#I swear to God he’d better be playable

[ac-liveblogs]

Lantern Rite 2023

The first two days were boring as sin. Nothing else to say about them. YaoYao got introduced and vanished, it’s a regular NPC storyline used in place of a playable character, it’s an excuse for another loredump and cares far more about the lore than the characters included, and I don’t care how often I need to say it - there is no point playing “who’s that Adeptus?!” in Liyue when Zhongli would happily answer every possible question anyone could ever have about that subject, and literally any other.

If you want to do mysteries like this, pick any other region, god. Also, please make a better mystery than “Madame Ping played a song this one time. It was a really bitchin’ song. Also a guy almost drowned. GUIZHONG EXISTED!”

Cloud Retainer is sexy now though. That’s cool, I guess. We needed that. Also, I love that every time Shenhe shows up lately she doesn’t know some extremely basic thing. Last time it was flavoured drinks, and this time it’s THE CONCEPT OF MUSIC, despite music being such a huge thing in her quest??? This woman has goldfish brain, I swear.

The epilogue was a little better - no lore dragging us down - and I was surprised (pleased) to see HYV actually picking up on the thread from the Chasm about Xiao needing to socialise more, and seeing him attempting (and struggling) to do so. Xiao is very cute. Nothing else to say. He raises my serotonin levels. I Like Him.

Although, speaking of Xiao, and I’m just throwing this out there - I think this event would’ve been better served if maybe instead of some rando from Fontaine trying to find the magical music playing person from another country that saved an ancestor’s life with breathtakingly beautiful music, we could’ve maybe leveraged the two characters in this event that already have that backstory, and were IN THIS EVENT, BUT WHATEVER. WHAT DO I KNOW-

Anyway, this event was clearly trying to be funny, and while seeing Xiao “?!” “um” “uhhh”ing was cute, the humour is definitely muted by the VA’s restrained performances, and the lack of facial expressions/restricted movements on the 3D models mean any scene always seems a bit slow and underwhelming and can really impact a joke’s delivery. More to the point, HYV really cares far too much about Zhongli’s dignity to be able to capitalise on a skit where both Hu Tao and Venti put a fair amount of effort into mocking him. His straight man routine is sorely lacking.

At the end of the day, it’s 40 minutes of people sitting around a dinner table and a decent chunk of it is “oh I met [x] at [y]!” As always, Genshin needs a script editor to trim the fat.

In terms of character dynamic:

Xiao and Aether’s slowburn romance friendship continues to be adorable, even if the foundation for its intensity is extremely shaky. Despite the fact that the PV wasn’t integrated into this year’s Lantern Rite at all, it did earn some points in my heart.

Chongyun, Xingqiu and Xiangling’s inclusions were mostly to justify the identity shenanigans involving Venti and Zhongli, but they were a bit lost in the scene despite this. The scene always seemed to forget they were there, which is a shame, because Chongyun has very specific beef with Xiao (per his mats) and Xiangling’s cooking should really be leveraged for comedy faaaar more often than it is.

Xiao and Zhongli is about what I would’ve expected it to be. Solid dynamic, no notes.

Hu Tao and Venti get on like a house on fire, which should really cause Zhongli more dread than it does. I did enjoy them burning each other, but again - HYV’s comedy is always a bit slow. Would’ve been great to see Zhongli lose his cool a bit.

It’s a bit sad that my relationship HCs about Xiao and Hu Tao, or Xiao and Venti, weren’t really challenged or confirmed in any real way. Due to Xiao’s dialogue about them in his mats, I’d assumed he’d already met Hu Tao and only knew of Venti, but I see that’s the other way around. Xiao clearly respects Venti a lot (the differing reactions between when you blame either Zhongli or Venti for Xiao’s awkwardness at dinner, plus Xiao’s reverence of Venti’s music, show that), but I don’t really get the sense that the two are “old friends”. If anything, Xiao having Venti as an “old friend” seems kind of odd given what we know of his backstory.

Anyway, I still think Mondstadt wins at festivals overall. Windblume soon!!! Looking forward to that!

[mokuhchi-manuscripts]

Spring Troupe with an S/O Who Shares the Same Hobby

A/N: I had a ton of fun writing these. Hope y’all enjoy! I’ll eventually write these for the other troupe’s as well :)

CW(s): none

❀ Sakuya Sakuma - Theatre

Sakuya absolutely adores the fact you love theatre, as it’s such a huge passion of his

He’ll definitely ask for your help when rehearsing and memorizing lines or when practicing blocking by himself. He’ll look to you for advice at times as well whenever he’s a bit stuck.

If you’re also in theatre productions, he’ll always offer to help you with the same things and will try to give constructive criticism to you too if you ask for it

He will definitely show up to all of your performances, his theatre schedule permitting, whenever you are in a show. Doesn’t matter if you’re ensemble or the lead, he’s so incredibly proud of you and wants to cheer you on

Whenever you go to his performances he’s so grateful and swears up and down he’s performances are always a little bit better when you’re there.

Be prepared to go on theatre dates; if there’s a performance he wants to see, he’ll be sure to invite you and he hopes you’ll do the same

Sakuya looked over at you, excitement written plainly on his face. You couldn’t help but smile in response. The two of you were waiting in line to see a new theatre performance that was set to premiere that day, and you were both vibrating with excitement. Sakuya squeezed your hand and smiled at you again.

“Excited?”

“Extremely.” The line moved forward and the two of you made your way inside. As soon as you sat down and the lights began to dim, Sakuya squeezed your hand again and placed a soft kiss on the side of your face.

“Thank you for coming with me.” he whispered.

“I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.”

The fact that he can do something he loves, with someone he loves, means the absolute world to him

❀ Masumi Usui - Music

Masumi has a passion for music and the fact you do too is just another reason he loves you

He’ll definitely share his favorite CDs with you, and even make you playlists! He’ll also create special music CDs for music he recommends or just songs that remind him of you

He starts to carry earbuds on his person so you two can listen to music together no matter where you are, and if he forgets his pair he knows you most likely have your pair on you

Sometimes, when you’re spending time together, the two of you just listen to music and bask in each others presence

He’ll share a lot of alternative rock with you as it’s his favorite genre, but he’ll listen to almost anything

Even if your favorite genre isn’t his favorite, he’ll still listen to and appreciate every song you send to him

‘Hey babe!’ you texted Masumi, ‘this song reminded me of you ♡ it’s called Same Boat by LizzyMcAlpine! It’s not your usual genre but I hope you like it anyways! (Ɔ ˘⌣˘)♥(˘⌣˘ C) ‘

Masumi read the text message in his dorm, smiling to himself. He opened YouTube and typed in the title and quickly clicked a lyric video. You were right, the song was incredibly far from his favorite genre. The song was slow and soft, but somewhat pretty nonetheless.

As the song ended he opened up your text chat again. ‘I am in the same boat ♡ love you so much’ he typed out.

‘Love you too, Masumi!’ He couldn’t help but smile at his phone once more, absolutely enamored with you.

Masumi just adores the fact he share his hobby with you, and you can understand where he’s coming from when it comes to his love for music

❀ Tsuzuru Minagi - Writing

Tsuzuru finds it incredibly helpful that you also like to write, no matter if it’s script writing, poetry, non-fiction, or stories

If you do more creative writing he’ll definitely bounce ideas off of you and have you peer review some of his work to make sure it makes sense -especially since he writes a lot of his work while practically dead-. If you write more nonfiction, he may ask for help with research whenever he’s writing a historical play or anything of that such.

