#i love being normal about nintendo games can you tell

[strawberrycircuits]

oot link for the bingo :-)

hello! oot link makes me incredibly ill her story is so FUCKED UP and the fact shes the only link we get concrete info on how they ended up after their quest was over kills me. nintendo what do you MEAN she got stuck in a timeloop what do MEAN she joined the hyrulian army in which she died in service of what do you MEAN she had children after majoras mask and that her and TP link are directly related WHY DOES TP LINK LIVE ON A FARM. AS A RANCHER. WHY DOES HE KNOW EPONAS SONG AT THE START OF THE GAME (YOU KNOW. THE ONE MALON WROTE. THE ONE SHE FUCKING SINGS!!!!). "MALON IS SECRETLY WAITING FOR A KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOR TO SWEEP HER OFF HER FEET" AONUMA WHAT IF I STRANGLED YOU WITH MY BARE HANDS!!!!!!!!!!!! sorry im supposed to be talking about oot link not malon whoopsie. just know im ill about malon which makes me ill about link which makes me ill about malon which makes m

anyways she goes through. So much. every single adult and guardian figure failed that child along the way because she was a part of a destiny she never signed up for and they locked her away for 7 years so they could use her as a weapon to save a kingdom she didnt even know existed until her dad DIED IN FRONT OF HER AND TOLD HER TO LEAVE HOME (a dad which lied to her face and said "yea im dying but you can save me!" when she COULDNT. WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT TO HER.) and the one person who tried to alleviate things (fi!!!!) ruined her life in doing so. a child cannot mature in an eternal slumber but how is a sword whos going through this for only the second time ever (when her first and previous wielder was 17 and a half which is still too young but is a FAR CRY FROM FUCKING TEN) supposed to know that!!!!!!!! and the other time someone tried to do right by her (as in, sheik sending her back in time to apologize for the childhood he blames himself for her losing) shes INCAPABLE OF RETURNING HOME. WHICH WAS THE WHOLE POINT OF ZELDA SENDING HER BACK. WHAT!!!!!! WHY DO PEOPLES ATTEMPTS TO DO RIGHT BY HER ALWAYS MAKE HER LIFE WORSE THAN IT ALREADY IS!!!!!!!!!!! probably because said people are always working in the confines of the prophecy and the goddesss will instead of going Hey this entire thing is fucked up you should not be shouldering the burden of a nation. hmm if only there was a character who similarly felt like she had no control over her life situation and had a dead parent and was far removed from the reincarnation cycle and lived on a ranch and

also i need to elaborate on the "im the only one who gets them" and "they couldve been great if they were handled differently" because like. look. the heroes shade is an interesting concept. there is something compelling about one of the previous links guiding the latest one, even beyond the fact that OOT and TP link were related. but EVERYTHING in majoras mask was pointing towards oot link healing from how mistreated she was because she bore the mark of the hero and finding purpose aside from chasing the innocence she can never get back. and you are TELLING ME. THAT REPORTS CLAIM SHE DIED ON THE BATTLEFIELD. THAT SHES A STALFOS (YOU KNOW, THE THING PEOPLE BECOME WHEN THEY TRY TO GO TO KOKIRI FOREST WITHOUT A FAIRY!!!). THAT SHES MEAN AS SHIT TO HER GRAND(?)SON. A N D THAT SHE IS MORE THAN WILLING TO SEND ANOTHER HERO OFF TO WAR? JUST LIKE HOW EVERY OTHER ADULT IN HER LIFE DID TO HER?? F U C K T H A T S H I T. and i stg that reveal has completely fucked oot link's characterization in fanworks. i love brooding asshole link TO AN EXTENT bc it can be done well without sacrificing the fact that no matter what or who or when theyre always a person who wants to help people above all else but to imply that shes just a terrible person who didnt care abt anyone and died bitter and mean is SO. hnnng. youtuber and sfm animator majorlink gets it he understands oot link like i do. i like how his fan series reconciled the whole heros shade thing. the idea of link dying bc she blames ganondorf for the way her life ended up because even after all this time shes just angry and hurt and if its not his fault then whose is it? who do i take it out on? how do i stop making it hurt? is SO. + i do kind of vibe with the heros shade being a result of oot link just not knowing how to help the next hero other than through battle because thats all SHE ever was to anyone, and thats all the guidance she ever got, so surely this is just how it is, right? right? right? this is how you help and guide people, right? even if its by marching them to the same fate you faced? im still unhappy with the heroes shade but you *can* do interesting things with it. healing is not linear, especially when everything you went through happened when you were ten and you have the rest of your life to deal with what that did to you. hyrule was only like a couple of centuries old at that point i doubt they had therapy figured out just yet

anyways. oot link and oot zelda are besties and they talk about their wives (malon and ruto respectively) and everything is Fine theyre Fine oot link does Not die shes fine and sooo happy and gay farmer married do you hear me shes fine shes okay shes f

[shrowded-eng1ma]

Sagau with a creator that has My personality (I need something to up my non existent ego, lol)

CW;Sagau, cult Au, blood, murder, Religious Themes.

Reader; Reader is gender neutral

——

Mondstadt

The people of Mondstant think your nice. Your not overly energetic but your not overly inactive

They also find your presence calming (as everyone else does in sagau) you don’t demand much of anything from them, just some food and a place to stay.

If you live in Mondstadt, you’d have at least TWO knights protecting you at all cost, along side Diluc of course.

People love you, some even begin praying to you directly. And you need to adapt to it. As much as you tell them ‘You can stop, it’s not necessary’ they’ll just keep going. So you suck it up.

You hand around vision holders most, the NPC’s are very jealous. Why them? Is it their visions? Did they pray harder or offer more things to you?

Really, it’s because you know more about them then you do the others, and your introverted by nature so it’s pretty hard to socialize, not to mention your inability to pick up on normal social clues.

You always deny people walking with you or sticking beside you all day long, it’s draining enough to just talk you don’t need to make idle chat with.. well I guess your ‘Followers’

You handout with Diluc the most, he resembles your personality the most and understands your major dislike for peoples attention.

Your least favorite person is klee. Mostly because she’s SO fucking energetic, it drains you just being around children.

You brought your phone and Nintendo switch into the world of Teyvat. And since genshin is a game, in your phone, you have unlimited battery and access to download any games or dlc’s to your switch or phone.

If your able to clone your phone you’d give it to your most trusted people, in this case it would be Diluc, and Jean.

Your relationship with Venti is surprisingly normal. Venti is an archon, he’s devoted his life to you and knows what you like and hate, so he’d be more quiet around you but still fun.

Venti would probably try to convince you to drink alcohol, but you always deny.

Liyue

Liyue is probably the most devoted to you.

Anything you want they’ll be damn sure to get it, Food? How much you want? A house? Shit you can take one if there’s. Clothing? You’ll get the best fucking clothes Teyvat has ever seen.

If your a woman, Ningguang is willing to lend you her expensive and comfortable clothing. A man, go to Zhongli, your most devoted follower to exists.

Zhongli most likely has everything you’ll ever want, he’s been alive for 6000 years. He knows every spec of you.

He’s your most ‘normal’ obsessed follower. He’s willing to kill anyone who seems to irritate you, he’s willing to lend you his clothes, anything you want, he’s your man.

Your bodyguard is Xiao, Yelan, and The entire liyue Qixing.

Your favorite person in liyue is Xiao, as in your words ‘Xiao knows how to shut up… he’s also just pretty to look at’

Xiao watches you from the distance while still killing demons. Yelan stays beside you and probably ‘Flirts Respectfully’

Yelan herself would like to train you to fight, if you don’t know how to. Others believe you shouldn’t stain your hand with the filth of those who dare attack you.

Ningguang has a special room made for you on the jade chamber, before she destroyed it. But she’d most definitely make another jade chamber specifically as your home in liyue.

In short, if you want a easy free life with low expectations, go live in liyue.

Inazuma

Inazuma treats everything you do as royalty.

If you walk, everyone will move out the way for you, if you breath, people stop breathing in fear of taking your precious air, if you sit down in a restaurant others might move away from you, fearful of angering you or some might try to talk to you.

Ei herself becomes your bodyguard, while the shogun is busy with political and military affairs, she’s beside you, making sure no one even breaths the wrong way in your presence.

And your fine with it. Ei is an introvert herself and doesn’t ask stupid questions. That and she’s pretty to look at.

You have a room in the Tenshukaku, the only ones who can enter it are you (obviously) and Ei

Ei makes sure you have the most comfortable furniture in inazuma, along with the best view of the city. She’s not only your bodyguard, but your maid.

You want a massage? She suddenly knows how to give them. You want food? She bought a mountain of ingredients and the best chief in inazuma (It’s Thoma) someone’s bothering you? She kills them.

If you believe Zhongli was obsessive you’ve seen nothing yet. Ei acts like a overprotective Yandere, she never wants you to leave inazuma, but why would you leave? What do the other nations have that inazuma doesnt?

You have a archon practically kissing your feet. You have everyone’s respect, your have the best view of the city. Why would you want to leave? Has someone annoyed you that much? Who? she’ll end them!

She’d try to convince (manipulate) you to stay. She’s terrified of losing you, she lost her friends and sister she couldn’t even bare the thought of losing her beloved Creator.

Her obsession is driven by fear of loss and just pure devotion. She’d do anything, literally anything to keep you in inazuma.

Ultimately when you leave, she extremely sad and disappointed within herself. What did she do to make you leave? She’s completely fearful that you’ll perish despite knowing that no one would dare attack you. Give her a break, she has trauma.

Once you return to inazuma she wants to hug you from pure relief, just throw herself onto you, but she just sighs and says ‘I’m glad you came back your grace’

If your able to see her, touched starved attitude you’d hug her and allow her to hug back. She’s been really nice and good to you, it’s only fair right?

Sumeru

Sumeru is the most normal.

They don’t overprotect you, just above average protection.

