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#but also not really new games of their own and her appearances’ canonicity was debatable except for final remix where it was def canon
goldensunset · 2 years
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ok coco’s little introduction screen is visibly different from everyone else in the game and i’m not sure why. with everyone else, the black bar with the japanese text is on the bottom, in front of the character. the white bar with the english text is on the top, behind the character. for coco, both bars are behind her figure, and the japanese one is on the top for some reason. it’s immediately noticeable and i wonder why it’s the case
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percabeth4life · 7 months
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Would you mind talking about the changes you'd like to make to HoO now?
Okay! Sorry for the delay lol, I was so busy this weekend.
Some things stayed the same from my previous notes on it. For example, the Gods are still out of the game for the most part (though there will be some of the ocean Gods). This is because of a major plot point that is part of the main conflict. A few Gods will appear, but it will be to their detriment.
Book one's main plot is completely different from canon, rescuing Hera has nothing to do with it! Though Hera does have a hand in some of the actions that are taken. The stories shorthand is TLN rather than TLH ;). Titans and Primordials are involved as I mentioned prior, I'm very excited for how that plot will be going <3.
You will be getting hints about the primordials as the story goes on, so if you're someone that likes to predict things, pay attention! The book I'm working on right now will especially have some hints!
Book 2 will have some strong similarities to canon's book 2, but has some varying conflicts and struggles beyond canon's, also the Amazon's aren't.... that.
Book three is the one I've plotted out the least so far, I'm still debating what exactly I'm going to do with it. While the Athena Parthenos isn't involved, there is a different quest for Annabeth with some similarities.
Book four is complicated. There's still gonna be a Tartarus plot but the players in that are changed a bit. There's also multiple Titans that will likely get involved, still plotting out the actual path of that. The rest of the questers have their own plot going on but things will definitely be different from canon. They're not only having to find a way to get the tartarus crew out of tartarus, but also deal with another plot of the opposing force.
Book five is based at Mount Olympus rather than Athens, and has a fun plot that does get called somewhat from mythology, but with a touch of a twist. Also, the final battle is an actual battle.
As for the characters involved- the prophecy has more than 7 people :) In fact I'm going for a very different number than the canon number overall. I'm also including one OC, which I've gone back and forth on so many times but really they're needed to balance the situation.
Additionally! Several of the canon characters have changed backgrounds and parentage! I don't like how they were all from the Olympians when there was a whole big deal made of minor Gods in the previous series, it completely ignored that! So as you can imagine, I've changed several of them to have new parentage.
I've been carefully considering the parentage of each of the characters to keep what make them themselves, while also allowing me to explore new themes and possibilities! I won't say who the parents are, though you're free to guess ;) but I like to think they'll add to the story.
I'm also considering adding a touch of different culture and maybe exploring some other pantheons a bit. This will be easiest with Frank and his whole long family history, but a little with Piper and her Native heritage and maybe Hazel as her mother had a whole witchcraft thing going on plus being African American and canonically descended from slaves.
Overall, a lot to work with and adjust from canon! I'm very excited to work on everything and have a lot of research ahead of me haha.
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sapphire-weapon · 9 months
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Do you think that people are getting their hopes too high for Leon appearing in RE9? Like yeah, RE4make was a huge success, but it is a retelling. OG Leon hasn't appeared in any games (?) since RE6, which was slammed because they fucked up his character so bad. If he's going to appear again, I'd argue that most players (or at least a large chunk) are not paying attention to how the movies tie into game canon, meaning that his better written personality in RE9 is NOT going to make sense. Many will wonder how he came from RE6 to a more carefully thought out RE9. What fills in the gaps?
It makes more sense to exclude him and instead focus on his younger self throughout the new script, should they continue down that path, so he's consistent. Regardless, I'd want newer games to mainly focus on what the fuck is happening in the BSAA. What HAPPENED to Chris? Why are they using B.O.W.'s!? Where does Rose go from here? I enjoy Leon, I do, but he's not a the main character in the RE franchise and I don't think a lot of people get that.
I could be totally wrong though, lol. I do not speak on behalf of the billions of people playing this game, just my thoughts. Also to clarify bc social anxiety, this isn't hate to your last anon! I liked their question too! It was established that Chris was in his own mission, with his own team DESPITE what he was told. There was strong references to a whole lot of drama between him and his superiors, because he stropped trusting them almost entirely, from what I remember. He technically wasn't supposed to be there and finding B.O.W.'s in the BSAA was an ending scene twist. So I don't understand the connection between him and the people keeping Rose on a leash, either. The closest I can guess is that he made some type of deal to keep her safe and train her to use her powers safely and ethically.
You are giving the CGI films way, way too much credit. You will not at all have to watch Vendetta or Death Island to make sense of Leon's character moving forward, just like how you didn't have to watch Damnation to make sense of him in RE6.
Say RE9 deals with Leon's self-awareness about his status in the government. Well, in RE6, Leon is so much at odds with the government that he had to fake his death at one point in that game. Going into an RE9 that deals with him breaking free and going his own way doesn't really seem crazy to me. In fact, it makes more sense than any other title progression for him.
Answer me honestly: Do you really think that his character's personality progression makes sense if you just go straight RE2 -> RE4 -> RE6?
Because it doesn't.
OG RE4 still gets criticism to this day for how much they changed him from RE2, just like how RE6 gets shit for it.
Also, like.
What's the implication here? That he should never be in a game again because it won't "make sense" to players?
Resident Evil is a video game series first and foremost, and Leon has been its deuteragonist since 1998. I don't understand this mentality that he won't/shouldn't be in a numbered game title again and should be contained strictly to supplementary material moving forward in order to wrap up his story. Why on earth would/should they do that, when Leon's presence in a game helps move units?
Leon is going to be in either RE9 or RE10. This is not really up for debate. Capcom is going to have to close out his story soon because of his age, and it's going to happen in a mainline title.
Because he is the secondary protagonist of a video game series.
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thankskenpenders · 3 years
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My ask box is still off for my own sanity, but if it was on I know I'd currently be swarmed with messages about this:
Shade is mentioned in the Sonic Encyclo-speed-ia. Does this mean anything?
Just so we're all on the same page, I will reiterate that Sonic Chronicles was obviously inspired in part by the Penders Knuckles comics, and Shade was obviously inspired by Julie-Su. This shouldn't even be up for debate. I know Penders sucks, but come on, there are way too many specific similarities to say it's just a coincidence. However, taking inspiration and copyright infringement are two totally different things. There's a reason why Shueisha doesn't own Super Sonic or Silver despite the extremely blatant DBZ inspiration. But in recent years Ken has claimed that he's the only person who can legally use Shade, and that he plans on establishing that she's literally just Julie-Su using an alias in The Lara-Su Chronicles
So now Sega is acknowledging her again in the soon to be released Encyclo-speed-ia. Does this mean anything when it comes to her ownership and/or canonicity? And the answer is... it probably doesn't
For one, the problem was never that Ken has been declared to legally own Shade by the courts. The Sonic Chronicles lawsuit was thrown out multiple times. No, the problem is that if Sega was to use Shade again, he would be able to try to sue again, so he assumes they won't even try. He also believes that this aversion to going back to court means him claiming ownership of Shade won't be challenged by Sega. He's playing chicken with them. But here Shade is again! This is clearly Sega using her, right? But, well... if Penders considers merely acknowledging the existence of Chronicles in a series history book to be fair use, then he isn't going to sue. Ergo, they're in the clear
Okay, but does it at least mean that Shade can be considered canon again? Eh... I mean, think whatever you wanna think. But the Encyclo-speed-ia is not a deep lore compendium that fills in all the blanks and explains the chronology of the series. It's a general Sonic encyclopedia that lists all the games and says what happens in them. And Sonic Chronicles is a Sonic game published by Sega, so it gets a section, and Shade gets a tiny blurb in said section
So, yeah, Ken is obviously being an idiot when he says "Big friggin’ deal. That was Ian. Do you really think the suits at SEGA even read that thing?" Of course Sega approved this book. It's not just Ian writing a wiki entry. But this doesn't necessarily change the legal situation with Shade. As he says, the real test would be Shade appearing in a new story. But that probably still isn't going to happen because Penders would sue again, leaving us back where we started. But it is neat that she's in the book, I guess
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mossybank · 3 years
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Baby You're a Haunted House — W. M.
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Wanda Maximoff x GN!Reader
Summary: Y/N helps Wanda grieve and gain closure on Pietro's death in their own special way, a perculiar way to flirt in the eyes of others. — au/non-canon accurate timeline
A/N: Baby You're a Haunted House is a song that's been stuck in my head on a loop, and although it was only meant to be a place holder title I've actually become quite fond of it.
semi-proofread
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Y/N had been meaning to talk to Wanda for a while, amongst all the chaos of Ultron, they didn't get a proper opportunity to introduce themself; and to do it afterwards, as the girl realised she'd lost her brother, just seemed crass. They thought that maybe now they'd left it too long to introduce themself, coming off as rude and tone deaf for not doing it earlier, but the longer they avoided doing this the worse it would become.
In order to give themself an excuse for waiting so long, Y/N made Wanda a welcome hamper of sorts. They'd scoured the Eastern European aisle at the shop in hopes of finding something Sokovian, hoping it would remind Wanda of what was once her home, but they also feared that would be cruel, they didn't want her to feel anymore homesick than she most likely already did.
Eventually they threw a few things together, mostly sweets and snacks of the sort that they thought she'd enjoy, and anxiously knocked on her door before entering sheepishly.
"Hey, uh, I—" They glanced at Wanda and then at her TV before fixating their gaze to the floor, it was much less intimidating, "I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"
"No, no," Wanda shook her head and paused the TV, the laughing track stopping, "Nothing important."
Y/N knew Wanda would have a Sokovian accent, she was from the country for gods sake, but that didn't stop the tips of their ears from heating up at the sound of it. It was typical, but Y/N simply had a thing for accents, and they hoped Wanda hadn't noticed.
"I wanted to introduce myself, I've know we've met before," Y/N cringed, righting a robotic threat to earth seemed like a bit more than just meeting, "But we haven't met-met... I, um, I brought you a gift!" They held the gift basket out awkwardly, a lopsided smile overtaking their face.
Wanda chuckled quietly at Y/N's antics and shuffled from her position of the edge of her bed, making space for Y/N to sit beside her and patting it. Y/N quickly obliged, placing the gift basket between them.
"I wasn't sure what you'd like so it's a bit of everything."
"Thanks.. No one else has done this for me." Wanda said fondly, looking through the basket with a content expression, "You didn't need to do all this."
Y/N looked down at their hands, and shrugged, "I just wanted to make sure you felt welcomed here and stuff, y'know? I know what it's like to be a new Avenger, it's a lot of change at once so I just want to make sure you're doing okay."
After some small talk, the two decided to watch one of Wanda's sitcoms together. Y/N wasn't too sure what it was called, but they'd definitely ask her later in order to binge it themself.
"We used to have movie nights as a child where we'd only be allowed to speak english to help us learn it," Wanda's expression dropped temporarily, gazing to the side. Y/N followed Wanda's gaze, eyes landing on a framed photo of her and Pietro.
"... I'm sorry." Y/N said hesitantly after a second of silence, "If there's anything I c—"
Wanda's expression caused Y/N to stop talking, she'd clearly heard that phrase repetitively from everyone.
"The only thing you could do to make me feel better would be to bring him back." She said bitterly before looking at Y/N, her sour tone dropping off of the end of the sentence as her eyes met their, "I didn't mean that, I shouldn't... It's not your fault."
Y/N shook their head, cutting Wanda's apology short, "No, no! You have every right to be upset and excited, but.." They trailed off, a moment of debate in their brain, "If you, um, really wanted to see him again, I could try help?"
Wanda raised a brow, frowning slightly as if she thought Y/N was making some sick joke.
"The little ghost army thingie back in Sokovia when we were fighting Ultron? That was me! Uh.. Trying to reach Pietro would take time though.. Usually ghosts follow people around but I haven't seen him.."
Wanda sighed and shook her head, "You don't have to do that for me, you looked exhausted from how you used your powers back there."
"But I'd like too! And it'd be a great bit of training even if it didn't work, I've never been able to summon anyone specific before." They tried to reason, but ultimately they wouldn't do anything without Wanda's permission.
"... I'll think about it."
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It was a week later when Wanda next spoke to Y/N regarding their conversation about Pietro, they'd spoke in between but dancing around the topic of a dead brother was difficult work. Eventually, they had to discuss it once more.
"I'm willing to try, but if anything goes wrong, that will be it." Wanda comes to the compromise, presenting her deal to Y/N one morning in the kitchen. Y/N looking at Wanda and nodding, zoning out slightly and taking in her features, only snapping back into reality as boiling liquid came into contact with their hand.
They cursed, almost dropping their mug, foiled by the classic sitcom trope of overpouring your coffee and burning yourself as the result of some stupid crush.
"Oh, Y/N! Are you o—"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine!" They reassured, shaking their hand dry, ignoring the sting of the burn, "If you give me an hour, we can try immediately!"
Wanda nodded and promptly left, she longed to truly make sure Y/N was okay but held back,she’d dread to come off too doting this eraly in their relationship. Y/N's shoulders slumped and they let out a breath they didn't know they were holding. They'd barely knew Wanda, whatever they were feeling had to go away soon, it was just unprofessional when their whole thing right now was helping the girl talk to her brother one last time!
The medium was pulled out of their deprecating thoughts by a boisterous chuckle, turning their head, they recognised it to be Thor.
"Ah, young love," The god teased, giving Y/N a firm but well-meaning pat on the back, "Good luck, young Y/N."
Y/N blushed and defensively assured Thor that is was 'nothing like that', but it was clear to everyone else that it absolutely was.
Arriving to their semi-impromptu séance, Y/N gave Wanda a run down on what was going to happen. Usually, when summoning a spirit, Y/N only summoned those already around, but it seemed Pietro had already moved on from this world- it made sense, his death was somewhat honourable and he didn't seem to have any unfinished business or grudges- that just meant Y/N's process would be a little more difficult and required a few more attempts. For a summoning like this, they'd have to temporarily leave the mortal realm, appearing to those around them as unconscious. Luckily for Y/N this was something they were particularly good at, often doing so accidently and getting stuck when their powers first manifested as a child.
Laying down on the floor, Wanda knelt beside them with a soft grip on their hands ready to wake them should something go wrong, Y/N closed their eyes, the last thing they felt before slipping away being Wanda tenderly stroking her thumb across their knuckles.
With a start, Y/N woke up, sitting slowly and looking around their surroundings. Blue, everything was blue here and although usually a tranquil colour, here it was chilling and made everything feel off. Standing up, Y/N thought of a game plan, there was no point wandering around the blue plains of this realm, they'd get nowhere; not that there was anywhere to go or find regardless. The best way to find a spirit was to call out to them, and so that's just what they did.
If they steadied their breathing and kept quiet enough, they could make out distance conversations in hushed tones, they sounded like gibberish to them though— whether they were speaking English or not, they didn't want Y/N to know what was being said, and so that's how it stayed.
Their first few attempts at summoning were futile, each time they'd wake up with a start, taking a surprisingly deep breath and breaking out in a coughing fit, Wanda vigilantly by their side to help them through it, always offering a glass of water or a cough drop. 
The pair began to hang out outside of Y/N’s attempts to contact Pietro, by now the two both knew they most likely wouldn’t find his spirit, but neither of them mentioned this, thinking giving up on the summoning would mean they’d stop hanging out. Of course this likely wasn’t the case, but anxieties between the two certainly made it seem so.
One thing the two seemed to bond over a lot was food; it was what Y/N used to introduce themself to her and now Wanda was teaching Y/N a childhood recipe, opening herself up to them. There were little things the two did that everyone on the team seemed to notice except for them; for example, when telling Y/N to stir the food, she place her hands softly over their own to show them how to do it, her touch lingering longer than it should have. Occasionally other avengers would point this out, only being met with blushes by the two of them and various statements of denial, but with those statements of denial came coy but questioning looks from one to another as if to ask if they really meant that.
“It’s always best to try summoning on a full stomach, you never know how long it’s going to take so you should always be in good condition.” Y/N explains, cleaning the plates they’d just used to eat.
“How did you get your powers?” Wanda asked, warily, getting her powers wasn’t the best experience of her life and she’d hate to know something similar had happened to Y/N.
Drying up the plates, Y/N leans against the counter and faces her, “They run in the family.. sort of .. I mean, everyone on my mums side has some kind of fascination with the supernatural, but I’ve by far shown the most power in generations, apparently.”
Hearing that put a smile on Wanda’s face, she was glad it was something that came naturally to Y/N and that they could so easily embrace it.
Done with the washing, Y/N held an arm out for Wanda, her gladly taking it, and the two walked side by side ready for another attempt.
