#he also likes to brawl a lot with other cats but because hes literally giant he is banned from play fighting with anyone but doc lizzie

[lifeserieswarriors]

wrenbark / rendog

[imaginethebeautifulworld]

i would kill for some fail bros headcanons

[Hey, Anon! I'm kind of passionate about these three, so I'm giving you a heads up that this one is kind of long. Hope you enjoy~]

From a “nation” standpoint, England is the eldest of the three. He recognized his spark of sovereignty when King Ecgberht ascended to the throne of Wessex in 802, who would later go on to claim Kent, Sussex, Surrey, and Essex as part of his kingdom; Ecgberht is often regarded as the “first king of England.”

For Denmark, his sovereignty came with the crowning of King Harald Bluetooth around 950, who completed the goal of unifying the region into a single state. Before that point, Denmark existed more or less as a smattering of small communities led predominantly by local chieftains.

Prussia didn’t fully recognize his sovereignty or nationhood until around 997, when the Aesti- Old Prussians- slayed  Adalbert of Prague, a missionary who had been sent by Polans to try to convert the “heathens” to Christianity. It was only one of many attempts to conquer the Prussians, but with Adalbert earning a martyrdom, and such a blatant show of sedulous autonomy, the first spark of nationalism truly ignited.

Not that much of this mattered in regards to their friendship though. 

Through the Saxons, Arthur and Gilbert had been friends since the 700s at least, and Arthur and Mathius had known each other for even longer, the Jutes having first made an appearance on the Isles around late 400, when Arthur was still part of Rome’s territories. Mati and Gil were practically next door neighbors; I wouldn’t be surprised if Germania had pretty much raised them together.

Despite a lot of shifting borders and conflicts of interest- like Denmark ruling England from 1013-1042, or how Denmark lost both Holstein and Scleswig to Prussia in 1864, and England and Prussia’s on-again, off-again alliance- they’ve remained fast, firm friends for centuries.

Truth be told, I think Mati was the one to get Artie so addicted to sailing, most likely dragging him on a few coastal raids back in the day.

Hamburg is one of their favorite meeting places. Initially, it was more convenient for Gil and Artie, as it was one of the central cities in the Hanseatic League, but the real draw came with the 1500s, when there were over 500 breweries for them to sample. These days, it’s more nostalgia that keeps drawing them back.

Actually, this is part of a tradition that still stands to date; with some rare exceptions (like this one tavern on Bornholm that’s been serving the same Brennivin recipe for the past 463 years), they rarely go to the same pub, distillery, or brewery twice. There are just so many of them.

These three try to meet up at least one weekend a month, if not more. Gil has it a lot easier working out his schedule these days, for obvious reasons, so normally he will crash with either Mati or Artie and the other will show up when they can.

Friday nights are usually their “drink nights,” and they’ll usually bicker for a good hour about which pub or club they want to try; all of these nerds had lists ready of venues they had looked up in advance. They also spend another hour or so bickering about which of them has the best beer.

When they’re together, they completely shrug off their more responsible images- Arthur in particular seems almost a 180 degree shift in personality. Around most nations, he tries to keep that prim and proper persona, but… Mathius and Gilbert are not most nations.

These three have crusaded to the Holy Lands together, harassed most of Northern Europe together, even spent a few precious months pretending to be humans and traveling the world together. They’ve sworn blood oaths under scarlet skies, literally sewn each other back together on occasion.

They really share most everything with one another- from matters of the heart to political problems to those dark desires they really can’t tell anyone else about- knowing that anything shared among them will never be discussed outside of their circle.

Usually, they don’t let themselves get drunk. But really- They don’t need alcohol to become total hooligans. Mathius is naturally high energy, and with Gilbert’s simmering competitiveness and Arthur’s pride keeping him from ever backing down from a challenge…

The shenanigans these three get up to can range from pranking Mati and Artie’s former colonies to strip karaoke to sometimes, quite literally, painting the town, and then some.

They have a few reprimands for breaking and entering, and perhaps there were one or two cases of arson, or a few protests that got a tad chaotic… 

Despite having more than enough beds for each of them, they usually end up falling asleep in a giant heap.

Arthur is loath to ever actually admit how safe he feels knowing the other two are there to watch his back, though Mathius is always very open about actually expressing the exact same sentiment.

Gilbert is usually the last one to drift off and always the first to wake up; he mastered some killer hangover remedies a few decades ago, and while he knows the others are perfectly capable of making breakfast without burning the house down, it’s his way of showing how much he cares.

Sometime after they’ve nursed the remnants of their hangovers, they usually go shopping for food together, all of them chipping in on a big dinner for that night.

Said shopping trips go about as well as you’d expect: Artie usually pretends he has no idea who Gil and Mati are as they piggyback through the aisles, Arthur and Mathius bicker constantly about the proper ways to eat eel (which always traumatizes Gilbert), and Prussia constantly is making bad puns with England about the different brand names, much to Denmark’s irritation because he can’t quite keep up. 

Just fucking getting to the store was a quest on its on; buying themselves actual food before getting kicked out is another challenge entirely.

They absolutely are down for cultural and music fests, theatre, boating, or even just reading together.

They totally do LARPing together, and try to attend either ConQuest or Drachenfest each summer.

There is often an attempt to play football when they have an hour or so to kill, though it typically ends up as a brawl with two of them (usually Mati and Gil) starting a giant game of keep away against the other (usually Artie). They’ve lost count of how many grass stains they gained in the process.

They’re each hella supportive of the others’ interests, and often you can find them laying on the grass or a roof somewhere having long-winded discussions about the arts, literature, science, philosophy, and on one particularly snowy night in 1989- what happens when they die. 

In fact, the only two people Gil ever really confides in about his fears are Artie and Mati. With Ludbug, he just can’t risk the thought of hurting him or burdening him, and with Fran and Toni, he’s scared they’ll- He can’t always handle how open those two are with their worry for him.

He knows that Mathius and Arthur won’t pity him, per say. Bleeding hearts the three of them, but they know when, and when not, to show it.

