#it just doesn't feel Kirby like and yet he is one of the first ones

[pinkd3mon]

could you draw queer knuckle joe for the pride pfps? just the rainbow flag if you could ^^ no pressure!

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER HERE YOU GO

[ilylovelyz]

⍣ ೋ after the break up (prt 2)

˚ · . kenma kozume, iwaizumi hajime, tsukishima kei, ushijima wakatoshi & atsumu miya (prt 1.)

KENMA KOZUME — he feels really stupid. kenma does a lot after the breakup in order to distract himself. he buys more games, staying up until it's almost dawn. all of his attention goes into his video games and other devices that he completely stops taking care of himself subconsciously. it's only when he's lost almost 10 pounds is when he realizes how neglected he's become. it happened so fast it confuses him. why didn't you remind him to eat? or shower? oh.. right, it's because you broke up with him in the first place. still, he tries to forget. it's one night playing a game when he's dissociating randomly thinking about you does it all hit.

Super Mario Bro's plays in the background of his room. for once, his fingers are still but his eyes are locked on the pixilated screen in front of him. his eyes are red and dialted due to the bright screen contrasting to the dark dead of night. this game was very expensive, vintage and one of a kind—yet he's subconsciously stuck thinking about you.

did you know he thought about you so frequently? did you think the same of him? he drops the console, fishing his phone out from below him. his fingers tap on the keyboard, searching up your name into his contacts. he notices the last time you texted him was over a month ago. oh–, right. you broke up with him. right. kenma drops his phone back down, laying his face down into the same giant kirby plushie you bought him a long time ago.

a soft sniffle escapes through the thick material, mixing in with the almost taunting upbeat cartoon music.

IWAIZUMI HAJIME — your breakup was done on good terms. he was moving to the U.S., you were staying in Japan. neither of you knew the relationship wouldn't withstand such a long distance relationship so the relationship came to an end. the two of you still call and text over random things, but it's not like how things were before. time passes, and the two of you have less and less contact. iwaizumi is doing his weekly stalking of your Instagram when he realizes you've posted a photo of yourself.. but you aren't alone.

iwaizumi sighs with content when he's finally allowed to sit down, his legs sore from harsh muscle training. as always, he checks his phone. once he's finished going through his messages, ignoring almost everyone except his mom, he comes across your contact. the last you spoke with him was almost a year ago. he frowns, he wishes the two of you kept in contact, but you both were just so busy.

curiously, he indulges in his guilty pleasure and opens up instagram. as if on autopilot, he searches for your online handle. you both follow each other, but of course, never speak. he mindlessly scrolls through your highlights and posts, ending up on your most recent one. it's you. his heart flutters at the sight of you once more. even through a screen, you're still as beautiful as always. you're glowing and radiant as always.

his childish smile soon disappears when he realizes someone has their arm wrapped around you. a guy. a guy who is looking at you with the same loving look iwaizumi would give you long, long, ago. iwaizumi uninstalls the app shortly afterwards.

TSUKISHIMA KEI — he avoids you. he pretends you don't exist altogether. his heart cringes whenever he hears you around, regretting immensely when the two of you arranged your classes together in the previous year. it's childish. no, he's childish. especially because the breakup was more of his fault. still, he hides the fact that his heart is broken. he treats you like everybody else with such hate and bitterness, and only realizes how stupid he's being when it's too late.

"hey kei." you say, walking along aside the tall blonde. "do you want to work on the project together? sensei said that–," "i don't want to work with you." he says coldly. tsukishima doesn't even look to acknowledge you, staring straight forward as he walks. "o-oh, well i just y'know—" you stutter embarrassingly, "i just thought that because—" tsukishima finally stops in his tracks, swiftly turning to you, looking at you through clouded lenses.

"why do you keep on pestering me." his tone leaves you shocked. you can't even think of words to say, only able to let out incoherent stutters and mumbles. "all you do is stutter, it's annoying." tsukishima says nonchalantly, still looking at you with distain.

that seems to shut you up for now. tsukishima is relived when you do, if you talked to him anymore he probably would've accidentally spilled how he missed you. his relief is short lived when he sees the tears roll down your face and out of embarrassment, you quickly walk away from him. he's left standing still, gazing down at the floor. heart heavy and regretting.

USHIJIMA WAKATOSHI — he thinks he's alright but he doesn't realize he's distraught. he continues on with his life like normal, seemingly at peace and happy with whatever he's doing. but, he does have to admit, he's been feeling a bit more.. confused? more like agitated. outside of his calm demeanor to untrained eyes, he seems perfectly normal. but, to those who are close with them, they can see what's actually going on in that seemingly perfect head of his.

hazel eyes watch closely as you walk past. ushijima awaits for you to come up to him like normal, talk to him and pester him with a million questions once more. he hated when you pestered him, he wished you were more quiet and reserved... or did he? he's not sure. because now you are walking away from him, not saying a single word. hell, you barely acknowledge his presence. how do you not? he's everything you said catches your eye, tall and muscular build, with a handsome perfect face.

"y/l/n." he rumbles out. the boom of his voice finally catches your attention, finally spinning around to acknowledge him. you seem defensive, like a cornered cat, a single eyebrow quirking up at his call. "..ushijima-san?" his heart, for some reason, sinks into his gut with the formality use of his name. what happened to toshi? for once, his words are stuck in his throat and he struggles to come up with something to say.

seeing that he's yet to say anything, you hurry out of his presence, trying to be released from the gaze of the man you are forbidden to love. meanwhile, ushijima is realizing for the first time, that maybe he lost someone who he isn't fine with leaving.

MIYA ATSUMU — he's like a pitiful dog. he plays off the break up like it's nothing, even to your face, he just shrugged his shoulders and mumbled something under his breath and walked away. despite the two of you dating for a year, going through so many things together, hell, he even lost his virginity to you, but he still acts like it was nothing.. but everyone can tell it's not. much to his annoyance, even his twin brother tells him to take it easy following the break up. but he's fine. it was nothing. he definitely doesn't search for you in the crowd during his games, nor does he get the random pang of forgetfullness after school as if he should be waiting for you. he's fine.

a girl comes up to atsumu after his game, batting her long eyelashes and pouting her lips. "can i get your number?" she asks, making her voice as smooth as possible. atsumu blinks at her with a blank face before turning his back to her, ignoring her entirely. he ignores her whines and curses of embarrassment, his eyes scanning the emptying crowd.

"shes not here, 'tsumu." he hears a familiar voice say. atsumu snaps his head back to the direction of the voice, seeing osamu standing there with his hands in his pockets, eyes low and unamused. atsumu scoffs at his brother, "yah i know." the two of them wait in silence, but for what? what is he waiting for? suddenly, his ears perk up at a familar body frame, eyes darting to the source only to be severally disappointed with the sight of a person who looks like you, but isn't you.

"let's go home, 'tsumu." osamu says, walking past the blonde haired man. atsumu waits a couple more seconds, taking another quick scan of the crowd before he's hestiantly following his brother, shoulders low and eyes to the ground.

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[httpsserene-main]

‧͙⁺˚･༓☾　late night flying　☽༓･˚⁺‧͙

notifications ☽︎: feelings of inadequacy, stress, near death experiences, na'vi body descriptions, fem!na'vi!reader, sully's being teases

developer's notes ☽︎: hey i did say it would be out around this time :/ i'm doing my best. first work on tumblr since like 2016 be kind i'm supplying my thirst. i was just checking the word count to paste it here, and i genuinely thought lo'ak's was shorter than neteyam's, i was wrong 💀 prepare yourself, it's a novel lmao and yes this is a reminder that i consider these drabbles. also if you find yourself loving this work send me an ask for a request and i'd be thrilled to fulfill it!

much love, <3 kirby !!!