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Y/N found themself once again in the place they'd now dubbed their own personal blue hell. They shivered, fiddling with the fraying hem of their sleeves and looked around. It was empty, of course, it always was. Occasionally they'd accidentally summon someone, but sensing that they weren't wanted, they often left quickly.
"Pietro?" Y/N yells, cupping their mouth to try enhance the sound of their voice, it was no use, "Wanda misses you.."
They were yet to find a buzz word to pique the spirits attention.
After a few more minutes of waiting, Y/N sat down, they sighed exaggeratedly,
"Quick bastard, powers probably made him move realms quicker too.." They muttered angrily in defeat, about to begin their process to return back to Wanda.
Just as they closed their eyes, Y/N felt a sudden gush of air pass them, jumping, they looked around. Nothing.
Groaning, Y/N put their head in their hands, at this point they were just being teased.
Another gush of wind went by and Y/N swore.
There was one final gush, stopping when a bright light stood in front of Y/N. It was impossible to make out what, or rather who, it was, no features discernable through the blue light that shone out the figure, so bright Y/N had to cover their eyes.
After a few seconds, Y/N knew they needed to question it, ".. Pietro..?"
The figure moved, tilting its head and trying to speak back, but just like everyone else here, it was distorted and hard to make out.
The longer Y/N looked at the figure, the less it began to shine, features becoming more readable.
Just as its face was finally revealed, Y/N only just catching a glimpse of its face, they awoke back in Wanda's room, the red-head leaning over them with a worried expression.
"Y/N!" She exclaimed, helping them sit up and handing them tissues, it was only then that they realised their nose had been bleeding, "I was so worried." She kept her hands on their shoulders.
Y/N looked at her confused, tilting their head in question.
"I—.. You, you starting shaking and mumbling something, then your nose started bleeding," She looked down nervously, "I've been trying to wake you up for ages, nothing was working.."
She was clearly distressed, her hair a mess from running her hands through it and tears brimming her eyes.
"Wanda..." Y/N pulled the girl into a tight hug, "it's okay, I'm fine," They reassured.
Wanda sniffled and pulled back, "We.. We should stop trying to do this.. I don't want it to hurt you." She says sternly after calming down.
Though disheartened by the comment, Y/N knew it was coming, Wanda’s one condition from the start had been that they stop immediately should something go wrong.
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As Wanda and Y/N had feared in their heads, they didn’t seem to speak as much since stopping the seances. It was weird, like something had changed, Y/N would try make conversation with Wanda but she’d only give them a guilty sort of look and make an excuse to leave the interaction.
It started to frustrate Y/N after a while but they didn’t want to push her, they knew they never should of suggested summoning Pietro, it would only bound to cause more heartbreak for the poor girl. Knowing this, they wanted nothing more to fix it; they never wanted to go against Wanda’s wishes, but they were just so close the last time they tried and knew that they couldn’t give up till they succeeded.
A week later, Y/N was content, but clearly exhausted, they would try summon Pietro’s spirit often, thinking that they could surprise Wanda, but they’d gotten so used to trying with her by their side offering comfort that it know became difficult to carry out this ritual alone. By now they'd accepted that perhaps this one spirit was just too far gone to bring back.
Reluctantly, contradictory to their original plan of letting Wanda approach them first, Y/N decided they needed to say something. They refused to go see her empty handed though, they made her an overly extravagant mug of hot chocolate in order to satiate her sweet tooth. Besides, it was much better to talk over a drink.
Opening her door after knocking was awkward, making a mug for themself too, the whip cream and marshmallows piled high, Y/N had no hands free. This caused them to need to do an awkward elbow maneuver with the door handle, the drinks threatening to spill. Wanda gave Y/N a funny look for a second, questioning their difficulty to open the door, before noticing the two mugs in their hands and quickly made her way over to them to take them.
“It’s just the way you like it..!” Y/N says, looking down at the floor and grimacing at where some of the hot chocolate had stained right outside of Wanda’s room; they’d have to remember to clean that up later if a janitor didn't get to it first.
Wanda smiles, humming, she thanks Y/N and puts the drinks down. The two sip on them awkwardly for a minute, unsure of what to talk about without addressing the elephant in the room. The two of them seemed to think alike, breaking the silence in unison,
“I missed you.”
Both seemed shocked by the others words, eyes widening and cheeks dusting a warm hue, before laughing. 
Wanda held her hand out for Y/N and they took it, hands resting intertwined on the coffee table, “I’m sorry for avoiding you, I just... seeing you like that.. I felt like it was my fault.”
Guilt pang in Y/N’s chest and they shook their head, giving Wanda’s hand a comforting squeeze, “It’s my fault, I should know my limits, I do know my limits, but I decided to exceed them anyway. I didn’t mean to make you feel bad.”
“Maybe,” Wanda starts, a teasing undertone in her voice which lightens the mood, “You could take me out to apologies?” 
The suggestion alone was enough to knock the wind out of Y/N, they did a double take before finally bringing themself to respond, “Like a.. like a date..?”
“If that’s what you want.” God, this girl could be the death of Y/N.
“You know, this whole time I’ve been berating myself in my head for liking you.” Y/N chuckles, letting Wanda in on the secret, knowing from her amused expression that she had been doing the same, “so, its a date then?”
A wide smile spread across their face being able to say that, widening further as Wanda nods in confirmation. This whole time Y/N had thought the only way they’d be able to get to Wanda’s heart was to bring her brother back, that ended up not being the case at all. 
They realised when thinking this, zoning out, they’d been staring at Wanda this whole time, who looked back at them with a bright red blush across her face, the sight was almost too adorable for Y/N to handle.
Wanda looked at her and Y/N’s joined hands and then back to their eyes, “Could I.. kiss you?” she asks catching Y/N off guard, “To seal the agreement to our date!” She adds on flustered, the line sounding much smoother in her head than it did aloud.
Y/N didn’t seem to catch the awkwardness in her words, nodding enthusiastically, then toning it down quickly thinking that it was too much, and lent forwards, Wanda doing the same.
They closed their eyes, tilting their head to the side in order to not ruin the moment by accidently bumping noses or heads.
As their lips touched, everything felt just right, it was like electricity and fireworks, like the perfect first kiss every book seemed to describe. It was like a gush of fresh air, and as the two pulled away they gave each other matching coy smiles. Fully invested in each other, it was like nothing else existed around them. Maybe that’s why they failed to notice a new addition to the room.
A fake gagging sounds comes from behind the two, causing them to jump and quickly look for the source of it. Like the realm Y/N had traveled to many times before, this figure was blue, but now in the realm of the living it wasn’t as bright nor did it sound so distorted. It took a second, but the two finally realised what, or rather who, was in Wanda’s room; Pietro.
Wanda gasped, letting go of Y/N’s hand and standing up, hesitantly approaching Pietro who gave her a smug smile. The two looked at each other for a while before going in for a hug, Pietro spinning Wanda around. Y/N’s heart warmed at the sight , though it also frustrated them a bit, if they’d known all it would take to summon him was to get with Wanda, they would have made a move much sooner.
Y/N got up and nervously stood behind Wanda, not wanting to say anything and ruin their reunion. Tears brimmed in Wanda’s eyes, but this time they could tell they were from happiness. She stepped away from Pietro and put a comforting hand on Y/N’s arm.
“So you two are a thing now?” Pietro questions, crossing his arms and giving Y/N the classic look of an over protective brother who would kill them should they hurt Wanda. Looking back at Pietro, Y/N noticed he was still slightly transparent, he wouldn’t be able to keep up a physical form in this realm for long.
Wanda looked down, blinking away her tears and looking back up with a smile on her face, corners of her mouth quivering slightly, “You didn’t see that coming?” She uses Pietro’s catchphrase against him, voice wavering slightly as she does so. Hand still on Y/’N’s arm, she lead them and Pietro back over to the table, the three would have a lot to talk about till Pietro had to leave once again.
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Taglists;
Wanda Maximoff Taglist — @tatesimper
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adurowrites · 3 years
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A Percy Weasley Snippet
The lecture hall was quiet, but not perfectly silent. Percy could hear the scratching of quill on parchment, the creak of wooden chairs, and every now and again, a hard exhale as someone met a question they weren’t prepared to answer. 
There were twenty test-takers in the room, Percy included. One proctor sat at the front of the room, the other took slow laps about the room, sometimes muttering revealing charms to ensure no one was cheating. The soft footfalls paused somewhere in the back of the room. To the left, a witch coughed, hoarse and rough and momentarily distracting. Some of the test-takers had put silencing bubbles around their desks, wanting absolute quiet to focus on the exam. Percy preferred the ambient noise of the room. It made him think of Hogwarts, of taking his NEWTs in the Great Hall with the rest of his year. 
For as much as he hadn’t been particularly popular, or even well-liked, Percy had enjoyed his time at Hogwarts. He’d gotten along well-enough with his housemates, but he had found true camaraderie in the Ravenclaws of his year. He’d often wondered why the Hat hadn’t put him in Ravenclaw. He’d asked for it at his Sorting, even though he’d be breaking a family tradition and the thought of disappointing his parents terrified him. But it was the logical choice, and so he’d politely asked to be sorted into Ravenclaw. Apparently it was that request, and his bravery to buck tradition, that had the Hat put him into Gryffindor instead. 
But he was too studious for most of his house, and he’d spent most of his time studying with the Ravenclaws. There wasn’t much conversation, just quiet focus and the sense of belonging. Percy had missed that comfortable atmosphere as he’d been studying for the barrister’s exam. His flat, as cozy as it was, had the tendency to make him feel lonely. He enjoyed peace and quiet, but he also enjoyed company. Rather than sit alone, he’d done most of his studying in the Ministry library, keeping company with the various interns, undersecretaries, and paralegals.
He came to the end of the exam and glanced at the clock. There were four hours allowed for completion, and he’d hoped to save an hour and a half for review. He was behind by fifteen minutes. He grimaced and turned back to the start of the test. 
Just before the three-hour mark, a wizard got up and strode towards the proctor at the front. He handed his parchment over and left with a self-satisfied smile. A witch followed a few minutes later, looking a bit disgruntled. Percy figured she had wanted to be the first to complete the exam. He used play such games with his classmates at Hogwarts. Who was the first to finish? Who could write a paper the fastest? He used to think that finishing first was a sign of intelligence. But as he’d gotten older, he’d realized that taking his time with his work was a sign of maturity and wisdom. After all, the quality of the work was far more important than winning a silly race. 
So Percy stayed in his seat and reviewed his answers with the time remaining. There were only a few others that stayed to the end with him, although they appeared to have lingered out of necessity rather than patience. One witch looked disheveled, her hands twisting at her hair, and another wizard appeared damp with sweat. Or tears, Percy couldn’t tell. They filtered out into the hall where the other test-takers were waiting. The two who had finished first were arguing over a couple of questions, and they’d created quite a debate. 
Percy didn’t join. Instead he grabbed his portfolio from the locker and checked it for any messages. The Ministry knew he was taking his test today, but there were still a couple of work-related messages that had appeared inside - questions about the Minister’s meeting with the court, a few requests for paperwork, and a couple of messages wishing him luck, including one from Minister Fudge himself. 
Percy felt a flush of pleasure at the notice. (Yes, his name was spelled wrong, but Fudge was notoriously bad at names.) The personal note meant that Fudge was indeed considering him for position of Assistant. Now, all Percy needed, was just to have passed the bar. 
He took a seat on the benches along the wall and responded to what questions he could while he waited for the proctors to tally the scores. it only took half-an-hour, and then the door to the lecture hall opened. There was a rush and a minor traffic jam as the other test-takers raced inside. The results would be posted on the blackboard, and Percy felt a wave of nervousness. What if he hadn’t passed? What if the Minister had wished him well, only for Percy to have to re-take it? There was no harm in retaking the exam, of course. Plenty of barristers and government officials did. But Percy had never failed a test in his life.
....Divination didn’t count. 
He got up, hands clutching his portfolio to his chest and slowly walked into the room. He logically understood that he hadn’t failed. He logically knew he’d done well, very well in fact. But what if he’d somehow mixed up his answers? What if he’d forgotten to put his name on the test? What if - ?
The other wizards and witches were crowded around the parchment posted on the board. Some of them were celebrating. Some of them were swearing. All of them turned as he approached, and he saw a myriad of emotions cross their faces as they looked at him. Some were openly envious. Others looked impressed. Some gave him congratulatory smiles. 
“There he is!” the proctor said, stepping forward, his hand outstretched. “It’s not every year we have someone achieve a perfect score. Congratulations, Mr. Weasley.”
Percy automatically shook his hand, his eyes going to the parchment, and there it was. His name at the top, and beside it, a 500, a perfect score. He felt a relieved, incredulous, proud smile spread over his face. 
“With that score, you’ll have your pick of law firms,” the proctor said. “Might you consider Bolgers and Fawcett?” A card was slipped into his hand.
“He’s not going into law,” one of the test-takers said. “He’s in government. Senior Assistant to the Secretary.”
“I know,” said the proctor. He gave Percy a sly sort of smile. “Just in case you’re looking for something more lucrative.”
Bolgers and Fawcett was one of the wealthiest, most powerful law firms in the Wizarding UK. Percy knew the starting salary was easily triple what he was making now. 
He shook his head. “I’m quite satisfied with my current position, thank you.”
“Not if you’re taking the bar,” the proctor said. “You’ve got your sights set a bit higher. Well, when you tire of life as a public servant, let us know.”
“Thank you.”
The proctor left and Percy accepted more congratulations from the test-takers, some given more graciously than others. He responded with his own, and then once he was able, he slipped away, back to the Ministry. He still had work to do. 
He did divert by the Ministry’s owlry to jot down a quick message. I passed the barrister’s. A perfect score!
At another time he might have written more. He might have written about how rare a perfect score was, and that less than a hundred people had ever achieved a perfect 500 in the history of the exam. He might have written about the proctor trying to poach him for Bolgers and Fawcett, or about the test-takers recognizing him. But he knew by now that such additions would only be taken as arrogance. It seemed unfair to him, that only his boastings were considered prideful. In truth, Percy may have been boastful as a child, but he’d been forced to speak out about his achievements because no one else seemed to recognize them, or understand how significant they were. He’d grown up insisting on his own merit, celebrating his own accomplishments, and because of it, he’d been labeled prideful. He’d tried to be quieter about it lately, but it seemed even small comments on his success was enough to considered bragging. 
“Where shall I send it, sir?” the postmaster asked.
“The Bur -,” Percy cut himself off. He remembered the last time he shared such news with his parents. They ignored the message. They were unimpressed. No, worse than unimpressed. They were disapproving. 
His siblings had been happy for him though - they’d gotten him a gift for his office. And his parents had seemed apologetic over Christmas. He could try to reach out again, see if the fences had been mended. 
But if they hadn’t... Percy swallowed hard. It had hurt, when no one knew about his promotion, when his mother and father had kept it secret, like they were ashamed of him. It had felt like he’d done something wrong. It had felt like he didn’t belong. If it happened again... Percy didn’t think he could bear it. 
“Charles Weasley,” Percy said instead. “The Dragon’s Repast, Romania.”
“Very good, sir.”
Percy left, feeling slightly easier at his decision. Charlie wouldn’t ignore the missive. Charlie wouldn’t disapprove. Percy could imagine him, getting the owl and reading the message, and letting out a big whoop of joy for him. Charlie might even tell his friends about it - how his younger brother had gotten a perfect score on the bar exam. And the next time he came to visit, he’d insist on taking Percy out to celebrate. 
Percy nodded. That was enough. As long as he had Charlie, it would be enough. 
-----
(So, I have more head-canon about Percy, but it doesn’t really fit into my fic. I thought I’d plot a bit here on tumblr because I didn’t think it was hefty enough for Ao3, and it was just meant to be a little drabble, a tidbit, a snippet. But it doubled in length and then turned a little angsty at the end. So I may have to put it up on Ao3. 
For those folks confused, this is my interpretation of Percy Weasley from my fanfic series The Code, found on Ao3 and FFN. It’s not really about Percy, but Draco Malfoy and Bill Weasley.)
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cookie-gal · 4 years
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Okay but Ranma 1/2 modern au. The original story takes place in the late 1980s, that is over 30 years ago, nothing wrong with that time period but just imagine the story just taking place in 2020, but 2020 that isn't insane and just chill. 2019 but it's just 2020
This au is also inspired by @incorrectranmaquotes concept of modern au Ranma using his female form to be a gamer girl twitch streamer.
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• Ranma and Akane are now in their late teens, maybe 19, and are college students rather than 16 year old high schoolers
• Arranged marriages have now become a rarity, and it would be very odd to be in one, let alone two young college students. But here is Akane and Ranma being in one. This results in their betrothal becoming a skeptical by others for various reasons. Those reasons being: Akane never shows interest in relationships and has turned down ever suitor, they are so young, and they hate each other
• Ranma is actually a professional martial artist. Since we was a kid he was trained to be one and has participated around the world in tournaments which resulted in him being home schooled for a good chunk of his life and then did online school. Though he does wants to study to become a physical therapist in college.
