#ace of base. phenomenal

[hopeinthebox]

late to the party as per but finally giving this one a go - AND pestering some music favs with a tag <33 @cordiallyfuturedwight @banghwa @thvinyl @aprylynn @pauls-mccharmly @monismochi @thatredwine @huhfeatjhope 💜 and anyone else who fancies a go

[chaoticace2005]

Alastor misinterpreting modern LGBTQIA+ labels also leaves room for so much confusion with the rest of the cast:

(Based on @onesidedradiostatic ‘s posts)

-Genuinely thinks Husk is attracted to kitchenware, to the point where one of his “punishments” is not being allowed in the kitchen

-If Huskerdust then Alastor begins to question if Angel is secretly a pan

-Knows Angel isn’t a pan so Alastor tells him there is no chance if Huskerdust happening (talked about here)

-Angel saying he’s gay and Alastor questioning that because he was sure Angel was depressed

-Reevaluating the bisexual label AGAIN when he finds out Pentious has two dicks, causing him to question his previous statement of Vox being dickless

-Vaggie: Im Lesbian, Alastor: I don’t believe I’m familiar with that country

-Alastor thinking all angels and/or exorcists are lesbians (yes, this includes Adam and Lucifer)

-Him thinking of Charlie as half-lesbian, not because he’s biphobic but because she’s half angel

-Lucifer mentioning he’s kind of gender-fluid so he wonders if the fluid of Lucifer is what’s responsible for one’s gender

-Thinking trans means transportation/transit/transcontinental railroad and assumes they’re the best people to travel with

-Him thinking “bisexual” refers to having two partners

-Him thinking “bisexual” refers to being attracted to bicycles so he removes all bicycles (and pans because fuck you Husker) from the hotel

-Him thinking the term “ace” refers to a phenomenal card player because he beat Husk in poker, taunts Husk for not being “ace” anymore (Alastor stole Husk’s aceness)

[maple-and-pie]

Hey! Sorry for the random ask but I meant to tell you this earlier and lost track of your name.

I remember when I first saw your art of all of the eeveelutions together I meant to tell you this but forgot:

My two favorite things about the eeveelution art are the decision to make one of them other than Sylveon the trans Eon, and that the one you did choose for trans is my favorite Eon. That hit me probably harder than it should have, in the best way possible

That being said they’re all phenomenal. I love how you chose to use the colors for each flag and which eon you chose for each was really smart.

No worries! I don't mind random asks ^^

Thank you for your kind words! It always makes me happy people like my art and designs! I like to challenge myself, so I on purpose did not want trans for Sylveon, because that would be too easy, Sylveon is already trans coloured. Some of them are based on puns as I myself love those (ace GlACEon, bi UmBIon) Then I got like a pun with genderfluid and trans being the most gender and Trans Vaporeon was born lmao.

The Pride Eons are years old, and I have updated their design between the years, but they always have been the same orientation they are now. They sure got a glow up! Oldest vs newest art of the design below if you want to see my old art

It is funny to see how much my art improved over the years!

[bluedalahorse]

Hello there! Could you share some post-s3 Sara & Felice friendship headcanons?

What a lovely ask! Glad to share some ideas that pop into my head:

Sara is the first person Felice comes out to as asexual. (Specifically gray ace.)

Whether Hillerska re-opens or not, Felice refuses to go back and ends up at a school in the city somewhere. She and Sara send one another post cards. Felice’s tend to be cutely decorated. Simon buys Sara fun pens she can use to write Felice, though she tends to write only in one color. She still doodles, though.

They’re actually pretty good at keeping up a distance friendship. At one point Sara’s working a job in either Malmö or Copenhagen, and she and Felice still stay in touch and have a weekly phone call time.

At the same time, once Sara moves back to Stockholm, she and Felice are… kind of living together for a time? This is based on a headcanon @heliza24 and I discussed together, but essentially, Felice’s parents have bought her a nice townhouse in Stockholm. Felice ends up sleeping at work a lot though because she’s so devoted to her restaurant. So she invites Sara to come live in her townhouse, because Sara needs a place to live, and Felice needs her townhouse to look lived in. They’re better at being roommates than they were at Hillerska.

Felice gives Sara advice for whatever her love life is doing for the moment based on her horoscope. The advice is inconsistent in how helpful it is, so it’s sort of a joke at this point.

Felice likes to drag Sara along on random road trips related to her cooking goals. Like she’ll hear that a particular farm has phenomenal rhubarb and she’ll convince Sara to drive her there. They have set playlists they’ll sing along the way.

Hope that’s a good start! What are some of your headcanons?

[wyllzel]

🔗 Link to Google Doc.

This is how I’ve been building Shadowheart in my past few playthroughs! Unfortunately, this build is not very thematic for a Cleric of Shar – but it does do a lot of the legwork in Act 2. This build is particularly thematic for a Cleric of Lathander, Corellon Larethian, Eilistraee, and Helm, who are all Light Domain deities… and, due to this build’s effectiveness in Act 2, possibly Selûne. 💡✨

The goal of this Light Domain Cleric is to deal Radiant Damage and apply the Radiating Orb condition to anything that dares to enter Shadowheart’s general vicinity. The undead fear her; shadows evaporate in her presence. It is glorious. I now refuse to play Act 2 without my beloved Radiating Orb Beyblade of Death (Shadowheart). 😁

The focus for this guide is on ability scores and gear interaction. Some of this gear includes the Luminous Armor (Act 1), the Blood of Lathander (Act 1), and Luminous Gloves (Act 2).

This Light Domain Cleric build is phenomenal in Act 2, but still does enough damage output to carry its weight in Acts 1 and 3. Light Domain’s special Channel Divinity action, Radiance of the Dawn, is excellent when dealing with clusters of Invisible enemies (such as Duergar, Shadow Creatures, and Bhaalists).

(Fair warning: Possible spoilers ahead!)

Leveling

Please note that this guide is really just my personal preference! I recommend fully reading through the Wiki page on BG3’s Cleric so you get a good idea of what this class can do. In this guide, I’ve added a star (⭐) next to each of the class features or spells that I especially like.

To start with, I’ll recommend these base stats:

In the early game (Act 1), it’s a good idea to keep Shadowheart’s Wisdom and Dexterity Ability Scores up. Wisdom affects Shadowheart’s spellcasting effectiveness, while Dexterity affects her Armor Class (AC) and Initiative in combat.

But the most important score for this build (after Wisdom) is Constitution. The first feat I recommend addresses this (Resilient), as do my preferred boots on her (Boots of Striding).

The Cleric class has prepared spells, so I’ll just make a note of the feats I take in this section!

Level 4

Feat: Resilient = Constitution

By taking the Resilient Feat, Shadowheart gains +1 to her Constitution Ability Score as well as proficiency in Constitution Saving Throws. This will help her maintain Concentration spells such as Spirit Guardians.

