#he's more than an Overpowered Edgelord come on

[silent-lily]

Talking about heroes and heroic deeds and spotlights and all, many people seem to forget that in that sense Shadow is actually really damn modest (out of everything).

Like, if you look at it: he goes out of his way to make sure nothing disturbs the world's peace, he helps out when he's asked (mostly, when his help is REALLY needed) even if he has a thing or two to say on the matter or he has his own separate goals (god the times he's helped EGGMAN of all people, see Sonic Rivals series for example) - and he doesn't ask for anything in return. He doesn't need recognition or gratitude or reward of any sorts - he just does what he thinks is a right thing to do (yes, his methods may be unconventional at times but that's just how it is, he is an ANTIhero after all, he's not Sonic, he's been through some shit to make him a bit jaded, plus he's not perfect despite being The Ultimate Lifeform).

Shadow may seem cold and unsociable - but he's not heartless. He may look like he doesn't care - but that's just a facade, he wouldn't have done shit if he didn't.

He's been hurt deeply in the past but he still keeps his promise to protect this world from harm. His heart is in the right place.

Shadow doesn't need recognition - but damn he deserves one.

[hana-no-seiiki]

ok Aeon of light Reader has piqued my interests, especially their relation with Nanook. Please make more about them please :D??? It's alright though if you don't want too

END OF A DREAM, BEGINNING OF AN ERA.

notes: OH GOD i forgot to edit the title of the second story. They’re supposed to be the Aeon of the Dream Path + Imaginary element. My bad! I also changed up the timeline there making reader way way more older since I found out Xianzhou residents live for long ass times.

Anyways, thank you! I honestly expected that fic to flop so I’m pleasantly surprised. I spent a long time researching gods to come up with a concept for reader’s path. Very long. Like long enough that I have this obscure fun fact about there being a god called Mama Killa. It partly was because the other Aeon’s concepts / powers are pretty vast (i.e. IX (Nihility) is the god of meaninglessness but can be considered the aeon of insanity and despair as well due to its powers)

[ here is the link to the fic we’re talking about / previous fic ]

YANDERE! NANOOK x READER (AEON OF DREAMS)

warnings: pseudo-incest/godcest, nanook is “born” from your inner hatred towards the universe before he ascended making them technically your child tho this fic can be interpreted as platonic, edgelord aeons, canon divergence. UNEDITED AND RUSHED AF.

I. Ad Somnum Pueri

Hatred always had and will have a root to its madness. Your endless entrapment since your conception ‘birthed’ Nanook. A loathing for existence. A passion for ending every one and every thing. In their path, their destiny, there will be no living beings, there will be no space or time. Only the void, you and the avatar of entropy.

But first they had to take down Yaoshi. After all, even Aeons had to face mortality and if that useless Lan wasn’t capable of keeping you safe in your cradle then it was clear Nanook had to put a hand down.

The Lord of Destruction prided themself for regarding everything — but you — as equal. Everything had to be erased, so there was no point to having favourites or a specific distaste towards another being.

However Yaoshi had broken the camel’s back at your kidnapping. Thus, Nanook decided against their ‘morals’ to give them a special opportunity.

To be the first Aeon whose reverent ichor is in their hands.

II. In Somno In Infinitum

Even after your ascended body was taken and locked away by Yaoshi. You could never argue with the fact that Nanook’s obsession with you remained the most powerful across the universe. You were an Aeon they worshipped vehemently as a young mortal up until now. It was as if they breathed only for you. It came to the point that they even owed their creation to you or not their biological parents.

You were incredibly flattered by such a fact in the beginning. Doting and showering them with blessings, assisting them in the goals in both the waking and slumbering world.

Sleepwalkers was what your scholars called the vessels you used to do your godly work. And Nanook was known throughout the realms to be your favorite.

But when they made a declaration to be a menace to the world, you withdrew all of your support and contact with Nanook. Utterly disappointed with what they have become.

That did not halt their fame and name as your chosen hero from spreading. Their sheer charisma overpowered your network.

Because if there was one thing that was stronger than dreams it was reality.

Indeed you pleaded with your followers never to follow the Lord of Entropy through their sleeping fantasies, but how could they deny Nanook’s efficiency? Their all-out, unbridled, unfettered adoration of you?

And thus, the Dreamcrawler Legion. Now also known by its other name, the Antimatter Legion, was established. With one goal and one goal alone.

Lay the world in a bed of flames and ruin. For when they everyone else goes to eternal sleep, you — their ever generous, loving Aeon — will be free.

III. Mundus Erit Terminus

You never visited Nanook after their ascension. You only ever loved their mortal self. Their path was something you could never hope or desire to follow. Sure, there was a phase of your life where you despised your eternal sleep. But what you learnt from living so long was that acceptance of your situation felt infinitely better than spending eternity filled with loathing.

But Nanook always visited you. While Yaoshi burdened themselves with the task of witnessing your body while asleep. Nanook enjoyed it much more when you talked, your words of guidance — though now reduced to silence — was what made them fall in love with the you who spoke, who moved, who looked at them with open eyes through dreams.

It didn’t matter if you moved your target of hatred to them. Nanook’s love was unconditional and blind as his desire to seek destruction.

“My lord.” Nanook forced you into an embrace. Within their dreams, even when it was your domain, you felt as powerless as you did with Yaoshi. Their golden ichor bled unto your clothes.

They could see you. Your face, your entrancing features, just as he always had, just as he always wanted to. But it lacked a certain glow, a loss they attributed to Yaoshi digressions. Because they knew for certain that your love for them never disappeared. You were too benevolent, too magnanimous. “[Y/N]. My promise is soon to be fulfilled.”

“Every cage you have been trapped in will be gone.” Every cage but his love. Every chain but his arms.

“And you can finally feel the beauty of reality once more.”

A reality that was completely reset and build back up by them.

Translations:

Ad Somnum Pueri - Go to Sleep Child

In Somno In Infinitum - In Endless Dreams / Sleep

Mundus Erit Terminus - The World (shall) End.

©️ hana.no.seiiki - yun | 2023

[demonsfate]

i'm loving this blog so far. jin kazama is one of my most important comfort characters ever since my childhood (alongside guts from berserk and nintendo's cute small overpowered pink puffball kirby), he really means a lot to me. i always found him relatable, more relatable than most of the tekken characters - i was born with something i never asked for and had to learn how to accept it (autism), i suffer from trust issues and low self esteem, and i'm a shy introverted person who loves nature as much as he does (some of my hobbies include walking in the forest, gardening, or collecting sea shells on the beach). i'm pretty sure some people who suffer from dysfunctional families would find him relatable too. other fighting game protags like sol badguy are cool too don't get me wrong. but jin kazama is special to me. which makes looking for tekken content on youtube more painful because some one is almost always gonna make the same "haha emo edgelord/ww3 war criminal" joke for the millionth time. i'm so glad i got to see this blog and some tekken fan content on deviantart/tumblr in general because i finally get to see some wonderful fanart/fanon content of my boy without more constant reminders of his character assassination in tekken 6 which should've never happened. hopefully someday namco will just retcon this stuff by saying jin was brainwashed by azazel (or like you said on this blog devil jin brainwashed him). anyways, i hope you have a wonderful day.

thank youuuu! i'm so glad you feel that way!! honestly!! the funny thing is, i feel like a lotta ppl CAN'T relate to jin because "oh, he doesn't social much" (that was a legit praise ppl had for bloodline - that it "improved" jin because he socialized with the other fighters more often) and "oh he never expresses himself." even though... i think jin can be very relatable - just to certain people, really. and like... even if his personality might not be the "most relatable." he still has other things to relate with (not wanting something he was born with, trying to become better than his toxic family, grieving of a loss one, trying to make the right choice even when it's not so clear)

jin kazama is def my favorite fighting game character, actually - one of my fav characters of all time in general. even though kazuya seems to be more popular than jin (hell, even heihachi might be...) it's just that, jin does indeed feel different. like he's just so unique to me - when depicted correctly, that is lol. we don't talk about tekken 6.

honestly, even though this is "primarily" a RP blog, i consider it a FAN BLOG for jin in general. as i tend to write a lotta posts just regarding his character - regardless if it's a headcanon post, analysis post, or discussion post. i consider my blog to be a "safe haven" for jin fans where we can talk about the character, and enjoy content of him WITHOUT having to see those bad jokes or straight up HATERS everywhere. because my goodness, it really feels like you CAN'T go anywhere without seeing a "but jin started war-". so whenever i get frustrated with that - i just come here to talk about & appreciate the character. therefore, i'd want that for other jin fans, too!!

that's why, even though a lotta RP blogs don't like personals / NonRP blogs following them, i HIGHLY ENCOURAGE personals to come interact with this blog! to follow, and talk, and send messages! i really love getting to talk with other jin fans where i don't have to deal with the constant anti jokes or hate.

the only time i bring up tek6 or whateves, is to CRITICIZE it, demonstrate how it could've been executed BETTER, and to prove that jin is SO out of character in that game, he's not even the same jin we all love!

i was hoping bamco would retcon it... but seeing as tekken 8 technically DOUBLED DOWN on it? yeahhh... the only way i'm seeing it being "retconned" is if tekken, as a series itself, gets rebooted. sadly, the whole devil [jin] was in control thing will never be the retcon just because uhhh... it seemed tekken 8 has retconned the devil gene into not actually being a "bad thing" - but instead, just a reflection of how the user decides to wield it. as APPARENTLY devil [jin] has been "protecting" jin all this time. 🙄 so like... if devil jin only lashed out because jin was rejecting himself / his "sins" - then i don't see them making devil [jin] responsible for the war. which is lame, because i really enjoy my own take on that & tek6. oh well...! they still could've gone with azazel brainwashing jin, tho... they SHOULD'VE gone with that. (then again, imo, they shouldn't have made devil [jin] a good guy either... at least, NOT in the way they approached it. not in the "ACTUALLY. he was good all along" )

anyway, enough of my rambling. xD i hope you have a good day too!!

[allegra-writes]

"Bad Together"

Part I: Contact

Peter Parker x Reader

Teen and up

Warnings: language, UST.

"Baby, I'm preying on you tonight

Hunt you down, eat you alive

Just like animals"

Animals - Maroon 5

“Hey kid! Rough night? You look like shit…” 

You sighed, turning away from your door to face your neighbour. Had it been anyone else, you would just have given them the finger and gotten inside your apartment. But not her. Not when she could have information for you.

“Gee, thanks Jess! You do know how to sweet talk a girl.” 

The seemingly -deceptively- fragile brunette’s eyeroll could have rivaled your own signature one, as she kicked away from the wall and crossed the hallway in your direction.

“As if sweet talking would work on you…”

Despite your exhaustion and bad mood, you managed to munster a small sad smile as your mind wandered unbidden to another time, to what felt like another life. 

And to a boy with warm brown eyes and even warmer skin. 

"You'd be surprised…"

Jessica raised a questioning eyebrow, but you just shook your head.

"I have your payment, if that's what you're looking for…"

You said, changing the subject. Her face fell, causing your heart to drop to your stomach. You knew that look. The regret in her green eyes, the pity. You knew what she was going to say even before she opened her mouth. It wasn't really surprising after all: fourteen months without any clues, without any new developments or witnesses? She wanted to drop the case.

"Listen, kid-" 

"No" you cut her off, your voice breaking no arguments, "whatever you're going to say, I won't accept it. I pay you, and you keep on looking for my sister. That's how this works. Let's not fuck this beautiful friendship of ours up." 

You added, only partly sarcastic. You were perfectly aware that, as closed off and damaged as you both were, you were probably the closest thing to a friend either of you had. 

And, for her part, Jessica knew that, if she didn't do the dirty work for you, you would be the one crawling up vents and climbing up balconies, sliding your way into seedy bars and even seedier alleys. You were stubborn like that. And truth be told, she had grown a little protective of you.

She pursed her lips, the wheels turning inside her head. 

"Well then," she finally proposed, "What about you pay me when I actually find something worth paying for?"

It took your drowsy brain a moment to process her words. You were ashamed of the moisture that found its way to your eyes, the knot in your throat that didn't allow you to let out anything more than a weak "Jessica" as a reply. But you were too worn out to be able to keep the emotions at bay. It had been too long since anyone had shown you that type of kindness, gratefulness was not something you were used to feeling. 

"I'm not giving up on the case," she promised, "but I'm not taking your money anymore. At least not until I deserve it."

She was telling the truth, you knew her enough to be able to tell that. If anything, she was going to work even harder to try and get the investigation moving.

"Thank you." 

You really meant it.

"Don't mention it” she shrugged, downplaying it, like every good deed she made. "Now get inside and get some sleep. You look dead." 

You did roll your eyes at that, missing her affectionate smirk as you disappeared through the door, muttering a laconic. "Yes, mom."

The darkness and quiet that greeted you inside your apartment felt like a soothing balm to your over stimulated mind, a much needed respite after your long, adrenaline filled evening. That was why you didn't even bother to turn the lights on as you let your backpack fall anywhere on the tile floor, stepping out of your sneakers and pulling your shirt over your head. 

The cold early morning breeze sent goosebumps along your skin, bringing your attention to the open window. 

You froze. You were always very careful not to let any windows open, Hell's Kitchen was a tough neighbourhood for a spoiled cat like your Selina to be out and about. 

A flash of movement at the corner of your eye was all you needed before your senses went haywire again, instinct kicking in as you jumped high in the air to twirl and land a kick to the back of whoever was in your apartment. But the intruder was expecting it, dodging just in time and turning around to block your punch. Getting a hold of your wrist, the dark figure twisted and pulled you forwards until you fell, back flushed against his chest as he wrapped his arms around yours in a vice-like grip, effectively immobilizing you.

"Easy there, Smokey." A way too familiar voice breathed against your ear, "you're going to hurt yourself." 

You stopped struggling against his grasp. Right. Of course it was him.

"Peter?"

His grip grew tighter for a moment, before letting go.

"Hello, Y/N."

Just like that, it all came back to you: The memories you had tried to repress, the feelings you had tried so hard to bury, washing over you like a flood, a tsunami hitting you hard enough to knock the breath out of your lungs once again. As you took an unsteady step away from him, you prayed that Peter hadn't noticed. 

