#i might draw him in group things because his design is nice

[rmbunnie]

While I’m on here i have to say its a goddamn tragedy that the jjba fandom went the basic portmanteau/mashup ship name route because its already full of music references so it would be really fun to get creative with it. In a just world fugonara would be called Strawberry Switchblade instead. A single tear is rolling down my face as i type.

[sarahjtv]

My Hero Academia Chapter 428 Spoiler Talk: Did Kohei Horikoshi Just Blueball Us???

So, that just happened, huh? Not a bad chapter by any means. It was a solid, slice-of-life-ish chapter that continues to give us our beloved Class 2-A kids some idea of how life is going to be like now that the war is over:

The chapter starts off where we left off 2 weeks ago with the new first-years (the new Class 1-A) fangirling over Shoto and Bakugo. Iida has to step in to stop the chaos while Bakugo and Shoto hide behind him like little kids using their big brother as a shield 😂! It's cool to know that our kids have fans now and seeing them as Senpai to new Kohais is a nice idea to think about. I also like that there's a panel of Shinsou in the class to remind all of us that he's part of the main group now.

There's also a tall 1st-year who is inspired by Deku and wants to be like him after seeing him fight in the war! I love that for him 💚! I don't think Deku's really had any fans outside his classmates before, so it's nice to see how people are looking up to him like how he looked up to All Might.

A little later, we see our Class 2-A working to help clean up the wreckage from the war with Fat Gum, Best Jeanist, and Edgeshot who FUCKING SURVIVED (BRO, HOW???) and is now just a big strand of string with a face and tiny string arms 😂😭! It's a funny visual for now, but Edgeshot says that he'll be better than ever hopefully which makes Bakugo show a wobbly, awkward smile 🧡.

I also love how much Bakugo has changed in general. It has been a slow, general progression, but it's clear that he's softening up and opening up more to the people around him. It's such great character development for him. I love this dude so much 🧡

It's also cool to see the kids work and use their Quirks to help clean up all the rubble. We've seen them do this a little before during the Provisional License Exam, but it's good to see it again because it's a good reminder that there's more to Hero work than just beating the bad guys and saving civilians. I can absolutely see how a lot of their Quirks can help out with clean-up duty, but I can't help but wonder how people like Jiro, Shinsou, and Kaminari use their Quirks though can already think of some ideas. Actually, Kaminari can restore power to towns and cities, but he can't use his Quirk to help pick up rubble.

The civilians and even the new Class 1-A kids come along and are more than willing to help clean up the mess too. The heroes are being trusted more again and then getting help from the people who they thought lost faith in them is a great sign for that bright future everyone hopes for. I also have high hopes for the new UA kids. They're already heroes in their own right by wanting to help during their first few days at the school. I also really like the look of the few new designs we get out of these kids. As expected of our mangaka!

Later that night, we are told that the students at UA aren't forced to stay at the dorms anymore, probably because things have calmed down after the war. This is good to hear because while I know the kids loved life at the dorms, I'm sure they missed their families too. I won't be surprised if some students in general decide to stay home for a while. I'm sure this also gives Horikoshi an excuse not to draw so many characters in one panel because god knows this man has his work cut out for him over the next 2-3 weeks.

The last couple of pages boil down to beautifully drawn panels of Ochako who's still keeping up that fake smile and optimistic façade and Izuku and Tsuyu worrying about her because something is CLEARLY wrong. Ochako does eventually break down remembering Himiko Toga and her fate. This chapter doesn't outright confirm nor deny what happened to Toga, but I'm pretty sure she's dead. I don't think Ochako would be this sad if Toga was alive in any capacity. It sucks because Toga had a change of heart in her final moments and I think she would have been given something of a second chance had she lived. But, maybe not because I don't know how society would really treat her if she was allowed to go out in public again. I would love for Toga to be alive, but I'm betting my gatcha money that she isn't... Still, this is a big loss for Ochako and I feel for her. I still can't help but feel we got blueballed on Toga's fate, though and I'm not sure how to really feel about that.

The final page shows us that Izuku used some embers of One For All to get to Ochako who's on the same hill back during the "We're Weird" conversation they had before the Final War. First off, Izuku bby 🥹💚. Second, this absolutely sets up Izuku and Ochako finally talking to each other since the Final War ended. I assume some kind of love confession is going to happen, but I'm not 100% sure because I don't know if now is a good time for that or not. Ochako definitely needs a shoulder to cry on and Izuku needs to talk to someone about what happened, so we'll have to see where things go from here.

Regardless, we have 2 chapters left and something has to happen before the end. It's going to be bittersweet next week though because we are getting the Cover and a Color Page in WSJ! These will be the last ones we get, so I hope they're special. Knowing Horikoshi, the art and coloring are going to be immaculate and I am going to cry happy tears for the next 2 weeks.

We will also get a 16-chapter tie-in chapter for the new You're Next movie by Yoko Akiyama, the mangaka for the spin-off Team Up Missions manga! I love her art so much! It's very similar to Horikoshi's, but the style and the coloring especially is so soft and cute! It's perfect for a slice-of-life-esque spin-off like TUM and she hasn't disappointed me yet. Plus, I'm 99% sure she did the manga tie-ins for the 2nd and 3rd movies too, so this was expected.

We're finally at the penultimate and final chapters of the series. I still can't believe it's ending. Just 2 weeks to go starting this Sunday.

[eepernation]

HYRULE IS A MORAY EEL ITS EEL TIME EEL TIME EEL TIME

Hyrule is a moray eel! I am showing clear fish favoritism because I am about to infodump a LOT. about moray eels while explaining Hyrule's design. Everything is under the cut so that this post isn't 10000 pages long ASHDHASD

Hyrule is specifically based on Gymnothorax monochrous, the Drab moray eel (I added a picture at the very bottom of this post)! He tends to blend in very easily with the group, and not draw a lot of attention from strangers. He is very plain-looking, but being a humble traveler, he doesn't mind it at all. He actually rather prefers not being the center of attention.

Yesterday I hinted at Hyrule's fish species having some special quality to his blood. Congratulations! It's poison! Moray eels carry ichthyotoxins in their blood, which is a substance that can be rather dangerous and potentially lethal in large enough quantities. Case in point, Hyrule is still very much terrified of bleeding! The angst potential continues!/lh

He still has his healing magic, of course! This creates a nice juxtaposition. Hyrule is the resident medic, but also someone who could easily accidentally poison someone if he isn't careful.

Yes, Hyrule has two sets of jaws. Moray eels have an entire second set of jaws. These are called pharyngeal jaws! They sit in the back of the throat and can extend forwards to grab at things. You know, if you wanna be extra-bitey! Hyrule uses them to freak the rest of the chain out LMAO

The little dots on Hyrule's face, right on the bridge of his nose? Those are not piercings. Those are his nares (aka fish nostrils)! If you look at any picture of a moray eel, you will see that it has little horn-looking protrusions on its snout. Since fish have gills, they don't need noses to breathe, so they need an alternative way to pick up chemical sensory information. All fish have nares, but since moray eels have particularly bad eyesight, they have to rely more on their sense of smell to catch prey, so their nares are more pronounced. I wanted to carry that aspect over to Hyrule's design!

Hyrule has bad eyesight and depends more on his sense of smell than the rest of the chain. He might not be as good at navigating the open ocean, but put him in a cave or somewhere with low visibility and he is a WHIZ at getting around while the rest of the chain fumbles around in the darkness. Hyrule is also exceptionally perceptive of danger and is usually among the first people to notify the group when any sort of enemy is nearby.

He's one of the only members of the chain who actually wears clothing. He likes the color green because not only is it pretty, but it helps him blend in even more with the seaweed and rocks. Also, since I took Legend's hat away from him, I gave it to Hyrule instead! Hyrule and Minish bond over having cool green hats.

FINALLY!!! Here is a picture of the fish I based him on- the Drab moray eel! AKA brown moray, monochrome moray, or plain moray eel. Contrary to its name, I think this fish is actually very pretty. What beautiful shades of brown! I will be taking NO moray eel slander in this household/lh

[kozachenko]

I've crawled out of my cave after playing Final Fantasy IX for a long ass time what have I missed?