Level 8

Feat: Ability Score (ASI) = +2 WIS

Level 12

Feat: Ability Score (ASI) = +2 WIS

Honor Mode

The above is a pretty good set-up for the Explorer, Balanced, and Tactician difficulties. However, if you’d like to make Tactician mode easier on yourself or you’re planning on taking her to Honor Mode, I’d recommend the following set-up instead:

Level 4

Feat: Ability Score (ASI) = +1 CON, +1 WIS

Level 8

Feat: Alert ⭐

Level 12

Feat: Ability Score (ASI) = +2 WIS, or

Feat: War Caster (Advantage on Constitution Saving Throws to maintain Concentration)

In Honor Mode, having high Initiative can make a huge difference, especially when fights get more intense – hence the Alert Feat at Level 8!

Final Composition

By Level 12, Shadowheart can have the following notable qualities:

Due to Light Domain, Shadowheart will have:

Warding Flare (Level 1) – As Shadowheart levels up, she’ll eventually have Improved Warding Flare (Level 6), which allows her to use a Reaction to impose Disadvantage on an Attack Roll against either herself or an ally.

Potent Spellcasting (Level 8) – Add your Wisdom Modifier to the Damage of your Cleric Cantrips.

Access to select non-Cleric spells – Flaming Sphere, Scorching Ray, Fireball, Wall of Fire, and Destructive Wave.

Recommended Spells List

The following list are the Cleric spells I tend to favor. Because Light Domain Clerics have a lot of great offensive spells (hello, Fireball and Flame Strike!), I usually have Shadowheart running offensive rather than defensive (healing, buffs). She’s like a fake Evocation Wizard, haha.

Basically, I tend to favor (usually AOE) spells that deal some amount of Radiant Damage. While Sacred Flame is notoriously easy for enemies to Save on, its Damage does eventually scale with your Cleric level, making it comparable to a Guiding Bolt by Level 8.

A good Fireball every once in a while doesn’t hurt, either. 🤭

Gear

The goal of this gear selection is to broadcast Radiant Damage (and therefore Radiating Orbs) to as wide a range of enemies as possible. To do this, I favor Radiance of the Dawn, which is the Channel Divinity action specific to Light Domain Clerics. Notably, like Spirit Guardians, Radiance of the Dawn only harms hostile creatures and will not damage (or inflict Radiating Orbs upon) your allies.

Spirit Guardians is also a very reliable source of mass Radiant Damage. Spirit Guardians requires Concentration to maintain, hence this guide’s emphasis on bolstering Constitution Saving Throws.

ℹ️ "But why the emphasis on Radiating Orbs?" you may be wondering. Radiating Orb inflicts a -1 to Attack Rolls on the affected entity (not bad!!), and causes them to emit Light. The Light is great when you're in a dark environment but someone on your team (eg. Human, Githyanki, etc.) doesn't have Darkvision.

Headwear: Holy Lance Helm

Smite the Graceless: Creatures that miss Attack Rolls against the wearer must make a DC14 Dexterity Saving Throw or take 1d4 Radiant Damage.

+1 to Constitution Saving Throws.

Armor: Luminous Armor

Radiating Shockwave: Whenever the wearer deals Radiant Damage, they cause a Radiant Shockwave (inflict Radiating Orb in a 3m/10ft radius).

Cloak: Vivacious Cloak

Arcane Vivaciousness: Gain 8 temporary HP for four turns after casting a spell while in melee.

In order to cast Spirit Guardians to full effect, Shadowheart will be in melee. Alternatively, the Cloak of the Weave is powerful on any caster.

Handwear: Luminous Gloves

Radiating Orb Gloves: When the wearer deals Radiant Damage, the target receives one turn of Radiating Orb.

+1 to Strength Saving Throws

Footwear: Boots of Striding

Focused Stride: When you cast a spell that requires Concentration, you gain Momentum for one turn. While Concentrating, you cannot be pushed or knocked Prone.

Shadowheart will often be Concentrating if your combat priority is casting Spirit Guardians.

Amulet: Amulet of the Devout

High Spellcasting: +2 to Spell Save DC.

Godswill: One additional use of Channel Divinity per Long Rest.

An additional use of Channel Divinity gives Shadowheart an extra charge of Radiance of the Dawn.

Ring A: Coruscation Ring

Arcane Radiance: When the wearer deals spell damage while illuminated by a light source, they inflict Radiating Orb on the target for two turns.

If Shadowheart is carrying the Blood of Lathander, she will always be illuminated.

Ring B: Callous Glow Ring

Callous Glow: Deal an additional 2 points of Radiant Damage against illuminated creatures

If Shadowheart is carrying the Blood of Lathander, all creatures near her will be illuminated.

Melee Main Hand: The Blood of Lathander

Lathander’s Blessing: Once per Long Rest, when your HP is reduced to 0, you regain 2d6 HP. Allies within 9m / 30ft also regain 1d6 HP.

Lathander’s Light: Sheds holy light within a 6m / 20ft radius. Fiends and undead in this light are blinded if they fail a DC14 Constitution Saving Throw.

Sunbeam (Level 6): Cast for one turn once per Long Rest.

Because the Blood of Lathander as a mace does relatively low damage, Shadowheart should be carrying it as a passive buffer/debuffer rather than as a melee weapon. Sunbeam is nothing to sniff at, either.

Alternatively, you could try The Sacred Star or the Moonlight Glaive.

Melee Off Hand: Shield of Devotion

Additional Spell Slot: Gain an additional Level 1 spell slot.

Shield Bash: Use a Reaction to possibly knock an enemy Prone.

Shield of Devotion: Aid: Cast a Level 3 Aid once per Long Rest.

+2 to AC.

This is a great shield on any Cleric! An additional Level 1 spell slot essentially gives you an extra low-level (but potentially clutch) Healing Word or Guiding Bolt.

Alternatively, you may want to use Ketheric’s Shield (great for casters in general) or Viconia’s Walking Fortress (great in general).

Ranged Main Hand: Bow of the Banshee

Blood-Curdling Emission: On a hit, possibly inflict Frightened. Gain a +1d4 bonus to Attack and Damage Rolls against Frightened creatures.

While Shadowheart may rarely, if ever, use a bow instead of a spell attack, the Bow of the Banshee is a really excellent clutch weapon. Since it’s just a shortbow, it may not be extremely useful on your more dedicated archers (who may prefer heavy crossbows, longbows, or hand crossbows); as such, it’s good to have on a character who’ll only be using their Ranged Weapon situationally.

A nice Sharran bow for Shadowheart is also the Least Expected, which is especially great on a stealth-based team.

Ranged Off Hand: N/A

Number Crunching

The following table should give you an idea of how Shadowheart performs on the battlefield as a result of her gear synergy. This table assumes that Shadowheart is Level 12.

She’ll also have up to 7 charges of Radiance of the Dawn per Long Rest. (2 at the start of the day, 2 after each Short Rest (for 4 more), plus 1 from the Amulet of the Devout.)

While it’s difficult to say how much DPR Shadowheart can consistently dole out, this is a very effective build for debuffing your enemies and reliably picking off any stragglers.

