Resources? I bet you have them

[multi-madrox.livejournal.com]

Don't call it a meme. Call it something to help out your fellow players.

The other week when I was researching for a particular character application, I shared a website with a fellow player that was immensely helpful to her. It was then I realized I had that particular website as a research resource for years and that could have helped other people during application time.

So for this post: Share your resources, no matter how big or how small. (Okay, maybe not wikipedia because we all know that one. Or should. AND NO TV TROPES! We'd be lost forever.) Whether it be for a particular canon, image galleries, icon resources, whatever.

Let's see 'em!

(And yes, I realize this is coming after the main application deadline. Sorry about that.)

Comments

[nonelikemesince.livejournal.com]

It's not TV Tropes, but you could still get lost in Wookieepedia (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page) for days.

Mwahahahaha.

[momslilassassin]

In the Wookiee we trust!

[multi-madrox.livejournal.com]

I love that site because it can answer the most bizarre questions about SW.

Including the fact that there was once a jedi that turned into a tree.

[cataclysmicluck.livejournal.com]

I don't have time to look, but I believe the Jedi WAS a tree, from a race of tree beings.

One of whom survived the rise of the Empire to end up serving on the Secret Council circa Legacy. I love SW.

[multi-madrox.livejournal.com]

http://www.uncannyxmen.net

This is my goto site for all things X-men 616. It has the most accurate character histories for all the x-men as well as an almost page by page synopsis of the major X-men comic books and storylines.

http://www.comicsbackissues.com/list-of-major-events-in-the-x-men-universe/

The URL says it all. It's not specific about what happened in each event but it was very helpful to me in keeping what events happened when in the Marvel X-men universe. 616 to be precise.

http://marvel-icons.insanejournal.com/

That link actually came from Nick and not me. I was looking for a non-movie PB for a character and this was pretty helpful. However most of the icons dwell on the characters being shirtless.

[notconflicted]

I am just gonna say on the first link that it is AWESOME and also that like a week or two later I still have about 8 tabs open from it to read because it's worse than TV Tropes that way.

[multi-madrox.livejournal.com]

Because I just remembered these:

http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Portal:Main
http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page

Much like Wookieepedia, this was my main resource when I had a Star Trek Character. Memory Alpha covers everything that is canon from the TV shows and movies. Memory Beta covers everything that was in comics, novels and licensed RPG's.

Oh, and if you ever have trouble finding images for your PB? Try googling the name of the PB and "coppermine" without the quotes. Coppermine Photo Gallery is a image library system typically used by fans to categorize images. It's a good way to cut through some of the lackluster fan sites.

[nonelikemesince.livejournal.com]

WHOA. The Coppermine trick could be useful. I did not know.

[multi-madrox.livejournal.com]

It's also good for trying to find screencaps of movies and TV shows!

Which I add here because, again, I keep forgetting to add details.

[necroslacker]

http://www.insanejournal.com/tools/memories.bml?user=wikicon

That's a big ole list of icons pulled from all over Insanejournal and cataloged there for convenience. I use it a ton to find stuff for PB's old and new.

[twintuitionist.livejournal.com]

Probably this is all stuff you guys know, but just in case:

There are at least three Marvel wikis, but I found Marvel.Wikia.com (http://marvel.wikia.com/Main_Page) the best-edited when I was writing Victor's app. I have no idea how it reads to a non-n00b or for non-Runaways stuff.

And I tend to start PB hunts at PB Updates (http://asylums.insanejournal.com/pb_updates/), because their age/race/hair color tagging is very strong. Icons are of mixed quality, to put it kindly, but are generally good enough to rule people in or out.

For icons from a specific fandom or of a specific person, running an LJ search (http://www.livejournal.com/search/?q=Find&area=journals) on the name with a people & communities filter on will generally pull up the main communities dedicated to worshiping Samaire Armstrong's eyebrows, or what have you. That's handy for icons either too old or too new to be backed up over at IJ.

[multi-madrox.livejournal.com]

I'll second marvel.wikia.com for the x-men portion of Marvel. The character bios were more up to date than Wikipedia or the resource I mentioned above.

[ultron_junior]

Yeah, it still punks out on Runaways after Joss's arc. But that's better than the pages that quit right after Victor's introduction.

Apparently nobody liked the last two volumes enough to add them to any wiki.

/canon-specific grumbling

Edit: I take it back, the wiki is up to date if I look at other characters or the main page for the series. Just no updating for Vic.

[momslilassassin]

I like LJ search to find other people RPing the same character--they can provide good leads on pretty pictures as well, provided they credit properly.

And seeing random PBs can be good for a giggle, too.

[twintuitionist.livejournal.com]

... oooh. That worked really well too. Thanks.

[dollpocalypse]

I LOVE DOING THAT. Sometime it leads to me getting super-overwhelmed, though. Damn crazy-talented people.

[endsthegame]

Weeell there's no reliable Ender's Game wiki worth mentioning (there's the Ansible Wiki, but that's not worth using for anything more than looking up Battle School slang).

On the other hand, Mass Effect has a freaking amazing wiki that I adore, and anything you can't find on there is usually somewhere tucked away on BSN aka the Bioware Social Network and... that's all I got that hasn't been mentioned yet.