If you ask him to, he’ll peer edit and review your work as well. He may not always do the best job, especially if he just finished a script

Remind him to sleep and rest! You especially understand what it’s like to overwork yourself so your reminders almost mean more to him. He’ll also remind you to rest, which is quite hypocritical but he does it because he cares about you.

You were working on the final draft of your writing project when you received a phone call. The name on the screen read, ‘Tsuzuru’. You couldn’t help but smile at the sight of your boyfriend's name.

You answered the phone. “Hey Tsuzuru!’

“Hey! I know you’ve been working on that project lately so I just wanted to remind you to go to sleep. The project will still be there in the morning and you’ll be able to work on it better after you rest.”

You couldn’t help but laugh. “Tsuzuru, you’re working on a script right now, right?”

“Yeah?”

“I’ll listen to your words only if you heed your own advice. You can finish the script in the morning and you’ll do better after you rest. ‘Kay?”

Tsuzuru laughed then. “Okay, I’ll try.”

“Then I’ll try as well. Love you!”

“Love you too.”

He also always hypes up your writing! He adores it so much and thinks you’re incredibly talented

❀ Itaru Chigasaki - Video Games

One of the reasons Itaru originally decided to pursue a relationship with you was because of your love for video games

He loves to recommend you games, and he’ll play any and all of the games you recommend him

You can bet you’ll have video game dates. Whether this means you backseat gaming as he uses the controller or vice versa or even playing multiplayer depends on the day.

“You have to go down!”

“No, the extra bonus isn’t here, it’s further down.”

“No no, trust me, Itaru, it’s here I’ve played this game like a bajillion times.”

“And I’ve played it a bajillion and one times.” you rolled your eyes at your boyfriend, although he couldn’t see it. He was lying on his back on the couch, and you cuddled on top of him with his arms around you as he held the controller.

“Please just at least look?” you asked.

“Fine.” You watched the playable character move out of the screen as the game faded to black. Once the game faded back in, you could see the bonus chest in the hidden room. “See! I told you!” you yelled, laughing the entire time.

“I can’t believe you proved me wrong.” he laughed too, although there was a hint of frustration in his voice. You craned your neck to kiss Itaru on the jaw.

“It’s okay, it was more of a lucky guess. Also I played this game before coming over so I could see where the hidden items were.”

Itaru will go with you to gaming stores, and will definitely use you as an excuse for being there in case he runs into a coworker. But it’s alright, as he’ll give you an apology kiss afterwards.

If you ever need help beating a game, he’ll always be there to help and give advice. And if you play gacha, he may help donate to the cause of you pulling your best boy or girl

❀ Citron - Learning New Words

Citron loves to learn new words, and if you do as well, then he’d love to learn new words with you!

He’ll definitely just flip through a dictionary with you, learning how to pronounce new words and learning their definitions

The two of you were lying on the floor of Citron’s dorm on your bellies next to each other. Between you was a dictionary.

“Letter?” you asked.

“F.”

“Alright.” You found the ‘F’ section in the dictionary and flipped to a random page, closing your eyes and pointing to a random spot.

“Fas-mill?” Citron sounded confused.

You looked at the pronunciation key. “I think it’s fac-SIH-muh-lee.”

“Oh! That makes sense. Facsimile. What does the word mean?”

“It says it means ‘an exact copy or reproduction, as of a document’. So I guess, like, whenever the director makes a copy of Tsuzuru’s scripts for you guys to memorize it’s a facsimile.”

“Oh! That makes a lot of sense. Thank you!” Citron gave you a kiss on the cheek after he finished speaking.

Sometimes your dates just consist of flipping through a dictionary and learning new words. The two of you have a lot of fun, even if others may find it odd

Sometimes he’ll tell you stories from his homeland using the new words you learned even if he doesn’t always use them correctly

❀ Chikage Utsuki - Spicy Food

Chikage is so happy someone else finally loves spicy food close to as much as he does

He may ask you for help when writing his reviews, as getting a second opinion can definitely help him at times

He’ll take you to his favorite spicy food restaurants for dates and will ask if he can order for you as he’s eaten at these restaurants so many times, he practically has their menus memorized. Because of this, he has an idea of what is good and what isn’t and you’re most likely to like

Chikage had asked if he could order your meal for you and you and you had agreed, trusting him to get you something you’d like.

A plate was soon placed in front of you and you promptly decided it looked absolutely delicious. You took a bite.

“So? How is it?”

“It’s amazing, oh my god.” you responded, your mouth still somewhat full of food.

“It’s rude to talk with your mouth full.”

“Sorry,” you replied, but your mouth still had food in it. Chikage shook his head.

“Well, I’m glad you like it. I figured you would.”

Sometimes he’ll sneak extra spice into your food- whether it’s as a ‘prank’ or not is really anyone’s guess

Sometimes, as a date, the two of you will order spicy food from a bunch of restaurants and try them all, critiquing them as if you’re professional food reviewers although you could argue Chikage kind of is

· · ─────── · ☆ · ─────── · ·

Masterlists || FaQ || Requesting Rules/Remarks

[mindstriker]

Dayshift At Freddy's Characters 101 ( Part 1 )

Turns out I really love posting shitpost analyses of characters, so here I go again, baybee. I left some characters out that I didn't have a lot to say about, and also because this post is gonna be long enough as-is.

( these are my own interpretations of the characters, and what I think of them, of course, :D )

Part One: Jack's Family, and the Phones <3

Jack: Sinister in both appearance and attitude, Jack's talent for being unsettling is rivaled only by his penchant for completely unexplainable, and often quite immature actions. As the playable character, a lot about his morality and personality is pretty flexible and depends on who's playing the game, but one thing's always certain. If he ever offers you pizza, fucking run. The cheapskate probably made that shit with dumpster meat and soap flakes instead of cheese.

Dee: Further solidifying how strange Jack's family tree is ( I mean, he's a literal corpse, and his brother's got a phone for a head ) Dee takes the form of a lanky plastic puppet, stuck as a vengeful ghost of her 6-year old self. Dedicated to her cause of saving all the lost souls of the ghostly Flipside, where the unrestful spirits of Freddy's victims rest, she spends most of her time arguing with her brother, or fighting him, should he make the wrong choices. Talk about sibling rivalry.

Peter: I honestly have nothing to say about Peter, but I think that, in itself, says everything you need to know about him. He's like if white bread was a person, but a person with a phone for ahead. ( /lh ) Oh yeah, and he really, REALLY doesn't like trumpet players.

Steven: When Steven isn't doing everything in his power to cover up the criminal activity going on in the restaurant he runs, he's actively participating in it, by outright killing employees that don't live up to his standards by snapping the springlocks in their suit, and outright covering up any death or accident that happens within Freddy's walls. Steven will pretty much do anything to keep his job, because being fired is a death sentence for a phone-head like him. Like most phone guys, Steven's brain has been messed with a fair bit, leaving him with an obsession with Foxy, and fake memories of being a man named Scott with a wife and kids. Asides from being a ruthless bastard of a boss, it's a great thing that he was never actually a parent- as he lets his fake robot-childer run rampant through Freddy's halls, despite knowing how dangerous it is.