⋆☾ NETEYAM SULLY - 1.8k words

it’s difficult for neteyam to have the time and energy to be an impulsive and disobedient kid like his brother. he spends most of his time shadowing his parents learning how to lead or chasing after his younger siblings and making sure that in their shenanigans they don’t get hurt. so, most of the time he’s only disobedient when he’s making sure his siblings are safe, which is honorable and cute. neteyam is also disobedient when he finds himself wanting to spend more time with you.

the fifteen years neteyam has been living, he’s constantly had people tell him that he’s a perfect son. that he’s smart, compassionate, strong; that he's going to be a great warrior–and a great olo’eyktan. however, he hasn’t heard that he’s the perfect son from his parents, but he doesn't have to hear it to know that they’re thinking it. he sees in how they scold lo’ak after another stupid stunt he pulled, “why can’t you try to be more careful? or, better yet, less reckless?” his dad would ask. neteyam knows the only thing lo’ak heard is, “why can’t you be more like your brother?” and it’s starting to be the only thing neteyam hears too. when he was younger he probably wouldn’t care so much about the jealous and now defeated looks lo’ak throws his way, but recently, neteyam is feeling every molecule of pressure from the village, his siblings, and his parents to continue being perfect. it doesn’t help that lo’ak has seemed to become resigned in his role of irresponsible-impulsive-brother, too, it only magnifies the pressure on neteyam to be better.

spider, lo’ak, kiri (and even tuk!), tease him for being a “goody-two shoes,” an english phrase their father had taught them. and today neteyam has had enough of hearing it. he woke up early with his father to prepare their ikran for patrol, sparred with him for hours, had his bow and flight technique nitpicked by his mother, and now he has to supervise his siblings scaling the mountains to make sure they don’t die exploring without the permission of their parents. and when they all tease him for being a “goody-two shoes,” for not wanting to venture further, he snaps. neteyam hisses and stalks his way over to the edge of the mountain, “whatever. go ahead and get involved in some dangerously stupid situation that you can’t get yourself out of and when i’m not there to save you, like i always am, have fun calling mom and dad to save your ass! and i’ll make sure to be back to enjoy seeing your dumbassess getting yelled at for your lack of brain cells, as usual.”

he calls his ikran, initiates the bond, ignores the calls apologizing and telling him to stop, and takes off into the sky. neteyam flies for what feels like minutes to him–feels the wind cascade through his braids, the cool air rushing across his skin, the sun battling the breeze to warm him, the complete understanding between him and his ikran, not needing to a single word or thought to guide. as he’s gliding through a spattering of small mountains and makes out your form and ikran ground atop of one, his curiosity gets the best of him this time, and he lands next to you. 

you’re on the ground leaning against the body of your ikran, it’s wing shielding you from the strong rays of the sun, keeping you cool. the freckles on your smooth blue-toned skin are glowing a soft white under the shade of the wing, a false replication of night. your legs are comfortably stretched-out and crossed in front of you, along with your arms crossed over your chest, your head and back resting on the warm ikran. as neteyam walks closer he sees your chest rising and falling slowly, eyes gently shut, and a look of bliss on your face. he sighs, relieved, greets your ikran with a bow of his head, and gets a welcoming coo of acknowledgment and a head shake in return, jostling your body and causing you to rouse. 

a soft groan leaves your lips, ears and tail flicking in displeasure, before your eyes flutter open and drowsily make contact with his own. you blink a few times, making a small sound of confusion, “huh?”, and your hands come up to rub at your eyes, as if seeing him here is a figment of your imagination. neteyam smiles, a warm laugh escaping him, amused by how adorable you are, even though he disturbed you from your little nap. his amusement lets you know he is in fact real, his laugh awakens the butterflies in your stomach, and your tail hides in embarrassment at being caught hiding (by him, of all people) away from everyone else, as your cheeks darken into an indigo-tinted blush. 

you shyly make an effort at eye contact and fail as you try to explain your situation to him. “i was just–”, he waves off your voice and states with a small smirk, “no need to explain yourself, it’s not like you’re in trouble with me.” you shrug, muttering a few deprecating words to yourself and are about to stand, when neteyam sits next you. he pulls his knees to his chest, arms wrapped around himself, chin resting on his knees, sighing deeply, eyes fixed ahead on the skyscape, his strikingly handsome faced furrowed with anger? stress? hopelessness?

your eyes widen, shocked at how small he manages to look. it’s incredibly rare that he allows anybody to see him this vulnerable; he’s usually impeccably composed–attractively confident and sure of himself–but the idea that he’s allowing you to see him like this is a privilege you will not take advantage of. you scooch closer to him and place a gentle hand on his shoulder and softly ask, “are you feeling okay?” there’s silence for a while before his lips parted and shut, hesitating, before he shook his head, so faintly it was almost unnoticeable. you nodded, “ do you want to talk about it?” and received a verbal response this time, “no.” with a light rasp to his voice. with another nod, you delicately squeeze his shoulder and offer comfort, “then we will not talk about it. but, if you ever find yourself needing someone to talk to, you can always come to me. the circumstances do not matter. if you want advice, i’ll do my best to advise. if you want me to simply listen, my ears will be open. if you want to sit in silence, ill sit silently with you so you are not alone.”

neteyam turns to you in disbelief at the sincerity within your words, and surprises himself with how close you are, faces only inches apart. your eyes widen and you lean back a little bit, hand slipping off his shoulder, but the earnest look in your gaze remains, trying to gauge his response to your pledge. neteyam shakes his head at you, a happy scoff escapes his lips, and he calls you stupid for resigning yourself to a one-sided promise. you put your hands on your hips and tilt your head at him, not falling for the insult. “all that matters to me is that you have someone to speak your true feelings to and not allow them to eat at you from the inside out.” neteyam observes the seriousness in your eyes, the way your ears are turned towards him, the way tension coils in your tail, the way your eyes shift from his to the ground as if you’re just now considering the possibility that he may reject your offer.

neteyam stands, and nods affirmatively, tail flicking, “okay. i do not wish to talk about it. but now as my newly designated comfort person, you have to fly with me.” he offers you his hand, and gently raises you to your feet. you giggle at him, head tilted up to meet his eyes, “there has to be a better title besides ‘comfort person’ but i’ll take it! uh…are you going to let go of my hand so we can get flying?” neteyam drops your hand, and scratches at his head, now it’s his turn for his cheeks to turn indigo. you mount your ikran, and call down to him with a smirk on your face, “trying to race?” neteyam laughs at you, goading, “when i win, don’t hurt yourself trying to eat my dust!” you kick-off getting a head start, and neteyam is quick to mount his ikran and follow you into the sky.

the challenge you had set began with adrenaline-pumped blood, heavy breathing, sharp turns, dives and peaks, free-falling, frivolous chasing after one other, the lead switching between the two of you often, screams of glee and awe when one of you pulled off an unreal maneuver–and turned into cruising instead of racing. eclipse had long since passed, somehow going unnoticed by you and surprisingly, neteyam. your gliding had turned into intertwining flight paths–swirling, flipping, mixing, turning, all synchronized as if it were a dance you two had practiced many times before. neteyam finds himself distracted from guiding his ikran, as his whole thought process becomes consumed with the image of you.

the bioluminescent freckles twinkling on your face in an unknown pattern, and he wonders if his match yours. the way you let your eyes drift shut, how your head is tilted back, how your arms raise and spread into the air as your ikran coasts through a flip in the air. a soft smile remains constant on your lips as you fly, and grows larger when you open your eyes again and turn to him. you pick up speed to overtake him, and set the path through a few cliff sides, while neteyam raises his hand to his face and realizes that he’s been grinning like a madman the whole time he’s been with you. when you two escape the maze of terrain, he coasts right next to you and sees the moonlight hit your lithe body at the perfect angle and allows himself to accept the fact that he’s falling in love with you. and then his heart drops into his stomach, his ikran shrieks and comes to a sudden stop, wings flapping frantically to remain in the same space– sending you and your ikran into a panic, as you quickly turn back to him, and worriedly question him, scared at the paled look on his face.

neteyam buries his face into his hands and silences your bewilderment by pulling a hand from his face and pointing into the sky, finally bringing your awareness to you guys messing around way past eclipse. you eyes widen and your mouth drops open, a groan of despair escaping you, and you look at neteyam, and both of you say,

“we’re so dead.”

and as you two start to race home, debating whether or not to lie about how you guys ended up losing track of time this badly, neteyam can’t help but think that any punishment he receives from his mom and dad wouldn’t matter, in light of the discovery he made today. the fact that he’s falling in love with you, and the fact that he doesn’t want to do anything to stop it.

