#and i like the downtime dedicated to character development

[we-are-dogclan]

Moon 72 - Yearning

(long time no see)

[blueskittlesart]

I've heard that while most people really really love BotW and TotK, some people hate those two for going open-world, and some people hate TotK specifically for something about the story. As the resident Zelda expert I know of, what do you think of those takes?

"something about the story" is a bit too vague for me to answer--if you look at my totk liveblog tag from back when the game was newly released or my general zelda analysis tag you may be able to find some of my in-depth thoughts about the story of totk, but in general i liked it.

the open world thing though is something i can and will talk about for hours. (I am obsessed with loz and game design and this is an essay now <3) breath of the wild is a game that was so well-received that a lot of the criticism from older fans who were expecting something closer to the classic zelda formula was just kind of immediately drowned out and ignored, and while i don't think it's a valid criticism to suggest that botw strayed too far from its origins in going open-world, i am more than willing to look into those criticisms, why they exist, and why i think going open-world was ultimately the best decision botw devs could have made. (totk is a slightly different story, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.)

Loz is a franchise with a ton of history and a ton of really, REALLY dedicated fans. it's probably second only to mario in terms of recognizability and impact in nintendo's catalog. To us younger fans, the older games can sometimes seem, like, prehistoric when compared to what we're used to nowadays, but it's important to remember just how YOUNG the gaming industry is and how rapidly it's changed and grown. the first zelda game was released in 1986, which was 31 years before botw came out in 2017. What this means for nintendo and its developers is that they have to walk a very fine line between catering to older fans in their 30s and 40s now who would have been in nintendo's prime demographic when the first few games in the franchise were coming out AND making a game that's engaging to their MODERN target demographic and that age group's expectations for what a gaming experience should look like.

LOZ is in kind of a tough spot when it comes to modernizing, because a lot of its core gameplay elements are very much staples of early RPGs, and a lot of those gameplay elements have been phased out of modern RPGs for one reason or another. gathering collectibles, fighting one's way through multilevel, mapless dungeons, and especially classic zelda's relative lack of guidance through the story are all things that date games and which modern audiences tend to get frustrated with. for the last few releases before botw, the devs had kind of been playing with this -- skyward sword in particular is what i consider their big experiment and what (i think) became the driving force behind a lot of what happened with botw. Skyward sword attempted to solve the issues I listed by, basically, making the map small and the story much, much more blatantly linear. Skyward sword feels much more like other modern rpgs to me than most zelda games in terms of its playstyle, because the game is constantly pushing you to do specific things. this is a common storytelling style in modern RPGs--obviously, the player usually needs to take specific actions in order to progress the story, and so when there's downtime between story sections the supporting characters push the player towards the next goal. but this actually isn't what loz games usually do. in the standard loz formula, you as the player are generally directly given at most 4 objectives. these objectives will (roughly) be as follows: 1. go through some dungeons and defeat their bosses, 2. claim the master sword, 3. go through another set of dungeons and defeat their bosses, 4. defeat the final boss of the game. (not necessarily in that order, although that order is the standard formula.) the ONLY time the player will be expressly pushed by supporting characters towards a certain action (excluding guide characters) is when the game is first presenting them with those objectives. in-between dungeons and other gameplay segments, there's no sense of urgency, no one pushing you onto the next task. this method of storytelling encourages players to take their time and explore the world they're in, which in turn helps them find the collectibles and puzzles traditionally hidden around the map that will make it easier for them to continue on. Skyward sword, as previously mentioned, experimented with breaking this formula a bit--its overworld was small and unlocked sequentially, so you couldn't explore it fully without progressing the narrative, and it gave players a "home base" to return to in skyloft which housed many of the puzzles and collectibles rather than scattering them throughout the overworld. This method worked... to an extent, but it also meant that skyward sword felt drastically different in its storytelling and how its narrative was presented to the player than its predecessors. this isn't necessarily a BAD thing, but i am of the opinion that one of zelda's strongest elements has always been the level of immersion and relatability its stories have, and the constant push to continue the narrative has the potential to pull players out of your story a bit, making skyward sword slightly less engaging to the viewer than other games in the franchise. (to address the elephant in the room, there were also obviously some other major issues with the design of sksw that messed with player immersion, but imo even if the control scheme had been perfect on the first try, the hyperlinear method would STILL have been less engaging to a player than the standard exploration-based zeldas.)

So when people say that botw was the first open-world zelda, I'm not actually sure how true I personally believe that is. I think a lot of the initial hype surrounding botw's open map were tainted by what came before it--compared to the truly linear, intensely restricted map of skyward sword, botw's map feels INSANE. but strictly speaking, botw actually sticks pretty closely to the standard zelda gameplay experience, at least as far as the overworld map is concerned. from the beginning, one of the draws of loz is that there's a large, populated map that you as the player can explore (relatively) freely. it was UNUSUAL for the player to not have access to almost the entire map either immediately or very quickly after beginning a new zelda game. (the size and population of these maps was restricted by software and storage capabilities in earlier games, but pretty muhc every zelda game has what would have been considered a large & well populated map at the time of its release.) what truly made botw different was two things; the first being the sheer SIZE of the map and the second being the lack of dungeons and collectibles in a traditional sense. Everything that needs to be said about the size of the map already has been said: it's huge and it's crazy and it's executed PERFECTLY and it's never been done before and every game since has been trying to replicate it. nothing much else to say there. but I do want to talk about the percieved difference in gameplay as it relates to the open-world collectibles and dungeons, because, again, i don't think it's actually as big of a difference as people seem to think it is.

Once again, let's look at the classic formula. I'm going to start with the collectibles and lead into the dungeons. The main classic collectible that's a staple of every zelda game pre-botw is the heart piece. This is a quarter of a heart that will usually be sitting out somewhere in the open world or in a dungeon, and will require the player to either solve a puzzle or perform a specific action to get. botw is the first game to not include heart pieces... TECHNICALLY. but in practice, they're still there, just renamed. they're spirit orbs now, and rather than being hidden in puzzles within the overworld (with no explanation as to how or why they ended up there, mind you) they're hidden within shrines, and they're given a clear purpose for existing throughout hyrule and for requiring puzzle-solving skills to access. Functionally, these two items are exactly the same--it's an object that gives you an extra heart container once you collect four of them. no major difference beyond a reskin and renaming to make the object make sense within the greater world instead of just having a little ❤️ floating randomly in the middle of their otherwise hyperrealistic scenery. the heart piece vs spirit orb i think is a good microcosm of the "it's too different" criticisms of botw as a whole--is it ACTUALLY that different, or is it just repackaged in a way that doesn't make it immediately obvious what you're looking at anymore? I think it's worth noting that botw gives a narrative reason for that visual/linguistic disconnect from other games, too--it's set at minimum TEN THOUSAND YEARS after any other given game. while we don't have any concrete information about how much time passes between new-incarnation games, it's safe to assume that botw is significantly further removed from other incarnations of hyrule/link/zelda/etc than any other game on the timeline. It's not at all inconceivable within the context of the game that heart pieces may have changed form or come to be known by a different name. most of the changes between botw and other games can be reasoned away this way, because most of them have SOME obvious origins in a previous game mechanic, it's just been updated for botw's specific setting and narrative.

The dungeons ARE an actual departure from the classic formula, i will grant you. the usual way a zelda dungeon works is that link enters the dungeon, solves a few puzzles, fights a mini boss at about the halfway point, and after defeating the mini boss he gets a dungeon item which makes the second half of the dungeon accessible. He then uses that item in the dungeon's final boss fight, which is specifically engineered with that item in mind as the catalyst to win it. Botw's dungeons are the divine beasts. we've removed the presence of mini-bosses entirely, because the 'dungeon items' aren't something link needs to get within the dungeon itself--he alredy has them. they're the sheikah slate runes: magnesis, cryonis, stasis, and remote bombs. Each of the divine beast blight battles is actually built around using one of these runes to win it--cryonis to break waterblight's ice projectiles, magnesis to strike down thunderblight with its own lightning rods, remote bombs to take out fireblight's shield. (i ASSUME there's some way to use stasis effectively against windblight, mostly because it's obvious to me that that's how all the other fights were designed, but in practice it's the best strategy for that fight is to just slow down time via aerial archery, so i've never tried to win that way lol.) So even though we've removed traditional dungeon items and mini-boss fights, the bones of the franchise remain unchanged underneath. this is what makes botw such an ingenious move for this franchise imo; the fact that it manages to update itself into such a beautiful, engaging, MODERN game while still retaining the underlying structure that defines its franchise and the games that came before it. botw is an effective modern installment to this 30-year-old franchise because it takes what made the old games great and updates it in a way that still stays true to the core of the franchise.

I did mention totk in my opening paragraph and you mention it in your ask so i have to come back to it somehow. Do i think that totk did the gigantic-open-world thing as well as botw did? no. But i also don't really think there was any other direction to go with that game specifically. botw literally changed the landscape of game development when it was released. I KNOW you all remember how for a good year or two after botw's release, EVERY SINGLE GAME that came out HAD to have a massive open-world map, regardless of whether or not that actually made sense for that game. (pokemon is still suffering from the effects of that botw-driven open world craze to this day. rip scarlet/violet your gameplay was SUCH dogshit) I'm not sure to what degree nintendo and the botw devs anticipated that success, (I remember the open world and the versatility in terms of problem-solving being the two main advertising angles pre-release, but it's been 7 years. oh jesus christ it's been SEVEN YEARS. anyways) but in any case, there's basically NO WAY that they anticipated their specific gameplay style taking off to that degree. That's not something you can predict. When creating totk, they were once again walking that line between old and new, but because they were only 3ish years out from botw when totk went into development, they were REALLY under pressure to stay true to what it was that had made botw such an insane success. I think that's probably what led to the expanded map in the sky and depths as well as the fuse/build mechanics--they basically took their two big draws from botw, big map and versatility, and said ok BIGGER MAP and MORE VERSATILITY. Was this effective? yeah. do i think they maybe could have made a more engaging and well-rounded game if they'd been willing to diverge a little more from botw? also yeah. I won't say that I wanted totk to be skyward sword-style linear, because literally no one wanted that, but I do think that because of the insane wave of success that botw's huge open world brought in the developers were under pressure to stay very true to botw in their designing the gameplay of totk, and I think that both the gameplay and story might have been a bit more engaging if they had been allowed to experiment a little more in their delivery of the material.

