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shadowfae · 3 years

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1- Not much tbh, just what you've posted, and 2- To be honest I quite like your long answers. It can definitely wait though, you should get some sleep.

Is your warpriest link a constant thing? Does it ever fade into the background? I'm contemplating forming a second link, something happier than my copinglink, and I'm not sure how to tell when to tell when the line of a link vs a persona is crossed when not worn out of necessity.

And the original ask so I have it on hand. I did take a look at your original context, and if you're cool with it, I'll edit this post with a link for those who may find this is a useful answer and need that on hand. Otherwise, it'll stay a mystery.

But yes, it seems like my Sabe experiences would be a useful thing to talk about here. And in order to do that, I need to go over four things: who and what Sabe is, why he exists the way that he does, what that does for me, and lastly what I think he is in terms of terminology and why.

To start, here is his toyhou.se profile, if you want to read more about his actual story and thoughts and whatnot. But I doubt you'll have the necessary context for that, so let me go into it. RuneScape (RS) is one of the oldest MMORPGs in existence. WoW might be older but I doubt it. Basically it's a medieval magic fantasy that's very long running and you the player end up the World Guardian, aka the guy that stops the gods (who are very powerful folks who just don't die of natural causes and typically stand for some philosophy) from blowing the world up because Guthix, the dead god of balance, asked you to. Well, he voluntold you. And that makes you a major chess piece, Elder Gods get involved, it's a big mess.

But before all that happened, back in 2006 when I was introduced to the game and very shitty at it, well. I liked the lore insofar that I've always liked the lore, it was interesting and I liked thinking about it. I didn't have membership and I sucked at playing so I just read the wiki and the God Letters over and over and sometimes the Postbag from the Hedge. Alongside my two friends, we played at being children of the then-triad of main gods: Saradomin, Guthix, and Zamorak.

I liked Zamorak best, but I didn't think his ideas would be the best for society as a whole, so I ended up playing child of Guthix. Eventually we grew up and grew apart but every couple of years I'd go back to RuneScape, read the lore, settle on what choices I'd make if I could play, and think about being the player character. In 2010 I discovered a fic - dawn by khayr, it's on Ao3 and dA - about Iban, son of Zamorak, right around when I was reading Percy Jackson. Cue him showing up as a soulbond and an older brother figure and guiding me right up until the end of sixth grade. Iban got me through the ruthless bullying that would later set the stage for all my major suicidal-ideation and self-hatred for the entirety of high school: even then, I was more stable than I might've been otherwise, because he interfered.

Saradomin stands for strength through order. Procedures and law and diplomacy and war strategy. He was originally kind of a ripoff of the Christian god, but he's grown to be more of an order-over-peace character and is quite well-written. Guthix stands for strength through balance, and has been all over the board in terms of what he's done and will do. He's kind of a dick, actually, but his heart's in the right place.

Zamorak, as you've heard, is strength through chaos and personal strife. It's no "the strong over the weak" or "the strong take care of the weak", it's flat-out "everyone is strong, and just need the right circumstances to tap into it to be the best they can possibly be". Now, his philosophy is kind of more for warriors and scholars, but if you tilt your head, it applies to everyone. Chronically ill folks will find their chaos in fighting to get up every day and maintain a life. Folks in traumatizing, abusive situations find that chaos in their very survival. Scholars challenge themselves and their fellows and their predecessors trying to find the answers they so need. Nobody in lockstep, no such thing as "we've always done it this way."

A lot of human Zamorakians and Saradominist propaganda says that Zamorak is simply absolute evil: and to be fair, when most of that was written, he kinda was because he was based loosely on the Christian devil. Later writing says that they're typically mistaken on that. Zamorak isn't evil. The very first thing he did upon becoming a god was fulfill a promise and lead a slave rebeliion. (The Avernic uprising, if anyone's curious.) He stands for the downtrodden and says "You are never going to get your dignity by going through the motions and trying to peacefully show you're worth respect. Burn some shit down and prove that you won't stand for this bullshit."

Zamorak in a Saradominist's eyes is someone whose banner you wear when you want to be a crazy murderer. Zamorak in a Zamorakian's eyes is the singing voice who murmurs "Get up, this isn't enough to kill you, you can still do this," when transphobic laws get passed or you hear a slur thrown your way on the street.

And as someone who grew up queer and nonhuman, yeah, that resonates, and the older I get the more I think "Guthixian philosophy is best for a society at large, but Zamorakianism for individuals is good." Because Zamorakianism can't really apply on a theocratic level. It really doesn't. It turns into American bootstrap culture and no social services and all that shitty stuff.

The funny thing is that Zamorak himself has no issues helping out if he thinks you need it. (If he didn't, he wouldn't be cool with asking for help, or giving it when he's asked. Which he does do repeatedly so. The man has more kindness in him than people want to admit.) What I do find fascinating is what he thinks of the actions of some of his longtime subordinates, who clearly support him, but I don't think support his actual philosophy. Because if you ask me, he'd side with the downtrodden humans of Meiyerditch, not the vampire lords that treat them like cattle. He's proven that he likes humans, and doesn't see them as unworthy. I do wonder if Jagex will show us what he might do about that.

Either way. Ahem. Over the course of a decade and a half, I keep going back to RuneScape, refining my philosophy and side, thinking again what I would do playing the game proper. About... I want to say five years ago, Jagex opened up the Sixth Age and I finally noticed, and they rewrote every god's philosophy because they wanted every single one to be actually playable. Not just "hurr durr evil" but actually have a logical line of thought. They probably didn't have pop culture paganism in mind, but the gods of RS are incredibly well-suited to it.

Well, I found that out, and immediately went through every god's philosophy, and reasoned my way through it. What does a worshipper of this god look like? What sort of life would they lead? If i apply this to me, what does that look like from that perspective? Do I understand this? Is it comfortable to exist in?

And as it turns out, I understand Zamorak the most, followed a close second by Armadyl, which was quite surprising. Zaros remains incomprehensible and I don't trust like that. (That's another story.) So I thought about it more, and it stuck even when I wandered off to different fandoms and interests. But what happened was that I ended up internalizing it, unknowingly and without meaning to.

It meant that when, two years later, I ended up in a horrific and traumatizing situation, the anchor I hit that held me together was a mixture of being a Devil - I am a fucking God you will obey me and recognize my power - and Zamorak's core philosophy: this cannot kill me, this cannot stop me, this is pure fucking hell and I am going to laugh in the face of death because people are forged in hellfire and I will walk away knowing what I'm made of.

And I was right. Honestly, out of everyone who was there with me, I think I'm the only one that was that deeply entrenched and walked out without trauma. I do not believe I could have done that had I not internalized Zamorak's philosophy. (That isn't to say if the others had that philosophy they wouldn't be traumatized, because there were absolutely other factors I wouldn't know about and some that I do and didn't do them any favours; but I am saying that it saved my ass and without it, I might not have been okay.)

I walked out of that with zero regrets. Zero. Even now, I don't regret a thing. Because it doesn't matter what happened or how much I was lied to or if he deserved my kindness. I know what I perceived to be happening, and I know how I reacted, and when the pieces were down I was stronger than steel, gave kindness without considering the cost, and I walked away unscathed.

How many people can say they've looked death in the eye and laughed? More than there should be, not too many that knowing what I'm capable of when put into pure chaos isn't somehow impressive. Because it is. And Zamorak's words proved themselves, or rather, I proved him entirely correct.

And when I last went back to RuneScape, and thought about it with enough time to put it all into hindsight, well. Aw, shit, he was right. Then vaguely around that time I went back and read Dawn, which was unfinished, tracked down the author and demanded to know how it fucking ended. (She told me and we're still friends like three years later. xD) Then I went back and found my old OCs, and decided fuck it, I'm making my own World Guardian.

So first thing I did was log in and jump over to the Makeover Mage and make myself into a boy. Kept the plateskirt though, I wanted to have the RS equivalent of a limp wrist to prove I'm Very Queer. Then I went about remaking my character. I wanted to make a self-insert, I was old enough to know it wasn't cringey, it was just fun, but I didn't want to use my default avatar with the black hair over one eye and the Chaorruption. I wanted to make a new self-insert based in nothing I was already using.

So I made the most beautiful man I could! Long, dark brown hair, pretty semi-dark skin, looked Kharidian, and then I said fuck it and made him Zamorak's youngest son. Originally, he was adopted when he was young by Iban and Clivet, and suffered serious imposter syndrome when being WG meant he'd never get demigod powers. But as I grew more confident in myself, he ended up getting powers? And then eventually I rewrote his backstory, and then wrote about his mother, and her relationship with Zamorak, and then he had friends like Blaire and Icthlarin (who was also my furry awakening, rip me).

Then with the most recently questline I've been getting a bit more into RS magical theory, and I've been mulling it over lots, and Seanan McGuire's Middlegame definitely helped; and I figured out how I wanted him to handle being World Guardian: it didn't make sense for him to be openly Zamorak's son, the other gods would just target his family to manipulate him. So I had him play neutral openly and Zamorakian to his friends, effectively living a double life.

Then he just looked up one day and said "Oh, by the way, my father won't acknowledge me to keep me safe but I don't know that so we have a very unsteady relationship because I don't know if he loves me", and then Children of Mah came out, and he was all "Oh and I think I just got disowned (I didn't, Zamorak was protecting me, but I don't know that) so my relationship with Zamorak is Fucking Shitty" and he was stuck that way until I figured out how to save their relationship.

It culminated in Sabe not knowing how his Mahjarrat powers worked and guessing, and hating himself for being half-and-half, and missing everything about being a Mahjarrat, and literally you couldn't have gotten more obvious in order to tell me I was having Fucking Issues coming to terms with the fact I didn't have any understanding or knowledge of my own heritage, but whatever, eventually I noticed that.

And as I've been working to understand myself and my heritage, so too has Sabe been doing that with his Mahjarrat heritage. But for the longest time, no matter how I put him and Zamorak in the same room in a scene to try and get them to talk it out, it wasn't working. Something wasn't right. Sabe resented being World Guardian, hated having to betray his family, didn't know if he was wanted, and hated himself for having to kill Mah, the mother of his species.

Not that long ago, a few months actually, he informed me (which is my shorthand for 'I suddenly figured out this happened, and it genuinely feels like remembering that one fucking word you have on the tip of your tongue, I always knew and just forgot for a while') that no, he'd been ripped in two by a hope devourer, brought to his father's stronghold, and Zamorak split his magic between mortal and divine in order to get around his godproofing and heal him. Zamorak's intense worry for his youngest son was what caused Sabe to break down and tell him honestly what was going on and how he was feeling, which caused Zamorak to do the same, and they finally, finally made up.

A week later, I noticed the connection between Sabe's Mahjarrat issues and my Irish issues, and started to wonder if he was a linktype.

I mean... he's a self-insert. He makes the choices I would, the me in the here and now, that I think are best. He's not a person I was and still know myself to be, he's not someone I grow into, he's not living his life beside me like a shadow. He's me, choosing the things I do, because I say so. But he's also me in the things he reflects, the things he struggles with, and things I had zero fucking conscious input on.

Sabe is the person I am when a crisis hits and I have to deal with the chaos. Sabe is the person I am when I need to lead. Sabe is the person I am when I am desperate to be known and loved by those I consider family. Sabe is the person I am when I want to be sure in where I came from, where I will return to, and the things that I will always be. Sabe is a man of darkness who knows the light as an acquaintance and nothing more, who is cruel and careless and kind.

Sabe is a warpriest of Zamorakian philosophy, because it took me twenty fucking years to put into words how I see the world, and now that I know, I will argue them to death and use them to help others. Drakath may have wanted a messiah to share the hivemind with others. Sabe is a warpriest, spreading the word and calling home the broken and the damned. He is the Last Rider, not the last of the Ilujanka but the one who keeps riding towards the chaos and never falls, no matter what.

Some of who Sabe is I have conscious input on. A whole lot of him was unintentional and perfectly reflects me.

So when it comes to terminology... I don't know what he is. A self-insert, yes. A linktype, maybe. A kintype, also maybe. Sabe doesn't feel like my past linktypes, because Sabe isn't always catharsis and comfort. Until he made up with his dad, Sabe was brutal and hurt a lot and constantly yearning for his foundation and slowly going mad. It wasn't fun. I just refused to do anything but see the story through. I was going to get it right. I wanted to see it to the end. I wanted to be the Last Rider, even though I didn't phrase it that way.

But to answer your actual question, of what he feels like when I'm not actively being him out of necessity, desire, and active thought. If it fades into the background.

And like... it can? Sabe as he is, recognized for what and who he is, is kind of a new thing. Sabe as a concept is very old, but Sabe as what he is right now is new, and confusing, and honestly I'm still trying to figure out what to make of it.

Like, seriously. Sabe is Zamorak's son. Am I Zamorak's son? Is he keeping an eye on me as I am? Would he be proud of me? Would he offer his approval of my progress? Does that make me, in some way, the World Guardian?

I have not a clue, buddy. Not a goddamn clue.

So what it means is that I've been paying attention, really. I don't just become strong in times of crisis. I've been trying to do better. Be better. Learn, and listen, and rethink myself. Break out of lockstep, of doing things the way I've always done them. Try to always do better than I did, build habits I like, stop waiting for things to change and just do it. Become the chaos, instead of waiting for it to hit me.

It means I need to live up to what Guthix told Sabe to do. It means being gentler, being kinder, not burning bridges when I'm not sure. It means keeping an eye out for any sign Zamorak's listening, in case I am his son, in case I really have to decide what I'm gonna do about being the son of chaos incarnate.

But other than the questioning, what it feels like is just... what I was already dealing with, just a little more at arm's length and easier to deal with. Once I recognize that his issues are reflective of mine, if I solve his, I have a pretty good idea of how to solve mine. Some of it won't work exactly right - Zamorak will always forgive him for not being the son he expected he might have had, my own parents may not, yay I'm queer and pagan - but it's a good rule of thumb.

It's also just comforting to know that when in doubt, nothing can kill me, because I simply refuse to die. I am World Guardian, I am a demigod of chaos incarnate, all the hellfire in the world can do nothing but strengthen me. And if I present those to myself as unshakeable beliefs, because for Sabe they are, then I'll be okay. It probably couldn't stop most disasters or tragedies, but I got hit by a car, broke five bones, and walked away with a record recovery time, so I mean... I can't prove that I can't die by some accident or tragedy, but you also can't prove that I can. (Trying to do so usually falls under what we call 'murder', and I personally believe I can't be murdered. Only assassinated.)

But really, I think the worst that could possibly happen with a new linktype is that you learn what not to do. It's new, it's scary, it's chaotic, and from where I'm standing, that's the best way to learn.

#asks #anonymous #on copinglinking #on voluntary identities #on questioning #my experiences #here have me yelling about runescape and complaining about questioning #You Asked For This #essays of the skyrose garden #actually yeah this is an essay

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elecman108 · 3 years

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Man, I forgot to post 90% of my art here for the past while. I’m gonna do an art dump in this post under the cut. Enjoy the bonk emoji if you don’t click the read more, and man am I dumb and forgetful lmao.

Includes: OCs getting names, a Sonic impression, a D&D map, homosexual energies, a sheep floating in the astral sea, a birthday drawing I already posted, Hex Maniac Ender, D&D Characters, D&D Characters as Miis in Miitopia, Little Hater Axel, local Demon in the consciousness of my D&D character yelling at him, illegal plants, a necromancer being cute, an actual event that happened in a D&D game two days ago, and Mermay drawing.

That’s everything in here as a TL;DR, I guess. Enjoy your day!

I’m gonna try and sort of have them in chronological order, oldest first, but I may end up putting them in the wrong order. If I do... Whoops, I guess?

[04/14/21] - This isn’t really new art, but I started to work on giving the four OCs of mine without a full name full names... I have not finished this bit, though. So Hunter and Akira have full names, and Warlock and Assassin only have temporary names. This may end up like Seven where I put in their names as a temporary name (7th OC I’d made at that time) and it just kind of... sticks. Lmao.

[04/20/21] - Alone on a Friday Night? God, you’re pathetic. I didn’t colour this one because it was a half-attempt at a meme image I still like it, though, so I might end up colouring it. It’s gonna appear again whenever I do my “unfinished drawings art dump” at some point probably in... June? I know I said I’d post them last month but forget it, lmao, it’ll happen eventually.

[04/20/21] - A D&D Map! This was to help me visualize the layout of my D&D character’s ship he used to be on. Also for my DM if they ever put us aboard the ship. The little fella in the corner is just there to vibe. This map is made of free to use assets from This Website, so while I’m gonna say DONT USE MY MAP WITHOUT PERMISSION, feel free to make your own!

