#angular version comparison

[scoobit9]

Huge fucking Jooster dump you know the drill

[assassiowl]

Outer Wilds - Owlk Undertale pixel animation - sprite update Process notes below - breaking down a sprite and how it feeds into my learning decisions:

I really liked this original sprite, at the time I thought it was really cool and captured the feeling I wanted to go for. With a sprite update, it's great to keep the original idea in tact. So going off of that, I wanted to see if I could make it more threatening overall and fix up some issues that were present. 1. Antlers This is a form and anatomy issue - based on how the antler is attached, it looks like it bends backwards, when you pair it with the left side, it makes the bird feel a little less scary. It clashes with the spikey, angular antlers and has a competing feeling. By turning the new antlers into a focal point, I exaggerated them to make them be extremely noticeable. It's wide, thick and intimidating. The big block of white draws the eye. This happens due to the size and the simplicity. The rest of the sprite has a lot more detail, so the thing that sticks out most is the least detailed part. You can achieve the same by reversing this, for example having simple clothes and extra detail around the head. 2. Left arm It's not particularly bad, it's just a bit idle and plain in comparison to the rest. I brough this in by rotating it, adding some claws and bolstered the intimidation by exaggerating the muscles. Checking for areas that don't really fit the mood is more of an emergent issue.

3. Feet Something that stood out was the weight behind the foot. I gave the sprite a grounded feeling. The issue was the shaky anatomy, since I didn't really know how to draw it from this front facing angle. I wanted to emphasise this weight factor, in the animated version the planted feet are the only static part. It's subtler in pixel art, but you can add a little bit of foreshortening to make it seem like it's stepping forward. 4. Ambiguous parts One of the most important things for pixel are is having a readable form. If you can read the silhouette when it's all painted in black, even when you add in details, it will really help keeping the form. I adjusted the mass so the bulk is now centered around this central torso and shuffled some of the leg positioning to be a bit clearer what is going on. 5. Right hand Hands are hard, sometimes it's about are you able to make it look passable, and it's ok. As you learn more things get easier, and you can start envisioning and making changes with intent instead of winging it. I went with a closed hand position, almost like it is grabbing, with this monochrome style it can be a little tricky to define form properly, or you end up with far too much going on. So I simplified this area with the power of suggestion to lift up this part. We can't explicitly see what it's grabbing onto, but that isn't necessary. This vague star shape moves in unison with the hand with a clutching motion, so we can tell it's holding -something- to imply a handle without explicitly drawing it.

6. Expression The face will make or break a sprite. You can tell SO much with just moving a couple of pixels. It's really evident when you are working with an iris on the whites of an eye, shifting it one pixel will change the entire vibe. In this case, I opted to simplify the whole head area, removing a lot of the dithering on the cheek and instead pushing the texture onto an elongated neck. I'll take on a reflection process after each piece to address what I like and don't like, making notes on what I should work on next. It's a really helpful exercise, especially if you can be specific as to what is happening with each issue. I'm a big fan of pixel art, the small canvas forces you to think about these things very concretely - it's using a magnifying glass to see which aspects are falling behind. So looking at this final one, I feel like I was compressing the torso a lot, and ended up with a much more compact design - which sometimes is the goal, especially if you're working within constraints for a game. Since I'm not working on it for a specific project, I'd then consider just using a taller canvas next time to allow more breathing room. My head is a bit more chaotic than this though. Pixel art let's me get those ideas out quickly - it's like thumbnailing or sketching.

[electrozeistyking]

Hi, I really like making little personalized references for characters I like when I get into things! I do this to figure out how I wanna draw them, and is a recent-ish development that I haven’t done a lot, but I really like character design and thinking about them! So I made some for Siffrin. How fun!

DO NOTE THAT THIS WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR LATER PARTS OF THE GAME. I did obviously tag it as such for the sake of others and it will be further down, but I figured I’d still warn you just in case. <:3

Now, without further ado, here’s “reference one!”

I’m personally gonna be using this in conjunction with Siffrin’s actual reference sheet (which I refer to as “notes” in mine!!) to make sure he look his best! I also wanted to make sure they’re “in line with canon,” yet still in my style and in a way I can be proud of.

Which isn’t that hard, since I’m usually always proud of my own work. I just like my own stuff. <:3

Due to the brim of his hat allegedly being bean-shaped (teehee), I thought it’d be fun if I carried that over to his torso/body. It’s not noticeable with a cloak in the way, nor when Siffrin’s standing straight up. Basically, the bean shape would only be revealed in certain poses.

(Coming up with that also made me say “Whoops! All beans!” out loud about Siffrin, btw.)

Additionally, I like giving characters is their own set of fangs. One character I draw has a gap between them and the rest of their teeth, one has prominent ones to make them more cat like on purpose — and for Siffrin, I decided to give them rounded ones.

I usually make fangs razor sharp, because I really like big ol chompers like that, so them being round is definitely a very unique thing for Siffrin to have. Well, at least at first.

I’m also a really big fan of certain design elements sticking around after something wild happens to characters… which brings us to “reference two.”

Well, if you’re not gonna be able to find any good references for this version of Siffrin, you might as well make your own, right??

The major thing I wanted to do with this Siffrin was to have him still feel like himself, but also give him somewhat of a unique design in comparison — by playing up elements I noticed during this scene.

Making this Siffrin feel as giant as they are was important to me. I went ahead and made their hat, face, hair and cloak longer. Made their shoulders broader, had them hunch over so they’d practically loom over everyone. Trying to appear smaller while still being an obstacle. Wanting everyone to stay here. Wanting their family.

I noticed that a lot of Siffrin’s hair seemed a lot more angular here, so I felt it crucial to use those shapes, but going a couple steps further and using them for his face as well… primarily his mouth and chin, of course. Which meant replacing those rounded fangs I gave him with a full set of sharper ones.

(I also wanted them to look like they’re too big for Siffrin’s mouth, so two of them — well, four? — will always peek out/fall past their lower lip. It’s like their teeth are not a comfortable fit whatsoever and it makes talking feel weird, but they manage.)

(They stick around after Siffrin “reverts back” or whatever we’re calling it. He never gets his round fangs back, but at least the ones he has now serve as a reminder that he got to the end. Might take some getting used to, though.)

(I also tried making their brows look a bit more angular? Can’t tell if they really come across that way.)

ANYWAY, I THINK I SHOULD STOP HAHAHA. I could go on and on all day, but I got other things to do and I think I’ve already explained enough! Just know that I get a kick out of putting love and care into character thoughts and designs. <:3

[ellebellewritesfic]

The Archer

For Day 2 of @empyreanevents Bodhi week: Prompt is Mirrors.

Thank you to my darling @theoppositequeens and Cassie for the beta 🥰

Read on AO3 here.

---

Then I hate my reflection, for years and years 

They always said he looked just like Xaden. It was never “oh, don’t they look alike” – no. It was always him that looked like Xaden. 

As if he was never his own person, just a poor reflection. 

As if being born with the same storm-dark eyes, the same angular jaw, the same too-serious eyebrows meant he was lucky. 

As if resembling Xaden Riorson was a gift and not a curse that trailed him through every room like a ghost he’d never invited.

It started when he was young – innocuous, almost flattering. Adults would pat his curls and tell him he’d grow into a spitting image of his cousin, as if that were a compliment he should be proud to wear. And at first, he was. Because who wouldn’t want to be like Xaden Riorson? Tall, smart, already brooding at twelve like he knew the world owed him grief. 

He’d been nine the first time someone called him “mini-Riorson.” He’d laughed then, awkward and proud all at once, because Xaden was older and cooler and terrifying in the way all the strongest people were. 

But as Bodhi grew older, and his own edges tried to form, he realised no one ever saw him. They only saw the shadow cast by someone else. “Budget Riorson,” someone snorted in the mess hall once, and even though they’d said it too quietly to be brave enough to repeat, Bodhi had heard it. Of course he had. He heard everything when it came to Xaden.

It was whispered in sparring courts, muttered in lecture halls. A punchline in low voices. He laughed along with them once, just once, but it rang bitter in his mouth like old blood. He was tired of being Xaden-lite, the watered-down version of something great, someone extraordinary. Because what was Bodhi, really, if not a reminder that he wasn’t that Riorson?

It wasn’t Xaden’s fault. Not really. He never invited the comparisons. But that didn’t stop them. Didn't stop the weight of being the lesser reflection in a world that only valued the original. 

In the mirrors scattered across Basgiath – polished steel in the washrooms, the reflective glass of the war college’s high windows – he’d catch a glimpse of himself and for a heartbeat, it would be Xaden’s profile he saw. That same dark hair, those brows, that tilt of the mouth when he was thinking too hard, the hint of a scar on his eyebrow. And for a heartbeat, Bodhi would stand a little taller. For a heartbeat, he could believe he might be more.

Then the mirror would shift, the light would change, and he’d see it wasn’t Xaden at all – it was him – just Bodhi – and somehow that was worse. Because there was always something not quite right about it.

Not quite tall enough.

Not quite commanding enough.

Not quite anything enough.

He wanted to be himself. He wanted to be seen. But instead, he felt like a bootleg copy – an echo, not a person. He didn’t have Xaden’s command of a room. Didn’t have the same searing charisma or calculated brilliance. Didn’t radiate leadership with a single glance. All Bodhi had was... what? A quick wit, a decent sword arm, a strange emptiness where desire was supposed to live.

So Bodhi would stare into the old, cracked mirror in his barracks dormitory, sometimes for minutes at a time wondering who it was staring back at him this time –  fingers brushing the line of his jaw as if willing it to shift. He’d tilt his head, squint, bite his lip, even pull faces – trying to see himself. But some days all he could ever see was Xaden. The sharper version. The better version.

And Gods, didn’t that just make something ugly twist in his gut.

It wasn’t only his appearance that betrayed him. The pressure to act like Xaden, to fight like him, to lead like him, clung to Bodhi like a second skin. He tried. Oh, gods, he tried.

He trained harder, spoke less, held his tongue in strategy meetings just enough to be seen as thoughtful instead of uncertain. But there was always the comparison. Always someone who’d raise an eyebrow when he did something slightly different and murmur, “Well, Xaden would’ve done it this way.”

And that was the problem, wasn’t it? He wasn’t Xaden. He didn’t want to be Xaden. But he didn’t know who else to be, because the moment he stepped even slightly outside the silhouette his cousin had left behind, people didn’t know what to do with him.

They called it confidence when Xaden was quiet. They called it confusion when Bodhi did the same.

And relationships? Relationships were just another mirror that showed him what he wasn’t.

He’d tried – really tried – when people flirted with him, when they asked if he wanted to meet up, grab drinks, see what happened. He’d gone along with it, assuming that maybe he just hadn’t found the right person, the right spark. But every time it felt wrong, awkward, off. Like playing a role in a play he hadn’t rehearsed for.

He told himself it was nerves. Told himself he was too focused on training, on the rebellion, on surviving. But the truth was harder. The truth was, he didn’t get it. The pull. The need. The way others looked at each other like they were planets and stars aligning. He’d look at someone and think, they’re nice, and I like their mind, and they’re kind to me, but never I want them.

No, Bodhi just didn’t understand relationships. Not the way everyone else seemed to. Not the way Garrick did, swaggering out of a different bed every week with a smirk and no consequences. Not the way Xaden did either, with his ironclad loyalty to Violet – a connection that burned like wildfire even when they didn’t speak. Bodhi didn’t get it. Romance didn’t make sense to him. The idea of sex felt like a puzzle missing all the corner pieces, something he was supposed to want but could never quite reach for without recoiling.

He’d tried, once. Kissed a girl at a celebration feast when he was fifteen, her laugh sweet and her mouth warmer than he’d expected. But he’d felt nothing. No spark. No rush. Just an odd sense of obligation and a creeping guilt that maybe there was something wrong with him.

Because Xaden, with all his brooding and storm-wrapped energy, still managed to connect with people. Somehow, everyone wanted Xaden. His anger made people lean in. Bodhi’s made them flinch.

It was like staring into a mirror and seeing your face twisted into someone else’s and knowing that no matter how hard you scrub, you’ll never wash them off.

He hated that.

He hated that his reflection felt like a stranger who wore his skin like a borrowed coat. Hated that when he looked in the mirror, he saw everything he wasn’t instead of everything he was.

And gods help him – he’d hated his reflection, for years and years.

He wanted to be seen. Not as Riorson-adjacent. Not as a spare part. Just… Bodhi. He wanted someone to say his name and mean him, not the shadow of his cousin, not the distorted echo.

He started avoiding mirrors after a while. They became reminders of everything he lacked. His reflection stared back at him with all the features of a Riorson and none of the substance. He'd walk past polished glass or the shimmer of a metal tray and catch the shape of his cheekbones, the slash of his brows, and feel his stomach drop. Because for one half-second, he thought it was Xaden. And then he’d remember it wasn’t. It was just him. Just Bodhi. The echo. The knock-off. The spare.

Who would stay for him?

Because no matter how much he trained, no matter how loyal he stayed, no matter how hard he tried to carve a space for himself in the long, jagged shadow of rebellion and war, he never felt real. Never felt like enough.

No matter how hard he tried, the mirrors always seemed to find him – in glasses, in knife blades, in the reflection of ice shards that Ridoc made, in the polished surface of Cuir’s scales. And they all seemed to ask the same question: If you’re not Xaden… then who are you?