Artist's Notes:

I'M BACK BABY! A while back I made a post with a new style experimentation thingy but I ended up deleting it because it was just kind of a boring face thing, I was planning on doing more art but then I started playing Final Fantasy IX and uhhhh yeah so that game has kind of taken of my brain for the past two weeks and I am 20 hours into the game because I love it so much. I wanted to draw Vivi because Vivi is just really fun to draw ok? I've kinda been feeling really burnt out with my lineless style, mainly because of how hard it was to do lighting. I'll show one of my initial art style tests on the bottom of this post. Again, used to have it be an individual post but it was just one face so it was kinda boring, so might as well include with this one on the subject of art styles. I wanted to kinda mix some aspects of my older style with the sketchy shading lines with a more painterly way of doing the lighting (mainly in the shadows). All in all, I think that's my favourite part about this drawing, it feels nice to finally be able to do some proper lighting again, and I want to experiment even more with my lighting and rendering in future pieces. Also, part of the pant shading got kinda lost in the sketchiness, so for next time I'll probably focus on the clarity of the more sketchy parts of the drawing, since I did go with my initial sketch for the final drawing. I also gave up on the background since I had no idea what to do for it, and I didn't put too much detail into the staff as I forgot which one I gave him in my current playthrough and I didn't want to risk spoiling myself via looking up references, but that's ok I like how the singular yellow circle on it matches Vivi's eyes. Also I was having a bit of trouble figuring out how to draw his body and how to pose him, but I like how the pose turned out a lot. It was inspired by his idle animation when in a battle in game where he does a little shimmy.

Ok I need to talk about Vivi's design because I love it so fucking much oh my god-

I absolutely love how his face is just in complete shadow and only his eyes stand out, it's so cool and unique and I love how they recontextualized the original black mage design from the classic Final Fantasy games. How they did it I won't say because I don't wanna spoil the game, but someone give this poor baby a therapist because he goes through a lot. Actually, same can be said for all of the FFIX cast, they all need therapy (again, I won't spoil anything, please go play the game for yourself).

While I do love almost all the characters in the game, even though Vivi is most fun to draw, my favourite character has to be Zidane (the main protagonist of the game). He's a really fun protagonist, and they could have easily written him as a misogynistic jerk who doesn't respect women but they didn't, and I really appreciate that. He's just an overall cool dude who's a really nice older brother figure to Vivi and also just has a cool character design (who I also want to draw eventually). Initially in the game I was planning on grinding levels for Vivi to make him the tactical nuke of the party, but then that title went to a different character (who was initially multiple levels behind the group since I grinded the party in the starting area way to much before they joined, but now they are two levels ahead of everyone and have pulled the team through a lot of tough battles, again I won't say who it is because it is kind of a spoiler and the way the gameplay actually ties into their character arc is just so good omfg). Once I eventually finish the game I'll probably write a full review on here, so no spoilers until then lol

Also, I've kinda been burning out a bit with making Touhou art, which also made me a bit burnt out with Touhou stuff in general (although I will continue keeping up with the manga) so getting into other things (i.e. Final Fantasy and even Fallout since I've watched the first season of the TV show which is a whole other post for another day) has helped me refresh and given me something new to think about. I've ended up in the exact place I feared ending up, where I would start drawing fanart for it not because I wanted to but because I felt like I had to, so I'm taking a bit of a break. When I do draw Touhou fanart again I'll try to draw for the sake of myself, and to all the other artists and fanartists on this platform (and on any social media for that matter), take care of yourself and don't forget to take breaks when you need to!

(Ok part of that last paragraph was definitley influenced by the good ol' "it's 9:00pm and I need sleeb, but the message at the end still holds up, always take care of yourself)

Oh yeah, and here is that one style experiment I did btw

Man I really fell down the "Yoshitaka Amano art enjoyer" to "Final Fantasy fan" pipe line didn't I?

[head---ache]

hello im going to talk about my non fankid oc's because i feel like i talk too much about my children (sorry) and too little about my other characters and i know probably no one cares but fuck you/lh im going to force you to care/j

Tools the Chinchilla (she/they) is the oldest character in the group! (Ironically age wise they're the youngest, being 14). They're an anti hero, of sorts?? But I think a better way to describe her is just a silly chinchilla doing her own thing, not caring about anyone else. They really just care about what they have going on and are going to do whatever they need to get things done. She does not care about relationships at all, and only tries to get closer to someone if it benefits her. They're a investigator/scientist, mostly studying about chaos, so you can guess how that leads her to follow the main cast around, trying to act all friendly to get info out of them (but everyone knows she doesn't actually like them because she's really bad at acting). She also has a very big ego, and constantly compares herself to characters like Tails of Eggman, pushing them both down although she's not really an inventor, unless she needs something specific.

Prince the Peacock (he/him) is my boy!!! I love his concept. He has hypnotic powers thanks to his feathers, and he also cares a lot about his looks. He's very sophisticated, but also very high energy and friendly (he can be a little too much, in fact). He's also a bit naive, but that's mostly because he usually sees the best in people, and believes anyone can be good if he's just nice enough. He sees himself and Tools as best friends, even though she can't stand him, he just thinks they're shy. He's a little bit too scared of everything, but after being saved by the Resistance during the war he feels like he needs to do his part, so he's actually quite brave and very usually pushes himself out of his comfort zone.

Ferocity the Spider (she/her) seems to be somewhat of a fan favorite, and I think that might be thanks to her goth lolita fashion and the fact that she's a spider, definitely not something seen in the Sonic franchise. She's a full on villain, and is que agressive. She has all of the abilities spiders commonly have, but I can't get more specific than that. I'm way too scared of spiders and could only use drawings as reference for her design, so I didn't actually take the time to decide what kind of spider she is bskdbskfnskx She has every move calculated, and takes everything into account, she's very careful and methodic, but, like I said, when she needs to, she can get very agressive and scary. She's also very closed off and untrustful, so while she does have someone she works with (more on that later), she usually prefers to do things herself, just to make sure.

Joy the Horse (she/her) is a total sweetie. She's very shy and quiet, but has the biggest heart ever. She's a baker!!! And has her own bakery:) she sometimes brings some of her baked goods to Restoration HQ because some of her friends are there. She's softspoken and kind, but don't look down on her! She can kick you over the next city if she needs to>:) usually in defense, not in offense. She doesn't fight often, but if her or someone she cares about is involved she goes all out trying to help. Also Joy is the only one Tools tries to be friends with, but that's because they want free food. Joy knows this, and yet she still pretends she doesn't see when the chinchilla sneaks a cookie into their pocket.

Torch the Angler Fish (they/them) is Ferocity's right hand!!! Mostly just the dumb henchman in cartoons. They're way too energetic and impulsive, which is why Ferocity usually has to hold them down. They normally do the dirty work; if they need to fight, Torch will do it while Ferocity watches from the shadows and only interferes if needed. Torch, of course, has a little light that can lure people closer to them, and they often hide in the shadows, to then attack by surprise. They enjoy scaring people, they're a bit of an asshole lol. I said Ferocity is agressive, and yet, Torch is the most agressive of the two, which makes them a bit more scary.

Index the Secretary Bird (she/her) is a cute girly who works for the Restoration as, you guessed it, a secretary. I imagine she was friends with Jewel, and when she saw how much work the beetle had, she decided to step in and help. She's also very methodic, and strict. She actually was a librarian before she joined the Restoration, so you can be sure she has outstanding organization skills. She's a bit unexpressive, and distant, but definitely not mean, and if you manage to get close to her you'll have a friend who will give you the best advice and will listen to you with all of her attention!! She also has some knowledge in first aids, so when needed she also helps in that area.

And yeah that's that the fankids get too much attention so these guys also needed a post dedicated to talking about them tehee

[puppyplushies]

. ✦ ˚　⭐🌸 4Piece Agere . ★⋆.Headcanons!!! 🍅🪁.:*・°☆

i have so much love for this group its so unreal!!! they're all so agere family coded ;_;

Raika - Regression age 7-8!

he’s the oldest of the group even if not by his actual age but he feels very protective over everyone else!!! much like a babysitter for when papa isn’t around

very bad when it comes to browsing the baby aisles at the store … often pockets things without anyone noticing. BUT!

he does it to give everything to his unit mates… they all appreciate it, but always think that their papa had bought it for them instead of raika pocketing them

does end up apologizing though (will do it again)

Esu - Regression age 3-6!

the kiddo with the most range in his regressed age!!! he can either be really young, or on his older side, but he’s good at letting others know.

IPAD BABY ALERT!!!!! very easy to please by giving him an ipad and putting on slime/stim asmr videos. he can watch those for hours!!!

doesn’t often use pacis… he’s more of a teether kiddo! so you can often see him wearing a chewy stim necklace around his neck.

begs begs begs for stim toys that he sees in videos because “i want it i want it really bad.”

Ibuki - Regression age 5-6!

VERY active kiddo! loves being outside and playing/running around! his favorite thing to do is roll in freshly cut grass, and blow bubbles too, and play in the sandbox and...

likes to yell and scream and be LOUD!!!! nobody else really minds it except for esu (when he’s on his ipad) or yume (when he’s trying to nap or reading!)

always begging to go to the park, even on a rainy day! (he loooves to jump in puddles and get messy)

also very clumsy as well, you can often see him covered in bandaids of various designs!!

