other explores your backside. Your body preens into the touch, desperate for some semblance of comfort to hold onto. And in the dangerous atmosphere of Pandoran nights, your instincts tell you that this man is what separates you from death.

However, you are still held as prey under his gaze.

“But first I think it is time to get you home.” He leans forwards until your noses are touching.

“You will be more comfortable in my bed, pet.”

And so it begins! As always, I would LOVE to hear your thoughts! <3

unofficial taglist: @pandoraslxna @tallulah477 (thought you might like it, baby) @itchaboi-itchyboy @zafrinaxyz @lilghostiequinni @criticallybella

Please let me know if you would like to be added to the official taglist for future parts

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thankskenpenders · 6 months

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There’s been some discussions on Twitter recently about if Blaze’s dimension is worth keeping around and expanding on or if it should be ignored/merged with Sonic’s world thanks to a Bumblekast clip. What are your thoughts on Blaze’s dimension as a story-telling hurdle/ alternate setting? I personally feel like it wouldn’t make a difference if Blaze was a princess from another dimension or a princess from the other side of the world, it would just be easier for her to show up if she wasn’t from another dimension, but I also think it’s be neat to expand on Blaze’s world as a parallel to Sonic’s.

I think there's a whole cottage industry of Sonic fans who just like to take things Ian says out of context so they can rile people up on Twitter, and the fandom falls for it every time, and it's extremely tiring

But also I think Ian is right

This isn't something I've really shared, but I actually have a document where I've kept ideas for what I would do with a hypothetical modern reboot of Archie Sonic where I'm allowed to start from scratch and change anything I want. (I might share some of this someday, perhaps with some character designs, but for now it's just a thing for me. It's not like I'm gonna do a comic or anything.) For Blaze, I immediately decided that all of the elements from the Sol Dimension should be merged with the regular Mobius. I would just say that Sonic and friends have all their adventures on one hemisphere of the planet, and Blaze is from the other. I mean, the Sol Dimension already has a heavy Australia/Oceania vibe. It'd be really easy. This way, there would still be some level of separation, and Blaze would still have her own territory where she gets to be the main hero, but it'd be WAY easier to actually use those elements. Characters can just show up on whatever part of the planet they need to be on for any given story

For some reason people seem to think that Blaze being from a separate dimension isn't a storytelling hurdle at all, and I really don't know what franchise they're following, because it sure as hell isn't the version of Sonic I know. Yes, in theory it could be as simple as just using a warp ring to hop over to the Sol Dimension whenever. There are ways to write around it. I'd love to see that happen so that we could flesh out Blaze's world some more. Give Blaze some more allies and villains of her own! Give her more to do over there, and more reasons for Sonic and co. to visit! But clearly Sega isn't down with that, considering the Sol Dimension has only ever been in one game and, what, two issues of the IDW comics for maybe ten pages total? Sega's just sitting on it, and it's impossible not to see the fact that it's a whole separate dimension as the reason.

Even if we were getting more stories about traveling to and from the Sol Dimension, it'd still be a hassle. You want to use the Chaotix in a story in the Sol Dimension? Wanna use Marine or Johnny or whoever in a story set on the main world? Well, you'd better think up an airtight excuse for why those characters are traveling between the dimensions and pray that Sega approves of it. And right now that seems to be one hell of an obstacle, given how little we see of the Sol Dimension even though I know damn well Ian and Evan would love to explore it more. It's gotten to the point that Blaze is now on an endless "vacation" on Sonic's Earth so that they can actually use her in stories. People have been acting like merging the worlds would completely take away everything that makes Blaze special as a character, when it would just make all of her personal story stuff infinitely easier to work with than it is right now.

"Oh but what about the Sol Emeralds?" There's no reason the Sol Emeralds couldn't exist on the same planet as the Chaos Emeralds. We've already got other magic rocks like the Time Stones, the Phantom Ruby, and the Warp Topaz. "But what about Eggman Nega?" I could not give less of a shit about what happens to Eggman Nega and Sega doesn't even use him anymore, but also he's already supposed to be from Silver's future, not the Sol Dimension. "But what about the plot of Sonic Rush where the whole point was that they had to stop the worlds from being merged because they thought it was a bad thing?" Yes, because Sonic has always been a series that treated canon as sacred an immutable, and Sega would never do something that contradicted a game from almost 20 years ago

Anyway, all of this is a moot point. It's not like this is going to happen. Ian just brought up the possibility on the BumbleKast as an "if I could change literally anything" type deal. Sega is not going to do this. He is allowed to have his own opinions on Sonic things without fans having to take it personally and scream and cry about it. You don't have to agree with him on everything. I've certainly had points I disagree with him on! It's fine! That's normal! He's only human. Yes, Ian is on the Lore Team, but he's just one voice in the room. He's not even the boss of that team. If Ian could get whatever he wanted, we'd have seen the Freedom Fighters and Sticks by now

#nintendweeb #ask #tkp asks #this got long but i did in fact catch wind of this debacle while scrolling twitter on my phone when i woke up today and it made me mad lol

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aka-indulgence · 1 year

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HEY @llamagoddessofficial I got some inspo from reading Tilikium, specifically imagining a positive interaction between Skull and a human outside of the ✨Siren Whisperer✨ hehe… I just love soft giant monster and smol child interactions ToT

Also no I’m not projecting kid me here by writing that they were a big marine biology fan, no way

---

he’s still there.

Skull doesn’t think the visitors of this aquarium ever realize that they’re being watched, when they come to Skull’s tank. There was a little boy sitting in front of his tank, on the little platform just in front of the glass. He’s been sitting there for a very long time, maybe since around midday- and it was closing time soon. Most of the time, Skull would see kids running into his room, see the empty tank, look around for a while, before immediately giving up and going somewhere else. He thought the boy would do the same when he first came by. He stayed longer than Skull thought he would, but he did eventually leave. … Only to come back with some snacks in one hand, back to sitting in front of the glass, staring inside. Another time he left, he came back with a curious piece of paper, with something Skull couldn’t quite make out. At all his visits, he brought a book with him. It looked like it was too big for him, maybe half his size- but he always had it with him.

The rest of the guests have left. Not like they’d spend their last few minutes in the aquarium looking at an empty tank. The kid was persistent- even now he was still there, looking back from the tank to the book, and back again. Soon he’d have to go home, Skull knew, but it was… nice. It felt like he had company, even if the child didn’t know he was there.

He took one long look around the tank, those little round eyes scanning… then he climbed down the little platform, taking his book and piece of paper with him, heading towards the exit. He looked dejected, hanging his head low (as low as it could, almost comically so for that little body), dragging his feet.

… He stops when he notices a rather large shadow had fallen over him. Slowly, he turns around.