And Bodhi never quite had the answer to that.

[fr34k0n4l345h]

Easy Come, Easy Go

A Marble Hornets 1920’s au fic

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Chapter Three — Moonbeams

Just how many years had passed since he last saw that face? Frankly, Jay had lost count. The version of Alex tucked safely away with the rest of his most sacred memories paled in comparison to the one before him. His soft features had grown angular and hard. His hair, which had once been overgrown and swooped across his broad forehead, was now tidy and combed back. Even his skin, which he fondly recalled as sun-kissed and littered with innocent bruises from days spent in the Alabamian vegetation, lacked much hue at all. The figure that stood apart from him wasn’t the Alex that he knew and came to love— the same one that mended his heart before shattering it into a million pieces— but merely a cast of what once existed, warped by success and money. Jay was acutely aware of how time affected people, however that didn’t stop his lanky hands from trembling at the sight of him.

”What are you waiting for, boy? Go on, get the good stuff, you know where it is. Be quick with it, c’mon!” Mr. Murphy eagerly encouraged the bartender. At once, the world around him resumed. Fabric moved, music danced in the air, glasses sparkled. Jay’s lashes fluttered in a desperate attempt to rehydrate the orbs behind his eyelids. At once, he spun on his heel and dipped past the swinging doors behind the bar stand. It was nothing more than a dimly lit walk-in pantry with walls lined with shelves filled to the brim with smuggled alcoholic goods. Blue eyes scanned the labels that surrounded him until he found the one he was looking for. He stood on the very tips of his toes in order to pull the highly sacred auburn liquid from its high shelf.

Jay examined the bottle in his hands. Real McCoy Rum; some of the most expensive stuff on the black market. His boss only brought it out when a person of high status visited the establishment. It felt surreal to be holding this bottle with the knowledge that it was his childhood best friend being served this highly sought over beverage. Who was he to make comments? He was just the bartender.

He pushed past the pantry doors, which swung shut behind him with a low groan. To his surprise, a familiar face stood on the other side of the counter. He was grinning ear to ear with his signature toothy grin and chatting up a storm with the bar owner, Mr. Murphy. A grin that charming could swoon a nun. It was none other than Brian, the mysterious bar-goer (and supposed clothesman) from the other night. Their eyes met as he approached the talkative pair.

”Birdie,” Brian called out to him. “We meet again. It’s nice to see you.”

“Likewise.” Jay responded as he approached the bar and placed the bottle of liquor on the polished wooden bar top. He could feel the shadows beneath his eyes hanging heavier than ever. Observant eyes skimmed over the bartender’s thin form. He could feel his gaze— the attention made his skin writhe.

”Pour me a glass of that rum. On the rocks, please.” Brian’s subtle honey accent rang through the air. At that, Jay looked up, an expression of surprise flickering over his face. The customer caught on almost instantaneously.

”Oh, it ain’t for me.” He chuckled. “It’s for the boss.” He jammed a thumb in the direction behind him. The direction of none other than Alex Kralie. If Jay’s body wasn’t currently as stiff as a wooden plank, his jaw would’ve fallen to the floor. Could it be? That this man was the one and only Alex Kralie’s subordinate?

“I see,’’ He responded tentatively. “coming right up.” Muscle memory kicked in. He moved to unscrew the seal at the top of the bottle. His hands moved with quick and fluid motions as he shoveled cubed ice from the bulky ice box just below the counter, then filled a stocky glass. He poured the alcohol overtop, watching as the ice rose and clinked around in the liquid. Jay slid the glass across the table top.

”Thank you. Now, if you could open up a tab for Kralie and write it up, that’d be swell.” Brian requested, his attitude as polite as ever upon taking the chilled drink into his hand. Jay didn’t respond as he grabbed the notepad from his apron to scribble down the tab. Writing the surname felt surreal. It was as if his mind simply refused to accept the fact that he was here.

The bartender looked up from the notepad and watched as Brian left the bar to trail the man clad in luxurious blue. Some things weren’t adding up. Jay wasn’t normally one to believe the hype or rumours that often circulated these spaces. He found them pointless and blatantly ridiculous. The rumour that Brian may be a clothesman seemed even more absurd now. What law enforcer would be the escort or assistant to a man as powerful as Alex Kralie to a place as illegal as Mr. Murphy’s speakeasy? It seemed to be nothing more than an inexcusable desire for drama. At least, that was the easiest explanation to digest.

—

The night carried on as it usually did. The only difference was the glaring elephant across the room; his first love and last heartbreak, dancing with a dame. She was a beauty, that was sure. Her smile was elegant and pristine, illuminating her dainty features each time she laughed. She was your typical feminine heart-throb. Jay could see the appeal. He tried to refrain from staring, but he couldn’t help but be pulled to the attractive couple.

Her husband’s demeanor was.. odd, to say the very least. He didn’t emote more than a smirk. Even then, any show of joy was a rare sight from him. His eyes wandered the room like he was bored. They were dull and devoid of any life or interest; disconnected.

Alex continued to drink. Jay would pour one rum after another, passing it off to Brian each time. It seemed the pit in the business man’s stomach was bottomless. The alcohol didn’t seem to have much effect on the man at all. Not that he could see from a distance, at least. Eventually, the bottle of expensive liquor would run dry. By then, the night had begun to lull to a halt. Frivol customers trickled out of the hidden establishment until the only life that remained were staff, performers, and Alex’s small party.

“C’mon darling, you look tired. We ought to head home.” He overheard the blonde lady say to her husband, who waved her off.

“Go on without me. I need to pay the tab.” Alex would brush her off. The woman parted her lips to speak, but was promptly cut off. “That’s final. Brian, take her home or hail her a taxi for me.”

Upon being called, Brian would appear at the dames side. Her red painted lips downturned in a subtle disheartened pout in clear disapproval of her husband’s choice, but she was submissive. She made no further protest. She linked arms with the assistant and was swiftly escorted towards the staircase that led to the city on the surface. Her eyes lingered on Alex for a few moments before her gaze was inevitably torn away from him. The band left behind them after collecting their tips for the night.

That left three.

Jay could feel his heart begin to race in his chest. He didn’t know where to look, in fear of accidentally recreating the chilling moment he’d experienced when he initially met eyes with Alex. For that reason, he settled for making himself busy with tidying up the bar, ensuring that every glass that had been utilized was cleaned and polished to perfection. Nevertheless, no matter how much he tried to hide from reality, the fact of the matter was that Alex was approaching the bar. There was no escaping now.

”Good evening. I’d like to close out my tab.” An oh-so-familiar voice stopped in front of him. The bartender felt every fiber in his muscles tense. He was shocked at first, like a deer in headlights. Then, all at once, his customer service facade kicked into action.

”Uh, yeah, sure. Let me just..” He reached for the tablet in his apron, all the while avoiding the other man’s gaze. He felt the paper material in his hand and flipped through the pages. “And that’s for..”

”Alex Kralie.” Alex finished his sentence for him.

Jay felt his blood run cold.

Shaky hands turned each individual page until he reached the one he was searching for. All of a sudden, his mouth felt painfully dry. It was as if he’d just swallowed a handful of sand. Jay couldn't deny it; he was terrified. Beyond afraid of looking into those hollow eyes and catching a glimpse of the painful past. He wondered if the man even recognized him— and if he did, what would his reaction be? Disgust? Hatred? Perhaps indifference? He couldn’t make a prediction, but he didn’t look forward to finding out.

He tore the page out of its binding and slid it across the table. The transaction was silent. Alex knew. It was obvious in the way they avoided each other’s gaze like it was poisonous. The money was placed on the counter top. A fat stack of leafy paper. He cleared the imaginary blockage in his throat as he took the cash and turned away to stash it in the register.

“Have a good night.” Alex murmured, nodding his head towards Jay. With that simple acknowledgement, he turned and began to make his way towards the exit.

“Kralie, my friend, where are you going?” Mr. Murphy called out to the man, as chipper as ever. “Please, feel free to stay longer and chat! This establishment ain’t the same without you, don’t you agree Birdie?” A thick arm found its way around Jay’s shoulders, causing him to tense up like a frightened feline. His boss was oblivious to the unaddressed tension between the two.

“I apologize Murphy, but I must be off to take care of some business. Thank you for the service, as always.” Alex dismissed the jolly man and made no attempt to halt in his hurry to leave. With a wave of his hand, he was headed up the steep staircase. Just like that, Alex was gone.

Mr. Murphy deflated a little.

”No worries! Good night to you, sir!“ He sheepishly boomed through the empty establishment. He pulled away from Jay, giving his shoulder a fatherly squeeze before dropping his hand. “Go on and get yourself home, boy. I’ll take care of the finances.”

Jay nodded his head. Before he could even make an attempt to leave, however, Mr. Murphy’s wide frame blocked his path.

“Be careful out there, will ya? I mean it.” Suddenly, that jolly attitude of his melted into one of gentle, genuine concern. It was almost protective in nature. Jay stared into his employer’s green eyes. At that moment, unspoken words were traded. Words of mysteries, murders, and dangers lurking in the city's darkest allies.

“I know. I will, sir. Don’t worry about me.” Jay responded, pressing his lips into a thin line in a half-assed attempt at a smile.

“Good— and make sure to eat more. You’re skin and bones, kid!” The older man exclaimed as the bartender pushed past him. A forced chuckle escaped his parted lips. It wasn’t that he disliked Mr. Murphy’s concern for him. It’s just that he was utterly wiped out. He no longer had the drive nor energy to humor the man.

”Yeah, yeah. I will. See you later, boss.” Jay bid his boss goodbye before traveling up the creaky wooden staircase. He pushed opened the unsuspecting doors that led to a narrow alleyway sandwiched between two unsuspecting businesses. The chilly yet humid Alabamian night air prickled at his exposed skin, causing goosebumps to raise on his forearms and neck. Perhaps he should have brought a jacket.

He hugged himself as he meandered out of the alleyway in a pitiful attempt to shield himself from the cold of the night. A dog barked in the distance, which bounced off of the concrete jungle all around him, making its origin point impossible to detect. It was a full moon tonight. The lamp in the sky acted as a guide on his path.

As he walked, he couldn’t help but think back to his interaction with his childhood best friend. His mannerisms were strange, but Jay couldn’t necessarily blame him for acting awkward. He never seemed like the type to fancy energetic places such as the speakeasy. Perhaps he’d been dragged there against his will by his wife. But, if that were the case, then why did he send her home with his assistant? Just where was he headed in such a hurry? Where in the world could a man like him be off to so early in the morning? The sun hadn’t even begun to peek out from beyond the horizon. It was unlikely that there were any businesses open at this hour. While it was possible he just didn't understand the rituals of a successful entrepreneur, Jay couldn‘t help but feel like there was something funny about the timing of it all.

God, he felt sick to his stomach. He could vividly recall how void Alex’s eyes were as they bore into his own. They seemed lifeless. There was not a hint of emotion behind them; not even an essence of surprise. He just seemed.. tired. Bored, even. Something about his eyes were uncanny. He could feel them even now, creating an uncomfortable crawling sensation down his spine that he could not shake.

A shriek in the distance shook him from his pondering. Like a deer in headlights, he froze, feet planting into the pavement beneath them. Pale blue orbs scanned the empty street before him. The night was still and calm. There was not a hint of life for hundreds of miles. For a moment, Jay wondered if the lack of sleep was finally driving him mad. Then, he heard it again. This time, it was a pathetic cry. He couldn’t make out any words. Human instinct told him it was a person in danger.

For his entire life, Jay hadn’t been the best at staying in his own lane. He was meddlesome— intrusive in many cases. it was a trait of his that he couldn’t escape. Whilst in this moment, human nature screamed at him to turn the other way and run for his life, that curiosity of his pressed him to explore the situation. He gravitated towards danger like a moth to flame. His feet began to move on their own volition, carrying him steadily down the sidewalk.

There was another yelp. This time, he could pick out some words.

“Please, stop!” A masculine voice begged. It sounded weaker than before. Adrenaline coursed through his veins. His feet carried him faster towards the sound.

He stopped just before a large opening between a tailor shop and a café. He could hear the sound of scuffling from down the alleyway, which prompted him to peer his head around the corner. The darkness seemed endless. Past the void, he could hardly make out two figures. One was of substantial height whilst the other was average. There was a visible struggle for a moment. Then, the smaller silhouette slumped to the concrete like a heavy sack of rocks. All was quiet except for the labored breathing of the perpetrator ahead.

Jay watched with wide eyes in awe of what he’d just witnessed. Was this the entity that Brian had warned him of earlier? The one causing family members to vanish or turn up dead? He was petrified, afraid that if he moved then he’d be next.

He knew he couldn’t hide forever.

The figure slowly turned. The moonlight reflected off of a pair of lenses which sat upon the nose of the man. Jay felt his breath catch in his throat. The two were still for a few passing moments. A staredown, daring the other to make the first move. He was fully capable of running, but his legs refused to move. He wanted to disappear into the night atmosphere and escape the apex predator, but his body was frozen.

The sound of soles against pavement sounded, bouncing off of the brick walls of the enclosed area. The figure was so fast, he hardly had the time to process the events that were transpiring before a royal blue sleeve shot out from the shadows and grabbed him by the collar whilst the other pressed something wet and sharp to his throat.