• Ranma secretly hopes that when he goes to a tournament, he'll see his mom there. He knows that his parents had a falling out and he knows his mom travels around with a circus as an acrobat. He hopes that during one of his tournaments, the circus his mom works at happens to be in town. Unfortunately, there have been times where he found out his mother's circus is going to be in the same town but it always arrives before his tournament and by the time he arrives it's gone or after the tournament when he already left so he never gets to see her.
• Ranma doesn't hold resent towards either of his parents over their divorce and his mother having very little contact with him, he just wants to see his mom again since the last time he saw her was when he was 4.
• Akane knows on day she will take over her father's dojo, that's why she's majoring in business. However she's also double majoring with psychology because she always wanted to be a some sort of school teacher.
• Akane is definitely a workaholic. This woman not only is double majoring, but she is an assistant at her dad's dojo to help him teach new students and she works at a local ice cream shop.
• Ranma is just baffled that Akane works herself to the bone while he's taking a more passive work load. That starts a number of their arguments since Ranma is much more lax while Akane is going sicko mode and getting coin.
• Akane complains that Ranma has a lot of free time and he should at least get a part time job. Little does she know this man moonlights at night as a female twitch streamer, using his female form.
• Ramna is your e girl, gamer girl, twitch Goddess. You can't tell me otherwise since it's the modern equivalent to Ranma using his female form to get free food. He absolutely purposely unbutton his shirts as he streams just to appear more appealing to her viewers to get that coin.
• His twitch streamer username is Red_Dragon_Gaming. He just goes by Red and he calls his fans his dragons.
• He probably just streams himself playing PC games and sometimes Nintendo games.
• Akane blows a casket when she finds out he is that infamous twitch streamer since so many of her classmates basically worship that streamer. Doesn't help that Ranma sometimes shows up to college in his female form by accident. People start bothering her if she can get Red's signature or can get them something that Red's owns since she knows their gamer girl goddess.
• Kuno is absolutely one of Red's subscribers and white knights. But now he's torn between Akane and Red even thought both and 100% not interested in him. No doubt he pesters Akane, all while flirting with her, if she can obtain something from Red like a shirt or a sock. He leaves with a bruise on his arm.
• Kuno definitely is a secret, not secret, neckbeard on reddit but at least he's hygienic. He honestly just needs to drink more respect women juice and he'll be fine. He's a Business major as well which makes Akane dread her classes sometimes because he pesters her in class.
• Even though Ranma doesn't like the idea of getting help, he appreciates Akane helping him fend off people when he happens to go to a public place as a girl.
• Also Ranma and Mr. Saotome absolutely could gave avoided getting cursed if they actually read the full article about Jusenkyo. They probably read like the first few paragraphs and then said, "it's free real estate" and went to train there. The rest of the article discussed the curses in great detail. This all happened when Ranma was 16.
• Ranma actually ran into Shampoo, in his girl form, shortly after he got cursed and she challenged him to a duel since she saw him training. By then she was cursed but Ranma didn't know that.
• Course Ranma beats her and she gave him the kiss of death. When Shampoo came swinging with a blade, he dipped. Shampoo has been hunting down Ranma ever since. She would always be a few days late to his new location and by then he already left.
• She finally finds him when he and Akane are actually doing laundry together and for once aren't arguing. And the scene plays out just like in canon and now Shampoo is dead set on being his wife much to everyone's dismay.
• Shampoo definitely transfers to their college in order to get closer to Ranma. She's actually a Business major like Akane and is a Communication minor.
• Her grandmother lives in town and she was always planning to move in with her, even before she got engaged to Ranma. She plans to continue working at her grandmother's shop and will own it in the future. So Shampoo sees all of this as destiny.
• Shortly after Shampoo settles in, Mousse follows. This dude is in love with Shampoo and thought they were going to get married before Shampoo sent him a text that their engagement is off since she's now engaged with Ranma.
• Before her engagement to Ranma, Shampoo and Mousse actually had a happy healthy relationship and are super supportive of one another. They were waiting til they got older to officially get married, probably around age 23, since they both wanted to get stable careers and a home together first.
• They constantly texted each other while she was hunting down Ranma and he would also help her track Ranma down. Shampoo's contact name for Mousse was "My Honeybun 💕" and his contact name for her was "My Queen 💖"
• Rip Mousse because after she sent him that text, she blocked him.
• Now he transferred to that same college as a Chemistry major, he wants to be a chemist, and is trying his best to challenge Shampoo to a duel to win her back. Though Shampoo won't give him the time of day. Again rip Mousse since it makes hin feel as if their several year long relationship meant nothing to her.
• Ryoga is pretty much the same as in cannon. He was home schooled his whole life and does online college. He's a huge traveler and loves visiting different locations. He even has a YouTube channel dedicated to his vlogs around the world.
• His youtube channel's name is Travel Grump. Since he loves pigs, he calls his subscribers piglets. A lot of his merch is centered around pigs.
• Though this clown was hunting down Ranma and just like in cannon fell into the lake. He didn't read the right article and assumed Jusenkyo was like any other training ground.
• He's studying in college to be a journalist and he double majors in Communications and English.
• He starts to fall for Akane after getting to know how more and also the fact she's a martial artist that can kick his ass just sets his heart a blaze. Though he's pissed that Akane and Ranma are fiances and he is secretly, not really, trying to break off their engagement.
• Akane actually struggles a lot with her identity and sexuality. She identities as a cis woman however her struggles lies in her femininity and masculinity. She is caught between wanting to be a traditional, feminine woman like her late mother and her masculine, rash, and aggressive behavior and activities. She feels like she can't stray away from the reputation she build up for many years that she's this strong, aggressive bold tomboy. She feels that because of this she can't enjoy feminine things. It doesn't help that when she attempts to do something that is a gender norm for girls like cooking or knitting, she fails at it. She is trying to find that balance. And about her sexuality, she started debating in college if she might be asexual considering she finds herself having no sexual interest yet does want to have a kid in the future. She is going through a lot of self discovery and questioning.
• Doesn't help that she secretly has low self esteem, body image issues, and is super self conscious. All that is masked under her temper.
• Ranma actually can relate to her since he struggles to understand himself, trying to get comfortable with his own sexuality, and understanding how to live with his curse if he can't find the cure for it. This actually leads to Ranma and Akane establishing an understanding between each other and starts to develop their relationship.
• Though Ranma always screws any attempt of friendship or romance by doing something dumb.
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I will expand more about this au later and feel free to leave your own headcanons and ideas for this au.
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whimsyverse · 3 years
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Family #1: The Dolans
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(this is a re-upload as I made some major changes to my mod situation, specifically the CC traits I'm using...nearly all of the traits from here on out will be from Chingyu's trait pack, just for simplicity's sake)
After a long delay of straightening out my many (many, many) mods and just generally fighting with my lack of motivation to do...things...I've finally placed my first family: the Dolans! Pictures above (left to right) are: Vincent, Donovan, Lucinda, and Lillian.
You may recognize Vincent, at least, from my first Whimsyverse project...that'll be an ongoing theme, of course, since I'm remaking all of these characters again. This time, though, instead of making them all adults, I'll be defaulting most of my major characters to teenagers for no real specific reason besides that it feels like I'm starting at the beginning of their stories. Also it's more work for me to make all of their families and I
am nothing if not a masochist...
Family Bio: Donovan Dolan is a dangerous and brilliant criminal for hire, performing everything from high-profile heists to hitman-style assassinations dispassionately for the highest bidder. However, this was not the case when he first met Lillian, an aspiring model, and their whirlwind romance ended with them married and Lillian pregnant with twins. While establishing himself as one of the most dangerous men alive, the twins Vincent and Lillian were growing up with their gentle and loving mother, who all but gave up her own aspirations to raise them. Vincent and Lillian resent their absentee and dangerous father for how he neglects his family, and for his part, it is clear that Donovan expects at least one of them to continue in his footsteps...though which one has yet to be decided.
Vincent Dolan
Meta Bio: Vincent is my version of that character we all make around high school/early college - the hyper-competent badass that’s just there to be awesome and to let us write super cool scenes. He was super cool and good at everything and had a tragic backstory and was super emo and edgy and graargh! However, as I grew, Vincent stuck with me and became a character I reused many, many times over, and as I became more competent of a storyteller (I said more competent!), he grew too. He remained the hyper-competent badass he started as (a bit of self-indulgence on my part, perhaps), but the tragedy of his backstory and the psychology of him wrestling with his trauma became more pronounced in how I wrote him. He was no longer just a bad-ass, he was a more complex character who, despite appearing to be unaffected by everything around him, was really hyper-repressed to a dangerous degree. I started writing him less as that hyper-competent Gary Stu and more as a normal man (or boy) who simply didn’t know how to express himself or process the trauma of his past - in which he watches his father kill his mother and threaten to kill his twin sister - without letting the pain that comes naturally to that trauma overwhelm him. So he simply shuts it all out. At the same time, he has drilled into his head (thanks, again, to his father) that he simply isn’t good enough. This no longer manifests as a sort of infantile, impotent angst, but rather a silent drive to always do better at everything he does - an intense focus that earned him the very fitting title “a model of intense apathy” from my friend. But one of the most fun parts of the character isn’t writing him being exceptional at everything (I actually enjoy emphasizing that he is not good at everything...anything that requires a modicum of creativity or personal expression is utterly beyond him), it’s watching him, with the help of people around him, discover the young man that he could have been. I recently wrote him smiling for the first time and it was very sweet.
Age: Teenager Gender: Cis Male Sexuality: Asexual Aspiration: Renaissance Sim Lifestyle: Energetic Walk Style: Tough Style: Basic
Degree: N/A Career: N/A Skills: Fitness (4); Logic (3)
Likes: Color Purple, Color Black Dislikes: Comedy; Mischief
Traits: Reserved; Alexithymia; Scary; Unfunny; Over-Achiever; Mentally Gifted; Shameless; Unique Appearance; Slower Romance Gain; Physically Gifted; Brave; Needs No One; Carefree; Heat Acclimation; Slower Friendship Gain; Seldom Sleepy; Cold Acclimation; Quick Learner
Donovan Dolan
Meta Bio: Donovan has never been especially well-defined, and as such, this will be a pretty short bio. He only ever really existed as a vessel to drive Vincent’s trauma. He’s gone from being a petty thug to a master criminal to a dangerous madman. But I tend to enjoy playing him more as a sort of mirror into what Vincent could become - a hyper-competent, dangerous psychopath - a term I use more or less literally here, to emphasize his utter lack of empathy/sympathy. Like many psychopaths, he appears, outwardly, to be extremely well-adjusted, even charming and charismatic, but without the ability to relate to others. He is highly focused on his job, whatever that may be at the time.
Age: Adult Gender: Cis Male Sexuality: Straight Aspiration: Fabulously Wealthy Lifestyle: Workaholic Walk Style: Tough Style: Basic
Career: Criminal (The Boss) Skills: Charisma (8); Fitness (8); Handiness (6); Logic (8); Mischief (10); Persuasion (4); Rock Climbing (5); Skiing (5)
Likes: Retro Music; Fitness; Rock Climbing; Dislikes: Video Games; Comedy; Backyard Music; Winter Holiday Music; New Age Music; Summer Strut Music; Tween Pop Music; Lullabies Radio Music
Traits: (*deep breath*) Abusive, Bad-Natured, Brilliant, Psychopath, Well-Balanced, Mentally Gifted, Argumentative, Emotional Control, Good Manners, Insensitive, Faster Relationship Gain, Physically Gifted, Socially Gifted, In the Know, Influential Individual, Mastermind, Natural Leader, Faster Friendship Gain, Over-Achiever, Connections, Brave, Carefree, Fortune Sim, Cold Acclimation, Savant, Great Kisser, Entrepreneurial, Shameless, Needs No One, Heat Acclimation, Hardly Hungry, Business Savvy, Alluring, Career-Minded, Dastardly, High Metabolism,
Lucinda Dolan
Meta Bio: Lucinda is even less defined than Donovan, usually. Once again, she exists simply to die and provide fuel for Vincent’s tragedy. She is usually described as being exceptionally kind and gentle, the opposite of her husband, and having made a strong impression on Vincent and Lillian during their childhoods. For the Sims version, I liked to imagine her as being full of life and energy and happiness. She leans a bit more into creative endeavors, which neither of her children took after. She still lives for her children, though, and the decision to give up her dreams as a model was her own...she wanted to be a parent more than she wanted anything else.
Age: Adult Gender: Cis Female Sexuality: Bisexual Aspiration: Super Parent Lifestyle: Close-Knit Walk Style: Feminine Style: Basic
Degree: Drama Career: N/A Skills: Acting (3); Charisma (4); Comedy (2); Dancing (4); Fitness (2); Painting (2); Parenting (6); Piano (4); Singing (5); Wellness (2)
Likes: Alternative Music; Singer Songwriter Music; Pop Music; Easy Listening Music; Americana Music; Color Black; Color Purple; Dancing; Painting; Piano; Singing Dislikes: Baking; Cooking; Mischief
Traits: Emotional; High-Spirited; Tender; Light-Hearted; Family Oriented; Role Model; Mediator; Kindness Ambassador; Responsible; Beloved; Incredibly Friendly; Good Manners; Emotional Control; Compassionate; Family Sim; Domestic; Gregarious
Lillian Dolan
Meta Bio: Unsurprisingly, Lillian, like her parents, has never been extremely well-defined, but I have had her appear occasionally in stories - I just never really cemented what kind of character she was. In the past, she was the polar opposite of Vincent: energetic, cheerful, impetuous. Other times she took more after their mother and was more quietly calm and confident. In this case, I decided to make her sort of a high-strung workaholic who doesn’t really know how to relate to people, mostly because that’s how she was in one of her more recent appearances. So hey, maybe that’s now her canon personality!
Age: Teenager Gender: Cis Female Sexuality: Bisexual Aspiration: Figuring it Out Lifestyle: Coffee Fanatic; Workaholic Walk Style: Normal Style: Preppy
Degree: N/A Career: Lifeguard Skills: Logic (4); Persuasion (2); Research and Debate (5); Rock Climbing (2); Writing (3)
Likes: Wellness; Research and Debate; Rock Climbing; Fitness; Writing; Color Black; Color Purple Dislikes: Video Gaming; Comedy; Mischief; Cooking; Baking; Dancing; Color Pink
Traits: Serious; Generalized Anxiety Disorder; Smart; Avoidant; Knowledge Sim; Top Notch Toddler; Physically Gifted; Mentally Gifted; Over-Achiever; Seldom Sleepy; Speed Reader; Independent; Learning about Life; Career-Minded; Quick Learner
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Universal, Part Two: Battle in the Skies
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Series Summary: Simply a multi-part, self indulgent reader insert with John Wick universe kinda plumbed in. Fair warning…. SLOWWW BURN. Ignore canon and timing and crap, that’s not important….  Gifs and recognizable characters are not mine, but the story and all of the mistakes are!
The Universal - Masterlist
Chapter Notes: Good news, I actually have the story written out and it’s only a few more kinda long chapters. I thought about breaking them up more but.... flow and such. I also have an epilogue in mind but, I’m debating. We’ll see how this goes :) As always, I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I’ve enjoyed dumping this all out of my brain!
Warnings for this chapter: Terrible descriptions sky battles, kind-of adulty content? <-- you have to squint a bit for that one
It had been too long. Their search for the Sith had proven completely fruitless as they could find no trace of her. If anyone knew who she was, they didn’t share the information. Even Jocasta Nu came up empty in her search of the records. The council was forced to call them back and send them on a new assignment.
They had received an anonymous tip that a transport of goods would be attacked. The Jedi were to join a group of local fighters to ensure the transport arrived safely to its destination.
Anakin let out an exasperated sigh causing Obi Wan to smile. “Patience Anakin,” He said, glancing through the window toward Anakin’s fighter. “I know we have not had much success, but I also know that we will meet her again.”
He couldn’t see it, but he knew Anakin rolled his eyes. “No offense Master, but I can tell you’re frustrated as well.” Anakin said knowingly.
“I am, but we can not allow it to distract us from our current mission.” He simply replied. Ironically, he couldn’t stop himself from reflecting on the encounter again.
Y/N had continued attacking in the same way. One minute there was a voice, then a flurry of red light, and the next complete darkness. Obi Wan was growing tired, he had never faced an adversary such as this. He switched off his lightsaber and closed his eyes taking a deep breath, trying to regain his focus. He would have to try something different.
“Are you trying to strategize now?” She laughed.