Skull was there, crawling closer to the glass, his inky black tentacles swaying around him like gentle seaweeds.

Skull watched in gleeful fascination as the kid’s face turn from confusion, to shock… to a wide smiling mouth, eyes wide, taking all of him in. He takes Skull aback for a second, the speed at which his tiny legs ran back towards the glass, placing the book and paper on the side and hopping onto the platform. From the shape and movement of his mouth, Skull could guess he was laughing- he wished he could hear it.

He presses his face against the glass, plopping both hands beside him.

Skull’s eyelight glows brighter, bringing his face lower. His sockets gleam softly at the little one- he looked so chubby, so tiny. His hands would barely be able to circle just one of his phalanges. Skull wanted to squish his hands, his cheeks, how soft they must be. Even when Skull revealed himself to the aquarium staff, he doesn’t remember anyone looking at him with so much innocent joy and excitement. This close, so much smaller than the other humans, yet he didn’t have an ounce of fear in those eyes. The child waves enthusiastically to him, and Skull waves back.

If staff had been looking at him, their heads would all collectively explode.

It’s apparent he’s caught the kid’s attention when his tentacles start curling. He removes his face from the glass, admiring his tentacles. Skull waves them around, chuckling to himself when the kid tries to follow them across the glass, going back and forth, copying the movement with his arms. He looks closer when Skull sticks one of his tentacles to the pane. The kid looks fascinated by his suckers, tapping on them with his finger, maybe counting them. He yelps a little when Skull pries it away, letting them pop off one by one, leaving little trails of bubbles in its wake. He’s laughing, clapping his hands together… Skull can’t help but feel proud, having caused that. One of his tentacles was thicker than the kid’s entire body, he could use it like a blanket. The boy couldn’t hear it, but Skull growls playfully- getting cute aggression at how tiny he was.

The kid realizes something, watching the tentacles, sitting down and opening his favorite book. Skull watches curiously as he gently flips the pages, slowly, like he’s afraid he’d bend or rip the page. Once he finds what he’s looking for, he presses the book to the glass.

Skull narrows his sockets.

There’s… a picture of a deep sea octopus. It’s tentacles matched his.

… aw. Did he have a little admirer?

The boy could hardly contain his excitement, he was bouncing a little.

“Like you!” He saw the boy mouth.

Skull’s sockets turned into crescents, nodding. It was accurate- he used to see those octopuses in the depth he lived in.

What a smart kid. He couldn’t say the same for some of his caretakers.

He puts the book back down, picking up the paper he’d carried around earlier. It’s a little crumpled, apparently from the kid having gripped it too tightly. He sticks it to the glass.

…

This…

This was a drawing of him. Crayons of black and blue, a blob in the middle and jagged tentacles extending outwards.

Skull’s jaw goes slack, taking a closer look of it, sockets wide open. His eyelight growing, looking at the kid. He points to the paper, then to his chest.

“... me?”

His eyes were practically sparkling, nodding furiously.

If Skull was crying, he wouldn’t question it. His eyelight large, fuzzy. Like seeing light from under the waves. A warm smile crept up his face.

“thank you.”

No, the kid didn’t understand him. But he could see the boy’s mouth turn into a small “o” looking deep into his sockets. He looks almost hypnotized, a bit of red reflected in his black eyes. He reaches a hand up as if going to touch him. Skull meets his hand on the glass, fingers outstretched.

He was awestruck, expression unchanging, maybe looking at how big his skeletal hand was compared to his. Skull reads a “Wow,” from his lips, eyes glancing back to his eyes. Light filtered through water, dancing in those innocent eyes. He lets the kid stare- he isn’t sure how long.

Then, the spell breaks. He must’ve heard something, because he looks behind him towards the door leading to the tank room. He looks to Skull, frowning. Skull’s grin falls a little when the boy takes his hand off the glass. Although he couldn’t really feel it, it felt as if he could feel the warmth leaving when he does. He climbs down the platform, grabbing the book, but leaving the paper in front of the glass. He pushes it towards Skull, pointing to him.

‘For you.’

He walks slowly towards the exit, giving Skull a sad smile as he does, waving.

Skull never liked it when the kids had to leave. It was his only joy during opening hours, getting to watch them run around. Nonetheless, he kept smiling for him, waving back.

“Bye bye,” they mouth.

Skull starts drawing backwards, tentacles climbing over each other, the shadow of an adult appearing in the doorway, someone’s looking for the kid-

It’s you.

He stops when he sees you. You didn’t see him, running over to the child, he can’t quite make out what you were saying, but you were checking him… then you looked up and met his eye.

Your mouth opened. The boy looked back, a sweet smile on his face.

They couldn’t hear him, but Skull was trilling, tentacles curling and uncurling with excitement, swimming around his tank in the rare burst of movement, displaying his tentacles for the humans, before retreating back to the cave.

You were dumbstruck. The kid held on to your hand, tugging on it, asking questions about the deep sea cecaelia, breaking you out of your stupor.

This was definitely one of his best days.

#kid strayed from his group specifically to see skull #they were looking for him during closing time and you were the one who found him #hehe #tilikium fanfic #how do you tag a fanfic of a fanfic #(shrugs)#aka writing #here you go llama hehehe

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klanced · 5 months

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i just finally watched the batman (2022) and need a repository for my thoughts

anyway yes i know i am the voltron blog but you all must understand. and this is key to my lore. that i am an insane batman fan. i haven't kept up with comics in recent years but i am a total sleeper agent when it comes to batman and i've been waiting literal months to watch The Batman (2022) and i finally watched it last night and have been marinating in my thoughts since. and also my parents are tired of hearing my ranting and watching me walk around in circles.

ANYWAY.

cinematography

this is literally the best looking batman film in years, if not the best looking one ever. the color grading was like a balm to my eyes, especially after the slog fest that is some of the other superhero movies... even with the constant rain the city never looked washed out, reeves and his set designers made such awesome choices when it came to fluorescent and neon lighting... the DINER SCENE!!!!!!!!!!! also omfg the way they made battinson the Red and Black Batman like what an excellent color combination. i loved it. i need to buy some of the theatrical release posters post HASTE.

more than anything this movie was SHOT like a comic book and so many scenes looked like they were ripped straight from a comic book, like i could visualize the paneling and everything... so freaking baller.

my family wasn't super impressed but i think it's because they expected an action movie but No You Don't Get It. batman sees the world as a gritty detective noir movie but to everyone else in gotham they're living in a horror movie and that is BATMAN CINEMA!!!!

when the riddler was arrested i was like 'wait there's still 40 minutes?' and then i preceded to have my mind completely blown. i kept questioning what reeves was doing only for him to IMMEDIATELY correct me minutes later. literally, let this man cook he knows what he's doing. when bruce lit the flare i didn't immediately get it -- and then the little mayor's boy reached for batman without any hesitation. and then the crowd began to follow him, closing the distance. and then he began to lead them to higher crowd. And Then I Got It.