[04/26/21] - Lesbian Day of Visibility drawing of yours truly, the disapointment! That’s... really all I have to say about this, honestly. It was just for that one day and that was it, lmao. I mean, I accidentally lined it in dark pink, so.. .That’s different, I guess?

[04/30/21] - Do Astral Seas dream of Ensorcled Sheep? Does the City know what Sheepleb is going to do? What crimes he may commit? Who knows! This was fan art of Critical Role ep. 134 if I remember correctly, right at the end when they jumped into the portal into the astral sea and Caleb was a sheep. Using my knowledge of the German language, I knew the word for “shit”, and had to use it.

[05/07/21] - This was already posted, but it’s going in here to dilinuate that it was drawn at this point. Also, aside from playing Miitopia, this is all I have to show for myself until the 12th.

[05/12/21] - Hex Maniac Ender challenges you to a Pokemon Battle! WIll you win against my team? My sis, who loves fairy types, pointed out to me that there’s a fairy girl and hex maniac duo, so I’d be the hex maniac. I spent... Over a week drawing this, because I basically had to redraw the Hex Maniac art from scratch in a higher quality size, and then draw myself over it. So... You can excuse the low-effort background for once. It was basically this, and then my birthday doodle from May 1st to May 12th, and then I took a break to draw up several D&D characters quickly for fullbody references.

[05/12/21] - Remember this art I made several months ago? I finally added my other two completed characters! I have three more named but without character sheet D&D characters, so for now this is just Kara, Axel, Golden Shadow, Kau, Cecillia, and Miri. Kress, Tempest, and Melia will have to wait until I make character sheets for them to be posted, and... For when I probably make more D&D characters. I have at least 9 additional, incomplete character ideas floating around, so... I’m never gonna be done this art, huh?

[05/12/21] - Speaking of D&D characters, did you know I’ve been making them as Miis in Miitopia? So here is their finished full body art next to their Miitopia self! Some of them look a little off (Golden Shadow, Cecillia) because of limitations of the editor and shading issues, some of them look a little off (Kau, Kress) because this is a human face canvas that I’m using to make a non-human face, and some of them (Melia, Axel) look REALLY GOOD. Common traits among my D&D characters include green eyes and tall. You wanna know why? Because I am tall and... despite having red eyes, I do have green eyes under the coloured contacts.

[05/15/21] - More D&D stuff! This is based around my D&D group’s current Rime of the Frostmaiden campaign where our Goliath Fighter, Nioh, ends up getting a little bit of hate for being cocky, and our little (well over 6′) hater, Axel, is just a man full of irritation. These are the tallest two characters of the group at the moment. Someone send help. Nioh belongs to one of the other D&D players, Axel (and his stupid additude) belongs to me.

[05/15/21] - This is what me playing D&D feels like. Me, the demon entity trapped inside the head of my D&D character, yelling at them to do things while the dice decide that they’re gonna get bopped a hundred times by a yeti and somehow still survive. This is also a reference to our first or second game where I just ran off like sixty feet to one side of the battle map to fight a Crag Cat and was just in Gay Baby Jail until like two turns later when I could run back to the others. I also drew him not in his winter gear even though this is a bit from when we were atop Kelvin’s Carin in an icy cave, so maybe that’s why he’s at low HP.

[05/15/21] - Melia has good gardening tips, such as Use A Mars Mii Trap To Hide A Body Because They Are Endangered And It Is Illegal To Dig Them Up. I love her a lot, because she’s the youngest of four, all four sisters based around the different seasons. She’s based around Autumn, so she’s all orange and yellow and brown and is so cute. Also she’s Chaotic Neutral, as if she didn’t need to be mildly more threatening.

[05/15/21] - Cecillia is my Tiefling gal who lived in a very northern town plagued by cold weather and snow, and Axel is my Pirate guy who spent most of his time further south on the high seas and warmer weather. So, naturally... I’ll use the guy more acclimatized to the hotter weather in the campaign where we spend 99% of it in the snow. She uses Tarot Cards as her spell focus, and I decided to sneak my other D&D characters onto her Tarot cards so naturally, Axel is The Hanged Man, given his backstory and personality. She’s a very cheerful and friendly Tiefling Necromancer of the Hexblade, so she’d for sure take care of those around her to ensure their success. Especially if they’re on her Tarot Cards, and their spirit comes to her aid when she asks for them.

[05/16/21] - Content Warning; Ryma thinks too much into local stupid moron’s lack of knowing how to answer a question and thinks too much into the reputation of Pirates. Poor Axel, man doesn’t know how to socialize with people who aren’t pirates and is used to being hostile towards everyone, so when he’s asked a question that his answer to is “uhh... no?”, he panics and ends up making a mistake that leads him to think that Ryma can read his mind. Ryma belongs to another of the D&D players. I guess me drawing all those spicy Cow Costumed OCs earlier just brought me to drawing Axel being a bottom in this, huh?

[05/16/21] - It’s Mermay, which means more OC drawings! Here’s Theo after drinking some potion that turned him into a mermaid, and Seven, tiredly, collecting his stupid boyfriend so that Lailah can fix the fact he’s turned into a mermaid. Mer!Theo is based around his sword’s colours of indigo-purple with red accents, which looks a little weird since Theo is the Blue one of the group, but... it looks cool, I guess. Seven’s just the same outfit as always, just no gloves this time.

And that’s it for the art dump! This was, frankly, MASSIVE. I’ll try and remember to upload both on Twitter and Tumblr at the same time, but... Ah... I have been drawing a fair bit. Just mostly sketches and linework that I haven’t finished and may not actually finish. If they’re not completed, I’ll dump them all into something at the end of the month or whatever. Maybe you’ll get the old sketch of the Axel face in panel 3 because in the sketch phase it was an Ahegao face, in the clean sketch it was a lip bite, and in the linework and final it’s just horny face. lmao.

Top ten things I have to remember for drawing: AXEL HAS A SCAR AND GREEN EYES. I remember his eye colour now, but if you look at his fullbody ref, he’s got brown eyes. And, naturally, I keep forgetting to put in his scar. He has more, but most of them are located in areas covered by his clothes. So if I ever draw him shirtless I guess I’ll have to place them somewhere.

Also maybe finish the reference sheets I have left to finish so I can post more of them, since I have two “Pets” completed (Roko and Mona’s nameless pet), but I have to do up Hunter, Warlock, Assassin, Akira, Myuut, and Stella. I’m betting when I do complete two more, it’ll be Hunter and Akira. Those two are the most fun to draw, at least.

#the disappointment speaks #drawings by me #OCs #D&D #art dump #Miitopia #of all of these drawings I gotta say the most cursed is censored bottom!Axel and the most blessed is Cecillia's lap nap #I drew a lot of D&D stuff lately! Most of my OC stuff has stayed in the sketch stage so #I guess that says something about what I've been prioritizing in my drawings?#Also that drawing a twunk as a twink is incredibly funny and cursed. love my pirate boy

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manyothermusingsofmine · 3 years

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Blinding Lights || Pokemon Drabble (Gym Leader OC)

Summary: Not being able to sleep for whatever reason sucks, but at least in Galar most other towns are within walking distance when you need a change of scenery A/N: I’ve seen quite a few nice oc x canon things floating around the pokemon fandom so I wanted to write some of my own so I just -slides this into the tags.

Honestly this is the first time I actually fully want to introduce an OC to the fandom while I have her pine for my favorite character in the game so I’m actually kinda nervous about this lol

Song is ofcourse The Weeknd - Blinding Lights because it just vibes right, yknow?

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All she heard was the soft ticking of the clock in her room, and her own racing breath as she tried to calm down from jolting awake in the middle of the night.

She had never been particularly fond of the way she dreamed, everything too real and too tangible even if it happened during her slumber.

Levyna’s phone buzzed awake when she grabbed it, the Rotom in in making sure the phone was full of battery life whenever the user needed it, even if that was at half past one in the morning. Scrolling through her contact list, she hovered over one of the names for a while, before pressing down and calling the number.

“Sorry, I can’t come to the phone right now. Leave your message after the beep and I’ll call you when I can,” informed the voicemail. Figures. Not many people would be up and about at this time.

Stretching her body a little, Levyna sat up and slipped her legs over the edge of the bed. She turned a little bit to look at the sleeping pokemon at the foot of the end- or at least, she thought it had been asleep. However, her Espeon had been silently watching her from the moment she had jolted awake, and gave a curious purr as he felt the eyes of his trainer on him.

“... Do you mind going on a walk with me, Illusion?”

The pokemon stretched as well, before elegantly hopping of the bed and sitting at the door with an agreeing noise. Levyna nodded, getting up and turning on the light in the room so she could see what she was doing while getting dressed.

For a moment she considered taking her headphones along with her, but really, where she was going everyone would be asleep or not even around. So there was no real need for it, was there?

Followed by her Espeon, she made her way out of the small, minor league village of Bellfair, quietly setting foot on the road away from her home.

“Come on, Illusion. Route 7 isn’t far from here. We’ll be there in no time. ” She knew perfectly well why the dilapidated state of Spikemuth didn't sit well with its Gym Leader. Truthfully, nobody would be too happy to see their city fall off the map the way Spikemuth did, to where only 29 residents remained. The town she came from wasn't much bigger in size, perse, but Bellfair got plenty of attention even if it kept flip flopping between being minor or major League.

But to Levyna, Spikemuth was heaven. With team yell on the road to support Marnie in her journey, only a handful of people remained in Spikemuth; most of them asleep around this time as she had expected.

She sighed in a sense of relief when she got to the main stage, momentarily deserted and with most of its neon lights turned off. Sitting down and leaning back on the steps up to the stage, she soaked in the silence around her.

No conscious thoughts to hear aside from her own. No expectations. Just blissful silence, while softly petting the delicate fur of her Espeon who had curled up in her lap.

Illusion however suddenly sat up, letting out a thrilling noise and looked at his owner with a tilted head. A sign to Levyna that he wanted to explore the area, but was unsure if he could leave his owner by herself when he did.

She smiled, very softly petting his head, getting another purr from her partner pokemon.

“It’s okay. You can go explore if you want. I’ll stay here until you’re back, okay?”

Illusion let out a happy noise, slightly wiggling away from her lap before trotting off in an elegant and quick pace. He did momentarily halt and look back at his trainer, as if to make sure she remained where she was, before fully allowing himself to explore the city of Spikemuth.

There were lots of nooks and crannies in the city the Espeon could have explored, but he stuck to most of the main road until said road took a turn left before the entrance of the town. Illusion halted there, seemingly thinking for a moment, before taking the left turn and peaking around the west entrance of the town that was surrounded by high grass, some fencing and some metal containers.

Illusion purred at the shape he saw leaning back against the biggest container at the entrance to the left, going closer to the shape and sitting down next to it.

Piers watched the pokemon from the corner of his eyes, raising an eyebrow as the lilac feline pokemon sat down beside him. Eeveelutions were an uncommon sighting in Spikemuth either way, but an Espeon seemed an far more unlikely eeveelution for any resident to have than an Umbreon.

“Hm. You’re not from around here, are ya, mate?”

He couldn’t help but smile a little as the Espeon purred, leaning over with a hand reaching over in a relaxed way so the pokemon could sniff it. He didn’t plan on petting it necessarily, he just wanted to show that he was not a threat.

“You must be Levyna’s Espeon, then. Didn’t see her coming in. Mind bringing me to her?”

He stood up straight, pressing against one of his shoulders before rolling it back a little, only to follow the pokemon back into his town and along the main road to the stage where he often held his concerts.

Seeing Levyna there in the middle of the night was not much of a surprise, and he didn’t mind keeping her company on the nights she came to Spikemuth if he had been struggling to get to sleep as well.

“Hey,” he greeted, casually, watching as the Espeon that guided him crawled back into the lap of its trainer.

“Hey,” she greeted back, moving just a little bit so there was enough space for him to sit down next to her. Not that there wasn’t, or like Piers took up a lot of space anyway, but it seemed like the polite thing to do.

“I was planning on calling you back, you know. Missed call and all? Are you okay?”

“Yeah, just.. you know. Sleeping got hard, wanted to ask if I could come over. Decided to do so anyway. Hope you don’t mind.” “Of course I don’t mind. Beats standing outside on my own.”

A silence fell between them, but it was hardly an awkward silence. In fact, the gaps in their conversation seemed more comforting than anything else. To just sit there, besides one another to enjoy the company offered, in the calm silence of a town that was asleep.. It seemed to calm both of them down, even just a little.

To share space without the expectation of much else was a luxury neither of them could really afford to have more often during the buzzling hours of the day. Not with their responsibilities as gym leaders, and Piers’ responsibilities towards his music career to boot.

Still, Levyna picked up vibes. Bits and pieces of the thoughts and worries on his mind, despite her trying not to listen in on his thoughts out of respect. However, hearing the thoughts of others was something she couldn’t fully block out without her headphones. Still, maybe if she asked it right she could offer some help?

"You seem worried."

"Same goes for you."

… Fair enough. While Piers didn’t share her telepathic abilities, he seemed to know better than anyone else when something was bothering Levyna- maybe it was some body language thing that she never really seemed to understand as it was something she didn’t particularly needed to focus on herself.

Levyna was never too sure how she felt about Piers’ ability to tell when something was up with her. She knew that sounded bad coming from someone who could literally read minds if she didn’t try her best to block out thoughts that weren’t hers, but still. "You're in the major league, Piers. Does… Does it bother you to be a major league gym?"

"I don’t know. Does it bother you to be a minor league player this year?”

"Not particularly... In the background maybe, but... you know what I'm like."

"Mhh… Actually, it’s more… It’s Marnie. She’s at the age where she's ready to take on the gym challenge, so…"

"She'll do great."

“I know. That’s not what I’m worried about. Just.. letting her go, I guess. Letting her go and travel Galar all by herself, cause I’m stuck here being part of the gym challenge she’s going to take.”

Levyna nodded, very lightly patting his shoulder to try and offer sympathy. It was no secret that Piers was protective over Marnie and wanted her safe, especially as he had been more of a parent figure to her than just an older brother. Levyna could only imagine it was hard for him to let her go and spread her wings even if it was the best thing to do for her.

Another silence fell between them as she withdrew her hand to go back to petting Illusion, hoping she had at least given him some comfort.

“… You just want to be there for her when she battles, huh?”

“Yeah. Wish I could be.”

“I don’t think she’s going to hold that against you. She knows you have responsibilities you can’t shake, no matter how much you wish you could. Plus, well, I don’t have siblings, but I bet it’s going to be fun for her to try and beat you on your home turf.”

Piers gave a slight amused huff. Levyna did have somewhat of a point there. He’d be lying himself if he said he wasn’t looking forward to try and beat his little sister himself, and knew she would put up a great fight against him as well. And for Levyna to have so much faith in Marnie making it far into the competition anyway meant a lot to him.

He knew his sister would make it far. But to hear that same faith in her from someone else was nice.

However, that didn’t explain something else that was on his mind. He looked at her, watching as she silently petted the Espeon in her lap. The purrs from the pokemon were the only noises that broke the peaceful silence between them.

He decided to first place a hand upon her upper arm, much like she had offered a similar kind of affection while they spoke of his worries. “So… why are you here, then? I know something's on your mind, Lev. And unlike you I can't exactly peek in to see what's going on. You can tell me anything, you know?"

She looked at the hand that ever so gently had been placed on her upper arm. She wondered if he even knew how much his slight touches calmed down her racing mind.

".... It's nothing. Nothing huge, anyway. Just too many thoughts making the process of actually shutting down my brain and getting some damn sleep incredibly hard and... I mean this in the best way possible, but Spikemuth is.. calm. quiet. I can actually hear myself think around here. I know how that's not something necessarily positive though. Makes me feel like a wandering Absol."

"Didn't realise disaster omens came in hues of purple."

That drew a small laugh out of her as she lightly swatted at his shoulder, fully aware that it was just a joke between friends.

"I'm glad you can find some peace and quiet here, Lev. At least until the gym challenge starts, I suppose."

"Yeah."

They sat there together for quite a while, just talking about the upcoming gym challenge and the differences between the major league qualifications and leader responsibilities in comparison to those of a minor league gym, talking about Marnie and the journey she was soon about to make.

And talking about just anything in between that came to their minds until rays of the sun slowly started to creep through the cracks of the ceiling that kept the whole of Spikemuth protected from the cold weather blowing around route 9. With the hours slowly creeping towards the daylight, Levyna decided it was about time for her to go home and get some rest there. Even just a light nap would help her get through the rest of the day.

