#of course these aliens who are constantly changing their looks and who rely mostly on telepathy to communicate with one another

[ahalliance]

me googling whether time lords are face blind to check if that’s a hc or actual canon fact

#hc it seems #and a great one at that #it’s like the doctor being allergic to aspirin stuff . is this a hc that caught on or actual canon? yeah it is canon #keeps u on ur toes #jay rambles #dw.txt #also anw to expand on the faceblind hc. i love it #of course these aliens who are constantly changing their looks and who rely mostly on telepathy to communicate with one another #are faceblind. like recognising faces is useless compared to being able to reach out and connect your mind with someone else’s

[kanyniablue]

hws characters & belief in the supernatual

we’re not done yet w/ the headcanons

this is about interpreting the individual characters, not a statement on whether any real-life beliefs are true or not.

a.merica:  extremely superstitious but doesn’t believe he is.  every plane he’s ever flown, ship he’s ever sailed, and gun he’s ever carried has good luck charms.  his bomber jacket has lucky patches.  he wouldn’t let a rocket launch without first making sure the commander has lost a poker game.  and of course, no matter how secular he claims to be, he’s got religious--mostly protestant christian--imagery out the ass.  he’s got lucky rocks, lucky shoelaces, lucky underwear, lucky breakfast foods.  he particularly likes reverse-lucky things, saying black cats or the number 13 are actually good luck for him.  these are all “for fun”...except he would never go without them.  he half-believes in ghosts--moreso when he’s just watched a horror movie or it’s the middle of the night--but he’ll go on a ghost hunt at any time for any reason, just because it’s fun to believe (no i don’t believe he has a phobia of ghosts.  i think most of the things that cause him to feel real fear are too intense to be “fun,” so he likes horror movies and roller coasters and everything that can give him a thrill with no pressure).  he loves cryptids and gravity hills and the bermuda triangle, more for what they represent than what they actually are--finding bigfoot would just mean discovering a new species, which is great and all, but thinking bigfoot might be out there somewhere means you can go bigfoot-hunting or think you saw one in the background of a blurry photo.  his roommate is a literal space alien, but like, bro what if that was a ufo just now???

e.ngland:  he’s a sailor, of course he’s superstitious.  add into that how he can apparently see and talk to spirits, practices magic, and has sites like stonehenge across his land, he’s just going to outright tell you he’s not going to whistle on a boat and that he wants you to refer to macbeth as “the scottish play.”  he only gets upset about it, much like everything else he gets upset about, if you laugh at him.  the bigger question is, does he believe in the rest of the world’s superstitions or are they “silly legends and old wives’ tales” while his are real, and the answer i think is an “everyone else’s is fake until something happens right in front of me.”

f.rance:  he loves things like love locks on bridges (until they cause the fence to collapse) or visions from saints (esp jeanne d’arc), but he doesn’t necessarily believe they’re real.  more that it’s very romantic to think they’re real, and if something as strange as a Nation can exist, who’s to say other mystical things can’t exist too?

c.anada:  he has some old beliefs about where you don’t want to fuck around and find out--if you want a successful hunt you don’t insult the prey, if you don’t want to freeze to death you don’t talk back to general winter--but for the most part he doesn’t have that sort of belief system.  he’s a lot more about what’s directly in front of you and what it means in literal terms.

c.hina:  his grocery list always includes snacks for wandering spirits.  if he hears a strange noise in the house he talks to it like it’s a person, just in case it is.  he consults fortune tellers before buying a new cellphone.  his house is carefully organized for most harmonious energy flow right down to the color of paint on the walls.  yao lives by the rituals he’s made for himself, some of which are so ancient or personal to him that even the humans who study ancient chinese culture & mythology have never heard of them.  it’s not myth for him any more than tying your shoelaces to make sure you don’t trip is a myth--you do it because you know how these things work; you’d be foolish not to.

r.ussia:  he’d tell you no and furthermore any sort of supernatural belief is stupid, but don’t leave him alone in the middle of the woods where there might be...something.  this is mostly from after his revolution--in earlier days he’d have anything from good-luck hunting gear to lucky gambling dice.  he still has a lingering belief that talking about wolves makes them more likely to show up.  he couldn’t say why, except that it’s such an old fear even modernization couldn’t get rid of it.  he’d also never disrespect general winter, which is a theme with northern Nations.  (he’s also got his lucky rocket launch ritual, as mentioned in that ripley’s article i linked before...😒...)  much like alfred, he’s less scared/interested in a physical, literal being than he is in the concept--more afraid of being afraid than of dealing with an actual monster.

j.apan:  you’d be surprised; as someone who loves ritual and whose mythology is known the world over, kiku tends to disregard supernatural belief.  he’ll join in the activities surrounding holidays and ceremonies, but that’s more for the joy of participating than because he thinks it will actually change anything.  in his past he fully believed in all the things that caused those rituals to come into existence in the first place, but nowadays he considers them more “cute” or “fun” or “cultural” than “necessary.”  if one of the others comes over to his house looking for yōkai or something he’ll join in, but mostly in a mildly amused way.  not that he’d say that out loud, obviously; that’d just be impolite.  he is however sometimes outright rude to yao about his devotion to rituals, claiming he’s living in the past or holding up their business.  they’ve known each other long enough they don’t sugarcoat how they talk to each other.

north & south i.taly:  these two are super superstitious.  feli consults his horoscope for daily business and has good luck charms for everything from the weather to love to money to traffic.  he’s a gambler and a fisherman, he’s not taking chances.  lovi is a weird mix of catholicism-to-the-point-of-paganism and ancient roman rituals--not that he’s sacrificing animals to the gods, but it wouldn’t be unusual to see a miraculous medal and a roman god’s icon both hanging from his keychain.  they frequently swear by a broad selection of saints, they always eat lentils on new year’s, they’ve got a million idioms and hand gestures they themselves only half-remember the origins of.  they also get into arguments as to which of them is interpreting such-and-such sign or saint the ‘correct’ way.  feli also starts brushing off on kiku & ludwig when he hangs out with them; he’s just so into it they subconsciously start doing the same things he does.

g.ermany:  extremely no-nonsense, practical, matter-of-fact...except for how he’ll talk to his computer as if he can convince it to work better.  oh, and don’t take candy from strangers living in gingerbread houses or offering to take you to your grandmother’s house.  and much like alfred & ivan, he’s not scared of ghosts or monsters until he hears a bump in the night.

p.russia:  in his early years when he was devoutly religious, he was constantly praying, lighting candles, following his book of hours...usually after “smiting” a bunch of “heathens,” but like, it’s moral when he does it...but as time went on he became more interested in what could be scientifically proven.  even still early european science was a mix of magic, religious belief, and nature, and he basically did the same things as before except now he claimed it was all an experiment instead of all for the Glory Now And Forever Amen.  i firmly believe he lost his faith in any sort of religion by the end of WWI and nowadays he’d laugh off most of his past beliefs as ridiculous superstition.  since he ‘died’/got laid off from being a Nation he’s more interested on where the line between Nation and normal human exists, and where that goes past nature and into the supernatural--things he never really thought about when he could rely on his super-healing to keep himself alive and could feel his citizens’ emotions if they were strong enough.  those diaries he keeps have a lot of notes and observations along those lines nowadays.

#headcanon #hetalia #hws america #hws russia #hws england #hws china #hws france #hws canada #hws italy #hws japan #hws prussia #hws germany #hws romano

[chessdaze]

Three Wishes Institute - A TWST fanschool

Reposting this as I’ve changed my URL which broke all the links in my previous lore post, and since I’ve gotten a lot of new followers lately and wanted them to be able to read it properly.

First off, as a concept, Three Wishes is a fanschool for twisted wonderland that involves characters that are considered ‘side’ or ‘background’ or even ‘comic relief’ characters from disney franchises. Right now I only have 6 dorms, and characters range from being on both ‘good’ and ‘bad’ sides of a story.

Here’s the lore rundown for the main school itself and a brief summary on the dorms and characters I will be designing for them. Under readmore cause this is HELLA long and I don’t want to make people scroll for forever:

The overall story of Three Wishes:

The Headmistress and Master, Amelia Bell and Reed Dearly (based on Anita and Roger from 101 dalmatians), only recently got the school property. Before them, the school was known to be really rundown, a failure, and pretty much on the verge of closing. While it was a school for magic, it was like all the magic was zapped out of the school itself. It was filled with delinquents and very few students who actually cared. Most dropped out if anything.

Amelia was a teacher at the school for a little over a year and the only teacher that students really respected and bothered showing up to class for. She hated seeing the school in the state it was in and tried pleading with the headmistress of the school to try and change things - however was constantly told it was too late and that the school would be closing. It did, and Amelia had to look for jobs elsewhere. But she couldn’t shake the feeling that she could have done more and found herself drawn back to the crumbling school on more than one occasion. She decided to sneak in one day to see if she could find a hint of anything from the old headmistress - who had disappeared without a trace - to see if she could get in contact with her. This wasn’t her idea of course, but her (boyfriend at the time) Reed’s.

Eventually they did track down the headmistress and found her terribly ill. Amelia insisted that the two of them care for her, despite all that the headmistress had done to shun Amelia beforehand. They did, and during that time Amelia explained the hopes she had previously had for the school - she said how she wanted a school that anyone could feel welcome to apply, and not have some special ceremony for acceptance (like the carriages for NRC). She believed people could be equals and that as a magical community they should all help one another. The old headmistress was moved by Amelia’s words and when she back to health she revealed herself to be a powerful sorceress (the enchantress from Beauty and the Beast. No design as of now). She explained she had been looking for a worthy successor for the school and her magic but didn’t find Amelia fitting at the time, but saw the kindness in Amelia’s heart and offered her the deed to the school and the surrounding grounds. She wanted to see what Amelia would do with the school and was interested if she could really bring a community together like she explained. Then, she disappeared.

Amelia and Reed worked to renovate the school, taking nearly 2 years on the project. Amelia comes from a wealthy family, but even then funds were not endless, so a lot of fundraising was done to also raise awareness for the reopening school. At first there wasn’t much interest but it slowly got more and more traction. With donations and family money, they were able to complete the school. The two of them also got engaged during this time. Even with them rebuilding the mainschool and doing some maintenance on the dorms themselves, there are some secrets that even the two of them are still learning, as the sorceress took off before giving them the full details on the school itself.

The school’s aim is to not only teach its students magic, but the foundation of being a good person, being helpful and selfless. The school holds a lot of community and fundraising events, and there is even a mandatory volunteering class where students have to spend a certain amount of hours volunteering for a local community service. This school hopes to bridge the gap between the elite and average magic users, showing that deep down everyone is human and deserving of respect and a chance to grow.

This school doesn't have completely different areas for the dorms and it's all actually located on a large campus ground.The main school building is about 4 stories, there's a greenhouse and an auditorium in separate buildings.

The dorms are all two or three stories and are all relatively distant from each other, enough to give each dorm a good spot of land around it. Think a mansion with a large yard. When passing through the front gate for the dorm there's magic that makes it appear in a slightly different scenery - so the students don't always have the school looming in the background and can relax. The dorm's scenery is different between each dorm and it can change with each 'dorm representative'.

There aren't really dorm 'leaders' as there are representatives. Normally about two or three for each dorm - though can only be one if the person proves themselves to be capable / no one else is voted. Each dorm will have a meeting once a month to go over things that the dorm needs to address either internally or with the school or other dorms, and then the representatives bring those concerns to a meeting with the school's staff and other dorm representatives. Think more like a student council and class presidents. The representatives make almost all decisions together. Reps are voted for each year within a dorm, and the voting is taken pretty seriously.

The dorm rep duties outside of the meetings is mostly just like a college RA. They make sure people are following the rules, help solve problems between students in their dorm, plan and hold events, etc.

The dorms:

While students are separated into dorms in this school, the headmaster and mistress try to stress the fact that they are all one community. Friendly rivalry is encouraged but ultimately the matter of dorms is just where the students end up living and placing them near people who can better help those around them. The two in charge don’t want the dorms to become too competitive or to alienated from one another - so there’s actually a lot of cross dorm events and even friends staying over at other friends dorms for days on end at times.

As a note, as long as it’s not inappropriate, students are encouraged to wear anything they want as their ‘dorm uniform’. Standard school uniforms are required on the main campus but as Headmaster Reed puts it - there’s no reason for them to tell the students what to wear in their own house. Plus, the school isn’t as well funded as most other private schools, so not having a lot of uniforms to keep up with is better for them in the long run. They don’t even have a formal ceremonial robe like NRC does, but I will be posting about the uniforms in a different post.

Now onto the dorms themselves.

Cinderella dorm: Nightingale Founded on the hard work and dedication of a princess’s companions, members of this dorm are no strangers to teamwork and getting the job done. It’s said that there’s no miracle students in this dorm can’t pull off in a short amount of time. Members of this dorm are close and they will drop anything they’re doing to help another. 

Read the profiles for the students apart of this dorm here!

Snow White: Diamanttobar Founded on the tradition and devotion of miners, members of this dorm specialize in working long hours and putting 100% into everything they do.They might be hard to win over, but once you have their companionship little will shake their loyalty. Students here notice the smaller details and are said to be able to craft nearly anything.  

Read the profiles for the students apart of this dorm here!

Aladdin: Wondrous Founded on the cleverness and protective instincts of a royal couple’s most trusted confidants, members of this dorm sometimes have questionable methods but overall have hearts of gold. Students in this dorm are proactive in calling out unfair rules and try to work for changes and reforms to improve the lives of those around them.

Read the profiles for the students apart of this dorm here!

Mulan: Guardian Founded on the honor and strength of dragons, students of this dorm are known to follow a code of honor and are very protective of one another. They are great with helping other student’s physical and mental well beings, acting as trainers and confidants.

Read the profiles for the students apart of this dorm here!

AiW: Lapinhole Founded on the curiosity and madness of a queen’s subjects, members of this dorm are known to be eccentric and creative. A lot of students in this dorm are mysterious and have a strange method of helping others, but even through the confusion a lot of students rely on students from this dorm for a little more fun in their lives.

Read the profiles for the students apart of this dorm here!

Beauty and the Beast: Servireu Founded on the faith and loyalty of a Beast Prince’s servants, members of this dorm are known to be generous, not judgemental, and helpful to those around them. A lot of these students are at the top of their classes and are known for being excellent tutors for others. Though a little eccentric, they obviously mean well and have good intentions.

Read the profiles for the students apart of this dorm here!

Annnnddd that’s it! I plan to possibly redo my dorm lore dump post aswell as make a separate post for the uniforms once I have them designed. also the staff will be getting their own posts aswell when I finish their designs too.

#three wishes institute #twisted wonderland #twst #twst fanschool #twisted wonderland fanschool

[joyofcrime-elinorhigh]

2018 Year in REVIEW: Part 1

 Doing these list was a lot easier back when I actually had cable...

 Hello everybody, my name is JoyofCrimeArt, and another year has come and gone. And with 2019 is right around the corner, I think it's time to once again continue the annual tradition. That's right, I'm talking about my end of the year recap! Cause 2018 was a huge year for the cartoon community!-

Oh wait, that's a picture of a dumpster fire. Don't know how I mixed those two up...  If you've been following my page for a while now, you'll already know how this works. But for any newcomers, I'll be going through a list of several of the most notable events and animated series that happened over the course of the year. I'll be going over these events is roughly chronological order (Though I may swap a few things around to keep similar topics together) all while giving my own personal thoughts and opinion on each one. Anime and theatrical films will be exempt from this list, as it's already long enough as it is. I'll mostly be focusing on TV series and animation news. And while OBVIOUSLY I won't be able to cover everything I'm try to hit you with the highlights, along side some things that may have gone under the radar. And when I'm done I will count down my favorite series of the year from worst to best, give the year a grade, and decide which network "won" the year.  I would also just like to be transparent here and say this concept is stolen directly from the anime youtuber Gigguk. I liked the concept, and wanted to apply it to something I loved. Also, if you want to check out my previous years in review, you can do so here. (2016 Year in REVIEW: Part 1) And here. (2017 Year in REVIEW: Part 1) But with all that out of the way, let's get into 2018 year in review. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  And what's a better place to start with than with everybody's favorite cringe lord. That's right, I'm talking about the Christian Minecraft Server himself, Butch Motherfluffin' Hartman! Who announced that he...would be leaving Nickelodeon. Which is just weird to think about, y'know? Butch Hartman has been working at Nickelodeon for close to two decades. And now he's just gone seemingly out of the blue. Sure, not all of his shows were great, but you can't argue his impact. He helped define the network and was one of the channels biggest tent-poles along with Dan Schneider.  In other news, Dan Schneider has announced that he would be leaving Nickelodeon. Which is just weird to think about, y'know? Dan Schneider has been working at Nickelodeon for close to two decades. And now he's just gone seemingly out of the blue. Sure, not all of his shows were great, but you can't argue his impact. He helped define the network and was one of the channels biggest tent-poles along with Butch Hartman.  ...Wait?  Yeah, these are massive hits for Nickelodeon. But honestly, it might be for the best in the long run. If you look at Nickelodeon for the last twenty years or so, it's always been dominated by shows from the same handful of creators. So maybe losing these two will force the channel to take some chances on some fresh talent, rather than relying on the same people over and over again. For good or for bad, I think we're going to see some big changes for the network within the next couple of years.  I just wonder what these creators are going to do going forward. Especially Butch Hartman, I hope he has some kind of project planned. If he did I think a lot of people would be really excited for it, y'know? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  In other news, it was announced that My Little Pony Friendship is Magic would be canceled in the year 2019.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOtGi2McE6A

I never watched much My Little Pony, only seeing the first season and a handful of episodes from the second. So this news isn't that big of a deal to me, but I know that it is for a LOT of other people out there.  I mostly just feel bad for Hasbro honestly. Cause let's be frank here, when they do make a G5 My Little Pony series...people will crucify it. It doesn't matter what the series is like. The reaction will be knee jerk, as THIS series is what people consider to be the definitive interpretation of MLP. If they change things people will be mad, and if they keep things the same people will find it to be a rehash. There's no real winning. I would suggest that Hasbro holds back on rebooting the series for at least a couple of years after this. Let the series die down a bit before starting something new. But I know there not gonna do that. They're going to want to make a new series as fast as possible in order to capitalize on the massive fandom. But still, nine years, that's a pretty good run for a show I think everybody was expecting to suck when it was first announced. Even though the show was never my cup of tea, I can still respect the show for the impact it's had. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Meanwhile, Cartoon Network decided to grace us several new cartoons this year. The first of which is Apple and Onion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1A9YzON11nw

The series follows a pair of food, Apple and Onion, as they begin life as adults living in the big city in a world of other anthropomorphic food people. The series is created by George Gendi, who has worked as a storyboard artist on both The Amazing World of Gumball and Sanjay and Craig. And that's exactly what this show feels like. A cross between The Amazing World of Gumball and Sanjay and Craig.  This show is nothing that you haven't really seen before. It's the pair of naive but optimistic idiots who get excited about everything around them. They annoy the people around them, but always find a way to make for it in the end. They're childish. They constantly break out into these in-prob raps, which I think is a trend that Adventure Time and Regular Show started. It's that kind of show. They're not really much difference between Apple and Onion besides Apple being a little bit weirder and Onion being a little bit more neurotic.  Something that this show does do that different is the delivery. In most of these types of series the characters would always be yelling and shouting slang and stuff. But the deliverer here is pretty dry and subdued. The dryness coupled with the somewhat odd looking character designs honestly makes this show feel less like a Cartoon Network series and more like an [adult swim] show with all the raunchiness taken out. There's something just unnerving about this show, and I can't tell if it's intentional or not.  Despite the shows flaws, I do kinda enjoy the elements about moving out and tackling adulthood. Both characters grew up in a very sheltered environment, and don't know much about the real word. We see them with relatable worries. Things like missing their parents on their first night alone, or being desperate to make they're first friends. But most of these moments are really only in the first episode and after that the show just goes back to following the typical "dude bro" formula. Which is a shame. The show has a really base to work off of, but it didn't do anything with it. And instead just became something cliche. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  TBS began creating it's own original animated series. Seemed like an odd move given the fact that TBS is owned by Turner, which already owns [adult swim]. Would TBS be able to find a way to differentiate itself? Well, to find out the answer to this question, let's have a look at the show that TBS seems to be most heavily pushing. Final Space.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EHbt_kSkG8  Final Space follows the adventures of Gary Goodspeed. A space criminal who has spent five years in solitary confinement aboard a prison ship filled with nothing but robots. But just a few days before his release he encounters an alien creature that he names Mooncake and decides to adopt it. But it just so happens that an evil alien empire happens to also be looking for this exact alien in hopes of using it's powers for universal domination. So Gary, along with a ragtag group of friends he meets along the way, have to work together to protect Mooncake and save the universe from said evil empire.  This show is something very unique, and there really isn't any other show I can think of that I can really compare it to. Not only is it one of the only "lore shows" that are aimed at adults, but it also one of the only american adult cartoons I've seen to really incorporate not just comedy but also drama and action as well.  One one hand, I love the combination of it all. It's all a combination I've never really seen before. Nearly all adult cartoons are comedies. And while that's not bad in any way, It's great seeing an adult cartoon tackle a more complex story. The show also manages to have really high stakes, with an adventure story with the entire universe potentially being in jeopardy. The series main villain, Lord Commander, shows just how much scarier a villain like say Bill Cipher or White Diamond could be if they were allowed to kill people onscreen. There is a sense anybody can die, which I really appreciate. The show also has a lot of heart...ehhh, for the most part. It is really refreshing when most adult cartoons rely on dark, cynical humor. Again, not that it's a bad thing, it's just nice to see an adult cartoon with a more optimistic viewpoint is all. "Cynical" does not automatically equal "adult."  However, there is a big problem I have with the series. While all the show's individual elements all work, they really don't all gel together very well. I don't mind a show tackling drama, comedy, action, ect. in fact, I tend to enjoy stories more when they're able to do more than one thing. But there isn't much easing these different elements into each other. And as a result the tone is all over the place. Every time something serious would happen Gary would end up making some kind of dumb joke that kills the mood. Even though the shows stakes are high, it feels like it's not until the last couple of episodes where Gary starts taking anything seriously. And it ends up making Gary seem really annoying. The show will be mostly light hearted, but then will throw out absurdly dark jokes out of nowhere that feels like they belong in Rick and Morty.While every element of the show is strong on it's own, it feels like they're all at odds with each other. It feels like the show wanted to be everything at once, but ended up being the jack of all trades, master of none. I admit these problem does begin to get a little better as the season goes on, but it still ends up kinda killing my enjoyment of the show as a whole.  I don't want to be to hard on this show though. It's clear that a lot of people really seem to like this show a lot. And you can tell from the interviews that the creator, Olan Rogers, feel very passionately about the series. And while I wasn't as crazy about the show as a lot of people were, I still admire the ambition and am glad that it exist. I'm glad that TBS is really promoting it, cause it is something that is unlike any other adult cartoon out there right now. And if this is the direction that TBS's original animation is going to do moving forward, than I think it defiantly will have it's own space separate from all the other adult cartoon channels out there. Olan Rogers has been very open to criticism of the show on twitter, so I am cautiously optimistic for season two. If the show can iron out some of these problems in season two, I think it could have the potential to be something really special. But as it is, it feels like great ideas with meh execution.   -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  So Infinity Trained got picked up, and- 

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBNxGZP49ls

 Sure, you're all hyped now. But just wait till Infinity Train has it's first "filler" episodes! Than you'll turn your back on it faster than you did with Steven Universe! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------    Roster Teeth gave us a new animated series in the form of "Nomad of Nowhere." A show that it felt like they didn't promote nearly as much as there other series. Which is a shame cause the show is actually pretty good. 