Her voice seemed to be coming from his left. That’s it! Obi Wan suddenly thought. She was somehow able to change where her voice was coming from to throw off his balance. “Just biding my time really, wondering if you were planning to actually duel me or if you planned to continue playing games.”
The attack came from his right, and he was ready. He switched on his lightsaber and caught hers in the high guard and was finally able to push forward with his own attack. This time, she was forced to defend but he knew it was only a matter of time before the red saber would be extinguished and she would be gone. He needed to act quickly. Knowing it was a highly risky move, he grabbed her wrist that was holding onto the saber and rolled hoping that she would be caught off guard and he would be able to end the fight.
He was wrong again.
Both lightsabers clattered out of reach as they tumbled to the ground. Just as Obi Wan scrambled to pin her, she rolled them again and used the Force to hold him down while straddling him. Obi Wan strained against it but her hold was too strong. He couldn’t stop the groan of frustration from escaping him as they both lay there catching their breath. Where are you Anakin?”
He was jerked back out of the memory when he felt a dark surge rippling through the Force.
“Master…” Anakin’s voice said with a mixture of trepidation and excitement.
“I feel it also, she is here.” He said, scanning the skies.
“This time, we have the advantage. We’re together and she’ll be no match for me as a pilot!”
“Concentrate Padawan, do not allow your overconfidence to blind you.” Obi Wan warned.
“Gunships, coming in!” The pilot of the transport exclaimed.
“Blue squadron, take defensive positions around the transport. Red squadron, on me. We’re going to beat them back!” Anakin called out to the other fighters as the gunships screamed toward them from the front in tight formation.
They came in three waves. The local fighters that were with them did well under Anakin’s command, they had been able to take out the gunships easily. Each wave took them farther away from the transport which was what Anakin had hoped for. Better to keep the battle away from what they were protecting.
A victorious cheer went up from the pilots as the last gunship was destroyed, but Obi Wan felt uneasy. They had lost sight of the transport and he could feel that the Sith had not been in any of the attacking ships. “Anakin, we have to get back to the transport quickly. Something is wrong.”
They turned the fighters around and sped back to where the transport had been. They arrived just in time to see two more squadrons of gunships catching the defensive team in a pincer movement, one of the squadrons was led by a sleek black fighter. Obi Wan knew it was her, but the knowledge didn’t comfort him as they were too late. The Jedi watched helplessly as they opened fire on the flanking defenders and one-by-one, they were forced out of the air. The shields to the transport appeared to hold up, but just barely.
The squadrons passed over the transport, but instead of turning in for a second pass the formations broke into a combat spread. They headed directly for the Jedi and their small attack fleet.
“Evasive maneuvers!” Anakin cried as the enemy ships opened fire. The fleet scattered and soon the skies were littered with explosions.
This battle was tougher, they simply didn’t have the numbers and even for every few gunships they took down they lost a fighter. The Sith’s ship weaved in and out of firing range gracefully, and Obi Wan was certain that every ship they lost had been taken down with her attacks. Of course she’s an accomplished pilot too. Obi Wan thought bitterly.
Finally, the only fighters left in the air were the two Jedi and the Sith. She was following Anakin and closing in, and Obi Wan was even further behind them.
“Did you miss me, Master Kenobi?” The sickly sweet voice said over his comms.
“I have not had time to think about you, Lady Y/L/N.” Obi Wan lied as he saw Anakin’s ship suddenly flip and race toward her, head-on. What in the name of the Maker are you doing Anakin?
She laughed musically. “Come now Jedi, you can lie to your padawan but please don’t lie to me.”
Obi Wan tensed as he saw the ships were about to collide, but at the last moment they both turned right narrowly missing complete destruction. It wasn’t quite enough to avoid damage though as Anakin’s wing clipped hers and sent them both into a spiral.
“Anakin!” Obi Wan cried as he watched him fall dangerously close to the surface of the planet.
“I’m okay, Master.” Anakin finally responded as he regained control of his ship.
Obi Wan took a deep breath of relief as he searched again for the Sith’s ship. She had managed to regain control as well and was retreating. She was nearly out of the atmosphere when her voice came through again. “Your Padawan is insane, I like him.” She said cheerfully. “However, I’m more attached to my ship than him so I’m afraid this is farewell for now.”
“Leaving so soon? We have only just begun.” Obi Wan quipped.
He could almost feel her smile as she replied. “Don’t worry Master Jedi, we shall see each other again.”
He felt the exact moment when she left and he felt slightly dazed. He shook the feeling off and followed Anakin back to the transport that had somehow managed to survive the attack.
After landing, they ensured the transport was secure and listened as plans were made to search for surviving pilots. The Jedi would stay to help, but before they took off Obi Wan pulled Anakin to the side. “What were you thinking?” he demanded. “You could have gotten yourself killed!” Where he had expected Anakin to be upset at the outcome, he only found a wide smile on the young man’s face. Obi Wan narrowed his eyes at him and asked. “Why are you smiling?”
“When our ships connected, it was just enough time for R2 to plant a homing device on hers.” Anakin said, patting the droid affectionately.
Obi Wans eyes widened in surprise as he looked between the droid and a smug Anakin. “Oh, well that was actually a good idea.” He said rubbing his beard thoughtfully. “It was still reckless, do not do it again.”
Anakin nodded, still smirking, and waited for his Master to gather himself.
“Right, where are we headed?” Obi Wan finally said with an amused expression, addressing R2 who trilled happily.
Author’s Note: I’m actually deep in Obi Wan hell right now. Freaking Ewan McGregor with his freaking hotness. I blame Dr. Sleep.... I was fine but then I watched that movie about a month ago and remembered. *sigh* On a side note, I have another angsty Obi Wan fic in mind but I’ll finish this one before really working on that one. (Okay so it’s also mostly written but has A LOT of fine tuning to be done... not that my editing is superb but I do have SOME standards...) Love y’all, stay thirsty my friends!
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Twisted Sister Aftermath Review Part 2
And we are back! Sorry the last part was a bit meaty; I couldn’t really cut bits out and most of the relationship stuff could be covered in the first part. And with this part we move onto the more plot relevant sections. So, seeing as we are going to start on a bad note (you will soon see what I mean by that) let’s hop right in!
Plotly Plot Stuff
Unfortunately, we cannot go one Arc without going back to Mr. Polarising himself, Yasuke. If A Student Out of Time ever gets its own TV Tropes page, Yasuke will definitely get the ‘Base-Breaking Character’ trope to him, because yikes has this guy been debated among Anons. Heck even my original review of Yasuke caused some tension! And to address some of the criticisms I’m been getting about Yasuke being nothing like Byakuya…what I meant was that he is a good ‘Rival/Antagonistic’ character. The villains aren’t going to challenge the Quantum Crew’s views, they know they are bad and they are going to get punished. Tsurugi despite being touted as Hajime’s rival isn’t going to challenge him from a moral standpoint, it’s basically like Sae towards the Phantom Thieves, when one riles up society, the law is going to oppose, and as we know the law is evil, it kinda dampens Tsurugi’s viewpoint. Yasuke though, can challenge Hajime as he’s made Hajime think whether going a Pacifist playthrough is really the best way forward. Given how irredeemable some of the villains are, and that simply imprisoning them might not be good enough, it’s going to be a real test to see if the Quantum Crew can go forward without spilling any blood. Granted Yasuke’s morality is twisted as his only friend is Junko…who isn’t the best of influences, and he is narrow minded in thinking that because his girlfriend is invincible, not helped by how much of a Villain Sue she was in Despair Arc, which is another among many reasons why the anime was a piling hot piece of crap. I used Byakuya as a comparison because really the other rival characters are nothing like Yasuke, and I needed something to get my point across. But the best part about his appearance was the savage beatdown Umeko gave him for thinking that the Many Worlds theory is valid. See this is what I love about this blog, the Mod could just go the lazy option when it comes to time travel, but no they take the time to research a plethora of topics and all the research into quantum physics is so good, it’s like reading a better version of Game Theory. Again, the whole Yasuke Multiverse thing could have easily been avoided if the Mod decided to take a break and not write when they were tried, as it seems to be when the most questionable story choices come from, and used their revised idea of having Umeko toss some ideas to Hajime, Hajime thinking about the Many Worlds Theory and heck even using the fact he played the Zero Escape franchise to get a better idea of time travel so he thought he was SHIFTing, and then when he found out he was wrong, for Umeko to chew him out. Anyway, that’s enough talking about Yasuke, I hope I don’t have to touch this jackarse again in a while, I don’t like him, you don’t like him, the Mod doesn’t like him and pretty sure 95% of Anons reading this don’t like him and just talking about him stresses me out.
Umeko wasn’t the only person to throw punches at Yasuke though because Chiaki had a few choice words to say to him as well. And while Umeko is more of ‘Your knowledge of quantum physics is BS’ Chiaki is more from a morality standpoint that she is very sus about Yasuke’s role in the mess. And think about it, he’s been sus of Hajime and co for a while now, we only have his word that Junko doesn’t know, and that ain’t good enough, and it seems the only reason why Yasuke wants to ‘help’ the Quantum Crew out is because they claim his original plan with Junko fails and he wants to ensure there is no chance that the Mindwipe process once he perfects it on Kanade can be done flawlessly with Junko. And again, Yasuke could be secretly involved in the whole plan because the one thing that for many of us is a concern regarding Kanade’s kit to start a school massacre is the BCI containing intel on Class 77-B. You can make an argument about Junko being involved with the other stuff, her analytic talent would have allowed her to create the complicated chemical formula for the addictive, as a model Junko is loaded so she has plenty of money to spend on stuff such as experimental armour on the black market, and her darling sister could have provided the combat data. Yasuke was in Hope’s Peak and would have known that Hibiki came to Hope’s Peak after Kanade was arrested and bonded with Class 77-B. Bear in mind as soon as Junko saw the news that Kanade was arrested, her first response was to call Juu and said she has plans for Kanade but they can wait for now. Obviously, Junko was waiting to see what was going on regarding Kasugano and wanted to test him by seeing how easy or hard he is to break. People often debate why Junko converted Class 77-B and not her own class but I think the reason why she went after them is because of how unified Class 77-B are. As we learn more about other Hope’s Peak classes it becomes clear just how much of an anomaly Class 77-B are in the regards that they are all friends with each other, and have a high level of hope, which of course Junko due to her desire of a challenge went to break them as sending that class into despair would give her the ultimate satisfaction, even more so than her own class. I think Yasuke isn’t going to be talked about for a while because his very presence stresses people out and after how much the Mod was savaged from their last usage of him, they are going to have to seriously rethink how to use Yasuke in a way that doesn’t cause a scrum debate among us Anons.
Still Yasuke did raise a fair point that against someone with no morals like Junko, the Quatern Crew are going to be hard pressed to keep their ‘Thou shall not Kill’ policy. While Hajime claims he has beaten Junko before in the OG timeline and will do so again in the various times Junko has lost, she has played by her own rules and allows room for failure in her plans, because due to how much of a despair fetish she has, the prospect of losing and tasting the despair of losing is too tempting for her. But if Junko realises that Hajime is hell-bend on standing against her, and that the very laws of time are against her, Junko might just go ‘fuck it’ and forgo that prospect of failure and become, much, much more dangerous as a result. Chiaki’s response to this is simple, they just need to expand their ranks and hire more people. In other words, it’s time for the entirety of Class 77-B to know. To some this is a case of ‘about time!’ But there was a reason why Hajime didn’t want to involve the class. He wasn’t aware on how much history can be changed, and as soon as he discovered he can change the timeline, he also became aware that fate is actively working against him, and the more he fights against it, the bigger the backlash. The last thing Hajime wants is his only friends, Class 77-B, to be hurt due to ripple effects of the Ankle Effect. While half of Class 77-B knew, Hajime didn’t go out of his way to tell them, they either forced Hajime to tell them, or they got caught up in one of Hajime’s plans and he had no choice but to tell them. Chiaki got sus of Hajime when he saved Natsumi and Sato and thus he had to spill, Mikan overheard Hajime and Chiaki talking to Umeko about the future, and the only reason Hajime told her is because he knew there was a risk that Umeko could accidently expose Hajime. Sonia and Gundham went to the Melody Rhythm Concert on their own separate investigation because Koroko and Yoruko was talking about serial killers in order to help get intel into Kanade’s mindset, Sonia got sus about all the mysterious deaths around the Otonokoji Twins, and thus got caught up in Hajime’s plan to save Hibiki and stop Kanade. Mahiru and Hiyoko were investigating Kasugano when they got kidnapped by Junya and Haiji, and Fuyuhiko and Peko were the only ones brought in because Hajime needed extra muscle to deal with the traffickers. And it is becoming apparent that changing the future is a task too large for one person as without the help of his fellow time travellers, his classmates that know, Void, and other allies, Hajime wouldn’t have achieved all the victories that the Quantum Crew have enjoyed. And given that Kanade tried to kill them all, its something they cannot hide from their friends anymore and thus its time to spill the truth.
This of course means that the rest of Class 77-B (Teruteru, Imposter, Ibuki, Nekomaru, Nagito, Kazuichi and the Canon Akane) get to meet Void, Another Akane and Sora for the first time. The interactions between them are both sweet and bitter. Sweet because all the Class 77-B interactions are wholesome, Nekomaru and Maku are developing a bromance similar to what Maku enjoyed with Shinji in SDAR2, Akane is done to have a scrap with Maku, Kazuichi is simping for Emma, I hope that doesn’t last, Iroha is fawning over the Imposter, Taira and Teruteru dosed Pornhub, and Kazuichi and Chisa are amazed that Sora exists. But also, bitter because if you noticed, I didn’t mention Nikei. And that’s for a good reason as Nikei didn’t really interact with the rest of Class 77-B, his only interaction is helping Mahiru getting the two horny members (you know who they are) away from each other. We could have had at least an interaction between him and Ibuki as those two actually met before, but nope. This is a clear example on how the other Void members have become comfortable around Class 77-B and warmly welcomed the other class members with open arms and yet Nikei is still gated off. Clearly our Reporter friend here is going for a slow burn character development but one that hopefully will pay off in the end because I will cry rivers of joy when Nikei finally becomes comfortable around Class 77-B. Oh yeah forgot to mention, Chisa and Juzo are in the truth meeting as well. I was wondering if they would be told but it makes sense to tell them as they alongside Kyousuke are doing an internal investigation into the dark under dealings of Hope’s Peak and in Despair Arc came the closest to foiling Junko’s plans to despair bomb the planet. They failed because A) it’s a shitty prequel anime and Junko is a Villain Sue in this and B) she brainwashed Chisa and blackmailed Juzo with his feelings towards Kyousuke dosed with a lot of homophobia, because we didn’t need any more reasons to hate Junko already. Once all the fuzzy feelings are done, the truth is spilled and everyone is horrified, as you would if you found out that in a couple of years’ time the world would end, you are the reason the world ended and you were basically turned into some Anarchist Model’s mind slaves. Naturally some are a little hesitant to accept it, but at the end of the day, its their friends at the end of the day, they didn’t tell them not because they didn’t trust them but because they didn’t need to know and they didn’t want themselves to be hurt by the forces they are up against. Its unclear how many are official Quantum Crew members or just allies, as knowing the truth about the future and being a Quantum Crew member are two different things. Natsumi, Sato, Fuyuhiko, Peko and Mahiru were all offered the chance of membership and they refused for their own reasons, but they didn’t rule out helping the Quantum Crew out if they need their help. Koroko and Kyoji aren’t official Quantum Crew members and yet they pull some serious weight in regards to the various missions the Quantum Crew go on. Chisa and Juzo agree to help as well, and Kyousuke is being left in the dark because he would go and try to kill Junko and we know from experience how well THAT would go. Spoilers: Not very well, just ask OG Juzo and OG Nagito.
Speaking of Kanye West Sans from Undertale on the Nintendo DS, Iroha started to chat up to him as she’s dating Makoto and he’s going to be Class 78’s Lucky Student if nothing changes about his Worst Day Ever, and Nagito drops a bombshell that Kanata is being upgraded from Class 79 student, to Class 78 student! Ever since Toko was sent to the mental hospital and thus means she could never become a member of Class 78, which was already a small class, debate ranged on who would replace Toko, if it was going only be 15 students, or if someone like Hibiki or one of the Voids would replace Toko. Welp the answer is that Kanata is replacing Toko. That’s going to be interesting because I would love to see how Kanata interacts with the rest of Class 78, especially those like Chihiro and Aoi. Obviously, she would be at great risk because she would be in the same class as the Despair Twins but that cannot be helped. But Kanata moving to Class 78 means there is a gap in Class 79. Now this obviously depends if there ever IS a Class 79 because ideally the school will be open as long as Junko is at large but once she is caught and defeated, the next step would be to expose Hope’s Peak, which would be easy because here’s a hint, what did Hajime promise to Nikei to get him on board with helping him in the first place? But call me pessimistic but someone like Junko, the main villain of Danganronpa isn’t going to be caught in a year, and depending how long it takes to defeat Junko, Class 79 might get formed before Junko is defeated. We obviously have a gap, and it depends if say Hibiki goes back to high school and gets scouted for Class 79 because I doubt while all the Voids would be eligible then for Class 79 (Reason why not all would be eligible for Class 78 is because Iroha is a year younger then the other Voids. The Voids as a whole are the same age as the Trigger-Happy Havoc cast, so Iroha is basically similar age to Class 79) That’s something to be tackled another time though.