Conclusion

A Light Domain Cleric is a great option for an offensive Cleric, but at the end of the day, she’s still a Cleric and will perform best as a complement to your team, rather than as its star player. By debuffing enemies, Shadowheart sets your high DPR characters (like Fighter Lae’zel 😎) up for success on the battlefield.

This build also works pretty well for any Cleric, but works especially well on a Light Cleric! You may have noticed that I mentioned Radiance of the Dawn one billion times throughout this guide… but it really is very good, haha.

If you feel that this build has too many Radiating Orbs (😂), good gear items that are still synergetic with a Light Cleric include:

Boots of Stormy Clamor, Gloves of Belligerent Skies, and/or Spineshudder Amulet with the Thunderskin Cloak

Boots of Speed, Haste Helm, and/or Crusher’s Ring for battlefield mobility (if you favor Spirit Guardians)

Additionally, you can find an alternative r/BG3Builds guide to Radiating Orb stacking here.

Thanks for reading, and hope this gave you some ideas for your Cleric or Radiant Damage builds! :)

[thevikingwoman]

Top Ten Video games

thanks @keturagh for the tag!

as this list shows - I'm not young, and I started out with PC gaming, where truly my love for gaming was built. It was hard to pick 10 games - for being a "gamer" I don't actually play a lot of games, and there's only a few games that really stick out as truly noteworthy over time to me. Criteria is muddled - games that are great, games that are fun, games that defined a moment for me. Yes, there's a certain amount of nostalgia too here. I've by internal logic excluded text-based IFs from considerations.

Tagging @myreia @galadrieljones @galadae @roguelioness @redinkofshame @lilas @coldshrugs @allaganexarch @a-shakespearean-in-paris if you want! And anyone else! tag me!

Civilization

I refuse to pick one, but I'll probably go with IV if I had to, just because of the music and I think it's where they introduced cultural victory. Civilization was the first video game I brought with my own money, and yes that's an old pic of all the boxes (I don't have the Civ I box 😭but I still have the disks and manual). I also have Civ VI, but no new pic. Civilization is genre defining, a PC gaming defining game - there is no other game like it.

2. Diablo II

I played so much Diablo II - it was such a fun game full of fun gameplay. It was also the first game I truly played online - meeting new and wonderful friends and got embroiled on online drama! Diablo II was just sheer fun, from the builds to the loot to the secret cow level. The cut scenes were phenomenal, the one above is still one of my favorites of all time - the shattering of the world stone. Tyrael was possible my first video game crush, yeah just the wings and voice, don't @ me

3. Warcraft III

I played so much Warcraft III. The gameplay was fantastic, just a great RTS. It had humor, but also possibly the most heartwrecking storyline I've played - the fact you get to play out Arthas decent into evil was a stroke of gameplay and storytelling genious. Coupled with this era of Blizzard's cinematic department, the hands down best cut scene ever. This remains a top game for me.

4. Mass Effect

What can I say? Mass Effect is fun to play, has a pretty great and well written story - it's one of a kind to be honest. I don't do shooters, but I do do Mass Effect.

5. Pharaoh

I love city building and this was the best one. IS the best one, as this is remastered on steam. I'm currently playing this, and this is from the other night. I love this! pyramids! logistics! production! bright colors!

6. Dragon Age Inquistion

would be weird if I didn't include this one, right? I love the game and I love all the stuff that lives in my brain because of it. Also I do think the combat is fun? I think mechanics and environment wise it's also the best of Dragon Age.

7. Assassin's Creed Odyssey

I had a hard time picking between II (best boy Ezio, Desmond), Origins (pyramids! BAYEK and AYA, the mature story!!) and Odyssey - in the end I think Odyssey won because of the feel of AC - assassin, the vast explorations, the many quests, and ofc yelling in DMs over lost love. Not to forget - clop, clop, clop, the fake minotaur quest.

8. Jedi: Fallen Order

Look, I don't like platformers or difficult combat, but story mode hit the spot, and the story was SO good. Cal Kestis is my son in my heart, the story and his character touched me.

9. World of Warcraft

well, the sheer amount of time and investment I put into this game count for something. At some point it seemed like half the world played it, for good reason. I don't think I can go back, but WoW was the first MMO I truly enjoyed, and I love the art style so much. and I got to turn into a demon for massive damage, and endlessly frustrate my healer. Infinite mana, baby, just heal me

10. Master of Orion II

another old 4x game, this just hit the spot somehow.

other contenders: Geometry War Retro Evolved, Tetris, the MasterMind game my dad coded himself and we had a vicious family competition for the leaderboard, Settlers III, Heros of Might and Magic (but I don't recall which version I loved the most), and Warlords (the original DOS game)

[thecreaturecodex]

Amalgamite

Image © Paizo Publishing, accessed at Archives of Nethys here

[It has been a while since I’ve done a dedicated block of PF2e monsters. I turn my attention now to Bestiary 3. B3 is my favorite of Pathfinder 2nd Edition’s core bestiaries so far, because it has the largest amount of original monsters. Original both in terms of “new to the game” and “novel concept”, like the amalgamite here. The idea that teleportation can mess up and turn people into monsters dates back at least to The Fly, but this is one of the few I can recall seeing game statistics for. Plus, it’s an aberration, so it can stand alongside my take on The Projected Man with relatively little overlap.]

Amalgamite CR 13 NE Aberration This figure appears to be a grotesquely warped humanoid, with limbs, a head and a torso, but all in the wrong places. The air seems to shimmer around it in a weird way.

Teleportation magic is potentially dangerous, and minor mishaps in dimension door and teleport spells are known to cause grievous injuries in those affected by them. If a powerful spellcaster is affected by a teleportation mishap, especially when attempting to cross between planes or planets, they may be transformed into an amalgamite. Amalgamites are twisted in both mind and body, and only remember vague outlines of their former lives. They are incredibly intelligent, but use that brilliance to accumulate more knowledge and treasure for themselves, or to torment and kill creatures they come across.

Amalgamites destabilize reality around them, creating zones where space warps and shifts slightly. Creatures affected by this warp are themselves capable of spreading the affliction, although such calamities are typically limited to a few minutes at a time. Still, this allows the amalgamite phenomenal battlefield control, as they can teleport themselves and anyone afflicted by their aura at will. Enemies are swapped with the amalgamite’s allies, dropped into traps, or switched with the amalgamite itself to absorb blows intended to injure the aberration.

Amalgamites are strangely social, in their own weird way. They tend to associate with other aberrations, undead creatures, and the cults of the Elder Gods. Some amalgamites lead these associations, but most are content to play a backseat role as a sage and power behind the throne, rather than as a charismatic leader. An amalgamite has the lifespan of whatever kind of creature it was before becoming irreversibly glitched—a formerly human amalgamite might live for a few decades, whereas a former elf might live for centuries.