2. gotham

yes i'm devoting an entire section just to the city.

gotham city is one of the hardest things to get right in any kind of batman media. like gotham is Not Normal and that should always be something hovering in the background. but many directors just don't bother because gotham architecture is so fundamentally different from normal sensibilities that building lore accurate sets would be both incredibly costly and almost impossible to do. but matt reeves tried and the movie was so unbelievably better for it.

bvs gotham was basically just new york city and don't even get me STARTED on how futuristic minimalistic modern the nolan movies were. ugh.

but when bruce and alfred were in their penthouse suite surrounded by fifty layers of gothic style trim my dad verbally said 'are they in a fucking church or something' and like YES DAD! that's the POINT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! gotham is supposed to be borderline CAMPY GOTHIC like the city itself is not just a setting, it's a full blown supporting character. the city looking batshit is essential lore and PIVITOL to the world building that has produced a man dressed up as a bat to fight crime like you DON'T GET IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! batman is divorced from our reality but he is GROUNDED IN GOTHAM!!!!

actually side note i've been playing gotham knights on the PC and 1) the game is way better than critics gave it credit for and 2) GOTHAM LOOKS SO GOOD IN THIS GAME. THE LIGHTING IS CRAZYYYY. best adaptation of gotham city fr, i loved the arkham video game series but the panache. the style. it became so diluted after arkham asylum fr.

my one criticism is that reeves needed to make one more rooftop set it was so silly that all the characters kept returning to the same gcpd roof with the bat signal on it.

3. plot

FINALLY A MOVIE WHERE BRUCE IS A DETECTIVE. i've waited literal years for this. i do wish batman had been a little bit more active/proactive in the plot, i.e. not strictly following with riddler's games, but this is also early batman so i'm more forgiving of his rookie mistakes... however in the second movie i expect him to be on his BALL GAME!!!! give me plot-armor-borderline-prescient batman PLEASE MR. REEVES I BEG OF THEE.

LOVED this adaptation of the riddler. using the zodiac killer as an inspiration for the riddler was amazing, brilliant, showstopping, spectacular. and they kept a little bit of camp in paul dano's performance which i appreciate. i don't think we'll ever go back to batman forever levels of camp, but that's okay </3

there was a nod to the character of hush in the movie (at least that's how i'm choosing to interpret it) but i don't think they could ever use hush in the future because they already adapted so much of his gimmick for the riddler... but that's okay tbh i don't think hush is that interesting anyway.

at its core the batman was a buddy cop movie and i LOVED that. jeffrey wright KILLED it as lieutenant gordon and the dynamic between batman and gordon was amazing. excellent usage of our favorite future-commissioner, you could really see they already had an established rapport but their bond was becoming even stronger... their conversation in the interrogation room was so amazing, as well as their scene with the penguin.

my one criticism is that alfred became non-existent after a certain point. also lowkey the lego batman movie did a better job at the 'bruce realizes that his trauma has made him reluctant to form bonds or deepen them because of his fear of losing anyone else' subplot. lego batman movie on top!

4. characterizations

everyone and their mom has already talked about how this version of bruce wayne is more focused on developing his identity as the batman versus his identity as brucie wayne so i won't repeat those essays. but i will say that i have such high hopes for bruce's development in the sequel. like the way the movie ended with him emphasizing how he needs to become a 'symbol of hope for the city' reads to me as him preparing to finally re-enter gotham society as Billionaire Bruce Wayne and i am SO READY FOR IT.

but what i actually want to talk about is how amazing catwoman's development is. i love how much backstory they gave her in this movie. i will always love the nolanverse version of catwoman but you really learn almost nothing about selina in TDKR. but in the batman selina's is this fully fleshed out character. you can immediately guess what her life has been like. and her motivations in the story... the way she was prepared to run until she found annika... and then she immediately changed gears and focused on vengeance for annika and her mother... god, i love it.

cobblepot's character was also so, so good. you can intimately tell that he's a two-faced bastard who's spent years being a yes-man purely so he can climb the social ladder. i know colin farrell is going to rock the HELL out of that monocle in the sequel.

5. hopes for the future

i know it's too late but i reallyyy don't want joker to be in the sequel. i unfortunately think that's more or less guaranteed though since they've already casted barry keoghan. and his performance was really good. i'm just tired of seeing the joker in batman media. (inb4 keoghan absolutely kills it in the sequel and makes me eat my hat). i don't really consider batman to have one arch nemesis, only that the joker has consistently ruined batman's life more often than all the other villains.

literally the one hill i will die on is that reeves NEEDS to include robin at some point. PLEASE. you can't have batman without a robin, he gets so lonely. literally that's all i want. i want battinson to become a dad so, so bad. you have no idea.

and (and this is key) robin must be a kid. a pre-teen aged 14 or younger. "oh but that's so unrealistic, child superheroes totally break the immersion" well I DON'T CARE. FULL THROTTLE ON THE CHILD ENDANGERMENT. let children fight crime, for the culture.

[okay, okay. make it a robin origin story where dick grayson is introduced and is plot-relevant but he doesn't actively patrol and fight crime and only becomes robin at the very end.]

introduce robin in batman 2, and then have robin be a participating older teen/adult in batman 3.

my incredibly indulgent ideal batman 2:

at least two years have passed (bruce is more or less settled and has finally hit his stride). he has mastered air gliding and now attacks villains from the rafters instead of just constantly walking out of the shadows. i want to see arkham-level combat So Bad.

selina is mentioned, but doesn't really appear (and there are no other love interests.

actually wait i change my mind about joker. joker can be included in the movie IF the red herring "main plot" is that he's using a circus as a base of operations (because clowns and circuses).

i say red herring "main plot" because the movie starts with a joker crime spree, so you think the movie is going to be all about the joker, but then he leads batman to his circus base and it turns out that PSYCH! THIS IS ACTUALLY A DICK GRAYSON ORIGIN STORY. because joker's base of operations is haly's circus.

batman is snooping around looking for evidence and that's when he comes across dick grayson, age 10.

kid dick grayson. PLEASE. PLEASE.

batman decides to visit the circus as bruce wayne. You Know What happens.

plot plot plot

COURT OF OWLS SUBPLOT.

bruce has to balance hunting down the joker while also protecting this little kid he pretends he isn't totally attached to.

this is incredibly indulgent because i have no idea how you would balance joker screentime with that of the court of owls. idk. that's what's fanfiction is for i guess c:

i have decided that over winter break i am going to rewatch all the batman movies from 1980s onwards so i can revise my Batman Cinema power rankings. i will create some kind of metric or spreadsheet so i can grade and quantify each movie.

hell i should also replay all my favorite batman video games. because those are basically just movies anyway. and i miss kevin conroy :(

thanks for reading. god i love batman.