One last thing before the Arc concludes and it’s the biggest bombshell of them all. So, one might ask, what is bigger than Kanata being part of Class 78? Here’s a simple answer; how about that being a time traveller isn’t the only way to remember the future? Remember when Mikako came to visit her mother? Turned out it wasn’t just a curtsy visit as ever since Mikako had her brain surgery, she’s been having recurring nightmares and the worrying thing about those nightmares is…they are memories of the OG timeline. She drew a picture of Monokuma, which is something that shouldn’t be possible as Junko didn’t come up with the design of Monokuma until she arrived at Hope’s Peak, and the robot version of Monokuma was only made by Junko influencing Monaca, which given that Monaca is more under the influence of the Quantum Crew, means that the Dis Bear more or less is non-existent in this universe. The nightmares are only the start though as before Mikako had her surgery, she met Kanata because Kanata’s adoptive father is the one who did the surgery to remove Mikako’s brain implant, and Mikako noted that Kanata felt familiar, which if Mikako was getting memories of the OG timeline, she should as Kanata was a classmate of hers. Now that Kanata is part of Class 78, she would no longer be a classmate and Mikako also remembered the Massacre timeline as she thanked Koroko before leaving with Yamato for saving her life, which again she shouldn’t have known as that only happened in the Massacre timeline which no longer exists. Mikako didn’t recognize anyone in the nightmares expect for Yamato obviously, but when shown pictures of future Class 79 members like Akane Taira, she noted of them being familiar. So, WTF is going on? I’ll be clear, I don’t think Mikako is a time traveller or a time traveller in the making. If she was, Umeko would have detected that and she didn’t. But what is clear is somehow Mikako is getting memories of other timelines. My best theory is a few factors. Firstly, being the future Ultimate Exorcist, Mikako possesses spiritual powers and maybe said powers provide some immunity to resets, which means that if Hajime has to go up against an enemy who has supernatural abilities, he has to be careful with resetting as its not just time travellers who can remember. Secondly, in the OG timeline, Yamato managed to develop a solution to reserve the memory wiping that Junko and Yasuke invented, and he used it on himself and Mikako. Granted, said machine wasn’t perfect and it did have side effects, Mikako’s emotions got supressed and she had difficulty expressing them and Yamato’s speech patterns got fucked up, but Yamato isn’t experiencing the nightmares like Mikako is. This obviously requires some investigating and probably another goal for the QC to explore in the next arc, but if other characters aside from time travellers can remember the other timelines, it can be both a boon as it means more allies and a bane because all we need is one villainous character to have this ability and then shit will hit the fan. Bonus points if it happens to be Junko. My big worry for Mikako though is that in DRA Mikako gets framed for Yamato’s murder by Monokuma, and he rigged the trial so that Mikako would be executed, forcing her to take poison so that Monokuma won’t get the pleasure of killing her himself, didn’t stop a spiteful Monokuma from executing her corpse though. Her death was on her terms but still recalling being poisoned to death, as Hajime can tell you is very unpleasant and something that Mikako is going to not enjoy dreaming in the slightest.
And with that we have finished Twisted Sister Aftermath! It was lengthier than I wanted but coming off from a plot heavy arc and being basically the spill over from that, it cannot be helped. I will give this a C overall. Normally I would give it a B because it’s not as intense as the previous Arc but the mere presence of Yasuke and the fact that I could see that most of this Arc was the Mod try to remedy their terrible inclusion of him from the previous Arc knocked it down a few points. At least the Mod learnt that you do not write plot when sleep deprived or lacking in energy, as its when the worser aspects of the story tend to be manifested from. Next Arc should be much chiller in tone and I just hope I can cram everything into one submission there. Nikei’s bemoaning that his article about Kanade’s death being too long speaks to me on a personal level. I hope you enjoy this review everyone and see you next time when we hopefully finish with a chiller Arc, and happy Holidays because I believe by the time the next Arc finishes, Christmas would be behind us! -Review Anon
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its-a-branwen-thing · 4 years
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r/RWBY AMA Highlights
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For those who weren’t aware, r/RWBY did an AMA with the voice actors of the Ace Ops early this morning :) I wanted to share some of their answers here for ya’ll in case people didn’t feel like trekking through the thread. Here are some of the Q&As that I found fun/the most interesting! These are just my personal highlights, by the way! :)
First, some introductions (I put the character next to the name but...just in case I mess up):
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And now, for some of the Q/As!
Q: FancyDancyMaho: For Mick - so who is the Goodest Boy and why is it Marrow? If you had to take a guess, is Marrow a mix of insecure and overcompensating because he's the Rookie?
ricepiratemick (Marrow): Absolutely. The thing is, he's a Rookie to the team, but not a rookie in general experience.  The AceOps don't just hire anyone.It's like being a senior in high school: you're the upperclass. Then going to college and starting back down at the bottom of the food chain.Plus he's young, AND a little "different" from the rest. He's got a lot to prove. But unfortunately, "needing to prove something" can sometimes get in your way.
Q: JazzRen47 asked: Hi! This is a general question for all of you. I know voice acting is different from stage work, but was there anything in particular that helped you get into character for your recordings? I'm currently a University theatre student so I'm beyond curious about getting insight wherever I can haha! It was an absolute joy to get to hear your performances this Volume (and an aside for Dawn: you are a wonderful singer, ma'am). Thank you so much for taking the time to come do this.
ricepiratemick (Marrow): Some VA's sit while they work. Focusing all that energy and nuance directly into their voice. I've never been able to that. I gotta stand up and move around (which is sometimes a problem, but I've been able to reign it in and keep it more manageable).
But I'm still flailing my arms around and pointing at imaginary people lol
Q: silent-film asked: Clover’s tone in his scenes with Qrow is noticeably different from his tone when speaking to the Ace Ops or the kids. Can you say anything about that or what your thoughts were on their interactions as a whole?
ChristopherWehkampVA (Clover): I approached Clover as a guarded leader type character, who rarely allowed others into his mind on a personal level. So you see that reflected in how he treats most people, keeping a professional but kind distance.
Q: CapitalStory4 asked: Anairis, what is the best part about being the female Flash?
anairisq (Harriet): At this point? The memes.
Q: Mpatrick23 asked: Hey y'all! I wanna thank you five for taking the time to do this AMA! Now down to the questions:
To all: What was it like in your own perspectives to be a part of the ride with the RWBY cast and who were your favorite VAs to just hang with when not recording? And do you guys have spare time hobbies? Also, just throwing a compliment out there: Dawn, you did beautifully in War!! That was bloody amazing. I loved Harriet up until the "It's not excessive if it's necessary" line as well. I hope you guys make convention appearances soon and possibly see the rest of you in V8!
One of the many loyal fans, -Mitch
DawnMBennettVA (Elm): Hey Mitch! Thank you so much!!! :'D
We generally don't get to see each other a lot when we're not recording, as actors have the most unpredictable schedules. However, I did get to see Anairis before we were able to announce our roles, and we totally geeked out and got excited about each others' performances since we hadn't heard them yet.
I think I'd say my hobby is cooking and baking! I love trying to make new dishes I've never made and see what works. My last favorite food I made was lavender tea bread with a honey lavender glaze. My kitchen smelled fantastic.
Q: MrZissman asked: Hi Dawn! Question - who wins in an arm wrestling contest: Nora or Elm?
DawnMBennettVA (Elm): I think Elm would win at first, but then Nora would probably keep challenging her for rematches until she won. And then Elm would do the same back to Nora until it became an infinite loop of flexing.
Q: BiFross asked: Anairis, the beginning of the season's Harriet is much different than the end's Harriet. How did you make that distinction between friendly threats to actual threats?
anairisq (Harriet): Oh, definitely. Harriet was really serious and angry by the end, so there was no room to play games. You don't see her confidence manifest as playfulness as much as it manifests in frustration by the end, and that's the distinction I made in my head.
Q: Firegirl15639 asked: For Chris, A lot of people's favorite scene you were in was the one in the truck with Qrow. What can you tell us about getting into character for that scene?
ChristopherWehkampVA (Clover): Thanks, I loved that scene. It’s a good glimpse of how professional and capable Clover is while also still having a warm hearted side. I remember wanting to show that warm hearted side with my reads and have it contrast to how all-business he would be later in the scene
Q: threefoldthrowaway asked: Chris, I absolutely loved you as Clover and I’m gutted to see you leave. Clover had most of his screen time shared with Qrow so I just want to ask: How do you think Clover and Qrow’s relationship changed over the course of the volume?
ChristopherWehkampVA (Clover): Thanks, it was so cool to play with their dynamic. By the end of the volume Clovers pain at feeling he had to arrest Qrow was so genuine. He was dealing with the very real pain of having to choose sworn duty over what was becoming an important relationship to him
Q: BrokenLevel asked: Why do you suppose each of your characters are so steadfastly loyal to Ironwood? No need to be canon, personal conjecture is also fine.
ricepiratemick (Marrow): For Marrow, he's a faunus, and there's clearly social tensions that come with that. Having been brought into THE most elite group of huntsmen in the Atlesian military, I can't help but think Marrow (despite being a bit cocky) is hugely appreciative and humbled. He knows how difficult and rare it is for those of his kind to be placed in a such an important role.
That said, of all the AceOps... I think he'd be the first to question his "steadfastly loyal" position on Ironwood.
toddwo (Vine): I think it's the military thing. It's chain of command. He's in charge. The RWBY kids can use their hearts more as a guide because they're not military-first like I think the Ace ops are.
Q: ArmoftheSpoonFiend asked: What would you guys rather fight, 100 duck-sized horses or 1 horse-sized duck?
DawnMBennettVA (Elm): 1 horse-sized duck. Gonna need a giant oven, though.
ricepiratemick (Marrow): Marrow prefers a single target :]
anairisq (Harriet): 1 horse-sized duck. Easier to run away. :') I know if it was Harriet, she'd take on all 100 the duck-sized horses just to show off.
Q: OutcastMunkee asked: Quite a few (mainly because a few from my friend who is at work so can't make it!) questions here for everyone...From me, I gotta ask what you think about the Ace Ops vs RWBY fight and why do you think RWBY came out victorious?
As for questions from my friend, he wants to know:
Did any of you know of/watch RWBY before you were cast?
How did you end up auditioning for the roles?
Was working on RWBY any different to other voice acting jobs you've done in the past?
Thanks for doing this AMA folks! <3
toddwo (Vine): Firstly, RWBY team cheats in battle, so that's why they beat us ;)
I actually produced two seasons of the broadcast show RWBY rewind about RWBY, so I had seen nearly all of it by the time these auditions came around, and programmed entire episodes of that show around episodes, characters, and events of RWBY.
I usually submit every time there's a call for voice actors. I've been voicing various things in videos for a decade, animated characters, puppets, Reggae Shark. So I just love leaving the headspace of being at a desk at work and going to imagination land and recording voices.
I think I answered this in a different post, but I'd say the difference is being close to the show - I work at Rooster Teeth - and knowing the directors personally. It makes it way easy to ask questions, get feedback, and just be loose, as compared to skypeing in to some jerk director in L.A. lol.
ricepiratemick (Marrow): I've seen the debates about the fight results on twitter and reddit and I think it's fairly simple (and that many folks got it): AceOps were not on the same page and down a leader + RWBY were fighting for their lives and the lives of the people they were trying to save. It's as simple as that. Sure "team work" and "friends" and all that, but for those who were disapproving of that being the sole reason... I think it was clear that there were many legit reasons why RWBY came out on top.
Before getting cast, I knew of RWBY, especially some of the folks on the team, but wasn't an avid follower of the series before. Since being cast...gotta say, I love it. And will continue to watch no matter what happens to Marrow.
Audition was sent by the magic of electronic mail.
One main difference (compared to other acting jobs) is the time they take to nail down a line. In many VO jobs, yer on the clock and they roll through the script at a clip. With RWBY, it wasn't like there was a 100 takes of each line, but they knew what they wanted while still wanting the actor to explore. Just super positive, organic, and overall great experience recording with them every time.
anairisq (Harriet):
1) Yup! From the beginning. :)
2) I had received the audition online while living in FL! Submitted it pretty much the same day and tried not to think about it. I was so, so excited when I heard I booked.
3) It was for me! It was my first time doing prelay work in the booth. I was a little nervous about how it'd be like, but each session was really fun.
Q: patrizl001 asked: Todd, did you ever notice your character never used their weapon throughout the volume? Why do you think that is?
toddwo (Vine): This is totally a guess, but I feel like it's Vine's "nuclear option." He's all zen normally, so I tend to think he wants to solve things organically, and not just go nuts and use some metal blades to do the job of stretchy-ness and tactics. I could be wrong tho! Maybe it's just a fashion accessory!
Q: Eldi13 asked: For everyone: Where do you hope to see your characters go in Volume 8?
ricepiratemick (Marrow): Obviously, I have no official say in what happens to Marrow and his place in the story. But I can't help feeling he's gonna get a lot of heat from Ironwood and company after Harriet rats him out for not fighting, especially in light of Clover's death.
Personally, I'd love to see him help/side/join the RWBY gang, even if he's not a mainstay. But no matter what, he's definitely been built up to be the most conflicted of the Ops and I'm curious/excited to see where they leads.
DawnMBennettVA (Elm): Like Mick said, I have no say in the story, but I'd also love to see Elm's growth after Clover's death and the possible events to come (like what's gonna happen to her team after losing its leader, y'know?). She really does seem like a team mom at times, and I'd love to see her give Team RWBY another chance.
Q: Eldi13 asked: For Dawn, (if you make it by later!) what was the recording process like for the song in episode 12? Did Jeff and Casey arrange the whole thing, or did all the vocalists have input as well?
DawnMBennettVA (Elm): Hey there! I believe Jeff and Casey did indeed arrange the whole thing. (Obviously, someone from production please correct me if I'm wrong)! :'D
I was approached by Jeff during the process to be a guest singer, which absolutely blew my mind!!! He and Casey are such crazy talented musicians and it was an honor to be able to perform with them.
Then Christopher Sabat (voice of Arthur Watts) kindly let me use his recording studio to track my vocals, Briana Villarreal engineered me, my cousin Kaitlyn Fae coached and directed me, and I sent my vocals off to Jeff!
Jeff had asked me to sing whichever lines I liked best and he'd pick which ones to use from those. You can imagine how happy I was to hear myself singing when Elm appeared on the screen. :')
Q: SentientHam asked: Thoughts and opinions on each of your character's sembalances and weapons?
ricepiratemick (Marrow): It's fetching. Despite not seeing it's full potential, I think it's got a lot of staying power.
Q: AylaPazza asked: For all VAs, do you have any particular headcanons for your characters? Like hobbies or ways to relax, things like that! Also you all did a fantastic job this volume! I hope we see more of all of you in volume 8!
ricepiratemick (Marrow): Marrow uses his semblance to hack speed-runs of difficult games.
toddwo (Vine): I try to channel Paul Bettany's Vision character and make a lot of resonating noise in my head and relax at the same time. My voice is really high naturally so I spend a few minutes just humming low to myself to get someplace different.
Q: galaxyseal asked: To any of them: have you guys gotten to meet any of your fellow cast members in person?
DawnMBennettVA (Elm): Yes! From the Ace-Ops, I already knew Chris Wehkamp, and I met Anairis not too long after recording! I also met Lindsay and Michael Jones years ago when I started working on Fairy Tail, and Elizabeth Maxwell when we were working on Dragon Ball Super.
Actually, now that I think about it, I've met way more of the RWBY cast than I thought... The voice acting world is smaller than you think! :D
anairisq (Harriet): I met Dawn! She's just as much of a sweetie as Elm is <3
ricepiratemick (Marrow): I haven't!!!! >:[
Buuu~t I've gotten to meet/hang/know some of the team members :D
All solid, passionate, hard-working peeps
Q: brendans1989 asked: For anyone to answer - what is the most powerful advice you would give to anyone aspiring to become a voice actor?
DawnMBennettVA (Elm): Know that rejection is just part of the job. You're not going to book everything you audition for. Learn to let things go. Also, your friends' progress is not a measure of your own.
