#shadowed by such short events that don’t really serve the bigger story

[mako-ink]

Farrah’s event spoilers//

Okay, so I finished her event yesterday and while I keep finding these events that don’t progress the overall story to have become bland/old, especially the events with poorer pacing and writing that feels like it treats the viewer almost like a child (basically telling everything not like an actual narrative with natural dialogue) I VERY VERY VERY much like how in the perceived good ending, Farrah finds out what her mother did and never forgives her.

As a person who grew up abused by their own mother, always hearing people say “well she’s your mother, you should forgive her” it always feels like a breath of fresh air when I see fictional characters denounce the parents that were meant to protect them, even if Farrah’s mother had good intentions she must have known eventually what was going on. There’s no excuse really otherwise. I’m glad there was the choice to look further, deeper into Farrah and her mother and find out hey, maybe this person failed terribly as a parent but didn’t really show any true effort to apologize or make up for the possible years of torture Farrah went through. There really isn’t any kind of apology that can be forgiven in that instance, and Farrah doesn’t owe a relationship or forgiveness to her mom.

I don’t know, stories that criticize bad parents has always hit very close to home, forgiving your abuser in my opinion is never a good route to go not only in a writing sense but also for my own mental health, I would never submit myself to forgiveness to make my abusers feel better about what they did to me. In short Farrah event has a decent moral perspective.

#dislyte #dislyte farrah #dislyte return dreaming #also disclaimer #I don’t intend to speak over/for all abuse survivors #this is really just my own opinion based on my own experiences as a child abuse survivor who’s main abuser was my mother #we need more stories about children not forgiving their parents for the terrible shit they’ve done #and more stories where the abused doesn’t become the abuser/isn’t villainized #and where the abuser isn’t humanized!! #I think dislyte could really delve into how it portrays abuse and trauma and it’s like on the precipice of being really great but it’s #shadowed by such short events that don’t really serve the bigger story #I genuinely miss the main story and what it brought to the table with worldbuilding I hope they revisit it soon #I miss Leon plea

[mariacallous]

The Queen is Britain’s last living link with our former greatness – the nation’s id, its problematic self-regard – which is still defined by our victory in the second world war. One leading historian, who like most people I interviewed for this article declined to be named, stressed that the farewell for this country’s longest-serving monarch will be magnificent. “Oh, she will get everything,” he said. “We were all told that the funeral of Churchill was the requiem for Britain as a great power. But actually it will really be over when she goes.”

Unlike the US presidency, say, monarchies allow huge passages of time – a century, in some cases – to become entwined with an individual. The second Elizabethan age is likely to be remembered as a reign of uninterrupted national decline, and even, if she lives long enough and Scotland departs the union, as one of disintegration. Life and politics at the end of her rule will be unrecognisable from their grandeur and innocence at its beginning. “We don’t blame her for it,” Philip Ziegler, the historian and royal biographer, told me. “We have declined with her, so to speak.”

The obituary films will remind us what a different country she inherited. One piece of footage will be played again and again: from her 21st birthday, in 1947, when Princess Elizabeth was on holiday with her parents in Cape Town. She was 6,000 miles from home and comfortably within the pale of the British Empire. The princess sits at a table with a microphone. The shadow of a tree plays on her shoulder. The camera adjusts three or four times as she talks, and on each occasion, she twitches momentarily, betraying tiny flashes of aristocratic irritation. “I declare before you all that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service, and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong,” she says, enunciating vowels and a conception of the world that have both vanished.

It is not unusual for a country to succumb to a state of denial as a long chapter in its history is about to end. When it became public that Queen Victoria was dying, at the age of 82, a widow for half her life, “astonished grief … swept the country”, wrote her biographer, Lytton Strachey. In the minds of her subjects, the queen’s mortality had become unimaginable; and with her demise, everything was suddenly at risk, placed in the hands of an elderly and untrusted heir, Edward VII. “The wild waters are upon us now,” wrote the American Henry James, who had moved to London 30 years before.

The parallels with the unease that we will feel at the death of Elizabeth II are obvious, but without the consolation of Britain’s status in 1901 as the world’s most successful country. “We have to have narratives for royal events,” the historian told me. “In the Victorian reign, everything got better and better, and bigger and bigger. We certainly can’t tell that story today.”

The result is an enormous objection to even thinking about – let alone talking or writing about – what will happen when the Queen dies. We avoid the subject as we avoid it in our own families. It seems like good manners, but it is also fear. The reporting for this article involved dozens of interviews with broadcasters, government officials, and departed palace staff, several of whom have worked on London Bridge directly. Almost all insisted on complete secrecy. “This meeting never happened,” I was told after one conversation in a gentleman’s club on Pall Mall. Buckingham Palace, meanwhile, has a policy of not commenting on funeral arrangements for members of the royal family.

And yet this taboo, like much to do with the monarchy, is not entirely rational, and masks a parallel reality. The next great rupture in Britain’s national life has, in fact, been planned to the minute. It involves matters of major public importance, will be paid for by us, and is definitely going to happen. According to the Office of National Statistics, a British woman who reaches the age of 91 – as the Queen will in April – has an average life expectancy of four years and three months. The Queen is approaching the end of her reign at a time of maximum disquiet about Britain’s place in the world, at a moment when internal political tensions are close to breaking her kingdom apart. Her death will also release its own destabilising forces: in the accession of Queen Camilla; in the optics of a new king who is already an old man; and in the future of the Commonwealth, an invention largely of her making. (The Queen’s title of “Head of the Commonwealth” is not hereditary.) Australia’s prime minister and leader of the opposition both want the country to become a republic.

Coping with the way these events fall is the next great challenge of the House of Windsor, the last European royal family to practise coronations and to persist – with the complicity of a willing public – in the magic of the whole enterprise. That is why the planning for the Queen’s death and its ceremonial aftermath is so extensive. Succession is part of the job. It is an opportunity for order to be affirmed. Queen Victoria had written down the contents of her coffin by 1875. The Queen Mother’s funeral was rehearsed for 22 years. Louis Mountbatten, the last Viceroy of India, prepared a winter and a summer menu for his funeral lunch. London Bridge is the Queen’s exit plan. “It’s history,” as one of her courtiers said. It will be 10 days of sorrow and spectacle in which, rather like the dazzling mirror of the monarchy itself, we will revel in who we were and avoid the question of what we have become.

'London Bridge is down': the secret plan for the days after the Queen’s death

[thevindicativevordan]

Why isn't Nightwing a bigger deal? He has all of Batman's skills and Superman's faith in humanity and is arguably the most beloved hero in the DCU, but most people seem to know him either as the leader of the N̶o̶t̶ ̶J̶L̶ Teen Ttians or just Robin.

Thank you for asking me about Nightwing, I've been wanting to write a piece about him for a while now. The short version is that everyone who claims Dick becoming Nightwing was him "moving out of Batman's shadow and becoming his own man" is completely wrong.

Dick Grayson is a fantastic character, someone who saved Bruce Wayne in-universe both by forcing Batman to grow up a bit, and the countless times he saved Batman's life as his partner whether as Robin or Nightwing. Dick saved Batman in the real world as well, hard to believe but Batman was actually in danger of being cancelled due to poor sales early on. Enter Robin, a young daredevil audience stand in the creators hoped would get kids interested in reading Batman. And it worked! Sales on Batman doubled once Robin showed up which is crazy to think about, but Dick Grayson has always been a popular character. Cartoons like Teen Titans, Batman: The Animated Series, and The Batman only helped grow his audience.

Character-wise, Dick Grayson really does fill a number of crucial roles in the DCU. For Batman, Dick is proof that Batman is a positive force. Meeting Batman helped change Dick for the better, helped him heal after his parents died. With Dick, Batman can take comfort in knowing that yes, he has made a difference in the world for at least one orphan boy, which is all he wanted when he lost his parents himself. To the wider DCU, Dick is a friendly face who convinces others that Batman is competent and not a complete asshole. He took this kid in, trained him to be one of the best heroes the DCU has seen, and did it all out of the kindness of his heart. That someone like Dick can confront the evils of Gotham and not break means there's still hope for that city. As Robin, Dick has led the Titans and is an icon in his own right as The Sidekick, the original, the one every other Robin is built around copying or contrasting. The one all other superhero sidekicks are drawing on as a basis. As Robin Dick Grayson is very much on Batman's level.

Just not as Nightwing. As Nightwing, Dick has been a second rate Daredevil which means he's a third rate Batman (fully prepared to get hate for this but I've read and enjoyed the Miller and Bendis DD runs so I feel entitled to my opinion). A typical Nightwing run tends to go like this: Moving to Bludhaven (which is Gotham... but WORSE!), Dick Grayson usually enrolls in a pointless job we don't care about in order to provide some meaningless soap opera drama that doesn't go anywhere. Patrolling the city as Nightwing, he fights a variety of bad guys who are usually rather lame and unthreatening, with his big bad being a Kingpin knockoff called Blockbuster. Villains are fought, long running plotlines are set up, then everything is abandoned because it's Batfamily event time, and Dick has to run back to Gotham in order to play sidekick again. Usually his involvement is completely superfluous and it would've been better if the writer had gotten to opt out. By the time we finally get back to Nightwing's solo plotlines, the audience has usually ceased to care and the run gets cut short.

That's how Nightwing has been since the New 52 at least. Anyone who thinks that's "becoming their own man" is out of their mind. Dick is so thoroughly in Batman's shadow that he got shot in the head and spent a longer time as "Ric" which everyone fucking hated and sold like shit, than he did as Agent Grayson which was extremely well-received. Reiterating: Ric went on longer than Grayson because of a fucking Batman plotpoint Tom King wanted where Bruce was sad and cut off from the Batfamily because of Dick getting shot. Not just calling out King either, how many times was Kyle Higgins Nightwing run derailed because of Scott Snyder's crossovers? Or how about that entire run getting dumped to the side because Johns wanted to out Dick during Forever Evil, a Justice League/Lex Luthor story? DC has repeatedly made their contempt for Nightwing clear, he's Batman's sidekick still in their eyes, and he serves whatever story role the Batman writer wants.

Hell his best stories tend to have been the ones where he's not Nightwing. He was Robin in a good chunk of the Wolfman/Perez New Teen Titans run. Morrison really showcased his depth as a character when they wrote him as Batman, their time with Dick under the cowl was actually one of the first Batman runs I ever read, and no Nightwing run has ever matched it in terms of quality in my humble opinion. Scott Snyder's work with DickBats also was a high point for the character, showing Dick as competent and examining his relationship with Gotham and the Gordons. King and Seeley gave him one of the best comic runs with Grayson, a series where he wasn't even a "superhero" technically! When it comes to actual pre-New 52 Nightwing runs that are highly recommended where he *is* Nightwing, there's Chuck Dixon and uhhhhhhh... Tomasi's brief run before Dick became Batman? It's not exactly an overwhelming list.

Look there has been good work done with Nightwing, I'm not claiming there hasn't been. Tim Seeley wrote a great run with Nightwing Rebirth. Seeley fleshed out Dick's Rogues Gallery with cool new ones like Raptor, he brought back old foes like Dr. Hurt (why oh why couldn't you have brought back Flamingo too?), he gave Dick's world some character it solely needed. Bludhaven under Seeley is pretty much the only time I've really felt like it lived up to being Dick's city.

The problem with fictional cities is you have to put in the work to give them the character of real cities. You have to make the cities feel like characters in their own right. Gotham is the best example of this, it's a character all it's own, one that tells you a lot about Batman and his cast. In contrast Bludhaven is usually one of the worst. Any place that wants to claim to be worse than the city that is built over the gate to hell and gets wrecked every other month by the Arkham freaks has to really put in the work to compete. Simply put, Bludhaven typically fails utterly. There's nothing about it that makes you really buy it's worse than Gotham, I mean does anyone really think Nightwing's Rogues wouldn't get their lunches eaten by Batman's? No, no one genuinely buys that. When Bludhaven claims to be worse, it just comes across as tryhard, an attribute that does end up telling you about Nightwing in unintentional ways.

So Seeley didn't do that. Instead he created a city built for a hero like Dick Grayson. Someone who is bright and flashy, but does have an element of darkness to him. Someone who loves the spotlight, but often uses it to obscure. Seeley turned Bludhaven into Las Vegas, and that was the fucking best concept for Bludhaven I have ever seen, it makes so much sense. Las Vegas is the "Entertainment Capital of the World" and isn't that the perfect city for a hero who got their start working in the circus? Isn't the aesthetics of the gleaming casinos, the glamorous sex appeal of the performers, and the spectacle of the shows, all being used to cover up the seediness of mob bosses meeting backstage perfect for Nightwing? It's so utterly unlike New York City, yet Las Vegas is still dangerous, it's got a crime culture all it's own. Seeley used it to great effect, as did Humphries during his brief run, and I will always be pissed that DC didn't continue to use it. That should have stuck around and been the definitive look for Bludhaven.

How Seeley's take on Bludhaven was treated feels like a small scale version of how Nightwing in general gets treated. Whenever creators pitched ideas for him, if editorial thought there was potential to break big, they asked for those ideas to be repurposed for Batman instead. Anything big or good gets repurposed for Batman or tossed to the side so Nightwing can go back to his default: having irrelevant adventures in a city that is supposedly worse than Gotham but can't live up to it. Just like how Nightwing is supposedly better than Batman but never gets to show it. Goddamn it's so frustrating seeing his potential get wasted like that.

The Nightwing book should be one of DC's most ambitious books in terms of storytelling. You can go from traditional superhero stories, to romantic soap opera, to spy stories, to crime noir, to horror, to cosmic adventures, and ALL of them would fit because Nightwing is someone who has a foot in both Gotham and Metropolis. He's got friends everywhere on every team, and has been a hero longer than most Leaguers have at this point. No reason DC should still be afraid to let him loose and insisting on hewing close to what Dixon established almost over 30 years ago is only holding him back. At the very least get him some better Rogues, why the hell didn't he get to keep Professor Pyg? That's Dick's villain not Bruce's! Bullshit that they didn't let Dick keep him. Hopefully Flamingo comes back, with a slight revamp I think he'd make a great reoccurring Nightwing Rogue.

Luckily it does look somewhat like Nightwing fans have reason to be optimistic. While Taylor isn't to my taste, DC clearly views him as a "big" writer, and that they put him on Nightwing says a lot. Taylor has been selling well so far, so hopefully he gets to tell his story, hilarious that even he lampshaded having to write Dick running over to Gotham for another tie-in after Taylor's big opening arc was all about Dick committing himself and his money to Bludhaven. Scott Snyder is apparently working on a Black Label Nightwing book which will explore how he's a different detective than Bruce. The Gotham Knights video game has him as one of the main stars, and while Titans is... controversial, it's one of the most popular streaming shows and Dick is the main character. There's a lot of content coming that features him in the starring role, and that will only help his star rise further.

For the first time in, well, ever it feels like DC may be serious about elevating him. Time will tell if it pays off, but I for one choose to be optimistic that the 2020s will be a turning point for Dick Grayson where Nightwing becomes hugely popular in his own right. Not just as Batman's sidekick.

#nightwing #dick grayson #batman #gotham knights #titans #dc comics

[leossmoonn]

Distractions [Eddie Longo]

masterlist 

pairing - eddie longo x fem!reader

type - fluff, smut

note / request - so i’ve recently watched “tell me a story” and i love eddie, so naturally, i wrote a fic about him. enjoy!

summary - eddie goes to a bar across town after he robbed the jewellery store and meets you, a friendly bartender who helps take his mind off of things

warnings / includes - language, mention of robbery and murder, alcohol, talk about controlling ex-bf, suggestive, smutty scenes: making out, touching, no sex though. carla doesn't exist in this lol

————

*gif isn’t mine*

“Shit!” Eddie screamed, slamming his fist on the truck. 

“Hey! That’s my car, man!” Sam exclaimed, pushing Eddie back. 

Eddie glared at Sam, getting ready to push him back, but Mitch stopped his brother. 

“You two calm down,” Mitch demanded. “He pushed me!” Eddie exclaimed. 

“Grow up, Eddie. We’re not in the third grade anymore,” Sam remarked. 

“So? That doesn’t mean you needed to shoot that lady!” Eddie argued. 

“It was an accident. Things like that happen, it’s life. Get over it!” Sam stated. 

Eddie scoffed, shaking his head. “No. If we get caught, we could go to jail!”

“We're not, Eddie. Sam has done this many times before. It’s okay.” Mitch put a hand on his shoulder, but Eddie shrugged it off. 

“It’s not okay. None of this is okay,” Eddie muttered. “Why don’t you just go home then and cry to Mommy,” Sam taunted.  

Eddie looked between Sam and Mitch, balling his hands in fists. He knew it wasn’t going to get better if he stayed with them. So he turned around on his heels, trudging over to his car. Mitch sighed and followed him, putting a hand on his shoulder to stop him. 

“Ed, c’mon,” Mitch started. “I gotta go, Mitch. I can’t stay here,” Eddie muttered, “Not right now, at least.”

Mitch looked at his brother, a frown pulling down his lips as he saw the fear in Eddie’s eyes. He took his hand off of his shoulder, nodding in agreement. 

“Yeah… Yeah. I gotta go back home to Shelley, anyways. Call me when you’re back.” 

“Thanks,” Eddie muttered. He swung his truck door open, climbing in and shutting it. He turned on the ignition, his car rumbling underneath him as it started up. He turned on the radio as he stepped on the gas. Rock music played on his radio, the static playing louder than the actual music.

He drove for a few hours, not being able to stop replaying the events that happened earlier that day. He was beyond worried. He didn’t mean for anyone to get hurt, and definitely didn’t mean for anyone to die. He just wanted money to get out of his shitty trailer, start over his shitty life, and maybe even get a girlfriend. But he knew that he had no chance for that now- like he had much of a chance before. He was a criminal, an even bigger one than before. He knew he could go to jail for more than just a week for this. He hoped Sam would eventually take the fall for it all, whether it was on his own terms or not.   

Eddie got off of the highway, seeing signs pointing to a bar a few miles away. He decided to get a few drinks before crashing in his car for the night. He parked in the front, jumping out and walking into the bar. He looked around. There were only a few people there, all of them drunk old men. Eddie walked up to the bar, taking a seat on one of the stools. While he waited for someone to serve him, you were in the back, arguing with your ex boyfriend on the phone. 

“It’s my apartment, Scott,” you griped. “Well, I payed all the bills!” Scott exclaimed into the mic. 