 The series follows The Nomad, a magical immortal being with the power to bring any inanimate object to life. In this world magic is feared and forbidden, with only the king and his top governors allowed to hoard the power. The series follows The Nomad as he travels town to town, helping people with his powers, all while being hunter down by various people trying to capture him.  The show has a real Samurai Jack vibe, which makes sense as the people behind the show listed Jack as a main inspiration. Both series follow quiet, or in The Nomads case mute, protagonist traveling around helping people all while dealing stalked by bounty hunters. But the series does manage to differentiate itself to not just a ripoff. While someone like Jack is a stoic badass who's driven by a mission, the Nomad is just a bumbling goofball who really just wants to survive and help people. Nomad of Nowhere also benefits from recurring antagonist who get there own character development in the form of Toph and Scout. Two characters who come close to approaching Steven Universe levels of "sad lonely lesbians." And THAT is quite and accomplishment!

 The series has a bit of a slow start, but gets better as the season goes on. The animation, while not fantastic, is "pretty good" and about on par with other 2D Roster Teeth series like "Camp Camp." One complaint I do have with the animation is with the way the objects that the Nomad brings to life are animated. They're just given stick arms and googly eyes, and I feel like the could of gone a bit more creative with that. The series is nothing mind blowing or anything, but it is fun. It definitely deserves more attention than it's gotten, as I feel it's been pretty overshadowed by Rooster Teeth's other works. Check it out if you haven't. It's all on Youtube for free. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Cartoon Network decided to give us another new series, created by Matt Burnett and Ben Levin of Steven Universe fame. And that series is Craig of the Creek.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIflRLSjzH8

 The series follows a young boy named Craig and his two friends Kelsey and T.J. as they just kinda...live life. More specifically it follows there adventures around the creek, the top hang out for all kids in there town. It's a fairly quaint series just following the life of these kids as they deal with all the different cliques that occupy the creek. It's one of those shows where they most mundane things as incredibly importance. Despite the show being made mostly by people who worked on Steven Universe, I'd say that the show is more comparable to something like We Bare Bears. However, there still are some elements of the show that are VERY Steven Universe.  You can also tell the people who made this show worked on Steven Universe because anime references...

(Image source KnowYourMeme.com)  Also the sad lonely lesbians.

Seriously, what's the point of making character who are ambiguously gay if you're going to make it so obvious! Why not just have them start out as a couple! And why can't a lesbian couple ever just be happy in one of these cartoons! Why are they always sad and lonely!?  This show...is fine. There's nothing wrong with it, but I have to admit that I couldn't find myself getting that into it. While it is funny enough, I just don't think there was anything in this series that felt particularly stand out. Craig feels like the same "naive but kind fun loving" hero it feels like every Cartoon Network show seems to have right now. The shows art style is INCREDIBLY similar to most other Cartoon Network shows, (specifically Steven Universe.) Like, nearly the exact same. I know that they share a lot of the same crew, but so does OK KO, and that has it's own style. Even the concept feels like a toned down Clarence. Everything about this show just feels like something I've seen before. All of this wouldn't be a big deal if the show had some kind of unique quirk or execution or something. But it really doesn't. The show isn't bad but it's incredibly... average. It's the most average show of the year. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  [adult swim] made several new shows this year, too. One of these series is Ballmastrz: 9009. A show that I didn't know much about and wasn't too interested in before I saw the trailer. But when I saw the trailer-oof, man. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4OaHcvzPh8

What the FRICK is this madness?!  Ballmastrz 9009 follows Gaz Digzy, an athlete living in the post apocalyptic future. She's a star player in a futuristic sport known simply as "The Game." However, after a drunken bender she ends up being kicked off her team and is forced to play on the worst team in the league, the Leptons. If she can help the Leptons win just one game, she'll be given permission to return to her original team.  The world of this show is pretty much the OK KO universe after a nuclear apocalypse. There is a TON of anime influences and references going from the obvious to the obscure. I also like how the show get's right to the point with establishing it's lore, instead of dragging it out. The series manages to have an overarching continuity that rewards people watching it in order, while also having episodes stand on there own for people to jump in at any time.  And OH MY GOD the animation. This is probably one of my favorite looking TV shows out right now. I love the sketchy look of it. The animation varies from comedically bad to INCREDIBLY fluid. It just adds to the anime aesthetic. The show is made by creator of Superjail. I've never seen that show, but from my limited knowledge I do have to say if your expecting the same level of gore you're not going to get that much. There's some gore, as this future has just invented immortality apparently, but there is a surprising lack of carnage compared to what I was expecting given the creators reputation.  The show isn't perfect however. The biggest flaw is actually the characters. There not bad, but there not great either. Gaz is an alcoholic, drug attic, sex crazed snark machine who uses these vices to make up for the fact that her life feels empty. As she, being the best at her profession, has become bored. Cause y'know, I've never seen that character done ANYWHERE else before. 

 In addition to Gaz, we also have Baby Ball. A robot ball who is just Master Shake from Aqua Teen in both voice and personality. There's also Ace, who is the typical "friendship loving shonen protagonist"  played by Jessica Dicicco. These three are the only characters who really get much screen time. The rest of the Leptons all pretty much stick to there one personality trait, maybe an episode about them if there lucky. I wish the show focused more on the team as a unit instead of just three of the characters.  The series also ends on a bit of a joke ending, which feels a bit unsatisfying for a show with a continuous continuity. The plot they set up in season one pretty much wraps up, so I don't know what the show is going to do if it gets another season. But I really hope it does. The show isn't perfect, but it's a fun ride through and through. The whole series is up for free on [adult swim's] website, no cable login in requires. I would highly recommend checking it out. It's like OK KO, just with more raunch and less propaganda aimed at children. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- And while we're on the topic of [adult swim] decided to renew Rick and Morty...FOR SEVENTY MORE EPISODES! Like...oh my God! The show has been running for five years so far, and has only aired thirty one episodes. If they continue at that pace, that means Rick and Morty will be on until...2031, give or take.  Rick and Morty will outlive us all...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUpsKsBqqwE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUpsKsBqqwE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUpsKsBqqwE

Play all three videos at once for maximum IQ)  But it's okay. It's all fine. Unless, Rick and Morty has some kind of drop in quality sometime within the next SEVENTY episodes. Y'know, like a lot of fans say it's already has. But then again, I already don't like this show, so I'm not the best person to comment on this. I'm sure a lot of people are excited about this announcement. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Disney decided to move all of there original animated series off of Disney XD and back onto Disney Channel. A move that honestly just makes sense. Disney XD is a secondary channel that not as many people have. But for some reason for the last several years Disney always treated it as the top channel, with episodes of cartoons not airing on Disney Channel proper until MONTHS after they had already aired on Disney XD. With more and more people cord cutting each year, it just doesn't make much sense to have so many shows premiere on a channel that a lot of people do not have. Many people have said this is the end for Disney XD. And while it is probably the end of it being a "big channel" it'll still be there along side channels like "Boomerang" and "Nicktoons." At least Disney XD still has originals like the Marvel cartoons, anime like Pokemon, and reruns of older Disney shows. There's an audience for that, even if it's not as huge. I mean, where else can you watch Fillmore in the year 2018? That's what I thought. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Ace is in the Gorillaz.

...  And they said Avengers: Infinity War was the most ambitious crossover of all time. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  And finally, I have to ask you all...do you know what a Thundercat is?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qi41rHz4ps

 My God...just, my God. In the several years I've been in the cartoon community I have never, EVER, seen a clusterfu*k quite like this. Powerpuff Girls 2016 WHO? Teen Titans Go! WHAT? Nah, man. This is the real tea right here, sis!  So, Thundercats is getting a reboot coming out next year. It's called Thundercats Roar. And the internet...has opinions on it.  If you compare the actual percentages of likes to dislikes on both videos, there is actually a higher percentage of people who liked Youtube Rewind 2018 than the Thundercats Roar trailer. Yeah...  So what are people so upset about, exactly? Well, there are several reasons. One of which I've seen several people in the comments list is the creators man bun. Guys, come on. We all agree that man buns are a sin against God and nature, but let's leave the mans appearance out of this, alright? Many people are also mad at the seemingly more comedic tone that this series seems to be going for, saying that it's another example of an action cartoon being rebooted as an eleven minute comedy. I mean that does seem to be a trend as of late. From 2017's Ben 10, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and of course Teen Titans Go! I mean just look at the titles. Teen Titans GO! Thundercats ROAR. The comparison seems easy to make.  There are also people who are upset about the fact that we're getting a new Thundercats show instead of a continuation of the previous series, Thundercats 2011. I've never seen that show, but from what I understand it was a really well received action cartoon that got mistreated by the network and got cancelled without resolving a lot of the plot threads. It can seem like salt in the wounds when your mature, serious action series ends on such a note only to be replaced with a kiddie comedy. As a Young Justice fan, I've been there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNp8JQJjKAw

 But the biggest reason I have seen for the outrage is...the CalArts style. Hoo Boy...  So let's go over some history. CalArts is a school that was founded by Walt Disney and a lot of other people. A lot of famous animators have got there starts at CalArts. Everyone from Genndy Tartakovsky, Craig Mccracken, Pendleton Ward, JG Quintel, Pat McHale, Alex Hirsch, Butch Hartman, and many many others. The CalArts style however, is a term that has come to refer to what is often considered the way "modern" cartoons tend to look. Distinct features include thin outlines, really noodle-y arms, the "bean head" shape, and large eyes without colored irises. And boy oh boy, do people have OPINIONS on this style.  First off, I wanna clear away some misconceptions. Not everything that people label "The CalArts style" is actually made by people who went to CalArts. Steven Universe, Gumball and Undertale, two series are often listed as having the "CalArts style" are both made by people who didn't attend CalArts. And obviously not everyone who went to CalArts draws in the "CalArts" style. However, and this might get me some hate but I have to say it, I do believe that there is an argument to be had that there definitely is a "modern" art style that is prevalent in animation today. I'll continue to refer to it as the "CalArts" styles since that's what everyone else calls it, but I believe the better term would be the "2010's style."  And this is nothing new. In the 2000's everything had the "knock off anime" style. And in the 90's everything had the "thick outline UPA inspired style." And in the 80's everything has the "Macho Man Action Figure " style. However, I have seen a lot of people use this as an argument on why you shouldn't complain about the CalArts style. And that's something I disagree with. There are a lot more cartoons coming out now of days compared to the past, and people in general expect more from them. And this is a good thing cause it forces the medium to evolve. You shouldn't come accept something you consider sub-par just because it was deemed okay to do so thirty years ago. And this is coming from someone who doesn't hate the CalArts style, but does feel it to be a bit overused at this point. But also a series art style should match the story there telling. The creators say that Thundercats Roar will have both action and comedy. And while we won't know for sure till the series airs, but these designs don't look like they're very tailored made for action. The designs don't look like they have any weight to them at all. Lion-O looks small, and the lighting on his body is very bright and stretchy looking. Almost like he's made of plastic. He looks like a chew toy.  But still, I'm not going to judge the show until it comes out. (So look forward to that in 2019 Year in REVIEW.) However, I'd be lying if I said I was particularly looking forward to this. Even if there is some action in it, I've simply grown tired of these more comedic superhero shows. They're just so many at this point. Even the good ones feel done to death for me at this point. But this is all just such a big deal for a show Cartoon Networks probably going to dump at 7:30 am anyway. If you hate the show, don't be a jerk and make bomb threats to CalArts, which is something that somebody actually did! It should not need to be said that doing that is bad. And if you're excited for this show, don't be pretentious and claim that anyone who doesn't like the style is just a man child who doesn't know anything about the animation process. People can like or dislike whatever art style they like. And the least productive thing to do is to say that someone else's argument is "invalid." And when this show does finally comes out, what will probably happen is that people will freak out for a few episodes, and then move onto the next thing.  This segment is longer than most of the show reviews and this series isn't even out yet! AHHHH! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  And that's where I'm going to end this part. But do not worry, we still have several more stories and series to get to before we get to the end of the year! So come back in hopefully a few days, as we go over the second half of 2018 for animation. What are your thoughts on the shows that I talked about here? What are your favorite series of 2018? Tell me all that and more in the comments down bellow. Please fav, follow, and comment if you liked the review, and let's all hope we can get through the second half of the year without any more huge controversies, okay? 

I'll be the round....about....  Have a great day. (I do not own any of the images or videos in this review. All credit goes to there original owners.)

https://www.deviantart.com/joyofcrimeart/journal/2018-Year-in-REVIEW-Part-1-778591454 DA Link

#Final Space #Thundercats Roar #Rick and Morty #Nomad of Nowhere #craig of the creek

[thegreenfairy13]

Growing Up Together

This was written for the @dwsecretsanta for @jemsauceonice, who wanted Tentoo x Rose being domestic, a big revelation and a party. It turned out less fluffy than I originally intended but it's absolutely a happy fic. I hope you'll like it.

Happy Holidays!!

“Do we really have to go?”

Rose glances at the mirror, sees the man standing behind her. His hair is mussed, standing up in all possible and impossible angles, face still flushed from a recent shower and freckles visible quite prominently.

Heaving an exhausted sigh, she inspects the crossed “Cs” decorating her mascara much longer than exactly necessary. Not answering, she starts applying her lipstick. It’s a matte rose color, matching the natural shade of her lips. A couple of years ago, her make-up used to be over the top: too loud, too shrill, too much. Now, it’s more sophisticated, toned five notches down and truly elegant.

Rose Tyler has grown up. Her life forced her to. Despite what one could think when being faced with the petite blonde, the woman standing in front of the mirror is a fierce warrior. She had been in the center of a battle more than once, has faced the extinction of entire planets, has fought and bleed for the salvation of countless species more times than she can count. Rose Tyler broke through the walls of the universe to save all of creation but she had been selfish, too. If she’s being entirely honest, she fought for this universe and all the other universes to be with the man standing behind her. The one who’s currently pouting like a three-year-old child about to taste broccoli for the first time.

She never thought it would be easy when he promised her to accompany her to her universe, to live an ordinary life without a ship that could travel through space and time and the lack of adrenaline rushing constantly through his veins. She never thought it would be so hard, either.

It’s no use denying the Doctor is bored out of his brilliant mind living on the slow path. He’s tied down to one planet when the whole universe used to be at his beck and call. The ordinary world is much less terrifying than one would believe, it’s mundane and days tend to develop certain routines.

He’s a teacher now at the university and working in research for Vitex industries. Now and then some aliens would visit Earth but mostly, it’s peaceful. Constant imminent threats are a thing of the past, and the Doctor is struggling to adjust to this life that consists of family gatherings, meetings and fine dinners in exclusive restaurants.

Rose misses the old adventures, too. But unlike her Doctor, she has adjusted. This new life, at the side of her father, offers new opportunities, new chances to do good, to have some impact. The Doctor can’t see that, yet. But she can see it. Sometimes you don’t have to save an entire universe or a planet, sometimes just making the life of one human being better suffices - it has to.

Maybe it’s something entirely else, Rose muses. When the Doctor previously would jump in to save the day and move on, leaving anyone behind to deal with the consequences without ever looking back, he’s now condemned to observe the effect of each of his actions. Be they small or big.

“Honestly, Rose,” he carries on. “Wearing a tux is bad luck. Bad things happen when I’m wearing a tux. Like, a war would start or aliens would try conquering the Earth, again, or…”

“I bought you tailcoats,” Rose interrupts. Giving him a pointed look, she turns around. It’s the expression she usually has reserved for stubborn Daleks. Seeing it directed at him, the Doctor swallows heavily.

“I’ll look like a penguin,” he laments weakly.

“Everybody loves penguins,” Rose shots back, already slipping into her dress. It’s made of black velvet, high necked but short enough to show off her well-formed legs. The mixture of sexy and chaste convinced her to buy it. She smirks when her Doctor’s jaw slackens.

“They are cute, Rose. Cute! I’m not cute, I’m a time-traveling alien, defender of the multiverse, number one race driver on Gelemitanta six but not cute.”

“Right, you’re adorable,” she replies, giving him a tight grin while sliding her left foot lasciviously into her heel. She can see his cheeks burning, eyes following her movements wholly enraptured.

“Please, it’s going to be so boring. Pleasant, empty conversations on numbers, company’s performance, politenesses being exchanged to the point of pain and plans to increase profit. That’s downright torturous. We could go out instead, stargazing on the Mehir-hills. Today, we’ll be able to see some shooting stars. Not that they are shooting stars but remnants of the war from 567/omega. Rose, can you imagine the Merkerans and the Helphaistons conducted a war over a movie?! Their kings disagreed over the cast of the leading role and dragged their people into this pointless argument until I stepped in. Uh, or we could go into a movie. There’s a new Ryan Reynolds film. You like the actor, don’t you?” There’s a little manic light shining merrily in his eyes, the one that tells her he's out for adventure - or just being evasive on doing something domestic. God, how he hates that word. Domestic.

“You don’t know if that war ever happened in this universe,” she replies. The moment the words have left her mouth, she knows it was a mistake saying them. Her man’s shoulders slump and a defeated expression crosses his face. It’s like all the energy he’s constantly vibrating from is being drained.

Rose squints, trying to calm herself down. He’s being like that since arriving in what he still calls Pete’s world - peppy one moment, depressed the other. He’d do anything not to entangle himself too much with the ordinary world. Sometimes, he’d sweep her away for gorgeous dates, sometimes he’d whine and pout.

The TARDIS coral given to them by the other Doctor wouldn't grow, probably never will and the realization slowly sinking into this Doctor, is outright painful to watch. Actually, she’s terrified it will drive them apart.

Straightening her shoulders she turns to face him. Pressing a soft kiss to the tip of his nose she says, “please, it’s important we show up at the Vitex Christmas party.” Biting her lower lip and giving him her best puppy eyes, she convinces him to cave in. She wonders how long he’ll still relent before buying a surfboard and a jeep and leaving her behind. Tonight, the trick still works.

The Christmas party is like everything Pete does: over the top. He’s got ice sculptures, crystal decorations, desserts decorated with gold, tons of caviar, champagne that is worth more than Rose’s first car, rare wines, and cigars worthy of Winston Churchill. Pete greets each of his guests like old friends, remembers all the names and is - unlike her Doctor - the politest man one could imagine. Naturally, her Doctor has absolutely no understanding for such behavior. To him, these people are traitors, corrupt and only care for their own profit. Of course, he’s right to some extent but during the years Rose has spent hopping through dimensions and navigating the enterprise along with her new found father, she gathered a new understanding about what it means to have a legacy worth fighting for. Vitex will live on long after Pete is cold and dead. And it’s not just that. There are jobs on the line too. Thousands of people rely on the enterprise doing well, entire families live and eat thanks to Vitex products.

