@hereticcryptid I appear to be slowly but surely developing an entire series about how Hensheng and Baxia apparently get fed up with their owners' inability to express their feelings and take matters into their own hands...
So I'm well aware this is probably a case of "it isn't that deep" but I love looking at all the fiddly little accessories and bits and bobs of Hoyo designs and trying to justify them. Sampo's is particularly funny, because. What even is all that dkkxjdkd
His outfit has so many straps wrapped around him, like they're restraining or holding something in to keep it from bursting at the seams, and not all of them look like they're even connected to anything! But I'd like to think they are useful in certain situations, like if Sampo takes a hit out in the Fragmentum from one of the monsters.
He's hurt, his arm is bleeding, but he is ALMOST done, he just needs a couple more things to fulfill his quota to Natasha and he doesn't want to turn around and go back now. So Sampo frees a strap from his shirt, winds it around his arm above the cut, pulls it tight with his free hand and his teeth. He'll treat it properly in a minute, once he's done scavenging.
There's also the strange chains that resemble snake spines. Given how they're way longer in his splash art and the way they wind around-
I'd like to think they can extend somehow, and Sampo can use them to scale heights. Firefly clocks him as a covert fighter without even being within 20 feet of him, so it would make sense for Sampo to have ways to get around that don't involve usual/obvious methods, like stairs. Think assassin skill sets.
He's also the only one known to be able to get between the Underground and the overworld, and while he's pretty tight-lipped about his method, having some sort of device to help traverse vertical heights is probably insanely helpful there.
And the little metal ornaments across the backs of his wrists! You can see it a bit better in his reference sheet (everyone say thanks @/dragaliareferencearchive!) as opposed to his splash art-
they aren't flat, they stick up a bit off his arms. And so I wonder if Gepard has ever gone to arrest Sampo, and found that they interfere with his handcuffs haha
The ornaments don't match, the one on his right wrist is actually shorter and doesn't extend down to the back of his hand. Which probably doesn't make it nearly as annoying for handcuffs as the left one, but it would make sense for Sampo to have them like that, since he seems to be right-handed! I think a certain proficiency in being ambidextrous is necessary to dual wield daggers like he does, but. Sampo uses his right hand to
hold his blade in his splash art
throw his blade in his skill
play/show off with his dagger in his idle
lob smoke bombs in his technique
cross over his heart when he bows
and to flip his bangs during the cutscene where he saves the trailblazers from Bronya
So a shorter guard on his right hand would help him keep his wrist's flexibility to be able to do all that unimpeded (loving the thought now that Sampo is naturally right-handed and still better with it, but he practiced constantly with his left until he could do things passably ambidextrous).
I also love them because I wonder if they're in the perfect place to help block a hit, along with the chain wrapped around his left forearm.
Like I love the image of a hired killer soundlessly sneaking up behind Sampo in some shady dark alley, knife sloooooowly raising, and then all at once, they strike!
And instead of feeling the blade sink into his back, they get the unpleasant resonating of metal-on-metal shivering up their arm and rattling their bones, because Sampo has turned around at the last second and raised his crossed his arms to let the knife glance off the guards on his wrists.
And the mercenary is left to realize that oh, they are fucked.
actually i'm not done talking about termina. do you think that even years after majora's mask link wakes up to rain and instinctively thinks "2 days left"
tonight on 'the simplest things can drive a person feral'
Any variation on 'nose twitching'. Just the mental image of a nose, so desperately itchy that it can't help moving. A tickle so deep that, even without any outside interference, it just has to move.
It quivers, vibrates, flares, twitches, yearning for any form of relief. Maybe it's squished against an entire palm, feeling the hot breath against the skin. Or perhaps a single finger is brought up, trying to coax out an end to this ordeal
But it's just so sensitive, and when the hands are dropped once more, the nose is left to fend for itself against the waves of irritation, helplessly twitching once more~
Bonus points for the bearer of said nose experiencing any thoughts/feelings about how noticeably their nose is twitching~ Maybe embarrassment that everyone can tell, or a lighter humour that it 'has a mind of it's own'~
Pac: I wish I had a really nice background story for my- why I'm here. But you know, Felps just crashed the ship and I'm stuck!
Fit: You've got an interesting history though, Pac! I mean, look at you escaping that prison! Like, that was not easy for you to do. [...] You've told me lots of stories about yourself and Mike's adventures. You've got a very interesting backstory.
Pac: Thank you Fit, thank you. I'm glad to hear that you think it's cool.
Fit: I mean– the cannibalism part, that sucks, but it is– It's cool! It's cool.
People keep wondering when Pac's going to tell Fit how he lost his leg, but during their date last week, Fit implied that their characters already had this discussion! Although this could've been an OOC part of their conversation, they've referenced this specific part of Pac's lore in past streams (this is just the most explicit example we've had so far).
[ Full Subtitle Transcript ↓ ]
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Pac: I wish I had a really nice- um, background story - background story for my- why I'm here. But you know, Felps just crashed the ship and I'm stuck!
Fit: [Chuckles] Well no- you've got an interesting history though, Pac! I mean, look at you escaping that prison! Like, that was not easy for you to do.
Pac: ...No, yeah, you're right.
Fit: You know, and you've been- you have- you've told me lots of stories about yourself and Mike's adventures, like– You've got a very interesting backstory.
Pac: Thank you Fit, thank you. I'm glad to hear that you think it's cool.
Fit: I mean, I mean– the cannibalism part, I mean, that sucks, yeah, but it is– It's cool! It's cool.
Pac: Yeah, right? Yeah- that's- that's not a good part, right? Yeah, I- ugh, yeah, it's a– [He takes a deep breath] Yeah. It's ok.
- And we pulled that stupid prank on you.
- Wiener schnitzel and sauerkraut.
- Yeah, we thought we were so clever. Eva von Braun, right? But you– you just set it aside, and you put your head down and got to work.
FOR ALL MANKIND
1.02 He Built the Saturn V || 3.03 All In