Jay grabbed onto the wrist of the stranger, nails digging into flesh in a futile fight for life. The scent of copper filled his nostrils, causing his empty stomach to churn. But nothing was more sickening than the recognition that filtered in his mind upon seeing the features of the attacker. An angular nose and broad forehead, splattered with remnants of maroon substance, as if Da Vanci himself had flicked a devilish red paint across his face. His lip curled in a snarl like a wolf to its prey. His brows were angled deeply towards his bloodthirsty eyes— eyes he nearly couldn’t identify at first, as they were blinded by an emotion he couldn't quite identify. No amount of hatred could change his memories of those eyes.

“Alex..” Jay whispered, his voice quaking.

Alex faltered. He could feel the grip on the collar of his vest loosen ever so slightly; his crinkled features relaxing if only a little. A brief silence fell between them. The pressure of metal pressed against Jay’s throat began to soften. For the first time that night, he saw emotion flash across Alex’s face. Horror. It was evident that through his haze of violence, humanity peaked through and an epiphany was achieved. The veil lifted.

“Jay..?” Alex’s voice was soft. It was akin to that of a frightened child. God, it made his chest ache. Jay parted his lips to speak, but was promptly interrupted when the hand grasping his clothes shoved him away. He stumbled, nearly losing his footing.

“Alex—“

“Leave. Now.” His voice cut through. Jay could only stare, wide-eyed and in shock. Something was emerging from the end of the alleyway. Something impossibly tall, yet somehow reminiscent of a human’s form. He was hypnotized by its presence.

“Alex, wait—“

“NOW!”

The abrupt incline in volume made him flinch. Alex was cradling his blood painted face in his hands, fingers threading vicariously through his now untamed hair. His shoulders rose and fell with each panicked breath he took. Jay could hear a faint ringing in his ears, accompanied by the rushing of blood pumping through his vessels. He took a few experimental steps backwards. When he determined that his legs were stable enough to run, he took off at the speed of light. The soles of his shoes pounded against the pavement, carrying him away from the crime scene and the sight of Alex Kralie coated in another man’s blood.

As he made his escape, an unmoving figure donned in tan watched the scene unfold from across the street. Witnessing every detail. A single audience member to the shitshow that was Jay’s reality.

[hervygervy]

Welcome back!

I imagine there might not be a whole lot for this one and that's alright, but I wanted to ask if the Japanese version has any more insights into the Aurum that weren't in the English version? Like the bits about coming from nothing, not having free will, all that stuff. I imagine some of this is more idol description type stuff than dialogue but if you want to just look at what's in-game doalogue you can

I don't even know if I deserve such a warm welcome with how long this has taken me to compose...

Thank you for the ask though. Truly. This will be an interesting one because this time, I'll be covering idols very extensively. Previously I've mainly been looking at dialogue...

I covered some of the in-game dialogue pertaining to the Aurum in the Pyrrhon post, but I didn't call too much attention to it so I'll reiterate those points here. Then I'll move onto the idol descriptions.

The "coming from nothing and returning to nothing" is the same in the Japanese version. To compare:

"Lured by destruction and heresy, they are born from nothing and appear to return to nothing."

"Those that swallow the heavens, earth, and sea--they are the Aurum. They travel across the galaxy!"

As for free will, there's no evidence of that either. To compare:

"But I don't sense any kind of willpower [from them]."

For context, this is from the beginning of the ground portion of chapter 15. Both conversations go about the same, with the Aurum likened to mindless bees. The Japanese version also includes a machine comparison in this conversation. On that note, both versions share pretty much the same bee comparisons. The Japanese version also leans into a locust comparison more heavily than in the English version, and the English version has a moth comparison. Speaking of which, we can take a look back at the Aurum Pyrrhon boss fight.

I'll just recycle my translation, teehee.

Pit: W-what was that?!

Palutena: As expected, you could say he succumbed to the power of the Aurum brain.

Pyrrhon: >Do not inhibit our mission. We will consume all.

Hades: They behave just like insects. Considering their strength, it's fine if they're low-grade, right?

Palutena: Drawn to the torch of battle, they live only to consume everything. Calling them bees or locusts might not entirely be wrong.

Pyrrhon: >We will multiply. We will continue to increase.

Viridi: But every living thing is like this. Their desperate survival connects to their growth, and they influence each other, enabling the cycle of life. However, these guys are troubling! Their power is too strong!

Palutena: That and they're an alien species, after all.

Pit: Won't they eat everything at this rate?!

Palutena: That's why you have to put an end to this, Pit!

Eh, I guess it's about the same. Just no moths. Boo. I'll reiterate a couple other points though: Aurum Pyrrhon speaks in an incomprehensible static, so the only way to understand what he's saying is by reading the subtitles. Said subtitles are rendered using katakana, which is one of the three writing systems Japanese uses. Katakana is the angular looking text, and it's mainly used to render foreign or loanwords. In media it can be used for stylization purposes or to highlight some trait, and in the Aurum's case, it's evidently to emphasize their alien nature. This is coupled with the fact that they use ワレワレ (wareware) for their personal pronoun, which is the stereotypical alien pronoun as far as I know. It also apparently carries a strong emphasis on one's own existence. It's an archaic pronoun by today's standards, though.

Before I move onto idols, I think it's worth noting that the bit about Aurum names being impossible to pronounce is included in both versions:

Here she says something along the lines of "Aurum names can't be pronounced, but I'll convert them to words with similar sounds."

I can't think of anything else of note in the in-game dialogue. It's pretty samey for the most part. So now's the part where I translate all the idol descriptions... and yes, I mean I looked at every single Aurum-related idol there is in the game. It was quite possibly the greatest undertaking I have taken for any of these posts. This will also be my longest post to date as a result. What makes Japanese really challenging (for an English speaker like myself anyway) is how complicated its grammar is... so I can use the dictionary all I want to look up all the words I don't know, but if I don't understand the relationship between the words, then I'm pretty screwed. Needless to say, I did a whole lot of double-checking (more like second guessing) and the overall process was very time-consuming and laborious. But! I did indeed create janky translations for all the idols. Yippee and wahoo.

I once discovered things in the Chaos Kin's Japanese idol so I was hoping I'd make some other kind of breakthrough with the Aurum, but sad to say, there honestly isn't really anything major here. There's just more information included on the account that Japanese characters don't take up as much space as Roman characters. The English descriptions are like a summarized or clipped version, in other words.

But I don't care. I translated all the idols so by gum I will include all of them here. I will also pair them with the English descriptions so you can easily compare the two. Notes and commentary will be provided as we go along whenever they're needed.

First is Pyrrhon because well, since Aurum Pyrrhon is a part of this, I figured I might as well include his initial form.

English:

"The self-proclaimed "Sun God" who is investigating—and entranced by—the wondrous and alien Aurum. Pyrrhon's massive ego seems inversely proportional to his intelligence, making his boasts of divine lineage a bit hard to swallow."

Japanese:

"The self-proclaimed sun god styled after an American comic book hero. He lacks the majesty of a sun god that rules over all creation, and his lineage is doubtful. He thoroughly investigates everything about the Aurum threat from space and is entranced by their unfathomable power. Unchanging in their appearance, the skills that use flames are his strength."

As you can see, it's kind of just the same thing but with a few extra details. Moving onto actual Aurum stuff, the first cluster is all the bosses and battleships, starting with the Aurum Core (or Aurum Continent Core as it's called in the Japanese version).

English:

"An artifact that controls one of the many floating islands in the Aurum. While destroying an Aurum Core will take down a group of islands, the sheer number of them makes targeting these weak points unlikely to affect the Aurum offensive."

Japanese:

"A gigantic device that controls the floating Aurum continent. It is protected by cannons and rotating shields and such. If the central part that unifies and controls the mechanized parts were to be destroyed, the floating continent would collapse. However, because the floating continents themselves are so massive in number, no matter how many are destroyed, there would be no change to battle progress."

Uhh so the word used at the end is 戦況 (senjou) which literally means "battle situation" and it's supposed to mean like... "progress of the battle." One of my many flaws is my inability to come up with any kind of natural translation of anything. I know I tend to be very literal in these translations (mostly for the sake of losing as little meaning as possible), but it would be nice to find a good equivalent word once in a while.

Kind of like the English version, the Japanese version tends to use vocabulary that liken the Aurum to machines in these descriptions.

Next is the Aurum Battleship.

English:

"The Aurum adjust their battleships to fit the scale of their enemies—the larger the planet to be conquered, the larger the ship to be produced. Thus, to take on Skyworld, the Aurum have created this massive, devastatingly powerful ship."

Japanese:

"An Aurum army battleship. Within the Aurum battleship is extremely great fighting prowess. The Aurum will reconstruct its battleships to match the scale of the opponent they are fighting, and when they oppose massive planets, they make all the more massive battleships. At that point, it can’t even be called a battleship."

Then the Aurum Cruiser...

English:

"Though referred to as a cruiser, this entity may not consider itself such a ship in Aurum terms, if it indeed the Aurum consider it a ship at all! It can cruise through space and above planetary surfaces, however."

Japanese:

"A combat vessel typically used among the Aurum. They do anything from fighting across space to capturing planets. The category split of cruisers and destroyers is arbitrarily based only on appearance, and in reality, it is questionable whether or not they are even battleships. The crystal part is composed of an unknown material."

Then the Aurum Destroyer...

English:

"These vessels support Aurum Battleships with additional assault strength. Their massive homing cannons are designed for large targets sich as asteroids. Smaller foes such as Pit are better handled by regular Aurum troops."

Japanese:

"An Aurum battleship that deploys several ships each from its center. It is a class of destroyer for support and sabotage purposes. Its powerful guiding beam, if anything, shows its true value against large objects like meteors. Regular Aurum enemies can more adequately fight small, high-speed targets like Pit."

Then the Aurum Aircraft Carrier...

English:

"These Aurum ships are similar to normal aircraft carriers, but instead of fighter planes, they store, resupply, and revive combat units. Although, with Aurum's mysterious technology, 'repair' might be a more appropriate term than 'revive.'"

Japanese:

"Within the Aurum army, it serves the function of something like an aircraft carrier. However, it does not garrison fighter planes. It’s closer to a base that stores Aurum battle units, carrying out their replenishment and recovery. Whether it is appropriate to call it recovery or repair is unclear."

They were not kidding, that was a lot of ships. As you can see, all that's really different is just a bit of extra information on their functions and roles. Back to the bosses, next in line is the Aurum Generator, or the "Aurum Fortress Reactor" as it's roughly called in the Japanese version.

English:

"The fearsome energy source of the Aurum Hive. This reactor is capable of outputting power for nearly an eternity. It's so well secured that no intruder ever reached it, until Pit's assault on the Aurum."

Japanese:

"The Aurum Fortress’s source of power. It is a reactor that can go on semi-permanently with various materials as its driving force. The fortress itself also massive, has many guards, and is impregnable. In the past, it had not allowed foreign bodies to break through, but Pit was the first to reach it. He used grind rails to carry out a high-speed assault."

"Aurum Fortress" as in "Aurum Hive."

Next is the Aurum Brain.

English:

"The central cortex controlling the entire Aurum legion. The Aurum Brain has no will of its own, only living to give an endless stream of orders to the forces acting as its swords and shields in the fight to protect the Aurum."

Japanese:

"The brain of the Aurum that controls and regulates the whole army. In the Aurum Brain's stronghold, there is no sole willpower, but it can go on transmitting directions without delay. It is equipped with its own transmission infrastructure, and regarding the Brain, it can move the whole army like an arm or leg."

And now for the last of this string of bosses, Aurum Pyrrhon.

English:

"After Pyrrhon tries to take over the Aurum Brain and control its vast army, the Aurum Brain wins the battle of minds and absorbs him, destroying his free will and using him as another weapon in its arsenal."

Japanese:

"Trying to take the Aurum’s abilities for himself, the sun god Raaz takes this form when he seizes control over the Aurum Brain. However, in reality, the Aurum Brain takes Raaz in, rather than him obtaining high fighting power and control. The Aurum were far better at greedily taking in everything."

To reiterate, Pyrrhon is called ラーズ (Raazu) or "Raaz" in the Japanese version. This one was easily the hardest to wrap my brain around, and as a result, this is probably my worst translation of the bunch, but this is roughly what it says. The word repeatedly used here is 取り込む (torikomu) which is like "to take in" (as in "to bring in") or "to win over" rather than being something like "to absorb." I dunno, maybe that's something. There's no mention of his loss of free will here either.

Next I took a look at all the Aurum weapons. First, of course, is the Aurum Blade.

English:

"The Aurum mimic every aspect of the worlds they conquer, from creatures to vehicles to weapons. Dyntos crafted the Aurum Blade by reversing this process. It charges quickly and fires shots with a high homing ability."

Japanese:

"Thanks to the Aurum army’s unique technology, they can mimic weapons of other civilizations. The weapons that are created using this property in reverse are Aurum weapons. This weapon has a hardened Aurum-patterned blade. Its fast charging and shots with high homing are its characteristic features."

Well, when I wrote "this weapon," it was actually "this Blade" (the Japanese name for the weapon category, 撃剣/gekiken means "fencing sword") but saying "this Blade has a blade" sounds awkward. There's no mention of Dyntos here, and the passive voice is used instead, which is interesting.

