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eggroll-sama · 3 months

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Touchstarved Demo Review

Played the demo of Touchstarved and I can’t get it out of my head. Refreshing tumblr every three seconds to read people’s stances on the game so I’m going to do it myself. Here’s are my current stances on the characters.

KURAS

Rather secluded and to himself, initial reactions wise I was disappointed in not getting to know more about him in the demo. but at the same time, the demo set the stage for what exactly I could expect from his route. Slow-burn. Much like what I expect Mhin’s route to be like, but moreso focused on getting to know his past. He doesn’t voice his internal struggles because he has a firm barrier he sets between himself and other, probably hates getting too close to human’s because he is immortal and doesn’t like the idea of getting attached to things that are temporary.

Also, after listening to the Q and A on YouTube and how supposedly Kuras will do some messed up shit in his route, I’m really excited to see what’s up with this tight-lipped doctor. He is definitely not the nice, charitable doctor that he is known for in Lowtown.

On a positive note, his design is probably my favorite in the game! Very unique, gorgeous, and ethereal, so pretty that I know if he existed in real life he’d be out of my league and would be popular just because of how jaw-droppingly gorgeous he is. Mr Steal your girl, but he’s respectful so he won’t be a home wrecker.

(More reviews under the cut)

LEANDER

A character that I thought looked so suspicious and weirded out, but fell in love with when playing the game. I thought he looked like a psychopath!

Because I’m a stupid, easily manipulated dumbass, I initially didn’t really capture his red flags when playing the demo. Every time he let me touch him, my heart beat wouldn’t stop! And his blush is so adorable. He seemed like the trustworthy nice-guy that just wanted to help a poor soul out. And uh, chest. The chest really had an effect on me and his entire outfit didn’t help. Black turtle necks awaken something in me, yknow? And the belts? Hoe energy.

After replaying the demo a few times, it just stands out to me how much of a player he is. Before realizing MC was at the bar because of Kuras, he was in flirting mode and probably considering MC to be part of his escapades. The disappointment in his tone and face when he found out MC was there for business 😂😂.

We get the most information of Leander from the special conversation with the characters so I am quite pumped to know what exactly this guy is about, cuz each person has varying, colorful opinions on him. I find it so funny that Vere, the most flirtatious in the game, is weirded out by shameless Leander is. Maybe that is Leander’s flaw? The leader of the Bloodhounds, envied by many and respected by most, is the most submissive and horny bitch on the planet. Ok ok, I’m done. But I could go on and on about this man.

(Side note, Mhin and Leander definitely had a drunken one night stand. And Mhin absolutely regretted it)

Even after reading all the theories on how sus he is, his interactions were probably my favorite in the entire game. I’m just so intrigued by him.

VERE

Not the biggest fan of Vere. I’m not into animal ears and tails.

Im going to be honest in real life I would be flustered by Vere’s advances and probably feel a sort of fascination towards him echen to attraction, but he’s not really the type that I want to romance in games. Also the fact of the matter is is that sexual innuendoes just not my thing, especially when it comes to first impressions. And my first impression was getting my key stolen so nice.

Irl Vere can be acquaintances at most. I would be there just to hear the juiciest details about some drama. He would always have some snarky comment that would make me laugh. I love some dark humor. But at the same time, he’s dangerous af. I wouldn’t want to get too close to him. He has major issues and idk when he would snap, that’s the scary part! If I tease him playfully and he was not in the mood, off goes my head.

I like his relationship with Ais, adds more juiciness to the story. Love me some love triangles. Reminds me of Rime and Felix relationship in Last Legacy.

I would like the challenge of winning him over though. Because his route would probably be so unpredictable and challenging, I feel more motivated to play and invest in his story

AIS

I love his character design! Probably my second favorite in the game. Ais exudes confidence, competence, and strength. Major main character vibes from Ais. I’m guessing that’s why Leander hates him. HOW DARE YOU BE THE CENTER OF ATTENTION, LITERALLY THE CENTER OF ALL THE PROMO ART YOU FUCKIN BASTAR-

I personally do not feel that much of a love connection towards Ais as much as Leander. More like, I chill with you. I could grab a drink with you and talk about life. Yes. Maybe when I play his route they’ll prove me wrong. Im still curious about him so can’t wait to play his route. But I don’t see much of a red flag in him as the others, he just seems like a chill guy that went through hell. I’m guessing he’ll show his dark sides in his route.

It’s concerning that he’s attracted to Vere cuz Vere is…Vere. Problematic. Chaotic. An Asshole. Hmmm, is Ais technically an enabler? Yes, but Ais also starts bar fights. They’re both bad. It’s also interesting how generally people would say ethically good qualities on why they are attracted to someone but no, Ais is just like “yeah he’s an asshole, you can trust him just don’t listen to anything he says.” It’s hilarious. That also contrasts with Leander’s bio how he sees Vere as a damsel in distress cuz he’s delusional and has white knight syndrome, while Ais sees people who they are because he’s the black sheep “that have the clearest view of the world.” That’s probably why Vere loves him. Ais is the only person that sees his crappiness and still likes him. What a Chad :,)

MHIN

They reminds me of a friend I have. Quiet, standoffish, takes time to open up, a MASSIVE sweet tooth. I really want to pet their heads but I know they’re going to smack it away if I even try to touch. 😭😭

Mhin, the angsty teen. Considering Mhin’s bad temperament and similar curse thing with MC, I’m going to guess it’ll have major Beauty and the Beast vibes. Tempermental Mhin and MC who would turn them into a better person and teach them how to love themselves, with or without the curse.

The friendship with Mhin and Kuras make a lot of sense. Mhin feels at peace with Kuras cuz he’s a good listener and the only introvert in the friend group. Mhin needs someone that won’t try to annoy them like Leander or Vere. But I remember listening to the stream with the developers, and they were saying how terrible Kuras is and can’t wait for people to find out about it. Will Mhin feel betrayed when they find out the truth about Kuras? Do they already know? So many questions.

#touchstarved #touchstarved leander #touchstarved mhin #touchstarved ais #touchstarved Kuras #touchstarved Vere #touchstarved game

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chaifootsteps · 4 months

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Okay sorry I was talking with my mother

1) I hate sir Pentious’s new character. Sure, he’s fun. But oh my gosh, I miss his old character. The way that’s he’s not at all remorseful and just purely wants destruction and to rule over the pentagram city. But now he’s too goody goody(I haven’t seen the new episode, pls don’t spoil it), and turned WAYYYY to easily over to Charlie’s anti-Christ ass, and wanting to be redeemed. He should have stayed a spy for longer and I would’ve loved to see his dynamic grow with the Vees(especially Vox) and how he worked for them as a spy. His rape scene wasp so uncomfortable and unnecessary, and speaking of that his and cherris relationship should of never of even been thought about. It’s such an awkward thing, as they’re rivals and Cherri has destroyed things that he’s made and insults him.

2) speaking of Cherri, she offered Angel drugs(which seems like it��s a normal thing for them as she’s so causal about it) when she knew he was there at the hotel that’s for redemption, but also she was so rude to Angel when he was trying to get Nifty out of the cleaning closet??? She’s a much better friend in the pilot and in the addict music video. She’s showing actual friendship and concern for Angel, nothing like she does now.

3) Alastor. Sure, I like his moments, but he’s so painfully edgy it’s not that good. His radio sound effects are good, I miss the old effects that he had in the pilot and his old voice actor, but of course viv is a “it’s my way or the high-way” gal and she dumped all of the previous cast. He’s nearly completely different now, claiming that Charlie is like his daughter(I swear to god he better be manipulative to her in that moment), when in the pilot he openly mocked her and what she was trying to do. He seems way to open about his emotions and wanting r help Charlie, using a TV(???) and playing along when what she wants to do. He also seems to much like an attention whore, which could be a good character trait if he wasn’t the way he is now. Also he’s too touchy touchy with everyone, especially Charlie.

4) Angel dust is not as interesting now as he was to me in the pilot. Now he’s just a porn star who gets raped and abused and is going to be redeemed. I’d love to see his old character traits(from before the pilot and during, such as mafia, insane, violent, ect), rather than just “oh he’s a gay sex spider who sometimes does violence but he’s such a good person now for finding love and refusing drugs!!!! :3”.

5) Husk’s new voice. I see the appeal of his new one, but his old voice actor just hit different. Make that skinny 1970s gambler man sound like he smokes 5 packs a day. Also I can’t stop thinking about the cat from Coraline.

6) almost everything about vaggie. Her design, her actions, and her backstory. It’s cool that she’s a fallen Angel but oh my gosh!! Don’t reveal that in the first season!! Slow burn that shit!! And why did she do quickly realize that he’s murdering ‘innocent souls’?? They’re in hell for a reason, she didn’t have to think that just because it was a kid it was innocent of any crimes it did. They revealed it too soon, it would have been a good twist for season 2.

7) vivziepop seemingly mocks Christianity and I had to look up how Saint Peter looked like, AND SHE WHITE-WASHED HIM SO BAD. HE LOOKS NOTHING LIKE HE SHOULD, AND HES SUCH A COMPLEX PEROSN FROM THE BIBLE AND AND SHORTENED HIS CHARACTER SO BADLY.

Anyways, my TED talk is over. Thank you

Thanks for your TED Talk, Anon. It was an excellent talk.

#Anonymous #vivziepop critical #hazbin hotel critical #viv stuff #actual blog post

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good-griief · 1 year

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Time ; Acceptance

third and final chap of my "time" series! i really hope yall enjoyed it cus angst is one of my fave things to write. i didn't want to drag it out too much but i was thinking of doing one-shots and some au's of this idea, so if ur interested in that, i'd be glad to know!

warnings ambiguous relationship between abby and reader, reference to romance, implications of unrequited love (it's not), she/her reader, lasting effects of torture to reader, morally grey reader, ambiguous/story-teller dependent interpretation of major past event between characters

tags @frogtits1 @sawaagyapong @augieee21 @sunkissedbibi @eden-nox

part one part two

part three on ao3

Ellie looked over the pictures she took from Leah as she and Dina sat in the theater, pausing at the sight of someone she didn’t recognize. “Who’s this?” She asked, picking up the photo. California was written beneath the picture of a girl and a younger-looking Abby, clearly candid as they leaned against one another by a bonfire. She flipped over the picture. Soon, was written with a heart next to it.

“Dunno.” Dina swiped a few pictures over to her girlfriend. “There are a few of her.”