Arthur and Mathius made it their goal through the entirety of the 1990s to make sure Gilbert understood just how damn important he was to them, stealing him away as often as they could get away with, doing everything from a sailing trip around the Orkneys (and annoying Alisdair to no end) to camping in Scharbeutz for two weeks straight to trying (and horribly failing) to form a band around ‘94. 

The band didn’t work out mostly because they all have different music tastes- Artie fell deep into the punk scene and never climbed back out, Gil’s taste falls somewhere between heavy and folk rock, and Mati is very passionate about symphonic and alternative rock. Also, meeting up for practices as frequently as they needed was nigh on impossible. Still, sometimes they do get together just to jam for a bit.

Mati and Gil are the only two people actually allowed to call Arthur by “Iggy" and not get a black eye.

They love playing board games with each other, everything from Cards Against Humanity to Crazy Cat Lady to Risk. They tend to avoid the latter however as they all get rather… intense with their gameplay.

Really though, all they need is a deck of cards and they’ll easily get invested into a game of Slap Jack or Go Fish.

I am willing to bet they swapped parenting tips through the ages, each of them freaking out because "holy fuck I am not qualified for this!"

They have several dozen inside jokes at this point, the kind that if one says anything they all eventually will succumb to tears of laughter.

No one else really makes Arthur laugh as quickly as those two, no one else really sees Mathius as pensive and philosophical, and no one else really sees Gilbert completely letting his guard down.

With each other, they are, have been, and always will be Arthur, Mathius, and Gilbert.

They trust each other unconditionally, and know that, no matter the politics, they’ll always be there to support one another, no matter how silly the shenanigans or serious the situation may be.

[This was so long, omg. Thanks for the ask, Lovely!

If anyone is interested in any sources for further reading on their own, let me know! I got quite a lot of this from textbooks, articles, and encyclopedias ^_^; ]

[heckyeahepithetswitched]

candaru liveblogs reading her own writing: episode 6

it still absolutely makes my day when people get excited over me talking to them; like habgsdklfgh I’m not Jello I’m just an awkward bean who likes to write?? anyway today’s been pretty good

GHHGASDGAKSDLFH I LITERALLY FORGOT I WROTE THE OPENING LIKE THIS

PFFFFF I GET DONE W/PRAISING JELLO AND THEN IMMEDIATELY GO ON TO ROAST HIM

Gorou being absolutely oblivious and his minions being the ones to drive the plot is hysterical tbh

every once and a while I write a line and then have to squint at it until I figure out where I stole it from because I hear it in a VERY specific voice in my head so I know it’s a reference but even I don’t know to what

anyway (Kirbopher vc) I’M NOTTA SQUIRE!

IT’S THE SWAP VERSION OF WHAT GIO DID TO SYLVIE IN THE MUSEUM

I’m not overly fond of the original bar fight but I wanted to go with the same goofy cartoon brawl aesthetic, so I spent quite a while throwing around ideas before settling on “Nightmare Fuel, but it’s Gorou so instead of being actually scary it’s giant talking donuts trying to eat the people”

I think that was a good idea :)

this was just my personal vendetta upon learning Gorou’s original powerset haijgklsdfhgbh

...but also a good excuse for a swap!version of the “nah, I’m just awesome” line XD

soooooo this was a BIT of a cheat, but I had to have someone drop Molly’s name and I knew it couldn’t be Molly herself because she wouldn’t be dumb enough to do what Gio did (no offense Gio) and every other way I tried to make it happen had other problems, so. Gorou gets to hint at Molly’s backstory! yay!

he used to buy toys for himself and the Banzai Bees even tho he was already very much an adult :’)

this is a joke

but also a very subtle reference to the fact that the cat (who is in Howdy Morning’s role) was part of a plot-relevant “government experiment”

I absolutely love that last one ngl habsdlkpfaghfsd it’s just so absolutely something that would happen in EE

just. a bunch of minions way more competent than their leader but they all refuse to be promoted and “leave the others behind” so they end up as these very highly-skilled but low-ranking Banzai Blasters

OH I TOTALLY FORGOT UNTIL NOW

THIS WAS THE EPISODE I WROTE THROUGH A DEPRESSIVE ATTACK

AND I’M STILL REALLY PROUD OF THE WORK

don’t let your mental illnesses stop you from achieving your dreams, kids

and thus everyone’s favorite nickname was born

the most-loved scene in this entire thing, by FAR, and honestly I’m perfectly happy with that

everyone please salute Anime Campaign, proof that even your dumb friend group RPs can be turned into a masterpiece as long as you’re open-minded to change things

...I forgot I actually DID put Howdy into this basghsdklfgh (tho most of the joke was that none of his lines needed to change at ALL)

this episode is just full of jabs at Jello, huh?

BUT SERIOUSLY, SIR PLEASE. WHY COULD RAMSEY REMEMBER PERCY’S EPITHET? DO ERASER CUFFS ONLY MAKE YOU FORGET YOUR OWN? BECAUSE IT SEEMS LIKE MERA AND INDUS HAVE A PRETTY SOLID BREAKOUT PLAN IF THAT’S THE CASE. AND EVEN SO, HOW WOULD PERCY KNOW THAT ONE OR TWO “ZAPPY TOWERS” WOULD BE ENOUGH TO KNOCK HER OUT? SHE DOESN’T HAVE A NOTE AND SHE’S UNDER THE ERASER CUFF EFFECTS. SHE SHOULDN’T REMEMBER ANYTHING ABOUT PARAPET. SIR PLEASE—

one of the reasons I didn’t like Redwood Run as much as the Museum Arc was bc I felt that Percy and Ramsey didn’t have much time to actually develop their dynamic, so what they did have felt kinda forced and rushed. of course that’s not exactly Jello’s fault bc he only had THREE episodes to work with and a lot to set up, but I still did my best to give the swap duo as many little moments as possible.

