rionaleonhart: final fantasy viii: found a draw point! no one can draw... (you're a terrible artist)
If I've written at least ten thousand words of fanfiction for a particular canon, across at least three fics, I'll write an entry talking about how that canon fits into my fandom history. With the completion of Vessels (I'm both thrilled and terrified by the amount of engagement this fic got; Deltarune fandom is huge!), Undertale... sort of qualifies?


Undertale...?

I first became aware of Undertale when [personal profile] zarla made a post about it, two weeks after its release. I'd heard of Toby Fox previously, but to me he was just one of the lead composers for Homestuck. I had no idea what to expect from him as a game developer, beyond 'extremely good music'.

Still, [personal profile] zarla's description sounded interesting! I checked out the demo, which intrigued me enough to buy the full game.

I played Undertale at the age of twenty-seven and had an extremely good time! It's a fun, charming game with a fascinating battle system and an undercurrent of interesting darkness.

Why am I so uncertain about whether Undertale actually counts as one of my main fandoms? Well, I've sort of written four Undertale fics. I have also sort of never written an actual Undertale fic. Two of my fics are for [personal profile] zarla's incredible Handplates AU fancomic. Two of them are for Deltarune, another game by Undertale's creator, which features Undertale characters but is not a prequel or a sequel; its relationship to the original game is extremely unclear.

Does any of that count as Undertale fanfiction? Who knows? But I'm giving it a 'my fandom history' writeup anyway.

I suppose I should talk about my experience with Deltarune here as well! I played the first chapter of Deltarune at the age of thirty and fell in love with it as soon as I'd stopped being terrified by it; the opening is extremely unsettling! I love the interaction the introduction of party members adds, and I'm considerably more interested in Deltarune's protagonist than I was in Undertale's; Kris, despite being just as quiet, feels much less like a blank slate.

I'm a lot more active about looking for Deltarune fan content than I ever was with Undertale. Playing Undertale was a fairly self-contained experience for me; Deltarune is the game that dragged me into the actual fandom. I'm looking forward to the next instalment, although I don't imagine we'll be seeing it for a while!


Favourite character: Probably Susie of Deltarune. She's refreshingly straightforward in a game full of mysteries, and everything she says is hilarious. I hope one day you get unbanned from free ham sandwich day, Susie. (Bonus 'that doesn't really count' answer: Gaster from [personal profile] zarla's Handplates AU, who is an incredible self-destructive mess who makes the worst possible decision at every turn while furiously telling himself he doesn't feel bad about it. He's awful. I love him.)
Favourite pairing: I don't ship anything very hard in the Undertale universe, but possibly Kris/Noelle, which has interestingly horrifying potential. It's certainly the only Undertale/Deltarune ship I've actually gone looking for fanart of. (Look at this gorgeous Utena-inspired piece by [tumblr.com profile] krismastree!) (Bonus 'that doesn't really count' answer: Gaster/Alphys from Handplates is extremely cute and sad.)
Number of words written: 10,341

Snippet: I didn't think I had any unfinished Undertale fanfiction to share here, but I've just remembered this little snippet, which I actually wrote before any of the Undertale fics I've finished. It's... it's for Handplates, so I still haven't actually written anything for Undertale canon. Whoops.


Undertale (Handplates AU) unfinished snippet. Gaster and Sans, 2017. )
rionaleonhart: final fantasy x-2: the sun is rising, yuna looks to the future. (oh no no no)
Having seen 'Read It and Weep', the latest My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic episode, I really want people to write the self-insert Rainbow Dash/Daring-Do fanfiction that Rainbow Dash is no doubt scribbling enthusiastically right now. It wouldn't be good, but it would be hilarious and adorable. And it could include reviews from the other ponies! And Rainbow Dash's responses to those reviews! NOBODY CARES ABOUT SPELLING, TWILIGHT.