Jake: One of the few phone guys capable of swearing, despite the in-built censorship in the AI that partially makes up every phone guy's mechanical brain, Jake is the only DSAF 3 employee you can hire that's brave enough to speak up if his tangerine-colored boss steps out of line. Despite not having a mouth, the man also somehow smokes, and is pretty much the living combination of the "I eat cigarettes YUM" video mixed with Marlin from Finding Nemo. Because yeah, he has some of the memories from his old life still kicking around in his little rotary head and had to go on an entire voyage to find his child when he remembered he had one. Too bad he'd been missing for years, and his son had grown up without him. Also too bad that he refused to even try to speak to said son due to having a self-esteem crisis and considering himself a monster. Guess having a rotary phone for a head isn't all it's cracked up to be. At least he still has his cigarettes, I guess?

Harry: "War. War never changes." - him, probably. In all honesty, I genuinely don't remember much about Harry, which is ironic ( I think, god knows if I understand irony at all ) because I'm pretty sure it's canon that he doesn't really remember shit about himself either, considering he was one of the first-ever Phone Guys and had his brain heavily tampered with as a result. All I remember is he didn't appreciate it when I made Godred the mascot of my restaurant, and apparently he was in a war. Oof.

Roger: Well-meaning, if a bit naive, Roger is straight outta the 90s, and is thusly one of the newest Phone Guys around, lacking a lot of the experience with tragedy and desensitization that comes with being a part of the franchise for ages. With a completely restored memory of his old life before becoming a phone-headed manager, you'd think he'd run for the hills and try to get back to the life he had before Freddy's- but turns out, his life wasn't actually much better before, according to him. And so he stays, and does his best to try and make the company a better place. Surely despite his nervous disposition, broken voice box, tendency to think the best of people even when they don't deserve it, and questionable boss, he'll be fine, right? The answer depends on you, I guess.

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Psycho Analysis: The Horned King

(WARNING! This analysis contains SPOILERS!)

“Style over substance” is something that gets thrown around a lot, usually when describing things that the person using it doesn’t like. I’ve never really understood why this has to be a negative thing; sometimes being cool is a lot better than being amazing, deep, and philosophical. Metal Gear Rising and Danger: Diabolik are not works of art that will be giving you a deeper insight on the human condition, but boy are they ever works of art that are really freakin’ cool!

This villain may very well be the epitome of “Style over substance:” The Horned King from Disney’s cult classic The Black Cauldron. He’s not a particularly deep villain for sure, but you are incredibly unlikely to forget him due to his sinister design, intimidating presence, and fantastic vocal performance.

Motivation/Goals: The Horned King wishes to be worshiped and rule over the world, and so his goal is to use the titular artifact of the film to raise an army of the dead and wipe out all life in Prydain. This is the stuff generic doomsday villains are made of, and frankly his motivation isn’t what makes him interesting; it just serves to set him up as the opposing force to the heroes. That being said, while he definitely fits the bill for the generic doomsday villain, he does have a bit more going for him than, say, Ronan, Apocalypse, or, God forbid, Malekith.

Performance: The legendary John Hurt portrayed the Horned King, and as one would expect from one of cinema’s finest, he dives right in to the role and manages to elevate what would be a generic sorcerous overlord into something a bit more impressive. His vocal performance really is doing most of the work alongside the character design, as it’s not like the character himself does much, but so much is implied just by the way he speaks. Hurt’s voice just makes the Horned King ooze with personality, even when you don’t see him doing much.

Final Fate: In what is without a doubt the most gruesome death in all of the Disney animated canon, the Horned King has his flesh torn off by the titular cauldron, then his bones are set on fire and disintegrate, and if that’s not enough overkill for you his soul is most likely trapped eternally inside the Black Cauldron. It’s just a shame that the lead up to this grisly fate is one of the most embarrassing showdowns in the Disney canon, with the hero basically doing nothing and the Horned King practically just tripping to his doom.

Best Scene: His incredibly over-the-top entrance, where he teleports into the room. Watch how the entire tone shifts immediately once his presence is so much as suspected; it’s a great moment that establishes the tone of the character extremely well.

Best Quote: He’s not exactly the most quotable Disney villain out there, sadly, but within his rare appearances in the theme parks, he has one hell of a monologue. Witness his speech at the Cinderella’s Castle Mystery Tour from Tokyo Disneyland:

“Everyone, welcome. In this Black Cauldron, everything in the world is controlled. Don't be afraid, it will all be over shortly. No one can escape from here, and you'll be sacrificed to the Black Cauldron. Oh Satan's kiln, awaken and resurrect the soldiers of death. Rebuild an army without rivals. The army of death. Rise. The devil's servants, go and capture them and throw them into the cauldron. Don't leave anyone behind. The Black Cauldron wants more bodies, I swear to the death. Nobody can destroy me.”

Final Thoughts & Score: The Horned King is a very interesting villain because if I just described what  he actually does in the film, you likely wouldn’t be impressed and would write him off easily. But it’s not really what he does that has made him an enduring Disney cult icon; it’s the personality of the Horned King is truly where you start to see why he’s such a beloved villain. The most obvious standout trait he has is his lack of humor; while there are scant few occasions where he shows a little bit of sarcasm, he is entirely, completely deathly serious for most of the film. Laughter dies when he appears onscreen. Characters tremble before him. He is an utterly terrifying presence in the film.

And it’s even weirder that this is the case when he really seems to have very little combat prowess or skill whatsoever. It is implied that he is a powerful wizard, but he doesn’t really utilize his magic much at all. In fact, for most of the film he merely does what any king would do: he orders his servants about. The sheer terrifying presence he exudes is enough to cow his minions into servitude, and they enact his will without question. This makes him one of the most unique Disney villains out there; most of them at least make some sort of attempt to fight, or do something, but not the Horned King. He merely fills others with fear through his existence and commands others to do his bidding.

The Horned King is one of the most popular obscure Disney villains, and easily the best part of the film he’s in, the flawed but still pretty impressive film that it is. Fans have clamored for years for him to make some sort of appearance elsewhere, particularly in the Kingdom Hearts series, and for what it’s worth his name apparently gets tossed around when they come up with each new game. At the very least, he’s recently become a playable character in Disney’s mobile game Disney Arena, which is frankly amazing and a testament to that game’s quality when they’ll plumb the depths of Disney’s library to let you play as obscure characters in a mobile RPG. It’s pretty obvious that, if not for the negative initial reception the film received, the Horned King would likely be more visible in modern Disney villain lineups as opposed to the situation he is in now, and maybe he’d already have more appearances outside of mobile games and a constant string of “maybes” for Kingdom Hearts under his belt to make him an icon on the level of Maleficent, Hades, or Jafar.

I think that despite how cool I find him personally, I can only truly justify giving him a 7/10. This sims a bit high for a character I have stressed really doesn’t do anything, but with the King, it’s all about his presentation. Yes, in the movie he’s not very proactive, he hardly uses any magic, and he ends up dying in a gory yet rather anticlimactic way… but there is so much implied by the fear he induces in those who serve him, in the way that him simply entering the room commands the silent attention of all his servants. He doesn’t do anything, but the way the movie presents him to you he really doesn’t have to; your mind fills things in just by seeing the way others react to him. I kind of find that undeniably fascinating that this movie practically demands you to use your imagination to conjure up the sort of horrors the Villain might be capable of. All of that might not make him one of Disney’s greatest villains ever of course, but it most definitely makes him one of Disney’s coolest.