You don’t really have a bodyguard here. You just have admirers and follower’s. Except Cyno, he’s your bodyguard.

Nahida is your tour guide, wherever you wanna go she’ll point you at the right direction.

You’ll possibly be milked for information about where you were before you descended to them, they’d be very interesting by the idea of ‘Television, and Video Games’

Besides that, Sumeru is quite literally normal, their driven by their logic not feelings.

[feelmyskinonyourskin]

Not a thot but a question, do you have any headcanons for Frank/Matt/Bucky?

Ohhh yeah I have a few. Thanks for your patience, I wanted to respond to this when I could sit and think and type everything out on my computer, not on my phone. Normal HCs at the top, spicy stuff below the cut.

Matt

Okay so I had this friend in highschool who was beyond disgusted by peanut butter, no allergy just totally hated the stuff. Like wouldn't kiss his girlfriend if she'd eaten it recently. I feel like Matt has an extreme food ick like this. Def not peanut butter but something like olive oil maybe? With his sensitive senses he gags when he even gets a whiff of whatever it is.

Speaking of peanut butter, I think it's a food staple of Matt's. The man can't take care of himself, so cooking full meals is just not a thing for him. So 2AM, back from patrol and he needs something to eat. Matt just eats PB straight out of the jar with a spoon like I did for meals in college.

Frank

Loves karaoke. Well, used to when he lived a more normal life. I don't think he sings amazingly well, but he doesn't care. He plays guitar obviously and Col. Shoonover mentioned his impressions skills, so that all concludes me to the fact the Frank likes to sing. He sings to himself/along with the radio when he's driving by himself between jobs. A lot of John Denver and Elton John.

For a holiday/birthday/anniversary gift one year he absolutely recorded Maria a CD of him playing and singing a few of her favorite songs. He'd probably do the same for you too if you were dating.

Bucky

Has a bit of a video game addiction. He was so fascinated by Stark tech at the fair, that I imagine he loves learning about everything that has come along since, but really got hooked on video games. I'm thinking your standard XBOX, Nintendo or Playstation games like the MLB/Baseball game and the Mario collection. Not big on first person shooter games like Call of Duty cause he's lived it obviously. But he can literally spend hours playing like FIFA or something. Absolutely gets on live to play with Sam, AJ, and Cass all the time.

Spicy Thots under the cut, 18+ please, I tried to keep it gender neutral in terms of x reader

Matt

Is really touchy during sex and also not during sex. Since the visual stimulation of sex obviously isn't there for him, he makes up for it by always having to be pressed against you fully or by having hands roaming and groping everywhere.

But also not during sex he's always grounding himself to you by being pressed as close to you as possible. Only time he isn't is when he's in a Matty Mood™ and feels like he doesn't deserve you or you deserve better or whatever Catholic guilt BS he tells himself. He gets over it eventually.

I feel like he likes really intimate sex but also is really playful during it as well. We saw a glimpse of this in She Hulk but I also think his just generally flirty demeanor hints at this. I'm talking like does things to make you giggle in the middle of sex.

Man also has a bit of a breeding kink. He's absolutely not ready to be a parent because his life is in shambles and as much as he loved his dad, he did not have good parental examples in his life, but regardless of his partner's gender or bodily anatomy, he likes the idea of filling you up, knocking you up and having that claim on you. I'm again blaming the Catholicism somehow.

Frank

The eye contact during sex!!!! Dude lost his whole family so anything good in his life he is afraid is going to slip away so he treasures it and takes it all in. We saw this during S2 with Beth but yeah, big guy just loves to watch every facial expression you make during sex.

He's also just really tender in bed. He's not big on kink stuff but will try it if you want but just wants to feel really connected during sex. He's mostly serious in bed but in a really beautiful and intimate way.

Mostly groans and grunts but loves to thrown in a "c'mon baby girl/boy" and begs for "just one more for me"

Bucky

I wrote a whole spiel about my Bucky bedroom hcs, but here's some more.

Of the three, I feel like Bucky is most playful and open to new things in bed. I don't think any of them are open to a full on Daddy kink, dom-sub kind of play but Bucky is the most likely to lean into elements and try things. After his time being under someone else's control I think he likes to feel a little in control, especially of his own body and sex life. But again, not fully into that type of dynamic. Like he might like to boss you around a little or call you dirty names in bed. Afterall, 1940s Bucky was a total flirt and very smooth with the ladies, so it stands to reason in bed he'd still bring some of that out.

[pichongames]

It's time for a new DEV UPDATE! [February 2024]

Let's talk about the upcoming Nintendo Switch port, localization, plushies, and new content coming soon?

It's time for a new development update, we've been working on a lot of stuff behind the scenes so let's talk about some of it, shall we?

The Bunny Graveyard is coming to Nintendo Switch!

If you didn't know already, The Bunny Graveyard is on its way to Nintendo Switch. But this port will not just be any normal port, the game will receive some enhancements and changes both visually and gameplay-wise. Including motion-controls, HD vibration and more!

But do not worry PC users, even though some gameplay features will be exclusive to Switch, any content updates, improvements and future chapters will be released at the same time on all platforms.

More languages!

The Bunny Graveyard: Chapter 1 is currently being translated to more languages, some of these are:

Brazilian Portuguese

French

Russian

Japanese

Simplified Chinese

Korean

...and more!

Boxers Plushie!

You probably heard of this already, but yes! Boxers got himself his very own plushie, which is still available at the time of this writing, however, this is a limited edition plushie so make sure to grab one before they're gone. As of right now, there's still 8 days left, so think about it! You guys absolutely CRUSHED that funding goal by the way, 450 sold so far!

We're definitely making another one... hehe.

This is also our first piece of merchandise and we're open to do more merch stuff in the future! But for now we'll only be choosing things that don't slow us down during development. So, if you got any requests for merch, let us know and we'll look into it!

NEW free content is coming this year...

We are working on a new secret project for the game, it will be released as a free content update at the same time as the Nintendo Switch release. It's a small thing that we wanted to make for a while now, but never got the chance to do due to time constraints. Think of it as the next "4-1-1992" for now.

We'll be releasing a separate trailer for this soon, so stay tuned!

So... how's Chapter 2?

Finally, let's have a quick talk about Chapter 2.

We are still not ready to fully reveal Chapter 2, buuuut we can tell you a little bit about it. It is the most ambitious project we have ever done, we expect it to be about the same length as Chapter 1, but despite the length, this chapter has proven to be quite a challenge to develop... but you know us, we love ourselves a challenge!

The story has been fully written, the gameplay has been finalized, but there's still quite a lot of programming to go, and don't get me started on all the music and animations left. Oh, did I also mention that this chapter will be releasing at the same time on Nintendo Switch and PC? And that it will also release in multiple languages? And that I'm still working on this game mostly by myself?

Yeah, things are not the same as they were back when I was making Chapter 1, The Bunny Graveyard is no longer just a silly lil' indie game, but that's exactly what makes it fun. I seriously can't wait to show you guys what we've been working on, this chapter is going to blow you away. Expect a trailer sometime this year.

You can add Chapter 2 to your Steam wishlist now!

Final Thoughts!

2024 is looking like an awesome year for this game, I'm hoping that this year we can get more people to know about this game. I'm extremely thankful for all of the support that we've been getting lately, it's crazy that I can now FINALLY focus on this game full-time, something that I've been trying to do for a long time now. I'm still processing the fact that this game is coming to the Switch, but it really is! Truly a dream come true. If you got any questions, ask in the comments and I'll try to answer as many as I can! And as always, thank you all!

[smilesrobotlover]

Aight I’m gonna rant about the ending of totk… again. I deleted the first post cuz honestly my opinion has changed on it and I just wanna say some things cuz a lot of people left some awesome inputs.

Now I wanna say this first, I have nothing against happy endings. I love happy endings. Zelda games all have happy endings. But they’re also very bittersweet and some of them just outright devastating. This game def has a happy ending, but it’s underwhelming to me. What I want out of totk is CONSEQUENCE. You’re telling me that Link lost his arm and Zelda turned into a dragon and then in the end everything is back to normal and things are fine and dandy? Like it’s not a terrible thing, but it feels like everything you went through was kind of pointless cuz the characters don’t seem to have been affected by it. I would’ve been less upset if Zelda at least kept her memories as a dragon, or had some dragon features or something. The light dragon was easily the best part of the game and it ended in such an unsatisfying way. YOU don’t have to agree with that statement, but it was unsatisfying to me. I didn’t like how Rauru and Sonia’s bs magic just turned her back. I can understand Rauru’s arm being there since Link was there and Sonia’s time power turning her back to her original form, but how is she just there? It’s not a TERRIBLE solution but it’s not good to me personally.

A lot of people commented on the original post that there should’ve been a quest for Link to find a way to bring Zelda back, and I found that far more intriguing than leaving her as a dragon. This game is full of fetch quests but this type of quest I would’ve loved, besides, Impa WAS going to look for a way to bring Zelda back, it’s not like it would’ve come out of nowhere. I’m sure doing this would ruin the flow of the ending, but let’s think about AOC. Terrako dies. He stays dead at the ending. But after you finish the game, you can start rebuilding him, and there’s a second ending where Terrako is back with a cute second staff credit. Totk already has some AOC influence with the character bios and stuff, so I feel like it would’ve been fine if they had done this honestly. And it would’ve been more satisfying that the player WORKED towards Zelda returning back to normal. You can have the dive that parallels the beginning and all that stuff, it’s fine. I just feel like this would’ve been a better ending to the game.

But again, I want consequence. I want Zelda to either be haunted or amazed at seeing history before her very eyes as a dragon, I want Link’s arm to not magically regenerate, I want there to be something different with the characters. Cuz to me, it felt like the characters came out the same way they went in.