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melonteee · 3 months

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When opla was announced I was guarded, but trailers and learning that Oda would have first and last word about everything made me hopeful.

But I knew that live action are never for the actual die hard fans.

Too much need to be cut because of time, as real actors cant look like they only age two years for 26 years, and some cartoon stuff doesnt translate well to live action *cough* garps fist of love *cough*

So I was able to convince my friend to watch opla with me.

She had read the manga when she was little, up to syrup village, so she was excited to see Kuro because she actually liked him back when she read it.

I was mostly there just to observe my friends reaction to it instead.

My favorite moment was watching her freak out after the "grandpa?" reveal.

I dont like that Garp was included that early on, I didnt mind him being there at rogers execution. But more than that seemed too much. I watched some Netflix guy explaining that they wanted to add a reason why the strawhat had to keep moving from island to island, but no marine would do because who would bother chasing a pirate crew with no bounty. I understand that reasoning. Still dont like it, but I understand.

But my friends reaction made it all better.

Did you know netflix wanted a romance between Nami and Zoro? Thank god Oda was there to stop it.

Also my friend and I quote "Oregano is for savages!" a lot now.

I'm truly glad you liked it anon and I do understand the excitement that came with it, but I honestly could not stand it. Nearly every scene and every line was like "Sanji wouldn't say that. Nami wouldn't do that. Why is this happening? Luffy definitely wouldn't say that."

An adaptation must adapt to its medium, true, but that is not what this did. This was an insanely loose reinterpretation that took so much charm away for me. I've talked about it on this Tumblr tons now but I've finally had the time to watch through all of it now that the hype's died down, and it just made me angrier per episode?

They had to shorten things down, but they included so many new scenes that added nothing? They had to explain the Strawhats going from island to island... WHY? They literally had a spine to go off, the original property had them going from island to island to find a crew and get to the grand line. That's literally a very solid reason. WHY did they need any marines chasing them? It just sounded like an excuse to add a fan favourite character so the Garp fans could scream about it.

And I've said this many times, but Oda being part of the process genuinely means nothing to me. Netflix infamously do not listen to their creators, and not only did they admit Oda HATED the Garp addition and they STILL added him, you can tell so much of his original vision was thrown aside for non-anime fan audience convenience. Usopp and Sanji felt like side characters for god's sake, Buggy felt comically evil for a LIVE ACTION, Mihawk's fight was literally so empty due to the fact no one was THERE? NAMI was the one who yelled she believes in Zoro and they'll always be friends??

I truly do not believe Oda would agree to most of that, and considering we know he was ignored for Garp, we know for sure he was definitely ignored for many other things.

As always, if you loved it, great! I'm glad the excitement was met. Maybe I'm cynical, maybe it's not to my tastes, but it screams Netflix cash cow to me and the whole time I watched it I thought "This is not One Piece at all."

As a reinterpretation? Great!

As an adaptation? It failed miserably. None of the characters felt like themselves and the additional scenes were so nothing. Sorry for the sour reply anon but for those on here who know, I indeed have a sore spot for that entire production.

I honestly think a lot of people got blinded by the pretty actors and the millions of dollars that went into production and promotion to really look at it for what it was trying to be.

#ask #melonask #oplatalks

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halcarols · 4 months

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fans of supporting characters/love interests in comic books are braver than any us marine. will they get fridged? forgotten? cheated on??? it’s objectively a miracle if they appear in enough issues to have a consistent personality, let alone character development. thoughts and prayers babes <3

#dc #🌃.txt

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uriekukistan · 3 months

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for the character ask, how about ur thoughts on shirazu? :]

ooh my silly lil guy :]

My first impression: i didn’t like any of the quinx squad at first bc i wanted anteiku back 🧍

My impression now: he’s my best friend that i keep in my pocket

Favorite thing about that character: he has such a big heart and i think that’s really overlooked by a lot of people

Least favorite thing: i think especially in the anime he sometimes comes off like he was written as a side character? and the rest of the og squad gets a full story (not even just in terms of the timeline, but w character development) and i sometimes feel like shirazu was robbed of that to be the comic relief, and a piece to fuel urie’s character development

Favorite line/scene: i think like right after he took down nutcracker and realized that she had humanity too, that was a really powerful scene and i feel like it kinda foreshadowed what was coming at the end of the series maybe

Favorite interaction that character has with another: when he gets urie the sweet red beans as an “apology” even though he knows urie hates sweets. basically any time he annoys urie bc my man urie deserved to get kicked around sometimes

A character that I wish that character would interact with more: in the manga they had more interactions so i would have liked to see more + in the anime too, but hanbee. also juuzou

Another character from another fandom that reminds me of that character: yall im not good at this idk

A headcanon about that character: he really likes fish and has an aquarium in his room. he watches all kinds of ocean documentaries about different kinds of marine life.

A song that reminds of that character: it’s not related to his personality or story at all but xo by fall out boy because i was listening to it and i got the idea that shirazu is a fall out boy fan idk

An unpopular opinion about that character: im ngl i kinda live in my own world so idk the public consensus on shirazu 🧍

Favorite picture:

i think about glasses shirazu often

#tokyo ghoul #tokyo ghoul :re #tgre #quinx squad #ginshi shirazu

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skyofnostars · 11 days

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Anyone a Webtoon fan???

I’ve been reading a few Webtoons here and there, and all the art in them is so amazing! I thought I recommend a few BL (boyxboy) ones that I particularly enjoy! (And if anyone has a favourite webtoon of any kind, feel free to put it in the tags!)

Boy Girlfreind

Definitely a popular webtoon, it features two childhood friends, a plan to get one a girlfriend (involving crossdressing and an ‘accidental’ kiss), which leads to a romance a bit different than the one they were striving to get. (Updates Friday)

Race You

Two track team athletes (one of which hates the other), slowly develop feelings for each other as they work towards getting faster runners before Christmas (and there’s a bet involved). (Updates Friday)

Revelation Of Eros

This one is based off a true story, and features a lot of trauma/angst/hurt comfort stuff so if you’re not into that, beware! A Mexican uni student, haunted by his past, makes some new friends as he tries to achieve his dead brother’s dream of being a marine biologist. And maybe, he meets someone who’s a bit more of a friend, too, who helps him through the struggles of his past. (Updates every other Friday)

Boyfriends

A very cute aesthetic in this comic! The mostly soft plotline follows four collage boys as they work through the struggles of their first poly relationship, learning more about each other along the way! The character’s in this comic never actually have mentioned real names, so it's up to the reader to think of what they would be called! (Updates Tuesday)

Vanilla Bliss

This comic is about two high school boys, who finally end up talking after years of classes together when one has to tutor the other in math. Definitely a warm, happy feel to this fic (it's currently in hiatus tho).

