#i love your icon it is very distinctive on my dash and feels like you

[terranoctis]

I played Hades II a fair bit yesterday during my breaks and free time for Supergiant Games' technical test of the game. Part of me wants to keep playing today, but I got stuff to do and I do want to keep up the excitement for the early access. I wrote a rough, kind of unedited essay about it before I went to sleep last night though below, mostly for me to have record of my memories in written form. Some spoiler-y screenshots and random thoughts/analyses below if you want to read more. I mean it--there are spoilers and the most random long tangents because I like to analyze. (I do recommend playing first if you have a chance to)

First thing I'll say is that the game is pretty phenomenal and so damn fun. The experience reminds me of when I played Hades for the first time in their initial Early Access of the game years ago. Longtime Supergiant Games fan here (since Transistor release)! I remember running into a bug then and reporting it when I froze in-game, but I have not run into any noticeable bugs at all yet for Hades II. I've done some reports for minor bugs, but extremely minor ones that I actually feel bad for even reporting and adding to their list of messages to go through. Supergiant has their QA down, truly. I have so much respect for them and how they've developed the game. Darren Korb did an amazing job on the music again. It has that iconic Hades sound with the strings (that is not a guitar, I forget what it's called) while also being its own distinct soundtrack.

The 4th wall banter moments between Melinoë and Homer (who is revealed as narrator!) have been one of my favorite things about the story/narration execution. Her being cognizant of Homer does make it so there are rather funny moments, but also brings up the question of how that might shape the narrative later on. I'm so curious!

When I first started the game, I had a funny moment where I died almost instantly in the second room because I was testing out Melinoe's skillset and ran out of MP (?) and then got slapped because I wasn't actually doing damage when trying to use her bigger skills, heh. It did take me some time to get used to it, but Mel's skills and cast abilities are so much fun to use when utilized well. Her cast and its ability to hold your enemies for a time is one of the best upgrades to combat, in my opinion. For all I love the first Hades, I remember having to dash like crazy to escape exploding carts coming after me if I didn't have a good boon to mitigate or avoid that. With the cast for Melinoë, it'll change that to placing strategically some casts that can hold quick enemies or enemies that are very dangerous if they get close to you (wailers in this game are one such enemy). In terms of boons, Demeter's, Hestia's, and Apollo's have been some of my favorites. Aphrodite also has a phenomenal one for casts that will gather your enemies into your cast, making it an ideal combination with some devastating other boons that can easily damage groups of enemies all at once. Hephaestus also has a pretty fun one where I think he can explode in a certain proximity with your special or attack, I forget. I do wonder if they'll have to rebalance some of these boons because there are certain ones I can annihilate enemies with--but then again, maybe that is needed for later sections of the game.

The numerous references to the moon in the game are a nice nod to Melinoë's lore in Greek mythology and poetry too. Though she's more associated with being a goddess of ghosts (I find it a nice touch you can salute shades you meet in the Crossroads because of this) and nightmares (I don't think it's a coincidence Hypnos is the only other survivor of Hades' inner sanctum), Melinoë has at some point been referenced as a moon goddess as well of the underworld. Selene is the moon goddess and Artemis has also become known as a goddess of the moon in mythology in addition to being the goddess of the hunt. So that connection between the three and the friendship they share in the game is pretty cool in that regard (Selene calls you the "Silver Sisters.")

Having Artemis become your friend in Hades II, something akin to a friendly rivalry like Thanatos was to Zagreus, is such a fun story--and then you have Selene added into that mix as well. From the few runs I've done, I've gathered that Artemis and Hermes are the first of the Olympus gods who knew of Melinoë's existence in her youth as Hecate's pupil. She helped Hecate hide the truth of Melinoës survival (at least from the Olympus gods)--and when Melinoë was ready, it was only then that Artemis leaked through Apollo that Hades' daughter was coming to fight Chronos and had survived the fall of Hades. So the boons you get are because the twins, Artemis and Apollo, played a role in connecting you to Olympus for the fight against Chronos. There seems to be more in this background that I'm curious to learn about. Just from their banter, it's clear Artemis has spent much time with Melinoë and Selene in some form. I don't know if they have duo boons in this game (or boon-hex? Selene gives you a hex), but I'm curious to see what these two's duo boon(s) would be if they have them.

The game also does that thing the first game did so well of shifting the world as you progress and have changes in the relationships about you. Nemesis is one of the new characters in Hades II who doesn't seem to like you very much initially, but with your dialogue with Odysseus nearby, you get the sense that it wasn't always this way. When you gift her a nectar, Melinoë subtly starts calling her "Nem," and you can tell the two of them are very slowly mending whatever it is they have (Odysseus chuckles nearby probably seeing the progress). You also meet Doom Incarnate (Moros) and have to unlock having him at the Crossroads by invoking him, which is also pretty fun in terms of letting you slowly do more runs and experience the world more in order to gather enough "resources" to call him. It allows a natural progression of characterization and getting to know the people around Melinoë, in my opinion.

Dora's also one of my favorite character already. There's something so funny about Melinoë encouraging Dora as she tries to scare and haunt her as a proper ghost, but then also rather touching that she just accepts that Dora just likes to hang out in her room and not go out much. I love Arachne too, and how she's just chillin' like, I'm bored and alone and just spinning webs, so here Melinoë, have some clothes I made.

This game makes me love it as much as I loved the first one. In some ways, in terms of how they executed establishing background and connections between Melinoë and her companions (Odysseus' calls her a "little goddess" as a child! Hecate plays hide-and-go-seek with her!), I think they've started out much stronger than they did in the first game. And this one already starts with a sort of high-stakes situation from the get-go. Melinoë's entire family has been taken by Chronos and she grew up apart from them. The game does well of letting you step into the world even if you haven't played the first one--and playing on your affection for Hades, Persephone, and Zagreus if you did. After all, considering how hard you worked as Zagreus to bring back together that family in the first game, the second game logically comes back with a vengeance with Melinoë at the loss of such a family and a need for vengeance against Chronos for ruining it. The world feels familiar, yet the cast of characters are so different.

And the designs of all the new gods! And the new designs for the old gods! They're all extremely well-done. I've been a longtime fan of the artists for the characters and the environments. They've done stellar jobs on it again for this one, and there's more touches to icons and designs of the UI I like too. The dialogue log is one of my favorite things too, as someone who might miss a piece of dialogue here and there when I take off my headphones. The voice acting in this game is also a whole notch up from the previous game. Not to knock anyone from the first Hades, since I think they did a great job, but I do feel like the voices have been more professionally recorded this time around. Or something about it is a little more polished. Kudos to Supergiant for another game that's an A+ in my book thus far. Ahh!

I could keep going, but honestly, I think it's best to have people experience the game in Early Access. I mostly just wanted a record for myself to look back on for being a small part of Hades II's journey and share some of my excitement and the random analyses I had. It'll be fun for me to look back on how I read some things and how I felt when the finished version of the game comes out eventually.

[sikoi]

📩 Simblr question of the day: Do you have any blogs that make your day when they post? Mention them! Tell us why you like them!

of coursee soo manyy!!!

you, random simblr question of the day person <3

@rollingsim just obsessed with their sims and the way they edit + could look at their sims foreverrr (awakens my joy of the yakuza franchise lol)

@warmsol literally makes my room feel like a field of green just by seeing isa's posts also invented sulani let's be real....and i'm so normal about makoa soooo normal

@gleamer every single post is a 5 course meal. the renders are INSANE and i will never forget their iconic builds soo inspiring

@trendyarthoe a fucking icon i am going to poster every single one of their edits on my wall it's a museum on their blog

@tau1tvec makes me want to actually play the sims because god i wish my game looked that good, gifs, edits, builds all so insane

@lucidicer BLOWS MY MIND period

@veone i love the mood of their posts, there's a distinct style and vibe that they have that feels nostalgic

@solstice-sims i am their #1 fan i swears it

@missatan their sims could ruin me, gladly

@oppasims sims are such cuties and amazing & special cc

@coloursul their renders are jaw dropping and so are their sims

@crsentfairy OCS OCS OCS OCS make me bork

@raiiny-bay one of a kind sims & style, love their monster guys very much ;-;

@void-imp i love their trio bunches and their edits give comic vibes that i love (drop the comic i'm first in line)

@ldobmm their ocs and renders are iconic they know we know i know you know

@gothoffspring i love how colorful their posts are they give such groovy vibes that is so special

@kazuaru an editing master icon legend you name it

@desertdusk immaculate 🤌

@pralinesims stunning sims and i'm pretty sure i have at least one piece of their iconic cc on all my sims lol

@kashisun the grim family feeds simblr they are SO cool

@1-800-cuupid i eat up their cc!!!!!!! amazing amazing

@stinkrascal invented vampires

@saruin their cc? talented, brilliant, incredible, amazing, show stopping, spectacular, never the same, totally unique, completely not ever been done before, unafraid to reference or not reference, put it in a blender, eat it up

@milkygoth their sims are such cuties >:)

@birdietrait keeps my dash alive hehe

@verthu invented renders

@tricoufamily look at their sims family look. at. them.

@gashface love the spoopy vibe in all their edits and url is so good

@based-god the spot for BADASS and amazing sims

@nepotisim their oc jada will both save and ruin ur life i fear <3

@cavernsofdarkness leaves me speechlesssss

[handgiven]

Url... lcngdays 👁️👁️

send me a url to gush about.

hey @lcngdays, i really love what you have going on. once again, as with all the multimuse people, you have my admiration for doing That and pulling that Off because wow all your muses that i have seen have their own distinct voice beyond their backstory, and you manage to convey all of that just by writing, without faceclaims and icons and stuff which -- i honestly dig that so much. icons feel like such a hassle for so much of the time and i really appreciate you just choosing Not To Do That and have fun anyway and kick ass doing it because once again, your characterisations are so fun to read and watch in action just via the writing alone !!! and you do so well even with very little. like, you don't need the long-winded descriptions that i sometimes overdo with my own writing, you are capable of being both concise and entertaining, it never ceases to amaze me. that and seeing you on my dash always brightens my day. just. you doing your thing. because you do have this drive and passion and love for your characters that just pokes through so much. also you are a sweetheart ooc s o .

[vuulpecula]

VUULPECULA'S END OF SUMMER POSITIVITY !

✖ @potestmagice

j-j-j-j-jamie ! firstly omg I need to invade your inbox so we can get more threads going ! I’m pretty sure I have a thread for us buried in my drafts too so I would like to apologize for that, but beside that, I want to say that you are a phenomenal writer! Each character has such a distinct voice that even without icons or names I feel like I’d be able to tell which person is speaking—which is very hard to do omg ! I love seeing you on the dash and tbh you inspire me to try writing more smut lmaooo &lt;3

[anabsolutemyth]

CAN I JUST talk about OnlyOneOf because I could not be more in love with their concept and how vehemently they seem to support it? The entire group makes me FEEL things and I'm not certain after 5 months of stanning them I've picked a bias yet. I don't know how in the world I missed their dOra maar and libidO eras, they were absolutely iconic.

Their little paired up concepts after libidO are a little off kilter now though, I feel. Like Rie and Junji fit so well together, and Kyubin and Yoojung as well, they have chemistry for days. But Mill and Nine always seem to have a bit of tension. In my head it's originally the dynamic wasainly between Love and Nine, and what I think made it work was the push and pull between them, the leader and the evil maknae. But because Nine and Mill are both cheeky and both the youngest ones, they don't replicate that dynamic. There's no clear leader between the two unlike the other pairings and their chemistry is a very tentative, nervous one. These are just my ramblings though. What do you think?

YES!

The entire group seems to just love the concept and vibe that they have, even watching the diary videos before stages showcases it.

I was lucky enough to catch the Libido comeback, although I didn't start standing them at that point (I have no idea why, what the hell past-me??) but I totally agree with your thoughts on the pairings! I love having Mill and Nine paired off because Mill is my bias and Nine threatens to wreck me every time I see him, but the dynamic isn't very clear or distinct I guess.

It'll be interesting to see if they stick with it or if they switch things up in later comebacks.

Can I just say as well, THE MUSIC. It's got that really choppy/experimental electronic feel to it and I absolutely adore it!

It's funny that you sent in an ask about OnlyOneOf though because I saw it earlier at work and when I checked my other mains dash there was a post of one of Kyubin's bubble messages along the lines of "If you don't listen to the song oppa will slap you (lightly)".

Clearly Tumblr is wanting this to be OOF's day 😂

[damedamedame]

aoinene week ; day 4 & 6 prompt - pride + future

- “don’t you ever forget my worthless pride.”

warnings : like one mention of fire but not an actual fire

notes : oh god yeah im super late but here’s pining lesbian aoi as compensation. the title’s a birthday present for oikawa tooru since it’s his bday <3 

(and and the setting is like a college au wherein aoi and nene haven’t met yet so um ehe)

Being anxious wasn't out of character for Aoi. However, despite being the perfect and pretty woman she was, it was crystal clear how awkward she looks right now. Although it wasn't her original idea to spend her Saturday on a Pride Event, she still thought going here was a horrible decision.