"What are you doing here?"

"Nice place," Peter ignored your question, choosing to casually pace your living room instead. "Bit of a downgrade from the upper west side, though…"

"Fine," you scoffed, turning to him, "you wanna do small talk? Let's do small talk: what’s with the edgelord look?" You pointed at his tar-black suit. 

"Biotech," the suit retracted from his face and head, reminding you of the nanobots suit he used to wear before Dr. Octopus destroyed it. "Do you like it?" 

You shrugged,

"Stark industries?"

He shook his head. 

"Horizon Lab."

Well, that was interesting. You knew the little, independent company owned by one of his ex-girlfriends had helped him manufacture a couple of special suits developed from his very own webs, after his emancipation from the Starks. But you had no idea they had reached such level of refinement, and you had a feeling neither did Fury. 

"You like it?"

"You look… taller," You noted. That wasn't the only difference; his hair was longer, wilder, his shoulders wider, his arms far bigger than you recalled.

"You look exactly the same," he countered, as open as he had always been. "Just as beautiful as I remembered…"

You sighed, tiredly. You didn't have the energy for that — for his charm, his candidness. What was more, you weren't prepared at all. 

No, you weren't prepared for this Peter. Your Peter. Not after what all that Fury had told you…

"What do you want, Peter?"

He leveled you with a look, his whole demeanor changing in the blink of an eye. 

"I could ask you the exact same thing…"

"What do you mean?"

"Come on, Y/N. Don't play dumb with me, it doesn't suit you." His sudden bluntness surprised you, but it was more along the lines of what Fury had warned you to expect so it didn't completely manage to throw you off. 

You crossed your arms, "I have no idea what you're talking about." 

"Really, now?" Peter took a step forward, towering over you. "You don't? Hanging out at my spots, patrolling my neighbourhood, taking down my thugs?" He enumerated.

"Your thugs?"

"The kingpin is mine," he growled.

"Since when?"

"You fucking know since when!" You tried to hide your flinch at his rising tone, but he must have noticed because a moment later, he was closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose, visibly trying to get a hold of himself. 

"I thought Queens was your neighbourhood…" You spoke, trying to diffuse the tension after a couple beats had passed without him moving.

"Yeah, well," he shrugged, opening his eyes, "I relocated."

"So did I…" 

"You did," he smiled. And just like that, he was back at being your Peter. "And you mean to tell me all of this." He pressed a button in his wrist, "isn't to get my attention?" 

A hologram version of Jade's video started to play in front of your impassive eyes. And you might have thought your carefully constructed mask of indifference gave away nothing, but Peter could see right through it. You didn't seem surprised to see the video and that alone was enough proof for him to confirm his theory. 

"Please, Smokey, security footage?" He smirked, "this isn't like you. You aren't this sloppy."

Another click and the video was gone.

"Well, this might come as a surprise to you, but everything isn't always about you." 

"Then what's going on?"

"None of your fucking business!"

Before you could react, the floor disappeared from under your feet, and your back hitted the wall with enough force to rattle the windows. 

"Like hell it isn't," Peter hissed, his weight pinning you upright. "Now tell me, what the fuck did you get yourself into this time?"

As you stared into his stormy eyes, heart racing inside your chest, unsure if the adrenaline coursing through your veins was because of the obvious threat in front of you, or for another reason entirely, you wondered exactly the same. 

Your tongue came out to moist your lips, Peter's dark pupils following the movement.

"It's been over a year," you breathed out, all the fight leaving you. It was too much, his sweet breath fanning over your face, every inch of his hard body pressed up against yours, overpowering you, the slick texture of his new suit against your bare chest… it was intoxicating. You had overestimated yourself. "Why do you even care?"

"I will always care about you," he confessed softly, just as affected by the closeness as you. "I will always want you…"

You closed your eyes, trying to get your erratic heart under control.

"Maybe I don't want you anymore, Peter." 

He pushed you harder against the wall, his forearm against your collarbone to prevent you from moving. 

"Don't do that," he whispered, lips ghosting over yours. "Don't torture me."

"Peter…"

BAM.

You fell to your knees, hard, Peter's body suddenly no longer supporting your weight. 

"Touch her again, and I'll kill you!"

"J-Jess?" 

"Hey, kid. You alright?" Your neighbour barely even spared you a glance over her shoulder as she placed herself between you and a newly irate looking Peter, slowly getting up from the rumble of splinters of wood and shards of glass that used to be your coffee table.

"What are you doing here?" You asked in confusion.

"I heard a noise," she deadpanned, eyes never leaving the dark cladded vigilante. But to your surprise Peter merely raised his hands in surrender, the bulk of his rage vanishing the moment he understood the woman in front of him was only trying to protect you. 

"This isn't what it looks like…" He tried to explain, but Jessica would have none of it.

"Yeah, sure" she scoffed. "Big guy, totally dressed, pinning a half naked girl to the wall in the dark... totally not rapey."

Peter flinched. She was right, he wouldn't believe himself either. 

"Listen, you're Jessica Jones, right?" Recognizing the woman in front of him, suddenly your choice in real state made a lot more sense. "I am- I was," he quickly corrected himself, "Peter Parker. Your friend, Matt Murdock, he knows me… look, I'm not- I'm not a bad guy." 

Even to his ears, he sounded unconvincing.

"Really?" Jess pointed at his black costume, "Cause you definitely look like a bad guy." 

"I… Y/n, help me out here," he threw you a pleading look but Jess moved to the side, blocking you from view.

"Hey, fuckface!" She snapped, drawing Peter's attention back to her, "the only reason I'm not kicking your ass right now is because of Matt. But if I ever see you next to Y/N ever again, I'll break every single bone of your body. Twice. Now get the fuck out of here, before I run out of fucking patience."

"Y/N?"

You sighed, getting up. Away from him, and with Jess there as a boofer between the both of you, you were no longer under the influence and could clearly see exactly how fucked up the situation was.

"I think you should leave, Peter." 

There was a flash of hurt in his eyes, but it was quickly replaced by a mask of indolence as he squared his jaw and turned away, letting the bio-suit close over his head again.

"I looked for her too, you know?" He admitted, before making his exit through the same window he had come in from.

You had no time to dwell on his words or anything of what had just happened, before Jess was on your face. 

"That was Peter? Your sister's boyfriend, the one you told me I didn't need to investigate?"

You resisted the urge to shrink under her look,

"Yeah…"

"You told me he was harmless. That did not look harmless!"

You couldn't really argue with that, so you didn't. Instead you gestured at her to be quiet, as you reached past her to pick up your phone, your landline phone, the one you had never bothered connecting. 

The one you knew was bugged.

With voice as clear and steady as you were able to manage, you spoke into the mic,

"Contact made. Awaiting further instructions." 

To be continued...

[fatesdeepdive]

Entry 22: Leo the Edgelord

I’ve been clearing out the Paralogues between updates, which means that all of my units are overpowered now. I actually ran out of Master Seals to promote them. This isn’t a big deal, though, because you can just buy them at other people’s castles. Really, there’s little reason to upgrade your own castle besides convenience, because with a little time investment you can get everything you need from other players.

Support: Hinata/Kagero

C: Hinata sees Kagero sneaking around. When he questions her, she runs away.

B: Hinata spots a sketchbook Kagero is hiding behind her back. Kagero’s drawings are nightmarish and surreal. Hinata says he likes them and recommends Kagero share them. Kagero assumes he is lying to her.

A: Hinata explains that he genuinely likes Kagero’s weird art. It’s a nice moment. Him telling her she should smile more isn’t.

S: Kagero, thanks to Hinata’s encouragement, has begun drawing more. The two of them love each other now I guess.

Review: Overall, not bad. Hinata is a bit womanizing at times, but him liking Kagero’s Junji Ito ass art is fun.

Support: Mozu/Ryoma

C: Ryoma finds Mozu making soup, She explains that she’s cooking because it’s the only thing she’s good at. Ryoma offers to train her.

B: Ryoma and Mozu train together. Mozu is in awe over getting personal attention from the goddamn crown prince, but Ryoma explains that social standing isn’t important. How progressive for a guy who also believes he should have absolute power because he belongs to a special bloodline. Ryoma also says that Mozu could become stronger than him someday, which sounds a bit shaky; Mozu has good growths, but Ryoma is notoriously broken in this game.

A: Mozu makes Ryoma some soup and says she wants to open a restaurant after the war.

S: Mozu makes a giant pot of soup, Ryoma offers to help, and Mozu says she can’t ask a prince for help. Ryoma says that he likes Mozu for her passion, despite their class differences.

Review: Not bad, but lacking a real oomph of drama or comedy. I do like the idea of Mozu marrying Ryoma and becoming queen of Hoshido like a Disney princess.

Support: Hana/Saizo

C: Hana skips breakfast to train and begs Saizo for food. He explains that he’s an asshole and tells her to go away. Hana keeps bothering him and he gives her a steamed bun he keeps in his pocket, which Hana enjoys.

B: Hana bugs Saizo for another bun. He explains that his buns are gross, bland battle provisions and Hana is weird for liking them.

A: Hana asks Saizo how she can repay him for the food. Saizo tells her to stop annoying him.

S: Saizo checks in on Hana, worried that she’s hurt because she’s stopped pestering him. Saizo asks Hana out; she says yes, but only if he gives her more buns.

Review: Not bad. Two things about this are weird, though: Hana acts differently in this Support than any other I’ve read, and it never confirms which of them has weird taste buds.

Support: Azama/Sakura

C: Azama asks Sakura why she’s so nice and selfless, pointing that, as a princess, Sakura could get away with being a spoiled brat.

B: Azama continues to mock Sakura until she snaps, yells at him, and snaps her staff in two.

A: Sakura gives Azama the silent treatment, so Azama gives her an expensive amulet to apologize.

S: Azama reveals that the amulet was actually a proposal, and that he’s tricked Sakura into marrying him. Now, if this Support ended with sakura telling him to fuck off for trying to weasel his way to power, I would like it. But no it ends with the obligatory “I was actually mean because I love you” bullshit.

Review: This game keeps giving me things that make me like Azama then wasting them. If this entire Support Line was him manipulating Sakura into growing a backbone, as a trickster mentor, I would actually really like it. But no, it goes with the classic Azama is an asshole but not really but also yes really.

Support: Hayato/Orochi

C: Orochi lures Hayato into a competition about who owns the rarest herb.

B: The two of them continue competing, this time in making potions.

A: After going 100 rounds and making too many potions to store, Orochi and Hayato call it quits. The two of them reflect on how having a rival pushes them to be better.

S: The two of them confess to one another. They argue about who fell in love first.

Review: Overall, not a bad Support. The S-Rank especially features the two of them bouncing off each other really well.

Birthright Chapter 18: Leo

As the gang head towards the capital through a dark swamp called the Woods of the Forlorn, Felicia mourns the loss of Flora. Corrin says that they’re all there for her and then Felicia doesn’t speak for the rest of the chapter.

Corrin and Ryoma come across a bunch of mysterious blue flames and realize that they’re standing in a graveyard. Faceless spawn in above the graves, because I guess they’re zombies. Ryoma realizes that the faceless are being controlled by someone and Leo walks out of a cloud of purple smoke. In an anime cutscene that is actually pretty cool, he says that the punishment for traitors is death. Leo, in a line that is both edgy and pretty cool, explains that he’s going to kill Corrin in a graveyard because the sister he loved is already dead.

Takumi threatens Leo, then almost faints because the poison swamp he’s standing in is poisonous. Shortly after, the rest of the royals begin to get sink. Corrin is immune to the effects of the bog, because she grew up in Nohr. In the actual map, Felicia, Jaob, Silas, and Scarlet are also immune to the bog, which is a nice bit of gameplay integration.

Leo whines about how he hates Corrin because Xander and Camilla loved her more than him, immediately destroying any coolness he built up. Leo is accompanied by his two retainers: a sadistic adventurer named Niles and Owain from Fire Emblem Awakening. If you fight Leo with Corrin, she asks if he really always hated her, because she loves him. He responds that there’s no point in answering her.

After Leo is defeated, Corrin refuses to kill him. Leo explains that if Nohr surrenders, the Hoshidans will destroy their culture and kill their families. Except, they won’t, because this is a game that tries to be morally complex but still has one side be cartoonishly evil and the other be annoyingly good. Leo tells Corrin that the Hoshidans will kill her the moment it benefits them, and again, no, no they will not.

Leo tells Corrin that she should execute him before he attacks her with magic and Corrin points out he could have done that at any time, meaning that he’s still a good person deep down. Leo tells Corrin to shut up. Corrin says that they’re still family and that she loves Leo.

Leo admits that he never hated Corrin. Corrin asks him to join her in ending the war and Leo says no. He justifies it by saying that he doesn’t want to fight Xander and Camilla, but also he attacked us five minutes ago which is a bit hypocritical. Azura gives Leo a weird crystal to help clarify his thoughts.

Leo asks if he and Azura are related and she says no, because she’s mysterious. Leo asks if she’s from Nohr and she keeps being mysterious.

Leo warns that Xander has grown far stronger and that the only way for Corrin to defeat him is to visit a nation called Notre Sagesse. There lives a man named the Rainbow Sage, who helped Xander reach incredible power. Because Notre Sagesse is a long way away, Leo gives us a convenient warp tome that he has for some reason.

[smokeybrand]

This is the Good Life

I read a ton of manga. I find the content coming out of Japan to be far more genuine and creative than the sh*tshow comic industry we have here in the states. I’m not saying there isn’t good content to be found in the massive annals of Marvel and DC, i am in particular love with whatever the f*ck is going on with the X-titles right now, but that is the exception, not the rule. Japan is different. Even the most blatant shill of a cash-in has a unique spin to it. When the moe boom happened and we were inundated with slice of life fodder for a decades, shows like Higurashi, Toradora, Haruhi, Lucky Star, and basically anything out of Kyoto animation, were absolute masterpieces. Each tells a distinct story, adapting that cutesy art style to their respective strengths, and it worked beautifully. The homogeneity of formulaic content here in the US, isn’t really a concern overseas and that is a wonderful thing. It makes for amazing storytelling and a creativity freedom, even when awash in trend or fad. I say all of this to preface the fact that Kajiya De Hajimeru Isekai Slow Life is chef kiss levels of shine, even if it is a manga staunchly entrenched in the grating isekai fad.