Castle Swimmer

A fantasy, underwater setting paired with beautiful colors makes this one of my favorite webtoons! It features a “chosen one” who’s destined to be sacrificed, and a prince who’s the one foretold to kill him. Though the spark of romance might get in the way of those plans… (currently also on hiatus)

If anyone wants recs for other webtoon genres, feel free to ask! If ya read these, plz comment with opinions! (And recs about your fave webtoons are welcome too, I don’t just read BL lol)

#Webtoon #fave webtoons #Webtoon recs #Bane recommends

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imperiuswrecked · 6 months

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hello :) i have very recently gotten into namor comics and i wanted to know, what are your favorite arcs/solos hes had? i hope its not too much of a bother. thank you and i hope youre doing well. ^_^

Hello and welcome. It's always a pleasure to speak with Namor fans ❤️ Thanks for asking, I'm well and I hope you are too.

Series:

King in Black: Namor - It's wonderfully written and gives us great lore and character moments. It's written by Kurt Busiek who really knows the character. The artwork is amazing, drawn by two different artists but I have to point out how much I really enjoy the colorists' work. The way they chose to make present day Namor scenes all muted colors, like the ocean is sick and dying, meanwhile his past scenes has such vibrant color.

Sub-Mariner: The Depths - I'm a big horror fan so this was a perfect combination of horror and Namor. I wish this would someday be adapted into a short animation or live action film. Ribic's art carries the whole comic, you could understand it just by the art alone, tho the writing is great too.

Sub-Mariner (2007) - Honesty I feel this series is criminally under rated, it's one of my favorite modern takes on Namor. I do have a couple of criticisms of the plot/ending but overall this series is favorite, love the artwork, love the premise and Namor's characterization.

The Sub-Mariner (1968) - I'm a big fan of Silver Age Namor and this series has lots of great comics but some do drag on at point. Personal favorites, Namor vs The Thing and Namor meeting Betty again in #8, Dorma being possessed by the Serpent Crown in #9. Gonna stop there before I go digging to find every issue I loved, bc there's just a lot there, like I love Tigershark's introduction/stories and Namor and Diane's friendship, and the quest for Namor's father etc.

Arc's:

Tales to Astonish: The Quest for Neptune's Trident #70-76. (To be fair I do love a lot Tales to Astonish but I'm just trying to pick out arcs that I reread alot.)

Namor goes insane in space: Uncanny X-Men (1963) Annual 3 (2001), Steve Rogers: Super Soldier Annual 1, Namor: The First Mutant Annual 1

Suma-Ket & Artys-Gran Arc - Namor, the Sub-Mariner (1990) #30-40. Dark Undersea High Fantasy arc, love it.

Solo Comics:

Marvel Fanfare (1982) #16 & 43, both these are solo adventures

Marvel Snapshot: Sub-Mariner (2020) - I can never get enough of this comic, told from Betty's pov, its wonderful.

Avengers: Emperor Doom - I love every time Namor and Doom team up or interact but if I had to pick one time it's this.

What if? Sub-Mariner (2011) - Love love this story by Greg Pak of Namor growing up on land.

The Judgement of Namor - Dark Reign: The Cabal - Namor takes court and deals with his subjects. An excellent look into Namor's role as the monarch of Atlantis.

Marvel (2020) #3 - I loved the sketch arts of the comic that was unfinished, it had been around for decades but when Marvel finally printed it in full I was so happy. I still prefer the sketchy art but I thought this was a fun adventure and Namor is in a suit, lol.

Marvel Comics Presents: (1988) #33 - All time favorite Namor comic, #1 spot in my heart. (2007) #7 - Namor mourns Nita's death (2019) #1 - A heavy story by Greg Pak about WWll

Tales of the Marvels: Inner Demons - a look at Namor while he was an amnesiac

I haven't even started on character team up comics or team books and if I start on those I won't stop. lol. I'll put a link here to my 2019 comic reading guide that can help you find most major arcs. I hope you enjoy reading!

#namor #namor the sub mariner #namor mckenzie #comic reading guide #comic recs #imp answers

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jaysterg5 · 21 days

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Fantastic Four #14

Writer - Stan Lee

Art - Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

Cover - Steve Ditko

Arriving back on Earth after their trip to the moon, the team is greeted by enthusiastic fans and supporters. But after having barely any time to relax, Sue is whisked away by Namor and he dares Reed and the others to challenge him in his own domain! But something is odd about the Sub-Mariner's behavior, something that has him under the influence of someone in the shadows!

I was looking forward to this one and really wanted it to be, well, fantastic. It just wasn't that great. It was fine, but Lee's plot used way too many conveniences or contrived devices to make this a solid issue. Way too many "magic" fish and a few of Reed's miracle ready-for-anything devices pushed this one too far. The mento-fish (which allows psychic communication over great distance) and the hypno-fish (pretty self-explanatory) were just the beginning of the contrivances that had me cringing a bit. I know - Silver Age Comic, and these things do have an element of fun too them, but too many is too many.

Ben also drags his girlfriend, Alicia, along on the journey to the ocean depths to challenge the Sub-Mariner. May not be the smartest move to put your significant other in deep jeopardy, and Ben even remarks that he expected to have to put up an argument with Reed to bring her along, but Reed just accepts it and they go on their merry way! Now I thought this would actually have a bearing on the story since the power behind the scenes is Alicia's step-father, the Puppet Master. But even so, Alicia's presence was completely useless. Stepdad didn't ever realize she was there!

There were some fun one-liners and exciting one-on-one battles with Namor, but this story never really rose above average. Even so, it's still an early Marvel comic that sets up so much down the line. A decent read for people who are interested in exploring these formative years of the Marvel Universe.

#fantastic four #mister fantastic #invisible girl #thing #human torch #namor #puppet master #stan lee #jack kirby #steve ditko #marvel comics #silver age comics #comic books #comic review

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namorthesubmariner · 9 months

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Thoughts on Marvel Snapshot: The Sub-Mariner?

I've written my thoughts in various posts and answered this before, here, but to add to this:

I rank Marvel Snapshot: Sub-Mariner as one of the Must Reads for any Namor fan. It's well written and very character centric. You get insight into Namor's personality and thoughts, how the war affected him, and his struggle with PTSD, and this all comes from the pov of a person who loves him. Betty Dean is a very important character in early Sub-Mariner lore and it's amazing to read something in her pov.