Besides, the Christmas party isn’t only about exchanging pleasantries - it’s also meant to introduce Rose officially as the future vice president. Unlike a few years ago, Rose isn’t riding the high moral horse, she’s overlooking certain flaws in Pete’s guests, arranging herself with the mistakes they made and probably will make. But it’s alright, cause the bigger picture matters and not some small detail, right? Plus, growing up also means to compromise, to accept that the world wasn't black and white but all shades of grey.

Of course, her Doctor would not ever share that train of thought. In this regard, he's still like a child. And as much as she loves him for being him, she also loathes that unforgiving streak of his.

As a reaction, he wanders off like she used to do all the time. And of course, it’s the port that catches his interest. And of course Pete only just offers the finest, sweetest there is to be found. Eyeing him suspiciously, she observes him drowning two glasses quite quickly. He's halfway through a third one, when Rose strides over, laying her hand on his. “It's quite heavy,” she warns.

The Doctor downs his glass, directing a wide grin at her. It’s all teeth and lacking any warmth. “I’m a Time Lord, Rose,” he chides. “I can metabolize alcohol much better than humans,” he scoffs. “Besides, that’s only wine - hardly more exciting than water.”

Rose leaves him be, frustrated, climbs the podium to hold her speech. Looking down at the crowd, she sees him dancing without restraint, black bow tie already hanging askew. Dipping back a gorgeous blonde woman, he earns himself a couple of scandalized hisses in the process.

The Vitex heiress should be jealous, yet she isn’t. It’s not his fault. It’s hers. She has changed so much while he is still the man he used to be, the one she literally loves more than the universe.

Finding his eyes in the crowd, the other woman still in his embrace, she starts holding her speech. “A few years ago, I would have never felt being worthy or being ready of being given the chance to manage a multinational company. I would not have been worthy of being given that chance. Yet, I was lucky enough to meet people who would believe in me. My father Pete, of course, my mum Jackie but above all - my Doctor.” Swallowing heavily, she directs an insecure smile at him, fidgets with her earring that is much smaller than it used to be.

“He met me when I felt worthless, when I was worthless and he gave my life it’s meaning back.” Holding his gaze, Rose makes sure he knows she’s being sincere, not only giving a show for the investors. Noting he’s still holding the other woman, his hands drop to his sides and he takes a step away from her, starts straightening his bow tie. “

“He showed me what I could be and what I could achieve. He’s the best man and he gave me a life I would have never had. Unfortunately, I can’t give my man the life he deserves in return.” Rose’s voice wavers as she says those words for she knows they are true. Her Doctor, the man who cherished his freedom above all, is now being trapped and it’s her fault. She should have known he could never be happy on only one planet, should have dragged him back to the TARDIS, should…

Sobering up and holding back the tears, she pushes through the last few sentences. ”But thanks to him, I can lead my dad’s company into the upcoming decades, I can make sure all our employees will have secure jobs and with our combined efforts, we can work on preserving this planet we all live on. Thank you!”

On unsteady feet, she makes her way down, right into her man’s waiting arms. He looks solemn and Rose thinks that must be it. He’ll confess that living with her was a mistake. Readying herself for the heartbreak, she sucks in a deep breath. Scooting a hand through his luscious hair, the Doctor opens his mouth yet is being interrupted by someone congratulating Rose on her promotion.

“I didn’t like your speech,” he then blurts out. “You were never worthless, not even when working for Henrik’s.”

“I know you’re unhappy,” she interrupts. “Don’t deny it.”

“I,” he swallows, looking away. “I miss my old life. And I’m being rude and I drink too much when I shouldn’t.”

“And you dance with other women,” Rose notes.

“Woman,” he corrects. “It was only one.”

“For now.”

“But I'm trying.” Holding up one hand, he silences her. “I'm not a good man, Rose. I did terrible things in my life. And you have to stop believing you're not good enough. For you are.” Stepping back, he gives her an admiring once over. “Look how far you've come. How confident you are. You have grown up, evolved while I'm still struggling.” He barks out a humorless laugh. “Nearly a thousand years old, me, but you are the adult.”

“And where do we go from here?” Rose wants to know, voice small.

“I don't know, Rose. But wherever, I want to go with you. I guess, what I'm trying to say is, I want to grow up with you. Want to grow old, if you still want me, that is.”

Getting down on one knee, he produces a small black box from his pocket and Rose's heart stops. “I guess what I'm trying to say is, would you marry me?”

She nearly can't hear him over the applause crashing over them and the roaring in her ears. Still frozen in shock, he slides the ring on her finger.

“I sincerely hope that was a yes,” he mumbles anxiously.

“I crashed through the walls of the universe to be with you,” she says, still frozen, in lieu of an answer.

“And I turned human,” he retorts, mouth twitching.

“So.”

“So.”

And then they both double over in laughter, irritating Pete's guests thoroughly but not caring about them at all. They were engaged and whatever life would throw at them, they would manage it together.

#dwsecretsanta #Jemsauce #Tentoo x Rose

[tentacle-explosion]

I need to share the details of a traumatic experience I’ve been dealing with for a while now, because I know that I will never get justice and I’m hoping that talking about it publicly will (a) help me feel like I’ve gotten it out, and (b) maybe be relatable/therapeutic to others as well.

I’m going to put the full story under a read more and tag it with trigger warnings, but FYI the following contains graphic talk of sexual assault, emotional abuse, and mention of suicidal ideation.

I was married for 11 years, from August 2005 to December 2016. It was never a healthy relationship, even in the five years before we got married... But it was at its worst in the first few years (when we were both teenagers and full of unresolved childhood trauma), and then the last couple of years. In those last couple of years our relationship rapidly disintegrated after I had my brain surgery, for a number of reasons that, from his perspective (as he put it), boiled down to me changing into someone he didn’t recognize. From my perspective, it was that I grew and he didn’t keep up.

(Tl;dr I’d been in constant, debilitating pain before the surgery due to a birth defect, and it made me constantly cranky. I took it out on the people around me. Post-brain surgery, with the pain relieved, my entire attitude changed for the better. He didn’t seem to like this. Considering that his entire persona is based around being a caregiver, and that he also told me that he “didn’t want a relationship where (he) was wanted but not needed,” I think that the fact that I no longer relied on his help when I was disabled with pain/could care for myself also played a huge role in our marriage falling apart.)

During those years he became increasingly emotionally abusive, in ways too numerous to relive/recount, but the highlights include: frequent rants about how I’m incapable of empathy (and therefore “broken”) because I wanted us to verbally communicate our feelings rather than attempting (and failing) to read each other’s minds; telling friends in front of me that he wished he’d stayed with a previous girlfriend because his life would be so much better than being with me; responding to my last-ditch attempt to not commit suicide out of depression by telling him about it (so that he could help me find a therapist, and all suicide resources I looked at said to tell a loved one for that purpose) by looking at me with utter disdain and telling me that I was fucked up and to never tell him something like that again; and gaslighting me daily about various things he said or did to the point that I was convinced I’d gone insane... Among other things.

Now, for the entirety of our relationship, we’d had a shitty/practically non-existent sex life. He claimed various excuses, but ultimately I always knew that it was a combination of his sexual hang-ups (such as telling me once that “only bad people have sex”) and not being attracted to me at all. It made me extremely bitter because he’d never just own up to the truth, and it was commonplace for me to make self-deprecating comments about it to try to cope.

One day in the last months of our marriage, I made one of those comments, and instead of his usual eye-rolling, he grabbed me by the arm and dragged me into the bedroom, saying that he’d have sex with me for once.

I went along with it at first, mostly out of curiosity. But the foreplay played out the way it always did - clinical, like aliens probing me - and I wasn’t feeling it at all. I told him that I didn’t want to continue. His response was just to shush me and start to put his dick in. When I said, “No, I’m not even ‘ready’ yet, stop,” he said, “No, you wanted to have sex, so we’re gonna have sex!” and shoved himself in dry. It hurt physically of course, but more than that, I knew what he was really saying - “I’m going to punish you for having a sex drive so you’ll stop complaining” - and that hurt so much worse.

I disassociated for the rest of it. It wasn’t the first time I’d been sexually assaulted, but it was the first time it happened as an adult with someone I should’ve been able to trust.

Eventually he decided it was enough and left to clean up. I’m pretty sure I cried. He never came back into the room. I think he just went into our “office” to play a video game.

A day or two later, I told one of my best friends about it. I think I turned it into a bit of a joke to try to cope. But my friend said, “Jesus fucking Christ, [ex’s name],” and looked at me in horror, and it became very real. 

After that I locked it away in the same hidden part of my memories where I keep my childhood sexual abuse. I had to keep living with him in some semblance of peace, so I couldn’t deal with it. It just had to stay locked up until I was safe.

Then came our divorce, and I moved out on my own, and we tried being friends. It was tenuous, and something kept telling me, “You’re going to hate him soon.” I didn’t know why.

Except then came the #metoo movement, and every single time I read another story of a woman exposing her abuser/rapist, I felt a pain in my chest. I cried and didn’t know why. I was angry and didn’t know why. Until one day, my ex posted a Facebook status about how the women in the movement should be trusted and respected, and I lost it. It all came back to me and I. Was. Furious.

I didn’t confront him immediately. We were already on thin ice with each other because he interpreted nearly everything I said and did as a personal attack (out of guilt? I don’t know), but when he eventually asked me if I had a problem with him, I vented it. I didn’t call it what it was. I didn’t call it anything, actually. I just asked if he remembered the last time we had sex, and he said no. I said that I did remember, and retold it from my perspective.

His response?

“I hope you know that I didn’t mean to rape you.”

There was no salvaging a friendship after that. I don’t know if there would’ve been if he’d owned up to what he did, but that’s what I wanted. I wanted an admission and an apology and, I don’t know, maybe a public declaration of guilt. Maybe a lifetime of cash donations to women’s shelters or something. Anything that showed that he held himself accountable and was going to change and never do anything like that to another woman again.

But I’ll never get that.

I have nightmares on a regular basis about him inviting himself back into my life like nothing happened. I have panic attacks when I hear loud car engines like his. I cry at least once a week because of the low self-esteem I now have from hearing so many admonishments about what a terrible person I am, so broken and crazy and incapable of feeling correctly. I’m afraid to get into another romantic relationship, even almost two years after the divorce, because I’m terrified that it’s just in my nature to pick another partner like him and I’ll go through all that stuff again and again and again.

And I know that some people insist that it’s not rape if you’re married. Or that it’s not rape if you consented earlier but then revoke that consent. But it was rape. He’s the one who put that label on it, and he was right, that’s exactly what he did to me. He emotionally abused me and then he raped me to top it off.

So that’s my story. I don’t know if I’ll feel any better now that I’ve told it, but there it is.

#rape tw #suicide mention tw #abuse tw

[zojnks]

Writing request, I'd really like to see something with Cap and Spidey interacting. There's not a whole lot of that in this fandom, and I think that the two of them could be cool. If you could put Dad!Tony and Stucky in there too, that would be awesome Thank you!

Here you go, anon!! I decided to do a post-IW ‘verse because I wanted Bucky and Peter to be friends oops :) Hope you enjoy!!

After the snap, Peter awoke to a world that was coming in and out of focus. Everything here was tinted vaguely yellow, and Peter always had a niggling thought in the back of his head that he knew where they were. but could never place it. They, of course, being the people that had been taken by the snap. Everyone seemed to be grouped together for specific reasons- however, no group was ever over the number of 5. They could talk to and see the other groups, but not touch them. That was what Peter was talking about when he said the world seemed out of focus. It was like they were in the ocean, drifting in and out with the tide. Sometimes, Peter could feel and see things that felt too sharp, like he edited a photo and dragged the slider for sharpness all the way to the edge. Other times, it felt like he could barely even see or feel anything, blobs of color crowding his vision and the things he was holding dropping straight through his hand to the floor. He talked with the others in his group about this all the time.

There were 4 of them. Peter, Bucky, Gamora, and Groot. It was an odd mix, considering the last time Peter met Bucky, he was trying to arrest him. However, it felt like time moved differently wherever they were. Some days would feel like they passed in an instant, yet some would take years to finally end. The world they lived in was much like the one they left- full of life. So, each group had taken it upon themselves to try to create a home in this yellow world. Peter’s group had managed to make a small house of the trees that surrounded the clearing they all appeared in. There were a few other groups around them, one of some farmers from Iowa and another of billionaires from Singapore. They all talked occasionally but mostly stayed within their own groups.

Peter had grown to rely on Bucky and Gamora. He went to Bucky when he had trouble with nightmares and dealing with this reality. He went to Gamora for pep talks, and she was always the one who reminded him to eat and sleep. Bucky taught him games from when he was little and how to throw knives. Gamora taught him two alien languages and how to sword fight. Peter and Groot hung out all the time and played around. Peter taught him what he had been learning in school before the snap and Groot regaled Peter with stories from his adventures in space.

It was good. It worked. But Peter was desperate to get home.

-

One day, Peter went to bed late into the night because they had all stayed up playing a game that Bucky had taught them. He had fallen asleep with a smile on his face because the day had actually been pretty good. He was finally getting used to this weird, yellow reality.

The next thing he knew, he woke up on a grassy plain, breathing heavily. The sun (the sun!!) was beating down onto his face, a blinding light compared to the hazy yellow he was used to.

“Bucky!! Gamora!! Groot!! Anyone, please!!” He called out, shielding his eyes.

His voice was scratchy and hoarse. He looked down and was still in Iron Spider suit, thank god. He tried to pull himself off the ground, but his arms were too sore to do anything. He tried calling out again.

“Bucky! Gamora! Bucky! Gamora! Anyone?” His voice cracked as he continued to yell.

He stopped yelling when he saw a figure running towards him. The figure looked familiar, but Peter couldn’t quite place him until he got closer.

“Mr.-Mr. Stark?” He called out wearily.

“Kid, oh god, you’re okay, you’re okay!!” Mr. Stark cried as he ran towards him. He knelt next to Peter and cradled his head in his hands.

“It worked, it worked!” Mr. Stark was just babbling by this point.

Mr. Stark helped him up. Once Peter could stand, he found he wasn’t as sore as he thought. Mr. Stark looked at him funny before he spoke again.

“Peter, your hair. It’s-it’s shorter than before.”

Peter just shrugged. “Gamora made sure to cut it once in a while. Bucky helped too sometimes.”

Saying these things snapped Peter out of his calm.

“Oh god, Mr. Stark! Why am I back? Where are Bucky and Gamora? What about Groot? Why am I here? Where is here? Is this even real?!”

Peter Parker was officially freaking out. Then, he passed out.

-

Peter came to on a bed that was made of sand (??). He opened his eyes to someone above him.

“Bucky?!” He asked. The man nodded, holding up a new metal arm that was a tasteful dark blue interspersed with silver, not gold. No more yellow.

“Hey kid, yeah, it’s me. I just came back from talking with Stevie, I wanted to see if you were awake yet.”

Bucky leaned down to give Peter a hug. It seemed as if they had been in that weird world for years, so in the time they were together, they had grown close. Peter gripped Bucky’s back with all of his strength and cried into his shoulder. Suddenly, someone on the edge of this weird room coughed.

“Buck? It’s time to go see T’Challa. We’ve gotta go,” said a man with long hair and a beard that was steamed with grey.

“Alright, Stevie, let’s go,” Bucky said before pulling back from Peter.

Peter wiped his eyes with the shirt he was wearing (when did that happen?) before giving a small smile to Bucky.

“Captain Rogers,” Peter said, overtaken with sudden emotion. “Bucky took very good care of me in that horrible place. Take care of him now, okay?”

Steve just smiled at him and nodded. Then he guided Bucky out of the room with a hand on the small of his back.

Peter decided to get up and take a look around once the two left. He gingerly stepped down once he was off the bed and was happy to discover all of his previous aches and pains had vanished. He took a look around all of the gadgets around the room, appreciating their creativity and craftsmanship. His mind was already generating ways to improve upon them to use as Spider-Man. If they even still needed Spider-Man on Earth now.

He spotted a long, winding ramp up to what seemed like the hallway to leave, so he ran up the ramp, skidding to a stop once he reached the end of the hallway. There was a mirror there.

He looked at his reflection, noticing how he had lost his baby fat and his jaw had sharpened. His hair was cut in a tasteful-if non-Earth fashion- and Peter made a note in his brain to thank Gamora. He was wearing a faded Star Wars shirt and black sweats. He reached down and rubbed the side of his sweats. These were his old clothes. It’s been so long since he wore anything other than the suit, that these clothes fee foreign even though he was wearing them every other week three years ago.

A lot of things had changed. But, some things didn’t.

-

Peter had fallen back into an easy routine with Mr. Stark once they had left Wakanda. He had gone to find Gamora when they were still there but was extremely disappointed to find both her and Groot had left with the rest of the Guardians before he had woken up. She had left him a holo-message on those cool bracelets that the Wakandans wore, almost crying as she said goodbye to him.

(She promised to be back for Christmas though, saying she would pick up something for him on one of the worlds they visited. Peter was excited about that.)

T’Challa’s sister, Shuri, had gifted Peter one of the bracelets before the Avengers left, saying he would need it to keep in touch. The two had developed a close friendship during his time in Wakanda and still messaged or called each other daily.

When they had arrived at the compound after leaving Wakanda, Peter was pleasantly surprised to see that his room had been untouched. It was right next to Mr. Stark’s, as it had been before he left. The walls were blue and red, with the one above his bed adorned with a spray-painted Spider-Man logo. There were tons of posters on the walls and Peter’s knickknacks strewn everywhere. He had sighed as he flopped on the bed, and Mr. Stark had arrived not moments later at his door to flop right down next to him.

“I missed this, Pete. So much. But, how about right now we head to the living room to kick those two super soldiers’ butts?”

Peter laughed and nodded. “Let’s take ‘em down!”

-

They played Mario Kart for hours before Tony had to fly to Singapore to deal with something for Stark Industries. Now that everything was right with the world, Pepper was back on him about being more involved in the company. He gave Peter a big hug as he left and said that they would go on a small trip, just the two of them, once he got back.

After Mr. Stark left, Peter headed back up to his room to get ready for bed. He brushed his teeth and slipped on those old Hello Kitty pants with a baggy black sweater on top. He slipped into bed and grabbed a dog-eared copy of The Hobbit off of his night table. He settled back into his pillows, content to read by the minimal light of his night table lamp until he was too weary to continue. He fell asleep with the book on his chest around 9:30.

-

Peter startled awake in the middle of the night, darkness surrounding him. FRIDAY must have turned off his lamp when he fell asleep. His breathing was too quick and his heart rate was elevated. His mind was still spinning with flashes of a large purple man, a snap, a world of constantly shifting yellows, and his own disappearing before him. He needed to get out.

Peter grabbed a blanket and pillow before heading out, into a different wing of the compound. He stopped in front of the door to his destination, hesitant to knock. He could still feel the strain of his nightmares in the back of his head, so he pushed through his anxiety and knocked quietly on the door. A few moments later, the door opened and a still-sleepy Steve Rogers looked down at Peter.

“H-Hi, Steve. I… uh… had a nightmare and since Mr. Stark isn’t here anymore, I just needed, someone, is that fine?” Peter asked hesitantly.

Steve nodded, his features softening. “It’s fine, Peter. You’re always welcome here. You can just set your stuff down on the couch over there. It’s only a little ways from the bed. Buck’s still sleeping though, so be quiet.”

Peter just gave him a soft smile and padded over to the couch, setting his stuff down. He turned, nervous about asking Steve for anything else.

Steve just walked over and pulled him into a tight hug. “

“Buck’s told me some things. About that place. It didn’t sound too nice,” Steve whispered as he carded his fingers through Peter’s hair. “We all get nightmares, it’s a normal part of our job. I’m happy that you came to us, though.”

“Of course I would. I love you guys and everyone on this team more than life itself. You, Mr. Stark, and Bucky mean so much to me.”

Steve just held him harder and when he finally pulled back, Peter could see his eyes were a little watery.

“Love you too, kid. Now get some sleep.”

Peter climbed onto the couch, pulling his blanket out. He fell asleep to the sounds of Steve and Bucky breathing in unison.

This kinda got away from me, haha, but I loved writing it!! It was cool to explore what all of their relationships would be after IW. I didn’t want to include super in-depth explanations of Peter’s relationship with everyone was after IW, though, so sorry if some of the friendships are only mentioned in passing. Let me know if you want more from this ‘verse though. Hope this is what you were hoping for, anon!!

#peter parker #bucky barnes #steve rogers #tony stark #irondad #spiderson #marvel requests #requests #hannahlikesholland requests #marvel drabble

[fountainpenguin]

Foils: Antagonists In FOP

I hope you all enjoyed “This Is a Box” last Tuesday. I know I said I was going to do a worldbuilding post this week, but since “This Is a Box” is so long, I decided to do a post that wasn’t going to make you take in too much new information. Thus, this week we’re discussing character personalities and fanfic writing tips. 

Specifically, our topic today is foils, and how I write seven FOP antagonists as distinct characters despite their shared interest in villainy.

WHAT IS A FOIL?

Foil: In literature, a foil is "a character who contrasts with another character to highlight particular qualities of the other character.”

Anti-Fairies are intended, literally, to be foils to their counterparts. Foop is nitpicky and proud, whereas Poof is laid-back and modest. Cosmo is clueless and doesn’t like taking responsibility, whereas Anti-Cosmo is intelligent and wants his name smeared across everything he does. Wanda takes charge with organized efficiency, whereas Anti-Wanda is reckless and deferent. And so on.