“That is bullshit. You and I both know that I worked all the late nights and paid every single damn penny. Not to mention, I was the one who was also doing your laundry and cooking and cleaning!”

Scott sighed over the phone. You smirked, knowing that he had nothing to say back to you now. 

“Yeah, well, I would still like my stuff back,” he muttered.  

“And you can pick it up by the dumpsters outside my apartment. Bye, Scott,” you hissed, hanging up the call before he could say anything else. 

You sighed and put your phone in your back pocket, straightening your clothes out before going back to the front. You walked out, your heels clicking on the floor, getting Eddie’s attention. 

“Hi, Welcome to O’Malley’s. Sorry for the wait,” you sighed. 

Eddie looked up at you, eyes widening and mouth agape. You were the prettiest girl he'd ever seen. 

You noticed his stare, your lips curling up into a smirk. “You gonna order or just stare at me?” 

Eddie broke out of his gaze, sitting up straight and averting his eyes from you. “Um, yeah, yeah. I’ll take whiskey. Neat.”

You nodded and got out a cup, pouring the alcohol in the glass before sliding it over to him. 

“Hey, Carl, you need another?” You called out to one of the old men who were sitting in the corner. 

“Nah, I think I’m gonna head out,” he shook his head, standing up out of his eat. “Alright. See you tomorrow,” you smiled at him. 

“See ya, honey!” Carl waved and walked out of the bar. 

You got out a rag and started to wipe down the bar as closing time was in fifteen minutes. Eddie lifted his cup up as you swiped the rag closer to him. 

“Thanks,” you mumbled, moving away from him to wipe further down the table. 

Eddie titled his head to you, downing his drink in seconds. You looked up at him, brows raising as you saw that his glass was already empty. 

“Long day?” You asked, walking back to fill his cup. “Something like that,” he grumbled. 

He set his cup down and watched as you poured more whiskey. He studied your face, stomach flipping as your eyes met his. You had these pretty, tired, but still lively eyes that stared into his dark, lonely ones. Your lips curled up into a flirtatious, but soft smile the more you stared at him. His face and eyes mirrored back your playful expression. He lifted up his cup, putting it to his lips, not taking his eyes off of you. 

Your own eyes roamed his face. When you first looked at him, you had that initial attraction towards him. Now that you were able to look at him longer and closer, your heart began beating against your ribcage, and warmth spread down between your thighs. He was hot. No doubt about that. He looked a little scruffy with his 5′ o clock shadow and dishevelled hair. He had deep, green irises that surrounded his dilated pupils. He never took his eyes off of you for a second, not even to adjust his jacket collar. If you didn’t know any better, you’d think he was attracted to you, too.   

“Well, we close in ten minutes, but if you want to stay and chat, you can,” you offered, walking away and tossing the rag in the sink. 

“You don’t mind?” Eddie asked. “Not at all,” you shook your head. 

“Thanks,” he said. You turned to him, giving him a closed-mouth smile. “Of course. Let me just get these floozies out of here.”

Eddie nodded and watched you as you walked up to all the old drunks, getting them out of their seats and pushing them to the door gently. Eddie smiled as he saw how gentle you were with them, even if some of them refused to leave. You waved and said one last goodbye to all of them before locking the door and turning off the ‘open’ sign. You walked back to the bar, getting out a bottle of beer for yourself. 

“So, what’s your name, handsome?” You asked. 

“Eddie, what about you?” Eddie asked. “Y/n,” you answered.

“Pretty name for a pretty girl,” he remarked. You smiled at him through your lashes, giggling and hanging your head down low all school girl-like. “And here, I thought you were a shy one.” “Well, I got a little bit of liquid courage.” He held up the glass of whiskey, moving it side-to-side. 

“Got enough to tell me your last name?” You prompted. “Why would you need to know that?” Eddie asked, now tensing up. 

He tried to keep calm, but the thought of you being an undercover police officer and spying on him ran through his mind on repeat. 

“I just want to know who I’ll be spending the night with, is all. Why? Are you on the run or something, and afraid I’ll report you?” You joked. 

Eddie averted eye contact and you raised your brows, not realising that there was such a high percent chance of you being right. 

“I didn’t kill anybody,” Eddie disclaimed. “Oh,” you nodded, “That’s… reassuring.” Eddie sighed and looked away from you. He cursed at himself in his head. He was beginning to think that had a chance with you, but now he had just gone and fucked it up. He downed his whiskey, getting out his wallet and setting down a ten dollar bill. 

“Thanks for serving,” he muttered before getting up and walking to the door. 

Your eyes widened and you hurried out from behind the bar. You ran up to him, grabbing his wrist and pulling him back. Your heart jumped as you felt the electric surge through your veins that came with touching him. Eddie stopped immediately, his muscles tensing, but then relaxing at your touch. He turned to you, confusion and a little hint of fear written on his face. 

“Don’t go,” you pleaded. You hated the way you sound. You normally weren't like this; begging for a man. But you had never seen Eddie before in all your life, and you had never met anyone so polite, yet so charming before. Sure, he looked rough and he definitely had secrets that would probably frighten you, but he had already proven himself to be a hell of a lot better than Scott. Why not give him a chance before really judging? 

“Why not? You looked pretty scared back there,” Eddie said. 

“I know,” you nodded. “But… I’m having a really shitty night, too, and I think it’d just be nice if we both have a friend for the night.”

Eddie looked down at your hand that was still wrapped around his wrist. You noticed his gaze and pulled your hand back, putting your arm behind your back. You looked back up to his face, begging him with your eyes. Eddie sighed, deciding to give in. 

He knew that if he left, he’d be worse off than he had been before he walked into the bar. Even just in the short time that he had been there, you had made him forget all about the robbery and accidental murder. With you, he felt like he could relax and have fun and be happy. That’s all he ever wanted, anyways.

“Yeah, it’d be nice to have a friend.”

You immediately perked up at his words, taking your hand back out and grabbing him by the wrist again. You led him back to the bar, filling his glass back up. 

“So, why're you having a shitty night?” Eddie asked. “My ex-boyfriend keeps calling me every hour, yelling and cursing at me, trying to get me back. He’s a controlling little asshole. I knew he was bad news, but I still went with him. Why? I honestly couldn’t tell you. I set the record straight, thought, and he’s out of my life. I just wish he’d stop calling though,” you explained. 

“Well, if he calls while I’m here, let me talk to him. No girl should be treated like that,” Eddie stated. 

You softened up at his words. “I like you even more now.”

Eddie smiled with you, “Good to hear.” “Are you really on the run?” You asked. 

“Not really,” he shook his head. “Soon, though, I’ll probably be.”

You held up your beer bottle in front of him. “Here’s to one of your last nights as a free man.”

Eddie chuckled and clinked his glass with yours. You two took big sips of your drinks. You set your bottle down, wiping your mouth roughly with the back of your hand. You looked at Eddie with flirtatious eyes, making butterflies flutter in his stomach. You leaned on the counter, your tank top dipping down to show off your cleavage. Eddie’s eyes looked down shamelessly for a few seconds, going back up to your face, to see a big smirk resting on your lips. 

“So, Eddie, what did you do that’s so bad?” You asked.  

“Um,” he hummed, “I don’t think you want to know.” 

You hummed, leaning closer to him. You leaned close enough to where your noses touched. Eddie started to breath heavily, not being able to control all the thoughts that were running through his head of you and him. You could feel his breath on your lips and you couldn’t help but giggle quietly as the tips of his ears turned pink. You kept looking him in the eyes, slightly intimidating him, but also turning him on. 

“I think I do want to know,” you contradicted him. “Why? Aren’t you scared?” Eddie challenged. 

Your heart skipped at his growing confidence. You decided to push him more by dipping your head down, brushing your lips against his ever-so-slightly. The action made your own mind go fuzzy, and it made Eddie gasp. He could feel his jeans tighten in response. You moved back a little, looking at him in the eyes.   

“I won’t be scared. I like a little danger,” you purred. You let your eyes wander down to his pants, checking him out before staring back up to his eyes. You cocked your brow up, making your words seem even more suggestive. 

Eddie looked into your eyes, a smirk of his own spreading across his lips. The next few things that happened were like scenes out of a movie. You jumped up on top of the bar counter, grabbing Eddie’s hand as you slid off and landed on your feet. You led him to the back room, pushing him up against the wall and crashing your lips onto his. Your hands made their way up from his arms to his shoulders. You took his jacket collar in your hands, pulling it down. Without breaking away from the kiss, he took his jacket off, placing his hands back onto your waist, where he gripped your sides, surely hard enough to create bruises. 

“You make out... with all the guys in… the... bar like this?” Eddie asked in-between kisses. 

You smirked into the kiss, pulling away. “Nope, only with you.”

Eddie grinned, “I’m the lucky one, huh?” “You sure are,” you nodded. 

You then took the back of his head and crashed his lips back onto yours. You two shared a wet and fervent, opened-mouth kiss. Kissing him was hot and filled with passion You had honestly never been kissed like this before. Sure, kisses with your ex-boyfriends were hot, and definitely wet and messy, but they were never filled with passion. No one kissed you like Eddie did. Not only did your lips fit perfectly together, but the way he slipped his tongue into your mouth so smoothly and didn't try to stick it down your throat like a 16 year old boy, only made you want him more. 

You entangled your hands in his hair, weaving your fingers through it and messing it up even more. Eddie trailed his lips down to your neck and you involuntarily bucked your hips up against his, grinding your core against his. Eddie groaned in your ear, his hands reaching down to your thighs and and lifting you up. He then spun you around and pressed you against the wall. You wrapped your legs around his waist, throwing your head back so he had better access to your neck. 

“Eddie,” you breathed out as his lips found your sweet spot. You arched your back at his teeth nipped at your skin. You pulled on the hair at the nape of his neck, egging him on further.  Him hearing you moan his name had a whole stampead swarming in his stomach. His left arm went under your bottom, holding you up with ease. His right hand untucked your tank top from your jeans, sliding his hand up your body. Goosebumps arose on your skin as his fingers danced up your body and to your bra. His fingertips skimmed over your bra, feeling your hardened nipples through the fabric.

You let out a high-pitched whine, followed by a broken pronunciation of his name. “A-Auiggh. Ed-Eddie.” You started to grind your lower half against his, feeling the need for more friction. 

Eddie groaned against your skin, his kisses getting more sloppy and wet with each buck of your hips. His hand went around to the back of your bra, going to the hooks and unclipping them quickly. You let out impressed gasp as the bra loosened around your breasts. The straps started to fall and you took your hands out of his hair, sliding your bra out of your shirt. As you tossed it onto the floor, your phone started to ring in your back pocket.  

“Dammit,” you muttered. 

Eddie pulled away, setting you down gently on your feet. 

“I’m sorry,” you apologised, pulling your phone out of your back pocket. You looked at the caller ID, groaning in annoyance and disgust. 

“Let me guess, Scott?” Eddie guessed. “Yep. I’ll be right back,” you sighed, beginning to walk away, but Eddie stopped you. 

He pulled you back gently by your arm, taking your phone from your hand. “Here, let me.”

You watched him with curious and confused eyes as he answered the phone, putting Scott on speaker.  

“Hi, Scott,” Eddie greeted, saying Scott’s name in an aggressive tone. 

“Um, who is this? I need to speak with Y/n,” Scott said. 

“No, you don’t,” Eddie stated matter-of-factly. “Yes, I do. That little bitch needs to learn her lesson for smashing my Xbox,” Scott hissed. 

Eddie raised his brows at you, but you shrugged shamelessly. Eddie grinned at you and turned his attention back to Scott. 

“Why don’t I teach you a little lesson, okay, Scott? You’re gonna leave Y/n alone. From what she’s told me, you’re a scumbag who is a controlling piece of shit, who treats women like garbage. If you ask me, I think Y/n had a right to smash your Xbox.” 

You gasped quietly. No one had ever stood up to Scott on your half before. You had tried multiple times yourself, but he always managed to find a way to belittle you even more and make you lose your confidence. What Eddie was doing now was just making you fall for him more. And honestly, it was turning you on a bit, too.

“What? Who the hell are you? If you don’t let me talk to Y/n, I’m going to-” Scott started, but Eddie was quick to cut him off.  “Going to what, Scott? ‘Cause I know a few people that, if Y/n gave me your address, would kill you before you could even get another word out. So stop calling her, threatening her, and don’t even think about trying to visit her to quote-on-quote “teach her a lesson”. Otherwise, you’ll have more things smashed than just your Xbox.” Eddie threatened before hanging up the phone.  

You looked at him with your eyes wide and full of amazement.

“That should do it. Guys like him only accept threats from other men. It’s bullshit, but it’s just how some people are,” Eddie said, handing you back your phone.  

“Thank you so much. No one, and I mean no one, has ever done that for me. I’ve always had to take care of myself, but it’s never been enough,” you chuckled. 

Eddie smiled, “You’re by far the strongest woman I’ve ever met, and I’ve met a lot of women. Scott just still has the mental age of a toddler. I bet if you went to wherever he lived and socked him, he’d leave you alone for good.”

You chuckled and nodded. “Yeah, he probably would. I don’t want to see him ever again, though. Who knows what he would do to me.”

“And that’s why you’re also the smartest woman I’ve ever met. You know what’s good for you.”

You set your phone down on a nearby chair, sauntering over to Eddie. You put your hands on his chest, sliding them up to his shoulders and tracing patterns. 

“If I know what’s good for me, then why am I hanging out out with you?” You asked, looking up at him through your lashes.  

“You’re right. Maybe you’re not so smart,” Eddie teased, snaking his arm around your waist. 

“Oh, Eddie, you’re so rude,” you scoffed, feigning offense. 

“Then why don’t you kick me out? Oh, right, you like me too much,” he stated. He put his hand on the small of your back, pulling you flush against him. 

You let out a small gasp as your chest met his. Your hands made their way to his hair once again, twirling the short strands between your fingers. “Yeah.” You bit your lip, your eyes flickering from his eyes to his lips. “I like you too much.”

————

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[shekorla]

Linked Universe Zeldas

So last December I decided to draw my idea for the Zeldas on a whim. Found the WIP recently and decided to finish it.

Also, I typed up all my headcanons for them because I have a lot. They are below the cut. 

And I put down nickname ideas, because I'm bad at naming things, and I think the LU discord has already decided on a set of nicknames that they like. Personally, I really dislike most of those though.

❖Corresponding Link: Four

     o Age: Teen, just older than Four. Not a major difference, just enough that she can tease him about it.

     o Status: Officially still holds the title of princess, acts more like a queen. Her father is extremely protective of her, but after Vaati he conceded that he couldn’t protect her forever. Since then she has been learning to fight, forge (not good at it), and taking over more and more responsibilities from her aging father

     o Nickname ideas: Light, Picori, Force

     o Fighting style: Mostly fights with a sword and shield. Has extremely strong innate light magic. (light force, although weaker now) Doesn’t necessarily know how to focus it yet (magic bomb, some healing). If you are going to be on the battlefield stop running around like that.

     o Current relationship to Link: Best friends, practically siblings. When they were kids there was definitely some major crushing going on. Then everything with Vaati happened and things got… complicated. Neither she nor Link really knows what type of romance they want for the future. They still play lots of pranks on people. She helps keep him stable on the days when his colors get a little too wild.

     o Random stuff: Hyperactive and cheery. Always something new to see or learn and she wants to do it. hates sitting still, she is always moving somehow (got turned to stone). Top is hers; Link made the sword (gift), rest is extras from four’s parts (stolen). Hair is naturally extremely curly, lets it down for formal things, tied up for adventuring. Helped four get back to functioning as Link after being four people. Will attack him to get him to take care of himself. Is taller than both four and wind.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

❖ Corresponding Link: Hyrule

     o Age: At least a hundred. Was 18 when she was cursed to sleep, no one is exactly sure how long she was asleep.

     o Status: Was a princess before falling asleep, offered the crown once woken up. Really over being royal. Link helped her get a job and lodging on a farm at the edge of Hyrule. Really likes that.

     o Nickname ideas: Legacy, Farmgirl, First, Ancestor.

     o Fighting style: Healer. Lots of bandages to patch everyone up. Doesn’t like to fight, but will stab a man if the need arises. The world is cruel, be kind. Has weak magic, a little bit of healing, and lots of prophetic. Knows the best places to hide on a battlefield.

     o Current relationship to Link: They are good friends. He checks up on her from time to time, and she makes sure that he always has a place to rest and relax in safety. Their world is a little bit of a mess, everyone needs a support system.

     o Random stuff: Has insomnia. Afraid of not waking up. Extremely wise, or maybe just world-weary. On tense but good terms with current queen Zelda of Hyrule. Forgives her brother, has come to terms with her fate. Taciturn and calm, probably depressed. Extremely sensitive to dark magic. (like an old burn wound) Dislikes people who use it to forcefully get their way. Doesn’t outright hate the principle of it, but will actively shy away from the presence of it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

❖ Corresponding Link: Time

     o Age: Adult, mentally/physically the same age.

     o Status: Queen of Hyrule. She is married and has a daughter.

     o Nickname ideas: Destiny, Sheik, Queen, Lyre/Harp (what is that thing?), Sage.

     o Fighting style: Fights mostly with magic. Uses the harp to play songs (ironically fights like HW sheik) has basic sheikah skills. Has only been training to fight for a short time, is still fairly physically weak. One of the most proficient magic users all round. Can take down the basic mooks, but won't last long against a bigger enemy. Knows how to fight alone.

     o Current relationship to Link: Strained. Not OOT sheik. Is MM Zelda. Only knows link as the boy who showed up to save the day, then left. Has had occasional interactions, she visits the ranch, he works with the guard. Only in the past year or two, she has had dream glimpses of the alternate timeline. She knows that she and link killed Ganon side by side, that she helped link disguised as sheik. Does not know about the seven years or most of the trauma. Basically, seen like five cutscenes and nothing else.

     o Random stuff: Prophetic dreams. Knew she would be leaving on a quest. Kingdom is well set up to work in her absence. Loves her family, is an idiot who doesn’t know the importance of checking in via letters for anything other than politics. Snobbish, proud, put too much stock in titles. Best manager, not a great leader (doesn’t have the personal skills for it). Sees the world as extremely black and white.