⋆☾ LO'AK SULLY - 2k words

lo’ak’s just finished being scolded by not only his mother and his father, but also his grandmother after his latest stunt of nearly killing his younger sister, tuk, unintentionally of course. how was he supposed to know that she was going to sneeze and fall off the vines connecting the mountains plummeting to the ground only to be saved by neteyam on his ikran…again. in his anger of being banned from patrolling and flying for two weeks he sulks into the jungle and comes across you.

lo’ak retreats into the jungle after being dismissed by his father, angered and simultaneously exhausted. it’s like his parents think that he purposely tried to kill his little sister–why would he want that?? and at the bare minimum, why don’t they scold tuk for tagging along and blackmailing him all the time? “if you don’t take me, i’m going to tell” she’d singsong at him. even though he’s breaking rules anyway, they should at least tell tuk not to partake in it with him. 

he wasn’t even planning on getting in trouble today! tomorrow,he was supposed to join his parents and neteyam on checking the borders of their land, and he just wanted to share the news with his ikran. so when tuk wanted to come along to see the ikrans, he thought nothing could possibly go wrong, they’re all grouped next to their main dwelling in the mountains. he helped tuk climb to the top, and they both greeted the flock and made their way to his mount. he bring his hand to his forehead and gestures towards the animal, and tuk does the same. the ikran leans towards tuk and snorts at her gently blowing stray grass on to her face. she shrieks and giggles freely–happily, and lo’ak gently laughs at them as he bring his hand to pet the playful animal.

tuk mimics her older brother and gently pats the ikran on the snout a few times before she becomes distracted at the others milling around uninterestedly. she goes off to examine a few juvenile ikrans and lo’ak prods her, “hey! make sure to stay where i can see and hear you!” tuk nods vigorously and begins to play with the babies. lo’ak watches over her quietly for a few minutes, trying to determine whether or not any of the birds are going to try and swallow her whole, and nods acceptingly after witnessing the mature ikrans grumble and waddle away from her instead of attacking her. 

with his sister’s safety secured he turns around to face his ikran (his ears still pinned in her direction) and forms the tsaheylu with his ride–amber pupils blown wide as the bond is initiated. lo’ak loses himself in his thoughts, illustrating them for the animal, and is only shaken from it when he hears his sister sneeze, which is quickly followed by a bone-chilling shriek. his body snaps around so quickly that his braid rips from the bond, and he see his little sister fall in what seems like slow-motion. lo’ak screams her name as she falls over the edge, and instinctively reconnects with his ikran and flies over the edge to try and catch her. he’s diving straight down, gaining on her but not quickly enough for the panic and fear to subside in his chest. he’s reaching out– his hand a few feet apart from tuk’s, and he misses the first grab, the second grab, and then her body is snatched out freefall and into neteyam’s arms. 

lo’ak levels out and speeds towards them, tuk clinging onto their brother–head buried into his chest, sobs wracking her tiny form. neteyam’s hand cradles her head, and he turns to lo’ak ready to yell at him, but the expression on his younger brother’s face stops him. there’s fear in his eyes, tears running down his cheeks and he keeps trying to wipe them away but he can’t seem to stop himself from crying. neteyam smoothly guides his ikran right next to lo’ak and gently detaches tuk from his body and into his brother’s who hesitantly accepts her onto his saddle. she clings on to him crying erratically, broken “sorry’s” falling from her mouth in between sobs, and even as lo’ak comforts her pulling her close and rubbing his hand down her back in a soothing manner, the look in his eyes betrays him; that’s he's feels undeserving of her apologies. neteyam gently rubs lo’ak on the back, and does nothing besides giving him an understanding nod, and coasts in front of him to lead them home. 

“my parents only heard the fact that tuk fell, and not the fact that i feel like shit for letting that happen to her!! it’s like they genuinely think that im putting her in dangerous situations on purpose! like i find some sort of satisfaction in it! i’m not a psychopath, i’m her brother! i care about her safety more than my own! i’d literally die for tuk!” he rants to you. he stumbled across you sitting on a river bank sharpening your knife, and as soon as you saw him you cringed at his expression and asked a simple, “you going to tell me what happened this time?” and now hear you are, listening to lo’ak repeat the same argument against his parents’ for what had to be hours. you glance at the sky and see the sun beginning to bridge the horizon, eclipse will fall upon you two soon. 

for the first time you interrupt and ask, “did you tell your parents that?” lo’ak throws his hands up in the air and begins pacing back and forth exasperatedly claiming, “i tried!! multiple times! and they just spoke over me–they didn’t want to hear it! even neteyam came to my defense trying to explain for me, and they dismissed his words too!!” your eyes widened as you said perplexed, “they ignored what neteyam had to say?” lo’ak screamed, “yes!” in complete disbelief. 

“and now you’re banned from flying,” you clarify.

“yes!”

“and patrolling.”

“yes!!”

you nodded at him, “well it could be a lot worse—”

“what??! what do you mean a lot worse?! this is terrible!” he cried out.

“they could’ve banned you from flying forever,” you smirked at him.

he sighs, a petty little “not funny” escaping from him, and you laugh, letting him know that you thought your joke was funny enough. you watch him continue to pace, his body language still unsettled (you just can’t determine if it’s from his punishment, or not being enough to save his sister), his fingers rake through his braids tugging and pulling at his scalp frustratedly, and you’ve had enough when you see the deep blue skin on his hands start to lighten with the force and grasp he has on his hair. you intercept his path, place an unyielding hand on his chest holding him in place, and with a firm look on your face you demand, “stop tugging at your hair like that. you’ve spent so much time growing these pretty braids it would be a shame to see you rip them out of your own skull.”

lo’ak freezes, eyes wide and locked onto yours, as he releases his braids and his arms fall limp at his sides. he’s not sure if he stopped because he was listening to your instructions, or if because he short-circuited when you called him pretty (okay, you called his braids pretty–it’s a miniscule difference). you state confidently, “if you are not allowed to fly for the next two weeks, that does not mean that i am not allowed fly. which means that you are allowed to fly with me.” lo’ak balks at your bold statement, “uh…” hesitantly calling out to you as you step away from him (your hand just now falling from his chest, yes he noticed) and summon your ikran. he goes, “uhhhh, no! nope! i do not think that is what that means at all!” you climb onto your saddle, and plead, “lo’ak, please let me try to make you feel better. they won’t be wondering where you are until eclipse, and we only have a couple hours left before we lose daylight. fly with me one last time until you really can’t?”

he shifts his weight, battling with himself before he sighs and allows you to help him onto the back of the saddle, “alright, but only until eclipse, okay?” you cheer, and commence a quick take off, causing lo’ak to shout and hurriedly wrap his arms around your waist, and how is this the first time he’s noticed how small you are compared to him. you continue to direct your ikran upwards and into the clouds bringing him further away from his troubles on the ground.

your waist is enveloped completely by just one of his arms, and in order to make the ride more comfortable he pulls his hands backwards and just grasps carefully at the sides of your waist instead, his fingers almost close enough to touch across your stomach. it seems you’ve just become aware of the situation and he feels your breath catch, and stomach tense, but you say nothing, content to avoid addressing it and let him handle it. he sees the deeper shade to your cheeks and smiles boyishly and he knows that you know that he’s cheesing at you, but you refuse to acknowledge his amusement, keeping your eyes fixed forward but the blush becomes noticeable on your ears, and begins to spread to your chest, and he can’t stop himself from audibly laughing. in retaliation, you command your ikran into a sharp flip, and lo’ak’s gasp interrupts his laughter, and he tightens his grasp on your waist to stop himself from sliding.