[murasaki-murasame]

After doing way too many summons on this gala without getting Gala Elly I’m just gonna quit while I’m ahead and start hoarding for the New Years banner, lol. And in the mean-time I’ll probably be skipping the Christmas banner so that kinda sucks but oh well.

Either way, I still got a whole bunch of new stuff in my gala summons, and also I have a lot of thoughts about the new This Month in DL post, so I’ll just put the rest of my thoughts under the cut.

I swear to god this gala was the most summons I’ve done on a banner without getting a focus unit, lmao. This must be punishment for me getting like three copies of Gala Euden last time. I think I did like 250 summons total, which included over 10 5-stars, but no Gala Elly. I may or may not end up caving to my temptations and grinding adventurer stories and hard mode campaign levels to try and summon more, but I should just quit while I’m ahead.

Either way, my haul of 5-stars, new and dupes, is:

-Gala Ranzal

-Wedding Elly

-Xanfried

-Lea

-Jeanne

-Chthonius

-Dupes of B-Zardin, Victor,  Sylas, Cassandra, Gala Sarisse, Shinobi, Vayu, and Long Long [x2]. I also got another dupe Shinobi from the 5-star dragon voucher thing they just gave us.

Let’s just say that I don’t know how to feel about wanting Gala Elly and then getting Gala Ranzal + Wedding Elly, lmao. At least they’re both new units for me. Though it feels doubly bad that I got Gala Ranzal, 45MC’d him, and then almost immediately afterward I got Wedding Elly. Welp. I’m a Noelle main in eHMC anyway so it’s not a huge deal. But it’s nice to get my wind roster fleshed out more.

I’m honestly really happy about getting Xanfried, and it more or less makes up for not getting Gala Elly. He was one of those 5-stars who I was vaguely tempted to dream summon because it was bugging me that I still didn’t have him. Now I think the only launch 5-star I don’t have is Hildegarde.

I’m also happy about getting Lea, even if she isn’t a great unit and I have like six other flame swords. I really like her whole design aesthetic.

I don’t really care much about the new 5-star dragons I got, but they’re nice to have. The Long Long dupes are nice, though, since now I have a nearly MUB one for my Lin You.

Oh and I got regular Aeleen as well, and she was the last non-limited 4-star I needed to get, so that’s cool.

We’ve known about the next banner for a while because of datamines, but either way, I feel a little bit salty that the new 5-star is literally just Thaniel But Better [tm], lol. If it weren’t for the fact that Chocolatiers is a limited print, I’d say that she wouldn’t even be worth it when Thaniel’s a more accessible option who works just fine in HBH because the whole fight is literally tuned around his kit since until now he’s been the only real healer for it. I hope this doesn’t lead to people acting like Thaniel’s not good enough for eHBH anymore once Jiang Ziya comes out. I’ve invested way too much into him to switch. I did recently craft the HDT water spear, and I can use my H-Maritimus on Elly if I want to use her in eHBH, but I still want to stick to Thaniel.

And on that note my H-Maritimus is at 2UB, and between the sunlight stone we’ll get soon from the Megaman event, and the dragons I have at nearly max bond level, he’ll probably be MUB soon, which should push my Thaniel above 7k might, which will be great. He’s currently at about 6,850 might, between him having +200 augments, Chocolatiers at +190 augments, a MUB HDT1 water staff, etc etc. And we’re gonna be getting the Christmas event facility again soon so that’ll boost him up even further.

Also I’m really not interested in the new dragon since he’s just water Hastur and I don’t care about that at all, lol. Durant seems cool but I already have a 50MC Natalie, and he’s a 4-star so he’d be easy enough to get off-banner anyway.

I’m gonna probably skip the Christmas banner since I went all in on this gala and I want to save for the New Years banner. And since it looks like the Christmas banner will be in just a week or so, I won’t exactly have many resources saved up by that point anyway. I’m not really interested in any of the existing Christmas alts, though, so it’d probably be an easy skip anyway, unless the new ones really interest me.

I hope that them doing the Christmas rerun stuff earlier in the month than I expected means we might get a Christmas-themed raid event afterward, but I won’t get my hopes up. I think we’re due for a new raid event anyway, but that’ll probably be what the New Years event is anyway, I guess.

I’m curious to see how they handle the New Years stuff, since it’d feel weird to rerun the Ieyasu event/banner, with how that was themed around the current zodiac year. I think we’ll just get a new event with new units, and probably a new welfare unit along with the event itself. With how good Ieyasu was [and how salty I still am about not having him], I think it’ll be worth saving for that.

Though considering that the next story chapter is gonna apparently be Luca-focused, I’m guessing the January gala unit will be Gala Luca, who I’d be extremely interested in, so that’s another thing to worry about saving for, lol.

And on that note we’re getting Chapter 11 in about two weeks, and even though we got more or less the same teaser description for it as last time, we at least have a better look at the two new android characters. Even though they’re gonna be antagonists I still kinda hope we can get them as playable units some day.

We also got more info on the new endgame boss mode, and even though I still want more specific details about it, my current guess is that it’s basically going to be High IO. It’ll probably be themed around there being new android military squads to fight against, with the new bosses being their leaders or whatever. It’d be fun to get some genuinely difficult wave-based content, but it’d also be great if it means we can get facility upgrade materials a lot faster.

The reveal of the new mode being called The Agito Uprising also more or less confirms that rumour that’s been going around for a while, which also talked about how the Christmas banner would include a new Christmas Phoenix alt, that the new endgame bosses would drop 6-star weapons, that we’ll get a Monster Hunter collab in February, and that Mikoto, Ezelith, Naveed, and Xanfried will be at least some of the first units to get their sixth mana circle upgrades.

I’m honestly kinda happy to hear about Christmas Phoenix since that makes it more likely that the Christmas banner will be an easy skip for me, lmao. But anyway, I really wouldn’t be surprised to see the Agito Uprising bosses dropping weapons that are roughly between 5t3s and HDT weapons in power. we really need something like that to ease the transition into the eHDT cycle. I’ve basically given up on getting into eHJP/eHZD until something along those lines happens to make them more accessible, lol.

I still have a lot of questions about how the whole sixth mana circle upgrade thing will work, and sadly this didn’t really tell us anything new, but they at least said that they’re aware of how limited the pool of units used in endgame content is, and that they’ll try and make changes to make more units viable for that, so that’ll probably be the main point of the sixth mana circles. I have a feeling that only 5-star units will end up getting them, which would kinda suck. There’s a lot of 5-stars who need an upgrade, but there’s also a lot of other units who need an upgrade too.

They did mention that they’ll be doing something with 3-star units in general, though, so I’m really curious about that. I really really want them to rebalance 3-star units so that they all have 100% on-element status resistances. I could take or leave anything else, but they really need that sort of buff. There’s no real point to holding back a unit by giving them incomplete or off-element status resistances. Which also applies to welfare 4-stars. For example, my Xania would be way more viable in eHMS if she can get to 100% stun res without needing a print, and it’d just be great in general if Vixel could get an actually relevant status resistance for his element. I have a feeling they won’t change anything else about their kits, but even just that’d be nice.