Even when you're at your lowest and you think you might be the worst, don't give up. Talk to a private coach, take classes, do everything you can to improve yourself. Keep pushing, keep trying, keep moving forward.
------
I hope this is fun for everyone to read through! I tried to balance out answers on character questions and misc. ones, as I bet some folks are interested in hearing about their journey as VAs! If anyone wants to check out the full AMA, it’s here.
r/RWBY seems like a cool crew of people, this seemed like a lot of fun, and the mods did a good job curating! Hope I gave credit where it’s due for question askers--this was all their hard work!
Happy Saturday everyone~
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ok not technically about sharon but like does it seem like the team cap vs team Ironman stuff is worse now? Like I remember before it came out and even sometime after the team stuff was just which set of characters you liked more. Not so much the actual issues. And after it came out it seemed like most agreed that the situation was contrived a bit to make these guys fight. Which ...you know makes sense considering the comics its based on had the same problem ( though the comics are worse) 1/2
But now I see alot more salt ( especially at Cap) for the events of Civil War. Like not in like a this was ooc and I hate the direction they went , it was more no this makes sense for Cap and Tony actually, also Tony is right and Caps being a dick. I haven't noticed as much for cap stans @ Tony they don't really talk about CW much. Like was I just unaware of that drama right after CW? Or did people actually get saltier? 2/2
It’s (for lack of a better word) upsetting that this movie gets this much level of discourse over sides. This movie isn’t worth the debate of who was right/wrong.
Straight-up, I was always leaning Team Tony in the comics, and the movie made it stronger, because of how the story treated Wanda, Clint, and Scott. I hate the “I drop my life because Steve told me to” crap every movie writes, when two of those characters have families that they sacrificed for this?? No they wouldn’t the last movies they appeared in established that they wouldn’t?????
Listen, because I’m gonna rant and put it under the read more, but TL;DR: Civil War was already a bad story, and the movie was much worse, because it missed the most important part of the battle: the middle ground.
Civil War needs a strong knowledge of Marvel to go into comic-wise. Everyone is and isn’t a player, and you need to read it all to know where every single person stands, both hero and villain. It’s icon status would not exist if it didn’t have 1) the official public unmasking of Peter, and 2) the immediate death of Steve after. But there are so many other important people tied in that you can try to read the comic, but you won’t know seventy-five percent of the characters without doing research first. It doesn’t help that this is a story with seven official issues and a hundred tie-ins.
Comic Lesson:
The Sokovia Accords? Fuck that. It was the Superhero Registration Act, and this issue was set solely in the US. Why? A group of D-List heroes on a scuzzy reality show started a fight with a group of D-List villains, and one blew himself up right next to an elementary school. Many people died, majority being young children. At a funeral service that Tony attended (don’t think many others did, if any, that were heroes), a grieving mother spat in his face, hence why he backed the SHRA from the start. When it was presented to everyone, Sam said fuck that, and officially, Falcon is the first to vocally go against it. Then Steve did it on a SHIELD aircraft to Maria Hill’s face (she was relatively new when this began). Because Steve and Tony were the most public figures on each side, they were the faces, but they were not the showrunners. SHIELD and Maria Hill ran Team Iron Man with Reed Richard’s tech. Nick Fury from an undisclosed location used his many secret hideouts and funds to run Team Captain America in secret, with Steve and Sam being the ones running as the face of the fight.
Major players include but are not limited to: Hank, the FF (mostly Reed and Sue), Hulkling, Tigra, Daredevil, Goliath (who dies in battle), clone Thor (who kills Goliath), Punisher, etc.
The one thing that was present throughout the whole story was side-switching. Every issue had someone switching sides. It was a major ordeal every time, and everyone had reasons. Peter because SHIELD was shady. Cassie Lang and YA Vision because they wanted safety and Scott had recently died (not because of CW, but Wanda was killing people). Sharon was threatened into staying with SHIELD by Maria but was a liaison to assisting Steve. Half of the heroes in the movie weren’t even in the actual book event. Wanda was in hiding. Clint was looking for her (and then banging her, because comic book Clint gets around). Scott, as mentioned, was dead. T’Challa just got married and didn’t want to be involved. This Vision was a different version using the body of Iron Lad, and his name was Jonas (adult Vision is named Victor Shade). Bucky was running missions for Fury in other countries. I’m still miffed that they got to be involved but the movie didn’t have room to include Fury and Maria, the two people actually in charge in this game.
I’ve read this comic several times. I took a class where we had to read the book, watch the film, and discuss sides. And here’s the conclusion: no matter whose side you take, you can agree with the other side, and you’re actually in the middle ground of it, but if you had to pick, this one was slightly more persuasive. It’s a very complex issue that the story went into. Tony saw unchecked heroes as a risk and didn’t want to have another incident that would cost hundreds of innocent lives. Steve saw government control as the potential unchecked risk and didn’t want heroes to be controlled by a single power. But they saw the other side as right too: Tony tried to stop SHIELD from apprehending Peter when he defected, and Steve realized that their fighting was proving the point of how dangerous heroes could be when civilians physically had to stop him from killing Tony. Because that was the point: they were both right and wrong. Superheroes could be dangerous, but government registration and control could abuse them and manipulate heroes. Didn’t help that the Negative Zone was the fucking worst thing ever, thanks Reed, Tony, and Maria.
The movie took out the middle ground, and moved this into international territory. It wasn’t one country, but 117. It wasn’t a group of unchecked heroes who caused the major conflict, but one specifically. It wasn’t dozens of heroes, but just a dozen. It wasn’t children dying, it was rulers of countries. And it wasn’t one major storyline that the movie was focused on, but several (the Winter Soldiers, Bucky, Zemo). It liked two things about the comic: two groups of heroes fighting, and Steve beating the shit out of Tony. And this story was adapted by a pair of writers and a pair of directors who don’t care about following the canon of other movies, including their own, so they just did whatever the hell they wanted and bastardized a story that was already a mess and a half to begin with. And it took a story that made you think every character’s decision and motive through and decided nah, fuck that. We’re gonna make major decisions, and you have to pick one to agree with, because the other was designed for you to hate them. Civil War was a debate, not a literal war, Russos, thank you very much.
The movie took a shit approach to the question of whether or not heroes need checks and balances, because it wasn’t interested in answering that question, it liked battle scenes because you like the paintball episodes they directed for TV. If you’re in 2020 and wanna still fight about who was right and who was wrong in the movie, the answer is: the movie is wrong, go read the comic. Cap 3 is the worst Marvel adaptation, and a strong contender for worst movie. I could rip this shit apart all day.
~Mod R
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gavalaa · 5 years
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>> Back on my AU bullshit today we have my take on Shadow Akechi (which, newsflash, isn’t a very creative take hjfh)
>> I’ll be describing pretty much everything under the cut as to save space and not clog up your dash or explore :)
>> And fair warning, there are spoilers to Persona 5 under the cut. IDK why I have to say this since the games been out for like 3 years, but people ask me to warn spoilers anyways SO
Also warning, it’s pretty much me trying to make Akechi Good so if you aren’t an Akechi fan I would just keep scrolling fjhdsjfh
>> SO BAsically we all know he was planned to have a castle-palace so I played off that idea and scrounged up a page of doodles. I modelled his palace off of Buckingham Palace so I’ve been calling it Akechi’s Palace since there’s already a Castle in the canon game.
>> The shadows are designed off the Queen’s Guard and have blindfolds instead of masks, which plays into Akechi’s Justice Arcana. There would probably be like 2-3 types of shadows, including guard, maids inside the castle, and butlers.
>> The palace is in the middle of a large city which is covered in TV screens and media outlets, all of which would be playing recordings of his TV appearances. The palace itself is surrounded by a tall, sharp, and possibly electric fence which keeps out the general public, which Akechi sees as faceless figures. There are large crowds of people surrounding the palace at all points of the infiltration and are mostly comprised of interviewers, press, and media hosts and fans. (The palace would be post-Okumura when Akechi regains support.) The fence which surrounds the palace is large and creates a large empty space which would insinuate that Akechi feels isolated despite the attention he receives.
>> I had a lot of trouble coming up with keywords for Akechi, but I said “eff it” and came up with some bullshit. The first keyword is obviously his name, Goro Akechi. His distortion plays off his ‘special complex’ and would most likely have something to do with ‘remarkability’ or ‘uniqueness’ or something which would put him in control- something that would also foil off of his canon dialogue before his fate at the end of his confidant. The last word, being the place of the distortion, is Akechi himself. There is no one specific place I feel Akechi would see distortion, except within himself. In Futaba’s case, she was trapped in her room, however, Akechi gets out A LOT. I think he’d see any problems he had and whatever complexes he burdened within himself, and consider them completely self-contained. If it weren’t himself, it would be a concept like the media or press instead.
>> Akechi, the main man himself, is regarded as ‘Prince Akechi’ in his palace and has a very pleasant and almost snarky/childish demeanour upon first contact in the game. He welcomes the thieves into his court and is surprised to find anyone visiting him, and attempts to make small talk with them. Even in his most raw and honest state of being, Akechi is still very two-faced and is naturally a people-pleaser during the first phase of his palace. When you eventually tell him your intentions to steal his treasure, he ushers the thieves by saying “By all means, Thieves, you may certainly try.” 
He’s very charismatic, as you’d expect from Akechi, and scarily accurate to the real deal, however when you reach the second phase of his palace he becomes very cold, distant, and vulgar.
>> The palace would begin like any other, and your main infiltration point would be from a side room/kitchen in the back of the palace. You’d run through a good portion of it and see a lot of his distortion when it comes to the media, and how he sees it all wrapped under his finger and submitted to him. You’ll see how he sees the people of Japan who blindly followed the Thieves and his own words, and how little he thinks of people in general, like serfs or plebians. A very prideful display, and how his ego is fueled by the stupidity of the public. It would also insinuate all of the faked investigations that he undertook during pre-game instances.
However, once you reach a certain part of the Palace, you would begin to see a shift due to his two-faced nature. More information regarding his mother, father, and his situation become apparent as you travel further into the heart of his palace. His guilts, regrets, and his chaotic nature would be revealed as you come across his cognitive memories of what happened in his childhood. 
This part of the palace would be presided with Loki, and would very much represent all of his anxieties, guilt, and regressions as a person. (I have headcanonned for the longest time that Loki is more or less a manifestation of his anxieties and hatred and therefore only amplifies that- while Robin Hood is a manifestation of his ego and his guilt and only serves to amplify that.) This section of his palace would showcase everything.
Everything beyond this point would be treated in hushed whispers within the whole ‘prince/palace’ theme, like some sort of scandal (think like, gossiping court and such. very European drama) and it might even touch on the Prince being a bastard, and how Akechi sees even those close to him in operation will eventually turn on him, including the Thieves themselves. 
Yes, that’s right boys, there are cognitive versions of the thieves in this palace. The cognitive people who are shown to be within the Palace are people Akechi considers to be his own confidants in his own operations, including Sae, the SUI director, Shido, etc. you get the idea. He considers the Thieves to also be apart of this ring, and they are rather close to his heart/treasure, which could play off of what Morgana references in the final rank of the Justice Arcana. The thieves in his cognition, however, are ready to turn on him at any moment and are prepared to overthrow him in all manners of the idea. He doesn’t trust anyone, basically.
So yall probably wondering what the treasure is, since it’s a palace. Well boy howdy, do I have news for you!!! Because I’m like that I decided it would be interesting if Akechi posed a challenge in a different type of way-- in that he doesn’t have a treasure. 
The treasure is a physical manifestation of what first caused the distortion, however, I think that what caused Akechi’s drastic distortion isn’t something physical at all. I know he’s always been a little... not great... however, I think what really pushed him over the edge was his awakening to a persona. Due to that, I don’t think it would be as easy for them to just go in and out with stealing his treasure. I think that in this case, they’d truly have to steal his heart in more than one way.
Should the calling card be sent, Akechi is aware that the Phantom Thieves have infiltrated and cleared his palace, and therefore his own heart and mind should be aware of the fact that they are going to attempt to steal the ‘treasure’ however, this wouldn’t make a treasure appear, but make his Shadow more aware and conscience to the events.
They’d have to not only defeat his shadow but then furthermore convince it to change its own heart. They would have to essentially take all that they’ve learned from the palace and attempt to convince Akechi otherwise, i.e. (you can tell I’m an Akechi sympathiser and want him to be happy with friends and a good ending) by trying to get him to understand that he’s not alone and other things like that. 
The boss battle would be a little different and would initiate after a conversation where you have the opportunity to talk to him and try to reason with him, and Shadow Akechi would wield some sort of Robin Hood-esque persona/become something similar. Once you beat his first phase, you have another conversation with him before he lashes out, parallel to his boss battle in canon, and that's when the le epic sad times second phase begins when he transforms into a form far more befitting to his Loki/Chaotic side. After the defeat of his second form, you have the final conversation with him. If you were to say all the right things (like the godforsaken persona 4 ending dfjhdj) He would come to a resolve and believe you and the other thieves, and go back to Akechi, which would enact the change of heart, but in the event that you don’t say the right things, he will succumb to the guilt and regression of the second half of his palace/loki and Akechi will remain in the same toxic cycle he goes through in canon, or even has a psychotic breakdown or something similar to.
The palace would occur post-Sae, but pre-Shido, and should you successfully convince him and change his heart, he will lose his Loki persona and POssibly even Robin Hood in favour of an awakened form, and he could rejoin the team under better pretence. Should you not change his heart, he will either have a psychotic breakdown, or he will wait for you in Shido’s palace to confront you on it and attack you like in canon. (Idk, it’s honestly up for debate what happens if you don’t succeed with changing his heart) The end result would be Akechi sacrificing himself as per usual should the latter happen.
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I don’t really know!!! But I like the idea and I’ll definitely build on it for fun and continue to draw for it. I’m sorry for any grammar mistakes or weird stuff, I’m disassociating at 2am and losing my last brain cell, so I hope you can make sense of my weird AU drabble that isn’t entirely realistic or good!
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taehyungsgrowl · 4 years
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SFW Alphabet for Nate
I think I did it wrong last time bc I was waiting for people to send me letters when I was just supposed to go down the list. But I’m a dummy so disregard half of what I say.
i hope you guys like them and thank you virgo anon for the input w these 🥺i love our baby 🥺
Here we go:
A- Activity (What is their favorite activity to do with you.)
-- i think he likes doing new things w you. and i know that sounds cliche BUT hear me out. duncan is a bit of a home body 🥺loves to be curled up w reader sharing kissies and cuddling. nate enjoys that too but i think trying new adventures w you is his favorite. i can see him being the type to like hiking dates!! (also lets not forget the tik tok videos you guys make together )
B- Beginnings (How do they act in the beginning of a relationship)
-- considering the beginning did start off as something kinda casual between him and reader, he kept it as such. but he’s such a natural charmer that even when he’s not trying, he just comes across as super sweet. they’d finish hooking up and he’d offer her to stay over or get them food (not bc he felt like he needed to but it’s just the kinda guy he is) i think he probably let his goofy side out right at the beginning as well. its what helped y/n open up to him and feel at ease w him 🥺
C- Communication (Are they good communicators? How do they normally talk about their problems or solve issues)
-- big sigh. nate? was the KING of communication!! hell! he was able to talk to duncan (who ISNT the best at communicating) when they weren’t even friends and helped him talk to dumb!reader. plus he’d always been open about his feelings. told y/n right away when he knew he was in love. (i only say he WAS bc he should have told y/n he was struggling before he ended up in the hospital 🥺)
D- Drunk (What are they like when they’re drunk)
-- koala bear cuddly drunk!! not just between him and reader! but he will love on anyone! (omg.. you know dunc was a little 😳when drunk!bro!nate started hugging him... hiding his face in duncs neck... telling he smells good... telling him how much he loves him... bros 👯‍♂️)
E- Emergency (How are they in emergency situations? You get hurt, they get hurt, someone is dying etc..)
— oh god. nate is the type to keep cool and collected in an emergency - even if he were the one having an emergency 🥺 like if reader would’ve been w him during his car accident, she would have been worried sick over him and he’d just be like, “hey, look at me. i’m okay, yeah? a lot stronger than i look, babe.” even if it hurt like hell because he doesn’t wanna worry her. if you were in an emergency or got hurt, he’d go into sexy doctor mode. “tell me where it hurts.” squeezing your hand to reassure you, “i got you.” also kissies where it hurts 🥺 and he’s such a good listener too wow we have no choice but to simp.
F- Free Spot (I’ll give you any headcanon I come up with)
-- i’m just gonna share one head canon that virgo anon tossed at me that really made me 🥺 baby nate 🥺 and how when he was younger he was always a nice boy 🥺 but wasnt the popular or “hot” one until he grew into himself in college 🥺 when he got maxie and it helped him manage his stress enough to be able to make connections 🥺y’all when she said that it made me heart 🥺 my sweet boy
G- Gifts (What kind of gifts do they give? What kind of gifts do they get?)