[wildstar25]

I would love to see the breakdown of Arsay’s timeline through the expansions!!!

WEEEEELLLL if you insist... My basic timeline break down is as follows: Keep in mind a few things are still kinda in flux, and if I ever contradict myself in the future literally don't worry about it

1.0 -> Calamity 6 months End point in the 4th umbral moon lining up with what is now the rising event (calamity memorial). Now that I’ve switched up arsay’s birthday, she turns 22 during the 1.0 campaign.

Calamity -> ARR 5 Years Arsay is stuck in the lifestream with the mother crystal for that 5 year period. Her memories of 1.0 and everyone's memories of her are largely erased. Arsay wakes up on a boat to Limsa Lominsa believing it is still her first voyage to Eorzea.

ARR->HVW ~6 months The base story including job quests take 3 months in total. The next three months are dedicated to the patches: Primal Trial series -> Coils of Bahamut -> 2.1. ~3 weeks Crystal Tower Raids, LoTA -> Syrcus Tower ~1 month 2.2-2.3 -> Crystal Tower Raid WoD ~2 weeks 2.4->2.55 ~3 weeks

HVW->STB ~4 months Main story starts a day or two after 2.55 and takes ~1 month total Patches take ~3 Months: 3.1->3.2->Void Arc ~1 month ->Arsay gets really into pvp and does nothing but frontlines and CC for a week -> 3.3->Alexander Raids->3.4 ~3 weeks Warring Triad->3.5->3.56 ~1 month

STB->SHB ~6 months Main story picks up a week after 3.56 and takes ~3 months time. (The first trip to Kugane takes 3 weeks off screen, after that travel time is reduced to a few days to a week using the East Aldenard Trading company boats (it would make sense that lolorito has better boat tech imo)) Next 3 month period is all the patches: Ivalice raids->Omega raids->4.1-4.2 ~1 month Eureka exploration->4.3->4 lords ~1.5 months 4.4->4.56 ~2 weeks

I know the ARR to Shadowbringers lead up is a mad dash but if it happened any slower, I don't believe Arsay would have be the character she is by that point. It is incredibly vital that she has almost 0 down time for herself. Her days and nights are PACKED full by choice. Job Quests, Hildebrand stuff,PvP, Hunts all get squeezed in throughout.

SHB->EDW ~8 months Main story picks up a few days after 4.56 and takes only 1.5 months to complete. Its a non stop emotional roller coaster for Arsay to be completely fine and normal about the whole time. Patches take 6.5 months, notably there is more downtime between patches: Chill relaxing after 5.0->Eden I->5.1->Neir raid I ->5.2-> role quest/shadowkeeper->Eden II-> 5.3 ->chill relaxing/recovery time for scions->Eden III->Neir raids II & III->Werlyt->Bozjia->5.4-5.55

EDW->DWT ~1 year (time spent in Elpis is not counted) ->Main story up to credit roll ~1 month ->Recovery time for injuries sustained in Ultima Thul ~4 months ->After credits - Scions Disband, everyone goes their separate ways - 1 day 🙃 ->Rest of the roll quests now that Arsay can mostly fight again(she can't cast mudras😞 ) ~1 month (casting>healing>tanking>aiming>bonus all role cap off) -> 1 month of nothing to do, Arsay still can't cast mudras, character development dictates she can no longer repress every bad emotion she feels, she has no proper coping mechanisms and quickly spirals into a mental breakdown over feeling like she's worthless and that no one will need her anymore now that the world isnt ending constantly and that she's worried without the scions being the scions everyone she cares about will slowly forget her and she'll be all alone again. Y'shtola and G'raha manage to get Arsay talking after a bit of self destructive lashing out. Things are sorta resolved?? Y'shtola and G'raha reassure her of a lot, and do their best to get it in her little kittycat head that she's not a burden on them even when she's sad. Not an automatic fix but Arsay does make the commitment to better her mental health and to work on her self image issues and communication skills! It'll be a process for her. ->5 days round trip to her home island in the southern seas to visit her Aunt and catch up ->6.1 starts when Arsay gets back from that ->Endwalker patch content takes up the final 5 months of that year period. Things are mostly interspersed with how they are released except for pandae which happens all in one go for Arsay between 6.3 and 6.4. Arsay has done all the variant dungeons, Tataru's grand endeavours, completed Island Sanctuary, and Myths of the Realm. ->The gap between 6.55 and 7.0 will probably only be about a week? Maybe 2? It depends how much it seems like the early arrivals to Tural have been there compared to Arsay and her crew.

That's my timeline! Thank you for asking and reading 🙇 hopefully that all made sense haha ^^

Have a picture of them for the road <3

[thrandilf]

Episodic, Serialized, Mixing the Two, and "Filler"

Been dwelling on what I personally find effective in media and what's been grinding my gears about when things flatline for me and I'd rather sit down and write about it than continue to pace while doing the Italian finger pinch thing

First off, filler is technically about when an anime goes beyond what a manga has completed and because they got ahead, they started to just screw around while waiting for more manga, so while I acknowledge that origin of the phrase, the way people often use filler now is for episodes disconnected from the main plot

And a lot of people miss "filler"/what they mean is more chill or self contained episodes, and while the concept of them doesn't usually appeal to me for pacing reasons, there's a way to do it well that I wish more shows did

So, my bias/preference is fully serialized shows which is usually harder to find in western animation, The Dragon Prince being one of the few I've ever found that's never had a full episode of Nothing because there's always an overarching plot and tension to be found. There are "filler" moments where characters on their journey have some downtime which is used for bonding and/or world-building, but they don't dedicate whole episodes to it to break the pacing, which I appreciate. However, most shows don't do this

On the other far end of the spectrum you have something fully episodic and formulaic like Phineas and Ferb where every episode is its own thing with occasional callbacks to other episodes, but it is a sort of watch in any order whenever show and I find that this actually works for me as well- when it's the expectation from the start

Some shows go for a mix of the two, and usually that's where I get tripped up.

They're shows that I like/think are Good beyond a doubt, but to give examples, Gravity Falls and RotTMNT both start off with an episode that gives you a concept of an overarching plot, a mystery to solve or otherwise a big bad, respectively. Now, I understand that a lot of shows are still under the parameters of needing to be able to be viewed in any order by people tuning in on tv (although with streaming I think this is falling by the wayside/writing this way no longer makes sense to me) but it does make sitting down to watch them a tad infuriating, because then you're waiting for a continuation of this main plot you're hooked on, but a lot of the episodes you watch right afterwards don't fundamentally matter.

Sometimes they matter- a standalone episode with character development or a new piece of information is nice, but sometimes even that isn't there, and why it gets to me while PnF doesn't is just the initial expectation set that we're going somewhere and then totally dropping the plotline or a sense of progress for awhile. In GF we get hints as time goes on/other people have numbered books, but you have to dial back your expectations/adjust to just enjoying the day to day adventures (which are enjoyable!) and shelve the main plot. PnF never led me to suspect there was a bigger picture plot to worry about, so it doesn't hang over me/leave me unsatisfied. It does what it set out to do

However, a mix of the two can work

AtLA is good at the episodic bits still mattering, but beyond that I'd argue Lego Monkie Kid is the best at it. Although the show is almost exclusively episodic in season 1, more mixed in season 2, and then gets to be pretty much all serialized in 3 and 4, season 1 managed to be episodic while still holding my attention.

No LMK episode is a "skip" from me due to even the self contained monster of the week episodes still revealing new information such as more of MK's powers so there's a sense of progress, giving character info, introducing new characters, and/or new lore.

Most importantly, the lore and character details we get matter- 1x03 is the only time we see Mei's parents, but her relationship with her family is an ongoing thread through the rest of the show. 1x05 was a goldmine of characterization and how people in MK's life don't act, with the concept of a "perfect world" being something we touch on in the s3 climax. 1x06 introduced the peaches of immortality. 1x07 hits on a character flaw MK doesn't get over in just one episode, 1x09 is arguably the most important episode in all of S1 due to introducing Macaque and giving us a lot more information about the depth's of Wukong's past, which raises questions the show then delivers on later.

It all establishes something relevant to enhance later episodes

And all in the background, right from 1x01, we get hints of other intrigue developing as the Demon Bull Family finds LBD's prison and plans to spring her

Season 2 is especially effective with still coming off as rather episodic but the heroes spend the entire season unknowingly losing while LBD and SQ gather materials, and we also have whatever Wukong is up to piquing our interest. The tension only grows even if almost every S2 episode is self contained. 2x04 doesn't involve the main villains, but it does set up Pigsy and MK's relationship more as well as how important Pigsy's sense of family and tradition is, which again comes back later in S4

A lot of effective, seemingly off topic "filler" winds up not being filler at all, but was working to build something later. Sometimes, a show is better on a rewatch for reasons like that,

but when it feels like the ball is dropped and relationships weren't enhanced or we didn't learn anything from it, or characters acted like there may be consequences for something and then nothing happened nor was it acknowledged and now we're moving on forever, it's like well, what was the point of that then?

This is all to say that episodic storytelling can really work, and I get frustrated when we don't tap back into a main plot even for a few seconds or there wasn't anything new. The fun beach episode can still give me character development or even pan back to the villains at the end to give me the sense that something's coming to keep tension up (I'm not far in it, but Amphibia seems to have a good sense of this too where I have a lot of questions and I gradually get answers/hints that answers are coming as well as character flaws/developments being established)

TLDR:

The questions an audience are meant to be asking should be answered at some point, and even though they should be paced out and given time, when it feels like a show forgot about them entirely before making a sharp swerve back (or worse, never addressing the threads it introduced), it can make people feel like there was no point in paying attention.

Episodic shows that want to tie into a larger plot can still work by keeping a background sense of tension and building in new information, which I wish was done more often instead of being majorly episodic Or serialized, where only a few episodes in a show fully tie together which makes the shift from episode 1 plot, nothing, and then OH GOD FINALE PLOT really jarring to me

I also bring this up because as a writer, it's what I try to keep in the back of my mind for my own writing, and seeing what does and doesn't work for me and why is helpful

Also yes, this is a Monkie Kid endorsement ty for coming

[floatingcatacombs]

Patlabor is On Lock

12 Days of Aniblogging 2023, Day 3

While Gundam is the most recognizable mecha anime I got into this year, most of my time was really spent working my way through the Patlabor franchise, and it’s quickly become one of my favorites. I’ve always loved the quiet moments in mecha shows, which makes sense considering I started with Macross and live for the bridge bunny gossip and off-duty downtown hangouts. Patlabor is built with this downtime at its core, operating with more of a slice of life mentality than anything else.