My realistic prediction for what the sixth mana circle upgrades will actually include is that it’ll more or less just be more of what we already have with the current ones. It’ll probably just be a few flat stat upgrades, maybe some more coability node upgrades, and one or two upgrades to the skills/abilities of each unit. At the very least I think that units will get a third upgrade to their S2, since those only go up to two upgrade tiers whereas every unit gets three tiers to their S1. And there’s a lot they could do to improve units by buffing and adding stuff to their S2s. For example, Thaniel would really benefit from getting a regen heal added to his S2, but Jiang Ziya existing makes me think they’re just forgetting about Thaniel for good. I can’t really think of what they could do with any of the 5-stars, though. It’s possible but less likely that some units might also get upgrades to one of their abilities, but that’s a bit more uncertain than them getting skill upgrades, if only because there’s a lot of ability types that you just can’t upgrade at all, like 100% status resistance or skill prep abilities.

It’d be really nice if they changed the second ability of 3-stars to 100% status resistance and gave them something entirely new for their third ability, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they just buff the 25% status resistance abilities of those units to 50% status resistance.

Also, we got more details about how we’re getting higher-level void battles added, and higher difficulties added to the void dragons, which I think is a necessary addition in order to help bridge the gap toward endgame content. As it is now, void battles aren’t really worth doing outside of endeavors. But it’s also nice that they’ve added augments to the void dragons and stuff.

In general they’d been making a lot of steps toward easing the progression toward endgame content, especially with the other changes they made to Avenue to Fortune, and them also adding augments to HDT drops. It’s nice that they’re aware of the issue of how steep the progression curve is right now, but it also really makes it clear that it’s a genuine problem that they’re currently being stuck trying to fix. I don’t really blame them for it, though. These things happen with games like this. I’m just glad that they’re actually addressing it instead of leaving it unchanged.

It’ll sadly take a while for them to add all of the new void bosses on the same tier as the Volcanic Chimera, but it’ll be nice to eventually have more accessible options to get into other eHDTs and stuff.

Anyway a whole bunch has been going on lately and I think it’s on a good track. Honestly my biggest issue right now is that since they changed the UI I keep clicking the wrong buttons when I’m trying to go between menus, lmao.

Oh and yeah the Megaman event is a thing that’s happening. There’s really not a lot to say about it because it’s so barebones and gameplay-focused, but it’s fun, and I like how much they’re leaning into the aesthetic of it. Megaman himself is a really goddamn weird unit, though. I like how much he’s apparently designed to play like he’s in an actual Megaman game, but it’s a weird playstyle to get used to for this game. And I still prefer Xania as a flame wand, lol.

[mystech-master]

So u know how a while ago I said I’d post a WIP I had, involving a Blazblue AU where Ragna lives, no one (expect Terumi) dies, and it’s just Ragna chilling with people?

Here it is:

I haven’t touched it in months and it may be flawed, but hey.

Behold

Happily Ever After AU Oneshots: Kokonoe

You'd think that after defeating Terumi, stopping the apocalypse, and ending the time loops which had been ruining the world, the man known as Ragna the Bloodedge would be able to kick back and relax a bit.

               "YOU LITTLE BITCH!"

               That is a complete and total lie.

               At the moment, the Grim Reaper is sitting on a large red couch in Kokonoe's own private quarters, mostly used for her own recreational use during her breaks and off days, clutching a game controller and furiously button mashing with the most pissed off expression he'd had in months. Teeth clenched and eyes glaring at the screen in front of him, trying his hardest, and failing, to not suck at the fighting game Kokonoe invited him over to play.

               Speaking of the pink haired cat girl, she was also there, sitting on the other end of the couch with her feet propped up on a coffee table in-between the couch and TV, and the smuggest expression on her face as she expertly executed combo after combo on her guest. "S'matter Raggy, finished already?" she said with every bit of snark she could muster as she took a side glance to him.

               "Shut the hell up Kokonoe, you're gonna  get what's coming." the reaper growled through clenched teeth, as he furiously hammered away at the controller. “I’m feeling good about this one.” he sighed, partially calming down, or at the very least attempting to.

“You said that 10 rounds ago.” she said as she nonchalantly continued her reign against her guest.

“Rrrrrrr, quiet! I got it this time!” he yelled. At this moment, he had gone through almost the entire roster of playable characters and Kokonoe had kicked his ass every time. The reaper’s temper had skyrocketed various times that day, resulting in quite a few controllers being snapped in half. Luckily the scientist of Sector Seven had plenty of extra controllers, having predicted “Ragna being a total sore loser”. “You’d think that after fighting a world controlling organization, the Mad Dog, and even GODS I’d be able to not suck at a stupid game.” he sighed, trying to calm his nerves as to have a better chance at beating her.

Kokonoe simply shrugged her shoulders, “Hey, if it makes ya feel any better, I just have a crap load more experience with this game. You on the other hand, are just a noob.” she said as she continued her endless combo chain against him.

Ragna responds to Kokonoe’s strategy with the same technique that had worked so well the last time: button mashing and trying to find that ONE combo that’ll knock her down a peg. “Come on, come on, COME ON!” he starts screaming at the screen. “Can you just NOT SUCK for once!”

“You yelling at the game or yourself?” Kokonoe chuckled “aaaaand, get rekt Bloodedge.” she said as she executed her final attack, demolishing Ragna yet another time.

“Player 1 PERFECT, Player 2 YOU SUCK!”

And what wasn’t helping was Kokonoe had edited the game’s software to add even more insult to injury to the Grim Reaper. Knowing that he would lose to her various times.

The professor simply raised her arms behind her head “Well Ragna I believe that is about 35 to nothing. Still wanna give it a go?” she replied, taking an almost sadistic pleasure in seeing him rage. ‘I’m starting to see why Rachel likes this so much’ she thought to herself.

Ragna turned to his “gracious” host and glared. “I swear, you’ve gotta be cheating or something.” he growled.

“Nope, just skill” she reached over to grab some chips she had on a side table next to the couch. “Ya know, you could always try Stylish Mode, you can button mash away and get some good combos. Who knows, maybe you'll get lucky” she mentioned to her guest as she munched on a handful of

Ragna selected rematch once more “I don't need luck, and I don't need handouts. I’ll kick your ass fair and square.” The reaper declared.

Kokonoe smirked “Choosing to learn the hard way, eh?” She taunted “Too bad.”

Ragna smirked “Oh just you wait, I’ll wipe that smirk off your face.” he selected his character, as does the host.

“READY……...FIGHT!”

As soon as the match began it seemed to play out like all the others: with The Grim Reaper button mashing like there’s no tomorrow, while the half-beastkin scientist expertly maneuvered her character with far more expertise.

Ragna’s rage has starting to seep through as his face continued to develop an increasing shade of red. He continued to mash away hoping that he could just get in that ONE move that’ll knock Kokonoe out of her increasing combo chain. He’d give anything just to even get a single hit in and knock that smug cat-like expression (A/N: you know, the sideways 3 face) off of her face.

And then, against all odds, one good combo was finally made. Kokonoe’s health bar dropped, not by much, but it was still something.

Ragna’s eyes widened at the sudden success, ‘YES! IN YOUR FACE PINKY! YOU’RE GOING..’ before the Grim Reaper could finish this thought, his host executed her instant kill move just to smack him right back down.

“Player 1 PERFECT , Player 2 YOU SUCK!”

Ragna’s eye twitched and gritted his teeth, meanwhile clutching his controller with enough force to almost crack it. Kokonoe laughed with mischievous glee, enough that she’d almost make Terumi seem nice.