But foils don’t have to be Fairy and Anti-Fairy counterparts. Any two characters can be foils if you develop them that way. Cosmo and Wanda are foils for each other, with Wanda being the responsible motherly type and Cosmo being the childish playful type. Dinkleberg is a foil for Timmy’s Dad, as Dinkleberg is ridiculously considerate and generous, while Timmy’s Dad tends to be jealous, selfish, and judgmental.

WHY SHOULD I CARE ABOUT FOILS AS A WRITER?

Designing characters to be foils is a simple way to flesh them out and draw a reader into the story. Foils can complicate relationships in interesting ways between friends who hold some opposing views, or even between a hero and villain who hold some similar views.

Foils are typically used to balance a protagonist with their main antagonist. But how do we balance antagonists with other antagonists?

VICKY

The key to writing Vicky is remembering her motivation. This is where “Certifiable Super Sitter” fell short. Vicky’s motivation throughout the series has always been greed. She craves money. She’s in the babysitting gig to get paid, meaning that she would never want parents to stop hiring her. “Certifiable Super Sitter” was inconsistent with this motivation, because Vicky acted openly evil in front of Timmy’s Dad and had no concern that he would stop hiring her or tell her to go home.

In addition to earning money, Vicky also enjoys bossing the kids she babysits around. This too has a purpose. She forces them to do chores she brought from her own house, or other tasks that their parents had left her to do that night. Obviously, this too has a purpose. Vicky avoids doing dishes or cleaning toilets by blackmailing or threatening to hurt the children she babysits. The chore gets done with little to no effort on her part, and she still gets paid. Although blackmail can be effective, Vicky gets a thrill out of scaring children, and tends to rely on physical, cartoon-y violence whenever possible.

However, Vicky’s work isn’t done. She must also convince the parents that she is worth hiring again, and prevent the children from convincing their parents that she’s horrible. Blackmail is sometimes used, but often, Vicky will break or damage something and blame it on the kid she babysits. She plays the victim who tried and failed to stop this child, and who, weeping, blames herself in front of the parents. The parents trust her more, and their children less.

So, Vicky’s greatest weakness as a villain is that she is constantly maintaining a “secret identity” from parents in Dimmsdale. She must play the part of a sweet and caring babysitter in front of them, and also make them believe she’s sweet and caring even after she’s left and parents speak with their children. Vicky is different from most other antagonists in FOP because she can’t be openly cruel in front of most of the town.

Vicky has another piece to her character that the other antagonists don’t: Her hate/love relationship with the alien Mark. The two break-up and make-up throughout the series, with Vicky loving his human form but struggling to accept his alien one. Even after seeing his alien form in “King Chang”, she sent him chocolates for Valentine’s Day as seen in “Invasion of the Dads”, and took him back sometime before “Fairly Odd Pet”, before breaking up with him again that episode after “having a fight with him”.

So another trait of Vicky’s that sets her apart from the other antagonists is her age. Vicky is a teenage girl dealing with teenage girl problems when she isn’t busy babysitting. She struggles with her sometimes-boyfriend, she busily attends high school, and she occasionally tries to find other jobs (Such as interning at the hospital, or working at the Cake ‘N’ Bacon diner). 

Additionally, Vicky has a little sister, Tootie, who is an excellent foil for Vicky- while Vicky hates Timmy, Tootie is in love with him. Whenever those two and Timmy are together, they instantly clash.

CROCKER

Vicky is a teenager constantly working to keep her “true identity” from adults in Dimmsdale. Denzel Crocker has no such concerns. From early on in the series, other characters label him crazy- including his ex-girlfriend and current boss, Geraldine Waxelplax.

This is a problem for Crocker! People don’t take him seriously, and laugh at him both behind his back and to his face. He despises the “crazy” label, but instead of trying to convince the town that he’s “gone straight” and no longer believes in fairies, Crocker throws his all into proving that fairies exist. Crocker is both full of wrath at the thought of being considered crazy, and full of greed in his desire to gain control of fairy magic. Of course, what he most wants to do with fairy magic isn’t to live a life of luxury, but to seek revenge on all those who ever wronged him in the slightest. Crocker finds it impossible to befriend anyone who openly believes he’s crazy.

In contrast with Vicky, Crocker delivers far more emotional pain to Timmy than physical pain. As Timmy’s fifth grade teacher, Crocker controls a huge chunk of power over Timmy, from his grades to his social life. Crocker’s end goal, of course, is to prove to the world that Timmy has fairies. He does so by publicly humiliating Timmy whenever he can, trying to coax him to use magic to defend himself or poof away, after which Crocker intends to capture Timmy’s fairies and prove to everyone that fairies are real.

Crocker is the complete opposite of Vicky in that regard. While Vicky wants to keep part of her life secret and always wants to get Timmy alone so she can torment him, Crocker always wants to keep Timmy in public so that if Timmy does call on his fairies for aid, he’ll risk exposing them to the world.

Besides being thought of as crazy, another aspect of Crocker’s character sets him apart from the other antagonists. Despite his old age, he is unmarried and still lives with his mother. The two constantly clash because his mother is desperate for him to marry and move out, and Crocker dislikes being babied and bossed around. However, Crocker’s dating pool is limited, as the town believes he’s crazy. Even if his craziness doesn’t stand in the way, his age and looks make dating a struggle.

Some of the other villains in FOP don’t intend to target Timmy specifically. However, Crocker has a perfectly legitimate reason for doing so: Timmy Turner is in his class. Timmy does harass Crocker on occasion too, by publicly embarrassing him (Such as by switching the video Cosmo took of Cosmo and Wanda and tried to upload online with a video of Crocker wearing a dress in “Information Stupor Highway”). Crocker, despising it when people think he’s crazy, suspects Timmy’s hand in many of the bad things that happen to him, and the cycle continues.

Crocker is different from some of the other antagonists in the show because, mostly, he doesn’t really want Timmy dead. Occasionally his wrath will get the better of him and he’ll want to strike out at everyone who’s ever laughed at him, but both Crocker and Timmy would prefer to publicly humiliate each other instead of physically hurting each other whenever possible.

NORM

Norm is one of those characters who isn’t here to make friends. With anyone. Ever. In basically his whole life. The only time he’s interested in winning someone over is if he approaches them to flirt. If you don’t match the qualification of “pretty genie lady”, the odds for winning Norm’s cooperation without a side order of sarcastic remarks are not in your favor.

Norm is an extremely forthcoming person. That alone sets him apart from all the other antagonists on this list besides Crocker and Anti-Cosmo. Perhaps being bottled up for the majority of his life has left the genie with a craving for conversation. Norm has a tendency to blurt things out even when his conversation partner doesn’t have the context about why he’s so angry about a certain person or event. He’ll happily explain himself to anyone who takes the time to talk with him, frequently revealing his plans in the process. I suppose when you’re a genie with oodles of cosmic power at your fingertips, you can get away with saying whatever you want. 

And it’s a good thing that Norm does have power at his back, because his big mouth would get him into a lot of trouble otherwise. Norm’s cockiness is always his downfall. Being a powerful genie, Norm typically expects things to work out for him. If he thinks the two of you are on the same side working towards the same goal, such as seeking revenge on Timmy Turner, then he’ll contribute everything to the table that he possibly can: Including revealing that a genie’s master actually can wish for more than three wishes.

While Norm may be proud and snarky, he actually does have some inkling of respect for authority. Not only did he jump through all the hoops to participate in Fairy Idol for the chance to become a fairy godparent, but he even put up with Jorgen stapling wings to his back and didn’t try to seek revenge on him for doing so. Norm likes to needle people out of curiosity to see if he can make them snap, but he doesn’t like direct confrontation.

Another sign of Norm’s cockiness is how touchy-taunty he tends to get. Put him in a room with another person, and he’ll inevitably poke them in the nose, rub his hand in their hair, or otherwise push and pull them around. However, he doesn’t appreciate being touched (or hugged) much in return. His displeasure is clear by the irritated faces he makes, but he doesn’t shove people off or snap at them. He’ll taunt and tease, yes, but again, direct confrontation isn’t his thing. This reluctant acceptance to let himself be touched and pushed around against his will is a surprising trait for a villain, and a very interesting one to explore.

Norm’s main goal in life, obviously, is to gain freedom from his lamp- a goal which he can’t achieve unless he is wished from his lamp by his master, or manages to exploit one of a few loopholes like the kind we saw in the show. Norm has no interest in taking over the world, blowing up the planet, or even in getting rich. The thing is, Norm isn’t outside his lamp nearly as often as he’d like to be. Once he gained freedom in “Fairy Idol”, he was delighted to explore the world, attend baseball games, and be waited on hand and foot. Things that involve other people, but with little effort and conversation on his end (Besides, of course, having dinner with someone who caught his eye).

Despite his utter lack of subtlety and his tendency to reveal what he’s thinking to everyone around, Norm is a very practical person overall. He’s used to time ticking out on him. He likes things to get done. He’ll go along with anything you want as long as he thinks it’s going somewhere, but he hates feeling used or ignored. One other thing that sets Norm apart from many of the other FOP villains is his reluctance to talk about his feelings. He’ll blab his evil plans, perhaps, and call you snappy nicknames every second of the day, but when it comes to actual emotions, he tends to keep his mouth shut or explain things through the use of logic instead.

REMY

Remy is an excellent foil for Timmy from the get-go. While both crave the attention of their parents, Timmy interacts with his much more frequently. Remy is barely allowed two minutes to speak directly with his parents. The original script for “Fairy Fairy Quite Contrary” even shows a deleted scene where he pleaded for them to stay and talk with him longer, and his mom softened and decided that they could deduct the extra time from tomorrow’s daily two minutes. Naturally, Remy envies Timmy for having two parents AND two godparents who all care about him.

Unlike Timmy, however, Remy is shown to be a very obedient child. Timmy often finds his parents dumb, or their rules strict, and uses Cosmo and Wanda to leave the house or gain access to anything his parents don’t want him to have. Timmy always tries to protest when he thinks his parents are being unfair, especially where Vicky and Crocker are concerned.

But Remy isn’t brave enough to stand up to his parents. In his desperation to win their affection, he is wholly compliant. He’ll do anything they say - stay out of their way, stay quiet, attend military school - and is even delighted to be called by the wrong name (Liam) due to the fact that he received a pat on the head from his father in the process. I think the fact that the scene of him whining to his parents was cut from the final episode emphasizes this aspect of his character completely. 

One thing is for sure: Remy would never use magic to hurt or even slightly inconvenience his parents. He just can’t bring himself to do it, or perhaps feels that he can’t change their minds no matter how hard he tries with magic, and that the only way to win their love is to do exactly what they say and hope it will all pay off in the future. The thing about Remy is, he tends to rely on others to rescue him rather than fighting to help himself. Instead of trying to pull himself from his downward spiral and fight for his needs, Remy would rather lash out at those who have what he doesn’t.

I haven’t written Remy much yet, but whenever I do, I try to emphasize the passive qualities of his character. Another example from the original script of “Fairy Fairy Quite Contrary” that was cut from the final version is the scene during the magical duel where Remy pulls out his phone to call for advice on which amazing creature he should turn into. In the script, his phone couldn’t get signal in Fairy World. Instead of trying to come up with something on his own, Remy stood there helplessly, panicking, placing all his faith in Juandissimo’s ability to save the day (Juandissimo, of course, turned Remy into a tortoise). 

Overall, Remy is a lonely, quiet child who tends to let things happen to him. He uses Juandissimo’s magic to escape reality and venture into comic books, and generally stays out of his parents’ ways. Unlike Timmy, Remy tends to think through the consequences of his actions, and tries to find more reasonable, easier, less risky ways to get what he wants (For example, he first tried to pay Timmy to wish Cosmo and Wanda away, instead of immediately calling magical duel in “Fairy Fairy Quite Contrary”.) 

Remy has control over very few things in his life- Juandissimo and money being the most obvious two. When Timmy and Remy first met, Remy was determined to rent the entire movie theater out for himself- no matter how much pressure the other kids put him under. Remy may not be able to stand up to his parents, but when backed with Juandissimo and money, he is determined to get what he wants from people he doesn’t believe have the power to stop him.

ANTI-COSMO

Anti-Cosmo’s biggest foils are, of course, Jorgen and H.P., as they all hold prominent positions as leaders in the magical world, and even Jorgen has aggressive, threatening, not-wholly-good traits. Anti-Wanda acts as a foil for Anti-Cosmo too, since her reckless carelessness tends to interfere with many of his plans.

H.P. and Anti-Cosmo, though, are both villains who lead their respective races. Since I am currently writing a backstory ‘fic for each of them (Origin of the Pixies and Frayed Knots), and the two frequently overlap, it’s very important to me to make them distinct from one another. To do this, I always strive to emphasize certain opposing key aspects in their personalities- Logic vs. Creativity being the most obvious.

H.P. is a highly-controlling neat-freak. When I write him, I try to emphasize his OCD tendencies, such as his need to rewrite notes on a new paper instead of crossing things out, or rearranging flowers by color in the grocery store.

So to contrast H.P., I went against the idea of Anti-Cosmo that I usually see portrayed in fanfiction- Instead of making Anti-Cosmo neat and tidy, I made his work areas messy. To top it off, I gave him scruffy hair that he can’t seem to style no matter how much he tries. He constantly flits from one idea to another, coming up with ideas and throwing them into action with the blind confidence that they’ll work, instead of taking the time to carefully plot things out. He prefers to improvise, rather than proceeding in an orderly fashion like H.P.

This also works, because messiness is a trait my Anti-Cosmo and Anti-Wanda share, so her habit of being cluttered doesn’t frustrate him as much as it could. Instead of being a point that drives them apart, it’s an area where they understand each other.

Another way I try to emphasize Anti-Cosmo’s creativity is by making him a lover of the arts. When I walk him past statues, paintings, or through gardens in my writing, I let him pause and admire whatever it is he’s looking at. I also gave him the ability to draw, which happens to contrast with Cosmo’s ability to build. In my short story “Yellow Flower Number 9”, Anti-Cosmo happily supported anti-fairy children at the craft fair, even though the quality of what they were selling was subpar. Most antagonists, especially H.P., would never do that.

Of course, Anti-Cosmo is also based on the British aristocrat stereotype. He’s polite, proper, loves his tea, and probably loves to read. When he speaks, his sentences are very long and boastful- not to mention, full of pompous vocabulary. Anti-Cosmo tends to act smugly and expects to be respected, even if he’s dangling from the Big Wand in Fairy World by his underwear. However, despite his expectation of being respected, Anti-Cosmo tends to make terrible decisions- such as trying to steal brownies from the von Strangle bakery in plain sight, rather than sneaking in to steal them later. Or buying them.

HEAD PIXIE

The other major trait pair between H.P. and Anti-Cosmo that I try to emphasize in my works is Justice vs. Mercy. H.P. makes his rules clear to his pixies and punishes anyone who breaks them. He believes that hard work should be rewarded, and will promote or demote the workers of Pixies Inc. regardless of whether doing so will cause their coworkers to resent them. Anti-Cosmo, however, is willing to forgive, teach, and nudge in the right direction without delivering much more than a scolding or light slap on the wrist. Anti-Cosmo is far more willing to trust those he doesn’t like and forgive those who have wronged him in the past than grudge-holding H.P. is.

H.P. is a curious character whose personality in-show seems to contradict everything you would expect of him. Despite his age, wealth, and business attire, the Head Pixie is a very casual man who tosses phrases like “Later, dude”, “Blah blah blah”, and “Go me, go me, it’s my birthday” into conversation. One deleted scene from “Oddlympics” even shows him fist-bumping. His sentences are short, a bit choppy, and frequently begin with conjunctions. Obviously, his speech pattern alone sets him apart from Anti-Cosmo.

The key to writing H.P. is confidence. And lots of it. Every time H.P. is on screen, you’ll know it. He always wants everyone’s attention on him, and tries to take charge in all situations. When he is expected to defer to someone, such as Anti-Cosmo while in Anti-Cosmo’s own home, he can’t seem to resist the urge to undermine whoever holds power over him- even if that person is his own ally. For example, when Anti-Cosmo wanted to name the baby they’d kidnapped Fauntleroy, H.P. made a point of arguing with him in front of Timmy and the gang, whereas a more tactful character (such as Anti-Cosmo) might have waited until they were away from witnesses before expressing distaste.

H.P. is a proud soul with very little shame. He acts as though he can get away with doing whatever he wants and make people look bad if he feels like it, and expects to not face serious consequences for doing so. Cocky H.P. believes he deserves respect and that he should always be in charge. Nothing drives him crazier than losing control of a situation. If he isn’t in control, he’ll gain it in whatever way he can- typically by sassing whomever holds power over him.

Another interesting aspect to H.P.’s character is, of course, that he is a businessman. And not only is he a businessman, but the pixies represent the neutral gray between the Fairy and Anti-Fairy races. H.P. is a character who holds no qualms about playing on both sides of the street. If it benefits him most to do things the legal, lawful way, then he will jump through all the hoops and fill out all the paperwork to do so. But if it benefits him to play the role of a villain and simply take what he wants (such as a fairy baby), then he’ll go about things in a more underhanded way.

H.P. has a very logical way of looking at the world, and isn’t usually conflicted when faced with multiple options. Vicky won’t torment a child in front of a parent. Crocker may hesitate to act if he feels he’ll be publicly humiliated. Remy is reluctant to stand up to adults he can’t win over with money. Anti-Cosmo’s temper flares when he feels he’s been insulted. Foop, when trying to be underhanded, might let something slip but will stammer and correct himself to hide his true goals. H.P., however, tends to be straightforward, blunt, and doesn’t try to disguise what he wants. You generally know what H.P. wants from you, and if you don’t yet, he’ll let you know very soon.

FOOP

Foop seems to take much more after Anti-Cosmo than he takes after Anti-Wanda, so when my writing gives me the chance to bring both Anti-Cosmo and Foop into the same scene, I try to emphasize the differences between them. Again, I try to play off Anti-Cosmo’s creativity and charity by playing up Foop’s logical outlook on life, along with his childish perceptions and his selfishness. If bringing Anti-Cosmo into a scene isn’t an option, then Foop ranting about ways his father annoys him can also do the trick.

The show doesn’t make the differences between Foop and Anti-Cosmo very obvious, but if you study them closely, you can get a feel for the ways they differ. “Fairly Odd Baby” makes it clear that Anti-Cosmo is much more interested in flaunting how smart he is than he’s interested in actually getting away with what he was trying to do.

For example, in “Fairly Odd Baby” alone, Anti-Cosmo took the time to reveal that he and H.P. were actually the ones disguised as Jorgen, taunted those who came to rescue Poof while they were caged, and explained his evil plan to H.P.- all instead of just going ahead with his plan. Foop is way more goal-oriented. Rather than monologue and threaten, he’d rather blast you and be done with it. If he’s in disguise, don’t expect him to reveal himself.

I do believe Foop’s strengths lie in being a planner. In “Playdate of Doom”, he went to great lengths to urge Jorgen to bring a block of ice to his jail cell. Foop used this ice to both cover his escape hole and make it look like he was still in his cell, despite the fact that he could have escaped earlier at any time. You can bet that Anti-Cosmo wouldn’t bother to hide his escape hole, and would instead leave it there to make his disappearance obvious as soon as possible. In his debut episode, “Anti-Poof”, Foop even appears distressed when Poof flew away without playing in the Sandbox of Sorrow he’d designed. It had a Shovel of Sadness and a Pail of Pain and everything!

It’s reasonable to conclude, then, that Foop values success more than brains. This is in line with the annoyance he seems to feel towards his father, as he doesn’t believe Anti-Cosmo could truly be smart if he doesn’t accomplish the things he sets out to do. Oddly, Anti-Cosmo and Foop are the only antagonists for whom jail time seems to be a serious consequence for their actions. In writing Foop, I try to emphasize this. His biggest concern isn’t that people will think he’s crazy. His biggest concern is being caught and punished.

One of Foop’s characteristics that affects what he does is, again, his age. Foop may be an evil genius in his own right, but he’s still a small child. He likes stuffed animals and wants to make friends at school. He’s scared of Vicky and sees Crocker as a weird old man who happens to share a few interests with him. Foop may see himself as a lone wolf who can take care of himself, but you can always expect him to get distracted with sweets or have his feelings hurt if someone criticizes something he’s worked hard on.

I’ve written Foop not only as a child in my works, but occasionally as a very young teenager. I see Foop growing up with an interest in science, to contrast Poof’s interest in sports. Even as he grows, I try to portray him as a smart but rebellious boy who is constantly torn between trying to impress his father, and trying to annoy him. He craves approval and awards, but constantly struggles against his desire to lash out when someone sets him off. Even as an adult, I think, Foop will always have a stubborn streak of childishness in his heart.

TO THE TEST

Here are seven snippets I wrote just now, with each of the characters above facing off with Timmy. Using what you know about the different characters, their motivations, and how they differ, can you tell who said each one?

“What? Still got a wad of industrial-strength floss stuffed in your ear or something? It’s a perfectly dreary day, and you’re sitting around in here? Come on, get out, smell the thunderstorm, huh?”