"Maybe I shouldn't have come..." She mutters under her breath, unease settling in her stomach at the judging glares she knows she's getting. Or, maybe everyone's attention wasn't on her this time, though it definitely felt like it. "Hey, Akane, can we go ho- Akane?" 

The brown-haired man seemingly disappeared from her side out of nowhere. And, coming from him of all people, was as rare as a blue moon.

'Wait. Does that mean I was talking to myself this entire time?' Grumbling, she tugs at her hair in absolute frustration, cursing at how she even bothered to come. 'Stupid. Stupid Akane.' 

The only reason she even came was because of him. Akane once fell completely and overly in love with her charms but acknowledged how uncomfortable she got when he tried his advances on her and backed off. She truly admired how he stopped flirting with her any chance he got. But, she did not appreciate how perspective he was. Especially at how he examined her blushing reaction when a girl told her she was stunning. Then proceeding to figure out she might be a little more into girls than she had intended. Which, by the way, he realized before she even informed him. 

She recalls the feeling of utter astonishment at how he had mentioned it when they were walking back to their homes. After that, she quickly speed-walked forward out of embarrassment with her face in her hands. 'That was the most iconic moment of my life.' He told her the next day, smirking smugly at himself. She resists the urge to pinch his ear until it turned red.

Aoi crosses her arms, looking around to check if Akane was anywhere nearby. Alas, the coffee-colored man's hair (who was, coincidentally, obsessed with coffee) wasn't near her at all. 'Great. Now he's probably wandering around shouting my name and disturbing everyone.'

All of a sudden, her laments seemed to cease at once. It's as if her logical reasoning instantaneously shut down at the sight of her. The silver-haired woman who walked right past her with bright amber eyes and a golden grin on her lips. 'She... resembles a daikon...' She blushes, gazing at her intently. The daikon, who paused beside the telephone, turned to look at her with curious eyes. Her cheeks echoed of ones engulfed in flames. Her breath hitches the moment they lock eyes.

As nervous as she was, she wasn't one to lose face over a pretty girl. In spite of her soul about to leave her body, she stumbles her way over to her with a sheepish smile. 

"Y-You look hot," Aoi hears her stammer out, her remaining bit of sanity disappearing into the wind. "T-That is, That is because you're wearing that coat, yeah! Uh, um, my name is Nene, Nene Yashiro." The girl flushes at the realization of her words, bowing with her fists clenched.

"Aoi Akane." Nene stops bowing when she responds and starts fiddling with the strap of her shoulder bag. "It might've been better if you didn't correct yourself, you know." Aoi winks innocently, acting as if her whole face wasn't pink. 

"Would you believe me if I said I had to make up that excuse on the spot?" Nene laughs skittishly, gripping the strap tightly. 

"Only if you treat me to cake some time?" Aoi snorts, twirling her hair like she hadn't a care in the world. The exact opposite of what she felt inside. In fact, if you listened closely, you could hear a loud scream coming from all of her veins. Nene nods eagerly, finding her phone from inside her bag.

"Yashiro!"

"Yashiro-san!"

The eager nod swiftly turns into her dropping her phone on the ground with a fumble of her hands as they hear two distinct voices shouting her name. 

"I am so sorry!" Nene scrambles to pick up her phone as the two boys stride up to both of them. Aoi observes them in silence. One of the boys wasn't very tall, roughly at height with herself, and had choppy, black hair. The other boy was scrawny with spiky blonde hair that bothered her every single time she even took a glance at it. "Akane-san, these two guys are my friends, ahaha."

"Boyfriends...?" Aoi bites the inside of her cheek, tension overshadowed in her eyes. 

"What!? No, no, not at all!" Nene waves her hands profusely. Blondie looks at her in concern, attempting to soothe by saying 'C-Calm down, Yashiro-san..!' while not looking very tranquil himself. The brunette's eyebrow raised at the adamant refusal, saying how he's 'as handsome as that donut in that shop from before.'

"This is Kou," She points to the blondie with the shy smile on his face, "He's totally in love with this one guy from the photography class." That comment only made him burst into flames, making the rest of them snicker at his expense.

"And this guy is Amane," She then points to the brunette with a smug grin, who then pulls Aoi closer to him to whisper something in her ear. Nene groans and pushes the stunned girl away from him. "He pushes people's boundaries, as most people do."

The next few minutes strayed with lighthearted nonsense chatter. Aoi takes a look and melts at Nene's laughter now and again. Once the sun starts to glow quite glaringly, and the heat becomes much more unbearable, they start hearing a sound. Particularly a chant of 'Ao-chan! Ao-chan! Ao-chan!' The mentioned girl feels her stomach drop with dread.

"I have to go before he starts plowing through the crowd." She jeers sadly, the trio not knowing whether what she just said was a joke or not. "... Not a joke, unfortunately."

Before Aoi leaves to calm a wrathful childhood friend of hers, Nene grabs ahold of her wrist hurriedly. Looking back at her pleading face, she swore she could explode into fireworks then and there. 

The moment Akane had found her through the countless amount of people in the crowd, he had dash and catch her from tripping over the concrete over how doozy she was. How her rationality ceased to wash over her? He didn't know. But, he had a feeling it was something about the array of numbers written on her arm.

notes : theyre girlfriends, your honor

[anika-ann]

20 Questions Tag Game

Thank you for tagging me, sweets @ocean-bucky 💗

Rules: make a new post and share your answers.

1. Why did you choose your url?

I didn't want to have it fandom related, as crazy as it might sound 😂 Also, I have an AO3 account of the same name, so...

2. Any sideblogs? If you do, name them and say why you have them.

Ehhh, nope, thank you, I'm barely keeping up with this one. Is it a mess? Yes. Do I mind? Not really, no 😅

3. How long have you been on tumblr?

This blog exists for about a year and half, I believe. When I started lurking without an url, that I have no idea about.

4. Do you have a queue tag?

Nope. I don't use queue, cause I like having a so-so control and an idea of what I posted when. I think I might be a control freak🤷‍♀️🙈

5. Why did you start your blog in the first place?

Wanted to enter the world of tumblr with my writing, AND one blog whose story I absolutely adored switched to registered users only and I simply had to know how it would end!! 🤩😅

6. Why did you choose your icon?

It's neutral to fandom, keeps me from changing it like every week and in a way, it's distinct, I think? I can't keep up with ppl chaning url or icons, so I don't change mine either 😂 Plus, daisy is kinda plain and common, but can bring a smile to one's face? 😇

7. Why did you choose your header?

Uhm, hello? I love me some Steve and I feel like it sorta shows the burden of his shield. Also, I edited the colour a bit to fit my favourite one😁

8. What’s your post with the most notes?

My Steve Rogers masterlist

9. How many mutuals do you have?

I... genuinely don't have a clue. Is that weird?

10. How many followers do you have?

1432...huh

11. How many people do you follow?

Very few. I like my dash so-so neat, because I get overwhelemed easily, so many blogs I check even without following them. Shame on me. 64. Yes, I know, I know...

12. Have you ever made a shitpost?

Depends. I ramble sometimes, so if that counts 😂😂

13. How often do you use tumblr each day?

Really depends on the day. I think I check rather often, but in the end, the number of hours would be pretty low these days... life.🤷‍♀️

14. Have you ever had a fight/argument with another blog? Who won?

I wouldn't call it a fight, I think. Exchange of opinions, maybe, that felt uncomfortable? Yeah, maybe, I didnt take our girl Sharon's development. But I hate confrontations🙈 I come here to relax.

15. How do you feel about “you need to reblog this” posts?

You can tell me what I need to do in order to help me when I ask for it. I play a lot by the rules, I ain't gonna listen to someone telling me what to do here too 😅😎😊

16. Do you like tag games?

Yep! But be advised, it sometimes takes me a lot of time to participate. That goes for sending love too. I'm selfishly very happy to be tagged though 😇

17. Do you like ask games?

Eh. Some of them. Since I keep to myself a lot (my theory), I don't tend to get all that many asks for those, so I don't do them often.

18. Which of your mutuals do you think is tumblr famous?

Tumblr famous? Not sure. Which of them are LEGENDS? Every single one of them💖

19. Do you have a crush on a mutual?

I don't think so? But I feel one (1) person might argue... but that's a private joke 😅🥰

20. Tags?

Feel free to answer these if you see this! Without any pressure though: @annathesillyfriend @queen-kass-the-writer @the-soot-sprite @secretswiftymarvelfan @mermaidxatxheart @dr-rigatoni @wxstedhexrt

[officialleotolstoy]

When you were reading W&P, which version of the characters were you seeing in your head? Or which do you usually picture first and foremost when talking about them? I see the bbc cast but comet anatole. lucas steele is too distinctive

Ooh this is a really good question! Also thank you for sending me random asks I really love when people do that :) I guess I’ll go through each character and explain how I see them. For the most part, I developed my own ideas of them in my head (some of which completely contradict canon but it’s about the ✨vibes✨) but they’re mostly based on the Comet actors since that was my introduction to the characters. However, even if I see a character as super close to the actor, it won’t be exactly the same cause then I just feel like I’m mentally writing RPF of the actor

It also changes based on the time in the book (ex: Dolokhov in my head doesn’t have a beard in 1805 but he does in 1812) and if I’m talking about one canon specifically (ie Comet canon) my mind will tend to use the actors from that adaptation, so I’ll just describe how I see them when I think about/read the book

Pierre

He’s like a bigger, rounder version of Josh Groban with lighter hair and less beard? His features are softer as well. I suppose you could say it’s Fat Josh Groban with a dash of Paul Dano, but he definitely doesn’t look as young and innocent as Paul Dano does, nor does he look as old and tortured as Josh Groban.

Andrei

Andrei is one of the characters I mostly developed my own look for, since he wasn’t really in Comet and I didn’t watch the BBC until after I read the book. He’s fairly sharp featured, he has slightly darker hair than Pierre does, and he! Is! Shorter! Than! Pierre! He never gets any facial hair in my head.

Marya

She’s one of the few who looks nothing like her Comet counterpart in my head. She has hair the same color as Andrei’s (a medium brown) and obviously her eyes are her best feature. I could see her with light freckles. She’s got a very average body type/height, maybe a little on the short side.

Natasha

Her appearance changes SO much in my head, often she looks like a younger Denée Benton, but sometimes she’s white and looks pretty much like her book description. It depends on how deeply Denée’s performance is rooted in my brain at the moment tbh. If the moment I’m thinking of is closer to Comet canon/happens in the Comet part, it’s more likely to look like her. She never looks like Lily James though lol

Sonya

She looks pretty much like a younger Brittain Ashford in terms of hair and eye color, although her face shape is pretty different. Her features are smaller and softer, and her hair is a little darker. I think she’s also taller.

Vera

I love her so much. I gotta write a post on that one day. Anyway, she has long dark hair and expressive eyes. She has the sharpest features out of any of the Rostovs and she’s pretty in a kinda scary way. She’s also tall and stares down her nose at people a lot.

Nikolai

This is just completely off the book canon, but he’s completely clean-shaven and blonde. The reason for this is that prior to this book, the only Nikolai I knew was Nikolai Lantsov from the Grisha Trilogy (💖) and their appearances sort of collided. I think he’d get freckles in the summer. He’s kinda tall.

Hélène

She looks mostly like Tuppence Middleton cause I’m a simp. But I think she’s probably taller and younger and her features are slightly more angular? I’m not sure how to describe it.

Anatole

You’re absolutely right he just looks like a more handsome version of Lucas Steele (no offense Lucas). Every person I’ve ever talked to about this has agreed that Lucas’s look is too distinct and just like. Intrinsically tied to Anatole. Anatole without stupid spiky blonde hair is just Not Anatole.

Dolokhov

I do NOT care what the book canon says, in NO universe is Dolokhov blonde. He’s got really dark hair and his iconic blue eyes 💎👄 💎 although sometimes they’re sort of gray in my head, I couldn’t explain that to you. I will die on the hill that Dolokhov is the shortest member of the Garbage Gang (him, Anatole, and Hélène). He’s only an inch shorter than Anatole but he’s like 2 or 3 inches shorter than Hélène and he’s perpetually annoyed about that. Like I said above, he’s sometimes bearded in 1812 but mostly not before that. I’m very bad at picturing people with facial hair.

Boris

To be honest, now I mostly just see Aneurin Barnard cause I think he has the right vibes, but I think my mental Boris had straight hair? And it was lighter. Also, he’s short.

Denisov

I don’t wanna leave him out because he’s a king but I don’t have a super distinctive image of him. He’s got black hair though and sometimes a mustache. He’s kinda short and stocky but also Shaped Like A Fghriend. He has kinda big eyes?