A lovable cast is crucial for making this work. Thankfully, Noa Izumi is a wonderful and unique protagonist, a scrappy soft butch who’s in it for the eroticism of the machine. The first Patlabor opening is a love letter from Noa to her mecha, and I get it! The AV-98 Ingram is an iconic design, with its asymmetric bunny ear antennae and shoulder lights and comically oversized revolver that requires the right hand to pop out in order to draw, exposing the arm wiring in the process. This is a show clearly written by first-generation mecha otaku, and plenty of time is dedicated to showing how the Labors have to be transported and recharged, how the movement software depends on reinforcement learning, showing off corporate model revisions, and of course repairs in the hangar.

Going back to the human characters, Noa’s work partner Asuma is clearly the more passive one within their dynamic, and it’s sweet to see that played out sincerely. And then there’s Kanuka Clancy, the stern weirdo badass from New York who’s constantly swearing and dropping one-liners in English. She’s the obvious breakthrough character of the show, and also the perfect opposites-attract pairing for Noa if you’re the kind of person whose yuri meter went off the charts during their drinking contest episode. Most of Patlabor’s cast seem fairly one-note at first, and one of the great tricks of the show is giving them just a little bit more depth than you would expect. Pretty much everyone, even the most jokey characters, eventually get a standalone episode or two that further sketches them out and offers real interiority. Captain Goto is another fan-favorite, and it’s definitely his mixture of laziness and wicked perceptiveness that does it, plus his main character billing in the movies.

SV2 may be a law enforcement unit, but this really isn’t a police procedural at the end of the day. These guys are the bum department out in the sticks who everyone hates, and the upside of that is that SV2 gets stuck with the oddest of jobs instead of cop work. Sometimes that’s dealing with a runaway military prototype, other times it’s arguing with the insurance company. The best kind of episodes are the ones that take almost entirely on base as everyone tries to solve a problem of their own making, like an Ingram falling into the sea or the mechanics getting into a fight with the only restaurant that delivers to them.

A main plot does eventually emerge, with a shadowy company developing a mysterious jet-black Labor piloted by a child who is the girlish boy to Noa Izumi’s boyish girl. The Griffon is sleek and curvy and has superiority in the water and air – it’s a machine designed to defeat Ingrams, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Yoji Shinkawa looked here when designing Metal Gear RAY. Automation is a fundamental ideological enemy of mecha – faceless mass production and artificial intelligence mean an end to the era of personal combat. Even Patlabor, a warless series, dips its toes into this idea in the later episodes, with Noa and the mechanics alike worrying that the neural networks in their new Labor models will make them redundant.

Overall, this show is hilarious and sweet and clearly loved by an older generation of otaku. So why didn’t I hear about it earlier? Partly it’s on me for not hanging out with the right mecha fans online for a while. But if I had to guess, it’s also because Patlabor is one of those works that’s straightforwardly, unobjectionably good in a way where it already says everything there is to be said about it. You can have near-infinite arguments about Zeon ideology or mobile suit powerscaling online, but there’s only so many times you can say “yeah, Noa Izumi, love that girl” precisely because everyone agrees. It can also be hard to pitch things by their vibes in a genre known for adrenaline and intrigue. Patlabor’s vibes, for the record, are immaculate.

I'm probably gonna be chasing the high of cel-era sunsets forever

Mecha’s also a bit looked down upon from the outside. Anything that makes it into the larger conversation has to be understood as “elevated” or a “genre deconstruction”, even if the very first Mobile Suit Gundam is already about Amuro’s trauma and PTSD from being made into a child soldier. This elevation is actually happening to the second Patlabor movie as we speak - it’s becoming increasingly discussed as a major component of Mamoru Oshii’s filmography, divorced from its source series and instead compared to his subsequent Ghost in the Shell movie. Funnily enough, Oshii’s contributions to the Patlabor TV show are actually the more lighthearted gag episodes.

A lot of recent Patlabor retrospectives have drawn attention to the artist’s collective Headgear, established and owned by the series creators so they would be able to retain the rights for the franchise. This structure is fairly unique for the anime industry and probably only makes sense for established creatives, but it does seem to have worked out great for them, providing financial stability and strong creative control over the franchise. This allowed Patlabor to thrive in the relative wasteland of late 80s TV anime, a time when even Gundam had fled to the OVA market.

That being said, it does take Patlabor switching back to OVAs to truly spread its wings. The New Files are a conclusion and continuation of the TV series that are willing to move at their own pace, resulting in some dramatic and surprisingly thoughtful stories. It’s genuinely touching to watch Goto and Nagumo try and fail to communicate their feelings for one another in a very restrained episode as thick with long-stewing emotions as it is empty space. Of course, the very next episode has half the cast get stuck in the sewer labyrinth underneath their base and there’s a bunch of Wizardry references. Oh, Oshii.

The Patlabor movies fully lean into this melancholy and uncertainty, and it’s a welcome evolution for the series. The first movie still ends with an all-out action set piece in a half-built mecha factory that stands in for the Tower of Babel, but the second one stays serious the whole time through, going as far as pivoting to a more realistic artsyle. It’s a challenging film. The politics are all-encompassing but fairly straightforward, as Oshii effectively infodumps a presentation on the postwar history of the JSDF throughout. Instead, what the makes the movie so difficult is its willingness to face the end of an era – the Cold War is over, the bubble economy has popped, and the former members of SV2 have all gone their separate ways. The conditions that have created Patlabor, both internal and external to the show, have dissipated. And the movie makes it clear by having the military stage a raid on SV2’s headquarters, tearing their Labors to shreds with gunfire in a beautifully animated act of desecration.

After watching her be a lovable mecha dweeb for 50 episodes, it hurts a bit to hear Noa Izumi say that she doesn’t want to be that girl obsessed with robots for the rest of her life! These characters are growing in such a way that will remove them from the focus of the narrative, and it’s a movie about letting go just as much as it is about looking towards an uncertain personal and national future. I love Miyazaki’s Porco Rosso, but the fact that Oshii put this out just one year later paints a delicious contrast between the two directors with regards to escapism versus reality with regards to militarism. There's some great interviews from the era where they're just taking potshots at each other about all this.

[nellie-elizabeth]

The Legend of Vox Machina: The Fey Realm (2x07)

If I've had one consistent complaint about this show all along it's been that I wanted a bit more downtime between the big, huge plot developments. And this batch of episodes gave me all the high-octane action and adventure I could want, and plenty of that slower character development stuff too! I'm so happy!

Cons:

This isn't specific to this episode, but I've been praising how all the various relationship dynamics have their little moments along the way, how impressed I am by the attention being given to all sorts of subtle dynamics in the background. For some reason, this episode made me realize that one relationship we've kind of lost out on in this season two is the Keyleth and Percy friendship. I hope we can get a moment or two with them coming up, or maybe some good stuff in season three.

For the most part I am really, really, pleased with the changes to Grog's story-line. However, from a pacing perspective, with regards to the fight to come with Kevdak and all that, I would have changed this around a bit. See, here what happens is that Grog makes his near-fatal error in stabbing Pike, and then immediately he overcomes the sword's influence and destroys it, then suffers consequences he needs to deal with in the aftermath. We know that coming up, he's going to have to face his evil and powerful uncle. In the stream, one of the things that was so cool about Travis's struggle with Grog was his desire to use Craven Edge during that fight: sort of a "one more time won't kill me" logic. In adapting it for animation, I think I would have kept the scene mostly the same, but not had Craven Edge actually destroyed: have it left somewhere, buried in rock or in a pocket plane or something. Then, when Grog is trying to muster up the courage to beat his uncle, have him reaffirm and hold to his choice to leave Craven Edge behind, because his strength lies elsewhere. It's a small thing, but I think the time between Grog realizing he needs to be rid of Craven Edge, and the time when Craven Edge is affirmatively destroyed/out of his reach forever, was too quick. There should have been one more step on that journey for him, in my opinion.

I've been praising the dragon animation, and I stand by that praise for the most part, but during the scene between Umbrasyl and Thordak, I noticed the 3-D meshing strangely with 2-D... Umbrasyl looked really odd and computer-y to me, while he was speaking with the Cinder King. That's the only time all season I've felt like the visual was jarring, so I thought I should mention it.

And a small thing that I've mentioned before but it's still true: I don't like that Pike calls Grog "buddies" in the plural. I think Ashley says that sometimes on the stream but they've really taken it and run with it and it's distracting and annoying!

Pros:

Let's start with our half-elf and human portion of the episode! I loved the vibes of the Fey Realm overall. Visually, it was so colorful and different and strange and sinister. I enjoyed how the very first thing we see there captures the duality beautifully. Keyleth sees a cute little creature, calls it a "floof," smiling in delight, and then immediately watches it get torn to pieces by vicious plants. That carries through, as we see the literally otherworldly beauty of this place, but also the violence and capriciousness.

I really thought we'd get straight to Syngorn and do the family drama stuff, but instead this episode's Fey Realm stuff has other narrative functions. We're establishing a vibe, we're introducing Garmelie, we're checking in with Vax's feelings about the Matron of Ravens and whatever pact he made with her. And more than all that, we've got his whole subplot basically dedicated to the Percy and Vax broken relationship. I'm... delighted by this? Of all the things I hoped they wouldn't drop from the show, it's the subtle, difficult bond between these two men who care about each other but can't always get on the same page. And here we get, if anything, an expansion on that theme from what's going on at this point in the stream! I'm very happy about it!

We start off with Percy's enthusiasm, trying to be helpful. All season long, that's the thing about Percy. He wants to prove that he has something to offer this group. Some recompence, I think, for the horrible trial he put them all through in season one with the Briarwoods. And at first he makes everything worse, getting Vex killed. And now here in the Fey Realm, all his book learning can't actually help them navigate the dangers. Vax is annoyed, and not hiding it, and poor Percy is just doing his damn best. Percy running after Vax during the swamp fight, and the exchange: "What are you doing here?" / "I wasn't about to give up on you" is such a perfect encapsulation of what's going on with Percy in this part of his journey. The thing is, he got his revenge, the thing he's been working for his entire life since his family was killed. And now what? Now, he wants to put the work in. He doesn't want to give up, even if he's not sure he'll ever earn forgiveness.

