![]() Welcome to my legendary account page, let's start with the basics shall we? The following account page may not be suitable for all audiences however, viewer discretion is advised, enter at your own peril, you get the drill. Name: Hey there, name's Jonathan, but until I get to know you better you just go ahead and call me Chuck, Charles if you're fancy. Age: Old enough to write a mildly entertaining profile. Gender: Dude Place of residence: Wherever the wind blows, or more accurately wherever I end up with my kinda lifestyle. Here's a little something something about the Walking Dead and other zombie related media for anyone interested: So, the Walking Dead, it's a pretty recognizable franchise at this point and for the longest time I considered myself a super fan of it, all you really need to do is read below to see where I'm getting at. Unfortunately, whether it was a result of more exposure through the game(s) and the show, or perhaps the simple fact that the writing for literally everything Walking Dead right now is atrocious, I honestly find myself tired of the franchise as a whole. I have next to no faith in the upcoming Telltale game given what they shovelled out to us last time, they still write novels apparently, I quit reading them after the third one so I wouldn't know, I gave up on the show years ago (about mid-season 5), and perhaps the most painful thing to come to terms with, Kirkman is driving his own comic into the ground recently with how bad its been ever since that needless time skip. Even when the franchise was booming I still couldn't write stories because I questioned my ability as a story writer (that hasn't changed much at all) but now with how everything is, my motivation for ever writing for the fandom (or in general, really) has hit rock bottom. That might change in the future, but I honestly doubt it. Well, this has aged relatively well. Now Telltale has sadly gone under and Kirkman wrapped up the comic out of the blue with a very lackluster ending so yeah, there’s that. If anything, now I’m just a little more inclined to write things up because things ended as poorly as they did, a classic case of irony there that I’m sure inspires people from fandoms all across the board. I won’t make any promises, but I got a few docs on the backburner that I think would make for some fairly interesting stories. So we’ll see; I won’t give up on ya just yet WD, even if you may have given up on yourself. Ahem, well, with that out of the way let me move on to a zombie series that didn't overstay its welcome, George Romero's Dead series. The first trilogy is near perfect in every way, showing the gradual takeover of the zombies while focusing on different characters for every movie, it was fresh and intuitive, and it's a pretty great example on how to do a trilogy right. I used to consider Dawn of the Dead as my favorite considering it was the one that introduced me to the series, but I've found that Day of the Dead has snuck up on me and barely beat out the former, for a slew of reasons that are (still) a little difficult to explain. At any rate, the original trilogy is a set of movies I can recommend to anyone, while sadly the latter trilogy just sorta blends into the rest of the mediocre zombie flicks that came out at the time of their releases. Rest in peace Mr. Romero, you truly left a mark while you walked among the living. Well right around here was where I dropped a link to my little forum onto ya’ll but that little engine has stopped chugging for a long while now. Place didn’t even crack 20k posts and was just about the cringiest thing I’ve ever produced but despite that I’m pretty proud of it, we all gotta start somewhere right? My second point concerning RPing for TWD still stands though, I semi-regularly scour servers to sniff out the good from the bad and can point you in the right direction if whoever reads this is so inclined. Now onto the other stuff that doesn't revolve around zombies (sorta): And here we reach the part of this profile where I recommend some stories to ya, granted I could just add them to my favorites list and call it a day but I feel like giving each of these a little synopsis to go along with them makes things all that much more personal, personal is good, for the most part. Anyways without further ado, let's get this list rolling! All I Can Give: By Havoka: This one holds a special place for me as it was actually the first fanfiction I ever read, good times. It was back when Amid the Ruins was released and to everybody's dismay, despite supposedly showing up on the artwork for the episode, Eddie (as well as the rest of the 400 Days cast cough cough) didn't make an appearance at all. While this story doesn't fall within that time frame, it's nevertheless one of the most well written Eddie centric stories out there and if that wasn't enough for ya, Havoka writes a very intriguing Lilly to boot, effectively making them one of the oddest tag teams ever put to an original story. Yet despite this, the story just clicks, and I know that's in part due to Havoka's writing skills, making a pairing this odd work out fantastically the whole way through. A relatively short read but one that I most definitely recommend. Black Hair and Blue Eyes: By Kristal-Dynamite: This story was another one of my firsts, as evident by the cringy guest comments I used to leave back on Dynamite's story before I went ahead and made myself an account. This story revolves around Nick, a character that seems to not have a large amount of stories centered around him, yet the ones that do revolve around the guy tend to either work or well, not work. This story is most definitely the former as it swoops Nick along on an adventure in which he has to fend