Thanks for asking, sorry I rambled and if there are any characters I missed that you’re curious about feel free to shoot me another ask :D

[amphtaminedreams]

The Women of Euphoria and Personal Style: Lookbook no.8

Hi to anyone reading,

I hope you’re well considering everything going on! It feels weird to want to talk about fashion or TV shows or red carpets or whatever when 90% of my Google searches are COVID-19 related but there you go. It’s all about trying to power through as normal (minus the social interaction) and pretend the world isn’t ending, right? Queue nervous laughter.

And as if things aren't shitty enough, production of season 2 of Euphoria has been postponed until further notice. 

Okay, in the grand scheme of things, having to wait a bit longer for a TV show isn’t catastrophic but it does just about sum up the transition from 2019 to 2020 thus far that after HBO redeemed itself by broadcasting Euphoria in the summer following an ending to Game of Thrones that has made the whole series unrewatchable, the glimmer of hope in me reignited by the prospect of series 2 this year has been quickly dashed. 2021, I’m rooting for you, because it doesn’t seem like things are getting better any time soon, and in all seriousness, I think everyone needs a break from the collective suffering of the last few months.

For me (and undoubtedly for many others if the hundreds of makeup looks and styling videos are anything to go by), Euphoria’s effect on the world of fashion and beauty is unprecedented. I really can’t recall a TV show in living memory that has had as much of an impact on the way young people dress. I mean, this might partially be because the style of the characters already kind of caters to and draws from the target audience but also, aside from Blair Waldorf did anybody really give THAT much of a fuck about what anybody in Gossip Girl wore?

The draw of the styling on Euphoria is that it has something for everyone. The style of each of the main girls, Rue, Kat, Maddy, Jules and Cassie, all of whom I’ve attempted (emphasis on attempted!) to base (emphasis on base!) outfits around, is varied and distinctive but still so current and realistic at the same time. It’s also consistent; even if you don’t own the specific pieces worn by any of them, similar shapes and details reoccur enough in different looks throughout the series that it’s not hard to create an outfit which matches your favourite character’s overall vibe without buying anything new. That’s kinda what I have attempted to do here and without further ado, I’m gonna get on with it! First up:

Jules (Played by Hunter Schafer)

When it comes to whose style is the most experimental, Jules is the obvious answer. A lot of her outfits are what I imagine a cartoonist in the near-distant future will envision their cool girl protagonist wearing. Whilst her ensembles are generally whimsical and girly for the most part, there’s usually a few slightly punk-ish finishing touches thrown in there too be it through chunky shoes or bold makeup or that incredible mesh trench coat she wears in the series finale with the trans symbol on the back which, honestly, deserves a moment of silence. 

There are definitely nods to current fashion trends sprinkled throughout her wardrobe too. I'm not going to lie, despite someone at work seemingly thinking it was an insult to tell me I look like someone who does (I still don’t know but this person has a Rick and Morty keyring so I don’t give it too much weight), I’ve never watched any anime. BUT, that being said, given the abundance of anime screenshots posted by all these aesthetic oriented Instagram and Tumblr moodboard accounts, I have a vague idea of what some of the more iconic characters look like and a lot of Jules’ looks seem to be very much modelled after or at least inspired by them. In a way, I see a lot of her looks as a blend between modern “e-girl”, Y2K skater chick (yes, I’m thinking early Avril Lavigne), and 2013 Tumblr “hipster” a la 2014 Joanna Kutcha and Charlie Barker, and though on paper that sounds like a nightmare combination, it works. I know-if that sentence were a Depop description I would’ve just gained 30 followers.

When it comes to my own interpretation of Jules’ style, it’s definitely something I like to channel when I’m putting together a proper OUTFIT outfit. Meaning an outfit I actually put effort into and thus will most likely want to get a good photo in, lol. The way her character dresses is almost quite Christopher Kane in that it’s fresh and unusual but still understated enough that I wouldn’t walk into a room wearing any of these feeling like I’m doing a Rick Owens runway.

I’m not TOO far out of my comfort zone but still at the same time, I’d be trying something new and maybe a little bit more zany than I'm used to. As for noting where any of these pieces are from, only a few have been bought in the last 6 months, but from left to right clockwise I have marked out those that have in case they’re still available (though be wary of the fact that it seems a lot of online clothes stores are still forcing warehouse employees to work in close confines at the moment and so perhaps aren’t operating the most ethically):

LOOK 1

Corset-Jaded London

Shoes-TK Maxx

LOOK 2

Dress-Motel Rocks

Boots-Koi Vegan Footwear

LOOK 3

Dress-Jaded London

LOOK 4

Dress-Jaded London

Beret-Ebay

LOOK 5

Beret-Ebay

LOOK 6

Mesh Top-Depop

Hair Clips-Urban Outfitters

Kat (Played by Barbie Ferreira) 

Eurgh, Kat. 

I LOVE THIS BITCH.

If I had to choose my favourite character in the show, it would be a very close toss-up between her and Rue, and though I think Rue might just about nab the top spot for her relatability factor, Kat is the girl I want to be or wish that I had been when I was at school. I mean, there’s definitely an argument to be made in that a lot of what she’s doing with her cam work could be seen as a means of validation (Sam Levinson has basically said everyone on the show has some kind of an unhealthy coping mechanism and I would guess due to the circumstances in which her cam girl career was borne and the fact she’s underage, this would be hers) but I do think in other ways we really see Kat reclaim her power and recognise herself for the smart, capable, gorgeous woman that she is. Honestly, the definition of divine feminine energy, and I would completely let Barbie Ferreira/basically Kat if she was also actually 23 dominate me.

Plus! Her! Style! Is! The! Bomb! Definitely the easiest character to base looks around because if I’m totally honest Kat’s energy is pretty much just what I want to emulate in every day life. 

It’s either pieces that are typically feminine, cutesy, and even slightly preppy at times drenched in everything grunge OR vice versa where you have something semi-gothic and then add a colourful, more playful touch in there that harks back to the beginning of the series before Kat had began to explore her identity and sexuality and dressed slightly more Forever 21.

I’d say, not yet with my whole chest, that on a good day the outfits I put together when making an effort aren’t too far off something Kat would wear, minus the more overtly BDSM touches; if wearing a ring choker in London is enough to get me a creepy comment from a gross middle aged shopkeeper (because I apparently forfeited my right not to be perved on when I decided to buy a bottle of Oasis summer fruits), then you can only imagine the kind of looks wearing a full-on harness would get in my conservative OAP dominated hometown. Not the most doable right now, especially considering the only time I get out is to work and to go for a run. The chafing I could deal with but the horrified glares of pensioners whose M&S prawn mayo sandwiches I’ve ruined by simply being in their eyesight not so much.

LOOK 1-

Corset-Urban Outfitters

LOOK 2-

Bodysuit-Depop

Skirt-Zara

Harness-Ebay

LOOK 3-

Co-ord-Depop

Lace-up Corset-Missguided

LOOK 4-

Dress-Vintage

LOOK 5-

Belt-Ebay

LOOK 6-

Coat-Topshop

Dress-Jaded London

LOOK 7-

Fishnet Top-Ebay

Skirt-Urban Outfitters

Maddy (Played by Alexa Demie)

Not gonna lie, I was kind of scared to do Maddy. I’m scared to be posting this, lol! Alexa Demie has played this character for a single season and she’s already one of the most iconic women to grace our screens in years. This is a huge undertaking and I don’t have the bank balance or the body confidence (lmao) to raid IAmGia. 

And this is where I want to stress: THESE ARE NOT OUTFIT RECREATIONS. THESE ARE INSPIRED BY. I HAVE ADDED ELEMENTS OF MY OWN STYLE INTO THEM. PLEASE DON’T DRAG ME. I KNOW, I’M NOT ALEXA DEMIE. I WOULD NEVER ASSUME TO BE ALEXA DEMIE. I’M NOT ABOUT TO TAKE THE LORD’S NAME IN VAIN LIKE THAT. So now we’ve got that out the way (wipes bead of sweat off forehead), let’s continue. 

Everything about Maddy Perez is extra. She has very much been established as a centre of attention character, and her outfits are a key part of that. They’re daring, they’re hyper-feminine, and they are always glamorous. We’re told that she competed in beauty pageants when she was younger and it’s clear that level of excess and coordination and glitz and all-round-boujeeness wormed its way into her DNA during that time. Even the “depression” outfit she wears to school following Nate becoming violent at the fair is costume-like, a 2019 Bratz doll Off-White street style collaboration.

Do you know how HARD I had to try to be HOT!? For these photos. Alexa Demie is one of those blessed women who doesn’t have to try at all, and that translates into the character completely. At any given moment, Maddy could add or remove one item or clothing and be let straight into the VIP section of a club, and that, honestly, is inspiring to us all in these dark times. 

One thing I tried to keep in mind is that she always looks polished and coordinated, I.E the kind of look I would prepare for a night out is something Maddy would wear on an average day. Co-ords and delicate prints seem to be more subtle wardrobe staples along with mesh and PVC and glitter and feathers and fur and basically anything that toes the line between expensive looking and tacky. Yes, I am aware we may toe different sides of that line but please let me stay delusional and believe that’s not the case for 5 minutes. Much appreciated xoxo

LOOK 1-

Bodysuit-Jaded London

LOOK 2-

Bralette-Depop

LOOK 3-

Co-ord Suit-Boohoo

Bodysuit-Boohoo

LOOK 4-

Dress-Motel Rocks

Shoes-Schuh

LOOK 5-

Bodysuit-Zaful

Trousers-Depop

Coat-Topshop

LOOK 6-

Dress-Zaful

Belt-Zaful

LOOK 7-

Top-Jaded London

Hair Clips-H&M

Rue (Played by Zendaya Coleman)

I have a complicated relationship with Rue as a character. When I started season 1 of Euphoria, I was like “Oh my god, this girl is the worst. Jesus, she’s so negative and draining and willingly self-destructive and-”

Then, oh my god is this what it’s like to live with me!?

I will say, to my own credit, that I don’t think I've ever been quite as hard to deal with as Rue (a lot less smashing stuff up and a lot more moping), and to HER credit, by the end of the season we come to realise she’s been through a fucking lot and so it makes sense, but wow. I don’t think I have ever seen a teen show handle drug abuse and mental illness in such a brutal way. It’s quite a talent to be able to show a character cause so much pain to those closest to them and yet do so through a sympathetic lens. And issues aside, whether it’s her occasional social awkwardness or her relationship with her family or watching bloody Love Island (still quite surreal to see Zendaya Coleman witnessing the Amy/Curtis drama unfold), Rue is just my favourite character to follow. 

Her style, though. AH. The thing is, I can hardly drag it, because it’s pretty much what I wear when I’m moping about the house-or just any time I can get away with it to be honest-to a T. I want to stay true to character, but that being said, creating a “Seth Rogen”-esque outfit that’s worth posting on here is difficult. So, with the same kind of artistic license that had me wearing berets whilst cosplaying Maddy Perez, here is the best I could do:

I know, I know, it’s probably too much colour and jewellery for Rue but this is as toned down as I could do and I tried to stick with the key silhouettes we see from her throughout the season; I mean, I can’t see her wearing leopard print but the structure of the coat in outfit 1 is very similar to the one seen in Shook Ones pt.II. I think the bottom line when it comes to her character is keeping things effortless and not overly-feminine; you want to mix street style, athleisure and your dad’s wardrobe favourites like your life depends on it. Plus messy hair and smudged makeup, both of which I’ve already got down according to the completely inappropriate number of customers who’ve asked if I'm tired at work so thanks for that guys, and glitter tears. Lots and lots of glitter tears.

OUTFIT 1-

Dungarees-Vintage

OUTFIT 2-

Trousers-Depop

Cardigan-Urban Outfitters

OUTFIT 5-

Beanie-Depop

OUTFIT 6-

Shirt-Boohoo Man

Sports Bra-TK Maxx

Trousers-Urban Outfitters

OUTFIT 7-

Shirt-Jaded London

Cassie (Played by Sydney Sweeney)

Style-wise, Cassie is a hard one. When putting outfits for her character together, I found myself gravitating towards a direction that’s probably a bit too bohemian for her character, under the guidance of loose terms like “girl-next-door”, “floaty”, “delicate”, you get the idea. She definitely feels the least fully-realised in terms of all the main girls and I think it’s fair to say she’s probably got a bit of self-discovery to do. Most of her storylines in the season are dictated by her relationships to other people: McKay, Maddy, Lexie, her parents and so on. 

Nevertheless, I tried to stick to the airier, more traditionally “pretty” pieces whilst still channelling the confidence and ease with which Cassie pulls them off. Sydney Sweeney has the most incredible figure and I feel like whilst the clothes the on-set stylists put her in flatter that and don’t hide anything, they’re still the focus. It doesn’t feel like there’s anything more inherently sexual about her character than any of the other main female characters despite the way the men within the narrative view her, and I think it’s a testament to the the wardrobe department that to me she still gives off big modern Disney princess energy and a certain innocence even whilst we hear her being continuously sexualised by her male peers. 