I cared NOTHING for Yoomtah before writing this episode and by the time I was done I LOVED her

one of my fav artists drew this scene PERFECTLY and I now see it in their style whenever I read it

open/confirmed spoilers up ahead regarding Yoomtah:

so the whole “Yoomtah is a robot/cyborg who runs faster than anyone and has electric powers (?)” thing REALLY bothers me because Jello NEVER established that there was magic besides Epithets during the ENTIRE SHOW SO FAR (same with Phoenicia being a magical girl) and that’s just,,,, bbghdsjkg it took me a long time to go “okay, this was based on something else first, I get it, I can get used to the new rules” but gosh I just wish that had been set up better. then again I guess it’s nice that even the writers I admire the most make mistakes.

anyway, got off topic but I love how in the swap version, Yoomtah being a robot/cyborg/??? is just vaguely implied and never actually confirmed, it’s such a good running gag

also

I had. SUCH a hard time coming up with a reason for Sylvie and Yoomtah to have a rivalry, since Sylvie’s got no interest in construction work

and then literally my friend was like “isn’t Yoomtah the one who never sleeps?” and I was like “yeah, why— oh”

SEE? THINGS LIKE THIS. I THINK BUGSY & ARNOLD ARE MORE FUN AS OBVIOUSLY-CORRUPT COPS, AND I THINK YOOMTAH IS MORE FUN AS A CHAOTIC NEUTRAL WHO ISN’T ACTUALLY PART OF THE BAD GUY TEAM BUT IF YOU GET ON HER BAD SIDE SHE’LL TURN INTO YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE FOR .00092 SECONDS

idk I guess I just really like “characters who break the personality stereotypes of their moral alignments” which REALLY fits the rest of EE to a T

the case of the “golden buttocks”

I know I talk about this a lot but I was really so, so proud to finish this (& then the next script) on the deadline. I have discovered that shockingly enough, I like (creative) deadlines. Deadlines make me happy.

maybe I was fated to love EE just because of the opening intro or smth idk

[arrowdaily]

This season of Arrow has taken the series’ already awesome action and stunts to a whole new level. With Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) in prison, things have been incredibly brutal, but what we’ve seen so far is nothing compared to the action of episode 7, “The Slabside Redemption” which airs tonight.

After last week’s triumphant takedown of Ricardo Diaz (Kirk Acevedo) things look like they’re finally getting better for the team, but at the start of this week’s adventure, Diaz neatly escapes his captors and heads into Slabside prison to take down Oliver, before the former vigilante’s release. What follows is a full hour of action, combining a tense cat-and-mouse between Oliver and Diaz, unlikely alliances, shocking betrayals, and jaw-dropping stunts.

There is no B story; there is no villain of the week—just wall-to-prison-wall ass kicking. On our recent trip to Vancouver, BC, we talked to Amell, along with director James Bamford and fight coordinator Jeff Robinson (correction: an earlier version of this article erroneously named fight coordinator Curtis Baconnier), about how this extraordinary episode came together.

“Seven... they just turned the stunt department loose,” Amell said of the episode. “It was the shortest script that I’ve ever read, because it had so little stage direction. It was basically [Showrunner Beth Schwartz] going to James Bamford and saying, “This is the through line of what happens to Oliver from start to finish; do what you can in the time that you have. Go.’”

No one could have directed this episode but James Bamford. Bamford—also known as BamBam—has stunt credits too numerous too name, a bronze medal in karate (!) and a well-earned reputation as one of the best stunt performers and coordinators in Vancouver. Since season 4 of Arrow, he’s added to his resume as a director, and has been a producer on the show since 2017.

This season, he directed the “Elseworlds” crossover, as well as several other episodes of Arrow. He was also a correctional officer back in the day, who used his own experience working in a prison to bring veritas to the Slabside plot line this season.

Bamford was part of the original conception for this mini action movie. “The episode was born of a conversation Mark Guggenheim and I had,” Bamford told us. At the time, Guggenheim suggested doing an episode with “three words, and the rest of it is action!” He upped the ante, suggesting the idea that the entire episode was one shot, a la Birdman.

That concept proved a tad too outside of the box for a network show, but the idea of what Bamford called “a giant oner with no words” evolved, and eventually the creatives came to the concept of “The Slabside Redemption.” The episode plays out almost in real time as one long fight between Oliver, Diaz, the guards, and the rest of the prisoners let loose (including Michael Jai White’s Ben Turner, a.k.a. Bronze Tiger). It was a true collaboration between writers, director, stunts, and actors.

One goal of the episode was to take full advantage of the multi-story Slabside prison set, which Bamford thought had been under-utilized in the top of the season. The fact that the set was built in-studio allowed fight coordinator Robinson to rehearse with his team extensively in the space before the shoot.

This came in extremely handy for the centerpiece of the episode: a single continuous shot that moves through multiple levels of the Slabside set, just aas Bamford and co. envisioned. The shot was accomplished with a technocrane, as well as hours of rehearsals by the stunt men and actors. Even within this long shot, there were many “cowboy switches,” where a stunt double will step into frame as an actor steps out, or vice versa, and stunt men and riggers doing setups out of frame while the camera was rolling.

And it’s seamless. “We’ll rehearse the whole dance, then on the day, we do multiple rehearsals with camera,” said stunt coordinator Eli Zagoudakis (correction: an earlier version of this article attributed this quote to the fight coordinator). Then there’s the actual day of shooting, where Bamford cued every stunt and movement of camera, while the crew, stuntmen, and actors went at it.

“It took about six or seven takes,” on the day, Bamford said. The “second-to-last one is the one you see in the final cut.” The stunts in this episode are so hot that a stunt man literally gets lit on fire in what Baonnier described as a “one of the coolest gags we’ve ever done.” The preparation for such a stunt was meticulous, as well. First, they set just the stunt man’s arm on fire, then more, then the full body, and eventually we see him on fire, being thrown off a ledge. And it’s awesome.

While this episode is staggering in terms of stunts, it’s just one of the many challenging and ultimately extremely entertaining risks the show has taken this season. The premiere episode saw a very naked Oliver fighting for his life in a brutal shower brawl.

“It’s not often that we get an opportunity to do something like that,” mused Amell. “This was obviously incredibly unique insofar as—we’ve had a couple fights in the history of the show where we just can’t double me. This obviously had to be me.”

Bamford incited giggles discussing how “the biggest challenge” was keeping Stephen Amell’s modesty intact and “staying on network television.” That led to a long phone call with the network about what they could and couldn’t show, but also a lot of creative filmmaking.

Another unique element this season has been the presence of The Silencer (Miranda Edwards), a member of The Longbow Hunters who can turn off the sound in a given area.