“What is it they always say? Not counting something before they hatch.” she grinned at her guest as she set her controller down in her lap and put her hands behind her head as she leaned back on the couch.

*CRACK*

Echoing through the room, came the sound of Ragna snapping another controller in half. Now holding both halves of the controller while grumbling under his breath. “Stupidcatbitch, thinksshe’ssocoolbecauseshecanpressbuttons. Itisn’tTHATmuchofaskill.”

Kokonoe took her feet off the table, placed her controller to the side, and stood up, “You seriously need to learn to be a more graceful loser.” she sighed. She walked over to a drawer on a nearby desk and opened it, revealing a large collection of controllers, all the exact same design as the same one that Ragna had just busted.

Ragna dropped both halves of the controller on the floor and leaned back on the couch. “Sorry.” he grumbled, still mad at his many, many loses “But seriously, do you really have to be so full of yourself when you do this?”

Kokonoe walked over to the game system and connected the new controller. “It’s just a video game Ragna. You know, for fun. It’s not like it’s some big life skill you need.”

“Yeah well then why do you act like you just conquered the world after each round?” he glared at the scientist.

“Just because it isn’t necessary doesn’t mean it isn’t fun.”

“I guess I don’t have much of an argument for that” the red and black clad Reaper sighed, “Can we take a break, my fingers are getting tired.”

Kokonoe placed her hands on her hips, “You do know that’s mostly your fault for all that mashing”

“Shut it.”

Kokonoe simply chuckled at his mellowed out rage and walked over to her end table. She grabbed the bag of chips that she had been snacking on and placed it on the couch between her and her guest. The scientist then plopped right down on the other side of the bag, grabbing the remote to mute the TV so the game’s background music wouldn’t bother them during their intermission.

“Well the good thing about your hand hurting is that both your arms are still in working order.” she said to the Reaper as she grabbed some chips. “They both doing’ ya good?”

Ragna chuckled a bit “Yeah, they do their jobs.” He responded, grabbing a few himself

After the Ragna reset the world for the final time and sent the Master Unit back into the Boundary, all that was left was to remove his Azure Grimoire to ensure that he would never become the Black Beast and destroy all that he had just fought so hard to save. With the help of Tsubaki, the current wilder of the Nox Nyctores Okami, of all people, the cursed Grimoire which had been his greatest weapon and his greatest bane had finally been separated. Of course Kokonoe immediately managed to fit him with another artificial arm to match the left one he lost (A/N: Confused? I’ll explain later).

“Good, because I’m getting sick of having to make arms for you.” she nudged him with her elbow, before munching on the chips she had grabbed. “But seriously, what is it with you and losing limbs? I mean what’s next, are you going to lose a leg?” she said with her mouth full of chips.

“Heh, you tell me. I never asked for that much rotten luck.” he replied. “Anyways, what about you? I heard you and that doctor lady have patched up.”

“Yeah, we’ve been keeping in touch” she sighed. “After this whole mess was over, we decided to try and work things out. She’s asking me to help out with the situation with the Kaka Clan actually.”

This peaked Ragna’s interest. “Oh really? You having any luck?”

“Not really, Whatever dumbass made the Kakas back during the Dark War was clearly not thinking when he went into this.” Kokonoe sneered “Their genes are so messed up it isn’t even funny.”

Ragna simply shrugged “Don’t worry about it, you’re literally the smartest person on the planet. I don’t see how you can’t do it.”

Kokonoe looked at her guest in mild surprise. “I’m sorry, did you just compliment someone?” She faked shock.

Ragna simply sighed in exasperation. “Can it! I’ve been trying to be nicer ever since I got my life back.”

(END, that’s all I got up to so far)

Lemme know what you guys think so far

[ask-jaghatai-khan]

MK11 Roster ranked for Warhammer

// Since I’m on a Mortal Kombat kick. How would each character from the Mortal Kombat 11 vanilla roster fair in either Warhammer? I’m keeping it to the playable roster since all the DLC characters haven’t been revealed yet and I didn’t want to have this post be five miles long. Might do more in the future, however.

Let’s face it, most of these psychos are gonna do pretty well. They regularly get into punch-outs with gods. The biggest problem will likely be which attitudes get them singled out by their allies.

Jade

40k: Decently well. She has many of the makings of an Imperial Inquisitorial acolyte or an Eldar Exarch. Extreme combat skill and mild psychic power are usual marks of greatness. Also very good at subtle politicking. Might be a bit of a pushover though.

AoS: Even better! Less stigma over her magical abilities, slightly more reasonable allies, and less likely to have to fight power-armored super soldiers.

Erron Black

40k: You can already play as this guy in Dark Heresy. Pretty much any Rogue Trader would be happy to hire this guy, and he’s too stupid to be bribed with anything other than cash.

AoS: Limited opportunities due to lack of good personal guns. Might get on well in some kind of mercenary group from Chamon or Hysh, but his rogue nature still wouldn’t earn him many connections.

Kabal

40k: Super-speed and melee skill are good, but only get you so far. If nobody grabbed him as an assassin, he’d still make a killing as a gang boss, and I think he’d be fine with that.

AoS: Probably even better chances of success, but it’s gonna be sucky with those third-degree burns given the lack of things like high-end prosthetic rebreather masks.

Kung Lao

40k: Kung Lao is absolutely a Rogue Trader/Dark Heresy character. He’s gonna get a lot of weird looks, but assuming that hat can cut through power armor, he’ll probably get on just fine. His big mouth might earn him some enemies, though.

AoS: Again, since he uses a low-tech weapon and martial arts, he’s even better in a fantasy setting. The entire Shaolin Temple would do pretty well for themselves in the Mortal Realms.

Sub-Zero

40k: A cryomancer? Seems suspect of heresy. Then again, a cryomancer who hates the undead and can fight as good as an assassin? Seems like prime Inquisitorial material!

AoS: Nagash’s grip is cold, but if Sigmar can get the Lin Kuei on his side, he’s got a lot to gain. Kuai Liang is as great a leader as he is a warrior and mage.

Scorpion

40k: Absolutely corrupted by Chaos, but I think most Chaos Lords would still be reluctant to run into Hanzo Hasashi. Less of a chance he could redeem himself, but even more of a chance for him to wreak absolute havoc on anyone who tries and betray him. Hellfire is plentiful in 40k.

AoS: A better chance for redemption, and even more utility from his ninja skills on top of the hellfire. Whoever has their grips on Scorpion’s soul, whether it’s Nagash or Chaos, better double-check just how strong that grip is.

Cetrion

40k: She’s a god! On the scale of 40k, she’s at a bit of a disadvantage, but being a god is never gonna hurt. She better just steer clear of Slaanesh.

AoS: Again, she’s a god! Set up shop in Ghyran and kick back with Alarielle in the “kill absolutely anybody who messes with our utopia” clubhouse.

Frost

40k: Cryomancer cyborg assassin is hardly the weirdest profession in 40k, and her conniving nature should help her out plenty whether she wants to work with the AdMech, DarkMech, or some other group of bastards.

AoS: Shame she couldn’t keep the robot body, but cryomancer assassin is still more than enough to raise some hell in the Mortal Realms. Nagash’s clubhouse seems most her style.

Baraka

40k: This guy would do well as King Mook of a group of Chaos mutants. That’s pretty much what he is anyways.

AoS: Same meat, different sausage. Being a half-demon warlord may not make you immortal, but it’s hardly a disadvantage.

