#flipside... is definitely a game

[anonymouscheeses]

Omg guys im on the part where Jecka goes to save her dad cuz hes goin in cardiac arrest after seeing a group of men want to see her feet, can't wait to see whats behind the door!!! 😁😁

[iiannabxth]

SPOILERS FOR CLASS OF 09 FLIPSIDE!!:

okay so now that the games come out, is anyone shocked by jecka’s suicide ending??

(it’s already super weird that the game has two whole endings about foot fetishes, but oh well.)

like i just feel like the entire ending is odd and super out of character for nicole. like nicole is a bad person, obviously, but jecka is usually the exception for her antics. it just seems super extreme for her for to go and do all of that to her dad, considering emily is already dating jecka’s dad.

i’ve seen people say “oh well nicole is a sociopath!! it’s in character!!!” and i’m just like.. did you actually play the game or just watch the intro?? nicole is definitely a bad person but she wouldn’t hurt jecka bc their friendship actually means something to her.

[siflshonen]

The Greatest Robot on Earth: Astro Boy and Pluto Part I

So you’ve just watched Pluto on Netflix, but you didn’t know that it is the best Astro Boy fanfiction ever made. Great! Or maybe, hypothetically, you’ve read classic Astro Boy but don’t know about Pluto, or, as it was called for the Viz release, Pluto: UrasawaXTezuka. Well, awesome, because I’m about to give you all the details behind their creators and creation and give you a side-by-side of the classic Astro Boy and this new(ish)-fangled Pluto.

C'mon. Look under the read more line. You know you want to.

If you want to skip to the manga side-by-sides, check out part II and part III. Or, you can read the whole thing in one go on Ao3.

Context and Background

Tezuka, Urasawa, and the Showa Era

So, let me start with the basics: What is Astro Boy? What ain’t Astro Boy?

Tetsuwan Atom, known in the west as Astro Boy, is the most well-known manga created by the “Godfather of Manga/God of Manga” Osamu Tezuka in the 1950s, but it metastasized into multiple anime series, games, merch, spin offs of various types, and that one CGI movie in 2009. The series follows the adventures of robot hero Atom (called Astro in the west) as he fights for the benefit of humans and robots to create a harmonious future for both.

Here’s a timeline of Astro Boy- and Pluto-related events to help you visualize what came out when and why there were multiple runs of the Astro Boy manga. For our purposes, the most important thing to understand is that, even though Astro Boy was a kids’ series, its attitude and themes, as written by Tezuka, reflected the incredible shifts in Japan after World War II and the ever-present shadow of it still left in the minds of its citizens.

But before we get into all that, let’s talk about Osamu Tezuka himself.

Osamu Tezuka's Legacy and His Monster

If you, sweet reader, are a self-appointed weeb and you don’t know the name Osamu Tezuka, I’m personally scandalized. Still, here’s the short version: he was a workaholic mangaka that many hail as the creator of modern shonen manga (historians get heated about when, how, and if Japanese comics made the jump to modern manga, so do your own research, but Astro Boy is definitely the most famous worldwide contender for this title instead of, say, Tezuka’s first work Shin Takarajima/New Treasure Island), and he’s the guy who created the world’s first serialized made-for-TV anime with a sequential plot and sold it as a loss leader to get it on the air.

Arguably, the precedent he set in order to get the anime-ified Astro Boy to screens everywhere is a major reason that the anime industry is so unsustainable, but we’re not here to talk about that.

Tezuka-sensei was a prolific, passionate, and deeply beloved artist from Osaka who tackled damn near every manga genre and arguably created some of them before he died of stomach cancer (and overwork, if we’re being honest here.) I’ve only shown a few of the 400-plus titles he created to give a brief overview of the scope of his work. Since I’m talking to you as a fan, not a historian, I specifically chose titles I own or have read most closely.

Message to Adolf, which was also published as Adolf, is about Nazis. Okay, that’s only part of what it’s about, but we’ll revisit this one in more detail later.

Black Jack is probably Tezuka’s second most famous work, and yeah, it’s broadly categorized as a shonen. It follows the adventures of underground doctor and genius surgeon Kuroo Hazama who dresses like a vampire, acts like a black-hearted and preachy douchebag, and endears himself to everyone who interacts with him.

Dororo is a historical fantasy thriller about a guy regaining parts of his sacrificed-upon-his-birth body by slaying demons and uncovering the mysterious past of his companion, the child thief Dororo.

On the flipside, Princess Knight is a shojo for younger kids about a princess with the heart of a boy and the heart of a girl who uses her two hearts to genderbend as needed to maintain her claim over her kingdom and keep it out of the hands of the wicked.

Meanwhile, Ode to Kirihito is an extremely mature medical fantasy drama that questions when and how a person still maintains their humanity and when they become a beast in their own eyes and the eyes of others. As I’m sure you can tell, such themes exploring what humanity means are almost as common to Tezuka’s works as a medical professional featuring as a main character. He needed to use his degree for something, I suppose.

In fact, the common conflict between Tezuka’s bright, young, optimistic, passionate, independently-minded, and opinionated doctor main characters and the corrupt, constricting, slow-moving, old-fashioned medical institution probably offers the most insight as to why Tezuka chose to pursue manga over medicine. I don’t think this was the only reason, but from reading his manga, I feel founded in asserting that the stifling status quo of established medicine was a contributing factor.

Tezuka never made any bones about putting himself and his feelings directly in his work. He spoke what was on his mind throughout his manga, and his introductions to various Astro Boy stories are no exception. He was also transparent about his struggle to make sure his works maintained popularity even when he resented any changes others suggested he make  in pursuit of this goal. In general, Tezuka-sensei didn’t take kindly to the idea of others influencing the direction of his creative visions basically ever, if the story of the Jungle Emperor: Onward, Leo! anime is any indication. (He’s just like me for real.)

If Tezuka-sensei wanted to write about war, he did. If he wanted to write about rape or trauma or abortion or racism, he did. He jumped on the chance to write about sex ed and, well, several of those other topics in Apollo’s Song.

If that scares you, don’t worry. Most of the time, Astro Boy was usually about the nature of war, human rights, the nature of humanity, and robots. It was also written for grade school kids.

Tezuka’s penchant for frank honesty wasn’t limited to commentary made within his manga, but also about his manga, and his statements on Astro Boy are some of his more standout claims on that front. That he called Atom a “monster” and said he created him “for the exposure and the money” doesn’t paint a flattering picture of his attitude towards his most famous work.