“Are you still here? Oh, please. What do you want? You have your reward. Our agreement has terminated. Yes, so you distracted the ruffians long enough to prevent them from getting away- So what? I’m the one who called the police to come and arrest them! And look which one of us isn’t sporting bruises in every color of the rainbow. Yes, very well done, you!”

“I hope you’re kidding. You know, I really don’t see how I could have made myself any clearer. Then again, I never bothered learning how to speak Simpleton. This plan was foolproof. I even wrote it out for you. You were supposed to unleash the giant spiders when I said ‘Two’. Two! Which I swear must also be the level of your intelligence on a scale from 1 to 10!”

“Ha! I’d like to see you try and take it, punk. And if one word gets out, I’ll grind you into mulch so foul, not even the worms will dig you up again.”

“What will it be, Turner? Escape now and reveal your secret to the world, or stand there and watch the girl of your dreams email that humiliating photo to everyone you’ve ever known?”

“Ah-buh-buh! I wouldn’t lay a single fingernail on that button if I were you. After all, you wouldn’t like it if I happened to accidentally tip that platform you’re standing on straight into the lava below, now would you? No, I didn’t really expect you would.”

“It really is that easy. Take back your bug, walk out that door, and we won’t have a problem. Or don’t. Then we might. That’s your choice.”

#FAIRIES! #Remy Buxaplenty #Jonathan Magnificent #Lava lamp dude #The bat with the hat #I'm wasp dad trash #Red babysitter #Big Crock #Nerdy blue bat son #Long post #ridwriting #screenshots #Dragonfly parents #Purple hippie dragonfly #Perfect pink beaver boy #Origin of the Pixies #Frayed Knots

[zippdementia]

The Main Resident Evil Games, Ranked

I’ve been playing Resident Evil games since Resident Evil 2 first terrified me as a 14 year old. I have fond memories of having to have my friend play through the sewer sections in that game, the ones involving giant spiders... and I also have fond memories of eventually overcoming those fears to achieve the coveted A Rank on the game and unlocking Hunk and Tofu (God, I had way more time back then). Since those early days, I’ve played through every main game in the series and have mostly kept up with the lore of the side games. It remains one of my favorite go-to franchises for its atmosphere and fun mix of horror and action, not to mention its over-the-top story, which always feels a little bit like Capcom browsed Reddit for its favorite fan fiction than turned it into an official game.

That said, this list looks at only the nine main games in the series (that’s Resident Evil 0 through 7, plus Code Veronica) as those are the only ones I’ve played, outside of obsessing for a month or two on Umbrella Chronicles... oh, and a brief, extremely un-fun run through Outbreak.

Because I started the series so long ago, I have a love in my heart for the old school fixed camera games and those that give us a healthy dose of survival horror over action, but I’ve tried to be as objective as possible in creating this list, keeping in mind that of course such things can never stray too far from the subjective. Also, as an added bonus, I’ve included a “scariness” ranking for each game separate from the main ranking. This, of course, is COMPLETELY subjective.

And with that, let’s do *assumes dark growly voice* RESIDENT EVIL: RANKING.

#9: Resident Evil 6

Resident Evil 6 is a mess of ideas and intentions. From the beginning, its development was hampered by too many cooks in the kitchen as various directors and producers continually changed their mind as to what the game should be. Eventually they settled on making it everything by breaking up the game into three extremely different short games, one that relies heavily on horror aspects, one on action aspects, and one on shooting aspects (including heavy use of a widely panned cover system). Unfortunately, these three approaches are intrinsically opposed to each other in terms of genre, gameplay, and aesthetic. Instead of pleasing all fans, this approach guaranteed that no matter who you are, you are going to like exactly one third of Resident Evil 6 and hate two thirds of it. It also highlighted for fans that Capcom no longer knew what its series wanted to be. The asinine story which arguably jumped the shark as far back as Code Veronica now captured that shark, put a saddle on it, and rode it around an arena while Chris Redfield did steroids. In short: the story was so nonsensical, it seemed to leave nowhere else for the series to go (a problem they just sort’ve ignored in Resident Evil 7). Resident Evil 6 has some fun elements to it, and it fixed many of the problems people had with bad companion AI and clunky run and gun mechanics, but it wasn’t enough to make the experience a good one.

Scary rank #9: In addition to being a poor game, Resident Evil 6 almost completely moves away from the game’s horror routes. Leon’s campaign has some nice tip of the hats to the old series, but the game never becomes scary. The fact that you run around with a partner for the entire thing and that those partners quip ridiculous lines like “it’s really powerful, especially against living things” means you’ll be cringing in embarrassment more than fear from this title.

#8: Resident Evil 0

Released in 2002, Resident Evil 0 feels like the final evolution of the old school style and systems of Resident Evil’s fixed camera games. The controls are smoother, the use of weapons easier, you can drop items directly on the floor and the game will keep them there for later retrieval, and there is the buddy system which represents a very early attempt at cooperative AI. Unfortunately, despite all of these improvements to the mechanics, the experience itself feels too well worn by this point to be very exciting. You can tell that the developers themselves were growing tired of the formula as they start to move away from zombies to other monsters... like, er, frogs. Yes, unfortunately the replacements aren’t very interesting: frogs, baboons, a giant bat, and an operatic villain feel like weak additions to the series and make it seem like the developers were out of ideas. The story fills in some of the backstory of the mansion incident but ultimately doesn’t push us forward towards anything new (which is what fans really wanted and wouldn’t get until RE4). Aside from an incredible opening sequence on a train and the criminally underused character of Billy, Resident Evil 0 is a very polished but very bland experience.

Scary Rank #6: The scariest thing about Resident Evil 0 is managing two characters. Trying to gather enough supplies for one person in Raccoon City is a trick in itself. Having to keep both members of your team well equipped, well healed, and ready to deal with the plethora of enemies they will face can be harrowing. It’s the rare occasion where having two does not feel better than having one. And then there’s the leechmen. I don’t know if it’s because they are sturdy or seem to pop up whenever you least expect it, or maybe it’s that music that plays when they attack, but the leechmen will freak me out and leave me with the jitters every time they show up. None of the other enemies are very frightening, though, and anytime I get too scared I just think back to that cinema scene of Markus singing opera to his leeches... and burst out laughing.

#7: Resident Evil Code Veronica

After the events of Resident Evil: Nemesis, no one was sure where Capcom could take the story next. Raccoon City had been destroyed, Umbrella Corps had fallen, and all of our heroes had been given somewhat happy endings. Enter Code Veronica, which blew open the possibilities again by reintroducing Albert Wesker. By now, Wesker is so well associated with Resident Evil as to be a cliche, but it was a huge surprise in 2000 when he was revived, green lizard eyes and all, to take on Chris Redfield once again. Suddenly people were talking about Resident Evil again and where it might go in the future. This success, however, is less impressive now that that future has arrived and there are better games to play in the series. Code Veronica always favored innovation over polish and it has not aged well as a result. Most notably, the game seems to demand more speed and fighting ability of its player than previous entries, pitting Claire and Chris against such fast moving villains as the Matrix-inspired Wesker and his pack of lightning quick hunter beasts. Combats tend to be fought in tighter quarters, sometimes to extremely frustrating effect, such as the infamous “Steve” battle (also, I hate Steve), or the Tyrant fight in the back of an airplane. Players who have not properly kept up their inventory with powerful weapons and healing items can find themselves stuck in these places, struggling with the clunky controls to try and dodge extremely damaging attacks. The atmosphere and story make Code Veronica worth the experience... but only barely.

Scary Rank #4: A lot of Code Veronica’s scares are due to the feeling that you can’t handle what the game is throwing at you. This is, as described above, a mixture of awful controls and enemies that are far too fast and resilient for most players to be able to take on with that control scheme. Still, it does make the experience harrowing. More legitimate scares come from the creepy gothic atmosphere and the bizarre nature of the Ashford twins. Alex is... ridiculous. But his sister Alexia brings to bear all the things we all hate about creepy little girls and then throws in some incest and patricide to boot. Alexia is a genuinely disturbing addition to the Resident Evil roster.

#6: Resident Evil 7

Resident Evil 7 had the Herculean task of redeeming Resident Evil as a series after the missteps of Resident Evil 6. And, for the most part, it succeeded at this. Choosing to return to the series’ horror routes, RE7 draws upon the influences of other games in the genre, most notably Alien Isolation and Outlast, to craft an experience that feels modernized and on par, atmospherically, with some of the best Resident Evil titles. There are moments that are absolutely terrifying and the game doesn’t stop feeling tense until very near the end. Gamers like myself who grew up with RE1 and RE2 love this return to form and find that the first-person perspective retains the feel of the old fixed camera without being as restrictive, creating a horror experience where you are constantly wondering what’s behind you (but at least have the ability to turn around and check). Even fans who are newer to the series seemed to collectively breath a sigh of relief when they played the game. Reading forums and Reddit threads reveals that most gamers find the game to be fresh and smart, and are happy that it lacked the emphasis on lore and the over the top mustache-twirling villains that dominated previous titles. Objectively, though, there are flaws that I think will not be looked on favorably the more it ages. The blocking system, for instance, feels shoehorned in as a quick fix to disguise the fact that you can’t dodge or easily slow an approaching enemy down. Then, too, the game tries to be an action game near the end and utterly fails at it, only highlighting its unsatisfying shooting mechanics. The Molded are scary but overall a let down as enemies, with little variety between their forms, and the boss fights are the worst in the entire series, being clumsy and frustrating and a weird tonal break from the rest of the game. So for as much as it gets right, Resident Evil 7 is hopefully a stepping stone to something better.

Scary Rank #3: For the most part, RE7 does stop being scary after the first couple of hours, but holy shit those first couple of hours. There is more terror crammed into the initial exploration of the Baker house than in the entirety of most of the other games in the series. I was actually glad when the scares let up a bit to give me a breather, but it never quite reaches the same “heart attack” level again. That doesn’t mean there aren’t moments of terror sprinkled throughout: the wrecked ship has wonderful atmosphere, and despite having terrible boss fights, the battle against Margueritte is a stand out experience, making you constantly spin around to see if that creepy woman is crawling around behind you. More often than not, just as you turn, she’ll drop on you from above. Seriously, I don’t know how people play this on VR.

#5: Resident Evil 5

As the game that introduced functional multiplayer into the series, Resident Evil 5 remains popular to this day. As I type this, there are probably at least a dozen people live-streaming the game on twitch for the billionth time, and people are still tuning in to watch. Resident Evil 5′s lasting power comes from an absolutely incredible campaign that takes players through a wealth of diverse environments. Its combat situations are well crafted and each one feels a little different from the last, demanding different things of its players in each new area. Whether it’s fighting your way out of a crowd or solving puzzles while keeping back hordes of enemies, Resident Evil 5 keeps throwing new things at the player to ensure they don’t get bored. Its boss fights are similarly diverse and well paced (with a couple exceptions... that stupid jeep fight key among them). Graphically, it still looks good and mechanically some people think (myself included) that it actually plays a little smoother than its successor, Resident Evil 6 (some people say it looks better, too). The game’s main failings come from the fact that it is about 100% less fun to play as a single player experience and from the fact that the game let go of pretty much any horror elements, opting instead for pure action. The result is a game that is one of the most fun to play in the entire series even while it is also the furthest removed from the roots of the series and probably feels the least like a Resident Evil game.

Scary Rank #8: Resident Evil 5 traded in dark nights for African sunshine and switched out zombies for... tribal warriors? No matter what RE5 does, it just seems to be less scary then when it was done before. The Lickers make a triumphant return... but aren’t as scary as they were in Resident Evil 2. The El Gigante fight in the jeep is frustrating and feels like a weird arcade game. Only the fight against Jill and Wesker manages to be tense and even there tension is somewhat broken by Wesker’s drawling accent and ridiculous dialog. Resident Evil 5 is an action game first and foremost, which does little to sell it in the scariness department.

#4: Resident Evil 1 (REmake)

Resident Evil 1 (even before being remade in all its graphical and mechanical glory on the Nintendo Gamecube in 2002) had all of the right elements to create a lasting franchise. It featured incredible sound design and cinematic camera angles, designed not only to keep you guessing what was around the corner but to emulate camera shots used in actual horror movies. For the time it was released, it was mind blowing, unlike anything else on the market in terms of both ambition and quality. More than anything, it was its precise timing that was so impressive. For a horror experience to be good, the timing has to be perfect. That’s easier to do in a film, where the director has control over what the audience experiences and when they experience it. But in an interactive game it’s very difficult. There has to be just enough breathing room to get the player comfortable. Musical cues have to be spot on. That jump scare has to happen at exactly the right moment to have its full impact. And for all of this to work the director has to be able to anticipate what the player will do and where they will go and when they will do it. Resident Evil understood these barriers and crushed them with a key understanding of how gamers play. REmake only improved on this with added enemies (like the infamous Crimson Heads and Lisa Trevor) and new jump scares. The result? Very few of the Resident Evil games since REmake have felt quite so well made. Some took bigger risks, and some are more memorable, but the one that started it all established a formula so good that everything else the series does has been informed by it. Wesker, the Tyrant, creepy mansions... they are all here and as good as ever they will get.

Scary Rank #1: Resident Evil 1 never stops being tense. You never seem to have enough ammo, never enough healing items. You always wonder if this time through the hallway will be the time something jumps out at you. The remake makes this worse with the inclusion of Crimson Heads, which make zombies rise from the dead faster and more resilient (and with a heck of a scary growl), but even the original kept the mansion scary by throwing in those damnable Hunters just when you thought you’d cleared the place out. Speaking of the Remake, can anyone say Lisa Trevor? Dear lord, she alone gives this the number one spot on the list. It may never make your heart pound as hard as Resident Evil 7 does in its most intense moments, but Resident Evil 1 keeps the pressure on for longer and it truly is a sigh of relief when you get picked up by Brad’s helicopter at the end of the game. The first is still the best when it comes to putting your heart in your throat.

#3: Resident Evil Nemesis

Resident Evil Nemesis is a roller-coaster from start to finish, packed with so much action that it is hard to remember that it is possibly the shortest game in the main series. Nemesis doesn’t waste space, transforming Raccoon City into a constantly changing arena. Running around the ruins of Raccoon City as the zombie invasion hits full swing, you witness the city fall further and further into destruction as the streets gradually fill up with harder and harder enemies. No area feels safe in Nemesis, as even spots you’ve cleared previously can repopulate with new enemies. I say “can” because Nemesis keeps players on their toes with a randomly generating enemy system that changes where and when certain enemies appear, meaning you can’t get too comfortable in Raccoon City, even on subsequent playthroughs. And any time you do finally get some breathing room, the quiet is interrupted by a deep voice growling out “STARS...” Originally intended to be only a side story, Nemesis earns its rightful place among the main series mostly due to its titular villain, who is the most impressive of all of Resident Evil’s monsters. Years before Papa Baker would chase you through the halls of his bayou home, the nearly unstoppable Nemesis was already terrifying players by breaking all the old rules of where an enemy would go, chasing players around huge portions of the game’s map, breaking through doors and walls to continue the chase and even equipping a rocket launcher to target players at a distance. There are other innovations that shouldn’t go unnoticed here, either, such as a last-second dodge feature that encourages players to be more aggressive and get up close with enemies. There’s also the “choose your own adventure” timed choices that pop up in intense moments, like when the Nemesis is bearing down on you and you have to choose to jump out of a window or try and blow him up. Sometimes one option is better than another, and sometimes the option changes the story, leading to high replayability. And if you ever get tired of the main game, there is the unlocked Mercenaries mode. That’s right, it wasn’t Resident Evil 4 that started that. Like so many things, Nemesis did it first. All of these quirks and innovations, alongside the incredible non-stop pace, make Nemesis still a blast to play today and one heck of a send off to Raccoon City.

Scary Rank #2: Because the action moves so fast in Nemesis, you will never get a chance to calm down. Not to mention Nemesis himself is a walking jump scare. If Resident Evil 7 proves that being chased makes for some of the scariest moments in a video game, then Nemesis makes you feel chased for the entire game. The only thing that keeps it from being as scary as Resident Evil 1 is that it is over sooner.

#2: Resident Evil 4

Resident Evil 4 represented a revolution in the series, ushering it from its old-school fixed camera routes into a more modern over the shoulder style of play. I struggled with this change throughout my entire first playthrough, upset with the fact that it abandoned the old formulas. Gone were zombies, gone were most of the scares, gone were most aspects of survival horror. But then I also found myself dreaming of it, saying “heheh, what are you buying?” until my girlfriend asked me to stop, and starting over and playing it over from the beginning as soon as I had beaten it. Despite the change in direction, it was a game I didn’t want to end, and I’ve gone on to purchase it on nearly every system its been released on. I’m not alone in this: Resident Evil 4 is one of the most successful games in the franchise and indeed one of the most influential video games of all time. It didn’t only redefine what Resident Evil was for an entire new generation of gamers, it also redefined how people thought of third person shooters, opening the doors for everything from Gears of War to Uncharted. If you load it up today, you’ll find it takes an hour or so to get used to the older controls, but the game was so well designed that once you do you’ll see how everything in the game caters to those controls, creating an enticing run, stop, aim, shoot cycle that is addictive and never stretches beyond its limitations. Of the over the shoulder Resident Evil games, Resident Evil 4 feels the most complete, not requiring a co-op experience to make it good nor relying on years of lore to understand and care about its story and characters. Resident Evil 5 may have been fun, but it never got quite this good again.

Scary Rank #7: Resident Evil 4 is often tense, because of the nature of its gameplay, which forces you to stand still while shakily aiming at oncoming enemies. It never really gets scary, though. Enemies are too slow and your bullets too numerous, your spin kicks too awesome, to make you truly feel vulnerable. It does get props for a certain boss that chases you relentlessly through a certain caged area... oh, and for the Regeneradors. The Regeneradors, with their constant snuffling sound and their twitchy gait, are among the scariest enemies ever in Resident Evil. But a few minutes of pure terror isn’t enough to ignore the heavy focus on action and the fact that Leon carries enough firepower to wage his own war.

#1: Resident Evil 2

Resident Evil 1 may have started the franchise but it was Resident Evil 2 which jumpstarted the fan base. Resident Evil 2 had a lot to prove, mainly that this series could survive (pun intended) more than a single outing, that it could expand its scope, grow its cast of characters, and build on its setting. And boy did it deliver. If Resident Evil 1 broke ground when it came out, then Resident Evil 2 dug deeper. One mansion became a city. The two selectable characters did more than have different items and slightly change the order of events. Now, you had to play both characters one after the other to experience the full story. As if that wasn’t enough, the game changed depending on which character you played first, and in order to see everything the game had to offer, you had to play four times. Granted, two of those times would feel awfully similar, but the A&B scenarios changed just enough about the story and scenarios to make it well worth every second. The scares of the first game remained mostly intact but now a healthy dose of video game action was thrown in and boss fights became more numerous and dynamic, creating what remain the series’ best and most diverse boss fights. Simply put, Resident Evil 2 is a masterpiece of realized ambition that hasn't been matched by any other game in the series. It’s one failing now is that it is old, both graphically and in terms of controls. There’s a reason that fans have been clamoring for a remake of this for so long! But I’m glad Capcom waited so long to do it. Resident Evil 2 needs more than a new coat of paint. It is a carefully constructed experience and care is going to be required to give it a second life on par with the original experience. Here's hoping 2019 delivers on that.

Scary Rank #5:  One of the best things about Resident Evil 2 is that you aren’t playing special forces this time around. Claire Redfield is a simple citizen and Leon Kennedy a rookie cop. They feel, from the opening cutscenes, completely out of their element which added a wonderful connection between them and the player. Unlike the first game, you don’t start off in a safe situation that grows worse the longer you explore. No, you start off in a goddamned car wreck, surrounded by zombies and not nearly enough bullets to fight them. From the beginning, Resident Evil 2 highlights that you need to run to survive. Then it introduces Lickers, which add a whole new element to jump scares and you think that the game may be too frightening to keep playing. But also around this time it introduces you to grenade launchers and shotguns and lots of ammo for both of them. This makes the Resident Evil 2 scares manageable because the reaction to anything that moves in that game is to scream and then douse it with either buckshot or acid rounds.

#Resident Evil #Frightening #Scary

[ruler-of-scientists]

11, 19, 25, 34 and 43 for both Veryn and Grimwere

(( Be warned guys, this one is long. ))

-Veryn-11. How do they see themselves: as smart, as intelligent, uneducated?Veryn sees himself as equal parts smart and intelligent; in the distant past he might have seen himself as uneducated compared to other Homeworlders but he learned quickly. He doesn’t boast about it, but he acknowledges that one would need to be intelligent and smart to be in the position he’s in, at least to use it as effectively as he has. He doesn’t use his position as an excuse either, he just feels you’d have to be insane to want to be leader without a specific level of intelligence and smartness, both of which Veryn possesses.

19. What were your character’s deepest disillusions? In life? What are they now?

He grew up disillusioned with modern Arkan society, surprisingly, just like his father. He had a hard time coming to terms with the idea of shunning away certain emotions instead of internalising them like his father did, and at the time decided he’d never want to become a part of that society. He was educated in a Homeworld school of course, but didn’t stay there and returned to his farmworld home soon after. He firmly believed in the importance of accepting emotions and even championed a cause to change that aspect of Arkan politics when he reached the youthful age of 300, after his father had died.