for himself upon one day waking up and finding the entirety of the cabin group gone. However, this is not a journey that he has to brave alone as along the way he runs into Stephanie, a character that I would've personally never have thought would receive this level of attention, yet despite the short amount of material we got with her in canon, Dynamite managed to flesh her out and develop her into a character you become emotionally invested in the short time we get to know her in the story. A story that has just the right amount of action, development, and pacing, it's a diamond in the rough that I definitely recommend checking out. A New Day Gone Bye: By TheBigBadWolf1: Oh yeah, here we go now, taking a dip into the real good stuff. Now, if you wanted a story that combined all three, that's right three, of the Walking Dead mediums and somehow didn't flop then this is most definitely your go to story. The story revolves around who'd you expect it to revolve around, Lee and Rick as they wake up in the same hospital and go out to face this new, mysterious, and hella dangerous world. What I really enjoy about this story was that over time the story grew into a real big look into the entire world of the Walking Dead, making sure that any and all mediums of it be used in the story, yes including that random group from the Social Game that I had no clue about until reading about them within the story. xD Another solid point about this story is that it's not just a mindless point A to point B story with cameos thrown in either, as the plot direction is solid and branches off into smaller stories before all being wrapped up with a bow before each finale comes to a conclusion, a format that really works for a story of this magnitude. This is a pretty long running story on this site and that's for a good reason, the quality keeps on going up every year and it really gets you pumped for what comes next in this epic tale. It's admittedly a large Into The Fray: By Thunderslate: Of course this masterpiece had to make its way onto here eventually, if this fic was a PlayStation 2 game, it would be one of those Greatest Hits, if it was a movie series it would be the Godfather (Not a bad parallel actually come to think of it), bottom line is, it's good, real good. I can't really give it justice just by explaining it as you really need to read the story itself to get immersed into it, an easy feat to accomplish once you start reading let me tell ya, but I can provide a quick synopsis to see if it fits your bill. The three stories follow the 400 Days group as they escape from Howes after a certain group causes the herd to overcome the place (jerks), and the story branches off into a totally new story-line filled with OCs and canon characters alike. The great thing about the story is that the author chose to completely branch off from the canon events/main characters of Season 2 (for the most part, there are a few cameos thrown in here and there) in order to create their own story that holds up very well on it's own. It explores themes such as guilt, loyalty, adventure, sorrow, it's a real roller coaster that gets you hooked early and doesn't let go and I cannot recommend it enough, you need to do yourself a favor and give this series a read! 72 Hours/72 Hours Uprising/Other 72 Hours material: By Anthony Marston: Aight, finally something that's not Walking Dead related makes it onto the list, although these set of stories definitely share a lot of themes with said franchise. These series of stories are the definition of an oldie but goodie, the first chapter to this series having first debuted in 2003, it's pretty surreal to still be able to read ones work 15 years later but read it you most definitely should. What the author was able to accomplish with his set of stories was incredible, as he was able to not only craft one story that's perfect in nearly every way, but used said story and built upon it heavily. It's crazy how much of a universe the author was able to develop through only four stories, with two of them being one-shots no less, but the amount of straight up lore to this series, more of it being unsaid than said but still tugging at your curiosity, is nothing sort of amazing. Hm, looks like I got a bit ahead of myself here, so let me brings right back to the beginning. In a nutshell, 72 hours is a series of stories set within the universe of Battle Royale, with two twists to it. One of said twists is the fact that the story is set in the US rather than in Japan and the other being that its cast is entirely made up of OCs. Oh sure, I know one typically clicks away upon hearing that, I wasn't too crazy about it when I was first directed to the story myself, but it's very safe to say that these set of characters start to grow on you and then some. You easily find yourself rooting for the ones you grow to love and eagerly await for those you grew to hate meet their demise. However, my favorite types of characters within the series are the ones that don't entirely fit into either side of the spectrum and remain on a morally neutral ground throughout the events of the stories. Despite all this, Marston was able to accomplish only what the official novel/manga did before him, giving compelling stories for all of the competitors involved, however short their time in said stories may be. I could easily go on and on, dive deeper into themes and probably indirectly spoil a ton of plot points along the way but I'll stop myself here and simply implore you to give these four stories a read whenever you get the chance, I'm certain you won't regret it. These next few recommendations are going to be a little different in the sense that I haven’t actually read most or in some cases any of