Illusion left her lap as she gave even the slightest motion that she wanted to get up. She patted down her clothes a little to make sure there were no weird folds from the way she had been sitting, readjusted her gloves and pulled her fingers through her long blond hair to push it back into shape. She thanked Piers for keeping her company, which he assured was no big deal as he thanked her as well for doing the same for him.

As Levyna told him to take care, she started to walk towards the main entrance of the city. She halted, however, as she got a few steps onto the gym floor where Piers usually held his battles or kept his audience during concert. She bit her lower lip for a moment, thinking about something else she had been wanting to tell him. "Piers-" she started, turning back around towards where he still sat, and immediately held back what she wanted to say. He looked up at the mentioning of his name, looking at her curiously.

"Hmm?"

".... Let me know if there's ever anything I can do for you, okay? You... help me with so much of my problems, and I know you don't do it so I owe you but... I want to help you if you need me to."

"... Thanks. I'll keep that in mind."

With that they said their goodbyes for then, and Levyna walked along the main road before leaving Spikemuth through the main entrance. Standing out on route 9, she sighed before pressing her back against one of the brick pillars that held the shutters in place. She stared down at Illusion who had followed her along, sat down beside her and now seemed to be disappointedly glaring at her.

".... Don't you judge me," she muttered.

"Let's just go home. I have to get some rest before starting the day, anyhow. Hmm… Maybe I could try to visit Milo somewhere in between my breaks. Speaking to him would be nice.”

Illusion just purred in agreement as he followed his trainer home.

I said, ooh, I'm blinded by the lights. No, I can't sleep until I feel your touch

#pokemon swsh #pokemon writing #piers pokemon #pokemon gym leader oc #my writing

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dolcetters · 4 years

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THE POSITIVE & NEGATIVE; mun & muse - meme.

TAGGED BY: @hyaciiintho ( ;-; AAA THANK!!! )

TAGGING (don’t feel obligated to do it!): @forsakenflora , @avadite , @yinseal , @inseparabilum , @reigningsniper , @tsume-awase , @canisfuria & YOU if you wanna!

FILL OUT & REPOST ♥ this meme definitely favors canons more, but i hope oc’s still can make it somehow work with their own lore, and lil’ fandom of friends & mutuals. multi-muses pick the muse you are the most invested in atm.

----------------------------------------------------

MY MUSE IS: CANON / OC / AU / CANON-DIVERGENT / FANDOMLESS

Is your character popular in the fandom? YES / NO

Is your character considered hot™ in the fandom? YES / NO / IDK (he’s fetishized a lot; thanks, i hate it)

Is your character considered strong in the fandom? YES / NO / IDK (i’d lean more toward no)

Are they underrated? YES / NO

Were they relevant for the main story? YES / NO / MAYBE (stares into the abyss)

Were they relevant for the main character? YES / NO / THEY’RE THE PROTAG

Are they widely known in their world? YES / NO / MAYBE

How’s their reputation? GOOD / BAD / NEUTRAL (true neutral, my boy)

HOW STRICTLY DO YOU FOLLOW CANON? ♠ || i have an ongoing joke that “canon is a slab of meat that we slow-roast at 475 degrees and carve for the juicy bits” but at the same time it’s not a joke at all, i’m being perfectly serious. i’m definitely a lot less strict than when i started for writing canon characters way back yonder, but i also DO like to keep within an array of canon boundaries because i’m not writing for an OC in this instance, i’m writing for an established character. ...it also doesn’t help that my character’s handled differently in the 4 types of media he shows up in but. i grew up reading DC comics and writing for beast boy, so i’m kind of used to “multiple takes existing for singular character”.

that being said, my take on dol is clearly canon divergent (since... he’s alive and my default verse takes place after the nest raid) but it pulls primarily from brotherhood/manga with a couple dashes of 2k3 series (since that’s the only media that gives us a length of time that he was in the labs). but given that i follow along with just about every scrap of information provided in the manga on this clown, i’d say i follow canon fairly strictly... but there ain’t a lot to go off of, so my reins are pretty loose no matter how you look at it. my city now.

SELL YOUR MUSE! AKA TRY TO LIST EVERYTHING, WHICH MAKES YOUR MUSE INTERESTING IN YOUR OPINION TO MAKE THEM SPICY FOR YOUR MUTUALS. ♠ || (*￣3￣)╭ well, hello, there. aware of dog? yes. this is he: dolcetto mcgrouchyboots, and he is not happy to be here at all. he is traumatized, sassy, wants to throw hands with teenagers, has no sense of self worth, and will absolutely use himself as a meat shield in order to protect any and everyone he cares about. he is spliced with: dog. his favorite weapon: sword. if you listen carefully, you might hear dog-song rising on the east wind as he approaches (don’t tell him axel taped a cassette player to his back). he comes from a found family of complete and utter morons with a lot of damage, they live in a partially underground bar, work as information brokers, and are all DEFINITELY fully functioning adult people. they say gay and trans rights. if you like angry boys with a sense of humor semi-on-par with griffin mcelroy, this is the boy for YOU!!!

NOW THE OPPOSITE, LIST EVERYTHING WHY YOUR MUSE COULD NOT BE SO INTERESTING (EVEN IF YOU MAY NOT AGREE, WHAT DOES THE FANDOM PERHAPS THINK?). ♠ || he’s only featured in a handful of episodes/chapters across all media, doesn’t have a significant amount of dialogue, and we only ever see him lose to the protagonist(s) despite that he seems more than capable of fighting anyone else. easy to brush off as a “aw he died and that’s sad but we didn’t really know him, moving on”. from what i’ve seen in my years, people are more interested in him being a cog in the machine of “greed is sad” and less interested in... HIM. which is fair, i guess, but hhhhhh

WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO RP YOUR MUSE? ♠ || i don’t know if i can pin-point any ONE thing, but i’ve always been drawn to characters with some sort of connection or bond with animals (example, once again, being beast boy from teen titans). i also have an IMMENSE weakness for the found-family dynamic. so when the devil’s nest appeared during my first watch through of brotherhood, i was pretty much... hooked. immediately. and devastated. immediately. as for what drew me to writing dol, specifically... probably his loyalty, his drive, the fact that he WOULDN’T FUCKING STAY DOWN no matter how many times someone knocked him flat on his face. i vibe with that. grew up very much in the mentality of “fall down 7 times, get up 8″. also, he had a sword... which always beats guns on coolness factor. and i loved his fire. ...and that he was a complete fucking idiot who’s really bad at kidnapping i mean HOLY SHIT THAT’S HOW YOU TRIED TO GET HIM TO COME WITH YOU, DOLCETTO, ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING--

WHAT KEEPS YOUR INSPIRATION GOING? ♠ || dol has always been a great source of ...venting for me? <xD ever since i started writing him, i’ve always found his muse--specifically--to be extremely cathartic and comforting. i dunno if it’s because he lets the more... jaded side of me come out, even when we’re both trying to be optimistic?

because i’ve been in 2 emotionally abusive friendships. i definitely have some left over hurt, pent up anger that hasn’t been given closure, a hell of a lot of underlying bitterness that i never got the opportunity to confront those people, BUT i still try to be. y’know. welcoming, friendly, supportive, despite a voice in the back of my head being paranoid?? i think dol continues to give me outlets to expressing that. somehow. not that i use him as an excuse to do it, more so i have more opportunities to do it when i’m writing him as opposed to writing someone like beast boy, who’s usually more on board with keeping the peace than picking a fight. i’ve also invested SO MUCH TIME and ENERGY into his background and headcanons and things that i kind of can’t quit him now, nor do i want to.

... and aside from that i just want him to have a happy ending god, fucking damnit.

SOME MORE PERSONAL QUESTIONS FOR THE MUN.

give your mutuals some insight about the way you are in some matters, which could lead them to get more comfortable with you or perhaps not.

Do you think you give your character justice? YES / NO ( or i certainly hope so )

Do you frequently write headcanons? YES / NO

Do you sometimes write drabbles? YES / NO

Do you think a lot about your Muse during the day? YES / NO

Are you confident in your portrayal? YES / NO

Are you confident in your writing? YES / NO ( definitely have moments but eh! )

Are you a sensitive person? YES / NO ( kind of... varies. i’d say i’m more hyper aware)

DO YOU ACCEPT CRITICISM WELL ABOUT YOUR PORTRAYAL? ♠ || i definitely like to think i do when it comes to pre-established things in canon. but when it comes to what i’ve built on my own over my years of writing for dol (and the nest members as a whole), it’s kind of my sandbox and i’d appreciate you not stomp around in it.

unless i need to be learned a thing, like... one of the nest members, vi, is a trans-woman. i’m a cis-woman and i try to do as much research as i can and educate myself, but if i ever fuck something up please tell me, i’m doing my best but i’m more than willing to listen. i want to grow.

DO YOU LIKE QUESTIONS, WHICH HELP YOU EXPLORE YOUR CHARACTER? ♠ || pretty sure everyone does! >xD but yeah! i FUCKING love it. especially since i’m writing for a minor character. =//o//= it shows people are interested in him despite his overall lack of content.

IF SOMEONE DISAGREES TO A HEADCANON OF YOURS, DO YOU WANT TO KNOW WHY? ♠ || i’d definitely be curious as to why but i doubt i’d be offended or take ... any personal harm from it--y’know? it’d be more of a “let me hear your perspective and maybe it’ll expand my own understanding, or i might not agree after the explanation and that’s cool”!

an exception would be for an obviously shitty one that’s shitty for no reason, like... acTUALlY, he’s TOtaLLY hom///o///pho//bic, to which i’d be like “bitch, no, get away from me; no one in this bar is straight, die mad”.

IF SOMEONE DISAGREES WITH YOUR PORTRAYAL, HOW WOULD YOU TAKE IT? ♠ || again, it’s cool! there’s not a lot of canon material so you can take his portrayal a variety of places. if we don’t jive, it’s pretty whatever.

my one exception to this is probably people who, in the past, have told me i write him being “too mean”. which will never cease to confuse me. because even after al straight told dolcetto he was 14, dol was still like “I REALLY WANNA SMACK HIM but i’d just hurt my hand so you’re off the hook”, he’s angry like 85% of his dialogue in the manga... i’m just confused. where are you seeing the “uwu pupper~” persona. you can write it, that’s fine, i don’t care, just don’t get irritable when i don’t write him like a cute puppy. because here he is. suggesting we just kill izumi because she’s being troublesome. yeet. ...he’s an asshole.

IF SOMEONE REALLY HATES YOUR CHARACTER, HOW DO YOU TAKE IT? ♠ || whatever, just don’t be a dick or speak badly about me or him in my presence because, flawed as he is and while i won’t make excuses for him, i’ll stand up for him. go somewhere else, my dude. i, personally, don’t have the energy for your negativity. nor do i have the patience.

ARE YOU OKAY WITH PEOPLE POINTING OUT YOUR GRAMMATICAL ERRORS? ♠ || i’m more okay with people correcting my spelling (gently). because of the way i taught myself to read, i’d be FUCKED if auto-correct or spell-check didn’t exist. i also google correct spellings constantly. so spelling, yeah, i already know that i’m terrible at it so feel free to correct type-os or spelling mishaps, it ain’t no thang.

grammar i’m a bit... pickier about. because sometimes i’ll purposely do a “grammatical error” because the punctuation or otherwise further drives the pacing or mood i’m trying to give my writing. i may not know ALL the rules but i break them from time to time... FOR THE ART.

DO YOU THINK YOU ARE EASY GOING AS A MUN? ♠ || i wanna say i am?? while i definitely do want to seriously explore and flesh out and grow dol as a muse and character, i’m “not above” goofing around, poking fun at him, or just being plain silly on the dash. RPing is escapism for me and i strive to keep my blog a peaceful safe haven on the dashboard, both for myself and my followers.

i try to communicate to the best of my ability and despite my anxieties, and while i may not be able to follow or RP with EVERYONE (for obvious reasons) i’m open to interacting with ... pretty much anyone who throws me a bone. i’ll speak up if i’m not down for a plot or interested in a certain relationship or interaction, but i’m certainly not going to be rude or dismissive about it. i know what that feels like. i’d say yeah, though! i think i’m pretty chill. e-e you tell me.

#♦: ooc answer .#[ ;0; THIS WAS FUN ]

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betweengenesisfrogs · 5 years

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Homestuck is My Favorite Sprite Comic

Yes, you read that right.

Homestuck is my favorite sprite comic.

Those of you who remember the earlier days of the internet are probably looking at this post in disbelief right about now. Others of you might be scratching your heads, not knowing what I’m talking about.

But here’s my pitch: Homestuck is the culmination of an entire genre of internet art, and the tools that make it so powerful are the very tools that made that genre once so reviled.

Homestuck is the greatest and most successful sprite comic of all time.

And honestly, I’ve wanted to talk about that for ages, so let’s do it.

WHAT SPRITE COMICS WERE

Many of my readers are probably too young to remember the era of sprite comics. So: what were sprite comics?

Sprite comics were a genre of webcomics made entirely by taking pixel art from video games – especially character art, called “sprites,” but also backgrounds and other images—and placing them into panels to tell a story. They were near-ubiquitous on the internet in the early 2000s, emerging right as webcomics in general were seeking to establish themselves as an art form.

They were not, shall we say, known for their quality. The low bar to access meant that art skill was not an obstacle to starting one. The folks behind the huge swell of them tended to be young people, kids and early teenagers recreating the plots of their favorite video games with new OCs—not the most advanced writers or artists. They were the early 2000s’ quintessential example of ephemeral, childish art. Unfortunately, they look even worse today—blown-up pixels don’t hold up well when displayed on higher-resolution monitors.

Today, they’re mostly forgotten, remembered only as a weird, strange moment in the youth of the internet. Someone who evoked them today, such as a blogger who compared them to one of the most successful webcomics of all time, would be inviting good-natured teasing at the very least.

It would be unfair to dismiss them entirely, though. In this low-stakes environment, comics where the author could bring more skill—engaging writing, legitimately funny jokes, or especially, a real ability to work with pixel art—really stood out. (Unsurprisingly, these authors tended to skew a bit older.)

The obvious one to mention is Bob and George. Bob and George wasn’t the first sprite comic, but it was the most influential. Conceived initially as Mega Man-themed filler for a hand-drawn comic about superheroes, it quickly became a merging of the two concepts, with the original characters made into Mega Man-style sprites, full of running gags, humorous retellings of the Mega Man games, elaborate storylines about time travel, and robots eating ice cream. It was generally agreed, even among sprite comic haters, that Bob and George was a pretty good comic. Worth mentioning also are 8-Bit Theater, which turned the plot of the first Final Fantasy into a spectacular and hilarious farce, and of course Kid Radd, my second favorite sprite comic. (More on that later.)

But even if you weren’t looking for greatness—there was something just damn fun about them. The passion of sprite comic authors was clear, even if their ideas didn’t always cohere. To this day, I think the sprite comic scene has the same appeal pulp art does—it’s crude and rough, full of garbage to sift through, but every so often, something deeply sincere and bizarre shines through, and the culture of its authors is a fascinating object of study in itself.

Okay, full disclosure: I was one of the people who made a sprite comic. I’ve written about my experiences with that in more depth elsewhere, but yeah, I was on the inside of this scene, rather than a disinterested observer, and from the inside, maybe it’s a lot easier to see the appeal.

Still, let me make this claim: even with all their flaws, sprite comics were doing some incredibly interesting things, and Homestuck is heir to their legacy.

TAKE ME DOWN TO RECOLOR CITY

One of the problems people always had with sprite comics was the sprites themselves. They’re the most repetitive thing in the world. You just keep copying and pasting the same images over and over again, maybe with a few tweaks. That’s not really being an artist, is it? It’s so lazy. Re-drawing things from different angles keeps things dynamic, develops your skill, and makes your work better in general. Right?

I’m mostly in agreement. Certainly I think it’s fair to rag on the Control-Alt-Delete guy, along with other early bad webcomics, for copy-pasting their characters while dropping in new expressions and mass-producing tepid strips. And to be fair, digging through bad sprite comics often felt like an exercise in seeing the same slightly-edited recolors of Mega Man characters over and over again. You got really tired of that same body with its blobby feet and hands.

(It should be noted, though, that there were folks in the sprite comic scene who could pixel art the quills off a porcupine. I salute you, brave pixel art masters of 2006. I hope you all got into your chosen art school.)

All this said, I think the repetitive and simplistic nature of sprite comics was often their biggest strength.

THE POWER OF ABSTRACTION

In his classic work Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud makes an observation about cartooning that has stayed with me to this day.