If anything, Cassie probably dresses the most like an actual teenage girl, and her style, whilst less distinctive than the other girls, still does a good job of capturing the youth and romanticism of her character.��

The colour palette of her wardrobe tends to be quite neutral, with a couple of pastels thrown in there, and if there are any details, they’re usually quite dainty. Similarly, Cassie is probably the least experimental when it comes to her makeup; we don’t really see her wearing the bold eyeshadows or liners or gems like the other girls at any point.

OUTFIT 1-

Bodysuit-Motel Rocks

Hair Clips-Bershka

OUTFIT 2-

Dress-Jaded London

OUTFIT 3-

Trousers-Urban Outfitters

OUTFIT 4-

Top-Urban Outfitters

Hairband-H&M

`OUTFIT 5-

Top-Urban Outfitters

Jeans-Zaful

Headband-Primark

OUTFIT 6-

Top-Urban Outfitters

OUTFIT 7-

Dress-Urban Outfitters

Hair Clips-Boohoo

SO, I guess that’s it for my Euphoria lookbook! As always, let me know what you think (nicely pls, my ego is fragile lol) and I’d love to hear your opinions on the show too! I really haven’t got this excited over a new TV show in ages and I just think that it does everything so excellently-from the writing to the cinematography to the soundtrack, you can tell each element is so carefully and purposefully constructed. It immerses you into the dramatic highs and lows of being a teenager in a way I haven’t seen since UK Skins and I never thought I’d watch a show which held a candle to that. 

In terms of what I’m doing next, I’ve got a very delayed fashion week masterpost in the works as well as something to fill the Met Gala shaped hole in our lives, which I hope to get up over the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, if you read to the end, THANK YOU! And I hope you’re staying safe and AT HOME where possible. I know this self-isolation feels never-ending and if I’m honest, it is having a hugely negative effect on my mental health, but NHS staff are doing their very best with the shitty recourses they have and whilst it seems that our government have thrown workers under the bus once again, we can all do our bit to combat that by slowing the spread of the virus. Also thank you to anybody who’s out working now in such a scary and uncertain time! I work at a grocery store and can say from experience that the best way to show this thanks is just through kindness and following employee’s instructions without giving them grief for it. Everyone’s scared right now and the best we can do is pull together and look out for each other, as difficult as that might seem at times.

Anyway, sorry for the ramble, and like I said, stay safe! Thanks once again if you read til the end or even if you’re just here for the photos. Appreciate it more than you know either way!

Lauren x

[wristcheckstore]

Seiko Prospex Samurai SRPF79K1 “Save the Ocean” Special Edition One of the Most Requested Seiko Watch at WristCheck.Store

o many Customers can't be wrong Right why is the diving watch so popular? I took a closer look at it for you and found out some amazing things.

About WristCheck.Store

The Internet portal WristCheck.Store is specialized in the online sales of watches of considerable manufacturers such as Gucci, Emporio Armani, Oris, Tissot, Hamilton, or Seiko.

Buying a luxury watch is a moment to cherish, but it shouldn’t cost you an arm and a leg.

My name is Joel. I love watches and I wanted to create a place where others could search for the best watches online for a great price. In my experience, finding the best price online takes a lot of time and effort. Many people do not have the time to shop around and miss out on the best prices.

That’s where I come in. With WristCheck, you can be sure to get a more competitive price than most web retailers and save 20% or more on your purchases. You can choose from our wide selection of watches or send us a special request via email to get you the best price. We source our watches from several vendors within the US, Europe, and Asia. This allows us to offer wholesale prices for a wide variety of luxury watches, produced with the highest quality in material and design. Because we ship from multiple warehouses, please allow for up to 4-5 working days for any items that may ship from international warehouses. In cases where the delivery is quicker, we shall send you a message to let you know.

Seiko Prospex Samurai SRPF79K1 “Save the Ocean” Special Edition Review

Seiko’s Prospex with the reference number SRPF79K1 and the nickname Samurai is in many ways an exciting watch, which offers a lot at first glance and appeals to a wide target group. A well-known manufacturer, a professional diving watch with an automatic movement and an iconic design are just four of the features that Seiko’s Prospex Samurai SRPF79K1 uses to captivate potential buyers. Understandably, who wouldn’t be intrigued by these features?

The Prospex Samurai SRPF79K1 is all about Seiko’s “Save the Ocean” campaign, which the traditional Japanese manufacturer uses to advertise. In the spring of 2018, they entered into a partnership with ocean conservationist Fabien Cousteau.

The oceanographer is fully committed to protecting marine biodiversity. The Fabien Costeau Learning Center has been in existence since 2016. The facility is intended to become an information center for the protection of the oceans. Costeau wants to bring together marine biologists, environmentalists, divers and other experts here to educate about climate change and its consequences. As a world-renowned manufacturer of diving watches, Seiko is supporting the project. Across its product range, there are model collections in a “Save the Ocean” special edition. When you purchase one of these products, Seiko donates a portion of the proceeds to the Fabien Costeau Learning Center. That sounds worthy of support and somehow too good to be true. What’s the catch?

The first impression

From a black cardboard box with a silver Seiko inscription, I take out the Seiko watch still wrapped in protective foil. “Prospex – Save the Ocean” is written on the inside lid of the box.  The Seiko Prospex Samurai SRPF79K1 is a bulky diver with a massive buckle closing the silicone strap. I twist and turn the watch. Immediately, the wave design of the dial catches the eye, revealing that this is a “Save the Ocean” model. Last year, Seiko already introduced two new Prospex models from the “Save the Ocean” series that bear the distinctive surface structure. On a blue background are manta rays that seem to float across the dial. Combined with the blue bracelet, this is a perfect match for a diver’s watch with this name.

I touch the cold surface and touch the Seiko Prospex Samurai SRPF79K1 for the first time. The watch feels very valuable. Huge dashes as indices, a date magnifier, and a countdown bezel give the Seiko model its classic diver design. In terms of naming its watches, Seiko is in a class of its own. The Seiko Prospex Samurai SRPF79K1 owes its nickname “Samurai” primarily to the design of the hour and minute hands. This is inspired by historical samurai swords. The watch manufacturer is proud of its roots in the country of Japan.

The Seiko Prospex Samurai SRPF79K1 on the wrist

Flipping it over, I’m amazed how light the Seiko Prospex Samurai SRPF79K1 is on the wrist. With a diameter of a massive 44 millimeters and a height of 13 millimeters, the diver’s watch really doesn’t have to hide. The low weight, on the other hand, is astounding. Finding matching outfits for the Seiko watch does not turn out to be a great difficulty. The sporty casual design suits many occasions. At the same time, the Seiko Prospex Samurai SRPF79K1 brings a certain prestige to the wrist with its sheer size. However, you should like the size and flashiness of a watch. The timepiece does not know the word understatement. But for me, these dimensions simply belong to a diver’s watch!

The Seiko Prospex Samurai SRPF79K1 in detail

The case

For the case of its Prospex Samurai in “Save the Ocean” design, Seiko put a lot of emphasis on good build quality. The solid case structure is made of stainless steel, which has both polished and brushed surfaces, depending on the component. As you can easily see on the back, the middle part is visually separated from the lugs. The dial is protected by sapphire crystal. In the manufacturing process, Seiko made it anti-reflective, which benefits the readability under water. Those who really want to use the watch on the high seas or underwater will quickly appreciate this feature. I find the date magnifier at 3 o’clock very useful and well done. Most of us will probably associate Rolex watches with it.

The crown has a size that matches the watch, which makes it easy to operate. In the first stage, it is completely covered by a crown protector. In everyday life, this improves the wearing comfort immensely. The screw-down crown also stands out due to its easy-to-grip surface structure. If you turn it now, you’ll notice the slight play that the crown has. In my experience, this is a great relief when setting the time and date. The hands never shoot forward too quickly, so you can set the time accurately.

Bezel and case back

The bezel is a diver’s bezel or countdown bezel. The tactile feel when the clicks engage is outstanding! Visually, it frames the lighter dial.

The cashback is screwed down six times. Instead of the usual date window, you’ll find the famous engraved waves on Seiko watches, reminiscent of “the great wave of Kanagawa”, a famous Japanese painting. If you search a little bit, you will also find your production number. 163 is the number of my Seiko Prospex Samurai SRPF79K.

In its case, the Seiko Prospex Samurai SRPF79K1 withstands a possible water pressure of 20 bar. 200 meters maximum diving depth would be possible. However, hardly any amateur diver will penetrate into these spheres.

The movement

For the movement, Seiko uses an automatic movement from its own production. In this case, it’s a Seiko 4R35 caliber, which is very reliable and durable. For the number freaks among you: with 23 jewels, the Seiko 4R35 has a power reserve of 41 hours. The oscillation frequency is 21600 vibrations per hour.

The Seiko Prospex Samurai SRPF79K1 shows itself at its best…

…with the dial. The wave structure is something completely new, which I actually haven’t seen on a diver’s watch like this before. With the neatly printed rays, it gives the Seiko Prospex Samurai SRPF79K1 a very interesting design.

And it is practical, too. That should be the focus for diving watches. The large line indices ensure perfect readability. To guarantee that even at night and in the dark, Seiko has given Samurai hands and indices a luminous function. Apart from the manufacturer’s lettering, the 200M indication, and the rectangular date window, there are no other elements on the dial. But that’s how it should be, after all – simple and straightforward.

Perfect for the water: the silicone strap of the Seiko Prospex Samurai SRP

Silicone and rubber straps have emerged as one of the best solutions for diving watches. They do not age and are easily adjustable. This is also the case with the huge specimen that my Seiko Prospex Samurai SRPF79K1 is equipped with. The buckle is made of stainless steel and bears the engraved Seiko lettering. However, what I liked the most about the bracelet is its practicality. In addition, it is quite comfortable to wear.

My conclusion about the Seiko Prospex Samurai SRPF79K1 – a diver’s watch for everyone.

I can understand why this Seiko diver with the reference number SRPF79K1 is so popular among customers. This Seiko Prospex in the “Save the Ocean” special edition is the diver’s watch for everyone! It looks exactly how you would imagine a diver’s watch to look: large, blue-black, with a bezel and a dial to match. On top of that, there are good materials, a high-quality finish, and stand-out features like the maritime skate design.

This already very good overall package is comparatively affordable. This makes the Seiko Prospex Samurai SRPF79K1 interesting for collectors and beginners alike.

If you have any questions or feedback, we would love to hear from you! Please contact us at sales@wristcheck.store and we will be able to help you with any inquiry you have.

[twentiethcenturymoviesandtv]

Casablanca: Genre and Themes

Casablanca is widely remembered as one of the greatest romance films of all time, and with good reason.  The relationship between Rick and Ilsa is one of the most memorable romances in the history of Hollywood.  Full of iconic lines and moments, the scenes between the couple make for one of the most justifiably tragic love stories on film, and all accompanied by the melancholy tune: ‘As Time Goes By’.

Yeah, Casablanca is a romance all right, but, as always, there’s a lot more to it than that.

See, genre, as it applies to film, has less to do with the setting, and more to do with the events of the film itself.  The themes, the story, the ideas in a film are more intrinsic to it’s genre than where (or when) the film is set in.  The way to discover a genre has more to do with what type of story it is than the setting of the story.

Such is the case for Casablanca.

Casablanca displays elements belonging to a wide variety of genres, including romance (obviously), drama, war, thriller/suspense, film-noir, and even a dash of comedy here and there.  You see, no film possesses the qualities of only one genre, but it’s rare that a film covers quite so many as this one does.  That’s why today, we’re going to be going through each genre that this film contains shades of, and seeing how they apply.  More specifically, seeing which genres are the primary genres for this movie, and which are not.

Let’s start with the oddball: Comedy.

Most people would be very hard pressed to call Casablanca a comedy by any stretch of the word.  Most of the film, and the characters within, are very grim, and for good reason: World War II is on the horizon, and Europe is already suffering under German occupation.  There doesn’t really seem to be much of a source for laughs.

However, one of the greatest things about Casablanca is a razor-sharp script that’s packed to bursting with great, quips, usually courtesy of Rick or Captain Renault.  The humor, while delivered in the driest fashion, is just what’s needed to ease the tension of the film, and sometimes is enough to get a genuine laugh out of the audience, but again, no one would make the mistake of calling Casablanca a comedy.

A film-noir on the other hand?  There’s a much stronger argument for that.

The term ‘film noir’ most closely translates to ‘dark film’, and is a category of film known for including elements like cynical protagonists, dark lighting, and an extremely pessimistic outlook.  If that’s the criteria, Casablanca would seem to more than fit the bill, with one of the most cynical protagonists in film history and an intially incredibly bleak viewpoint.  But there’s one problem with that.