Now, i say “grating” in the glib sense because i genuinely love the isekai genre. I have for decades, going back to Escaflowne, El Hazard, .Hack, and Rayearth. What i think most people are frustrated with, is the OP protagonist in these stories. You can only identify with some, overwhelming, power fantasy, so many times going into these tales. How do you frame that narrative? how do you keep it compelling? You don’t. Entries like Overlord and Tensei Shitara Suraimu Datta Ken do a great job avoiding that stagnation by building out the world around their ridiculously plot-armored mains but that doesn’t work all of the time. If you want a character driven narrative, you have to build great characters. You have to make your principal cast affable, flawed, and fun. I think that’s the strength in Kajiya De Hajimeru Isekai Slow Life. You almost immediately fall in love with the cast you’re going to sped all of your time with and that’s absolutely necessary because this story is as much about the world building as it is about the main cast, themselves.

Slow Life follows Eizo Tanya, who is hit by a truck in the process of saving a cat, who turned out to be an inter-dimensional god or something. Since the Kitty deity f*cked up and was almost “killed’, causing Eizo’s death in turn, it offers to reincarnate him into a brand new world with a mad overpowered cheat skill. Eizo gives it a thought and chooses - blacksmithing! You see, Eizo was a salaryman, bitterly unhappy with his life in the old times. He wanted, more than anything, to be able to work with his hands in the new world so, instead of asking for he power to be a Hero or some vicious Demon Lord, he just wanted the ability to make dope sh*t in the woods. Kitty Deity is a little surprised but grants Eizo his wish and, boom! We have the foundation for a pretty delightful romp. Stuff happens, Eizo gets a tiger wife and a dwarf apprentice. His craftsmanship is the best in the world and his tale toward legendary status begins.

The simplicity of this narrative is one that has a level of accessibility not found in most isekai. The simple desire of a man, overworked and looking to be fulfilled, to find value, in what he does with his life, really resonates with cats like me who have been in the workforce for decades. I left my job a year ago to pursue my dream of crating so i identify with Eizo’s passion to be more than just a cg in a machine. More than that, i love the way he is written. Eizo feels real, like a proper person lost in a world of fantasy and magic. The supporting cast is also amazing and decently developed. I immediately fell in love with tiger waifu, Samia. She is capable, tenacious, curious, and f*cking adorable. There isn’t a ton of groundwork about her past being laid but i have a feeling we’ll definitely get into that as the narrative develops and i can’t wait to see where that leads. Newcomer to the story is the dwarf apprentice, Riku Moritz. We haven’t had a great deal of time with her so far, but she comes across as a studious, knowledgeable, junior who yearns to be the best at her craft. She reminds me of Miles Morales from Into the Spider-Verse, to Eizo’s Peter B. Parker and i adore that type of dynamic. We are only a handful of chapters in, but this story seems like it has legs and i look forward to where it goes in the future. I’d say it’s a slow burn, but it really isn’t.

I was hooked from chapter one and a lot of that, aside from the great writing and developing character work, stems from the artwork. My, goodness, is Slow Life gorgeous! There is a purposeful elegance to how these lines and strokes come together. The line work is clean and precise, granting each panel thjust the right amount of detail hile staying true to the artist's personal vision. It's actually very refreshing to see. The style is very distinct and carries it's own, unique hallmarks, similar to Toriyama or Oda, but slightly more relaistic than those. I am absolutely in love with it. Like, i follow a few trash rags because the art is dope and immediately hooked me. Isekai Meikyuu de Dorei Harem Wo, Gunbured X Sisters, or Kouya Ni Kemono Doukokusu immediately come to mind, all decent in their own right, but it’s very obvious the strength of these entries lies in the art. True to form, it took a while for me to get into their respective narratives and, in all honesty, they’ve gotten pretty good but those first few chapters were a bit rocky. The art kept me coming back and now, these three are some of my favorite titles to read. Slow Life did not have that issue. The art immediately took my breath away. It felt like cracking open Tsugumomo, BLEACH, Lv2 kara Cheat datta Moto Yuusha Kouho no Mattari Isekai Life, Gleipnir, Meikyuu Black Company, or Isekai De Skill Wo Kaitai Shitara Cheat Na Yome Ga Zoushoku Shimashita: Gainen Kousa No Structure. That’s a lot of titles but i am a slut for great, unique, artwork and these entries hit my sweet spot immediately. I’m just lucky that the narrative accompanying them was enough to do the linework justice because it would have been a shame to abandon these titles over sheer ugliness. Slow life definitely dodged that bullet. It is, without hyperbole, some of the best looking manga I've seen in years.

Kajiya De Hajimeru Isekai Slow Life is absolutely amazing. It’s an easy read filled with exceptional art, deft character work, and a world that is both compelling and growing steadily. Eizo is a great protagonist, easily to identify with and none of the edgelord OP, baggage most Isekai protags tend to have. Samia is a delightful love interests who carries a quiet strength and enjoyable naivety, which immediately endears and Riku is just plain hilarious. This laid back narrative of a smith who just wants to make dope sh*t, while being dope to his tiger wife and faithful apprentice is an distinct palate cleanser in a world of power fantasy saturated, isekai, trash. I love this book and feel like more people should have eyes on it so, you know, got put your eyes on it. You won’t be disappointed. Also, all the other titles i specifically mentioned. They’re worth a gander, too, especially Isekai De Skill Wo Kaitai Shitara Cheat Na Yome Ga Zoushoku Shimashita: Gainen Kousa No Structure and Lv2 kara Cheat datta Moto Yuusha Kouho no Mattari Isekai Life. Them sh*ts is just plain lovable and have two more of these objectively bias essays forthcoming. But that’s for later, for now, go read all of Kajiya De Hajimeru Isekai Slow Life, right now! Is totally worth! Plus, Samia is f*cking adorable, man. Seriously, tiger waifu is best girl!

[smokeybrandreviews]

This is the Good Life

I read a ton of manga. I find the content coming out of Japan to be far more genuine and creative than the sh*tshow comic industry we have here in the states. I’m not saying there isn’t good content to be found in the massive annals of Marvel and DC, i am in particular love with whatever the f*ck is going on with the X-titles right now, but that is the exception, not the rule. Japan is different. Even the most blatant shill of a cash-in has a unique spin to it. When the moe boom happened and we were inundated with slice of life fodder for a decades, shows like Higurashi, Toradora, Haruhi, Lucky Star, and basically anything out of Kyoto animation, were absolute masterpieces. Each tells a distinct story, adapting that cutesy art style to their respective strengths, and it worked beautifully. The homogeneity of formulaic content here in the US, isn’t really a concern overseas and that is a wonderful thing. It makes for amazing storytelling and a creativity freedom, even when awash in trend or fad. I say all of this to preface the fact that Kajiya De Hajimeru Isekai Slow Life is chef kiss levels of shine, even if it is a manga staunchly entrenched in the grating isekai fad.

Now, i say “grating” in the glib sense because i genuinely love the isekai genre. I have for decades, going back to Escaflowne, El Hazard, .Hack, and Rayearth. What i think most people are frustrated with, is the OP protagonist in these stories. You can only identify with some, overwhelming, power fantasy, so many times going into these tales. How do you frame that narrative? how do you keep it compelling? You don’t. Entries like Overlord and Tensei Shitara Suraimu Datta Ken do a great job avoiding that stagnation by building out the world around their ridiculously plot-armored mains but that doesn’t work all of the time. If you want a character driven narrative, you have to build great characters. You have to make your principal cast affable, flawed, and fun. I think that’s the strength in Kajiya De Hajimeru Isekai Slow Life. You almost immediately fall in love with the cast you’re going to sped all of your time with and that’s absolutely necessary because this story is as much about the world building as it is about the main cast, themselves.

Slow Life follows Eizo Tanya, who is hit by a truck in the process of saving a cat, who turned out to be an inter-dimensional god or something. Since the Kitty deity f*cked up and was almost “killed’, causing Eizo’s death in turn, it offers to reincarnate him into a brand new world with a mad overpowered cheat skill. Eizo gives it a thought and chooses - blacksmithing! You see, Eizo was a salaryman, bitterly unhappy with his life in the old times. He wanted, more than anything, to be able to work with his hands in the new world so, instead of asking for he power to be a Hero or some vicious Demon Lord, he just wanted the ability to make dope sh*t in the woods. Kitty Deity is a little surprised but grants Eizo his wish and, boom! We have the foundation for a pretty delightful romp. Stuff happens, Eizo gets a tiger wife and a dwarf apprentice. His craftsmanship is the best in the world and his tale toward legendary status begins.

The simplicity of this narrative is one that has a level of accessibility not found in most isekai. The simple desire of a man, overworked and looking to be fulfilled, to find value, in what he does with his life, really resonates with cats like me who have been in the workforce for decades. I left my job a year ago to pursue my dream of crating so i identify with Eizo’s passion to be more than just a cg in a machine. More than that, i love the way he is written. Eizo feels real, like a proper person lost in a world of fantasy and magic. The supporting cast is also amazing and decently developed. I immediately fell in love with tiger waifu, Samia. She is capable, tenacious, curious, and f*cking adorable. There isn’t a ton of groundwork about her past being laid but i have a feeling we’ll definitely get into that as the narrative develops and i can’t wait to see where that leads. Newcomer to the story is the dwarf apprentice, Riku Moritz. We haven’t had a great deal of time with her so far, but she comes across as a studious, knowledgeable, junior who yearns to be the best at her craft. She reminds me of Miles Morales from Into the Spider-Verse, to Eizo’s Peter B. Parker and i adore that type of dynamic. We are only a handful of chapters in, but this story seems like it has legs and i look forward to where it goes in the future. I’d say it’s a slow burn, but it really isn’t.

I was hooked from chapter one and a lot of that, aside from the great writing and developing character work, stems from the artwork. My, goodness, is Slow Life gorgeous! There is a purposeful elegance to how these lines and strokes come together. The line work is clean and precise, granting each panel thjust the right amount of detail hile staying true to the artist's personal vision. It's actually very refreshing to see. The style is very distinct and carries it's own, unique hallmarks, similar to Toriyama or Oda, but slightly more relaistic than those. I am absolutely in love with it. Like, i follow a few trash rags because the art is dope and immediately hooked me. Isekai Meikyuu de Dorei Harem Wo, Gunbured X Sisters, or Kouya Ni Kemono Doukokusu immediately come to mind, all decent in their own right, but it’s very obvious the strength of these entries lies in the art. True to form, it took a while for me to get into their respective narratives and, in all honesty, they’ve gotten pretty good but those first few chapters were a bit rocky. The art kept me coming back and now, these three are some of my favorite titles to read. Slow Life did not have that issue. The art immediately took my breath away. It felt like cracking open Tsugumomo, BLEACH, Lv2 kara Cheat datta Moto Yuusha Kouho no Mattari Isekai Life, Gleipnir, Meikyuu Black Company, or Isekai De Skill Wo Kaitai Shitara Cheat Na Yome Ga Zoushoku Shimashita: Gainen Kousa No Structure. That’s a lot of titles but i am a slut for great, unique, artwork and these entries hit my sweet spot immediately. I’m just lucky that the narrative accompanying them was enough to do the linework justice because it would have been a shame to abandon these titles over sheer ugliness. Slow life definitely dodged that bullet. It is, without hyperbole, some of the best looking manga I've seen in years.

Kajiya De Hajimeru Isekai Slow Life is absolutely amazing. It’s an easy read filled with exceptional art, deft character work, and a world that is both compelling and growing steadily. Eizo is a great protagonist, easily to identify with and none of the edgelord OP, baggage most Isekai protags tend to have. Samia is a delightful love interests who carries a quiet strength and enjoyable naivety, which immediately endears and Riku is just plain hilarious. This laid back narrative of a smith who just wants to make dope sh*t, while being dope to his tiger wife and faithful apprentice is an distinct palate cleanser in a world of power fantasy saturated, isekai, trash. I love this book and feel like more people should have eyes on it so, you know, got put your eyes on it. You won’t be disappointed. Also, all the other titles i specifically mentioned. They’re worth a gander, too, especially Isekai De Skill Wo Kaitai Shitara Cheat Na Yome Ga Zoushoku Shimashita: Gainen Kousa No Structure and Lv2 kara Cheat datta Moto Yuusha Kouho no Mattari Isekai Life. Them sh*ts is just plain lovable and have two more of these objectively bias essays forthcoming. But that’s for later, for now, go read all of Kajiya De Hajimeru Isekai Slow Life, right now! Is totally worth! Plus, Samia is f*cking adorable, man. Seriously, tiger waifu is best girl!

[linkspooky]

The ‘Dark Hero’ / Edgelord Tsurubami

@kaibutsushidousha challenge accepted

Tsurubami is introduced to us as “someone closer to the main character than Zenkichi” and to an extent this is true. He is her step-brother, (later revealed to be her cousin as well). He’s also closer to her in terms of power level than Zenkichi will ever be, having an abnormality, a minus, a style, and able to use them all effectively makes him at least in the top three in terms of power level at their school. 

However, this is Medaka Box so we’re talking almost entirely in the language of tropes. The reason that Tsurubami seems closer to Medaka has nothing to do with their actual closeness, but rather the fact that they both come off as fictional characters in real life.

Medaka sees herself as the main character of her own story. Tsurubami sees himself as the dark hero, on a story for revenge. These are just narratives that they hold for themselves. What makes Zenkichi so comparatively “normal” is that he does not have the same tendency towards narrative and instead views people as people for the most part. (There are times where he also falls for narrative because he’s not perfect, but he also tends to always be the more human side of Medaka and her chain link to humanity).

In fact, the unhealthy aspects of Zenkichi and Medaka’s relationship are because of Zenkichi saw himself in terms of narrative. That he was born to support her, that he always has to keep up to her and be by her side. That’s what turned him from Medaka’s equal, to her supporting character and allowed her to get away with dragging her along with her whims. 