But, in truth, his distaste for compromising the truth of his characters at others’ suggestions probably betrays his real feelings about Atom. As much as he may be Tezuka’s monster, he is also his pure-hearted hero of justice and beloved creation. And, by his own admission, his feelings towards his work during the creation of “The Greatest Robot on Earth”, the Astro Boy story on which Pluto is based, were distinctly positive (even if at one point the background characters remark that Atom is a monster!)

The readership’s opinions on “The Greatest Robot on Earth” were likewise pretty positive. Among those readers was Naoki Urasawa, who credits the story with inspiring his deep love of manga. (His recounting of the impression the story left on him in this interview with Netflix Anime is incredibly sweet.)

Naoki Urasawa and His Monster

Who is Naoki Urasawa, besides the guy who co-wrote and illustrated the 2003 Pluto manga? Well, Urasawa-sensei is my favorite mangaka, so jot that down, and he’s known for his suspense thrillers, layered narratives, melodramatic showstopper moments, and also stories about cute girls doing sports. He is also a musician and guest professor alongside his editor and Pluto co-writer, Takashi Nagasaki.

20th Century Boys, named in part for a T.Rex song, is arguably his most famous work and it is heavy on the 1960s-1970s nostalgia, but in a good way! The inherent optimism, kindness, hope, and passion (and sometimes outright cheese) of every Urasawa character and title never feels insincere. The series is a seinen with the heart and whimsy of a shonen (and personally, I feel like such a description holds true for even Uraswa’s darker works.) 

If you don’t want to read 20th Century Boys or its sequel, 21st Century Boys, you can watch the live-action movie adaptations.

Meanwhile, Monster is my favorite manga and anime. Herr Doktor Tenma (yeah, like Astro Boy’s Tenma), a Japanese brain surgeon practicing in 1980s Germany, saves the life of a little boy only to learn years later that the kid is a mass murderer, his murdering ways continue into his adulthood, and he will likely never be caught. Only Tenma knows the truth, so he embarks on a quest to stop the “monster” he revived. 

I have less familiarity with Yawara! and Happy!, but the first is a sports comedy about a girl struggling to balance an athletic career and a normal life, and the second is a sports drama about a girl pursuing tennis to avoid becoming a prostitute. 

Pineapple Army is about an ex-merc’s adventures working as a self-defense instructor. Urasawa illustrated this one, but did not write it. I suppose I could have included Billy Bat as a representative work instead, but I honestly didn’t want to start unpacking that—though I will say that Billy Bat is probably the closest answer Urasawa has to Tezuka’s Message to Adolf since they both spin around the concept of a rumor or idea causing the world to lose its collective mind.

So what motivated Urasawa to add Pluto to his body of work? Mostly his editor/producer and co-writer, Takashi Nagasaki, probably. Er, that’s not very flattering. Let me try again.

Japanese media loves to emphasize passing its passions and convictions to the new generations (source: have you ever read or watched a mainstream action shonen in your life? If you’ve been paying attention to anything I’ve written about My Hero Academia or read the manga itself, I’m sure you think as much as I do that pointing out such a thing feels like beating a dead horse), and Urasawa’s (and later, the M2 team’s) motivation in creating Pluto is no exception. As Urasawa put it in his Netflix interview, “It’s like we received the baton from Tezuka-sensei, and would pass it on to the new generation."

And Osamu Tezuka-sensei’s son, Macoto Tezka (who probably spells his name that way so people don’t get him mixed up with his dad) let Urasawa and Nagasaki do it so long as they made sure the new retelling was something new, exciting, and unique when compared to the original! And while the pressure to succeed in this endeavor probably damn well near killed Urasawa-sensei, I think Tezka made the right call!

But if the goal was to pass on this Astro Boy story, which was written by a REALLY old dude, beloved by kinda-old dudes to the new generation, and practically unheard-of by today’s anklebiters, what kind of direction was the damn thing meant to take?! And why was the answer “fantasy Gulf War Astro Boy fanfiction”?!

Astro Boy in the Eyes of the New Breed

Astro Boy may be a series meant for younger kids, but it didn’t exist in a vacuum separate from the climate of the world from which it came. Tezuka would probably roll over in his grave if it did. The work, its messages, and its sensibilities were grade-A, postwar Showa stuff—particularly its reflections on pacifism, war, and power. 

Nagasaki’s summation from the postscript of Pluto: UrasawaXTezuka volume 8 sums up Tezuka and his generation’s outlook pretty handily, but I think it’s helpful to show exemplify this outlook and contrast it with the outlook of Nagasaki and Urasawa’s generation through manga!

Please observe this key moral-of-the-story panel from “The Greatest Robot on Earth” published in 1964 alongside this panel from late-1980s Dragonball featuring Muten Roshi stating the core idea of his series. I’ve chosen Dragonball as a point of comparison not just because of its notoriety as a big shonen title created for a similar audience as the original Astro Boy, but because creator Akira Toriyama was born in 1955 and, much like his contemporary Urasawa, who was born in 1960, “The Greatest Robot on Earth” left a deep impression on him. (Despite what the caption implies, the photographed page in this tweet actually features Toriyama’s admiration of Tezuka, though I don’t doubt the article from which it is pulled also includes Tezuka’s feelings about Toriyama. I ran it through Google Translate a few times and then laughed when I realized Toriyama made a self-deprecating joke about his poor reading skills, since he points out that he was in third grade when he read “The Greatest Robot on Earth” in the magazine Second Grader.)

To Astro Boy’s Ochanomizu, strength ain’t all that great, and strength for strength’s sake is foolish and vain. In fact, Professor Ochanomizu, who is the moral compass for most Astro Boy adventures, doesn’t value the pursuit of strength the way modern shonen, and several other characters within his own series, do. Hell, he doesn’t give Uran any superpowers even though Atom, the robot boy with nuclear power fueling his 100,000 horsepower (later 1,000,000 horsepower) and seven special powers is her brother! 

At the time of Ochanomizu’s creation, real-life Japan still freshly remembered World War II and the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki; no the fuck Ochanomizu (and Tezuka, through him) wasn’t about to endorse or create robots that doubled as weapons. That nonsense was for other, “more violent” robot manga, or the slew of other misguided and corrupt roboticists within the Astro Boy canon. Well, except there was that one time Ochanomizu helped create the artificial sun, but he didn’t ever intend for it to become a weapon.