(Also, shout-out to Diplomacy getting its own buildup and moment of glory. Go Percy, we love to see his tinkering making a difference on the show!)

Then there's Vax. He's pissed at Percy, but he's also just in general really down about this Matron of Ravens stuff. I love Vax seeing the creepy undead vision in the water and just groaning and moving on. He's used to it, and more annoyed than frightened at this point. At the end, when he tells Percy thanks for trying to have his back, it's clear he thinks it's a useless gesture. "I'm moving in a different direction from the rest of you." WOW this breaks my heart. I hope we get more catharsis on the Percy and Vax front, even though I'm pretty sure I know what heartbreak we'll have to get through on the way. God, this show is good.

Garmelie! Billy Boyd sounds great, the lewd drawings were incredible, I loved how he kept popping up and offering to help, but clearly was having fun no matter the outcome. "Garmelie was merely the traveler on this journey." Yeah Garmelie, you sure are. Fucking amazing, I'm vibrating out of my seat about it all, just thinking about the future.

Lastly, loved the drug trip moment. Especially Vex's "oh heyyyy" as she flips over and stares at Percy. She sees a heart when she looks at him. And Trinket's voice, the two of them laughing... Keyleth crying and hugging the flowers... I mean, it's an easy laugh, but it was effective as hell. These characters are all so charming and beloved to me, I can't even tell you.

And if all that wasn't enough wonderfulness, I also really adored the Grog, Scanlan, and Pike stuff!

As I said, I might have adjusted the timing on the Craven Edge stuff, and instead of having his final defeat go here, leave it for another affirmative moment of rejecting the sword in favor of a different source of strength. However, I do adore the change overall, of Grog giving the sword up causing him to literally lose his physical strength! That's pretty genius. And Travis is KILLING it on the comedy front. His Grog accent, all the squeaky sad voice stuff, it's hilarious and charming and this is one of the funniest episodes of the show, between the Fey shenanigans and Grog's sad-sack weak routine.

And the Scanlan and Pike feels, holy shit. I will say that during the campaign I felt pretty neutral about Scanlan and Pike's romance arc, but I am very much endeared by the two of them here. Scanlan being sweet and soft and a caretaker for Grog, Pike clocking it, then Scanlan compensating with a dumb joke, and then realizing with shame what he's done... what a perfect, lovely setup for the two of them to actually start to capitalize on the vibe between them while working on Scanlan's character arc. 

The makin' my way song was EVERYTHING to me. If you know, you know, and it's an added fun thing. If you don't, the song is still so fun, the whole traveling montage a good mix of levity and also moving the plot forward, showing exactly how helpless Grog is in this condition, and also how good Scanlan and Pike are as a team!

Y'all, I don't even know what else to say, this episode was everything to me, and despite my slight qualms about the Craven Edge situation, I am still so incredibly pleased with how it's all turning out.

9/10

[crystalelemental]

Alright, as alluded to yesterday, my wife and I are now fully caught up on The Owl House, and...okay, I need to be honest.  If you had asked me whether this show would be good or not based entirely on what minimal information I knew before watching, I would have told you there was absolutely no way.  It’s a Tumblr favorite children’s cartoon.  Those universally aren’t as good as they’re made out to be, or are actually that good but inevitably run smack into Discourse.  And at the risk of knocking too loudly on Lucifer’s door, I am stunned to find this show is unbelievably good.

I talked a little bit about season 1, and at the time, mentioned it could be a little heavy handed at times.  I stand by that as a facet of season 1, but season 2 has like...completely sold me.  I can even point the direct episode it happened.  It’s when you meet Eda’s mother.  Having the Owl Beast become this metaphor for disability, how Lilith is shown to also have her damage but how it went unnoticed by her parent because it wasn’t a “visible” problem, the presentation of parental response to this being how do we get rid of it instead of working to understand it and work through what’s difficult.  That one actually impressed me with how well it handled its material.  I won’t say there aren’t moments where it gets a little forced, but by and large season 2 has been much less overt, and has presented a rapidly developing plotline that’s intricate and engaging.

I am loving the complications we’re running into.  Developments happen quick, there’s very little downtime before the next sort of reveal or piece of the puzzle.  While I do at times miss the raw antics episodes, I really respect the dedication to having a story to tell and sticking to it.  Everything feels significant at this point.  My wife and I have been kicking around thoughts all day, about small things we didn’t notice right away, and theories about where stuff is going.  It’s been nice, having something to be this ingrained in as it’s still going.

I once mentioned Lilith as the current favorite.  This remains true, but not as much of a dominant position as you might expect.  This is one of those shows, where I...don’t have a character I dislike.  Pretty much everyone introduced is interesting in some way or another, and I’m surprised there hasn’t been someone I’m disinterested in.  I will say that, if there’s any problem I do take, it’s that they only kept Lilith around for like three episodes before she left Hooty, and that feels not okay.  I wanted more Lulu and Hootsifer, and...okay, I did get that dynamic back, but still.

Interactions really sell a lot of them.  I love every dynamic Eda has with everyone.  She’s a good mom to Luz and King, her sibling dynamic with Lilith is hilarious, and while I was worried about the idea of introducing a love interest in Raine, they’re actually adorable and I love them.  Darius’ connection to Hunter is adorable.  Luz and Amity are goddamn precious, I love them.  Gus and Willow are great as friends.  There’s just a lot of good stuff going on.

As an antagonist, Belos is interesting, because I’m still not 100% clear on his motivation.  On the one hand, he’s very direct.  We’ve seen inner Belos, and there is no subtlety here: he’s just out for blood, and to destroy magic and everyone living on the titan.  They keep hinting at more details behind it all, and how he got here, but it really always seems to loop back to he’s just a liar and wants genocide.  I expected to be a bit bored of him after inner Belos revealed there’s nothing particularly complex, but I dunno, I’m still interested in what they’re setting up in his history.

And of course, we now have Collector.  Vibes of Dwarf in a Flask with this kid.  I like his deal.  I don’t necessarily know what it is, but I have my theories.  He mentioned King looks like the guy who sealed him away, and those Titan Trappers talked about how Collector would be released if the Titans were all killed, but they had the same mirror and it was broken, which to me implies that Titans can release Collector and that he was released once before, and the person who sealed him was one of the Trappers, not the current corpse they’re living on.  Speculative, sure, but the series seems to encourage this kind of stuff.

I know the series is wrapping up, with my understanding being two more longer episodes and a movie.  Which is a bit sad, but like...that’s also kind of exciting.  I’m looking forward to keeping up with this one.  And am also glad I can safely explore the tags without spoilers, so apologies to everyone who starts seeing fanart for the show soon, I am Going Through It.

[diasporatheblog]

Hello! I only recently found Diaspora and it's been such a thrilling read! I'm absolutely in love with the story and characters, the writing, the pacing, the adventure! I don't remember the last time my heart beat as fast because of something I read, your work is so exceptional. I could picture the world so vividly, it took my breath away.

Special thanks for letting us hang out with all the friends and family during the down times... I'm used to stories making it a time limited choice, when you have to prioritize some friends or LIs over others and it always feels like an excruciating choice to make, haha. So wonderful that our MC's can find the time for everyone in their packed schedule, that's dedication!

And oh Pan my beloved... To see such a complex and multifaceted character, witness their development and relationship evolution during romance - what a wonderful treat that was. Those last romantic scenes so sweet and tender, tugging hard on my heartstrings, even days after reading... No words, only gratitude.

Thank you! That's really delightful to hear. Sometimes I almost forget how long we've really been working on this, and how many hours have gone into trying to make it all work together.

We definitely didn't see the need to make you choose, since the downtime tends to be so extensive. :)

And aaaaa, I'm so happy you like Pan so much. I always have tons of fun writing them, and trying to let them slowly go from 'emotionally constipated but hiding it' to letting themself be vulnerable and tender was a challenge, but one I really enjoyed!

[shihalyfie]

I did like episode 8 of Ghost game. Ruli's interest in creepy stuff or at least thrills like go-kart racing seem to play a bigger part and Gammamon seems to like her. I like we got a bit more of their group dynamic when they were relaxing in the first part of the episode.

I agree!

The thing about these episodes is that while I understand why a lot of people see these episodes as somewhat slow, we are actually getting a steady stream of information about the group dynamic. This might be me purely speaking as a 02 fan who's intimately aware of how 02 used this kind of writing style to its advantage, but I don't think it's good to underestimate this kind of "seemingly pointless banter" because it's actually still valuable information. Especially since they said already that they want to make it a story that has interactions beyond just those between partners, so if we're making this a story of a group of six rather than three groups of two, it's extremely important that we get the foundation for the group's dynamics and inner relationships before we start building off of them.

You’ll have to forgive me for using this ask as a tangent opportunity, but my experience thinking about those loaded words "character development" always involves the question "was there actually no character development, or was it just subtle about it?” I think people really don’t tend to appreciate the necessity for apparently meaningless banter, and this is why I have a hard time when people pin certain early episodes of Appmon or the like as “filler” just because they didn’t necessarily drive home any plot revelations or say “this is what I learned today!”, because you’re still getting information about their mentalities, behavior, and interactions, which become important when those relationships are put to the test later in the series. Adventure is well-known for its “good character development” because it put said development front and center and made episodes that were unsubtle about “this is what I learned about myself today!”, but it was only able to sustain that by also filling its time with banter and other interactions, and on the same token there are definitely things out there that were big on “this is what I learned today!” but still don’t reveal much about the characters when you think about it (this is one of the biggest differences between the original Adventure and the reboot).