So let’s talk about set up and subversion. Ajimu literally just tells us that he’s not only a foil to Medaka, but also one to Zenkichi which is why she arranged for them to meet. That was very helpful of her. 

Let’s talk a little about setup and subversion. Tsurubami is set up as somebody closer to nature than Medaka is. This shows up a lot in his early interaction with Zenkichi. He is, in a way, distant from other people. The first thing he does is ask Zenkichi to not look him in the face. The face is a clear symbol for identity. 

Both Medaka and Tsurubami have overpowering presences, they dominate conversations with whatever they feel like talking about at the moment and tend not to listen to others. Medaka has a tendency after all not to talk with people, but talk at them. One of Zenkichi’s biggest complaints is how much he steamrolls her. This also comes off as social awkward in both of them, even though they are such distinctive ‘characters’ and can talk circles around other people, they do not know how to interact with people as people. This is due to both of them having backstories of long isolation. 

So Tsurubami’s tendency to ramble about whatever he’s feeling, his avoidance of looking directly at people, him feeling like he’s unable to talk to people those are all things he shares with Medaka. She is just as socially awkward as he is, and unable to relate to others, she just comes off with more confidence. 

Hence why, Medaka sees herself as the hero, whereas Tsurubami is the dark hero or anti-hero. He’s the hero which exists to deconstruct the hero. Another important thing is Nisioisin is writing two traditional tropes of anti-hero at the same time, that is the modern defintion and the classic definition. 

The modern definition is someone who is not moral in the same sense that the hero is. Medaka wants to save everybody, Tsurubami just wants to avenge himself on his father. Medaka holds love for everybody, Tsurubami just holds hatred in his heart for his father. A good modern definition is Batman vs Superman. Superman is the idealist, Batman is a hero too in every sense of the word but he will use dirty means to accomplish his goals and tends to have much more human feelings of resentment. 

The classical definition of an anti-hero, is just someone who is in the protagonist role but not heroic. It’s someone who does not act like a hero in the greek sense. An anti-hero is more like Hamlet, indecisiveness, melencholy ranting, and plans that literally never work with no real regard to others are not heroic qualites.  An anti-hero cannot stop being human to rise to the occasion. By acting unheroic in the role of protagonist, they are set as opposed to traditional heroes and therefore question the logic of traditional heroes, they are anti-heroes. 

Tsurubami is a combination of both of those traits. He is the dark and brooding hero, he’s also the anti-hero that’s kind of just a normal dude behind all of his tragic backstory. This is why he’s also foils with Zenkichi. 

In this arc because they are still wrapped up in narrative neither Tsurubami nor Medaka see this, which is why when they both meet face to face not only is Tsurubami speaking in narrative terms referring to it as a “farewell scene” (Medaka is also indulging in narrative she straight up was monologueing to herself five seconds ago). He also does not meet up with her face to face. They are close in nature, but his claim that he is closer to Medaka than Zenkichi is is a lie, they’re just both reading out of the same storybook. Tsurubami has yet to try to understand Medaka as a person the same way Zenkichi does, he does not struggle to face her, he just has a grasp of her inner nature because of their similiarities. 

Alright, so part two. Tsurubami is actually kind of just a normal guy behind his eccentricities. He is as much foils with Zenkichi as foils with Medaka. In the first arc the manifestation of his minus is that he can annoy people so much that he physically provokes them, to the point where he even makes Ajimu fall for it.

By the final arc Tsurubami still regards himself as a Dark Hero, he is still playing to that narrative. However, we begin to see it deconstructed due to the presence of one other person. 

Nienamie Nienami, unlike Tsurubami who pretends to be aloof to everything Nienamie is just genuinely like that. It’s said from beginning to end she only ever follows her own whims. She is someone detached from the world in a way that he can never be. When interacting with her Tsurubami suddenly becomes a lot more normal, he is forced into the role of playing her straight man. It’s most often Tsurubami who snaps at her and tells her to act normally when she starts joking around.

In fact while seeming like she is the ideal of how Tsurubami wants to present himself as, she’s actually the complete opposite. She’s someone who rejects all narratives at all. Nienamie does not define herself as anything, except in rejection to everything else around her. She contradicts everything. She even contradicts herself. 

Which is once again, why nuance is so important in NisiOisin’s work and he encourages against thinking in black and white. A total absence of narrative is not necessarily a good thing either, because Nienamie who has no values to fight for, or beliefs, just ends up doing whatever she wants in the end. It’s not necessarily a bad thing to see the world around you narratively, but it’s also bad if it’s the only way you perceive things and forget the human element.

Tsurubami’s father did not see him as a person and thus abandoned him as easily as one would a failed science project, Tsurubami also responds to this by not seeing himself as a person. He embraces the dark hero narrative because Ajimu comes along and gives him something to do. 

He also shares his weakness with his father that he can stop seeing other people around him as people, and stop being able to read them at all as he sinks further and further into his own narrative.

Reality does not allign up to the narrative. Ajimu gave him a convenient revenge narrative to give him a purpose in life, and Tsurubami tried to live up to it but failed. He was not a brooding antihero hiding darkness deep in his heart. He was just a guy who was aloof to the world. 

In other words he was just ignoring everyone else around him, hence why his primary character trait is his shadowy eyes. He blinds himself. He has this self image of being a tortured soul, an impossible to understand eccentric, but what he really is is just socially awkward and poorly adapted at dealing with others. That’s much less Romantic than his own narrative.

However, at the end Tsurubami recognizes the danger that blinding himself had like this, because he does not want to become like his father someone just completely incapable of seeing and understanding others.

Which is why at the end Tsurubami realizes what he needs to become is not Medaka, but rather Zenkichi someone who is very self aware, and also someone who always looks at themself with face value. That is why in the epilogue it’s Tsurubami who arrives with Zenkichi and has been in close contact with him all these years, and not only that but his dark bangs overshadowing his eyes have been completely cut off reflecting his new clear way of seeing things. 

Now instead of pretending to be heroes, the two of them can be awkward dorks together!

[purple-paws]

Samekichi :3 (or Envy from FMA. Or both, do both heheheheh)

You knew I couldn’t choose either or, so you make me choose both. YOU PLANNED THIS DIDN’T YOU. XD This one’s pretty long so under a cut it goes! 

Samekichi: 

favorite thing about them: The fact that, when you initially meet this character, you THINK he’s going to be the stereotypical gruff, misunderstood, broody love interest - and to a degree, he is. But then you really get to know him, and it turns out he’s actually SUCH A HUGE breath of fresh air in terms of male characters / love interests.He’s extremely emotional. He wears his heart on his sleeve, and though he tries to put up the front of being gruff and uncaring, cares SO MUCH. He is shown crying, shows weaknesses and vulnerability. He quickly comes to terms with his feelings instead of waffling around them, and openly discusses them with characters like Nekoyama, and to a degree, Irena. He confesses that he’s in love with Wadanohara, and when he realizes she misunderstood his confession, doesn’t take it to heart: he recognizes she’s not in the same place emotionally as him and doesn’t try to needle her into feeling the same way. He’s not the strongest physically but NEVER lets that stop him from fighting to protect his loved ones. And by living with Wadanohara, he begins to recognize his flaws and, rather than pretend he doesn’t have them, actively starts working to become a better person.I JUST LOVE HIM A LOT OKAY???

least favorite thing about them: I really wish that the original game and manga had done a better job of explaining exactly WHY he didn’t reveal the truth about Sal to the kingdom. I understand the concept, but the execution (like almost everything else in this franchise) could have been polished a lot more. 

favorite line: His confession monologue during the True Ending reduces me to a blubbering mess every. goddamn. time.  

brOTP: Tarako/Samekichi! It cracks me up how Tarako sees RIGHT THROUGH Samekichi’s gruff edgelord persona, and how accepting they are of his true nature. I also really admire that, out of the ENTIRE Sea Kingdom, they’re the only one whose faith in Samekichi doesn’t waiver no matter what. I also love how Tarako eventually wears down Samekichi’s defenses and he comes to accept the little guy into his life.

OTP: Samekichi/Wadanohara. Hands down. No contest.

nOTP: Samekichi/Idate and Sal/Samekichi. The former doesn’t bother me as much as the latter does. 

random headcanon: Samekichi is left-handed. (Compared to my headcanon about Fukami, this is so short it’s embarrassing XD)

unpopular opinion: I wish more people focused on the idea of them building a loving, happy life built on mutual respect and love than just the idea of them banging all the time. Yes, it’s hot, but sex isn’t and shouldn’t be the only thing that defines their relationship. 

song i associate with them: “you won’t ever feel a thing” (the script) / “may i” (trading yesterday)

favorite picture of them: 

(Original art by funamusea, found here: http://funamusea.com/)

Envy: 

favorite thing about them: I honestly can’t explain WHY I find Envy to be one of the more fascinating villains in this series. I think nowadays I would rank him my second favorite homunculus (after Greedling), but for the longest time, they were number one. Maybe it was that they had a good dose of comedic moments to combat the more serious, severe ones? Maybe it’s the emotional catharsis of seeing them constantly berate humans and then constantly get their ass handed to them? Maybe it’s that they’re just a little shit and I find them incredibly fascinating as both a study in villainy and a contrast to the protagonists?It could also stem from the fact that envy and jealousy is a rather difficult emotion to build an entire character out of, but Hiromu Arakawa pulled it off so perfectly in how they wrote this character. 

least favorite thing about them: I was never crazy about how their story arc ended in the 2003 anime. I think they could have taken the “forgotten son” plot device and either scrapped it OR made it more interesting and compelling. I also think 2003!Envy was WAS too overpowered. 

favorite line: oh my god there’s too many. XD The first that comes to mind is probably (in response to Edward asking who they are): “Well, that depends, I can be whoever you’d like. So who would you like to be, Mister Fullmetal Pipsqueak? Hm, how about a taller version of you?”

brOTP: Envy/Lust/Gluttony. The original homunculi trio had the best interactions. I also was surprised by how much I wanted more scenes of them interacting with Mei, Lin and Lan Fan in and out of combat. (Especially while he’s stuck inside that mason jar, heh.)

OTP: Eh, y’know what, I used to be ashamed of the fact I shipped Edward/Envy, but honestly I have a lot of good memories from when it was my hardcore ship and from interacting with others who shipped it that I’ll admit: it’s still a guilty pleasure. XD it makes zero sense but it brought me a lot of joy at one point in my life, so who cares??

nOTP: On that note, nowadays I don’t really ship them with anyone anymore? They honestly are too dangerous to pair off with anyone, and that’s not the point to their character. 

random headcanon: Due to their heavy body mass, Envy doesn’t fair well in water. They sink like a rock. 

unpopular opinion: I like fetus!Envy the best out of all their forms. XD 

song i associate with them: “everybody loves me” (one republic) / “everybody wants to rule the world” (either tears for fears OR lorde)

favorite picture of them: Ehhhh this one works. This was one of the best “OH SHIT” moments.

(source: https://fmascreencap.tumblr.com/post/1649734260)

[keelywolfe]

FIC: Biting Off More Than You Can Chew; part 4

Summary: For better or worse, choices have been made. Time to reap the consequences. 

Tags: heatfic, dubious consent, NSFW, frenemies to lovers, mates, first time, more if I think of them

PLEASE READ THE TAGS: This is a Heat story, so there are going to be issues of consent. I don’t do partner rape, nope, but hey, I want to be straight with y’all. I like heatfics personally, but I understand how they can be troubling for some people. So there it is.

Okay, here we go: There is explicit sex in this chapter! NSFW!

Also on AO3

Read Chapter 1

Read Chapter 2

Read Chapter 3

It was like déjà vu to teleport into the Fell brothers’ house, this time with a bag over his shoulder. This was all pure guesswork on his part, but it didn't take a PhD to figure that some lube, a few bottles of water, and a change of clothes was probably a good idea. 

Nothing had changed, the living room was still a clutter of dirty dishes and laundry. But the smell was so much stronger, almost enough to make him stagger, eye-wateringly ripe, only now it smelled fucking delicious. Rus took a long breath and slowly pulled his sweatshirt off, hanging it over the back of a chair. There was no telling how this was going to turn out and he was pretty fond of this one. He slipped off his shoes and that left him in a tank top and track pants, easy clothes to navigate.

All that was left was psyching himself up.

The truth was, he hadn’t had sex in a couple of months. He wasn’t naïve about his issues, thanks, he was more than aware that he used sex as something of a pressure valve, losing himself for a little while in an anonymous body, but lately, spending time with their alternates had been easing some of that. Suddenly, there were other skeletons, ones who understood, and while a couple of Monsters had been disappointed that the pussy store had closed shop, most of them had been agreeable about it. No one had made any promises to anyone, it had been a mutual benefit that had dried up and Rus’d been okay with going solo for a while. Or he had, until Red decided to have his brother plug into him like quarters in a slot machine.

No point in thinking that way right now. This was like any other time he’d had a one-nighter, that was all this was going to be. A little necessary relief and from his growing reaction to that smell, the lube probably wasn’t going to be necessary.

He went upstairs a little quieter this time, cautiously. The bedroom was still dark as the void, but Rus was ready for it, switching on a small battery powered lantern. Electricity was finicky in Underfell and he’d be damned if he was doing this in the dark.

Without the distraction of thinking Edge was dying, Rus was able to get a better look at the room. No race car bed here, only a utilitarian headboard and mattress. There was a bookshelf in a corner crammed with tattered volumes. The sight gave him a pang of guilt even through the blearing rise of desire. They had plenty of books, and Blue would be happy to loan them, but of course the Edgelord wouldn’t ask. Another task to assign to his little brother. Operation ‘Use The Library, Asshole’ to go along with the leftovers.

Enough poking around, (heh), time for the main course. He was as ready as he was ever going to be. Edge was curled up in the middle of the mattress beneath a blanket, looking sweaty and miserable. He was twitching, little helpless jerks, and his face was tight and pained. It made an honest pang of sympathy flash through him, come on, hadn’t life already dealt the residence of Underfell a bad hand and now there was this cherry added on top of a shit sundae.