these author’s stories due to never taking the time to read them years ago when TWDG fandom was in its prime. Nowadays I find myself honestly intimidated by the sheer amount of quality content one can find on these guy’s profiles but at the very least I wanted to at least point them out in the hopes that anyone who comes across this profile can find the time to sit down for some good reads and hopefully leave some awesome reviews. Seriously, these guys deserve it. Essentially, rather than recommending specific stories this is gonna be me recommending authors with some serious libraries under their belts, starting with... BHBrowne: My dude, Browne’s just about the nicest person you’ll ever meet and is unequivocally the official guardian angel for old Jane, haven’t met a soul who is more on her side than he was however that just makes his writing involving said character all that much better. Within this fandom it’s no small feat to get people to love a character they previously hated but I’d wager that Browne has managed just that with his intimate stories about the situations Clem and Jane find themselves in with Secret Sisters and a serene character study of Jane with Jaime. While I never hated Jane leafs nation: I may or may not contract my previous statement about Browne having dibs on writing up a good Jane because leafs here certainly makes some engaging stories with the character as well. Just taking a quick glance down his stories shows a lot of creativity and dedication on his end as well as an obvious love for TWDG, which is always something I can get behind. Check out Wolves if you want a current story you can follow along with or read up on the guy’s extensive catalog should you so desire. ZombieGuy96: Heard nothing but good things from, well basically every story he’s made but more specifically No Going Back and the sequels/spinoffs that it produced. This is exactly what I meant by intimidating lmao because man do these make for a lengthy read but from the few I’ve talked to who have been following this series from the start it was one fantastic journey to be a part of. (Totally unrelated note, his recommendation of 72 hours on his profile was the reason I went and read (and thoroughly enjoyed) said fic so definite kudos there.) There are so many more authors and stories to note within this fandom alone man, I’ve tried to more specifically bring to light authors who continued to write their stories during the fandom’s low points as I personally find that really admirable, don’t let the flame die out guys. I could keep adding onto this list, probably will some day, but for the time being I’ll just put a lot of favorite stories down at the bottom and leave it at that. Regardless, I implore you to check out any of said stories below if you’re interested, you’re definitely in for an engaging time. (More to come for sure :D) Now on to some favorite things of mine: Favorite color: Red, blood red... (Yep, still weird) Favorite Music: Honestly, whatever has a good sound or a good message, with a song that has both being a bonus. I listen to just about anything although genres I would consider myself to enjoy a bit more are video game OSTs (videos keep getting claimed fml, miss the old internet), classic rock, a touch of metal, and practically everything 90's lmao, what a mishmash those years were. Special shout out to Oasis and my boi Beatle though for getting me to listen to more than just Wonderwall from the band which in turn opened up the floodgates to some biblical music. Favorite TV shows: Lost, Jericho, Peaky Blinders, Firefly (gone too soon amigo), The Expanse, Tales from the Crypt (Good ol 90's cheese.), the Twilight Zone (I love all iterations honestly, haven’t seen the most recent one though), and I’m sure there’s plenty more but they escape me at the moment. Favorite Cartoons: Archer (got left behind after season 3 tho lolol), Batman the Animated Series (pure animation class), Final Space (what a trip lmao), Lots of Transformers shows (Unicron trilogy nostalgia hitting hard rn), Hot Wheels (World Race/Acceleracers=win), the Total Drama series (nostalgia for this hitting everyone it seems), and basically every show from the good old days of Cartoon Network like, Ed Edd and Eddy, Samurai Jack, Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, you know, shows of that caliber. Favorite video games: Man, way too hard to narrow this list down, basically it'd amount to pretty much every game I played on my PS2, ditto with the Xbox 360, and heck, the same case with all of the PC stuff I bought. I'm very lenient when it comes to what sort of video games I enjoy, although nobody likes those crappy movie tie in games, nobody. Favorite movies: Far too many to count, much easier to binge movies than shows for me imo. Some of my top (as in, off the top of my head lmao) picks though are the aforementioned Romero Dead trilogy, Unforgiven, Parasite, 12 Angry Men, Snowpiercer, Easy Rider, Nightcrawler, Children of Men, Stalker, Lord of War, and many, many more. Favorite books: Most definitely too many to count here as well, before I had more or less dropped reading in favor of hopping onto the computer but as of late I've been picking up those books son. Some favorites would basically include every book I ordered online such as Roadside Picnic, I Am Legend, Children of Men, Odd Thomas, Battle Royale, and more. Currently I'm reading the memoir by L. L'Amour (heh) but after that it's back to reading science fiction that gradually hits closer and closer to home as the days roll by. That about wraps things up here folks, until next time this is Chuck, signing off. Conglaturations You've made it to the end of my profile, here's your reward! (It's not a Rickroll I swear!) |