It’s also a source of a lot of the many disputes within Digimon fans about what works are considered to have “good character development” or not -- for instance, the accusations 02 gets of having “flat” characters with no development, whereas those who know the series well are fully aware that we actually know a damn lot about the relevant characters to borderline psychological degrees, it just has to be gleaned from said interactions and watching their behavior over the course of the series rather than expecting the series to say it unsubtly to your face. Or the really infamous cognitive dissonance disputes over Xros Wars, where depending on whom you ask the series either is all style and no substance, or arguably has too much it’s juggling at once -- in fact, it's provably untrue that there isn't any character development nor coherent arcs for any human or Digimon character in Xros Wars, and I've seen people even unpack full meta analysis on them, but because almost every moment in the series is dedicated to "advancing the plot in some way" and very little downtime or explanation of home life backstories, there's a bit of added detachment in that you have to unpack all of those character arcs as they pertain to the fantasy isekai world in a very cerebral manner, instead of personally relating to them much. Added to the huge number of things it has to juggle at once and spread thin a bit, it leads to a viewer more used to the Adventure model of character development often mentally clocking out and being unable to emotionally connect to its contents, so that’s how the series ends up so divisive over whether it had “good character writing” or not. And then on the flip side you have Hunters, which is nothing but the character dynamics and banter, but doesn't advance beyond the initial setup, which basically puts it on the other extreme.

I’ve seen a hell of a lot of things within and outside Digimon that I can say truly are devoid of character substance in either the character arc or the banter/dynamic sense, and I can at least tell you that most Digimon works (including the aforementioned both sides of Xros Wars) have put quite a lot of care into establishing their characters in some way, it’s just that whether this is the style of “character writing” you prefer is going to depend on your personal taste. Whether it's about going forward with Ghost Game, or whether it's about going back and re-evaluating older Digimon series or even other works in general, I think it's important to remember that "character development" has a variety of meanings that range from "how much the character changed over the course of the narrative" (you can have a well-"developed" character who doesn't change at all, you know!) to "how much we know about the character's mindset" to "how much one can relate to them". Personally, as a 02 lover, I happen to be in the camp who likes Ghost Game’s current style of laying down banter and dynamics first before doing something with it (which by extension is basically the Adventure/02 model, I’ll fully admit to that), and it’s probably a big reason I’m so attached to Appmon as well, so all of this is amenable to me. Whether they’ll do something with all of this information in later episodes is still up in the air, but I can at least say that we’re definitely still getting a lot to work with from these early episodes alone.

[demonicheadcanons]

Hello again! I meant to send this days ago, but what do you headcanon the brothers and undateables favorite Disney movies to be? Just thought it might be cute!

Oh this is adorable!! Sorry for my inactivity here, I’ve been too tired lately to write on top of drawing ;u; but the second I saw this one I decided on Diavolo’s and had to write the rest. I haven’t watched any of these movies in a long time, and some of them I’ve never fully seen, so please excuse any inaccuracies ^^

Also now I can’t stop thinking about an Alice in Wonderland AU ;u;

Lucifer

Anastasia

- Its... pretty much solely because of the music, and because Lord Diavolo likes it so much. He finds the music enchanting enough that the rest of the movie becomes more tolerable than most.

- Also I know it isn’t Disney but I could see him finding Who Framed Roger Rabbit entertaining.

Mammon

Robin Hood

- I don’t actually know how to defend this choice. It’s more of a vibes thing.

- Potentially falsely relates to Robin Hood and the things he does. His values don’t quite align with what others believe in and Mammon relates to that in his own way. He feels like he’s cheering on the underdog, and when others do too it helps him feel supported.

- Soft bb, likes the romance aspect and that Robin Hood ends up with the girl he loves. “Where’s /my/ Maid Marian?”

Leviathan

Atlantis: The Lost Empire

- Loves the aesthetic of it all. When the monstrous leviathan is on screen he gets a bit offended but it makes him feel proud too that humans have noticed him enough to make cool monsters based off of him.

- He also admires Milo - he’s not the typical prince-like character, but he’s admired nonetheless and treated as the hero.

Satan

Beauty and the Beast or Princess and the Frog

- For the former, he likes Belle and her dedication to reading. Also really loves the Beast’s library - if he ever gets a castle of his own that’s the first thing he’d put in it. Might relate a small amount to the beast when he gets angry.

- For the latter, he’s obsessed with the darker themes and Dr Facilier. Thinks some of his “parlour tricks” would actually be entertaining to try on humans and see how they react. Was ready to throw hands at the sad part towards the end that I won’t spoil.

- For both, he’s a little soft for the stories - he likes the simplicity of it all, and the happy endings help him relax and tune out the world for a little bit.

Asmodeus

Cinderella

- Like in the event, he sees himself as being a fairy godmother as sorts. Really adores the dress transformation, and finds himself inspired by it - he already enjoys dressing people up and finding outfits that they look good in and enjoy wearing, and feels like he’s making Cinderella’s out of people.

Beelzebub

Sleeping Beauty or Alice in Wonderland

- He isn’t a big movie person - he prefers the snacks and such that go alongside watching movies. However, he likes Sleeping Beauty because Belphie likes it.

- Thinks Alice in Wonderland is very pretty and likes the feeling of escaping into a different world. He’s a homebody, someone entirely dedicated to his family, but he likes that Alice wants to go off and explore and have her own adventures - he gets to experience, through her, something that he’s unlikely to experience on his own nowadays.

Belphegor

Sleeping Beauty

- I feel like this one is self-explanatory. Girl gets to sleep for a long time, he really wishes that were him. Also soft for the idea of being kissed by his true love to wake him up.

- Chaotic boy also cheers Scar on in Lion King solely to annoy the other brothers. Gets a kick out of the more emotional brother’s reactions (primarily Mammon, being real)

Diavolo

Anastasia

- He doesn’t have much time for movies, but when he does, it becomes one he’s obsessed with after being introduced to it. The simplistic nature, the guaranteed happy ending. Also likes that Anastasia is a royal, and that she got to go off and have her adventures and discover herself.

- Lucifer will tolerate watching it with him because they both like the music so that’s always a bonus - he doesn’t have to sit and watch it alone, like he does with most of his work.

EDIT: I can’t stop thinking about Diavolo having a little music box that plays Once Upon a December and he has it on constantly and December becomes his favourite month ;u;

Barbatos

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

- This is a vibes thing again. I think he’d like Esmerelda and Quasimodo. Finds the darker themes to be interesting, and likes how developed the characters are.

- Also finds it to be entertaining that he enjoys something that is quite inappropriate, considering the religious themes in the film and its commentary on perceived sin, him being a demon and all.

Solomon

The Princess and the Frog

- Like Satan, he likes Dr Facilier. He’s not very invested in movies, but the twist on the original story and the ‘magic’ keep him interested enough to sit through this one when the occasion arises. 

- If he’s in the mood for it, he’s going to try and mimic some of the spells whilst watching to scare the brothers.

Simeon

Simeon likes all of the classic Disney films - Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, The Little Mermaid, etc.

- The style is pretty, the music is enchanting, and there’s always a happy ending. He primarily writes about men himself, because his stories are about the brothers, and so he likes anything with a female lead as it truly feels like a break from his work.

- He also likes seeing what humans find entertaining, and likes the downtime he gets when he watches the movies with Luke or with the MC, or both.

- Soft spot for Mulan - she stands up and fights for her family and her people, whilst also defying them in the process? She reminds him of a certain someone. He’d never admit to this, though.

Luke

101 Dalmations

- He’ll never admit to it but he loves seeing all the dogs. He thinks it’s really cute. Needs Simeon around to watch it though because Cruella de Vil scares him sometimes ^^”

- Okay but imagine he has a nightmare and it’s Lucifer is Cruella de Vil’s coat threatening to take his hair or something to make a cloak out of. :C

[my-writings-and-musings]

Same anon thank you for answering my question! I was wondering if you could do headcanons for MTMTE Rung, Megatron, Rodimus, Minimus, and Swerve with an Artisic human reader that just sees the good and creative artist side of everything? From books to pictures to even their own bot? Like they can just look at their bot and go out on a whole rant on how beautiful their optics are from the color to their expression. if that’s too many characters you can take any one, I don’t mind! Thank you and have a good day ❤️

You're welcome! I'm always open for clarification, so feel free to ask questions about whatever you'd like if you're unsure on anything. I took a little liberty with this one, but I've got all the requested bots because darn it all these beautiful mechs deserve recognition!

Rung

·He discovers your artistic inclination thanks to years of experience reading personalities and emotions at a glance, but he wasn't prepared for the depth of your conviction in seeing the world through a creative lens, which he learned upon speaking to you about your process as an artist. This surprise grows as he sees you sketching around the ship, your exuberance for the inherent beauty in everything coming through in every conversation you share.

·When he praises some of your sketches on a quiet day in his office and is compelled to ask how you developed your style, he's fascinated by your explanation, and his spark is warmed by how beautifully you describe the world around you and credit it for inspiring you. He's visibly shocked when your list of current subjects and muses includes him specifically, and you can't help but chuckle at the usually calm bot looking so absolutely flustered. There's no way for him to hide any of that feeling when he requests a bit of clarification; there's hundreds of bots on board, what about him could possibly stand out?

·You're happy to elaborate on your process to a bot who so regularly underestimates his worth and lay out why he in particular piques your interest. The warmth and goodness of his being is such a rare and beautiful thing, you explain, but also so rarely appreciated that it drives you to try and capture that essence in a manner one can see. How could you not? Such compassion and empathy and forgiveness should be remembered! You've also seen that he's capable of accepting any genuine apology, and to have that level of mercy after so much war is beautiful, enough that you have to try and show it.

·To say he's touched is an understatement of unfathomable proportions. Removing his lenses to clear optics blurred with tears, he doesn't even know how to begin processing your praise of his character when you add that his physical self hardly fails to encourage you either. His glasses nearly slip from his hands when he hears you say that. You continue quite easily; the kindness in his optics and the sweetness of his smile, combined with his genuinely handsome profile, simply inspire you to start sketching.

·He's touched, but you have to understand, he is NOT accustomed to this level of praise. Between the near tears and the blushing he has to politely excuse himself to recover from this absolute tsunami of emotions, but being flustered and melted at once is enough to have him smiling through a little blush all day long. While he tries to take a little bit of your mindset into his everyday life going forward, he gets a bit dazed every time he sees a sketch of yours that includes his face, as that level of artistic devotion being dedicated to him is more than he'll ever be able to process. Not that he minds...

Megatron

·Being more familiar with the written word, he enjoys the arts but has little experience with those who create them, and time has not been on his side in regards to learning more. Thus, you're one of the first artistically inclined individuals he's been able to discuss the topic with, which he was motivated to do after catching a glimpse of your work. He could swear some of your sketches bear a resemblance to him, but he says nothing on the matter and is certain his optics are tricking him.