Next is the Aurum Bow.

English:

"A bow created using Aurum technology. Rare among bows, its continuous-fire dash attack unleashes a barrage of multiple shots. Though it has good range and great homing ability, its low attack power makes it better at a distance."

Japanese:

"A weapon made with Aurum technology. It mimics the appearance and abilities of a bow, but it operates by a completely different principle. As a bow it’s unusual, and its continuous fire scatters multiple shots. Its shots’ range and homing ability are high but its attack power is low. It’s overall suited for long-range combat."

Next is the Aurum Palm.

English:

"Produced with Aurum technology, the Aurum Palm has almost no homing ability, making careful aim a must. Its high energy output means it charges fast, allowing users to fire off charged shots at a rate of one per second."

Japanese:

"A palm resembling Aurum technology. The arm is entirely like an Aurum, but it doesn’t seem to bring any harm. For a palm it’s unusual, and its homing ability is almost nonexistent. For that reason, aiming well at opponents is vital. With its high output, it can easily accumulate charge, and it has the potential to fire about one charge shot per second."

Good to know that wearing an Aurum Palm doesn't inflict any pain on the user, lol.

Next is the Aurum Club.

English:

"This club has charged shots that have limited range and lack homing but are large, making it harder for targets to avoid them. It can also shoot through obstacles, and its shots have a strong potential for nullifying incoming fire."

Japanese:

"A club assembled from Aurum technology. It does its best to function like a club, but its design ended up like the aforementioned Aurum. Consequently, the ranged shots have no homing and their range is short, but the shots are extremely easy to land. While maintaining a mid-range, fighting mainly by penetrating walls and canceling out attacks is a must."

Next are the Aurum Orbitars.

English:

"These orbitars were built by literally combining members of the Aurum forces. Their continuous fire unleashes a narrow beam that is limited in range but travels so fast that targets have little time to dodge."

Japanese:

Aurum Orbitars

"Orbitars made with Aurum technology. It combines constituents from the Aurum army like the Pol and Jyok. Its continuous fire is a thin laser that fires instantaneously and continuously. If the shots land, there will be no leeway for the enemy to avoid it, so under specific conditions, it’s a fairly reliable weapon."

"Pol" is the Japanese name of the Tribyte, or the basic triangle-shaped Aurum enemies. It's written as ポル or "Poru" but I believe it's meant to be derived from "polygon" so I went with an L sound. Jyok's name is close enough to the Japanese name (ジョク or "Joku") so I kept the spelling as is. On that note, the next section is the enemies, beginning with the Tribyte of course.

English:

"The Aurum come form outer space, using a mysterious anti-gravity technology to keep their forces in the air. Tribytes, the Aurum's basic soldiers, take advantage of this high-tech science to fly in coordinated groups."

Japanese:

"Typical rank and file solders in the Aurum army from space. They are light and durable, their bodies are concealed in white armor, and they form group formations to intercept those who draw near. By the Aurum army’s strange technology, they float in anti-gravity and do not require wings or telekinesis. Whether it is a life form or a machine is unknown."

Next is the Blit, known as the カッツ (Kattsu) in Japanese, which obviously comes from "cut," referencing how they cut through space to appear.

English:

"These Aurum enemies tear through space-time itself to appear, fire off a barrage of shots, and then disappear. While it's possible to pass through the center of their shots, Blits often attack in groups, making this a dangerous tactic."

Japanese:

"They are Aurum-patterned triangles that suddenly appear, cutting through space. They immediately fire homing shots and vanish into thin air. The homing shots are hard to cancel out and they slowly pursue their targets, making them troublesome. They appear and disappear by expanding and contracting, but they are solid objects, so how they do this is a mystery."

Next is the Quoil, or the キュラ (Kyura) in Japanese. I have no guesses as to what the name could be derived from.

English:

"By spinning constantly around its core, this Aurum creature is able to both maintain balance and generate its own energy. It attacks by ramming into nearby enemies, dealing extra damage with its vicious spin."

Japanese:

"They continue revolving around the core in their center, producing energy and gaining balance and life force. In air battle they rush at enemies with intense speed, and in land battle they float on standby, and if an enemy draws near, they approach to intercept while rotating like a coma. With its drill-shaped body, it can also dig."

"Coma" as in "comatic aberration." It's a type of optical distortion that gets its name from looking like the tail of a comet. It looks like this:

It sure is twisty. I'm not gonna pretend I understand what it really is.

Anyway, next is the Jyok.

English:

"Jyok is made of four poles bound together by an electromagnetic beam. While it's normally invulnerable, it reveals its weak point when it opens its poles to fire homing lasers. Make sure you don't miss!"

Japanese:

"The cube, immune to attacks, expands into a pillar shape that opens and splits into four parts. Then from the place it opens, it fires a laser in the blink of an eye. You can only aim and attack it in this moment, so watch carefully and deal with it accordingly. Despite its simple structure, it’s a formidable Aurum cannon."

Next is the Claxis, which is called the ピーフェン (Piifen) in Japanese. I also have no clue as to what the name could be derived from.

English:

"Claxis has numerous guns set into its synthetic surface. Each gun is capable of finding targets on its own. However, when attacking, the center gun commands the others to fire, which they do in sequence."

Japanese:

"It has several cannons embedded on its inorganic body. These cannons can each decide on a target of attack, and when attacking, it gives attack orders from one to several cannons, sequentially switching between them. While doing so, the directed cannon will become the center and perform a peculiar rotation."

Next is the Dohz, which pretty much has the same name in Japanese (ドーズ/Doozu).

English:

"An Aurum troop transport, Dohz releases soldiers from the hole in its underbelly. However, Dohz is a deadly combatant in its own right and will stay on the front lines to fight long after it finishes deploying its cargo."

Japanese:

"A being in the Aurum army somewhat like a transport ship. From the pillar in the lower region, it releases troops from the Aurum army it has loaded. It seems Pols are the ones mainly taken aboard in plenty. It has a characteristic laser, and each individual has sufficient combat abilities to remain on the battlefield and fight even after incessantly ejecting troops."

Next is the Plixo, or イオ as it's called in Japanese. Also no clue what the name could be derived from.

English:

"Originally intended to function as solar panels, this Aurum creature has no particular method of attack. Perhaps the tulips and fish they display on their pixel-like light grids are a sign of consciousness."

Japanese:

"A grid emitting light in several colors, arranged in a pixel art pattern. Its primary role is that of something like a solar panel. On that basis, it does not perform any attacks. The pixel art becomes what humans would recognize as fish or tulips, but is this possibly a form of cultural absorption?"

I am really not sure where the English version is getting the consciousness bit from, because the Japanese version makes no mention of it. Instead, they talk about "cultural absorption," which makes much more sense, considering the Aurum kind of just absorb everything they come across on their planet-dismantling conquests.

Next is the Kolma, which pretty much has the same name in Japanese (コルマ/Koruma).

English:

"Aurum enemies that look like giant wheels of cheese. Kolma attack from a distance by flinging pieces of outer armor at their foes. Their sides are always vulnerable, but they can be attacked from any angle once they shed all of their armor plates."

Japanese:

"An Aurum with an appearance like a giant tire. Maintaining a distance, it detaches the armor on its outer circumference and throws it. Its sides are its weak points, but once it finishes stripping its armor, attacking from any angle is effective. Apparently, simple repairs and construction are done with the stripped armor."

I have to wonder what prompted the cheese wheel comparison rather than just sticking with the tire comparison.

Next is the Taklax, or タッカス (Takkasu) in Japanese, which I guess is close to the English name.

English:

"Although they look a bit like a tasty dessert, these Aurum enemies are neither sweet nor delicious. They unfurl like a butterfly and fire continuous shots. When not on the assault, Taklax are often assigned surveillance duties."

Japanese:

"Though it has the appearance of a candy so to speak, it’s obviously neither sweet nor delicious. It seems to split its body clean in half, only for the main body to unfold like a butterfly and fire continuous shots. It has the role of scouting and patrolling, but on the account of it being huge, it’s very noticeable."

Hey, it's pretty close to the English text!

Next is the Xoneme, which is called the ヤック (Yakku) in Japanese. No idea what the name could be derived from.

English:

"Xoneme defends itself with a series of rotating panels that can also fan outward as an attack. These panels are invulnerable, so the best strategy for taking down Xoneme is to get past or aim for the spaces between them."

Japanese:

"Although it protects its body with rotating plates, it spreads them to attack. In the event that it attacks, the only options are to aim through the gaps of its rotating plates or plunging inside. The rotating plates are sails that receive strong light energy from the sun. They accumulate energy and use it for all sorts of actions, including with other Aurum."

It's as vague as it sounds with the "using accumulated energy for actions with the other Aurum" part.

Next is the Sio, which has pretty much the same name in Japanese (シオ/Shio).

English:

"An Aurum enemy that looks like nothing you've ever seen before. They rob their foes of sight and mobility with black-hole shots. Try to escape from these traps before they can hit you with their lasers and body blows!"

Japanese:

"A squishy and slippery Aurum. It fires black hole shots and after stealing away enemy freedom and sight, then it freely throws itself at them and strikes with a laser. If you get caught in the black hole, you’ll want to free yourself as quickly as possible before getting hit by this enemy’s support attack."

Yes it does say "support attack" (援護攻撃/engo kougeki). And I won't lie, translating that first sentence was a nightmare because it was using an onomatopoeia that I could not find in any dictionary. The closest I could get was like "squelching" or "squishing" so that's what we're going with. And tbh, I still don't know what is meant by describing this thing as "squishy" nor "slippery."

Next is the Zaurum, or the オーラマ (Oorama) in Japanese. Like the English name, it resembles the word "Aurum" (オーラム/Ooramu).

English:

"Zaurum are the only members of the Aurum that resemble anything like living beings. Yet whether they're actually alive remains unclear. They're deployed on the Aurum floating islands and excel in psychic attacks."

Japanese:

"Also known as the 'Aurum alien.' Deployed across the various Aurum floating continents, they are the only units among the Aurum that give the impression of being a living creature. However, whether or not they actually hold any life within them is unclear, and there doesn’t seem to be a great difference with other Aurum in their structure. They cause confusion with their mind attacks."

Next is the Baglo, which has the same name in Japanese (バグロ/Baguro).

English:

"Baglo is an unassuming enemy that only awakens when attacked, unleashing a barrage of continuous fire. So take care when battling near a Baglo that one of your own shots doesn't stray and hit it!"

Japanese:

"Although it looks like small, huddled together lumps of iron, if it receives an attack, it wakes up, and in its wrathful state, it unleashes a barrage of continuous shots. When the defeated, the reward is great, but it’s formidable. If you lack confidence, going past it is the easiest option, but you’ll want to be careful of accidentally shooting it repeatedly and waking it up."

So, actually, all of them drop treasure when they're defeated. I never knew this because I always try to avoid them. They're just too terrifying, ya know?

Next is the Rezda, which has a pretty similar name in Japanese (ラスダ/Rasuda).

English:

"These Aurum forces defend their allies by erecting shields that prevent everything but other Aurum and their shots from passing through. This defense exposes their cores, so a careful aim should be enough to take them out."

Japanese:

"Members of the Aurum army that form shields in order to protect their allies. Because only the Aurum army and its shots can penetrate through, it is able to show its power in every battle. The main body is exposed as it is, so if you aim at it accurately, destroying it isn’t difficult. With a Staff, it takes one hit."

The last sentence seems so random. I think any kind of charge shot, regardless of weapon, should only take one hit. Okay, maybe there are a few exceptions.

Next is the Zrink, or the サンパ (Sampa) in Japanese. "Sampa" makes me think of 散歩 (sampo) or "walk" but I highly doubt that's what the name is supposed to be.

English:

"Initially, Zrinks are large, slow-moving targets. Yet as they take damage, they shed their outer armor, making them smaller and allowing them to move faster. They rarely attack, instead providing defense for nearby Aurum."

Japanese:

"Usually it’s very slow, so it’s easy to take aim at it. However, as it receives damage, the exterior hex-shaped armor will rescind, and it will become small and nimble. It doesn’t really attack, but it has the effect of protecting surrounding Aurum, so be careful of its coordination when you want to attack."

I sometimes forget that these guys can attack, but they do indeed. Very rarely they will fire a red, corkscrew-shaped laser.

Next is the Roz or the ロー (Roo) as it's called in Japanese.

English:

"These Aurum comets have a seemingly impossible mass, making them both invulnerable to attack and capable of incredible destruction when striking objects. When they hit the ground, they release an analytical compound."

Japanese:

"The Aurum army’s comet bullets. They come falling from outer space. In its globe-shaped body, it packs pretty much impossible mass. Attacking it has absolutely no effect, and when it strikes, the damage is great. If it collides with the ground, the capsule opens, and earth-dismantling substances are disseminated."

Well, I guess now we know what this "analytical compound" is.

Next is the Nukleen, which is known as the パル (Paru) in Japanese. I'm pretty sure it comes from "pulse" so I rendered it as "Pul."

English:

"A Nukleen is a mine that the Aurum often use to conquer planets. They explode when attacked, erupting in a wide range explosion that deals damage to friends and foes alike, so they can be used to Pit's advantage."