McCloud notes that simple, abstract drawings, like faces that are only few lines and dots on a page, resonate with us more strongly than more detailed drawings. This is because our minds fill in what’s missing on the page. We ascribe human depth to simple gestures and expressions based on our own emotions and experiences – and this makes us feel closer to these characters as readers. Secretly, simple cartoons can be one of the most powerful forms of storytelling. If you want your readers to fall in love with your characters, draw them simply, and let them fill them in.

Video game sprites work very well in this regard. They have that same simplicity that cartoons do. In fact, I’d be willing to bet a huge part of the success of SNES-era RPGs was simple, almost childlike character sprites drawing people in. I think sprites did the same for sprite comics.

Here’s the weird thing: Bob and George worked. Despite four different characters being variations on the same friggin’ Mega Man sprite in different colors, they immediately began to seem like different people with distinct personalities. For me, George’s befuddled, helpless dismay immediately comes to mind whenever I picture his face, while with Mega Man himself it’s usually a wide-eyed, childlike glee. I would never confuse them. This, despite the fact that the only actual difference between their faces is that George is blonde. It’s pretty clear what happened. The personalities the author established for them through dialogue and storytelling shone through, and my brain did the rest.

Sprites, in short, were a canvas upon which the mind could project any story the author wanted to tell. Even the most minute differences in pixel art came to stand, in the best sprite comics, for wide divergences in personality and ideals, once the reader spent enough time with them to adapt to their style of representation.

Wait a minute, haven’t we seen this somewhere before? Character designs that focus on variations on a theme, with subtle differences that nonetheless render them instantly recognizable?

Oh, right.

Look at what greets us on the very first page of Homestuck. An absurdly simple cartoon boy, abstracted to a ridiculous degree—he doesn’t even have arms!—followed a whole bunch of characters that follow suit. Though many other representations of the characters emerge, these little figures never quite go away, do they? Why is that?

Simple: they’re very easy to manipulate. They’re modular—you can give John arms or not, depending on whether it’s useful. You can put him in a whole variety of poses and save them to a template. You can change out his facial expressions with copy and paste. You can give him a new haircut and call him Jake. It’s all very quick and easy.

Sprite comics proliferated because they were very easy to mass-produce. Andrew Hussie’s original conception of Homestuck was very similar: something he could put out very quickly and easily, where even the most elaborate ideas could rely on existing assets to be sped smoothly along. We all know the result: an incredible production machine, churning out unfathomable amounts of content from 2009-2012. I’d say it was a good call.

But it goes way deeper than that. The modular nature of sprites always suggested a kind of modularity to the sprite comic premise. George and Mega Man were different people, true, but also two variations on a theme. Was there something underlying them that they had in common? Perhaps their similarity says something like: We exist in a world which has a certain set of rules? One of my favorite conceits from Bob and George was that when characters visited the past, they were represented by NES-era Mega Man sprites, while in the present, they were SNES sprites, and in the future, the author used elaborate splicing to render them as 32-bit Mega Man 8 sprites or similar.

Suppose there was a skilled cartoonist thinking about his next big project, who wanted to tell a story centered around this kind of modularity, a narrative that was built out of iterative, swappable pieces by its very design. He might very well create a sprite comic named Homestuck.

Homestuck is a story about a game that creates a hyperflexible mythology for its players, where the villains, challenges, and setting change depending upon what players bring to the experience, yet which all share underlying goals and assumptions. What more perfect opportunity to create a modular story as well? Different groups of kids and trolls have motifs that get swapped around to produce new characters, whether that’s through ectobiology, the Scratch, or the eerie parallels between the kids and trolls’ sessions. And yet each character can be analyzed as an individual.

This is an incredible way to build a huge emotional investment from your readers. Not only does this kind of characterization invite analysis, the abstractions draw readers in to generate their own headcanons and interpretations. A deep commitment to pluralism is at the heart of Hussie’s character design. Then, too, it encourages readers to build their own new designs from these models. Kidswaps, bloodswaps, fantrolls—these have long been the heart of Homestuck’s fandom. And what are bloodswaps if not sprite recolors for a new generation? With the added bonus that now a change in color carries narrative weight, evoking new moods and identities for these characters in ways that early sprite comics could only dream of.

In Hussie’s hands, even the dreaded copy-and-paste takes on heroic depth of meaning. Even when Hussie moves away from sprites to his own loose art style, he continues to remix what we’ve previously see. Indeed, Hussie talks about how he would go out of his way to edit his own art into new images even when it would take more time than drawing something new. Why? Because he wanted to evoke that very feeling of having seen this before—the visual callback to go along with the many conceptual and verbal callbacks that echo throughout Homestuck. This is at the heart of what Doc Scratch (speaking for Hussie) called “circumstantial simultaneity:” we are invited to compare two moments or two characters, to see what they have in common, or how they contrast. Everything in Paradox Space is deeply linked with everything else. And Hussie establishes this in our minds using nothing less than the tool sprite comics were so deeply reviled for: the “lazy” repetition of an image.

(It’s fitting that some of the most jaw-droppingly gorgeous images in Homestuck—dream bubble scenery and the like—are the result of Hussie taking things he’s made before and combining them into fantastic dreamscapes.)

But it all started with the hyperflexible, adaptable character images Hussie created at the very beginning of Homestuck.

And if you need more proof that Homestuck is a sprite comic, I think we need look no further than what Hussie, and the rest of the Homestuck community call these images.

We call them sprites.

THE FIRST GENRE-BENDERS

Was Andrew Hussie influenced by sprite comics in the development of Homestuck? It’s hard to say, but as a webcomic artist in the first decade of the 2000s, he was surely aware of them. It’s likely that he quickly realized that his quick, adaptable images served the same purposes as a sprite in a video game or a sprite comic, and chose to call them that.

One purpose I haven’t mentioned up until now: sprites lend themselves very well to animations. In fact, in their original context of video games, that’s exactly what they’re for: frames of art that can be used to show a character running, jumping, posing, moving across a screen. It’s not surprising, then, that sprite comic makers quickly saw the utility in that.

Homestuck was, in fact, not the first webcomic to make Flash animations part of its story. There were experiments with various gifs and such in other comics, but I think sprite comics were among the most successful at becoming the multi-media creations that would come to be known as hypercomics..

Take a look at this animation from Bob and George. It represents a climactic final confrontation against a long-standing villain, using special effects to make everything dramatic, but ultimately, like many a Homestuck animation, leads to kind of a pyscheout. The drama and the humor of the moment are clear, though. This relies in large part on the music—which is taken directly from the game Chrono Trigger. This makes total sense. Interestingly, it also contains voice acting, which is something Homestuck never tried—probably because it would run contrary to its ideals of pluralism. What I find fascinating is that in sprite comics, animations like these served a very similar purpose to Homestuck’s big flashes: elevating a big moment into something larger-than-life. Another good example is this sequence from Crash and Bass. Seriously, it seems like every sprite comic maker wanted to try their hand at Flash animation.

(By the way, it’s a lot harder than it looks!! I envy Hussie his vectorized sprites. Pixel art is a PAIN to work with in the already buggy program that is Flash.)

The result: because of the sprites themselves, sprite comics were among the first works to play around with the border between comics and other media in the way that would come to be thought of as quintessentially Homestuck.

What it also meant was that another genre emerged in parallel with sprite comics: the sprite animation. Frequently these would retell the story of a particular game, offer a spectacular animated battle sequence, parody the source material, or all three. Great examples include this animation for Mega Man Zero, and this frankly preposterous crossover battle sequence. Chris Niosi’s TOME also found its earliest roots as an animation series of this kind. You also found plenty of sprite-based flash games, in which players could manipulate game characters in a way that was totally outside the context of the original works.

The website the vast majority of these games and animations were hosted on?

Newgrounds, best known to Homestuck fans as the website Hussie crashed in 2011 while trying to upload Cascade.

What’s less talked about is that Hussie was friends, or at least on conversational terms with, the owner of the site, hence the idea to host his huge animation there in the first place, and other flashes, like the first Alterniabound, were initially hosted there as well.

It’s hard to believe that Hussie wasn’t at least a little familiar with the Newgrounds scene. I suspect that he largely conceived of Homestuck as part of the world of “Flash animation—” which in 2009 meant the wide variety of things that were hosted on Newgrounds, including sprite animations.

The freedom and fluidity sprite comics had to change into games and animations and back into comics again was one of their most fascinating traits. Homestuck’s commitment to media-bending needs, at this point, no introduction. But what’s less known is that sprite comics were exploring that territory first—that Homestuck, in short, is the kind of thing they wanted to grow up to be.

PUT ME IN THE GAME

I would be a fool not to mention another big thing Homestuck and sprite comics have in common: a character who is literally the author in cartoon form, running around doing goofy things and messing with the story. This was an incredibly common cliché in sprite comics, no doubt because of Bob and George, who did it early on and never looked back. You might have noticed that the animation I linked above concerns a showdown between Bob and George’s author, David Anez—depicted, delightfully, as another Mega Man recolor—and a mysterious alternate author named Helmut—who is like Mega Man plus Sepiroth I think? It’s all very strange. I could ramble for hours about the relationship between Hussie and the alt-author villains of Homestuck and what it all means, but I’m not sure I can nail anything down with certainty for these two. Maybe Bob and George was never quite that metaphysical.

But yes, bringing the author into the story in some form was already a cliché by the time Homestuck started up. Indeed, I think that’s why Hussie’s character refers to it as “a bad idea” to break the fourth wall—he’s recognizing that people will have seen this before, and are already tired of this sort of shit. And then he goes and does it anyway and makes it somehow brilliant, because he’s Andrew Hussie.

Homestuck breathes life into the cliché by taking it in a metaphysical/metafictional direction. I don’t think that was really the motivation for most sprite comic authors, though. Let’s see if we can dig a little deeper.

I think the cliché kept happening because sprite comic authors were writing about a subject that very closely concerned themselves: video games. I’m only kind of joking. The thing about video games is that even though they’re made for everyone, playing through one yourself feels like an intensely personal experience. You develop an emotional relationship to a world, to its characters, that feels distinctly your own. Now, suddenly, thanks to the magic of sprites, you have an opportunity to tell stories about that world for others to read. Of course you’re going to want to put yourself in the story in some form.

When it wasn’t author characters in sprite comics, it was OCs. You know Dr. Wily? Well here’s my own original villain, Dr. Vindictus. You know Mega Man? Here’s my new character, Super Cool Man. He hangs out with Mega Man and they beat the bad guys together. Stuff like that. Most sprite comics retold the story of a game, or multiple games in a big crossover format, with original elements added in. There was quite a lot of “Link and Sonic and Mega Man are all friends with my OC and they hang out at his house.”

What’s interesting, though, is that because these sprite comics were very aware that they were about video games, this was where they sometimes got very meta. It started with humorous observation—hey, isn’t it funny that Link goes around breaking into people’s houses and smashing their pots? But sometimes, it grew into more serious commentary. Is Mega Man trapped in a never-ending cycle, doomed to fight the same fight against the same mad scientist until the end of time? Is it worth it, being a video game hero?

Enter Homestuck. What I’ve been dancing around this whole time is:

Homestuck is a sprite comic…because Homestuck is a video game.

Or more specifically, Homestuck’s a comic about a video game called SBURB, where the lines between the game and the comic about the game blur as characters wrestle with the narratives around them, both those encoded into the game and those encoded into our expectations.

Homestuck presents the fantasy of many a sprite comic maker: I get to go on heroic quests, I get to change the world and become a god. I get to be part of the video game. And then it asks the same question certain sprite comics were beginning to ask:

Is it worth it, to be that hero?

I want to tell you about my second favorite sprite comic, a comic called Kid Radd.

Kid Radd distinguished itself from other sprite comics of the time by being a completely original production. Its sprites looked like they could be from a variety of NES and SNES-era video games, but they were all done from scratch, and the games they purported to represent were all fictional. Kid Radd used animations with original music, and sometimes interactive, clickable games, to tell its story. It also used all sorts of neat programming tricks to make it load faster on the internet of the early 2000s, which was great—unfortunately, these same techniques made it break as web technology evolved, something Homestuck fans in 2019 can definitely relate to. The good news is, fans have maintained a dedicated and reformatted archive where the comics can still be seen and downloaded.

Kid Radd’s premise is that video game characters themselves are conscious and alive—more specifically, their sprites. Sprites developed consciousness as human beings projected personality and identity onto them, remaining aware of their status as video game constructs while also seeking to be something more. The story follows the titular Kid Radd, at first in the context of his own game, commenting on the choices the player controlling him. He must endure every death, every strange decision along the way to save his girlfriend Sheena. Then the story expands into a larger context as Radd, Sheena, and many other video game characters are released onto the internet as data. They try to find their own identities and build a society for themselves, but struggle with the tendency toward violence that games have programmed into them. The story culminates in an honestly moving moment where Radd confronts the all-powerful creators of their reality—human beings.

It’s a very good comic.

The first sprite comic authors wanted to fuse real life with video games. Later sprite comic authors decided to ask: what would that really mean? Would it be painful? Would you suffer? Would you find a way to make your life meaningful all the same? Despite the limitations of sprite comics, these ideas had incredible potential, and in works like Kid Radd, they flourished.

Homestuck is heir to that legacy.

It takes the questions Kid Radd was asking, and asks them in new ways. It tries to understand, on an even deeper level, how the rules of video games shape our own minds and give us ways to understand ourselves.

At its heart, Homestuck is a sprite comic, and it might just be the greatest of them all.

EPILOGUE

I’ve seen a lot of good discussion recently on how Homestuck preserves a certain era of the internet like a time capsule: its culture, its technology, its assumptions, its memes.

I think sprite comics, too, are part of the culture that created Homestuck. Do I think Hussie spent the early 2000s recoloring Mega Man sprites? No, probably not. But what I do know is that sprite comics were part of his world. The first webcomic cartoonists came of age alongside an odd companion, the weird, overly sincere, dorky little sibling that was sprite comics. Like them or hate them, you couldn’t escape them. They were there.

And maybe a certain cartoonist saw a kind of potential in them, in the same way he summoned Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff from the depths of bad gamer culture.

Or maybe he just knew, as some sprite comic authors did, that the time was right for their kind of story.

On a personal level—Homestuck came along right when I needed it.

Around 2009, the bubble that was sprite comics finally burst. People were getting tired of them, or growing out of them, and blown-up sprites no longer looked so good on modern monitors.

I was more than a little heartbroken. I’d enjoyed Bob and George, read my fill of Mega Man generica, and fallen utterly in love with Kid Radd. I’d been working on my own sprite comic for a long time out of a sense that there was huge potential in them that we were only scratching the surface of. I’d dreamed of maybe someday doing something as amazing as the best of them did. But I was watching that world disappear. I had to admit to myself that my work wasn’t going to continue to find an audience. That I could live with. But it was painful to think that the potential I sensed, the feats of storytelling I wanted to see in the world, would never be realized.

And then, in the fall of 2010, a friend linked me to a comic that broke all the rules, that mixed animation, games, music, images and chatlogs. A comic that crafted its own sprites, just as Kid Radd did, and remixed its images into an ever-expanding web of associations and meanings. A comic that took on the idea of living inside a video game with relish and turned it into a gorgeous meditation on escaping the ideas and systems that control us.

That this comic would exist, let alone that it would succeed. That it would become one of the most popular creations of all time, that it would surpass other webcomics and break out into anime conventions and the real world, that it would become such a cultural juggernaut, to the point where it’s impossible to imagine an internet without Homestuck—

I can’t even put into words how happy that makes me. It’s the reason I’m still writing essays about Homestuck nearly eight years after I found it.

And it’s why Homestuck will always be my favorite sprite comic.

-Ari

[Notes: The image of the kids came from the ever-useful MSPA Wiki—please support and aid in their efforts to provide a good source of info about Homestuck! They need more support these days than ever.

For more on Homestuck’s place as a continuation of the zeitgeist of early 2000s experimental webcomics, this article by Sam Keeper at Storming the Ivory Tower is excellent and insightful.

Thanks for reading, y’all.]

#homestuck analysis #homestuck #homestuck's influences #hypercomics #understanding homestuck #sprite comics #internet culture

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korora12 · 5 years

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Tagged by @corisanna

1. What is your favorite relationship type to write/read? Romantic, platonic, familial, and any subtypes.

I like romantic relationships that don’t rely solely or primarily on physical attraction, but instead on a deep similarity between the two characters. I like when two people meet eyes and realize that “You understand me. You get me better than anyone else I’ve ever met, and I feel less lonely knowing that someone else sees the world the same way I do.”

2. How much or what kind of research do you do for your fiction? If you don’t write, has a fic ever made you curious enough to research something?

Only as much as is necessary. I usually use research as a springboard for inspiration when I hit a block, letting myself wander the fields of Wikipedia until I stumble upon something that knocks the block loose.