Kanna - Regression age 3-4!

very quiet, doesn’t talk all too much. uses his paci for the most part.

often points to things that he wants, babbling is attempted! he is encouraged to use his words, but not forced.

everyone else tries to get him to smile by pulling the corners of his mouth, he clearly does not like this and tries to swat them away before telling on them to papa

often tugs on other’s clothes to get their attention on something he wants or as to get their attention in general…

Fuyume - Regression age 2-3!

loves loves loves fairy tales. often drives away Nice’s attention from the others to get him to read like 3 or 5 stories to him.

suuuuper sensitive to the point where you might think he’s being dramatic?? (and he is. he loves hoarding attention)

loves playing dress up! though he often asks for help dressing up as well… usually asks Nice, sometimes even Raika if Nice isn’t available to do so.

HE IS UNFORTUNATELY… a tattletale… if you upset him in any way he is going to go tell on you to papa!!!

he loves to hang out with esu... usually watches the "silly slimes" on the ipad...

ALSO!!!!!!!!!!!!

all of them love to color or make drawings… Nice is always hanging their masterpieces everywhere in his office or on a fridge somewhere!

Papa Nice loves to spoil his kiddos to the ends of the earth. whatever they want.. they usually get for the most part!!! unless its something super ridiculously expensive...

☆.。.:* i hope u enjoyed my headcanons thank u i love u .。.:*

[cheeriecherrymain]

What about Viktor with a reader who seems like a total airhead/bimbo but is actually incredibly intelligent and witty?

Please pardon any mistakes, I'm typing this on my phone lol

-So you guys probably meet in one of your classes, when you're both still pretty young.

-He's initially drawn to you because of your...interesting...questions during class discussions.

-He admittedly jumps to conclusions.

-Your questions aren't necessarily stupid, but they lack common sense. Anyone in the course should have been able to answer your problems without issue, yet there you were. Asking anyways.

-He assumes you're not paying attention during the lessons...but then how do you do so well on exams? Were you cheating off someone? Paying someone to write your essays for you?

-It boggles his mind, how you could barely know what you're talking about in class, but then turn around and have the second highest marks in the class.

-It all comes to a head when the midterm results are posted outside the classroom. Viktor expects his name to be in the top spot, as it usually is, but when he looks...

- "There must be a mistake," he mutters, growing agitated. No one pays him any mind though, checking their own marks and wandering off to find their seats.

-Instead of following suit, he walks up to the Professor's desk.

- "I think there is an error in the grades that have been assigned," he says quietly, trying not to make a scene.

- "No worries, my dear boy. I assure you that I have triple checked my work - something you might want to try, in the future."

-A couple people snicker to themselves, and Viktor's impatience rises.

- "How could there possibly not be a mistake?" he hisses. "According to the marks posted, Y/N had the highest grade - that's just not possible!"

-Out of the corner of his eye, he notices you perk up at the mention of your name. Now, with you listening in, his confidence in the matter plummets.

-The professor asks him why it wouldn't be possible for you to have a good grade.

-"Because she's an idiot!" he says, much louder than intended - loud enough for most of the class to hear, yourself included.

-He doesn't miss the way that your shoulders fall slightly, nor the way your demeanor grows somber and your gaze casts downward.

-He's immediately hit with a wave of guilt, which only worsens when the professor send him to his seat and he gets a better look at you as he passes.

-You're silent in class for the following week. You don't ask your usual absurd questions, and you don't participate in group discussions - you don't say anything, actually.

-Even when you're paired up for your final projects, and find yourselves in a group, you're eerily quiet.

-It's awkward, in his opinion, but he's not going to try andbforce you to say anything. Instead he draws up a plan for what you should create, explaining it to you in extreme detail as he goes.

-You continue in silence as the semester progresses, watching Viktor work diligently while he goes over ever aspect of his creation.

-He had delegated the task of writing down test results to you, so you'd still be able to get marks for participating. Test results which had been repeating, as of late.

-"I just do not understand where I'm going wrong," he sighs one afternoon. "The barrel is straight, the nose is aerodynamic, the power source is adequate! I only have four days to figure out what's going on - we'll get a failing grade, otherwise."

-At first, you say nothing, keeping your gaze firmly locked on the paper attached to your clipboard.

-But then, all at once, fury curls into your features, and you scowl at him.

"There's too much pressure being released from the fuel tank," you say, finally. "Which you would have known, if you weren't so obsessed with making the damn thing look nice."

-"It's efficient," he tries to say, but you cut him off.

-"It's stupid to work on the aesthetics before the function! The wiring is also faulty, and it's either going to cause a fire, or screw up your design when we have our presentation."

-The two of you stare at each other for several moments, the air between you tense enough to feel.

-"How can you be so certain?" he grumbles.

-"Because despite your opinion of me, I'm far from stupid, Viktor. I've earned my grades, even if you think I didn't. God forbid someone be better than you at something."

-"You are not better than me," he argues. "You, and people like you, look down on me - you always have! You're pretentious and opinionated-"

-"The only one who is pretentious and opinionated is you!" you hiss back, poking him hard on the chest. "I looked up to you! And I can't believe I wasted so much time thinking so highly of you. You're an ass!"

-The two of you fall into silence for a couple of beats, before you continue, "and for the record, I ask stupid questions because the girl who sits beside me is mute - she writes them down, and I read them. And she's pretty damn smart, too "

-After that, you're quick to pack up your things and leave, whisking past Viktor in a flurry of frustration and hurt.

-His guilt returns to him. Had he really been so presumptuous? True, in the past, you'd never done anything to hurt him - never spoken out against him, or made any accusations.

-But unlike his earlier guilt, the feeling doesn't dissipate this time. He was wrong about you, and he knows it. He just needs to find a way to make it up to you.

[jonathan-samuel-smith]

Damian The Mangaka

Word count: 5,855

Relationships: Jonathan Samuel Kent/Damian Wayne

Characters: Damian Wayne, Jonathan Samuel Kent, Lois Lane (briefly), Maya Ducard (Briefly)

Tags: I Was Sick When I Wrote This, Fluff, Getting Together, Coming Out, Manga & Anime, Middle School, damian is in 8th grade while jon is in 6th but they get together when jon is 14 and damian is 16, Birthday Party, Shopping Malls

Read on AO3

Excerpt under the cut.

It’s 6:30pm and Damian has already completed all of his school assignments as far ahead as his teachers would allow him to. He’s exercised in the morning and he will go on patrol tonight. He’s caught up on the anime list Jon recommended to him, and he’s read a great deal of Shoujo Manga in class after finishing his work. So Instead of doing any of those activities he might normally do to occupy his time, He goes to his drafting table and takes paper, his pens and ink and brushes and pencils, and a ruler, and starts making panel boxes.

His plan is this: He first draws the panels on the page, then he writes what happens in the panels on the page, then he draws the speech bubbles, then he draws the characters and backgrounds, inks, shades, expertly writes the text legibly, and scans it in.

First, though, he has to know what he’s going to write. He wants to write Shoujo, because it’s a great way to theorize about and study human behavior. Definitely not because it’s a nice daydream. Damian is confident that he is too mature for things like that. He turns on his phone and searches for common japanese names for his character. The female lead will be named Chiba Nakano and the male lead will be named Murata Haruto.

Nakano, the surname of a famous warrior. Her parents expected great things from her, and for her to perform their traditions with the greatest respect and diligence. She is well practiced in martial arts and ikebana. She makes ink paintings when she longs to feel free, like her own person.

Damian sketches out his design of the girl. She’s short, with sharp eyes that when resting look a bit bored, her mouth is naturally downturned at the corners. Her jaw is wide and her cheeks are chubby. She wears eyeshadow and lipstick and is beautiful. Her hair is cut short, similar to Damian’s, because he has the best reference for it and he is going to be drawing her a lot. She wears a school uniform and outside of class she wears skater skirts and baggy tops that drape over her shoulder. She acts brusque and pushes people away when they get close, but she gets the most angry when the people she likes don’t give her attention, so you can tell that she does care. She will make flower arrangements inspired by those she loves and gift them away. She likes animals and goes to the park every day to feed the ducks corn.

Haruto. A name that means light, sun, clear weather, and to fly or soar. A cheerful and sweet character like this should be perfect for slice of life. He should have messy black hair and glasses, be tall and the kohai of Nakano. He should have a dazzling smile. He’s so excitable that it scares most people off, but most are friendly towards him because he is friendly with everyone. They wind up in the same friend group and that is how they meet.

[lilover131]

Clear Card Chapter 76 Analysis

HELLO!!!

I am so sorry for the lateness on this chapter review! I was on vacation when chapter 76 came out, and honestly…I completely forgot about my analysis after that. I made a mental note to do it when I returned from vacation, and that mental note obviously did not last (DAMN MY ADHD!!). Anyways, I also found myself busy looking into a lot of big life development things! For example, this week, I am officially adopting this beautiful fur baby and bringing her home!

Her name is Diana, and I hope y’all don’t mind if I spam my social medias a bit with pictures of her once she is home. Here is my gif of the month!