❖ Corresponding Link: Twilight

     o Age: Young adult.

     o Status: Newly coronated queen, has been running the show for a few years now, it's just barely official

     o Nickname ideas: Dusk, Dawn, Shadow

     o Fighting style: Uses mainly rapier to fight. Also, a great archer. Because of temporarily sharing a soul with Midna, has access to powerful twilight magic. Not as strong as Midna, still strong. Has goddess magic (channel through weapons). Tries to hide twili powers mostly since it's “dark magic”, but only technically. She knows it's not true dark magic and really just wants to avoid a lecture (does not get along well with time’s Zelda). Knows her way around the edge of a battlefield.

     o Current relationship to Link: They barely know each other. Only really interacted through saving the world things. Then they went separate ways. She considers Midna a sister and wants to slap both Midna and Link for not realizing they like each other. Once she knows Link better, she will probably tease him a lot.

     o Random stuff: Unlike most of the other Zeldas, sees the world as being mostly shades of grey, rather than stark black and white. Somber and stoic. Secretly a massive gremlin. Has a few habits picked up from Midna's soul along with the magic. Is awkward around ‘normal’ people. Has spent almost her entire life in political settings. One of the best politicians. Rather open about her feelings, it's just small and easily missed. Feels guilty for the troubles that befell both Hyrule and the twilight realm. Hates having to stand back unable to help. Screw rules she is going to help.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

❖ Corresponding Link: Wild

      o Age: 118-120ish(?) I don’t know how long it has been since the events of BOTW.

      o Status: Technically queen, currently is focused on rebuilding Hyrule. Has no intention to take up the throne any time soon.

      o Nickname ideas: Scholar, Architect, Champion, Urbosa, Scientist, Little Bird.

      o Fighting style: Not a great fighter but she is learning. Decent with a sword. Gets a crossbow from twilight and then makes her own out of sheikah tech. (currently has no magic and good riddance). Learning to navigate a battlefield.

      o Current relationship to Link: They are good friends, but it's awkward. Neither of them are totally sure how to act around the other. Basically, either gremlin adventures, or awkward small talk. Past the first road trip, only interact a few times a month. She is caught between trying to mourn her knight and accepting her new hero. Cooking shenanigans.

      o Random stuff: Loves learning new things. Can and will study and find the effects of every plant. Knows poisons, antidotes, elixirs, potions, and everything else. Still trying to come to terms with everything that happened. Frequent nightmares. Claustrophobic/minor insomnia. Knows all the languages. Loves studying sheikah tech, and finally gets the chance to as much as she wants. Hates the castle. So many things change culturally over 100 years and she has no idea what to do. Awkward, but sincere.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

❖ Corresponding Link: Wind

     o Age: Teen

     o Status: Technically the queen. Hyrule currently consists of a single town on the mainland, and lots of plans. Queenish. Anjean is teaching her how to politics.

     o Nickname ideas: Name is tetra that’s it.

     o Fighting style: Uses a pirate saber as well as the phantom sword. (IDK if spirit tracks is part of Wind’s story, but I was not passing up the opportunity to give tetra a massive sword). Decent archer, and can channel light magic into weapons…. most of the time…... It’s a work in progress. Also has general goddess magic. Big explosion of light. Knows her way around a battlefield

     o Current relationship to Link: Serve on a crew together. Best friends and partners in crime. There is a lot that needs to be done to start a country, they will do it together. It’s not going quickly. They keep getting distracted. Why do paperwork when you can steal things.

     o Random stuff: Smol. Link hit puberty and got a growth spurt. She did not. Not a politician, this child should not be in charge, whose idea was it to let a pirate child run a country. Great leader. All the social skills. Shoot first… that’s it. Sassy. Trying her best to be a good princess and live up to her lineage. It's hard. There is no book. Feels like she is letting everyone down. Hates big birds. Occasional nightmares. Really hates being cold. (turned to stone)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

❖ Corresponding Link: Legend

     o Age: Older teen

     o Status: Queen. Has ruled for a while. Amazing support system. They regularly keep things running when she gets kidnapped. Good relations with all surrounding countries.

     o Nickname ideas: Maiden, Sage, Hilda.

     o Fighting style: Doesn’t. Pacifist. She can attack with light magic, chooses not to. Healing magic, team buffs, defense. Just because she doesn’t fight doesn’t mean she will let her team die. Strongest support magic. Does not know her way around a battlefield.

     o Current relationship to Link: Good work friends. They get along well enough. No massive personal relations. She asks him for help with killing monsters, he asks her for help with laws. It works for them. Occasionally they will get lunch together and catch up. (aka make sure he didn’t get himself killed.) Can use telepathy to contact Link at any time. Keeps it to emergencies only. Because he finds it massively annoying, and a little creepy.

     o Random stuff: Massive romantic. Currently single. Misses being able to gossip with Hilda. Kind and compassionate. Does not stand for injustice. Will forgive until the end of time. Just because she is kind does not mean she is weak. Strong-willed. Good politician. Loved by her people, even if Ganon has attacked like five times. Ganon is the only person on the list of people she would happily shank. So much paperwork. Give the girl a break. Keeps craft supplies on her for long imprisonments. Scrying magic, and a little bit prophetic.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

❖ Corresponding Link: Warriors

     o Age: Adult. Older than warriors, younger than time or his Zelda.

     o Status: Queen of Hyrule, and commander of its army. Her Hyrule has been in turmoil for a while even before the war with Cia.

     o Nickname ideas: General, Commander, Tactician.

    ��o Fighting style: Best fighter. Can use all the weapons. Summon a bow or rapier of pure light magic. Strongest understanding of how the goddess magic works with weapons. Mostly fights as Zelda (basically her gameplay style), still uses her sheik disguise sometimes (ironically fights similar to smash bros sheik because of extensive sheikah training.) Lives on the battlefield.

     o Current relationship to Link: They work seamlessly together in battle and are friends outside of it. They haven't actually known each other very long so it's awkward sometimes. She still has to occasionally remind him that she doesn’t need a title. If they were two kids in a village then they would probably date. But they are not, and things are complicated. Duty to the kingdom comes first.

      o Random stuff: Best makeup. Amazing, if ruthless, politician. Best historian. Blunt. No time for crap. One of the best leaders doesn’t have the pure charisma to outdo warriors though. Resting B Face. 90% of soldiers are scared of her. Comes across as harsh, rude, cold. Really, she is just a bit awkward and hides behind a mask. Can’t do people, can do basically anything else. Minor prophetic magic.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

❖ Corresponding Link: Sky

     o Age: Old teen/young adult. Older than Sky.

     o Status: Technically the queen, but Hyrule hasn’t been founded yet. Officially goddess Hylia reincarnated. She doesn’t go around flaunting the title, but sometimes the memories of Hylia she gained will overwhelm her. Full goddess mode. Doesn’t stand for dark magic.

     o Nickname ideas: Hylia, Sun, Swallow.

     o Fighting style: trained at the academy and knows how to fight with a sword. Not a good fighter. massive bursts of power usually win her fights. Sometimes she can channel a little bit of her power, but usually, she just gets overwhelmed by all of it. General goddess magic, cannot channel through weapons. Thinks she does, but in fact, does not know her way around a battlefield

     o Current relationship to Link: Do I need to explain? These two are head over heels. Sappy love birds all the way. Childhood friends. Everyone is surprised they're not engaged yet.

     o Random stuff: More adventure-ready style to reflect working on founding Hyrule. Fierce and determined. Kind. But she will get her way. Struggles to balance her mortality and newfound divinity. Feels bad that Sky had to fight for her. Loves her bird. Beautiful singing voice. She is trying her best but is in fact very bad at being an adventurer. Good at sewing. Loads of people skills, working on leadership skills. Best with children. 6th sense type prophetic magic. (aka see a shot before it is taken, but not a coming calamity.)

That's it. Congrats on making it to the end. You get a cookie. 🍪

#linked universe #linkeduniverse #legend of zelda #princess zelda #zelda #loz #LoZ Fanart #long post #headcanons #my art #shekorla #sorry discord #yall are great #dont like almost all of the nicknames

[thelordofdarkreunion]

Magnificent Scoundrels: The Team, Part I

After having this idea buzzing through my brain for a while, I got bored and decided to write it.  This is a multi-sci-fi universe crossover story, involving the Star Wars, Star Trek, Halo, Titanfall, Mass Effect, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Warhammer 40,000, the Empyrean Iris stories by (), and my own sci-fi story, Tongues of Fire.  

Disclaimer:

I only own Tongues of Fire.  Disney owns Star Wars, CBS owns Star Trek, Microsoft owns Halo, Respawn Entertainment owns Titanfall, Marvel owns Marvel (should be fairly obvious), Games Workshop owns Warhammer 40,000, and starr-fall-knight-rise owns Empyrean Iris.

Note: Italics indicate thoughts

Note: Star Wars, Star Trek, Halo, and Marvel (as in Marvel Comics and Marvel Cinematic Universe) exist as fictional stories in the Empyrean Iris Universe, as they were specifically mentioned or alluded to in the stories that make up that universe.  Likewise, Star Wars exists as a fictional story in the Marvel Universe, as it was specifically mentioned in several of the movies.  Otherwise, the other universes, even though they are fictional stories in the real world, do not exist as fictional stories from the respective fictional universes.

Now, sit back, relax, try not to die, and enjoy the story!

On the edge of several different galaxies 

Admiral Adam Vir walked the dark streets of what he thought was probably a long dead moon.  After the events of the past several weeks, he had received a mysterious summons from a mercenary from another galaxy to come here, this day, and hear an offer.  It was…uh, well, complicated.  Actually, complicated was putting it rather mildly, he mused.  Apparently, the man, named, he turned and discreetly checked the transcript of the message, Thomas Drake, was going to assemble a team of magnificent people to “to be all around awesome, make a ton of money, and generally get up to as many shenanigans as possible.”  This was going to end real well.

The shadows grew long as Adam, Sunny, his first lieutenant, and Krill, his medical officer, both aliens, walked into a small black building that looked like the outside of a respectable restaurant.  Two tall black-suited human guards stood at the entrance.  Strangely despite the dark, they wore eye-covering sunglasses.  As Adam and his retinue reached the entrance, the closer guard smiled.  

“Admiral Adam Vir?” he asked.  Adam forced a smile, overriding his instincts that this probably wasn’t a good idea.  Sunny and Krill shared a look.

“That’s me,” he replied.  The guard held up something that Adam recognized as a fingerprint scanner.

“Just put your hand here sir,” instructed the guard.  Adam did as he was told, and a green light blinked on the side of the device.

“You can go right in, sir,” said the guard as he opened the door for Adam and his friends.  

It was not what he expected.  It looked like an extremely high class lounge.  The windowless room was decorated with large black drapes with red trim, and had many white table-clothed booths and tables spread throughout.  There was an elegant bar on the side of the room near the door, and a dance floor on the side opposite it.  It looked quite classy, and quite cozy.  But the room itself took second place as the most interesting thing there.  By far the most interesting were the people.  Lounging and talking throughout the room, or quietly keeping to themselves and looking with suspicion at everyone else, they were probably the strangest and most varied group of people Adam had ever seen.  

Sitting far away from the door at one of the back tables, nursing a small glass of amber liquid, was a man with short-cut black hair.  He was completely by himself, and seemed rather content to remain so.  He was wearing some sort of strange, sleeveless armored vest, the likes of which Adam had never seen before.  An odd-looking green helmet with a strange x-shaped viewing slit sat on the table next to him.  The man had the look of a professional soldier, although exactly what type of soldier and from where, Adam had no idea.  

Across the way, sitting in a both, still towards the back but on the other side of the room, sat perhaps the strangest group of people Adam had ever seen, and that was saying a lot.  There were two two relatively normal looking people, a man and a woman, wearing military fatigues who glared pointedly at the two aliens in Adam's retinue when Adam looked at them.  Their regular looking appearance only served to contrast the man sitting in the middle of the both.  He had a long, scarred, rather handsome face that was framed by neatly trimmed sideburns.  Adam couldn’t really tell what color his hair was, however, because of the hat.  Where to begin with the hat?  It looked as if someone had taken several doses of LSD and tried to design an officer’s cap worn by the secret police of a fictional government agency, then made it several sizes bigger than normal.  The uniform wasn’t much better.  It was as if an insane Napoleonic-era Prussian tailor had created it, added an equally horrible-looking greatcoat, and draped the entire thing in altogether too much gold lace.  The overall effect was...bizarre, to put it mildly.  Although, now I want one, mused Adam.  The two wearing military fatigues looked at the gold-laced one, probably their boss, if the uniform quality was to be gone by, then looked back at Adams' group.  They seemed to be arguing over him, and the man made several gestures to emphasize a point before bringing his fist down on the table with a thump.  The insane-uniformed man rolled his eyes, grinned, said something that appeared to placate the two wearing fatigues, and swirled his drink experimentally before tossing it all back.  The two wearing fatigues kept glaring suspiciously in Adam’s direction.  It was only then that Adam seemed to notice the fourth person at the table.  The fourth man was sitting quietly by himself, wearing a more plain set of fatigues, bothering no one, but something about him felt...off.  Looking at the man sent chills down Adam’s spine, his collar itched for no reason, and his stomach suddenly felt slightly queasy.  He brushed it off, and kept looking across the room.

In another booth, towards the middle of the room, was...Han Solo and Chewbacca?  The hell was going on?  Was there some mercenary captain who dressed like Han Solo, the character from a 2,000 year old movie?  And there weren’t any aliens that looked like Chewbacca, or were there?  Confused, he shook his head to clear it and continued his search around the room.  His jaw dropped.  There, leaning against a wall, was the video game character Master Chief.  Another fictional character from a 2,000 year old story.  What the hell was happening?  He continued his around the room, now suspicious of where this was going.  

At another table, this time closer to the door, sat two tough looking humans males and one figure wearing a strange body suit with a purple-hued mask that completely obscured the face.  One of the humans appeared to be wearing normal civilian clothes, (the first normal one in the room, thought Vir) and the other was wearing black body armor with the numerals “N7” stamped over the right breast.  If Adam had to guess, he’d say the humans were mercenaries of some sort.  The other one, he had no idea.

Moving over to the ornate bar, located on the same wall of the room as the door, stood a tall man in a black leather greatcoat.  HIs face was movie star handsome, and framed with immaculate black hair.  He had an easy smile, and looked rather out of place in a room filled with soldiers and old fictional characters.  And talking to the man was...Captain Kirk and Spock from Star Trek.  Adam shook his head as if to clear it.  Obviously, this was some sort of fever dream, and he’d wake up in his cabin at any moment…

But it was not to be.  The door slammed open behind him, and a strangely familiar voice said, “Excuse me.”  Vir turned around, and when his eyes laid on the figure walking through the door, they almost fell out of his head.  Walking into the room was a blond-brown haired man wearing a red colored greatcoat and a small, old-fashioned music played attached to his waist.  Following the man was a green skinned human looking alien, and a raccoon walking on it’s two hind legs.  The Guardians of the Galaxy.  Another ancient fictional story, come to life.  The raccoon sneered at him.

“Finished staring?” it asked with a surprisingly human-like voice.  Adam shook his head again.

“Er, yes, yes,” he trailed off.  What was happening here?  The black haired man from the bar appeared suddenly next to him and gave an enthusiastic grin.  

“Ah Adam Vir, Sunny, Krill, Peter Quill, Gamorra, Rocket,” he addressed each of the new arrivals by name and with a small smirk as he shook each of their hands.  All the new arrivals looked at each other with confusion.  How does he know our names?  We don’t know him, seemed to be the unspoken consensus between the two groups.  “Welcome.”   He turned behind him and spoke to the rest of the room. “Alright now that everyone’s here, we can begin!  It would be best if we all sat or stood in the middle.  Yes, yes, there it is, wonderful.  You’re fine there.  C’mon, get your gluteus in gear and get over here, Han.”  Everyone shuffled somewhat awkwardly to the middle of the room.  The black haired man and several tuxedoed waiters pulled over a group of tables and chairs.  The man, who Adam guessed was their host, Thomas Drake, gestured at everyone to sit.  Most sat, with several electing to remain standing.  Drake languidly leaned against the edge of a table.

“So.  As you may already know or have already guessed, my name is Thomas Drake.  Due to several of your galaxies messing around with the fabric of time,” Drake glared pointedly at Kirk, who gave a sheepish smile, the solo military-looking man from the back of the room, who shrugged indifferently, and the elaborately uniformed man.  Said man threw out his hands in a defensive gesture.

“Hey, I’m just a humble Commissar.  If anyone’s screwing with time, it’s the Inquisition.”  Drake sighed.

“Whatever.  Anyway, before I was oh so rudely interrupted, I was saying that due to several of your galaxies screwing with time, all of our galaxies, which existed separately as alternate realities, have all combined into a massive, multi-galaxy and multi-timeline mess.  The reason that all of you are here is because, apparently unlike the rest of you, I’ve done my homework, and I’ve found something interesting.  In every one of our collective galaxies, there seems to be a badass, lucky, famous, and all around awesome soldier or mercenary.  You.”  Things were starting to make much more sense.  Drake continued, “I have invited and/or got permission for all of you to be here today for one simple reason: I plan on creating a group of all of us.  Put together, we can overcome any obstacle, learn more about this new reality of many different galaxies we are facing from inhabitants of said galaxies, cause a bunch of shenanigans, eliminate any threats to the governments we work for or the people we love, and if none of those are incentive enough, make an ungodly amount of money.”  Several people (and aliens) around the table grinned at the last one.  “I’ve already gotten permission for those who need it to join this little group, so, the only question remains,” he spread his hands wide for dramatic emphasis, “who’s in?”

Chewbacca growled something and Han Solo nodded.  “We’re in.”  The lone military-like man nodded.  

“I’m in.”  The Guardians looked at each other and nodded.

“Making tons of money and exploring new galaxies?  Oh, we’re definitely in.”  The tough-looking man with the “N7” on his armor and the hooded figure in his retinue nodded.

“I have Council authorization.  I’m in.”  Drake looked at Adam.

“And you?”  Adam’s mind was made up.  Get the chance to go through multiple galaxies, some actual fictional stories from his childhood, meet a ton of new people and get to see new aliens?  Definitely.  He looked at Sunny and Krill.  Sunny nodded, Krill merely had an exasperated look plastered on his bug-like face.

“We’re in.”  Drake looked at the elaborately-uniformed man.

“What about you?”  The man pursed his lips.  

“You got permission from the Administratum for this?” he asked skeptically.  Drake rustled through the pockets of his greatcoat and came out with a piece of parchment with a medieval-style wax seal.  

“No, I got permission from one Inquisitor Amberley Vail.  These are the written orders.”  He tossed them to the man.

“Ah.  That would explain several things.  I’m in.”  Drake turned to Kirk and Spock.