Of course, sometimes I research stuff just for fun, with no relation to my writing whatsoever, until some random point down the line where it suddenly does and I’m super happy I already know [Random Fact #237].

3. What was the first work of fiction you remember becoming completely engrossed in?

Hmm. Probably Animorphs. I remember doing everything I could to hunt down the numerous books in the series (back in the ancient, pre-Amazon Prime days). I’d prowl the various school and public libraries near me, ask for specific books in the series for Christmas and birthdays, and even buy the occasional book at the yearly Scholastic Book Fairs, using what little money I got for an allowance.

I made it most of the way through the series, but then there was one book, near the end, that I couldn’t find, no matter how hard I looked. And it was an important, plot-changing, book that I had to read before continuing. Which meant I never actually finished the series.

Of course, nowadays you can find them all online as pdfs. Maybe I should revisit the series sometime and finally finish it. I already know how it ends, but I still feel like those last few books deserve to be read.

4. What work(s) had a lasting influence on you or your writing style?

Going back to Animorphs again. There is a straight-line connection between me reading that series as a child, through my elementary school friends Brooke, who was obsessed with dogs, and Caitlin, who was even more obsessed with dolphins (I used to find pictures of dolphins in magazines and cut them out just to give to her), through my Grandma’s love of science, all the way to my decision to study Zoology in college. If I had never read those books, I wouldn’t have developed the passion for animals and animal behavior that has shaped my life for over two decades.

Also, stylistically speaking, I really respect that series for how it treated its readers. Its target audience was grade schoolers, and yet it never shied away from showing the realities of violence and war. I don’t know that I’ll ever write children’s literature, but I’ll always have this series to remind me of what kids are capable of understanding and handling.

5. What kind of sound environment do you prefer for writing/reading? Silent, white noise, music with/without words, sitting in a public place with the ambient noise of humanity, etc.

Depends on how well my brain is cooperating. Pure silence is ideal, but more often than not there’s some manner of song stuck on repeat in the background of my mind, and the only way to drown it out is with non-lyrical music of some sort. Usually I try to pick songs that match the mood of whatever scene I’m trying to write.

6. Are you or do you like authors who are teases, in story or out?

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I’m a big fan of the Death of the Author trope, so I tend not to get too worked up by whatever the author may be saying and just let the story speak for itself.

My first instinct is to say that an author shouldn’t worry too much about what their fans think and should write the story they want to write, and it will find readers that appreciate it. However, I recognize that the nature of serial online writing, such as fanfiction, changes the game a bit. Such authors have a much more immediate, direct connection with their readers than authors who release one or two physical books every year or so. Some authors take that to an extreme, turning stories almost into a dialogue with their readers, each new chapter in some way defined by how people reacted to the previous one. And that doesn’t even touch on Quests, a type of story on forums sites such as Spacebattles and Sufficient Velocity that require player input on a regular basis to continue. In these types of situations, I can hardly blame an author for playing with their readers heads a bit. The reactions they have can be a form of entertainment all their own.

7. Have you ever experienced a “the characters write themselves” or “character rebellion” mental state?

Not yet. For the time being, I remain in complete control of my universes, but I recognize the hubris of assuming this to be a permanent state.

8. Do you have a favorite franchise crossover? Like Bleach/Harry Potter, Madoka Magica/Card Captor Sakura, etc.

I don’t know if I have a particular favorite. I was really fond of Secret Trio for a while, which is Danny Phantom, American Dragon Jake Long, and Randy Cunningham 9th Grade Ninja. I’m still very fond of the Disney/Square Enix megacrossover that is Kingdom Hearts, despite being very disappointed in the most recent game in the series. Then there’s Kino’s Journey/Anything, mostly because I love Kino’s Journey, and I love seeing her response/reaction to various other worlds.

Also, Stargate/Anything. The only reason I ever started watching the show was because I’d read several different fics, all in different fandoms (Avatar, Yu-Gi-Oh, Star Wars, Naruto), and all of which crossed over with Stargate. Despite the similarities, both being sci-fi stories set around the turn of the millennium involving mind-controlling aliens, I’ve yet to see a good Stargate/Animorphs crossover. It’d be pretty easy to do, too. There’s a point in the Animorphs series where they decide to bring knowledge of their guerrilla war to the attention of the US government. If they’re already in the Stargate universe, I’m sure the president will quickly pass the problem along to the experts, and suddenly you’ve got the perfect setup of adults who think they know how to handle the problem, are mostly right, and don’t want kids fighting in a war, vs child soldiers who have no intention of giving up the fight so near its end, even if the adults are more competent than they expected.

I’m gonna have to write it myself, one of these days, if no one else gets around to doing it.

9. Do you remember anything about the first fanfic you ever read?

Two Halves by DameWren. My first fandom was Naruto, and my first fanfic was a NaruHina fic that both introduced me to the concept of fandom, and also sold the ship for me in a way that I’ve never shaken. I remember very little beyond that, except that it managed to correctly predict that Naruto would go on a training trip, despite being written before such an event happened in canon.

10. Is there a work of fiction that you are annoyed doesn’t have much if any fic? Like Bizenghast.

Kino’s Journey, Cowboy Bebop, Double Arts (just never got enough attention in general)

11. What fictional character do you strongly identify with?

Weiss Schnee, from RWBY. While I’ve never been accused of being rich, I am a middle child with a much older sister that cut ties with the family when I was young and a younger brother that I never got along with while growing up. My parents were also abusive, my father physically and both of them emotionally, and they taught me a number of unhealthy ideas about race, amongst other things, that I’ve had to put serious effort into unlearning. And I have, since becoming an adult, traveled long distances across the world, partially for my own benefit, and partially to distance myself physically from a family I’ve never felt particularly close to, resulting in a drastic personality shift that took a couple years to complete, but ultimately left me a very different, and much better, person.

So, yeah, Weiss is basically my favorite RWBY character, and one I really need to write more often, all things considered.

That was fun! I’ve never been tagged in anything like this before. My turn for questions!

1. What is your the most recent fandom you’ve gotten involved in? Have you made any content for it?

2. Do you have a favorite AU/plotline that you love regardless of fandom (ie. Peggy Sue, Coffee Shop AU, Space AU, Self-Insert)? What about it do you like?

3. If you write, how do you go about deciding a character’s sexuality? If not, do you ever have any sexuality headcanons for characters?

4. What’s the longest fanfic that you’ve ever read, beginning to end?

5. How often do you make something you’re proud of? Doesn’t have to be writing, just has to be something that wouldn’t exist if you hadn’t made it yourself.

6. What are your opinions on OCs in fanfiction?

7. What is your favorite storytelling medium (ie. television, written word, spoken word, video games, song, etc.)?

8. What was the last song you had stuck in your head, and what was it about?

9. Do you prefer reading/writing stories set in fictional worlds, or stories set in the real world/real world analogous (ie. Supernatural or Marvel Comics)?

10. If you could bring one fictional character into the real world, who would it be and why?

11. Pick your favorite of the questions I was asked to answer for yourself.

I just realized that I don’t know how many of my followers are writers. I guess @hunkygoddess @tmifangirl21 @queendarktigress @ladyvallhalla @i-mushi @xekstrin @shinobicyrus and anyone else who sees this and might be interested. No pressure, it’s just for fun!

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curiousthimble · 5 years

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Bitter Asks

tagged by @kunstpause and bc I have not suffered enough we will do it for Dragon Age

What OTPs in your fandom(s) do you just not get?

I don’t get the Sera/Dagna pair, or Cole and anyone. I don’t feel the need to pair up every single character.

Are there any popular fandom OTPs you only BroTP?

Dorian and Cullen

Have you ever unfollowed someone over a fandom opinion?

oh hell yes

Do you have a NoTP in your fandom? Are they a popular OTP?

Fenris and Anders. I’ve seen them in a lot of group situations and it just makes me cringe.

Has fandom ever ruined a pairing for you?

Not a pairing, but definitely some characters.

Has fandom ever made you enjoy a pairing you previously hated?

Hawke and Fenris (although to be fair, two people I beta for write this pairing)

Is there anything you used to like but can’t stand now?

The concept of Bioware’s “grey morality.” A few characters.

Have you received anon hate? What about?

lol yeah. Anyone who dares to do their own thing is going to get some. I’ve been told that I don’t need to try to write DA fics because my OCs aren’t “real Wardens.”

Most disliked character(s)? Why?

Pro-Circle Mages- yeah, that includes Wynne- for obvious reasons. Every templar in DA2, again, for obvious reasons.

And Cole. He’s a demon.

Most disliked arc? Why?

anything where I have to help a templar.

Is there an unpopular character you like that the fandom doesn’t? Why?

Blackwall. He ACTUALLY had a redemption arc.

Is there an unpopular arc that you like that the fandom doesn’t? Why?

I don’t hate the Deep Roads. In DA2 I love it.

Unpopular opinion about XXX character?

I think Cullen hasn’t changed at all, he’s just aligned himself with the winning side.

Unpopular opinion about your fandom?

Y’all need the Qun.

Unpopular opinion about the manga/show/game?

DAI is the least fun and the most annoying.

If you could change anything in the show, what would you change?

Hire a more diverse writing team. Give players more background options (like DAO) and more diverse LIs

Does not shipping something ‘popular’ mean you’re in denial and/or biased?

pfft. I don’t care about popularity

What is the purest ship in the fandom?

...there isn’t one.

What are your thoughts on crack ships?

Sail those ships till they sink

Popular character you hate?

I don’t hate any of them, but I do think some aren’t written as well as they should have been

Unpopular character you love?

LOGHAIN AND ANORA. In this house, we love the Mac Tirs

Would you recommend XXX to a friend? Why or why not?

Yes, with some warnings.

Most shippable character?

lol, the ones we don’t get to romance, like Sten and Varric

Least shippable character?

Cole.

Feel free to change fandoms or ignore - the usual disclaimer :D

#lol I love to bitch about my favorite things

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space-unicorn-dot · 5 years

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alonso and or justin for the character thing (bc ydris is too predictable lol)

lmao, that is a fair reason. And Justin’s a fun one just because we all give him so much shit. More I think about it, he doesn’t necessarily deserve all of it, but, boy… B o i.

Alonso!

I did really enjoy that the collective fandom like hc’ed him to be this soft, shy boi and he turned out to be a total lady’s man. That still amuses me to this day. But, like, a soft, respecting lady’s man. +10 respect. He’s a very good guy; I like the background we got to see for him, his passion for it, and his personality. Friendly, got a sense of humor. Good guy. 10/10.

I also feel like half of the characters I could ever get asked for in this department, like, my opinion is going to vary SO HARD cause I’m ace as fuck.

hogwarts house: gryffindor | slytherin | ravenclaw | hufflepuff

Helpful Hufflepuff vibes.

best quality: Friendly, stand up guy. 10/10 could count on. Knows he’s pretty, but hasn’t become an asshat for it. Great guy.

worst quality: That awful sense of tack set fashion. Please give him a matching set. Fashionable boy deserves better.

ship them with: I have no idea. My asexuality strikes again. I haven’t done a lot with my characters and him, so I haven’t really thought about it, tbh? I could probably get behind him and Violet though. They have a really good working relationship that I think could have easily worked into more, if it was desired.

brotp them with: 100/10 Violet. Work buddies!

needs to stay away from: Bad people. All the bad people ever. Don’t corrupt our son. Then again, I think he would be the kind of person to see ‘em and support us and have our back. But. Don’t. Corrupt. Our Son.

misc. thoughts: He has a good bond with his poni, I appreciate. 10/10. He also has the zoomies asf.

Alonso: It’s not a race!

Alonso, no more than a minute later: Yeets off at the speed of a gallop to the ranger station in the trot animation.

Justin!

I say I feel bad giving Justin shit, but, honestly, I’ve brushed him off for so long that I’m like, eh? Literally in that phrasing. I do remember when I first started playing, when I was younger, and they fed us the low-key hints about us having something for Justin and I was like “ouuu, horse movie plot thickens” and, there was a time, yes, I thought it could have been cute. But then we got on in the story a little more and I was like, yeah, no, I can’t see it. He’s definitely been through some shit though, and that’s naturally gonna fuck with someone, so, like, doesn’t deserve all the shit in the world, deserves some help for it. But I also read at one point, I think, something about how we’re supposedly maybe (especially with hints from more recent quest developments) the reincarnation of Aideen and we have all these strong Soul Rider powers, but we haven’t done anything? They gave us sort of a choice to interpret whether or not we were a Wild Whisperer, but, honestly, considering Justin’s whole thing with the Singing Yew on South Hoof, it sort of felt undermined, and like it really didn’t have the impact I think it should have, could have, and I wanted to believe. So, I think that has played into my opinion of him as well. Our hand has been sort of forced in situations regarding him, and they haven’t exactly painted him in the best light. And, unfortunately for him, for the longest time, I played the game at face value - I was playing as a player, not creating OCs to be participating in the story. Now that I’ve started doing that, it’s made me think a little bit more about how my characters would actually interact with him, but… it’s still pretty much the same deal.

I would say “get away from me” not because he’s horrid, but, like, bro, I’m ace, I don’t find you remotely attractive, so, please. Leave me my space. So we’ll go with meh. Nice guy. Not at all interested, not even romantically. Not one single bit.

hogwarts house: gryffindor | slytherin | ravenclaw | hufflepuff

He also needs some help. But his super helpful and, unfortunately, gullible nature is definitely stereotypical Hufflepuff.

best quality: I like his black hair. Pretty decent. And he’s a nice guy and all, but… Oof, yeah, you can tell my opinion isn’t all that great, I’m scrambling for this one.

worst quality: The way forwarding his story backseated the Main Character’s development.

ship them with: Catherine. I’m so sorry I do not remember your blog. He is not generally my favorite, but, for some reason, they work to me. And they do it very good.

brotp them with: He’s always getting into trouble kalnfals;dnfalskdf. I don’t know, he needs to get out more. He needs to be free. Set him free. Let him live his life. Stop fucking with him. Like, the Welsh ponies of South Hoof are his most positive and unquestioning relationship lately? Help him?

needs to stay away from: Fucking Sabine, for one. Who the fuck trusts a grandfather you’ve never heard from or of without even asking your father first? Justin? The fuck?

misc. thoughts: Yeah, okay, he’s just problematic for overall story things the way he’s been written now and it’s really made me sour about him, I’m sorry, Justin. You really do deserve better and it is one of weak points in the current Star Stable world, I have to admit. I don’t by any means have anything against anyone that likes him, and, honestly, if you have a more positive opinion of him, I might call you a better person than I am because I just can’t quite unsee what I’ve seen in the situation, you know? Because he’s still a nice guy, just he got a real shit hand in life. I just wish it could have been handled a little better.

#sso #star stable online #alonso #justin moorland #dot talks #i feel like such an ass for my thoughts on justin tbh?#like he's a nice guy so i'm just like wow #but oof #i just can't #can't do it

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tumblunni · 5 years

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Hhhhh if i can raise $500 in a month i could design the new gym teacher character for a sequel to a nostalgic fave game of mine

Aaaaaaaaa

And i'm a little dissappointed that even though the first game literally awakened me to the whole concept of being genderqueer they still arent gonna have any actual genderqueer characters. That kinda sucks cos seriously that goddamn two sentence mention of different pronouns existing fuckin EXPLODED MY MIND and led me down a whole road of self discovery. A bit sad to know it was a big deal for me but maybe not for the writers. Oh well!

...so man i kinda wanna throw $500 bucks at them and be like PERHAPS..CONSIDER...A NONBINARY ANYONE. Like i dont even have an idea for a character yet lol! Only being able to pick the gym teacher is a bit specific so none of my past oc ideas would work. But can i just throw money at people to let them know that nonbinary people play their games and we're enough of a market to maybe add like one npc somewhere or something? Seriously just those two sentences were worth so much to someone struggling as a teen, can you imagine how many more young queer kids could feel that "oh god im not broken" moment if there were more characters like them? And i mean things have actually progressed a lot since the first game came out. We now have a lot more commonly accepted genderqueer pronouns! The first game was pretty ahead of its time for raising the subject but it talked about old 1970s scienceman pronouns and stuff. (Tho lol a part of me wishes the spivak set would become more popular just cos it was my first introduction to the topic)

I dunno man am i asking too much? Am i just projecting onto this game cos i played the first game during a dark time in my life? Ehh..