Now just to clarify, this would’ve fixed the ending for ME. If you’re content with the ending I do not care. Good for you. I’m so glad you’re happy. But this overhyped game wasn’t good for me and I have so many issues with it so I just wished that Nintendo did something better with the ending. Something more bittersweet or hopeful towards a future cuz there’s none of that (I guess Mineru dies but she was already dead and only Zelda cared about that so I really didn’t care that she officially died. And it’s not like she was an interesting character to begin with).

Tldr; I wish there were more consequence to the game and I wish the light dragon had a more satisfying ending

[kyufessions]

animal crossing

synopsis: on seonghwa’a day off, you both cuddle while playing animal crossing

pairings: boyfriend! seonghwa x g.n. reader

genre: domestic fluff

word count: 0.9k

a/n: i’ve had this idea for several days so here it is !

general taglist: @jwnghyuns @eaudenana @soobin-chois

whenever there’s a day off, it’s normally spent doing cute couple things you both never get to do such as cafe dates, shopping for the apartment together, etc. but having four days off in a row was new for both of you, so you ultimately decided to have a lazy day in when the rain ruined the picnic date you both planned out. since the day was still young, you decided that as seonghwa changed you would quietly move around furniture to make a makeshift fort out of couch cushions, blankets, and anything else you can find. just as you were adding the finishing touches and making sure everything looked as perfect as can be, you heard his footsteps coming closer and turned around to see the excitement in his eyes at the setup.

two hours later and you were both cuddled underneath the fort, the thunder outside bringing a sense of comfort as random music played in the background. you sat between his legs, your head on his stomach as you played on your nintendo switch and seonghwa on his as his back propped up against the back of the recliner. you were never one for animal crossing growing up, but after meeting seonghwa you understood the hype. it was an amazing time waster and definitely brought you a sense of joy; it was such a comforting game to you. and playing it together with your boyfriend made it even better, even if you two did play it differently.

the entire time you’ve known and dated seonghwa, he’s only ever restarted his island twice. meanwhile, you were currently contemplating on restarting your island for the eighth time. if seonghwa ever got bored, he would just redesign his entire island or house. but if you ever found yourself needing a new challenge in the game, you just restarted the whole thing.

deciding to just restart your game, you watch the screen anxiously as you await your starter villagers. a grunt left your lips as you noticed who the starters were, earning a small jump from your boyfriend. “sorry,” you automatically said after feeling his movements, looking up at him for a split second to place a quick peck to his lips before continuing on with starting your island all over again. “i just restarted my island.”

“again? that’s like the fifth time-“

“eighth.”

his eyes widened, his eyes looking down at his screen as he continued making new clothes at Mabel’s. “do you not miss your villagers when you start a new game?”

you shake your head as you roamed the island, taking note of the cherry trees growing and smiling to yourself. “no, half the time i restart my island because of the ugly villagers.” a gasp from him throws you off guard, making you look up at him with wide eyes. “what-“

“there’s no such thing as ugly animal crossing villagers, y/n.” his voice sounds offended and shocked all at the same time, making you confused.

“ there most definitely is, hwa.” you fully sit up, ready for this heated yet unnecessary discussion about to take place. “you’re telling me you don’t find villagers ugly? not even some?”

he shakes his head, his eyes sparkling under the minimal lighting being provided. “no, i love all the villagers. they’re all so cute in their own way.”

“even benjamin?” he nods. “ tiffany?” another nod. “pietro?”

“who doesn’t love pietro?” he responds, crossing his arms over his chest as he raises a brow at you.

“me!” by this time you have already put down your switch, your entire focus on the man in front of you. “i just restarted my game because i didn’t like him being on my island.”

“how do you not like pietro? he’s literally one of my favorites.” he quickly saves his design at Mabel’s and starts running across his island in the game, running towards pietro’s house and finding him walking by the river. “look!” he starts conversing with pietro, letting out small giggles whenever he hears him say his catchphrase. “how could you hate a villager that says honk honk?”

“i didn’t say i hate him,” you start, watching him play his game adoringly. “i just said he’s ugly.”

a dramatic gasp is heard out of seonghwa, making you laugh as he closes his game and puts a hand over his heart. “how dare you say that about him knowing he can hear you? he’s very cute and handsome, you’re just missing out.”

you laugh, wrapping your arms around him and laying your head on his chest. pecking a small kiss into the center of his chest, you pick back up his switch and turn it on. “come on, show me your island. it’s been a while since i’ve seen it.”

for the next hour, you both sit there as he shows you around his island, catches some bugs, and digs up some fossils. even with some villagers you did like, seonghwa gave you speeches about each one and why you should love them just as much as the ‘cuter ones’. he even helped you redesign some of your new island, only stopping just to order some food and put a stop to the four hours of screen time you both accumulated. you’d be lying if you said you didn’t end up regretting restarting your island to let go of pietro, but you just hoped he’d end up back to your island someday just to show seonghwa.

[burgerputty]

Can you tell us some of your general Scideon hcs? Getting together, domestic stuff, toxic yaoi, whatever comes to mind I'll take literally anything

OH IVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS ONE. Oh I have so many but I’ll list some out

- In the grand scheme of the canon I see Gideon developing an interest to actual crush for Scott. Gideon geuninely sees Scott as someone who is an equal to him once Scott defeats all of the exes before him. It’s also kind of notable that he just kind of spies specfically on Scott not Ramona, and also inserts himself in his memories?? I like to think it was Gideon getting a geunine thing for Scott. He has a crazy way of showing love though, and he doesn’t truly realize his feelings for Scott and confuses them with hate and fascination.

-I also think he appeared in Scott’s dreams much more than in actual canon, specifically more when Ramona left him. He would give this almost taunting comfort to Scott, specifically in his ‘im so alone’ dreams, Gideon would appear as a shadow manifestation of himself. I guess it’s his weird way of showing affection.

- I also love the idea of Scott joining Gideon’s league either when Ramona leaves him or straight up joining him during his fight. Gideon would regard him as his right hand man, and treat him better than everyone else in the league. Scott would probably move in with Gideon as well. I also can see Scott back stabbing him but it depends on my mood really I just like the idea of them just being evil together. This is prob the main way I see them getting together romantically.

-They would argue over what Zelda game is the best and also just over nerdy trivia but at the same time get along/bond over it. Play video games together umm and Gideon would show Scott his vintage first editions of Nintendo games he has to impress him. Info dump to each other like crazy too, Gideon would buy him so much nerdy shit

-Power of love in the fight in the comic potentially being symbolic of Gideon and Scott’s relationship lol

- Gideon having some a moment of regret for killing Scott when he looks down at him in that one panel because Like. Why did he look like that

-Sometimes I like to think Gideon is the cat too

That’s all I remember for now but I prob have more I’m so normal about them I swear

[simp999]

A New Home Ch. 1

Splatoon Manga Various x Skilled! Isekai'd Reader

What happens when a Splatoon Manga fan gets sent to Inkopolis?

Will you change the plot entirely?

Will you make a lot of friends or will you become the most feared inkling in town?

Series: Splatoon

Wc: 1.2k

A/N: If anyone wants to be on a taglist for this series, don't be afraid to tell me :D

A/N 2: Hey! I've already got a couple chapters ready to publish, just gotta finish the art for the banner and clean them up! Buckle your seatbelts, we're in for a long ride! Love you guys! <3

Warnings: Minimal swearing, I'll try to cool it.

Notes: 'Thinking' "Speaking"

Next part

You gently rubbed the sides of your temples as you attempted to soothe the painful throbbing coming from your skull. 

‘What the hell happened?’

Only once the pain had finally subsided were you able to take in your unfamiliar surroundings. You were sitting in a back alleyway.

"Well that’s not sketchy whatsoever,"

You mumble to yourself, noticing the odd colors. You weren’t sure how to explain it, but everything seemed more… vivid? Saturated? The leaves were greener, and there were brightly colored signs and stickers everywhere. It kind of reminds you of how Japan looks in the media. You saw that you had the strap of your backpack gripped in the hand that wasn’t just soothing your headache, you were glad that you had something familiar with you. You quickly assessed the items you had in there. Water bottle, phone, charger, notepad, pencils, eraser, mini first aid kid, and oh, would you look at that, some pain-soothing meds. Perfect. Thanking any of the gods above for this being one of the singular times that you were prepared, you took the small pill. You heard lots of chattering coming from outside the alleyway. Once you were finally able to stand up, not without feeling slightly dizzy for a second, you made your way to the middle of a wide-open area.

'No damn way.'

Are those inklings walking around? You quickly jump back into the alleyway, trying to catch your breath and figure out what the hell is going on here. You look down at your hands once again and see that they’re bigger, and your fingers are definitely more square than you remember them being. You look around in a panicked state, trying to find some sort of reflective surface. You find a broken-down shop window’s glass, and what looks back at you definitely isn’t you. Or at least, the you that you’re used to seeing. What’s staring back at you is your avatar, from your favorite Nintendo game. Your eyes are bigger, and you have… tentacles? You immediately bring your hand up to feel them. Oh, they’re not as slimy as you thought. That’s good. But they sure are sensitive. 

'Alright,'You think to yourself, 'I can get used to this. Yeah. This is fine. Probably just a weird, extremely realistic dream of some sort.'

You peek your head out of the alleyway, to take in the sight of Inkopolis Plaza once again.

'Yup. Absolutely normal.' A few moments pass and your thoughts start to calm, making you more reasonable.

'Hey wait, doesn’t this mean that I don’t have to worry about real-life stuff? Maybe I could just enjoy this for a bit. That sounds nice.'

With a quick breath in and out, you shrug your bag over your shoulders and make your way to the center of the square.

˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊

You paid no mind to the chatter around you, - until it involved you. After getting bumped into by an idiotic inkling running by, you decide that you’re better off ignoring him, trying to make your presence as non-noticeable as possible. 

“Oh, sorry about that!”

“Yeah, no worries.”

The inkling continues on and you’re about to settle down on a nearby bench when you realize,

'Was that blue inkling wearing goggles?'

You try to glance back at the inkling boy, but he’s already gone into Inkopolis Tower. 