“And you two?”  Spock frowned.

“This does not seem as if it were in the best interests of the Federation.”  Drake smiled dazzlingly at him. 

“Your government would want to explore these new galaxies anyway, and who would they send?  You.  This way you have more allies to help you.”

“Fair point.  We’re in.”  Drake grinned wickedly.

“Wonderful.  Time to Rock and roll!”

#sci-fi #crossover #story #star wars #star trek #halo #guardians of the galaxy #titanfall #mass effect #warhamemr 40k #empyrean iris #magnificent scoundrels

[gobureis]

My personal SW5 impressions of characters after playing the game once (plus some lol)  

note: I’m talking about all of them as characters in a video game. 

----

Nobunaga - ngl I love him. I feel his depiction might become a bit controversial among fans, but as a story it’s great imho.

Mitsuhide - I love him too lol deep down he’s pretty similar to his SW4 counterpart, but he also isn’t. He made different choices, and there are different settings (i.e. Akechi castle being burned down and his whole family dying) that made a difference, and then there’s his relationship with Nobunaga [but it isn’t just Nobunaga who influences Mitsuhide]

Hideyoshi - he’s such a fun character. It’s always a hit or miss with Hideyoshi and me in various media, and I admit i wasn’t a big fan of some parts of SW4 Hideyoshi, but this younger version who is all about making it big and becoming a powerful daimyou is refreshing and fun. There’s some rivalry between him and Mitsuhide (mostly one-sided), and respect for Ieyasu. The Hashiba group (Hideyoshi, Hanbei, Kazuuji, Kanbei) are very warm and almost family-like

Ieyasu - he’s also a nice character. I liked SW4 Ieyasu and the Tokugawa clan a lot, and you can still feel the bonds here as well. He’s very, not serious, but he knows he’s not good enough and he works really hard to become a good samurai. He’s very loyal to Nobunaga, and he’s like a puppy around him. It’s cute.

Imagawa Yoshimoto - he’s pretty much there only to be a villain

Shingen - I was never particularly interested in Shingen (and Takeda clan and Sanada clan as a whole in SW4) so having Shingen as the enemy officer only is like shrug (he’s fun in the Uesugi vs Takeda stage in Mitsuhide’s chapter, but his presence isn’t strong overall, I know there’s one Ieyasu stage where Takeda are with them but I forgot what it’s about)

Kenshin - LOL this time Kenshin got some Kanetsugu’s characterization so he’s very loud, very opinionated, and all about righteousness, which isn’t GI this time but TADASHIKI. At the moment, he’s a bit annoying (but I also felt that way about SW4 Kanetsugu at the beginning, and he’s among my faves now, so...)

Mouri Motonari - he’s also there to be a villain and he does it well. He’s not a nice grandfather, he’s dark and shrewd, and it’s very different from SW4. 

Azai Nagamasa - he’s different, I’m still not sure if in a good or bad way

Matsunaga Hisahide - he’s fun lol (I mean I liked his SW4 version, and I like his SW5′s one too) He’s not really a joke character anymore, and he’s VERY interested in Mitsuhide. I’m glad he stayed as a playable character.

Nouhime - (no one calls her Nouhime lol ETA: Sena does) she is a great character but unfortunately her ‘screen time’ is way too short. Her interactions are mostly limited to Nobunaga, but I guess I just need to trigger more in battle dialogues. I like what they did with her in the IF stories.

Mitsuki - she was such a delightful surprise. She’s written well, and I really like her story, and also her involvement in Nobunaga and Mitsuhide’s story

Toshiie - he’s pretty much the same as in SW4, he’s Nobunaga’s childhood friend and just follows whatever Nobunaga orders, without questioning it much (the furthest he went was before Hiei-zan, but nothing really came from it anyway). He has bigger role during the early chapters, after Mitsuhide joins Nobunaga, Nobunaga apparently forgets he already had a BFF? idk lol 

Katsuie - he became more handsome, but at the core, he’s pretty much the same Katsuie too. But this time they decided to make Katsuie loyal primarily to Oichi and make him her bodyguard (probably to avoid any potential creepiness considering Oichi’s age this time). Toshiie and Katsuie don’t really have any familial relationship, and Hideyoshi calls him “danna” lol

Oichi - she’s a... child, basically (and I did like the mother-like figure in SW4, especially in SW4-2), but she keeps growing on me. 

Saitou Toshimitsu - he’s extremely loyal to Mitsuhide and he follows him no matter what. They have a nice lord/vassal relationship very different from all lord/vassal relationships that were in SW4, so it’s refreshing

Yamanaka Shikanosuke - he’s a great character, he’s friends with Mitsuhide, and they both swore under the moon to become stronger, so they could protect those who were important to them, and that promise made them move forward. It’s a great friendship, but tragic. (as everything in this stupid game is) Although, I admit that at this time, more than his relationship with Mitsuhide, I’m more interested in his relationship with Mori Motonari and Kobayakawa Takakage.

Hanbei - omg I love this version of Hanbei a LOT. I feel like in SW4 he wasn’t around that much, and when he was I just focused more on Kanbei, but do I love him in SW5. His characterization is basically the same, but he’s also more soft? And more on equal ground with Hideyoshi, whom he calls ‘Hideyoshi’, and while their relationship isn’t THAT different, Hideyoshi’s personality and age makes it different, and I love it. Because of his time with Dosan, he gets a lot of ‘screen time’ this time around, so that’s great too.

Kanbei - Kanbei is... young LOL He appears pretty late in the game, so I didn’t have much time to really focus on him because this time, I focused more on Hanbei. Their senpai-kohai relationship is cute though

Nakamura Kazuuji - he’s... there. He has a nice relationship with Mitsuki, but we also never really see them interact properly or hear about their past (maybe the citadel events?), and he’s very loyal to Hideyoshi, so that’s cool too. Like I said above I like the Hashiba group. 

Sena - Sena is great, different from the other girls in this game, more mature. 

Tadakatsu - he’s like a big loud puppy who follows his master Takechiyo. I didn’t focus on him much tbh I’ve always preferred Ieyasu’s relationship with Hanzou, and that didn’t really change. And this time there was also Sena, so... Tadakatsu was... just there, more like an older brother than a vassal

Hanzou - also great. The age difference this time made some changes with his relationship with Ieyasu, and there’s no ‘shadow to Ieyasu’s light’ symbolism this time, but it is still a nice relationship. 

Sandayu - he’s a character that’s very present and he goes from a nice big brother figure to ********, but I haven’t really made an opinion about him yet. He’s a good character, but I like others more, basically.

Kobayakawa Takakage - hahahahaha he’s very self-centered and at first I was like you’re so annoying, but he also started to grow on me, so we’ll see (I definitely do prefer SW4 though). Although, this Kobayakawa and this Hanbei would work quite well together. I need to replay the Hashiba VS Mouri stages.

Saika Magoichi - he’s a nicer version of his SW4 version with no weird womanizer thing thrown in (yet). Unfortunately he only serves as a villain and you don’t really get to know his story, but he’s a person with integrity

Yasuke - Yasuke only joins at the very end of the game, and he’s very cool. He definitely works better than Ranmaru for what this story is about.

Oda Nobuyuki - he was a nice character. tbh they could have made him fully playable because he was present for two whole chapters but well... 

Okabe - idk you fight against him

Katsuyori - I like that Shingen calls him ‘Jirou’ LOL otherwise it didn’t really matter to me if he had a special design or not (but like I said I’m not interested in Takeda clan) - he’s voiced by the same guy who’s voicing Kobayakawa so when I don’t particularly pay attention I’m like why is Ieyasu fighting Kobayakawa? lol

Kikkawa Motoharu - ??? he’s there. he’s the muscles to Kobayakawa’s brain, I guess

Mouri Terumoto - he’s young, he feels the burden, but he doesn’t have much presence

Dousan - well, Dousan is Dousan

Saitou Yoshitatsu - at one moment he’s laughing like a cartoon villain

Asakura Yoshikage - he’s so good. He has a bigger presence that Nagamasa, and it’s a shame he wasn’t made fully playable. But he also never joined Nobunaga... he’s a really nice lord who cares about his territory and people, and does everything to protect them

Ashikaga Yoshiaki - your usual incompetent shogun, I guess

Mitsubushi Fujihide - I love him! He’s very loyal to the shogunate and Yoshiaki and does everything to protect him. (even though the shogun is the way he is)

aaaand done. Future me, how did your opinions change?

TOP 5 characters: Mitsuhide, Nobunaga, Hanbei, Hideyoshi, Toshimitsu

#sw5 #leni plays sw5

[loopy777]

whats your thoughts on Venom, the green goblin and doctor octopus, the three characters who are generally held up as spidermans archenemies? which one do you think has the best potential as spidermans definite enemy if they were written perfectly, and which series do you think had the best portrayal of each of them respectively?

If I had to crown THE Spider-Man Archnemesis, I would have to give it to Green Goblin. Doc Ock is the oldest, and the first to both defeat Spider-Man and make him consider quitting, but ultimately Norman has taken more from Spidey, gotten more personal in their conflict, and created more of a legacy for the mythos. Sorry, Otto.

That said, I don’t really like designating a single archnemesis for Spidey because Norman hasn’t completely dominated the field. Ock runs the Sinister Six, Spidey’s big Villain Team and one of the best Villain Teams in all of superhero comics. (And let’s face it, the Legion of Doom is bigger only because DC characters got more media exposure for a long time and Superman’s villains are so good that Lex Luthor, Brainiac, and Bizarro lift up the likes of Solomon Grundy and Cheetah when they’re all on a team together.) Venom has the whole Evil Knockoff thing going and a unique and terrifying ‘stalker’ gimmick that puts him in a special class, not to mention how he directly overpowers or counters all Spidey’s abilities.

And, honestly, the whole ‘Goblin’ gimmick is kind of arbitrary and has nothing to do with spiders. Clowns and bats don’t have a direct relation, but at least they’re opposites in terms of color and purpose, so Batman and Joker kind of seem like twisted rivals. Goblins and spiders are only linked in that they’re both kind of Halloweeny, but Spider-Man has little to do with Halloween or spooky stuff, anyway. But I better cut this line of thought off before I start explaining how Spider-Man shouldn’t be Spider-Man at all and him being Frog-Man would make just as much sense and then we wouldn’t have to deal with pictures of icky spiders in all Spider-Man media.

But yeah, Norman Osborne is still indisputably a cut above the others.

Ock is really just a typical mad scientist with a robot-arm gimmick that allows him to directly fight with Spider-man. He’s well-written and constructed, granted, and I love how his arrogance contrasts with Peter’s humility, how they’re such opposites in terms of empathy, and how different their paths become after science-based accidents that granted them unusual powers. Bendis’s “Ultimate Spider-Man” comics nicely honed in on this theme, and I also appreciate how both Stan Lee’s prose story in the unrelated “Ultimate Spider-Man” short story collection (...it’s a title Marvel loves to reuse for some reason) and John Byrne’s attempted origin revision linked the irradiated spider to the explosion that created Ock. All great villains should be dark reflections of their heroes, but while Ock has gotten some great stories that make him a top-tier villain, he still offers little storytelling potential beyond his mad scientist archetype. Now, I know what comics-readers are thinking at this point: Yes, I did read the original “Superior Spider-Man” run and I think there’s some real potential there, but honestly I feel like it was under-served by Dan Slott’s pacing and foibles. And I haven’t seen an adaptation of it yet that I think really fulfills the possibilities. But the idea is great, so maybe Otto will get his chance to level up his rivalry with Spider-Man.

Venom’s problem is that he’s a little too focused on his revenge on Spider-Man. The stories where he stalks Spidey, wandering into Peter’s life to fold laundry with Aunt May, popping up to have a surprise tussle with Spidey just to throw him off-balance, etc- Those are great and make Venom seem super-scary, especially since Spidey can’t beat Venom in a fight without some kind of edge or gimmick. But all Venom wants is revenge on Spidey, so after he’s failed a few times to get it, what do you do with the character? He’s not scary if he keeps failing. The original idea was to have the symbiote pass on from Eddie Brock and take on other hosts, and that might have opened the door for some new kinds of stories. I know this was eventually implemented 20 years later, with the original Scorpion getting to be Venom for a while, and symbiotes becoming a whole Thing with a bunch in various colors, but I didn’t read any of those stories and they don’t seem to have left much impression on the general Spider-Man fandom. Ultimately, it was chosen to ‘redeem’ Eddie Brock and make Venom into an “anti-hero” (for a definition of the term that means “protagonist who kills people but doesn’t have to worry about that whole ‘consistently laid low by their fatal flaw’ thing”) which did sell a bunch of comics in the 90′s and set up some tension-filled team-ups with Spidey. Nice idea, if implemented in a really shaggy way, but -- again -- what do you do after that? Venom/Eddie isn’t really a compelling lead who you can keep telling stories about. (Yes, I saw the Venom movie. It has like two minutes of amusing material and two hours of boring dreck, and none of it is memorable.) And making him evil again runs into the same problem as having left him evil in the first place. Venom was a good idea whose time came and went, and perhaps someone will find a way to make him fresh again. But until then, I think he gets by more on his visuals than anything.

The Green Goblin, in contrast, has a lot going for him in terms of storytelling potential. He’s a mad scientist, a wanna-be crime boss, a dark shadow of his civilian identity looking for revenge and/or illicit thrills, and personally has that ongoing personal hatred/rivalry for Spider-Man. That offers a whole bunch of storytelling paths, all of which have been taken and proven fruitful over the years. And that’s without getting into how Norman Osborne is the father of Peter’s best friend Harry, a flawed father figure to Peter in his own right, a ruthless millionaire industrialist before Lex Luthor gave it a try, and another dark reflection of the paths Peter could have taken in both aspects of his life. Even when Norman is dead, his legacy continued to be felt for 20-odd years with how Harry fell from grace. You can even link Norman to his spin-off the Hobgoblin; just Norman’s equipment getting passed on created another enduring villain. And, again, that’s without even looking at Norman’s murder of the one-time romantic lead Gwen Stacy being the event that ended the Silver Age of comics. Norman Osborne is just plain a truly great, versatile villainous character who has managed, despite being almost 60 years old, to still maintain an “Oh, no!” impact among Spidey fans when he shows up. Sure, there have been bad stories about him, and some over-exposure at times, but that hasn’t diminished his impact or ongoing potential.

As for portrayals, I’m overall a fan of the 90′s animated series and their takes. That show really petered out after a few seasons, but it introduced Ock with a bang and got a lot of mileage out of him. Venom got to do the whole scary stalker thing, and then the show put him on a shelf until his ‘redeeming’ death to avoid over-exposure, so that worked out fairly well. And while it’s odd how Kingpin and Hobgoblin took over most of the Green Goblin’s role in Spider-Man’s stories, what we did get of Norman was good, and the performance that went into the Green Goblin really sold the weird psychology of the character. Those three villains definitely got a chance to shine in this series, even if Green Goblin was under-used.

I also think the Sam Raimi movies overall did a good job. Green Goblin was perfect- aside from the costume. Willem Dafoe utterly nailed every aspect of the character, right down to the body language, and the movie did a good job condensing his rivalry with Spider-Man into a single movie. As for Doctor Octopus, I’m of two minds about how he got a sympathetic backstory and characterization. On the one hand, it made him a more compelling character and Alfred Molina danced nicely between the human side and the villainous side. On the other hand, though, Ock has classically never really been sympathetic; he’s an utter monster in behavior, and the insertions of bullying in his backstory have never changed that. Venom is the only one I think didn’t really get a chance in these movies; I like this version of Eddie Brock (really!), but he barely got an opportunity to be Venom and you can tell no aspect of the character really inspired the storytellers.

Spectacular Spider-Man, naturally, did a good job. I think this version of Green Goblin is the best of them all; I even got my DVD set signed by Steve Blum! Ock was also done well, getting to be the Master Planner as well as leader of the Sinister Six, although I don’t think I quite buy the timidity they gave the character before the accident. Similarly, I didn’t buy Eddie’s fall from grace as Peter’s best friend; one episode he’s upset because Peter’s blowing him off for hanging out, and the next episode he’s nearly killing Mary Jane just to mess with Peter. You might as well just start with Eddie being a monster, like the Raimi movie did.

I also think Bendis’s Ultimate comics did well by all three characters. I’m not really a fan of Goblin-Hulk, but Norman’s impact was fully in effect (even if we had yet another toothless homage to Gwen Stacey’s death with Mary Jane getting thrown off a bridge and surviving), and they fit him well into the Super-Soldier Arms Race aspect of the setting. Ock got some really great use, including an arc of character development and ‘redemption’ that still managed to allow him to be an arrogant monster to the end. Venom was under-used, but this might be the best ever interpretation of Eddie Brock and obviously inspired the Raimi version, and I love the origin of the symbiote here and how it tied to Peter’s father. My only complaint is that after that first great story, Bendis didn’t seem to quite know what to do with Venom; the video game and its comic adaptation seemed to be setting him up for more, but that didn’t come to anything.

So, those are my thoughts. As a Spider-Man fan, I think I’m spoiled for choice in picking an achnemesis. Despite the little flaws that keep Ock and Venom from topping the Green Goblin, they’re still heavy-hitters as comic book villains and could run the game in the rogues gallery of most other superheroes. But Spidey has one of the best sets of villains in the business, so that’s not surprising.

#thekingofwinterblog

[mark-xeen]

Top 10 Unpopular opinions of IDW Transformers

This week to start off the countdown for the end of IDW I created a list of the top 10 unpopular opinions I had with the series. please be aware that these are just my personal silly opinions. And if you liked them or not. Then good for you for finding something I, myself couldn’t find or understand.

Warning it’s very long

1. I did not find TAAO all that enjoyable to read.

        Do not get me wrong, TAAO is a decent series. I just couldn’t really get that into it. I have a couple reasons why I didn’t enjoy it:

        Reason one (and the main one)- I’m not a big fan of stories revolving around politics. I just never find these sort of stories interesting and TAAO, which is a continuation of the Windblade series, is a story revolving around the politics and government of Cybertron, albeit with some good moments, similar to ex-RID and its continuation Optimus Prime.

        The second problem I had with the series was that it did a lot of “tell don’t show”, where we are told through character POV narrations and dialogue that certain characters or actions are good/just or bad/evil, but aren’t given much proof or present day story events or arcs that cement said claims. For example, with Elita-One we’re told she’s dangerous and shouldn’t become leader of Cybertron, but has barely done much of anything to prove these claims except being intimidating and saying “half-truths”/letting people believe lies. While these actions do raise caution, they don’t make her any worse than any other leader *cough*OPTIMUS!*cough*.