“Those were very difficult,” Bamford said of the noiseless fights. “It’s a really large challenge to have an action scene come off successfully without hearing a thing, because action sequences depend on the sound just as much as they depend on editing and the choreography and performance. It was a huge challenge and a gamble to actually execute that. I think it turned out really well.”

One trick to selling a silent fight? “It helps when there’s hair,” Bamford shared, a trick learned from Jackie Chan.

“The Slabside Redemption” is a great example of how good television is about collaboration between so many departments and skilled performers. That single long shot is breathtaking, and it came together thanks to the hard work of stunt people, camera men, lighting riggers, set designers, costumers, actors, post-production geniuses, and more who often go unrecognized and underappreciated.

“We’re not going to get nominated for a stunt Emmy,” Amell lamented, “but we should.” What they will receive is major appreciation and admiration from fans, and it’s also well-deserved.

[yournewhappyplace]

Full PlayLew: Kingdom Hearts

hey so it’s been a while since i really wrote anything about games but recently i bought the Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 - ReMix - collection (not to be confused with Kingdom Hearts 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue you silly goose) which is a collection of Kingdom Hearts, Re:Chain of Memories, Kingdom Hearts II, Birth by Sleep and full cinematics for the two early DS games...that’s a lot of Kingdom Hearts...and because i only owned my first PS2 in 2013, i missed out on the whole Kingdom Hearts shabang! so let's document my first playthrough of the game that started it all; Kingdom Hearts! depending, i might write up a post about all the games as i play them and tell you all what a Birth by Sleep is but for now, let’s keep this Simple And Clean and start with the first game

(warning: spoilers for the game and full on rambling)

So there's a reason why I wanted to get into Kingdom Hearts, asides from Millenial Peer Pressure to understand what Simple And Clean means, cus there's one cutscene I saw from the second game where Goofy gets smacked with a rock and Mickey Mouse in a super hot topic zipped jacket gets really upset and the entire scene is both super melodramatic and absurd at the same time and I REALLY liked that. I really liked the idea of this crossover series from the two biggest giants of it's day, just going 100% extra and hopefully taking its premise to the next level...and it does.

Like, one of the first things you do in this game is meet Wakka from FFX and smack him with a wooden sword and there's a cutscene not further on where Aerith is having a serious discussion with Goofy and Donald Duck about a metaphorical darkness and...it's great. i'm going on about this aspect so much immediately because it's my favourite part of the game. the charm and the balance of touching tribute and ridiculous revelations that Kingdom Hearts achieves with merging its properties.

The actual game itself isn't the showstopper here but it's still worth talking about. It plays like a third person action game where you have all the bearings of it's Final Fantasy brethren with random encounters, leveling up, a party system and summons but the game doesn't load in and out of battles, you just get straight into a brawl on the map and there's no turn based battle system. I gotta give the team credit for wanting to make a different combat system than a lot of similar JRPGs at the time because it really helps give the series its own identity from minute one, with both the system and the keyblade weapon that you use to melee and cast spells with. At first it can be a bit jarring and hard to play. Sometimes the camera feels too tight behind Sora (the dude you play as) and processing the 3D space between you and the enemy can be a bit difficult to judge. Also the tightness means you'll get hit by off-screen attacks quite a bit more than you'd feel fair but once you start to get the hang of fighting through tough battles and slowly gain new spells, like a self heal, and a fuckin roll (!), it starts to click and becomes an enjoyable fighting system. The enemy variety in the game could've been upped to keep it more interesting in the later stages but it feels satisying to blow enemies UP with your keyblade (god I love the keyblade's design so much)...and it's hard not to admit the satisfaction of the one-on-one rival battles. When you're up against a dude the same size as you and he's got a melee weapon as well...it is Fire 100 Turn Up The BBQ.

It's a shame that those type of boss fights only really appear near the end because, for the first half at least, the boss fights aren't too great. The worst boss fights that show up in this game are the ones where the hurtbox of the enemy is on a head or a high part of their body, so as Sora you have to jump up and do an air combo at their hurtbox, hoping the hits connect or that you get your full combo out or the enemy doesn't move as you're jumping or the enemy just doesn't knock you out of it...but most of the time that stuff happens and it makes those boss fights some of the most annoying and unsatisfying. There's one boss fight in perticular, at the end of the Wonderland level, which is pretty much the first proper level of the game, that is really tall and his hurtbox is his main body which is propped up on two huge legs and trying to HIT IT is so tough. If you're on the ground, you have to make sure to jump and start attacking at the height of your combo otherwise you'll hit his legs which means that your attacks will literally bounce off him and you'll be flung to the ground. Even when I did get hits in on his body from jumping off the ground, i'd usually only get one or two hits in before I just hit the ground again and...that's not fun! There's a table in the middle of the arena you can climb onto that gives you a platform to jump off and smack him with but ONE that's just as annoying. having to keep climbing up this table to get three or four hits in, fall to the ground and repeat is bad and TWO the table is destructible by the boss! So he can just destroy it and make it even more annoying! Also he takes reduced damage from the 1 out of 2 spells you have at that time. Ahhhhh!!! And whilst no other boss comes close to being as annoying as that, there's still other bosses that use some of it's Anti-Fun Kata Techniques and they can be pretty unsatisfying.

Also some of the worlds in this game can be hit or miss. In Kingdom Hearts you travel between levels that, at most times, are Disney themed worlds like Neverland, Pumpkin Town and Olympus Collesium. Some of them are literally just 3 or 4 rooms, some are bland and some are downright barbaric like the Tarzan level that makes you travel up and down the level several times to trigger new cutscenes or events to progress the story and it can get really frustrating ESPECIALLY when the game doesn't make it all that clear where you need to go or what you have to do, so you're just hopelessly running around, entering in and out of buildings hoping something changes!