Japanese:

"The Aurum army’s space mines. They are often used for taking control of planets. If Puls gather attacks, a great explosion that expands over an extremely vast range will occur, so you’ll want to be particularly cautious of them when facing them in air battle. However, the explosion will envelop other enemies, if you remain far and defeat them with a swift attack, they’ll be useful."

Last of the standard Aurum enemies is the Biota, which has the exact same pronunciation in Japanese (ビオタ/Biota).

English:

"A Biota flings out floating green energy orbs to attack its enemies. These orbs are designed to withstand almost any attack, but it's possible to use this to your advantage. A melee strike can send them flying back at the Biota!"

Japanese:

"It attacks by shooting out green energy units that float in midair. The red shots have an explosive property, so you can counterattack by returning the shots back at it. That being said, it is strong against various shocks and extremely tough against normal attacks."

The next string consists of the copies of Underworld and Forces of Nature troops, starting with the Monoeye.

English:

"An Aurum copy of the Underworld's Monoeye. The Aurum Monoeye has the characteristics of the original, so it's really not that strong. Simple creatures are relatively easy to copy at low cost, so this enemy was obviously first in line."

Japanese:

"A Monoeye that the Aurum army copied from the Underworld army. Even its combat abilities closely resemble the original, so it’s not particularly formidable. Simple-structured individuals are moderately simplified, so the cost of copying is thought to not be so high. The shots it fires from its eye have become more like those of the Aurum."

The Mik is next.

English:

"An Aurum copy of the Underworld's Mik. With their obsession with copying everything, you'd think they would turn the tide of battle by mimicking the world's #1 warrior, Pit. Lucky for us, they'd have to catch him first to have a chance!"

Japanese:

"A Mik that the Aurum army copied from the Underworld army. The Aurum can copy anything, but if they succeeded in copying the #1 warrior Pit, it’s thought that the state of the war would completely change. It is fortunate that in order to copy, seizure and neutralization are necessary."

The word used here is 戦局 (senkyoku) which is yet another term that means something like "state/progress of battle/war." Why Japanese felt like it needed yet another word for this concept frustrates me to an irrational degree. Literally how do I translate this in a way that doesn't sound stupid...

These guys are in a strange order, because the Pip is up next, or the プコ (Puko) as it's called in Japanese.

English:

"An Aurum version of Viridi's Pip. The Aurum begin their copying process by emulating their outer appearance of their subjects. And although they can't replicate a Pip's cellular structure, they are able to mimic its dividing ability."

Japanese:

"A Puko that the Aurum army copied from the Forces of Nature. The Aurum only copy the appearance and looks, so the Puko’s characteristic cytoplasm was unable to be represented. However, it is somehow able to perform division. Aurum materials, which appear to be solid, hold many great mysteries."

Switching back to the Underworld, the Fire Wyrm, or "Hell Dragon" as it's called in Japanese (ヘルドラゴン/Heru Doragon) is next.

English:

"An Aurum copy of the Underworld's Fire Wyrm. While they may not look the same, the replica really nail's the original's massive size! If a Fire Wyrm and an Aurum Fire Wyrm got into a fight, the real winner would be good times."

Japanese:

"A Hell Dragon that the Aurum army copied from the Underworld army. The Hell Dragon itself is huge, so the clone came to look quite impressive. A fight between a Hell Dragon and an Aurum Hell Dragon would look like a dragon and a dragon zombie wrestling with each other."

Next is the Specknose, or メガネハナーン (Meganehanaan) in Japanese. Its name is made up for the word for "glasses" (メガネ/megane) and "nose" (鼻/hana) so I might as well just stick to Specknose.

English:

"An Aurum copy of the Underworld's Specknose. Those Aurum eyes are super creepy, huh? Although Aurum versions of Monoeye, Specknose, and Mik exist, they thankfully don't combine to form an Aurum Monomiknose."

Japanese:

"A Specknose that the Aurum army copied from the Underworld army. Its Aurum-patterned eyes are creepy. The eyes, nose, and mouth of the Aurum Specknose, Aurum Monoeye, and Aurum Mik all appear to be present, but all the same, they seem to be unable to combine or play fukuwarai."

So the idol description for the Aurum Specknose is missing on the Kid Icarus fan wiki, so I had to pull up the game and transcribe it myself. How annoying. Harumph harumph.

Oh uh, "fukuwarai" (which would mean something like "laugh of luck") is a game often played by children where one must place cutouts of facial features in their correct place on a blank face while blindfolded. It's essentially like pin the tail on the donkey.

Next is the Skuttler, or "Bokkun" (ボックン/Bokkun) in Japanese. Honestly it seems like a combination of the first person pronoun 僕 (boku) and the honorific くん (kun). 僕 used to be an old word for "servant" iirc, so that's probably the idea.

English:

"An Aurum copy of the Underworld's Skuttler. Even the weakness and clumsy movements of he original have been faithfully reproduced! When assimilating, the Aurum copy all fighting styles... even the weak ones."

Japanese:

"A Bokkun that the Aurum army copied from the Underworld army. Even their clumsy nature is faithfully reproduced, so its combat abilities are not particularly high. The Aurum will copy even seemingly meaningless tactics indiscriminately in order to oppose the strategies of each planet, and will watch and learn from their battle results."

Then the order does another switcheroo and goes to a Forces of Nature enemy, the Urgle, or the ソイヤッサ (Soiyassa). The ソイヤ (soiya) part to me sounds like the sound one would make when hurling something heavy. Maybe that's the idea.

English:

"An Aurum copy of the Forces of Nature's Urgle. It does a great job of nailing down its inspiration's flipping move. However, the jury is still out on how effective the original was against the Aurum flying forces."

Japanese:

"A Soiyassa that the Aurum army copied from the Forces of Nature. Even the knockout blow of their flipping the table move is perfectly reproduced. In the fight with the Aurum, the Forces of Nature were also taking part, but regarding fighting the many floating Aurum, the original Soiyassa was surely struggling."

It's basically one to one. The last copied enemy is the Shemum, which according to how it's written in Japanese (シーマム/Shiimamu), I guess it's pronounced "SHEE-mum" rather than "SHEH-mum."

English:

"An Aurum copy of the Underworld's Shemum. Like its original counterpart, the Aurum Shemum only appears on the ground and even slithers as it moves!"

Japanese:

"A Shemum that the Aurum army copied from the Underworld army. Due to its nature, it only appears on the ground. Even its slithering movements are faithfully reproduced. Even the so-called 'Shemum vase' is entirely present. The vase’s property of only being affected by melee attacks is also faithfully traced."

I think the English description for the Aurum Shemum is the shortest in the game.

The last set of idols to look at is the setting ones. We're at the home stretch, folks. First is the Aurum Island, or "Aurum Continent" in the Japanese version.

English:

"The Aurum travel with vast floating islands like this one. Similar to how bees gather pollen, the Aurum harvest material from worlds to create even more islands. This gives each island a strange, patchwork look."

Japanese:

"The mysterious Aurum civilization is a massive congregation of mobile floating islands, so it can be called a 'floating continental cluster.' As if raising and augmenting cells, they suck up the land and atmosphere of celestial bodies, dismantle them, and make separate floating islands. The components vary depending on the planet and land absorbed, and the materials that compose the floating islands themselves are diverse."

I like the comparison to a patchwork in the English version. Next is the Hive, which is called a "Fortress" in the Japanese version.

English:

"This space base serves as a hive for Aurum battleships. The Aurum harvest resources from conquered worlds and deposit them in the Aurum Hive to be used in the production of the ships that guard the Aurum as they travel."

Japanese:

"A massive unit within the Aurum that serves as a nest for battleships. Hordes of Aurum battleships are manufactured inside the Fortress by scraping together the iron contents and such of shaved down celestial bodies. From the slit, hordes of unmanned battleships that it expels are produced and are made to guard the floating islands. There are no holes that one can intrude inside."

The machine comparisons are valid if a lot of these units are made of iron. In the Japanese dialogue for chapter 15, Viridi also makes a note of the Aurum hot springs possibly being high in iron.

And the last one! We're almost done here! It's the Aurum Brain Fortress!

English:

"This spacefaring fortress houses the Aurum Brain, which is responsible for controlling every aspect of the Aurum, from combat troops to floating islands. The fortress is extremely massive, housing formidable defenses."

Japanese:

"The fortress that stores the Aurum brain which controls the Aurum. It is of such excessively large size that it amounts to dozens of kilometers squared. It is a fortress unit that controls everything in the Aurum, including fighting matters and the floating islands, so it’s rigorously defended. When Pit invaded, Raaz opened an entrance."

Wow... it's finally over. Well, that was a whole lot of not new information. But if you ever wanted more lore details, hopefully you learned something new. I think the biggest thing here is that the Aurum seem to be at the very least somewhat composed of iron, as indicated by the repeated instances of them being described as solid matter, and the direct references to iron in the Baglo and Aurum Hive entries. It's said that the Kolma's armor is repurposed for repairs, so perhaps the same principle can be applied to it. I presume the same principles can be applied to a lot of these guys.

If I ever receive any more suggestions pertaining to looking at the idols, I sincerely hope I would be able to get a post about them out faster now that I've had some practice. So! Shoot more suggestions at me if you'd like. And then let's pray that I get a response to you in a timely manner.

[accio-victuuri]

once upon a time, we were all going 👀 over ZZ’s hidden necklace and the alleged ring tied to it. then after that — nothing. it went unsolved. now, people have noticed him wearing what seems to be a necklace, but the string of it looks more like a rope.

2020 2023

while i do understand the speculation of some that this may be his version of “bone necklace” and how it may be holding the ever so elusive bjyx promise ring lol — my personal deduction is that it’s not. yeah, it would be wonderful if it was and i don’t think we will ever know but to me there is a more rational explanation, knowing what type of “jewelry” XZ sports during his personal time. when he’s not wearing gucci or other really esspensive pieces at events, the regular person XZ prefers his jewelry to be more meaningful.

( photo source showing times it was worn & visible )

Everyone knows his red rope, given to him by his mom for good luck when it was his zodiac birth year, and he’s always been wearing it. he said, “my mom gave it to me, i have to keep wearing it.” Then another more recent one is the beaded bracelet, which from what i can remember is also for protection. something that you can blessed at a temple.

A popular guess is what’s tied to it is a jade. So it’s a jade necklace. What’s the meaning? I found this helpful article to support this speculation. It just makes more sense and more ���on brand” for ZZ to wear it because of this reason:

Whether someone gave it to him or if he picked it up on one of his travels, we don’t know. but a “gentleman like jade” is so him. it’s the kind of person he tries to embody.

Anciently, superior men found the likeness of all excellent qualities in jade. Soft smooth and glossy, it appeared to them like benevolence.

Fine, compact, and strong—like intelligence.

Angular, but not sharp and cutting—like righteousness.

Hanging down (in beads) as if it would fall to the ground like (the humility of) propriety.

When struck, yielding a note, clear and prolonged, yet terminating abruptly—like music.

Its flaws not concealing its beauty, nor its beauty concealing its flaws—like loyalty.

With an internal radiance issuing from it on every side—like good faith.

Bright as a brilliant rainbow—like heaven.

Exquisite and mysterious, appearing in the hills and streams—like the earth.

Standing out conspicuous in the symbols of rank—like virtue.

Esteemed by all under the sky—like the path of truth and duty.

( Confucius ; Book of Rites )

The times we have seen him wear it, his clothes were too loose to make out if there was pendant shaped thing. However, the recent photo shoot appears to give us a better view.

For comparison, p1 is the composition. that rope like string and a jade pendant. his is surely not that big, but you get the point. p2, it may just be a crease of his clothes but it’s a good approximate of a “pendant”.

-END.

[stopthatfool]

You said don't get you started on Ice's helmet or you'll be mean... please be mean. Please be mean to him. What is so disastrous about his helmet design?

my time has come. i will be mean to him. (thank you for getting me started on this. it bothers me every time I watch top gun.) this is also gonna be so long. yippee!

stopthatfool's issues with Tom "Iceman" Kazansky's helmet! aka this bad boy right below. (I'm sorry if anyone loves Ice's helmet, it's just not for me)

The placement of his name. WHY is it on the side? Both him and Slider have their names on the side. That makes me think it's a squadron thing? (the VF-213s) but regardless i don't care cuz i think it's stupid. (again sorry if someone thinks its genius. ok i'll stop apologizing)

My biggest issue with the fact it's on the side is that it creates this uneven weight distribution. The side with his name feels considerably "heavier" than the side without.

And the thing i don't understand is that Ice's name is evenly numbered!! He could fit 3 letters on either side of the line that comes down the helmet! the letters wouldn't be unevenly distributed, so I don't know why he felt the need to put it there!!

Here, I have "annotated" his helmet and provided other viewpoints of his helmet!

The font/typeface! Ice.. is that ARIAL?? and it's not even bolded??? so not only is his name to one side and weirdly small... it's skinny and unbolded. (like you're THE Iceman. Don't you want your name big and bolded? I shouldn't be searching for your name when you're Mr. Iceman!)

Looking at his helmet head-on, part of his name isn't even visible.. like ok ICEM!

And then! There's this weird switch up in the shapes and line types that he used-- the angular and sharp points of the lightning bolts and the half circles surrounding the squadron logo (is it a logo?? idk im gonna call it a logo)

What i think Ice is trying to do here is create a "connection" between the circular part of the logo and the lightning bolts as the bolts go all the way to the back of the helmet... but in my opinion... it's not working. like at all.