CLAMP never ceases to draw stunning color pages each month, and this one is no exception! I’m not surprised to see Akiho here, but I gotta say, she looks quite nice in green! I love the lily flowers in her design and it seems to be a really nice connection made to her mother, Lillie. Other than that, it seems to be a rather basic portrait of Akiho in elegant clothes.

The chapter starts with the group at Yukito’s house. The video feed from the cameras Tomoyo left them with has unsurprisingly cut out with Sakura and Syaoran entering the space where Kaito is trapped. Tomoyo asks if they just lost reception in there (I honestly find this question pretty funny), but Eriol chimes in and states that this is not the case. He lets everyone know that before the feed cut out, he did manage to see the inside of the space for a brief moment, and based on the sight of those broken clocks, he suspects this place isn’t just one with halted time, but broken time. Now, you might be wondering what this means exactly. My theory is that it means time doesn’t function normally in this space. I imagine events in time are probably twisted together or nonexistent. After all, Kaito essentially had to break time to change it, so this doesn’t really surprise me. It seems to be, from what I can tell, at least isolated to this space, but it’s unclear what kind of damage it could do if it weren’t.

Syaoran looks around at the space and tells Sakura that there doesn’t appear to be anything wrong with the watch itself and that it only looks to be broken in appearance due to the pressure placed upon it. Sakura clutches at her head and seems to wince in pain. Syaoran asks her if she is all right, and she seems to have discomfort in head. He explains to her that the spell around them is strong enough to make an influence on her physically, and when asked, he admits that even he is feeling it (Syaoran I imagine has a much higher pain tolerance and hides it well). However, it seems that without the watch to guide them, they most certainly would have gotten lost. Sakura smiles and claims that this is as if Akiho herself is guiding them.

Sakura takes the watch back now that it has seemingly served its purpose and looks the trapped dragon Kaito. She says to him that she doesn’t know how to address him since she does not know his name, but that she feels the watch in her hand has a connection to him. She tries to ask him if the watch feels connected to him purely because of having the same magic power or if he is the owner of the watch. Dragon Kaito obviously doesn’t respond, but Sakura takes the moment to ask Syaoran, who has impeccable magical senses particularly for moon magic, if the magic that made the false moon is the same magic coming from the watch. Syaoran focuses in on this and advises her that they are not of the same magic and that something is different. I’m honestly really happy to see Sakura utilizing Syaoran’s skills and knowledge here. She herself is very intuitive and able to figure out things naturally, but that can’t entirely replace the level of training and experience Syaoran has, so I’m glad CLAMP has really made use of that here. Sakura deduces that the cage itself around dragon Kaito also feels different from the magic in the watch, so she comes to the correct conclusion that he is not here willingly and is locked up in here by someone else (-cough- Squid Clan -cough-).

Looking into dragon Kaito’s eyes, Sakura senses a familiarity that she recognizes it not simply because she saw him in a dream. Moreover, she recognizes that these eyes once watched over Akiho. Sakura reaches her hand out and tells him that he can’t stay here and to come with her, but before she can proceed further, the warped clocks around them appear to react, and Syaoran is quick to move and protect her with his thunder attack.

Meanwhile, in the Tsukishiro home, everyone is waiting patiently for some sort of update. Akiho seems to be the most focused and determined of the bunch, making sure she’s ready to go in case Sakura calls for them. Everyone smiles and Yukito says that he is happy they have each other.

Back in the fake moon space, Syaoran is fending off the attacks and tells Sakura that he doesn’t think his spells will be able to break the cage around the dragon, but he will protect her while she figures out how to break through. Sakura remembers Momo’s message to her through the RECORD card that there are other cards left behind and waiting for her to call their names. As she looks down at Kaito’s watch, she thinks about her mother’s watch and remembers seeing a card that looked just like it, though she doesn’t remember making it. She calls out for TIME and smiles seeing it, as this was a card she feels she and her mother, Nadeshiko, made together (that’s a sweet way to look at it!).

Sakura calls for the card to break the ‘cage frozen in time’, and this seems to do the trick in breaking it. It makes sense that this cage was built from time considering where they are and the very type of spell that triggered this trap in the first place. So it seems logical that time would be the thing to break it. I think even Kaito himself once said that spells could be broken more easily when you used time magic.

The cage breaks and Kaito spreads his wings in freedom! Sakura and Syaoran quickly look for an exit and starts towards it, but when they look back, they notice that dragon Kaito isn’t following them.

However, before they get much opportunity to think about why, there seems to be an attack coming from above. And OH BOY does this attack look familiar. It actually looks to be exactly the same as chapter 33 when Kaito fended off that attack from the Clan and Association! It would make complete sense to me that this was an attack from them considering how dangerous Kaito is to them. Certainly they don’t want him escaping his punishment.

I think things are really going to ramp up action wise in the next chapter, and I do think as well that Akiho’s part is very near. I have a feeling Kaito wasn’t just staying where he was to avoid attacks from the Association and Clan but also because he doesn’t feel he deserves to. And who of all people but Akiho could convince him of his worth and to come out? I’m looking forward to seeing how this goes and what sort of repercussions will arise from dragon Kaito entering Tomoeda!

I will try to make sure I post the next analysis soon after the next chapter comes out here and won't leave y'all hanging! I can't wait for the next one!

[slashersgostabbystabstab]

Tell me what are some things you'd like to see for Hux in the future of DBD. Cosmetic wise, lore wise.

Are there any changes you'd make for him in game, buffs or otherwise :3

Honestly cosmetic wise, I want to see basically anything at this point. Hux is one of the charcaters that unfortunately keeps dealing with the short end of of the stick when it comes to skins. I understand that his design does limit people to making anything for him but come on, he's still worth a try. Sure the cosmetic he got from the fit is nice and the "you are what you kill one" is a pretty great Portal reference, but I'd appreciate more cosmetics that aren't just recolors. (I am excited however because there it was hinted that he might get a cosmetic that's him before Gabriel burnt him!!!)

However, I would like to see something candy related for him. I wanted to design it and enter it in a future DBD Design contest but I'd rather not lose the rights to something that precious to me. I'll make sure to draw it one day however and hope people like it like that Valentine's Deathslinger cosmetic I made years back X3

Lore wise I would really like to see what went on with the production of the Hux-A7 units. Just interested in what the process was there, but it also makes me wonder if anything went wrong with #13(aka Hux himself) considering how he is the only unit the strayed from the rest of the group. It's like there was something off about him and he ventured out elsewhere before being zapped by the alien crystal. It would be nice to see what life was for Hux A7-13 before he became aware.. Like I'm curious to see was he already technically active before the departure date? Was he only ever powered on when they arrived to Dvarka? How long has he lived for? (This is also for...fanfic purposes because of that one specific fic I've been wanting to write involving Gabriel lol please ask me about that because I have been itching to write it along with the next part to the Praetorian fic but need to get the smut out of the way first)

Okay so in game...oh geez let's see:

Something seriously needs to be done about the EMPS. It's insane how easily a survivor alone is able to control Hux's power. Not even add-ons are enough to discourage the use of EMPS. Now imagine all four survivors carrying an EMP each, it's hell. And the fact that you can have the EMP on for 45 seconds is a crazy fact alone; you can get some serious distance in that time period and have disabled so many biopods already because you also have to take into consideration its radius!).

I do think the EMPs should become limited like Wesker's and Nemesis' respective items, or they should at least hold some kind of punishment like what Skull Merchant's drones did(aka receiving a tracker when disabling her drones). Like have some of his add-ons be built in maybe?

Or if not limited at least do something like with Xenomorph's turrets. The EMPS continue printing the second you take one, the turrets at least make you wait after you've taken one. And after 3 have been taken from the same control station you have to wait for that stuff to be remade.

OR at least give him more biopods. Once again, you can take out some many biopods + slipstreams in 45 seconds)

Yes there are add-ons that kind of do that but even then they're sort of useless (the only one I can think of is Live Wires which I like to use but what's the point when everyone is on the opposite side of the map and they've dispersed or finish their gen by the time you got there?)

His add-ons I feel really do need some buffing because the only one Singularity mains really consider using is the Soma Family Photo which makes you faster when in Overclock mode but still reduces your timer for it. And that's ONLY if you succesfully slipstream to a survivor of course(I say this because I still have some trouble with it)

His add-ons really rely on having survivors slipstreamed and that's pretty hard to do when they can constantly remove the temporal slipstream

I don't care if I'm called biased for this but I do not believe Hux needs a nerf of any kind. Slipstreaming is something that takes a good while to learn, I'm still learning how to do it properly myself. I think Overclock mode is a decent reward for a successful slipstream (and it doesn't even last that long???). It just sucks that there's some asshole out there trying really hard to make him the next "chess killer" which hopefully doesn't lead to an unecessary nerf.