Raiden

40k: His character and storyline makes him a solid fit for a high-end Inquisitor. Psychic might and leadership skills, with a tendency to turn into a psychotic templar? Tell me that doesn’t sound like a classic Inquisitor.

AoS: As a storm-god, he’d get on even better. He might even have the makings of a mighty Sacrosanct wizard. He’s already attuned to Azyr!

D’Vorah

40k: By the standards of some xenos races, she’s not really a top concern, but D’Vorah knows this and would make the most of what she has. Everyone’s so concerned about Chaos and Tyranids, they don’t even notice when they’re suddenly overrun by the Kytinn.

AoS: Set up in some blighted corner of Ghyran, out of sight but with plenty of foolish heroes to snack on, D’Vorah would do about as well as she’s done in Outworld.

Jax

40k: Eat your heart out, Straken. Or rather, eat your arm off. Jax has all the makings of a Guard commander, though his heart might be a bit too soft to finish his career free of scars to his mind and soul.

AoS: I’m sure someone in Chamon or Hysh could hook the man up with some new arms. Either that, or he’d make for a good Stormcast!

Geras

40k: Who the hell is this guy? Does he work for the Necrons? The Ordo Chronos? Wherever he came from, that archaeotech is going to make him a nightmare for whoever gets in the way of his inscrutable goals.

AoS: Even weirder! He must be some Age of Myth construct left behind in Hysh. Maybe a fractured remnant of a lost God of Law? Either way, he’d probably be more akin to a terrain obstacle in Underworlds than a regular enemy.

Kano

40k: There’s about fifty of this bastard on every world in the Imperium. Maybe he’d help out Chaos, but at the end of the day the Black Dragon is all Kano needs. His smug mug is going to be on wanted posters from Terra to Ultramar.

AoS: Who the hell keeps smuggling Chaos Dwarf cannons into Azyr? What maniac stole a warehouse’s load of weaponry from Hammerhal and sold them to damn greenskins?! If that bastard even looks at a Stormvault I want at least three merc companies sent to hunt him down!

Cassie Cage

40k: The Imperium loves legacy careers! Explains where she gets all those fancy toys from. Inheriting her dad’s mouth is going to make her time in the Schola rough, though.

AoS: A loyal ranger best suited for exploring Stormvaults and hunting down powerful champions. Chaos Lords best not underestimate her, she’s more than meets the eye.

Kotal Kahn

40k: Thank god we managed to find a governor able to rein control of that sector. Not often someone can purge Chaos that efficiently, especially a Feral World-born. Keep an eye on him in case of further developments, however...

AoS: The last of the Osh-Tekk might not worship Sigmar, but he’s a mighty and ruthless ally in the fight against Chaos and undead encroachment. A powerful priest and warrior of the light.

Skarlet

40k: Chaos could always use more assassins. You’d think more people would be looking into blood magic, but the rarity of it just means less competition and counters. Skarlet is every Inquisitor’s worst nightmare.

AoS: Same blood, different vein! Powerful dark magic and assassin skills are hard to knock.

Sonya Blade

40k: A peerless and loyal leader of the Guard. Maybe her choice of friends isn’t the cleanest, but her results can hardly be blamed.

AoS: The Free Peoples always need more competent generals, and even mortal leaders are expected to be able to kick some ass one-on-one. Even if she gets demolished, I think Sigmar was waiting for an excuse to reforge her.

Johnny Cage

40k: Movie stars aren’t so popular in the Imperium, but shining examples of the might of the common man over the unknowable alien? That’s good, even if he never shuts up. Charisma and fighting skill will get you far even if you’re surrounded by enemies. Probably for the best he gets Sonya on his side, though.

AoS: Less likely to be killed for snarky blasphemy! Also everyone’s so damn serious all the time, mockery would probably make for as effective a weapon as magical fists.

Noob Saibot

40k: I swear I’ve seen this type of guy before in Chaos’ toolbox. A shadow-daemon sorcerer assassin? Subtlety is a rare trait among Chaos,  so it might make for a powerful advantage.

AoS: There are some parts of Ulgu best avoided. Laugh at the name all you want, just not if you’re standing in the shadows.

Kollector

40k: Mutant or xenos, his ass-kissing skills will serve him well when he inevitably sets himself up with some Chaos Lord. Obviously without plentiful Forge Worlds to draw from, it would best suit your unholiness to hire someone who can scavenge much valuable plunder, yes?

AoS: Hardly different. Having a sticky-fingered mutant to oversee the finances of your kingdom leaves more time for a Chaos Lord to stick to taking skulls and planning conquests.

Kitana

40k: This character absolutely already exists in 40k. Planetary governor turned out to be a heretic? Well thank the Emperor his assassin daughter is amicable!

AoS: Fan blades seem like something a Khainite would enjoy, but thankfully Kitana is more restrained. Diplomatic skill, martial might, and a cool weapon gimmick will help her fit right in!

Jacqui Briggs

40k: Another military legacy, which is always a benefit. Also extremely skilled in combat and making inter-service connections. Probably has a better chance at a legit command position due to her personality over Cas, who’d be better relegated to black ops.

AoS: Again, great warriors and generals are always in high demand. As a commander of the Freeguild or the Stormcast, Jacqui even looks like one of the new warrior-women models GW likes to release nowadays.

Liu Kang

40k: Another mighty champion from outside the Astartes for a change. Liu Kang has protagonist energy, and even if kung-fu is rare in 40k, that’s enough to get you pretty far. Especially when he has such powerful friends.

AoS: More chances to flex those fists, less stigma around summoning fire and turning into a dragon, and he’s still a trusted friend of many generals and demigods.

[spin-attaxx]

1, 2, 11, 12, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 26, 27, 31, 33, 38, 40, 43, 44, 45, 48, 49, 50

1. Your first OC ever?

Already answered.

2. Do you have a personal favourite among your OCs?

Oh god, it largely comes down to Jessica, Lumina and Charn. But if you put a gun to my head, I’d have to pick Jessica. She’s the oldest of the three, and I feel like I relate to her more.

11. Is there any OC of yours you could describe as a “sunshine”? 

Lumina, no question. If she sees someone feeling down, she’ll do her best to cheer them up and make them feel better, and even when things seem at their bleakest, she’ll find some way to find hope in the situation.

In fact, I imagine seeing a genuinely upset Lumina would break anyone’s heart (unless they’re Charn or Shade).

12. Name an OC that isn’t yours but who you like a lot 

Already answered, but since I get to say another one, I like @jezmm​‘s Alice Grayson. I like her design a lot (particularly her long red hair and blue flares), and she’s a pretty cute character.

14. Introduce an OC with a tragic backstory 

Hmm, not sure if introduce is befitting, since I’ve drawn her once or twice, but I imagine Tesla has it particularly rough compared to the other Elementals (all of whom can claim to being the last of their kind and losing at least one friend or family member).

She was once a kind-hearted Electric Elemental in a high class aristocratic city on a Mystic planet far from Enchantus. Things were bad enough when her Time Elemental fiancé up and died one day (along with, mysteriously, every other user of Time magic in the universe), but when a bunch of haggard refugees came to the planet some years afterwards warning about some android named “Charn”, she dismissed them and chose to stay.