'Well, this is Splatoon one, and they’ve got limited gear, so it was probably just some random dude.' You reason with yourself, trying not to get your hopes up.

You sit on the bench with your backpack on your lap, taking in the scenery. 

'I’ve got nothing better to do, so maybe I should try some turf while I’m here? This probably is just a dream, so I’ve only got so much time here, right? So why not enjoy it?'

With a small smile on your face, you realize that you don’t have a weapon, so you make your way over to Ammo Knights. Remembering how much Sheldon likes to talk, you try to walk around the store discreetly while looking around for your main weapon while his back is turned. You assume he’s cleaning a weapon or something.

“Ah, hello, hello! You seem to be new here, may I introduce you to some weapons?-”

You're quick to cut him off before he can continue, claiming that you’re looking for your main weapon.

“I’m sorry, but you’ll have to get more experience doing turf war before getting a weapon of that caliber. Here, how about you try this one?”

Sheldon hands you a Splattershot Jr. and sends you off.

You look down at the weapon held lazily in your hands. 

.

.

.

Seriously? You’re an S+ ranker for cod’s sake, rank X in Splatoon 2! Man, this is infuriating, but it’s not like you can do anything about it. You take a quick glance at your reflection then look down at your shirt. Your basic tee. You look a little lower and spot the cream basics.

“Oh, guess I really am a newbie.” 

…

“I s'pose I’ve never actually played turf before, so maybe I do suck.”

˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊

A couple of matches of carrying your team and spawn-camping your opponents later, it seems you’re ‘good’ enough to get a better weapon, and gear. After the first two matches you started to feel really bad, so you went easy on the opponents, opting to simply turf.

Even if you weren’t up the the ‘right level’ or whatever, Sheldon could easily tell that you’re some kind of veteran with the way you carried yourself and your weapon. Not to mention how pressed you were about getting your main. So despite not being at the proper level, he carefully handed you your favorite weapon and allowed you to test it out in the training range. With him watching over carefully, of course. He really hoped he was making the right decision here, or else you’re paying double-maybe even triple for the weapon if you break it.

You roll your eyes at him, holding the weapon as if it were your most prized possession. 

And man, did it feel good. 

It’s like it felt just right in your hands, like it was made for you. 

You made your way to the training area, inspecting the weapon carefully since, y’know, you've never technically used it before. Once you figured out how the ink worked, you started attacking the targets, with perfect precision. Not one wasted drop of ink. 

You’re crouched down after destroying all of the targets in seconds, taking a breather. You get up and dust yourself off, looking at your beloved weapon. 

‘Oh yeah, we’re gonna have lots of fun.’ You look at the machine in your hands with adoration.

It’s almost like you’ve been doing this for years, the muscle memory is definitely there. It’s almost like your skills transferred over from how good you were at the game.

'That’s pretty useful,' you think to yourself, walking out of the shop as Sheldon stares at the ‘newbie’ with his jaw on the floor.

Next part

Apr.5.23

[marsmarvel02]

So, I played Princess Peach: Showtime! last night, and I have some thoughts.

Warning: Spoilers for the entirety of Floor 1 under the cut.

Opening

Wow, the music is good.

I love Grape's design! So... unique!

Grape's name, however, is ... ehh. It could be worse, but I'd still prefer something a bit more intimidating.

Why does Stella have to make crying baby noises when she's upset? It makes it hard to take her seriously and it's honestly just really grating to listen to.

Stella's design, while not the worst thing in the world, just seems a bit... off to me. I can't place it, but something about her just looks... weird.

Why is light magic named "Sparkle"? It just sounds a bit... goofy.

Swordfighter-1

Wow, the loading times for levels are... a bit much.

Why does the "level loading" music have to have that long, low horn that sounds almost exactly like the noise older Nintendo games make when they crash? The first time I heard it, I freaked because I thought there was something wrong with my copy of the game.

Why did they make B the action button and A the jump button? In every other game I've played, B is jump! That button switch has actually made me die a few times in a later level, and generally made me bad at parts that require jumping with quick reflexes.

Wow, this game IS easy.

The pre-transformation sections of levels where you just run around swinging your ribbon at stuff are honestly kinda boring.

Oh man, Swordfighter Peach looks AWESOME!

Again, the game is still really easy, but blasting your way through hordes of Sour Bunch members makes you feel INCREDIBLY powerful.

And I love the acrobatic and flashy dodges too.

Why does the very imposing knight with the hammer go down in one hit? Seriously, all you need to do is jump over his shockwave once and oop, down he goes.

The end boss is CRAZY! Who'd've thought that a Mario (spinoff) game would have you fight a giant killer plant that ISN'T a piranha plant! Also, wow, this random spinoff gets original bosses and Mario Wonder doesn't.

Jokes aside, though, I love the thorny flower bud boss. Does it have a name?

Ninja-1

Normally stealth levels in games are the ones that everybody hates, but honestly this one is GREAT!

Again, the game is still pretty easy, but stealth-attacking enemies and taking them out in one hit also feels POWERFUL.

I love how the guards can't tell where Peach is when she has a freakin' SPOTLIGHT shining on her. Or when she's pressed up against a wall and her GIANT YELLOW PONYTAIL is sticking up above her camo paper.

Why does being spotted make Peach turn into a log and then teleport to just before whatever stealth section you failed? I mean, I get sending you back to try again, but what's with the log? Is it a reference to some ninja trope I'm not familiar with?

Oh man, the chase sequence is SUPERB. Especially the wallrunning bits, and

When the enemy drops one of the scrolls, and Peach somehow uses it to summon a giant wave to ride. It makes no sense, but it's FRICKIN AWESOME.

Honestly, I'd really like it if the wave chase had ended with the enemy dropping a second scroll, and Peach using it to summon another crazy setpiece. (Hey, I just realized, that wave is a "dramatic setpiece" both in-universe and in the video game sense.)

Patissiere-1

Once again, the section before the transformation is... rather slow.

Honestly, I was expecting this to be the "annoying gimmicky minigame level", but I'm pleasantly surprised. It's a gimmicky minigame level, sure, but not an annoying one.

While getting above the minimum required to advance in the cake-decorating and cookie minigames wasn't too hard, I can see that I'll have my work cut out for me when I come back to get all the Sparkle Gems.

This isn't too bad, but it's annoying how in the cookie minigame there isn't any visual indicator that you're about to overmix something.

Cowgirl-1

One word: AWESOME!

Again, the ease at which you can lasso enemies and throw them around makes you feel powerful.

Oh, and that barrel-throwing fight sequence manages to simultaneously be both awesome and hilarious. I don't know why, it's just funny in the best way.

Crazy Thought: Cowgirl Peach tests her barrel-lassoing skills against Donkey Kong.

That horse chase sequence is pretty fun, but it's also where I died a few times because I lassoed when I meant to jump.

And, to top it all off, the boss fight against the leader of the robbers is epic. My only disappointment is that, when he's charging around the arena after you, you can't matador him into those piles of gem boxes landing the first hit revealed. I understand why you can't, but I still wish you could.

Floor 1/First Main Boss

It appears that Peach understands as much as I do that, while forcing open the door that's obviously full of dark magic might be a bad idea, it's also the only way to progress the game.

I'm not sure what to think about the fact that you need Sparkle Gems to open the Spooky Floating Door. I mean, the cost was low enough that it wasn't a problem for me, but I could see it frustrating someone who isn't very good at the game (especially since doors on later floors will probably use the same mechanic), and speedrunners are probably going to HATE it.

Why is the evil version of Sparkle named "Darkle"? It just sounds stupid.

WE'RE FIGHTING A GIANT DISCO CHICKEN!

Oh man, Disco Wing is awesome. Especially the part where THE GRAVITY FRIGGIN' FLIPS UPSIDE DOWN!

It's funny how the only time Disco Wing does that giant rolling attack is when the arena has been changed in a way that makes it possible for Peach to dodge it. Disco Wing, you could've won easily if you'd just done that attack a few times at the start of the fight!

Crazy Thought: Disco Wing meets Hole Punch from Paper Mario: The Origami King.

NINTENDO, I WANNA REFIGHT THE DISCO CHICKEN! LET ME REFIGHT THE DISCO CHICKEN!

So, after fighting Disco Wing I finally checked out the dress shop, and THERE'S A DISCO DRESS! That is DEFINITELY what I'm wearing for the rest of the game (or at least until beating the next floor boss unlocks another crazy dress pattern.)

Disco Wing's boss theme wasn't very disco-y for some rea- WAIT, I JUST CHECKED THE OFFICLIAL SOUNDTRACK AND ALL THE MAIN BOSSES HAVE THE SAME THEME?! Nintendo, WHY??! Now I won't be able to hear Juno Songs make covers for each individual boss!

In conclusion, Showtime! is definitely a straight A of a game so far. If it keeps on being as good as it was, I might even consider pushing its grade up to an A+.

[dogtoling]

sea slug anon. I LOVE THE BIG GUY OMG do u think guard slugs exist? or are the big guys just, same sweetheart but now in hugelarge

honestly this ENTIRELY depends on what sea slugs are actually LIKE in splatoon and the main reason I haven't done much on that is because we literally have no idea. There's very little reason they would be like cats or dogs because cats and dogs are extremely intelligent predatory mammals, and dogs specifically are super social pack animals, and both are very active animals, so they make good companions and pets.

Slugs? A lot of slugs are just a dollop of boneless goo with tiny eyes that barely see anything slowly gliding on the ground (or sea floor) trying to figure out if the thing they're touching is food or not. They have like two brain cells. Anyone who's had a pet snail ever can tell you they are so so stupid and so lovable. But I CANNOT see them being interactive or intelligent or having a personality to any degree comparable to a household pet like a dog or cat. They either slide around, or they eat, or they sleep. So on this long tangent, I don't think guard slugs would be a thing because a slug wouldn't give a shit about some kind of creature or guy coming into the yard, it definitely wouldn't bite, so forth.