        The third problem I have with the series was the ending. Yes, I know the series was being cancelled by executives, but the ending with Windblade winning the election didn’t feel earned. While she was the least twisted of the candidates, but she never truly developed past or overcoame many of her flaws that she started with to become the leader Cybertron and, by extension, the colonies. Also, she only won through Starscream’s self-sabotage. While some of these problems could have been fixed if the series wasn’t cut short, I felt Scott should have handled the ending a bit better.

2.  I don’t like Windblade

        I know I’m going to be bashed and hated for this one but please hear me out. First I am a girl, a non-neurotypical girl with high functioning autism, but a girl none the less. Windblade’s gender and looks never bothered me- yeah, it was different, but not bad different. My issues with Windblade are just how the story treats her and her character.

        In term of character, Windblade’s personality and morality/standards are all over the place. Though she is shown to be kind hearted and compassionate, Windblade has been shown to lie, cheat, and perform actions outside the law and authority only when she feels it’s necessary. Yet if somebody else does anything even remotely similar, she will condemn them for it. To describe her morality, it’s a subjective morality with double standards. For example: When Optimus went against the council to free the Joes [HA2] in order to save Cybertron in First Strike, Windblade condemned him for it, but during the TAAO annual she also went against the council to tell all of Cybertron about Liege Maximo. It also doesn’t help that Windblade easily forgave Chromia for not only bombing and killing a few people, but also for trying to teleport Metroplex to Caminus which would’ve killed hundreds if not thousands of Cybertronians as a result.

        These issues with her character wouldn’t be as bad if the story didn’t gloss over it. This is where my main issue actually comes from: For every morally questionable thing Windblade has ever done, the narrative treats it as a good or necessary thing and she never truly faces any potential consequences from them. The worst thing that happened to her personally was Chromia going to jail and being tried for her crimes. Things like her cover up or her cheating in a race would’ve had big consequences if they were done by any other lead character. And, let’s be honest, if Bumblebee, Optimus Prime, or even Ironhide did even one of those things that Windblade has done, they would be chewed out by their comrades at best or become persona no grata to the public at worst if they were revealed.

3.   I don’t like Pyra Magna/Victorion

       The reason I don’t like Pyra Magna is very simple- she’s a one note critic character. Majority of the time she appears, she’s complaining and bashing Optimus for everything he’s ever done or believes he’s done. Sometimes even criticizing him for doing something she was criticizing him for not doing earlier. Making it near impossible to tell what her ideals are, her beliefs, or even what values she holds close. Making her criticisms about Optimus weak and criteria for a “perfect” Prime all the more vague. She essentially complains just to complain. Also she’s a terrible hypocrite: In one arc she hates Optimus for manipulating the colonists for his own purposes, but then starts doing the same thing to Slide- feeding and manipulating the colonist into embracing her hatred and bitterness towards the Junkions who killed her twin, referring to her desire for vengeance as justice, thus resulting in Slide becoming skeptical and bitter towards Optimus Prime as well as harboring a hatred and a desire to kill all beings she views as enemies (like Junkions and humans). Also, while she hates Optimus, she views Prowl as an ally. Yep. PROWL- the one who literally sees people as numbers. Though whether or not she actually believes he’s a good person or their goals just align is unknown. In short, she’s the Autobot equivalent of Starscream.

        Victorion isn’t much better. While her design and powers are cool to look at, she’s just Pyra Magna 2.0, but bigger. Her other components, the Torchbearers, individual personalities are almost nowhere to be found in there. Though to be honest the other Torchbearers didn’t have much personality to begin with. They pretty much served as Pyra’s comrades (or cheerleaders) who will pretty much always side and agree with whatever their leader says and participate in Optimus Prime bashing. The only things I remember is that two of them are sisters, two of them are lovers, and the single one Rust Dust is there. I’m not kidding this is literally all I can say about them as individuals.

4.   I don’t like the IDW version Optimus Prime.

        To be honest, I don’t considered him an interesting or complex character in the slightest. IDW Optimus Prime, in my opinion, is a character who writers spend so much time creating flaws in an attempt to make “realistic”, they forgot to give him any GOOD characteristics that could balance those traits. He doubts himself constantly, gives up easily, and ditches his responsibilities whenever he gets the chance. I know what you guys are saying, “But didn’t Rodimus do some of that in the G1 cartoon?” Yes, Rodimus has done that, but there is one small difference between the two: Optimus has been leader of the Autobots for millions of years, whereas Rodimus JUST became leader recently. I can understand and even sympathize with Rodimus, forced into leadership because his actions indirectly lead to Optimus’ death and now he has to lead the Autobots while being in the shadow of Optimus and dealing with his own guilt, but Optimus has been like this since the war and never learned or developed past these traits [HA4] even after the war ended. Also, for all of Rodimus’ flaws, at least he showed more care towards the people under him than Optimus. In fact, every time something goes wrong, he leaves them when things couldn’t be any worse or when he’s still needed. I just find it impossible to imagine how this guy managed to fight in a war for 4 million years against Megatron.

5.   I don’t think Lost Light is bad or a bad sequel to MTMTE.

        Lost Light really isn’t a bad a sequel or comic series in my opinion; maybe it’s because I focused more on comics where each issue has something going on besides the buildup for some climax. Don’t get me wrong, there has been build up for the Grand Architect and Cybertopia for a while, it’s just all the issues don’t feel like they’re only existence is to build up these two events. They have their own plots and arc where, while the buildup is there, it’s not in your face like some comics I’ve read in the past. Another thing I don’t get is all the hate for Robert using British words or slang when he writes- he’s from the United Kingdom, of course he’s likely to use words he’s used to hearing and speaking. It’s the same habit we do when any of us write: we use words and slang that are common to us.

        As a sequel, Lost Light hasn’t lost a lot of quality to its predecessor. While some areas do feel rushed, similar to TAAO, it had quite a bit of executive meddling going on in the background. However, despite feeling a little rushed in some areas, it still pretty well written. Also, I know some people complained about how some of the characters have regressed or become worse in Lost Light, but remember, the cast was betrayed and were (albeit unknowingly) thrown at the mercy of the DJD, a 500 Decepticon army, and Overlord, then, soon afterwards, believed Megatron, the reason the crew betrayed them in the first place, abandoned them to stay in the Functionist Universe. Of course they’re going to have major issues and regress to old habits, it’s how some people actually behave after going through a terrible event like that. Rodimus in particular who has been betrayed and had friends/comrades dying as a direct result before in IDW, would want revenge, it makes sense. Also, the Lost Light is, by far, one of the few series that have a pretty good depiction of someone dealing with betrayal. Seriously, when the Rod Squad meet up with First Aid, Thunderclash, and Riptide, Rodimus is so angry at them, he just refers to them as Mutineer 1 and 2. It’s nice because while he still largely blames Getaway and wants to kill him, he still acknowledges their role in the mutiny as well. Most writers would have a character betrayed by a group only blame the one who caused it, but here Roberts shows Rodimus is angry at the rest of the crew for what happened, though not the same amount as Getaway.

6.  I don’t like the “Shockwave is behind everything” twist.

        I always find the twist where one villain is directly responsible for everything messed up in the story to be a boring and bad twist. It makes everything that happens in the story feel kind of cheap; it makes all the things the characters have done, worked for, and/or struggled for in the past feel pointless because this one bad guy somehow planned for it. It also make the villain feel like a villain-sue to the point where when their actual plan is revealed, it feels almost ridiculous or stupid in comparison to all the things they had done just to get it to work. In terms of Shockwave’s plan itself: why? Seriously, he could have done so many things while trapped in the past, but decided to make sure everything happened the way it was written. Why? To prove religion is fake? I don’t know, but the things he claimed to be trying to stop, he caused them in the first place and his overall plan is so unclear and bizarre, I believe he’s just insane.

7.  I don’t hate Anode and Lug

        They’re not perfect, but they’re not the worst either. They’re side characters with questionable morality, but they’re neither main leads or treated as these amazing always right characters. Yes, Anode had a main role in the first arc. Yes, she decided to resurrect her Conjunx, Lug. But 1.) It was to introduce new readers to the rebranded series, and 2.) If you had the ability to bring your loved one back, wouldn’t you do the same thing? After the 1st arc the two of them were regulated to the background, occasionally participating in B-plot antics. Also, Anode herself doesn’t bother me as certain other characters do because she gets called out on her antics and her antics makes sense for her character- she’s selfish and reckless, thinking only about herself and Lug. Also, compared to some of the other Neutrals introduced in IDW, they aren’t bashing the Autobots constantly during the comic- which, to me is a breath of fresh air. So yeah, while they’re not my favorite characters, they’re nowhere near my least favorite characters.

8. I do not hate the Hasbroverse idea.

        I thought it was an interesting idea with a bunch of the Hasbro’s old toy lines sharing one universe with a chance to interact with one another. It’s just the execution of the Hasbroverse that sucked: bad writing, bad pacing, too many crossovers back to back, and unnecessary and terrible redesigns on several characters in an attempt to attract more viewers. While ROM, Action Man, and Micronauts were good additions to the TFs, the rest was not well managed or written. If the editors, writers, and the artists thought about what made these series unique and special and not what was trendy, they may have had an amazing expanded universe. But poor decisions in the writing and editorial departments messed up what could have been a fun and interesting expansive universe. If they tried to make another Hasbroverse in the future, I would give it another shot.

9. I did not enjoy the Autobot faction origin story.

         I know the premise of the origin story was to create a morally grey story for both factions, but I felt all it did was make the Autobots out to be even bigger jerks than the Decepticons. I wouldn’t have minded having a few Autobots originate from less than stellar backgrounds, but majority of the Autobots who did show up in flashbacks were shown to be a part of the police forces who worked and aided the corrupt senate, or worked in a twisted institution that brainwashes anyone who was considered a threat to the government. With a few exceptions, almost every Autobot that was shown had either turned a blind eye to or actively participated in the messed up stuff the government was doing to its population. It’s not creative, it’s lazy. Though Barber’s and Roberts’ writing have made the group’s origin more tolerable and complex, the damage was done. And, if anything, it makes it even more baffling why anyone that wasn’t already a part of either group even wanted to join the Autobots in the first place.

10. All the terrible things that happened to the Lost Light’s mutinous crew was completely deserved.

         Okay, I know the crew, with the exception of Getaway and Atomizer, did not mean to leave Rodimus and his allies to be killed by either the Galactic Council or DJD (which nobody, not even Getaway, was aware of), and when they learned what actually happened they were horrified. However, before the message they had several red flags about Getaway being a, while more efficient, bad captain. First, Getaway admitted about using the Nudge gun on anyone who didn’t agree with his mutiny. Soon afterwards they learn he also made a deal with the Galactic Council-you know, the ones that HATE technological lifeforms. Then, later on, we find out Getaway knew a faster way to get to Cybertopia: a series of quantum tunnels known as the Warren that he learned about while he was held captive by Tyrest. The twisted part about this was that one of the reasons for Getaway’s mutiny was how the quest was taking forever to find Cybertopia. So he knew a way to get to Cybertopia, but waited until after the mutiny occurred to share the information. And let’s not forget how no one they left behind was contacting them days or even weeks after the mutiny. Did they honestly believe none of them wouldn’t called or more likely yell (and swear) at them for leaving them on Necroworld?

        To be honest, I think the reason why it took them so long to realize Getaway was bad was because once they admitted Getaway was in the wrong, then, by extension, they would also be admitting that they themselves were in the wrong too. It’s probably the reason why they didn’t try to contact the others all that time as well- they wanted to believe they were in the right so badly. Calling them would admitting to it as well, that’s why they waited. As a result, they ignored all the warnings and red flags surrounding Getaway until it was too late. Was what happened to them awful and terrible? Yes. Definitely. Without a doubt. But when you put a lot blind faith into someone who is shown to do questionable stuff you’re essentially asking for something bad to happen to you

#transformers #unpopular opinion #goodbyeidwlist #idw #maccadam

[witchdoodle]

banter between my ocs

Katerina: What did you do? Shan: Please be more specific. Katerina: They made you tranquil... why? What did you do? Shan: I was responsible for inciting a riot, during which two templars were injured and one apprentice died. The Knight-Commander had me made tranquil as punishment. Katerina: That's... that's horrible. And that's not what tranquility is for. It's not meant to be punitive! Shan: No. Katerina: I'm so sorry. Shan: That is a kind sentiment.

Katerina: I never served in a circle. I didn't make it that far. What was it like? Shan: Please ask more specific questions. Katerina: Oh -- sorry. I mean, were you unhappy there? Shan: I suppose I was. It is likely that many of my actions were motivated by dissatisfaction. I no longer remember why. Katerina: What do you mean? Shan: I remember the events that occurred during my time in the Circle, but am unable to recall the emotional state behind any of my actions before my connection to the Fade was severed. Katerina: Oh...

Katerina: Where did you learn to fight, Shan? Shan: It was necessary to learn to defend myself after the Circle tower was abandoned. There were many bandits. Katerina: You don't exactly fight like a self-taught combatant, though. You've got a whole technique. Shan: Yes. A woman in Denerim trained me in knife combat. She wanted me to be capable of defending myself. Katerina: Was she your friend? Shan: I am sorry. I don't understand the question. Katerina: Nevermind.

Katerina: You have those elfy tattoos, but your technique looks like Circle magic. Are you from a Circle, then? Leith: White Spire. Katerina: I'm sorry. I've heard... stories. Did they treat you poorly? Leith: She jumped. She left me behind and she jumped. I saw them pull the pieces off and burn them. How will she find her way to Falon'din? Katerina: ... who? Leith: Sister. Katerina: Maker's breath. I'm... I'm sorry. Leith: You didn't do it.

Katerina: Is it true? You're a maleficar? Leith: Not malevolent. No. Katerina: But you practice blood magic. Leith: Yes. Katerina: Maker's breath, why? It's evil. Leith: Stick your hand on a burning log and call it evil. Katerina: That is NOT the same thing. Leith: No? The log is not evil. It hurt nobody. But it fuels a fire. Maybe that fire keeps someone warm. Maybe it boils water. Maybe it starts a forest fire. Maybe maybe maybe. Leith: It's all maybes. Maybe maleficar. Maybe fire. And anyway it's my blood. Not yours. Katerina: It had better bloody well stay that way!

Katerina: Sooner or later your own blood will not be enough. You'll have to use others' blood. Leith: Not really. Katerina: It's true. It's how it always goes happens. Always. The power is addicting, and you need more and more until... Leith: How many blood mages have you known? Katerina: I... well... Leith: A sword can cut down the innocent just as well as the guilty. You aren't begging for a bigger sword. Katerina: But I don't need a bigger sword for what I mean to do. Leith: Neither do I. Katerina: You don't feel the slightest urge to progress? Don't you want to be more powerful? Leith: No. Katerina: ... no? Leith: No. Katerina: You don't feel even the teensy-weensiest desire to be a little bit stronger? Leith: Do you?

Katerina: Demons are not your friends. They'll pose as such because they want control of your body. They want to cross into this world and destroy it. Leith: Why? Katerina: Because they're jealous of the Maker's creations, jealous of us! Leith: I don't think they are very jealous of me. I think if they used my skin suit it would be a downgrade. Maybe that's why they've never tried? Katerina: Ugh. The fact remains that demons cannot be your friends. Leith: They are not demons for me.

Katerina: You're rather tall for an elf. Leith: You're rather short for a human. Katerina: That -- hey!

Leith: You want something you can blame, something you can fight. You want something that makes sense, because it made sense before and now it doesn't, and maybe if they were wrong about that they're wrong about everything. Leith: I don't believe in a Maker. But you can, if it gives you purpose. And I think he would believe in you too. Katerina: That's... almost comforting, thanks.

Katerina: Your accent sounds familiar. Shireen: I wasn't born Dalish. I grew up in Val Royeaux. Katerina: A-ha! So that's what it is. You're from the alienage, then? Shireen: Sure. I'm from the alienage. Katerina: Why did you leave? Shireen: The Dalish were... kind to me, when others were not. They wanted me around. They gave two shits when no one else in the world did. Why wouldn't I want to be with them? Katerina: I don't mean to pry, but it sounds like your life was hard. I'm glad you found your people. Shireen: Thank you. I am, too.

Katerina: I know the alienage wasn't the best place in the world, but did you like Val Royeaux? Shireen: No. Katerina: Why not? It's a city of such beauty and importance -- the center of Orlesian culture, our spiritual heart... Shireen: You see gilded lions and grand marble columns. I see an army of invisible slaves toiling in the shadow of the Sunburst Throne. Katerina: Slaves? Slavery is illegal in Orlais. Shireen: Sure. How often do you think laws stop anyone with wealth from doing anything they please? Shireen: My parents sold me to a passing noble. I was eight. I remember. Katerina: I'm... so sorry. I didn't realise.

Katerina: Slavery is illegal in Orlais. Did you ever think to ask for help? Shireen: From whom? I was eight! Where would I go? Who would listen to a knife-ear? Shireen: My master kept me confined to his manor. If I tried to escape, I was caught and beaten. He threatened to kill my family. Shireen: I did not care for my parents. But my brothers and sisters... Katerina: That's... awful. Someone should have said something. I'm sorry.

Shireen: Why did you want to be a templar, anyway? Katerina: My father was one. A very famous one. I'd be surprised if you hadn't heard of him, actually. I idolized him; I wanted to be just like him. Shireen: And are you? Katerina: You know... I hope not. Shireen: Well, you left the Order, so you've got that going for you. Katerina: I'm embarrassed it took so long. I should have seen sooner... but I so wanted to believe we were doing good, that it was just a few bad apples in the bunch. Katerina: It took me too long to remove the blinders and see what the Order had become. Or maybe what it always was. Shireen: You did the right thing, and now you're trying to make the world better. Don't beat yourself up over how you got here. Katerina: ... Thank you. That means a lot.

Shireen: For what it's worth, I believe your father may have had good intentions. Katerina: I'm trying to believe that. That his crime was blindness, not cruelty. Shireen: If he was motivated by selfish gain, he would have become a chevalier. Katerina: He was a commoner. Chevalier only take nobles. Shireen: Good, then. Katerina: You're not a fan? Shireen: Every spring the new chevalier graduates ride through alienages across Orlais and slaughter the first elf they see. To test their blades. Katerina: ... Maker's breath. How did I not know this...? Shireen: You know now.