So okay, i've talked about what didn't work in this game BUT worry not, positive vibes are coming in the form of my early point; presentation! The game is a Disney and Final Fantasy crossover and the game's use of those licenses helps prop the game up massively. The Wonderland level, whilst not the most interesting level design wise, is propped up massively by just the very idea of it being Wonderland and everything that comes with it. Fun, colourful imagery! Gimmicks involving being huge and small! Twisted geometry spaces! A purple talking cat! Like the way they use their licenses to create these distinct, colourful, imaginative worlds with a diverse set of characters feels like cheating since they're using already existing brands but it's no lie that this all helps create a game that really feels like you're playing on this large Disneyland rollercoaster that shows you the world! And you're not just going by saying “I recognise the thing! I clapped!”, you're fuckinnnng in the thing! You're interacting with all the things! Sometimes you even kill the things and just twisting the properties onto their heads! Remember that time Clayton from Tarzan got fucking killed by a chameleon crushing him?? Yeah! Me too! It's rad!! Remember that time Hades from Hercules hired Cloud to kill you?? Yeah!! That's what makes this whole thing feel fun and worthwhile and not a simple nostalgia grab or whatever. Cus Disney gave them full license to do whatever they wanted and guess what W E D O  I T said Nomura.

I also love how in certain worlds, aesthetics or even entire systems will change to match it. Like how in Little Mermaid level, you play it completely underwater. They could have made you stick to the bottom of the seabed and play it like a normal level or put you in a sub or whatever but they didn't, instead they change Sora and your parties models so you're a mermaid and you have to instead move using square and circle to go up and down through the water. That's cool! In the Neverland level, you get to fly like Peter Pan through the level and fighting flying pirate ships in the sky as you float is wonderful! And the part at the end where you go to a city level and you fly around the equivalent of Big Ben as the music swells up is one of my highlights from the game...cus it just FELT good in my hands. Even the smaller changes like Sora getting a new, gothed up, halloween costume for the Nightmare Before Christmas level is a cute touch! In a perfect world all of these changes would have happened for the majority of levels but alas.

There's also this Winnie the Pooh world that's probably my favourite. At a part of the game, you get a book that you can access and as you open the book, you find yourself walking around 100 Acre Woods and meeting Winnie the Pooh but the rest of the pages are missing. So as you go through levels, you find these pages for the book and for each page you get a new level of 100 Acre Woods that feels like a light, adventure where you're hanging around with Winnie the Pooh and friends. There's no combat in the levels, it's all just mini-games and talking with Pooh and the cast...and it's wonderful. Not only does it fit the tone of the license, cheerful fun, but the feel of the level from the writing and the adventures just feels...Pooh-like. And then when you get that last page and you get Pooh and all his friends together and they bid you farewell and the book closes to show a picture of Sora holding hands with Pooh...i got emotional man...i really did.

And then there's the other side of the spectrum, from fighting off tears over a really well done, careful use of it's properties to grinning like mad with tears of laughter at the ridiculous use of its property. Okay so like the end of the game is, the greatest. After you defeat the main bad guy (he was a scientist trying to use darkness for power blah blah), you get this scene where Sora and friends find the door to the Kingdom Hearts! The source of all hearts! And in it there are Heartless (the enemies) coming out of it so you have to go and close the door BUT doing it on your own isn't enough so you have to use the help of your friend Riku (he was a friend-turned-rival-turned-back to friend by the end)to shut it BUT! He has to shut it from the other side of the door which means locking himself in with the Heartless and the darkness within it. So he's basically gonna get fucked. And Sora realises this and after refusing to shut the door at Riku's request, he obliges and in an emotional moment goes to push it shut….BUT SHUT THE FUCK UP, DONALD DUCK PEEKS IN THE DOOR AND GOES “WUHHHHH” AND YOU NOTICE MICKEY MOUSE'S ICONIC EARS AND HEAD CAST A SHADOW AND IN AN EXTREMELY MICKEY MOUSE VOICE GOES “HEY SORA!” AND IT'S LIKE FUCKING AWESOME. FUCKING GREAT. EMOTIONAL MOMENT -DEFUSED-, PREY SLAUGHTERED CUS MICKEY MOUSE TALKED. I couldn't stop laughing the whole time and then mickey mouse shuts the door and all is saved. BUT THEN because of complications, Sora has to leave behind his childhood sweeheart Kairi that he saved to go back to her world whilst Sora gets left behind in wherever he is and then Simple And Clean, the main theme, just blast with its cheesy super early 2000's musical sheen as a closing FMV plays where Kairi is crying about missing Sora and everyone is all happy cus they get to see their friends again and it's so...innocent and perhaps naive at what it's doing but it fills me life man. I was singing the lyrics to this RnB track as I thought about the events that just occurred and seeing Pinnochio turn into a real boy and Cloud meet back up with Aerith and maaaaaaaan

That's why I really like Kingdom Hearts. The gameplay is generally fun despite some dips, there's some rewarding treasure hunts despite the level design being bland….on a purely Game perspective, it isn't that special and is probably worse than other 3D platformers of it's time BUT where it really shines and where the charm gets to me in this game is just how much it celebrates and lets you engage with it's crossover. Whether it's trying to evoke a feeling of sadness at a childhood gone by or drama through laughable scenarios involving Disney and Square Enix characters...it's just got real charm and i'm so happy this game exists. I'm even happier that it was successful enough to spawn an entire franchise that still has young kids and grown adults getting hyped for it's next installment. It's a weird kinda magic that I don't think any other game or series has fully replicated. Will the charm wear off I play through more and more of these games? I dunno, we'll see...but for now, Kingdom Hearts, thank you for being really Goofy.

P.S: Simple And Clean is so good

[regina-del-cielo]

Hi! The biggest of your personal headcanons about each Gold Saint, Specter and Sea General, please!

OMG ANON YOU BEAUTIFUL PERSON GET A GRIP ‘CAUSE YOU’RE IN FOR A LONG RIDE!

I don’t know how to define ‘biggest headcanon’, tho, so I just… went with the feel? Hope you don’t mind!

Another thing: I put Kanon under the Marinas just for the sake of… giving him more space? Don’t know, just felt right this way!

Answer under the cut! Enjoy and thanks for asking! :D

Gold Saints

Aries Mu: he has the sickest sense of humour EVER. He could burn you with words with a straight face, looking perfectly innocent, and it’d take you five solid minutes to notice he just insulted you. Probably a meme master before it was cool.

Taurus Aldebaran: our sweet giant is the king of perfect gifts.He always knows what you need, even if you didn’t yourself. Gifts given by him are greatly cherished.