Meanwhile, while Roshi also does not believe in strength for strength’s sake, he absolutely pursues it and encourages his pupils to do the same while fostering their awareness of the hardship, dangers, and fun of their path. Even with his warning, the Dragonball cast’s pursuit of strength is portrayed as alluring despite the double-edge, much like promoting national pride (and power) increases a nation’s convictions in its unity and identity but also draws the negative attention of other, possibly more powerful nations. Andy Yee succinctly frames this still-impending crossroads about how Japan might use its nationalism—its “pursuit of strength” in Dragonball lingo—in his 2013 article “The Twin Faces of Japanese Nationalism”. In it, he quotes this 2012 Project Syndicate article by Joseph S. Nye, Jr. pointing out that nationalism could be a force for positivity if tempered with reform and control, but could also cause the country to start conflict with its neighbors and shit the bed if left to run wild. (The conversation surrounding the topic of Japanese nationalism continues beyond 1980s manga or the 2013 socio-political scene, of course.)

Unlike Atom or Ochanomizu, Dragonball’s Goku finds such attention alluring: his heart’s desire is to fight strong opponents. It is his ikigai (“reason to live”) and at the end of the Cell Games, it becomes his, uh, shinigai (“reason to die”), if you will.

Did I lose you? I just asserted that the messages in these shonen about acquiring strength = messages about acquiring national pride and power. At its best, the Dragonball-esque attitude towards increasing national pride (and combat strength) is empowering, inspirational, and bolsters the good-hearted. At its worst, it could feed into a cycle of toxicity, unproductive self-importance and, ultimately, flat-out Japanese nationalism and war (and at its stupidest, it just becomes Let’s Fighting Love. Protect my balls.) Since classic Dragonball is a gag manga, I doubt Toriyama was ever thinking this hard about the messages of his work in regards to world history, but that’s sort of the point: Toriyama and his generation likely weren’t thinking this hard about it. Dragonball’s authorship lacks the crushing, firsthand memory of the consequences of unbalanced and misused power that the authorship of Astro Boy has.

In other words, Astro Boy’s cast pursued scientific advancement while lamenting the inevitable folly and destruction mankind brought forth with it so that Son Goku could fish naked, kick ass, get his ass kicked, meet god, kick ass, ghost god, ghost his family and friends, come back, kick more ass, repeat this cycle like twice, and get everyone to thank him for it. Dragonball’s more optimistic, power-fantasy-ish outlook broadly categorizes the outlook generation of New Breeds (shinjinrui) born around the 1960s like Toriyama, Urasawa, and Nagasaki before the reality introduced in their emerging adulthood hit them like a fucking truck.

The New Breed generation earned its name because their outlook and values, which were developed during a time of economic plenty and peace, seemed totally divorced from the values of the generations that lived during or immediately after World War II.

“They might as well be a different species,” snarked their elders, probably, though not necessarily out of bland hatred—Yoshiyuki Tomino’s Gundam series portrays his Newtypes, who are meant to be at least somewhat analogous to the real-life shinjinrui, in a generally more sympathetic light and occasionally a positive one (if they aren’t being used by someone else, that is.)

Tomino, who was born in 1941, also worked on Astro Boy at Mushi Pro.

Baggage between generations is not unique to any one country, obviously. But in this case, it seems Urasawa and Nagasaki decided to tap into it and incorporate the core beliefs, hopes, and grief of their generation and those of the generations before them into Pluto. 

Taking this approach was also the perfect excuse for Urasawa to distill everything he knew and loved about Tezuka’s works into one transformative manga. And don’t just trust Tomohiko Murakami on that—trust me as a fan of both Tezuka and Urasawa. It’s very noticeable that Urasawa and Nagasaki pulled from all things Tezuka to create Pluto even as it incorporated new ideas, including criticism of the Gulf War.

…So it’s probably a good thing I took the time to explain all this stuff to you so that you can now start to see it too! You can thank me later. Let’s see how the classic “The Greatest Robot on Earth” compares to Pluto.

[directdogman]

Sorry for bothering you but where did you get/find the songs used for Dayshift at Freddy’s? I know Henry’s theme is waltz in a minor but where did the other ones come from? Mostly “darxie land”, the hotel themes, and the flip side themesThey’re great and you definitely have good taste in background music if dsaf and dialtown mean anything

the music box covers are just edited midis of various songs to have their instruments replaced with music boxes and often stripped down slightly (aka, some instrument tracks removed). Some of these covers were made by me and some by friends. That's why 3 has 2 variants of hotel california.

The stock music is all Kevin MacLeod from Incompetech.

Dave's theme(s) were largely ripped from a Ps1 Rugrats game.

Steven's battle theme in 3 was made by taking Schubert's Serenade, replacing the main instrument with a ringing telephone noise and passing it through Wub Machine. Was basically just a spur of the moment idea that sounded too good not to use.

Some tracks (like the Flipside theme) were completely original and made by some of the people who worked on the production, mostly notably the Flipside theme by GlitchedPie (who did the flipside battle animations and a lot of the sprite overworld animation work in Undertale Yellow!) and Blackjack's theme, which was done by Roger's voice actor!

[rei-ismyname]

Rolling with the homies to the global economic forum

X-Men (2019) #4 will forever be remembered as 'the one with Apocalypse in a suit.' It's a timeless concept and image, as is Apocalypse accompanying the Loser Husbands to the Davos Economic Forum, but I have to wonder why they bought him along. Conventional wisdom would suggest leaving the extremist maniac at home, but this is geopolitics. He's there to project strength and a sense of inevitability. He's a nuclear deterrent.

The theme of the summit is "Globalization for a New Age: How to Secure and Maintain a Cohesive and Sustainable World” but it becomes obvious pretty quickly the real question is 'what do we do about Krakoa?' The representatives of the powerful human nations take turns probing and poking, trying to get Krakoa to justify its existence and asking questions like 'what's the endgame here?' Note that one is framed as 'our question' - there's a sense of unity among the human delegates as if they rehearsed it. Magneto answers their questions cleverly but firmly, trying to get across that they just want to exist and be a country. The Wakandan attaché agrees - Krakoa is just acting as any other nation would. Boo hoo to the pharmaceutical companies that have been gouging everyone feeling the pinch.