Rus set his bag by the side of the bed. The clunk it made was soft, but Edge lurched up, a half-formed attack already in his hand. His eye lights were unevenly lit, disturbingly wide and Rus wondered how well he could even see. Well enough to scramble away when he realized who was there and Rus could only watch, torn between frustration and sympathy. Somehow that was worse, to see Edge fleeing from him.

Reddish sweat was dripping from Edge’s bones and that heavy, musty smell was overpowering, enticing. Rus already felt a little hazy, his own magic damp and soft between his legs.

Edge was still looking at him almost fearfully and Rus held out his empty hands, keeping carefully still. "it’s okay, kid."

“Don’t call me that!” Edge hissed. Even in the dim yellow light of the electric lamp, there were darkened shadows visible beneath his sockets, his magic shining hotly in his joints; he looked like he’d gone through hell in the few hours Rus had been gone. From the way Undyne and Red had described it, maybe he had.

His own magic was warming, too, reluctant anticipation combined with that mouthwateringly intense aroma. "sorry, habit. you're the same age as my bro.”

"And he isn’t a child either!"

"nope, but until you're older than me, i reserve the right to call you kid,” Rus took a careful step closer and Edge flinched back, cringing into the wall. “look, i know what's wrong, i'm here to help."

Edge's eye lights were burning coals of red and they didn’t seem able to be still, drifting over Rus only to jerk back up to meet his own.  "Get the fuck out."

"ain't gonna happen, may as well give in gracefully." Hopefully more gracefully than he had, Rus thought ruefully. He took another step closer.

There was nowhere for Edge to escape, he was tucked into a corner. He was shaking, tremors wracking him, "I won't...get...get out…"

“it’s okay,” Rus soothed, reaching out but not touching, not yet. Edge shook his head wildly, droplets of sweat flying.

Red had been wrong, Edge had a little no left in him. What kind of flipside shittwist was this that Rus was trying to seduce the one in heat? How did he get stuck with the one asshole so uptight he couldn’t let go even when biology demanded it? Okay, time to turn this up, they didn’t have all fucking day.

"besides, you already marked me, didn't ya?" Rus pulled the front of his tank top to the side, the strap falling off his shoulder, and Edge's eye lights followed it, staring at the clotted bite mark. Rus stroked a thumb over it, deliberately, and a low sound rose in Edge’s throat. "i'm here and i'm offering, you hear me? i’m saying yes. it's okay, sweetheart, i promise."

“don’t call me that, either,” Edge whimpered, fucking whimpered, and he curled up a little into himself, but he never looked away from that mark.

“pick a pet name and i’ll run with it,” Rus told him. He put a knee on the mattress, breathed in that sharp, ripe smell and leaned in to let Edge get a good look at him, at the bite. “anyway, as it’s been pointed out to me, i’ve already fucked my way thru half of underswap. if you’ve had a hundred dicks, may as well go for a hundred and one."

There was no time to react as a hand flashed out and grabbed his shirt, yanking him into the bed. Rus followed it, staggering, let Edge push him into the sweat-stained blankets. In an instant, Edge was looming over him, settling between his legs, and hot jealousy was visible in his eye lights.

Ah. Well, that was one way of getting it done. Rus winced as he heard tearing fabric, doubly grateful he'd stripped off his sweatshirt downstairs. It was one of his favorites. He kept himself relaxed as Edge scrabbled at his pants, lifting his hips as he tugged them down. His cunt was already formed, the magic glowing softly in the darkened room, and the insides of his femurs were already stained with wetness.  

It left him in nothing but the shredded remains of his tank top, Edge already mostly bare against him, his bones achingly hot to the touch as Rus caught hold of his shoulders. He braced himself on his arms over Rus, glaring down at him. Almost, Rus expected another round of protests, a few ‘get the fuck out’s’ thrown in for good measure. He startled when Edge ducked his head instead to fit his teeth against the mark on his collarbone. Rus braced himself for pain but there was nothing, only frantic gusts of breath against him, his tongue pressing hotly against it and a groan muffled into bone.

Even a virgin would have understood the implications of the hard, hot length pressed firmly against his pelvis and Rus hadn’t been able to claim that title in years.

“c'mon," Rus whispered. He lifted his hips, rubbing deliberately against him, encouragingly, "you don't have to wait anymore. i can take it, come on."

"I'll hurt you." It was a groan, a plea, revealing the barest thread of control and all Rus wanted was for it to fucking break.

"By fucking me?" he scoffed. He shifted, worming a hand down between his legs and pressed two fingers inside his cunt. The sound of it was wet and obscene. He'd stopped by home and done a little prep work when he'd gotten supplies, made sure he was worked up, and with those pheromones doing their job, he was more than ready for this.

"hear that?" He pulled his fingers out with a deliberate slick sound, wagging the orange-tinted digits in front of Edge's sockets. "i'm wet for you, i'm ready, come on!"

He had to bite back a yelp as Edge caught him by the wrist, yanking his hand up and sucking on those wet fingers. His tongue wrapped around them, wriggling against his knuckles, lapping it up. Edge was groaning, and he could feel the vibration of it, all fucking hell.

"edge, c'mon," Rus moaned. He spread his legs wide, lifting his hips, his cunt felt achingly empty, he was ready, damn it, more than ready, he needed this, he needed Edge inside him and he needed it now.

Edge still had him by the wrist, forcing it back against the bed and any thought of protest fled when Rus felt the tip of his cock press against him, slicking through his folds. He tried to encourage him, wrapped a leg around his hips and tried to pull him in.

"yeah, that's it, baby, that's it,” Rus murmured, “come on, push in, get in me deep, make me feel it, make me taste it."

"Shut up," Edge growled and Rus had to laugh.

"yeah, good luck with that...fu--uck!!"

His voice broke as Edge shoved in hard, left him choking on his words because fuck, Edge was not a small boy, not even a (heh) little. He was still going slower than Rus would have expected, trying to be gentle, but fuck that. He hadn’t died from fucking yet and now seemed like an excellent opportunity to put that to the test. He wrapped both legs around Edge’s hips and arched up, dragging him in hard despite Edge’s startled yelp. Until he could feel the scrape of his pelvis against his public symphysis and Rus could only blink up at the wavering shadows on the ceiling, gasping as he strained for more.

"oh, that's deep, that's so fucking deep, oh, baby, yeah, that's it, come on, fuck me deeper—"

He wasn’t moving, all fucking hells. Edge was breathing heavily, his shoulders heaving, and his cock was so deep inside him, stretching him, spitting him on the length, but he wasn’t moving, only staring down at Rus with those too-wide eye lights. Nothing but unsatisfying little shifts of his hips, tiny unconscious movements. Rus tried to twist his wrist free, could feel bruises rising from Edge's grip. By all the little angels, he couldn't remember ever wanted to get fucked so badly, to feel a hot, hard cock driving into him, how was it Edge had enough control left to keep still?

He gave Edge a glittery, heated look, running his tongue over his teeth. "still think you’re gonna hurt me?"

"I won’t.” Ragged and lost as it was, it sounded like a promise.

But not one that Rus particularly needed. The burn of desire was growing painful, "S'ok, you can hurt me a little, i don't mind...ah! oh, stars, oh, fuck, edge!"

The first real thrust took him off guard, Edge pulling out until only the tip was left inside him and then driving back in, a long, inexorable movement that sent sparks flying up his spine. It hit him too fast, too much, and frantically, Rus reached between them and thumbed his clit, coming hard, arching up and low cries choking out of him. Fuck, he’d never come that quickly before and when he came back, he blinked up dazedly to find Edge watching, his eye lights hot.

“your turn,” Rus rasped out and Edge nodded slightly, his hips rocking, and now they were getting somewhere. His rhythm was a little stilted, uncertain, nowhere near the wild, uncontrolled fucking that Rus had been expecting, but it seemed to be doing something for him. It was doing plenty for Rus, the girth of his cock was a delectable stretch and it didn’t take much wriggling to get a good angle. Rus lifted into each thrust the best he could, murmuring encouragements and running his hands over sweat-slick bones, teasing at sensitive cartilage and drawing out shivers and groans. Maybe neither of them had really wanted to go here, particularly with each other, but it might as well be good.

All that tight control, that care, was unraveling and those thrusts were getting harder, almost rough. One hand stayed on his wrist and the other was clutching his pelvis, sharp fingertips digging in with a hint of tantalizing threat. His thrusts were bordering on manic, and here it was, the wildness he’d been expecting, the desperation. Edge being so out of control was so wrong, but it was also fucking hot, and he was gasping, straining, chasing his need.

Rus felt it the moment he caught it, he could feel Edge's cock swelling inside him, that was something new, not painfully, but it stretched his walls, ratcheting him up to his limit before Edge choked, his breath hissing out through his teeth as a gush of hot come filled him. The feeling was enough to set Rus off, groaning as he came again.

He was still shaking with it, panting and trembling when Edge yanked himself free, fast enough to make him wince. “easy there, champ—" he began.

Only for his words to cut off with a startled whuff as he was flipped over on his front and dragged up to his knees, and before he could so much as yelp in surprised, Edge was inside him again, thrusting vigorously, the rough slide of his shaft filling him from a new angle, somehow even deeper.

Rus scrambled to brace himself before he faceplanted into the mattress, groaning out, “fuck!”

Immediately, Edge stilled, shaking hard enough to rattle against Rus, his hands painfully tight at Rus’s pelvis, keeping him from moving, “Are you all right?”

“don’t stop!” Rus snapped. He fought against that grip, trying to force Edge into him again but he was too strong, and he could only writhe in helpless frustration. “fuck me! come on!”

It was enough. Rus braced himself as best he could, hanging on as Edge let the hunger overwhelm him again, following his need and that was perfect, that was what Rus wanted, what he needed, this glorious fucking.

Rus lost count of how many times he came; his thoughts were hazed by either the cloud of pheromones or his constant state of near orgasm. It seemed like Edge’s cock never left him. He’d be on his knees then suddenly pulled up to sit astride his lap, only to find himself on his back, his legs drawn up over Edge’s shoulders. There was no reality past the delicious pleasure in his swimming consciousness, the hot flood of come filling him again and again, and he couldn’t say where his moans began and Edge’s ended.

By the end, his head was starting to clear, exhaustion finally overtaking desire. All but collapsed on his back, with his legs sprawled apart and above him, Edge couldn’t even hold himself up, all his weight pushing Rus into the bed as his hips moved weakly.

There were tears rimming his sockets, his expression startlingly vulnerable as Edge struggled over him, still trying to thrust, achingly hard and moving in the growing soreness of Rus’s cunt.

"I can't…" Edge gasped wetly. Every sound he made was closer to a whimper, his bones felt hot, overstimulated.

"yeah, you can," Rus crooned, tenderness welling up in him. Tired as he was, he hitched up into Edge’s weak movements encouragingly. "i've got you. one more time, yeah? one more time for realsies, i promise, you can do it, come inside me, i'm drenched with your come, get me wetter, get your come in me. "

It was enough. There was hardly more than a tremor to mark it, but wet as he was, he felt that bare spurt of come inside him. Rus petted his skull as Edge sagged down on him. Too heavy, but for the moment at least his weight was comforting. “there you go, love, you did it, you did real good.” 

Pointless. Edge’s breathing was evening out, Rus’s prediction that this would be the last time coming gratefully true. Before he could drop off entirely, Rus managed to push him off, at least enough so that he could damn well breathe. Not enough to get Edge to let him go, but that was all right. A couple of possessive hands were easier to manage than the entire weight of another Monster.

Now that thinking was becoming possible again, Rus took a second to regroup. From the sticky, damp feeling of the sheets he was thinking it would probably be easier to burn the damn things than to wash them, but at least they’d contained the damage to the bed. Besides, it wasn’t like Rus was going to be doing any cleaning aside from himself because he sure as fuck wasn’t shortcutting anywhere without a shower.

He sincerely doubted anyone was going to give him a medal for this, but he deserved at least a first shot at the hot water. He felt like he had come in every crevice and joint, and when he was less tired, it was going to be pretty disgusting.

Edge shifted a little against him, settling his skull on Rus’s ribcage. He looked as exhausted as Rus felt, especially with the hours he’d spent in heat beforehand tacked on. Sleep made him look younger than his normal scowl allowed, and reluctant tenderness rose in Rus again. Edge had more than enough years on him to be considered an adult, but he wasn’t exactly a grizzled old elder either. If this was his first time, he’d just gotten one hell of an introduction.

With the tips of his fingers, Rus managed to snag the strap of the bag he’d brought, fishing out a bottle of water and downing it greedily. That helped right there. He’d pour one down the Edgelord when he woke up. He couldn’t help giving the bag a longing look, though, he’d dust someone’s mother for a cigarette right now. Maybe Edge wouldn’t notice--

Rus grimaced. No. He wasn’t up for much if he accidentally woke Edge up and he decided it was time for round fifty, or wherever the fuck they’d ended. He kept hold of a bottle of water, though. If Red peeked in on them, he was going to nail the little fucker right between the eyes.

Edge was still clinging to him like an oversized skeletal teddy bear and that was fine, he hadn’t been planning on leaving yet, anyway. The last thing he wanted was to go through all this only to have Edge dust because Rus hadn't waited long enough for his pheromones to settle or for him to give him another love bite or whatever else was supposed to happen. Probably should have flipped to the ending of Undyne’s book and checked for spoilers, little late to worry about that now.  

At least the major perk of having sexy bits that were magic was once they were gone, you didn’t have to feel them anymore. He was still sore as all fuck, felt like his hips were unstrung, but the dull ache in his cunt was gone with nothing more than a little concentration.

The blanket hadn’t escaped the carnage, as damp as the sheets. Rus managed to hook a finger in the corner and flip it over them anyway, since it was starting to look like Edge wasn't letting go. Eh, that was all right. He'd stay a little while, just to make sure he was okay. Hopefully he wouldn’t be too shouty when he woke up. It hadn’t gone bad, as far as Rus was concerned; no one had dusted, free orgasms all the way around, and once Rus’d had a couple of days to stop walking like a drunken pirate, they could both toss this particular event into a mental suitcase and bury it beneath a fucking tree, never to be discussed again.