Gemini Saga: he’s got a thing for order – slightly bordering on obsession. His desk is always perfectly neat, pens ordered by colour or degree of ink consumed, this kind of thing. Nothing’s out of place after his passage.

Cancer Death Mask: he sings. A LOT. From opera’s arias to popular Italian songs. Especially if he’s dusting the faces hanging on his House – he keeps himself company with his own voice. It’s amazing and also bloody scary that he’s actually really pleasant to listen to.

Leo Aiolia: he’s the laziest cat that ever lived. Unless he’s on service, trying to get him out of bed is basically a herculean feat. No way he’s leaving his mattress without a very good reason to do so, no sir – ‘good reason’ being something along the lines of ‘Athena was kidnapped’ or ‘the world is exploding’.

Virgo Shaka: he could probably blackmail every single member of the Sanctuary with some ridiculous thing they did five years before on a random day. He’s got a damn fine memory and has no qualms in using it.

Libra Dohko: he’s a romantic dork and has no shame in admitting it. Literally waiting for Shunrei and Shiryu to marry and have ninety children to play grandpa with.

Scorpio Milo: he’s a literal magnet for animals – the grumpiest cat or the most antisocial dog turn into adorable cuddly balls of fluff when he approaches them.

Sagittarius Aiolos: the purest cinnamon roll on the planet but if you hurt one of his loved ones you better run, or else you’d find yourself pinned to a wall by his arrows. Takes him a lot to get angry, but when he does, it’s bad.

Capricorn Shura: give him some tequila and he’ll become the sexiest dancer on the stage – nobody can resist his tango moves, trust me.

Aquarius Camus: he wants to act like he doesn’t care but give him a sad movie or an emotional book and he’ll become a hapless ball of tears. It’s even worse with music.

Pisces Aphrodite: has the biggest sweet tooth in the bloody Sanctuary. He’d eat sugar directly from the spoon if on abstinence. Do not – repeat – do not take his sweets away. Death Mask and Shura got scars over this.

Bonus! Pope Shion: Dohko and him played chess through telepathy for centuries – Shion says it’s because he wanted to help his friend keep his mind awake while sitting on those rocks for weeks on end, Dohko says it’s because ‘he’s a competitive bitch that never wanted to lose’.

Sea Generals

Sea Dragon Kanon: he’s left-handed. One of the many reasons he was considered ‘the bad one’ – left-handed people were considered ‘demonic’ and‘deviant’ until the seventies or something.

Siren Sorrento: he’s an albino – and spent most of his childhood safely kept inside his house, looking at the world outside only through a curtained window.

Scylla Io: he’s got a Maori-styled tattoo on his back representing the six animals that make up his powers – thought it was a good way to bond with the South Pacific he’s supposed to protect.

Lymnades Caça: his monstrous appearance is completely made up –he used his shape-shifting abilities to conjure up the scariest face he could to look menacing to his opponents.

Chrysaor Krishna: he’s the healer of the group – his Cosmos can re-align chakras on other people to bring back equilibrium in their bodies, accelerating the healing process.

Sea Horse Baian: he fell in love with the sea by watching killer whales swimming in the bay of Vancouver Island, where he lived as a child.

Kraken Isaak: his ‘fanboying’ over the Kraken wasn’t casual –he’d always been supposed to be a Marina General, an equal in rank to his master (assuming that Sea Generals and Gold Saints have the same role in different armies) – no wonder Camus thought he was stronger than Hyoga.

Bonus! Mermaid Thetis: being a Nereid – a nymph of the seas, the incarnation of Achilles’ mother, sister to Amphitrite - she’s the keeper of the memories of Atlantis, the only one apart from Poseidon himself to remember its greatness and beauty in mythical times.

Specters (only the ones I actually have hcs about, obvs, they’d be too many otherwise)

Wyvern Rhadamanthys: he won’t admit it even under torture, but he’s kind of a mama dragon. His God, his lieutenants, his brothers– he’s going to chew up anyone who dares hurting them.

Griffon Minos: he sews, mends and weaves like a pro. Got a hole in your socks? He’ll make them as good as new – if you actually have the guts to ask him, that’s to say.

Garuda Aiacos: Biggest Bollywood fan EVER. He sings the songs from their movies non-stop, and even dances their choreographies half-naked in his house in Antenora.

Balrog Lune: he goes in full-raging paranoia when somebody gets inside his archives without his supervision – ‘it took me decades to bring order to it, don’t you dare touch my books!’

Necromancer Byaku: chilliest Specter in the whole Underworld –never loses his cool and is the only one who can calm down Lune when he becomes a bunch of frail nerves.

Harpy Valentine: BIGGEST DRAMA QUEEN with a ‘mother hen’ tendency – always checking if everybody’s alright, if they need something, etc. Obviously this intensifies to epic proportions when Rhadamanthys is involved.

Alraune Queen: the human definition of ‘smol and angry’: he always quarrels with Fyodor for “who’s the real mandrake in here”, and Valentine, Sylphid and Gordon must drag him away every time.

Basilisk Sylphid: being Belgian, he’s the greatest beer expert inthe Underworld. Better not argue with him about that beverage!

Minotauros Gordon: Just wants to do his job and not be bothered by anything else – although he has to stop Queen from charging head on and chew people’s faces out for the silliest things.

Papillon Myu: his metabolism is extremely fast – too fast for a human body, to the point that he has sudden droppings of energy. He stays in his ‘blob’ form to avoid wasting strength when it’s not necessary.

Behemoth Violate: in a ‘no Cosmo, no Surplices’ brawl, she’s strong enough to actually bring Aiacos down – or at least get a par out of the fight. You don’t mess with Violate.

Sphinx Pharaoh: he’s got a thing for snakes and helped Pandora deal with her ability of conjuring them – they get along pretty well thanks to this.

Acheron Charon: he gives great emphasis to his talking by throwing Italian and Neapolitan words in it, and doesn’t give a shit if they don’t understand him – after some time, his colleagues have somehow learned to get the gist of what he means.

Bonus! Pandora: She seems all prim and proper, but actually knows lots of swear words. And being them in German, they sound very, very menacing coming from her mouth.