There's more I'm sure of it, but this is what I can think of at the moment. I'll add more after I get bullied as Singularity again lololol

Also this is more at gameplay itself rather than Hux's ability and such but they need to lower his chase music's volumeor something. I personally rely a very lot on sounds and I lose survivors often while playing Singularity because of both his music and his mechanical whirring.

And also his hook??? I never really miss attacks when I play as killer but there's something about Hux's blade that makes me miss because I always think I'm much closer than I apparently am.

[soybeeftacos]

Nine Years

Today is this little Netrunner blog's ninth year anniversary. Wow, times flies. I'd like to muse on the history of this blog a little here, but there's not much to say, really — it's more of an archive of my ups and downs with it, and thankfully mainly a lot of ups. When I'm not posting here much (like lately), it's because I've moved onto other things.

I honestly haven't even played the game in a bit, since around the holidays. We ran out of steam on playing card games before the holidays, at least a little bit, and I very intentionally disconnected myself from the only organized local group of guys still playing. It dawned on me that I was interested in playing with a group who wanted to organize events (casual, competitive, whatever) and with people who were interested in making their own decks. But these guys weren't that, to the point of even refusing free promo cards. It wasn't a good fit and they made me feel awkward to play with, so, well, life is too short to do that.

That's the problem with the game, as everyone knows. If you don't have a good local group of people to play with or connect with others in the community, it's hard to move forward. I have tried to reconnect with the community online, but frankly, that's gone nowhere as well. Everyone talks about how nice the Netrunner community is, but it's still extraordinarily cliquish and off-putting. I love the game, I've reached out to multiple people to play the game with online, but nothing's come of it.

So, I'm a little sad that my interest in the game is still pretty high but also there's just no time in the day to keep trying to locally organize a "dead game" or build an online playgroup when there are many other things I could be doing with myself. I've gone back to watching a lot of movies and hosting movies at the local Alamo. I've picked up other games to play with our family. I'm doing things other than optimizing my play and reading the same tired Slack memes from the same three Netrunner players over and over again.

I think the most off-putting thing is how playing online isn't much fun anymore. I got warned that I'd get banned from Jnet by the current World Champion — I got salty with him after losing to his smurf and then he hopped on his main account to threaten more severe sanctions. Yeah, that's what the site is for many now, just a good place for the elite players (read: twentysomethings with a lot of time on their hands) to smurf and clean up in games against us lesser randos.

The game is always the best when it's played in person. And the best times I've had with it have been when I was playing with paper, sitting across a table, having laughs and being frustrated in equal measure. That's what the game was designed to be, and that's what I'd love to get back to. There are a handful of players around here that will still play with me on occasion, and I'm thankful that they're still into it. I just got a new CO kit in the mail the other day and even if I'm not playing much, I hope I can organize a fun event for those guys and draw out other local players to join us.

Anyway, nine years. That's a long time! I'm thankful the game still exists and while I'm not the hugest fan of Null Signal, I'm thankful that they have put so much care and effort into the game. I'm excited to see what Rebellion Without Rehearsal might bring.

[jmrothwell]

Another Halloween prompt! “Are you afraid of the dark?” for Julie & Willie?

Willie bounced on his toes, he didn’t think he’d have the chance to be here. But of course Flynn and Julie were able to snag tickets to the limited time event. The ride was nothing more than a conveyor belt ride through a haunted house, but still his curiosity had been peaked.

“This sucks.” Luke grumbled from in front of him in line. The complaint earned him a slap to the shoulder from a pouting Flynn. 

“Gee thanks.” They glared at Luke who rubbed his arm gaping. “Make a person feel special.”

With a broad sweeping gesture, or as broad as he could gesture without hitting anyone else, he exclaimed. “I meant the line.”

Willie bit back his chuckle as Flynn pointed out they were essentially at the front of the line. The two of them continued to bicker over semantics. 

The whole thing gave weird horror themed cartoonish tunnel of love vibes. Which meant riding two at a time in the bench seats. Which of course caused quite the debacle with this group. 

Luke, Reggie, Flynn and Julie couldn’t decide who should ride with who. Willie suggested they pick ride partners at random. Then for the hell of it and after a conspiratorial laugh with Alex, he threw his and Alex’s names into the mix as well. 

Which is why he now stood at the back of their group waiting with Julie. The two of them had been making quips and jokes as they waited. Soon enough they were being ushered into a bench seat and the ride began. 

The laughing continued. Even if it was interspersed with some yells and screams from unexpected jumps. Willie laughed harder when the biggest scream of the ride had been when they discovered the seat was designed to move, after it had unexpectedly spun around.

Suddenly the ride stopped dead in its tracks as all the sounds cut out and pitch black darkness descended upon them. “Huh,” he chuckled out wondering if the power outage extended beyond the ride. 

A small squeak from Julie and her pressing herself into his side quickly drew his attention. His laugh stopped when he felt her shake slightly against his side. “You ok?”

“I’m fine.” even in the silence he could barely hear her. Her voice was tight and barely more than a breath. 

For some reason a random conversation he had with the guys popped into his mind. They’d asked if he could help them get some nice art or something unique to decorate her room with as a present. Which meant him listening to them gush over how she already chose to decorate. 

Among the things they’d mentioned were the many different types of lights and lamps she had scattered across her room. 

“Hey Julie,” he began softly, and she hummed a high pitch tone in return. “Are you afraid of the dark?”

He heard her take a shaky breath, “It’s not so much the dark.”

When she hesitated he nodded, and guessed at how he thought the sentence might end. “But what might be hiding in the dark?”

She made another small hum, or maybe it was a whine. Right, he quickly patted down his pockets. Sure enough he found the small metallic rectangle of his zippo lighter. 

Julie jumped slightly once he got it lit. “Sorry” he laughed apologetically. “Does this help?” 

“Maybe.” She grimaced and her eyes drifted to the shadows where the small light couldn’t reach. That wouldn’t help at all, that’s for sure. 

“Hey,” He kept his voice light as he drew her attention back to him. He smiled brightly hoping that would help reassure her. She grimaced back, her gaze darting over his shoulder.

“How do you think everyone else is holding up?” He asked, hoping to draw her into conversation. Although he probably should have tried a different subject  because she turned to look into the darkness in front of them again. 

“I'm sure they're fine.” He answered himself, which made her look at him with a confused pout. “You guys have any special plans for Halloween?”

“Not really, none of us can really agree on what to do.” She said, her shoulders visibly relaxed a little as her focus solidly landed on him. “I might have to adopt your random draw decision making.” She giggled and nudged their shoulders together. 

“I swear to god, Patterson.” Flynn’s voice suddenly echoed closely followed by bouts of laughter reverberating all around the halls. His and Julie’s included. 

Not long after the ride started up again, and he quickly returned his lighter to his pocket. 

Once they exited, Julie gave him a brief tight hug. Which he returned and turned into a much longer hug after her whispered “thanks.”

[kayrllylikesblitzwing]

Hnnnghhhhh I should be drawing transformers …

BUT I LIKE THE ZOMBIE MAN.

HELLO I’m posting some ocs because recently I’ve gotten into a new rp server and it’s like one of those usual “oh kids go to highschool and they have powers and it’s alllllll monitored by the government” BUT they allow aliens too so it’s pretty neat

I brought in a TON of my old ocs who I used to use Back In The Day when I roleplayed on my hero academia roblox servers which HAS to be the most haunting, most horrible Experience of my entire life thus far. But basically I redrew a lot of my characters who I added to the new server im in and gave them a basic little sketch design and NOW im going to INTRODUCE THEM TO YOU

The girl in red is Fuji she is very mean and very manipulative and very evil and her ability is basically she can just glitch. Like it’s so funny the universe thinks she’s an error so she constantly like fades out of existence and stutters and lags and stuff but still remains. She can glitch through walls, lag and glitch other people, and even insert something like a trojan virus into others, where she can control them remotely, albeit she won’t have control of her own body while she controls them…. PRETTY COOL, pretty EVIL!