Of course the problem is that this is what would make sense but we also LITERALLY DO NOT KNOW ALMOST ANYTHING about what sea slugs are actually like in Splatoon, in context of being pets. We know that there's a lot of different ones so the different species could be comparable to dog breeds. We know you can walk them, so they're at least probably much faster at moving than actual slugs... which to be honest, if they're going at top speed they can actually go surprisingly fast. They would also probably not have a mucus layer because with an animal that big, it would be impossible if they're not aquatic. Even land snails have to stay hidden most of the time because of their moisture requirements and most of those things are like 3 centimeters. (At least here)

Museum D'Alfonsino has probably the best assortment of sea slug imagery we've got in the series

but it doesn't really tell us much other than different types can be kept, probably. It is possible that sea slugs in Splatoon are more intelligent than slugs normally are, but I don't really see that and especially not the social aspect being very likely given again, most slugs just slide around and look for tasty leaf or whatever. Most algae-eating sea slugs probably eat plants now, but there's some predatory sea slugs out there too. However being a predatory sea slug isn't that difficult, because a lot of typical sea slug prey tends to literally be stationary or extremely slow, and all of that prey is ALSO on land i think.

The reason this is even a question is because the way sea slugs behave and how they are would completely change how people actually keep them!! Like, can they free-roam your house or do you need a (very large) terrarium? Are they social? Do they literally just idle and sit around because yeah they do still just have two brain cells? Are they actually dog-level intelligent and if yes then WHY?????? I don't think there's really anything here except that we definitely know you can walk sea slugs which means they have some kind of incentive to go somewhere lol. And if Nintendo ever brings sea slug pets into the spotlight in the game i'm entirely expecting them to be basically dogs... but like what if they're not

Just as a final note we CAN NOT use C.Q. Cumber as an example. Not only is C.Q. Cumber not even a sea slug, but they are also artificial life forms. That's not even a naturally occurring animal in Splatoon

[almightyhamslice]

KDL3 Stage 1-1: Tulip's stage!

I'm approaching these with a similar format to my KDL2 posts, except divided by stage rather than level since each stage is very unique in KDL3. This also means this is going to take me forever LOL. In terms of standalone ability drawings, each one will contain Kirby AND Gooey, since they have the same movesets. They're only placed next to each other for comparison though since like I said they can't BOTH wear the necklace at the same time. So far I think Gooey likes Spark the best!

This level has Rick and Nago, but I never used Rick since it was too risky-- too much of a chance of him accidentally stepping on the flowers!! Nago is preferential since he has 3 jumps. I would NEVER take Gooey here unless I was playing w 2 players though. His CPU is SO bad lmao (worse than any Helper in the original Super Star if you can imagine). That's how it is for the entire game quite frankly, but I REALLY like the idea of Kirby and Gooey going on the whole adventure together, so I'm pretending I did this whole thing with 2 people LOL.

I can tell you a little more about Nago since this post is very Nago centric! He's 19 years old and is honestly a completely normal guy... other than being able to turn into a giant cat anyways LOL. He can't use copy abilities for himself, but he's very crafty. He likes to help Kirby come up with new methods and angles to use his abilities. He has some difficulties befriending the other animal friends since he feels like he can't relate to them, so for now he's only friends with Kirby and Rick. He doesn't like when Kirby chooses to hang out with other friends over him. I guess that makes him n Rick more alike than I realized LOL. He is prone to expressing his emotions in catlike ways since he's a werecat.

I don't have much to say about this level's resident character, Tulip. She's a flower nymph, and she has 4... kids? counterparts? I don't know what they are to her. None of them transform, and the little flowers don't talk or anything, they just have eyes. Though, they can move underground by tunneling I think. Only between areas without grass though! They're very particular.

Ramblings abt Nago and calico cats in general under the cut since I have a special interest in cats and genetics:

So if you were unaware, calico cats (and tortoiseshell cats) are almost always female IRL! Thsi is because 'red' (orange) and black fur colors are both linked to the x chromosome, so a cat can only have 1 of those 2 per x chromosome. If the cat has only 1 x chromosome, it can only be red or black, never both. So this means that even though he's a male character, Nago must have 2 x chromosomes for his coat color to make sense. I think one could interpret him as transmasc, intersex, or they could say he has Klinefelter syndrome or some other chromosomal condition? So I chose to depict him as transmasc in my gijinka AU since I'm transmasc and he was my favorite animal friend when I was a kid!!

Did the designers working on KDL3 intend for him to be trans? Probably not, I think it was just an oversight. They wanted a funny cat character and calico is a very cute and popular color for cats! Though idk it is possible he was intentionally transgender since Kirby's probably like, the queerest popular nintendo mascot I can think of?? If he's gender neutral is it that farfetched for Nago to be trans or intersex? I don't know, I'm not his original designer.

Anyways another funny fact abt cats that Nago's designers might've known-- cats squint/close their eyes as a sign of trust in others! So Nago's eyes are usually shut because he's showing Kirby that he can trust him! (yes that means he's VERY upset when Kirby uses the needle ability or switches to a different animal friend cuz his eyes widen. TBF, if my friend was shooting chunks out of his face and turning them into needles, I'd be pretty distressed too LOL). I really like this detail cuz it means at least one person on the design team rlly rlly loved cats lol.

[katasstrophy]

Do you have any hcs for Kaiser and/or Ness backstory?? I'm worried we won't have that much time left with them so I've been pondering, and Ness def gives me only child, middle class (maybe upper middle class), and lonely childhood vibes 😔 I feel like part of his obsession with Kaiser and a big part of his personality is accepting any and all crumbs of affection and recognition, which leads to an easy dependence on a sole model. I like to imagine though, while he didn't get to spend the most time with his parents especially as he started school, that he used to go mushroom and truffle hunting with his mom. I also see Ness as someone who likes or used to train as an ice skater!! I think it suits him and would be helped/lead to his flexible ankles. Also, has some kind of music background whether it's playing violin for a bit or being a choir boy.

He and Kaiser def have major theater kid energy, but I also see Ness as a lit nerd!! Used to be a bit of a snob about it too the little shit but he likes classics, mystery, and fantasy. Def see him as a LOTR fan while Kaiser doesn't know LOTR or Star Wars lmao.

And I think it'd be cute, if their friendship started more normally (though...who knows smh), that Kaiser and Ness used to talk about plays and musicals together. I think Ness would be a tragedy and romance fan (Cyrano de Bergarac, Medela, Titus Andronicus) while Kaiser loves EVERYTHINGGGG but is ofc a huge proponent of the classics, and is very pretentious about his personal meta and deep takes on them.

Also, between the two, only Ness knows some video games. Not a lot, but I think he would have played nintendo games like Kirby, Legend if Zelda (fave), and Mario and would know MegaMan, DOOM, some Resident Evil and such. I see him being given game consoles as a kid to make up for his parents not being there for him, which worked but the intent pushed Ness away from really enjoying video games to the fullest. But I think he'd have a soft spot for a lot of OSTs from different series, and with time, I think he could be a horror game fan but only now and then.

Meanwhile, Kaiser is like...bankrupt when it comes to video game knowledge and references. Anything he knows is from brief osmosis from being an attention seeker as a kid trying to make friends by lying out of his ass. If he ever were to play video games as a young adult, I think he might be interested in MMORPGs but his attention is short with them and he gets pissy if he's not instantly amazing at it. Which I see happening a lot bc I think video games would be a weakness for Kaiser lmao.

Sorry this ran rather long!! Ty for your time!!

hi nonnie!! no worries at all my apologies for replying so late. i have like, a few headcanons for our unhinged bastard münchen duo but some of them i plan on exploring in fics later on so i’ll be keeping those selfishly to myself for now sorry <3 but i feel like kaiser and ness won’t disappear on us any time soon!! we’ve already been with them for quite a while, and after the ubers game we’re still getting the pxg france match, so there’s plenty opportunity for us to learn about their backstories. imo they’re such interesting characters that it would be a waste - and if i can be so bold, bad story writing - not to explore their dynamics further in the manga. so i’m sure we’ll know more about them in due time!! but yeah it’s kinda criminal that their blue lock wiki pages have barely any trivia on them :((

sadly i’m not very well-versed in either theatre or video games but it seems like you def know your stuff!! and that’s really the beauty of hcs - that if it feels right for you why not own it? i can tell you’ve put a lot of thought and effort into mapping out their childhood and interests :)

so let me leave you with this lil brain nugget i’ve been pondering about: i really do wonder if it was ness who made kaiser into the self-obsessed bastard he is today. i feel like kaiser wasn’t born with a superiority complex. he was always good at football, but never thought too deeply about it until he met ness. ness was the original egoist. i mean, from his current skill set, he still surpasses isagi in many aspects. so it was ness who was really good at football, who didn’t have an equal until he saw kaiser play and it shattered his entire worldview, because just like isagi, he realised kaiser embodies that “perfect form of soccer.” and he made it look easy, effortless. so ness became obsessed and decided to devote himself to kaiser, who measured up to be the best in his eyes, and thus, slowly, kaiser started believing himself to be the emperor that ness made him out to be. wouldn’t you develop a god complex if someone was constantly at your beck and call and praised you for it? defended you against everyone who tried to stand in your way but ultimately failed? i’m pretty sure that’s not how their story will go but it is an intriguing food for thought no? (okay now that i'm reading this back it's low key giving a reonagi foil lol but i still stand by it)

i also wonder if kaiser’s rose tattoo has anything to do with his desire to leave bastard münchen but being unable to do so as of right now, hence the thorns symbolising that he is “shackled”. which means he’s looking for something or someone to set him free by “unlocking” the keyhole on his left hand. my guess is that isagi is definitely involved in that process somehow but we shall see!