'We're just doing capitalism, I thought you loved free markets bro' is the crux of Magneto's position here. It'd be nice if they didn't have to play this game, but realpolitik demands they do. Benevolent capitalism is still capitalism, though there's no denying Krakoa did it better and cleaner. The world hates mutants, sure, but Neoliberals hate socialist states more. What he's proposing is disruptive, but it's a status quo that benefits everyone. Humans get massive health improvements, retailers and distributors make profit, and governments get taxes. The Krakoan Flower and its products should be a shot in the arm to the pharmaceutical industry too - they live in a world of super science and there'll be demand for non-mutant medicine and other fruits of what should be a pharmaceutical revolution.

Mags frames it as an evolution, using his own past behaviour as a rhetorical device and a reminder that capability still exists. The amount of countries and agencies with dubiously effective Magneto protocols is evidence of that. You'd think they'd be pleased he's committed to NOT doing that shit. Jumping for joy, even. That the forum opens with a pointed toast to peace implies a prior state of war, but Krakoa embraces that peace.

'There will be no war.' He's wrong, of course, unfortunately. There definitely was war. A cold one at first with ORCHIS (implicitly backed by most of these governments) then a hot one when ORCHIS tried to kill EVERYONE. True to their word, Krakoa's X-Men saved everyone. Xavier kinda messed that up, but who could have predicted that?

Xavier, having been rather quiet, chimes in here. They don't want conflict, seriously. His appeal to emotion is not very effective, but it is in response to Reilly getting heated. He's stepping after Magneto has said his piece and Reilly (who I believe represents ORCHIS and either the USA or UK. It's not entirely clear as he's been an intelligence plant before) just comes out and tries to escalate. Xavier's words shift the focus onto him, and it's difficult to take his denial seriously.

Behind the scenes a few dozen assassins with psychic blockers lay in wait to try and kill them. Gorgon and Cyclops deal with them pretty easily and pointedly don't kill any. Aside from his bodyguard duties, I'd argue Gorgon is there to send a message. His history is one of terrorism and death - as HYDRA's resident mass murder specialist and a true believer. Krakoa has transformed this maniac into someone who shows mercy and follows rules, demonstrating that Krakoa is taking a lot of supervillains off the table. The flipside of that is they're all willing to defend themselves and their young nation, something they're very effective at. Carrot and stick.

The unity in opposition to Krakoa shown at Davos suggests everyone signed off on this, or knew about it. It's hard to pretend to acting in good faith with a death squad waiting in the wings.

With that carrot and stick paradigm established and Krakoa's united front of 'we don't want war, but we can certainly fight back' clear, Apocalypse's presence makes more sense. It would be difficult to plan this Bronze Age Collapse line ahead of time, and it is effective, but I think Apocalypse the giant - sitting there in a suit eating dinner - sends the same message. Mutants have been here for a long time and we're not going anywhere. We're united and are playing by the rules but if you fuck with us we'll fuck with you. Let's just get along.

That's geopolitics and the UN says they're a nation. The tragedy is that even the most reasonable person at this meeting - the Wakandan attaché - was still a party to this railroading and Wakanda itself was no ally to Krakoa. Good faith is a two way street and its absence guarantees conflict at this level. When a nation is pushed they push back.

Krakoa made mistakes like any other nation but even if they hadn't, Sentinels were being funded. I don't think this forum was one of those mistakes yet good faith was met with attempted assassination. The Krakoan delegation left with threats and promises - to protect themselves if they had to. It's a shame that they did have to, not just for mutants but for everyone. The world lost miracle drugs, terraforming capabilities, representation on the galactic stage and so much more. Most of all they lost the pretence that there is anything mutants can do to avoid the hate - even the quislings like Shaw, Firestar, and Judas Traveller were discarded when they stopped being useful. Accept being second class citizens. Step up and get slapped down. It's pretty depressing, isn't it?

[sillyandquest]

WOOOOOOOO!!!!

It's Megaman's birthday today and y'know what I decided to do?

Make a post about my au about Roll. XD

Well, sort of.

Fr though, I really do love the Megaman franchise. It's one of the main reasons I draw today and want to get better at story telling. I honestly would've made a full drawing instead of a handful of doodles, but life gets busy and I need my sleep.

Anyways, last time I posted I showed you guys this design I came up with for Roll's armor.

This time though, I wanna talk a bit more about Rock's part in the au because despite what I say, he is still a main character in the au.

Doodles under the cut.

First I had to get a good grasp on who Rock is as a character before figuring out what he'd be like in the au. Canonically, he's a kind, courageous boy, with a strong sense for justice and is very polite towards others but is a little naive.

With that in mind I think he'd largely be the same in the au, only difference being he's more protective of Roll and does his best to be the responsible one. However being responsible does mean he's a rule follower, it makes Rock feel guilty.

Despite the new protective streak though, Rock definitely knows Roll's willingness to wreck Wily's newest machines like there's no tomorrow, which does worry him a bit, but he's very glad she's on his side.

This actually brings up a theme I want to incorporate: opposites complimenting each other.

Rock truly believes in Dr. Light's dream and wants it to become reality, on the flipside, Roll's more concerned with things happening in the moment. Rock absolutely hates fighting, Roll finds it fun. Rock is more quick to accept obstacles as they are, meanwhile Roll always looks for another way.

That last thing actually leads me to bringing up an old concept from an entirely different au. Because Roll always looks for another solution, what if she managed to befriend some of the bosses from some of the games?

Rock wants to stop fighting and actively tries to dissuade the robots he fights, but accepts it as inevitable because he doesn't see another option. Roll however is more empathic to other robots issues and unlike Rock is too stubborn to give up on finding a different way. Through her empathy, Roll may be able to dissuade robots from fighting by reaching out a helping hand.

Obviously, this doesn't work for every robot master, but it will work for some, and it's this that gives Rock hope throughout the many battles he and Roll find themselves in.

It's the main reason he keeps putting the armor back on when Wily comes back with another plot. As long as Rock has Roll to fight alongside, there will always be another way. Maybe one of those ways will lead to the peace they both want.

That's just Rock for now, there's still even more to think of. Like Protoman.

Much like Rock, Protoman is largely unchanged with the only difference being that he is more willing to show up and spend time with Rock and Roll in a mentor sort of role.

This is because with both of them in active fighting roles, they're gonna need some training. This happens after the twins beat Wily as a team for the first time, so before or after MM3. Blues helps Rock with aim and difficult jumps, while he helps Roll come up with new ways to use her broom. They all also do team exercises so they can fight more effectively, but they don't always accomplish their goals. Blues is a tough teacher and the twins ended up running back to Light Labs after one of them collapsed during training.