Rainbow Dash is so conflicted whenever awesome things need to be done in her fanfiction; for example, who should awesomely backflip over the manticore and hit the release lever for the trapdoor conveniently located beneath the manticore's feet? On the one hoof, Daring-Do is awesome and Rainbow Dash doesn't want to give the impression that Daring isn't awesome by doing all the awesome things herself. On the other, Rainbow Dash wants to do all the awesome things.

I would also quite like to see fanfiction in which Nathan Drake and Daring-Do go after the same treasure. They have a lot in common, which is unsurprising as they both seem to be inspired by Indiana Jones. Daring's cutie mark caused me great amusement, because I had previously seen this ponified Uncharted fanart. I wouldn't be surprised, frankly, to find out that the human Nate actually did have the points of the compass tattooed on his arse.

Elena is, of course, also invited. 'So... remind me why we're competing with a talking pony version of you?'


If you move the analogue stick rapidly in circles on Final Fantasy XIII, the character you're controlling gets pissed off with you. They'll roll their eyes and facepalm, or wave their hand as if swatting away a fly. It's a nice touch, if a little fourth-wall unfriendly. I know I wasn't the only one who made the characters run around in endless circles on Final Fantasy VIII; finally the characters themselves have caught on.

Also, I'd forgotten how depressing Palumpolum was. I'm trying to help you guys! Why do you all hate me so much? Well, all right, you hate me because you think I'm here to kill you horribly, fair enough.

XIII-2 has now been released, and I'm hoping to have in my possession within the next few days! I have no idea what to expect from this game (beside, you know, the world's silliest chocobo theme), but I'm itching to play it.
rionaleonhart: final fantasy xiii: lightning pays intense attention to you. (speak carefully)
Here are some things I have seen whilst walking through Brighton:

- a vast convoy of people on bicycles being held up by police whilst an exasperated man bellowed 'MOVE TO THE LEFT OR YOU'LL BE HIT BY A CAR AND NOBODY WILL GIVE TWO SHITS' through a megaphone.
- a man covered in live pigeons.
- a man tightrope-walking between the trunks of two trees.
- a very tall man saying 'As far as I'm concerned, Harry Potter is no longer in my life' into his mobile phone.
- a man with what I assume was his significant other's name tattooed on the back of his shaved head, which I think is quite clever placement; if you break up, all you have to do is grow your hair out.
- a man, in tears, saying 'But the thing is I never tell anyone anything' and then, in response to his female companion's 'You can tell me': 'I can't! I literally can't.' There was nobody else around (it was one in the morning and snowing), so, as it would have been too obvious had I stopped to listen, I kept walking. There's a story I'll never know the ending to.
- literally hundreds of nude cyclists. I had to stop at the side of the road and wait for about five minutes for them all to go past so I could cross. This happened twice in one day.

I'm not going to be living in Brighton for much longer, but I don't think I'm going to forget it. (Then again, perhaps I'm wrong; I'm definitely forgetting things I could have included here, after all. The first five of these were all from one walk.)


I've just stumbled across a page in my notebook filled with bad Final Fantasy XIII crossover AU ideas I'd forgotten about.

Final Fantasy XIII/The Mentalist: Patrick Jane is a fal'Cie and accidentally makes Lisbon and her team into l'Cie with the Focus of catching Red John. He is horrified when he realises what he's done.

Final Fantasy XIII/My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic: Twilight Sparkle is a l'Cie, having become one after venturing into the Evergreen Forest on a fact-finding mission. OR MAYBE THEY ALL BECOME L'CIE IN EPISODE TWO. Pony l'Cie have their cutie marks fade away over time; if you don't complete your Focus before it completely disappears, that's it. If they're all l'Cie, it's a story of SIX PONIES AGAINST THE WORLD; if only Twilight Sparkle is a l'Cie, it's a heartwarming tale of eventually being accepted by your friends despite being feared by society in general. And then you turn into a monster. No, hang on...