Shireen: Lethallen, what happened to your clan? Leith: Gone. Shireen: Killed, you mean? Leith: Gone. Shireen: Which clan was it? Leith: No. Shireen: ... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry. Leith, in Elvish: Keeper wanted to protect us. They came for the women, and he said no. They came back with more men, too many men, and killed them all. I couldn't protect them. I couldn't stop it. Shireen, in Elvish: It wasn't your fault. Leith: ... ma serannas, lethallan.

Shireen: I've never seen vallaslin like that. Which god is it meant to honour? Leith: No. Shireen: No god? I thought that was the point of them. Leith: Sometimes. Used to be. It's different now. We're different, changed. Dalish is not Halamshiral is not Elvhenan. We make our own meaning. Shireen: What does it mean, then? Leith: I have teeth too. Shireen: That you do.

Shireen: So... Leith: Button. Shireen: I saw you canoodling with the commander. Leith: He has a good smell, and warm hands. I like it. Shireen: Lethallen... Leith: Yes? Shireen, in Elvish: Bang that like an aravel's sail in a hurricane. Leith: (laughs)

Shireen: So... you can't feel anything, then? Shan: I am able to experience the same range of physical sensation as anyone else. When they severed my connection to the Fade, it removed my ability to dream and experience emotion. Shireen: Do you remember what it was like... before? Shan: No. Shireen: So you're not even living, are you? Just... surviving. Shan: You may think of it that way if you like. Shireen: No offense, but I'd kill myself first. Shan: I did try.

Shireen: Do you miss having magic? Shan: No. Shireen: You wouldn't rather still be a mage? Shan: I am content to exist as I am. Shireen: Really? You're fine with this? Shan: Would you rather be a badger? Shireen: I... what? No. Shan: You are not able to imagine what life as a badger would be like. Similarly, I am no longer able to imagine what a life with emotion feels like. I do not desire what I can't imagine. Shireen: ... I'd rather be a badger.

Shan: If the Dalish do not use templars, what do they do when mages become possessed by demons? Padraig: It doesn't happen often. Our mages don't grow up learning to fear their magic -- they learn to embrace it, to harness it. Even to want it. Padraig: To be the Keeper's apprentice is a great honour, and even a Second or Third might someday become the First in another clan. Shan: But is it not possible that mages could still become abominations? Padraig: It does happen sometimes. In that case, it's the clan's responsibility to hunt them down and... Padraig: Well. Put them out of their misery. Shan: Would it not be more efficient to put a system into place that would prevent such occurrences to begin with? Padraig: Lethallin, the templars don't stop shit. Mages in the Circle get possessed all the time. At a higher rate than ours do, from what I hear. Padraig: All templars and the Chantry do is teach mages to fear themselves, and fear draws demons in.

Shireen: 'Herald of Andraste.' Padraig: (retching noises) Shireen: (laughs) Is that our official position? Padraig: Let me have this, please. Shireen: You know, some of the People have a different opinion. They're calling you the Herald of Mythal. Padraig: I... don't know if that's really that much better. Shireen: Who do you think that was with you in the Fade? Padraig: I don't know, and I'm not interested in speculating.

Shireen: Do you even believe in the gods? Padraig: Do you? Shireen: Not really, but I'm not someone's First. How can you be the Keeper and lead a clan in worshiping gods you don't even believe in? Padraig: Doubt serves an important function. Being completely steadfast in your convictions is what makes fanatics and zealots. Cultivating skepticism is the healthiest thing for any spiritual leader. Shireen: I suppose... or it could just make people confused. Faith gives people's lives meaning. Doesn't it? Padraig: It can. But they can arrive there on their own. I'm not interested in prosletyzing to anyone. That's the Chantry's job.

Shireen: All right, I'll take one for the team here. I've seen him with his pants off. How does it even fit? Padraig: I just open a tiny little rift in my butt. Shireen: (horrified laughter)

Katerina: Why the switch to the sword, anyway? Padraig: I really hate just standing back there while the rest of you do all the work and take all the risks. I don't want to just send people out to die for me while I hang back where it's safe, you know? Padraig: Especially with this Herald business. I don't want people dying for me. Katerina: Hmm... I see what you mean, actually. Padraig: And... I guess I just found it a little romantic... all those tales of old elven knights. Katerina: The Chantry paints them as  butchers, don't they? Padraig: Friend, I could fill a tome with all the lies the Chantry's told about my people. Katerina: Maybe you should. I'd read it.

Katerina: I was serious, you know. Padraig: You'll have to be more specific, I can't tell if half the conversations I have were jokes. Katerina: I mean about learning the history of your people. I really do want to know. Padraig: That's... surprising. If you're serious, I could give you the summary. Katerina: Please do. I want to learn.

Katerina: Did you always know you preferred men? Padraig: I mean... I suppose I did, but I didn't want to admit it for a long time. If that makes sense. Katerina: Do the Dalish have a problem with that sort of thing? Padraig: Normally, not really. What you do is your business. But... having babies is important to us. Padraig: And I'm a mage. Our clan was desperate for mages. It felt selfish of me to refuse to pass that down. Katerina: Funny, humans are the opposite. If you're a mage and have babies, everyone thinks you're the selfish one. Padraig: Yes, I've noticed.

#my ocs #katerina blanchard #shan vhenaris #leith #shireen theralan #padraig lavellan

[fullysowerewolf]

What I would add to Sonic Forces

Overall, Sonic Forces is a good game that’s been getting way too much flak post release (and even pre release, but that’s neither here nor there). There are some flaws with it, so here’s what I would add and subtract to make it an even better experience.

Gameplay:

Longer Level Length. Longer Level Length. LONGER LEVEL LENGTH. Easily the biggest problem with Forces is that the levels are too short. Many people who have played the game have complained about how the level ends just as it was starting to get interesting or challenging. Lengthening the levels to say around 4 to 5 minutes minimum would greatly help the game, both in gameplay and story (Null Space for example).

Higher difficulty. The Hard difficulty is the default, but for the most part it didn’t feel “hard”. Raising the difficulty of the levels would also help a lot in the enjoyment of the game, especially when in tandem with the longer levels.I know the game’s for kids, but kids deserve to get their asses kicked in a game and deserve a fair challenge that is actually a challenge for them. 

Get rid of the Classic Sonic stages.Classic Sonic was the weakest part of the game, from story to gameplay, as the Tag Team, Avatar, and Modern Sonic stages were just more important and interesting. I like Classic Sonic, but he seriously did not need to be here. Getting rid of the fat of the game would give the developers the time and resources to add or improve more of the aforementioned other stages and potentially free up spaces for more boss fights (illusion Shadow and illusion Chaos). They should still connect Forces to Mania by just having the Phantom Ruby teleport away without Classic Sonic. 

Adding more unique body sizes and proportions to the Avatar. Making your character smaller than Sonic or bigger than Sonic isn’t going to cramp Sonic’s style, Sonic Team. Making a Big or Vectoresque template or giving your female character pronounced breasts would not hurt anyone. Adding small details like conjoined eyes and back spike options for hedgehogs wouldn’t be bad either. (mostly because a hedgehog in Sonic with two separate eyes is a cursed image and if it were up to me conjoined eyes would just be a preset attribute to picking a hedgehog. And male hedgehogs would automatically have back spines with females having the option to pick between having spines or not.) 

More 3D portions in levels. Goes with out saying that mostly everyone wanted more 3D levels in Forces. This has been a problem ongoing for 9 years since Unleashed, so Forces isn’t new to this. Sonic team really needs to find a way to give us more 3D POV’s without having to compensate it with 2D. 

Nerf the abilities of the wispons to a degree. Some of the abilities of the wispons were overpowered at times in the levels and bosses. Nerfing them along with raising the difficulty would increase the challenge in completing them. Along with just having more wispon varieties in general. Where is my Bomb grenade launcher, Rocket launcher, and Cyan sniper rifle?! 

More enemy varieties. It gets boring seeing the same basic enemies after awhile. Eggman’s taken over the world, there should be bots of all different designs, old and new, everywhere. 

Change the final boss phase so that it isn’t a rehash of the Nega Wisp Mk II fight again. you can do better than that, Sonic Team. 

Story:

More cutscenes to avoid “Tell, Don’t Show”. While I liked the briefing style the game had between missions as a fan of Starcraft, too much information was given strictly through that when it would have served better to show those events in short cutscenes to further detail their impact on the story. 

Changes to some of the characters. Tails should have been less of a pussy during the game. There are some justifications for why he’d not be so eager to put up a fight, but he still should have shown some backbone at least, especially by the end. You didn’t see Knuckles and Amy losing their complete shit over Sonic being “dead’, despite also being as close to Sonic and knowing him the longest besides Tails.. Why? Because there is more important stuff that needs to be done besides moping in a pity parade, like making sure Eggman doesn’t enslave/kill them all. And going AWOL in a warzone where the rest of the force doesn’t know where you are when they need you and care about you, just because you feel sad is incredibly stupid and selfish. 

So Tails should have been written to still be affected from Sonic’s loss, but still be contributing to the war effort. Or Knuckles and Amy should have been portrayed more saddened over the “death” of Sonic. So it isn’t uneven. And Sonic should have been portrayed with some amount of negative feelings about the situation. By being really angry and/or guilty for Eggman winning and doing this. Him being afraid and admitting such can even tie back into the main theme of the game of fear and overcoming it through friendship and give the Avatar even more reason to overcome their own fear as well. 

More callbacks to Infinite’s backstory in the main game and just a smidge more backstory in general for Infinite.  Having Infinite mention the events of Episode Shadow would help tie both stories together and even spark some interest in getting the DLC to understand what they’re talking about. And while we’re on Episode Shadow, I would change the last cutscene to show Shadow’s perspective of the fight and show what Shadow was going to do next so that we can get some answer as to where the fuck he was for half a year, instead of just copypasting the same intro cutscene. 

If you have to have Classic Sonic there, then at least incorporate him into the story. Explain some reason for why the Phantom Ruby teleported him to Forces. That way we can get some idea of what Mania exactly is in the Sonic continuity. Maybe also try to have him give information about the Ruby by explaining his experiences in Mania to the Resistance. And most importantly, an explanation to what Classic Sonic even is in relation to Modern Sonic, whether if he is still his past self, from another timeline now cuz Generations, or from another dimension entirely. Something clear cut. 

Give a handwave to where the Chaos Emeralds are and why no one is searching for them. I didn’t miss the emeralds in this story and I don’t see how they would have fit a plot for searching for the emeralds in the story while having it make sense, so I don’t mind their absence. But they should have had a throwaway line about why they can’t use them and don’t want to find them, just so people wouldn’t get their panties in a twist with wondering where they are. 

#sonic forces #sonic the hedgehog #my post

[sarahlwlee]

31 Stories in 31 Days: Opportunities

What is this? As part of celebrating Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month (May), I am writing a story a day about my experiences as a Chinese Malaysian immigrant in America. My friends and family have provided numerous one-word prompts to help me create these stories. Today’s word prompt was contributed by Stacey L. and the word is “Opportunities”. Thank you Stacey for your contribution and thank you everyone who stopped by to read my story today.

Social media has played a significant role in affording many opportunities for me to grow professionally and meet amazing people within my community, many of whom I am extremely grateful to call as my friends. The early days of social media was not as sophisticated as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat or Twitter. It revolved around chatrooms such as IRC and Yahoo groups. Oh and who could forget Xanga, Blogger and Live Journal. These were the social media platforms of my teenage years. One of the Yahoo groups I had joined as a teenager was a public relations group in Malaysia. I sent an email to the group stating my intentions of finding a mentor or someone who was willing to help me understand the field of public relations through a job shadow opportunity.

One man responded to my email, his name was Tong. He owned a small public relations company called Integrated PR. I was so excited that someone had responded to my email and he said he would like to interview me. We made arrangements to meet at a local Mamak restaurant around 5:30pm near my home in Sri Petaling and he said to bring my CV. When I told my mom about this wonderful opportunity, she was skeptical about this meeting and questioned who this man was. At that point I did not know anything about this person other than a name, an email and that he was willing to consider my request for guidance on learning more about public relations. My mother did not feel comfortable letting me go by myself. The original plan was to walk to the Mamak restaurant and then come home after the meeting was done. Mom insisted that she would drop me off and wait in the car to take me home once I was done.

The day came I dressed in my best clean t-shirt and shorts. I printed a copy of my curricular vitae (CV) to take with me. In fact, I had never put together a CV before and I had to search online what a CV was. They don’t teach you these things in secondary school — the equivalent in America I believe its middle through high school. I walked up to the Mamak restaurant. It was open air with no entry doors and you could smell the delectable roti canai being made fresh before your eyes as well as Tandoori chicken barbecuing over red hot embers in a vertical clay oven. I searched the dinning area and found only one Chinese man in his 40’s with glasses partially balding, dressed in a professional suit eating his dinner. I assumed this must be Tong. He had removed his jacket, folded it in half to hang over the chair next to him. Both of his sleeves were rolled up and his tie loosened but tossed behind his back to prevent it from falling into his curry. I walked up to him and asked if his name was Tong. To my delight he said yes and apologized for eating while inviting me to take a seat. It seemed he had a long day and didn’t the opportunity to eat lunch.

I apologized for being a few minutes late and presented my CV as requested. He studied my CV as he moved his almost finished plate of curry with roti canai to the side, ensuring that my CV didn’t get dirty from his food. The first question he asked me was why I wanted to learn about public relations. I re-stated what I had expressed in my email that I only know so little about the profession and it was recommended by someone in a chatroom as a potential future job that could leverage my skills in writing while gaining some amazing life experiences. He looked at my CV again and said, “You have a very strong writing background, which is great for PR.” At this point, I had been writing and serving as a junior editor for a youth magazine called Phases, published by Scripture Union, an Evangelical Christian organization that helped people learn more about God. Tong further added that he has advised other young professionals if they want to get into public relations they need to major in journalism instead of public relations. It seems there wasn’t many good writers in the field of public relations in Malaysia and good writing skills were hard to come by. The next thing he said surprised me. He said, “Alright, Sarah. When I have a good opportunity for you to job shadow I will email you. Thank you for meeting me, you can leave now.” This whole meeting took 15 minutes or maybe even lesser. It was quick and I couldn’t believe what just happened, I was elated that I had a chance to learn something new. I walked back to where my mother’s car was parked and told her everything. She was relieved nothing bad happened to me and was supportive of me exploring these opportunities.

Tong was the first mentor I ever had in learning about the field of public relations, but more importantly what it was like to work as a professional. My first experience was at an event located in Sunway College where I helped his staff with registration and also reviewed a speech draft for the presenter. Once I read through the speech, I handed it to Tong to prepare the presenter on his talking points. I was so proud of myself because I contributed to this effort and my opinion was valued. Since I was such a good assistant he invited me to more public relations events focused on product launches and new restaurant ventures, where I did a lot of event grunt work but if I finished quickly I had the opportunity to review communications materials as well as speeches and provide feedback. What a foretaste of this field and it was so exciting as a young teenager to look into what my future prospects could be.

When I went to college, I picked journalism as my major because of Tong. He was right. My writing skills earned me better opportunities in the field of public relations when I first graduated with my bachelor’s degree. I was offered an internship with a company called 360 Degrees Pan Asia Concepts, a small-sized marketing agency focused on brand management and marketing communications. Through a mutual friend of my aunt’s I was connected to the owner of this company. This internship turned into a full-time opportunity within a few weeks because I was able to write well and deliver on many writing assignments quickly for their flagship publication called KIDZ magazine. However, I left this opportunity within four months because I was accepted into a master’s degree program in Kalamazoo, fully funded with a graduate assistantship. I had applied for a communications master’s degree program at Western Michigan University on a whim after I graduated and didn’t think I could get in.

It’s strange how opportunities can lead to other amazing and fascinating experiences. Something similar happened later in life where social media played a role. I was working at the Chamber of Commerce and I had established myself as a social media expert through my work organizing TweetUp Kalamazoo. One of my friend’s in the tweetup group mentioned that Pure Michigan is hosting a tweetup during National Tourism Week at the Radisson and I should go. I signed up and walked down the street to the Radisson in the lower level to find many business owners in the room, many of which I have never met before in person. My friend was there in the front and I sat in the back to listen. When Q&A came up during the tweetup, I asked them about why they had not done anything with Foursquare, a location-based gaming and review app, as part of their overall marketing strategy for the state of Michigan. They talked about how hyper local in nature it was and that there wasn’t anything they could do to launch something statewide. I disagreed with them and described multiple ideas on how they could have done it. They nodded and dismissed my ideas as they were trying to wrap up the tweetup.

Little did I know there was an older bald white man well dressed in a professional suit sitting on the opposite side of the room listening to every word I said. As I got up to leave, I waved at my friend and noticed this man walking towards me, waving his hand to get my attention. He introduced himself as Brad and that he was part of the Radisson. He was very curious about everything I said and asked if he could take me to lunch at Burdick’s to learn more about what I knew of social media. I said yes. I was very eager to help anyone who was interested in social media, I didn’t have a price tag on my services at the time because I just wanted more people to be involved in social media locally so that we could have a thriving social media community. Once we secured a date for lunch, I remember walking down to Burdick’s thinking what a great opportunity this is to work with one of the bigger businesses in town on something I loved. Lunch didn’t really happen because Brad introduced me to Brett the manager of Burdick’s at the time and sat me down to talk through some issues with their social media. Mostly about claiming their account on Foursquare as well as Facebook content development and how to schedule content.

Much later after this encounter, a marketing manager position opened at the Radisson for Greenleaf Hospitality Group. I was looking for my next step in my professional growth and applied for the position thinking it might be an amazing field to grow in. I remembered Brad worked there and emailed him to let him know I had applied. He thanked me for letting him know and the next thing I knew I was scheduled for several interviews. Within four months or so I was offered the position and I gladly accepted. The rest is history.

Reflecting back on some of these stories, many of the opportunities presented themselves because I took a chance and made sure I knew what I was talking about. Sometimes I took very risky chances and I didn’t think through the fears of what might happen to a young woman in a vulnerable and unpredictable situation. At the time, those fears never crossed my mind and perhaps that was very naive however if my thoughts were shrouded in those fears I don’t know if I would have pursued any of these opportunities or even allow myself to be open to any of it. Would my life be drastically different if I was more cautious? I don’t know.