They were so freaked out after the first few times it happened. One time they both passed out during training, dw Blues carried them home as a good big brother should.

There's still more to think of with this au. I have a lot in mind, including merging this au with that Megaman X au I've been thinking about. Y'all will probably know which one it is, I have very few au's here.

Overall, Rock and Roll both want peace between humans and robots, they just have different mindsets that influence how they go about it individually. That's why I think it's so important that they fight together.

With that said enjoy this final doodle of Megaman and Sunstar. I like to think that Rock, with Roll and Rush's support, managed to find a way to save Sunstar in this au and the two became buddies.

Sunstar really likes his little friend, but not nearly as much as Mercury likes Roll

She's his favorite.

[talk-danmei-to-me]

Thoughts/predictions I have after reading all the spoiler posts I could find about ch 58:

- Tsunakawa is bae. Genuinely, I love that he's just throwing his boy Doumeki out there. He's good pals with Amou and has eyes so I'm guessing he's onto the vibes Yashiro and Doumeki are sending out to the universe. I mean Doumeki is as subtle as a brick, so at this point Nanahara is probably the only clueless one left. Here's hoping the long term goal is to use his favourite subordinate to steal Misumi's favourite toy for shits giggles and a happy ending.

- Misumi is a prick.

- (Elaborating on Misumi being a prick) The reason he hates Doumeki so much is because Doumeki actually values Yashiro as a person and loosing his favourite plaything is just not a vibe. I genuinely think his hatred of Doumeki is that basic (Unlike Doumeki's hatred of Inami which definitely has layers). He's a perceptive man he knows what he's seeing.

- As an aside, what's the deal with Amou helping out Doumeki. Like is he secretly backing the Yashiro/Douemki supremacy because he feels guilty at all the benefits he got from Misumi whilst he shat on Yashiro from a great height. I get the impression Amou and Yashiro are the same age and I don't think Tsunakawa's throwaway comment about Misumi trying to keep Amou out of the Yakuza was actually a throwaway comment.

- Everyone keeps saying Yashiro and Doumeki aren't suited to the Yakuza but at the same time they're both pretty good at it. I'm having this wild feeling they're going to end up still in the Yakuza at the end but on equal footing.

- I don't care for Kageyama. Also I'm shook he's still around. Guess this means the contact lenses are gonna blow up after all.

- Doumeki is definitely going to lose his shit when he realises Yashiro kept Kageyama around as well as Inami. I feel like the jealousy is going to be the crack in the game he's been playing and finally seeing some confirmation of feeling might bring some sort of admission of feelings from Yashiro. We might finally get to find out who Izumi is.

- I'm genuinely so happy/pleased for them that they've been meeting regularly for sex. On the flipside, very much looking forward to the fallout of Doumeki telling Inami to stay away from Yashiro. Also if they're meeting regularly and Yashiro hasn't been seeing Inami, then he would be operating within the realms of monogamy Doumeki has been craving since the beginning.

[kennymcchronicle]

I'm so excited that you rb it! You're not a bother at all!

1, 15, 38, 59, and 73!

I know I also sent a lot, but I'm going feral here.

Time to get Lonny'd!!! (ask game)

1. Who fell first? Who fell harder?

The way I have them played out now, technically, Lotta fell in love first. She started crushing on Mysterion, however, Kenny was already slowly developing feelings for Lotta at that point, so he is in love with her before she finds out he's Mysterion! This approach, at least, is the most fun for me to think about anyway hehe. As for who fell harder, I would say they're pretty even! Lotta starts out kind of in denial because of her previous heartbreaks, she really wasn't excited to love someone again, but spending time with Mysterion helped. Kenny's feelings for Lotta do more or less stem from her medical treatment of him, so these feelings just consistently grow the more time they spend together. Though, there is a very fun scenario that I discussed think would jumpstart Kenny's feelings from "Oh I like being around her, maybe I have a little crush?" to "I am never leaving your side ever" but I will spare you guys that iykyk hehehe!

15. How do they comfort one another when the other is upset?

Lotta's best approach to tricky situations is objective rationality; While she loathes being mistaken for a therapist by peers she has no business hearing out, she will absolutely do so for the people whose well being she cares about on a deeper level than purely physical. She will provide a neutral perspective and definitely try and think of a solution to make Kenny feel better when she notices how he's feeling, but most of all, she'll just hear him out. That's what I also think Kenny does, he's just pretty good at... being there, y'know? He'll hear her out and offer doing something else to get her mind off of things, or offer to help anyhow he can. They're pretty mutual in that regard as well! I feel like the bigger struggle would be Lotta communicating that she is upset because she's prone to want to handle that stuff herself even if she can't lmao

38. What would be their ideal evening in?

Spent hanging out Lotta's place, 100%. She doesn't have a console or anything, but she has a computer in her room so they just play free games or watch stuff on there together! Or they put on her music and Kenny just lounges around and chats with Lotta while she's doing some medical studying or drawing! The former of which he also sometimes helps with!

59. Is there a spot they tend to kiss or caress habitual?

Ohhh dude... this is on the list of art ideas I haven't drawn yet and probably never will but. You know that thing about kissing scratches and small wounds better? Lotta suspects that there is barely any medical benefit from this method, and at most provides comfort due to associations unrelated to whether or not this helps heal the wound. Kenny asks her - without a second thought - if she could try it anyway and come on, not like she can say no to him lmao. So sometimes when he gets a smaller injury, after it has been properly tended to, Lotta will kiss it better!! Not quite habitual i think, but I could see it become the go-to for Lotta to kiss Kenny!! As for caressing, Lotta pats his head!! That's just it!! Nothing you can do about that!!

On the flipside, hmm... refer to the picture above, I think Kenny would go for the cheek most!! They are within reach and perfect to express his love!! I have no deeper idea for this, I just think Kenny would really enjoy kissing and so this is how he can always do that!