I really love the whole comic and it's one of my most reread Namor comics. The art is wonderful!

#namor #namor the sub mariner #betty dean #imp answers

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tmnt-tychou · 11 months

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Hi again!!! 😄 congrats on reaching your milestone!! That’s so cool!

This has been a question I’ve been wanting to ask, mostly cuz I’m curious! If you had to rank your personal favorite iterations of the TMNT based on characters and story, which would rank higher in your opinion? Bayverse turtles can also count!! 😁

Thanks again, and congrats!!! 🎉

I had to marinate on this. It's very hard to pick favorites when there's so many good versions to choose from. And these are just personal favorites, not a hard line on which show/movie is the best ever. No need to tell me what's what if anyone sees this list and disagrees. This is just my personal list.

I think my absolute top tier is still the 2003 version. This is largely due to the fact that this series was allowed to cover all the story lines that it wanted. Granted, not every episode is gold, but it really took advantage of all the things you can do in a TMNT universe and very much set a precedent of other versions to follow. (I do not count Fast Forward and Back to the Sewers in this.)

Rise of the TMNT is second. I think it had the capacity to surpass 2003, but it wasn't afforded the opportunity. With how much world-building and new ground it covered with only a season and a half, I can't even imagine what we would have had with a full five seasons or so if it had been allowed to continue.

Bayverse is my third favorite. Not necessarily because I think it's the "best", but because it's a lot of fun to play in. Some fans take Bayverse very seriously. I just can't. It's my anything-goes universe. I reserve a bit of respect for the other universes, but with Bayverse, I can do whatever dumb shit I want. I can make the dialog as crass as I want, I can explore more mature themes that I otherwise wouldn't put in a TMNT universe. I dunno, it's just stupid and fun. Also, very big turtles. I can't get enough.

Next is the 90's movies trilogy. The 2nd and 3rd are just stupid fun and very enjoyable. The first one, I think is still the best movie script to date and it too set a precedent for future TMNT iterations, including 2003.

I'll sneak in some comics here. "The Last Ronin" is a great read, if sad. Though not as rough of a read as I anticipated. And I really adored the TMNT/Power Rangers second crossover. (I have not read the first.) Of course, the art is AMAZING, but the script was great, too. I don't know a lot about PRs, but I could mostly follow along. And the Raphael/Casey bromance in this was SO GOOD.

Next, I would put the first 5 episodes of the 80's cartoon here. Yes, the show got dumb. They were on for like 10 seasons. But the first five episodes are pretty solid and a really good story. If you haven't seen the 80's cartoon and are overwhelmed with the sheer amount of episodes there are, just watch the first five. That's all you need.

I guess 2012 will go here. It's not my favorite series, though I know it's some fans' absolute true love TMNT iteration. I thought the first season was (mostly) pretty solid and I was really into it when it first came out, but by the end it was just the hottest of messes. Are there some fantastic episodes? Yes. Is this one of the best Splinters we've ever had? Also yes. Are the turtles' designs absolutely freaking adorable? Of course. Is that enough to carry this series for me? Unfortunately, no. This show is one big garbage fire and I didn't even watch most of the last season. Though I did catch that incredibly off-putting last episode.

Turtles Forever goes here. It was a great idea for a movie and I would have put it higher up, but I just watched it recently. It's actually kind of mean-spirited to other iterations, specifically the 80's version. So it goes lower on the scale for me.

The 2007 movie is next. Terrible script. So-so character designs. Some fantastic scenes. Probably one of the best Raphaels we've had.

Bottom tier stuff: Fast Forward, Back to the Sewers, a lot of the 80's show. The Next Mutation.

#ask me shit #lets talk turtles

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wickedlyqueer · 11 months

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5, 14, 15, 18 for fanfic ask?

Aw thanks Carson! :D This got ramble-y, and I won't apologize.

5. What’s a fic idea you’ve had that you will never write?

Hm, there's the Holy Poly fic, but other than that...? Oh, okay I guess this is familiar to you and the people on discord, but recently I had this 1 am brainrot idea where Elphaba is dead, and Glinda is so distraught over it that she crafts an entire D&D map and embues it with magic, so they can both live there. Basically, Elphie doesn't realize they're in a simulation and that they might not even exist since they already died???

And while everybody in the discord was like "THAT'S FUCKED UP! WE'LL SUFFER! WRITE IT!" I had to explain... that I can't.

There's one (1) rule I follow and that's that a fic needs to have a cathartic ending. It can be sad or bittersweet, but I physically and emotionally cannot deal with an Elphaba who find outs that the person they love and care for the most is actively lying to them and has created a universe that isn't even real (!!!). Elphaba, fundamentally, would never ever trust Glinda after learning that. It would go beyond betrayal. It very much gave Glinda all the power and agency over Elphaba and it felt so nefarious and so wrong, that despite the chat hyping me up, I had to stick to my principles and refuse to ever touch the idea.

BUT. As you also know Carson, I did like certain aspects of that idea, so I let the idea sit in my brain for a bit and now that has turned into the multiverse fic, which I am excited about, has a far more expansive world than the other idea ever had, and does not consist that fucked up power balance.

TL;DR If I don't like a fic I let it marinate in my brain until the elements I like & do work find a place in a story I want to write and can envision.

14. If you could see one of your fics adapted into a visual medium, such as comic or film, which fan fic would you pick?

I find adaptations fascinating and I love visual mediums, so for most of my fics I can think of something. But for now let's say Smoke Covers Your Radiating Heart.

It's an 80s AU so I can easily see it be turned into a cheesy & messy & iconic 80s movie, bops and all!

15. How do you come up with titles for your fics/chapters?

Fuck if I know, honestly. I do like my titles to reflect the fic, so I always try to get the main "theme" of the fic somewhere in there. Like Smoke Covers Your Radiating Heart; in itself the title reflects how Glinda and Elphaba have quite some trouble showing how they feel about each other. They're hiding (even though a bit of smoke is never going to hide goddamn radiation (!!!).

But simultaneously there's some silly word association going on. The smoke refers to the amount of smoking that is happening in the fic (and generally in that time period). Radiating was a reference to the Dutch history that I've interwoven in the fic and the anti nuclear weaponry protest that Elphaba organizes. The heart obviously reflects gelphie's love and the "covering" I already explained. Just shake the words in your hand for a lil bit and voila; Smoke Covers Your Radiating Heart.