[inkwolvesandcoffee]

Fun & Games (Forrest Bondurant x Reader, Modern AU)

(Credits for the images in the moodboard go to their respective owners)

Genre: Romance, Humour, Modern AU

Pairing: Business Analyst!Forrest Bondurant x IT Trainee Fem!Reader

Word Count: 3.3K

Warnings: tooth-rotting fluff, a sprinkle of awkward romance (well, it’s rather just Forrest being a mess), very little swearing, Forrest being a gentleman, unrequited crush/love/lust (or is it?), responsible drinking, Jack being on the short end of things

Summary: Everyone has a hidden side to them. But on a Friday afternoon at the office, Forrest Bondurant, the normally stoic and feared business analyst reveals a side to him no one had expected. 

Least of all a certain trainee.

And everything is fun and games, even if eventually feelings get involved.

Tag list: @buttercup32sstuff @liliac-dreamer @vir-tual​ @potter-solomons @ilovemanypeople @zablife​ @hecatemoon87​​ @alikaheroes

Monster Masterlist / TH Masterlist

Friday afternoons at the office are for sharing drinks and playing games. Then again, what else can you expect when you’re surrounded by geeks?

All tables in the cafeteria are occupied, more and more colleagues either leaving their office or coming in through the front door. The small room is filled with chatter, pieces of conversations about various topics blending into each other to the degree you occasionally can make out a single word.

Unsurprisingly, the Nintendo Switch is swiftly turned on and taken into use to organise an informal Mario Kart tournament. In less than a minute, the first two contenders have already stepped up and taken their places at the start line of Toad Harbor. Sipping on a can of beer or soft drink, we watch them, and afterwards each other, going head to head like we’re in a stadium watching the Olympic Games. 

After a disastrous loss on the Royal Raceway playing Lemmy, Gary holds out the controller to me. “Fancy a round, Y/N?”

“Sure, why not?” I shrug, hop off my seat and walk around the table to take the controller from his hand.

Now, everyone gets to pick their own opponent but no one goes twice in a row. The latter doesn’t matter, but the first certainly does since there’s one person in the office who’s sparked my interest ever since we met.

The grumpy business analyst who’s working even now, tucked away in the corner of the sofa. 

It’s Friday, basically the weekend! Even you deserve and need a break.

Mentally crossing my fingers, I pick up Charlie’s controller as well and hold it out to the bear-like man still busily typing away on his laptop. “Play Mario Kart with me, Forrest?”

He peers over the edge of the screen at me, the blue flames of annoyance calming the moment we lock eyes. Features softened, he shakes his head. “I ain’t gamin’.”

“Aw, come on. Don’t be a spoilsport and do the lady a favour,” Howard, our low-code trainer and his brother, cuts in. “Or I will.”

“I’ll play,” Jack intercepts, stepping away from the people he’s talking to and drinking beer with. “If you’d like, of course.”

I hold out one of the controllers, glad the data analist wants to compete. Truth be told, he’s my second choice of company I’ll happily settle for. “Sure, bring it on.”

Behind me, muttered words end in a grunt.

“What was that?” Howard asks. “What’s wrong, grumpy?”

“I’ll play the next round,” Forrest grumbles. He shuts his laptop, puts it in the leather bag at his feet, crosses his arms, and sits a little bit more upright.

“I promise I’ll go easy on you.” I smile at him, a warm feeling spreading throughout when he averts his gaze. Though his scruffy stubble hides most of it, his cheeks are rosy.

“What about me?” my opponent asks, feigning indignance. 

I turn back to him, feeling uncharacteristically brash. “You’ve been here longer than me. I’d expect you to have become an expert by now, Jack. After all, you’re a data analyst. Surely the data has told you how to win.”

A bright smile tugs at the corners of his lips the moment I mention his name. “Bold of you to assume.”

“What? Am I wrong? Aren’t you a gamer?”

“Tell her about the Bloodborn tattoo you got recently. Or how about the new Pokémon you caught and nearly yelled me out of my bed for last night,” Howard chimes in.

Jack hunches his shoulders and throws his brother a poisonous look. “Shut up.”

‘‘Which one did you catch?’’ Though I’ve only recently gotten back into games and especially Pokémon, I’m still as eager to talk about them as I used to be.

‘‘Zamazenta.’’

“You caught Zamazenta?’ Okay, yeah, no,” I shake my head, “I’m definitely not gonna go easy on you. Success comes with hard work, that much I’ve learned so far. I’ll show you how serious I am.”

I cringe.

That sounds like one of those cheap lines those trainers and Gym Leaders say.

Nonetheless, no one seems to have noticed it because various of my colleagues break out in an amused ooooooooh. Slowly but surely, the first murmurs about bets arise.

Jack and I plop on the couch. Forrest scoots to the side to free up space for me. I half-expected him to immediately stand up to sit or stand somewhere else, but he stays put. Not that I mind since the heat radiating from his body is pleasant like his cologne. Leather, sandalwood, tobacco, and warm spices are the most prominent notes. However, there is something I can’t quite place, an element reminiscent of the woods.

Something wild.

Uncontained.

Grumpy wolf.

I snort at the thought. Fortunately, I manage to conceal my amusement behind an awkward cough. I can’t lose face yet around here.

“Ready?” Jack asks.

“When you are.”

He chuckles and shakes his head. “Fiery. I like it.”

And so the battle begins.

Supported by and with the blessing of our co-workers, we decide to partake in a 150 CC Grand Prix. Normally, the rule is everyone gets to play one race, but apparently they allow full tournaments whenever a trainee wants to challenge a senior. 

In the corner of my eye, I notice Forrest leans forwards and throws a look in my direction. However, when I glance to the side to read his expression, he averts his gaze to the floor. If only he knew how bad he is at faking interest in his shoes. The way he fumbles with his fingers is endearing, however, because it shows a fragility beneath the rough exterior.

Throughout the races, and again failing to be inconspicuous, he brushes my shoulder in encouragement while intently watching us go at it. Almost as if he’s trying to learn through observation. 

In spite of the slow start, I end up second with Yoshi while Jack ends in fourth place playing Princess Peach. 

The business analist holds out his hand as soon as the on-screen ceremony is over. “My turn.”

Startled by the abrupt gesture, I lean back to avoid being hit in the face. Forrest blinks, probably realising what almost happened. He beckons his brother to hand over the controller quickly and rapidly retreats into the corner of the sofa. “Sorry ‘bout that. Should’ve… should’ve done that differently.”

“No worries.” Our gazes meet. The brightness in his eyes has dimmed, the seas in them darkened with sincere regret. “Don’t apologise.”

You’re just a little clumsy, but that’s okay. A clumsy grumpy wolf. Keep it in. Don’t grin. Calm and collected.

He opens and closes his mouth, unsure what to say. Finding no words to answer with, he simply nods and lets out a low groan. 

“Um…” As if he’s holding a rock for reasons unknown, Forrest stares at the controller in his hand. Howard barely manages to stifle a snigger. Jack has his lips pressed firmly together in a straight line, also on the verge of breaking out into a fit of laughter.

“We can activate Smart Steer,” I propose. 

“What’s that?”

“It prevents you from falling off the map. It’s especially handy on Rainbow Road.” I might as well have spoken in tongues because he gives me a foggy look. “It’s one of the most difficult tracks. Notorious, even.”

“Ah,” he mumbles, brows still knit together.

I almost feel sorry for putting him on the spot, but, then again, it’s also quite funny to see one of the great giants in the office struggle.

“Now, with the L button, on top of the controller on the left,” I indicate where it is, “you use that to launch the items you gather during the race. However, you can only have one at a time.”

“One at a time… right.”

“You use the left joystick to steer and press A to accelerate.”

“Right.”

“Those are the basics. Still wanna play?”

Please don’t say no. Please don’t.

He nods. A smile spreads on my lips and I bounce in place like an excited puppy. “Yay. I’ll activate Smart Steer, though, just in case.”

“Aw, look at that. Forrest has safety wheels again,” Howard coos.

“Shut your damn mouth,” Forrest grumbles. 

I chuckle, shake my head, and set everything up including the safety wheels. Can’t throw the senior business analyst into the deep and have him crash, after all. 

We pick our characters. Well, it’s perhaps better to say I pick our characters since Forrest mucks about with the controller and already doesn’t seem to know what he’s doing. 

A few seconds later, the timer for the first round of the first course in the Flower Cup appears on screen. Everyone turns towards the screen in anticipation, except for Jack and Howard, who prefer watching Forrest as a form of entertainment.

Three.

Two.

Engines are starting to roar. 

One.

Start!

“It ain’t startin’.”

“You have to press A.”

“I am.” Forrest briefly taps the button. “The cart don’t move.”

“You have to press and hold it down. A regular car also doesn’t drive itself, does it?”

“Not yet,” Jack mumbles next to me.

I look at him, make a face, and turn back to the man on my right. “In Mario Kart they don’t. Now try it.”

Forrest holds down the button and lo and behold, the cart comes into motion.

Only to leave me at the start.

“Oi, you-’’ I exclaim and put the pedal to the metal.

We’re not even halfway through the first lap when the next car crash is bound to happen. 

“Ehm, where are you going?” I ask, squinting while trying to figure out a reason for what he’s doing. Then again, I suppose there is no rhyme nor reason, no analysis to be made, when it comes to video games. At least not with this particular business analyst.

On the screen, Forrest is trying to race up the waterfall. “Followin’ the track.”

“No, you’re not. We’re supposed to go down. Watch the map.”

“What map?”

“In the corner of the screen. That map!”

“Since when that’s there?”

The remark triggers both chuckles and eye rolls. Nonetheless, it doesn’t decrease the fun and joy of having gotten Forrest out of his comfort zone. 

And ending third in the Flower Cup because, despite the rocky start, I still managed to climb up the ranks. My poor colleague, however, ends in sixth place, having taken too many detours while wasting items.

“You tried.” I nudge his shoulder with mine as he hands me his controller so they can be passed on to the next pair of speed devils, “Thanks for playing. That was fun, wasn’t it?”

His jaw clenches and he avoids my gaze. Then, surprisingly, he grunts in acknowledgment. However, it seems there is still no time for a break because he reaches down to his bag, fingers automatically outstretched to the laptop inside.