Ellie looked them over, seeing Leah had written and scratched out Santa Barbara on one before scribbling hearts on others. Finally, there was a recent one. Your name was under the picture of you two together, and on the back was a small note. Finally back home was all she read before she stopped, realizing how personal it was and tossing it aside. It had nothing to do with her, and she refused to feel bad about anything pertaining to these people.

Abby found the pictures in the theater after finding Mel and Owen, taking them and stashing them in her bag.

She knew you’d seen Leah. She had the pictured proof of it, but she was hoping that night you would tell her why; tell her why, and tell her why, again, you didn’t stay.

“Just fucking stay here, then!” Your squad member had yelled at you, already being scared that you were so injured and now scared that you’d be leaving, when you debated whether or not to go and speak to your old friends. There was a tightness in your chest, stomach twisting as your heart raced to the point that it felt like one continuous, loud beat. This was all so familiar, but you weren’t going to leave this time. “Go back, see if they’ll take you in, but don’t come crawling back to us.”

You didn’t even have the option.

“What’s the verdict?” You asked one of the other medics back on the island after he looked over your recovering injuries; still having a severe pain in your stomach and hip that made you nauseous, flaring up to the point that it was debilitating at times.

It scared you; not being able to do your tasks. What if there was no use for you? Where would you be then? Alone?

And again by your own design.

He gave you a look. “You’ve got some pretty bad damage.” There was a big, splotched bruise on your stomach that hadn’t left in the days you’d been recovering. “Could be internal… We can’t have you over-exerting yourself. You’re our best medic.” You scoffed at that, nodding. “No more patrols, alright? At least, not until we can do something about this.”

It’d been months of this now, and you still weren’t better. You had a feeling walking around was making it persist, but you couldn’t just stop working. You refused. Even if it was killing you to do so— figuratively, of course.

Because of how distracted you were by that, you hadn’t noticed Abby’s distancing. You would set out a pouch of anti-poisons and poultice ingredients for her each time she went on patrol, but you hadn’t noticed she wasn’t taking them until they began to pile up.

You sighed, putting them in a basket to take to her. You hadn’t realized how heavy these were, as you’d been loading them up just for her, but you went ahead and began walking toward her and Lev’s home.

You hadn’t realized how far it was, but by the time you got there, you were feeling sick.

You knocked weakly, Abby not even realizing someone was knocking until you did again. She came to the door, surprised to see you. She couldn’t help the small smile that came to her face. You smiled back, but it faltered almost immediately. “Come in.” Abby stepped aside. “Are you alright?”

You sat down on her couch, setting the basket on the coffee table as you exhaled and held your hip. “Fine,” you forced. “You haven’t been picking up your pouches, so I thought I’d drop them off.”

Abby shut the door, coming over to you and kneeling. “Let me see it.”

“It’s just a cramp—“

Abby pushed you to lie back on the cushions, moving your hands and frowning at the clammy feeling. “Do you have a fever?” She asked, making you put your forearm to your head. You shook your head, but she lifted her arm to your head anyway. “God,” she muttered, moving to lift your shirt. The bruising was still there, still red, purple, and unfading. “What happened?” Her hands went to the cramping muscles in your abdomen, massaging to help break up the bruising and making you cringe in pain. “I’m sorry. It’ll help.”

“I know,” you sighed. “It happened back in Washington; your leader questioned me with some… weapon,” you said vaguely. “It’s just muscle bruising.”

“This looks like internal bleeding.“

“It was.” You sighed. “But it’s been like this for months. I’d be dead if it were internal bleeding,” you laughed out, though Abby didn’t find it funny. “The bleeding stopped before we left Washington. That’s why we stayed a few days longer; when I saw Leah.” Abby nodded along, her hand now resting on your stomach in a comforting hold, thumb running slowly over your skin. “That feels nice,” you mumbled, making her look down at her hand.

“Does it?” She was holding where the deepest part of the bruising was, right above your hip, your sentiment concerning her more than it should. “Did you hurt your hip?”

“Maybe on the trip back. Overexursion.” You nodded. “Sprain, or something.”

She frowned. “You should’ve just come back. Mel would’ve treated you.”

“They wouldn’t have waited for me.” You shook your head. “I didn’t want to have to go back alone— and don’t say I could’ve stayed. Not there.”

“I could’ve gone back with you.”

You didn’t realize that was something she might’ve wanted, making you pause and look down at her. “Would you have?”

“We all would’ve.” She pulled down your shirt, standing and getting you a bag of ice. “And even if they didn’t… I would’ve. If you asked, I’d go.”

“No you wouldn’t,” you huffed, laughing slightly. She sat next to you, holding the ice against your hip and pressing down to aid in compressing. She scoffed at you, shaking her head. “What? You would’ve just left?”

“For you? Of course.”

You grimaced, swallowing harshly. “Don’t say that.”

“What?”

You shook your head. “You have no idea what kind of guilt would burden you after doing something like that.”

There was a beat of silence. “I know how you felt,” she started, letting you hold the ice now that you were in less pain and seemed to be able to move. “Or feel. Even if you won’t tell me, I heard you say it… And I’ll be honest, I was angry that you left; that you were alive. We all were. But not at you. Never at you.” She kept her eyes away from yours, staring into the dead fireplace across from the two of you. “Just that… you couldn’t speak to us— And after what we did—“

“What you did?” You frowned over at her, shaking your head and objecting before she could continue. “I left—“

“The things we said—“

“No, Abby,” your voice was firm, wavering, but firm. “I left. That was my choice. When my friends needed me— when my family needed me, I wasn’t there because I left you. What I did,” you enforced with a tone she’d never heard directed at her from you before. “That is why I couldn’t speak to you.”

There was a long silence, Abby’s breath shaky as you sat back with a wince. She knew you shouldn’t be having this conversation right now, but it seemed like this was the only conversation the two of you could have.

And she just wanted to speak to you.

“I still would’ve left,” she concluded; a complete dismissal that made you scoff out a dry laugh. “I don’t care what you say; what stories you come up with to blame yourself.” You shook your head at her stubborn attitude. “I still would’ve left for you… And the only thing I’d feel guilty for, is caring about you more than I ever cared about anyone else.” You stayed quiet, letting her know she’d gotten your attention. “And I’m not asking you to feel the same—“

“Don’t do that—“

“—Or to change how you feel…” She spoke over you like you hadn’t even opened your mouth. “But I am asking you to understand me.” You knew she was choosing a time when you were vulnerable to come clean on purpose, making you grimace as you reluctantly listened to her try to get you to do the same. “Because you do know me, and you know that I would leave for you, even if you wouldn’t do the same for me.”

“Fuck you, Abby.” At your quiet voice, she knew she’d gotten through to you. Past your false passiveness and down to what you tried to hide from everyone. But you couldn’t hide from her. “I left for you.”

And she couldn’t from you.

“Don’t go there.”

“No, really.” You forced yourself to sit up and face her. “If this is what you want to talk about, then fine. We need to, anyway. No placating, no pacifying, nothing. Let’s talk.”

She took in a deep breath, turning to face you as she pushed herself to the other end of the couch. “Well?” Was all she said.

“Tell me the truth.” She immediately rolled her eyes; immediately got defensive. “That night, you wanted me to leave. Didn’t you?” You spoke slowly, meeting her eyes. “That’s why you feel so guilty; why you won’t let me. Because you wanted me to leave, and I knew that, and actually left.”

She was quiet, staring you down. “I thought you were going to leave.”

“Abby—“

“How many times do I have to say it—?”

“I know you. That’s what you just said.” Your tone became hostile quicker than she could process, making her look away. You knew she wasn’t telling the whole truth. “So I know you wanted me to leave. I shouldn’t have, but that’s why I left, and you know that, and you regret it…” You spoke firmly, words clear and cutting into her with every pause you took to emphasize them. “So just tell me the truth. Please.”

She was quiet for a moment, chest tightening as she grimaced. “If you were going to leave, I wanted to be the one to decide that we wouldn’t see each other. I already told you that.” She tip-toed around the question, earning nothing from you and making her more on edge. “So, yes, I wanted you to leave. I wanted you gone for suggesting you go.” When you let out a breath of satisfaction, she continued over you. “But then tell me the truth. You weren’t planning on us going with you. Were you? You were suggesting to go alone.”

“You know me so well,” your tone was dry, mocking and almost demeaning. It was a blow to the chest, making her bite her tongue. “There was no point in suggesting you go, but I was. Even though I knew you wouldn't have gone. All you wanted to do was find him—“

“I would’ve gone in the middle of the fucking night and left eveyone else if you asked.” Clearly, the demeaning tone of your voice was too much for her, her tone biting without a second thought as you continued to push her to get the full truth before you opened up, too; why she wouldn’t just let you take the blame for something that was so clearly your fault.

“No you wouldn’t.” You were pushing for an argument now, tone lazed and grating on her nerves.

She always let things slip when she was irritated.

“You didn’t fucking ask. How would you know?” She was quick to say, feeding off your dismissive tone.

“You would’ve left Owen. Really?”

“For you?” She laughed at your naivety. “I’d do fucking anything.” She shook her head. “But you wouldn’t ask me to—”

“And Joel?” She shook her head, shrugging. You did the same, shaking your head at her. “You wouldn’t have left them— him? No fucking way.“

“That’s where you’re wrong.” You scoffed. “I would’ve left as soon as you brought it up, and I would’ve made everyone go with us, if that meant you wouldn’t fucking leave—”

“Oh, and you’re not angry at me—?”

“Fuck you.”

You laughed in response, shrugging. “You’re the one that wanted me gone—”

“And everyone blamed me for it!” You shut your mouth at her exasperated response, looking over her flushed face and glossed eyes. “They all knew if I didn’t say anything, you wouldn’t have left… And they all knew you wanted to leave, so they blamed me for letting you.” She paused, a thick swallow bobbing in her throat. Now, you were getting somewhere. “That night; when you looked at me… I just wanted to give you the choice.” She blinked rapidly, but couldn’t control the way her voice broke, “I wasn’t telling you to go.” She spoke over you when you went to comfort her, “I would’ve told you to stay if I knew you’d already decided,” she got out quickly, shaking her head at herself when she felt her eyes burn.

Somehow, you always got her this way. Even if she thought the conversation could go her way, you always found a way to get to her.

“If you hadn’t fucking said anything—!” Jordan pointed an accusatory finger at Abby.

Just as they’d flipped on you, they were doing the same to her. They’d all been on her side last night, but suddenly she was at fault.

“Fuck off, Jordan,” Owen huffed out. “You were being an asshole.”

“And you weren’t?”

“Why don’t we just stop arguing and go find her?” Abby suggested, exasperated.

“Like she’d come back,” Leah scoffed. “Just let her go.” She was flippant, shocking everyone. “What if we find a body? What are we going to do then?”