when you level out it appears that night has finally overtaken day, but the both of you are too busy squealing internally at the fact that his agile, strong, trained, veiny hands are gripping your waist. the bioluminesce begins to sparkle over your body, and he merely leans back to get a better look at you. you turn to look at him and see a soft smile on his face, his eyes overflowing with feelings he has yet to speak with you about; and nevertheless, you understand completely, and you’re sure it’s reflected at him in your own gaze. you shyly face frontwards again, recognizing that you embarrassed yourself enough around him today with bold words and touches, but lo’ak does not let you hide for long. he scoots forward completely, no longer worried about maintaining the space between you. his chest envelopes your back and he leans forward to gently place a fleeting kiss on your cheek, your breath catches again. instead of teasing you as before, he pulls back–dropping one hand to the body of your ikran and allows the other to wrap across you more firmly, his hand pressing against your abdomen encouraging you to rest against him, and you breathe deeply, allowing yourself to be embraced. his chin goes to rest on your head, and you allow your ikran to guide you home, fully at ease in lo’ak’s arms. 

lo’ak gently offers, “let’s spend a little more time out here. just you and me, together.” you begin to half-heartedly reject, reminding him of the circumstances of his punishment and curfew. he waves you off, “it does not matter, you said it yourself. they can’t ban me from flying forever, what’s another week of grounding to the two i have already?” you twist to make sure of his decision, before nodding and turning around again, settling yourself even deeper and more comfortably in his hold.

you suggest to your ikran to take the longest path home.

© killakirby - piracy and plagiarism are not allowed. no reposts on any form of media.

[channel-eclair]

Who is the Luigi archetype of every major Nintendo series? - An Essay

I love Luigi, I love Nintendo, and for some reason I want to go on a mental quest to determine who the "Luigi" of every Nintendo series is.

What does it mean to be a "Luigi"?

Usually the second most important character in a series, but can often be less important. Also works well if they're a player 2 character

Parallels or connects to the main protagonist in a few ways shapes and forms

Could be green. Not necessary but it is bonus points if they are green.

And without further ado, let's begin!

The Kirby Series

This is one that is very debatable. Many might say Bandana Dee, which makes a lot of sense! Often player 2, looks similar to Kirby, not as important as the main protagonist and antagonists..

But honestly? I am kind of leaning towards King Dedede.

When you think of Kirby, the second character most people think of behind Kirby is Dedede. He is like Kirby's shadow, Kirby's parallel.. but he is NOT a villain in modern day Kirby. Dedede is not the Bowser of the Kirby series.

King Dedede being royalty could also have him be compared to Peach.. but Dedede's immense amount of playable roles make him feel more in line with Luigi to me.

I think Dedede is the second most important Kirby character; and with his parallels to Kirby's moveset, I honestly will crown King Dedede as the "Luigi" of the Kirby series

Plus, the best Smash game already knows whats up!

Pokemon Series

It's Eevee. 100%. It's Eevee.

Pikachu is the "Mario" of the Pokemon series, the beloved mascot.

Eevee is the parallel of Pikachu, beloved and different but always second behind Pikachu. The two mirror each other excellently, and Eevee really just feels like the perfect Pokemon to call "the Luigi" of Pokemon.

I will say, Mimikyu fits nicely as a ghostly doppelganger (and I think Luigi would totally have one on his team), but purely from a brand and gameplay standpoint, it is Eevee.

Animal Crossing

This is a bit of an odd one, but I'm going to give it to Isabelle.

In many forms of promotional material, the face of Animal Crossing flipflops between Villager and Isabelle. I geniunely think Isabelle is more iconic and known at this point, as Villagers are so customizable yet the right amount of plain that they're often not seen as a character (unlike say, Inklings, who are super customizable but have such unique designs they stand out a lot)

However, Villagers ARE the player character. Not to mention Isabelle is only in two of the five Animal Crossing games! I would say that despite her popularity, she is only the second most important character of Animal Crossing.

Also she wears green. Luigi!

Splatoon

And now after mentioning Inklings, here we are at Splatoon!

If Inklings are the Mario of the series, I'd say Octolings are the Luigi, I guess? They aren't enemies anymore so Octolings aren't really a Wario (even if DJ Octavio's the Bowser of the series more or less)

However I want so badly to point out that the Squid Sisters are basically a parallel of the Mario Bros. Callie is "Mario" and Marie is "Luigi". This doesn't make sense with the pattern I've established but I wanna throw Marie into consideration here too, as the possible Luigi of this series.

And if the "Mario" of the series is Callie... maybe Inklings are, uh.. the "Yoshi" of the series, since they're a species? Hmmm..

Fire Emblem

So FE is an interesting one because it has SO many different casts. And honestly; there's not really a definitive "main cast". Like Marth is the face of the series, but his OWN game is not that popular compared to other and greater entries. Fire Emblem is a lot like Pokemon where every game is a new cast, but Fire Emblem's first cast doesn't hold onto the series as much as Gen 1 of Pokemon does (except Marth)

For Marth alone, I'd say Merric is the Luigi. He's green, Marth is the Mario, Caeda is the Luigi.

For the Binding Blade and Roy, I'd say Wolt is the Luigi. He's green, Roy is the Mario, and Lilina is the Peach. This one is also kinda funny considering how forgotten Wolt is in this trio, compared to the other two.

For Awakening, I'd actually argue Robin as the Luigi, as Chrom and Lucina really take over as protagonists. Also I just kinda feel like Robin and Luigi have a lot in common. They were both vessels to become final bosses with Grima and Dimentio, they both use electricity, they both kinda sleep a lot with Dream Team, idk! I think they'd be friends

For Three Houses... Claude, maybe? Amidst all the main intensity in 3H, Claude kinda sits back and goes his own path. He's not as beloved as Edelgard or Dimitri but has his fanbase, and if Edelgard and Dimitri are the "Mario, Peach, or someone else" then Claude really just feels like a Luigi to me.

Also worth mentioning is the "Christmas Cavaliers", the pair of red and green knights in almost every Fire Emblem game. I like to joke and call them the Mario & Luigi knights, but they're just not important enough characters to be "Mario" and "Luigi".

Pikmin

Thanks for making this one easy Pikmin, it's Louie

(To properly explain to non Pikmin fans reading this: Olimar and Louie are somewhat named after Mario and Luigi, with Louie being the second playable character in the series!)

The Legend of Zelda

So.. I saved the series thats always by the Mario series side for last. I wanted to do it first, but I saved it for last because honestly??? This one is a doozy

Link is "Mario", Zelda is "Peach", Ganondorf is "Bowser". It is set in stone and easy, that part I got.

But... that's the trio. That's the main part. That's it.

Who, uh, who's Luigi..?

I initially thought Midna or Fi or Navi.. but wouldn't those companion characters be more akin to Cappy and FLUDD and the Luma in Mario's hat?

Beedle comes to mind cause he always shows up, but I dunno- he's just a shopkeeper? Maybe he's a candidate? But that just doesn't sound... right.

Dark Link is "Wario", alter egos. Tingle is "Waluigi", both joke characters more or less.

If I used the logic for Callie and Marie from earlier, then it'd just be Ingo from Ocarina of Time who's blatantly based off of Luigi.. but the issue is, saying Marie is "Luigi" works because its debatable if Inklings are the "Mario" of their series. Here, Link is 100% the "Mario" of the series, meaning that it wouldn't make sense to say Mario is Talon and Luigi is Ingo because then who would Link be????

But.. who is "Luigi".... where is the "Luigi" of Hyrule..?

I looked up anything I could about "who is the Luigi of Zelda" but alas, literally nobody has asked this question nor do they want an answer and so I was left with nothing but more questions.

I honestly consider maybe even like... a different colored Link, like in Four Swords and Triforce Heroes?

WAIT. THATS IT

ITS YOU!!!!!