NEXT the weird SpongeBob looking thing is literally god. I’m not joking!!! In the lore of my own universes this guy, Sir Boxers (which, fun fact, had a close friend name him and it stuck perfectly!!!) is legitimately god he has the ability to warp reality and do legit whatever he wants. Ofc for the sake of the rp I have to tone down his power so we made this super crazy dramatic backstory that he was like the reigning but benevolent king of his dimension but then he got usurped by some evil force and sent into another world, trapped in a weaker, smaller vessel that can’t do as much as his other godly form, and he’s like trying to return to his dimension to restore order… it’s a funny thing LOL he’s just a joke character

Next is T-0FF-E3 of TOFFEE, and I HAVE DRAWN AND POSTED HIM BEFORE!!! I just didn’t like his design cuz he was too skrunkly so I bulked him up. I already talked about him but basically he was a regular dude and when his powers started showing up he just like mutated into a machine. Super nice, doesn’t know his strength, I love toffeee

Next is Liberty and I very Love Her!!! She’s a little bit of a mess because she’s both like a gym bro but also a cat girl so she’s pretty funny LMAOO she’s extremely competitive and almost aggressively supportive but also has the ability to turn things into weapons!!! As long as she can put both of her palms on something she can turn it into a weapon but that does NOT mean she can use it effectively, because a) the more elaborate the weapon, the more energy she needs to use on it to create it, b) the mass of whatever she makes the weapon on doesn’t change so if she makes like a weapon out of something heavy she might not be able to pick it up and c) she has NO EXPERTISE in any weaponry WHATSOEVER lol

Next is… Romeo 😍😍😍 he’s fucking disgusting! Little Zombie Boy “died” when he was an infant of like some sort of tumor in his brain but even though he was medically dead his body just persisted on its wild Basically his ability is he has full control over every single individual cell in his body and can use his his abilities to manipulate his flesh and stuff however he pleases and can just put himself back together if he’s torn apart. He’s like that trope where people talk abt bats and they’re like THE BATS ARE MORE SCARED OF YOU THAN YOU ARE OF THEM becuz Romeo lowkey is scared of everyone NOT socially inept but he just doesn’t like to interact and because of his strict upbringing

Next is Coronette and OKAY SHES ONE OF MY ALIENS Coronette was initially a part of a species I made for transformers where this group called the crixstaline were Cybertronian minicons that escaped to another planet, initially just to colonize it but then they sorta mutated with it… anyway Coronette is similar to that but I removed all of Cybertronian stuff from her stuff and made them just a species of PURE crystal theyre so cool they have their own language and like customs and stuff and UGH I might post their lore Bible one day it’s so cool anyway. Coronette is a princess from Crixstal, which is a planet that fell to foreign alien influences, and she hates earth and is stupid and dumb and wants to go home but doesn’t know WHY she can’t go home (planet was destroyed L BOZO) and she’s an iPad kid

TWO MORE second to last is CHIP and first of all I would like to say he is named after my dog and I have three ocs named after my dog two are named Chip Mooney and one is Chip Gebelhoff and the second Chip Mooney is based off Neil cicierega—

BUT ANYWAY this is the ORIGINAL CHIP other than my dog Chip used to wear red but I made him blue bcuz it fits him better and because I wanted a rainbow with my characters designs Anyway chip has the super power of onomatopoeia which means that when he says words like Pow or Boom they actually take affect in the world around him. This is disastrous and deadly and after he unintentionally nearly killed his father by activating his powers on accident, he has become mostly selective mute. He’s really guarded with how and when he talks and he’s JUST like those redditors who write like scripts of how they’re supposed to like interact and talk with people so he specifically doesn’t accidentally say a word that might trigger his power’s affects anyway he has my favorite ability

AND FINALLLLY we have Whizzer he’s a little guy the youngest oc of the line up. HES AWESOME he’s actually a remake of one of my OLDEST OCS EVER, who was an umbrella academy oc. Whizzer has a weird little astronaut bubble head not just to protect himself from anything, but to mostly protect others— FOR YOU SEE, whizzer’s ability is that his lungs are SO POWERFUL, if he breathes, he can basically desolate an environment of all of its oxygen and even take the oxygen out of other peoples lungs. He wears his little bubble so he doesn’t suffocate no one but also so he doesn’t breathe in nasty stuff like smog or bugs all of the time cuz that??? That would be bad.

ANYWAY. That’s my oc post have a wonderful day!!! Will blitz post soon❤️❤️❤️

[itcamefromthetoybox]

He’s the Leader of The Bunch

Next week’s the premier of “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts,” and you all know how excited I am! I absolutely can’t wait! So this week, we’re looking at yet another “Rise of the Beasts” figure, and a character I’ve loved ever since I was a kid: “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts Smash Changer Optimus Primal!”

So, again, we know jack diddly about Primal in the movies because, and I cannot stress this enough, the movies are not out yet. The Primal I know best is the one from “Beast Wars,” the original, who was an inexperienced captain of a science ship who found himself stranded with his crew on a strange alien world, forced to battle a group of dangerous criminals and Waspinator, and who became one of the greatest heroes Cybertron has ever had. He turns into a gorilla, and I love him.

The Smash Changers are a line of simple, kid-friendly larger figures that transform from alt mode to robot mode via pressing down on a part of the toy 1-3 times to get the figure to automatically transform. How well this works varies from figure to figure. We talked about a Smash Changer figure before, “Transformers Bumblebee Cyberverse Adventures Smash Changers Optimus Prime,” and you’ll recall I wasn’t too impressed. I’ve since gotten another figure that is a remold of that one and found that my problems with it are limited to that mold itself, thankfully.

“Smash Changers Optimus Primal” transforms from a gorilla to a robot by pressing down on the backs of his feet, which unlocks and triggers the whole transformation, and the whole thing works so much better for this toy. I’ve had no problems with anything sticking, and the manual transformation to gorilla mode is very straightforward and not even a bit frustrating. Heck, if anything, the gimmick’s too effective sometimes, and I mean that in a good way. In theory, you press down on Primal three times to transform him. However, sometimes, pressing on him once triggers multiple or even every step of his transformation, which is a nice surprise. The whole gimmick works great, and I love it.

In terms of looks, I love Primal’s robot mode. Unlike a lot of the other Primal movie figures, this one isn’t just grey and black. He’s also got some striking blue that dominates his torso and really serves to draw attention to the toy, and, rather than a lot of grey, he has a sort of earthy brown, almost like darker mud, covering his body. It really makes him stand out and looks absolutely fantastic. Really, I cannot praise his paint job enough. Whenever I see him at stores, my eye immediately goes to him because, unlike a lot of movie characters, he’s more than just one color. His paint looks great, he has a lot of sculpted details, and I love it. He’s clearly a toy and not some collector’s piece, and he’s very much designed to be noticed by kids. It’s also helped by the fact that he’s very broad. Like, he’s got the physique of someone who works out. Broad chest, muscular arms, and strong legs. His entire body screams that he’s large and in charge, and you strongly get the impression that he could punch out anyone else in your toy collection.

Dawn of the Planet of the Robot Apes

Primal’s gorilla mode also looks pretty good, and I, again, love the paint job. It looks really good for any gorilla toy, much less a robot one. One thing that sticks out to me here is the red Maximal symbol on his shoulder. I love the choice of red here, because it matches the common color used for the Autobot symbol and tells kids who might not know the character that he’s a good guy. It stands out on the shoulder, but it doesn’t dominate the toy as a whole. It’s big enough to notice, which is really want you want on a kid’s toy, but it doesn’t overwhelm the eye to look at. One other detail I’m crazy about is the sculpted fur all over Primal’s body. It adds texture to the toy and feels like that extra step that makes it clear Primal’s more than just a robot gorilla, much like the original Primal. Just A+ sculpting.

Unfortunately, Optimus Primal has no articulation other than his robot mode head being able to turn. Because of how his gimmick works and the fact that the moving parts for it are in his entire body, Primal’s entirely static in either mode. I understand why that is, but it does still bug me. I wish that he at least had elbow articulation.

Primal has to be transformed into beast mode by hand. It’s a really simple process and one I’ve never run into problems with, which is great. I mean, nothing sticks, nothing jams, the whole process is frustration free. It’s exactly what you would want for a kid. The worst you might have to deal with is his shoulder armor popping back out, and that literally takes less than two seconds to fix. Considering this and how smooth his automatic transformation is, like I said earlier, he’s a great toy. Just make sure to follow the instructions. Unlike some toys, you can only rotate his waist one direction when transforming him.

Mecha Harambe 

“Transformers: Rise of the Beasts Smash Changer Optimus Primal” is recommended for ages 6+, which I strongly agree with. Older kids and collectors might be frustrated by his lack of articulation, and younger kids run the risk of breaking something in him. He’s available at mass retail right now for the hefty price tag of about $35, which really stings. Considering his complete lack of articulation, I feel like you’re paying that much just for the size and gimmick, and as much as I love this toy, I gotta say that that price is way too much for him. I would still recommend him, because he has a fun gimmick and looks great, but definitely wait to grab him when he’s on sale or you have some coupons. Don’t pay full price for him if you can help it. Now, this review came out a bit late, so the next review will be later in the week. After that, we’ll be taking a look at toys from another franchise I love that’s getting a movie soon, so stay posted! This is JS, signing off and wishing you Happy Toy Hunting.