The comparison between the harsh lines of the bolts and then the curves is just kind of hard on the eyes (for me anyway). I just don't know where to look. Should i be following the leading lines of the lightning bolts? Or the curves of the half-circle things? Or should I be following the line of the lightning bolt in the logo?

And all throughout that... i barely end up seeing the name on the helmet.

Continuing off the logo... for Top Gun 1986, Ice and Slider are in the VF-213 squadron, but the movie switched the logo to the VFA-25s that looks like this on their flight suits-

(yes that is the best quality image i could find from the movie my bad) So why does the logo on his helmet look like this???

WHY do the fingers look like that. they look like hotdogs im so sorry. (logistically it was probably easier for the decals to be printed and then applied like this. but. we're not talking about technicalities here. right now i'm tearing apart the entire composition of Ice's helmet.)

I like version of the logo on their flight suits soooo much better! It's got more "rhythm" and flow to it that the lightning bolts lack! Plus no hotdog fingers.

Ok ok, now on the colour scheme. The harsh and bright blues I don't mind. Like yeah, you're The Iceman, punch me in the face with blue. I can forgive that. The thing that really bothers me.. is the silver/grey base of the helmet.

It's this really harsh grey that really doesn't help with the already harsh blues. I think he should've continued with the blue he has going. cuz this grey ain't working, king.

Ok, anyway. Since I should be studying, I'm obviously doing anything but studying. So i redesigned ice's helmet. ya idk.

it's kind of wonky.. but whatevs (ignore how the lightning bolt on the side view doesn't line up with the front view) (and ignore the inconsistences in the lettering. i was lazy and did it by hand)

I also didn't want to completely change/get rid of the aspects of Ice's helmet. So the changes aren't huge (except for maybe the name placement/"font")

ok I changed the background colour (finally, it's less all up in your face now) I continued with the blues and lessened the intensity just a little bit. I really wanted his name to be front and center!

Now the colour scheme is also consistent. No random black lettering (again, in arial???) there's now black in both his name, the outline of the lightning bolts and the logo!

Now his name is evenly distributed! See how it fits on either side of the line that comes down the center of the helmets from '86? See how you can actually see his whole name? See how it's heavier and fits the whole "iceman" theme better? (at least in my opinion)

Come on, Ice! You should've used the leading lines provided by the lightning bolts to guide people to your name! There's now a fun little overlapping moment!

(ignore how i forgot to dot one of the i's in distribution whoops)

No more weird half circle things! No more conflicting leading lines! But! I decided to extend the arm of the squadron logo to continue the line of the lightning bolt as it moves backward. I think this makes the circle of the logo fit better, while simultaneously creating that "connection" he was trying to get in his actual design.

The lack of half-circle things also allow for the logo and lightning bolts to just "be." There's no distraction. it's not overly "busy" anymore (like maverick's helmet). It's simple, but he's The Iceman! He doesn't need it to say/have more!

And the use of the "actual" logo seen on Slider and Ice's flight suits creates that sense of movement that was absent before! Plus no hotdog hands!

Is this new proposed design perfect? Absolutely not! The logo and the lightning bolts still create a weird point of almost intersection that still bothers me. But I think fundamentally, there's always going to be issues with these two components: the circle will never quite fit in, and the lightning bolt the hand is holding will always "cut" the whole thing in half, creating a weird separation in the helmet, that will always bother me.

Anyway, this was a lot of fun! (I love being mean to these guys. they need their egos brought down a couple pegs!)

[sonic-love-island-official]

Shadow (Bio/Character design ramble)

Behold, my sweet baby. Boy, do I have a lot to say about him. And some things I want to say about him can't really be incorporated fully into the fic, so what better place to infodump than here ?

Info under the cut x

Shadow is a 28 year old ex-G.U.N. agent. He was 'born' within the ARK, but moved to Westopolis later in life to rediscover his (then lost) identity. He joins Rouge on the Island with the intention of being her moral support.

Being a more reserved character, Shadow arrives full of scepticism, but with an indescribable, intricate set of standards. Shadow is the kind of man who knows exactly what he wants from a partner and a life going forward. He is stubborn to deviate from his plan of settling down and hoping to raise a family with someone who doesn't make him feel uncomfortable in his own skin. Normally on edge or awkward, Shadow typically struggles to interact with new people, but once he becomes comfortable with someone, he lets his true colours shine (both to his benefit and detriment). He can be gentle, deeply caring, passionate, even. However, he can also be sly, sharp-witted and harsh at times. Regardless of how anyone perceives him, Shadow's strong sense of identity drives him to pursue what he wants to have in his future. But having something entails having something to lose…

External design choices !! (visual appearance - incl. formation of base sim, references taken, makeup choices, fashion style… etc.)

You will never know how much time I spent trying to perfect this man 😭 Again, I immediately took inspiration from his Sonic Adventure 2 character design because he is both so striking in appearance but also has this soft cuteness (which initially did not make it into his sim version, until later modding the game). Along with Rouge, for Shadow I had a distinctive creative vision and although I can never make a sim exactly how I imagine them in my head, Shadow's design came close enough that I can't complain too much.

The real tough thing with Shadow came down to translation. Shadow has incredibly sharp/angular features that replicating it accurately in the sims would destroy any realistic appeal for his character in a more human form. So, my compromise was to do the best I could, while still keeping Shadow's features relatively human enough so he wouldn't look like he crawled out of a nightmare. Of course, I chose to keep the angle of his eyes and brows, but softened the degree to something still recognisable and so it didn't warp any of his other facial features. I kept the red colour of his eyes too. I could have went down a more realistic route, but I just thought it was so iconic of his character that without them, he'd just look weird. Same can be said for his makeup, actually. I gave him a simple black liner that runs from the top lash line, into the bottom and through his waterline, pairing that with a subtle red eyeshadow that mimics the red, triangular accent in the outer corners of his eyes (looking at sim Shadow without either of those is jarring, believe me). His nose I made a little pointed, characteristic of all the male hedgehogs. As for everything else ? It was purely up to my interpretation and working within the limitations of the game.

I couldn't get anything that was similar to Shadow's upturned quills, so I went for a hairstyle with a little bit of volume, just so there was enough resemblance. The hair I used was from the Supernatural pack (which is notorious for ugly CAS items, in my opinion) and surprisingly I don't hate it as much as when I first picked it. The red streaks are in his hair, but a little muted in comparison to the reference pictures, due to the fact it looked ridiculously bad when I tried the accurate, bright red streaks. I also wanted Shadow's sharp features to carry through into the base structure of his face, hence why he has a more squared jawline than what is seen on some of the other characters. He used to have more prominent cheekbones, but that that feature was softened out significantly after the modding (again, another 'for the best' situation). Overall, Shadow version 1 (pre-mod) wasn't all that attractive but once we got that visual overhaul for all the characters, he looks quite Pretty (I call him 'babygirl Shadow' due to his softer features). His skin tone evened out heaps better than before and looks quite lovely in-game <3

Over time, I've come to really appreciate Shadow's sim version !! He portrays everything I wanted him to be. Displaying a lot of his iconic features, while also representing my further, more abstract intentions for his character. Occasionally he makes expressions that do make him look a little older than the other characters and depending on who he's with, he can look the total opposite and look sweet, gentle and youthful. Other times he looks straight up creepy and all of these things blend so well for his character to an extent where it's both joyful and comical to witness. Nevertheless, I adore him, could you tell ;-;

*I forgot to mention here that although Shadow's sim does not have many tattoos (again, the selection we're given in TS3 is horrific and impossible to work with), he does in the AU. The red triangle designs on his forearms and calves are carried over (except they're not solid, rather more detailed with fluid lines and coils), his/the symbol of the Black Arms adorns his chest and creeps up to his neck and he has a small flower tattoo in memory of Maria <3

Shadow's fashion falls under three categories:

Stereotypical 'bad boy' outfits (leather jackets, boots, torn up jeans etc.)

Outfits typical of the show (plain t-shirts, baggy pants, chains, sneakers)

Outfits I personally think Shadow would pick and feel/seem comfortable wearing (tidy button-ups, dress pants/straight leg jeans)

They're pretty interchangeable throughout the series but the idea is that Shadow morphs to the expectation of being a Love Island contestant and wears things to fit that, but over the course of the series, gradually drops the act and becomes more himself. In any case, it gives a lot of variety and opportunity to try different clothing styles on Shadow and that in itself is fun to play with. Sometimes we even surprise ourselves seeing what items actually suit Shadow and which don't.

Internal design choices !! (personality, characteristics, psychology)

I am such a nit-pick when it comes to how Shadow is characterised in both official Sonic media and in fanworks. The two things that annoy me most is:

He's stuck in this constant loop of reliving his trauma, finding a sense of closure and learning/moving on from it. Repeatedly. He learns these beautiful, relatable life lessons and then. Forgets it. And has to do it all over again. For no real reason. (06 made that annoyance seem not as bad, seeing as Shadow had moved forward in his life but still kept to his ideals… but of course, they had to go and ruin that for him, didn't they 😒 Leading into my next point-)

He's reduced down to Edgy and Has No Friends

I am so so sick of seeing both of these things ?? So, I'm mostly just serving myself by helping Shadow along in this AU to be neither of these things because it doesn't at all fit the premise of the series. Most of the characters are a wild blend of their portrayals throughout Sonic media, so shitty Shadow pops up on occasion (for justifiable reasons, though) but primarily I've cherry-picked his better portrayals to represent him in the series, like the more introverted, soft-spoken Shadow from SA2 and Heroes, as well as the more level-headed, matured Shadow seen in 06. Of course, I don't write all of Shadow's moments in the series, as this fic is co-written alongside my sister, but my best efforts go towards representing Shadow in a way that makes him seem like Just A Guy.

Shadow enters the fic in a completely different stage in life. He's put his past behind him and is looking towards a brighter future. Naturally, he hasn't let his past go entirely and more so made a sense of peace with it. Here and there, there are a few blips where that is not the case and shows some of his old wounds haven't fully healed, but that's to add the ✨realism✨. The idea for Shadow is that he was once in a far worse state than when he entered the Island, but he isn't perfect. He has his own arc to go through, but for once it's fairly disjointed from his canon-typical baggage.

Simply enough, I want to allow Shadow the opportunity to develop connections — to make new friends (Rouge is his one pre-established friend), to express love. He has so much potential to be soft and kind and selfless and loving, without being locked behind bars of Edge and past horrors. As an introvert, he expresses things in his own subtle way that isn't easily understood by everyone, but he's constantly making the effort to show he cares for the people important to him.

Fun facts / trivia :

Shadow is older than Sonic by three years in this AU purely due to the fact that Shadow's character is more lore-heavy than Sonic's. Additionally, they're both at different stages in life, shown by their behaviour and actions and that, I feel, should also be realistically represented in the ages given to them. There is so much discourse surrounding Shadow's 'age' (now retconned) and it's exhaustingg.

Shadow's time in the Villa reveals some interesting themes around social relationships, such as making/maintaining friendships as an adult (a topic I find incredibly real and unique to this project)

I couldn't fit this anywhere else, and it might be a little self-serving but I allude to the fact that Shadow is on the aro/ace spectrum, which is a wild contradiction from the expectations of the show. We've also kept the genders of his previous partners vague-ish. Firstly due to the Twitter Takeovers, where Shadow has never expressed a gender preference (I think that's correct ?) and that's a detail I wanted to remain loyal to. Secondly, I didn't want to tie him down to any specific gender preference ?? I thought it banging just to leave it as is, because it does give some moments within the series an extra impact. Nevertheless, Shadow specifically doesn't experience sexual attraction and rarely/infrequently experiences romantic attraction. Alas, there seems to be this mutual consensus that Shadow's a bit of a horn monster and… funnily enough, I agree with that too- So AU Shadow's sexuality is incredibly layered and somehow it all still makes logical sense :)

There is a lot of Shadow's lore that transferred to the AU in a creative/slightly more realistic way, but I can't talk about it here, else this post will be longer than what it already is

[tmbgareok]

Hi Flans! I was listening to the interview thing with Scott Aukerman and I felt compelled to dispute your point about Captain Beefheart merely being code for liking Frank Zappa, which I'm not sure is entirely true.

My view is that while their work is obviously intertwined in many ways (the Bongo Fury album and Zappa's production of Trout Mask Replica, for example), and I'd guess most people (myself included) first find out about Beefheart through his Zappa connection, I'd say Beefheart was/is fundamentally his own artist with his own influence and his own thing going on. I'm largely cool with a lot of Zappa's stuff (mostly the early Mothers records) but I'd call myself more of a straight-ahead Beefheart fan, particularly a fan of the angularity of much of his music (definitely a HUGE influence on the more nervous side of new wave, like early XTC) and the internal logic Don Van Vliet had to make all the disparate parts in his songs fit together through the cacophony. Even his more accessible albums like Safe as Milk and Clear Spot are a very left-field version of commerciality. It's outré, obviously, but without being haughty or off-putting (at least not in the way Zappa is off-putting), like Zappa’s work (arguably) tends to be. Certainly not mean-spirited or condescending, like Zappa’s work usually is. Beefheart comes across to me as warmer and much more joyous, plus a hell of a lot more fun to listen to.