[writingsubmissions]

Fights to Make: UFC Singapore

Holly Holm (beat Bethe Correia) vs. Liz Carmouche: Well, that was...something. At least Holm provided the lone highlight of the main card, kicking Bethe Correia’s head off after Correia prompted her to do something. But besides that...woof. This may been Holm’s most boring fight yet, as pretty much literally nothing happened until that third-round knockout. Horrifyingly, Holm may actually be in line for a title shot given the state of things - she has the highest name value of anyone left in the division, Sara McMann already has a fight booked, and it’s really just Raquel Pennington left as the only other obvious contender - but I’m not willing to go that far just yet. But...jeez, what else do you do with Holm? There are fights like Julianna Pena or Cat Zingano, who are coming off losses, and Holm/Pennington’s already been done, so...let’s go with Liz Carmouche, even though in the real world, it doesn’t appear Holm’s management wants her anywhere near someone who can wrestle.

Rafael dos Anjos (beat Tarec Saffiedine) vs. Jorge Masvidal: Dos Anjos’s welterweight debut was one of the highlights of the main card, at least relatively - it wasn’t a particularly great fight, and kind of ugly, but the former lightweight champ looked good and should be at least be a top ten or so fighter in the division at worst. There’s really no sense in wasting time trying to move dos Anjos up the ladder in his new division, so I’d do a fight with Masvidal next; it’s probably the best way to immediately establish dos Anjos as a contender, since Masvidal is also lightweight-sized and my main concern for RDA is when he faces some of the more giant guys at welterweight.

Colby Covington (beat Dong Hyun Kim) vs. Kamaru Usman: Well, Colby Covington won, at least. It was absolutely unwatchable - Covington is a relentless wrestler and damn good at it, but as he’s started facing decent competition, it feels less and less like we’re getting anywhere, as Covington is unable to work for a finish. But I’m not sure who the guy is who can shut down Covington’s wrestling - let’s try Usman, who’s currently the top rising welterweight in the company. Usman’s had a similar run up the ranks, dominating people with his wrestling, but he’s at least shown some vicious striking to go along with that in his last few fights. Ideally, I’d hope for Usman to get a big win and try and convince Covington to develop a more well-rounded game, but if Covington can use his wrestling to get through Usman, shit, good on him.

Bethe Correia (lost to Holly Holm) vs. Cat Zingano: I’m not sure what Bethe Correia did in a past life to be reincarnated as a human meme, but she lost in embarrassing fashion once again, taunting Holly Holm to do something and then immediately getting her head kicked in. Correia’s complete lack of athleticism just gives her a clear ceiling, even though she does have some smart gameplanning, so I don’t really know where you go from here. Cat Zingano needs a win. Cat Zingano can probably beat Bethe Correia at this point, unless her game is completely broken. So Bethe Correia it is!

Dong Hyun Kim (lost to Colby Covington) vs. Ryan LaFlare/Alex Oliveira (Jul. 22) winner: Kim’s been a stalwart of the welterweight top ten for years now, but this loss to Covington suggested that he may be aging into more of a gatekeeper role at this point. Whoever wins the fight in Long Island between LaFlare and Oliveira deserves a ranked opponent, and have enough strength and/or straight-ahead wrestling to provide a similar test to Covington, so Kim’s as solid a choice as any for that winner to break through against.

Marcin Tybura (beat Andrei Arlovski) vs. Walt Harris (beat Cyril Asker): Hm. Marcin Tybura got what, on paper, was a big win over Andrei Arlovski, but it wasn’t all that great in practice - Tybura abandoned his recent striking gains and just went back to his old wrestling-heavy game, which worked like a charm, even if it wasn’t all that exciting. So there’s not a ton that suggests Tybura is a future contender, even if he is really good. You could move him up the ladder if you wanted to, but instead I’ll put him against Harris, who’s a more interesting prospect; I’m not entirely sure Harris has finally figured things out, but as a 34-year old athlete, his time is now and he’s looked good thus far in the year, so Tybura’s a solid fight for Harris to see if he can become a thing while the opportunity is ripe.

Ulka Sasaki (beat Justin Scoggins) vs. Ben Nguyen: Welp. That was something. Justin Scoggins continues to Justin Scoggins, dominating a fight before getting choked out, and Ulka Sasaki was the beneficiary in this case. Sasaki’s such a fascinating prospect because he somehow makes 125 while still being 5′11″, and he has the slick submission skills he showed off here. Nguyen probably deserves a bigger fight, and I liked Nguyen/Scoggins as a rising contender fight if Scoggins would’ve just won the damn thing, but Sasaki/Nguyen is a fun, scrambly matchup that could fit in on an Asian card.

Andrei Arlovski (lost to Marcin Tybura) vs. Mark Godbeer: Well, I don’t think Andrei Arlovski can get a win that matters anymore - this was a good matchup, since Tybura’s on the slow side and doesn’t have much knockout power, but Arlovski still mostly got out-wrestled en route to a flat loss. Ideally, retirement would be next for Arlovski at this point, or UFC may just cut him coming off five straight losses (though Bellator would gladly have him) - of people on the roster, I guess Godbeer is the most winnable fight that wouldn’t be too sad, as he’s an undersized guy as well, but doesn’t have near the wrestling Tybura does.

Tarec Saffiedine (lost to Rafael dos Anjos) vs. Leon Edwards: Saffiedine’s UFC run continues to be kind of blah - he’s technically sound, but not particularly imposing, and tends to try and neutralize opponents rather than offer much resistance; and even then, Saffiedine doesn’t really seem to neutralize high-level opponents enough to actually get a win. Saffiedine’s at the point where I feel like there should be one of those fights we’ve seen a lot more of lately, between a veteran trying to avoid his worst loss and a prospect trying to get his best win, and I like British prospect Leon Edwards, a well-rounded athlete, as a fight for Saffiedine in that vein.

