#battle of the exes 2

[greenlaut]

me & the pookies as our overwatch mains

zenyatta (me) ; zarya (sol) ; mercy (salem) ; cassidy (swarrior)

[thecolourpurple123]

Fourier Lugunica ramble (with excerpts from Ex 1)

Fourier is, much like all the members of the Lugunican royal family, somewhat airheaded but charming in nature. The Lugunican royals are all genuine and good people, but not particularly skilled stewards―which is pretty much the exact description the LN uses across all the side content I've read recently including Ex 1, 2, and 3.

In his normal state, he's prone to being incredibly impulsive and needy. He rolls up to the Karsten estate at random to bother them with whatever he's fixated on at any given moment and is very good-natured about the teasing he is subject to―not being particularly aware of the depths of Ferris's wit, but always rolling with whatever punches he does see. Fourier's obviously a bit pampered considering how he whines about the cold to the degree that he never goes anywhere without his fancy red coat, but he's not totally adverse to hardship or pain seeing how readily and regularly he challenges Crusch to duels for years of their youth despite never really standing a chance.

Generally, he does not concern himself with his own status, and readily waves it off in pursuit of whatever he's fixated on because he's just that kinda silly goofy guy. At the same time though, he's keenly aware of his status as the fourth prince, and while he does know the kind of effect he can have on people―as seen in how he stalls for time when Crusch is fighting the rabbits by distracting the people at her party with improvised songs and sword demonstrations―Fourier is not one to care for the fact that he's royalty in any ambitious or grand sense. However, as seen in Ferris's unusual appointment as a royal knight, he does know when it can be used to get what he wants/thinks is right and necessary.

Further, Fourier is very much one for bravado and putting on a brave face. He wants to be strong and look cool, especially for Crusch, and in all matters Fourier is one to throw himself headfirst into situations with a high degree of overconfidence. It's actually noted as being part of his charm, the fact that he so readily pretends that he's better than he is and is princely, while also not really caring for being seen as princely and competent, which ends up making those times where he's princely and competent all the more impactful to the people he interacts with.

(here we see Fourier and Ferris discussing after the duel with Crusch to make her wear a dress, for a more relaxed example of Fourier being both overconfident and not caring for how he appears which Ferris takes advantage of to tease him)

(this one is of Crusch talking to Fourier about Ferris's family history that he pretends to already know about and lies to Crusch about blatantly to save face, only to prove himself unknowingly in her eyes in the next breath)

(and this one is Julius talking to him later in Ex 1 for a more serious example of how Fourier views other's views of him)

Ultimately, Fourier is a bit of a walking contradiction. He's oh! so jolly yet still respectable and competent when the need arises. He doesn't care for status yet walks around with overconfidence. He's keenly aware of social dynamics at times when it counts, yet often blunders his way through conversations in a way that's disarmingly absent-minded.

It's a contradiction explained by the fact that Fourier is one of a rare few of his family to be a "master of the blood" as Miklotov puts it, or the Lion King's Blessing as the fandom has come to call it. He's able to just… intuit things, a lot of the time. He knows what moves to play to win at games, knows answers to obscure questions his tutor asks without knowing why, is able to only ever show up to the Karsten estate when Crusch and Ferris aren't too busy to see and hang out with him, and of course is able to coordinate several royal knights to rescue Crusch from Ferris's dad while also setting Reinhard as insurance for stopping Miles (a spy he doesn't know exists, just has a hunch exists based on pretty much no evidence at all) from escaping back to Vollachia all without ever knowing the full scope of his own machinations.

I think the most iconic moment of Fourier is this:

In one move, Fourier pushes Crusch to accept her dual roles of being a Lady and being the martial heir to house Karsten, thrusts Ferris into knightship in a way that doesn't leave him insecure or gives him any room for doubt, and saves Crusch's dad's life from the rabbits―only to after Crusch and Ferris leave, tell a servant Crusch tied up that he has no idea what's going on and that they should probably figure that out.

Fourier is effortlessly foundational to Crusch and Ferris's entire worldviews, and he doesn't even know how or why he just follows his instincts and garners their total respect and admiration. He's humble in an unspoken way that leaves his dramatic overconfidence as endearing instead of irritating. He's a royal with once in a generation blood, yet all he cares for is to see the buds in the garden that are those he holds dear in his life bloom into their own.

The only time he ever really cares for his station, is because Crusch is a little obsessed with the legacy of the Lion King, and Fourier wants that attention on himself (all the while not knowing that he already has it). He makes giving his everything feel like nothing yet still everything―which is all the more tragic, all the more foundational for Crusch going forward, because that very essence of Fourier is exemplified in his death where his very memory is but a footnote in a wider chapter of the nation's history. Everything to Crusch and Ferris, but nothing to a nation in mourning.