Amalgamite       CR 13 XP 25,600 NE Medium aberration Init +6; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, Perception +30 Aura destabilizing field (40 ft., Fort DC 24) Defense AC 26, touch 20, flat-footed 20 (+6 Dex, +4 deflection, +6 natural) hp 170 (20d8+80); regeneration 5 (piercing) Fort +12, Ref +14, Will +19 DR 10/magic and piercing; Immune mind influencing effects Defensive Abilities deflective screen, displace; Weakness dimensional instability Offense Speed 30 ft., reposition Melee 2 slams +20 (1d10+5) Ranged warp bolt +21 touch (3d8+8 force) Special Attacks transpose Spell-like Abilities CL 13th, concentration +12 (+16 casting defensively) 3/day—blink 1/day—ethereal jaunt, greater teleport, insanity (DC 16) Statistics Str 21, Dex 23, Con 19, Int 26, Wis 24, Cha 8 Base Atk +15; CMB +20; CMD 40 Feats Combat Casting, Critical Focus, Fatiguing Critical, Great Fortitude, Improved Critical (warp ray), Improved Vital Strike, Lightning Reflexes, Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Vital Strike Skills Acrobatics +29, Climb +28, Escape Artist +29, Intimidate +22, Knowledge (arcana) +31, Knowledge (dungeoneering, local, planes) +28, Perception +30, Spellcraft +31, Stealth +29, Swim +28 Languages Aklo, Common, DraconicEcology Environment any land or underground Organization solitary or enclave (2-6) Treasure standard Special Abilities Deflective Screen (Su) An amalgamite gains a deflection bonus to its AC and CMD equal to its Constitution modifier. Dimensional Instability (Ex) An amalgamite is sickened whenever it is affected by a dimensional anchor spell, in the area of a dimensional lock, or otherwise subject to a spell or effect that prevents teleportation. Displace (Su) As an immediate action when it would be struck by a melee or ranged attack, an amalgamite can either teleport up to 50 feet, or swap places with another creature within 50 feet, as per the transpose special attack. An unwilling creature can resist this teleportation with a successful DC 24 Will save. If it transports merely itself, it takes half damage from the attack. If it successfully switches places with another creature, both it and the creature it switched with take half damage. An amalgamite can use this ability a number of times per day equal to its Wisdom modifier (7/day). The save DC is Constitution based. Destabilizing Field (Su) All creatures within 40 feet of an amalgamite must succeed a DC 24 Fortitude save or their forms begin to warp. Creatures so destabilized are sickened for as long as they remain in the aura, and for 1 minute thereafter. It also radiates its own destabilizing aura for the duration it remains sickened, although this secondary aura only has a 10 foot radius. A creature that succeeds its save is immune to the destabilizing field of that amalgamite, and destabilizing fields created by that amalgamite, for the next 24 hours. Amalgamites are immune to the destabilizing field of themselves and of other amalgamites. This is a teleportation effect, and the save DC is Constitution based. Reposition (Su) An amalgamite can teleport up to 50 feet as a move action. Transpose (Su) As a standard action, an amalgamite can teleport a single creature, or swap the positions of two creatures, that are sickened by its destabilizing aura. The destination must be a space that the amalgamite can see, and if two creatures are teleported, both of these creatures must be within 50 feet of each other. An unwilling creature can resist this effect with a successful DC 24 Fortitude save; both creatures must be willing, or both fail their saving throw, in order for a swap to occur. This is a teleportation effect, and the save DC is Constitution based. Warp Bolt (Su) As a standard action, an amalgamite can fire a bolt of force. Treat this as a ranged touch attack with a range of 100 feet and no range increment. A creature struck takes 3d8 points of force damage plus the amalgamite’s Intelligence modifier.

[yeah-yeah-beebiss-1]

early impressions from the first 2 hours or so of pokemon scarlet: an ambitious, would-be phenomenal game held back by being released way too early

graphics are dogshit as expected, still looks like a late PS2 game

performance is rough - a lot of random frame drops and choppy animations, pop-in is somehow worse than PLA; there were several early cutscenes in the school classroom where all your schoolmates were moving at like 6fps that were extremely distracting

-koraidon’s jumping physics are super fucked up; in general the game has strong Bethesda energy with weird clipping and frame drops and general jank (for example, the only buildings you can enter are stores, and by “enter” i mean “the camera zooms in on the door until the whole screen is taken up by the door texture which is then used as a background for the shop UI”)

speedrunners are going to have a blast breaking this game wide open, which is to say the general quality control is very poor

pokemon variety is enormous, i nearly had a full PC box by the 2 hour mark just grabbing one of everything i saw

i can already tell that difficulty/level balancing is going to be a concern - exp share is always on and there are a lot of opportunities for experience, the only way you’ll be able to get through the game without being grotesquely overleveled for two of the three story paths is to box your whole team after completing one and starting over with low-level critters

overworld/catching mechanics don’t feel as polished as PLA’s; overworld catching is gone, there’s no reticule for aiming pokeballs to ambush wild pokemon, camera controls aren’t as flexible

you can set destination markers on the map, but they only show up on the minimap - playing this after finishing xenoblade 3 (which lets you see the markers in the world and even toggle guide paths) just makes me feel like it’s going to be a substantial learning curve for people not used to/fond of open-world games

terastallizing doesn’t feel like as much of a game breaker as dynamax or mega evolution

the gym leader implementation of terastallizing is boring as hell - rather than changing their ace to something that’ll counter whatever you brought to counter the gym type, they use it to change a pokemon that isn’t their gym type to match their gym type (the bug-type gym leader, for example, has a teddiursa that she terastallizes into bug type)

the soundtrack varies from respectable to absolutely amazing from what i’ve heard so far, the wild pokemon battle theme is dynamic based on area and the team star and tera raid battle themes go way harder than they have any right to - it’ll be interesting to see exactly how much influence toby fox had over the soundtrack, because some of these tracks definitely have his vibes all over them

in all fairness, i’m playing a leaked dump of a retail cartridge so there’s the possibility of a day-one patch fixing some of these issues, but the lack of polish runs so deep that i don’t think a single patch could address it

overall, i’m still having a decent time with the game because the pokemon formula is inherently pretty watertight and the exploration is pretty fun, but the game just feels blatantly unfinished so i couldn’t in good conscience recommend people drop $60 on it

i have a feeling there’s going to be more than a few instances of people getting buyer’s remorse and unloading their copies for cheap by early december, so i’d strongly recommend just waiting for that to happen so you can get it secondhand for $40-45

[cacneo]

I’m gonna throw all my initial thoughts about rebirth here while the ending is fresh:

1) Myrna is adorable, 10/10 no notes

2) I literally gasped aloud when Zack touched Cloud and ended up fighting along side him

3) I feel like square is fucking with us at this point with all the stamp variations

4) I’m still very hopeful for an ending where Zack is fully back. It’s interesting that they are using the white room again like in AC, I’m wondering what connection that has to the livestream and who ends up rejoining vs being in the room and what that means

5) I really need a list of everything that was changed or expanded upon vs the original