73. Who knows the other better? Why is this?

This one's kinda tricky... I would think Lotta knows Kenny better? Not to say Kenny isn't but Lotta is quite observant and when it's a person of interest to her, she's quite good at retaining information that may present itself for just a moment. Besides, knowing the ins and outs of someones physical condition also helps finding out a little about them I'd imagine! Though this only comes to play depending on the headcanon you would have for how Kenny's continual death and reincarnation affects his body, if at all. What's also necessary to consider is, like I said, Lotta wouldn't voluntarily present everything about herself. Sure, most people don't, but she's become accustomed to veiling things, especially those that conflict with her image of being a professional doctor, the image that for most of the time that Kenny is around her at first, is all he gets to see. If she doesn't deem it important, chances are she'd never talk or try to think about it, but this is something that can very well change over time, with her warming up to the idea of letting Kenny in on her emotions more. And that's not to say she keeps it all hidden! If she feels the needs to explain herself about something, for instance. That stuff can get crazy is all I'm saying dsdgsdgf but yeah, overall I think Lotta at least catches on and learns about Kenny and his thoughts, mannerisms, etc. a little quicker than Kenny does about Lotta's.

[zahri-melitor]

Tim 10, 21, and 22 for the ask game!

10: Describe the character in one sentence

Socially gregarious networker who loves to be an annoying little brother.

21: When do you think they were at their happiest?

This is such a difficult question. I honestly think he's probably happiest at the moment? He's in a relationship that isn't demanding on him, he's getting along with Bruce and just got to haul him out of difficulty, his brotherhood with Dick is back, he's fondly snarky with Damian, all of his close friends are alive and in the same timeline as he is... just give him some actual page time with Cass and we've never been more back.

Alternatively, when he was 9 years old and still living at home. The Tim who had his first breakthrough about Batman and Robin's identity, before he went to boarding school, is probably a pretty happy time in Tim's life from the scraps we have on page.

22: When do you think they were at their lowest?

I'm going to take this in a different line to what you'd think is the obvious answer, and I'm going to say "while he was imprisoned by Mr Oz". Being stuck in a pocket dimension for a year with no obvious route out and no way to contact the outside would have resulted in some extremely low points for a character like Tim.

However. On the flipside, it's fighting with Tim "I attended three funerals in a week, dropped out of school, almost got recruited by the military, had another two friends die and tried to clone Kon" Drake and Tim "my dad just disappeared and I haven't processed that my two best friends are still alive and Damian just kicked me out of my costume" Wayne. I think Mr Oz was probably harder on Tim, but we see more of Tim spiraling on page for the other two.

Alternatively; when he was getting written by Scott Lobdell in Teen Titans and wasn't really Tim. That was a definite low point.

[coldgoldlazarus]

Echoes and Hunters are really interesting to me because of their place relative to the rest of the series, as basically the closest thing to being self-contained Filler Episodes in Samus's life. It can be argued the Prime games as a whole are a filler arc, what with how you really don't need to play the Trilogy to understand the 2D games' ongoing narrative. Even so, it is still a whole arc within itself; despite being decent standalone titles, the phazon connection spanning all three enriches them in conjunction with one-another, and Corruption in particular leans a lot on the setup the first two provide.

Yet at the same time, while definitely connected to the other two, Echoes is distinctly the odd one out in a lot of ways, and the overarching phazon storyline seems almost incidental at times despite Dark Samus and the background setup of the conflict. It's not confirmed either way, but the dark world could be read as a pocket universe created by the leviathan seed malfunctioning, or a whole parallel dimension that it simply broke through into and created the copy of Aether within. Even if it is the latter, the Ing were probably a byproduct of the interaction of Phazon and the dark dimension, but there is also the possibility the were a distinct entity existing beforehand. Regardless of all of that, the Luminoth and Aether as a location certainly stand out as unique, and are only loosely connected to the bigger picture through a shared history with the Chozo.

Hunters, meanwhile, may wind up tying into Prime 4 through Sylux, but that too is extremely incidental to the main story focus, which is even more outright disconnected from the usual Metroid factions and concepts than even Echoes is. As people have joked about before, it really says something that killing Gorea, a terrible eldritch abomination that singlehandedly wiped out an entire galactic-region-spanning civilization, is probably one of the least important things Samus has done in her career. Even that aside, apart from Sylux and Weavel, most of the other hunters are similarly unique and disconnected from the established story, with Trace and the Kriken Empire in particular standing out as an elephant in the room that are weirdly less relevant than the info on them would imply.

And I love the overarching storyline, both of the Prime games and the series as a whole, and how the different mainline titles are for the most part thematically enriched by their interconnectivity and parallels. (Even Proteus Ridley, for all the problems I have with him, I do appreciate as a clear bridge between Corruption and Super.) But there is also something really fascinating to these two more avant-garde titles, that really expand the universe and try new things, instead of remaining confined to the core concepts the series usually keeps a tight focus on.

There is a risk of going too far and possibly losing sight of the aesthetic/thematic shore, so to speak, but I feel like we're not quite there yet, and I appreciate the effort to branch out. On the flipside, there is again some weirdness to some of this stuff being so confined instead of having a bigger impact, (looking at you Trace) but the level of tightness of the mainline games does kinda work in our favor here. Sure it's weird, but it's not out of the realm of plausibility that the Kriken really are a big deal, but just... elsewhere, and mostly haven't directly relevant to Samus's life outside of this one-off run-in with Trace.

Idk, I'm not really going anywhere in particular with this, I just think it's neat.

[chomplicated]

hiiii tumblr user chomplicated :3 how do you feel about the new class of 09 game that came out?

hi!! i'm super disappointed, looking back at my co09 art makes me feel embarassed... which isn't the norm for me, i love looking back at my old dream smp art, for example. but yeah, flipside felt like complete character assassination and was needlessly edgy. i definitely won't be drawing anything co09 related anymore ^^ any love i had for these characters has kind of evaporated, so yeah

[hiruko-shizuhara]

Really hope the incest thing is just a one sided thing with Ima bc Kako is creeped out by it too. Especially since @gliittergelpens is a big fan of Kako and might have to shut down their sub blog if things get that bad.

From what Megumi Ogata (Ima's JP VA) has said, she was hesitant to voice such a character at first, but over time, as she got to know more about him, warmed up to him more, hopefully meaning he gets greater depth beyond his initial impressions.