-- i think his gifts are rarely “over the top” but !! they’re simple and personalized!!! like a lil necklace w his initials / name 🥺or maybe he has someone make a picture of you two into an animation? like have someone draw you guys (do u know what im talking about?) as far as gifts for him, he enjoys like “interactive gifts” like sending him on a lil scavenger hunt (nate loves setting them up for you too 🥺) but if you set one up for HIM? god! he’d love you!
H- Hugs (How do they show affection/cuddle)
-- nate loves! loves! to give forehead kissies (not just because he’s tall fjhsjh) and being hugged (or picked up) in his strong arms!! loves it!! he loves being the big spoon 🥺i love him. 
I- Irritation (What is something that irritates them? How do they show their irritation?)
-- that reader continues to choose duncan over him fkjsvsfkv he wears his heart on his sleeve so i think when nate is upset or irritated... you know. 
J- Jackpot (How would they spend their winnings if they won the lottery?)
-- does nate have more $ than the shepherds? debatable. but he isn’t as... flashy w his money as duncan is. he’s a little more down to earth if that makes sense. BUT thats besides the point. he’d probably donate a lot to a charity of his choice than take you on a little get away. maybe a cross country road trip 🥺 or off to an island getaway. he’s flexible. 
K- Kryptonite (What is their ultimate weakness?)
-- virgo anon made me 🥺when we were talking about this bc nate would do anything for the people he loves and 🥺that gets him hurt. especially when he feels like those people dont love him in the way he does them 🥺
L- Laughter (What makes them laugh?)
-- clown!! nate is the guy that always keeps you laughing 🥺and most times he cant even contain his own laughter omg i will cry im in love with one man
M- Morning ( How do they wake up in the morning? Are they a morning person or a morning grouch?)
-- he’s a morning person 🥺 likes to start off his morning with a run and protein shake SMH fitness KING. 
N- Needy (When do they feel particularly needy? How do they show it?)
-- he’s so used to being the one who’s needed 🥺 it takes him a while to be comfy being vulnerable and needy. idk if there’s anything in particular that sets him off to be like this - but i’d like to think it happens at random. like youre on the couch and he just nuzzles his face on your tummy for you to pet his hair. he demonstrates it by wanting to be close to you 🥺
O- Oasis (Where is their happy place? Where would they go if they didn’t have anything holding them back?)
-- i think he’d be the kinda guy that enjoys the sun (not just bc he looks hot, shirtless on a beach) but yes. somewhere nice and sunny where he could have maxie w him 🥺if he could stay on the beach where he started falling for dumb!reader (with her) for ever he would 🥺
P- Pain (How do they handle pain? How do they handle when you are in pain?)
-- emotional or physical? jfgksjdgsdk but no i think if he’s well regulated, he can handle pain well - it’s when he’s not that it’s a problem (w emotional pain) he stops taking care of himself the way he should and really spirals into his head a lot you know 🥺i think he can handle others being in pain better than himself bc he loves a lot and its easier to focus his attention on trying to fix things for them (like we said his biggest weakness is doing too much for those he loves)
Q- Quote (What’s a quote that fits them and your relationship)
-- “loving is easy” fjskfsf not to be too corny but 🥺being w nate was easy... always on the same page.. and made her feel good. 🥺
R- Reunion (How do they celebrate seeing you after a long time of being apart)
-- lots!!! of kissies!! picking you up!! holding you close!!! physical touch is pretty high on his love language list i think 🥺(i think quality time or acts of service might be his top two though) 
S- Stress (What stresses them out? How do deal with stress and how do they relieve it?)
-- i generally think duncan is more of a control freak than nate, but i do think to some extent, they’re similar that when things feel out of their control, it really stresses them out. i think it manifests at different times. i think for duncan its more trivial things whereas w nate, if he feels like he could be doing something to “fix” something and he cant do anything it freaks him out. hes a healer, you know. i think working out is a big stress reliever for him 🥺my strong baby!! that and goofing off w reader 🥺
T- Terror (What are they afraid of?)
-- this kinda ties into his weakness (and could be amplified by his younger years) but he’s afraid of not really being enough for those he loves. especially if he was teased as a kid 🥺maybe thats why in a lot of his nightmares the theme of abandonment appears a lot 🥺i made myself SAD 🥺
U- Unique (What is a quirk that is unique to them?)
-- i asked virgo anon for help on this one 🥺and i love her so much 🥺 nate tugs on his hair when he’s nervous 🥺 he gets a lil annoyed after he buzzes it off and doesnt have much to pull on 🥺he likes to hold hands when spooning. loves to sing along to disney movies (but lets be honest, he’s the real prince KING)
V- Violence (Do they fight a lot? Are they a good fighter? What is their fighting style?)
-- well... idk if it’s fair to say he fights a lot because he tries not to resort to that - especially grad school nate. mostly because he knows he’s good at fighting. omfg... boxer!nate.... may have all my rights. and he doesn’t really wanna hurt anyone. BUT if needed!!! he will throw down. (ex. when dunc wouldnt let y/n leave the house. and then attacked him!! nate had to stand his ground 😌
W- Wow (What do you do that really surprises them? What do you do that they really like?)
-- idk i think nate was probably really surprised when reader gave him that second chance at friendship in the bathroom 🥺didnt think she would. on a lighter note, surprising him w fresh cooked meals always make him 🥺because... he’s trying but hasnt mastered the cooking thing yet.
X- (Explicit headcanon. For all you degenerates)
-- he’s uhh packing 😳and it hits all the right spots, you know 😳omfg and lets not forget the dickscussion we had about his head game being stronger than duncans 😌
Y- Yucky (Is there something that grosses them out so badly that they can’t deal with it?)
-- i wasnt sure what really grossed out medical professionals (if anything djsfs) but we kinda head canon for him to be into family / pediatric medicine so anything w LOTS of blood loss probably freaks him out 
Z- ZZZ’s (What are their sleeping habits? Both with and without you)
-- my baby. nate has really bad night terrors especially on bad(tm) days. it usually helps to have someone w him to be able to keep him calm when he wakes up 🥺if its not y/n you can bet maxie will be there for tons of kissies. he’s a sleep talker 🥺and when sleeping w you he loves being big spoon 🥺and when he’s alone, he kinda sleeps curled up and w a lot of pillows. comfort KING
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fallenpkmntrainer · 4 years
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Okay, Munday’s over! The questions have all been privated and compiled into another big post under the cut.
Thanks for asking me things!
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I drink a healthy glass of respect women juice every morning to help it grow big and strong!!
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Real talk though, there’s a lot of aspects I like about the creepypasta itself that are very subtle and you might not pick up on them when reading it so I’ll just point out my favorite.
That being, the narrator never refers to Leaf by name until the climax of the story. They refer to Leaf in first person (using I/me) in the first half when playing as her, showing that they relate to her more than they do with Red when playing as him, who they refer to in third person (he/him). Playing as Red was thrust upon the narrator, he’s not who they wanted to be represented by, hence the disconnection between player and character. They don’t put theirself into Red the same way they did with Leaf.
Her name is also not mentioned until the end as a nod to how it took so many years for her canon name to confirmed as “Leaf.” So many players, myself included, loved her and wanted to see her as a character, but there was such heated debate surrounding her name because it wasn’t confirmed until nearly a decade later. Because she never appeared on Mt. Silver, because she was never canon, she never got to tell us her name for so long.
Her name appears in the climax as a means of telling the player that her name won’t be erased any more.
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Apples. But only the green ones.
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The red ones are not to be trusted.
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Well, they say it’s the inside that counts, right?
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Ah… It’s a lot to witness, yeah. I’ve been trying not to expose myself to ongoing events too much just to preserve my own mental health. It gets draining hearing so much bad news in sequence.
I’ve been at home like I always am, staying safe, at least.
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Real world events notwithstanding, I’m doing pretty okay.
I recently picked up this indie game called Bug Fables though. I’m not very far in it yet but it’s been a delight so far. So, that’s fun!
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Skipped out on them.
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You can probably guess my all time favorite is Pikachu. It’s been a favorite of mine ever since I was a kid and it’s always been a part of my identity since.
My name, Sparks, comes from a Pikachu character I’ve identified with since childhood.
But besides Pikachu, from Kanto, I like Mew, the Bulbasaur line, the Vulpix line, and the Cubone line.
As for the others, there’s too many to list just one so I’ll list a few! Most of my favorites are due to me having OCs of them, or just being fond of them during my playthroughs.
Johto: Mareep/Flaaffy, Xatu, Togetic, Houndoom, Porygon2 Hoenn: Jirachi, Mightyena, Aggron, Plusle/Minun, Flygon Sinnoh: Shaymin, Darkrai, Shinx, Riolu Unova: Victini, Purrloin, Sandile line, Scraggy line, Zorua, Joltik, Elgyem line, Hydreigon Kalos: Flabébé line, Skiddo line, Espurr line, Phantump Alola: Mimikyu, Litten line, Mareanie, Minior, Nihilego
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It should be clear that Fallen Leaf as a story is heavily influenced by my opinion of Red.
I am acutely aware and critical of the bias that made him exclusively the canon hero of Kanto, leaving Leaf’s story neglected and erased.
It is hard for me to view him the same way after having realized this.
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The thing is, I’ve tried.
As a child, I played as Leaf, but now I do not identify as a woman. So, for a while, I tried playing as Red instead. But I am not a man either. So no matter what, Red as a character is not made for me to put myself into.
Even if I pretended he was nonbinary like myself, deep down I’d know that’s not really true, and I’d feel a lonely disconnection.
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See, I have this belief that a player character is only as real as you’re willing to make them. You put yourself into them. You experience and love the world through their eyes, and in turn, you give them life. You give them a heart and soul through your love for the world of Pokémon.
But for me, I’m in a weird state where I don’t know which character I gave my heart and soul to. Did I give it to Leaf because I loved her as a child, even if I don’t identify with her now? Or did I give it to Red, in my vain attempts to identify with him, despite not being a man? Who is my “canon” hero?
In the end, I found myself to be more passionate about Leaf’s erasure than I am towards Red as a character.
It’s impossible for me to look at Red and not see the misogyny he represents now.
When I see him in modern games like Sun and Moon, I don’t feel happy. I don’t feel excited. I don’t feel nostalgic.
I feel empty. Nothing.
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I think it’s this feeling of emptiness, this feeling of dissatisfaction and anger, that birthed Fallen Leaf in the first place. Maybe I did give my heart out to Leaf, because my hurt has been so strong.
This is the reason Fallen Leaf’s Red is soulless, because I cannot put my heart into him no matter how hard I try. He was not made for me, and he never will be.
But even if there’s nothing for me in the Pokémon series as a nonbinary person, I still feel immensely for the women that have suffered from Leaf being erased. I, too, feel that emptiness, that pain, that anger.
And that is why I have spoken out for them by creating this story, because them speaking alone won’t be enough.
9 notes · View notes
mysmashplaythroughs · 4 years
Text
Earthbound Playthrough
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Fighter: Ness
Game: Earthbound, Wii U virtual console (SNES). First Released on August 27th 1994.
Fighter Bio.
A young boy living in Onett, a town in Eagleland, Ness is awoken one night following a meteorite crashing into a hilltop near his home. Ness and his neighbours eventually go to see the meteorite and it is there they meet Buzz Buzz, a small insect-like being who tells Ness that he is from 10 years in the future and has seen what will happen if he does not stop Giygas, an alien being. Buzz Buzz tells Ness that he is one of four destined to defeat Giygas and that they are the only ones who can. Following this Ness sets off on an adventure, meeting other members of the chosen four who help him to take on Giygas’s forces. Ness is a fairly strong physical fighter, with his weapons of choice being various baseball bats and sometimes Yo-yos. He also however has abilities he uses with PSI, although unlike his two other friends who also use PSI, his tend to be more focused on healing and lowering enemies defence and attack as well as raising those of his party.
Ness is once again a silent protagonist similar to many other Nintendo series protagonists and as such there isn’t much revealed of his personality. He seems to be a fan of baseball given his propensity to use bats as well as him wearing a Baseball Cap. Ness also has Steak as his favourite food which his Mother cooks for him when he visits home whilst on his adventure. Ness along with the other party members in the game can be named whatever the player wishes, however his default and therefore often considered ‘canon’ name is Ness. Similarly the player can choose his favourite food which by default is steak. Ness looks very similar to the player character of the first game in the series, Mother (localised many years later as Earthbound Beginnings) who’s default name is Ninten which was intentional as the creator Shigesato Itoi wished to allow the player to decide on whether they were the same character or not. For this blog and my own personal playthroughs, I will interpret them as separate characters, however there is no set canon regarding this.
Ness’s family consists of his Mother, Sister, Father and pet dog. Ness is close with his Mother, to the point that if he travels for too long without speaking to her he will get homesick, a condition that makes him sometimes miss turns in battle because he’s busy thinking of home and his favourite food. Homesickness is cured by either speaking to his Mother in person, or speaking to her over the phone. Ness’s Sister, Tracy can also be spoken to on the phone and during Earthbound she gets a job working for Excargo Express, a company that provides storage for items. By phoning his Sister, Ness can ask for someone from the company to be sent to him so he can give them items to store or to deliver items to him. Ness can also use this service when speaking to Tracy in person, with her giving and accepting items from Ness directly. Tracy and Ness’s Mother both can be found at Ness’s home in Onett, however his Father is constantly working and therefore never home. He can be called as well as call Ness on the phone however with him saving the game for the player when called and telling the party how much Exp they need to reach their next level. Ness’s Father will call Ness if the player has not saved for a long time in order to remind them to do so. Ness’s Father is never seen in person throughout the game, to the point that his representation in the credits role call is simply Ness’s home phone. The final member of Ness’s family is his dog King, who is the only non-playable character who can be named by the player, with King being the default. King is an optional party member at the start of the game who will reluctantly travel with the player to the meteor, helping out in battle with the occasional attack. When approaching the meteor however, he will get scared and run home. Following this King will remain at home for the rest of the game refusing to move.
Friends: On his journey, Ness meets with many characters, with the other three members of the chosen four being his closest companions, Paula, Jeff and Poo. Ness first meets Paula helping her escape from the Happy Happyism Cult who under the influence of Giygas have kidnapped her. Paula is much better at offensive PSI than Ness with his moves in Super Smash Bros actually mostly being ones Paula uses in Earthbound. Jeff, the only member of the group unable to use PSI is at a boarding school when he receives a psychic message from Paula asking him to help her and Ness who are trapped. Jeff sets off and eventually meets Ness and Paula when he arrives to help them escape from a dungeon. Finally, Poo is the prince of Dalaam who has trained for many years to strengthen his PSI. With his training complete Poo learns how to teleport and travels to meet the others knowing he is destined to fight alongside them. Poo later leaves the party for some time to learn a new attack, PSI Starstorm which is another attack Ness later uses in Super Smash Bros before returning to them after being successful.
There are many other characters Ness and his friends help during his journey and many who help them in return. Of those closest to Ness specifically, Buzz Buzz is a character only met by Ness and his neighbours Pokey and Picky Minch before he reaches his unfortunate end. The Runaway Five meet with Ness and his friends a couple of times through the game, and thanks to Ness helping them settle their debts they help out with their van and later on in a difficult battle. Apple Kid is an inventor who will provide Ness with inventions provided he funds his research. These inventions are vital to proceeding and later on Apple Kid assists in the final part of the game along with another important character, Dr. Andonuts. Dr. Andonuts is Jeff’s Father whom he has a strained relationship with, he provides Jeff and later his friends help with various inventions during the game. Finally of note is that when Ness visits Magicant he can gain temporary party members known as Flying Man. There are five of these who will join Ness when asked and when defeated will be lost for the rest of the game, with gravestones representing them outside of their home. The gravestones refer to the Flying Men as Ness’s Courage, although with each one the Tombstone’s become more and more vague until the last one chastises Ness and by extension the player for taking them for granted calling it “The Final Flying Man”.
Enemies/Rivals: Pokey Minch is Ness’s next-door Neighbour, known for being a bratty troublemaker, he doesn’t really have many friends only really having Ness to play with growing up as they’re neighbours. As the game goes on Pokey seems to get more and more corrupted by Giygas, although it is arguable that in fact Pokey’s true colours simply start to shine through once he manages to get Giygas’s power. Due to Ness’s status as a mostly silent protagonist and Pokey being quite erratic in his actions it’s debatable how much they are true enemies and how much Pokey has simply been twisted, with him often showing hints of still wishing to be friends with Ness, but showing it in twisted ways such as having to one-up him constantly. The rest of Pokey’s family aren’t on very good terms with Ness’s family, with Pokey’s Father constantly insisting Ness’s Father borrowed a large sum of money from him, although he then admits it might not have been as much as he said it is. He later assists Pokey in a scheme in the city of Fourside, however he ends up being more of a bit player and after Pokey’s plans in Fourside fail he leaves his Father washed up and wallowing in a bar. There are other characters Ness fights with some either testing him such as Captain Strong and others such as Frank being a gang leader who surrenders once Ness beats him.