“What the fuck, Leah?” Nora scoffed at her.

“I’m not the one that said anything to make her leave in the first place,” she bit back, though she wasn’t immediately blaming Abby and instead looked between Nora and Mel. “And now you wanna go find her?” She then looked at Abby, scoffing at her avoiding her gaze. “Go fuck yourselves.”

“You’re not any better,” Mel said. “You didn’t say anything.”

“Yeah? And what did you say, huh? Just go if you want to? What the fuck did you think—?”

“That’s enough, guys,” Owen spoke up, stopping them before they said anything else they’d regret. “She wanted to leave, so she left. It’s not anyone’s fault. It was a choice. Clearly, she decided to leave before she even brought it up.” Leah rolled her eyes. “I say we just go. We don’t know where she went, and we can’t track her.”

Abby could understand why Leah was the one you could speak to. How you could open up to her, and admit to her what you wouldn’t to the rest of them. She understood, but she still wished it was her.

She wished she could get to the gentle, comfortable part of the conversation without arguing first.

But that would never happen until you were honest with each other.

And that always took a fight.

The conversation had taken up so much emotional energy that you were in physical pain by the end of it; it continued on past Abby’s admission until she heard you tell her exactly how you felt. Just admitting it to her got you choked up, and seeing you that way did the same, but now you were holding the ice pack to your stomach as you curled up on her couch.

“Fuck, let me help.” Abby quickly got up and blinked away the feelings you’d just brought up, reaching out as she sat next to you and pulling you into her. There was really nothing she could do to help, but she told herself she was warming you up by holding you— helping tense muscles relax. “Try to relax.” She took the ice from you, setting it aside and pulling you closer.

You tried to even your breathing as she rubbed your back, but it only made you more upset. “I shouldn’t have started an argument. I’m sorry,” you muttered.

“I think this one was necessary,” she laughed, soothing you as you pressed your ear to her chest. “Even if you hate arguing, you were right. We needed to talk about it, and we never would’ve gotten here peacefully.” You laughed at that, wincing as you did. “But that doesn’t matter… What can I do?”

“Just…” You sighed, rolling your eyes at yourself. “Lie with me? You’re warm, so it… helps the muscle relax.” It was true enough, but Abby knew better. She knew you got scared when you were injured, and she knew being held helped.

Despite how you mocked her for one wrong judgment, she did know you. Even now. Still.

What she didn’t realize was how her embrace felt as comforting as it did when you were younger, not like the first time you hugged her— when you hardly recognized her touch. Even if you recognized her then, you recognized her touch even more now. The work she’d done to regain her strength brought feeling back to it. A lively, gentle feeling.

“You think you can walk to my room?” She asked tentatively, grabbing the ice pack as she stood and helped you up. You nodded, and despite her not believing you, she kept her arm around your waist and walked with you.

You looked down the hallway, huffing at the impossible length of it and forcing yourself to keep going until you faltered. Abby caught you quickly, scooping under your legs despite your protesting of “I’m fine” and carrying you the rest of the way.

She lied you down on her bed, making you lie flat to help the muscle stretch before lying with you and opening her arm for you as she set the ice aside.

“Now that you’re being all nice to me,” you said after a moment, earning an eye roll.

“I wasn’t being mean,” she countered.

“Why would you leave for me?” You asked as if she hadn't spoken. “Help me understand that.”

“I wanted to be with you. I told you that—“

“But why?”

She didn’t respond for some time, staring up at the ceiling. “You know why.”

“Abby,” you sighed, defeated. “Just tell me.”

She looked down at you with a frown. “Why do you need me to tell you?”

“Because, it doesn’t make any sense?” You scoffed at her, moving to sit up, but she held you down before you could cause yourself anymore pain. “I know how you felt about Owen, and I know how you feel about me. It’s not the same.”

“So you understand why he broke up with me then.” She laughed at that, as if it was the funniest thing she’d heard all day. You frowned. She hadn’t even told you that yet. “In the end, after seeing you that day, he wanted to come to Santa Barbara and find you too, but I guess he couldn’t understand why I held on all those years.”

“What do you mean?”

She pursed her lips, pushing herself up and going to her closet. She supposed it was her turn to show you all her keepsakes now, as she’d finally gotten them all back from the boat.

She emptied her backpack onto the bed, Leah’s polaroids and her old photos falling out. Books and folded up maps, too. Even an old journal.

You grabbed Leah’s pictures first, a smile coming to your face when you saw the one you took together.

“I know it’s a weird question, but can we take one together?” She’d asked after giving you pictures of your friends, to which you gladly agreed to before she had to leave.

You flipped it over, seeing the note she wrote and swallowing hard.

Finally back home

Again, I wish you’d stay, but I know why you can’t.

I don’t want to either. I don’t want to keep fighting.

I’m afraid that I’ll be gone before I get to see you again, but I’m glad we got this. Whatever it was.

Who would’ve thought that a few hours makes up for a few years apart?

You set it aside, lips pursed as you looked through the rest of them, all with notes just as feeling as that, some even sounding angry at the rest of your friends.

You looked to the maps, unfolding one and finding a small picture of you and Abby taped to it. Dots littered the paper, connected in a pattern that led to a circle around the picture, taped over central California. The next map was the same, towns being written out with information beneath them. The handwriting changed with each of the maps, getting clearer and clearer as Abby got older.

The last one was empty, only a picture taped to it.

The books had passages underlined, some annotated to show to you, or that you’d like them.

The last was her journal, binding cracked and worn but not because it was old. Because she’d written in it so much that the pages were worn, even teared with how hard she pressed into them, emotion sinking into the ink and through the pages.

You opened it to the middle, another photo falling out; one Abby had taken with Leah’s camera. Just of you.

There were entries upon entries, letters upon letters, and this one was the one you just had to open to.

It spanned for pages; pages, and pages of just one letter to you. One letter, pouring her heart out to someone who couldn’t— no, wouldn’t even reciprocate.

Your conversation, the one you turned into an argument for no reason other than to prove yourself right, replayed in your mind.

“I would’ve left.” For you.

“I’d do anything.” For you.

“If you’d ask me.”

“You wouldn’t ask me to.”

“If you asked, I’d go.”

You stared down at the book, her words repeating and repeating and making your vision blur as you finally took them in. “I’m not asking you to change how you feel.” That brought you closer to understanding, brows knitting together.

Even if you’d mocked her for it, she knew you well.

She knew you well enough to know you were finally letting yourself understand. She took the book from you, replacing it with her hands so she could pull you close, holding you to her chest just as her words sunk into your heart.

A blow to the chest.

I’m not asking you to feel the same.

#abby anderson x reader #abby anderson #abby x reader #abby tlou #abby anderson x fem reader #abby anderson fluff #abby and lev #abby anderson angst #abby anderson ff #abby anderson fic #abby anderson the last of us 2 #abby anderson x you #abby x fem!reader #abby x you #tlou abby #ellie tlou #dina tlou #tlou x reader

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ottoslab · 1 year

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(Shakes you) otto you've GOTTA tell me more about the freelance mystery solvers I GOTTA KNOW ABOUT EM WHAT ARE THEY DOIN !!! I love your designs sm btw your SO REAL FOR THIS AHH

HEEHEE ohhh ok cracks my knuckles. Im gonna be writing this right before passing Out for the night so apologies in advance if this isn’t very comprehensible but i will GLADLY explain the funny freelance mystery solvers o7

EDIT HI This got so long im putting it under a readmore KGJFNGKJSGK.

Also! I didn’t draw anything to go with this ask because i told myself id give my hand a break, but I do actually have some recent doodles of Vern and Kitty i was doing in between the lineup so I’ll put them here for a little display ^_^ theyre not in context of anything im about to mention, just some dynamic exploration stuff that are their own whole other rambles

Ok! Readmore time! Paragraphs of nonsense! For your viewing pleasure!

So!! Vernon and Kitty are both employed by True Psychic Tales independently of each other when theyre older. Vernon is an illustrator/interviewer for the graphic novel division and Kitty works in special effects makeup for the more-recent live action film division! They don’t end up crossing paths for a while until being assigned to work together to research stuff for an up-and-coming TPT film project or smth. They become work buddies after reconnecting (though they choose to mostly ignore the fact that they knew each other as kids due to How They Were back then. They’re both very embarrassed about it for numerous reasons)

It becomes commonplace for them to help each other out with projects, and eventually through their research (fact-checking and digging through old psychonauts mission archives) they start to come across old psychonauts files of unfinished or ‘suspicious’ looking missions, ones that normally didnt get the green light to be told in graphic novel form due to the fact that they were inconclusive and, as a result, don’t make for good stories.

Kitty and Vernon end up sort of… picking up on these old missions in their spare time. It’s not psychonauts work but its also not not psychonauts work, you know? They team up to try and work out what lead to dead ends in missions and cross-referencing possibly related stories with other stories, and go out into the field to try and get answers. I picture it a lot in my brain as an episodic mystery series vis a vis scooby doo. They pick their archived mission log of the week to check out, go out, get some answers, and get a conclusion to bring back to TPT and a new graphic novel is made of the story they were able to uncover! With some more overarching plots where they get a little in over their heads here and there.

Franke’s got a bit less of a fleshed out role in all of this atm, mostly because i havent thought of him as much as the other two? My current vague-idea i have is that she and kitty had a falling out during their teen years, and Franke calls Kitty and Vernon falsely claiming to have a lead on a mystery theyve been working on, in order to try and reconnect with Kitty after she stopped talking to him. He has to come clean when whatever she leads them to actually ends up being a real psychic issue, and she has to explain that she doesn’t know what’s going on because she hadn’t actually called in about anything legit.

Franke does end up being a good help despite technically being the reason they got into deep shit in the first place, and Vernon’s probably the one who asks her to stick around (Kitty isn’t against it, but definitely isn’t really all too welcoming about it either.) They definitely have a whole thing where they all get closer and Kitty and Franke get to mend fences (a character arc along the lines of franke realizing he was kind of a hardass who wanted to make up without actually accepting any faults, and some other super impressive character arcs along the way im sure.) And all three of them continue to go on mystery deep-dives and uncover unfinished psychonauts missions!! Wahoo yahoo!!

Mystery incorporated asses! They’re fun, i enjoy them a lot! Hopefully this is some good tidbits of detail for u thank u for asking about them :]

#psychonauts #agent aquato and co au #art :0]#asks :0]

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renjihoe · 10 months

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My Thoughts on Juvia and Gray’s Relationship.