[hatesmoststuff.livejournal.com]

Oh my god the Mass Effect wiki was my best friend while actually playing the games because I am a huge cheater la la la. I can only imagine how useful it must be for reference and such.

[batwaffles.livejournal.com]

The Stephanie Brown Wiki (that will probably NEVER HAVE ANY REASON TO BE UPDATED EVER AGAIN, GOD DAMN YOU DC *ahem*) is of use to pretty much no one but me, so I'm not linking to that.

But Comic Book DB (http://comicbookdb.com/index.php) is sprawling and kind of frightening, but occasionally rather useful.

[dirtiestlily.livejournal.com]

Because I have to use this icon somewhere after wussing out and not actually doing anything with my Sue due to passing out at 10 pm.

BtVS/Angel Resources:

BuffyWorld (http://www.buffyworld.com) has transcripts for the entire series, and shooting scripts for a lot of the episodes so you can, if you're in a particularly OCD mood, compare them to see what got cut or what lines got changed. It also has screencaps for all episodes, though the quality varies.

Screencap Paradise (http://www.screencap-paradise.com/) was the go-to place for Buffy, Angel, and Charmed caps. Now it seems to be down more than it's up.

And You Thought You Were Obsessed With BtVS (http://www.nika-summers.com/images.php) is old and clunky but has a lot of great, sometimes-rare promo and public-appearance shots of the actors.

ChosenTwo.com (http://www.chosentwo.com/gallery/)'s gallery is slicker and bigger, and covers Buffy, Angel, and Firefly. Again, all promo and stills, no screenshots.

btvsangel_canon was at one point the spot to go to for asking "Hey, when did what did who did back in that one episode you know with the guy?" or "Did anyone ever actually say that Buffy smells like vanilla?" (No.) questions. Chances are you'll still get an answer, but it's fairly dead these days.

Oldskool Doctor Who Resources

They're really Nu-Who resources too, but there's plenty of those that don't touch the old series, while these do.

The TARDIS Index File (http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Doctor_Who_Wiki) - Wookieepedia for Whovians. Crazy-exhaustive; just take any article's opinion on what sources count as canon with a huge grain of salt.

Chrissie's Transcript Site (http://www.chakoteya.net/DoctorWho/) - the pages for other shows are still (always?) under construction, but the DW transcripts go from Day 1 with William Hartnell all the way up to the current Matt Smith season.

[brat_inslayage]

Man, I'm pretty sure I've lost months of my life to BuffyWorld-- which I can attest to as being a useful resource, since the transcripts and shooting scripts came in really, really, really handy during my canon catchup.

Let's not discuss the time I've spent flailing at the shooting script for Conversations With Dead People.

[nookiepowered]

ETA!

A little pokery (now that SCP finally loaded to reveal that the domain's for sale so I know it's not just temporarily down) reveals that Screencap Paradise has moved in with Pretty As A Picture (which is another Promo/Stills/non-screencap type gallery site); the screencaps are over here. Still in the process of re-creating the galleries for the other shows they cover, but it looks like BtVS, Angel, and Charmed are all complete.

[trickydemigod.livejournal.com]

Percy Jackson (http://camphalfblood.wikia.com/wiki/Percy_Jackson), The Hunger Games (http://thehungergames.wikia.com/wiki/The_Hunger_Games_Wiki) and The Mortal Instruments (http://shadowhunters.wikia.com/wiki/The_Shadowhunters%27_Wiki) all have their own wiki's though the TMI one isn't very full. Same goes for the sparse Teen Wolf (http://teenwolf.wikia.com/wiki/Teen_Wolf_Wiki) one, not that I had a reason to look at it, really.

Also RP Tutorials (http://asylums.insanejournal.com/rp_tutorials/) over at insanejournal has some nifty, if not entirely useful, stuff. Mostly dorky stuff.

[multi-madrox.livejournal.com]

vrya.net/bdb/index.php

If you're ever looking for a specific quote or nickname in BTVS or ATS this is the site for you. I mostly used it for fanfic but I've used it several times here when trying to get a character's voice just right.

[nookiepowered]

Oh God, yes, the Buffy Dialogue Database. Good for both finding where a specific quote came from, and just getting lost poking around to find out "Hey, what did everybody have to say about.....idk. CHOCOLATE!"

[notconflicted]

Well.

Now I know how I'm spending the rest of my workday.

[nonelikemesince.livejournal.com]

FAREWELL, PRODUCTIVITY.

[cataclysmicluck.livejournal.com]

Comicvine.com has been invaluable to me with comic characters. They have a wiki style database for most characters you could ever possibly need, but it's more comprehensive and clear than you get on Wikipedia. But the real joy of it is that it lists all of that character's appearances, sorted by comic. Click the "X appearances" link under the cover images and you'll get a new page showing very issue they were in with covers for easy reference.

It's generally very up to date, with the one issue being the inclusion of European reprints creating a little bit of confusion in the appearances list.

[glacial_queen]

More relevant now that I have a ton of castmates:

The Black Jewels wiki

The pages I have bookmarked particularly is the list of characters by Jewel rank: http://blackjewels.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_characters_by_Jewel_rank and the breakdown of Territories (in Kaeleer specifically, though there's also one for Terreille): http://blackjewels.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Kaeleer_territories

Also, for Lost Girl there's the wiki: http://lostgirl.wikia.com/wiki/Lost_Girl_TV_show_Wiki