So why then is he here now? What could possibly have happened? He certainly seems to be an advocate of keeping strong, rationality-preventing emotions behind bars and is the leader of a society where the majority advocates the same. If anything, now his disillusions lie in his council cohorts and his own ability to lead properly- the leader position is a difficult one when you want to make radical progress, and with other council members constantly rejecting his more advanced proposals moving forward, he finds himself forced to play the slow game and rather dislikes it, though he certainly has the patience for it.

25. What are their hobbies and interests?

Veryn’s personal hobbies when he doesn’t have to attend to anything important- this is a rarity- include simply looking out to the stars on an observation deck for what can sometimes amount to hours, going for walks either in his estate on the Homeworld or in the advanced streets of Homeworld proper, and sometimes even sharing concerns with Cercil of all people in private. (They make a great audience). He mostly busies himself with some kind of work if he can so time to enjoy any of these hobbies comes rarely.

As far as interests go, Veryn enjoys tinkering with cybernetics and machinery in general, having a specialised skill in working with both. Broadly, he has a vested heavy interest in improving Arkan progress, both scientifically and technologically. He’s quite adamant that expansionism isn’t the way forward, Arkans shouldn’t need to rely on more living space with the careful population control they already have, and the resource worlds they have in their space is more than sufficient to meet their needs. He’s quite interested in quite literally “perfecting” the Arkan self, both biologically and psionically- to this end he has performed such experiments such as the minor chemical and cybernetic enhancements on himself to extend his lifespan, and some who know of Cercil’s existence suspect that they are a failed experimental attempt to enhance Arkans through near-complete cyberneticisation. Veryn frequently and ceaselessly searches for means and ways to improve the Arkan state of being, and the technology that elevates them above so many other species, and has often resorted to certain extremes in these attempts.

Sometimes his interest veers off from perfecting Arkans and into such strange territory as creating an offensive force more efficient and reliable than he considers modern Starmen and other robots to be, despite his being against expansionism- he insists this is to better defend themselves against forces which may bear them ill, but not many believe him. Nobody knows exactly why he pursues these specific interests so doggedly, but it is hard to deny that Arkan society has never advanced quite so quickly on a technological level before he became leader and started pushing for it. Perhaps he has some other personal agenda for not only wanting these things to happen, but for them to happen soon...

34. Does your character feel self-righteous? Revengeful? Contemptuous?

Veryn certainly feels rather self-righteous in the position he’s in. It’s his personal belief that, for whatever reason, he has to push progress forward and he’s right for it, that it’s a necessity and that the extremes he sometimes resorts to in his experiments and/or proposals are acceptable because he knows it will in the end be to everyone’s benefit.

As for revenge, Veryn would deny that he feels such a thing at all......unless the Ix are brought up. For another reason quite unknown (you must be seeing a pattern forming here) Veryn holds the parasitic aliens in quite a contemptuous light, even more so than he might for example hold humans who have defied Arkan will. It is true that they are quite literally a threat to the universe at large, Arkans included, but his interest in exterminating them extends far more than out of simple necessity for the universe’s sake.

He hides it well, but he hates them. 

43. Does your character have any secrets? If so, are they holding them back?

If you have read this far and not come to the conclusion that Veryn is very clearly hiding something about himself and his past, then now’s the time to realise it. He used to be a farmer who disliked how Arkan society functions and now he’s their leader, advocating the very same functions he stood against in the past, and he wants progress to come at a faster rate than any leader before him has pressed for. He resorts to extremes readily, he seeks to build a more reliable offensive force, and for some reason hates a species that, while deserving of hatred, shouldn’t rouse this much of a reaction from someone who has no real relation to them.

Unless he does have some kind of relation to them.

If anything, the secrets he holds do not hold him back- they drive him and embolden him, have made him into who he is now and likely are what make him so adamant in his modern beliefs.

-Grimwere-

11. How do they see themselves: as smart, as intelligent, uneducated?

Grimwere holds himself in very high regard, whereby he believes he is quite smart, certainly cunning, and a lot more than “mildly” intelligent. He fully believes himself Veryn’s intellectual equal.

19. What were your character’s deepest disillusions? In life? What are they now? 

In the past, Grimwere was disillusioned with the Arkan’s place in the universe- he was raised by a very racist family and inherited their dislike of the rest of the universe, and core-held belief that Arkans are supreme and ought to be ruling over just about every patch of space there is. He fully intended to take over the position of leader once he rose through the ranks and steer the Arkan race in the direction he believed they rightfully deserved.

Which leads to his current disillusionment with the Arkans’ current leader who managed to beat Grimwere to it. He’s quite unable to believe that someone with Veryn’s background- a farmer, compared to someone like Grimwere who was raised by the Arkan equivalent of nobles- was able to surpass him and become the leader in his stead. He’s unhappy that not only does Veryn not share his belief that the Arkans not only need but deserve more space (all the space), but also believes Arkans should be self-sufficient and satisfied with what they already have. This goes against everything Grimwere wants for his own species and from the day Veryn stated his goals as leader, Grimwere dedicated himself to being Veryn’s political and actual rival. While he agrees in faster progress for the species as a whole, he’d rather that progress was dedicated to making the Arkans the universal empirical power he believes he knows they can be. 

25. What are their hobbies and interests?

Grimwere is quite fond of conducting personal private biological experiments in his spare time- biology happens to be his speciality in the scientific field, so he enjoys analysing organic samples and understanding how other living beings tick, if not so he can find some way to turn their biological processes to his own benefit. Otherwise he spends time in his garden dome tending to his various exotic plants collection, of which he is rather prideful.As far as interests go, he is quite invested in Arkan history, both recent and ancient, finding great fascination in the old tales that depicted a more violent time for the Arkan race, a time where expansionism was encouraged and they were more war-like.

It’s a time he’s quite fond of reading about in extensive detail.

34. Does your character feel self-righteous? Revengeful? Contemptuous? 

Heavily so. He feels only he knows what’s best for his race, that they all inherently want to rule as badly as he does, and is therefore contemptuous of pretty much anyone who disagrees with him. It shows in a variety of ways, such as mockery, open opposition and even attempted sabotage on a few occasions (he has tried this on Veryn to little success but always covered his tracks enough to get away with it every time). This contempt extends to pretty much anything that isn’t Arkan- he views some sapient species as little better than the base wildlife found on some Arkan colony worlds, unwilling to ever see them as equals- only as potentially useful biological tools if needed.

In general, Grimwere is a very bitter, contemptuous fellow indeed, and has developed such a dislike of Veryn that he isn’t afraid to try and potentially get rid of him in the most ludicrous of ways so long as it gets the job done and Veryn out of the way.

43. Does your character have any secrets? If so, are they holding them back?

Grimwere certainly holds quite a few secrets of his own, like any political leader would. It’s no secret that he wants to become leader and where he wants Arkan society to go, but what is a secret is precisely why. Many assume it’s just in thanks to the way he was raised and he does nothing to discourage this, but the truth is far more disturbing.

Perhaps a truth to be discovered for another time. Like Veryn, his secrets empower him, at any rate.

#veryn #grimwere #ask meme #holy shit this took me over an hour #lotophagoi

[motorcyclegirlfriends]

You know what I'd love to see in S3 of Supergirl? Supergirl saying "I got this" and then...having this. Like capably assessing and dealing with a situation like any other superhero would get to do on their show. There are so few incidents where Kara is allowed to be confident and act without immediately being proven wrong by a character or narrative. It just drives me nuts when they nerf Kara to give others agency

It’s funny, I was thinking about how annoying that is when I originally made that post.

But I think it’s a pattern writers fall into to teach characters new lessons each episode, and it’s not something unique to Supergirl, by any means. 

It just shows up in different ways on other shows.

For instance, from what I remember from when I watched Arrow (it’s been a while, so it may have changed), Oliver has to relearn to trust his teammates constantly. You think he finally gets it, but then a couple episodes later he’s back to brooding about on his own when he would be so much more effective with real help. 

In the Flash, one instance of this is Barry repeatedly relearning that he shouldn’t alter the timeline.

But Supergirl's Lessons are a lot more heavy handed and obvious, possibly because the age range starting younger. It’s a mark of the Family Friendly Show.

And Lessons aren’t in and of themselves a bad move (though it’s a bit after school special for my tastes), it only really becomes a problem when the characters themselves are lessened so they can then learn. 

The goal is to give characters some kind of advancement each episode, but what results is often simply the illusion of advancement. One step back, one step forward. And it leaves audiences who are in tune with the characters frustrated, because not only is there no real forward movement, but the characters are temporarily moving backwards for no reason, damaging the cohesiveness of the character’s qualities.

But it’s more about the writers being unimaginative than something done on purpose or because they have a poor opinion of Kara (or any other character in question).

Rather than having to elevate their material and tackle more complex problems for the character to face, they make the character a little dumber/stubborn/irrationally emotional etc. than they are so they can learn simple lessons that they, the writers, know how to teach.

They probably don’t even know they’re doing it.

But I’d argue that this doesn’t necessarily give other characters more agency. In fact, in Supergirl, the opposite has generally been proven to be true.

At the beginning of season 2, I complained about Kara learning lessons she didn’t need to learn before.

Suddenly Kara felt entitled (to her position with Snapper), suddenly Kara was xenophobic (though we learn later that the planet was filled with slave owners so it was less “hmm this culture is bad because it’s different and because of the wrong things my planet taught me about them” and more “wow these people actually do bad things and should be criticized” but that’s not something they had in mind at the time. The original storyline was framed so that Kara was in the wrong, had this negative quality, demonstrating something we’d never seen from her before and never really saw from her in any other context again).

Season 1 had a theme of the week, but it generally handled the lessons in a way that aligned pretty well with the character (Kara learning to deal with her anger, learning how to balance her life, etc.) 

There were still slip ups in that regard, but my disdain for this system was more about the cheesiness and clear formula than poor character treatment. 

So season 2′s handling of this especially bothered me, in the beginning.

But then, the lessons stopped. 

Kara wasn’t learning something new every episode. In fact, she often had the answers that someone else needed. She helped J’onn accept his feelings for M’gann despite feeling guilty about moving on after the loss of his family, she helped Alex deal with her feelings for Maggie. Mostly, she helped Mon-El become a Real Boy.

And it was disastrous.

Mon-El became at the center of the story, because he was the one learning things. Kara became his teacher while also not really learning anything new on her own each week, and thus became a passive character. Mon-El was doing all the advancing, while Kara mostly just dealt his “advancement” or with the immediate problems she faced each ep without growing much.

So now? I miss the lessons...

Of course, you’ll be delighted to know that there’s a way to have the worst of both worlds!!!

The episode “Alex,” which I never seem to stop complaining about, had Kara simultaneously develop negative traits that go directly against her previously shown qualities and development (ex. “Why would we talk someone down when we could break their arm instead???”) and didn’t give her a fully developed arc within the episode. (I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Kara was the antagonist of that episode and I hate them for it.)

But in general, with these kinds of writers, Lessons = focus and attention.

So what the writers should do is teach Kara real, new lessons that stick and that Kara should actually learn.

For instance? 

“How To Make A Plan Before Rushing In”: The Episode

The “Alex” episode touched on this idea, but they added qualities that she didn’t have before—like a mistrust of those with experience—to make it happen. In a situation with such high stakes, Kara being asked to give them a minute to figure it out (knowing that Alex still had more time) should have resulted to her allowing consideration to occur. Her fear of the drastic results of her failure should have kicked in. She should know it could go really wrong, and having her ignore that makes her look stupid and intolerably careless.

This concept should have been something that was presented in a less high-stakes storyline. 

Perhaps Maggie and Kara teaming up because Alex, J’onn, and Winn are in a DEO lockdown (that they’re totally handling, a.k.a. B story), and there’s a villain on the loose that sets traps for Supergirl.

Start the episode off with someone being hurt because Kara wasn’t quick enough, and then she overcompensates and make mistakes when the plot gets rolling (resulting in her landing in traps that she has to be rescued from, perhaps for no reason because they were tricked into thinking people were in danger that weren’t), thus triggering Maggie’s insistence that she low down and think.

(Kara being the one at risk because of her mistakes also lessons the unnecessary animosity between Kara and Maggie in the scenario, because the reason Maggie tries to convince Kara to use her head is for her wellbeing.)

This way, Kara’s need to get there to save people before time runs out—her own safety be damned—is acknowledged by Maggie and by the narrative, but then it’ll be proven that it’s better for everyone if she takes a minute to consider the best move.

At some point in the episode, Maggie’s need to protect Kara because of her relationship with Alex is brought up (maybe mid-argument, for Drama). 

“If something happened to you, Alex would be destroyed,” 

“I have a responsibility to protect those people,” 

“I know. I’m a cop. But you have a responsibility to the people who love you, too.”

“...Well, Alex has you now, remember?” type deal.

Which would lead into the whole “Where do I fit in?” thing they both have with Alex, resulting in them both admitting to fearing that the other will compromise their relationship with her. There’s a whole camaraderie thing that results from it.

At the end of the episode, Maggie and Kara come up with a plan together, Maggie sharing some of her Detective Skills for Kara to internalize. 

Kara is surprisingly the one to have the eureka moment, showing us that she had the capacity to do it, just not the patience. 

They go to stop the villain together, and it goes well. At first. The villain of the episode gets the upper hand somehow, putting Supergirl in danger again. 

Then, plan-less, Maggie rushes in and Does Something Stupid to save her, and it actually works. They save the day, and in-conversation wrap up the idea that planning is the best move whenever possible, but sometimes you have to go by your gut. Lessons, all around.

When everything is said and done, Alex is finally free of the DEO and texts Kara to ask for a sister night, but Kara says that she’s busy, but maybe tomorrow would work. Alex also texts Maggie asking to hang out, but she says she’s occupied as well.

(Don’t worry, J’onn and Winn end up taking her to the bar anyway. One of those Bonding themed episodes.)

Cut to Maggie and Kara eating at some diner referenced earlier in the episode,(Maggie—healthy food, Kara—fast food) and talking and laughing about their old cases. Maggie mentions how she figured out how someone had a gun in their pants by the way they were walking, and Kara mentions the time she fought an Alien whose face turns red just before it blasts it’s victim with fire. 

“Ha. Sounds just like my boss.”

*One of those chatter/laughter wholesome ass fade outs*

In this scenario, no one looks dumb. Hell, there is even a slight amount of character regression (Kara being more reckless than usual) that spurs the Lesson on, but it’s because of a realistic character-true reaction to events within the world.

And then, ideally, Kara continues to know the skills she learned from this episode in the future.

But hopefully, if they use this Lesson technique while Mon-El is away, they’ll remember the difference between things Kara needs to learn and things she already should know.

I mean, the “I’ve got this,” in question may not actually include Kara fucking up afterward. The context of the clips in the trailer includes Kara being depressed and isolating herself from her loved ones. The “I’ve got this” could simply be an indicator of how she is going out on her own now and relying on only herself.

This is a Lesson she’s likely learning here—to let those around her help her. To let people in again, in general. But I consider this new, temporary lone wolf outlook she’s adopted to be a character-true regression.

But if it’s The Main Bad Guy, she’ll likely fail to capture him if it’s in the beginning of the ep. But none of the heroes defeat the bad guy before the climax of the episode. It’s just how tv works. She may not be shown to be incompetent in some way, just outmatched.

It’s a valid criticism of past episodes, but we’ll have to wait and see what the context of this instance is.

(I really do want Kara to have an ep in which she tries for some strategy, though. And continues to try to think that way in the future. Prayer circle for a strategy ep!)

#supergirl #kara danvers #maggie sawyer #supergirl season 3 #this got long #probably because i randomly wrote an episode in the middle of it #Anonymous

[zydrateacademy]

Review: Destiny 2

It took me a while to compile enough thoughts for a proper review, and to find time to actually begin writing because I’ve been far too busy actually playing it. This will come with a minor disclaimer or two. First, I haven’t played the first game. It was on console and I’ve been on PC for a long time. Secondly, I may mention a lot of other game comparisons and there’s a reason for that. This game feels like it borrows some of the best parts of other games and stitched them together to make something great. I can’t really comment on the game’s previous story, but I hear from most players that there wasn’t much of one. Somehow I feel that this is hyperbole on their part because you can’t really have a game without a story. Even team shooters like Overwatch shoehorn some lore within their dialog or various external material. All the same, I’ve gathered that a giant alien ball gave a large portion of the Earth population immortality topped with magical powers. Not exaggerating, I have literally heard the word “magic” be used in what seems to be a Sci Fi adventure. The game proper starts off with a full on assault from an enemy faction that only had a tertiary presence in the first game. They win pretty swiftly and kick you off a tower. Your guardian loses their “light” powers and must traverse the first forty-five minutes or so of the game without the ability to resurrect. Of course that is of limited value as checkpoints are still a thing so feel free to die if you don’t quite have a handle on the gunplay.

The campaign is stated to be around six hours long and that’s fairly accurate. It felt incredibly short and it was surprising to learn about this sun-destroying device that the Red Legion created. Funny enough, that’s actually the halfway point and the exact moment where the story becomes less interesting. Before that, you hop between planets to “get the band back together”, essentially. You collect the various class leaders across the system, each with their own unique problems that you solve and get back together to help lead the push against the guys who took everyone’s light. After that, it’s a generic doomsday device that you must disable, and the campaign missions themselves feel a bit padded at times. You’re often assigned to disable something, only for it to not work so you must go destroy something else two more times before the thing actually works. The old school trope of “You cannot thwart stage one” is in full effect here folks, and you’ll likely predict what will happen to the big bad Ghaul himself long before you actually see it. Weak story aside, the gunplay is some of the best feeling in a first person shooter I’ve had in a while. At first glance the game looks and feels like a less irritating version of Borderlands, a franchise of which I love anyway like a slowly improving problem child. Enemies have large health bars and every hit you land, magical floating numbers pop up signifying your damage. Ultimately these numbers mean very little because max level players can play with level three’s and nobody can really one-shot anything except for the basics. There’s some strange autobalancing coding going on in the background, but it still manages to make sure that anyone can play with their friends regardless of people’s gear level. This includes the fact that max level players will constantly get tokens and can break down lesser gear for yet another type of turn-in token. There’s always a reason to do things and I find that it’s a great mechanic. 

The story is mostly just an excuse to get you to maximum level and have access to the tower. After that, the full game unlocks to you which is common MMO fare. It lets you dip your toes in some player-versus-player but after you beat the campaign, every planet and game mode will have a set of challenges and milestones for you to work towards and continually get your item level up, also known as a “Gearscore” if you’re a veteran of WoW. Ultimately this is where the game shines and where I typically have the most fun, because it essentially becomes a first person sandbox. No, there’s not really an open world and there’s not much to explore unless you’re hunting for Lost Sectors, secret sections of the map that typically have yield chests with better loot that will only unlock when you defeat the local miniboss. They’re a lot of fun. Each planet has this sort of “hub” area that you’ll find a few other players running around in. I figure they’re instanced with a likely player cap because I’ve never seen more than a few at a time. At most I think I saw about seven other people joining in on a public event with me, one of my favorite features of the game. Public Events are not a new concept in recent gaming history. The earliest comparison I can personally think of is Rift (2011), but I think they started dipping into MMO’s a year or so before that. It’s as it sounds, in hub areas these events will trigger down from a five minute timer to allow other people gather and prepare and it will spawn a moderately difficult boss or objective based event. They’re typically too difficult for me to solo but I’m sure other, better players can manage. By completing optional objectives you can help upgrade every event to “heroic”, which yields a lot more experience and a bit more loot. You might have to research or simply take cues from other players and see what you have to do, but if you see people shooting at that ship circling the area or slamming on this random device in the middle of the firefight - That’s probably why. Those side challenges I mentioned can be a bit fickle sometimes. Sometimes they’ll require you to kill enemies with a certain weapon or a certain way that doesn’t necessarily to cater to my playstyle. One in PvP once wanted me to make a few kills with a subclass I never used and thus had no upgrade points put into. I never got that challenges because, as per the game’s meta, there’s certain gun types or subclasses people just don’t use in certain modes. For example, nobody ever really uses the Hunter’s “Nightstalker” subclass in PvP because it’s a sort of crowd control that’s useful against several clustered enemies. In PvP that almost never happens and it would be too easy for actual players to escape the little orb that the Hunter created. 

There’s also a multitude of gun types, all with their varying clip sizes, fire rates, and range capabilities that are more useful in one mode than the other, so this typically encourages you to keep a certain ‘collection’ of things depending on what you’re playing. So far I’ve only talked about challenges and public events. I’ve found it hard to talk about what and first because there’s a lot to the game to chew through between the various updates the game will inevitably have. Of this writing, the game’s first expansion has already been announced for the fifth of December which will likely bring a whole new set of milestones, strikes, missions and most importantly, loot. I’ll try to get through some of the fun stuff you can get a hold of at the endgame which mercifully doesn’t take long to get to. Strikes are basically just dungeons from other fantasy based MMO’s. There’s not a lot to say about them, they’re ten to twenty minute encounters with a variety of bosses and mechanics you need to figure out. My least favorite so far is this Fallen boss who will constantly disappear after just a few hits and spawn these electrified robots that will limit your movement and now allow you to jump at all (and there’s a LOT of jumping in this game). They’ll also constantly damage you because of course they will. It reminds me of a survival game to be honest.