It had worked out and Rus was going to count his fucking blessings. Someone needed to and somehow, he doubted Edge was going to be writing him an effusive thank you note.

More’s the pity.

tbc

[fatedcipher]

     It’s over.  I beat Kingdom Hearts 3, a game I’ve waited thirteen years for.  And now that it’s all said and done?

     I’m just disappointed.

     What follows is mostly my stream of consciousness impressions of the game, put to text more to organize and vent than anything else.  Be warned of strong opinions and acerbic criticism.

The Good

Roxas

It was one scene, but it was one hell of a scene.  McCartney fucking killed it.

The Sea Salt Trio finally gets justice.  Xion and Axel finally wear something besides the coat.

I had Sora walk around and take selfies while Roxas and Xion effortlessly demolished Saix.  So much catharsis.

Demyx

Yeah, I know, last thing I was expecting too.

Had exactly zero patience for series melodrama.  Every other word out of his mouth had me laughing.

Dude stabbed evil mcdarkness in the back to do the good guys a huge solid and got away with it scot-free.

Lingering Will

He was on screen for all of five seconds, but I cheered for all five of them.

Namine was the one who called him in.

Should have been him to finish off Terranort, but close enough.

Half the Disney Characters

Telling the obnoxious villains to fuck off.

Actually making them fuck off in a couple instances.

Put that Edgelord back where he came from or so help me!

Hayner!  Pence!  Olette!

Twilight Gang actually contributing to the main plot again.

Them giving a shit about Roxas when they didn’t need to.

Fucking bamboozled SoD, he just didn’t know how to react to their Scooby Doo shenanigans.

Mixed Bag

Some of the Disney worlds were pretty charming and had good cast interactions.

Frozen’s world was not.

Sora using the fallen keys was visually breathtaking and played in well to his power to connect to other people.

It was a reference to the stupid mobile game that has only polluted the plot further.

TWEWY world effectively confirmed in whatever is next.

I may not actually want to play whatever is next.

Music

It practically goes without saying at this point but, JESUS CHRIST THERE’S SOME GOOD MUSIC IN THIS VIDEO GAME

OTHER PROMISE/VECTOR TO THE HEAVENS ARRANGEMENT SLAYED ME

I LOVE YOU YOKO SHIMOMURA

The Bad

Gameplay

Plays like a janky version of 2 with a botox injection of DDD flowmotion that only makes the game feel more awkward.

Clunky melee combos have too much start-up, most have no invincibility or even armor to prevent being hit out of them.

Only a handful of the keyblade transformations are actually useful, all of which are a massive step down from drive forms.

Shotlocks still feel like extraneous instant damage and add nothing to gamplay flow.

Oversaturation of minigames leaves several worlds light on actual combat.

Attraction flow is too easy to get, not fun to use, lasts too long, and leaves you vulnerable to damage.

Worlds are simultaneously expansive by individual area and depressingly small on an overall scale.  Most of Twilight Town is inaccessible, Destiny Islands and Radiant Garden can’t be visited.

General Plot and Storytelling

Generally poor writing that fails to resolve several plot threads and introduces ridiculous retcons that only create more questions.

There’s a scene where all of the good guys are in the same room having a discussion about how convoluted the plot is and Jiminy chimes in that they should read the in-game summaries on the in-game phone.  This was when the game crossed over into self-parody for me, and not in a good way.

The total absence of Final Fantasy characters save for the mention of Cloud and Auron at the start of Olympus eliminates half the appeal of what is ostensibly a crossover series.

Awful pacing, having the Disney worlds as unimportant filler with the majority of the plot happening in the last few hours of the game, following what has depressingly become the norm.

General cutscene incompetence, from characters being effortlessly overpowered by enemies to standing around unarmed and slackjawed waiting for said enemies to cut them down.

Bad dialogue and direction clearly mandated by someone who doesn’t speak English mars a number of moments that could have been good.  The script shines primarily when it escapes that ignorant control, which is not as often as it should be.

Mass death and revival scene was entirely pointless, as were the multiple Heartless swarms everyone was suddenly incapable of even putting up a fight against.

Death is still largely non-existent save for a few characters.

It made me more bitter and fed up with this series than DDD did and that is a fucking accomplishment.

Sora

How fucking dare you treat my precious boy like this, Nomura.

Half the cast spends half the game demeaning him and refuses to listen to him for no discernible reason, despite the fact he immediately solves every problem he is introduced to.

It’s not as bad as DDD, but he’s still written to be way less intelligent than he was in 1-2.

He’s the only one who doesn’t get a perfect happy ending and the only who actually seems to suffer any consequence to his actions, despite those consequences being utterly nonsensical.

It’s not even clear what the fucking “Power of Waking” is and he never needs it save for the artificial death scenes.

Riku

Every other line in the script is shilling him and how he’s somehow better than Sora.

This Yozora clown is literally just a palette swap of him.

Three Rikus in one scene.  It is laughable in how stupid it is.

He gets two playable sections and fights the same shitty boss in both.

He’s the one who goes to pick up Namine, not Roxas, Sora, or Kairi.

You can feel how much Nomura loves him and it repulses me.

Kairi

Her lively personality is completely absent along with any agency she might have once had.

Despite getting a keyblade and training the whole game, she gets halfway through a single fight before she’s easily kidnapped, held hostage, and callously executed.

None of her statements about protecting Sora are followed through on and are empty allusions to the first game.

SoKai is finally all but canon, yet the characters themselves hardly interact in the game and the Oathkeeper charm is never even brought up.

Namine

Her in-engine model is only ever used in the character files.

The only thing she does in the entire game is have a single conversation with Sora in the afterlife, in which he still fails to properly thank her.  

Riku is the one to pick her up after she gets a body because Nomura felt like awkwardly shifting Versus XIII’s unused dynamic onto two characters totally unrelated to it.

She’s still wearing the same white dress she has been since her introduction in CoM.

Aqua

Loses every fight she’s in to cutscene incompetence.

Seriously, you kick Vanitas’ ass in her only playable segment for her to throw herself spread eagle in front of some fireballs he throws out, it’s embarrassing.

Likewise jobs to Terranort and has to be saved by the COME GUARDIAN who is apparently Terra’s heartless?

Her single contribution to the plot is finding Ventus.

The refusal to let her age is just bizarre, the same extending to Ventus and Terra.

Antagonists

Xehanort remains nonsensically overpowered and omniscient, using time travel, clone bodies, and other contrivances to achieve his goals and have the heroes play straight into his hands until his actual last scene.

Multiple members of team dark don’t even have a good reason to work for the old man.  The former traitors are the ones to remain unfailingly loyal.

They show up to vaguely talk down to the heroes and/or wipe the floor with them before smugly disappearing without a scratch.  The only instances where this is even slightly averted are a couple scenes with the Disney characters and the defeat scenes in the final boss rush.

The majority of the villains are given cloying and contrived attempts at casting them in a sympathetic light when they have only ever been shown to be selfish, merciless, and cruel prior to their final defeats.  Xehanort himself is the absolute worst offender, being cast as a well-intentioned extremist at the last possible moment, despite this directly contradicting the entirety of his character prior.

     So yeah, Kindgom Hearts 3 isn’t that good of a game and has a story that’s legitimately quite poorly written and told overall.  Are my expectations inflated by the amount of time I’ve had to wait for this game?  Absolutely, but the series has been on a downward slope in quality since BBS and this was their big chance to correct course.  Even with the promise of TWEWY involvement in whatever is in the future, I can’t honestly say I’m interested in playing another Kingdom Hearts game after this disappointment and that’s depressing for someone who’s loved this series for so long.  There’s still a lot I want to write for Roxas and the rest of the cast, but when most of that stuff is attempting to revise the canon, it can be pretty discouraging.  All the same, I don’t want to give up on this blond haired kid and his friends just yet.  Their story’s too important to me to let it end like this.

[105ttt]

Hey why is Vio a better fit for Shadow than Shadow Link, since Shadow Link is the obvious choice. Hes literally named Shadow. What a missed opportunity.

Okay first off hi Noot

Second off, I used to have a million reasons for why I always thought Vio was a better fit for a Shadow the Hedgehog role instead of Shadow Link, but since that was ages ago and I’m tired, I’ll just sum up my thoughts as best as I can.

Most people would assume that Shadow Link fits Shadow the Hedgehog’s character better than Vio because they think of Shadow the Hedgehog as a stereotype mostly promulgated by Shadow the Hedgehog (2005) that isn’t really true to all of his character: they think he’s an edgelord who loves shooting guns, riding around on motorcycles, and being violent and cranky and mean for no reason. Vio’s thing isn’t really violence, but Shadow Link has been shown on multiple occasions to be easily angered and violent to the point where he acts animalistic. For people who aren’t really invested in the Sonic franchise, they would see Shadow Link as a better fit for Shadow the Hedgehog because of the name similarity, color scheme similarity, and shared grounds for potential violence. They would see Vio as more fitting for someone like Blaze or Espio, calm purple characters who act cool most of the time. And that makes perfect sense! There’s nothing wrong with interpreting those characters in that way. It’s just a silly manga and video game franchise crossover.

However, I feel like people who are more invested in the Sonic franchise such as myself know that Shadow the Hedgehog isn’t just your typical violent edgelord. He’s so much more than that, and it gets overlooked because he hasn’t had a major role where he really got character development since Sonic the Hedgehog (2006). If you look back at the Dreamcast Era games (Sonic Adventure 2 to ShTH, since he wasn’t in Sonic Adventure) and Sonic ‘06, however, you realize that there is so much more to Shadow’s character than just what we see in ShTH. He’s loyal to a fault to those he loves. He’d do anything for his loved ones, even if it puts him in danger. He feels personally responsible for the bad things he did and initially felt guilt over it. He’s very clever and driven by his passion for his loved ones and his desire to protect them. After ShTH, he doesn’t let anyone manipulate him or make him stray from the path he sets for himself (see the famous cutscene from Sonic ‘06 where he tells off Mephiles for trying to get him on his side), and he pursues his goals by any means, even if that means doing morally grey things at times. And he’s a great actor, actually (see the cutscenes in SA2 where Shadow the Hedgehog pretends to be in on Eggman’s plan when first explaining the Eclipse Cannon to him). And if you read all of those and compile them together, it really sounds a lot more like Vio than Shadow Link, doesn’t it?

Yes, I admit Shadow the Hedgehog does have many similarities to Shadow Link: besides what’s obvious, both were misguided and manipulated villains who turned into heroes after some truth about themselves was revealed to them by a wise girl who cares about them that made them release what they had been doing to achieve their goals was wrong the whole time. Both also have some sort of innate power most people don’t have that can be likened to magic (Shadow the Hedgehog has Chaos powers while Shadow Link has dark magic), which makes them powerful (though I’d argue that Shadow the Hedgehog is way more overpowered in his universe than Shadow Link is in his). Both also had an identity crisis where they felt like they had to prove they weren’t mere copies of someone else and got defensive if anyone tried to imply they weren’t who they said they were or otherwise threatened the validity of their identity.

However, the reason I still say that Vio is a better choice for an AU role where he takes the place of Shadow the Hedgehog is because of the part of Shadow the Hedgehog’s personality that is quiet and gentle. He does brood quite a bit (not in a I-hate-everyone way, but he still does it), and that’s simply because he’s not as expressive as other characters. He has a resting frown, and he’s not as outspoken as other characters unless he wants to be. Shadow Link isn’t the type of person to brood and be a loner. He wants attention; it’s literally part of his character arc. He makes sure he’s heard and that everyone knows his thoughts and how he’s feeling. He’s very expressive and quick to get angry, excited, or sad. Vio, on the other hand, is more reserved, but like Shadow the Hedgehog, if he shows his rage or excitement, it really shows and is deeply felt. And Vio had to learn it was okay to show his emotions, just like Shadow the Hedgehog did after SA2 and later in Sonic Heroes. He’s quieter in those games because he doesn’t know who he is and is learning about his place in the grand scheme of things, but after he’s developed bonds with his loved ones, he learns to be himself and not bottle everything up and hide his feelings or thoughts from people. Sound familiar?

And I’d argue that the level of devotion Shadow the Hedgehog has for his loved ones and the lengths he goes to to do things for their sake is a lot like Vio’s devotion to his teammates and princess. Shadow the Hedgehog was literally willing to die for Maria in SA2 if it meant he fulfilled his promise to her, and in both SA2 and later games, we see Shadow the Hedgehog put himself in harm’s way or do drastic things for his loved ones (like jumping in front of Sonic when Silver was beating him up in Sonic ‘06, or catching Rouge as she fell to the ground after being shot down in one cutscene in Sonic ‘06 knowing that he would lose something critical to the mission at hand, or when he pushed Rouge out of the way of Omega’s deadly fire at the beginning of Sonic Heroes even though he didn’t remember her at all). That kind of innate heroism, that desire to protect innocent people, doesn’t seem as easily associated with Shadow Link as it is with Vio. Vio is a literal hero of Hyrule. That kind of kindness and selflessness was always inherent in him, even if he seemed like a jerk at first because he was so full of himself originally. This cockiness is another trait he shares with Shadow the Hedgehog, who often bragged about being the Ultimate Lifeform just as Vio often bragged about being self-sufficient and not needing teammates. Both started as loners, but they eventually became devoted to their loved ones. By that same token, they both were willing to deceive people if it meant helping the ones they loved (though it had different implications for their true characters). Shadow the Hedgehog deceived Eggman in SA2 in order to get the Chaos Emeralds faster and get access to the Eclipse Cannon that could destroy Earth and satisfy his need for revenge for Maria’s death. We all know what Vio did as a double-agent for his teammates that ultimately led to him hurting Shadow Link (and while that wording may tempt you to associate him with Rouge instead of Shadow the Hedgehog, don’t let it). Both Vio and Shadow the Hedgehog felt guilty for the bad things they had to do to accomplish their goals (we see this less with Vio, but there is the infamous panel where he says Shadow Link’s name while looking sad as if he regrets hurting him, so we can assume he feels guilty), but they also try to right their wrongs by doing only heroic deeds after coming to realize that what they did was wrong in some way. They may do morally grey things to accomplish their goals, but they ultimately do them for the greater good (or at least for Shadow the Hedgehog, in games after SA2), and they don’t let anyone lead them astray.