Casablanca, while starting out as a dark, pessimistic look at the world in the face of World War II, ends as an idealistic film with a romanticist protagonist.  While one could argue that it starts out as a film-noir, there’s no doubt that it becomes something else by the end.  Rick’s change from cynic to idealist is one of the most memorable aspects of the film, firmly placing Casablanca in a realm totally different from that of the film-noir by the end, even if it was one in the beginning.

How about thriller?

There is a lot of suspense in this film.  The characters (and the audience) have a lot to worry about, and there are some pretty big stakes here, all boiling down to the central concern: Will Ilsa make it out of Casablanca, and if so, with who?  There are a lot of possible outcomes to be had, and the audience is on the edge of their seat to see what happens to the letters of transit, and the characters who are after them.  Like I said, there’s a lot of suspense in the film, but the thing that prevents Casablanca from being a thriller is simply that it’s not the focus.

So what is the focus?

The focus of Casablanca is in its characters, the personal relationships between them, and how they deal with the oncoming threat of war.  The friendly-enemy dynamic of Renault and Rick, the love Ilsa has for both Victor and Rick, the relationship Victor has with Ilsa; this film is about people, and how they relate to one another.  It’s a very character-driven piece, and as a result?  The film is a drama.

Technically, Casablanca is a drama/war/romance film, and as a matter of fact, that’s incredibly accurate.  The interpersonal dynamics between the characters drive the film, but it is, of course, the romance that the plot is really centered around.

Love changed Rick Blaine’s life, for the better, overall.  It is his love for Ilsa that shapes and drives his character through most of the film, leading to his decision to be more involved in the world’s problems.  Like I said at the beginning of this article, it is their love that gives us the most memorable scenes in the film.  While the drama provides the background driving force, it is the romance angle that is the main thrust of the film, the emotional punch that the viewers feel at the end.

The odd-genre-out would seem to be war.  After all, there are no battles, and the heroes are not soldiers, at least, not at the moment.  So, why war?

For the same reason it’s a drama: that’s the focus of the movie.

Unlike some films set in the 1940s, there is no plot for Casablanca without the war.  Every action taken by the characters is a direct result of the German invasion and occupation.  It is the reason the characters are in Casablanca in the first place, and the reason they cannot leave.  It was the war that tore Rick and Ilsa apart, and the war that brought them back together, and it is the war that forces Rick to take a stand in the world’s affairs and pick a side.  The oncoming storm of World War II drives the interpersonal conflict and drama, which drives the romance plot.  It’s a domino effect of genres, and it’s extremely effective.

But there is one other way to tell what genre your film is, and that is quite simply: the protagonist.  In this case, it’s Rick Blaine.

The definitive test for what genre a film is has, in my opinion, quite a lot to do with what type of protagonist your story has, and how they interact with the story.  In the case of Rick Blaine, it can be very easily argued that Casablanca is a film noir after all.  He’s even played by Humphrey Bogart, the king of film-noir.  He’s even shot using the same camera-tricks used for other film-noir films at the time.  But for the same reasons I listed above, Rick is prevented from being a film-noir protagonist by his own character development.  By the end of the story, he is no more a neutral cynic, he is an involved idealist, a romanticist, a crusader for the Good Side.

So, what kind of protagonist is Rick?

A dynamic one.

Like I said, the character of Rick goes through a bit of development throughout the story of Casablanca.  He interacts with plenty of different characters in very distinct ways, and his relationships with all of them are perfectly realized, and his internal struggles are perfectly clear to the audience without any explanation, as is his love for Ilsa.

In short?

Rick Blaine, while beginning the story as a traditional, film-noir-esque character, ends it as a dramatic, dynamic character, driven by love and the oncoming war.  An idealist, returning to his roots and fighting on the side of the angels.  As a result, Casablanca is a romantic war drama, focusing equal attention on each genre, while also mixing in a few flavors of other film styles for added distinction.  There really is something here for everyone, and it’s that, combined with a winning script and great characters, that have allowed this movie to hold up as well, and as long, as it has.

Stay tuned for next time, when we’ll be discussing the many interesting characters that wander in and out of Rick’s during the course of the film.  Thank you all so much for reading, and don’t forget that the ask box is always open for questions, comments, or just to say hi.  I hope to see you all in the next article!

[parisakamali]

BIE MY LOVE!! big congrats on your milestone, i'm so happy for you!! could i please get a ♡? also!! for the birthday page: johanna + oct 30th! ilysm i hope you're having a lovely day!

MISS JOHANNA, I LOVE YOU!!! :awlove: thank you so much, and congrats on your milestone! i’m also very happy for you!!! uhm, this got long, not surprising at all 😳💕 

hope you’re having a beautiful day and dont forget to drink water!! ✨

join my celebration uwu

♡ : first of all!!!! ur url!!! in this house we love sydney clarke to the moon and back! oh, “i love your icon” 💖❤💘 asjkasa im serious tho, it’s adorable just like you! okay so your themes are stunning!!! i love how you always make everything match, it inspires me to do the same 😳 on that note, your tagging system! it’s actually the reason i decided i wanted a more detailed system as well! idk how you manage to keep it up tho, it’s tiring 😭 title!!! ok so idk who jude st francis is yet, but if they got you as a lovebot, they must be amazing since you have actual taste when it comes to characters! (also! ur about page is so cute!!)

WE CANT NOT TALK ABOUT YOUR EDITS!!! jo, you edit on your phone!! although the word edit doesn’t do it justice; you make art! on your phone! your style is so distinctive, i can recognise a johanna edit in 100 and i love that! i admire people who have a consistent editing style, but im also in awe when you try something slightly new and still put a johanna™ stamp on it 😌

i love love love you sm, jo! you’re such a warm person, sunshine in human form like i always say 🌞 everyone should have a jo in their lives or at least on their dashes because you just bring happiness wherever you are! you’re so supportive and always make me feel safe and loved, im very happy to have you in my life 🥺 (this celebration is happening just thanks to bothanna, after all!) you deserve the entire world, i feel like i always say the same things, but it’s true! im so happy i got to meet you and call you my friend! i wish you all the happiness in the world and i am straight up gonna fight every negative thing that’s ever coming your way! 💘❤💗💞💝

again, i love you and your blog a lot !!! and i hope you see this when you wake up and makes you smile a little 🥺💛

[imagitory]

D-Views: Muppet Treasure Island

Hi, everyone! Welcome to another installment of D-Views, my on-going written review series for films that fall under the Disney umbrella, as well as those that were influenced by those films! For more reviews for movies like Mary Poppins, Treasure Planet, and The Prince of Egypt, please consult my “Disney Reviews” tag and, of course, if you enjoy this review or any of the others, please consider liking and reblogging!

Today’s film is one of my childhood favorites, starring a cast of some of my favorite people, as well as frogs, pigs, and even whatevers. This is Muppet Treasure Island! (Thank you for your votes, @the-alexandrian-alchemist, @silvvergears, @extremelybears​, @livinlifelikeishould​ and @karalora​!)

Ever since 1976, the characters of the Muppet Show have been American pop culture icons. The show itself won a total of 21 Emmy nominations and four television awards over its long run, and by 1990 its cast had also starred in several critically acclaimed films (The Muppet Movie, The Great Muppet Caper, and The Muppets Take Manhattan) and the very popular animated TV show Muppet Babies. And all of that wouldn’t have been possible without the Muppets’ creator, Jim Henson.

Like at the Walt Disney Company, the loss of their leader in 1990 hit Jim Henson Productions very hard. One silver lining, however, is that just like with Walt Disney, Jim Henson was memorialized not just by the characters he created, but by his many achievements and the many friendships he’d made in life. He received a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame alongside Kermit the Frog; was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame; earned a memorial in his hometown Hyattsville, Maryland; was posthumously named a Disney Legend; was the focus of the heartfelt TV special The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson; and was laid to rest with two formal funeral services complete with performances of some of his favorite songs. And just like the Walt Disney Company, even after the death of someone who meant so much to them, Jim Henson Productions got back up and promised to do more in the memory of their lost leader. Jim’s son Brian Henson took the reins and directed the Disney-co-produced Christmas movie The Muppet Christmas Carol in 1992, before he moved on to their next project and today’s subject, Muppet Treasure Island.

So, here’s the thing -- I have a LOT of nostalgia for this movie. I will be upfront about that. But even with that acknowledged, I was sort of stunned when I found out how lukewarm the reaction to this movie was, when it was released in theaters. Sure, I knew it hadn’t broken the bank, but even if it earned about $34 million worldwide, it received no honors or awards, only hit third at the box office opening weekend behind the movies Broken Arrow and Happy Gilmore, and even now only boasts an average 73% rating at Rotten Tomatoes. Critics at the time criticized how it was more “Treasure Island” than “Muppet”, with Roger Ebert calling it “less cleverly written” and Gene Siskel even more coldly deeming it “boring.” Although I’ll readily acknowledge that reading those reactions makes me want to run outside and scream “FUCK YOU, GENE SISKEL” at the top of my lungs, I promise to give a more rational review of this movie instead, one hopefully that acknowledges any possible shortcomings, but also will celebrate this film and how completely NOT boring it is.

One of the best things about this movie hits us in the face right off the bat -- the music, written by scoring giant Hans Zimmer and Nick Glennie-Smith. As much as I enjoy a lot of Muppet musicals, I attest that Muppet Treasure Island has the most cohesive score overall of any Muppet production. The Muppets were always creatures of the short, sweet vignette -- of the variety show -- of many disparate pieces sewn loosely together into a whole like a patchwork quilt. Even though The Muppet Christmas Carol’s soundtrack comes very close in its cohesion and I would say The Muppets (2011) -- my personal favorite Muppet movie -- is truer to the spirit of the Muppet Show in its music while also paying tribute to old-fashioned movie musicals, Muppet Treasure Island just paints a full-bodied picture from the off-set, building on refrains that return and morph over the course of the picture. From the very beginning, we get that this venture is NOT a standard Muppet movie. Like The Muppet Christmas Carol, the Muppets’ humor will only be part of the story told -- in TMCC, it takes a backseat to sincere emotions like love and redemption, while here in MTI, it takes a backseat to adventure and swashbuckling action.

The score also seamlessly flows into our first song, “Shiver My Timbers,” which just screams “pirate!” I’ve loved pirates ever since I was a little kid, and Muppet Treasure Island was one of the main reasons why. I was okay with Peter Pan, but Muppet Treasure Island was what really got me excited about pirates. They were rough, ruthless, and dangerous, but it was exciting to face off against them in an epic musical adventure, even if your only weapons were a couple of artfully thrown starfish. In the 90′s, pirate films weren’t really “in” -- it wouldn’t be until 2003 with the release of Pirates of the Caribbean that they became popular again -- but I think Muppet Treasure Island, through its music, really embraces the fun, action-packed thrills that Disney would later capitalize on in the Pirates films.

After our prologue, we meet Billy Bones (played by the perfectly cast Billy Connolly) and, of course, our hero, Jim Hawkins, played by newcomer Kevin Bishop. Kevin was the very first of a hundred kids who showed up for the audition to meet the casting agents, and he was selected for the part then and there. Sadly post-Muppets he moved on to stage and television, but for what it’s worth, I quite like Kevin in the role of Jim. He’s distinctly depicted as a boy, complete with a pre-puberty “boy soprano” singing voice (which I acknowledge is an acquired taste, but I personally enjoy), but that characterization only serves to accent how large of an arc he goes through over the course of the film. He starts off as smart, sincere, honest, and dreamy, but also very innocent and trusting, and over the course of the story, he learns to ground himself in who he is and what he believes in, to the point where he has to sever ties with someone he once considered a friend and mentor. Accompanying Jim in his journey are Gonzo and Rizzo, who largely serve as comic relief but do still serve as good friends and companions to Jim, as evident by the three characters’ “I Want” song, “Something Better.” Yes, Gonzo and Rizzo are sidekicks, but they’re still distinct personalities that bounce well off each other and “straight-man” Jim. Originally the filmmakers had considered simply having Gonzo and Rizzo being two characters called “Jim” and “Hawkins” respectively (splitting the part in two, not unlike what they did with Statler and Waldorf in The Muppet Christmas Carol), but due to concerns that the choice would result in a lack of heart in the finished product, that idea was scrapped. I think it ultimately was the better decision to leave the drama to the humans -- it’s not that the Muppets can’t conjure sincere emotion (just look at “Pictures in my Head” or “Man or Muppet”), but I still think having any of the existing Muppets fulfill the “coming of age” narrative the original Jim Hawkins goes through would’ve been a bit of a stretch. Even in The Muppet Christmas Carol or non-Muppet-show Jim Henson production Labyrinth, the main characters with a story arc are played by human actors who are able to ground the picture despite the cast of colorful, irreverent characters.