6) I’m a little conflicted with the styling of the Gi and the sort of characterization of them as a group of people. I’d be less conflicted if square hadn’t royally made asses of themselves in FF16, but they lost a lot of benefit of the doubt there recently. But having a group that is styled to look like (to my eyes anyway) African tribesmen, positioning them as outside invaders, and having them say that the cetra’s exclusion of them is why they poured all their hate into a world-ending material is uh…….not great, and it’s even worse when positioned in a narrative about the corrupting power of anger and the need for letting things go. It comes off as a “oh but slavery/colonization/etc. was so long ago, why are you still hung up on it, you’re being divisive by not just moving on.” Left a really bad taste in my mouth after that section, hopefully they just leave it there instead of digging a bigger hole in pt 3

7) I’m putting my money on part 3 coming out in 2027 for the 30th anniversary

8) after them bringing Weiss and Nero back in intergrade, and after reminding myself of them showing up at the end of crisis core, I’m guessing they will show up again when the party goes to midgar in pt 3

9) I’m going to have to find a way to replay dirge of Cerberus

10) still not sure what’s going on with them trying to say that cloud thought Zack drowned??? Presumably it’s sephiroth fuckery

11) I really need context for a) why they added roche as a character and b) why he would have volunteered for a hojo experiment

12) maybe ever crisis has / will do some of this, but I really want some context for like, what fuckery happens in SOLDIER post crisis core and pre main game with their whole chain of command fucked

13) the level design and environment people did a phenomenal job

14) Zack’s new voice actor did waaaayy better this time, whether through practice or better voice direction or both. It actually sounded more like him

15) sad to see the banora posters around but no mention of angeal and genesis (unless you count the loveless production being version G as a genesis mention)

16) square really decided to punish me for not using magic most of the game with that elemental barrier at the end

17) I ship clerith way more than I used to. Remake/rebirth have given her so much more character

18) same for yuffie, I’m glad she got intergrade and with the wutai war being a bigger deal I’m looking forward to better characterization for her too

19) curious what the plan is for cid since they’ve brought him in differently

20) and still a little heartbroken that cid/vincent aren’t full party members

21) I guess wedge appearing in the loveless scene with Jesse/biggs means he did die at the shinra building when the whispers pushed him

22) it’s neat that your weapon changes in scenes based on what you have equipped, but it does really ruin a lot of the cinematic parallels with Zack if you don’t keep the buster sword equipped all game

[hidingoutbackstage]

Biohazard: the Stage Character Highlights

If you’ve been following me for a while, you know that I LOVE Biohazard: the Stage, I consider it to be one of the best pieces of Resident Evil media of all time, the story is solid, the medium of a stage play is incredibly well utilized, the action is great, the acting is great, the story is phenomenal and fits right into the Resident Evil universe, I could go on. If you’re wondering why there’s a Resident Evil play, while I don’t live in Japan, I do know that Japanese plays based on Japanese video games is not an uncommon thing. Persona, Danganronpa, and Ace Attorney (also a Capcom game!) are three examples off the top of my head of this phenomenon, not to mention there are other Resident Evil based plays such as Biohazard the Experience, and Biohazard: Voice of Gaia (both non canon and simply based on the Resident Evil universe)

If you want to watch it (and I highly recommend you do, the show is FANTASTIC and there’s also some twists in the storytelling that I think are best left unspoiled on a first watch) the link to it on Youtube is here. The show is in Japanese (duh) but the yt video has English captions. If you don’t care about spoilers, or you’ve seen it before, here’s some highlights I rlly like about the show

SPOILERS AHEAD. THIS IS YOUR LAST WARNING I HIGHLY SUGGEST YOU WATCH THE SHOW FIRST IF YOU HAVEN’T

Becky’s writing is literally the best it’s ever been in this series. In RE1 she isn’t a playable character so she doesn’t have much to do, in RE0 she’s subject to the curse of “being in a Wii game from 2002” so while her writing is fine and she gets good moments, it’s never any better than great in my opinion, Vendetta lets her be a badass for a few scenes before forcing her into being a damsel in distress, and in Death Island she is fully a prop character and nothing more

Stage Becky, however, is not that. She has multiple relationships with different characters in the show, she and Chris clearly have a very close bond, she makes friends with the other professors at the university she works at, she cares about and trusts Tyler despite how little they interacted, she tries to reason with Dr. Howard about his son being alive, and she clearly cares deeply about all of her students, especially Mary, seeing as Mary has her phone number and we see her care about Mary multiple times.

Outside of her relationships, Becky gets to truly be a badass. The two flashback scenes involve a recap of the mansion incident, with both her and Chris being tough and serious (while still giving Becky a moment of emotion, good for her) and the scene with Tyler is her literally saving him from a zombie and fixing him up with her medical knowledge. In the present she is more hesitant to fight the zombies, but it makes sense seeing as they’re her former students and coworkers and friends, and she’s been out of the fighting business for a while by now. It’s a natural place for her character to go

That doesn’t make her useless in the story, though. She teaches the lesson that is at the heart of Matthew’s and Mary’s philosophies, she is the first to befriend Posh, she has the intel for Tyler about his father, she tries to reason with Dr. Howard and convince him that Tyler is still alive, even when Barrington kidnaps her she is able to break free and reunite with the other heroes, no need for them to rescue her like in Vendetta, and she gives Chris the rocket launcher at the end for him to end the final fight. This story does not happen without Rebecca, which is honestly more than you can say for RE1, Vendetta, and sort of Death Island. She’s integral to the story and written so well. We love that

The other returning characters are written really well too. Chris is written to care a lot about the people who matter to him, especially his team, who he sees as family. He uses his words before he uses guns, such as talking Tyler into lowering his gun, and reasoning with Mary about her philosophy enough to disarm her, and even allows her to go in for a hug (even though that’s a ruse) Seriously throughout the show Chris is constantly talking about how he doesn’t want anyone to get hurt, and he wants to protect people. It’s nice to see

Piers is also the best written here out of his three appearances, although he’s not suuuuper important compared to some of the other characters, but he’s the third legacy character so I’m bringing him up. He’s a good example of someone who is new to this fight but wants to do the right thing, he is very distinctly different than the veteran Chris who’s been doing this for over a decade at this point, he has some good banter with characters like Sophie and Barrington, he’s hot-headed which is consistent and can lead to some funny moments, and he’s very good supporting cast. He also immediately shows admiration and respect for Becky upon meeting her which like me too bro

So besides them, the cast is entirely new! So who are they?