Besides... honestly, I think the perception of them has been skewed a little by the fandom, because if you look at what's objectively in the text, there's actually nothing to explicitly confirm Ima has any romantic/sexual feelings towards Kako (though I will not deny that there are certainly things that suggest he does). Yes, he's weirdly obsessive and praising, and there is that One Sprite where he gets very... intense. And whilst I would not blame people at all for interpreting that as incestuous feelings, I think it's too early to definitively claim that's objectively what's going on tbh. According to Kodaka's claims that the demo takes about 5 hours and the main game around 100, we've seen 5% of the game. And so, speculating on (or worse: trying to definitively determine) character's backstories and deeper feelings for one another is incredibly risky (Tsukumo twins most of all because they have the deepest relationship with each other). We are on the tip of the iceberg. And when you're on the tip, you can't fully see how deep it goes.

...Of course, you bring up the negative flipside of this in your ask. We have no idea what might be revealed about the characters, and the writers say a goal of this game was for it to come off as insane, so who knows what's going to happen? I am aware I am in this position, too, as is everyone who is very committed to a character/ship right now. Except the Yugamu fans. I think they're fine. He can't get much freakier than that.

...Though, to give a little solace to the fellow members of the Shizuhararmy, arguably the no.1 Hiruko fan right now is her English VA, Minh Ton (as you can probably tell if you've looked at their twitter/discord profile for 2 seconds). On the unofficial discord, they've stated that they went from thinking Shizuhara was an uninteresting minor character when they first auditioned for her, to being a ride or die for her after finishing her lines. They've estimated that half of her dialogue is voiced (i.e. they've read half of her dialogue, and know the scene context for it), and so that can only spell good things.

(I am willing to take the title of no.1 Shizuhara fan ^^)

[ewesie]

Playing party games with the crew?

Astarion: cheats, especially at card games. He sneaks them up his sleeve but can't count cards to save his life. Also tells new players the wrong rules for games (they are always in his favor).

Shadowheart: Stickler for the rules but makes up rules. Claims she's not really into it, but is very into it; she wants to beat Lae'zel

Lae'zel: She plays to win. If she does not win, she wrecks the game. She *really* wants to win and usually does. She is very good at winning games, especially Sorry. Do not let her play with Minthara.

Wyll: Cheats but swears he doesn't cheat, definitely makes secret "alliances" with other players. If he gets called out on cheating, he usually tells on other people cheating, though he never betrays who he "allies" with.

Karlach: Loses, often, but has fun all the while and plays by the rules. Does get bored easily, especially when there are rule disputes. She prefers games with simpler rules because they tend to be more fun. She really enjoys poker with Astarion and she may even be good at it... if he didn't cheat.

Gale: Painatakingly reads every instruction for games and then homebrews an entirely new ruleset. They are usually very wacky rules but people tend to enjoy them— try playing his version of Monopoly.

Halsin: Purposely lets others win, mostly Lae'zel and Minthara but is actually really good at games. He wins often when those two don't play.

Minthara: Plays to win like Lae'zel. Both very, very into it. She is very good at Risk but tries to add an element of torture to it. Do not play Risk with her.

Durge: Prefers to play Operation and only plays the wrong way. Though they can be convinced to play CAH but their answers are... disturbing. On the flipside playing for them as judge is very easy. They always go with the worst possible one (genocide is one of their favorites behind gore).

Tav: Their playstyle varies day to day. Really depends on the game but they tend not to cheat. Usually ends up reading the rules is the dealer or some other game master for games they play.

[unironicallycringe]

do koltin and kilton fit in your extended demonology lorebuilding? interested what youd classify em as

THEY SURE DO, ANON, THANKS FOR ASKING!

Right so like, BotW/TotK is so incredibly far from the events of my AU, but I have definitely overthought about how the Demon Tribe stuff would fit Kilton and Koltin in.

Firstly though, some Boko Tribe stuff reminders

1) Their advantage is having very plastic physical adaptability <- to account for their wide variety of body types in the different games, encompass all the various subtypes (Moblin, Bokoblin, Miniblin, etc), and explain why they're the only demon tribe that has persisted in any noticeable numbers through the ages. They're just really pro at adapting to new things.

2) They're easily affected/warped by Magicka <- to account for the game's evil Bokos. In this way, they're a result of Malice being overused to control and resurrect them, rather than evil behavior being their norm. Basically they are on the same level of sentience as humans, but exposure to uncontrolled Malice degrades their minds much faster than it would others. It's essentially the flipside to the above plasticity advantage. They're malleable in ways that are both good and bad.

Man, what does this have to do with Kilton and Koltin, Shea?

✨They have mixed Hylian/Boko heritage ✨

(I always thought the silhouettes here were really similar and wondered if it was intentional, but anyways)

So the headcanon here is that Kilton and Koltin's parents are a non-corrupted blue Boko and a particularly adventurous Hylian. I imagine they're a very sweet couple!!!! Here they are when they were younger.

I never thought of names for them, they just exist somewhere and probably don't hang out much in towns. (We love a power couple, but this sort of thing is likely to freak out the Hylian locals.)

I like to draw the two brothers with tiny little horn nubs as a nod to this. They don't have full horns and never will, but they probably were very excited for their lil skull bumps to grow like 0.05mm over the years.

The family would very much be aware of the whole Malice corruption thing. That's why Kilton is so passionate about "monster education" - he knows the corrupt Bokos were once normal people and often just mind their own business in the wilderness, but also knows that it's dangerous for humans to try and approach. So his ventures with his traveling stall and presentations in Tarrey Town are his way of trying to bridge that gap safely.

Additionally, I imagine Kilton and Koltin can travel pretty easily amongst corrupted Bokos, but not bands of Lizal or Lynel. Kilton would have attempted creating masks because of this issue, then afterwards added the various Boko masks for humans to use. (The Magicka is extremely rudimentary, like, barely a Glamour if you're familiar with my magic systems, which is why they fail frequently). And sidenote for monster extract, I think it would be funny if it's just like, a normal ingredient his mom uses and he just puts purple food coloring in it for the Exotic Flair. Like it's just vanilla extract or something lmao.

That was the rambliest possible answer, but tldr they're half-Bokoblin teehee

[valeriefauxnom]

Accidental Minor Plot Holes/Misnomers!

Dragalia in general was surprisingly astute to its tangled mass of lore, but they were not perfect. Every so often, there were little tidbits that on closer thought/lore diving, make no sense with later information!

Take, for instance, the launch wyrmprint "King's Countenance", which intersects both well and poorly with later details on him and his kids:

Its description relays, starting in its 3rd stage:

Now, the king sits and ponders his future. He knows that if he continues on his current path, he will have to pay with his life. And yet, there is no hesitation whatsoever on his visage. For the king had eight promising children who had learned much from watching him fight to support the kingdom. Any of them was more than worthy to take the reins of the country's future.