18. What’s one of your favorite lines you’ve written in a fic?

Oh gosh, this is tough, because I don't really write memorable lines imo? I'm more focused on the scene and dialogue and if it blends together. Not whether I have the perfect sentence that's very quotable. But again, if I have to force myself and choose an answer, I really love this exchange from the Victorian one-shot:

“I don’t care,” Glinda breathed out shakingly. “I want to have and hold you, Elphie.” “Then have me in your dreams, your thoughts, your fantasies. The only place our love is allowed. That’s where you’ll find me.”

Ask me a fanfic question

#sam's asks #ask game #gelphie #wicked fanfic

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rune-chaser · 1 year

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Part1 Part2 Part3 Part4 Part5 Part6 Part7 Part8 Part9 Part10 Part11 Part12 Part13 Part14 Part15 Part16 Part17 Part18 Part19 Part20 Part21 Part22 Part23 Part24 Part25 Part26 Part27 Part28 Part29 Part30 Part31 Part32 Part33 Part34 Part35 Part36 Part37 Part38 Part39 Part40 Part41 Part42 Part43 Part44 Part45 Part46 Part47

Well... We did it folks! The beginnings have come to an end. Guess they've got the rest of it to look forward to. I thought I'd have a lot more to say here but, I'm just very happy and glad to have been able to bring this chapter of their story to its close. A whole 3 years I've been working on these ladies. (finished this page just before the 3 year anniversary day) These ladies mean the world to me, and I can only hope y'all have come to care for them even a fraction of that amount! (And to all the og folks thanks for dealing with 3 years of long hair Marin pffff-) Special thanks to my dear friends, @sundoodle, @hellothisismasu and @nine-broken-clocks Sunny and Masu for being my 'beta' readers of sorts and Nine for being my partner in crime with these two ladies and one of the biggest fans of this comic! And thank you all for reading and here's to seeing you for many more comics to come!

#my crappy art #fantasy #fantasy comic #webcomic #demon #Marin #Sunita #AND JUST LIKE THAT #I HAVE A WHOLE ASS COMIC UNDER MY BELT

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doom-nerdo-666 · 11 months

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Doom x Halo thoughts

(Needed an excuse to post an image... this IS "official" art, right?)

Doom and Halo have some history "together", at least from the outside like people comparing them and all.

So MicroSoft owning Doom lead to people think of potential crossover and other things.

I feel like there's some stuff to think about, just because:

The fans (And some comparisons)

I'm sure everyone knows about older Doom fans insulting Halo fans for "picking the inferior game that ruined the genre".

But with how less popular Halo got over the years and the mainstream return of Doom, it seems things have changed where more likely the "older gamers" are those into Halo and the younger ones are those into modern Doom.

Doom fans also used to compare Master Chief to Doomguy, as if he was a copycat stealing someone else's throne when the 2 didn't have much in common besides "green space marine in revolutionary FPS series".

Let's see some basic differences at the time:

One has grey/white helmet, the other has green helmet.

One shows arms, the other doesn't.

One shows face (Even in the HUD), the other is faceless.

This is why 2016 was a bit special, because it somewhat broke those differences (And i guess the more advanced armor and an AI companion, no?).

But even Doom 2016 brought new unique elements to Doom to make it stand out, even if there's still arguements of how the series is comparable to Halo or other games.

So Eternal brought back the exposed arms and added a shoulder gun and arm blade but still kept the helmet green.

The existence of the Doomslayer can also be traced to outside factors and not just the comic book with "rip and tear" but even stuff like how people compared Doomguy to Chief, Death Battle, maybe some goofy webcomics or copypastas etc.

Doomslayer can be seen as a product of fanservice even if the comparisons to MC lead to a certain irony.

Some people also thought Halo Infinite was taking stuff from Doom Eternal like the grapple hook or even some character designs but it's clear that Halo still had energy swords first.

It's also worth mentioning that both Doomguy and Chief were treated as blank slates except MC was still a clear character who talked in the right moments (Though this again leads to differences between Bungie and 343) while Doomguy was "unfinished" enough to be carried by his fans (Hence "Doomguy").

Another thing is how both series have religious references but differently: Halo has its own lore/setting but has clever references to Christianity in it, whereas Doom came in the "Satanic Panic" era and was a goofy "heavy metal" premise (And how later games handled the setting also depends on how it affects this but still).

And if you recall the original Forerunner lore, even Eternal's lore for the Sentinel may have something to do with the idea of humanity's ascendents or something like that.

Either way, i'm sure some fans would prefer to see both series stand in their own, since Eternal didn't even explore some other parts of classic Doom's aesthetic.

Perhaps this is why i think not only Doomguy's helmet should remain white/grey but also that the Sentinel Crucible should have been an energy chainsaw at best instead of a sword.

Gameplay

Both franchises have their impacts in FPS games and in a way that makes fans see them as opposites.

Doom was the upgrade from Wolfenstein 3D that needed to happen to actually kick off the genre while Halo (And i suppose also Half-Life) led to a new version of the genre that mostly defined modern console gaming.

(Though it can also be seen as games copying popular titles when considering terms like "Doom clone" or "Halo killer")

With the FPS genre, we obviously know about later games and how they had their affects on it over time, while both Doom and Halo changed, whether it's to make them stand out or even fall under certain trends.

Despite Halo being somewhat responsible for FPS games after it, it actually suffered worse with the trends and copied the kind of games it inspired.

You can point out D3 having reloading, upgrade systems in later Doom's and a 2 weapon limit in D2016's multiplayer (Funny enough, this mode was done by the studio Certain Affinity, that worked on Halo and COD before) but the games still managed to stand out among other titles.

Even if people trace modern Doom to Painkiller but even then, the Painkiller or Serious Sam format wasn't as big as the "Halo killer" one.

This is also a result of MicroSoft wanting Halo to be their "Mario" even when Bungie wanted to move on, while 343 tries to be clever and to justify making new Halo games.

Bungie even used to have a line in the studio saying "we make games we want to play" and there's even stories of the original Halo's development where Bungie and MS were at fights over what was going to happen with the game.

While Doom was probably never meant to be a "franchise" (Specially with the existence of a new IP that is Quake and the wad/mod/source port scene) but titles like D64 still existed and D3 for better or worse was something else entirely (And D2016 basically existed as part of a ZeniMax contract and the cancelled D4 development but still turned out great).

"Within the genre" crossover

On one hand, it's neat that fighting game franchises from Capcom, SNK, Namco and some others mix up within their genre.

On another hand, you had situations where Mario and Sonic meet up at the Olympics because despite both being 2 titans in the landscape of platforming, they have a lot of gameplay differences that means it could be hard to mix them up.

Because i though it'd be fitting if Doom and Halo had a crossover in FPS format despite their differences (Even if you had to cherrypick specific elements).

