#there's a step-by-step in the link

[knightofleo]

Acrylic "Portal" painting, by Steven Novak

[magdaamm]

And here is the next diptych in my little series!

A link to the past is an incredible game and I especially love the atmospheric beginning but if I had to choose a favorite 2D Zelda game it would definitely be Link's Awakenig.

I kept going back and forth on if I wanted to draw the master sword as it appears in the respective games or if I wanted to do one cohesive design for all of them. I finally settled on the latter as I think it makes for more interesting visual storytelling - where you see at first glance that they all wield the very same sword.

But idk both would have been cool I think.

[good-advice-ganondorf]

Ganon, I need help. How do you deal with gender dysphoria and still bring closeted? I've been having an hard time recently, any advices, go!! Thanks!!

[tenowls]

me when i don’t let past and future be

[luguangs]

LINK CLICK: YINGDU CHAPTER

This time... we must succeed.

[wardingshout]

Zelda goes mushroom girl

[sthilarions]

I think it’s frankly rather odd that fics don’t address more frequently Charles learning that Edwin’s death was a hate crime, too.

Because Edwin tells him up front that he was murdered by bullies, but for obvious reasons does not tell him why. He seems to have been pretty firmly closeted right up until Port Townsend. It’s conceivably possible he could have told Charles something like “I was killed because they perceived me as an [outdated term]”, but I think incredibly unlikely because he would not want to open that door in Charles’s perception of him (or his own perception of himself, either, frankly), among other reasons.

It’s significantly more likely that Charles figured that out on his own. I grew up in the ‘90s and 2000s, and boys were still being killed for acting like Edwin does, violently physically bullying people for that was still fully standard behavior. (And against perceived-girls who acted in the equivalent opposite fashion, but that’s a separate matter.) Charles certainly knew enough bullies and knew enough about social dynamics to identify that if Edwin was showing the mannerisms when alive that he does when dead, the bullies Charles knew might’ve killed him for it.

But, like, there’s a difference between part of you knowing that with plausible deniability (maybe they were just Like That in Edwardian times, maybe that was part of it but also Edwin has those Vibes that also drive bullies to people [those Vibes being autism vibes but Charles wouldn’t know that], and simply harshly repressing his awareness of what all that suggests about Edwin for a wide variety of reasons both historical and relational) - there’s a difference between that and being told, explicitly, that your best friend was murdered by people chanting a homophobic slur.

And, I dunno, I think it’s interesting that doesn’t come up more.

[angels-all-sin]

— LOVE HITS ME LIKE AN EPIPHANY

[wishyoudwell]

I thought Legend was bad with his present already but Four just did the Exact Same Thing. Okay. And Wars is jealous now.

[thematriheart]

Been on ENA binge and found what is arguably one of the best ENA fics on AO3. This Fic 'Not My Job' by spotty8ee is just BBQ ENA parenting Series ENA and I am obsessed. Just had to draw a scene from chapter 2, Its so cute. might draw more art for this fic. Here's the URL for the fic in case anyone's interested.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/65093326?view_full_work=true

[perryelornitorrinco]

Random doodle idea, idk if it might be a bit much for you to draw or whatever but like, Legend chilling on the beach with a bunch of seagulls that Wind (or Aryll too!) secretly summoned with those funny pears cause they noticed Legend was feeling a little down and Wind is a good big/little brother. (:

It wasn't too much! I don't usually draw landscapes so it was really fun to try!!!!!

Love when Wind is in big brother mode even though he's the youngest, and Arryl helping him makes it 1092831 times better >:D!

Goofy ahh seagulls, tag yourself, I'm the one screaming on the back 💀

No but seeing Legend happy makes me happy, so thanks a lot for the ask, hope you like it!!!! 🥹💖

Also I did a doodle with them being silly under the cut :·3

[degenerateshinji]

li tianxi in my more painterly style + lu guang inplick colour study !!