Well Tyler Howard is the first standout, and honestly he feels like a much more fleshed out and well-written Jake Muller to me. And this is coming from someone who LOVES Jake. I love him and I wish more had been done with him. Thankfully, that’s pretty much what Tyler is. He’s the son of an Umbrella researcher who did some awful things while working for Umbrella and who abandoned his son, leaving Tyler with a ton of daddy issues and leaving him an angsty bad boy who wears a leather jacket and became a cop to try and track his father down, ultimately becoming a government agent after getting involved with some B.O.W.s (unclear if it’s the D.S.O. or not though)

Tyler is a fascinating character, because all he really wants is his family back, but his father is too far gone into denial to accept him, and the only other person who would be like family to him is also too different and too far gone for them to be anything like family. But in order for me to get into that, I should get into:

Mary Gray. The best character in this show, even though you don’t realize at first what an amazing character she’s going to be. Gd, where do I even begin with Mary? She’s probably the most complex character in the whole show which is saying something, because a lot of these characters have a lot of depth. Okay first things first, (I said spoiler warning so you can’t be mad at me for spoiling this) Mary is a twist villain who you do not expect AT ALL to be a twist villain your first watch through, but then on your second watch through it’s so obvious that you wonder how you didn’t pick it up sooner. At least if you were me lol

Anyway, holy fuck Mary’s character. So as it’s revealed at the end, she has an incurable blood disease that her parents, Umbrella employees, tried to heal by injecting her with the t-virus. Yes, that t-virus, and somehow it worked. She bonded to it, and it kept her alive with routine injections. It was a damn miracle! But when her parents died due to Umbrella’s collapse, and she didn’t have anyone, she turned to her doctor who had been administering her the injections to take care of her and look after her, and she saw him as a father. The more she was injected with the t-virus, though, the more mad it made her. Because of this and her unnaturally high IQ, she felt isolated from everyone around her. She wasn’t really friends with her peers, her father didn’t understand her, the director of her school cared for her and admired her knowledge, but he didn’t understand her, the director’s son admired her but they never got the chance to be close, and during the show, when she meets Tyler and is finally convinced she has someone who understands her and can genuinely connect with her, that turns out to not be true, and she kind of loses it. Her last glimmer of hope gone before her very eyes, as Tyler proves he’s not like his father and he’s not like Mary, and she can’t handle that. I think that’s why she goes full villain at the end (aside from, you know, the fact that everything had worked out perfectly for her so there was really no use for her to keep pretending anymore, plus the cat was out of the bag with Dr. Howard’s death anyway) because she just can’t keep it in anymore. Her emotions are in full swing during her monologue, from crazed laughter to confident declarations to breaking down into tears. We love to see it

Her tragedy hurts to much to me I think because she could so easily have been saved, but at the same time she was kind of doomed from the start. The beginning shows how isolated she is from her peers, and she already has the notion in her head that she is greater than human and deserves to rule, but only alongside others like her. She’s doing this solely because she’s lonely. A part of her might think she has some entitlement to it, being rich and intelligent and greater than human and all, but the bottom line is that this is one last desperate attempt at a connection with someone, anyone.

And despite feeling alone, so many people love her! Dr. Howard was willing to do literally anything Mary said due to his devotion to her, Rebecca admired Mary’s intelligence and when push came to shove, she couldn’t bring herself to harm Mary even though she “had” to. Director Ezra apologized to Mary after she was gone, took her side over his son’s, and wanted to see her succeed. Lucas and Olivia obviously didn’t hate Mary, they even seemed willing to be her friends. Chris was able to connect with Mary when she threatened to end them all and was even able to disarm her and had her in tears. Sophie recognized Mary’s intelligence. Bethany tried to better herself to match the intelligence of the students at the school.

And Tyler, oh boy Tyler. Mary and Tyler had such a complex relationship despite the fact that they only knew each other for a day before Mary was killed. They met on the roof of the school, bonding over feeling like they were too different from society to fit in and belong, and Mary’s smile is big and genuine when she says “Same as me” as she FINALLY has someone to connect to. But then Tyler shows himself to not be on her side, and Mary feels hurt and betrayed, insisting that she’s not wrong and people need to see that. Then when she reveals herself to be a villain, Tyler never tries to hurt her. She disarms him, threatens him with a gun, tries to use him as a human shield, taunts him, but she also calls him her brother, and Tyler sees how she breaks down when Chris reasons with her. When she’s on the roof again, the place they first met each other, Mary is on the high ground and Tyler is below her, shouting up at her and reasoning with her on an even deeper and more personal level than Chris. He tells her she isn’t alone, and she cries, because she knows it isn’t true. Still, she asks “Can I start over?” and Tyler responds “Yeah. You can definitely start over. Mary, you aren’t alone.” and Mary thanks him for his kind words to her before she transforms, because it was always going to be too late for her, and Tyler still cries out witnessing the transformation.

And when her monstrous form dies, you can still see Mary at the center of the explosion. She’s still in there, but she’s not moving. She’s done.

WHEW that was a lot and that wasn’t even ALL I have to say about Mary lol maybe I should make a separate post (or five) JUST for her anyways where were we? What other characters should I talk about? This post is getting long maybe I’ll make a part two, starting with Sophie

[snezfics-n-shit]

Sicktember Day 3: "What Happened To Your Phenomenal Immune System, Huh?"

Fandom: Ace Attorney Characters: Franziska von Karma, Adrian Andrews, Larry Butz Notes: Set vaguely during the final stretch of the 7yg, Franziska and Adrian are married. Larry frequently visits for business purposes, given Franziska’s likeness is heavily used in his hit book: Franzy’s Whippity-Whip Trip. This time, Franziska had the opportunity to attend one of Larry’s events promoting the all-new German language release of the book. The thing about these events, however, is they’re practically a petri dish with some books scattered around.

     They both warned her.

Well, Adrian just gave loving advice to be careful while Larry warned that getting sick after attending his book signing events was inevitable the first few times. Franziska was absolutely certain that such a fate could not befall her; not only was her diet and exercise routine absolutely impeccable, but international investigations had already exposed her to just about everything. 

Unfortunately, it seemed ‘everything’ did not include the breeding ground of viruses that was a crowded public library storytime circle. To make matters worse, the absolute chaos it was in a library of all places, where it should be quiet, left Franziska completely exhausted. Perhaps even a phenomenal immune system like hers had met a more than worthy foe this time.

Ugh.

“Hey, honey,” Adrian sweetly whispered as she cracked open the bedroom door, “are you getting up soon? Larry made us breakfast.”

“Yeah, in a minute.” Just speaking felt like sandpaper in Franziska’s throat. Where did her voice go? She hardly used it, so explaining it away as a result of straining was out of the question.

“If you want, I’m sure a few extra minutes of sleep won’t hurt. You’ve had a pretty busy week, after all.” Adrian had mastered pushing all the right buttons to encourage her wife to rest; even if Franziska had improved in admitting when she was less than a hundred percent, it never hurt whenever the subject was approached delicately. 

Larry, on the other hand…

Larry was the personification of the captioned images of two dogs in various predicaments, saying something like: “a good friend will help you out of a bad situation, but a best friend will laugh and say ‘I told you so.’” A best friend. Five years ago, Franziska considered the very idea of friends, let alone best friends, to be just plain foolish. Five years ago, she considered the very idea of Larry being her friend was simply beyond foolish. Now she was working with him on his books based on her likeness, and both she and Adrian had come to quite enjoy his visits. 