Feeling emboldened by having gotten him to relax, to a certain degree, I dart forward and grab his wrist. Well, that was the idea, but my fingers are too short to fully wrap around it. All the same, it does the trick in getting his attention. 

His breath hitches and he stiffens. Yet, whereas I had braced myself against the first traces of wariness or even pure animosity, his demeanour is anything but violent. Forrest doesn’t attempt to escape my grip. Instead, he looks at me, eyebrows raised while he gazes at me with sharp focus.

I’ll have to choose my words carefully. Perhaps he’ll turn on me the second I say the wrong thing.

I bite my lip and gently squeeze his wrist, trying hard not to get lost in the warmth of his skin. “Put the laptop away? Surely work can wait until Monday.”

“I’m working on a big project.’’ He grimaces and scratches his cheek with his free hand. At least his fingers are off of the laptop. ‘‘One I need weekends for.”

“Working so much isn’t healthy. Everyone needs time to recharge.”

“He’s a notorious workaholic, Y/N,” Howard comments, sipping from his beer. “He’ll need someone to keep him away from the damn laptop for him to rest.”

He puts his bottle down, a wolfish yet well-meaning grin on his face. Evidently up to no good, he swaggers over and crouches down in front of us. His attention focused more on Forrest and me rather than Jack, he leans in and lowers his voice to a conspiratorial murmur. “Just give the girl your number. She seems awfully worried about you so why don’t you give her the means to assure her you’re doing fine. Or we can arrange a meeting point this weekend and you two enjoy the city, take some time off together.”

A prickling travels along the back of my neck when the implications of the comment dawn on me. A funny tingle rises in my chest, which has grown tight. Nevertheless, hoping it doesn’t show too much, I turn to the business analyst. “Maybe exchanging numbers goes a bit far, but I have nothing planned tomorrow.”

“C’mon, Forrest. This is the point where you ask the lady whether she’d like to spend time together. Ask her out for a cup of Joe. Show her what we mean by Southern comfort.” The Mendix trainer wiggles his eyebrows, but flinches and grimaces when Jack kicks him as kindly as possible. Or, rather, as politely as you can be when the situation calls for subdued violence.

“Fuck off, Howard.” Forrest clenches and unclenches his fists. If neither Jack or I intercept soon, we might very well have a fight on our hands.

“Alright, that’s enough out of you. You heard him, go on. Off you go.” I playfully push Howard’s shoulder, gently telling him what Forrest has already harshly put into words.

“She’s a keeper,” he mouthes before sauntering back to the table by the window.

“Sorry ‘bout my brother,” Forrest mumbles into his fist, gaze averted. “I’ll talk to him ‘bout crossin’ lines.”

“He means well,’’ I chuckle and tilt my head, secretly glad he can’t see the way I fumble with my necklace. ‘‘And, to be honest, it sounds like he agrees with me. It’s okay to take a break. So, I know we don’t know each other well, but would you humour me with a trip to Starbucks or another café? We’ll both take a break.”

Slowly he turns to me and nods. “How about one o’clock, hm?”

I let my necklace fall back against my skin, feeling light as a feather carried by a storm of butterflies. “Sounds good to me.”

“Might need my number. To… let you know,” he squirms a bit, “where I am. And vice versa.”

I fish my phone out of the back pocket of my jeans, create a new contact, and hand it to him. “Here. You fill out your info while I go grab something. Keep my place warm.”

“Want my number too?” Jack cuts in. The suggestion sounds frantic, but is also strangely reminiscent of the way a wolf whines. “In case he don’t answer.”

I giggle, in part to hide the embarrassment of only having just remembered he’s here too. “Sure. When he’s done, feel free to give me your number as well.”

A smile passes over Forrest’s lips as he looks at the case. Strangely, there is something endearing about the slightly crooked teeth peeking through. He briefly glances at me, but forces himself to maintain eye contact. “Suits you. Bunnies.”

“Do they?”

He nods.

Do you think I resemble one?

I stiffen at the thought and blink as if slapped across the cheek. “I’ll, uh, yeah, be right back.”

He sees me as a bunny. He does, doesn’t he? Hang on, is that good or bad? I mean, they’re cute. Does… Does that mean he likes cute girls? Also, they’re easy prey, weak. Sure, I might be out of my comfort zone here, but I don’t make easy prey, do I? Right? Yeah. Besides, men like girls that are a little fragile, in need of help. Smaller than them too. Why am I so worried about this? It’s ridiculous. Let it go! Let. It. Go. For. Fucking. Get it.

Like a woman possessed, I scour my bag and retrieve my Nintendo Switch Lite from it. I inhale and exhale deeply, roll back my shoulders, straighten my composure, and head back to the cafeteria. 

Casually, I plop down on the couch between Forrest and Jack, who returns my phone to me. “Thanks.”

“Give me a call whenever you want. Don’t have to be business,” Jack says, a careful smile playing on his lips.

“Same,” Forrest mumbles. “Call whenever.”

“Well, I’m gonna grab another beer. Y/N, want one?” Jack slaps his hands on his thighs and rises to his feet.

“Nah, I’m good. I’m a lightweight so I’m at my limit.”

Besides me, Forrest mumbles something. The only clear words I can make out are “never” and “drunk”, laced with what sounds like a promise. Or I might be imagining things, the booze having gotten more to my head than I thought.

“Anything else then? Water? Soda? Tea?” I shake my head. “Forrest?”

He grunts as a substitute for ‘no’, focused on the e-reader in his hands. He must’ve picked it up while I was gone.

“Alright,” Jack murmurs and turns his back on us.

I plug my headphones in and start up my favourite game at the moment. 

Silence is an important language to understand, but also incredibly hard. Only few are well-spoken in it, know how to use it to communicate with one another.

But even a master sometimes needs words. 

“If you want you can…” In the corner of my eye, I see Forrest awkwardly shift in his seat.

“Hm?” I look up from my screen, wondering what it is he wants. “Sorry, what is it you said?”

“Lean. On me.” He clears his throat, voice toned down. “If- If you want.”

I shuffle over and rest my head on his shoulder. “Oh, yeah, this is really comfy.” 

I snuggle up to him further, basking in the hearth-like heat his body emits. Perhaps it’s his cologne, but the woody notes in it conjure a pleasant image of being curled up by the fire in a cabin in the woods. Sheltered and safe from harm since there is a fierce protector nearby, hiding beneath the skin. “You’re really warm.”

He stiffens for a moment, but then lets out a pleased hum and rests his head on top of mine. 

After another moment of comfortable silence in which he reads and I game, Forrest asks perhaps the most ironic question this evening. “Whatcha playing?”

“Pokémon Brilliant Diamond.”

“That’s what Jack plays, right? That game in which creatures fight each other.”

“You also have to train them. And they’re not ‘creatures’, they’re Pokémon.’’ I sit up, my tone harsher than intended. Then again, who does not get carried away when talking about what they love? ‘‘Also, there’s an overarching story line, an adventure to go on.”

His features soften, surprise melting into tenderness, and he hums.

“Yeah, yeah, I know. I’m a nerd.” I roll my eyes and lean against him as before.

He hums again, but whether he agrees or means something else is up in the air.

We retreat into the same bubble we created at the quarterly meeting last week. Strangely, he let me in despite the walls he’s surrounded himself with, prolonging the conversation as much as possible. Afterwards, he walked me to the station.

I’m still unsure whether his cheeks were rosy because of the cold or he was blushing.

“When are you leaving?” Forrest mumbles after a while, the words hardly intelligible. It’s almost as if he’s reluctant to ask the question, let alone keen to hear the answer to it. 

“In a little bit.” I check my watch. “Half an hour, I wager.”

“It’s dark out.”

“Wanna walk me to the station again?”

He slowly nods after a moment of hesitation.

“I’d like that.’’ A genuine smile, full of anticipation and the vivid memory of last time, spreads on my lips. ‘‘Thank you, Forrest.”

This time, he really is blushing.

[strawberrycircuits]

tell us about this npc...

sam localvoidcat i owe you my LIFE!!! i have a lot of meta analysis thoughts about her but i said pretty much all of it like 4 days ago for a bingo card ask game so uh. heres all of that. tldr: malon has a lot of potential as a character and theres something v interesting with her in that her and links storys run parallel which is sooo compelling but nintendo and the loz/oot fandom tends to reduce her to Link's Wife and nothing else (as for why they do that uuuh. twilight princess link is canonically the link from ocarina of time's descendant, which implies time had kids after majoras mask. tp link is a rancher (like malon) and knows eponas song at the start of the game without it having to be taught to them (eponas song was written by malons mother + malon teaches it to time + malon sings it in oot). insert its always sunny conspiracy board meme here. i was already fixated on her when i was little and i thought the malink thing was a lame theory for a while but then i thought abt them both a little too hard and now im here ig)

ok time for me to go crazy insane. im gnna use this post to talk abt canon stuff and then im gnna use libras ask to talk abt my own headcanons LO)L!!!!