What I do know is I will continue to live my life by taking a step forward every day until I reach my desired destination. The future is not written in stone, I believe that wholeheartedly. I am glad I have friends and families, and I am ever so grateful for the people who have helped lift me up. My hope is I can do the same for future young minds who were just like me finding a way forward by navigating the digital space for an opportunity of a lifetime.

#aapi #aapihm #aapiheritagemonth #shortstory #opportunities

[kierongillen]

Writer Notes: The Wicked + the Divine 30

Spoilers, obv.

And another quieter issue, where we primarily delineate the other other half of the issues of 28's reveals, while putting those final few dominoes in position. It's also, art wise, a relatively undemanding one.  The rest of this arc is brutally hard, so an issue where the team could take a breath is also worthwhile. A comic series like WicDiv is a marathon made of marathons. You make it all uphill at your own peril.

It's also one of the more classically structured issues for a while. The issue's effective lead is Dio, and his 3-encounters-in-the-underworld structure the backbone which everything else is built around.

I suspect notes on this one will be short, by the way, but whenever I say that, I'm always wrong.

Jamie/Matt's cover:

That this isn't the best cover in the arc only speaks to exactly how great issue 32 is. Some startling design elements here.

Meredith's Cover:

She's always been great, but seeing her cover for East Of West was the thing which prompted us to go and try and talk her into one. It was a pleasure to work with her – all her design ideas were smart and interesting. We ended up here, because frankly, who can resist hot pink? Not us.

Jonathan Hickman's Cover

Talking about East of West. I've always been envious of Jonathan's designer string to his creative bow, so when we were asked if we wanted to be part of the month of his variants, we jumped at it, if only to see how he'd reinterpret our mythology. This is very much the cult-sci-fi novel alt dimension take on WicDiv.

Page 1-3

I'm always interested in the history of the second page reveal. Old school comic writer guides normally suggest opening with the big image, to throw people in the world. That – and, I feel, especially in the 00s – got changed into the delayed reveal. Enter the world in a quieter way, and then do the big reveal. That means you can create some context quickly, and use that big impact for something a little more complicated.

(It also means if you go to a 2-3 page splash, you can make the image bigger. If I remember correctly, almost all the New 52 books hand that rhythm, which I have to presume was an editorial guideline. I may be misremembering though.)

It's worth noting I say “a little more complicated.” I don't say “sophisticated” or even talk about effectiveness – complicated says nothing about a piece of work's quality. I just mean there's more moving parts involved before the reveal. Look at someone like BKV and his love of the opening splash to see how effective the HELLO, HERE I AM, LOOK AT THIS THING! Can be.

In our case, we have this little conversation between Woden and Cass, and then show what we've done to Valhalla. We've been talking about the plans for this gig for a long time, so we really needed to show what that means. Clearly, the gig is going to be key to the back half of Imperial Phase II, so we really let people have a good stare.

The best thing Jamie did here was make sure there's a stage built into Valhalla, as he correctly guessed they'd be one required for next issue. SMART MAN, THAT MCKELVIE.

This is the sort of page which is primarily expositionary, but by having the characters get together and basically scheme it out hopefully carries it. As you can imagine, there's going to be a statement of exact goals next issue in a similar mode.

(Why not say them here? Efficiency. Don't need to know it yet, and we'd have to repeat it next issue anyway. Why burn the page count twice?)

Cass speaks my own frustration at how people use facebook, I suspect.

The idealist/realist exchange on the first page is a good example of what happens when you have the broad strokes of what's going on, and then let the characters respond to each other. Woden has the Valkyries back? How does he act now? How does Cass respond? Where does that take us?

Page 4

I wrote this  with no interstitials, and decided to add them later, when we saw how the issue was working. I looked at the page turns, and decided pushing everything forward one page would be most effective. Plus that the black of the interstitials does lead us into the underworld.

Page 5-6

And we show Dio where we left him last time. There was even the option to use the same panel if Jamie wanted to cut a corner. He didn't.

The page sets up the rhythm that runs through the issue, which happens three times. This is pure fairy-tale, folklore myth structure. It's also joke structure, in the rule of three way. First statement shows a situation. Second statement shows it is a pattern. Third statement subverts the pattern. It's just a very efficient way of doing basically everything... and that natural rhythm being used everywhere means that it always feels part of some longer, primordial sort of storytelling. I think the six panel is leaning into that – I only want five beats. Establish/show Dio's current state/arrival of Morrigan/Dio's response to Morrigan/Morrigan's final statement. Throw away everything which isn't needed for the folk tale.

(The final “Yeah, you won't” leans into the folklore. Dio signals that this is not just stubbornness, but a plan.)

Have I mentioned the Underworld being the inverse of Young Avenger's mother dimension? I probably have. It serves a similar purpose in terms of a direct thing which allows us to strong arm an atmosphere while also being relatively “cheap” to do in terms of Matt and Jamie's resources. I've done 32 of these. I'm sure I'm repeating myself all over the place. These really off the cuff.

Despite knowing everything I knew about the Morrigan at the start, I found it hard to articulate the key difference between her and Dio succinctly. Eventually, it hit me. Dio wants what's best for people. Morrigan thinks she knows what's best for people. Morrigan will sacrifice a lot, as long as they obey her entirely. When I had that in my head, Morrigan became easier. Easier, anyway. She's never easy.

7-8

Another two page scene – the issue very much runs off those short scenes. The hard cut rhythm is a key part of Imperial Phase II, I think.

I wrote the bottom of Page 7 with three panels, in a “Write minimum numbers of panel.” Jamie adds one to really sell it. He actually does a similar thing next issue as well, which proves he must like eight panel grids more than he claims.

The trick of this scene is signalling to the reader that Woden has done fuck all to any of the equipment. A reader would remember that Woden has a camera on Amaterasu from way back in issue 14, but this confirms it's more general than that.

(There's clues elsewhere – his timing when he turned up in issue 12 was more than a little suspicious, right?)

Of course, lying and sarcasm is one of the hardest things to pull off in comics. Comics, for some reason, lends into credulity in the reader. I'm not sure why, though have my theories. In which case, we really push it – look at all the “Er” and the bolded ADDED in the first panel of page 7.

Oh god. Page 8 had me really fuck up in lettering. I originally wrote Cass being snarky here, and glaring at Beth... having failed to remember Cass wasn't in this scene. Beth basically just teleports Cass to where she is. My brain, it no good.

Page 9-10

I basically said everything in the first iteration, right

Hmm. Badb is oddly unsweary here.

Jamie's working the shadows fascinatingly here – the last panel of Dio is also one of the best.

Page 11-12

This is the one sacrifice to the earlier interstitial – that the instagram pages don't appear on a spread. The loss is solely a visual effect.

These are the “two pages I comic but half a page of work for Jamie”. Clearly, Persephone is absent this issue, and we needed to keep her absence a presence, if you see what I mean. Plus the instagram is a way to do the montage-of-time and events. Its placement here is a lot to do with selling how long that Dio has been down this hole.

I actually wrote considerably more comments for each instagram, but there wasn't room to include them in the framing. It's okay. Don't read the comments.

When wrote Amaterasu's Instagram text and then put my fist in my own mouth out of embarrassment. My next career move may be bullshit internet motivational sentences.

Page 13-14

Third iteration.

As I've said, WicDiv is that conflict between this over-planned structural thing and also the discovery you undergo as a writer when exploring these people. Throughout, I couldn't quite work out why I never had a place for Gentle Annie in the story. I actually like writing her – it has the added bonus of her voice really annoying Chrissy, and I'm very pro annoying my editor. But no – Annie's just not around much.

Clearly, thinking about that leads to this scene, where it's the part of Marian that isn't really getting much play any more. It's probably my favourite Annie scene, which is lucky, I guess, considering where the issue goes. The mixture of twee and utterly scary motherfucker was always the line I wanted to walk with her.

Page 15-16

As much as this scene flirts with total disaster, in this ominous fucker of an issue, it's a relative moment of light. Also a chance for Matt to really push the palette. I will never get bored of his Baal lightning.

The Sakhmet cosplay is delightful.

The reds of Amaterasu's lightbeam form, and the blue of Minerva's chair is another great choice.

There was an editorial discussion over whether Amaterasu appearing in the final panel was too much or exactly the amount of too much. We clearly went that way. This is a playful scene.

Page 17-19

Yeah, this isn't. I'm kind of amazed this is only 3 pages. This issue is tightly wound – there's no scene longer than 3 pages, and the majority is 2 pages – but this feels especially so. It's telling that it's here we move to the eight-panel, that most Phonogram of structures.

(A modified eight panel)

I originally had a different idea for the flashback, bringing Leila back to essentially insert scenes into issue 16, but the space wasn't really there, and felt like formalism would be distracting around here. This is complicated stuff, so let's keep it clean. Notice how Jamie changes the panel shapes to separate the sub-narrative from the main narrative – obviously the blue-greys of Matt do most of the work, but it can't be underestimated.

Let's call out some panels – Baph in the seventh panel of 17, hiding behind the shades and the wise-crack. The fifth panel of 18, which in its blissed certainty, the possible single scariest panel of Morrigan in WicDiv. Oh – and Dio's heartbreaking on the third panel of page 19.

Anyway – boys, sitting in the dark, and trying to talk.

Page 20-23

The second interstitial I added, and a little annoying. I thought I had to add 2 to maintain the final page, and in fact I only needed to add one. As in, my first draft didn't end on a left, and I needed to correct that. I suspect I'll drop this interstitial for the trade, and regain the page turn.

In the end, the reveal that Sakhmet is waiting for a chance to strike at Morrigan isn't a huge reveal – it's a telling one, but not one which breaks the scene in a huge way. And of course, people on digital have all movement between pages be page turns.

I didn't actually have any dialogue in the second panel on 21 at script, which is very much me in a “I have no idea why I would do that – that panel clearly needs a sign that Persephone is rushing to the door or something similar.”

“Beware the Honest – they will hurt you just to feel clean” is one of those lines that has been lying around in my notebook since the start of WicDiv waiting for their scene.

The warm browns of the room and Morrigan's cold blues seem really interesting to me here. Strong choices, Matt.

The final page was also an awkward one – I knew the images, but the actual exact nature of the dialogue refused to be wrestled down precisely until the last lettering pass, where it coalesced.

We do kissing, and it's depressing kissing. WicDiv takes the fun out of everything.

Anyway – next issue is at the printers now and will be with you soon.

Thanks for reading.

#WicDiv #writer notes #the wicked and the divine

[postgamecontent]

Studio Pixel Spotlight: Ikachan & Azarashi

In spite of the extreme popularity of Cave Story, most of the rest of Studio Pixel's releases maintain a a very low profile. There are plenty of possible reasons for that. For starters, much of Pixel's catalog is made up of mini-games that don't really hit many of the same notes as his most famous work. They're mostly only available on PC, put up as free downloads from Pixel's own site. For this Spotlight series, we're going to be looking largely at the titles that made it out of that bubble in some form. We'll start off with some of Pixel's earliest games, the squid adventure Ikachan and the Game & Watch-style Azarashi. Both games were originally released on PC, with Ikachan ported to the Nintendo 3DS in 2013 and Azarashi to iOS in 2012. They're still available for free on PC and for sale in their respective platforms' shops, but Azarashi will likely be purged from the App Store when 32-bit compatibility is broken later this year.

Ikachan 

Original Release Date: June 23, 2000

Original Hardware: Windows PC

For better or worse, Ikachan is often spoken of in terms of its relationship to Cave Story. Like that game, it's a non-linear, side-scrolling, action-adventure game. It shares a similar style of presentation, and even appears to be using a version of the engine that game would later be built in. It's a curious title in Pixel's library. Ikachan is considerably more substantial than the bulk of his other games, but it's practically bite-sized next to Cave Story and Kero Blaster. Even in its expanded Nintendo 3DS version, the game barely takes more than an hour to finish. The original PC version is around half the length. As such, Ikachan is often seen more as a technical demo than a game all of its own. Many view it as either an hors d'oeuvre or a small dessert for the main course of Cave Story. I think that assessment is dealing the game a short shrift, however.

Before we go into the story of Ikachan, however, we need to briefly discuss its creator: Daisuke Amaya, or as he's often known as, Pixel. Until very recently, he's operated as something of a one-man-band. That's not as rare as you might think in indie development, of course, but what separates Pixel from most is that he seems to do it all well. He's a skilled game designer, a talented musician, an excellent pixel artist, and a competent programmer. He takes a great deal of enjoyment in all of those things, too. He's done more collaborative work in recent years, but for most of his active years as a developer, he's worked largely on his own.

Pixel grew up in the 1980s and like many kids of that generation, he was captivated by video games. He also enjoyed creative endeavors like drawing and composing his own music. After graduating high school, Pixel went to computer technical school for further studies, hoping to one day make video games. While living in the student dormitory, he learned how to program his own software from his neighbor. As he was developing his programming skills, he also continued to play games. His favorite at this time was Nintendo's Super Metroid, and he dreamed of making a game of his own similar to it. By now, Pixel had no intentions of going full-time into the games industry, mind you. He felt that if he took that road, he would never get to make the kinds of games he really wanted to make. This was simply a hobby for him, an extension of his love for creating art and playing games.

While he loved Super Metroid a lot, there was one thing he wanted to do differently. The exploration and action bits were great, and so was the atmosphere. Pixel wanted a game with all of those qualities, but with much cuter characters. So after a couple of years of studying programming, he finally decided to make his cute take on Metroid. Unfortunately, he was biting off a lot more than he could chew at the time. He opted to put his dream project on hold while he built his skills with another project that had a smaller scope. After a few months of hard work, Pixel came out the other end with a whole lot of practical experience and a short, complete game. The result of his efforts was Ikachan. So yes, even for its creator, Ikachan was something of a bump on the road that led to Cave Story. But I think we ought to separate the game from its origins and common perception in order to judge it on its own qualities. 

In Ikachan, you play as a little squid who wakes up in an unfamiliar place. Were you always a squid? The game hints that it may not be the case, but you are certainly one now. Initially, there's no stated goal, but there's only one way you can swim, so you might as well go for it. The route takes you through a somewhat cramped tunnel lined with spikes. This serves as something of a trial-by-fire for you to learn the mechanics of how to move your squid around. Tapping the button will make the squid swim straight up. Leaning to either side and tapping the button will make the squid bob in the desired direction. It can be a little tricky to get a handle on at first, but you'll soon be swimming like a champ. At the very least, while the spikes pose a threat, they only deal damage as opposed to death. You can take a few hits from them without dying.

Upon navigating out of this tunnel, you'll encounter a couple of things. First, you'll run into hostile enemies that you can't seem to do anything about. Second, you'll meet your first NPC. He fills you in on the circumstances of the area you're in. A bunch of earthquakes have cut this area of the sea off from the outside world. A big fish named Ironhead has taken charge, and by the way everyone talks about him, he's not the most welcome of leaders. The most immediate issue is the dwindling food supply. Your squid's main goal is simply to escape by any means possible. To do that, you'll need to get past one of Ironhead's henchmen. Thus begins a game of run-around as you try to satisfy everyone's demands.

Not long after receiving this information, you'll finally get the ability to attack. It's nothing more than a pointy hat that the squid can wear. In a bit of a turn-around from many other games, you need to coax enemies into colliding with the top of your head. The easiest way to do that is to approach from below, but later on you'll get an ability that allows you to charge horizontally. Your pointy hat also allows you to destroy certain bricks. While you often need an item to move forward, sometimes you just have to talk to the right creatures and go to the right places to trigger an event. As you defeat enemies and gather life-restoring fish, you'll also gain experience points. Leveling up extends your life bar and allows you to damage certain enemies that you might not have been able to before.

It all leads up to a face-off against Ironhead, but upon claiming victory, you find out that you had the wrong idea about him. Suddenly, another cluster of earthquakes strike. The structural integrity of the area is coming apart. Now that you finally have access to the food stores, you can recover something of yours that ended up in there. Namely, it's your rocket ship, Sally. Taking control of Sally, who somehow controls just like a squid, you have to run around and talk to every NPC to get them on-board. Once you have everyone, and I do mean everyone, you can finally blast off to safety. The game closes with a view of the very crowded ship overlooking an Earth-like planet as your friend Ben complains about the fishy smell.

It's over and done with quite quickly, but it's long enough to give you a good feel for its mechanics. I think the concept could be expanded out into something bigger, but for what's here, I think the Nintendo 3DS version of Ikachan is just about right. The PC version feels a little too short by comparison, even as it hits most of the same points. The unusual means of movement help the game stand out, and the game finishes before it spends the goodwill of its novelty. Ironhead's story is a short but effective tale about the dangers of accepting only one account of a situation, while his little henchman Hanson will have you doing all kinds of morally-questionable things in order to progress. Well, okay, mostly just taking more than your fair share of food. But given the circumstances, it's pretty bad.

In its brief running time, we can see a lot of elements and themes that would become a regular part of Pixel's style. Cute though it may be, there's a darkness running through it that threatens to swallow everything up. Ikachan's world is naturally a murky one, being so far under the sea. Fish skeletons abound, packed into the walls and even used as the vessels for items. Then there's the basic set-up of being a stranger of mysterious origins trying to escape an inhabited world. Who or what is your squid, really? Unlike Pixel's later games, Ikachan doesn't offer any real answers. Your companion, Ben the star, remarks that you're looking a bit squiddy today, so we can assume that isn't supposed to be your normal form. The NPCs are also imbued with a lot of personality. They're fairly one-note in this game, but they are distinct. The late-game revelation about Ironhead is also a typical flourish of Pixel.

Ikachan might not be as fully-formed as some of this developer's later titles, but I think it stands on its own tentacles quite well, particularly in the expanded Nintendo 3DS version of the game. It's impressive to think that this was Pixel's first game release. Sure, he had more impressive things ahead of him, but it's not that there's anything particularly wrong with Ikachan. It's short and sweet. It's unfortunate that it may never escape the shadow cast by its younger sibling.

Azarashi

Original Release Date: 2001

Original Hardware: Windows PC

Azarashi is typical of most of Pixel's lesser-known games. It has great art and music, but the gameplay mechanics are about as deep as an early Game & Watch. The set-up is that there are three seal keychains hanging from strings. They'll drop at random times, and you need to fire a dart to peg them to the wall by the rings of their chains. The quicker you do it, the more points you'll get. If you wait too long, they'll fall off the screen and you won't get any points. Jump the gun, however, and you'll fire your dart right through the head of the adorable little animal, splattering blood and killing it. That, uh, also gives you zero points. After three increasingly speedy rounds, your final score is tallied. You'll be awarded a prize based on how well you did, and eventually, you might even unlock some new keychains. They don't behave any differently, but variety is the spice of life, no?