That's my own personal Hot Take, though. I understand this is all egregiously unimportant, and will probably baffle A LOT of people who aren't familiar with this stuff (sincere apologies to those people), but it's a topic I have an Opinion on, so sorry for the long-winded paragraph. All the best!

JF: It's a fine hot take, but the discussion was not making a comparison. I was just saying "I like Beefheart" was rock critic code for Zappa, and that has been observable the 35 years I've been actively doing interviews and reading reviews. (I probably was guilty of it myself.) And listen to the knowing laughter from everyone in the room when it came up. It's a thing.

While Zappa has always had tons of fans, Beefheart has long been considered by critics as more "artistic" and far easier to defend to non-believing folk that often find lyrics in Zappa song puerile, sexist or just gross.

[denimbex1986]

'In Italy, according to American television, the sunlight is always golden, the seas are azure blue, the flora is every shade of green, and the marble statues scattered across city piazzas are always creamy white. Ripley rejects all that. With a chilly, textured black-and-white palette for the boot-shaped country in which con man Tom Ripley (Andrew Scott) reinvents himself, Netflix’s Patricia Highsmith adaptation becomes one of the most conceptual, visually uncompromising TV shows of the year. Steven Zaillian’s version of Ripley is fascinated with the 16th-century Italian Baroque painter Caravaggio, so famed for his use of contrasting light and dark that he spawned stylistic acolytes termed the Caravaggisti. Once the series establishes the comparisons between Tom and the Old Master, it becomes clear that Ripley itself is a kind of Caravaggisti, an experiment in black-and-white that relies on motifs to reflect its central character’s ominous alienation. That approach is thematically appropriate, sure, but it also absolutely rips.

Longtime collaborators Zaillian and cinematographer Robert Elswit engage the eye with reflections, shadows, and patterns, push the limits of the frame with ultrawide compositions and dueling foreground and background images, and go to bat for the discomfiting power of negative space. Every frame of Ripley deepens the series’ emotional disquiet and visual splendor, and Italy has rarely looked this beautiful or cruel. Here, a list of 37 setups, frames, and moments in Ripley that would blow Caravaggio’s mind (and already did mine).

Tom as abstraction, monster, creep? Yes to all! Look at how often Ripley presents him as the the outline of an intruder, dissolving others’ tranquility or secrecy before disappearing into the darkness from whence he came like a specter in the night. The shadows enveloping him as he enters Carlo’s lair of stolen goods is a personal favorite.

“It seemed like everywhere we went there were stairs,” Zaillian said of location-scouting and shooting Ripley. Those flights take on special meaning as Tom moves up and down and up and down in his chase for a comfortable life. The labyrinthine caves of steps he climbs in Atrani to find Dickie isn’t as starkly angular as the apartment staircase he later encounters, but the general idea of Tom needing to move through these spaces to literally and figuratively end up where he wants to be holds, his desire for upward mobility physically rendered over and over Ripley’s eight episodes. And for people who aren’t Tom, the pentagon-shaped stairs Inspector Ravini takes to the morgue for Freddie’s autopsy make it look like he’s descending into Hell.

M.C. Escher’s impact! Ripley’s repetition and refraction — the reality-challenging lines of train-station stairs and post-office boxes, Tom’s reflection in Dickie’s balcony glass doors, the misshapen edges of cobblestone streets — remind us that Tom, trapped within systems of order he’ll need to manipulate in his journey toward becoming a mid-century Narcissus, isn’t who he says he is. The series’ established visual language is so clean and rigid, it’s unsettling when Ripley breaks its own code, as it does when Tom tosses the scarf Marge knit for Dickie over an elevated walkway onto the disjointed stone pattern below. The scarf is an interruption that Tom, and Ripley itself, can’t abide.

Yes, Ripley is in black-and-white. But its gradients are so rich and deep, you can easily imagine the garnet-maroon-scarlet-sangria-rust shades of blood gushing out of Dickie’s and Freddie’s bodies, washed away by Tom in his sink or discarded in his bathtub, and — in the series’ most jarring shot, a rare instance of color — tracked around his apartment building by the cat who knows what Tom’s been up to. The series is also inundated with religious imagery, and there’s a delightfully macabre quality to how Freddie’s body falls with his arms outstretched as if he’s Christ on the cross, a sacrifice Tom has to make to become his desired self.

Italian architecture, it’s neat!

In a series where the main character experiences a sort of epiphany about art, creativity, beauty, and God when looking at the paintings of Caravaggio, the viewer will, of course, have to behold said Caravaggios. Ripley depicts the works, including The Seven Acts of Mercy (ca. 1607), The Martyrdom of Saint Matthew (ca. 1599–1600), David With the Head of Goliath (ca.1605–10), and a replica of 1609’s Nativity With St. Francis and St. Lawrence (the original was stolen in 1969), in a way that reinforces Tom’s own smallness against the large-scale paintings and ancient, holy buildings that house them. He’s a tiny figure absorbing it all, the spaces gigantic around him, the shadows dark and dense. The finale’s flashback to Rome, 1606, where police find Ranuccio Tomassoni’s body and pursue Caravaggio for his murder, is also unbelievably lush with its lighting, particularly in the flickering fire of lanterns and the blood oozing out of Tomassoni’s wounds.

Here’s Ripley taking Caravaggio’s lessons and applying them to itself. Look how the light seemingly appears and disappears out of nowhere, illuminating or darkening its subjects without announcing its source. Tom’s hand, now wearing Dickie’s ring, seemingly floats in shadow, and he glows from within when sitting on the ferry. The light in his imagined face-off against Bokeem Woodbine’s detective streams in from nowhere, an angle later mirrored when Tom hangs up the Picasso he stole from Dickie. An early shower scene in New York City, when Tom is still living at the crummy boardinghouse, gives us both extremes, with the light from the showerhead forming a kind of halo around Tom’s head and the churning water emerging from the shower drain an excess of murk. It’s striking and unnerving, which is basically Ripley’s whole thing.

Tom is always grasping, watching, reaching, his want communicated best in moments that maximize the rule of thirds. Ripley ends by asking us, “Who is Tom?”, and these images, with their visual emptiness and loaded yearning, are an unforgettable answer.'

[welovenissan]

Which One To Choose: Nissan Juke vs. Nissan Qashqai

Choosing between the Nissan Qashqai and Nissan Juke is a hard decision, but hopefully, this helpful guide will sort you out

Nissan’s two mighty small SUVs have been among the most popular models sold in ever since they graced our roads.

Not just because their looks shocked the average person because they were so angular and so not British, but because they were actually good. Really good.  

But which is right for you? Hopefully, our comparison review will help you to make a sensible and informed decision. 

Styling

You wouldn’t be wrong for thinking the Nissan Juke for sale is a spaceship at first glance.

Ever since it came out back in 2010, this small crossover has been the car of choice for small families and those wanting to experience the world of SUVs without getting a really big car. 

What makes the Juke so popular is its size and vast familiarity. It’s on the same level as a Ford Fiesta or Mini Cooper when it comes to recognition, which has really helped the brand become popular over here. 

On the other hand, the Qashqai comes across as a more serious version of the Juke. Not only is it a larger car, sitting in Nissan’s model line-up as a fully-fledged SUV, but it also feels more grown-up.

The most recent generation comes with more chrome body parts, higher-quality trim and an overall better interior. But it’s also available in some bright colours, so it’s not all that serious.  

What are they like to drive?

If you’re looking at buying a small crossover or SUV then there’s no doubt you’re after a smooth and easy ride.

Well, thankfully both the Juke and Qashqai offer just that. 

Nissan’s Juke SUV for sale is a very easy and fuel-efficient car to drive.

Because of the raised driving position, it’s even easier to see what’s in front of you – and that can be really helpful when navigating tight roads or reversing into a parking space.  

Early versions were available with both petrol and diesel engines, but newer models only come with the former – which we’d say is the better engine choice for this car anyway. 

Like the Juke, the Qashqai benefits from a higher driving position but it takes it one step further with a really great suspension setup, which ensures the car is really smooth over bumpy surfaces.  

It’s quiet too, despite having either a petrol or diesel engine under the bonnet.

But out of all the choices on offer, the smaller engine is the more desirable, mainly because it’s smoother, happier to rev, quieter and more economical.  

Interior and technology

With both these cars being Nissans, you can expect their interiors to be somewhat similar.

Both cars feature the brand’s NissanConnect infotainment system which is easy to use and crisp to view.

Newer Juke and Qashqai models get Apple CarPlay and Android Auto too, if you don’t fancy using the car’s system and just want to hook your phone up.  

There are many trim levels available on Juke models, including the Visia trim that gets you air-con, sports seats and six airbags.

Moving up is the Acenta, which has Bluetooth, a USB port and climate control. 

Tekna+ models get a DAB radio, air-con, cruise control, heated front seats, climate control and more – it’s really all you need. 

The Qashqai is also available with a variety of trim levels, ranging from the Visia to the top-spec Premiere Edition.

But no matter which one you opt for, you won’t be disappointed because the interior quality is on a par with its German alternatives. 

Boot space and practicality

If boot space and practicality are what you desire, then you'll admire the Qashqai.

Being a full-size SUV, you expect there to be plenty of space back there – and there is.

Its boot measures in at 504 litres, growing to 1,447 litres with the rear seats folded flat.

On top of this, there’s lots of space available for backseat passengers and plenty of cupholders and storage solutions too. 

But just because the Juke is smaller doesn’t necessarily mean it’s not big enough.

In fact, it’s far from it. Its boot measures in at 422 litres, which is impressive for a small crossover SUV, and rear legroom isn’t too compromised.

Sure, it’s not as roomy as its larger sibling, but it’s still plenty for most people.  

Safety and reliability

Being a well-established Japanese brand, both these Nissans are going to be very reliable cars.

All of the petrol and diesel engines used are really solid and will continue to run smoothly for many, many miles to come. 

In terms of safety, both the Juke and larger Qashqai scored a full five marks following their most recent Euro NCAP crash testing.

This also showed great adult and child passenger safety scores – perfect for family cars. 

Dimensions:

Nissan Juke

Length: 4210mm

Width: 1800mm

Height: 1577mm

Boot space: 422 litres

Find a used Nissan Juke in South Africa.

Nissan Qashqai

Length: 4425mm

Width: 1835mm

Height: 1625mm

Boot space: 504 litres

Verdict: Nissan Juke vs Nissan Qashqai: which should you buy?

When it comes down to it, either way you go, you won’t be disappointed.

We’re sure you’ve come to a conclusion yourself after reading this, but if not, perhaps our verdict will help. 

We’d recommend choosing the Nissan Juke if you’re after something that’s nimble, not too big and sits nice and high on the road.

After all, there’s nothing worse than feeling cramped and small on a big motorway. 

However, if you’d rather have more space and extra practicality, then the Qashqai is by far the better choice.

This is a full-sized SUV that offers great levels of safety, is reliable and fits most families really well.

Have you ever seen a Qashqai and Doctor Who’s Tardis in the same room? No, because they are both the same practical vehicle.   

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Shared from https://thenissanfan.home.blog/2023/12/16/which-one-to-choose-nissan-juke-vs-nissan-qashqai/

[phoenixmixturemexico]

What is a Manual Gyroscopic Mixer Machine?

Explore the Manual Gyroscopic Mixer Machine, its design, and how it improves mixing efficiency. Perfect for professionals seeking reliable mixing solutions.Mexico Phoenix Mixer.

If you've ever wondered how thick liquids, like paint or ink, get that flawlessly lump-free consistency, it's likely due in large part to a gyroscopic mixer. However, what is a manual gyroscopic mixing machine, and why is it so popular among small businesses?

Definition and Basic Function

  A sophisticated tool called a gyroscopic mixer is used to evenly mix thick liquids in their original containers. To prevent air bubbles and promote consistency, these mixers rotate the material in a dual-axis pattern, in contrast to traditional stirrers.

The Concept of Gyroscopic Motion

Consider how a planet orbits the sun by rotating on its axis. Gyroscopic mixers operate in precisely this manner, whirling around two axes at the same time to guarantee 360° mixing coverage.

The concepts of rotational dynamics and angular momentum underlie the intriguing physical phenomenon known as gyroscopic motion. From bicycle stability to spacecraft navigation, it is essential to many scientific, engineering, and technical applications.

Dual-Axis Rotation

Dual-axis motion, in which the container rotates and spins concurrently, is a feature of manual gyroscopic mixers. As a result, even the most difficult materials are thoroughly blended in a vortex-like movement. 

The ability of an object or system to spin independently around two perpendicular axes, usually known as the X-axis and Y-axis, is known as dual-axis rotation. This idea is frequently utilized to describe and regulate two-dimensional movement in the fields of physics, engineering, robotics, aerospace, and consumer electronics.

Manual Operation Mechanism

The mixing process is manually initiated by a lever or handle, which activates the machine's rotational motion. There's no need for complicated electronics—just a little elbow grease!

A manual operation mechanism refers to a system or device that is controlled and operated by human effort rather than powered by electricity, hydraulics, or automation. These mechanisms convert manual input (such as turning, tugging, pushing, or cranking) into mechanical motion to perform specific tasks.