Final Fantasy XIII/Glee: Kurt is a McKinley l'Cie with the Focus of winning Nationals. MCKINLEY L'CIE ARE FEARED BY ALL OF DALTON.


Finally: [livejournal.com profile] th_esaurus has drawn Charles and Erik with their Pokémon! So adorable. I want to see it reblogged all over Tumblr.

(She protested that Magneton was too obvious. I maintain that it is exactly obvious enough. If a Steel-Electric Pokémon is composed largely of magnets and has 'Magneto' in its name, I'm fairly certain that not giving it to Erik Lehnsherr is illegal.)
rionaleonhart: final fantasy versus xiii: a young woman at night, her back to you, the moon high above. (nor women neither)
Guys, I would like to introduce you to two characters I adore. I have never played Left 4 Dead, but [livejournal.com profile] zarla (whose work, incidentally, was the reason I first started writing fanfiction a decade ago) has created a couple of OCs for it, and I love them. I love them. I want them to have a huge fandom.

All you really need to know: Left 4 Dead is a zombie apocalypse videogame. The zombification spreads via infection; some are immune. Two types of zombie are the Hunter and the Smoker, both male in the game. [livejournal.com profile] zarla has created hypothetical female versions of them.

They are wonderful. They (pre-infection, obviously) have one of those lovely 'we mock each other all the time but deep down we love each other fiercely' friendships, which exist between female characters in fiction far too rarely; it reminds me a bit of the relationship I have with my housemate, actually. I find their well-concealed affection and loyalty very touching. Smoker is reserved and sardonic and a bit old-fashioned and Hunter is energetic and adorable, and there is a constant heartbreaking thread running through their interactions, because you as the reader know what their eventual fates will be.

Here are some of [livejournal.com profile] zarla's entries filled with sketches and comics of them:

one - including their first meeting, how they became infected, Hunter gatecrashing Smoker's dinner.
two - ADORABILITY IN ALL ITS FORMS. Refusal to acknowledge affection! Embarrassing taste in music! A bit of Hunter/Smoker! Also, the beginnings of a comic about the day Hunter is bitten; Smoker's worry and the way it expresses itself in disjointed rambling break my heart.
three - in colour, in different outfits, in an AU in which they survive, playing backseat Tetris, defending each other.

I don't typically seek original characters out in fandom, but of course every fictional character we love is someone's OC, and I've always found [livejournal.com profile] zarla's creations incredibly compelling. The fact that these two are not from a published work and therefore unlikely to develop a massive fandom genuinely makes me quite sad, because I love them no less than I do many characters I adore from videogames or television. Do check them out.
rionaleonhart: final fantasy x-2: the sun is rising, yuna looks to the future. (i believe you are hiding something)
Dear University of Sussex,

You have been ranked the second-best place to study linguistics in the country! Congratulations! Do you:

a) axe the Linguistics department, or
b) not be stupid?

Take your time. This is not a trick question.


Cut for anger. )


Anyway! I do not like my entries to be entirely full of misery, so now it is time for something happy! AND I HAPPEN TO HAVE JUST THE THING.

A couple of days ago, I received a notice that someone had sent me a letter with insufficient postage, and so I had to pick it up from the handling office. (This, as it turned out, was a good thing, because otherwise it would probably have been crammed through the letterbox and damaged.) In excited anticipation, because man do I love getting post, I set off.

Now, you may have noticed that I am ever-so-slightly prone to exaggeration, and in particular to use of the term 'best thing ever'. Here is the problem with this: when something actually is the best thing ever, how does one express it?

The first sheet I drew out of the envelope was a drawing of Derren Brown in Silent Hill, holding a ukulele.


Beneath the cut are scans of Derren Brown meeting the Doctor, the Master, Silent Hill, High School Musical and ukuleles. They are all wonderful. )


In conclusion: [livejournal.com profile] sos_your_face is amazing.