Justin Scoggins (lost to Ulka Sasaki) vs. Louis Smolka: Oh, Justin Scoggins. The shame of it is that he’s a good wrestler, but as soon as he started grappling with Ulka Sasaki, it was pretty much inevitable that he’d dominate until getting tapped out, which is exactly what he did. Sigh. Scoggins is an excellent prospect with a knack for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, and I have no idea what you do with him at this point, given that he’s also been around long enough to face a lot of his fellow mid-tier flyweights. I guess go with Smolka? I feel bad, since Smolka’s on a losing streak of his own and needs a win, but it’d be a solid fight and an opportunity to see if Scoggins can actually not find himself getting choked out against someone who can do so.

Alex Caceres (beat Rolando Dy) vs. Kyle Bochniak/Jeremy Kennedy (Jul. 22) winner: Alex Caceres remains impossible to figure out, as he looked good here, even if part of that was an exceptionally poor performance from Dy. Anyway, Caceres is fairly settled into an action gatekeeper spot, so he’d be a good next fight for either Bochniak or Kennedy, depending on which prospect wins on the Long Island card, to keep moving up the ranks.

Russell Doane (beat Kwan Ho Kwak) vs. Tom Duquesnoy: Doane’s a talented fighter who’s been hurt by some tough matchmaking, so it was nice to see him hang on the UFC roster in what was certainly his last shot by starching top Korean prospect Kwak. So, let’s throw him back in the deep end! Tom Duquesnoy’s the consensus best prospect in all of MMA, and Doane’s the perfect step up for his next UFC fight.

Jingliang Li (beat Frank Camacho) vs. Luke Jumeau: Li remains the one good Chinese fighter, and fun as hell, though the first round of this fight with Camacho showed his flaws as far as being able to get rocked early. So, yeah, Li’s pretty much a fun mid-tier fighter to try and put in exciting brawls, and Luke Jumeau, who made a successful debut in his native New Zealand last week, has some solid potential for a fight like that.

Lucie Pudilova (beat Ji Yeon Kim) vs. Lauren Murphy: I didn’t think she won, but Pudilova’s fight with Ji Yeon Kim was close enough that her getting the nod wasn’t a robbery - plus it assures a fun fighter stays on the roster. Pudilova against Lauren Murphy would be a fun fight between two hard-nosed competitors, so let’s do that.

Naoki Inoue (beat Carls John de Tomas) vs. Eric Shelton/Jarred Brooks (Jul. 29) winner: So, Naoki Inoue is fairly awesome - it’s hard not to look at his long frame and ridiculous ability to transition submissions and see him developing into, at worst, a flyweight version of, say, Charles Oliveira. But I have no idea where you go next, since UFC’s flyweight division is fairly thin and pretty much entirely a shark tank. So ideally UFC would just have him face a newcomer, but of anyone on the roster, I suppose go with the winner of the Shelton/Brooks fight at UFC 214, since those guys are as low on the totem pole as anyone.

Ji Yeon Kim (lost to Lucie Pudilova) vs. Cindy Dandois: Like countrywoman Chan Mi Jeon the week before, South Korea’s Kim fought her smartest fight yet in her UFC debut, abandoning the relentless wrestling game I’d seen in the past and instead flashing a surprisingly excellent boxing game. Still, she surprisingly lost the decision, so let’s get back on the horse and put her against Cindy Dandois. This could be a fun fight if it goes to the ground, but Dandois is, to put it simply, a god-awful striker, so Kim should be able to win this on the feet.

Jon Tuck (beat Takanori Gomi) vs. Devin Powell/Darrell Horcher (Jun. 25) winner: Well, Jon Tuck got a first round finish of Takanori Gomi, which was nice in that it kept Tuck on the roster, but it really just says more about how shot Gomi is at this point. Tuck’s purely a lower level guy until he shows any signs of his game clicking, so let’s put him against the winner of a pink-slip derby against Powell and Horcher next week, since that’ll be a fun lower-level fight where maybe someone can show something.

Takanori Gomi (lost to Jon Tuck) vs. Joe Ellenberger: As for Gomi, he should retire or at least be back in Japan crushing cans or something. The lightweight legend can’t take a punch anymore, and there’s no obvious one-dimensional submission specialist in the lower ranks of the division who just won’t punch Gomi in the face. Joe Ellenberger hasn’t fought since 2014, so he may be retired, but...I have no other options. I have no options! Gomi fights just make me sad.

Frank Camacho (lost to Jingliang Li) vs. Charlie Ward/Galore Bofando (Jul. 16) loser: I don’t know how much success Camacho will have in the UFC, but I hope he sticks around, since he’s a fun, undersized brawler. Conor McGregor teammate Charlie Ward - who is not good - is facing newcomer Galore Bofando on the Glasgow card, as UFC tries to find someone for Ward to beat, so whoever loses that, Camacho would make for a fun scrap against ‘em.

Cyril Asker (lost to Walt Harris) vs. Jarjis Danho: Asker’s pretty much just cannon fodder - he’s not bad or anything, but he’s not particularly big, he’s not particularly athletic, and that’s a problem with a game more focused on finishing things on the ground than anything. Jarjis Danho is massive but not particularly good, and has negative cardio, so Asker/Danho could just be a weird, entertaining trash fire, which I’m down for.

Kwan Ho Kwak (lost to Russell Doane) vs. Andre Soukhamthath: Kwak’s loss to Doane was a bit disappointing - Kwak’s an elite athlete, but just tries to out-athlete his way out of any tough situations, which got him knocked out when Doane was able to corner him. Hopefully Kwak gets a third UFC chance, and if it does, Soukhamthath, a Laotian-American fighter who had a fun UFC debut loss against Albert Morales, would make for a fun fight.

Carls John de Tomas (lost to Naoki Inoue) vs. Jenel Lausa: It was a one-sided loss, but de Tomas did well to survive against Inoue, although he’s also in the same boat as his opponent - I like them both as prospects, but don’t see an obvious winnable fight going forward on the roster. Let’s put de Tomas against Filipino countryman Lausa, an undersized boxer, since he’s one of the few lower-tier guys I think de Tomas could beat.

Rolando Dy (lost to Alex Caceres) vs. Patrick Williams: I liked Dy’s pre-UFC tape, but this was very much a “8-4 Filipino fighter” performance, as Dy got punched in the eye early and just mostly got dominated by Caceres, showing little in the process. Patrick Williams is apparently moving up to featherweight - that’s a fine lower-level action fight where hopefully Dy can show off some of his skills.