Anyway if i can't do HERE 500 DOLLA PLZ PUT ONE ENBY STUDENT IN THE BACKGROUND then i'd maybe do this gym teacher thing? I was thinking just.. A nice person. Some big bubbly happy teacher who doesnt have any form of grumpiness or avtually-kinda-manipulative-behind-a-false-facade. Just cos these poor kids deserve at least one teacher they can trust, lol! Also cos gym teachers are often the most stereotyped as grumpy bastards out of all teachers forever. Itd be nice to imagine an ideal world where gym lessons arent the worst part of every week and like.. Actually goddamn help kids stay healthy or enjoy sports, instead of being just a boiling pot of abusive army seargeant teacher and every bully getting free reign to smack you about. Just gimme a nice buff teacher whose muscles are strong for hugging and supporting everyone! Oh and maybe their character flaw could even be that they're too nice? Like sort of an ironic thing of the gym teacher being strong physically but emotionally a "wimp". They're sort of seen as dumb muscle and not taken seriously by the kids, but half of the time their funny "naive" moments are just them being too trusting of everybody. Its easy to spin some sob story and ditch class! I think that'd line up well with how gym class goes in the first game, wher eyou never see the teacher and it seems that the bully kids are making all the decisions about the lessons. Like i could see the gym teacher caving in to stuff like "we dont wanna excercise at all we're just gonna use magic to move the ball" if they were kind of a doormat. And maybe could even have a plotline where its like.. Dark consequences from this? Like you're getting bullied and the gym teacher basically becomes your enemy despite being good natured, cos they keep falling for the bully's side of things and not believing you. Or tehy try and be all "lets look at both sides of this" when there really isnt a second side, or their way of dealing with conflict in general is to completely ignore it with some overly optimistic and utterly flawed sort of "just talk about your feeeelings" hippy crap. And in the end you could call them out on how their attempts to "be nice" are shortsighted and hurting people worse than intentional cruelty ever could. And really they're not even a "nice person" but just someone terrified of conflict, who's willing to sacrifice their morals whenever anything gets too difficult. It could potentially be a really good plotline cos the player might get to trust this teacher and like their goofy comic relief personality and then they betray you when you need it the most. And its even more crushing because its not them being an intentional fucko like the other jerk characters, its just them deciding you arent important enough to take the risk of standing up for you. And maybe it could indeed have a good ending of this teacher atoning for their shittiness, but that'd also mean they decide they really arent prepared for being a teacher and shouldnt be in this position of authority over children. So they resign and that leads to the situation in the first game where gym class is just the kids being left alone to fuck around with a bag of basketballs for two hours. Alas! (But yknow if the writers liked the character and wanted to bring them back in later games i wouldbt exactly object to that, lol!)

Tho probably i wouldnt make this character nonbinary cos honestly people get Really Weird about gender when it involves sports and bodybuilding and stuff. Its already hard enough to get people to accept a buff or tomboyish female character so i bet no matter how androgynous i draw a gym teacher everyone's still gonna assume male. I mean i still get fuckin bummed out whenever i watch lets plays of Undertale and see people calling Undyne male for houuuurs after the game constantly and repeatedly tells you she's a woman. >_> So yeh if i wanted to make a genderqueer oc it would probably be in less of a loaded plot role, yknow? But gym teacher is the only option currently available on kickstarter. Someone else nabbed Librarian in under an hour after it started! No fair! XD (im excited to see that libarian if the backer was THAT DEDICATED to getting the character, i bet theyre gonna be awesome!)

#magical diary oc stuff #aaaa i feel 15 again

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fontainebleau22 · 5 years

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Oooh could you do a directors commentary for A Scent of Lavender? I'd love to hear one for the scene that starts with ‘I’ll need to pass on this hand,’ and the scene right after from '‘I’ll need to pass on this hand,’ up until 'No harm, then'. And also to hear any background info on how you chose the idea, and what kind of research you might have done for it!

Thank you so much for the ask, and sorry it took me a while to get around to it! I really enjoyed thinking about this, though it’s pretty long.

‘I’ll need to pass on this hand,’ says Goodnight,pushing back his chair.

I agonised alot about the change of tense between the Goody/Billy story (present) and Tess’sstory (past), but there was just no other way to do it that I could find. And,as I said elsewhere, if it’s good enough for Dickens in Bleak House then it’s good enough for me.

MacClaren scowls. ‘Not thinking of quitting on us?’Goodnight’s luck’s been good, or his companions’ attention poor, and he’sclaimed a steady run of pots, but he’s sharp enough to realise that MacClarenhas thrown in several likely hands, encouraging a less wary player to thinkhimself better than he was: he’ll expect to recoup his losses and more as theliquor flows and the evening progresses.

There’s a lotof Deadwood behind this fic, and whileMacClaren is just an extra, for the scene as a whole I had in mind some of thepermanent poker players who figure as extras in Deadwood.

Goodnight holds up his hands placatingly. ‘A call tothe outhouse: I’m not done yet.’

He takes his time out back, then once the game hasre-engaged MacClaren’s attention, he slips back to the bar to find Billy. Thisis one of the many advantages of a partner he’d found; too often before when hewas gambling the drink and the company would go to his head, and what he wonwhile the evening was young he’d lose or drink away later on. Now he can quietlypass a handful of notes and coins to Billy, always clear-minded and precise nomatter how much he’s drunk, and know that they’ll wake up in profit. To hissurprise, though, Billy’s abandoned his station at the bar and is sitting at atable with one of the girls, apparently in lively conversation.

At first he’s simply taken aback: this is the firsttime in the months they’ve spent together that he’s seen his new partner showany interest in female company. But it’s human nature, after all, and Billy’s aman; maybe he’s been holding back since they partnered up. On the heels ofsurprise follows a wave of self-reproach. They’ve always shared a room; theysettled into that early without debate to save money and trouble both, butmaybe Billy’s felt it to be more of a constraint than he liked to consider.

This isprobably my unspoken headcanon that Goody is actually a pretty selfish person,or at least a person who finds little interest in anyone else around him, apartfrom Billy, and at this stage in their partnership his bubble of self-obsessionis just starting to expand to enclose Billy in it.

Their partnership has been lucrative, and they’vemoved from wariness to something he’d like to call friendship: he enjoysBilly’s companionship and he hopes that’s reciprocated. If it raises feelingsin him that he thought were long dead, if he’d like to offer more, much more,mesmerised from that first meeting by his fine-boned face, his dark eyes, thestrength and lightning-fast reflexes he wears so lightly, well, Goodnight keepsthat locked away inside.

OK, here’s why Iwas annoyed with the comments I got about Goody being too passive and subordinateto Billy in his emotions in this fic. There is a power imbalance between them, of coursethere is – Goody is white, educated, respected and if not wealthy himself,comes from a wealthy background, while Billy is poor, a member of a despisedminority, without family in the US and owning only what he stands up in. Ofcourse Goody is going to be incredibly tentative in expressing his feelings,even if he thinks they might be reciprocated: as I read it, he has to let Billy come to him rather than theother way around.

But he’s welcomed their growing intimacy, two againsta hostile world, without thought, and now, it seems, here’s proof he was wrong.

The girl’s not exactly sitting in Billy’s lap:they’re just talking, a respectable distance apart, but even so he doesn’t feelhe wants to interrupt. Looking at her, Goodnight thinks he recognises the girlwho spoke to him earlier, and he wonders, why this one? She’s pretty, as far ashe’s any judge, doll-like, her fair hair curled into ringlets; none of thegirls here are overdressed, but though her clothes are plain – a red skirt andstriped camisole, stockings and boots – there’s something neater about her thanthe others he can see in their rumpled blouses and torn lace. No jewellery,none of them has that, but she’s tied a dark velvet ribbon round her throatthat emphasises her pale colouring.

Gosh, with OCsyou have to describe what they look like! It was actually quite interesting todescribe Billy and Goody as Tess sees them as well, with how wealthy they lookto the fore because that’s her professional concern.

She’s as good as Billy could find in a place likethis, and she’s obviously working to please him, leaning closer with her eyeson his face. May be that’s all it is – a woman who’ll take him seriously. Shesays something that makes Billy laugh, his smile flashing bright, andGoodnight’s honest enough to admit that the tightening in his chest isjealousy; but that’s his problem, and his alone.

‘Your friend there seems to have taken a shine toTessie.’

Goodnight wheels, alert to the mocking edge to thecomment, and finds himself confronting a long-haired man propped idly againstthe bar. At first sight he’s smartly-dressed, exuding self-confidence, but acloser look reveals that his pin-striped suit is shiny in places, the seamsfraying, and the collar greasy.

It’s AlSwearengen from Deadwood! If I’mbeing honest, it pretty much is, though Adams isn’t as ruthless as Swearengen.The suit’s the same, though.

He tips his head back and gives Goodnight aconsidering look. ‘Other pimps might take exception to a Chinaman making freewith their women, but me – live and let live, that’s what I say, right, Amos?’

There is alittle subplot in Deadwood aboutChinese prostitutes being imported for the Chinese community, and I wanted tomake the point that it’s significant Billy is being accepted at this point,even if grudgingly.

The burly barkeep grunts in response: from his mannerhis employer’s used to being agreed with.

And look, there’s Dan Dority behind the bar!

‘Wouldn’t exactly be making free, though, would he?’observes Goodnight, ‘I’m sure your associates would see to that,’ and isrewarded by a splutter as the man chokes on his whiskey.

‘Fair point,’ concedes the man, ‘and money’s whatmakes this nation of ours great, who’s to care whose hands it passes through.’He sticks out a hand. ‘Silas Adams, proprietor. I understand I’m making theacquaintance of the famous Goodnight Robicheaux.’

‘Pleasure’s mine,’ says Goodnight as Adams attemptsto crush his knuckles.

Adams signals for drinks for both of them. ‘On thehouse.’ He raises his glass. ‘Don’t get so many of note passing through here.’

Another ticfrom Deadwood – Al is always pouringpeople free drinks to put them into his debt.

From the corner of his eye Goodnight can seeMacClaren’s glare, but there’s little he can do if the boss is in the mood totalk. ‘Impressive place for a small town,’ he observes: it is striking, thedécor and the games and the girls in what appears to be a glorified tradingpost.

Adams taps the side of his nose. ‘Entertainment’s thebusiness to be in.’ He looks around himself, to see that his underlings arepaying attention: here’s a man who enjoys the sound of his own voice. ‘Honestday’s toil is good for the character, they say. But two things that never goout of fashion are drink and pussy, and the man who sells those won’t ever beshort of custom.’

He relaxes against the bar as he elaborates. ‘When Istarted out here all I had was a shack with a tarp for a roof, and me to sweepthe floor and pour the drinks and run the whores; but I was the only bar intown, and the miners, they came pushing and shoving to get in through the door.So I got a bigger joint, and I sold so much liquor that the company sent up themirror for free.’ He nods at the fancy glass behind the bar. ‘And when moregirls came along, I took them under my care and pretty soon I was the biggestowner in town.’ He strokes his moustache, preening: big fish in a small pond,thinks Goodnight.

OK, Adams getsto spread himself here, but the point I was trying to make is that it genuinelyis an impressive achievement: Adams is boastful, but he has put in the hardwork to make his saloon a success. It’s too simple to say that he’s just anexploitative owner – he is exploitative, but a lot of what he says about beingthe only person who’ll employ a woman down on her luck is actually true, and helooks after the girls well as long as they’re useful to him.

‘Took them under my care’ is also deliberate - it’s an unpleasant thought, but what would happen to someone like Jilly, who’s mentally chllenged, at that period if she didn’t have an employer to take her on, even if he exploits her? (It’s another echo of Swearengen in a way, as he keeps the physically-disabled Jewel on in his saloon, though as a maid of all work and for rather more selfless reasons.) Adams isn’t a nice guy, but he’s neither as brutal as the miners nor as purity-obsessed as the respectable townsfolk.

‘Can a man enquire as to the nature of your businesshere? You and your – associate?’ Adam’s manner is still satirical, butGoodnight senses there’s not much between taking Billy’s money and throwing himout into the street. Or trying to. He smiles: he’ll do this a thousandtimes if it’ll lift a fraction of the burden Billy carries.

‘Entertainment’s our business too,’ he says, and seesAdams stiffen: not a man who likes competition. ‘We’ll stage a few contests, ifthere’s the interest: shooting, fighting. Always men who like to test theirskills.’

Adams narrows his eyes, nodding thoughtfully. ‘Handyin a fight, is he?’ He puts up his fists in a boxer’s stance and feints a fewpunches. ‘My fighting days are long past, but Amos here might be able to giveyour pard a run for his money.’

Goodnight doubts it, in a fair fight: weight’s noadvantage against Billy. But he gets the impression that a fair fight’s notwhat this Adams is interested in.

‘In a fairfight, which Dan and I try to avoid…’ There really is a lot of Deadwood in this scene!

Still, he shrugs. ‘He can try and welcome. We’ll setup tomorrow. Town this size, I expect there’ll be some takers.’

‘And that’s all your business here?’ Adams is lookingat him keenly. ‘Clean out the sapheads and move on?’ What’s he afraid of?

Someone with abetter name than him muscling in on his hard-won business, and once again, youcan’t really blame him.

‘Earn a little, spend a little,’ says Goodnight, ‘wedon’t aim to settle.’

That seems to satisfy him. ‘Long as you do yourspending here at the day’s end, we’ll have no argument.’ He puts his glass downand nods at Amos for another.

‘On me,’ says Goodnight. Won’t do to be in thisman’s debt.

–

It’s a while before he can extricate himself fromAdams’ company, and by the time he does Billy’s gone upstairs; Goodnight startsto head after him, but as he puts his foot on the first step the thoughtfreezes him. Did he take the girl up there with him? He scans the room asunobtrusively as he can, and no, there she is, leaning on the shoulder of a fatman in a high collar. He knows he shouldn’t feel relieved, thumping up thestair and along to their room, but he does.

In their room Billy’s already stowed their gearneatly, razor and soap laid out next to the basin, Goodnight’s bag on the bedby the door; he’s claimed the bed nearer the wall for himself. He’s sittingcross-legged, attending to his knives, running the sharpening stone carefullydown a blade; there’s a plate on the floor next to his feet, empty but forcrumbs, and another on the chest with a hunk of bread and cheese.

I wrote thisscene first just with the conversation between them, and later revised it withall the little touches to show how they look out for each other: at this stage intheir relationship they’re still working out how it benefits them both, in waysunexpected as well as expected, and I wanted to show that as well as theawkwardness.

It’s an easy familiarity that does as much to groundGoodnight as the conversation and backup; too often in the past the oppressivesilence of a grubby anonymous room has driven him downstairs again to drinkuntil he no longer cared, but now he’s warmed by Billy’s wordless forethought.

He hangs his coat on the bedpost and empties thepockets, piling the coins and notes on the bedcover. ‘Come out ahead?’ asksBilly.

‘War stories helped,’ admits Goodnight. ‘Don’t thinkthey were all for my quitting, but the boss here got talking to me at the barso they couldn’t complain.’

‘That Adams?’ asks Billy over the regular stroke ofthe stone; he’ll need them sharp tomorrow, but Goodnight knows by now that hefinds the nightly ritual soothing, honing and polishing, turning each blade inhis hands then laying it down in a neat line: it brings calm to his face andeases the stiffness from his posture.

‘Likes the sound of his own voice.’ He pretends toignore Billy’s glance of amusement. ‘Wanted to sound me out a bit, wonderingwhy we’re here. Think he’s anxious about protecting his turf.’

‘King of a dunghill,’ says Billy dismissively.

This one mademe think of Firefly, when River says ‘Sadlittle king of a sad little hill’ to Badger.

Goodnight stacks the money on the chest next to thebasin and rolls up his sleeves to wash. ‘Seems to have it pretty much sewn uphere, only saloon in town and a couple of heavies to keep it that way.’

‘Wonder if that’s his only business: girl I wastalking to said there’ve been attacks on the road out: couple of times wealthytypes passed through and found themselves looking down a gun a few days later.’

Al Swearengenagain, with his road agents. Really there’s nothing of my own in this fic!

‘Worth knowing.’ Goodnight shucks his vest and bootsand stretches out his legs on the bed, plate in hand: the noise of the saloonbelow is still loud, but he’s had enough of spinning tales and playing up tohis reputation. Drunk enough too.

As he settles to eat Goodnight says carefully, ‘I sawyou talking with her: if you want – I mean, up here, I can make myself scarcefor a while.’

‘No need,’ says Billy shortly; he doesn’t look upfrom his polishing.

‘No trouble for me to take off,’ insists Goodnight.It’s the first time Billy’s given any indication of an interest: if they’re tobe a partnership, best get it all out into the open. ‘Or if you’d prefer we canget two rooms, money’s not tight just now.’ Perhaps he’s shy about it: it’s notas though the subject’s ever come up, and maybe that’s his own fault – he’d lethimself assume that Billy found the same satisfaction in their company as hedoes. But he’s sensitive enough to see that if Billy’s race is enough to causetrouble in a bar then the question of women is bound to be a thorny one. So ifthis one’s willing, maybe in private, it’s not his business to stand in theway. ‘Man has his wants.’