[tritoch]

i know a lot of people (very understandably) dislike the paladin job quests in ffxiv, particularly HW, but i do think it's fun that, now that the pre-ShB MSQ revamp is complete, paladins now have a very cool and thematic in-game storyline that happens without a word being spoken: the development of passage of arms.

none of the below is directly stated in the script, but imo it's a fairly obvious gloss on what the game presents, if you assume a paladin warrior of light. spoilers for all expansions through the end of 6.X.

in the new version of steps of faith, as vishap breaks through each ward protecting ishgard from attack, lucia mounts a final desperate effort to hold him back, with a very familiar looking animation:

but even lucia can't hold back vishap's flame alone, so the temple knights surge forward to assist her. their efforts make the shield visually more powerful and larger. the temple knights here band together in defense of ishgard, and their knightly resolve to protect their home is the difference between victory and defeat.

lucia and the knights do ultimately succeed in defending the last ward, as you have to defeat vishap before their shield falls or you lose.

later in heavensward, obviously, we will get ffxiv's most famous (failed) attempt at blocking something with a shield.

this moment can be read as fairly impactful on the warrior of light's development; as i've noted elsewhere, after the trauma of watching haurchefant bleed out in their arms at level 57, at level 58 paladins learn to channel their magic into healing (and it's called "clemency," or mercy. mercy for whom? who was guilty?), and as someone pointed out on that post, at level 58 dark knights used to get "sole survivor", letting them heal in response to a marked target's death.

for a time, you literally carry haurchefant's shield with you, and 3.3 very much literalizes in genre fashion the idea that even when you are standing alone, your fallen friends stand with you. you don't need to call any allies to stand at your side and raise their shields with you because they are already there, in spirit.

stormblood marks a pretty important turning point in the warrior of light as a combatant, in my opinion, and the text makes this clear in several ways. first, in pretty much all your jobs, you've now far exceeded your trainers and are pioneering new techniques. this is no less true of paladin, which for 60-70 abandons any trainers at all for you to show off your peerless skills in a tournament.

second, stormblood is straight up a story about you getting stronger. at level 61, zenos kicks your ass. at level 70, you kick his ass. why? because you fought and got stronger and developed incredible new techniques and became a one-man army.

for a lot of classes, this story lines up nicely with the big rotation changes or flashy new finishers on the way from 60 to 70. SMN is now busting out bahamut and casting akh morn; RDM gets verflare and verholy; DRG starts harnessing nidhogg's power directly through dragon sight and nastrond.

the tanks are divided in two: warriors and gunbreakers get huge damaging upgrades at 70 in the form of inner release and continuation, each of which lets them hit the same button many times for lots of damage and satisfying animations. paladin and dark knight get more protective abilities; dark knight gets the blackest night, and there's been plenty said about that already by pretty much everyone.

paladins get passage of arms. instead of a relentless new attack (and you get requiescat at 68, which is a way bigger deal for your dps rotation), your big reveal at 70 for zenos in your fight in ala mhigo is a superior way to protect your party, a shield that lets you stand for your allies so they never have to fall for you again. it's lucia's same shield, except you need no allies' shields to reinforce you, proof of your martial prowess and your ability to transcend limits, and perhaps in truth a reminder that you never really stand alone.

in many respects passage of arms should really feel like a paladin signature move to you now if you are playing it at this point, because you should be popping it in pretty much every fight (you are using your mits, right...?). basically every FFXIV fight has at least one big AOE with downtime that warrants passage of arms usage, usually after the mid-fight add phase with slowly filling bar. since that AOE usually drops during downtime, there's no reason not to pop passage of arms (which otherwise restricts your movement and actions), and even on normal, sometimes every little bit counts on a damage check even if it means dropping DPS (thinking here of harrowing hell P10N on release, which was...less consistent for a lot of roulette parties than you might hope).

so from 70 onward, passage of arms is in a sense a paladin warrior of light's signature move, and certainly the one a player gets to most actually enjoy (since if you're using it, you're by necessity not doing anything besides moving your camera and admiring your sick animation). it doesn't have any competition in terms of spectacle until confiteor, and those you're usually throwing out in the middle of movement.

it's such a signature, in fact, that the only other person shown using your one-person version of passage of arms is your greatest admirer, who studied your legend for over a century.

and it's when he fails (should've popped arm's length, bud) that the warrior of light decides they can't let their friends fall for them, and sends them away with the transporter beacon. this is all wrong: you were meant to die for them, not the other way around. yours is the shield that stands between your allies and defeat. it is you who will win this passage of arms and break your opponents lance. and you do.

and then later, when they need to quickly establish zero's domain as a place of fallen grandeur, the home of someone who once believed in heroes but is now a cool and cynical vampire hunter d, what do they use? a decayed statue of someone in the paladin endwalker gear doing the passage of arms animation, of course.

from a visible instantiation of knighthood as a joint effort to defend what is sacred, to a tribute to the fallen friends whose memories stand by you and animate you, to a symbol of the wol's power as emulated by their allies or darkly mirrored in other shards.

not bad for a mit button you hit once per fight and otherwise never think about!