·Your talk of technique quickly surprises him by shifting to inspiration, which to you is the primary driving force of your work, as it influences how you go about conveying the subject matter. Eager to share what you mean, you explain that anything can have beauty worthy of capturing if you just take the time to look at it right. Even the most mundane or seemingly unappealing things can be remarkable if you know their story, and you want to convey that energy as wordlessly as possible.

·A little overwhelmed but quite impressed by your manner of reasoning, he rather jokingly asks if even beings like himself could ever inspire you, or perhaps another artist with your mindset. He's caught off gaurd like never before when you, quite enthusiastically, reply that he most certainly can and does! To keep his composure he recalls portraits of his likeness being commissioned to inspire his soldiers, but never believing these fell under the category of art so much as they did propaganda. They often depicted him quite... violently as well.

·Having never seen these pieces, you reply that your own experience is tied more to how you see him now, and you flip through your sketchbook to demonstrate. As close to your level as can be, he's speechless while you explain what you wanted to capture about him in each sketch, whether it's a quick study or a detailed project; and that's how safe he makes you feel. Hearing himself referred to as a protector cuts straight through his powerful armor.

·You depict him looking almost... gentle? Hearing you describe the his immense size as a source of comfort and his strength as a tool of keeping peace processes about as clearly to him as a foreign language, but he nods along and keeps the conversation going until his duties call him away. Though he says nothing of it, he volunteers himself for more of the physically demanding work around the ship. His body's purpose had always been decided for him, but you've reminded him he has the only true say in its use, and that everything really is a matter of perspective. Perhaps he'll take up sketching once this is all over.

Rodimus

·He's certainly always had an appreciation for visual appeal, even if his idea of beauty doesn't often overlap with what most would consider artistically valuable. This and his natural alertness makes him quick to notice you often sketch about the ship, frequently when he's present, but at first he leaves you alone to work in peace. Having a hobby on this crew is beyond valuable, and he doesn't want to distract you from a passion... That is, until he decides on one especially slow day to just ask you what you like to doodle about.

·You can tell he wants to be a little nosy, if only because he's naturally a curious bot about these things, but you're more than happy to share regardless. There's a lot due to the ample downtime on the quest, and he has to squint so he can properly scan the many sketches on the human sized paper. He happily recognizes friends, locales about the ship, even earth things he knows about... but he's not ready when he finds a picture of himself.

·While he remains outwardly playful, teasing you with how he'd pose if you only asked, he's internally flattered that you took the time to draw him. More specifically, he's touched by the way you drew him. The sketches and portraits portray him as a calm but amicable leader, standing tall and serving as a guide to those around him, a true "father to his men" kind of bot... it's everything he wants to be, but is quite certain he's not. He's barely able to keep up his smooth persona when he asks about your process.

·You explain that you find inspiration in everything, but he's been your chosen subject lately for a lot of reasons. It's no secret he's handsome, but you see something more when you look at him, and you did everything you could to show it here; there's a real leader in him. Maybe some bots don't see it under all the bluster and sarcasm, but you see how much he cares for every bot on his crew. He wants to be the best for all of them, and even if he struggles at times, that effort is beautiful to you.

·It takes everything in him to bite back some very embarrassing tears, and the crack in his voice doesn't help him hide the emotion, though he covers that up with unconvincing coughs and claims something got in his optic. From then on he seems to stand a little taller and find his assigned duties a little easier to bear, but you absolutely notice how he poses in what he believes to be heroic fashion whenever your sketchbook comes out. Inspired by his enthusiasm, you invite him to model more officially, and the crew is just happy to see him so enthusiastic.

Minimus

·Being as observant as he is, your consistent appraisal of your surroundings is not something he'd ever miss, but your frequent sketching in the most random places does leave him absolutely mystified. Every time he sees you there's artistic supplies on your person, but he can't find anything that appears to be worthy of putting to paper, so what could you be drawing? He respects your privacy too much, and feels too silly about his curiosity, to interpret and ask you for an explanation.

·Thus it's with some small eagerness that he finds one of your sketchbooks after it's been misplaced, and he sees the perfect opportunity to slip in a question. For the sake of handling something so tiny, he approaches without his armor, offering the lost item back with barely concealed pride at your delight to have it returned. In the moment of truth he nearly falters, but does indeed manage to ask what you draw around the ship. He leaves out the fact that he's observed you whenever you draw in his presence.

·The question has an answer only he seems to think isn't obvious; him! You spend time together frequently, and while everything is fair game for sketching, he's a very regular subject for you. Whether he's wearing the Magnus armor or not, you explain that the commanding aura he radiates is something you can't help but find beautiful. That word choice baffles him enough that he has to interrupt; beautiful? Commanding? Even without his armor?? You're delighted to assure him that you absolutely mean that.

·Hearing you describe the details of your reasoning, like the quiet dignity of his stance or the calm intelligence of his red optics, touches his spark in ways he wasn't expecting. He's calm and speaks softly as he keeps the conversation going, asking questions about your various works and listening attentively when you answer, processing your view of the universe as being packed with beauty in all the places people don't think to look.

·Any bot that sees him during the remainder of the day absolutely notices the change to his entire demeanor; namely that he's smiling a soft and barely perceptible smile. It's not long after he requests a few sketches from you to keep in his office, whether they're of him or not, and he has them framed in places of honor. He doesn't tell you, but you figure it out, that one particular drawing of him you gift for his sake is kept securely stored in a compartment by his spark.

Swerve

·Many bots may see him being a tad bit on the shallow side when it comes to the arts, but our beloved barkeep has his own unique appreciation for creativity and all the ways it can be visually expressed, and you recognize it not long after meeting him. As his bar is a frequent hangout for everyone, you find it to be a fantastic place to sit and sketch, as the variety of bots makes it quite easy to have your choice of subjects even if you have to sit on a table. Obviously Swerve notices and asks you what you're drawing when traffic slows one evening.

·You're happy to show him your work and he's always eager to hear what everyone is up to, so he starts asking questions about your art in general. How long have you been an artist? What's it like suddenly having a whole ship of aliens to sketch? Why draw here all the time? At that query you light up brilliantly, and he's delighted by your enthusiasm as you describe all the incredible sights the bar has to offer.

·You list some of your favorite things to draw, like the many friend groups on the ship that gather here, the brilliant colors of the glowing vats of enjex, and him smiling and rushing with orders through it all. That last one gets a flash of surprise from behind his visor, which is quickly overtaken by exuberant delight; you've been drawing him?! He babbles out a surge of confusing statements that you're eventually able to interpret as a request to see, just one he's too bashful to say directly.

·Happily obliging, you're touched by how he smiles at every little sketch, and feel compelled to explain that he's a big part of why you love drawing here. You try to see beauty in everything, even what often gets overlooked, and there's so very much of that here. The bar is one of those places that everyone knows is special, but you know he's the reason they love it like they do, and that his enthusiasm and hard work hold it all together. You find that inspiring, and actually quite beautiful. It doesn't hurt that his brilliant smile is always a treat to sketch.

·Trying to play it cool and totally failing, he doesn't quite hide that he's near to tears when he asks if you'd like to hang some of your work up in the bar, or maybe have a little corner for yourself to draw from. He just doesn't want you getting squished while you sketch, is all! And having a better vantage point is ideal for someone so small! When you accept, he gives you your own human sized accommodations not too far from the heart of the bar, and every so often when you sketch he'll glance up at you absolutely beaming.

[animebw]

Binge-Watching: Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Episodes 16-17

Just a short one tonight, as I’m quite tired. In which we set the stage for things to come, and I lay some love on Yang the Man.

Setting the Stage

You know, it’s funny; as dry and stiff as this show is, it’s also surprisingly intense on a regular basis. Even outside the big space fights, the political machinations and ongoing civil unrest means there’s usually some form of tension playing out before us. Consider that one more point in this show’s favor for how well it’s able to keep my attention. But every long epic needs its downtime, and these two episodes are the biggest breather we’ve gotten in a while. Not much conflict occurs, and the focus is primarily on setting up upcoming conflicts and shifting the status quo around to prepare for arcs to come. Thankfully, they’re still plenty interesting in their own right, and the pieces they’re setting up are gonna be pretty interesting once things really get going. So let’s take a page from the show’s book and relax a bit as we catalogue all the interesting, meaningful, and otherwise important developments that occur in the eye of the storm here:

-Following the last battle, most of the Alliance war council has resigned in disgrace. Sadly, that also includes military officers who were against this foolhardy expedition in the first place, making it all the more important that Yang stay in this mess so at least someone in the army has the right idea. To that end, he’s been stationed as captain of Iserlohn fortress, which is a pretty sweet promotion!

-Reinhard’s also jumped quite a bit up the promotion ladder. The Kaiser has passed away, and the throne is taken up by his five-year-old grandson. Reinhard, newly a marquis, will assist as the boy’s mentor figure alongside a couple other nobles until he’s old enough to rule himself. And if real world history is anything to go by, a child king being puppeted by self-serving nobles isn’t gonna lead anywhere good.

-On the bright side, though, Reinhard finally has enough power to protect his sister! Huzzah!

-We learn there’s a religious extremist cult in the Alliance dedicated to reclaiming Earth (or Terra, as it’s called), currently under Empire control, as humanity’s ancestral homeland. Also, the leader of that neutral city-state Fezzan seems to be working for that cult’s founder, which is... less than ideal.

-Yang and Siegfried finally meet face to face! And it’s absolutely delightful, from everyone thirsting after Sieg to Sieg striking up friendly banter with Yang and Julian. I really like how despite being mortal enemies, Yang and Reinhard’s squads can’t help but respect each other and ponder over the possibility of being friends. I’m already looking forward to the day Yang and Reinhard themselves finally meet.

-Reinhard’s next ploy is to sneak double agents into the Alliance with a mass-POW exchange to destabilize things, making sure the Alliance can’t attack while he solidifies his own political position among the nobles. Not the most ethical ploy, but at least he gets kudos for treating his own returned POWs with utmost respect and putting all the blame for their capture on their incompetent commanders, where it belongs. Even if he’s just doing it to shore up their support, that’s still a bro move.