This is why, after finishing Ex 1, I have gained an appreciation for Crusch who I'd thought as a very boring character having only experienced her presence in the main series. For years now, I've always looked down upon that short-sighted selfish goal of hers to break the covenant with the dragon, just because she can't get over Fourier's death. But it's deeply understandable if you come to know Fourier, and see it from Crusch's perspective.

Crusch started with this chip on her shoulder regarding needing to be worthy of inheriting this mantle of the lion, and then by the end of the novel she inherits this impossible dream of Fourier's too―where he pictures this future together with Ferris and Crusch as he dies in her arms, not even able to finish telling her that he loves her before he goes.

Fourier was her Lion King, he always was, and in his absence, given this singular opportunity through her candidacy and in the context of the seemingly callous attitude of the Sage Council and the gathered nobles… to me, it just feels so earned that she would despise the Dragon, whose mere promise of protection overshadows the deaths of so many royals who were amazing in their own rights. Ultimately, Crusch's ire does come from misplaced grief, but it's one I can't help but respect now. The path Ferris and Crusch walk is not one that is kind to either of them, but it is one that is quite fitting. One that is lonely by necessity, because even though Fourier told Ferris to rely on his friend Julius, he was unable to finish telling Crusch his full feelings for her, leaving Crusch with an impossible dream and shoes she can't fill even with Ferris at her side.

So basically, all of this is to say that my favorite ferret man Ferrier Lugunica haunts the narrative and after reading Ex 1 he lives in my head as rent free as he does in Crusch and Ferris's.

[sminny-wew]

Don't look down

1/2

[goddess-of-silvers]

Hate that it took me my second watch of season two to realize that the name Muriel is just Michael and Uriel put together and now I can only see Muriel not as Ineffable Husbands adopted child but Michael and Uriels love child that they are having a really hard time coparenting.

[bigfrogdraws]

my brain worms are back

[spacedlexi]

thinking about clem vi and minnie

[vgtrackbracket]

Video Game Track Bracket Round 2

Battle! (Barry) from Pokémon Masters EX

vs.

Konga Conga Kappa from Crypt of the NecroDancer

Propaganda under the cut. If you want your propaganda reblogged and added to future polls, please tag it as propaganda or otherwise indicate this!

Konga Conga Kappa:

Whenever you hear this song, you are legally obligated to pause on every eighth beat no matter what you're doing

[fondlepunch]

Airman.EXE 💨🤖

“Look up in the sky, it’s a bird, it’s a plane. IT’S AIRMAN, BITCH, AND I’M BRINGING THE PAIN!”

[funky-shoe-battle]

FUNKY SHOE BATTLE Round 2

Mela's boots, which are so big she can't even walk properly!

Kamen Rider Ex-Aid shoes! They look just like that guy (Kamen Rider Ex-Aid)!

What did the submitters say?

Mela's big boots

Look at those insane boots. She literally cannot walk in them like find a clip of her walking animation she’s struggling so hard. But she’s got style and that’s what matters.

Kamen Rider Ex-Raider

They aren't shoes worn in the show but instead are a premium pair of shoes that are based on Ex-Aid, as in if you know Ex-Aid you'd see the shoes and know.

[mashounen1945]

Learning to play fighting games is Pain™

I don't know if I'm the one who has a problem here or if this genre of videogames is simply not for me, but that's what it feels like when I try it.

I tried to start playing various fighting games... Well, at least those that can actually run on my PC without crashing the entire system because they're way too heavy for the CPU: either emulated stuff like Street Fighter 2 for SNES or anything that could be played on FightCade, or indie games & fan-games for PC. But it turns out the only way I can do literally anything (and by that, I don't even mean winning, just... not being immediately reduced to a pulp without having even touched my opponent) is by sitting down for hours each day during several weeks, memorizing all combos for each character, reading detailed breakdowns of each character's pros and cons and spreadsheets with each individual technique's frame data, and then trying to read the movements of the opponent so I can know what specific attack they're about to use and what exactly I have to do to counter that (as if reading people's non-verbal language in real life and knowing what's the right thing to say or do at that moment wasn't already hard enough).

And it gets worse. I thought my reflexes were decent enough after having played games like Spark the Electric Jester or Mega Man Battle Network, where dashing into an enemy attack at the right moment or hitting an enemy right when that enemy is attacking is actively encouraged, or Sonic Battle, where I have to pay attention to what an enemy is doing so I can figure out what kind of special move they're immune against and what I have to do to win a battle without being hit or what I have to do in order to avoid being KO'd in one hit. But nope! It turns out having practice with those games is still not enough, and in every fighting game I try, I can't even react to literally anything and every attempt of counter-hitting an opponent right when they're in the middle of their own attack fails spectacularly. Besides, there are all these combos that allow you to inflict lots of damage in a short amount of time and it feels so satisfying to pull them off (at least on a keyboard, because my USB gamepad is crap, apparently), and some characters or even entire games seemingly expect you to use those combos a lot; however, learning and practicing combos is virtually useless in games like Dragon Ball FighterZ or the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure arcade, where you can't use combos —or even heavy normal attacks— unless you previously fill up a special energy meter meant to be used for those combos... but said meter is at zero at the beginning of every fight, filling up that meter is such a tedious chore and then it becomes straight-up impossible to do that while also trying to avoid getting beaten up by your opponent.