Allow me to explain: Link is green. Mario is red. Link is the "Mario" of his series. In Four Swords/Triforce Heroes, you have other colors of Link as other players (red, blue, and purple. at least purples in four swords)

But Link is already green.. so what if you put Mario's color ON Link?

Then there we go. Red Link is Luigi by way of parallels.

So there we go: Link is Mario, Zelda is Peach, Ganondorf is Bowser, Dark Link is Wario, Tingle is Waluigi, Midna/Fi is Cappy/FLUDD, we could keep going on like saying Daisy is Hilda since Hilda is a parallel Zelda!

......

....Wait. WAIT. WAIT. WAIT. WAIT. WAIT. WAIT A MINUTE.

THINKING THIS OUT IN MY HEAD I DIDNT REALIZE THIS UNTIL I TRIED TO THINK OF DAISY AND REMEMBERED HILDA

YOU!!!!!!!!!!!

HOW DID I FORGET MY FAVORITE ZELDA CHARACTER (next to fi and mipha)

OH MY GOODNESS

RAVIO IS THE "LUIGI"

THERE WAS NEVER A LUIGI IN HYRULE. HE WAS IN LORULE THE WHOLE TIME. RAVIO IS THE LUIGI OF THE ZELDA SERIES

And yes, I know that Ravio is near identical to Nabbit (even Miyamoto himself commenting on this!) However, I feel like Nabbit still lacks a solid role and story in the Mario series that could really tie him down. On the flipside, Hilda is basically the Daisy of TLOZ due to paralleling the main princess. I feel like the connection of Ravio and Hilda connecting back to Luigi and Daisy gives Luigi enough of a connection to Ravio. If Nabbit is the "Ravio", then who is Daisy's Zelda equivalent?

...I have no idea what I'm saying.

ANYWAYS by all means if Nabbit takes Ravio, I resort back to Red Link as the Luigi archetype.. but for the sake of making it simple, both Ravio and Red Link will be marked down as Luigi archetypes.

...

And there it is. For all 9 of Nintendo's main series (according to My Nintendo's store pages and various Nintendo advertising), there is the Luigi archetype. Luigi lives on in every bit of the wonderful world of Nintendo.

Maybe the real Luigi was the friends we made along the way. Thank you for reading.

---

Final "Luigi Archetype" Summary

-Ravio / Red Link (Zelda), Isabelle (Animal Crossing), Octoling / Marie (Splatoon), Eevee (Pokemon), King Dedede (Kirby), Merric / Wolt / Robin / Claude (Fire Emblem), Louie (Pikmin)

[poppetsisters]

Now that my rage over the Doomcasting has simmered down, I just wanna gush over the Fantastic Four comi con stuff.

I'm not joking, when I heard that Michael Giacchino was doing the score, I SCREAMED. Not only is he famous for scoring The Incredibles, but he also did Speed Racer from 2008 which, if you haven't heard that score, it is one of the best scores for any film I've seen.

The period accurate footage is such a treat. I figured Matt Shakman's work on Wandavision was going to be indicative of what the Fantastic Four was gonna look like and yet it looks even better. I was nervous that Shakman's lack of feature film experience was gonna be a detriment, but his decades of work on TV gives him amazing instincts for character dynamics, which is one of the most important assets when making a Fantastic Four movie.

A lot of what we saw is pre-vis and may not actually be in the movie, but the retro-future vibe of the movie is perfect. The fact that MCU Fantastic Four is taking place in its own separate pocket away from all the bullshit really helps me feel excited for this movie. For once, the disconnectedness is something I'm EXCITED about, go figure.

Again, because it's pre-vis, not a whole lot of glimpses at The Thing's rocky form, in fact none of the powers were shown off for understandable reasons. I have no worries that The Thing is going to look good. As bad as Fant4stic was, The Thing looked pretty good in that film. Korg also never looked outright bad to me either, and they're probably gonna put more effort into how he looks anyway. Sue's powers are probably gonna be represented well seeing as invisibility is a really easy power to do VFX for. Fire graphics have come a long way as well, and that concept art makes me thing they may take a very stylised approach to his flame effects. Reed however is the one I'm really worried about. The only time stretch powers looked good was The Incredibles 1 and 2, but those were both stylised 3D animated filma. Live action has a much higher bar to clear with a heavy risk of uncanny valley Pedro Pascal. If you can make that man look bad, then you know you fucked up.

The Fantasticar is nice. We had the Dodge in Rise of Silver Surfer and the Bathtub in Deadpool and Wolverine, and though I like the Silver Surfer one (despite the shameless product placement) I get that they wanted a car that looked like a mid-century man's idea of what a flying car looks like. The only think is that I wish it could split apart into four sections, it doesn't look like it can do that. Oh well.

The spacesuits look good, the colours are exactly what I imagined they'd be on the concept art, but I'm waiting for the proper super suits to be shown off. Hopefully they have less interlocking parts and resemble the slightly thick and comfy spandex we saw in the concept art.

It looks like Pedro is keeping the moustache, which normally I'm not a fan of Reed with facial hair, but I also think it gives Reed a sorta Howard Hughes look that helps him blend in with the aesthetics of the world. The grey around the temples is good though, and it seems like he's also doing a transatlantic accent which frankly is very surprising.

I thought that Ebon wasn't doing an accent until I rewatched him during an interview. He appears to be toning down his natural tendency to draw out his A's and E's. It was only two lines of dialogue so I don't know, but what is very apparent is that he's not going for the outrageous brooklyn accent The Thing is legendary for in the comics, but something a little more subtle and believable.

Vanessa Kirby and Joseph Quinn are both different flavors of British, and though Joseph only says one word, it's pretty clear both are foregoing their natural accents. That said, Vanessa's choice of, what I can only guess is a slight mid-western accent, is very interesting. I was not expecting that choice.

They added a subtitle to the movie. Fantastic 4: First Steps. I think they didn't need to add a subtitle, but since they did. I'll just give it a cursory analysis. I think you can derive FOUR meanings from the title: First Steps calls to mind humanity's first steps on the Moon, fitting for a space age tale. First Steps also feels like a good title for their first adventure. First Steps works metatextually as their first steps into the MCU (which isn't technically true with those two cameos in MoM and D&W), but the most important theory I have for First Steps is in relation to a baby's first steps. I think that Franklin is going to be in this movie as a major plot point. Serving what purpose, I'm not sure.

To finish things off, we only get a look at Galactus through a window, so not much I can comment on in terms of appearance, but I'm very happy that it's an actual dude and not shadows within a cosmic cloud. He looks very imposing and I hope we get more perspective shots like that to sell how big this guy is.

[starstruck-cupid]

The Sweater

Part two of my Charlie fic. Currently unnamed

(part one)

A/N: this has not proofread but was edited by a grammar bot. I'm trying my best to keep everything consistent and not giving to many specifics about the reader. I'm experimenting with formating. If anyone has advice or constructive criticism, please share.

(edit: name change. Formerly unnamed)

TW: mentions of stalking (?), Spoilers for the movie Psycho, I think that's it

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

I can feel the warmth of the early morning sun. I sit up, rubbing the sleepiness out of my eyes. I slept hard. Looking at the clock, it was only 8:30 a.m. I slowly drag myself out of bed, walking to my bathroom. 

It's cold.  The window is open. Did I leave that open? I could have sworn I closed it. It's not uncommon for me to. You'd think I'd be more weary considering I live in Woodsboro. The crime rate here is surprisingly low, if you ignore the Ghostface incidents. 

I began to analyze myself in the large mirror. I was still in the oversized sweater. My hair is messy, and there's an evident dusting of darkness under my eyes. 

I leaned towards the window and pulled the curtains to the side. Charlie is at his window. He's sitting at the desk in front of the window. He's staring at me. I climb into the bench of the window and wave. He doesn't wave back. Instead, he pulls his phone out.

I hear my phone ping, reminding me of the unread texts from last night. Sliding off the bench and walking into my room, I grab my phone off the nightstand. Two texts from Charlie, and two from an unknown contact.

Opening Charlie's texts, they read

3:00 am Can we talk?