Times like these, however, Franziska ever so slightly wished she had the same mindset as she had back then.

“The plague got ya, huh, Franzy?” Larry’s teasing startled Adrian. “Oh, sorry. Didn’t mean to sneak up on you.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Adrian smiled before lowering her voice. “I don’t think she wants you to draw attention to that, though.”

“‘That?’” Larry took a while for the words to register. “Oh! Her being sick? When you said she felt really warm this morning, I thought that meant she was past this whole overconfidence in her immune system thing.” 

“I was not overconfident!” Franziska interjected, quickly regretting her volume as the words had scratched against her throat. “I just… thought you were exaggerating.” She sniffled and massaged her temples. “Everything hurts.”

“Lucky for you, I have a lot of lozenges, cold meds, and painkillers in my suitcase.” Larry beamed. “Thanks for your private jet not having a luggage check, by the way. I’m pretty sure at least one of the med brands I brought with me is illegal here…”

“I–” Franziska broke into a fit of coughing, prompting her to file away any objection she was about to raise. “If they work, I might not regret such a grave error on my part.” 

“Thank you so much, Larry.” Adrian chose to ignore the potential of Larry having unintentionally smuggled illegal goods. If they helped her wife feel better, surely they couldn't be too bad. 

“Thank you, Larry Butz.” Franziska croaked out the words her past self could have never imagined saying. 

“You’re gonna feel better in no time!” Larry gave a thumbs-up before listing his agenda. “I know Nick’s mom’s soup recipe by heart, I’ll grab you extra pillows if you want, and I saw you had those really expensive tissues, so if you need those…” His rambling faded as he headed downstairs, enthusiastic as ever.

“He’s such a good guy,” Adrian chuckled softly, “we never have to lift a finger when he’s here.” She made herself comfortable in the bed, snuggling up to Franziska. “I’d say that’s a good excuse for some time for us.” 

Franziska, not wanting to risk losing the last bit of voice she had, responded with a kiss on her wife’s cheek. Adrian may not have had the immune system that Franziska insisted she had, but if she were to get sick when the two had minimal responsibilities, that would not be bad at all.

[shaniacsboogara]

I just had to say that your new icon has made me smile so much; With the wonderful Ace supportive posts the Watcher crew have made in the past (which may or may not make me emotional), I bet they'd love it too! Thank you for the serotonin, and Happy Pride!🌈

Aww, honestly that means the world to me!!! As a (fellow, I'm assuming???) aspec person, I've also felt so validated and supported by the way Watcher takes time to celebrate us. It's so phenomenal to see, especially from a brand that in and of itself is not centrally based on LGBTQ+ content. Don't get me wrong, that content is WONDERFUL (looking at you Solitaire by Alice Oseman), but it low-key makes me emotional to see that asexuality is being talked about OUTSIDE of primarily / exclusively LGBTQ+ spaces. It seems to be becoming more mainstream / accepted / normalized, AND THE FACT IT'S BEING DONE BY SOME OF OUR FAVOURITE CREATORS??? That just feels like a little treat.

Whenever I talk about Watcher being absolutely amazing to their fans, things like this are a HUGE PART OF IT. Posting about asexual awareness day doesn't make brands much money, so not a lot of people do it, but Watcher did. And that proves to me that this isn't just performative, it's a genuine care for the causes they're representing. Thank you to everyone at Watcher for doing what you're doing, and thank you to everyone who genuinely supports and spreads love to other people. I know that's a broad statement, but it's important.

HAPPY PRIDE!!! 💜🤍🖤

[utilitycaster]

Just curious, what makes paladin the best class? I'm considering playing one in an upcoming campaign and want to make the most of it! (My apologies if you've already answered this!)

Obligatory disclaimer that the best class is the one you most enjoy playing, but here’s why I think paladins are the best.

The first is that, with the exception of ranged damage/healing and (typically) stealth, paladins per Rules as Written are very high utility: while the Tank/Healer/DPS split isn’t quite as crucial in D&D as in video games, paladins are the class that can truly do a good job with all three of those roles. They are capable touch healers, can do ridiculous amounts of damage per round, and have high ACs and a d10 hit die. My general belief in D&D is either I should get full spellcasting or I should get a massive sword, and paladins get half spellcasting and a massive sword which is a pretty good deal.

More importantly, I happen to do best when I have a broad archetype but still plenty of room to develop my character’s personality. I do mechanics first and then I have something to hang personality traits when I ask myself “okay, why is this person that class?”

Paladins have a weight to what kind of person they are. They don’t need to be traditionally lawful, per se, but they are people whose powers are granted based on the strength of their conditions and their devotion to an oath. There’s a certain intensity to that kind of personality, an unshakeable sense that I find very appealing to explore. Not everyone leans into this, to be fair, but when they do it’s phenomenal. (Unsurprisingly, a close second favorite is wizards, who are intense about knowledge rather than conviction and who similarly have built-in flavor that I think gives rise to more compelling characters).

The thing in the end is that like…I love fighters mechanically and have played one in a one shot, and my longest running character was a bard, and honestly I have something good to say about most classes, but paladins (and wizards) just get better the more you embrace and explore the class’s specific flavor, whereas most others either don’t have much of a coherent class-wide theme at all, or have a much vaguer and broader one. Which doesn’t mean there can’t be fantastic characters of other classes, but there’s something about the creativity that comes from working within those restrictions.

[willowwind78]

Learning to paint miniatures: Zombie Horde Fatty

Zombicide: Black Plague is my favorite tabletop game (although I have recently discovered Carcasonne and it is climbing the charts). It combines my husband’s interest in zombies and my love of medieval roleplaying into a game we can both enjoy. As a long-time Dungeons and Dragons player, I was looking for a game I could play with just my husband since I don’t have any friends who play. We tried this and I fell in love. Not just with the game itself but with the miniatures.

I did a little research and settled on Vallejo Model Color paints and I have never looked back. Oh, I own some others Games Workshop like their technical paints, but my base set is Vallejo. They are SO much cheaper. I buy mine from Midwest Model Railroad https://midwestmodelrr.com/ $2.67 a dropper bottle. Seriously, cheap. Easy to buy enough to offset having to pay for shipping. Their selection is incredible and shipping is fast and easy.

Zombicide: Black Plague opened up a whole new hobby of miniature painting that I had not gotten into when I played D&D as we didn’t use miniatures, strictly paper, pencil and dice, old school. I’m now obsessed, before long I will have every color Vallejo Model Color makes and I have started venturing into Game, Nocturna, Panzer Aces, etc.

Here’s why I love Vallejo though, you can paint over black with a single coat of white and it’s gone. Smooth even coverage, consistency across bottles. Very rarely have I come across a bottle that was not up to straight-out-of-the-bottle base coat par. Pigmentation is phenomenal. You can dilute it to a wash without losing any quality. It dries insanely fast but wait... there’s more...