That's really all there is to Azarashi. It's a test of reflexes wrapped up in a nice presentation, with a few interesting secrets tossed in for good measure. There are actually a few versions of this game, which means it's been remade more often than any of Pixel's other games save Cave Story. Its very first release on PC was in beta form in 1998. The graphics are much simpler here than in the other versions, but it plays basically the same. While not an official release, this is probably one of Pixel's earliest games, which might explain why it seems to be near to his heart. The official release happened a few years later in 2001. The art was redone with a cleaner Flash-like look to it. For both PC versions, the controls simply have you pressing the number keys from one to three to pin the keychains.

The iOS remake was released in 2012. It was Pixel's first work on the platform, and it brings the game's style more in line with what people have come to expect from the developer. The art has a softer, more pixelated look to it, and the new background music has similar vibes to Pixel's work from Cave Story. I'm pretty sure this is the first version of the game with most of the secrets and unlockables added in, but it could just be that I couldn't find them in my short time with the PC version. Naturally, instead of pushing number keys to fire darts, you simply tap the portion of the screen that corresponds with each keychain. While it's not like pushing buttons isn't intuitive, Azarashi feels like a game that was made for a touchscreen.

I'd hesitate to call the game fun in the traditional sense of the word, but it's an amusing distraction, I suppose. The problem being that it's an amusing distraction on platforms that are full of such things, with only Pixel's fine attention to art and sound giving it an edge. As such, the majority of Azarashi's value is as a historical object for fans of Pixel's other works. I do think it's interesting in as far as it shows the developer's commitment to mixtures of cute things and darker elements, but there's only so far a simple reflex test can go.

Previous: Introduction

Next: Cave Story

If you enjoyed reading this article and can’t wait to get more, consider subscribing to the Post Game Content Patreon. Just $1/month gets you early access to articles like this one, exclusive extra posts, and my undying thanks.

#gaming #retro #studio pixel spotlight #studio pixel #ikachan #azarashi #3DS #iOS

[reinarandwulf]

Dishonored OC meme

I have too many Dishonored OC and I also need to write my Dishonored Big Bang fic but I want to do this so I chose the least likely OC to appear in my Dishonored Big Bang because why not! Meet the Prime Minister of Gristol!

Name: Hector Russell Age: 52 Gender: Male Height/Build: 187 cm / slender Occupation: Prime Minister of Gristol, leader of a survivors group

Physical Description:  When people talked about Lord Prime Minister Russell, they usually talked about his look first then his deeds. He got the face that didn’t belong in a Parliament Chamber. Even in his fifties, he was still a handsome man. Clean shaven, graying brown hair, and a pair of green eyes; the ladies in the court kept batting their eyelashes at him in vain hope to be the woman who finally got the most powerful man in Gristol – besides the Empress – under her thumb.

Short LONG Intro/Bio: The story of Hector Russell and his journey to the seat of parliamentary was an inspiring one. Born from a wealthy merchant and a natural philosopher, Hector was a rebellious child. He was always fighting his seemingly perfect brother and opposed everything his father told him. He longed for a chance to go out from his home and find his own path, so when Morley Insurrection broke out and the army asked brave men and women to join them, Hector saw it as an escape and enlisted.

The war changed him. He learned to listen to his commanding officer and obeyed his orders without question. He learned to hold a weapon, he learned the value of life and death, he learned about suffering. When his commanding officers died on the battlefield, he learned to become a leader. It was the moment when he finally found himself and he realized that he could be more than just the unruly son his family despised. He raised the rank faster than any of his comrades and soon everyone knew about the charismatic Captain Hector Russell.

After the insurrection ended and the soldiers sailed back home, he decided to change his career. While he had no illusion that he could change the world, he still hoped he could make the Empire a better place to live and the only way to achieve that was by having an influence in the government. He approached a wealthy general who took an interest in him during his service and convinced him to be his benefactor. Being a natural born leader and a charismatic man, it took no time for him to make his way into the gruesome world of Gristolan politic. He patiently worked his way up to the Parliamentary Chamber, capturing people’s heart with his smile and genuine word of kindness. No one really expected him to reach the highest seat in the parliament – he was just too compassionate for the position, but his hard work brought him there. He did manage to make the Empire a slightly better place during his two years serving time before Hiram Burrows – the envious Royal Spymaster who dreamed of taking the power from Jessamine - took him down from the shadow.

When the plague struck Dunwall, Burrows used the chance to spread a false rumor that said one of his maids was infected with the plague and Hector was hiding her in his home. The rumor spread like wildfire and soon the parliament demanded an official investigation on his home. The investigation team didn’t found the ‘infected’ maid but they found a nest of plague rats – planted by Burrows - and it was enough to condemn Hector. People started wondering if he got infected as well from having those rats in his home. It didn’t take long for him to lose everything; his position, his wealth, and his home.

Cast out and left to an imaginable fate, he met others who suffered the same fate like himself. Together with the other survivors and also the household staffs from his home, they made a community in the sewer, far away from those who betrayed them.

DETAILS 1. What do they think of the Outsider? As someone who believed in no supernatural thing and any deity, Hector thought the Outsider merely as a story told to inflict fear and terror. At one point of his life, he believed the Outsider was created by the Abbey to gain control over the people. But after he saw a rune and a bone charm during the plague, he started to think that maybe the Outsider truly existed.

2. What about the Abbey? Although he smiled as he shook hands with High Overseer Campbell, there wasn’t any scrap of sympathy he had for the Abbey. He saw them as a bunch of zealots who would resort to violence in their war against something that didn’t even matter. His antipathy grew stronger during the plague. Watching the overseers brutally enforced their ideology disgusted him.

3. What do they think of Empress Jessamine vs Hiram Burrows? He couldn’t fathom the reason behind Burrows’ antagonistic nature towards Jessamine. Sure, Jessamine had her flaws but who didn’t? Even he himself had flaws. Jessamine was doing a good job being a firm and respectable leader to the whole Empire of the Isles. She had people to help her, she had him to manage Gristol. Burrows was just being unnecessarily petty. Why would a spymaster want to get his hand in politics? There was no room in the parliament for a spymaster, they had too many scheming nobles to fill his part. Needless to say, Hector was a true Kadwin supporter and the empress supported him back. He wasn’t aware Burrows was plotting to take him down because he was the biggest

4. Where do they live in Dunwall? Before the plague, he lived in the Estate District. He owned a small but comfortable house with a small team of servants who adored him. He refused to move from his humble home to bigger and lavish manor when he became the Prime Minister even though it raised some critics from the snobbish aristocrats that claimed a man of his status should have the most beautiful manor in the Estate District.

After his fall from grace, he lived in the sewer with other survivors and tried to keep them alive.

5. How have they been handling the plague? For someone who falsely accused to be infected by the plague and was forced to live in a sewer, he handled it well. He became the leader of the survivors in the sewer. He gave a rousing speech to keep their spirit, helped to manage food and elixirs.

6. Are they in a relationship? If so, with whom? Hector dedicated his life to his work so he had no time for romance - or at least that was what he’d been telling the press. The truth was more complicated than that. He didn’t feel the urge to be intimate romantically or sexually with anyone. Though he found women to be sexually arousing in some occasion, it still wasn’t enough to make him want to spend a night with someone. He only slept with two women in all his life. One was a courtesan he hired when he was young and curious about sex. The other was a visiting dignitary from Tyvia he met in his late thirties, a noble woman with sharp wit and teasing smiles. It was a short timed affair since the woman was married and he was busy with his work, but it was the closest to having a lover whom he didn’t mind sharing his bed with. He wasn’t keen to repeat the experience. He wasn’t sure he would meet someone as fascinating as her again.

7. Do they have a connection to any canon characters? He was a close ally to Jessamine. They liked each other and valued each other’s opinions. Jessamine might have a little bit of a crush on Hector because he could just be so dreamy without him realizing it.

YOUR OC AS NPC 1. What would the Heart say about them? - He was loved by many small people but despised by the power hungry politicians - He dreamed of making the Empire a better place. If only he got more time. - People compared him his older brother when he was a child. Now they compared his brother to him. - The survivors look at him as a shining beacon of hope and he draws his strength from them. - He was a close ally to her… The Empress… Do you remember him smiling at me?

2. Where could they be found in the game?  In the sewer beneath the Old Port District. It’s the place where the player encounters a group of survivors during The Flooded District (mission).

3. Lines they would say when idle/not on alert: - The foods are becoming scarce. Even the rats are harder to find. - *sigh* there’s no use in complaining, we have to survive together. - [low chaos] We have to keep our spirit and never lose our hope. Someone will find the cure to the plague and we will go back to our life. - [high chaos] What would become of this world? There’s no hope to be found anymore.

4. Lines they would say when reacting to the player: - [seeing the player using the power] Is that… No, it can’t be… - You seem… familiar. Do I know you? - [if the player strikes a deal with him] You’ve helped us tremendously, masked one. My thanks won’t suffice to pay back what you’ve done for us. - [if the player doesn’t strike a deal with him] It’s the time of great misery, masked one. I don’t blame you for your decision. You have done us a great favor by killing those weepers.

5. Would there be any rewards, consequences, or special events dependent on your character? When you entered the survivor camp in the sewer, you’ll see weepers – three in low chaos and five in high chaos – attacking a group of survivors. Hector will be there to fight the weepers. Help him and he will thank you and give you a bone charm. After that, he offers you to trade 3 Sokolov's elixirs for a rune. He will explain that it’s hard to find a potion these days and he needs it for the survivor. If you fail to save him and he’s dead, you can’t strike the deal with him but you can still loot the rune and the bone charm from his body. If you refuse to strike a deal with him, you have to kill him in order to get the rune.

FATE IN LOW CHAOS: He guides the healthy survivors back to the society and helps the infected ones to get the treatment from Sokolov and Piero. When asked to be the Prime Minister again, he declined and took a fully deserved retirement to Poolwick.

FATE IN HIGH CHAOS: The weepers attacked the survivor camps in the sewer. Being old and a bit frail, he couldn’t escape the attack and got bitten and became a weeper.

#dishonored #dishonored oc meme #all the ocs #i'm writing something

[cavefelix]

The Orange Arc -- Right Past The Flagpole

This is a Knight arc, specifically designed for the Strategic Genius (?) in the game Rinley’s Traveling All Stars but probably suitable, with minor tweaking, for any prophet or herald. Just, you know, change the references to baseball to battling dark forces.

Quest 1: De-Cassandrafying

(Knight 1, Bindings 3 or 4, Otherworldly 1, Storyteller 2, Aspect 2, Shepherd 4, Emptiness 2, Mystic 1)

You know that your system can make everyone’s game better, not just yours. But they don’t seem willing to listen to you. They think you’re putting on airs. You’ve got to show them otherwise -- but that’s going to be trickier than it seems.

35 XP version

Major goals

You convince everyone to give your system a go, but the team loses the game, because you misinterpreted something or a player deliberately ignored your advice and then lied about it.

You go 24 hours without sleep and/or food. (This can be because your system suggests it, or for a seemingly unrelated reason).

A set of notes relating to your system is lost, destroyed or damaged.

You make (or direct, if you’re the manager) the winning play of a close game and credit your system.

You can a maximum of three of these, and may only take any goal once..

Minor goals

You spend time talking about your system.

People tell you to stop talking about your system, or deliberately avoid you.

You pointedly spend a chapter not bringing up your system IC.

A non-human person (e.g., an ogre) or member of a shrine family has a friendly conversation with you. (This can include the Immigrant and two of the variations of the Mascot).

You meet an authority figure, and talk to them. 

You spend time watching the clouds pass by.

You find yourself in a smoke- or fog-filled room.

20 XP version

Major Goals:

You convince everyone to give your system a go, but the team loses the game, because you misinterpreted something or a player deliberately ignored your advice and then lied about it.

You arrange it so that you are brightly illuminated while everyone else is in darkness or shadows.

You may take each goal once.

Minor Goals:.

You spend time talking about your system.

People tell you to stop talking about your system, or deliberately avoid you.

You meet an authority figure, and talk to them. 

You find yourself in a smoke- or fog-filled room.

You may take one of these per chapter. It may be combined with an XP action, but need not be.

Results:

You’re on your way. People either believe that your vision is the real thing, or at least are willing to say there’s something there. Also, you gain one of the following perks:

Your confidence in your vision has become contagious. You gain Superior Explainer 1.

Your use of your vision to help the team is becoming smoother. Once per chapter you get a +1 Tool to get to first base in a game.

Quest 2: The Maddening Crowds

(Knight 2, Aspect 1, 2, Shepherd 2, Emptiness 2, Mystic 3)

You’d be on your way to getting the Lynxes to a winning season at this point, you’re sure of it. Except… well, at some point the stress of dealing with the doubts and scorn, and maybe the silly shenanigans your teammates were doing, just got too much for you.

If you’re Galatea, you’re most likely to retreat at the exact wrong time. It hurts someone important to you. You may just walk away. Or shut down. Or refuse to look up from your book. Perseus is likely to lose his temper. I think serious physical violence is unlikely, though it’s possible there will be a slap.

But it’s someone who means a lot to you that you. I suggest considering:

One of the PCs you have a Connection to, or are developing a lowercase connection with. 

One of your mothers.

An important person in Town or the baseball scene, particularly one who could help your vision for baseball get traction, like the Friendly Rival.

It’s possible this flare-up happened before the quest, and now you’re just dealing with the consequences. Or maybe it’s the event which instigates it.

30 XP Version

Major goals

Your flaw leads you to alienate the target

You need the target for something important but feel unable to approach them and something bad happens.

You repeat a mistake that you’ve previously made.

You do something in a public location that causes all conversation to stop.

You may do up to three.

Minor Goals:

You make a gesture of apology you feel is insufficient.

You send or receive a handwritten letter from the target.

You channel your feelings to make an exceptional (strong or bad) play in a game.

A player says to you, OOC, “I wish your emotion XP was ‘offering you comfort,’” and means it. (i.e., they’re not just helping you grind for XP.)

You’re in a scene and don’t say anything.

You get drunk, have too much sugar, or eat something terribly unhealthy.

You encounter the target in a scene.

20 XP version If you’re in a hurry to do this quest, I think it’s a simple struggle. You know what you did was wrong, on some level. But you need to process it. There’s a reason you lost your temper.

Take a two-sided card with the messages:                                I messed up/The World’s unfair

Once per scene/15 minutes of play, you can flip the card when appropriate and gain an XP.

Results:

The relationship you ruined is patched. It may or may not be the same as it was, but friendship has been restored. Perhaps more importantly, you’ve come to a realization about yourself. You’re still a visionary, but there’s a new edge to your outlook.  This manifests in one of two ways:

You get a +2 Tool bonus, useable once per chapter, to avoid the consequences of your failing. People no longer say “Hey! Galatea just grabbed a book as I was talking about linoleum patterns and started ignoring me. How rude!” They instead say, “Hey! Maybe she’s trying to find information that will help me!” or “Maybe I missed the warning signs she doesn’t care about floor design.”

Once per chapter, get a +1 Tool Bonus for an action relating to silence in some way. Examples might include shocking hecklers into silence, being a mime, committing a faux pas which stops conversation flat, or singing the Simon and Garfunkel song “The Sound of SIlence.”.

Quest 3: A Widening Vision

(Knight 3, 5, Bindings 4, Otherworldly 2, 3, Aspet 2, Mystic 2) Now that you’ve established your vision for baseball is effective, and you’ve gotten past the emotional turmoil of your recent incident, you’d think it would be time to go full steam ahead, and use this vision to help the Lynxes win the championship. But there’s an obstacle in the way, a tempter, who’s going to encourage you to use your vision in some other way..

Here are possible tempters, and how they may persuade you:

The least likely one, to me, is the owner of the Arcadia Wombats, who’ll be trying to negotiate a new contract with you to join their team, to share your secret formula for success with them instead of Fortitude. If you go with this option, I suspect that they’ll be downplaying the higher salary they’re willing to offer, and instead focus on how they believe in you, and can help you show Town that there’s a better way to play baseball. How much of this is manipulation and how much is sincere is up to your story.

The Glory Hound on your own team -- if they’re a PC, make sure the player’s on board with it. They should be starting their third arc, and might see you as the potential Celdinar Trophy winner. If that’s the case, he’ll be encouraging *you* to shine on the field, not to make the rest of the team shine. He’ll promise that the PR from this will encourage others to follow your vision, and he’s probably right about that. 

Someone on the Fortitude Regional Council. If you have Fortitude: By the Docks of the Big Lake (seriously, get the book) I suggest it be Kimiko Dinsbury. She thinks that you can apply the insights to a bigger field than your sport. Your ideas to make your team more successful could just as easily make Fortitude happier and more productive. Why stick with your team when you can do 

Someone else?

35 XP version:

Major goals:

You stare at a document you’re asked to sign for a long time.

You have a heartfelt discussion at nighttime with someone about whether you should stay on your current path.

Someone on your team lets you down in a big way.

You hear a speech from the tempter on why this is good for your dreams.

You may take each goal once.

Minor goals:

The tempter puts a hand on your shoulder.

You tell a friend how much they mean to you, or the friend tells you how much you mean to them.

You go out to dinner with someone. 

People start chanting your name (probably, but not necessarily, at a game).

You use your vision to win a game.

You find yourself short of cash when you go to buy something.

You attend a conference or seminar.

20 XP Version:

Major Goals:

Someone on your team lets you down in a big way.

You hear a speech from the tempter on why this is good for your dreams.

You may take each once.

Minor Goals:

The Tempter loses their temper.

You have a conversation with someone at night.

You use your vision to win a game. 

You ask someone for pen, paper, to borrow their PC to check your inbox, or some other writing-related material.

You or someone in the scene uses the word “devil.”

Results:

That’s really up to you. Maybe you’re won over. Why fight to get everyone on the Lynxes to win when they won’t really appreciate it? (Or, since they’re probably somewhat appreciative at this point, aren’t getting it enough?)  Maybe you say no -- but that refusal cost you something. Either way, you’re not the same as you were, and get a Perk that reflects it. Choose from:

Move a point or two from one or two of your skills and add Dealmaker 1-2. This process has taught you the importance of understanding bargains.

Gain a Supportive Aura of Doubt: one per chapter, when an ally is dead set on a course of action, your presence can serve as a +1 Tool bonus to convince them to at the very least take some more time to mull it over. 

#cmwge #cmwgertas