9:00 am Can I come over?

Despite being embarrassed at the reminder of last night's events, I quickly texted back. Charlie should know that he's always welcome. 

Throwing my phone on the bed, I search for bottoms. Grabbing and slipping on a random pair of pajama bottoms, I hear the bathroom window being slid up. It's been squeaky for a week now. It served as a nice warning that Charlie had entered. 

As he walks into my room, I move towards the stack of DVDs. 

"What do you want to watch?" I asked Charlie, looking over just in time to see him flop down on my bed, face first, making my phone jump into the air. No answer. Deciding to throw on a classic, I slide a stolen copy of Psycho into the DVD player.

I shuffled over to the bed, sitting next to his head. I softly ran my hands through his hair.

"What's wrong, sweet boy?" I asked in a gentle manner. I wasn't expecting a full, in depth explanation. In fact, I wasn't sure I'd get an answer at all.

"Kirby" was all he said. That's all I needed to know. I continue to silently massage his scalp. In this case, it was best not to say anything. Charlie has had a crush on Kirby for longer than I've known him. Kirby was nice, maybe a little reckless. She was beautiful. I could absolutely understand why he liked her. Still, it hurts. I don't know why it hurts, but it does.

Charlie flipped around to lie on his back. Looking up at me with his light, tired, puppy dog eyes. Charlie is easy to read. You can see his emotions through his eyes. 

Except in this case. The emotion in his eyes is unrecognizable. I've never seen this emotion flash through his eyes. 

As if he noticed me analyzing his eyes, he quickly looked away. He lays his cheek against my thigh and pulls at my sweater.

"I like when you wear this," he said, softly, yet bluntly. 

My face got warm. Quickly, I turned my head to the tv. Watching as Norman stabs Marion while she's showering. Still focused on his comment, I almost don't hear how Charlie mumbles something about how I'm wrong in thinking that Psycho was the first slasher.

Charlie and I are always debating about movies. One of the most common debates is whether Psycho or Peeping Tom was the first slasher. I know he's right. He always is. I can't let him win, though.

Letting out a small giggle, I started flattening out the hair that I had fluffed up. I felt him smile against my thigh. Leaning back against the wall, I looked at my phone. 

The unknown texts.

I forgot about those.

Grabbing my phone, I open the texts. There was no contact name.

3:30 am You really shouldn't leave your windows open. Can't put a girl with such good movie taste in danger.

3:30 am VIDEO MESSAGE

That doesn't make any sense. I open the video

It's me.  It's a video of me in bed, in just my sweater and underwear.

"What the fuck?"

[doctorstrangereview]

Strange Tales #126

Cover Date: November 1964 On-Sale Date: August 11, 1964

It all changes here! In celebration, Doc reclaims some cover real estate and the blurb even depicts a scene from the story. What changes? Doc meets Dormammu! Up until this moment, Dormammu has simply been one of the funky names Doc calls on to put the whammy on his foes. Also, until now, most of his foes haven't been all that impressive on power level with Nightmare and Loki being the possible exceptions. And Doc doesn't call on either to power up. Dormammu is on whole other level.

Our story continues immediately after Doc's battle with Baron Mordo last issue. We see his astral body returning to his physical body. Now, Mordo's body should be in the house as well, but that never gets addressed. He must have gotten out somehow; we definitely haven't seen the last of him. No sooner than getting up from his comfy, funky chair (sadly, not the one with the dragon head), he's in the grip of a powerful spell, without his consent, that manifests itself as a floppy white and yellow bullseye. There's a nice touch from Ditko. Doc goes in the top of the bullseye and at the spell's terminus, The Ancient One's pad, he comes out the bottom. It even has a funky curl, like it's squeezing him out.

The Ancient One is dressed today in a fine frock. The original coloring is red, but the Masterworks recoloring makes it a vivid fuchsia. Once again I prefer the recoloring. Today's crown has less ostentatious horns that the last story but the detail is more intricate. The Ancient One makes a ghost thing visible to Doc just as it leaves. Doc prepares himself to jump to the old guy's defense, but he's like "Don't worry about it, he's just a messenger of the Dread Dormammu. Oh, by the way, Dormammu is gonna invade our dimension and take over. I just got back from being Mordo's captive and haven't had my old man nap yet. Can you deal with this?"

"Sure thing, daddio! Send me!" And Doc disappears into some whirling and hairy dots. Perhaps this is Ditko's answer to Kirby Crackle. The next thing Doc knows he's somewhere else, floating through a ring of smoke and heading toward a nasty beastie indeed. The smoke ring is a nice call back to the splash page!

The as-yet-unnamed nasty beasty is the G'uranthic Guardian who will show up here and again. I don't know if this is actually a living being or some magical construct that guard's Dormammu's "palace." Doc approaches the nasty beastie who looks down on him and shoots out some light that probes his brain, without his consent. It's a test of some kind that Doc passes and the cool six-sided doors open for him. He steps through, and we get get our first look at how bat-crap crazy Ditko makes this very brightly lit "dark" dimension.

That's right, the other side of this door is floating in nothing and Doc is walking along a floating ribbon all curled up. Nightmare's realm was weird, but this is drug-trippy crazy! What was Ditko on? This imagery continues throughout the story, so get yourself a copy if you want to see it all.

Next, we get our first glimpse of Dormammu. He doesn't quite look like his popular image yet. For one, he's wearing a two-tone green thing with funky shoulder accoutrements and not the purple we're used to seeing him in. His head isn't surrounded by flames, but smoke and his head is blue, instead of red. He only has a hint of eyes. He's also sitting in a funky throne. We will later learn this is the Azure Throne and it is almost never depicted as blue.

Dormammu is like "WTF? Who the hell is this? Where's The Ancient One?" One of the sychophants surrounding Dormammu isn't toadying up enough and dares to question Dormammu's ability to instantly wipe out the mortal and he instantly imprisons them until he doesn't feel like it anymore.

Meanwhile, Doc is facing a series of challenges as he moves toward the big bad. His first challenge is a little yellow creature who feeds on spells. Doc figures this out quickly and feeds him until he pops like a balloon. This is being watched by a certain silver-haired lady. Yes! We are finally introduced to the as-yet-unnamed Clea. At first he thinks this is The Ancient One returning, but realizes it can't be "for he is young -- and fair to behold!" While Clea's libido gets fired up, Doc is drawn into some object that looks like a flying magic carpet. "Oh well," thinks Clea, "better luck next time."

Doc defeats a bunch more of Dormammu's minion who appear before him. Dormie's not happy. He banishes them to limbo.

Dormammu is like "Enough of this! If you need something done, you just gotta do it yourself. Bring it on, earther!" Clea senses things are coming to a head and decides to shout about it.

The entrance Dormie conjures for Doc is just bizarre. It's like a big sheet of paper with a mini, desaturated bifrost coming out of it. Clea attempts to warn him off, but Doc proceeds to the ominous assignation. Doc finally confronts Dormie at last! "I won't kill you until the Ancient One shows up." Doc replies "Nah! You gotta deal with me." "No really, send in the Ancient One." "Nope. It's gonna be me." "You're funeral, blue dude!"

And we break here until next month. Last month was great, but this is just freaking crazy! Ditko is in top form here. Who knows how many pencils were ground to little nubs to draw these 10 pages? Visually, it's spectacular. Ditko had spent a number of stories with lazy backgrounds, but he must have been saving it up for this story. Dormammu's motivation for invading earth isn't exactly original, but it starts a great story. There isn't really anything in the way of plot holes. It doesn't mess with continuity. And it's the springboard of a new era where the villains are more powerful and the stakes are greater. I can't wait for part two!

[quinn-pop]

About metadede headcanons (it's not much of a headcanon more like how their relationship evolved and my headcanon timeline about the Kirby games)

•They were friends since childhood.

•They stayed as friends until Dedede declared himself the king of dreamland, they were traveling through stars until that and meta didn't wanted to stay in one star for the rest of his life and wanted to go adventuring through space.