I would also like to quickly note that the way Shadow the Hedgehog saw Maria and the way Vio sees Zelda is very similar. It is clear that Vio is very close to Zelda since Link was close to Zelda, and Shadow the Hedgehog canonically saw Maria like a sister according to ShTH. Both parties felt a deep connection to their sister-figures, and they would do anything to protect them (with Vio going on a journey to save Zelda and Shadow the Hedgehog trying to run away from the G.U.N. soldiers on the ARK with Maria, though unsuccessfully). Their devotion, as well as the way they talk to and act around their cherished sister-figure, are quite similar. In fact, Shadow the Hedgehog almost seems like Maria’s knight despite not formally being so as Vio is to Zelda. In ShTH alone, we see that Maria was always able to call on Shadow the Hedgehog for help with anything, even if it there wasn’t any personal benefit that would come out of it for him, and he talks to her in such a gentle, caring way that lets you know they’re the closest of friends. Vio’s knightly and brotherly devotion to Zelda is similar in the sense that she can always call on him for help if she needs to (both because it’s his job and because he loves her), and he would do anything to keep her safe. It makes for a neat, sad, bittersweet relationship in any Sonic Four Swords AUs where Vio takes Shadow the Hedgehog’s role and Zelda takes Maria’s role.

“But Fanta!” you say. “Rouge is literally a double-agent like Vio!! It’s a perfect role for him!!”

Well, there’s a few good reasons you could choose for Vio to take Rouge’s place instead of Shadow the Hedgehog’s, such as the double-agent thing and their high self-esteem as well as their love of showing off. Both can also be snarky and use their charms to get what they want. But, in a surprising twist, I would actually say Shadow Link fits Rouge better than Vio. Yes, this has many weird implications seeing as this basically swaps the relationship they had in canon, but if you ignore that, I believe that Shadow Link really does fit Rouge better. Rouge is more outspoken and quick to take the lead. She’s a master manipulator when it comes to getting people to work with her, and she really does want it all - just like Shadow Link. I honestly can see the fun-loving and rambunctious Shadow Link acting a lot more like our favorite bat girl than Shadow the Hedgehog, who is known to be reserved. Again, the idea that Shadow the Hedgehog is a violent edgelord is a misconception, and so while it would seem obvious for the two edgiest characters to match each other better, it’s not as simple as it seems. I could write a whole separate post about why Rouge is a better fit for Shadow Link than Shadow the Hedgehog, but this is about Vio right  now.

Case and point, I’d argue without hesitation that Vio is best suited for swapping roles with Shadow the Hedgehog in a Sonic Four Swords AU of any kind (my favorites being SA2 and ShTH) instead of someone who is less important in most games such as Blaze or Espio or someone like Rouge. Having Vio as Shadow the Hedgehog and Shadow Link as Rouge allows them to be on the same importance level as the typical matchups for the rest of the Links (which is usually Green as Sonic, Blue as Knuckles, and Red as Tails). That isn’t to say that assigning Vio to Rouge and assigning Shadow Link to Shadow the Hedgehog is wrong or bad, but I personally just have it the other way around. I’m probably missing some other points I’ve thought of over time here, but I hope this is enough to make sense and be convincing for the moment.

[tweefunk]

2017 Local & EP Roundup

Title says it all. Here are my favorite local MN area releases and various other EPs of 2017. List is in alphabetical order. Sorry I can’t write an essay about everything, but all y’all’s stuff is sicc.

Blacc.KLagoon x w e s t k o r e a: Baby Boy EP This collab EP showcases one of the more interesting new projects to come from the MN DIY scene. This EP owes its influence rrespectively to the jazz-rap of the early 90′s, the vibed-out party jams of early Outkast, and the staunchly political lyricism of Kendrick Lamar. I’m very interested to see where this duo goes from here, especially as they continue to hone their sound and become true innovators upon the precedent of those who came before them. This is one to watch.

Boy Pablo: Roy Pablo EP This sub-20-minute indie pop masterpiece is one of the most slept-on of the year. Boy Pablo is an 18-year old from Norway with sense of melody and composition that would the envy of people half his age. Roy Pablo finds the sweet spot between Mac DeMarco and The War on Drugs, losing the affected apathy of the former, and the inescapable pretension of the latter. Don’t sleep.

Double Grave: New Year’s Daydream Formerly known as Ego Death, Double Grave put out an excellent mini-album this year which seamlessly meshes the amplifier worship of Starflyer 59 with the prettier moments of post-punk, resulting in a noisy, but nonetheless beautiful project. 

Since learning of this band, Jeremy Warden has become one of my favorite guitarists in the scene, and his melodic lines steal the show here. In many cases, his warped, glide-stummed leads provide the real hooks. It’s easy to lose yourself in the sonic wormhole, but it’s a trip well-worth taking. Shoegaze meets immediacy.

Hippo Campus: Warm Glow EP Minnesota’s favorite exports followed up this year’s full-length Landmark with a far more progressive digital-only release. Their boyish pop charm remains intact, but this time they put their considerable instrumental chops to use and create something really special. If a twinkle band went pop, this is what you might get, and I’m all about it.

Inconsistent: Acting Cool EP This one has had a permanent place in my CD changer (shut up, I’m old) since its release. I probably jam it at least once a week in the morning when I’m getting dressed for work. 

Isaac Luedtke gives a lyrical masterclass in radical honesty in his graphic tales of depression and anxiety. As I said before, I’m old, but not so old that I don’t remember vividly what felt like to be 17 and have no idea where you belong or what you’re going to do with your life. It’s a specific type of suburban angst, but one that never really leaves. The causes of existential consternation may change, but the effects always linger. Acting Cool is frankly the most concentrated dose of whup-ass I’ve seen from a local band in a while. If this were a full-length effort, it would likely have made my AOTY list.

Look for these cats to blow up in 2018.

Less Than Jake: Sound The Alarm EP Ska rules and I’ll fight you on that. LTJ has always had strong EP releases and this one is no exception. You might not expect a third-wave ska band in its 25th year of existence to have any particularly profound thoughts on aging, but here we are.

“Welcome to my Life” seems like a direct response to their 2003 hit “The Science of Selling Yourself Short,” right down to its white-boy reggae lilt. Roger Lima’s decade-older narrator finds himself in far more apologetic mood. Years of binging, worrying too much about the future, and taking the people who love you for granted can leave you with a lifetime of missed memories, failed relationships, and self-inflicted loneliness. Instead of defiance and an acceptance of mediocrity, we’re trying to save whatever’s left.

Another song that seems unfortunately timely is “Bomb Drop.” While the band likely meant it as an allegory for the inevitability of age and irrelevance, in Trump’s America it seems all too literal. We’re just watching the clock, waiting for the bomb to drop. 

Naive Sense: [Self-Titled] EP RIP. They were too good for this world. Hands down the best hardcore band I’ve ever seen in my life. Their shows will be the stuff of legend. I shit-talk hardcore as a genre quite a bit, but Naive Sense proved that the medium can still be powerfully sublime when combined with a timely, vital message and musicians with a desire to push sonic boundaries.

I have no words. Listen for yourself and weep if you never got to witness it. They were more than a band, they were the pure voice of light and hope in human form. 

Oftener: Lavender EP The solo project of Nate Gurrola, vocalist of the now-defunct Ridgewood, Lavender marks a return after nearly two years of silence. What we have here is a collection acoustic ballads that feature some of his strongest vocal work and arrangements that refuse to be pigeonholed. Describing Lavender as acoustic shoegaze seems like a cop-out, and labeling it emo seems like an insult. There’s a lot more going on here than sad-boy whining.

Oftener has recently expanded to a full band, and will be releasing another EP as such next month. Having seen this configuration live, I’m confident that this will bring another layer to the sound and make them a band to watch moving forward.

Township: Impact Bliss Another band leaving us too soon, Township announced their impending breakup this spring, so make sure you catch a show if they make it to your area one more time.

Impact Bliss is a beautiful, textured homage to shoegaze. While Double Grave resides in the poppier, more accessible end of the spectrum, Township aren’t afraid to take their audience down long swirling rabbit holes with massive dynamic shifts to throw the listener off-balance. 

This record is best enjoyed in a dark room, slightly high at 2am, and loud. Township have shot for the ethereal majesty of Souvlaki and Loveless, and come damn close to their mark. It’s that good.

VIN: S/T EP Debut release by a new band with former member of Infinite Me and Familiar Theme features some of the most deceptively straight forward rock you’ll find in the local DIY scene. But make no mistake, this is prog all the way.

Bassist Nicholas Culliton and drummer Jacob Scully are particular standouts here. Culliton creates arpeggiated, harmonized lines where a lesser musician would just be happy to drone a root note, or just mirror the bass drum. By playing like a third guitarist, he gives the band a far thicker sound without overpowering the primary melodic elements. Scully on the other hand is a rudimental monster with the musical sense to use his chops as a complement to the music, rather than an excuse to show off.

Weathered: Misnomer EP These guys have made massive improvements to both their production and compositions since their last time out. Arrangements are fussed over and far more intricate than the emo genre is usually blessed with. In particular, the rhythm section of Christian Rassmussen and Alec Panchyshyn are a two-man wrecking crew from the moment “Better For Me” kicks into second gear, and the latter subtle touch with the sticks and some lovely color to the proceedings.

The production is also a big star here in that it imbues the music with enough clarity to be a pleasant listen, but leaves the edges just rough enough to leave some nervous intensity around the band. This newfound clarity and crispness suits Weathered well.

With another album on the way in 2018, Weathered is poised to be the Minnesota DIY scene’s next big export. Misnomer isn’t just good for a local band, it’s good for anybody.

Wretch: BANGERZ  It’s kinda like if DFA1979 weren’t edgelords and ripped way harder. This is another great local that we lost in their prime. RIP.

If you couldn’t infer from the quip above, Wretch is (was?) a drum and bass combo but with a wicked front-person whose lyrics manage to speak incisive truth to the scourge of modern beauty standards (among other subjects) while still being darkly hilarious. It doesn’t read like a sermon, but rather a brilliantly dance-able stand-up routine that would George Carlin proud. 

No, none of that is intended as a backhanded compliment. Comedy is one of the most powerful tools we have for expression. BANGERZ is one the most fun releases of the year, and also one of the most thought-provoking.

[xwolf-26]

Character Descriptions For XWolf’s Tournament

DS Cter -  From the spinoff of DoubleTale: DoubleScramble, DoubleScramble Cter or DS Cter is a less powerful version of the strongest mofo in the multiverse, Cter. Significantly further down the scale of power than most Cters, DoubleScramble Cter has lost most of his DETERMINATION and now must rely on his magical prowess. With a wide variety of attacks, DS Cter is a bit of a glass cannon. Though he has all the abilities to keep his opponents at range. Overall he can be quite the dangerous adversary. Especially if someone manages to push him far enough for him to activate his secret form. Though he’s so lazy, it seems unlikely for him to care enough to activate it. 

Anarchy -  The antagonist of the latest arc of DoubleTale. After being run off by Cter, Anarchy has become obsessed with killing the panda eyed hero at any cost. With physical power and DETERMINATION to back it up, though Anarchy has lost the majority of his magic, he is still a terrifying adversary. He has a love for brutality and will take great pleasure in defeating his enemy, so long as they’re actually a challenge. If he deems them weak, he will stomp them in mere seconds. If not, he will play with them for awhile. 

XWolf -  Swapped with Sans in a self insert AU, XWolf is the judge in the universe of UnderFam. Much like DS Cter, XWolf has a range of attacks, but no physical defense. His X Wolves Work on thoughts of their own, though they will listen to his commands to the letter. This means that even when his guard is down, his X Wolves’ guard is up. This makes it difficult to close the gap and land the hit needed. And if it seems he’s being overpowered, he can activate Kill Instinct Protocol, though that’s not something he enjoys doing. He can also summon the mother of his X Wolves, The Den Mother, from which he received his name. And as he is a different, weaker form of the author, he knows all of his opponents better then they may know themselves. This could make him incredibly dangerous. Though, just because he knows them, doesn’t necessarily mean he has any way to beat them. 

Matrix -  The stone from Just Another Stone himself, Matrix. Created to be just another grunt in the Homeworld army, Matrix broke free with the help of a human named Thea, and later on a boy named Steven. Though he’s supposed to just be a rock with a spear, his thick skull and will alone have lead him up the ranks in power, now able to go toe to toe with Gems considered gods among gems of his tier, Matrix’s will and determination goes unmatched. And after some help from fallen friends, he now wields more than just a spear. He’d be hard to defeat for any adversary, purely because of his fighting spirit and inability to let himself lose. 

107 -  Created for greatness, 107 was an emerald made to harness the power and knowledge of everything in the Homeworld database. Alas, his body and mind would never be able to handle such a thing. Instead, he was gifted with a power no gem could control and a body that cannot sustain it. Without his power battery, 107 cannot even access his ability. His battery only gives him an hour in his Prototype mode, however. And if he strains himself further, that time can be shortened further. Without the battery, he can only enter the form for minutes at a time, at the risk of exhausting his physical form. But so long as he has that battery and the will to use it, he is a dangerous adversary. Though, after a traumatic incident after gaining his powers, 107 claims he is a pacifist and does not like hurting people. This could cripple him greatly in the tournament. 

Saka -  A saiyan warrior from A Slothful Saiyan, Saka is of a proud race of... Bull headed murderers. Saka, on the other hand, has been deemed lazy and unmotivated, and there could be some truth in that statement. Regardless, Saka’s life changed after being betrayed by his brother, Alcohl, and being sent to Earth, where he met several human martial artists, including Toka, who he proceeded to butt heads with throughout his training to get back at his brother. Over his years, he grew as a person and learned to call Earth home and the people he’d met there family. And though he never cared for fighting, he’s gotten quite proficient in it to protect those he cares about. 