I’m quite proudof this exchange, Goody being delicate with lots of half-sentences.

Billy stands up and picks up his belt to slot theknives one by one into their sheaths. He’s not looking at Goodnight. ‘I don’twant.’

Goodnight swallows down the awkwardness: he’sdetermined not to let this spoil the friendship they’ve built. ‘Money’s there,no problem if you need a little extra to buy her something pretty.’

Billy turns to face him, face set and hard to read.‘I don’t, OK?’ Goodnight can’t fathom why he’s being so hostile. ‘You don’t, doyou? She was making up to you first and you didn’t take her up on it.’

‘Ain’t what I’m looking for,’ says Goodnight, andit’s a phrase he’s practised over the years. He puts down his plate. Plenty ofreasons a man might avoid prostitutes: morality, fear of disease, faith to apartner lost … turning down an advance in a saloon isn’t cause for suspicion.‘But no reason I should put my notions onto you.’

And here’s thedifference between them that’s going to come out later – Goody sees the girlsjust as ‘prostitutes’, women he’s not interested in, whereas Billy sees Tess asan individual. Goody is going to grow into this attitude as he gets to knowthem, but right now his attitude is very top-down; Billy’s is bottom-up, seeingthe girls as people just like himself.

Billy sits down on the bed again facing him. ‘I don’twant to bring her up here. I wouldn’t do that to anyone, make them do it formoney, or because their boss tells them to.’ His fierce expression forbidsquestioning. ‘We were just talking: it’s what she’s supposed to do. About whatwe do, a bit, and about how it is for them here.’

The girls? Goodnight can’t say he’s ever given itmuch thought – girls in a saloon are just part of the setting, young, old, somepretty and some not, all friendly and all available, all to be politelydeflected and check your pockets afterward.

I did wonderabout this, because it seems unlikely to a modern eye – did he really never thinkabout the women? But Goody, as I said, isn’t for me very interested in peopleoutside himself, and most men of that period, insofar as they thought aboutprostitutes at all, either despised them or pitied them. And really what I wantedto do was interrogate our own attitudes as consumers of Westerns – who thinksabout the women in the saloon? The ones in M7 don’t even have names, they’re justwindow dressing for the genre, and we never think about them as individuals:the woman massaging Faraday’s shoulders in the opening scene, the woman in theboots at Volcano Springs, the woman in the coach who Faraday winks at – who werethey? What were their lives like?

‘No harm, then,’ he says, fetching out his notebook;Billy lights a cigarette and stretches out at full length with a satisfiedsigh, and companionable silence fills the room, shouts and music coming faintlyfrom below.

I really enjoyed the chance to think about this, so thanks again!

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slumberinglabyrinth · 5 years

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I’ve been toying with the question of “which of the Laguz Royals could be viable candidates for a legendary alt?” long enough for this post to have originally started with “I have no illusions about the contents of the upcoming RD banner, but...” and I want to share my thoughts on it.

All the non-oc legendary heroes thus far are protagonist-aligned (Tiki, Grima kinda) if not protagonists themselves (everyone else, also kinda Grima), and I’ll be using this arbitrary measurement of plot relevance as the primary judging criteria, with popularity being a secondary criteria. Given that all the non-oc legendary heroes also had their ‘base’/’generic form’ already in heroes, I’m not expecting that that we’ll be getting a Laguz legendary (or mythical) hero in January (and we should all know who it’s going to be anyway) nor will I be using the Laguz that we’re getting, but this is just a ‘what if’ kind of scenario, so don’t take this as a prediction of future events or something.

Skrimir is probably the strongest candidate. He’s the closest we get to a Laguz Lordlike in either game, and Radiant Dawn’s irregular narrative format does make him a full blown protagonist for a bit so he’s got a fair amount going for him. On the other hand, he’s not actually a Royal Laguz with a captial R yet so while a “20 years down the line when he’s mellowed out because Ranulf learned to get him to show restraint” Skrimir Alt would be an incredibly interesting direction to take him in as a legendary hero, alas, tfw no formshift. That’s an admittedly arbitrary distinction to ‘disqualify’ him from this given that his lack of formshift probably comes as a design choice that prioritized game balance over world-building, and of all the Laguz (ignoring Lehran, noted Beorc impersonator) I’d consider him the most likely to actually ever get an alt (legendary or not) should it come to it.

On the topic of units without formshift, we have the Herons. Their lack of formshift can also mostly be attributed to game balance purposes within the mainline games (which is also the reason why you’re prevented from using more than one in endgame), and both Leanne and Reyson have notable roles in both games (sorry Rafiel). On the other hand, the main obstacle to becoming is that they would be best described as ‘plot adjacent’ instead of ‘plot relevant’; they’re present in subplots and are active players in those subplots, but exist as background characters to the main plot of both games.

This isn’t meant to be me taking potshots at the Herons; if you look at Rafiel revealing the truth of the Serenes Massacre to kick off Part 3 of RD, Leanne’s role in Part 2 of RD, and the plot detour PoR makes to address Reyson being kidnapped by Oliver, they’re all major contributions to the world-building of Tellius but as characters they each lack presence, relevance, and impact beyond the scenes they appear in. That’s going to be a recurring theme with most everyone else mentioned in this post.

In descending order of likelihood of getting a legendary alt: Leanne’s a fair bit behind Skrimir, then Reyson, and then Rafiel far, far behind.

The last unit without formshift I’ll look at is Kurthnaga, who somehow manages to do less than Rafiel despite being in both PoR and RD suffers greatly from Goldoa’s isolationist policies in PoR and a bad case of “is busy doing other things” during Radiant Dawn, placing him roughly on par with Rafiel.

Tibarn is the most popular Laguz by a mile, and while not a protagonist, he’s on the upper end of ‘plot adjacent’ to the point where combined with his popularity I’d say he’d be the only other Royal Laguz that could stand a fighting chance against Skrimir, but he’s still clearly behind him in terms of likelihood of getting a legendary alt.

Naesala is a hair behind Leanne in terms of popularity, but he’s held back by being less protagonist-aligned than most people I’m talking about here. He’d be roughly on par with Reyson.

Nailah is in a similar position as Kurthnaga and Rafiel, but roughly three to six times as popular. You could potentially try to spin Wolf Laguz being thought to be extinct as her being ‘of legends’, but that’s a reach I’m not willing to go for.

Caineghis is on the lower end of the scale of ‘plot adjacent’-ness, but he does play a bit more of an active role in the background and especially the backstory of Path of Radiance even if that mostly amounts to supplying Elincia’s party with money and troops in-game and providing refuge to Greil and his family. The other thing that might set him apart from other people on this list is that canon does everything but outright state that he’s ‘basically the strongest person in Tellius’, which creates some level of plot justification for how absolutely busted any Legendary Laguz would be if they went with him. He lacks major popularity though, so he’d probably be passed over in favor of someone who would make IntSys more money.

Dheginsea will be a GHB eventually and get no alts. He’s a full-blown antagonist and unlike everything else in this post this isn’t up for discussion.

So to recap:

“Maybe if they decide to give Tellius a third Legendary Hero”-tier: Skrimir, Tibarn

“Maybe in 20 years”-tier: Leanne, Reyson, Naesala

“Life is simply unfair”-tier: Caineghis, Nailah, Rafiel, Kurthnaga

“No tears now, only dreams”-tier: Dheginsea

#Fire Emblem Tellius #Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn #Fire Emblem Path of Radiance

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titleknown · 6 years

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But who said that? Nobody! Nobody at all! Nobody who still has their thumbs at least!

But, come on down, past the break! Fair warning, there is a two drink minimum. Including my Patented Super Stuff! Now legal in seven states! It’s got… nutrients.

Here at Carkinerkos Productions, we make everything! Well, make, steal, falsify, it’s a matter of perspective! All the world’s a sale if you look at it the right way!

...Nobody actually says that. But, enough chitchat dear viewers, it’s time for a list of my various operations! That’s business operations, not surgical ones. Which are technically a business operation, so call now

You like lists, right? Of course you do, this is the internet! What are you, some kind of freak? Anyway, here’s the lists of some things I make:

Those Shops That Weren’t There Yesterday! - If you’ve gone into a little shop that wasn’t there yesterday, there’s a statistically nonzero chance that we’re running it or supplying it. Even the really kinky ones*! Like a regular Yum Brands or Kroger!

We work tirelessly to find you the best whimsical and mystical items for the lowest price! And then when we can’t fill out a store with those, we put a bunch of ridiculous garbage and cursed stuff in there as filler! But it’s magical, whimsical filler! Are you not enchanted? No? Phooey to you then!

*Note that we disavow any and all illegal or immoral actions of our more perverse franchisees and distibutors that go past our admittedly low standards. Not cool dudes, for shame. Still like their money though!

Arcades!- Remember the 80s? The glory days where games cost only a quarter, and then proceeded to rip you off for everything you’re worth? The good ol’ days; playing machines through a haze of cigarette smoke in a probable criminal front? Well, we’ve brought those days back baby, all of them!

You too can play arcade games at a quarter a pop at our places, not like those ripoff artists who charge a dollar a play, and then kick you out of the building when you try to lockpick the change machines for financial restitution! CON FOUND THEM!

And, we give our seal of quality that YOU will not be negatively impacted by any criminal operations that almost certainly aren’t going on in the background, so hush your pretty little head whydontcha! Just, don’t play the Kabnit-Man machine for too long. It gets weird and creepy and I don’t wanna talk about it anymore.

Human Organs- Do you need a new spleen? Kidney? Ralno?

If you said the third one you’re lying. Nobody needs a Ralno. But if not, come on down, we’ve got the finest organs you’ve ever seen, grown fresh!

Never ask how they’re grown though, because that’s thinking. And what good did thinking ever do? NOBODY, THAT’S WHO!

We even have the organs you haven’t thought of “Officially” “Licensed” under the brand of David Cronenberg’s Newflesh! He probably doesn’t mind! He makes “serious” “grown-up” films now, he doesn’t want to be associated with this tomfoolery! And that’s what I’m going to say in court!

Gardening Services- [THIS SERVICE HAS BEEN SUSPENDED DUE TO CURRENT ALLEGATIONS AND IS DEFINITELY NOT STILL OPERATING UNDER THE TABLE. DO NOT CALL BIG AL AT XXX-XXX-XXXX AND ASK FOR THE “GRAND ADOMPHA” FOR FURTHER DETAILS]

“Detective Work”- Friends, are you tired of your workers demanding things like “living wages” or “not hitting us with the whip anymore”? Cause I know I sure am!

And that’s why, in the grand tradition of the Pinkertons, I have a whole army of “Detectives” for rent! Complete with “Strike Investigators” weilding “Deduction Sticks” in their “Clue Tanks” and “Rays For Purely Investigative Purposes,” we’ll investigate those so-called pinko agitators! We’ll investigate the criminy out of ‘em! With allegedly not-illegal force!

Neo Not Vegas!- Tired of your old regular Las Vegas? Well, we’ve got a place for you! Located in the space between spaces, it’s a city of gambling, sin, and shrimp cocktails! But, that’s for another time!

Because, I see my lawyer would like to have a word with me. Several words. Most of those being swears. GOODNIGHT FOLKS!

Yep, I’m doing more intro profiles with my OCs, to introduce them to people! Yes this will be a series! And, what better tricky crab-person to do the second iteration on than everybody’s favorite ripoff of a classic Let’s Player!

As per usual, while the text/direct adaptations thereof themselves are CC-By-SA, the base concepts/characters/ect are free to use as you see fit under a CC-BY Vanilla 4.0 license so long as I, Thomas F. Johncon, am credited as their creator!

So, yeah, hope ya dig it!

#deceased crab #open source character #open source characters #crab people #carkinekros #my art #my writing #drabbles

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selfish-swine · 6 years

Text

Let’s Talk About Star Fox and Character For a Moment - Part 2: OOC is Serious Business

Continued from here. If you haven’t read part 1 yet, then go do that first! You need context! Anyway, this is a long one.

So that whole big rant I wrote up was really just a preamble to get to something I REALLY wanted to rant about but found myself basically writing two rants to get my point across and needed to split stuff up to establish a reference point for what I’m talking about.

Let’s Talk about the fandom’s universally disliked unfavorite, Star Fox Command on the typical topic of how badly it characterized everyone and derailed things and all that hullabaloo.

Now let’s get somethings clear here. First off, I do NOT think Command is a good game by any stretch, mechanically or narratively. It does screw a lot of shit up. Second of all, I am not saying Command doesn’t derail characters senselessly and deserve pretty much all the ire it’s earned from the fandom.

BUT. Big but here.

It is important to not dismiss all of Command for these mistakes. To start with, for as much Command gets flat out WRONG, it also gets a lot RIGHT. Falco and Fox’s bromance is especially strong in Command, and characters like Slippy (who basically never gets written poorly) are still solid. Pigma also gets some actual emotion to his unceremonious death in Assault as a spooky space ghost, to say nothing of the small implications it gives to Andross’ motivations. Then there are things that were just the result of Command having an honestly shoddy translation job all things considered, which especially pertains to Star Wolf. Panther’s third person self-narrations are a misunderstanding of him speaking in an arrogant manner in the original Japanese, and Leon’s infamous liking of rainbows was meant to be sarcastic - but these are things that can not be conveyed in text in ENGLISH (but can in Japanese). Then there is Wolf, which brings me to the real point I want to get at with this post.

I said before it is important not to dismiss all of Command for these mistakes, but really what I should say is it isn’t fair to dismiss Command for the same mistakes other games did before it, specifically Assault. The big offenders of Command, Fox and Krystal, are just as derailed in Assault (if not moreso in the case of Fox), along with Wolf and to a lesser extent, Peppy, yet no one bats an eye because it suits the fandom’s tastes at large (or at least the English speaking fandom), and that bothers me. Out Of Character writing should not be accepted just because you like the direction it takes, because that is disingenuous to the characters.

Let’s start with Fox. Fox’s archetype (to see why archetypes are important read part 1 you weenie) is that of the charismatic heroic leader. There are some subtle differences between his Western and Japanese depictions, namely his confidence (Japanese Fox is in 64 at least more son-in-his-father’s-shadow than Western Fox, but is no less cheeky or cocksure for it), but the general idea stays the same. This is consistent with Fox in the SNES comic, 64, and Adventures (as well as the Farewell Beloved Falco comic). He meets every challenge head on with confidence he can over come it and his sense of justice is strong, and this is reinforced mechanically as Fox being the player avatar, puts us in direct control of confronting these challenges with confidence and bravado.

Assault Fox lacks any of this. He is bland, boring, robbed of any character he once had. He stammers like a teenager more than he ever did as an actual teenager over the simplest of things, constantly walks into traps and danger in spite of knowing danger is ahead and waiting, routinely makes bad leadership choices by no virtue other than the plot necessitating it, and then at the end of the game acts absolutely unemotional to the supposed death of his mentor figure only to later reveal he knew all along his mentor wasn’t actually dead and was just hiding this from his team. Honestly, I might just need to make another rant dedicated JUST to WHY and HOW these ideas are detrimental to Fox’s character, but for now I’m going to leave this simple and possibly revisit the topic in greater depth. Either way, Assault Fox is uninteresting and vapid, underreacting to everything despite being previously established as a smart ass quippy hot blooded hero, and that’s terrible. Yet, noone notices or cares, because at least he didn’t break up with Krystal.

Let’s talk about Krystal next. To say she was treated OOC in Assault is honestly to suggest she had a character to begin with, but in all fairness she does have elements of it from Dinosaur Planet and Star Fox Adventures, if broken and disjointed due to her loss of protagonist status. Going back to what I wrote about archetypes, Krystal was, in DP64, completely set up to be an aspiring hero, but when DP64 became SFAd, she lost that narrative importance and was reduced to a Damsel in Distress crossed with a Macguffin Girl, which totally undermined what she had, but as I said there was traces of something still there. She is bold, brash, heroic and full of justice (much like Fox), but also more contemplative and insightful as well. She’s the wise hero to Fox’s action hero, or should have been at any rate.

So what did Assault do? Absolutely rob her of all that and just ram in hard the Love Interest nonsense. Everything about Krystal in Assault revolves around FOX - she has NO agency onto herself anymore, something she even had in Adventures at least at first until she got captured for 90% of the game. Not Assault Krystal, though. Her whole character is defined by her fawning over Fox, worrying over his idiot well being and wanting him to be safe, stammering affectionately like two high school kids who haven’t had their first kiss yet. Yes, she does have some moments free from this nonsense, but those moments are not her DOMINANT portrayal. Even when discussing things with bad boy romantic rival Panther, she focuses on -Fox-. Krystal’s entire character in Assault is dominated by the existence of her love interest.