[icharchivist]

it's a bit early, but happy new year! i'll make sure to properly wish you when the time comes, but I did go through the mankai event now so it felt strange not to say it, haha... i was actually thinking about finishing this event new years eve to be appropriate, but i ended up getting a little sick so. might as well do the events now while ive got the time right? also also!! i started a3 almost exactly 2 years ago on jan 1 2021 so i thought it would be nice to maybe try to start act 2 then? since after this i just have the anniversary event and vday magic (i think i'll do one day princess after ch 5). anyways the actual event. as usual i'll go through my thoughts chronologically.

that first opening scene is so good. citron staring at that charm while sakuyas sleeping… now that’s not really any evidence for citron being a light sleeper but in my heart I just KNOW he is okay. and what great sound design!! like all silence. no backing music. just the sound of sakuyas quiet snores. it sets that mood so well so i really felt that the charm citron was staring at must be really important to him...

oh also i want to say this because i felt soooo smart for doing it. the moment that first scene opened with citron i paused and took some notes bc i wanted to guess who else was in the cg lmaooo. with all the act 1 non-play events, there's exactly 11 events. i'm assuming the anniversary event is special so that cg might have the whole a3 cast or smthing like all the leaders? or even like a cg of matsukawa and izumi or something. that'd be cool. but who knows. but without that, its ten, and then theres 2 per event cg which gets u the 20 members of the troupe. excluding inter-troupe pairings, there's 6 unique combinations of seasons you can make: spring summer, spring autumn, spring winter, summer autumn, summer winter, autumn winter. we've had 8 events so far, and 4 unique combinations have been repeated twice: spring summer (tsuzuru&kazunari + itaru&misumi), autumn winter (sakyo&azuma, taichi&tasuku), spring winter (masumi&tsumugi, sakuya&hisoka), and summer autumn (muku&juza, yuki&banri). there's 4 members who haven't gotten event cgs yet, then: citron, tenma, omi, and homare. and there's exactly 2 unique season combinations left: spring autumn and summer winter. suffice to say that when i noticed that omi and citron were in the same cleaning group, and talked to masumi and juza about their talent show thing, and THEN went to get groceries together... i cheered so hard. calculations for the win.

back to chronological thoughts:

i’ve written this before but juza 🤝 yuki: *sees any situation* how do I make this about banri/tenma (derogatory)

nonetheless juzas conception of banri is sooooo funny to me. like banris super smart and talented and juza is like. he’s a weirdo who will draw a face on his stomach and make it talk by moving his muscles. like that’s sooo specific. and then banri immediately being like. I CAN do it! the moment juzas like. oh. …you can’t? like. actually something is weird about both of you (affectionate)

sakyo: aren’t you all forgetting something very important we have to do before the new year

me, nodding sagely: ah yes. annual performance reviews. *cut to next scene* ohhhh they’re just deep cleaning. I was just like. 100% convinced that they needed to do their annual like evaluations. i don't even do those but it's just one of my first associations with the year end i guess???

anyways when they find that duct taped box w/ yuki mentioning they could sell old props for play funding… I don’t know if it’s ever said outright but considering yukis always talking to sakyo abt like costuming and stuff and they collaborated with that kigurumi punishment I have to wonder if yuki has like. a nonzero amount of info on play budgeting as compared to most of the troupe. kazunari. the 14 year old in your troupe knows more about budget management than you. i mean yukis been selling his clothing etc. on the net so maybe he does know a nonzero amount of this kind of thing with like selling props...

it was so cute to see their street act! they’ve come so far. love the way azuma thinks abt it like “how do I jump in here” and goes “I’m going to cause problems. on purpose.” with making a surprise phone call. citron though oh my gosh. its like. yes. he does know what a year end rush is. and abt travel prices. hes not stupid!! but god the way hes like im gonna wish all the grocery staff happy new year as his excuse for searching for his charm... he knows. what he is doing. same with those travel prices its like. citron can be So Loud but hes also so careful to not say much. i want to pat him on the head. unrelated but i didnt realize azuma called citron his highness? i thought monarchy hater no. 1 citron would dislike that a little more. its also making me think if citron has mentioned hes like a prince / royalty...? since azuma calls him that. but ive got to think he hasn't. still more points to my runaway prince citron theory. omi helping him find the charm was so sweet though! its like. wow. nice. still the way citron literally Does Not Say Anything. crazy of him

citron: …it is a very special gift that I received from someone.

me: …guy?

and later w/ citron: never mind. but there is someone in my country who I would like to see again.

me: …guy?

oh but i'm not glossing over the fact that citron has three younger brothers who he's convinced don't want to see him again. runaway prince im telling u. also thats so sad wtf. the citron and omi cg was cute tho! i kind of liked how little this event did in terms of revealing too much like... citron lets a couple of details slip but doesn't really say much at all. which makes sense for his character i think!! man what a great event in terms of making me excited for act 2, though... i hope it comes up when guy shows up!! not to be like. i want to see citron cry. but i want him to get a little emotional yknow. reveal some of ur feelings i want u to be comforted.

i thought a lot of duos for the talent show ep were so cute! like hisoka and homare with homare being like. ill get u special marshmallows even, so do something with me. idk how to express it properly but i feel like in this event especially u can really feel how much joy homare gets by like. simply spending time with hisoka? made me remember their play event. and shakespeare?? In ENGLISH???? im obsessing over this. was it much ado about nothing? what play would be best for them… i haven't read enough shakespeare to make a definitive decision, unfortunately... my personal vote is for othello. homare knows shakespeare in english bc he’s a fan but hisoka… if he’s proficient in english. hm. hmm. more points to him being some kind of assassin/spy/foreign agent thing. like chikage was also overseas probably doing some assassin/spy business for a while, wasn’t he… im watching you.

also tasuku and tsumugi with their pantomiming and the way when itaru compliments him tasuku is IMMEDIATELY like "oh im nothing compared to tsumugi though" like wow. its kind of so nice hearing this out loud bc its like. oh right. this is what they were yelling at each other about in act 1. and then masumi and juza's bartending act. with the rainbow cocktail. masumi and juza, pointing at a3: I know what you are. packing peanuts was my guess for what was inside the box so im glad it was at least like a daruma doll lol. and juza got his sweets! the lil bonus with the ppl staying in the dorm to celebrate the new year was so cute too tho. like when misumi mentioned the triangular carrots.

tenma: d—did you say carrots? why did arisu have to leave me now…

me: tenma and homare friends??? homare eats tenma’s carrots (which he. doesnt like?) for him??? i need to see this. well i'm pretty confident they're gonna be the duo for vday magic so I'm quite excited, haha. oh also in the new years text chat!! is homares screen name alice? i think thats cute. anyways what a sweet event! it didnt leave me feeling anything toooo emotional but it made me REALLY excited for act 2 bc i feel like that's where the real payoff is gonna be yknow? so it was cool in a different way.

AAH HEY HEY HEY! HERE YOU ARE! I needed to be done with the event to properly tackle this ask, thank you for waiting.

First of, thank you for the good wishes <333 Happy New year to you too if we don't get around to say it on the day itself. And saying it because you went through the a3 event makes total sense ahaha

And it's such a good plan with timing! I'd be nice if you manage to reach act 2 by then, i think it's supposed to start late February in the timeline so, at this rhythm you can get in synch with the story as it goes! (and good plan for ODP since it IS set right after chap 5 originally).

ANYWAY WAHOO ALWAYS NICE READING YOUR THOUGHTs, LET'S GO!

And oh god yeah, i can totally picture your HC about Citron being a light sleeper. As for the charm oh man… oh man.

and oh my GOD. THAT'S SO CLEVER HOLY SHIT. i would never have figured it out meanwhile you kept track of all of this!! that's so impressive holy shit!!! your calculation is IMPRESSIVE HERE.

ALHDLKDFJFDLKFD Juza and Yuki, together in being so damn tired of their leader (affectionly but also derogatory)

AND HELPPP I FORGOT ABOUT THIS SCENE. Juza's conception of Banri is truly the funniest, i love that about those two. And the fact Banri can totally catch the bait is what's even funnier. And they were both idiots (and they were both idiots!)

ohmygod you're really set up to be a fellow acting addict now that your first thought was "annual performance review" this is so funny.

And you're totally right about Yuki i think. I don't recall them ever mentioning it directly, but considering how much he's fighting with Sakyo about budget and how often Yuki wins, considering Sakyo isn't exactly the kind to go KINDLY on something just because someone would insult him, it figures Yuki is arguing with proper arguments when it comes to budget. Like, both arguing why he needs expensive material (how it would reflect on the company and all) AND on how to manage the budget to justify it. as you said, Yuki sells clothes online so he's probably the best equiped about it. Which is really impressive, the 14yo is the one the most adjusted to discuss budget with the yakuza. Love that about him.

ohmygod right the street acts are always a nice way to show how they changed. And Azuma <3333 my mister problem. But yes totally agree about everything Citron there (that isn't confirming or unconfirming theory at least). he's very considerate and very smart, his only issue is the grasp on the language, but aside from that? he knows stuff. And sometimes when he acts stupid, that's exactly what it is. an act. He knows when to not say much. For Citron, he never mentioned anything about his past to anyone, but you might want to read the Citron&Muku crossbackstage from the "Others" tab. It's called "Sir Citron's Secret" and probably would give fuel to your theories. (while you're on that tab do look at the Homare&Sakyo one just because it's one of the funniest on the list). As it though, aside from whatever he tells Muku and how serious he is about it, he hasn't really come into details about it to anyone at all, aside from hating the monarchy. So Azuma calling him His Highness is indeed strange. I feel like Azuma definitely got Vibes from Citron (which is mhmmmm considering Azuma is a really good people reader), and it seems that Citron hasn't found in his heart a way to tell Azuma to knock it off. Or perhaps Citron is more annoyed at the idea of ACTING like Royalty (so, with the royal roles he gets), than he is being refered as such? all the more mhmmm things about his behavior for sure.