May contain spoilers for the anime & 100yq manga but I’ll be as vanilla about it as possible. This is a long one so get comfy.

A few years ago, I used to be upset at the fact that Gruvia took so long to happen. But now that I’m older and I’ve hyper fixated on the couple long enough, I’ve learned to appreciate their relationship for what it is now and for what it was in the beginning. From the start I’ve always shipped Gruvia but I never expected them to be together in the first place, PLUS I only shipped them because I honestly just liked the idea of them being together. Liking the idea of a couple and the couple actually being good together is two different things and I knew that. My initial thought was “how funny would it be if they actually got together”. Kinda like a gag if you will. But overtime I started to REALLY appreciate their build up. There are plenty of couples out there in popular anime who’s relationships parallel to Gruvia, (the girl or guy is deeply in love and the other party pays them no mind). But what I really hate about relationships like that is when they get slapped together at the end just to please an audience. If Mashima did the same thing, I could honestly say I probably wouldn’t be shipping Juvia and Gray to this day, but luckily for me and other Gruvia fans he did not go that route. People say that fans forced Gruvia to be canon which is just not true since FROM THE BEGINNING of the series, Gray was told by the fortune teller that he would be tangled up with a water woman in the near future. Plus the simple fact that their characters were designed to match each others (water and ice), Juvia is also a semi-yandere (I only say semi because Juvia won’t actually do anything to hurt Gray or the others she cares about) and Gray is a Tsundere. In the beginning Gray was honestly just a dick to Juvia, but that was more for comedic effect which me being a hard core Gruvia fan at the time, sometimes I didn’t appreciate. But now a days I really do appreciate the comedy between the two characters because I’ve realized there is a good balance between their comedy and the seriousness of how they actually feel about each other. You could even call Gruvia a slow burn but in my eyes the pacing is perfect and very realistic.

Here are my thoughts on Gruvia from Gray’s perspective. Gray was pretty compassionate towards Juvia when they first met, even though they were enemies, Juvia of course gets love at first sight. As they get to know each other, Juvia’s love grows more and more intense and in Gray’s eyes it comes across as pushy. Though I personally saw her love for him being a “I see you need love, let me love you” type thing. He slowly (very slowly lmao) warms up to Juvia and they start going on jobs together and forming a close friendship, to the point where they would rather go on jobs together instead of with the rest of the team.

And then the plot starts to get a bit heavier and so does their relationship. Juvia and Gray have multiple occasions where they make protecting each other their main mission. But two particular scenes stood out to me in the last two anime arcs. Juvia sacrifices her relationship with Gray to do what was best for him, we all know the scene so I won’t go into details for the sake of time and spoilers. But in that moment that’s when I decided I didn’t ship them just because the idea was cute, I shipped them because they NEEDED each other. Juvia finally understood Gray and his history, while Gray not only understood his festering feelings for her BUT he got the closure he deserved of his family, all thanks to Juvia. Although there were subtle hints that Gray started to develop feelings way earlier on than this scene, THIS is when he knew for sure how he felt.

The last and finally scene that pretty much sealed the deal for them being my otp was when they both sacrifice themselves to save each other. **cries 😭** We got a full length scene of them damn near confessing how much they meant to each other. We all know what happens at the end of that scene, then Gray makes a promise to Juvia and that was to take her feelings more seriously. The thought of him loosing someone else he loved definitely shocked him into reality and broke that Tsundere spell that was casted on to him by the creators…well kinda. In the anime Gray eventually confesses his feelings in a round about way and I HATED IT! I just wanted him to lay it all out there on the table. But maturing is realizing that, that actually wasn’t the confession and that’s apparent in 100yq.

Although I would love for them to just be together already, I appreciate Mashima and Ueda taking their time with this couple and really putting emphasis on their shared character/relationship development. I also appreciate that we get this development through Gray’s perspective, it adds a bit more to them as a couple. In conclusion, I’m lonely and I want what they have. No but seriously I’m soaking up every bit we get from Gruvia! Since Gruvia days is coming up, I had planned on doing a relationship/couple analysis from Gray’s perspective but this honestly sums it up lol!

#fairy tail #fairy tail manga #fairy tail anime #gray fullbuster #juvia lockser #gruvia #gray x juvia #fairy tail ships #fairy tail couples #fairy tail 100 years quest #ft #ft 100yq #anime #manga #character analysis #couple analysis #anime couple #i hate how much i love them

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ego-osbourne · 5 months

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2023 Art Roundup

JAN - FEB - MAR - APR - MAY - JUN - JUL - AUG - SEP - OCT - NOV - DEC

(These aren’t entirely indicative of when I posted them, but when I actually finished them.)

These are some of my biggest/favorite projects through each month!

Piece details + Mod-posting below!

JAN - Asteía ; This was one of my first projects of the year that dealt with lighting, and additionally light from multiple sources! I also remember experimenting with backgrounds and how to make a character pop against a semi-detailed background without making them get lost in the piece.

FEB - Mora and Ego ; This was a good project on figuring out how to fill empty space while still keeping the atmosphere of a piece. It was also good perspective practice!

MAR - Sanguine and Ego ; Though I’m no longer too happy with the proportions or lighting of this piece, I still remember having a blast with it. Hearing feedback about them holding hands and Sanguine’s ear getting squished are very fun memories for me.

APR - Miraak and Ego ; This might be my favorite project of the whole year! Though I know I can do backgrounds better now, I remember being pretty confident and happy during the whole process! I think the motion/lighting/effects all came out very well :] ALSO it was the first piece I did with expressive masks for Miraak and Ego! Wahoo!

MAY - Mora and Ego (again) ; Though the last one was my personal favorite, I heard from a couple of friends that THIS was their favorite. Though a pain in the ASS to do, I’m especially happy with all the texture effects. This was also me experimenting with Mora’s design!

JUN - Erandur ; Not a particularly complicated/difficult piece, but one that was simply pure fun. Had a blast with lighting effects and atmosphere. It was also a good break from the family trip I was taking at the same time ,:]

JUL - Dagon ; Specifically his revamp! This was my first successful attempt at a (very) muscular body type that I liked! In fact, over the course of the year I’ve been pretty proud of my progress of expanding on body types. This one especially, though, was just very fun!

AUG - Iren and Rakell ; My first dive into a colored + shaded animatic (animation? It’s awful choppy lol)! FAR from perfect, but I was (and still am) so happy with the outcome. I particularly remember enjoying figuring out lines of movement and sound effects for the video.

SEP - Sanguine ; My first (and still only, though hopefully not for long) attempt at making Sanguine intimidating. I think this one is going in the right direction! As far as effects go, I actually had a very tough time with things because of a few layer-merging mishaps, but the final product was well-received!

OCT - The Warden ; After many-a night on Minecraft with friends, I realized just how much I loved the warden, and HAD to draw them. Redesigning characters is one of my absolute favorite things to do, especially when taking minimal details and expanding on them! They were super fun all around.

NOV - Miraak, Serana, Ego, and Ancano ; I’d been meaning to draw the siblings being siblings for a while now, but putting them all on one canvas was more than a little intimidating. I was so happy to have it done, though, and I kinda love seeing their colors clash together.

DEC - Sanguine (again) ; After not drawing him for so long, it was a blast doing so. The moment I was back home for winter break, I was ECSTATIC to get to work on this piece. #1 blorbo

This year has been an absolute ride.

I became a mod and then co-owner of the TES server that got me into making TDI and have made some really tight friendships over there (genuinely, anyone reading this who is/was in the cult server, I’m so damn happy to know you).

I’ve done some intense progress on TDI, and even though I didn’t QUITE accomplish my New Years Resolution of posting Ch. 1 this year, hopefully you can understand the drawbacks considering I am… //checks notes/// 70+ chapters in and still going.

I’m in college! Have been for a hot second now, but I’ve been working towards a ministry degree, and have future plans of getting a PhD after my bachelor’s so I can teach at a college level! I don’t think I talk a lot about my irl happenings, but hopefully that gives you an idea of why I might be a liiittle busy when it comes to writing. Ministry is an unforgiving degree when it comes to papers and meetings.

As earlier mentioned, I’ve learned how to do different body types, and am trying to find a good balance between shape language and inclusivity when it comes to bodies! I am… still struggling with feminine anatomy! Admittedly! But I’m willing to keep trying ,:]

And, overall, I (certainly hope I have) improved on my art. I have a much better sense of face shapes, line weights, and consistent details than I did at the beginning of the year. Always learning, but always improving, too!

I hope your year has gone well! Thank you so very much for checking out my blog. Tumblr has been a wonderful thing to get into and has led me to a lot of wonderful people. See you in the new year!

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quibbs126 · 8 months

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All right, so as said last post, this was a request from @a-weird-bean-bag, and this is Chowder Cookie

For those who don’t recognize the bottom character, this is @a-weird-bean-bag’s character Goat Milk Cookie

You know fun fact, this is the 2nd OC x Canon I got, and the first was I think either the day before or earlier the same day. Haven’t finished that one though

So I think the process for this name was that I saw the two of these characters and was like “oh hey isn’t there some recipe in Breath of the Wild that uses seafood and milk?” and so I went looking on a website I knew for the name of it. Note that I know nothing about seafood, my family doesn’t eat it and we just generally stay away from it. Anyways, so the thing I was thinking of was trout soup, which I’m now realizing is from Stardew, not Breath of the Wild. Okay so it went Trout Soup from Stardew, which didn’t really work, so I went looking for anything that mixed seafood and milk, but couldn’t find anything. Then I thought about that BOTW recipe and looked it up and it was Clam Chowder. So I looked up chowder and it turns out it doesn’t necessarily have to clams, so I just went with Chowder Cookie

As stated above, it’s because it mixes seafood and milk. So, simple enough

Chowder:

Okay, looking at it now, maybe I made her skin too dark, but ah well, it’s probably fine. Anyways moving on to her hair

So I know Caviar and Goat Milk only have partially curly hair instead of Chowder’s entirely curly, and she probably looks closer to Cauliflower, but that’s just what I went with, and I liked it. I made her hair lighter than either of the two since it was supposed to be the soup, and I didn’t think Goat Milk’s hair color necessarily cut it as light enough

Also the pink and green bits are supposed to be like, things in the soup, since chowder doesn’t just seem to be a base soup, it has other ingredients in it. My idea is that she had more in her hair when she was younger, but maybe she picked them out to seem more professional or something. I also tried to make it seem somewhat liquid-y, but I don’t know how successful that was