One of the main criticisms that critics of the time lobbed at this movie is that it feels more “Treasure Island” than “Muppet”, and in a way it’s a decent point, if not phrased very badly. Unlike in other Muppet projects, the humor plays second fiddle to the plot and the characters are not the characters we know from the Muppet Show with their Muppet Show backstories and consciousness. In The Muppet Christmas Carol, the film could very easily be seen as a “production” being put on by the Muppets, even if it’s never overtly stated as such, thanks to Gonzo (as Charles Dickens) constantly breaking the fourth wall. In Muppet Treasure Island, however, Gonzo and Rizzo have their own non-Muppet-show history as friends of Jim Hawkins way before ever meeting the other Muppets like Kermit and Sam the Eagle, and Kermit and Miss Piggy have a whole soap-opera romance that involves a wedding and getting marooned by pirates (we’ll get to that later). So yes, this is more “Treasure Island,” but it’s not less “Muppet” -- it’s less “Muppet Show.” These Muppets have different histories, but they’re the same characters despite this. Gonzo is an eccentric thrill-seeker -- Rizzo is a cowardly cynic -- Kermit is a soft-spoken pacifist -- Fozzie is a lovable dimwit -- Piggy is a self-centered diva. Think of Muppet Treasure Island as a Muppet AU fanfiction -- these may not be exactly the characters you know, and yet...they are! They’re the exact same big personalities with the same quirks, strengths, and weaknesses, just in an alternate universe. And honestly, I think it’s really cool, to see these sorts of characters so exclusively used for comedy in a world that’s not flat-out comedic -- one that’s kind of dirty and rough around the edges, with swashbuckling action and real danger around every corner.

The nice thing is that although yes, the comedy isn’t the central focus anymore, there is still really good humor in this film, a lot of it thanks to the shift in tone. There’s just something so very, very funny to me about Billy Bones’s death scene being followed up by Rizzo, Gonzo, and Jim just flat-out freaking out and dashing out of the room screaming like stupid kids, or the tense action scene where the pirates storm into the inn being punctuated by Rizzo trying to help Gonzo load the gun, only to spill the bag of bullets, or the epic entrance of the illustrious Captain Smollett’s carriage ending with the tall, solemn coachman stepping aside to reveal the Captain himself, played by Kermit the Frog. I think it plays into the ideas of subverting expectations and building up a punchline properly before delivering the joke -- as each scene is built up, we’re left constantly unsure if the film’s going to play things straight or just be completely irreverent, and the contrast is what can make a joke much funnier than in a purely, solely humorous scenario. There are a few points where the contrast can become a bit labored, but I laugh so much more during this movie that I ever have watching my favorite reruns of the Muppet Show, no matter how much I enjoy them. It’s something that, again, the Pirates of the Caribbean films would capitalize on much later. (Too bad they couldn’t incorporate that humor into any catchy musical numbers! Disney, where’s my Pirates of the Caribbean musical?)

Aha, and now we come to the brightest of the shining stars in this film -- our villain, Long John Silver, played by the amazing Tim Curry. I’m sorry, it’s an incontrovertible truth that Curry is a unique, magical ingredient that, when added to any movie, just elevates the cinematic dish to a whole new level and leaves you drooling for one more scene with him. I remember someone once saying that Curry is sort of like a Muppet in human skin thanks to his outrageous, yet likable acting, and...yeah, it makes it so that he fits perfectly in this movie, where he has to interact so closely with the Muppets. The nice thing is, though, that he also has a lot of chemistry with his human co-star Kevin Bishop, to the extent that you sincerely feel for the relationship that forms between Jim and Silver even if you know Silver’s intentions from the start. I particularly like their exchange in the ridiculously catchy “Sailing for Adventure,” as well as their scene at the front of the ship where they discuss their fathers and the stars.

Just as the adventure is getting going, however, it stops dead with the wind’s abandonment of the Hispaniola. Out of nowhere, the ship breaks out into the most ridiculous, most “Muppet” of all of the musical numbers, “Cabin Fever.” The song was one of my favorite parts when I was little and it’s always made me laugh, but it’s definitely the biggest detour of the movie that up until that point lived in its own pirate-centric world. It’s a very short-lived detour and as I said, it’s ridiculously funny, but it doesn’t have any bearing on the plot and I could see how people might find it kind of pointless, particularly since it doesn’t even feature three of our main characters, Jim, Silver, or Smollett. One other critique I will give the film is that some of the effects nowadays don’t look very real, like the Hispaniola being composited over still matte paintings -- there are points where the production values remind me a bit of the old Wishbone TV series, where they have to angle the shot just so or get creative just to try to make the ship look as big as it should be. But honestly, there were points where Wishbone impressed me with those same sorts of layering and green-screen effects despite its limited budget, and those cheaper effects don’t look tacky or out-of-place, so I personally don’t mind them that much.

Because this is a Muppet movie, it’s unsurprising that our Mr. Arrow (played by Sam the Eagle) isn’t really killed, instead just being tricked off of the ship by a manipulative Silver, but it says something that, even with that softened plot turn, the stakes are not completely dismantled. We still see the pirates as a legitimate threat when they kidnap Jim and take over the Hispaniola, even when they burst into song. Tim Curry’s “only number,” “A Professional Pirate,” is a perfect expression of his expert, charming showmanship, which in my mind truly can’t be matched by any other performer in Hollywood, past or present. No one gives a performance like Tim Curry. It makes it so that even when I was a bratty kid getting irritated about Silver calling privateer Sir Francis Drake a pirate and using “buccaneer” as a synonym for “pirate,” I would sing this song at the top of my lungs, trying to even reach 75% of the energy Curry put into his vocals.

At long last, Miss Piggy makes her grand debut as “Queen Boom Sha-Kal-a-Kal,” a.k.a. Benjamina Gunn. Although the diva doesn’t end up getting much screentime, she certainly gets a grand entrance, complete with an elephant steed decorated with flowers and a full musical number complete with a tribal chant and ethereal vocalizing. And true to form, when she lays eyes on her one true love, Kermit...she smacks him so hard that he’s thrown backwards off his feet and into a gong. What’s particularly interesting about Piggy in this movie is that although she and Fozzie are voiced by Frank Oz as always, both she and Fozzie were actually puppeted by Kevin Clash, as Oz was unavailable during this film’s production, and Oz’s vocals for both characters were added in post-production. Despite the difference in puppeteer, however, both characters are just as likable as ever -- I’d honestly had no clue that they weren’t performed by the same person! The film even got to use the full-bodied remote-controlled puppets for Kermit and Piggy for the love duet “Love Led Us Here,” which is kicked off by an Evita joke I never got as a kid but as an adult makes me grin like a friggin’ idiot. Fortunately the duet is inter-cut with Silver and the pirates finding the treasure, rather than it being chock-full of romantic flashbacks or prolonged looks between the two lovebirds, giving it a lighter tone than it would’ve had otherwise.

With a much reduced crew comprised only of Rizzo, Gonzo, Squire Trelawney, Dr. Honeydew, Beaker, and the newly returned Mr. Arrow, Jim comes to Benjamina and Smollett’s rescue and returns to Treasure Island to face Silver and the pirates. The action scene is full of humor, but because of the world established in the rest of the film, I would argue it still has stakes. The blows still hurt and there’s still a threat of defeat and danger, most notably when Long John Silver prepares to fight. Even if you don’t think the Muppets are going to die persay, you still feel the suspense in wanting to see what’s going to happen next. And when Silver surrenders, he himself can see the real treasure Jim found on his adventure -- a family...a group of people Muppets who will support him and encourage the very best in him.

Silver’s escape scene is a beautifully heart-wrenching scene -- one that could only have been earned by two excellent performances over the course of the film by Kevin Bishop and Tim Curry. Even though both Silver and Jim know that they’re different people and they could never walk the same path, it doesn’t mean that they don’t still greatly esteem and care about each other. In Jim’s case, it’s especially difficult, given that in parting ways with Silver, he has to cut loose of a very poor potential father figure who would’ve only dragged him down in the long run, but who was so likable in his own damaged way. It proves to be a very bittersweet scene sprinkled into a very happy, cheerful ending, complete with the chipper island-inspired end credits bop “Love Power.”

Muppet Treasure Island is -- in my opinion, at least -- one of the best Muppet movies ever made. It broke away from quite a few Muppet conventions, like the characters breaking the fourth wall and being aware of themselves being in a movie or TV show, and embraced a much less humorous tone in both its writing and cinematography. Yes, it reimagined a classic book like The Muppet Christmas Carol did, but this movie took the next step, embracing the world of the original novel as well as the set-up and immersing the Muppets’ cast of characters in it. Although I can see why some people would be more partial to the original Muppet movie formula and love it a lot myself, I really, really respect Brian Henson and the rest of this film’s crew for taking the Muppets in such a different direction. It was an entertaining, action-packed, funny pirate movie before those sorts of movies became popular again, and it remains my favorite “pirate” movie of all time, as well as my personal favorite incarnation of the Treasure Island story (barely beating out Treasure Planet). I know childhood nostalgia can play a role in what media can give you joy as an adult, but I truly don’t think it’s the only factor here -- it’s also just a really good movie, and I can only hope that more people will consider giving it a chance and have just as much fun Sailing for Adventure as I did!

[adamatomic]

Design of Doom Eternal

Wanted to jot down some thoughts while they were still fresh, and I hate writing threads on Twitter, so, here we are.

(Surprise! Male game designer has DOOM OPINIONS. BEHOLD LOL)

First, disclaimers: what follows is super subjective, pretty picky, and likely unjustified. I love a good mobility shooter - Doom 2016 and Titanfall 2 are the only western shooters I really enjoy, and each do super interesting things spatially, mechanically, etc. However, I’ve never worked on any kind of FPS type of game, and never worked on a AAA game, nor shipped a game during a global pandemic, and there’s a lot that I don’t understand about what goes into making this kind of thing, much less how it’s even possible. Making a followup to a well-loved and hugely successful game is also a terrifying prospect. Finally, I am about to "dwell” on what I perceive to be “negative” things about the game, which is pretty unfair, because there’s a LOT of positives (it’s fun, it’s gorgeous, the load times are crazy short, the vistas slay again, amazing accessibility options, perfect audio, etc etc). But I think this is a game where a lot of the positives are really in your face, and what again I personally perceive to be the negatives are a little bit harder to put your finger on. And this isn’t a review, and definitely isn’t yucking anyone’s yums. This is me trying to figure out why this one feels a bit different to play. Hopefully the unanimously positive reception of the game by literally everyone everywhere (including myself) balances out whatever acid might be in these queries.

OK!

Jungle Gyms Versus Canyons

Ok, so. Doom Eternal is structured a lot like 2016 in that it’s corridors linking big wave-based arenas, which is a good structure for a game about shooting all the things. Arenas can be flat-ish or tall-ish. Tall-ish arenas seem to roughly come in two flavors: jungle gyms, and canyons. Jungle gym arenas are the ones that I feel like took centerstage in the marketing and gameplay of Doom 2016, as a way of showing off the double-jump / ledge grab / launchpad vertical mobility stuff, and because they make narrative / thematic sense in the human-built oil rig environments that comprise much of Doom 2016′s level architecture. Jungle gyms are distinguished somewhat from canyons by generally having what feel like distinct “floors”, or solid planes creating multiple separated levels of combat. Canyons, even if they have some transverse traversal elements, are more open and chaotic, with less concrete divisions between elevations. I’m belaboring this essential difference because it has a bunch of second-order effects on gameplay - jungle gyms allow you to jump from skirmish to skirmish, you can use your mobility options to “interrupt” combat, while canyons are more continuous. Jungle gyms usually have more obstacles (like the aforementioned distinct floors) which make it slightly harder for long range enemy attacks to land, which reduces the overall ambient damage-soak.

The key thing about all these arenas - flat open spaces, distinct jungle gym environments, and canyon style playgrounds - is that you definitely want all of them in your game, because the strategy and tactics for playing these fights changes a lot based on these constraints. When do you want a roof over your head? When do you not? When do you want your back to a wall? These are valid and important differences for these games specifically, especially when basic resource management strategies in these encounters is pretty similar, and because the enemy behaviors and attacks have so much variety.

So far, though, Doom Eternal feels like it has a WHOLE LOT of canyons, and NOT a whole lot of jungle gyms. It’s possible that this changes later in the game, so take all this with a big grain of salt. But the first 3-4 hours of gameplay are really dominated by canyon-style vertical arenas, which isn’t necessarily ideal in terms of variety (and makes you angst a little harder for the wall-run affordances of other mobility shooters). They also tend to be slightly same-y, outdoor, rocky environments, versus the more oil rig-inspired, recognizably human-scale mining structures of 2016 (I’m sure this changes later in the game too). The oil rig-inspired stuff also lends itself to jungle gyms a lot more naturally, so I feel like these choices of arena shapes and environment types are kind of an interconnected and difficult problem.

None of this would really even qualify as a problem, either - this is nitpicking nitpicks, at this point - except relying on canyons so much exacerbates some of the “fussiness” of the combat changes (those are next). For me, anyways - I’m not sure anyone else is feeling like these are problems haha. And it’s a big game, so I’m not sure how much this stuff changes across the whole campaign yet!