•They still give each other calls and hangout, but as the time passed (and dedede started to change aka get cropted by power) those calls and visits became fewer and fewer until they didn't talk to each other.

•After that the first time Meta heard about dedede was due news that said king of dreamland stole all the food. Meta realized the power went to his head back when they were still hanging out, but he didn't think he would stood that low.

•Because of that meta knight figured out the best thing to do was to dethrone dedede, he wasn't planing to give dedede any massive punishment at worst he would send him to dangeon for a few months until he learned his lesson, but when he got out he wouldn't get his throne back.

•Meta knights revenge happens and after that Kirby informs dedede about the events and he says he will think about it.

•When it's time for Kirby's adventure, king dedede against his better judgment gives one of the star rod pieces to meta because he trusts him.

•Due to that Meta and Dedede starts hanging out and Meta realizes that Dedede has changed for the better (in my headcanon dark matter trilogy happens between superstar and adventure).

•After that they become friends again and fighters 2 happens.

Now for some non-timeline related headcanons:

•Meta likes to sit on top of dedede's head to feel tall.

•Dedede can pick meta in his hands.

•Dedede doesn't want anyone to know that his possessions has left an affect on him so he doesn't talk to anyone about it, luckly ,even tho meta is terrible at picking up on social ques, noticed something was wrong and talked to him about those things and made dedede feel better.

•When they were children Meta once gave Dedede a rock that he thought was pretty cool, and Dedede said "Yes, I will marry you" since he was told rejecting an offer from a friend was rude.

•In things where meta needs to have normal sized arms compared to dedede (like hugging dancing etc.) he uses his wings.

Sorry if it is too long.

not too long at all! thanks for writing all that!

it’s really interesting to me just how popular the childhood friends headcanon is, considering there’s not much canon basis for it (not that that matters.) it’s a really cute hc though and i’m always happy to see it

definitely always love the star rod thing. it’s interesting that even back then mk and dedede were kind of cast in the same light, y’know? that being a point they connect over makes a lot of sense—your timeline is a lot different than mine here, being placed after romk, but it’s pretty cool that dedede would trust him with that even after that. adds a layer to it.

anyway i drew a couple of those headcanons just for funsies

i do think meta likes to be held, just probably not in full armor and where everyone can see him lol. it’s definitely a little awkward given their sizes though. holds like burger…

i’m not really a childhood friends metadede believer but imagining their dynamic is pretty fun? especially if we’re adding the Spanish speaking mk hc into this. i guess for some reason i imagined dedede as a little more shy here? just not quite broken out of his shell yet…no pun intended. they can have shenanigans together or something

and dedede only accepting meta’s “proposal” out of courtesy is so funny lol. i can imagine him going home after this and being a little upset because now he feels like he has to marry him. i’m sure the conversation that followed that was very fun /sarcasm

poor meta must’ve been very confused ^^” ah but the irony…

it’s just a very endearing concept to me. cute :>

[crimson-flash]

TOA Anniversary Munday Post

haha i haven't even been here for a month

Celebrating TOA and the people who contribute to make our group what it is.

Repost, don't reblog. Only fill in what you feel comfortable sharing!

Happy anniversary, TOA! Here's to many more years spent together.

Name: Penny

Pronouns: She/them

Birthday (no year): 8/19

Where are you from? What is your time zone?: I'm from the United States of 'Merica, Georgia in particulary.

How long is your roleplay experience? Uh, outside of Roblox, and a little bit of Amino, I basically have none, so a month!

How were you introduced to roleplaying as a whole? I was introduced to roleplaying when I entered a Big Brother RP amino thingy when I was 12, and I won the whole thing while mascaraing as like double my age. It was crazy back then.

How were you introduced to TOA?: I was looking at Joshua art, and then I stumbled across an old Joshua muse which lead me to TOA. I know it sounds a bit crazy.

Do you have any pets?: I have a dog named Mellow! I will protect him with my life. He is my pride and joy.

What is your favorite time of year and why? (Season, holiday, general period): Favorite season is Fall, favorite holiday is Christmas, and my favorite general period of time is whenever I don't have school.

What is your IRL occupation? I don't have a job at the moment, I am just a simple high school senior.

Some interests and things you like/enjoy? I enjoy coding little games, I like romhacking and just seeing my edits change the game, it's kinda like magic, lol. I enjoy going for walks, and racing other people, I also enjoy sleeping, who doesn't.

What non-Fire Emblem games do you play? Pokemon, Stardew Valley, Wildermyth, Ace Attorney, Smash Bros, Mario Kart, Kirby

Favorite Pokemon type & Pokemon: Water, Vaporeon (NOT IN THAT WAY)

Tell us some funfacts and trivia about yourself! Oh, a fun fact? uhhhhh

How did you get into Fire Emblem? I wanted to know where Marth from Smash Bros came from, so I decided I was going to play Awakening, and now I'm obsessed.

What Fire Emblem games have you played? I have played FE7, FE8, FE11, FE12, FE13, FE17

First & Favorite Fire Emblem games: FE13 was my first, and FE8 is my favorite!

List your 5 favorite Fire Emblem characters across the series! Nooo, I can't choose between my bab- Marisa, Henry, Clanne, Joshua, The 7th Platoon is it's own character right?

Who was the first character ever to make you go “ooh I like this one in particular” and why? Can be any context and reason! It was Clanne when I was playing Engage and got really good growths and he MVP'd like the whole entire game.

Any Fire Emblem crushes? 😳 A certain green-haired woman from a game I haven't even played yet.

If you’ve played (or are familiar with) the following games, who was your first S support? Who would you S support nowadays? - Awakening: My first S support was Anna, and I would probably S support my baby Henry now. - Fates: N/A - Three Houses: N/A - Engage: My first S support was Ivy, but now it's probably Panette.

Favorite Fire Emblem class? Armor Knight

If you were a Fire Emblem character, what would be your class and stats? Would you be playable? I would be a reclassable very flexiable unit, but I would always been just below-average in everything, so just like very disappointing. One speed from doubling, and one attack from killing, but I force that luck will always be in my favor.

If you were a Three Houses character, what would be your affiliation? Yellow Team! Uhm, I mean Golden Deer

If you were an Officers Academy student, what would be your boons, banes and potential budding talent? Boons: Reason, Faith. Banes: Axes, Flying (fear of heights), Heavy Armor, Budding Talent: Bows

If you were an Engage character, which nation would you originate from? Solm! I really love Solm and it's characters, it's like Jehanna if it was cool, and didn't have a queen who died in a pretty stupid way and didn't fight back EVEN THoUGH SHE'S A TRAINED SWOR-

How do you pronounce TOA? 🤔(separate letters, to-ah, other?): T-O-A, I will not accept any other pronouncations. 

[idothingsandstuffs]

I've talk about the Kirby right back at ya reboot I've made in my head, that was inconsistent af.

Here are some more things that I've created in my head that happened in it.

(And if a reboot or a new anime happens and some of this happens, that is not a coincidence I have future vision that is just pretty inconsistent\jk)

•It is called "Kirby right back at ya:deluxe"

•Everyone is a like 5-7 years older compare to the original.

•All the waddle dees were raised by dedede and escargoon therefore bandee start off as a jerk but gets character development.

•One of the waddle dees fakes their own death to join meta's crew as sailor dee.

•Meta knight is a wanted criminal.

•Kirby was raised by sir Arthur before he was send to popstar.

•Kirby is also fullent in Spanish but doesn't have an accent.

•Kirby can talk but still says poyo as a tick.

•Adeline is Ado's younger sister.

•Adeline and Ado live in the castle because Dedede declared both of them royal painters because he doesn't wanna admit he adopted two children.

•Giving children a job in the castle is Dedede's way of adoption.

•That one "how can I help you king Dedede" part from the intro would be change every episode to fit what is going to happen in the episode.

•Marx was also raised by sir Arthur with Kirby and Kirby saw him as a big brother, and milky way wishes messed Kirby up.

•Marx and meta knight are demon beasts.