I had a lot to say about her hair, but not much on the outfit front. I kind of just tried to come up with something based on Creme Republic characters, specifically the Lower City designs. She’s supposed to be a trader, so I wanted to make her look somewhat professional, but also she’s not into wearing particularly fancy clothes, so I just kind of went with this (though she probably also has more formal clothes, this is just day to day). I suppose it’s fine

Also you may notice the tiny horns. They were honestly a pretty last minute inclusion, hence why they look like they were kind of tacked on. But also I’m kind of fine with them the way they are

I was also thinking of giving her freckles like Goat Milk’s old design, but they didn’t pan out

But yeah, overall I like the design well enough. Maybe not one of my best but still good. Maybe doesn’t look enough like Caviar though

Anyways, so let’s move on to her character

So as I’ve stated before, she’s in the maritime trading business. I think I got this idea because Caviar’s captain of a ship (and I think their navy), and my brain was like “boats also = trading”, which may have been spurred by my recent history lectures which have been discussing the road to the American Revolution, and we got to the shutdown of Boston Harbor which affected merchants. But also I looked back at Goat Milk’s info and saw he’s a trader too, so it all works out

Generally she’s a very business oriented person, with a drive to get things done as quickly and effectively as possible. As such she can be a bit stern and not the most pleasant to be around if you work with her. She’s nicer if you meet her outside of work, she’s just trying to get things done

She also can have a bit of a short temper and doesn’t really take setbacks or mishaps well. I mean, she’ll find ways to work around them, but when she gets bad news she doesn’t react the best in the moment. Likely it will involve her swearing. Sometimes excessively

Also she likes chowder, as shown in the left sketch. I had something else there, but I thought I should show her being chill so she doesn’t seem like a completely angry person. She isn’t, it’s just that she gets pissed off a bit easily

Anyways I think that’s about it. I feel like I’m forgetting something but I don’t know what. Ah well, I can edit it in later if I remember. But yeah, I hope you enjoy her!

Oh and also, I didn’t know where to put this, but what actually got me to get around to drawing her was making this rough sketch. I actually did a few of these, and maybe it’ll help me actually get around to drawing them more, since it was pretty fun and I feel like drawing the other two I did sometime

Here was the initial sketch. It’s small so I just put it with the rest of the drawing so you’re not looking at a largely blank canvas

#cookie run #cookie run kingdom #captain caviar cookie #goat milk cookie #I forgot to look up the ship name #sorry #cookie run oc #chowder cookie #my art #my ocs #requests #I feel like I should have more to tag #oc x canon #not my oc #I’m referring to Goat Milk here #but biscy you’re free to use Chowder if you want to

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caffernnn · 11 months

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Free! Anniversary Fic Recs 🦋🐋🐬🦈🐧 Can you share your fav fics from each year (2013-2023) Free! has been around?

This is a very fun ask!! Lemme root through my bookmarks and see what I can find 😅

2013 - A lot of the stories I have saved from this time are shorter lil one-shots like “Never Leave” by Shimegami (classic mh hug-it-out interlude fic) and “The Sound of Settling” by teke (feelings realization stuff), but one other one I liked was “The Ocean You Gave My Heart” by miaoujones. Smut warning for that one (if that’s not your thing), but something about desert-bound Makoto learning to swim and indulge in water with Haru, thinking upon meeting him that he’s a wonder whether he’s really a mermaid or not, that’s neat!!

2014 - starting to realize the ones I kept any note of from the early years are some of the popular mh fics probably already recommended 10 times over, but there’s a reason why people sing their praises. If you haven’t checked out fics from tide tothemoon like 2/13189000 (mhtokyo my beloved), their writing is *chef’s kiss* delightful. Another AU I haven’t been able to bring myself to revisit was orihime’s reincarnation stories from “I cannot be without you, matter of fact.” There are two different stories, one where Makoto remembers their past lives and a follow up where Haru remembers, and oh that made me ache dude.

2015 - Speaking of suffering, have y’all checked out Heart’s Departure yet? I think we’ve referenced and talked about that story enough for it to speak for itself 🥴 heartbreaking circumstances but still cosmic and so so beautiful. Then, once you’re done crying about that story, hop over to “Shake the Heavens” by Ad_Astra to break down over (what I described in my ao3 bookmark) Makoto and Haru’s “inherently cataclysmic devotion.” I guess 2015 was the year of shoving the boys into tragic AUs and seeing how much they were willing to give up to get back to each other. A whole vibe

2016 - let’s goooo gamers, more AUs!! “I’d Create Oceans For You” by trashness is a fun fantasy adventure that has both tender moments and interesting action (and some banger art from donguris omggg). If you want something more future-fish-flavored that shows that happily-ever-after doesn’t save you from your grief, “Sublimation” by RedScribbler was great. You can find more of my thoughts on that one if you scroll back a bit in my “fic recs” tag — one of y’all sent it in and yeeees it was so up my alley!

2017 - Alright fellas, there are so many to choose from, because now we’re getting into the macbetha years! Who would I be if I didn’t mention “Eyes Wide Open All The Time” tbh?? It’s a long one with its own hard-hitting involved lore and world-building, but Beth builds this unique story in a way that pulls from the characters we know and love so effectively. I’ve sung the praises for this story multiple times (and could so do it again bro don’t tempt me) but I’ll end off with saying that if you’re fascinated in watching deeply-wounded people who’ve been put through hell learn how to make a life in the aftermath, there’s something special for you here. Aaaand, if you want something about 1/10 the length and not as heavy, “159 (Architect/Interior Designer AU)” by intoxicatedcinnamon has some fun moments 😌 that’s another one where you can find more of my thoughts somewhere in the fic recs tag (love when y’all send me stories 💚💙)

2018 - “Coral and Bone” by Macbetha my beloved!!!! Wanna play mermaids and fight the gods? Maybe try to find that summer magic that makes you want to keep going and accidentally fall in love on the way? I am puuushing you toward this story bestie. Everyone’s here and everyone’s having fun! OH ALSO I’m throwing in “Night Changes” by SEMellark because I love stories where Makoto and Haru actually figure out how to talk to each other. (Side note — a lot of these are probably gonna be things I’ve rec’d in the past, so feel free to scroll my tag for more details and consider this list an extra endorsement 😅)

2019 - (drops basket full of love for mutuals) OOPS OOPS OOPS!!! Don’t mind me, just popping in with some “Let’s Get Married” by sagesprouts and “Anthropocene” by testosterogna, nothing to see here but some classic natsunao shenanigans and one of the sickest elemental bender AUs out there 😌✨ I also have some fics from Svana saved from this year, but I’ll be mentioning her again later so hold on okay!!

2020 - alright, now the list is getting longer with everyone jumping back in during the early pandemic days 🏃🏻‍♀️SO FIRST OFF “green eyes, you’re the one I wanted to find” by infinite_always is an absolute FLUFF FEST of a soulmate AU! Unbearably tender moments but who doesn’t love that every so often? OH AND we have another one of my all-time ultimate fic recs here!! “Reaching” by CupNoodles55 has shaped and reshaped how I look back at Eternal Summer in the way I’d want any great canon-compliant fic to. Big love for interlude scenes and extra bits that help recontextualize or deepen what a moment could’ve meant in the show. Gonna end off 2020 with “The Sea Aflame” by Dizzydodo because even though this urban fantasy story is unfinished, I was super drawn in by the prospects of dragon!Makoto and whatever god stuff was going on with Sousuke. An interesting universe I love thinking about again from time to time.

2021 - Starting off strong with “love on the water, love underwater (and so on)” by rudimentaryflair because we love introspection here!!! Lovely writing style with lines that make me want to scale the walls. This take on Makoto is so so special. Also gonna rec “To Clear Away Today” by suhmayzooka (omg hiiii) if you want to be thrown into another hard-hitting intricate AU with loads of potential. Love exploring what we’ve got to see of the world so far 💞 and OOOH IT’S TIME!! “Extraordinary” by Svana_Vrika is basically canon to me at this point. Svana has a lot of sweet shorter stories with Makoto and Haru (look here, look here), but this one is everythinggg my guy. Similar appeal to “Reaching” mentioned earlier: a story of interludes that bring the story we already know to life in a delightful new way. Required reading for mhtokyo fans forreal. ONE LAST ONE OKAY!! “Teacher” by VeloxVoid is a great future fic with teacher!Makoto and artist!Haru (and I’m not biased just bc it was a gift exchange for me with details fit to my specific tastes wdym🧍🏻). Domestic blisssss

2022 - Ooh we’ve almost caught up y’all ☺️ gonna start with “All This and Heaven Too” by SocksAreArgyle because sometimes the bestie crafts a smorgasbord of smut with a delicious throughline of character/relationship development baked in. If you want your choice of spicy makoharus or some character exploration, you’re SET with this one. Next is “I Let My Heart Go” by martincrieff because sometimes the bestie looks at poor pining Makoto and goes “you know what would be messed up?” AND I JUST !!! So full of love and now full of flower petals. Hanahaki!Makoto my dearest boy!! Aaaand ending off the year with some tender mh (to Ikuya’s detriment) in “The Night Train” by Lizzyboo. They’re so softtt with each other and UGH this story is so nice. Love watching people take the crumbs from FS/FS2 and make a meal 💜

2023 - The year is young! And old! So here’s some more, with who knows how many bangers yet to come 🎉 First going to throw in the Makoharu Week 2023 collection for your perusal because I saw some fantastic stories emerge from that event. If you have twitter, I’d recommend also seeing some of the threadfics posted over there from the event as well 💚💙 and I thiiink I’m gonna close off for now with “just like it was always meant to be” by tonfea because they’ve been putting out banger stories that deserve all the love. Haru introspection is one of those things that isn’t always done very well (which is especially hard to reckon with in older fics) but tonfea’s stories all have an intimate understanding about Haru’s mind and journey that just makes sense.

Alright hello we made it to the end!!! Might’ve thrown in more than expected but I hope makoharu enjoyers find something on this list that fits their fancy 🥲 (and if anyone wants to rec something or ramble about a story here that they loved I’m all ears)

#fic recs #makoharu #oops all makoharu #a wonderful stroll through the past decade #(also I didn’t tag people but quite a few of the people I mentioned are here so uhh hiiiiii)#thanks for sending <3 #anonymous

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bananathebookworm · 1 year

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TLOVM S2 Episodes 1-3 Ramblings

AHHH! So fucking stoked for this season!

EP. 1

- This is incredible. They’ve managed to translate the absolute terror of this moment so well.

- Uriel’s death... fucking gruesome..

- Interesting that the main focus is on Umbrasyl, with enough Raishan and Thordak sprinkled in to establish their status in the conclave.

- They managed to capture the “19 Misses!?” moment so beautifully. I love seeing how these game mechanics adapt from game to screen.