Yang for Mayor

Well, it’s official: I really like Yang Wen-Li. He was low-key my favorite character from the start, but these couple episodes really drive home what a boon he is to Legend of the Galactic Heroes. In a way, he does to the show what he does to the Alliance military; he undercuts the stuffy formalism and lets you just have fun. He’s got no shortage of instantly iconic quotes, from cutting observations on the nature of war and peace (”Military is nothing more than a tool. A tool that should never be used. Remember that, and try to be as harmless a tool as you can.”) to snarky asides poking fun at himself good-naturedly( ”If I had a gun, do you think I could hit what I shot at?”). There’s a fantastic moment where he and Julian rush out of the returned-POW ceremony, and as he hurries past a monitor of some politician spewing guilt-trip propaganda to press the POWs back into service, he casually spins it like a carousel just for the hell of it. It’s such a perfect little character beat, highlighting how flippant he feels towards the military machine and how unafraid he is to spit in its face as a matter of course. And that doesn’t keep him from being plenty serious himself when the situation demands is, such as when he considers how the value of human life is weighed against supposedly “greater” causes when it comes to starting and ending wars. Bottom line, he’s just a really fun character, and his mere presence goes a long way toward keeping Legend of the Galactic Heroes from suffocating under its own overwhelming dryness. I raise a glass of brandy to you, my good sir.

Odds and Ends

-Huh, I actually disagree with Kirchies here. Bittenfield messed up and cost Reinhard a lot, some kind of punishment feels warranted.

-It is so unfortunate that this guy’s name is literally one letter removed from being Commander Shithole.

-OKAY BUT THIS IS LITERALLY JUST EMPEROR PALPATINE GOD DAMMIT SHOW

-”When you let someone get promoted without considering the consequences, you get corrupted day by day.” *stares at Reinhard*

-Ooh, that’s a cool way to introduce this Lynch guy. Transition from the Alliance talking about his cowardice to Lynch himself justifying his actions to the Empire.

-Veeeeeery sinister sunset shadows here.

-”You’ve crossed the line, Oberstein!” Lmao, Reinhard really doesn’t let anyone talk shit about his boyfriend, does he?

-What’s with pre-2000s sci-fi and multi-level chess games?

-Huh, I think this is the first time this show has pulled away from a conversation to build mystery around what the characters are planning together. Interesting.

Looks like shit’s gonna go down next time. See you then!

[dolly--milk]

I have this very specific headcanon for Prince Lear from Pokemon Masters 

I think one of the many reasons I appreciate Lear is because I feel there’s a lot going on in the back of his mind that doesn’t translate well when he communicates to others. I do think he does display some kind of bratty and arrogant character but I don’t think that’s genuinely him and it’s some kind of buffer in the way he communicates… if that makes sense. 

Anyways I don’t want to romanticize when people have conditions but I genuinely thought about this a lot that I HC that Lear has OCPD for a number of reasons and after reading some stuff about how people with OCPD act. I feel Lear’s perfectionism, stubbornness and lack of emotional connection to others has a lot to do with him having to deal with a different mindset. 

What are the symptoms of OCPD?

• Excessive devotion to work that impairs social and family activities: I think he’s been primed to be very dedicated to fulfill that huge responsibility and line of work as a leader of his country and the overall weight of being royalty. Whether it’s political affairs of his country, perfecting himself for battling, developing and improving upon Pasio and the league, his work schedule heavily out weighs any downtime for friends or family.

• Excessive fixation with lists, rules and minor details: There’s not too much we can see from this cause there’s not a lot of world building for Lear outside of interacting with him as a rival, but he seems to be especially riled up about other elements in battle if it’s unconventional. He seems to be personally offended for people using sync pair moves in battle as it’s unauthentic to the typical rules and he doesn’t understand why emotional bonds with your Pokemon benefit strategy. 

He also seems to be especially hung over minor details, and I feel that continuously repeats in his mind leaving him so irritable and hot headed. Whether it’s the player or others not remembering his name or recognizing his status, or how he continuously mulls over his failures as if they’re catastrophic. Like how he constantly wants to improve to make up for losing to Red or Scottie/Bettie. I feel when he communicates to others about being snide, it’s not just about being arrogant but if things feel ‘off’ he’s going to spite others for being ‘off’.

• Perfectionism that interferes with finishing tasks: Mulling over minor details adds into that huge personality trait of perfectionism. I feel he’s so focused on battling the ‘right’ way and the traditional way that he’s blind sided that there’s so many other elements to battling. I think this perfectionism creates a lot of tunnel vision for him in different parts of his life; not necessarily leading to unfinished tasks, but that he lacks an open mind and perspective, because he’s stuck on traditional rules and reason.

• Rigid following of moral and ethical codes: Hence what I said previously. I think also when growing up with a royal family, there’s a lot of small things that you’re supposed to do right or wrong, and if you don’t follow those formalities you aren’t fit to be a Prince. So I feel that’s a foundation that’s been wired into him but his mentality that’s that up a high notch.

• Unwillingness to assign tasks unless others perform exactly as asked: Lear’s very independent because he has that perfectionist mind set that he’s the only one capable of doing things right. You can also see in the game that he’s unwilling to reach out to Sawyer and Rachel more often for help. Or in those scenes when dealing with Team Break, he doesn’t thank the player for helping and he’d much prefer to handle those affairs by himself. Exception that I don’t think he displays cause I don’t see any reason to back it up for his character:  • Lack of generosity; extreme frugality without reason • Hoarding behaviours Also an additional note, it’s hard to diagnose people with OCPD and for a lot of them to reach out for help for cognitive therapy because many of them don’t think they have a problem to begin with. There’s a lot of strengths that come with people that have OCPD too, they’re high achieving, loyal and they’re reliable, but of course their shortcomings are present. Anyways I adore Prince Lear a lot and I feel I’d have a lot more patience for him than other trainers on Pasio if I saw him irl.  

[noblecrumpet-dorkvision]

Downtime on the Road

Whenever travel happens in D&D, there's rarely any NPCs to talk to and most encounters you fight in are random. Nevertheless, it's a great time to develop your character and interact with the other players' characters. At least once during travel, perhaps after a combat session or when passing a landmark, try to have your character do something meaningful. A GM can't tell your character how to think and act (charm spells aside) so it's up to you to have meaningful feelings and actions between other players.

Here are some things you can do on the road during downtime:

Adventuring Essentials

Scout the area. Perhaps you will find dangers before they find the party. Be sure to bring a buddy!

Hunt or gather food. Rations can be costly and heavy to carry on long trips, so this will help ease those burdens. Plus, it's a great way to get XP if you happen upon dangerous game.

Help set up camp. You could build a shelter for the party in case of rain or treacherous terrain or temperatures. You could gather wood and build a fire, set out bedrolls, cook food, tie up and feed the mounts.

Do maintenance: Sharpen your weapons or make minor repairs to your gear. Something most people don't think about is how much maintenance goes into all those blades, boots, straps, bags, clothes, and pouches during the eternal hiking trip that is adventuring.

Converse

About the adventure. Solidify what your plans are for the future once you get where you're going. Remind yourselves why you're questing.

About the past. Ask your allies about their past, especially those who haven't opened up yet. If they aren't ready to talk that's fine, but at least you tried. You can also tell your allies a story about your own past, even if it's just a silly anecdote or throwaway line. "This is like that time when I stopped that giant octopus harassing the docks!"

About motivations. Ask allies why they decided to become adventurers, or explain why you became one yourself.

About friends and family. Confide in a party member about your loved ones and where they are now. Maybe this is essential to your character, maybe not.

About fears. Confide in a party member about your worries and regrets. You can also ask a party member how they're doing, especially if they just experienced something extreme.

About pastimes. Talk about what you do for fun or ask others what they like to do.

Work and Play

Learn a new spell. If you're a spellcaster, start experimenting with new spells you intend to learn at your next level. A wizard would need to do research and plenty of experiments. A sorcerer might try to push the limits of their innate power. A warlock might need to implore their patron for new spells. A bard might have to write a new song. Divine casters might seek stronger miracles.

Practice religion. If you are a very spiritual or religious character/class, observe that. Pray to your deity for guidance. Perform a ceremony or ritual to protect you and your allies on the road.

Learn new skills. Show off a new trick you learned from a recent level-up, or train for something you will learn at your next level. If your sneak attack dice improve, maybe you learn some new takedown. If you're about to get an extra attack, you could spar with your allies to get faster.

Try out new items. Unless you have a dedicated caster with Identify prepared, you may need to figure out what unknown magic items do by just flat-out using them. Just be careful about targeting your allies. On the other hand, if you already know what an item does you might want to just test it out.

Play music. Sing or play a song using your proficiency in a musical instrument. Unless you're a bard, when else will you have the chance to play? Perhaps it will lift everyone's morale.

Play games. Use your proficiency with a gaming set to play with other party members. Perhaps you can gamble some of your hard-earned loot with them as well.

Practice your trade. Work on projects with your artisan's tools. Maybe you can make repairs to the party's carriage using carpenter's tools, or make a small landmark using mason's tools, or repair armor using a large rock as an anvil with smith's tools. Even if the result doesn't have a mechanical benefit, it still has merit for roleplaying. Besides, you don't want your adventures to dull your skills!

[monstersdownthepath]

Spiritual Spotlight: Valmallos, the Answering Rite

Lawful Neutral Primal Inevitable of Ceremonies, Magic, and Preparation

Domains: Law, Magic, Rune, Water Subdomains*: Inevitable, Rites, Legislation, Ice

Concordance of Rivals, pg. 19

Obedience: Spend 1 hour refining existing prayers, rituals, and spells by adding additional movements, verses, and diagrams. Benefit: Gain a +4 sacred or profane bonus on skill checks to cast a ritual.

(*IMPORTANT NOTE: The Subdomains are my best guess; Subdomains are not listed in Concordance of Rivals. Anywhere! ... Also, Water??? Really? This is like the third deity that has nothing to do with water getting the Water Domain. I would replace it with the Knowledge Domain, Education Subdomain.)

Easy enough to do! You can focus on one at a time or do multiple alterations in one go, and you don’t even have to really carry anything with you, given how it doesn’t say you have to actually write down your... “Refinements.”