-shes described as very headstrong and driven and she very strongly believes in doing whats necessary even when its not what you want (which. the parallels man. vaguely gestures to all of the links) which conflicts with her father who doesnt rlly care as much as he should. and so shes kinda left to pick up all of the slack which is RIDICULOUS becauses shes LIKE 9 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! a child should not have to run a fucking farm and she def shouldnt be left alone in CASTLE TOWN to worry to death abt her father (bc she had to DRAG HIM there to do smthn he shouldve taken care of anyway)!!!!!! what the hell !!!!! me when the game about adults failing children contains adults failing children

-^and like. she is acutely aware that this is not normal. she is so overworked that she does not get to have friends her age (iirc she refers to epona being her "best friend" and epona is. a horse). where oot link is kind of like "woohoo adventure !!" up until zelda gets kidnapped and she pulls the sword (but theres inklings there before that. like having to leave kokiri forest and watching her dad die), malon Knows this isnt normal and that she is missing out on her own childhood. and YET!! she holds no contempt for her father. she knows that he is failing her and she loves him anyway. WHAT THE HELL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-its also greatly suggested shes extremely isolated bc she works all the time and doesnt have time to play or be around people her age. + it doesnt help lon lon ranch is far from hyrule castle town + hyrule field is Fucking Dangerous so its not like she can easily cross it herself. Why did they mess up this girls life so bad!!!!!! (the answer is to parallel link. im insane)

-she had a trophy in one of the smash games that uses her 3DS model im so proud of her. sorry i love when nintendo acknowledges her even tangentially lol ⬇️ also she was referenced in smash ultimate i think idk

-shes not just in ocarina of time!!! shes also present in the minish cap, oracles, and four swords adventures!!!!! why did she have multiple incarnations? who knows ! also i think she can die in fsa. sad

-shes in the manga and she gets kidnapped in like the 1st chapter and when link comes to save her shes like umm no youre ugly go away and meanwhile links like IM LITERALLY TRYING TO HELP YOU YOU ARE IN FUCKING DANGER!!!!!!!

-she also proceeds to fall in and out of love with link in the span of two pages. the manga is not very good sometimes i think. himekawa saw the dialogue line abt malon secretly waiting on a "knight in shining armor" to save her and ignored everything else abt her which sucks ass but is also very predictable for how himekawa writes. i will probably still redraw one of the panels from it anyway lol

-^btw the knight in shining armor thing is an interesting thing to note bc thats something she (malon) seems to be, like, ashamed of? maybe?? which imo feeds back into her whole thing of overworking herself while also understanding that its not okay or normal for her to be doing so. like. "no you cannot want for other things you have responsibilities (even though you undeniably do already)" but omg girl youre nine. except for seven years later when youre sixteen and even still. please take care of yourself please let urself relax and CONSIDER happiness i am begging yuo

-malon is so funny shes just a massive mario reference in game. when u go to the ranch u find Talon and Ingo respectively (talon is her dad ingo just works there) and they look like this. also she has a bowser pendant ?? literally whyd they do this lmao

-one of oots minigames involves beating the horseriding record at lon lon ranch (set by malon at 50secs) and when u win she gives u a cow which she puts in ur house. the thing is that 1. links house is in kokiri forest and 2. links house is a treehouse with a ladder. which implies she SURVIVED THE LOST FUCKING WOODS (WHICH MOST EVERYONE CANNOT) and carried a goddamn COW up a LADDER. how fucking strong is she i love her

-shes gives u an item called the Weird Egg 🕺

-in BOTW you can find the ruins of lon lon ranch where she lived!!!!! :] its called "ranch ruins" on the map :P you can easily find more comparisons but believe me when i say they, like. put a weird amount of effort into getting this one as close to how it looked in oot as possible

-shes also a reference to marin from links awakening but i did not play that so i cant speak on it </3

-its implied she never actually bothers to learn links name in the games. she only ever calls her fairy boy and thats it

-iirc during the child segments of the game she's taller than link but during the adult segments shes shorter. rip

-there is a single piece of dialogue that implies young link has a crush on her which is cute lmao

-so in oot she sings in the lon lon ranch theme (but its the n64 so it like. it sounds like a human voice but also not.) and twilight princess's hyrule field (night) theme uses the same singing effect which i am incredibly normal about forever and ever

-after the 7 year time skip, ingo gets the farm via ganondorf giving it to him (which he can do. apparently. this is a n64 game man leave me alone) and he kicks talon out. malon stays even though everything is considerably worse solely bc she wants to protect the animals, which is also why she was so insistent on keeping the farm running as a kid too.

-generally speaking malon is a very kindhearted and overwhelmingly understanding character and those traits are almost always at her own expense. she knows her dad is the reason shes as alone and stressed as she is, but she loves him anyway. she knows itd be best if she just left the farm once ingo takes over, but shes scared for what will happen to the animals so she stays somewhere that makes her sad and miserable instead. she wants to have friends her own age, but she understands how important keeping the ranch running is so she doesnt pursue it at either of the points in which we see her.

-i like to think things considerably change for her after ganondorf is neutralized prior/after majoras mask

-but thats for the headcanons post

so u may be thinking. Wow strawb this is kind of, like, nothing. why do you like this character. and you would be correct,

[smilesrobotlover]

I’ve read most of the mangas so I think I’m gonna rank them all since nobody asked for it. I haven’t read the tp manga just yet and I’m not including the skyward sword Hyrule hystoria manga for the sake of my sanity (and the mangas that are one story separated into two books are counted as one except for oracle of ages and seasons)

1. Four sword- the characters are so fun and are great to play around with. Shows perfectly how important characters are to a story. They had to give each Link a defining personality different from each other and the way they bounce off each other was just so much fun. Not to mention the dynamic with shadow was interesting and adding a father to Link was also fun to read. And I was fond of this Zelda! A more sweet character but could also roast you if needed. I liked how she fought with her words more than anything else.

2. Oracle of ages- again, great character dynamics and a very interesting story! It wasn’t the damsel in distress trope so it was more refreshing to read than the others. And sir raven is just… a perfect man. Also Impa my beloved

3. Majoras Mask- the way this was written was so beautiful. The weird spookiness from the game was perfectly captured (for this being released without playing the game, that’s impressive) and the story was so… sad yet wonderful. The emphasis on loss and death just kinda makes it somber. And Skull kid’s backstory legitimately makes me want to cry everytime I read it. Poor kid :( the ending was epic too, gosh I loved watching Link put on the FD mask and going ape 💩 cuz of the righteous anger he feels towards majora, and him condemning the Happy mask salesman was also nice. You can tell this Link matured from oot. Also Kafei and Anju were so pure.

4. Oracle of seasons- I really enjoyed the beginning of this! Sometimes the mangas are so short that everything feels incredibly rushed and chaotic but this one was more chill! I mean, we saw Link hang out with the traveling performers for a while, a lot longer than I expected, and it really helped the pacing a lot. I also liked the characters Link hung out with. Ricky, Maple, and the chicken had fun dynamics! Overall, much better pacing than the others.

5. Ocarina of time- this one was pretty great, I loved how Sheik was written, he was the most interesting part of the story imo. I also loved Link, very kind and gentle but sometimes mischievous and just a great guy. Very determined. My only issue is how Zelda was written. I loved her in the beginning wanting to be a normal little girl, but naturally, as any Zelda with an alter ego, she fell short compared to Sheik, who was fantastic. And these stories can’t go 5 seconds without a damsel in distress so. But I liked it! And I liked the side characters! The whole Lon Lon ranch thing was fun too! Also Impa my ABSOLUTE beloved

6. Phantom hourglass- A more simple story but a fun one. Loved Ciela and Linebeck’s dynamic and the style was so fun. Also the ending was better written than the game imo. This is the only licensed Nintendo thing made that didn’t do tetra DIRTY. She was the girlboss she was meant to be, and tho she needed to be saved, she had a much different personality than the other Zelda’s so it felt less redundant. And not to mention, she acted more like a capable captain in the end and it was SO GOOD. I also personally liked that Bellum went after the ocean king, that was a cool scene too see. Shame it ended so quickly. My only issue is not enough Dadbeck 😔

7. Minish cap- this one was pretty fun! But I wasn’t a huuuuge fan of how Link was written. But he was tiny the entire time and it was adorable, and the ending was so bittersweet . Also Minish Vaati was adorable, honestly all the Minish were adorable. There’s just not a lot to say about it tho. Nothing really stuck out to me. Zelda had the same personality as every other Zelda so not much to say about her either.

8. A Link to the Past- not the best story. It’s not a rereadable story and it’s kinda boring. I adore Link’s personality and lbl legend is based after him, but the other characters were more eh. I liked the thief girl a little. But my biggest gripe was Zelda. I feel like Zelda’s in these mangas are all written the same but she’s written differently in a bad way. Apparently she was made more soft for romance but that just made her flat, boring, and also annoying. There were a lot of interesting characteristics to be done with her personality tho, but it wasn’t done. Which is a shame. But I did like the ending. It was very sweet (again, Link is an absolute sweetheart).

[desudog]

Sorry I've just been having it a bit rough and I'm cranky abt all this stuff more than I'd usually be cus of that. I'd just fuck off and draw but I can't cus my huge wrist pain and also the normal chronic pain. I just do genuinely enjoy the designs because I like cute monster designs and as a bonus I basically exclusively play base builder resource manager sims lol.

I'm so tired of this era of tumblr where more than ever, whenever I want to go into a tab that is of things related to me and what I enjoy I'm met with HATE HATE HATE post after post. Being hater = clout, free thinking is a joke, any claim of anything against anything is taken as gospel and an immediate danger to your personal life, it's all fuck corpo until it's muh nostalgia. Pokefans hatespamming? My favorite thing in the whole world is Fire Emblem. Were in a similar spot where quality has been dropping in both of our Nintendo owned franchises and the community feels like they're not being listened to by their respective franchises, concerns about lazy workarounds and crunch causing employee hardship, and I'm gonna tell you right now, if someone made a half assed ripoff of the FE aesthetic and threw it onto Ark gameplay I wouldn't go outside for a year bc I'd be playing the shit out of it. The best thing that can happen to my favorite game series rn is either Nintendo gets their shit together (not happening prob because why do better when worse makes same money? When gatcha makes BIG money?) OR someone with respect and enthusiasm for the older entries and understands what a lot of people in the fanbase wants creates some competition.

Nintendo isn't gonna fucking DIE because someone else made a mon game.

More of a good thing = good imo

Also most palworld fans are pokemon fans too so idk where the claims of "pokemon haters are becoming palworld fans" are coming from. Being mad that quality in pokemon games has been tanking isn't called hating pokemon, arguably its called loving pokemon enough to want to see it used as more than a lazy money grab and it's fans seen as nothing but mindless consumers. But hey, that's just me.