Tactical Ballistics

A Doom thing I adored in 2016 and am continuing to enjoy in Eternal is the way ammo, health, and other arcade-style upgrades are thoughtfully placed around the arenas. It’s a nod to the strongest parts of Vanquish’s level design, and goes all the way back to using coins in Super Mario to lure players out to new places they might not explore otherwise. It’s a huge part of what gives the nu-Doom arenas their “chess-like” feel, and shifts the fights away from Serious Sam-style battles and makes them into four-dimensional puzzles. 2016 doubles down on this tactical approach by leveraging a kind of resource triangle of chainsaw kills, glory kills, and just plain firefights.

A lot of Eternal’s design seems committed to upping the ante on all of these strengths. Lower ammo capacities puts more pressure on the chainsaw kills. There’s a new technique called “flame belch” that turns the resource triangle into a resource square to accommodate armor. Monsters have “weak points” now, shortcuts that change their behavior or get you fast glory kills. It’s a pretty compelling jigsaw puzzle of abilities.

It also places a lot of strain on player attention and cognition, because all this is running on top of straight-up arena-wave firefights (with 7+ enemy types at a time, all with unique behaviors and optimal strats) AND beefy mobility controls (swinging, dashing, double-jumps, ledge grabs, launch pads, etc). It’s kind of a lot. But I don’t think this is necessarily the place for saying “this is DOOM, man, you got to keep it simple, just shoot the monsters, how come there’s even upgrades” or whatever. For so many reasons, but the primary of which is that most of this stuff rules, and throwing it away would suck. So what do you do?

I want to focus on two small, specific things that really stand out to me - I’m not totally sure that they’re actually “bad”, but I think they have a lot of weird secondary and tertiary effects that contribute to some perceptions of “fussiness” in some of the battles.

Weak Points

This is a big enough change that it is repeatedly tutorialized through video on every loading screen, after every game over, and after every new enemy is introduced... so I know it was on the designers’ radar haha. And it's an interesting addition - chess fights in Doom are already about hierarchies, and adding another tiny hierarchy within an existing hierarchy is a NICE bit of tension to add, it gives a kind of scrambly feeling that is good overall. The issue for me arises from an apparent or perceived damage scaling issue around these weak points. For example, the optional sniper rifle upgrade to the heavy cannon and the optional sticky bombs upgrade to the shotgun insta-wreck the arachnotron and revenant enemies’ weak points, while sustained plasma rifle fire doesn’t seem to ever do the job. Which makes sense on paper - this is a nice way of putting pressure on the player’s weapon choices and ammo, which is what it’s all about. Although I guess you could argue that it’s also all about movement, and that this particular combat pressure has a pretty tenuous relationship with mobility in general.

Either way, it means you spend a lot of time squinting at your weapon wheel mid-battle to see how many shots your shotgun still has, because you ran out of chainsaw fuel a while ago, and are still being actively bombarded at a pretty long distance (because its a canyon and not a jungle gym). I know, I need to git gud, trust me, i KNOW. But check out the weapon wheel ammo display size in Doom 2016 versus Doom Eternal:

I love the new color scheme and ammo icons in Eternal! But it’s 3-4x harder to read the actual, very important ammo counts.

All these small changes add up to something that feels like a pretty different gameplay experience compared to the more spatial (read: movement-based) and literally easier-to-read resource management stuff from 2016. Which, it’s a sequel - failing to sufficiently differentiate it is its own huge risk. And, to be fair, 2016 had its fair share of fussy (though more legible) weapon switching. But when you add this stuff up, the matrix of considerations in moment-to-moment combat in Eternal is pretty different from 2016, and I think it largely comes down to the damage scaling around the weak points. While you can technically choose to play through battles without leveraging weakpoints (thus sidestepping most of these cascading issues), this approach is heavily incentivized by the major behavior changes that happen after you hit weak points (in addition to the constant tutorializing) and the waves appear to have been balanced around taking advantage of these things. Whether or not these are even flaws, technically, whatever they are is exacerbated by the UI design of the weapon wheel AND the relatively popularity of the relatively unobscured canyon arenas. So it’s hard for me to judge weak point damage scaling in a vacuum.

Overall, these new combat options make the arenas feel more constrained and more prescribed. Design is a nightmare this way: sometimes by giving people more choices, you’re actually giving them less. My pitch for a small tweak that might engage with some of these issues would be to keep weak points, but get rid of the damage scaling and maybe make the hitboxes a little bigger. The goal here is NOT to make weak point enemies easier so much as to open up options about what weapons you can use against them, thereby reducing wheel squinting, thereby freeing up more attention to movement and all the other stuff that ruuuules about nu-Doom in general.

Also, I should clarify that it’s entirely possible that I completely imagined the weak point damage scaling, and am a big dummy with bad aim.

Flame Belch

This is a pretty small thing, there’s this new “flame belch” move, intended to complement the existing chainsaw and glory kill moves as a way of “farming” resources from combat, one of the things that really defined Doom 2016. It differs in one huge way though, in that it has to be committed to BEFORE killing a monster. Chainsaws and glory kills ARE kills. Flame belch adds a status instead, which is “cashed in” later when you do the kill. If chainsaw kills and glory kills and BFG shots are Super Mario jumps, Flame Belch is more like a Tony Hawk jump - it starts early and is carefully calculated. Which is pretty dope!! But in this environment where weak point damage scaling and canyon layouts are already putting huge strains on the player’s attention, it feels like a big ask. The “triangle button” mechanic from 2016, the BFG, was a kill move with cool-down, so really I’m just suggesting stuff they already tried anyways. There’s no way this is news to anybody, much less the developers haha.

But... I would love to play a build where flame belch was totally a thing, just it was a finishing move, not a status thing. Let it plug into that reload-replacing resource-farming punctuation pacing flow. That shit rules.

Of course, I have to wonder what the unintended secondary and tertiary consequences of these suggestions would be. Good action games are often tenuous and deeply interconnected things where results are really hard to predict. Maybe they already tried these ideas and they sucked, or they know their own game a lot better than I do, and have a big stack of reasons this stuff would suck for most of their player base.

But wait...

Where The Hell Am I?

Last section, I promise.

I am extremely not going to weigh in on whether or not Doom games need “Story” or not, or what that even means.

But...

If you are driving a monster truck, it is probably pretty fun to see a big line of cars in front of you, and know that you are about to drive all over those cars, and that at the end is a really big fancy car... and you are going to drive over that too.

The general conceit of Doom 2016, that you are on one end of a Mars base, and you need to get to the other end, and in between is a whole lot of cars demons, is a good one. It has good monster truck-ness.

So far this is something that I’m struggling to extract from Eternal. I’m not really sure who any of these grumpy folks are, or where it is that they are, or why I am going down this corridor (aside from the very Doom-like fact that it is the only corridor around).

The problem for me is decidedly NOT that I don’t understand the slayer’s emotional whatever, or that I haven’t been painstakingly expositioned into the specific hierarchies of the demon universe, or anything that I think would normally be described as a “narrative”. For me, it’s that I don’t get to sort of soak in the anticipation of the loooong line of cars I’m about to crunch.

Does Doom need a story? Idk. Doom might need a lot of about-to-get-crushed cars though.

Finally finally finally, and this is highly subjective, but I think the slayer is just more fun when he’s an X factor or a rogue agent. NPCs recognizing the slayer feels sort of weird to me? The feeling that he is a fly in the ointment I think is stronger and sexier when he’s like... outside the canon, almost. I’m not totally convinced that having him Kratos around is as fun as having a bunch of demons and priests both confused and terrified of what this dude is doing.

OK

I need to get back to family stuff. They let me sit here and type this out, which was very kind of them. Only five tantrums so far. Either way, I’m looking very forward to playing more Doom Eternal...

...just as soon as I finish designing 17 more shirts in ACNH.

Hope everyone’s staying home and staying safe! Rip and tear, friends. Rip and tear <3

[heartshredded]

🥝 🥝 🥝 🥝 🥝

for every 🥝 i get, i’ll recommend a blog i love // @duskgathers

@madamhatter:

wow!! soar.. i didn’t even know we met years back, i guess coincidences do exists? from what i remember back then, you were one of the first people i ever interacted with in the group and god damn did i have a lot of fun with you and sophie! i can tell your writing has improved and your sophie is as great as ever, a lot of thought put into her character as well as still sticking to the canon of the book or ghibil movie. as for your writing style, there is a lot of little detail that paints out the picture of the scene so vividly in my head, its like magic whenever i read your stuff. 

i’m really happy that we just had a chance to meet again? i never thought i would ever write eto again, like honestly, she’s such an iffy character that many would definitely stray away from. yet somehow we managed to make like.. one of the most interesting pairings i’ve ever seen, literal predator and prey. both are smart and use their wits wisely, and its such a slow burn twisted kind of love. also god i love to read your stuff, whether its a headcanon or our thread or with someone else, like literally. i love talking to you so much, i hope real life treats you well. 

@loreliei:

yen! you’re one of the first people i ever followed on this blog if memory serves, and gosh dammit you’re a sweetheart. as far as i know, you’re nice to basically everyone and you deserve all the love you can get. you’re a really gracious and considerate person, i love the wit you put into seo, i always stop by to read or see what you post whenever you’re on the dash.

 your writing style is very engaging and full of personality, each character has a quirk and even if you didn’t include icons, tags nor mentioned their name, i could roughly guess who you’re talking about. its unique and distinct basically! plus i remember that meme you reblogged and you went the extra mile to add in plots ideas for seo and the other person’s muse, a lot of people don’t often do that and i think that it really helps to establish potential friendships easier. 

also.. kenma and seo? love them. they’re good friends, its wholesome and adorable. 

@rollingsnowsmasher:

ok honestly you’ve always been the one loving me so let me give it a try this time, for reals. i think i first saw you from seeing guixi reblog your promo and i can’t remember if you followed me first or the other way but i’m really glad i did follow you. you’re a sunshine to a lot of people, i know many love you and there’s many good reasons for that. you’re a very supportive person, i often see you reblogging other people’s promo or posts with positivity in it and it really does shine. i do love seeing you on dash, i know i’m guilty of not reblogging your stuff everytime but really, really, you deserve so much and i know many would agree with me. 

as for your writing, i just need to say its colorful and i will not lie, i still reread the gyro drabble you wrote like months back. your words come together to draw out a picture of whatever is going on and you describe it really well, like i finish reading a paragraph and everything comes to life in my imagination. i think as a writer that is a really amazing thing to be able to do, and i can’t stop smiling like an idiot honestly. 

as for itsuki, often i have trouble differentiating muses that are like children since they often are just bland with the same formula, but i can remember itsuki well. i still remember that riceball sharing with johnny, and she’s a sunshine like you are. another thing i like about how you write her is that.. she has different sides, its not always sunshine and rainbows, itsuki has issues of her own and it shows. though i don’t know sengoku basara at all, if i’m right she’s a minor character who didn’t have much screentime or story in canon, so you make her really fleshed out and three dimensional.

 basically, yes, love your writing, you’re a sweetheart and whatever blog you’re on, i love you. thank you for always being such a nice person to everyone, that’s a really rare thing nowadays and i hope life treats you well. whenever you’re down, i hope you feel better, you deserve a lot. 

@uncharnel / @20sep1847

no lie, i was a really big fan of your writing like even before i followed you, but originally you came off as really intimidating to me so i just quietly followed you and read it from my dash. i don’t know what writing juice you drink to write so much, every little detail shows a trait of the character you write and even their thoughts. the way you write really makes me feel like they could be real people, its believable and they have their own problems / issues.

i also really appreciate the fact that you picked up so many side characters from part 7, like as far as i know i’ve mostly only seen blogs for the ‘main’ cast (johnny, gyro, diego, hot pants, lucy,  valentines) at best and not any of the rest. you give them love, flesh them out and wow.. characters i never paid much attention to in the manga, i have a bigger appreciation for them whenever i reread the manga thanks to you.

as for mun, you’re a nerd and i realised i shouldn’t have been scared of you back then. april fools on your valentine blog was very fun to just see and read, like i don’t even know how that hair works but it got a good chuckle out of me that day. i also didn’t know what jeopardy was till you talked about it in the tags so thank you for introducing me to the best elevator music ever. love writing with you, reading your stuff and i hope life treats you well joh!! 

@haecceiity / @biizzarroo (i keep forgetting its a double ii so i spent a minute wondering why i couldn’t tag you)

hello, nerd, i bet you thought you’ve seen the last of me insert that drama queen gif, thanks for dealing with me. anyway i think i first saw writing with val or something, i didn’t have any VA muses back then but i was a potato who still liked reading your stuff anyway. took me about a day before i actually dared to follow you back, but gosh damn i don’t ever regret that decision. you put a shit ton of effort and thought into all your muses, from holy to trish to form to all the muses on your multi, and it really shows in your writing.

your writing style is like blessed, you don’t drag on a point too long in your paragraphs but you add in certain words or phrases where the character’s personality quirks shine. its never tiring to read honestly, the little details here and there are what makes them so unique from just what was from canon. i think you do a great job on all of them, like literally every single one of them, and i don’t take no for an answer so you gotta take this kiwi of love from me.

as for personally, you’re fun to plot with or just talk to in general, and i can appreciate someone who just has a lot of memes from over the years. this is getting kind of long winded so basically, i’m glad i met you and whether we get to write together in the future or not, really hope you continue just doing your thing. also hopefully life treats you better.