Comparison with Automatic Models

Manual gyroscopic mixers are mechanically driven, which makes them perfect for locations with erratic power supplies or for operations on a tight budget, whereas automatic versions rely on motors and computerized timers. 

Gyroscopic motion is frequently contrasted to automatic models, which are sensor-driven, software-controlled systems that can mimic, enhance, or replace mechanical gyroscopic behavior. This is particularly true in the fields of engineering and contemporary technology. The following contrasts automatic 

What Is Gyroscopic Motion?

Gyroscopic motion refers to the behavior of a spinning object (often called a gyroscope) that tends to maintain its orientation due to the conservation of angular momentum. When an external force attempts to change the direction of the spinning axis, the gyroscope reacts in a way that defies intuitive expectations — this response is known as precession.

Key Features of Manual Gyroscopic Mixers

Compact Design

They’re space-saving, making them perfect for small workshops or retail paint stores.

Energy Efficiency

Because they’re manually operated, they consume zero electricity, contributing to low operational costs.

Versatility with Various Can Sizes

Models like the one from Phoenix Mixer can accommodate 1 to 20-liter containers, with adjustable clamps.

Ease of Maintenance

Fewer parts mean fewer things that can go wrong—making maintenance a breeze.

We were able to produce paint mixtures of superior quality while saving electricity thanks to the Phoenix manual gyroscopic mixer.small, dependable, and low-maintenance. Nothing more was possible.

For small to medium-sized businesses that require effective, reliable mixing without the expense of automated solutions, a manual gyroscopic mixer machine is an excellent option. Whether you work in chemical blending, paint manufacturing, or cosmetics, this equipment does the job quickly and easily.

 Visit :https://mx.phoenixmixer.com/manual-mixer.php

Contact: +91 9145240124  

[motorandauto]

2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5 Expert Review: Drive, Performance & Specs Tested

The automotive world is witnessing a revolution, and the 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5 stands at the forefront of this electric transformation. With its bold retro-futuristic design and cutting-edge technology, this electric crossover demands attention on every road it travels.

Striking Design Meets Practical Innovation

The Ioniq 5's distinctive pixelated lighting signature and angular bodywork create an unmistakable presence. What appears as a compact hatchback in photos reveals itself as a spacious, mid-sized crossover in person. The 2025 model refines these design elements while maintaining the head-turning aesthetic that made the original so popular.

Inside, the minimalist cabin offers a refreshingly different approach to luxury. The flat floor and sliding center console create a lounge-like atmosphere, while sustainable materials throughout reflect Hyundai's commitment to environmental consciousness. The dual 12.3-inch screens provide crisp information display without overwhelming the clean dashboard design.

Performance That Impresses

The 2025 Ioniq 5 offers multiple powertrain options, with the top-tier dual-motor AWD variant delivering an impressive 320 horsepower and 446 lb-ft of torque. This translates to 0-60 mph times of approximately 5 seconds – athletic performance that belies its practical nature.

More impressive is the Ioniq 5's 800-volt electrical architecture, allowing for ultra-fast charging capabilities that can take the battery from 10% to 80% in just 18 minutes under optimal conditions. The extended range models now offer up to 303 miles of EPA-estimated range, addressing one of the few criticisms of earlier versions.

Driving Dynamics

Behind the wheel, the Ioniq 5 delivers a driving experience that balances comfort and engagement. The low center of gravity provides exceptional stability, while the responsive steering offers more feedback than many competitors. Multiple regenerative braking levels, including a one-pedal driving mode, make city driving particularly enjoyable.

The suspension tuning skillfully manages the vehicle's substantial weight, soaking up road imperfections while maintaining composure through corners. Highway cruising highlights the impressively quiet cabin and effective driver assistance systems.

Technology and Practicality

The 2025 model introduces Hyundai's latest infotainment system with faster processing, enhanced voice recognition, and seamless smartphone integration. The augmented reality head-up display projects navigation directions onto the road ahead, keeping drivers' eyes where they belong.

Practicality hasn't been sacrificed for style. The flexible interior can accommodate five adults comfortably, while the 27.2 cubic feet of cargo space (expanding to 59.3 with seats folded) rivals many larger SUVs. Thoughtful touches like the vehicle-to-load function allow the Ioniq 5 to power external devices, from laptops to camping equipment.

Final Verdict

The 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5 represents the compelling future of electric mobility. It successfully balances striking design, practical innovation, and engaging performance in a package that stands distinct from conventional crossovers. With competitive pricing and Hyundai's comprehensive warranty, it presents a strong case for drivers ready to embrace electric driving without compromise.

Read our full breakdown with detailed specs and comparisons | View our design analysis | Explore technical specifications

[paperclips37]

This has been sitting around on my laptop for nearly five months.

Ending is not coming swiftly apparently. Enjoy the first part if you like! (Maybe it'll give me some drive to finish it.)

-----

Riley was working on her latest generation of facial recognition. Working on the flaws of current software's in use by various governments and security agencies. Ones that had key flaws in identifying variances in skin tones that were not white. Typical. Riley had acquired several tech companies versions. All highly flawed. Inherently biased against POCs. The supposedly best in the world were failing in comparison to her coding. She stared out the large bay window of her office as she ran another test sequence on her version in comparison to her liberated copies. Her new office had a rather nice view of LA. Mattie had decided that a department head deserved a plum office. A felon to department head in 7 years. Time had a funny way of changing in unexpected ways. Then Desi had walked in looking white as a sheet. The typical stoic agent was trembling as she sat down opposite Riley. Her face betrayed a lack of sleep. Riley waited quietly taking a sip of water. Desi’s bouncing combat boot echoed in the quietly humming room.

‘I heard you talking to Mac about some advancements you guys had made into the analysis of the data from his LIDAR telemetry. About detecting previous accidents or.... impacts.’ Her voice was cautious and small. So unlike her usual clipped biting wit.

Riley remembered the conversation. Reese had been asked to consult on the next generation of Mac’s LIDAR. Any excuse for military men to have a gab he joked, winking at her. She, Mac and Reese had been having a lively debate in the canteen. Reese, always colourful in his engagements had Riley in pieces laughing. Mac was determined to improving the LIDAR further with engineering alone. Reese and Riley had disagreed. Reese was entirely pro instinct and experience. Riley was trying to get both men to understand that her analysis programme would aid everyone involved. Bridging the gap. She’d made a point about recent data from the Kopet Dagh region. Her programme had found inconsistencies between the official records and what the LIDAR data had indicated. Several reports of downed aircraft in the area were nowhere to be seen in the telemetry. If she incorporated her analysis software in conjunction with data mining of the official records they could start verifying or disproving incidents in the field. She hadn’t been aware of Desi in the vicinity so focused on the debate.

‘Yeah I am making progress. Even if Mac is being uniquely stubborn about it.’ Mac had thrown himself into his work of late with a hyperfixation that was on the verge of being concerning.

‘He’s been trying to distract himself. Since... the bariatric treatment. He’s struggling.’ Desi’s voice was reserved, small. Her tone wasn’t uncaring but it wasn’t overly concerned. Like her focus was elsewhere. Riley didn’t know what to make of it. The setting sun lit up her office in dark reds and oranges. Desi stared into the sunset unseeingly. Her angular face lost to something else.

‘That’s not why I’m here. You mentioned the Kopet Dagh region?’ Desi’s eyes finally met Riley's. Tears started slipping down Desi’s face. Riley stood and moved to the chair nearest her. She leaned in towards her friend. Unsure if she could touch her or not.

‘Yeah I’m checking the telemetry we’re getting versus the official records. Now if I find any discrepancies I start digging for answers. See if the I can find the truth.’

‘Is there evidence of- of a downed helicopter in the vicinity of Ashgabat? Or any downed aircraft? Fall 2016.’ Riley leaned back in her chair scrutinising Desi. The tone was desperate. Grieved. Lost even. Riley stared at her stoic friend. Watching as Desi’s hands twisted in her lap.

‘When you mentioned the Kopet Dagh I had to ask around. In 2016 someone I... ah.’ Desi swiped tears away from her face. Riley had never seen her so distraught. ‘I lost someone I cared about in that crash. But then you said that there was no evidence of that.’ Desi’s chest was heaving with the pain. A deep pain.

‘Who did you loose?’

‘His name was Evan Baxter.’ Desi’s eyes drifted pack in time. ‘We met in the sandbox. Jack introduced us. It wasn’t love at first sight but our first op... We had that moment. That singular moment and I was never the same.’ She sighed sadly. One hand pushing back her dark hair. The dwindling light making the serious moment feel all the more intimate. Intense.

‘He was everything to me. My partner. My best friend. When I lost him. It broke me. And I’ve never fixed it.’

‘Shit Des.’ What else could Riley say. A significant part of Riley was rather irritated that after nearly 4 years of knowing each other she didn’t know about any of this. But another part of Riley. The part of Riley that struggled with her feelings understood. The part of her that put things in that box. So much of this reflected on herself.

‘His black hawk was supposedly shot down in 2016. His body was never recovered and I never got over it.’

‘Supposedly shot down near the Ashgabat region.’ Riley’s brain struggled to process the information. Silence reigned. Behind them, her laptop beeped indicating her comparison analysis was done. She ignored the ringing tone. Desi finally lifted her eyes up to Riley’s. Her heart broke for her friend. The pain of loss they all knew far too well. Combined with the lack of answers. It must be hell. Riley had haunted the dark net in the months after Jack’s death. Trying; desperate really to find some scrap of evidence he was out there. That he’d faked his death. Or someone else had. It had been the worst day when she’d had to admit all hope was lost. Hollowly sitting at her rig. Hands finally stilled. The dam on her grief had given way. Her heart shattering in her chest. She couldn’t remember how she’d gotten home. Woken up to find Mac and Bozer passed out on her couch. The emptiness of loss felt a little less hollow seeing her family. A reminder that she wasn’t alone. Answers gave solace to the living. Maybe Riley could get the dead to speak to her.

Or resurrect them.

Just this once.

‘I’ll triple check everything in the area.’ Desi grabbed her hand, ability to speak seemingly gone. All Riley could do was squeeze back.

[realworldhncproject]

‧͙⁺˚･༓☾UPDATED WEB DESIGN ☽༓･˚⁺‧͙

This is the unedited front page of Displate's website. It looks a little boring, and the text doesn't catch my eye, neither do the small featured posters. Below I marked all of the changes I wanted to make

The banner at the top is a countdown for promotional offers, yet blue doesn't give me a sense of urgency at all. I thought I should change the colour to something bolder, or something more out-of-place to get the users attention

I was also determined to enlarge each title displayed on the right, since that will make it a focal point, and encourage users to scroll through that section, seeing all new and popular releases.

I will also try moving the tabs from the top, and line them up along the edge of the page, on the left side. That placement on the top is unusual, and it's a little hard to navigate over it with my eyes.

I was inspired to move the search bar to the left and icons to the right because of Google's interface. I think it's really iconic and easy to navigate placement. It's definitely a successful design, and I will try to achieve the same level of success while making my own redesign of Displate's webpage.

I noticed there's a limited edition tab. I had to look very closely to see it. I should put emphasis on it, since customers might be interested in limited edition posters but might not notice this section at all if they're skimming the page.

I wanted to change all of these thumbnails to poster illustrations themselves, rather than a demonstration of what they'd look like on your wall. First, a customer should be shown the possible product and wonder "how will that look on my wall?". Displate is really successful in showing customers what their purchase will look like in their home, but they aren't very good at inciting them to try it out and experiment. Putting the illustrations over the thumbnails would allow them to be curious, and follow a "show, don't tell" philosophy.

I started experimenting with colours, and making the flash sign brighter. I thought all of these colours are too soft, though green really stood out against the white background. Still, it didn't suggest urgency. I aimed for orange, a colour that's not too bold and not too soft, but dark enough to put emphasis on the " FLASH SALE " aspect.

Below is an example of the updated web page with the changes I wanted to make. I think the right side looks a lot better.

I reordered the tabs and added a countdown below the "limited edition" section. This would better mark it's importance. I think moving the search bar to the left and the profile to the right was not as successful as I thought, but maybe they just need to be lined up better. I made a quick sketch to display my thoughts clearer.

This looked a lot better. I was just missing structure, and I'm glad I caught onto that detail.

While I know I shouldn't rebrand and rework their logo, I really think they should change it, as it would pull the harmony of the website together. The angular look is meant to show ruggedness of metal.

After comparing my reworked website and the original, I realised I liked the top placement of the tabs. I returned them to their places and just enlarged the text to put more emphasis on them. I also noticed the profile icon being so far from the search bar made the website look a little bit disjointed, so I returned them to their original places too. I also made a dark version of the website. White is a little overly-friendly. Considering their target audience, the gamers, it'd be better to also make a dark theme of the website. Gamers are always more likely to use darker apps, like Discord over Facebook Messenger, for example.

Another thing I noticed, is that the logo is a little small. The original sizing is the figure in the centre. "Metal posters" can also be omitted or placed somewhere else, as shown on the figure on the left.

Clearer size comparison below.

⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂

Here is a final comparison between the original and reworked website. After reviewing the whole post once more, I made some minor changes. I realised that the tabs did not look bad lined up on the left, they only looked bad before since they weren't centred. I also added a graphic around the limited edition tab to bring even more attention to it. I also settled on moving the profile and search bar away from each other.