Toka -  A man determined to keep the power gap between Saiyan and human minuscule, Toka is Saka’s rival from A Slothful Saiyan. His analytic abilities go unmatched, making it seem as though he has eyes in the back of his head and everything moves in slow motion to him. Landing any kind of sneak attack is nearly impossible, and he has the power and speed to back his abilities up. Another possible front runner. 

X -  The original edgelord from my only original series to ever go kinda well, 26 Failures. X possesses unmatched psychic ability and the ability to push his muscles to their maximum, making him a danger at long and close range. He can also intensify and focus the energy in his body and fire it in blasts. And he also dresses hella fancy. Dangerous. 

Silver -  From one of my very first, if not my very first, original story, Natures Warriors, Silver is definitely that character. You know, the one that shows up to the fight scene and everybody goes “Oooooh shit.” With the ability to create steel in any form, Silver has taken the stone that holds the soul of the one who built the support beams to the world, Steel. A giant steel golem, made from an invincible metal. The same metal that makes up Silver’s right arm, which he lost as payment for gaining Steel’s power. A stone cold badass, who can take the form of Steel if he ever needs to - though it drains him significantly - Silver is a dangerous opponent and one tough cookie. And he’s not even the main character. 

Scar -  The werewolf prince gone rogue from A Scarred Titan, Scar became a member of the Teen Titans in hopes of escaping the responsibility that was thrust upon him at a young age. Though he evaded it for awhile, Scar finally takes up his crown after the defeat of The Brain and a large mass of villains. Well, that and the death of his father. With the ability to howl blasts of wind that can knock down walls and transform into a werewolf, Scar can only be killed by being completely torn apart or by being hit somewhere vital by something silver. Other things will be healed, but slowly. His regeneration is slow, and even though you can’t kill him without silver, you can certainly tire him out with a fight, just like anyone else. 

Fenris -  A human bitten by a werewolf, Fenris is destined to be the embodiment of the God Eater, Fenrir. Though he’s a timid boy at first, and hates what he’s been forced to become, Fenris eventually accepts his fate and takes up his responsibilities. After battles with skilled vampires and humans, Fenris learns to control his power and accept himself, and now has... Basically Scar’s powers. 

... Cough. 

Preston -  Just a regular kid down on his luck, from An Unnamed Story, before Yuma came along. Yuma, a demon woman, in need of escape from pursuit, merges into Preston’s oddly powerful soul to keep herself safe in the human world. As things chase down Yuma, Preston gets sucked into her misadventures, having to deal with demons, angels, and humans. The entire world seemed to be against the two. Along the way, Preston has a conversation with God in person, befriends Angels, Demons, and Humans, squares up with the devil, and many more things. But without Yuma, he only has the powers of a regular human. Lucky for him, he’s permitted to keep Yuma to have his powers in this tournament. His powers consist of blue fire, freezing things, and minor psychic abilities. And he has a sword that can cut through any evil. An unpredictable and versatile enemy, for sure. 

Tyro -  A Naruto OC from the Leaf Village that’s god knows how old, from a story that’s changed names a hundred times, the latest one called “Just One More.” Tyro has a wide span of powerful Jutsu and after arriving a little too late to save the Two Tails jinchuriki, now has the Two Tails sealed inside of him. Fighting in the Great Ninja War and against Obito, not to mention the many journeys prior, Tyro has learned a lot and has an extreme amount of battle experience, making him a dangerous enemy. 

Taichi -  A lightning jutsu master from Just One More, Taichi comes from the Cloud Village. Not only is he a master of using lightning, he’s also a sword master, coated in seven blades and making himself look like an edgelord. He is precise and very dangerous. 

V -  Another edge master from 26 Failures, I consider V to be the prototype Anarchy. The two look alike and act about the same. They even have enemies they’re hell bent on killing. V and X were one in the same, lab rats in an underground lab. He and X have similar abilities, but when the two ‘fought’, V stomped him in mere seconds. Very dangerous, very sadistic. 

Justice -  Made in a writing contest on Undertale Amino (That I won. Hehehehe. http://aminoapps.com/page/undertale/1635873/what-is-just) Justice is an expert marksmen, and though he has no actual magic, his fighting ability is intimidating. His abilities landed him as the second command in The Intergalactic Po Po, and not only is he good with a gun, he’s also good with a knife, which he has one of. Though he prefers long range, he’s certainly not incapable in close range. He’s adaptable and could be very dangerous. 

And those are the contestants for my first tournament. Let’s see how this turns out, shall we? 

[smokeybrand]

A Bad Joke

So i really like Batman. I think he's one of the greatest comic characters ever created. After Spider-Man, he's my favorite. I enjoy his lore, his rogues, and his allies tremendously. Some of the most successful characters in pop culture history are Batman-adjacent. Harley Quinn is taking the world by storm, mostly because of Margot Robbie, but she was first introduced in, arguably, the greatest cartoon to ever air, Batman: The Animated Series. I love that. What i don;t love is how f*cking Batman-centric DC Comics has become. Like, f*ck, dude, maybe lay off that Bat-wank a little bit.

Dark Nights Metal was a whole ass clusterf*ck of Evil Batmen, and one Batwoman i think, from a dark multiverse, wrecking the main continuity because of super-dark, bat-angst. This sh*t just wreaks of edgelord, try-hard, fan fiction. We all know Batmen can wreck the entire DC universe with enough prep time. Tower of Babel proved that. Justice League: Doom showed us that. Why the f*ck do we need to rehash this arc again? Sure, i love a great What If story and the origins to these Bat-Maybes were pretty ingenuity but, really? Batman isn't a god. He’s not Superboy-Prime. The fact that he was able to infiltrate an entire anti-multiverse is ridiculous to me. Especially considering that the leader of this group, the one that initiated all of this , was just jokerized Batman calling himself The Batman Who Laughs.

Admittedly, the concept The Batman Who Laughs is dope and the moniker is a deep clever deep cut. Joker is based off a man with a disfigured, permanent, grin named Gwynplaine, in a movie titled The Man Who Laughs. That sh*t is dope. I love that level of creativity and reverence for the mythos. The thing is, The Batman Who Laughs has already been done. Fore decades. Dude is just a Batman version of Judge Death. The entire Dark Nights Metal is basically  the same narrative of the Dark Judges arc in Judge Dredd. Sh*t is slightly altered, of course, cats aren’t outright plagiarizing the entire Dredd story but the bones of that narrative are more than holding up this whole Dark Batman/Dark Multiverse nonsense. I f*cking hate it, man. Even after Metal wraps and all the other Dark Batmen bite the dust, The Batman Who Laughs sticks around and f*cking becomes a literal, cosmic level threat. Are you f*cking kidding me??

DC’s creative bankruptcy is astounding. You have some of the dopest characters to ever make the page, some of the most compelling pathos to derive from, and supreme Batwank is what you come up with? I’m not going to go into HOW this cat became such a cosmic f*ck around but the fact that this is what they landed on to maybe-maybe not reboot the universe is friggin’ pedestrian. I’m an avid fan of manga so this sh*t isn’t new to me. It’s called power creep and i never respected it to infect the US comics industry. There is no way a Batman, any Batman, should be able to go toe-to-toe with a Martianized Lex Luthor or f*cking Superman, not without a ridiculous power boost and yet, here we are. The Batman Who Laughs is pulling the strings behind another f*cking Crisis-in-name-only and i kind of hate it. That’s just the sh*t with the new ultimate evil, Perpetua. I’m not even going to touch on the fact that Dark Nights Metal has a sequel, one as uninspired as it's predecessor, and a third one in the works. Like, f*ck off, already. What are you going to rip-off next? The Majin Buu saga? Is DC going to introduce their version of Dragon Balls? I mean, Nth Metal was the first mcguffin to get them out of the overpowered, bat-corner they wrote themselves into so why not omniscient, magical,balls that scatter across the multiverse? Who gives a sh*t if that was the entire thesis to Dragon Ball Super. No one cares. Just throw some Bat-Paint over it and publish that sh*t. It doesn't matter that the narrative is poorly written, completely rushed, and makes no thematic f*cking sense. It's evil Batman. That sh*t'll sell gangbusters so f*ck it!

And that’s the crux of my frustration; Poor writing. There are a ton of good ideas here. I dig the Evil Batmen and Dark Multiverse in theory. I love the idea of The Batman ho Laughs. In execution? Sh*t is superficial nonsense that even the most angsty teenager would see as too much. The most f*cked up thing about all of this, is the fact that are dope stories being told getting buried by all of this hardcore Bat-fellatio. Justice League Dark is one of the best written stories in the entire industry. That whole Witching Hour arc with Wonder Woman was one of the dopest ideas i have seen within comics in a long ass time. No one even talks about that sh*t. No one at DC is pushing that sh*t. No one on the fandom even cares. Hell, there are better Batman stories being told. The whole White Knight series and it's sequels are amazing. That whole story is f*cking dope. It's creative, it's unique, it homages every aspect of the mythos, and delivers a story true to the character without all of the Mary-Stu bullsh*t. Yet, all I hear is about is how bad Bendis is ruining Superman and how The Batman Who Laugh is the “coolest” sh*t, ever. Nah, that sh*t is trash. I don’t need more trash in my comics. The Batman Who Laughs had potential but right now, with what we have been given, this dude is just a bad joke. A punchline at the end of a an uninspired joke. And don’t get me started on THAT chick, man.

[smokeybrandreviews]

A Bad Joke

So i really like Batman. I think he's one of the greatest comic characters ever created. After Spider-Man, he's my favorite. I enjoy his lore, his rogues, and his allies tremendously. Some of the most successful characters in pop culture history are Batman-adjacent. Harley Quinn is taking the world by storm, mostly because of Margot Robbie, but she was first introduced in, arguably, the greatest cartoon to ever air, Batman: The Animated Series. I love that. What i don;t love is how f*cking Batman-centric DC Comics has become. Like, f*ck, dude, maybe lay off that Bat-wank a little bit.

Dark Nights Metal was a whole ass clusterf*ck of Evil Batmen, and one Batwoman i think, from a dark multiverse, wrecking the main continuity because of super-dark, bat-angst. This sh*t just wreaks of edgelord, try-hard, fan fiction. We all know Batmen can wreck the entire DC universe with enough prep time. Tower of Babel proved that. Justice League: Doom showed us that. Why the f*ck do we need to rehash this arc again? Sure, i love a great What If story and the origins to these Bat-Maybes were pretty ingenuity but, really? Batman isn't a god. He’s not Superboy-Prime. The fact that he was able to infiltrate an entire anti-multiverse is ridiculous to me. Especially considering that the leader of this group, the one that initiated all of this , was just jokerized Batman calling himself The Batman Who Laughs.

Admittedly, the concept The Batman Who Laughs is dope and the moniker is a deep clever deep cut. Joker is based off a man with a disfigured, permanent, grin named Gwynplaine, in a movie titled The Man Who Laughs. That sh*t is dope. I love that level of creativity and reverence for the mythos. The thing is, The Batman Who Laughs has already been done. Fore decades. Dude is just a Batman version of Judge Death. The entire Dark Nights Metal is basically  the same narrative of the Dark Judges arc in Judge Dredd. Sh*t is slightly altered, of course, cats aren’t outright plagiarizing the entire Dredd story but the bones of that narrative are more than holding up this whole Dark Batman/Dark Multiverse nonsense. I f*cking hate it, man. Even after Metal wraps and all the other Dark Batmen bite the dust, The Batman Who Laughs sticks around and f*cking becomes a literal, cosmic level threat. Are you f*cking kidding me??

DC’s creative bankruptcy is astounding. You have some of the dopest characters to ever make the page, some of the most compelling pathos to derive from, and supreme Batwank is what you come up with? I’m not going to go into HOW this cat became such a cosmic f*ck around but the fact that this is what they landed on to maybe-maybe not reboot the universe is friggin’ pedestrian. I’m an avid fan of manga so this sh*t isn’t new to me. It’s called power creep and i never respected it to infect the US comics industry. There is no way a Batman, any Batman, should be able to go toe-to-toe with a Martianized Lex Luthor or f*cking Superman, not without a ridiculous power boost and yet, here we are. The Batman Who Laughs is pulling the strings behind another f*cking Crisis-in-name-only and i kind of hate it. That’s just the sh*t with the new ultimate evil, Perpetua. I’m not even going to touch on the fact that Dark Nights Metal has a sequel, one as uninspired as it's predecessor, and a third one in the works. Like, f*ck off, already. What are you going to rip-off next? The Majin Buu saga? Is DC going to introduce their version of Dragon Balls? I mean, Nth Metal was the first mcguffin to get them out of the overpowered, bat-corner they wrote themselves into so why not omniscient, magical,balls that scatter across the multiverse? Who gives a sh*t if that was the entire thesis to Dragon Ball Super. No one cares. Just throw some Bat-Paint over it and publish that sh*t. It doesn't matter that the narrative is poorly written, completely rushed, and makes no thematic f*cking sense. It's evil Batman. That sh*t'll sell gangbusters so f*ck it!

And that’s the crux of my frustration; Poor writing. There are a ton of good ideas here. I dig the Evil Batmen and Dark Multiverse in theory. I love the idea of The Batman ho Laughs. In execution? Sh*t is superficial nonsense that even the most angsty teenager would see as too much. The most f*cked up thing about all of this, is the fact that are dope stories being told getting buried by all of this hardcore Bat-fellatio. Justice League Dark is one of the best written stories in the entire industry. That whole Witching Hour arc with Wonder Woman was one of the dopest ideas i have seen within comics in a long ass time. No one even talks about that sh*t. No one at DC is pushing that sh*t. No one on the fandom even cares. Hell, there are better Batman stories being told. The whole White Knight series and it's sequels are amazing. That whole story is f*cking dope. It's creative, it's unique, it homages every aspect of the mythos, and delivers a story true to the character without all of the Mary-Stu bullsh*t. Yet, all I hear is about is how bad Bendis is ruining Superman and how The Batman Who Laugh is the “coolest” sh*t, ever. Nah, that sh*t is trash. I don’t need more trash in my comics. The Batman Who Laughs had potential but right now, with what we have been given, this dude is just a bad joke. A punchline at the end of a an uninspired joke. And don’t get me started on THAT chick, man.