On the bright side, this works well with the details that Aurelius, when heading to the Binding Ruins, knew he was playing with fire and chose to anyways in the hopes of helping Nedrick, whom he had newly discovered was alive and not-still-quite-so-well:

...But on the flipside, well...

I'm a royal fam major when it comes to Dragalia lore, and even I, uh, would not be so bold as to claim that Aurelius has 'eight capable children' to take the throne. Leonidas, Phares, Chelle, even Valyx, sure. Beren, whom has been locked in the dungeons since being an infant???? Emile??????????? Zethia, who has forsworn the throne herself to be the Auspex? Whoops.

And it's not as if Aurelius has blindingly rose-colored goggles on, either. He's Concerned enough about Emile to not only appoint Magnus in the hopes of teaching him some better morals, but also granted him the authority to outright kill Emile if he gets entirely out of hand in several worlds.

So, yeah, there's one incongruency. Speaking of kings, though, let's wind back the clock to the OG King of Alberia!

This one's pretty small and easy to explain. To put it briefly, his replica in The Blood That Binds shapeshifts into a dragon he should not have been able to: Brunhilda.

Why? Because she never pacted with Alberius in the first place!

Speaking of which, there's several more hmms in Mym's life. Her dragon story starts out with this narration:

One tiny little problem- Greatwyrms never, ever, are hatchlings. Later lore stated that all Greatwyrms are sterile and do not follow most other natural life cycles even for dragons. They also have a nice little auto reincarnation feature as primordial forces, though they do not keep memory between incarnations.

This is likely just a case of writers unintentionally bumping into each other with much later lore for Mids' and Mym's words here, as this info drops in ch.24 vs the base game with Brunhilda's story, but still technically a contradiction!

It also creates a new odd timeline. Greatwyrm ages are ambiguous, but we do have several rough ideas/implications:

-Jupiter is the youngest (Mym address him as a brat and otherwise younger than her)

-Brunhilda is the second-youngest (she's generally treated by the others dragons as a younger one too)

-Zodiark likely eldest

-Mids is under 1k years old, since he did not experience events with Ilia and does not remember them

However, Brunhilda's story again puts things in a major bind. Her story has her lying in fields for 'centuries' and then holing herself in a volcano for 'ages more' so much so that the land itself shifted until Alberius came. Alberius, of course, was 300 years ago. This leaves surprisingly little time to put her as definitively younger than Midgardsormr, who is canonically under 1k.

On the flip side, it partially explains her exact moody nature- she's hardly talked to anyone in her centuries and has largely been asleep for them, making her much less experienced in contrast to other dragons who have not made indications of sleeping for centuries. In essence- she's acting younger than her apparent age would suggest, because she's spent a majority of those years asleep!

Another little error comes with Luca and Sarisse, specifically which is the elder. The vast majority of the time, Luca is addressed as the elder. But in Luca's lines...

...Despite Luca's description correctly ID'ing him as the elder in that same base version!

Last but not least, another minor error funnily occurs in Cassandra's story, where Elisanne, despite speaking correctly in the first story, incorrectly labels the castle of Sol Alberia as 'The Halidom':

We never actually got a name for the castle, if it has one. It just is the castle in Sol Alberia, the royal capital. However, it definitely isn't the Halidom, as this scene takes place in the royal castle for Aurelius' marriage, which, again, is made all the funnier by Elisanne recognizing that this was not the Halidom earlier:

Now, I don't know the original text, but these last two might well just be a translation error. That being said, how it was written and published makes them contradicting!

So...yeah! That's been my Dragalia Lore Contradictions post, brought to you by too much memory devoted to this game!

[kiwikarpart]

Please consider reading if you voted for Pencil or Pin

I've seen a lot of people voting for these two because they were mean, which is fair enough if you didn't like them in this episode. But I think they should stay for the following reasons:

The Freesmart-Woah Bunch conflict would just end

Okay it's not guaranteed to end, but the chances of it continuing without Pencil or Pin is pretty slim. Pencil, Book, and Needle are the last members of Freesmart in the game. And since Pencil's the leader, the group would probably dissolve without her. On the flipside Pin getting out would definitely end it, since she's the only member of Woah Bunch that has a serious grudge against Freesmart(Coiny isn't exactly a fan, but his beef with Freesmart is much smaller than Pin's, so he won't be as driven to pursue it on his own).

This would be a very disappointing way to end their conflict. Not just because it's genuinely fun to watch, but also because of how Needle fits in the picture. She's doing her best to please both teams so she can fit in somewhere, but if there's no strife between them she won't really have to choose. It would be way more interesting to see her pick a side while the tension is there, as opposed to it just ending immediately. And I can't see the former happening without Pencil or Pin.

2. Book's relationship with Pencil and Pin

As we all know, Book's relationship with these two in BFDIA is very different than it is in TPOT. In the former, she is friends with Pencil and...lets say on shaky terms with Pin. Fast-forward to TPOT, and Book wants nothing to do with Pencil and is on good terms with Pin. We know something happened for these relationships to change so drastically, but we never got to see it. Why did she have a falling-out with Pencil? Why does Pin go from hating her in BFDIA to helping her in BFB? We'll get a chance to find out if they stay in the game. Heck, they've been planting the seeds for Book leaving Freesmart in the newest BFDIA episodes! In BFDIA 15, she was pressured by Pencil to help her even though they were on different teams, and she was clearly uncomfortable with it. While in this episode, there are moments where Book feels underappreciated, expresses those feelings, and gets ignored. The foreshadowing is there, but it'll stop in this season if Pencil gets eliminated.

3. They're just fun

This is the most subjective point by far, but I have to say it. Please let the mean girls be mean. I get it if they're too abrasive for some of ya'll, but in my opinion, they haven't reached that tier yet. It's true that they have cruel moments, but they're balanced out by moments of kindness. It's not like Fries where they're consistently rude to everyone, they have highs and lows. And even if it was, just like Fries, they're fun to watch. So why punish them for it? Also, I just appreciate that this season let them be mean in the first place. I think it's really disappointing that characters like Pillow and Yellow Face had to be softened so they could stay likeable in TPOT, so I'm glad that didn't happen to Pencil or Pin.

So those are my reasons. Feel free to disagree with me on these points, I did make them with the goal of changing people's minds, but if you don't care that's fine.