Then Charn came and did what he does best; annihilate the city, kill everyone, them proclaim himself the ruler and creator of the planet and torture what survivors were left into believing him without question (”2 + 2 = 5″ style). Though Tesla escaped, she became more jaded and cynical now that she was forced to live her immortal life in squalour fleeing from his threat.

Today, you’re likely to find her glugging down unhealthy amounts of alcoholic, poisonous and generally unpleasant drinks, swearing her head off at those who slight her, and taking immense pleasure in talking down idealistic minds, all while craving the days of her old life.when she wasn’t such a bitter lightning cloud of loathing.

17. Any OC OTPs?

Three come to mind. Ivorn x Lily (the thought of an easily flustered metal technology geek and a calm and peaceful Plant Elemental being in a relationship always felt right to me), Shade x Evil (even if his original goal of proving Elementals can be evil is kinda null and void now, he just loves doing things he shouldn’t do), and Charn x Himself (dude has an ego the size of the universe. He wouldn’t actually compliment alternate versions of himself, though - he’d kill them so there’d only be one Charn).

18. Any OC crackships?

Beta and Jessica. The idea of a psychic robot having a crush on a socially-awkward human he’s trying to kill on threat of death sounds both plausible and totally bonkers at the same time. In fact, Beta X Cassidy also counts, only it’s instead with a human who’s got steelier nerves than he does.

19. Introduce an OC that means a lot to you (and explain why)

I’m probably going to say Jessica. I feel like she’s changed quite a lot since I first doodled her as a semi-afterthought to round out a trio. I’ve always wanted to make a Metroidvania game, and Jessica was originally just one playable character (and not even the “main” one). Eventually, she became the main character of the trio, and now she’s the only playable character.

That’s because I keep thinking about her character and her role in this story;s world. I devised her with the idea that what would normally be the mysterious aloof serious side character to a more conventional and emotional protagonist would instead be the main focus. I freely admit much of her personality is derived from mine; being hard to approach, somewhat anti-social and always living with the feeling that she’s being judged every moment and that deep down she’s a failure at what she wants to be.

(That said, I think it’s fair to say that I’m more well-adjusted and approachable than she is lol.)

20. Do any of your OCs sing? If they sing, care to share more details (headcanon voice, what kind of songs they like etc)? 

Lumina’s the most obvious one of the lot. When it comes to genres, she’s very adaptable and open-minded, but she prefers upbeat pop songs. Especially with 80′s/90′s synth sounds or catchy dance songs (think something like “Butterfly” by smile.dk?)

As for her voice, I don’t know any singers who’d fit her, but I’ve always felt that Tara Strong would be my first pick for her. So I guess something like this, only more upbeat and with a more British accent?

(In case the link dies in the future, I’m referring to Ember McLain from Danny Phantom, which I actually saw little of back then.)

22. Is there any OC of yours people tend to mischaracterize? If yes, how?

Already answered.

26. Have you ever had to change your OC’s design or something else about them against your will? 

Already answered.

27. Any OCs that were inspired by a certain song?

While I don’t think a full-on OC was inspired by a song, Lumina’s design was altered after I heard the theme to Jem. At the time, she was a fairly generic pink-haired pixie girl in a white and pink jumpsuit, and then after hearing it, I (for some reason) decided, “Hey, what if I made her super J-pop idol/80′s glam girl?” and tweaked her outfit and gave her her big poofy ponytail. I regret nothing.

31. Pick one OC of yours and explain what their tumblr blog would be like (what they reblog, layout, anything really) 

Lily’s would be super pretty and calming, with reblogs of cute animals, pretty flowers, relaxing scenery, and the occasional conversation/picture/embarrasing situation with Ivorn.

33. Your shyest OC?

Jessica. She never starts conversations, always sweats and panics internally while talking to someone who isn’t a close friend or family, and is more comfortable staying inside than going out in public. Though if you’re antagonising her and/or trying to kill her, she gets more of a backbone and snarky lip.

38. Which one of your OCs would be the best dancer?

Hmm, maybe Lumina? I imagine it comes with her performing onstage, though I magine someone else may have more natural talent at it than her. Cassidy, maybe? I dunno.

40. Any fond memories linked to your characters? Feel free to share! 

Honestly, any time I get fanart of them, especially if the artist did it without me prodding them about it or as part of a mutually beneficial art trade or the like. It makes me super happy that there are people who liked them enough to draw them when they didn’t need to.

43. Do you have any certain type when you create your OCs? Do you tend to favour some certain traits or looks? It’s time to confess 

Already answered.

44. Something you like about your OCs in general 

I guess the fact that I’ve created a range of characters with their own lives, backstories, personalities, relationships and futures in a world of my own creation, which I can control as I see fit. Like, sometimes I’ll see a character like Genesect that makes me go, “Wow, that looks so cool/cute/whatever, I wish I came up with that!” And then I look at any one of my characters and I feel better because I came up with them before anyone else did.

45. A character you no longer use? 

Admittedly they were in a sort of limbo status for quite a while anyway, but Stuart and the third robot character aren’t likely to be part of the TSOTS-verse any longer. Besides the fact that Jessica’s gameplay style differs from traditional Metroidvania characters like Samus and I was afraid their styles would be weaker by comparison (plus extra work), I was never really able to come up with a concrete design for Stuart, nor could I settle on a name for the robot (for the longest time I went with Dave, after David Bowman from 2001, but that never sat well with me, and the only other alternative I could think of was ROM, which is taken). Will they get a new lease on life in the future? Maybe, but for now, they’re dead in the water as far as major uses go.

Still, at least they’re better off than a third Charn minion alongside Beta and Cassidy. He was an old man who’d be a cyborg, and the reveal of this would have him decking a reluctant Dave in the face. That’s about the only thing I miss from axing him; I think having Beta and Cassidy in a duo is a better choice for their characters.

48. OC who is a perfect cinnamon roll, too good for this world, too pure 

Voidica. A nice girl who’ll gladly accept anyone as her friend, and born to a universe with Charn in it. And then Charn killed her off in cold blood, with zero chance of her coming back or having any kind of afterlife.

49. Which one of your OCs would most likely enjoy memes 

Lumina, no question. Shade and Jessica get driven up the wall by her antics when she falls in love with a new meme.

50. Give me the good ol’ OC talk here. Talk about anything you want

- Shade’s character of being a total bastard just to prove he can be is basically one giant spit in the face to the Pokémon animé (and I guess to a much lesser extent the games), which made the bold claim of saying that Pokémon - who are more or less as clever/sentient as humans - cannot be evil, and routinely made Pokémon that followed that statement to a T or else turned good (mostly legendaries like Deoxys, Darkrai, Kyurem and Genesect). In fact, I think a precursor of his character came in the form of my headcanon for Genesect in my (short-lived) playthrough of Black 2, where he was a homicidal maniac who only tags along with the protagonist so he could get back at Team Plasma for ditching him in favour of the Tao trio.

- If Shade ever does a good deed entirely of his own will, he’ll go out the same way as Rorschach from Watchmen.

- Charn’s name came from a book I read years ago, “Through the Dragon’s Eye”. His design, meanwhile, started as a generic final boss doodle I off-handedly made, then changed many times since then. Ironically, his head remained consistent in all of them (though his eyes were less triangular and villainous.

- I came up with several possible backstories for Charn, such as him being a robot controlled by a t-rex’s brain (yes, really). I even toyed with the possibility of pulling a Joker and giving him no clear-cut origin, though now it’s far more defined.