- Missed moment from the campaign: Vorugal collapsing the top of Allura’s tower. Vorugal doesn’t make a direct attack until VM is at their keep.

- The looting of the remains of Gilmore’s shop. Poor Scanlan being left with a broom. That can’t possible be useful for anything at all.

- The adventures of Grog and Kraven Edge begin... this will go well.

- The snowflakes as Vorugal approaches. Nice touch.

- Nothing but respect for Keyleth in this house.

- Green-eyed little girl... that’s not suspicious at all...

- And a moment of perspective for Vox Machina. Love seeing a team come together.

- Liam as Vorugal was a fantastic choice.

EP. 2

- I love the visualizations of their magic so much. Each character has their own colour scheme and style and I love it so much.

- Matt as the guard to Vasselheim.

- Bidet.

- Caduceus easter egg when Keyleth mentions the Wildmother. Which makes sense given that Caduceus is the only member of the Mighty Nein that would be an adult and not a small child at this time. Now I need a story about his adventures in Tal’Dorei.

- Raven Queen!

- Green-eyed individual pointing them to the Slayer’s Take...

- Forgot how much of an asshole Kash comes across as...

- The design of the Slayer’s Take is amazing.

- Love how long it took them to realize they lost their fucking Goliath...

- That combat wheelchair is fucking badass and I love it so much

- Grog and Earthbreaker Groon. One of my favourite moments of the campaign.

- “I just wanna put her in my pocket” I would also love a little pocket Pike giving me guidance and fucking up shitty people I deal with at work.

- “Where does your strength come from?” The ease with which Earthbreaker Groon can launch Grog across the room is amazing.

- Osysa the Sphinx... isolating them... reading their deepest fears and insecurities... fuck... Also the animation for her very clearly separating her as a being older than time.

- “No one cares about you. I’m no different.” Fucking. Brutal. And another wonderful foreshadow to Scanlan’s path later on.

- Pike my beloved.

- Interesting that they didn’t have Grog reach the answer to where he gets his strength in this encounter.

- This animation for the story of the vestiges is gorgeous.

- Viktor the Black Powder Salesman... I look forward to this recurring character. Also I’m really glad Matt is voicing him because I don’t think anyone else coudl capture that particular unhingedness...

EP. 3

- “A bird? How does that help!?” Well at least we’re still at the “thinking rationally about Wild Shape” point in time.

- I need Zahra to have a scene in every single episode.

- Canonical making fun of Purvan’s name. Love it.

- Grog’s Beard! I love the Travis squeal laugh.

- Zahra’s eye-twitch.

- “Do not go far from me.” Just stab me in the fucking heart why don’t you...

- Baby twins! Love these flashbacks we didn’t get to see in game.

- Fucking Syldor. Hate him so much. Feed him to Trinket.

- Separating the twins as well as Zahra and Kash, like the original Trial of the Take episodes.

- Grog going absolutely feral with Kraven Edge... I can’t fucking wait to see the culmination of this partnership.

- The Ladies of Critical Role continue to remind me of how gay I am...

- Pike’s concern over Grog’s change in behaviour in battle... this is going to hurt.

- Deathwalker’s Ward...

- They did change this ever so slightly. In campaign, Taliesin/Percy intentionally touched the armour without thinking about checking for traps. In the show, Percy accidentally touches it while distracted. Both resulting in the same devastating effect.

- Fuck that happened fast.

- The black feathers... the Matron of Ravens is coming...

- Liam... my heart can’t handle Vax’s sobbing...

---

What and amazing and brutal start to the second season of this show. I can only hope they continue to get picked up for the rest of Vox Machina’s story once the Conclave is done in season 3.

#critical role #cr spoilers #the legend of vox machina #the legend of vox machina spoilers #tlovm spoilers

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thelador-s-mclargehuge · 7 months

Text

EPISODE 2

youtube

This one is probably the episode I’m gonna have the least amount to say about. I still hadn't really solidified anything yet. It was still super off the cuff, and still uber amateur hour. But I think it’s a little bit better than the first one. I sorta lock down the flow a lot better in this one. The first bit in particular is really good. And it was a thing that I came up with in, like, the 11th hour that improved the whole thing. I remember needing to pad this bit out a little, I didn’t want to start with him meeting with Cornifer. I wanted him to establish himself a little first. And also it’s kinda funny when quite a bit of the video is me talking to two characters who I also play. Saine locked down the Cornifer voice in this episode. I think this is the first one I directed him in. He gives a real great performance here! Still real proud of the “Yeah money can’t buy happiness, but it can bribe off unhappiness so, yeah it’d help.” line. The dynamic zooms I did here are a little to tiny. This is something I still screw up from time to time. Gotta zoom in quite a bit if there’s only gonna be two cuts! But I always underestimate how much of something I need. Do that shit when I cook too. Just don’t add enough spices sometimes. But I started putting still images over the characters when they’re not talking! Me from two years ago is making little steps forward to give the series a visual style that works!

That’s the thing about these youtube videos that are nice. I can kinda just be really amatureish, screw up a ton, and have people come for the stuff I already know how to do, and just, figure it out as I go along! One of the things I started out thinking was “Is it gonna be a pain in the ass to manually apply a sound filter to every track every time I take damage on screen?” And nowadays that’s the *least* pain in the ass, manual thing I have to do! I can do that shit in less than a minute!

Also all the audio channel stuff whenever hornet shows up before the confrontation, is just me playing around with the sound design of the scene. I will just take any opertunity to do that. I did a deadcells video where I replaced every single sound, with a SSBM sound effect manually, for a joke that lasted 12 seconds. It took like 3-4 hours I just love making the noises go! It makes my brain go brrrr!

Grub Father was the first voice role I ever gave to Flashgen. An absolute shame I haven’t given him more. The dude will come up to be like “So I was thinking about what voice to give the character and I was thinking something like this? Is this good?” And it’ll be the perfect voice and exactly what I’m looking for. Dude never disappoints.

So Zote is very much a “So here’s the obvious bit, how do I make it a little better” kinda character. The obvious bit for zote is the one he is! He’s an obnoxious jackass who’se actually a poor lil meow meow that’s incapable of walking three steps without getting shit on. But will bullshit about being the best and better than you.” What if, instead of bring an asshole, he was passively condescending. What if he *acted* like he was hot shit. And what if he gave convincing performance? That’d almost make him more insufferable. And what if *even still* everyone could see right through him.

So the hornet fight was the first one of these I did. And it’s where I figured a looot of the groundwork for these. Basically I had to be way more dynamic with the camera, hide cuts so I could go forward and back in time, I muted the music and fought her without that, muted the voice sounds (This was a helova first fight because hornet sure does announce her attacks) and I needed to only go in and mute when she said something so you could still hear the attack noises. Then I realized I’d need to manually put in some of those sounds myself because it’s super noticeable when she does an attack and the SFX isn’t there. Whoo boy did this one teach me how to do a looooot of that stuff. And ultimately I’m surprised it came out as good as it did. Especially ‘cus I was on a time crunch with this one. Some of the cuts are a little awkward but still. Like, so much of the fundamentals I do when editing a fight scene I brute forced learning here I’m surprised it has the same flow as the rest of the fight scenes in these videos. Shocking to come back to this one and see how much *did* work.

So, first bit of lore building here. Hornet was a character I already had plans for. She was gonna be the star of the Silksong series. So I already had her pretty characterized as essentially a dumb nerd who didn’t have any friends, spent most of her time alone, talking to herself, and was hyperfocused on combat and combat history. And, thing is, I don’t know all that much about combat history, but I do know about film history! So I just kinda simplified it, replace some names with bug names and was like “Yeah that’s good.” And so that began. I’ve got a very Yes And theory about writing. I’ve always been hugely influenced by The Venture Brothers. The way a lot of that show goes is “Hey we invented this character as a funny joke background character in season two, now it’s season five and their tragic backstory is integral to the plot.” Retcons are boring. Take the thing that was true and make it true in whatever situation. There’s Do not change a character to suit the tone, leave them as they are and have the struggle with the tone. And for gods sake don’t flanderize them. A character grows every second their on screen, and sometimes they outgrow their joke. But it’s okay if they outgrow their joke, the new joke that they’ve grown into is *much funnier because it required that growth*!

And the fighting history stuff I’ll talk more about on episode three because that was then I actually solidified what the story was gonna be.

Also I might get into the dreamers a little bit more there too. But their characters stuck out there. The joke I set up about The Pale King being garbage at sex but that Herrah loved to brag about getting him in the sack is one I planned out *from* this episode. Finally got to see it pay off! Also speaking of Herrah, that was the first time I got Ponk in here! Always does a great job! Unfortunately, she used her Discord Mic here. This one wasn’t a situation where she didn’t have a good mic. She just forgot to use the good one and I completely forgot she is also really into audio stuff too and would jump at the chance to use her fancy stuff. She has been since!

And that’s episode 2!

#Hollow Knight #HKR-BTS #youtube #hornet #zote #content creation #behind the scenes #Youtube

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polysyndetonaddictsupportgroup · 5 months

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First off, the way you write Tsumiki is so beautiful and makes so much sense and I would die for her. Also, Tsumiki/Maki is fucking inspired. It fits so perfectly within the story and fleshes out both of their characters and I have so many feelings about it.

What you wrote about the cause of the no-contact fits so well with the Zenin how do you even come up with this!! And it also reframes so many scenes in sea glass gardens (specifically, I went to double check bc I just realized that Tsumiki still refers to Megumi’s dogs by their names and they still reapond to them. I am going to cry Megumi deserved so much better). Nanami is absolutely insane in the best way for demanding half custody like he seems like he’d be willing to throw hands over it regardless of the cost to himself and it’s so perfect with how much he (like Gojo) believes so much in protecting children. I have more words to say but not the brainspace to say them bc it is late at night for me. But! I would die for you and your writing thank you so much for getting into jjk

I’m soo glad that y’all liked Tsumiki/Maki too. The versions of them that live in my head just fit together like puzzle pieces. They were each other’s foil and they understood the other all the more for being what the other had chose not to be. Tsumiki had chosen her sibling and Maki had chosen herself, and both of them know what it means to have those be mutually exclusive.

Also the version of Tsumiki that lived in my head violently hates the Zenin and I could not imagine anything more attractive to Maki. Tsumiki would firebomb their compound without hesitation or regret. Maki wants to kiss her on the mouth.

Tsumiki very purposefully was designated as the character who would keep calling the dogs by their names, because she’s the one who most aggressively tries to insulate Megumi from the effects of the jujutsu world on him.