Omi is so so sweet and so nice yessss and Citron was so interesting this event. I love when the mask falls around Citron for a bit. He remains mysterious in his own way, but it's always fascinating to approach. God the charm. I have many thoughts about the charm. That i will not elaborate on. But so many thoughts.

And god yeah, the sibling situation. It's so sad. Regardless of the details it also does explain why he wants the Spring Troupe to be a family this much and why he ends up caring about his troupesmates so much. (and Muku, who's one of the charas outside of his troupe Citron has a lot of affection for. Re: their crossbackstage)

And yeah i agree, this event was really good for Citron's development without ruining the mystery for now. It's also really a good event to go back to when you do know, it's so fascinating. BUT HELP "I WANT TO SEE CITRON CRY" I SEE YOU. I hope act 2 lives up to your expectations <3

god you pointing out that Homare has so much joy being with Hisoka. Yes you're totally correct. Like, he may complains at time and Hisoka can be so rude but Homare enjoys spending time with him so much. I do love that he bribed him into it though. Homare, of course, is just like that, talking in English and in French and whatever. For Hisoka…. Yeah it sure is shady isn't it. Like wow okay mister amnesia how did you get that.

Tsumu and Tasu being on this vibe was so good. I love how it shows just how complicit they are. And Tasuku gets to be more and more communicative of his feelings. It is, after all, the thing he had to learn, since it's because he didn't know how to talk to his troupesmate, especially Tsumugi, that things went wrong, and he's been learning and it's sweet. THE RAINBOW OMMENT HELPPP.

BUT YESS The preparation for New Year are so sweet. And DLKFJDLKFJFD THE CARROTS. THAT DYNAMIC. But yeah it's pretty much this, Tenma doesn't like carrot, Homare wants him to eat carrots, but as long as Tenma doesn't want to Homare will eat them for him. It's adorable isn't it. AND THE NEW YEAR CHAT YESS IT'S SO SWEET. Homare's name is indeed Alice on here (since his last name is Arisugawa = Arisu, which is pronounced Alice. It's also sweet considering Hisoka always calls him "Arisu" only. also i think it's really cute like, the duo Alice In Wonderland and Sleeping Prince (canon nickname Homare use on Hisoka). They're adorable.)

BUT YEAHHH this event was great. A good lighthearted event for NY and just. so soft all around. I love those guys so much.

And indeed building up some act 2 things which are going to be fun to explore. Looking forward to see you experience it all, since you do have a keen eye at picking stuff up ;DDD

thank you once again for sharing all of this with me. It was a blast to read through and relive, and reminded me of quite a few things (esp since you're entering the territory of material-i-only-read-once, compared to almost everything before that i read a few dozen times ahah). So that's going to be a blast to relive for me as well ;D

thank you so much once again, and happy new year if we don't see each other again before the 1st ;D

Take care <33

[selamat-linting]

so, last time i left off on homestuck, i was introduced with the cherubs, and meenah peixes' bizarre (afterlife) adventure. as always, some thoughts :

-i kinda feel bad for dirk lol. out of all the group, he was the one caliborn felt is the most tolerable to talk to. and worst of all, he kinda let him play his shitty games. eugh, if that was me, i'd just scoff at caliborn's threats on killing his sister and accidentally kickstarted the apocalypse too early since my ignorance pissed him off. to be fair, the porn drawing game feels like a pretty lackcluster attempt at trolling. its so cute how dirk draw himself kissing his crush.

-poor calliope though. last time i saw her she's very much a ghost, maybe stuck around the furthest ring along with the other very dead ghosts, but is somehow able to subtly influence things like guide caliborn into doing his quest from the viewport, and allegedly maybe stop meenah and vriska from having their duel and waking up john. this is only a maybe though, im not very convinced at my perception of events here.

-speaking of calliope and caliborn, this is where things started getting meta right? homestuck has always have a bit of metafiction elements to it, and a lot of its themes seems to be deconstructing and examining popular culture. act 6 is where things started getting off the rails, i mean, where references to internet subcultures gets more blatant, more up to date with the current time it was made (direct meme references instead of making its own inner jokes derived from irl shit like sbahj), and started to put a mirror on homestuck since it has grown into a notorious major fandom now. it makes sense that hussie would start writing about homestuck instead writing about the internet in general. there is no way act 6 can be something else. and it has its negatives just as much as it has its positives

-first of all, meme references in media has always been hard to do right. remember that burger ad fiasco? some of the jokes on act 6 doesnt land as well as in act 5 and 4

-wait shit i went off the rails. i want to talk about caliope and caliborn first. caliope is a hypothetical fan of hs meanwhile caliborn is a hater right? he was also a representation of misogyny which fits with the times. a lot of cringe culture ppl in the 2010s, at least the loudest ones, tend to be misogynists. i've seen the case over and over again. people who said they hate the fandom when actually they just hate to see teen girls having fun. they also tend to be ableists esp their attitude around bullying and autistic ppl but hussie is also an ableist too, so even though he was the one being bullied by cringe culture people online and benefitted from autistic kids making fanworks, he made caliborn to be the guy with a learning disability. hilarious bitch ig.

-but other than that, caliope's insult to caliborn implies that the murder he did was detrimental to his growth as person. not just metaphorically, but literally. im not so up to date with cherub lore and alien biology, but killing your headmate before their natural death and integration Sounds Bad. and based on calliope's word alone, it might even make caliborn perpetually stunted in cherub equivalent of puberty forever, unable to reach maturity. poor dude. but, is actually a pretty good commentary on toxic masculinity preventing one's full growth as a person because he can't allow himself to gain emotional maturity and do so called female activities.

-okay, moving on from the cherubs. the dancestors. personally, i like their designs, i spesifically love meenah, porrim, and aranea. meenah is scratching the vriska itch but with a different flavor. and i guess kankri, despite his massive annoying factor was nice too. i know a kid who actually act like him. the kid in my town went drunk with his friends and when his friends started being sad about his ex, the kid called him a sexist pig. a few weeks later i got news that this same kid persistently try get girls into having sex with him. educating him was a bitch and a half yknow and im not even that sad the kid decides to withdraw from organizing for now. but it is a bit hopeful to see that a kid like kankri, in another timeline, if given the chance to grow up and learn would be a terrific leader. maybe a few years later the kid in my town would change too?

-but other than that its... man how do i say this. okay, its bad. a lot of the characters are just there just for the sake of having to be there. hussie, you dont have to complete all 12 of the dancestors its okay. youre just wasting more energy animating stuff that you obviously dislike by now. like idc what they says, but the 12 dancestors wasnt even a good mirror of tumblr subcultures. its just there as a one off gag instead of something they wants to delve into later on. the jokes wasnt even that funny like, i've spent two years on reddit making fun of softboy nice guys and gamer gurls the joke is old at this point. and hussie seems to delve deeper into being an ableist asshole the more people criticize them. its pathetic to make a strawman character of your haters and criticizers. honestly, caliborn would have been a better character if its just a stand in for toxic masculinity instead of a homestuck hater. the story is too bloated at this point. just give it a rest.

-also, act 6 weakness is that most of the story elements would fly over someone who never know the heydays of 2012-2015 tumblr. okay, this applies to homestuck as a whole honestly. like its about the internet and american 90s nostalgia. only a terminally online person would fully appreciate it. but dear god the mental illnes you'll get if youre one of lucky demographics to understand... hussie might have hit and miss on some things, but when they're right theyre right. i do think there are merits on making things that will never have mass appeal.

-okay, now thats out of my system im gonna say that from now on, im not gonna take homestuck as seriously as i did yesterday. i can see this is the point where things started to fall apart. bloated character sets, too many authorial self inserts, plot is becoming overly convoluted, the social commentary are becoming incoherent. hussie can make an entire page about dirk explaining the downfall of western civilization using historical materialism to jake but this will always be the webcomic where the 'scariest' troll is a rapper who made vodka pie, slept in a bed of honks, and taped wings on his godtier cosplay.

-okay this is getting too long. on to facking part 2 of my post!!!!