There’s the Crucible, Destiny’s name for PvP combat. It’s run of the mill PvP with your usual zone controls, team deathmatch and even a mode that’s reminiscent of Call of Duty’s “kill confirmed” mode where you only get points by picking up a sigil from a fallen enemy; Or else let their allies pick them up and get denied the score. I enjoy it and I can sometimes get rewards from it even by losing. I’m currently working on an exotic weapon quest where you have to dismantle rare or better scout rifles, which the crucible rewarded me with one just for losing. So hey, progress! There’s also something called “Nightfalls”, which remind me of “Heroic dungeons” from World of Warcraft, but are actually more comparable to Starcraft 2′s mutator mode in their Co-Op. Every week it changes, typically with some kind of timer mechanic to make sure your team is at their most optimal. On our first week, in addition to the timer, all of our skills recharges what seemed to be five times faster. So the mutations are not always there to hurt us. Naturally it gives much better loot than their more basic versions and can be incredibly intense. Myself and two buddies from my gaming community managed to kill the boss of one with a mere four seconds left on the timer. Our first ever Nightfall, to boot. I alluded earlier to the fact that there’s tokens you get from a variety of activities. This mostly gives incentive for high level players to continue playing, as you can turn these tokens in to a variety of faction leaders for engrams (a fancy word for “loot boxes”) that typically level with you so they’re usually good to grind out.

And yes, there is a grind here to a certain degree. There’s a sort of soft cap to gear levels, I found it a crawl to get past the 260-265 hump but then slingshot past it on the game’s second week with a new rollout of milestones that wanted me to play several crucible games, complete five challenges out in the world, and a few other things. Each of them gave me 269′s and 271′s and helped me gear up a bit. At a certain point it becomes advantageous to roll multiple characters so you can do all of this more than once, padding the gameplay and turning it into a grind. There is a bit of fatigue once you hit that soft cap I will admit but it’s typically relieved by playing with friends. This goes with any multiplayer game, true enough. As mentioned I can continue playing missions with newer players, hunt for public events, or toss my scrub ass into the unforgiving ring of failure that is Crucible and I’ll always get something for my trouble. There’s never not anything to do. All this time I’ve actually forgotten to talk about how really damn pretty the game is, to boot. Most of my settings are on maximum with the sole exception of my textures, which have to be medium as to not stress my unfortunately low about of VRAM. I’ve had people smarter than me try to explain why exceeding it matters but regardless, the game is still one of the best looking things in my entire library.

There’s a lot of chatter about microtransactions in the industry lately. Yes, they are present here in the form of “Bright” engrams, which can be acquired in two ways. Obviously you can buy “Silver” which acts as a separate currency for Bright engrams. The other way is, as a level 20 you will get one per ‘level up’ as you continue to play. The flow of such is pretty slow and I typically only get one or two a day (If I’m actively playing my main Hunter) as opposed to dropping ten dollars and getting five immediately. They typically contain cosmetics, some more practical than others like faster speederbikes that will help you traverse stretches of land on planets with a bit more ease. They’re the primary source of the shinier “shaders”, or armor dyes. You can get shaders out of basic chests and other loot boxes but shaders do have “rarity” like any gear does and I don’t think I’ve gotten some of the better looking ones through more basic means. Still, the microtransaction craze does speak to a seedier part of the industry and I will admit the “It’s just cosmetic!” argument doesn’t quite hold up, but I’ll leave that for the individual to decide. I’ve already purchased some silver twice now, but that’s my prerogative. I’ll just say that the game never, not once, beats me over the head with “BUY SOME OF THIS AND YOUR LIFE WILL BE MORE COMPLETE”. They better not, after I spent the full hundred dollars to begin with. In conclusion, the game feels like the most refined collection of a dozen games I could name, like the world’s cleanest zombie. Borderlands, The Division, World of Warcraft, Rift. The gameplay constantly reminds me of other games but is the absolute best version of all of them. The gunplay will keep me coming back as I do occasionally itch for an ironsight shooter but all the current ones I have are boring or have dead communities with long matchmaking. A large portion of my gaming community is playing so I can typically play at my own pace, or get others to join me if I feel like I want my objectives to go a little quicker than usual. There’s plenty to do and it’s all up to me to figure out what I want to prioritize when I log in. For a game with this much in it, it can only improve with more content.

#Destiny 2 #Bungie #Activision #Blizzard

[ace-dameron]

What You’re Really Fighting For

Can also be found on my (very much bare and abandoned) AO3.

The Nephilim were born into a life of fighting, bred to be soldiers from the moment they entered the world. Shadowhunters trained and fought to maintain a weak semblance of peace while discontent brewed exponentially. They spent their entire lives constantly surrounded by arrogance, being fed rhetoric of their superiority to the Mundanes they sought to protect and to the lowly Downworlders. Their angelic blood supposedly meant something grand in the scheme of things, something that those of demonic blood couldn’t ever hope to achieve. 

Alec rolled his eyes as he set down the official Clave document he finished reviewing. His stomach churned uneasily from the thinly veiled hate for those who weren’t Shadowhunters. Similar documents had been landing on his desk more often than their usual daily occurrence with the buzz of a Downworld uprising on their hands. The Clave wasn’t necessarily hiding their plans to punish those who even thought of breaking the accords. And despite all of his current contempt for those in Idris, Alec couldn’t feign ignorance for he too held those prejudices for far too long and only begun stripping himself of such ugly thoughts after Magnus entered his life.

His breath hitched before he leaned back in his chair, his long legs stretching out to where his feet brushed against the front panel of the desk. The thought of Magnus hollowed him out, leaving an ache only subdued by falling in line with his birthright. Alec needed to be the leader that his kind needed, the emotionless and headstrong soldier he had been before all of this had happened. Would it stop him from scoffing at outlandish comments about downworlders? No, of course not. But at this point, distraction was key. Distraction made his mind stop wandering to morning kisses to his chest as the beautiful man draped across him slowly awoke. It made it bearable to rise one day after another in a cold, sterile bedroom he had once thought to be idealistic. No frills or fuss, just a bed, a dresser for his things, and a desk. The first time he had been in the loft, it seemed almost gaudy to his senses, but it had quickly become home. No, Magnus had become his home.

He knew they would find their way back to each other again, drift into what they were when things settled. Two people who loved each other as much as they did would always fall back into place, side by side. 

A soft throat clearing from the door drew him back into the present, away from his memories. (He hated that all he currently had were memories.)

Izzy came into the office, a folder in her hands. Alec held open his hand to accept it but she wrenched it back, maneuvering it behind her back. “Not until you talk to me. You can convince everyone else that you’re fine and they’ll buy it or respect your privacy, but this is getting ridiculous, Alec. It’s been weeks.”

Alec heaved a sigh, giving Izzy a look reserved specifically for her when she was pushing boundaries. “Like I told you before, there’s nothing to talk about.”

“I told you to not let him push you away. And that’s exactly what you’re allowing to happen.” Her accusatory tone diminished as the concern in her eyes shone through. Naturally, his sister had his best interest at heart, but she didn’t understand that Alec didn’t want to continuously think about what transpired.

Alec clenched his jaw, drawing in a breath as he unwillingly found himself thinking about that night again. The desperation he felt as Magnus told him that he couldn’t have both Alec and the ability to lead his people. In that moment, nothing made sense and perhaps, nothing still did. Nothing but throwing himself into his work, quelling his desire to take off in a sprint across the city until he reached that familiar building, not stopping even after a burning sensation set into both his lungs and legs until he could see Magnus somewhere other than his dreams.

He stood up, more to steady himself than to seem intimidating, “There’s a war brewing and whether we’ll be able to pull together the Shadowhunters and the Downworlders to defeat Valentine and Sebastian or not, there is still going to be war. As simple as it should be, it isn’t. Our biases concerning each other are still heavily looked down upon. There’s so much stacked against us and our relationship.” He licked his lips, looking down briefly, trying to hide whatever flicker of hurt he knew was there. “You can’t deny that. He may have made the decision, but I am upholding it because he’s right. Right now, we can’t have each other and command of our people.” Weeks of stony silence, not even so much as the smallest text or even a blip of Magnus on his extended radar left Alec to rely on his common sense. They were doing the right thing for the right reasons. The distance and the silence and the loneliness, it was all for the right reasons in the end. Even if this all felt alienating and wrong whenever he sat long enough to let their most intimate moments invade his mind, letting emotion cloud his judgment wouldn’t change anything. 

Isabelle handed over the folder, her expression unreadable as she headed toward the door. “Just don’t close yourself off, Alec. Focus is excellent, but don’t forget what you’re really fighting for.” Her words echoed in his ears long after the clicking of her heels in the hallway vanished.

He knew why he was fighting. To assure the survival of the Shadowhunters and Downworlders alike. Placing the folder down, he dove into work again, ignoring the voice in the back of his head telling him to stop oversimplifying things.

The relative stillness erupted into chaos in a matter of days. Despite all of their training and preparation, a nervousness settled into Alec’s bones as they geared up as quickly as they could. Perhaps, fear described the situation better; fear that their fighters wouldn’t be enough, fear the Downworlders wouldn’t aid them. Realistically, they had no reason to, but this city belonged to them as much as it did the Shadowhunters.  

Another fear remained in the forefront of his mind, taunting him with a chest-tightening anxiety. Of course, the loss of his siblings had been a constant for years now, any time they went out to battle demons. But even as he glanced around the room at Izzy and Jace, his mind drifted to another person and time.

Magnus laughed, but the fondness in his expression kept Alec’s embarrassment almost at bay. Almost. The redness trickled into his cheeks as his head ducked in its usual manner. 

“You needn’t worry about me like that ever, Alexander. I could decimate a demon while giving myself a manicure.” The playfulness did little to curb the worry Alec had when concerning Magnus’s well-being. High Warlock of Brooklyn or not, Alec loved him. Cared about his well-being above his own, which wasn’t unusual for Alec with those that he loved. 

“I can’t just not worry.” Alec gesticulated as he spoke until Magnus scooted closer on the couch in one smooth motion, covering his hands with his own, steadying them.

Magnus leaned in, pressing the softest kiss to his lips, “I know. You’ll be gray before long.” He teased, his eyes glancing up as if to look for those hairs. 

“Hey,” Alec said with a warning tone and a screwed up expression, trying to keep a smile at bay.

“Never fear, darling, you’ll definitely be a silver fox.” Magnus laughed at the confused expression Alec gave him before leaning in once more for a kiss. “I always appreciate your concern. But I’ve survived for a very long time.” The wistfulness seeping into his tone seemed to speak both of the time Magnus lived before Alec and probable time he’d live long after Alec was gone.

They had avoided the immortality talk mostly and Alec didn’t relish having it now. Not with the chances of a war in the imminent future. They needed to survive all of the death and destruction that would surround them in the upcoming months. Then he’d worry about grays and wrinkles and all of the things that came as one aged and all of the things that came with having a lover who didn’t. 

“Still going to worry.” Alec grumbled a bit before pouncing on him, tackling him down into the couch and attacking him with open-mouthed kisses.

As Magnus’s fingers tangled up in his hair, tugging ever so slightly, Alec could have sworn he heard a breathy ‘thank you’ among the appreciative noises. 

Alec shook his head, pushing away the memories of what he considered an easier time as he adjusted the placement of his quiver. 

Magnus would be out there. Even if the rest of the Downworlders turned their backs to what was happening, Magnus would be there. The thought both terrified and exhilarated him. 

He jerked his head toward the door when all of the movement in the room stopped and everyone filed out of the room, nothing heard other than the quick movement of feet as they rushed to head into the streets of the city. 

They encountered their first pack of demons merely two blocks from the Institute. Alec quickly reached for an arrow, aiming for a demon and making the first kill before the rest of them rushed past him, preferred weapons raised and ready to strike. In quick succession, Alec launched his arrows in the direction of demons, feeling nothing as they disintegrated into charred ash. When the amount of demons seemed more manageable, Alec took a group of Shadowhunters with him deeper into the city, following the screams of unknowing Mundanes.

Magnus’s presence was felt long before Alec spotted him, the glow of his cat eyes somehow brighter than the red, angry magic flowing from his fingertips. The demons kept charging in and the constant flow of magic just kept coming, ticking them off in groups at a time. It was mesmerizing; seeing Magnus’s power always was. 

Sometimes, Alec unintentionally forgot all of the power Magnus possessed. When they were soft and sleepy with tangled up limbs after what was proclaimed as the best sex of their relationship (an ongoing ruse after every time they made love), when they were so entirely mundane, he’d forget the power the man beside him had within him.

Alec shot an arrow into a demon mere feet from Magnus when his magic wavered in the slightest bit. Whether the cessation was from exhaustion or from the challenge of letting the demons in closer before sending them back to hell, Alec couldn’t tell. Their eyes met despite the hundred or so meters that separated them. Alec felt his lips quirk upward into a smirk despite himself before shooting off more arrows, feeling more alive than he had in weeks. At some point, they wound up in close proximity, Magnus’s buzzing around him as he concentrated on taking out their common enemy one arrow at a time. 

It could have been hours or merely minutes before the demons were gone, just piles of ash standing in their place. Alec didn’t realize they were standing nearly back to back until Magnus slumped against him in the slightest. 

“Are you okay?” Alec murmured only loud enough for Magnus’s ears. 

The responding laugh, one colored with exhaustion and fondness was all the answer he needed. 

As they stood, back to back, without another word being spoken, Izzy’s words came back to him. ‘Don’t forget what you’re really fighting for.’ He was fighting for this, this right here. The privilege of being beside Magnus after a long tiring fight, whether it be a physical one or otherwise. 

Alec mumbled, as he turned around, placing a hand on Magnus’s shoulder, “There will always be a war. A mission. A problem to solve. Look, I speak from experience. If you fail to grant time for the things you care about, you’ll forget why you’re even fighting at all.” Magnus’s words to him all of those weeks ago flowed from his lips effortlessly.

“Alexander…” Magnus’s tone sounded weary as he turned around, no glamour to hide his eyes.

“I’m fighting for you–” He stopped short, feeling frustration like he always did when he felt his words wouldn’t suffice. “For us.” Testing the waters, he reached up and cupped Magnus’s face. When he didn’t flinch or pull away, Alec brushed his thumb along his jaw. “When I’m out here, I am doing whatever I can to ensure our future together. When I’m at the Institute, the same applies. Is it selfish? Ye–”

“No.” Magnus cut him off, his expression soft. “It isn’t selfish. Everyone has a motivation for why they fight. Selfish would be not fighting, not taking charge of the situation, not standing up for what you believe in. You’re anything but selfish, Alexander.”

Alec leaned in, forgetting that other people existed, let alone were still milling around, and pressed his forehead against Magnus’s, looking into his eyes, “I’ve missed you.”

“Have you?” Classic Magnus, flirty and playful. He closed his eyes and sobered, “I’ve missed you too.” Magnus closed the space between their lips, leading them into a slow, careful kiss as if they were new lovers once more. Just like the battle, that kiss could have lasted minutes or hours. Alec’s perception of time didn’t exist whenever Magnus was near. 

“Come home with me, Alexander.” Magnus whispered after they broke the kiss, their lips only centimeters apart. “I don’t know what tomorrow holds. I can’t promise things will resume normalcy yet, but I can offer tonight.”

It was progress. And if it was only for the night, it would be more memories to hold Alec through until tomorrow could be promised. “Let’s go home, Magnus.”

Sliding his hand into Magnus’s, they took the long way back to the loft. 

#shadowhunters fic #magnus bane #alec lightwood #malec fic #malec #i wrote a thing

[chessdaze]

Three Wishes Institute - a TWST fanschool

I’ve been posting ALOT about three wishes character wise but I wanted to do a bit of a lore dump on the school itself, and then maybe make some separate posts for things like the dorm environments, uniforms, clubs, etc.

First off, as a concept, Three Wishes is a fanschool for twisted wonderland that involves characters that are considered ‘side’ or ‘background’ or even ‘comic relief’ characters from disney franchises. Right now I only have 6 dorms, and characters range from being on both ‘good’ and ‘bad’ sides of a story.

Here’s the lore rundown for the main school itself and a brief summary on the dorms and characters I will be designing for them. Under readmore cause this is HELLA long and I don’t want to make people scroll for forever:

The overall story of Three Wishes:

The Headmistress and Master, Amelia Bell and Reed Dearly (based on Anita and Roger from 101 dalmatians), only recently got the school property. Before them, the school was known to be really rundown, a failure, and pretty much on the verge of closing. While it was a school for magic, it was like all the magic was zapped out of the school itself. It was filled with delinquents and very few students who actually cared. Most dropped out if anything.

Amelia was a teacher at the school for a little over a year and the only teacher that students really respected and bothered showing up to class for. She hated seeing the school in the state it was in and tried pleading with the headmistress of the school to try and change things - however was constantly told it was too late and that the school would be closing. It did, and Amelia had to look for jobs elsewhere. But she couldn’t shake the feeling that she could have done more and found herself drawn back to the crumbling school on more than one occasion. She decided to sneak in one day to see if she could find a hint of anything from the old headmistress - who had disappeared without a trace - to see if she could get in contact with her. This wasn’t her idea of course, but her (boyfriend at the time) Reed’s.

Eventually they did track down the headmistress and found her terribly ill. Amelia insisted that the two of them care for her, despite all that the headmistress had done to shun Amelia beforehand. They did, and during that time Amelia explained the hopes she had previously had for the school - she said how she wanted a school that anyone could feel welcome to apply, and not have some special ceremony for acceptance (like the carriages for NRC). She believed people could be equals and that as a magical community they should all help one another. The old headmistress was moved by Amelia’s words and when she back to health she revealed herself to be a powerful sorceress (the enchantress from Beauty and the Beast). She explained she had been looking for a worthy successor for the school and her magic but didn’t find Amelia fitting at the time, but saw the kindness in Amelia’s heart and offered her the deed to the school and the surrounding grounds. She wanted to see what Amelia would do with the school and was interested if she could really bring a community together like she explained. Then, she disappeared.

Amelia and Reed worked to renovate the school, taking nearly 2 years on the project. Amelia comes from a wealthy family, but even then funds were not endless, so a lot of fundraising was done to also raise awareness for the reopening school. At first there wasn’t much interest but it slowly got more and more traction. With donations and family money, they were able to complete the school. The two of them also got engaged during this time. Even with them rebuilding the mainschool and doing some maintenance on the dorms themselves, there are some secrets that even the two of them are still learning, as the sorceress took off before giving them the full details on the school itself.

The school’s aim is to not only teach its students magic, but the foundation of being a good person, being helpful and selfless. The school holds a lot of community and fundraising events, and there is even a mandatory volunteering class where students have to spend a certain amount of hours volunteering for a local community service. This school hopes to bridge the gap between the elite and average magic users, showing that deep down everyone is human and deserving of respect and a chance to grow.

This school doesn't have completely different areas for the dorms and it's all actually located on a large campus ground.The main school building is about 4 stories, there's a greenhouse and an auditorium in separate buildings.

The dorms are all two or three stories and are all relatively distant from each other, enough to give each dorm a good spot of land around it. Think a mansion with a large yard. When passing through the front gate for the dorm there's magic that makes it appear in a slightly different scenery - so the students don't always have the school looming in the background and can relax. The dorm's scenery is different between each dorm and it can change with each 'dorm representative'.

There aren't really dorm 'leaders' as there are representatives. Normally about two or three for each dorm - though can only be one if the person proves themselves to be capable / no one else is voted. Each dorm will have a meeting once a month to go over things that the dorm needs to address either internally or with the school or other dorms, and then the representatives bring those concerns to a meeting with the school's staff and other dorm representatives. Think more like a student council and class presidents.

The dorm reps can be split into the 'main' representative and a 'vice' but are pretty much on the same ground as far as their authority goes - the 'main' is just the one more available to perform duties or attend all the meetings while the 'vice' is kind of like a back up /fall back if the first can't make it. Normally it’s preferable if all representatives can make to meetings and events. The representatives make almost all decisions together. Reps are voted for each year within a dorm, and the voting is taken pretty seriously.

The dorm rep duties outside of the meetings is mostly just like a college RA. They make sure people are following the rules, help solve problems between students in their dorm, plan and hold events, etc.

The dorms:

This section I’ll be updating overtime as I list out the characters I want to design - most are still not designed yet as I’m kind of slow but I have concepts for all of them more or less it’s just a matter of getting time / energy to work on them.

While students are separated into dorms in this school, the headmaster and mistress try to stress the fact that they are all one community. Friendly rivalry is encouraged but ultimately the matter of dorms is just where the students end up living and placing them near people who can better help those around them. The two in charge don’t want the dorms to become too competitive or to alienated from one another - so there’s actually a lot of cross dorm events and even friends staying over at other friends dorms for days on end at times.

As a note, as long as it’s not inappropriate, students are encouraged to wear anything they want as their ‘dorm uniform’. Standard school uniforms are required on the main campus but as Headmaster Reed puts it - there’s no reason for them to tell the students what to wear in their own house. Plus, the school isn’t as well funded as most other private schools, so not having a lot of uniforms to keep up with is better for them in the long run. Most generally follow the general color coordination of their dorms (to be listed later), though there are exceptions.

* ‘s indicate that dorm’s representatives

Cinderella dorm: Nightingale Founded on the hard work and dedication of a princess’s companions, members of this dorm are no strangers to teamwork and getting the job done. It’s said that there’s no miracle students in this dorm can’t pull off in a short amount of time.