That is the worst case of “love interest centric” writing you can commit, because when you take the stuff away that doesn’t bear on Fox, you have so little left. I’d honestly consider Command Krystal BETTER than Assault, because her rude angry bitchy self was at least her OWN character and not joined at the hip to Fox. Notice how the cutscene with Fox and Krystal with Tricky, Krystal barely says anything worthwhile to the conversation? It’s all Fox being flustered liked a stupid teenager while Krystal coyishly “teehees” in the background while Tricky hammers in the fact they are romantic interests. No. Agency. But again, no one cares, because its fuel for their ships, amirite?

Now we get to who is in my opinion the worst offender of Assault’s derailing character writing, Wolf. Fox might’ve gone from heroic leader to bland cardboard, but at least he’s still the protagonist. Krystal might’ve been reduced to a vapid love interest, but at least she didn’t have much left to lose to start with. Wolf, though, not only oversteps his boundaries as an archetype, but he PUSHES OUT other characters from their meta narrative roles as well. Wolf is the black hole of Assault’s writing, and he absolutely got away with it because he’s “cool” and “badass”. He is the pinnacle of my point in this rant.

Let’s talk about archetypes again. Wolf’s is that of the eternal rival, the black recolor, the evil counterpart to the hero. His mission is to see Fox undone for the sake of his own ego. In Japan, a little more supplemental information is known, namely that Wolf has a rivalry with the McCloud family name as a whole starting with James, and Fox’s reaction to Wolf’s persistent pursuit is treated more humorously than in the west (namely Fox is subtly dissing Wolf rather than being intimidated by him), but these subtleties do not change the core base that Wolf is an impulsive, rivalry motivated antagonist.

So of course Assault saw fit to.... shift him into a mentor role. This only compounds for the worse when you consider the fact that Wolf only even formed Star Wolf because Pigma manipulated and goaded him into doing it (another Japanese lore tidbit), further cementing that Wolf does not make good wise decisions. He is violent and aggressive and obsessed with his rivalry. Why the HECK is he suddenly giving advice to FOX? Wolf is the WORST person to give advice or take advice from, he is literally Mr. Bad Decisions, but Assault’s writers saw fit to absolutely change his entire persona from an aggressive archrival to a quasi-antihero cool guy big brother-esque mentor... and Fox doesn’t even remark on it! (Another mark for Fox being OOC I suppose).

Worst of all though isn’t the damage this does to Wolf, but rather, to Peppy! Wolf becoming the mentor effectively butts him into Peppy’s meta narrative role, and he essentially replaces him for it. This isn’t to say Star Fox characters can’t develop and shift around and change, but Wolf doesn’t DEVELOP into a mentor, nor does Peppy develop BEYOND it. Wolf just usurps it from Peppy and proceeds as usual. Good character writing is finding how to fit a character into a story - that is, finding a role they fit into and working from there. This is why so many fan OCs fail - they don’t fit into a role, they usurp from canon characters. One need only look at all the Star Wolf OCs that exist purely to replace “uncool” characters like Pigma or Andrew and see the flaws. When you write to replace another character, you aren’t writing true to that character, you are shackling and chaining them down to the one they are replacing. This is what Wolf does in Assault: he is sloppily mischaracterized, and then because of that, he butts into another character’s writing space.

And once more, the fandom at large did not notice or care, because Wolf is “cool”, “badass”, et cetera. This is my beef. This is my issue. So I leave you with what I said at the start of this rant: do NOT just accept changes to a character because it placates you superficially. THINK about what roles it is a character serves and why, and respect that. Don’t just blindly complain about character derailment just when it suits you because you don’t like the change personally, or because it fucks with your ships. Press yourself to be better than that.

#OOC #rant #ramble #meta narrative #character archetypes #melodrama #character derailment

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spindashed · 7 years

Video

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1dV4YriZVM)

Over time, if you follow my blog, you will see me write “counter articles” in response to the fandom, and non-fandom videos, reviews... etc.

Lets begin!

1.) “Have an actual story this time.” I can partially agree with this. I do agree that having a in-depth story per console game adds to the value of the experience. More so than stories that are short and simplistic. Sonic Unleashed had an amazing story, and it’s gameplay was great! I loved the daytime stages, and I personally LOVED the nighttime stages too!(The werehog was a nice touch, it gave flavour to the story, and it had a very “God of War” vibe to it, both the game mechanics and the fact that you had to solve puzzles.. Huge points from myself especially since I love the God of war series.) That said! phrasing your first rant with: “Have an actual story this time.” Is quite an ignorant statement..

I strongly feel you’re grasping at straws with this one, because I could easily sit here and list the “actual stories” from each game. Sure some games had shorter plots, or plots that weren’t seriously in-depth like Unleashed, but there are stories there. Saying otherwise is just straight up ignorant. Besides! Sometimes simplicity is best.

2.) “Only put fan favourite characters in the game’s story if it’s for a legitimate purpose, however, no more of the ‘The adventures of Sonic and Tails’.” This one is a funny subject. When Sega had Sonic’s friends in game as playable’s, there came a point where people were LITERALLY bitching and complaining about how they’re so sick and tired of Sonic’s friends!!!! That all they wanted was “SONIC” as a playable..

Now that Sonic has been the only playable in most games, fans are now complaining about how they want Sonic’s friends back.. Smh.

For some fans, having certain characters as playable’s (I.e. Shadow.), would bring a lot of joy... Fortunately with myself, I’ve been a Sonic fan since 1991, and usually have a preference to only use Sonic, so I’m personally happy with Sonic only games. But my personal preference aside; I think it’s safe to say fans of specific characters would be far happier to see their favourites appear even if they are NPC’s (Non playable characters) oppose to them not appearing whatsoever.. In my personal opinion, I’d say if Sega/Sonic Team decide to have a NPC appear, they should have them doing something, even if it’s an Easter egg kind of thing in the background for fans to catch.

3.) “Don’t reply too much on nostalgia.” Alright! Green Hill Zone crybabies need to get over themselves. Wahhh, Green Hill Zone is back... Why! Wahhhh.. Are you sure you’re even a Sonic fan? The Green Hill Zone was LITERALLY the FIRST stage in the series! It was brought back, because it’s timeless it’s iconic just like Sonic himself. The Green Hill Zone is like Mario’s Mushroom Kingdom, like Cloud Strife’s Midgard, like Link’s Hyrule... I can go on.. Not to mention: It has COMPLETE justification to reappear in Sonic Forces, considering it’s where Classic Sonic spends a lot of his time. (This has been verified by direct source: “Sonic revisit GHZ often, because he really likes that Zone.”)

If Classic Sonic is brought back to the present time, where else would you expect him to be found? Gtfo.

(Green Hill Zone) “A lot of us are getting sick of it..”

Speak for yourself. I should also note, the most vocal fans in our fandom, often also tend to be the haters.. The same crybabies that whine about everything.(Wahhh Sonic’s eyes are green. Wahhh Sonic’s arms are blue...)

4.) “Stage to stage is fine, but if you’re gonna have a hub don’t be lazy with it.”

a.) I loved Sonic Unleashed too. I give you that.

b.) If you actually played the game in full, and paid attention to the concept of the story, you’d understand that the hub world stages being completely “white” was justified, and even when you bring life back into it, the background stays white because Time Eater FUCKING ATE TIME!

If there is nothing left in existence other than pocket zones (a.k.a the hub worlds.), it’s either going to be white space, or black space. Deal with it.

c.) Sonic Generations was one of the best games of the modern era... I think based on what the game was in it’s overall entirety, we can cut the hub world’s details some slack. Besides, what glorious games have you made? Talk is cheap, remember this.

5.) “No stupid cringe worthy jokes.” Alrighty, I can agree with this one. Knowing how to blend good humour in with the right action and seriousness is key for greatness.

I feel that because Sega has begun aiming the games at a younger audience, despite the fact that the younger audience of today actually play the same “serious” games that we adults play.. The jokes can come off a bit much sometimes. I’ve been a long time reader of the Archie comics (Which I’m sad to see it’s probably been canceled.) That said, I’d enjoy seeing Ian Flynn write for Sonic games, I think he’d be a wicked asset to the games.

6.) “If you’re going to have Wisps be more creative and actually make them fun.” I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again! For people who ACTUALLY play the games.. They obviously served a purpose in “Sonic Colours” storyline.

It was literally explained in “Sonic Runners”, why the Wisps were still in Sonic’s world. (After the events of Sonic Colours, some Wisps liked Sonic’s world so much, they decided to stay on earth/mobius.)

In Sonic Lost World, they were completely optional to use or not. Plus Wisps are basically items/power ups. KEY WORDS: “Optional to use.”

I don’t see anyone complaining about it when Mario uses his reoccurring power ups, so why must Sonic fans be so cringe.. And lastly, I’m starting to think people in our fandom are headass af.. This time around, in Sonic Forces, the Wisps aren’t there like they have been in the past. They are now “Wispons” as in they power up “Avatar’s” gadgets. (Maybe spend less time complaining, and pay a little more attention to the content revealed.. smh.)

The fact that people are actually complaining about basically an item/power up, which the Wisps literally are; is as headass beyond words as can be..

7.) “Make sure the custom character feature lives up to the hype.”

a.) Sega literally stated “Avatar” (Which is what Sega calls him/her.) plays a heavy role in the events/story of Sonic Forces. Again you would know this if you actually paid attention over flapping lips.

b.) Sega/Aaron Webber also literally stated that the Avatar character doesn’t actually talk, voice actors have been hired, and they do grunt and have voicing to some extent. This may or may not be something that will change. But as far as things go at the moment, they won’t have any real lines.

c.) Avatar is each person’s PERSONAL OC, which literally means, if Avatar doesn't live up to the hype, you as a player failed. Sega is simply giving fans a tool, it’s up to the fans on how to use it.

8.) “Have a Super Sonic final boss fight.” I agree having Super Sonic in the games is fun, mostly because I love Sonic including each of his forms.. But I find this one ironic, because you were literally just complaining about how Green Hill Zone has been back too many times, and how the Wisps were back again.. And yet you want “Super Sonic” to be just that. (Perfect example of the crybaby logic at it’s best.) Thank you for proving my point. *Thumb up!*

9.) “Try as hard as you possibly can to not make the game short.” I think you should go try to make your own game. It’s easy to talk, but if you have no experience in the industry that’s quite the ignorant statement man.. But don’t get me entirely wrong. I understand where you’re coming from. Games are not cheap these days, and feeling like we have some good content to really dig deep into goes a long way.

10.) “No stupid power up that spawns when you die too much so you can skip ahead to the next checkpoint. Not only does activating it happen on accident, but it’s like the game is holding my hand.” It’s funny, because Mario games have an option where if you die around 3 times, you have the option to let Luigi complete the stage for you. (I.e. skip the stage.) And no one complains about that. The only catch from what I understand is skipping a stage in a Mario game will keep you from unlocking everything in-game. I think it’s a pretty fair, or good optional thing to have.

11.) “Either change Sonic’s Voice or Roger Craig Smith Improves.” Jason Griffin was one of my favourite voice actors, no doubt! But Roger isn’t all that bad. Not to mention the voice actors do actively try to improve, but they’re also doing what Sega directs them to do. As far as I’m concern, this is a complaint based on bias, and is not worthy of the “my opinion” title.

12.) “Have a moment in the story that somewhat shocks the player.” Plot twist are great, but when you have fans that wear the “expect card” right on their forehead, even if Sega comes up with a pretty good plot twist, I’m sure the fans will find something to complain about. (Notice 99% of your video is a big complaint?)

13.) ”Have Unleashed-esque presentation.” I can agree with you on how epic Sonic Unleashed was all day. And I would love a “Unleashed-esque” presentation/depth to all the games. But lets be real, you and I both know the loud people in our fandom will find something to complain about regardless.

14.) “Don’t be kiddy.” I’ve been saying this one for a long time now. Sonic should always be catered to us long time old fans. The younger fans will come into the fandom on their own.

One of the hottest games for people was the “Call of Duty” games. Despite being rated for the older crowd, I cannot begin to tell you how many underaged kids were playing these.

My point is, kids like what we older fans like. (I should also note, I have never cared for the COD games.)

15.) “Make the gameplay more open than in previous games.” “Sonic Boom Rise of Lyric” was an open world game.

It was also meant to be a much fuller and in-depth game, but due to being rushed, and having to have massive game content cuts, it ended up being what it was. (Check out Sonic Synergy. What Sonic Boom RoL was meant to be, and it looks amazing.)

16.) “Fix the Ranking System.” This is the first time I’ve heard anyone complain about the rank system...

This one is also a ironic one, because if you check out the Mario games, those games are some of the easiest brain dead games you can play..... People eat them up, and yet when Sonic is time to time easier going, it’s a bad thing? Smh.

17.) “Fix the Ranking system animations.” This one is a bit better of an opinion. I did enjoy how Sonic would react to the rank in Unleashed, and how the music was dictated based on your play quality.

(I feel this one was an actual constructive criticism. Thus I accept this one.)

18.) “Have Crush 40.” There have been a few games without Crush 40 that had some real great OSTs. “Sonic Unleashed” was one of them. What I will say with this one is: I’d love more rock and even metal tracks in future games..

19.) “Have actual boss fights this time.” I’m pretty sure we’ll get a good serving of decent boss fights with Sonic Forces.

20.) “Fix the Classic Sonic Physics.” a.) Plenty of people wanted Classic Sonic back. And when Sega brought him back, being true to the cringe our fandom is judged on, the crybabies haters started pushing the bandwagon for all who wanted a ride...

b.) Classic Sonic had pretty damn well the play style he had in the classic games, I think you’ve lost your damn mind.

(*Note: I should add, anyone who dislikes Classic Sonic is headass. Without Classic Sonic, there would be no Modern Sonic. Respect the roots.)

21.) “Don’t make the final boss Eggman.” I’m not sure if I want to slap you or strangle you for this one.

Eggman is Sonic’s fucking nemesis. Get over yourself. Mario has Bowser, Cloud has Sephiroth, Ryu has Bison, Megaman has Dr.Wily, Blah blah blah blah.. The list goes on forever.

Every Super hero has his main villain. And it’s not ALWAYS Eggman. Sonic has fought other main bosses just as equally as everyone else in their own respective games.

22.) “Eliminate the lives system.” SMFH! That’s all I can do for this one.

This is by far one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard. I guess every other game best get rid of the lives system too right? Get the fuck outta here.

24.) “Put the Chaos Emeralds in the story.” Adding the Chaos Emeralds for the sake of adding them for what tiny fan service addition they give to the story, just like throwing in Super Sonic for the mere fan service would be literally no different from just throwing random Sonic friends into the story for mere fan service, your arguments are literally contradictory as fuck. Smh.

25.) “No false Advertising.” As mentioned earlier: Sonic Boom was what it was strictly because the game was rushed, and “Big Red Button” literally got a last minute notice that it was for the weaker system compared to what they had been making it for. Thus the game had significant content cuts, and was released incomplete.

Hence why Sega literally gave a public apology.

26.) “Bring back humans to raise the stakes.” Humans have both appeared and been absent across games. This will not make a difference to overall game quality so once again, this is a ridiculous complaint.

27.) Just make a good Sonic game please, is that too much to ask?” a.) Sonic fan’s expressing their opinions makes the game better ONLY if it’s constructive criticism! The games will not ever be better when the bitching and complaining is void of a positive point to improve said game. (i.e. “the constructive” part.).

b.) “I call it actually caring.” *See 27a. If you still cannot comprehend that, might I suggest getting a cat scan?

28.) “I’m in grade school.” Why is it, school kids always seem to think they know it all. lmao.

29.) “This is not a Sonic hate video.” Than how about making a video with a overall positive tone. This entire video was nothing but the same tired bs.. Complain, complain, complain.

Try talking about what you love, and if you’re going to give constructive criticism, back it up with a positive fix.

This fandom is already far too full of haters, and bandwagon riders that can’t think for themselves, we don’t need any more of that cringe.

“Sonic is my SECOND favourite game franchises.” Of course it is.

*Closing Note: The Sonic hate, complaining for the sake of complaining, and constant negative tone with out purposeful point is tired af guys. It’s also far from cool. Don’t be a bandwagon baby.

If you are in this fandom, and all you think of is negativity when Sonic comes to mind, it’s time to leave the fandom and never come back.

#video response #Fandom counter article #sonic facts

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