Tsumiki knew Kuro and Shiro longer than anyone. She remembers when Megumi first summoned his puppies. She knows exactly how much he loves them and she knows exactly how badly he must have been hurt to push him to never call them by their names again. Those dogs mean the world to him, and she knows it.

In her mind, what Megumi lost wasn’t his love for his dogs. If he lost that, she thinks he’d be more willing to call them by their names—names are just easy ways of distinguishing them, after all. They’re already named. He’s only inconveniencing himself by never saying their names aloud.

She thinks Megumi stopped calling them by name as a way of protecting them from the Zenin clan.

He never saw his family again, is the thing, but the Zenin have always existed on their periphery. They know that the Zenin haven’t lost interest in him. Gojo tries to shield them (but mostly Megumi) from as much of the Zenin as possible, but they know that the Zenin have been prodding them for more contact and information on Megumi ever since Gojo cut them off. And they know that the Zenin have a lot of contact with the jujutsu world. They both assumed that, over the years, plenty of people have reported back to the Zenin on Megumi.

They trust Gojo, Nanami, Shoko, and Ijichi to not leak information to the Zenin. No one else.

She’s always suspected that Megumi stopped calling his dogs by their names because he didn’t want it to get back to the Zenin that he loved them like pets still. They’d be safer if the Zenin didn’t realize how much he still loved them. Maybe if he hid it, they’d assume they scared him off, and they wouldn’t hire someone to kill a dog when he’s on a mission or something. And that’s what she’ll never forgive the Zenin for taking from him.

They took away Megumi’s safety in his love. It became something he didn’t feel comfortable showing, ever, because it was something he would be hurt over. They made him hide it. And it kills Tsumiki to see, because her brother loves more fiercely than anyone she’s ever met. He loves in a way that terrifies her, sometimes, because she thinks it will kill him one day, she really does.

He loved those dogs enough to be beat within an inch of his life to keep them safe. He wouldn’t just suddenly start treating them like they’re impersonal weapons. They’re still Kuro and Shiro to him, she knows it. They’re still his puppies. And she doesn’t want the Zenin to get to take that from him.

She doesn’t want Megumi to just… succumb to what the jujutsu world did to him. She doesn’t want him to just take the beating the way he took it for his dogs. And she doesn’t want him to just sacrifice himself for her and call it a day. She wants him to fight for himself and for his right to live on his own terms. And she’s not sure if he’ll do that.

So she’ll fill in the gaps where she can. His dogs’ names are Shiro and Kuro, and they’re her brother’s puppies. They’re her best boys and she’ll treat them like pets all day long if she pleases, because the Zenin had no fucking right to take that from her brother. She’ll spit in Zenin Naobito’s face if she ever gets half a chance.

#sea glass gardens #tsumiki throughout the fic is meant to be the one dragging Megumi to fight for himself #he has no problem fighting for other people in the fic #fuck his intro was fighting for tsumiki—his first action is to send shiro to attack maki #but megumi has to consistently be catalyzed into summoning the same effort for himself and tsumikis the only one who can get him to do it #that was the theme I tried to keep consistent throughout his scene with the car and treatment—tsumiki had to be the one to spur him to act #with her he wanted her safe but with himself he just wanted to be /done/#tsumiki is stubborn and angry and her brother is the one thing she can’t let go of. it’s the core of her character. she only has the energy #to have one nonnegotiable and it’s megumi. everything else can be sacrificed.#one other thing I like about tsumiki being the one to keep calling the dogs by their names is that it inadvertently had a domino effect #yuuta and the others (sans maki who only has a few concrete details and a lot of suspicions about what happened all those years ago) have no #idea about any of this. they were introduced to the dogs as shiro and Kuro because that’s what tsumiki called them. they don’t know any of #the drama. but megumi doesn’t speak of them by name. he just calls them the dogs. tsumiki is the one who kept their name alive #she is just constantly radiating ‘the Zenin can fuck themselves’ energy

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wibble-wobbegong · 2 years

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Mike Hostage Theory (Rewritten)

I went back recently and realized my original theory was very based on narrative evidence and concepts, so I wanted to make a refined post that included evidence from the show as well as more effectively explaining the narrative evidence I gave originally.

Normally I’d write a thesis highlighting my main talking points, but I’m just gonna write some bullet points because this post is gonna be really long

Show Evidence

Mike being watched by Henry

DND games

Set design

Narrative Evidence

Mike’s POV

Mike/Will role reversal

Henry’s advantage

Show Evidence

Mike Being Watched

So, for starters, I want to show the fact that Henry has been watching Mike specifically.

@strangersynth has some fantastic videos highlighting the cinematographic choices that show him being watched!

The thing that really hammers this idea home is the timing of the Chrissy’s death and Mike leaving for California. That was no coincidence. If we consider the fact that Mike has impeded every single attack that’s happened in the show, Henry has to be aware that Mike is an issue. Even if he wasn’t directly involved in the MF’s attacks, the memories of the MF would have been given to Henry just like they were given to Will because he’s a part of the hivemind.

Henry is well aware of the likely consequences that come with attacking while Mike is around. I talk about Mike’s impact on the supernatural storyline here, but Henry generally has a lot of motivation for waiting until Mike leaves to attack.

How does this play into Mike being held hostage? Well, since we know that Henry specifically doesn’t want Mike around to prevent his interference, we don’t have any reason to believe that has gone away. Mike managed to worm his way back into trying to stop Henry even though he was halfway across the country and spent most of the season in the back of a pizza van. Now that he’s in Hawkins and can be more directly involved, he will become a problem again. Henry can’t have that happen. He needs to be able to achieve his goals now that he’s finally made progress and opened the gates. He can’t afford the risk of having Mike around.

Given the fact that he’s watched Mike before, and that Mike is likely to isolate himself again as a result of Eddie’s death, he’ll probably be watching him again and waiting for another opportunity to get him out of the picture. All he needs to do is wait for Mike to be alone, which is a situation I’m betting will be occurring in S5.

Henry watching Mike, waiting for him to leave, is hinting towards Henry removing Mike from the situation again.

DND Games

Moving onto the DND games, I want to emphasize that they are our most reliable source of information in the show. DND consistently predicts future events without fault, so taking information from the games is vital in understanding potentials for S5. With that in mind, let’s talk about the Hellfire game.

In the game played at the end of 4x01, something I find to be a huge sign of Mike having a fake death is this moment:

Mike’s role leads to him supposedly dying, but the character Eddie knocks over instead is the wizard he’s facing.

That could be interpreted in many ways, but what kills him is his dice roll failing. We never actually see what number Mike rolls.

I wouldn’t question it as much if he didn’t use the red-on-black dice. The other Hellfire members roll with the black-on-red dice, except for Dustin and Erica. They also roll with the red-on-black dice, and that’s important because when their rolls get focused in on in the same way Mike’s is here, the numbers they land on are important; 11 and 20.

I’m sure you guys are familiar with it, but just for recaps sake, Dustin rolling an 11 is a prediction of El not being able to kill Henry. Erica’s roll suggests that Henry will be killed, but by something more than just El.

So, Mike’s roll not being shown is on purpose. Whatever he rolled was indicative of a future event. The number he rolled had to be hidden, which makes me think that the number would’ve been far too obvious and would reveal something the Duffers don’t want us to know yet. The number also had to be low enough to lead to Mike being killed by a lower-classes enemy. Combining all that, what number applies to each of those categories?

1. Mike rolled a 1, and it led to his “death.”

But, a fake death doesn’t guarantee that he’s being held hostage. That’s where I want to jump all the way back to the ending of S1 and reference the final game the Party plays.

At the end of the campaign, there are three flaws the boys point out; the weird flowers in the cave, the proud princess, and the lost knight.

There are small hints in S2 that suggest Mike being the knight and Max being the princess. For example, we get confirmation that Mike plays as a Paladin when he isn’t being the DM, and nobody else plays a knightly role. We also see Lucas and Dustin fight over Princess Daphne from the Dragon’s Lair, and Lucas says, “Princess Daphne is still mine,” which predicts Lucas winning Max’s heart.

I point this out to show that this line is applicable to these characters in ways we don’t have exclusive evidence of yet. I have some thoughts about what ‘proud’ means for Max, but I wanna talk about Mike being ‘lost’.

There are a lot of possibilities when it comes to having a fake death, but a majority of them don’t involve being lost. Except, we have seen one before. When Will went missing, it was suggested that he got lost in the woods when we learned later that he was being held in the UD.

For Mike to go through with both being the lost knight, being ‘killed’ by Henry (One), and having a fake death, I believe we’ll be getting a situation that heavily parallels the events of S1. The Duffers have also confirmed that we’ll be going back to some S1 dynamics, which further cements this possibility for me.

Set Design

I’m not very great at noticing set design tidbits, but @causeineedu made notice of this set choice back in S2.

Yes, El is being referenced as the key in S2, but in her post she also points out the colors of the key and the lock. The keys are yellow and white;

The lock is blue;

Both Max and Mike are represented by blue in S4, and the lock being blue could be hinting at both of them. They’re often parallels, and Max’s mind being locked away at the end of the season could also be an indication of something similar happening to Mike later on, like this color-coding suggests.

If Henry were to hold Mike as a hostage, he would be physically locked away. I don’t think he’d lock away Mike’s mind, because he needs Mike to be found at some point and by doing that it would become much more difficult to lure out El and Will.

Narrative Evidence

Mike’s POV

Mike’s POV, or the severe lack of it, is something that has to be addressed in S5. For multiple seasons, we’ve been almost completely deprived of Mike’s perspective until the very end (which often involves his feelings for Will). Now that we’ve reached the final season, the things that have been hidden from us by blocking Mike’s perspective need to come to light to give us answers.

We need to understand why Mike’s behavior seems to change so drastically between S2 and S3, we need to know if Mike reciprocates Will’s feelings, and we need to explore how Mike has been impacted by the things he’s been experiencing both emotionally and supernaturally.

Henry’s ability to reach into people’s mind and expose them for their truest, most hidden thoughts is the perfect device for giving us the missing pieces of Mike’s POV. Narratively, it makes the most sense for Mike’s POV to be revealed through an already established creature which can reveal such things. It also gives an opportunity for us to understand Mike without his perspective being revealed to other characters, which is necessary because Mike needs to be making progress in many of his relationships himself, rather than by force of his feelings being directly revealed.

If Henry were to take Mike and put him under a trance in the UD, it would take time to find him. There would be plenty of time for Mike to go through an emotional confrontation if he’s kept under a trance for longer than any of the other characters we’ve seen; more so with the fact that Henry wouldn’t be doing this to kill Mike, but rather make it impossible for him to get directly involved in the situation.