Characters:

Rue Meadows  *

Snow White: Diamanttobar Founded on the tradition and devotion of miners, members of this dorm specialize in working long hours and putting 100% into everything they do. Students here notice the smaller details in anything and are said to be able to craft nearly anything asked.

Characters:

Otto Bregmann*

Emil Bregmann

the other dwarves are going to be referenced as their younger siblings.

Aladdin: Wondrous Founded on the cleverness and protective instincts of a royal couple’s most trusted confidants, members of this dorm sometimes have questionable methods but overall have hearts of gold. Students in this dorm are proactive in calling out unfair rules and try to work for changes and reforms.

Characters:

Ram / Kunal *

Ozan Bell

Zeki Al-Asim

Mulan: Guardian Found on the honor and strength of dragons, students of this dorm are known to follow a code of honor and are very protective of one another. They are great with helping other student’s physical and mental well beings, acting as trainers and confidants.

Characters:

Long Lie Jie*

Xiao Mingyu*

AiW: Lapinhole Founded on the curiosity and madness of a queen’s subjects, members of this dorm are known to be eccentric and creative. A lot of students in this dorm are mysterious and have a strange method of helping others, but even through the confusion a lot of students rely on students from this dorm for a little more fun in their lives.

Characters:

Quinn Neander *

Beauty and the Beast: Servireu Founded on the faith and loyalty of a Beast prince’s servants, members of this dorm are known to be generous, not judgemental, and extremely helpful. A lot of these students are at the top of their classes and are known for being excellent tutors for others.

Characters:

TBA

#twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland fanschool #twst fanschool #twst #three wishes institute #[FINALLY GOT THIS ALL DOWN #i've been working on it for awhile]

[mister-maiden]

Layers of Fear: I Wish I Could Paint Like That...

You've walked through countless hallways of revolting images that were simply unexplainable to describe. As you walk through the next door, you come across yet another room, this time with a painting easel and blank portrait in the center. Windows line the right wall as well as beautiful decor of aristocratic color. Closed cabinets lay in the back right corner while several drawers lay dormant in the far center. To your left lay beautiful portraits of women and children...all smiling with the most haunting of guises, their eyes following every movement. You make your way to the front of the easel and notice the paper now had small blots of red paint in the center, a brush with crimson dripping off the bristles lay on the table to your left. Without thinking, you take your instrument, and begin your downwards spiral into madness as you paint your magnum opus of insanity while the room slowly fades to nothingness.This is Layers of Fear. Developed by Bloober Team.

You step in the shoes of an unnamed painter only known as The Artist. You are renowned as an amazing artist who has stolen the heart of a beautiful musician. Together, you began a family and had a little girl. With an enormous fortune, you purchased an incredible mansion and you lived as a happy family. Of course, happiness never lasts, and the darkness slowly consumes all as misfortune falls upon the house. Without spoiling anything, The Artist dives deep into his sub-conscious as he works on his magnum opus in his painting room. The story takes place within the shattered mind of The Artist as he works his way through reality bending horrors. It's the player's job to find and piece together everything that has happened within the time span between marrying The Musician and now. The question lingers of what has happened to force The Artist to see and hear such horror terrors of schizophrenia?

The visuals are amazing. Absolutely incredible. As a game that focuses entirely on the visuals and story, I can say without a doubt the images are by far what you play the game for. Horrific paintings can be seen lining the walls of every hallway. Blood seeps down from the ceiling as the sound of screams fill your ears. Everything simply becomes horrific because of the past trauma that follows The Artist through his life. Ups become downs, apples become rats that scurry at the touch, and more...Though this is also its downfall.

With only being able to rely on visuals, the game loses out on game play, sound, and story. Placing a boundary between what the player knows vs what has happen creates a strange parallel that makes me think no matter what I do, the trauma has already happened. What's the point of traveling through a broken mindscape and looking at what has happened vs looking at what I could possibly do? Horror is all about the illusion of choice, or facing something that is nigh unstoppable. It's the illusion of choice that forces us to realize something is coming and there's nothing we can do to stop it. For example, Alien Isolation has you run through a ship and attempt to escape an unstoppable alien with several obstacles...but what's the point if everything has happened already and there are no obstacles to go through? Which brings me to my next gripe.

The game isn't fun. It simply isn't. In Amnesia you have puzzles and running from a creature to occupy you. Even in Deadly Premonition you have story obstacles, objectives, and more. The game feels empty. All you do is walk. It's like a press W simulator and click to go through doors and check notes at times. I like games that give me a choice, or at least the illusion of choice. If I have no choices, what's the point of trying? I go into one room, wait for something to happen, go into the next room, repeat. It's a bleak outlook, but it consistently happens in every room which really draws its potential back. The ending changes based on what you looked at in regards of notes and doors, but since there is no real way to know that without looking at a wiki, it feels like it's fake. Visual wise, the game is absolutely beautiful. Game play? Not so much.

The story is pretty good and definitely something to have PTSD about. As you travel through the hallways of the broken home in your mind, you find notes and newspaper clippings scattered across the foundations that describe in pieces what has happened. To be honest, it can be a bit confusing since you can possibly miss a few notes here and there and miss out on what has happened; but, if you're persistent and constantly looking for the notes, you'll find that the story is laid rich with dreadful accidents and abuse.

I can't discuss most of this game in the beginning segment of my review because I try to wait discussing the story and spoilers until my discussion and experience section. Since this game is mostly story, it's impossible to talk about it without spoiling. If you wish to know more about the game, check out the discussion section.

7/10 Paintings. The visuals and story are absolutely stunning. You will be incredibly immersed and very enthralled by what happens on screen, but you may feel bored constantly being scared and having nothing else to do but press W to walk forward and press the mouse button. Since there was no actual game play but looking around, I give it a 6 out of 10. If the game had offered some other form of interaction with the surroundings, I would have absolutely loved the game, but I felt tired just walking through halls and seeing something that scared me. Sure it was spooky, but it was boring.

----------------------------------------------------Spoilers--------------------------------------------

My Experience/Discussion: I got this game for free since I owned Twitch Prime and it was given out as a gift. I didn't know what to expect as I made my way through the abandoned hallways and was half expectingly waiting for some form of evil to come at me which never happened. There was no physical manifestation of The Artist's feelings other than how twisted the world around him became. I went in completely blind and felt myself become bored in a few hours because of how lacking the game was in keeping my attention. The only thing I could hope for was getting a new type of scare as I opened each wooden door. I wasn't disappointed in the scares, but boy did I get tired and have to take breaks.

The story basically is about the loving couple and their child coming upon turmoil. The husband begins to become stressed from his work of constantly having to produce brand new paintings and having critics breathe down his neck. He spends more and more time in his painting room attempting to make even more beauty...but can only find himself creating crafts of blood and gore as his mind slowly begins to break from the stress. He begins to go on and on about rats and places them in his paintings. He calls exterminators constantly about the rats in his home but they can't find a single one after their first few visits, so I believe the rats are in his head and are the first sign of his breaking psyche. As time goes on, it appears he has been very negligent to his child and wife and bought them a dog. As all dogs seem to have it rough in horror, the dog is neglected and muzzled after bothering The Artist one too many times. It is unknown if the dog survived...but I like to believe it's just in a better place than that hellhole of a house.

The Musician destroys the paintings of The Artist because she feels he is putting too much time into his art and no time into their family which only feeds into The Artist's breaking mind. With depression and schizophrenia forming, he begins drinking and finally abuses his wife and daughter. Both leave him...but a horrible accident occurs. Fire sparks embers which create chaos. The Musician is left scarred and burned from the fire and lay wheel-chair ridden. Her hands nearly unusable for music. I believe this fire is simply a ways of an end for her love. Her love was always within the music, but with this fire, she is left unable to play the melodies she so loved. The fire also left The Artist unable to truly love the Musician as her deformities prove too much for his shattered mind. He constantly says he loves her through small audio clips and notes, but it is obvious he is never going to be able to see her in the same light...And as the abuse became worse and worse from The Artist trying to deny his own feelings...The Musician committed suicide by cutting her wrists, thus concreting The Artist's descent into insanity. You then later learn he began using her body parts for the paint of the magnum opus. The child is taken by child services, and you're left alone.

You learn the entire story through the notes and items strewn about your nightmare, and remnants of events are presented through the images on the walls and the house's shapes. It seems that notes being left around is becoming a strange staple in horror games. Personally, I have never met someone who writes notes and puts them in random places, but perhaps I'm looking too much into it.

Most areas are unique other than hallways that seem to repetitively appear. That's the one thing that I can remember clearly. When I entered a door, I was disappointed to be met with more normal halls when my senses were assaulted in the last room I was just in. I'm not saying level design was boring because there were many areas that were unique. I think I may just be complaining about the amount of times I went into a normal hallway just to go into another hallway and repeat the action. The areas themselves gives you hints at what has happened. Entering a white bathroom, you can see a knife with blood thrown in the sink, or you can see the affect of fire along the walls.

I think the game definitely nailed what they were going for. Showing the effects of schizophrenia and PTSD in a visual form of entertainment is very difficult and Bloober Team did an excellent job. I'm just disappointed at the lack of things to do. I don't want to just look through memories. I want to experience them! Make them my own. There should be a mixture of what I should know and what I don't, not simply going through what has already happened and not being able to change what happened.

At the end, you are met with your magnum opus which has three different forms.The bad ending: You reveal your grand painting and see it as your beautiful wife. Her gorgeous smile and eyes stare at you, and you let out a sigh of content...only to be shocked in horror as her beauty melts away into a face of burned deformity. You cringe in rage as you grab your painting and leave your room. Your beautiful mansion is torn to pieces, the lights extinguished, the floorboards coming apart. It seems you have been in your painting room for longer than anticipated. You rush to a room and shove your painting inside and see The Artist has been doing this for a long time. The room is completely filled with the exact same picture of his burned wife. He simply can't get over it. He goes back to the room, and begin once more, marveling in his madness.

Middle ending: The same as before, but you also include your daughter in the picture. As you drop the painting in the room with the rest, you light a match and start a fire, burning the portraits along with the home and yourself.

Good ending...?: You have drawn yourself! It seems you have finally broken out of your obsession with your wife and now shall be focused on your work! The camera pans out on the same portrait of yourself and we end with that...Yeah. I mean out of all three endings, this is probably the best one. Sure he's still an abuser, but at least he will be focused on his work?

The game did a fantastic job by showing the slow and gradual deformation of his mind as time goes on. It begins with a small haunting here, and ends with the entire screen going absolutely bonkers. I loved my experience with the game, but I feel as though it could have been different in SOME way.

#layers of fear #horror games #scary games #painting games #cult review

[snarktheater]

Series review — Doctor Who Series Ten

The latest series of Doctor Who is just over—not counting the Christmas special—and one of the few things I've been able to do as of late was keep up with it, so I can share my thoughts fresh off watching it.

It's Steven Moffat's last run—again, minus one episode, and I'm sure we'll get there when we get there—as well as Peter Capaldi's final round as the Twelfth Doctor. Does it show any sign of change, or even…redemption?

Yeah, okay, let's not even pretend like that last one is a possibility. But change? Definitely.

Spoilers for…pretty much the entire season.

This series felt different to me. Especially compared to the previous one, which relied on two-parters for most of its self-contained stories, this is a major departure. It also felt different from…basically every single season since the start of the reboot. Not better or worse, just…different. Structured differently, to be specific.

That difference in structure comes from the seasonal overarching plot, which is far more defined than…basically any of its predecessors. The RTD era seasons hinted at the bigger plot through offhanded references and arc words (think "bad wolf", "vote Saxon", and planets going missing). The Eleventh Doctor's seasons nearly form a trilogy rather than separate stories, with every instalment trying to pretend that it's self-contained (the cracks in the universe, the Silence, and "the question"). The Twelfth Doctor's been kind of a complete mess for two seasons, focusing more on questions of character than plot. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, although the execution felt botched to me more often than not.

This season, however, has an overarching plot with the introduction of a mysterious "vault" that the Doctor must keep watch over, and his adventures are him basically rebelling against that duty because…well, he's always been a bit of a giant manchild, especially in the hands of a certain writer. Halfway through the season, after foreshadowing about as subtle as massive neon signs, it's revealed that the vault contains Missy, who's still alive (shocking, I know) and has been locked up because the Doctor decided to try and reform her instead of being a participant in her execution.

As a result, structurally, the characters all go back to Earth until the next adventure so the Doctor can keep watch over the vault. It's not a bad idea, and the concept is mostly executed well. The only criticism I have of it is that Nardole, River's sniveling minion from last season's Christmas special who was somehow upgraded to series regular, is constantly berating the Doctor for leaving, because "what would happen if you can't come back?" You'd think this is trying to set up for a consequence late in the season, but when the two-parter finale begins and Missy inevitably gets free, it's…not because of that. At all. But hey, who needs to use the most basic rules of storytelling like setup and payoff when you're a showrunner for the longest-running televised science fiction show on the air, right?

Anywho. This show also features a new companion, since last season was the final run for Clara Oswald. And…this is where the series really hits its biggest problem. Not with the character herself: Bill Potts is an absolute delight. She's a black lesbian who works at the cafeteria of the college the Doctor is teaching at to pass the time while guarding the vault, and she attends his lectures because she's just that intellectually curious, and that's also why he notices her at first. She manages to hit a careful balance of growing fond of the Doctor over implied time-skips between (and sometimes during) episodes while also standing her ground to him. In terms of who she is, she's a great character.

The problem is, main characters (which I would argue the Doctor's companions…you know, are) need an arc. And that means the story needs to have room for them to have arcs.

The plot of this season does not have room for Bill Potts. It doesn't even try to make room for Bill Potts.

It's very sad, because the season opened looking like it would. The first episode sets up a story that could sustain an entire seasonal arc: Bill's girlfriend Heather (whose relationship starts during the episode and is adorable) is used by an alien spaceship's "oil leak" disguised as a puddle to become their "pilot", essentially turning her into a construct made of water that can travel through space (and I assume time?), because Heather dreamed of traveling.

You would think the rest of the season would be spent hinting at Heather, but…no, she's barely even mentioned at all until the finale. More on that in a moment. Instead, the seasonal arc is all about the vault, about the Doctor's story. It makes me sad, and I'm pretty sure I'm not alone, because after that first episode, most of the speculation was about Heather and the alien puddle.

Not surprising for Moffat-era Doctor Who (again, the Eleventh Doctor's entire run is basically a trilogy about how important he is to the universe and how many people want him out of the picture), but it's definitely the first time that this plot is in direct opposition with the companion's entire existence. At least Amy was connected to the cracks in space and to River, and Clara had echoes across time and space. Bill isn't so lucky.

I want to state the obvious (that it seems very coincidental that the one companion Moffat apparently doesn't know what to do with is also the one he can't have romantically interested in the Doctor at least at one point, or that she's the one companion of color he wrote), but really, I think that would be unfair. I think the issue is more that there was a concept for this story about the Doctor and Missy, and there was no room for a companion at all, but tradition says we have to have a companion. Of course, even I, a person who never watched classic Who, knows that Time Ladies have been companions before and Missy could have been the companion.

It's more than Bill not having a character, though: she very rarely has a chance to even do anything. She's involved in the events (in the premiere, for instance, her girlfriend turns into the alien of the week and goes after her), but often enough, she's not active in those events. She's just there for someone to be amazed at the Doctor.

Okay, there is an exception to that. At the end of the second part of a three-parter story (yes, you read that well) dedicated to a race of aliens called "the Monks", Bill ends up consenting to their invasion of humanity (long story short, don't question it too hard, it semi-makes sense in context), thus creating a world where everyone thinks the Monks have always been their benevolent overlords…except for Bill, who remembers.

This may be reminiscent of the Series 3 finale "Last of the Time Lods", where Martha Jones is similarly isolated in a sort-of alternate timeline where an alien rules the Earth. But that similarity only highlights the fact that, where Martha did most of the job of saving the world (yes, I know it involved restoring the Doctor, but still), Bill…doesn't. In fact, halfway through the third episode of that story, the Doctor is free and in control. While Bill does participate later in that episode, it's purely as 1) a way to raise the stakes when Missy claims her death is the only thing that will break the mind control that the Monks have going on, and 2) a device to stop that mind control without killing her. She is, quite literally, an object in that scene, on par with the Doctor's usual technobabble to solve the problem of the week. Also, it's revealed that that half-episode where she was active? She was following the Doctor's plans and manipulation through Nardole. She couldn't even have that agency left to her.

Even the one episode that's actually about her and her friend's friends looking for a place to live involves her doing surprisingly little to discover anything about what's going on, and it's hard to feel like her contribution was meaningful when she learns the same things as the Doctor, just from a different source. That is not agency, that's just making redundant reveals in your episode, writers.

Thing is, when we get past the fact that Bill Potts is a good character who is criminally underused, the season is…okay, really. Uneven, but okay. I like that we get random lines like "History's a whitewash" as response to the existence of brown people in Regency England, or that we have multiple instances where the Doctor criticizes capitalism throughout the season.

While we're on that subject, some of you might recall my Quantico Season 2 review (but only some, seeing as it got very few views), where I talked about television's reaction to Donald Trump's election and the global rise of fascism. Well…it's hard not to read a similar trend here with the Monks. Not only do they get a three-parter story (technically four, since one of the biggest sources of dramatic tension is that the Doctor was blinded in the episode right before these three), but Bill mentions Trump indirectly (reacting to mentions of "the President" by "he's…orange") and of course the Doctor drops a "fake news" at the end of the third episode. And Trump is referenced again, by name this time, in the series finale.

There's deeper stuff too. The Doctor seems to be a lot more interested in kindness than ever throughout Moffat's run, and while that does lead to some grandiloquent speeches I could have done without, it also translates into his actions. Hell, we even get a repeat of the Series 8 episode "Kill The Moon" (one of the most infuriating episodes I ever got to watch possibly on all of television) where my main issue, the Doctor withholding information, is taken out of the equation.

All that to say, there is progress. I'm sure there's debate to be had about how much is genuine and how much is pandering to the show's audience, but it's there regardless. I'll take what I can get.

And then there is that main plot once again. After a whole series of teasing about the vault the show brings Missy into the picture for that three-parter (albeit still confined in her prison). After that, she's still a presence, and gets the arc that rightfully belongs to a companion. Which is not a criticism of Missy, just a repetition that maybe, just maybe, it would have been better to have her be the companion this season. Just eliminate some of the early filler or move it around and we'd have been fine.

Because that arc…really does work. The Doctor is trying to teach her to be good, and while she points out the flaws in his ethical system, she does appear to be genuine in her attempts. It's an interesting story, and everyone like redemption stories. There was something to be done here.

And this leads us to the two-parts finale, where Missy is taken on her first outing after saving the Doctor (through sheer convenience, let's be honest, since the TARDIS randomly decided to leave him and Bill stranded on Mars, forcing Nardole to get Missy's help). Trouble happens as usual, and it turns out in the cliffhanger the Master is behind it. As in, her previous incarnation.

It looks like they're teaming up, but Missy betrays the Master pretty quickly, showing her inner conflict (as well as the Master hitting on her, because while Moffat managed to resist giving her and the Doctor a romantic relationship, he could only be this restrained). And in the decisive moment, she turns her back on the Master altogether, making a definitive choice to stand with the Doctor and stabbing the Master fatally so he'd regenerate into…well, her.

Of course, this still leads to a few issues—it's still Moffat. So the Master kills her back, because I guess we can't end a story with the Master without him (or in this case her) totally-not-fake-dying. It's sad, because it means the Doctor doesn't even get to find out the choice she made, which would have brought their arc some conclusion. Hell, she could have been shot by the Master but still made it back to him just so they have closure. But no, it's botched at the last second. Oh well.

Another thing the finale does is, of course, end Bill's story. And with that…we really take the shortcut, since Bill has no character arc and therefore no story to end, really—only a loose end to tie up. Specifically, Heather appears out of nowhere, and since Bill has been conveniently killed and turned into a Cyberman, Heather absorbs her into her water construct…puddle…alien…thing. Meaning Steven Moffat managed to write dead lesbians and pass it off as a happy ending anyway, since they are still technically themselves, just without human bodies. Having his cake and eating it too, if you will. I'm honestly not sure how I feel about that, or even if I get a say in how to feel about that at all, so I'll leave it to the lesbian fans to decide for themselves, but I'll confess it doesn't sit right with me.

And finally, the Doctor has been fatally wounded multiple times throughout the finale (after faking a death and regeneration earlier and also foreshadowing the end of the finale in the previous episode, because the show wants you to know this is the end of this Doctor's run, I guess), and yet at the end of it he…refuses to regenerate. I didn't know he could do that, honestly. But it leads to this weird, almost meta moment where he claims he "refuses to change". Maybe I'm projecting, but it really sounded to me like Moffat himself was declaring that the franchise couldn't continue without him. But I could be overreacting. I've been known to do that.

That about concludes all I have to say about this season. It shows progress, even—dare I say—promise for the first time in a long while, and yet it still squanders so much potential, both with its official companion's lack of arc and story, and with its de facto companion's botched conclusion to her arc. And of course the narcissistic obsession with making the Doctor the center of the story and not…you know, the guy who comes along to help, which is what a doctor usually does.

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