Meanwhile, Quake Champions was the first time BJ, Doomguy and Ranger were in a game together but it also felt like QC wasn't aware of it (I mean, remember that Doomguy was announced through a tweet before they posted an actual video trailer).

And i know people will want something better than the two green soldiers simply showing up in Fortnite (Specially because the idea of these 2 interacting in particular is not intentional and besides, Fortnite's crossovers don't have the same feeling as something like certain fighting game crossovers or Smash).

I also think a crossover needs to portray a series in a way that feels respectable, like not just sticking to the latest entry in a series and getting creative with designs and so on.

Kinda like how Smash is notorious for its "Snake" being both Solid Snake and Big Boss.

Basically, think of something like MetaDoom as how Doom as a series could be portrayed.

Except Doom is a series that can (Or at least should) ignore lore while Halo always had a lore focus (That was eventually mismanaged).

A Doom mod called Halo: Doom Evolved attempts to merge both series and is a popular example.

Of course i'd use MetaDoom and Samsara as references but honestly, they're the best kind of fanservice.

(I think Halo also had its own "franchise mix up" mod being SPV3)

Story/lore

Perhaps a major difference between these 2 franchises is how they treated story/canon.

Doom's own story was always a mess and not taken seriously, with examples besides that one quote by John Carmack such as:

Lack of story and barely enough context.

Abstract levels and assets.

Contradicting information.

"Additional info" that is obscure and hard to look for.

Adaptations that deviate from the main setting such as the 2005 movie or older novels.

Different games might as well have different canons since D3 is clearly its own timeline.

The mere fact that concepts from the fanbase overlap with the series, be it a nickname like "Doomguy" or how anyone remembers an aspect of gameplay due to source ports.

Halo on the other hand always had a lore/universe, since a book even came before Combat Evolved and it's a series by the people that brought you Marathon.

Cutscenes, story segments, voice acting, lore... it was always there.

With this in mind, you'll understand why fans dislike 343's involvement on the series due to what they've done to the story and setting.

The most noticeable example being the Forerunners, since most of Bungie's games and material had clear hints of what they were going for.

But it's not even just retcons, there's always decisions that make no sense as if 343 is struggling to do something while trying to address fan responses.

343 Halo is also noticeably more story-heavy compared to Bungie.

And let's also not forget what they've done to Cortana (Which i believe is a case of someone looking at the concept of "rampancy" in the Marathon series and poorly copying it; Didn't Bungie themselves had ideas of making Cortana turn evil but they were dropped? Thought i heard that).

Modern Doom does focus on the idea of a universe with lore (Even if just for the sake of nerd appeal) but i also imagine that even the new id Software has second thoughts on some decisions.

It's why i think Doom works as a "blank canvas" where a certain game can simply do things differently just because.

But this "blank canvas" mentallity isn't the case with Halo, so how does one save its worldbuilding?

Well if that trainwreck of a TV show can deviate even further from Halo canon, anything should go including a return to glory... hopefully...

Still, it's clear Bungie intended to end Halo with 3 and 343 only kept the series going because it's essentially the Mario of the Xbox brand.

Art style/aesthetics differences

Both series went through visual changes as well.

Doom definitely "changed skin" more noticeably than Halo, but you'll find more Halo fans unhappy with visual changes than Doom fans.

Again, it's due to lore/story reasons since even the looks are key in the world building of Halo.

Bungie wanted to make Halo somewhat grounded while still sci-fi whereas 343 makes their designs way more detailed and "out of there", until Infinite tried to make it up and attempt to go back to a more familiar style.

There's even fanmade redesigns of 343 designs meant to make them more Bungie-like.

Doom's original art style was always messy and lead to fans have their own interpretations, even if i made a post trying to explain some aspects of it.

And most Doom games are different takes in the series, even if 2016/Eternal forms canon ties to the classic games.

You get the feeling that a Doom game after Eternal might as well play and look very differently but can still offer some stuff to enjoy and if you don't like it: The older games still have that modding legacy.

Meanwhile, it turns out that Kenneth Scott who worked on Quake 3 and Doom 3 (And apparently Hacx) also worked on Halo 4.

Then there's comments about which series is copying which one but i'm sure people will prefer that both stand out in their own hopefully.

If Doom and Halo start to have similarities, it might also be a certain revelation that modern games will have certain aesthetical trends and result in lots of comparisons.

Hell, the idea that companies could use AI art could even adhere to the fact that "sci-fi" and "fantasy" are just vague labels to companies and there's no such thing as more distinct styles or designs.

Samsara and mods

Speaking of FPS crossovers, Doom has its fair share of amazing unofficial ones like the "Smash of retro FPS" that is Samsara and even Quake 3's Generations Arena.

And then there's a franchise mix ups like MetaDoom.

Along with mods that add "original" stuff that extends the setting like Complex Doom and all those Realm667 adjacent projects.

But even Halo has stuff like SPV3 and Halo Legacies.

Sometimes, i feel like these projects could be good use of reference of "what the fans want" even if there's the danger of companies stealing from fans or going after fan projects.

Monopolies and the corporate side of things

There is reason to worry about MS owning more studios and companies.

I'm sure we all know about corporations controlling stuff people like and all.

At least Doom's source code is available and there's a lot fans can still do, but this doesn't apply to all Doom games.

MS had a history of originally buying Doom and then there's the history of the 95 Windows Doom port (And this can also tie to Direct X).

It'll also be strange seeing Xbox fanboys put Doom alongside Halo in their console war attitudes even when it contrasts the established subcultures set by older Doom fans (Not like Eternal didn't already have something like this).

Meanwhile, you also have the story of Bungie making games for Mac and Halo originally being a Mac game before MS bought Bungie and that may've lead to the Halo we know today.

Another thing is Doom's reputation of being a game with various ports in different machines (Officially and otherwise) while Halo is usually XBox and sometimes PC (Though there's the story of that cancelled Nintendo DS game i guess).

What else

How could i forget Marathon? Think of it as a middleground between Doom and Halo.

It's technically a "Doom clone" but it's also a predecessor to Halo.

Despite being a lore heavy series, it's also known for its limited presentation and abstraction.

I've already talked about what i think of the new announced Marathon game.

And the music?

Sure Doom has a lot of great music, (From Bobby, Hodges, Mick, Hulshult, Levy, TNT, Tweaker, even the 3DO port) but let's not forget: Halo had this and it rules:

youtube

Anyway, this post could've been a lot better but if a Youtuber ever makes a "let's talk about Doom and Halo" video, feel free to use this as reference or "food for thought".

#doom #id software #halo #bungie software #crossover #opinions #microsoft #bethesda #343 studios #doomguy #doomslayer #master chief #Youtube #xbox

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