Mike/Will Role Reversal

For S5, there have been a ton of hints that Will and Mike are gonna be switching their roles at some point. Will has already been confirmed to be a central character to S5, and he’s had a hero arc built up since S2. Those are both traits of Mike in S1. Since the Duffers have confirmed we’re returning to S1 dynamics in S5 and Will’s story likely won’t be paralleling his journey in S1, the dynamic Mike and Will fighting for each other will most likely be the aspect that stays the same.

There’s also the thing about Mike being the heart, and that without heart the Party would fall apart. In S1, the Party starts to fall apart without Will as they search for him. When Will moves away, the Party falls apart completely. If what Will says is true about Mike, then we’ll likely see the Party fall apart again in S5 because even if Mike isn’t the Party’s heart, he is most definitely Will’s;

“…and that’s what gives her the courage to fight on.”

I mention something back in the section about DND games, about how Mike’s kidnapping would be a direct parallel to Will’s kidnapping if this theory comes true. That possibility only adds onto the idea that Mike and Will are going to have reversed roles in S5.

If we put together Mike’s kidnapping with the Party falling apart, we’d get an exact parallel to S1. Will gets kidnapped and the Party starts to fall apart because of Mike’s insistence on finding Will. If Mike gets kidnapped, Will is not going to stop looking for him despite the danger, which might divide the party once again. As much as the other members would want to find Mike, all three of them have also witnessed the consequences of this stuff first hand through Max and Eddie’s deaths and are going to be much more reluctant in accepting going into the UD. It’s possible that we’ll get the same divide that we got in S1.

Narratively, that fulfills the dynamic match of S1, puts Will’s hero arc into motion, and incorporates what DND suggests about what could happen to Mike in S5.

Henry’s Advantage

How is Henry kidnapping Mike and holding him hostage more beneficial than just killing him? If he truly just wants Mike out of the way, why not make it impossible for him to come back?

Henry needs Mike in order to give himself the upper hand. He needs Mike because once Will knows where he is, it’ll draw him to him. What Henry wants is to get Will to join him in order to accomplish Henry’s ultimate goal (link). Will would never simply accept Henry’s offer, and he can’t take Will by force (Will was able to resist the MF, and Henry is not nearly as strong as it). To simply reach out to Will and cross over into the Rightside Up is something Henry isn’t stupid enough to do. The UD is Henry’s home turf and it gives him the advantage, so he has to lure Will into the UD.

If Henry holds Mike hostage, he acts as a lure and a bargaining tool; if Will works with Henry, then he’d spare Mike’s life and let him go. Killing Mike eliminates that possibility and gives Will even less of a reason to join him, but using Mike in an exchange would be much more up Henry’s alley. It’s the smarter choice to make, strategically. It gives him the advantage.

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mysticmonkiebusiness · 11 months

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ISSUE 69 BLOCKS MAGAZINE PAGE 32 + 33

[ID 1: A magazine page, on the left is text and on the right is two pictures. The first is digitally painted concept art of the Demon Bull King, behind him are flames, flags, and silhouetted bull clones. Under it is a photo of designer, Chris Perron showing Simon Lucas a work-in-progress LEGO build of DBK. Below the text is a picture of six LEGO designers sitting at a table with several Monkie Kid s]

[ID 2: A splash page of the set 80010 Demon Bull King. The Bull King is brick-built out of LEGO. He has two black cannons mounted on his shoulders, and a flame-thrower replaces his left arm. His chest is flaming and his legs are robotic. He wields a large axe. A minifigure of Princess Iron Fan sits atop his right shoulder, she wields a fan. ]

Transcript:

Researching Monkie Kid

Simon and his core crew of LEGO designers flew to Shanghai, where the LEGO Group has an international hub office. 'I really relied on my colleagues in China to tell me everything they think of when they think of their home and their culture. That was a great brainstorm, because you realize how much culture there is; how much creativity. Also, the mix of old and new is fascinating - China's an amazing place that embraces newness like nowhere else."

The design team sat down with their China-based colleagues to get that feel for where they should go next, which led to a number of different potential sparks. 'At the beginning we explored multiple ideas - we had nine directions that we tested with children. We filtered that into three really strong themes,' Simon explains, but keeps the two ideas that didn't make it this time around under wraps. 'They actually tested really well, so there is huge potential there.

In August 2018, the testing was conducted with children and families across China, with the team visiting Chongqing, Xi-an, Beijing, Manjing and Nanjing as well as Shanghai. There was something special about how children responded to LEGO Monkie Kid. 'It blew me away, just how iconic and recognizable the characters from Journey to the West and the Monkey King were. I can only compare it to how when testing in America children recognize the Avengers, they know all the backstories. In China, when they saw this line-up of concept art that Xiaodong made of these characters we recreated, they were like, "That's Pigsy, that's Sandy, that's Sun Wukong.

'While it is a 500-year-old novel, Journey to the West has been brought to life in many different ways over those years and it is still so relevant. I learnt that everyone has their own connection to the story, whether their parents read it to them, or they studied it at school, or they watched a cartoon version of it that was made in 1968. But I realized that everyone I met had a universal love for the 1980s TV series that they made in China.

"CAN YOU MAKE A FANTASY PLAY THEME FOR CHINA THAT IS ROOTED IN CHINESE CULTURE? THAT WAS THE BRIEF - A WHITE PIECE OF PAPER"

Thanks to still being repeated on television during the summer holidays today, different generations all have a fondness for the show. To pay homage to that we have been allowed to use a couple of the sound effects in our animated TV series,' Simon explains. "You hear it, and I think you are only going to know it if you are familiar with that, but it sounds fantastic."

Testing with children; ensuring that Chinese designers worked on the theme; visiting the country to brainstorm - more consideration for local sensibilities has been taken than ever before. 'Authenticity has been our goal. We do take a risk here in reinterpreting a classic that is so dear and is part of the Chinese culture.'

#LEGO Monkie Kid #demon bull king #blocks magazine #concept art #mmb.png #longpost

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mdhwrites · 1 year

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So... What’s Wrong With Stringbean?

So first I’m just going to say I think their design is cute and that the palisman itself did nothing wrong. There’s nothing wrong with loving them because they’re just a little guy. But I’ve been seeing people talk about Stringbean being too special or clearly just special because it’s the main character’s palisman and I think people will bring up one argument about it when the problem is, well... EVERYTHING. In aggregate. About Stringbean. The short version of this is that she is indeed every animal and clearly stronger than ANY other palisman we’ve ever seen but the flipside of that coin is that it’s also the palisman with the least of the user’s will inside of them and has consistently been at least warping if not breaking the rules of Palisman every time she gets brought up. All of this is what causes them to feel like a Mary Sue moment for Luz. To go into each element individually: Has a bunch of special powers: This one is the easy and obvious one which is why so many people are bringing it up but it is valid to ask: Why is Stringbean SO POWERFUL? Why is her magic just incredible from go? My response would be... You know the show you’re watching, right? Asking why any bit of magic is strong is a lost cause, especially while we still have no idea what dictates Luz’s glyphs and those already let her become literally one of the strongest witches in the Isles without training. This is nothing new, just kind of a flashy display of it. What is the source of its power?:

The Bat Queen makes it out that the strength of palisman and user is conviction. The way your personal life’s goal speaks to and empowers the Palisman. This should mean the more emotion, determination and purpose you put into the palisman, either when carved or when accepted, the more power there should be there. And this doesn’t need to be a super specific goal. Willow’s is effectively “To be able to defend my friends,” but that’s still actionable, one Willow can work towards herself and clear of purpose. Luz literally didn’t even choose her palisman’s form. She had such little conviction in what it would be that she let it choose. Yes, it’s meant to be sweet and nice but like... Can Palisman grow? If someone else carved an egg but also had firm purpose, would it hatch immediately? These are objects as much as they are living beings, they’re literally made of wood, so what exactly are the rules of going “Fuck it, my Palisman ISN’T ALIVE YET?” And then there’s her conviction which... It’s summoned by a statement about the importance of her. I have been lit on fire for this but here me out: Luz says that all she has ever wanted was to be understood. This is the statement that summons Stringbean. It raises PLENTY of questions as to do with what the fuck people have shown her throughout the series but that’s not really the point when talking about Stringbean. The point with Stringbean is... How is the Palisman supposed to help? It is a goal that explicitly as stated, can only be achieved through external validation. Yes, you CAN read into it being about internal validation but the framing of the moment, part of it being Luz realizing Camila is also a nerd, the fact that it happens right after Camila takes back literally the one time she has ever ‘judged’ (Luz accidentally assaulted people with snakes. At that point Camila was actually being a good mom by saying “Maybe something needs to change.”) her daughter for her actions and interests, all speaks to it being about external validation and especially validation from her mother. What sort of goal is that? How is Stringbean supposed to help? What would ever happen to Luz if she actually felt understood? And why does that cause Stringbean to be so powerful? It also sucks allegorically.

“I want to be understood!” This sort of goal and character revelation normally comes with the dropping of masks and a firmness in who you are. This is because to be understood, one needs to actually SEE the real you. You have to be open and honest. You have to be yourself or that which people understand will only be a facsimile of you. And they made it A: A snake, a creature who is usually related to deception, lies, venom, subterfuge (which seeing what Luz has been doing for the last like five episodes...) and B: A FUCKING SHAPESHIFTER. I shouldn’t even have to explain that one. I should just be able to point at that, point at her goal and go “WHAT!?” And again, this is what led to her getting so much more power than anyone else with a palisman has had. One that is more special. Literally the only aspect of Stringbean that works is... It feels like something Luz made. But also she explicitly didn’t make it. Which makes how much it seems like something Luz would made honestly worse. It fits her like a glove, despite her having put in close to no effort to try and make it fit. Despite her rejecting putting a piece of herself in it and leaving it to decide what it would be on its own while trapped in an egg. It is the facsimile of compassion. Instead of bringing to life a companion from inert wood who you hold dear and have a deep bond with, she says something that sounds sweet before leaving it in the dark and just waiting for when it’s ready to help her. Ready to ‘get’ her enough to work with her as it’s portrayed. In other words, it sucks. But the Palisman never did anything wrong. Instead, it was the writers and Luz continuously kicking it down the line until they can pull something out of their ass. It doesn’t matter if it actually makes sense for the character’s arc, or the lore of the show or even in relation to other examples of it. It just kept getting told to incubate until finally it was time for it to do what the plot demanded and to further validate a character who no one was questioning. And that’s why Stringbean is bad.

#TOH #Rambles

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