[alterlifes-a]

i love u and the psd u have for mirio is beautiful!!! can u rec some bnha blogs? or maybe anime blogs in general, thank u!

you want blog recs ?! i got blog recs ! also , i did have another anon a few months ago asking for blog recs , so i’ll only be recommending b.nha blogs , since i can do non - b.nha blogs another day ! ALSO , thank you so much for your input on my psd for mirio  !!  i’m so proud of it , as well tbh !  ❤︎ i’m putting this under a read more so i can gush and not clog up peoples’ dashes !! also these are in order of my following list rn , so it’s in no specific order .

@dualbred  /  @soarsun  /  @eletriq  /  sunny’s other blogs  ❤︎  sunny is someone whose name describes what they are perfectly : he’s a ray of sunshine in your day ! he’s very charming, creative, and sweet, and he’s the perfect person to go to if you want to plot and walk out of the conversation just . screaming . whether that’s good or bad , depends .@frogblep  ❤︎  idk if birdie is okay with a lot of people following since they’re really private + super mutuals-exclusive, but they’re so cute and have such a great personality ! 10/10 would chirp .@ichorsun  ❤︎  wow i love hide the canon character . but for real , rye has such a well - crafted oc , and this blog deserves all the attention it can get !@dprssin  /  @quirkgifter  /  @mcka  ❤︎  listen i know nanners is on hiatus cause the fandom sucks ( which is why i also linked his d . va ) , but that doesn’t erase the fact that he’s got one of the best [ and only , from what i’ve seen hsdkfjs ] nanas out there . also , we support n adore his native american mixed aizawa , thank you . @toughfist​  /  @torncape  /  @tailsfur  ❤︎  nora is so so kind and honestly just a huge burst of sunshine in your day ! also sakkun is such a cute oc tbh . it’s obvious she puts a lot of love into her muses , so go check out her blogs !!@knowthem​  /  @inneall​  ❤︎  i haven’t interacted much with jade yet , but honestly if you write iida i already trust you … sfkjs but honestly speaking , jade is a welcome and warm presence on the dash . just having them around is grounds for a good time !@pyrrhe​  /  @spireheart​  ❤︎  ram my love … my buddy in great music taste … she’s your local lesbian who’s here to kick butt and write amazing replies and guess what … she’s all out of butts to kick .@sepiternal​  /  @amariodal​  /  @hwitzr​  /  @solsace​ ( shut up , will’s an anime — )   ❤︎  rory literally made a mirio because i wanted one , what more could you ask out of a son … but really , he’s one of my longest standing friends and no matter rain or shine , i know i can count on them to be vivacious and original @lacquarms​  /  @jetlegs​  ❤︎  if anything happened to theus i will personally manifest in every tumblr user’s room and delete all of their blogs and destroy the entire website myself . but tbh , theus is so amazing and charismatic !! 100% recommendation from me@whiphero​  ❤︎  hansie is just one of those people who , like , you see a new blog followed you and you go to check it out , then you see hansie’s name on there and it’s just an instant follow tbh .@palmfed​  /  @wuvlite​  /  @dphium​  ❤︎  punpun is always very funny and super multifaceted in his skills … he has so much creative energy , but also he’s the друг friend so like . tread carefully . oh . he’s already there . clicking the follow button . you’re on your own now . godspeed .@amerismash​​  ❤︎  FOSTEEEER [ i yell so loud i break the sound barrier ] follow foster , just trust me on this . you won’t regret it .@tikkvn​  /  @montlady​​  ❤︎  cass radiates big lesbian energy by merely existing and if that’s not the kind of presence you aim to be … but for real , befriending cass is going to be nothing but fun times and a nonstop waterfall of support . they’re so lovely and super valid and just the kind of person you naturally want as a friend !@ohaul​​  ❤︎  i’ve yet to interact much with veggie , but honestly ? i already trust them . sfhjdks but seriously , they seem real cool ! doctors say you need veggies everyday so here’s a perfect chance for you to get your daily dose !@c0py​​  ❤︎  bruno this icon of yours radiates so much chaotic feeling … but honestly , bruno is great and you gotta check out their monoma 10 / 10 say critics ( me )@natsutodoroki​​  /  @ksri​  /  @negativeat​  ❤︎  i’m not over the fact that you managed to get such canon urls but hskfjds clarrie is honestly such a kind and charismatic person , and the way she writes her muses makes it evident they put a lot of thought into how the character is portrayed in canon itself . also natsuo is clarrie’s oc i don’t make the rules .@heartmindcd​​  ❤︎  okay first of all , can i just say : vincent’s art ? [ fans myself … ] but honestly as a fellow artist in the rpc , i love seeing other muns’ art on my dash and vincent is no exception . he has such a distinct style , and this also translates into how he portrays shinsou ! he obviously has a good handle on how shinsou works as a character , and seeing him in my notes or on the dash is always grounds to make me smile !@yunihon​​  ❤︎  endy is the best , eri is the best … but seriously , endy’s eri ( that sounds like a tongue twister ) is amazing . 5/5 best daughter , would adopt and protect from all harm ( please protect eri from all harm )@charistatic​  /  @ofiignition​​  ❤︎  i have so many feelings for gina and tbqh they are all positive . we kind of brushed shoulders with one another in a previous fandom , but now that i’ve gotten to better know her , i can say for sure that i will personally destroy you with both my hands if you make gina upset in any way . but for real , she’s caring and so fun to be around . also we scream about promised neverland together , i mean , what’s not great about that ?!@riteous​​  ❤︎  eulalie has a b.nha verse on this blog so i’m putting them here .  ok ok but thanos is singlehandedly one of my most favourite oc’s in the world . whenever eulalie posts about them i’m just : eyes : : ok_hand : : 100 : … also they look … stunning . seriously , if you’re going to follow eulalie for like the most bare bone reason , follow because their muse is the prettiest but stay because the mun is a wonderful person .@faceplain​​  ❤︎  kit’s sero is iconic … you should check out their blog !! and if not it’s okay , i’m activating my own tape quirk to slingshot you over there right now as i type .@trapsminds​​  ❤︎  i literally look at sunne’s icon on my dash and i immediately light up into a smile , and if that isn’t any indication that this is a shinsou worth following then idk what ever will be .@bgku​  /  @kwurk​​  ❤︎  CLOOOOOOO —- [ i continue this for 3 hours straight until you click clo’s blog ] ok but really i love clo’s headcanons for bakugou so much … even the smallest , two word post will leave me going :D !!@raijima​  /  @slipstep​​  ❤︎  ryou has a b.nha verse so i’m putting him on here too but also vanur is such an imaginative person and i love every single idea that pops out from his head . he writes such amazing and divine original characters , they feel like they’re real and palpable .@tapeties​  /  @exposensei​​  ❤︎  REID I GIVE YOU ALL MY LOVE RIGHT NOW !!! tbh when i think of aizawa , i just think of reid in general … his penmanship with any character is * chef - kisses my fingers *@chargebolted​  /  @noquirk​​  ❤︎  if you’re not following prince i’m going to come into your house and steal all of your left shoes . ok but really , prince is not only inventive and innovative , he puts a unique and loving touch on every single character he writes . literally ! what more can you ask for ?! i actually mix myself up because i’m so accustomed to writing about / with his deck that i forget he isn’t canon , which . hello , hori ? do it . now . puppeteer and analyzer spin off WHEN !?@trickry​​  ❤︎  you’re lucky i’m putting you on here because i literally hovered over your blog just to double check things like i did with everyone else’s and i got met with that stupid header oh my go — ( but follow hunni actually )@thuskindlyiscatter​​  ❤︎  what do you mean ruby isn’t a canon bnha character ( august just ended but i’m extending it . today is august 37th . so you have to follow august during this month . )@rdriots​​  ❤︎  you know how sometimes you just associate a mun or muse with one another ? like , if you thought of the name tooru , a lot of people would think of me ? i think of kiri and one of the first blogs that comes into mind is this one , because leo’s kiri is just that iconic .@viperot​​  ❤︎  don’t follow if you don’t want madoka to release 10 , 000 snakes into your muse’s house . actually it doesn’t matter , they’re going to do it anyway . i hear their reviews on yelp are awful , though :(  in all seriousness , lemon is one of the best muns i know out there . they’re naturally just a great person . #geminisolidarity@scartar​​  ❤︎  i would kill for zander . like . literally . i would kill for zander . seeing zander on my dash brings me so much unbridled joy … also they’re the person who likes every single one of your posts , get THAT kind of support in your life tbh .@quirkedit​  /  @heartslight​​  ❤︎  sparky log onto your monoma . sparky log onto your monoma . log onto your monoma , sparky . sp@ondespair​​  /  @onfaith​  ❤︎  who is this man i don’t know him he just randomly appeared on this blog rec and definitely does not have a super well - thought out and developed oc .@killslove​​  ❤︎  rose logged onto his himiko yesterday and i am still screaming about it more than 24 hours later … but honestly , rose puts SOOOOOO SO SO SO SO much thought into how himiko works as a character , and that makes me happy because i also wrote / psychoanalyzed her for a brief moment and tbh rose ? articulates all of that research into a well fleshed out and believable interpretation of her .@creatied​​  ❤︎  i went to type in the url but then just typed in ‘ maddy ’ like an idiot . but yeah . maddy . she’s beauty she’s grace she loves momo so much and you can very much tell . she isn’t super active rn and that’s understandable but whenever she does post i am heart eyes !@implosiveexplosive​​  ❤︎  HONESTLY JUST LOOK AT JAY’S WRITING AND TELL ME YOU WOULDN’T FOLLOW OH MY GOD IT’S GORGEOUS@boydazzle​​  ❤︎  egg est un auteur magnifique ! aussi … voulez-vous du fromage ? :)@keiuu​​  ❤︎  QUEENIE IS LITERALLY ONE OF THE MOST AMAZING PEOPLE ON THIS WEBSITE this isn’t even my opinion it’s literally a FACT  thank you goodBYE@aerve​​  ❤︎  can you tell i’m writing so much i’m running out of things to say without just repeating 20239 times that everyone is amazing ( which they are ) anyway coral is one of said people who i can use a billion adjectives to describe positively and yet my brain is churning out none . but coral ? valid . so valid . also gr8 art amazing beautiful wondrous@halfher​​  ❤︎  i think out of everyone here , kaien is the person who has known me the longest … honestly kaien has the skill to be a full - fledged published author at this point and you can’t convince me otherwise . i’ve seen them improve and grow in the 3 or so years between when we first interacted and now … i’m so proud of them tbh !@juuheart​​  ❤︎  i love notay the canon bleach character bUT ALSO NIQUE STOP HURTING HER !! >:((( but also follow nique so you can become attached to notay and yell every time nique hurts her — KJSFFNSDJK@negatiiv​​  ❤︎  hands down one of the most well - done / well - executed oc’s on here . there’s so much development that’s gone on with emi , it’s unbelievable . but also [ naruto vc ] believe it@anquished​​  ❤︎  jihoon is my son and izuku is tooru’s son need i say more i mean really … but also jihoon writes such a unique take on izuku and i love his portrayal so much @faulterd  ❤︎   rOWAN’S MOMO IS SO AMAZING IT’S LIKE I’M READING EVERY INTERACTION STRAIGHT FROM THE MANGA ITSELF !!!@quirkthief  ❤︎  oh my god i’m posting all of these blogs in the reverse order that i followed them from and i literally had to go through 700 followers to finally find connor all the way in the first few hundred i followed after making the blog … how long … is that … how lONG HAVE I KNOWN CONNOR ?! but existential crisis aside , connor’s afo is like … the one canon afo for me lmao . i could write a huge tangent on how much i appreciate him but honestly if you follow him and talk to him you’ll know already . but also be warned cause you’re basically already going to be placed in the afo cult and there’s no escaping please help me i—@greaterhero  /  @conhnhaketon  ❤︎   i literally had to find an excuse to put ro on this because they’re not even an anime blog and they hate the b.nha fandom ( hecking valid if you ask me ) but i want to put them here anyway because you need to follow ro … how are you following me but not them … okay but for real , they’re smart n kind n super fun to talk to ! love forever … and also huge respect tbh …@mightyfrail  ❤︎   a wonderful wonderful all might honestly hsdfjs i’ve been following this blog for soooo long it’s literally … illegal that we’ve yet to interact what the heckie … but yeah , all might is a trans icon there is nothing you can do to convince me otherwise