[karlyboyyy]

Do y’all ever think about how if Lu Guang finally breaks the time loop and saves Cheng Xiaoshi, the initial sense of accomplishment and peace will most likely be overcome with a lifetime of intense paranoia and anxiety because he’s deathly afraid that maybe it’s not actually over, maybe someone or something is still after them, or maybe there’s just a random tragic accident waiting to happen at any point in the future, or maybe he and Cheng Xiaoshi and Qiao Ling are destined to live a quiet life from now on, but the problem is that he’s never lived past this moment before and has no idea how to cope with simply living like a normal person and so the fear of the unknown slowly drives him mad? Because I do 😌

[luna-loveboop]

Time. Worried about Wars.

Time. Worried about Wars. Time is worried about Wars- Time has to be so freaking scared for Wars I-

Warriors is going into his first dungeon which has challenges for how he should deal with it, and Time is stressed. Ima rant about it

At this point (update Entrance) Time is obviously... well, terrified. His concern for mr. stubborn after his injury is obvious and he wants to make sure it does not happen again

And his concerns are valid- they are all now painfully aware of their lack of skills in working as a team. And they are heading into a dungeon- where that instantly results in stuff like this lol

And then Wars openly says that he has never done this before

The group is obviously uhh concerned that he hasn't done this or had any dungeon experience

'No dungeon experience?' / 'Has he even seen certain monsters before?'

Time wanted to stay in a group for safety- but they have to split up. Dungeons are cramped and messy and small, and Wars is used to fighting on a battlefield - not this sort of setting

And they still joke around about it- and Wars instantly starts analyzing.

'Tell me. Give me the intel' / 'This isn't practical'

Honestly Wars' response to this is pretty cool- it's totally in line with who he is as a captain and hero. He instantly starts thinking about it and treating it as a different type of battlefield to figure out strategy. Also I think it's pretty cute that he said 'intel' even if he's grumpy about asking the others for advice and what a wallmaster is

Wars can handle it and learn what a dungeon's like- I think it'll be fun to see him go through his first dungeon :D

But. He's still never done a dungeon before. It will be interesting to see how that develops in this arc... and let's not forget he's pissed the shadow and his emo sword off before. This isn't where he fights best and Wars is particularly vulnerable in a major way.

Time was already stressed about mr. stubborn Twilight, but hearing that the captain, that Warriors isn't prepared for this is. Extra scary. I just think he must be really concerned for him- for all of them. And now mr. reliable is in a learning position and not a leading one

Their faces fjdkfsjdksjsk

But these are his boys and he'll have to trust that they'll be ok. Therefore I think this was Time's thinking:

Time, thinking: "Dungeon. A dungeon oh this is dangerous- no one can get hurt-"

Wars: "can't say I've really been in one"

Time, absolutely sobbing internally: "YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE THE RELIABLE ONE"

.

Art by @linkeduniverse au :))

:)

Hey, don't worry too much about it I'm sure it'll be fine :) (mostly)

[st4rstudent]

For those keeping up with the ttcc situation, Sheriff Cranky has stepped down.

You can find his reddit post here . It is very lengthy but I say take what you will from it. And for those unaware of what happened, recently multiple (24+) former staff came out to discuss the mistreatment they experienced in the team. You can find the post here . If you prefer a video format you can also find streams by Smirky and Stuck the duck discussing what has happened as well. As well as a video on youtube by Bonus Goat. Many of these cover the same topics but with varying reactions to the situation.

In this time, I believe our efforts should go into supporting those that are and have been affected, as well as the current team that is working to fix what has happened in leadership. It will be difficult, but I know there are people passionate and willing to push for change.

UPDATE: Corporate Clash's official response on twitter