If there’s one problem I have with this Obedience, it’s that adding things to an existing work is not “refining” it, Valmallos. The word you’re looking for is “complicating,” especially if the work in question already works fine. Now, if you were shaving them down and making them less complex, THAT would be refining! And it’s especially glaring if your character doesn’t really know that many rituals, prayers, spells, etc etc etc because you’d just be very thoroughly scrombling up a perfectly good and operational hymn.

Since this Obedience is so simple to do (based on how it’s written, the alterations you make don’t even have to be particularly good), how about talking a bit on how well it fits Vallamalla here? You see, Val is the reason so many spells--especially higher-level ones--have restrictive component requirements. All those wild gestures and inane babbling you have to do to cast spells? Many of them were developed by the Answering Rite as a method of keeping them out of the hands of people ‘unworthy’ to wield such power. Valhalla dislikes it when people use magic as a toy or for trivial matters (the killjoy probably despises Prestidigitation) and believes it should only be used in accordance with one’s needs or goals, not just for willy-nilly inconveniences. Thus, spell components block off any but the most dedicated.

It hasn’t really stopped Wizards from using magic for trivial pursuits anyway, but y’know.

The benefit is... low-tier. Rituals by design are often far too slow and clunky for use in anything but player downtime (click the link to see all rituals currently available!), and their effects can usually be replicated with regular spellwork anyway. They’re mostly made so non-magical NPCs can still pull off magic and that cults can be a legitimate threat even when made of rank-and-file grunts with knives and robes. For a player to use ritual casting the ritual has got to be something special and unique... meaning it’ll probably be used once, for the sake of the plot. Plus, then there’s the annoyance of finding them in the first place, since they can’t be learned like a normal spell can. At the very least, a +4 to every single skill check you use to cast the ritual is a good benefit if you DO end up regularly casting them.

Boons are gained slowly, gained at levels 12, 16, and 20. Servants of the Monitors, though, can enter the Proctor Prestige Class as early as level 8. If entered as early as possible, you can earn your Boons at levels 10, 14, and 16. You MUST take the Monitor Obedience feat, NOT Deific Obedience. Monitors grant only a single set of Boons.

Boon 1: Enduring Magic. Gain Protection From Chaos 3/day, False Life 2/day, or Arcane Concordance 1/day.

False Life is a spell that I would never prepare, but would be happy to just have. It grants 1d10+Level (max +10) temporary HP that lasts for 1 hour/level, plenty of HP to survive one powerful attack or a lot of smaller ones... If you roll lucky. If you don’t, you may just end up with 11 extra HP.

It’s not worth if if you consider the power that Protection From Chaos and Arcane Concordance supply. ProFroCho stops Chaotic creatures in their tracks and protects the enchanted victim from even being touched, halting not only Proteans, but Demons and Azata. Arcane Concordance is also a VERY powerful spell, granting +1 DC to the saves of ALL spells cast within its area and allowing anything within its effect to automatically apply Enlarge Spell, Extend Spell, Silent Spell, or Still Spell Metamagic for free, though it’s painfully limited in two ways; one, its area of effect is a meager 10ft bubble around you. Two, the material component is a spent wand; wands are expensive!

However, as a spell-like, Arcane Concordance requires no components! And since the Proctor is a caster, you can benefit from your own power! AND forming a Hug Zone around yourself for all ally casters. With sufficient protection from enemies that would take advantage of such tightly-clustered treats, you can turn yourself into a powerful artillery platform... Plus there’s also the beautiful little detail about being able to use Arcane Concordance to give nearby allies Still or Silent Spell (but not both!) so they can cast even if you’re all tied up and being escorted to prison! 

Boon 2: Overwhelming Intricacy. When you cast a spell or spell-like ability whose casting time is at least 10 minutes, you increase the DC of saving throws to resist that spell by 1. If the spell's casting time is at least 1 hour, you instead increase the DC by 2.

Strokes my chin thoughtfully... Alright, alright, I see you. Power up your Nightmares and your various Symbol spells. Make it harder for called creatures to resist your Planar Bindings, and make your Glyphs of Warding harder to avoid. This is a decent bonus if you’re planning on setting traps for your enemies... Which is the opposite of what the players are usually doing, making this Boon powerful in the hands of NPCs but unattractive for players. +1 DC may not seem like a lot, and in truth it’s not, but it’s an untyped bonus that stacks with everything else you do, which counts for something.

The second portion of this Boon is much harder to take advantage of than the first, as spells which take an hour to cast that ALSO require a saving throw are rare... However, the biggest primary example of such a spell just so happens to be SCRYING, one of the most powerful tools a player can get their hands on, to the point that a side who doesn’t have it and takes no steps to protect themselves from it is the side destined to lose. Slapping an extra +2 to its DC, for free, is a big enough deal to make my opinion of this ability turn from a thumb-to-the-side to a thumbs up. What REALLY buffers this power, though, is the final Boon...

Boon 3: Sophisticated Symbols. 1/day you can cast a Symbol spell (such as Symbol of Persuasion) of 7th level or lower as a spell-like ability without needing material components, but the casting time is increased to 1 hour.  Alternatively, you can use this ability 1/day to eliminate any Symbol spell's material component by increase its casting time to 1 hour. You can maintain only a single Symbol spell created with this ability, and using this ability again causes the first Symbol to dissipate.

hhOOOOOOHHHHHH MAN

Alright even the most mobile of players will want to take a seat for an hour to scribe out the Symbol spells. Even with the level 7 restriction, that still means you can use the niche Symbols of Mirroring, Healing, Revelation, Scrying, Sleep, Striking, Persuasion, Sealing, as well as the heavier-hitting Symbols of Debauchery, Laughter, Slowing, Pain, Fear, Stunning, and Weakness. Carrying the thing around on a slat of wood covered by a tarp is a viable tactic, by the by, just don’t go throwing the thing like a frisbee since it’s debatable if Symbols can be used offensively like that. Depending on your DM’s answer, this ability could be anything from “outstanding” to “game-breaking,” though I’m sure allowing you to throw a single bouncy ball engraved with a Symbol of Laughter is something the DM will only allow once.

The biggest limiting factor for Symbols is often their incredibly costly material components, going anywhere from 500 to 15,000gp, a hefty order for the average player character to fill out day after day. But Sophisticated Symbols removes the draining of your bank account, and though you can only sustain one Symbol at a time, carrying Symbol of Slowing, Weakness, or Stunning into a fight with you, or using it to guard a location while you’re away, is still fantastic.

And if you can already cast Symbol spells, such as the higher-level Symbols of Death, Dispelling, Insanity (engrave that on a bouncy ball for extra fun), Vulnerability, and ESPECIALLY Symbol of Strife, this ability turns them from ‘use once in a great while’ to ‘exploit every day.’ And guess what? Extending the casting time to 1 hour means Overwhelming Intricacy kicks in, giving them a +2 DC to their saving throws. Nice! It’s almost good enough to help you ignore the fact that Vanhalen is kind of a jerk.

You can read more about him here.

[mentoringlosangele-blog]

Mentoring Children

All moms and dads wish that their children will grow up healthy, satisfied, and effective. They desire to have children who have the skills to contribute to their very own wellness and to the health of their households as well as neighborhood. There is no magic bullet for developing these capabilities in youngsters. Actually countless programs have been created to support families in their efforts to assist youngsters in ending up being skilled, confident, caring youths that have favorable social links and also great personalities.

 Youngsters have the prospective to prosper in life as well as add to the culture. Nevertheless, not all youngsters get the assistance they need to prosper. By all price quotes, a remarkable 17.6 million youngsters - almost half the populace between 10 and also 18 years old - live in circumstances that place them in danger of not measuring up to their capacity. Without instant treatment by caring grownups, they might make choices that undermine their futures. The existence of caring grownups providing assistance, guidance, friendship, reinforcement as well as useful examples has verified to be effective tools for aiding youths to satisfy their capacity.

 Mentoring is an organized and trusting relationship that brings youngsters together with caring individuals who offer guidance, assistance as well as support focused on developing the capability and also the character of the mentee. A coach is an adult that, in addition to the parents, helps young people draw out stamina that is already there. They are excellent audiences, compassionate as well as instruct youngsters just how to live an ethical life. A coach is not a foster mom and dad, specialist, parole policeman, or trendy peer. The duty of a coach is not to "deal with" youngsters however rather help them attain their full possibility. Imposing skills, self-confidence, link, personality, caring, as well as contribution to self as well as society, aid establish a child into an effective and respectful adult in later years.

 A coach's major purpose is to help a young adult specify specific goals as well as locate the means to attain them. Given that the assumptions of each child will differ, the coach's work is to motivate the development of a flexible connection that responds to the young person's demands. Using influence and sources as a choice manufacturer, adults can bring new intend to young lives through the power of mentoring. 

A coach urges positive options, promotes high self-esteem, shows respect for oneself and also family, sustains scholastic success, and presents the young person to new ideas. Young people that satisfy regularly with their advisors are 46% less most likely than their peers to start making use of controlled substances as well as 27% much less likely to start consuming alcohol (Public/Private Ventures study of Big Brothers Big Sis).[mentoring programs in Los Angeles] Concerning 40% of teenager's waking hours are invested with no companionship or guidance. Mentors give kids and also teenagers with a valuable place to spend downtime. Children discover to make thoughtful selections, accomplish their dedications, acknowledge their errors and also represent their actions. By taking control of their lives, children understand they can accomplish greater than they ever before fantasized possible.

 I encourage you to think about the coaches in your own life-a trainer, instructor, or one more caring adult, and also take a couple of minutes to consider all the payments they made in your life throughout your creating years. I know throughout my own adult life and also business career, I have been substantially rewarded by years of mentoring youngsters and young people right into effective, happy people that succeed in life. Kids need somebody to believe in them. Many times, kids do not have the attention required to strengthen morals, values as well as self-confidence daily. It makes all the distinction on the planet throughout times of indecision in their lives to have that support. Mentoring develops youngsters into young people who have confidence, decision as well as self-awareness.

 Mentoring is recognized throughout the US as a vital part of a kid's life as well as some states have currently suggested legislation to the Us senate. The Coalition of State Mentoring Partnerships has worked very closely with the Capitol Hill team and Legislators to advocate this legislation. The Mentoring for All Act 2008 (S. 3200) is one of the most significant legislation activities to benefit mentoring. Please call; send emails or letters to your Legislators advising support for the bill.