Vallejo Model Color was designed for diorama use by model train enthusiasts. While it dries to the touch within minutes, it actually takes a week or more for full drying to set in and once that happens the color becomes far more permanent and is able to withstand a lot more manhandling so it’s perfect for pieces you actually play with not just stick on a shelf.  You may notice the bottle DO NOT say NON-TOXIC on them. While they aren’t lead or alcohol based, try not to over-lick your brushes. There’s no odor and I haven’t died or gotten sick yet, but I suspect this is why they dry and adhere so strongly. Someday I’ll do some research and let you know.

I love Vallejo Model Color it is an incredible way to start miniature painting and you’ll never need to trade in or stop using them because you got better. Absolutely worth the small investment. Buy a starter set on Amazon, primer, and some cheap detail brushes and you are ready to roll.

https://www.ebay.com/usr/willowwind78

[jasper-pagan-witch]

Color Psychology in Tarot, part 2

Rider Waite Smith

Alright, alright, it's time to address the elephant in the room. I, personally, do not care much for the RWS decks and the ones that use its artwork but recolor it. Most of them are very boring to me. Give me dragons, arson, and werewolves over humans with cups any day of the week. HOWEVER, in the interest of furthering my musings on color in tarot, it would be remiss to not address the original*.

*Big fucking asterisk next to "original" because tarot's history includes Italian playing cards, Aleister Crowley, various occult groups, appropriation of Jewish symbolism, Catholicism, and more.

So, pictured here will be my copy of the "original" RWS deck in the neon eye bleed colors alongside the Radiant RWS deck that comes in a tin.

Example 1: Minor Arcana - Knight of Cups

This is probably one of my favorite cards in the normal RWS deck just based on the toned-down color scheme. The knight's armor is blue and grey with hints of red (indicating an emotional sort with a small passionate streak according to Western color psychology) and the cup in question is a bright yellow that's tied into the more muted yellows of the Knight's location.

And even when the Radiant deck steps in to provide shading and detailing, it maintains that general color scheme. It does make the cup and background lean a little more towards an orange-yellow or golden yellow, but that helps to make it easy on the eyes.

For a card representing someone who is "graceful, not warlike, riding quietly" (from both little white booklets, indicating to a baffled Jasper that these have the same booklets), this card and its colors do a phenomenal job of stressing the Knight's more emotional yet gentler nature.

Example 2: Minor Arcana - Ace of Pentacles

Ah yes, that bitch. The Ace of Pentacles is the beginning of the Pentacles journey, looking at abundance, wealth, growth, the physical body, and the element of Earth.

This RWS card is mostly light neutrals - white and grey - because the key point is the Pentacle in the sky and the ground below. The yellow of the Pentacle brings to mind gold coins, while the one on the ground speaks of rich dirt paths. Greens are everywhere in nature, and are often associated with money and wealth because of green-colored currency (at least, that's how it is here in the US).

The Radiant card turns the sky into several shades of blue, helping to draw the eye up to the golden coin. The greens are more varied and saturated in this deck, making it look even more lush and lively.

In Conclusion

Even though I don't particularly connect with the RWS deck, Miss Pamela Colman Smith knew what she was doing with color in these two example cards. There are more than this - after all, there are 78 cards in total that vary and change based on the deck.

If you'd like to see other posts like this that involve me getting really weird about these sorts of things, check out my Back to the Basics With Jasper directory.

[rosietrace]

Pieces of oc trivia :3

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Victoria never cries unless Zen or her parents are the only ones in the room.

As shown through her personality, Victoria does not seem like a crier. Let alone cry at all.

But even if she isn't human, her emotions are as valid as any other human. She just doesn't want to cry, specifically in public.

Victoria's created the public perception of herself as a cold-hearted 'villainess' who's ruined reputations and never makes a different in expression. Just an emotionless husk in the eyes of both the nobility and night raven college.

But Zen and her parents.... They're the only ones who can witness her vulnerability. Because she trusts them with her feelings the most.

The only time she ever cries is when Zen or her parents are in the room and no one else is around. Her parents love and care for her, so its natural that they'd want to support her in any way they can in order for their daughter to be happy.

And for Zen, well he's her best friend. They're practically inseparable and are attached at the hip. So of course, it only makes sense that Zen is allowed to see her in that moment of vulnerability.

Zen was her first friend. And she's making sure that they'll stay together until they grow old and wrinkled which is impossible given they're both mythical creatures who are incapable of growing old.

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Yuuta's good in the kitchen, particularly when he makes pancakes.

It isn't particularly known that Yuuta is fantastic when working in the kitchen until his first home economics class in NRC, in which he completely knocks it out of the park and outshines everyone with his dark and white chocolate upsidedown cake.

He doesn't bake nor cook much, but he's surprisingly efficient when he does. Grim even admits that Yuuta's food is as good as tuna.

Yuuta usually eats the lunch the school provides, but there are times where he brings himself homemade lunch. They're usually based on the food he ate when he was in his world, like takoyaki or dango. Don't ask where he gets the ingredients

Even though he excels at debate, Yuuta's still phenomenal when working in the kitchen. But he always makes food for himself, never for others unless they asked him beforehand... And if he trusts them enough-

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Freyah is better than most of heartslabyul at croquet.

Given she already embraces the odd fantasies of wonderland, it isn't a surprise that Freyah's so good at croquet. It was the sport that the queen of hearts adored so much.

She's very cheeky when playing. She'll be polite to the hedgehogs, but she'll play in the most ridiculously cartoonish way possible to piss off her opponents since they know she's gonna win anyway.

Frisk was the one that originally taught Freyah croquet, and she's very proud that her sister's managed to upstage everyone in the dorm.

Ace is a bit salty and would try to do the same moves as Freyah if they ever played. It only ever really ended in Freyah's inevitable victory though-

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When Cressida first met Victoria, she basically became a simp.

It is widely known throughout RSA that Cressida is into girls, and also happens to be of prominent nobility.

So when she was given the opportunity to meet Victoria Shard by her parents, she was ecstatic. She found Victoria's reputation to be intriguing and couldn't help but want to meet her herself.... And also because she heard she's VERY beautiful

And Victoria DID NOT disappoint. Cressida felt a love at first sight moment when she first laid her eyes on her. It isn't really romantic interest, just gay panic-

What made it even better for Cressida is that Victoria never said anything about her skin during their first interactions! It made the moment feel very heartwarming for Cressida since most people would talk about her scale-like skin and all.

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Meryl doesn't know what her father looks like.

Okay so this isn't exactly a retcon since in one post Meryl said she made her mom and dad plushies with magic, BUT.

Meryl doesn't actually know what Malory looks like. She just gets vague descriptions about his appearance and decided to take that into account while making his plushie.

Meryl basically grew up fatherless because of the sudden disappearance of her father, which is why she's so curious to learn more about him. Even if it's just his physical appearance.

Eclair wants to tell(or at least imply) to Meryl that her dad is... Likely dead.

There isn't enough evidence to prove that, but because Eclair basically secludes herself in SHI, it's the only assumption she can make.

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