Something I can never get used to is the fact that I have to press Up on the d-pad (or move the analog stick upwards) in order to jump, or that I have to move backwards at the right moment in order to guard against an enemy attack. This is a problem for me probably because I played platformers such as Sonic and Mega Man —as well as indie games inspired by either or both of then— during most of my life, all those games have a dedicated jump button, and those games that include a guarding or parrying mechanic of some sort also have a dedicated guard/parry button.

(There's also Super Smash Brothers, which I haven't even looked at: it works in an entirely different way compared to other fighting games, and it lowkey scares me, to be quite honest)

Like... How did people even play these games back in the day, when things such as frame data and analyses of pros & cons per character weren't available for the general public and competitive gaming didn't even exist?

Honestly, the only way I could ever learn to play fighting games is if someone else with actual experience sat down with me and guided me through the entire process. In a nutshell: I'd need a sensei, just like in a real-life martial art.

Anyway... I'm tired of this, I'll go back to Battle Network. I'd already finished the 2nd game's normal story mode on early June and I was planning to start with the postgame now, but I chose to make this digression into a different genre before resuming my Battle Network 2 playthrough. I guess it's time to kick Bass.EXE's ass now.

[captainsvscaptains]

Round 2 Part 2 Poll 2

Propaganda (by @deep-sea-gigantism)

James tells the same obnoxious stories at dinner parties over and over again. He continually fucks up social interactions by accidentally insulting people. He also insults people on purpose. Namely the other captain.

This manages to work out well for him !

He tells a guy that his nails are a terror while they've been stuck in the arctic for like 3 years. He throws a massive party for the rising of the polar sun and considers wearing a dress to it

And he has self-worth issues ! He's a bastard and got his position through social and political luck and he calls himself a fake in a confession he makes to the aforementioned captain while James is dying of scurvy. He's eveything.

No propaganda yet for Captain Spaceboy

[rockingego]

12 am Doodles

[raposarealm]

Today is release day for the Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection!

WE MADE IT, FOLKS!!

Yes, I know we're celebrating the game's re-release, but I took a character from the anime for this event -- specifically, Oozono Yuriko, shown here in Cross Fusion. This piece is based on the final fight in episode 19 in Stream, taking place on the hospital roof. I... didn't know whether I could show other characters in the shot, so it's probably not as apparent, but for context, her opponent here not pictured was Bombman. Honestly, the whole scene is a lot shorter and less relevant than I thought (there's another unrelated fight in the same episode that kinda overshadows this one,) but it stuck in my memory regardless. [Insert a joke about my regular medical field-related rambles here.]

Yuriko isn't my favorite character, but she is still one I'm fond of, and one I feel gets picked on a little too much sometimes. Like a number of the anime cast, she kinda got the short end of the stick in terms of... everything, so I guess I'm doing my part to try to make up for that. Somehow.

This piece is super late, due to a number of issues; most notably, this month I've had problems both with chronic pain and mental health, and it's kinda hard to draw when you feel like you've been hit by a bus. The other issue was the good five or so drafts I had before landing on this particular composition, and the sheer amount of digital art and editing skills I had to learn very quickly. The sketch was drawn digitally here, but everything from the refined underdrawing to the coloring were done traditionally, with multiliners and alcohol markers. It's by far my largest piece in a couple years at least, possibly overall. (Yeah, I know it looks kinda simple, but inking buildings and other structures with a normal ruler is harder than it looks, I've learned.) There's a few errors here and there due to both exhaustion and expedience, but I think it's acceptable enough.

Here's to a new breath for the series, and here's to all the folks who've worked so hard on this collaboration!

Plug in, transmission!

[makethosenarratorsfight]

REVIVED UNRELIABLE NARRATORS; SIDE B

NOTE; This is a revival round. These narrators are not fighting due to being dead

[honeehazard]

the reason ive never posted a spidersona is bc i have deadpool variant :3

my actual battle jacket below the cut bc i cant for the life of me draw details

the base jacket was a god tier thrift with the shoulder seams it was like the god of kinning bestowed it upon me

[r0semultiverse]

I think there should be a hacker group dedicated to making games more optimized

Like make TF2 run on 2 GB of RAM as god intended.