Every other enemy pretty much is influenced by Ness’s true enemy Giygas, an invader from another world. Giygas was once a physical being, but eventually he gained such power he seemed to lose his physical form as well as his mind becoming bent purely on ending all existence. He still seems to be aware enough that when he learns during his invasion of earth 10 years in the future from the apple of enlightenment that Ness was destined to defeat him he goes back in time to defeat Ness knowing he could stop him, which shows he at least has enough thought to put a plan in motion. Beyond that, simply his presence is enough to cause all sorts of creatures and some people to seek to destroy Ness and his friends. Various agents of his such as the Starmen as well as objects such as the Mani Mani statue are his most direct forms of influence, with the Mani Mani statue managing to influence various figures such as the leader of the Happy Happy Cult into doing their will or just acting dangerously.
Crossovers with other Smash characters: Earthbound tends to fairly rarely actually make easter egg appearances or cameos in other games and as such Ness has had very little crossover with other characters outside of Super Smash Bros. One notable one is he makes a cameo in the sequel to his game, Mother 3 which stars Lucas, however I will detail that more in the post for Lucas. Beyond this, the only other real crossover for Ness is that Kirby has a power in Kirby Planet Robobot called ESP where he has a similar (although blue rather than red) baseball cap to Ness, and the description in-game mentions the powers being “just like a certain boy with PSI” being a clear reference to Ness. Ness himself does not appear however.
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Why this game?
This is a very very simple one, it’s the only game Ness is in. There are other games in the Mother series, one of which stars a character who will have a post further down the line, however this is the only game in the Mother series that stars Ness, so it’s the obvious choice.
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My past with this game.
So, my history with Earthbound is quite different to a lot of accounts I tend to read and that’s down to one big reason, Earthbound wasn’t released in Europe. Due to this, my first exposure to Earthbound, or rather Ness specifically was in Super Smash Bros on the N64. Back when I was in school, I remember another kid who would often make up the usual ‘rumours’ regarding games at the time, such as how to find Mew under the truck or how he had 50 Charizard cards at home, or how to get Luigi in Super Mario 64. One day, he told me about a secret character in Super Smash Bros. He said this character was a weird one as it was like Baby Mario. He told me I think how to unlock him and being naïve I gave it a shot, only this time it turned out to be somewhat real. I got this character with a red cap who was a kid, so I was completely confused as to who this was. I thought it must have been Kid Mario, an older Baby Mario for some reason. I forget now how long it was following this I started looking more into Ness and realising he wasn’t related to Mario but was from another game entirely with the most obvious sign being when I read his bio in-game. Although it was rather vague, it stated Ness had Psychic powers. At the time, my first time really hearing of Psychic powers was from Pokemon, so because of that I started associating Ness with Pokemon since he was somewhat similar to a typical Pokemon Trainer, with a cap and bag. Yeah, back then I’d muddle all sorts of different things into being connected in my head.
It was probably in Super Smash Bros Melee where I first started to learn a lot more about Ness, partially thanks to all the info contained in the various trophies, but also due to other factors such as being older and able to comprehend more, and the biggest factor, the internet. Super Smash Bros Melee was when I was able to first start looking for information on games from something other than Magazines. There were not many websites at the time I knew to look at however, Wikipedia wasn’t really that well known, at least to me back then and so most of the time I would learn information from fansites. Probably one of the biggest influences to me when it comes to a lot of my interest in Super Smash Bros was a site known as Detstar, which is only really viewable through the wayback machine now. It covered a lot of aspects of Melee, from the more basic things such as characters, moves, items and stages, to the parts that I had more interest in, “Cool Stuff” and “Misc”. “Cool Stuff” covered all sorts of things, from Trophies to Easter Eggs in the game whilst “Misc” is the more important section to this article. Under this section were various things, from the fake Sonic & Tails as well as the Toad Rumours, to Beta elements, and then a few things covering some of the more obscure games represented in Melee, Dr. Mario, Ice Climber and finally “Ness & Earthbound.” (No Fire Emblem however, which I’ll cover more in detail when I get to them.) This was probably where I first really learnt about Earthbound, seeing screenshots of the game as well as some information on the very basic plot outline. Needless to say, at the time, as someone who at most had played Ocarina of Time, Paper Mario and Pokemon when it came to RPGs, my imagination ran wild about this game. These few images looked so unique to other games I’d played then and there was so little info really looking back at it that I really wanted to know more, it helped that I was really into Pokemon at the time, regarding which the site itself said “So if you’re looking for someone or something to blame for Pokemon, blame Earthbound” (Sidenote: It’s funny how for a fair amount of time in my childhood, Pokemon was seen a lot in the same way Fortnite and FNAF tend to be, with a lot of ‘true gamers’ then seeing it as a plague on gaming. Detstar I don’t think really went that way so much, more he was just acknowledging it being a common view at the time, although I could be wrong.) So the appeal for the game was more there for me than it might have been earlier in my life. I would advise if anyone does want to look into the site, remember it’s an old internet fansite written by someone who I think pretty much dropped out of the gaming scene years ago, so it definitely has a lot of quirks typical of fansites at that time, just so you know what you’re getting into.
Next up for my exposure to Earthbound was another old internet site I spent a lot of time on back then (and another probably best not viewed by kids) Newgrounds. On there, there were a lot of parody videos, with a lot of my favourites being pixel animations. Naturally, there were plenty of Earthbound ones, with probably the one that sticks out most in my mind being one of the ever popular “outtakes/bloopers” videos, something practically every gaming franchise on there probably has had by this point. Still, with this outtake video I got a look at other scenarios that were in the game, although often pretty different to how they were in the actual game and without context for me, someone who hasn’t played the game, still it was probably another way I learnt more of the game and got to see the sprites in motion rather than just screenshots. Following this my memory is somewhat messy, Super Smash Bros Brawl was announced and I really started following online speculation at this time, learning of Mother 3 and most importantly getting a lot more info on the game. Youtube was starting to get popular providing me with a fair few videos of the game itself. Gradually, I came across Lets Plays watching a few of other games, and finally watching Chuggaaconroy’s Lets Play of Earthbound. It was through this I admittedly saw the game all the way through for the first time so yes, I never played it blind. Following this, I did get a chance to play the game, although not in a method I particularly liked and I was hoping that one day it would finally come to the Wii Virtual Console. In this playthrough, as with a lot of RPGs I’d tried at this point, I made it to a certain boss (the rematch with Master Belch) and got stuck, eventually just playing other games instead.
Now, before I get onto the final part of my history with the franchise, there is a fairly notable omission here when it comes to websites with information. Starmen.net is the biggest and most influential English language website when it comes to the Mother series to my knowledge. It is a fantastic resource and has a very devoted community who have been involved in covering a lot of the series for those outside of Japan, compiling a lot of information and very vocally campaigning for the series to see releases outside of Japan. Many people who are longtime Mother series fans tend to have links to the site such as the aforementioned Chuggaaconroy and as such I feel it is important I mention it. Whilst I did read a lot of things on the site, and for a time I remember religiously checking out the fanart on there, I’ll admit I didn’t personally get that involved with the site, however I feel it is too important to not mention. This links nicely into the final part really of my history with Earthbound, in 2013 after so long waiting it was finally announced that Earthbound would see a worldwide release on the Wii U Virtual Console, finally coming to Europe. Satoru Iwata stated this was down to the many requests on Miiverse I believe, however I’m sure that the vocal fanbases such as Starmen.net were a very big part of this too. Sadly, the same hasn’t happened for Mother 3 yet, we can only hope for that one day, but for me, I was glad I was finally getting to officially own Earthbound after so long. So, I excitedly started, played through and beat the game, right? No… I got stuck at a boss and started playing other games again. I know, I’m a failure of a gamer.
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My Smash Playthrough.
When it comes to big games on my list, this really was probably the biggest game I knew I needed to beat. When it comes to replaying these games, and they’re ones where I specifically have started them multiple times, I like to where possible pick up my old save file and continue on rather than start from scratch again. With the long list I have with many RPGs and other long games, restarting every single one from scratch can admittedly hit my motivation somewhat. Earthbound is an amazing game and a lot of fun, however I wanted to finally get to new parts I hadn’t played before. Luckily, my save file actually had everything I wanted in my playthrough, as in the correct names for the characters and the items I wanted, so this was one of the easier games to simply continue from where I’d left off. The screenshot above is from a Miiverse post I made at the time, in it I said that I was finally “Further than I've got before.” I don’t necessarily remember most moments of my playthroughs now, but this one was very important to me. Super Metroid was a big game sure, but it was one I’d had easy access to really whenever I wanted. Earthbound however, this was a game I’d managed to have a lot of history with despite not being able to play it for the majority of my life, so to finally be at this moment, knowing I’d made it past where I was stuck and was going to beat the game was a huge deal to me. Honestly, thinking on it now, it might be one of my biggest gaming memories. Still, I don’t want to go too overboard here, needless to say though, I’m glad I was able to get that screenshot of seeing for myself in-game a moment I’d only seen in screenshots and other people’s playthroughs beforehand.
There were a fair few difficult spots for me following this however, areas where I found enemies tough and a few bosses gave me trouble. Earthbound definitely isn’t a hard game, but I’ve never been great at RPGs and this was at the start of my Smash Playthroughs, the idea of playing a Dragon Quest game for example would have been a pretty out there concept to me then. Areas that stand out in my mind include Stonehenge base, and an occurrence in an earlier area which takes place towards the end of the game involving very difficult enemies appearing there (which happens to be a point of no return I wasn’t prepared for, meaning a very important area was lost to me somewhat on this save file) Funnily enough, Master Belch’s rematch which had stopped me in my tracks both times I’d played before, was one of the boss fights I probably had the least trouble with, partially as I was aware of a trick with him, but even without that I’d managed to get to a level where he wasn’t really a problem, which was very satisfying. Many of the bosses could be challenging, but I don’t remember any of them being very large roadblocks to me, it helps that at this point I had gained somewhat more experience with RPGs and learnt a lot more about how Earthbound’s battle system worked than I had before, meaning I had more of an understanding of what I was doing.
The final boss is an experience I honestly don’t want to spoil. I know I’ve spoilt a lot here, but this final boss is one of the most notable in Nintendo and perhaps RPG history, one which I think it’s really best to experience yourself. I will however, spoil something unique in the ending of this game, so I guess skip to the next paragraph if you don’t want to hear it. This game has an epilogue where essentially you can walk around the whole world of the game with all the enemies gone and practically every single NPC will have a new line of dialogue. All sorts of NPCs, even the most minor will somewhat conclude various small events from the game, really there’s far too many to mention, but every location is open to you to revisit at your own pace in order to see what’s changed now the world is saved. It’s something I don’t think many other games have really done, granted there are those with a post-game, but it’s a pretty unique experience overall and is just another reason this game is so beloved in my opinion. Of course, you’re entirely free to just go to the ending and ignore what anyone else has to say, it’s all up to you.
The music is great, with quite a variety of themes and some very psychedelic sounding songs, especially for the battles which matches up with the swirling backgrounds very well. The dialogue is easily one of the strongest points of the game, with almost every NPC being worth talking to as there’s often so many funny things to be heard, with many wacky scenarios such as a club where philosophical patrons gather to essentially stare at a rock and drink overpriced water. The setting of the game being in a modern world also helps it stand out from a lot of RPGs at the time. Returning to Dragon Quest which I mentioned earlier, I didn’t know back then but a lot of influence was drawn from that series when it comes to how the Mother series plays, with a menu being used to choose which options to do such as check what’s in front of you or talk to what’s in front of you. There is a button which will also do the job without having to bring up the menu however, which means Earthbound isn’t as closely linked to the style as its predecessor was, but it’s still there at any rate. Finally, and this is just a personal note, but I love a lot of the little features in the game that add to it’s charm, things like being able to order a pizza and the pizza being an item that can heal the whole party (since they share it) and being able to get a delivery guy to come out and take items from you to store them, or getting on the bus to travel from one town to the next. This is definitely a personal preference thing, but I still wanted to include it.
Overall, even today I would say Earthbound is a game worth checking out. Its uniqueness manages to let it remain an experience that still holds up and isn’t necessarily hampered by any huge aspects of gaming back then that would perhaps make me feel the need to warn about when recommending, with only a few minor things such as inventory management really sticking out in my mind. If you want any further evidence, Earthbound’s legacy really speaks for itself, with it’s influence definitely being present in a fair few notable series following it, probably the biggest of which being Pokemon (I believe having a crossover of some staff but I’m really not sure of specifics there) and a fair few games in the indie scene, most notably Undertale. Honestly, I keep thinking of pretty big aspects of the game that I haven’t even mentioned, like Mr. Saturns, but I feel at this point I’ve gone over most of what I really should, and Mr. Saturn will be mentioned again much further down the line.
Specific aspects about the game relating to Ness in Smash.
So, when it comes to Ness in Super Smash Bros, this is the first example on my list of something that’s really optional and just me going somewhat obsessively overboard really. Before I get onto that point however, regarding Ness’s attacks, as stated earlier, PK Fire, PK Thunder, PSI Magnet and PK Starstorm are not attacks Ness learns in the game, with them instead being used by either Paula or Poo. In Super Smash Bros Brawl I believe this is explained in a trophy as Ness being taught how to use these moves by Paula and Poo, but that’s really all that can be said regarding those attacks. PK Flash is the only PSI attack that Ness can use in the game but its function is somewhat different than in Super Smash Bros. It can cause various status effects on the enemy (depending on which version of it is used) such as causing them to cry (lowering their accuracy) feel strange, get paralysed or the most notable effect, being defeated instantly. This last effect is perhaps the closest to its use in Super Smash Bros, as it is a fairly difficult to pull off move but when it does connect can cause a lot of knockback making it pretty close to an instant KO providing some damage has been done to an opponent. The final of Ness’s PSI abilities is one that’s not really used in battle, but is part of his entrance in Super Smash Bros, being Teleport. In Earthbound, one form of Teleport requires Ness and his friends to run forwards gathering speed until they warp away, arriving at another location. If they collide with any solid objects whilst building speed, Ness and his friends will stop in their tracks and be completely covered in soot from the resulting energy backfire. In Super Smash Bros, Ness will arrive to a battle in a similar way to having just arrived in a new location through Teleport, however he will also briefly be covered in soot, similar to if he crashes into something whilst trying to build up speed.
Ness also fights with a baseball bat and a Yo-yo in Super Smash Bros. The baseball bat is not specifically based on any bat from Earthbound with the only notable thing about it being “Nett Sports” written on it. Ness’s Yo-yo similarly is not based on a specific one from the game with the main notable aspect of it being the word “Mother” on it when zoomed in close. Weapons are not physically seen in Earthbound, with battles being from a first person perspective. Similarly various clothes do not change characters appearances, with Ness always looking the same throughout the game barring specific events such as the start of the game where he wears Pyjamas. Where my obsessive methods come in are that in cases like this, I tend to like to try to work out what would be the closest equipment in my opinion to how it looks in the character’s portrayal in Super Smash Bros. So really, for this next part you can completely ignore this as it’s not anything concrete and purely my speculation. For the baseball bat I feel there are two candidates. The Ultimate Bat is the most straightforward, since what little artwork there is of the bats shows it as looking still like a fairly standard wooden baseball bat, similar to the one used in Smash. The only other candidate however, is the Tee ball bat, the reason being that this bat is sold in Onett, and the “Nett Sports” written on the bat would imply that specific bat has a connection to Onett. Still, I went with the Ultimate Bat mostly as the Tee Ball bat is the second weakest in the game. Of the Yo-yos, my first choice simply because Ness fights with it and it looks flashy was the Combat Yo-yo, the strongest yo-yo in the game. However, based on what little artwork there is, it seems this yo-yo actually has spikes on it, a feature not on the one in Smash, so therefore probably the other best choice would be the Trick yo-yo, again because it looks fairly flashy with the yellow lightning looking patterns in Smash. Finally, when it comes to equipment, probably the only real choice I felt for Ness is the Mr. Baseball Cap. This hat is a gift to Ness from a character in Onett, and the other choices such as the Holmes hat and Hard Hat definitely don’t fit the way Ness’s hat in artwork and Smash looks. There is a standard Baseball Cap available in the store in Onett, however the Mr. Baseball Cap still feels more fitting and specific to Ness overall in my opinion.
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Credits.
For information on this game including dates of releases I must give credit to Wikibound Wiki.
The screenshots in this post are taken by me using Miiverse before it shut down.
4 notes · View notes