•The reason sir Arthur raised Marx and Kirby was to keep a close eye on them.

•The reason why Arthur wanted to keep a close eye on them is because the last demon beast that they trusted became a war criminal and Kirby has has the potential to become full on void or zero if they felt a lot of negative feelings.

•Oh and also Kirby is the positive reancarnetion of void.

•If Ado tries draws a copy of someone the copy becomes how that person should be like, while when Adeline Tris to do it, it becomes how she sees this person.

•Adeline tries to turn a blind eye to dedede's bad action while Ado tries to justify them until a point where they can't keep doing it because he started to use them in his plans.

•It is a musical.

•King dedede would have a whole song about how great he is.

•Gooey feels weird around Kirby because he senses an energy that is so unfamiliar and familiar at the same time.

•Gooey is tramutized from zero.

•A song that dark matter sing that happens in dedede's head when he possessed him. In the song he shape shift into everyone who dedede cared about and hurt and sings about how much he sucks, and the worst part is king dedede can't deny any of them because he knows all of them is true.

•A scene where king dedede losses everyone who respected him (waddle dees, Ado and Adeline stopped flowing his orders and escargoon left) and he realizes there is no one to blame but himself.

•Romk arc takes place after the dm arc and is the first time Kirby meets meta knight

•Sailor dee drowns and dies. This event traumitizes meta knight.

•A scene where king Dedede has a mental breakdown because he can't understand why Kirby is so kind to him and doesn't hate his guts like everyone else in the kingdom because he should hate him the most and even begs Kirby to just hate him. Kirby refuses and gives him a hug.

•Meta knight, after trying to take king dedede's throne, goes to king dedede's castle (dedede doesn't know yet) the only people who know what meta tried to do is his crew, Kirby, knuckle Joe (he was helping Kirby) and that girl with a gun that I can't remember the name of.

•Meta and Dedede were friends before dedede became king and he didn't know he was dethrone an old friend.

•The kids were going to tell dedede but when Kirby realized how happy he was to found an old friend. That leaved Kirby in a deilema state where he could tell dedede the truth and ruin his happiness and confirm his belief that everyone hates him in kings eyes or let them play pretend until somebody losses their head.

•When dedede founds out about what meta tried to did he takes him to the forest and fights him. They still hang out after it but they are pretty cold to eachother.

•Susie sounds like a vocaloid.

•Susie talks in a different language but has an auto translator that most of the time doesn't work probably

•A detective arc about what happened to the former ruler of dreamland and if dedede killed them or not.

•Don't worry everyone gets along in the end.

(I can add more by rebloging)

[misteria247]

Hey, what would you say to the TMNT fans who apparently hated 2012 April's guts and probably didn't finish the whole series through because of her?

(Check: https://twitter.com/UnxownP/status/1582226407467659265 (read the full thread) )

Okay so I'm gonna go a little bit April Simp mode so bare with me Anon-

These people totally got April's character completely wrong and are totally twisting her character into something that she's not.

12 April is not any of the things that this thread has suggested. April in the beginning of the series is introduced as the daughter of Kirby O'Neil who's a scientist that the Kraang take interest in because of his work and because of April herself. She's literally kidnapped and put in an extremely stressful situation for a 16 year old girl and yet she manages to get her shit together and toughen herself up because her father is more important to her than her stress. Throughout all of season one April is shown to be a determined and take no shit kind of girl because she has to save her father. And the boys help her out in her mission because of her determination and their own feelings of wanting to help her out. However she's more than that.

April is also kind, she's had many moments where her kindness has been shown as her main core of her personality such as when she helped the one scientist who was turned into a monkey or whenever she helps the boys with their missions or personal issues. April's also brave and fearless and she isn't afraid to be blunt with the ones she loves because she cares enough about them to give it to them straight. April's also incredibly loyal to her friends and has several times throughout the series thrown hands for the boys, Casey and Master Splinter. She's stuck with these people even when they were going through rough times in their friendship because at the end of the day they're more important to her than her anger that she may feel towards them at the time.

And don't even get me started on the Donnie and April thing because holy shit-

Literally Donnie becomes infatuated with April from the moment he sees her and develops a crush on her. And he in lovable Donnie fashion tried to woo her a lot during the first season because of this crush and April didn't even acknowledge this because ya know SHE'D JUST BEEN THROUGH A TRAUMATIC EXPERIENCE OF BEING KIDNAPPED BY BRAIN ALIENS AND WATCHING HER DAD GET TAKEN AND HAVING HER ENTIRE LIFE BE TURNED UPSIDE DOWN.

Like that's a lot of stress to deal with on it's own and added with Donnie's crush on her of course she's not gonna respond to his feelings she's literally working shit out and she doesn't have time for romance not when her father's life is at stake. Not to mention that it's quite obvious that April wasn't used to someone having a romantic interest in her so she is basically clueless in the area of relationships and romance in general much like Donnie himself. And Donnie bless him, he just tried to put too much out there a bit too fast at a terrible time and April didn't know how to handle it. Let's also not forget that she's 16. She's a teenager, she's gonna fuck up at times and yet what people seem to forget is that right after she fucks up she's quick to try and mend things with her friends because she honestly didn't realize she'd hurt them till much later.

And if people paid attention it becomes a bit more clearer that April does feel something for Donnie and this was after she'd gotten to know him and establish a friendship with him and Donnie as he got to know April better had started to back off on his somewhat overbearing affection for her because he realized that April's personality wasn't the type to respond well to big proclamations of love and romance.

And as for the April supposedly killing Donnie in cold blood as he begged her to stop thing. If they actually paid attention to the episode it's revealed that the reason she did it was because she was quite literally out of her mind. April was POSSESSED by an alien crystal and it made her not think correctly nor really realize the extent of her actions. And when April snapped out of it and realized what she'd done do you know what her first reaction was??

She cried. April immediately cried and broke down when she thought she'd killed Donnie, because the very thought of Donnie no longer being in her life completely ruined her.

April O'Neil from the 12 series has her flaws she has her weaknesses and she has her moments where she fucks up but to just reduce her to those things and call her toxic and manipulative and acting like she does these things because she's a spiteful person is completely wrong and downright disrespectful to her character. April O'Neil is so much more and she's a complex person with emotions and despite some of her flaws almost every single time at the end of the day she's always doing what's right and is always putting herself out there in harm's way to protect the boys and Casey and Master Splinter because they're her family and she loves them dearly. April is kind and fearless and isn't afraid to put herself in the line of fire for those she loves because that's who April O'Neil is.

Like if we really step back and think about it April could have left the turtles alone once she'd gotten her dad back. After all that was one of the main reasons she teamed up with them in the first place. She had every right to leave once everything was said and done but ya know what? She didn't. She stayed with the boys and continued their friendship even after her dad was rescued and she stuck with them even when the Kraang had become a real threat towards her safety, even when the Hamato clan's most fearsome enemy the Shredder and the Foot got involved threatening to kill them and anyone involved with them, even when dangerous mutants ran through the city reeking havoc. April literally stayed with them through it all and the kicker? SHE DIDN'T HAVE TO DO ANY OF IT. YET SHE DID BECAUSE SHE LOVED THEM AND CARED ABOUT THEM ENOUGH TO STICK WITH THEM TILL THE VERY END.

Honestly I don't understand why people cut out her character like this and just reduce her to only the flaws she showed a couple of times throughout the series.

[giantchasm]

can i hear some of these dark taranza thoughts of yours...(kinda like sharing memories of a deceased loved one bc hal is never bringing him back 💔)

Hehehe. Gladly!

(As a note, almost all of this is regarding a Dark Taranza as I imagine he exists in the actual Kirby universe. I don't have a tons of thoughts on the specific incarnation that appears in the Clashverse, because... well, I don't have a lot of thoughts on Clash period. Although I also imagine a lot of this could also apply to him.)

In my interpretation, Mirror Worlders represent and embody what a person most dislikes about themselves. They're born the minute someone first attains an insecurity, usually sometime in childhood, and live lives that... well, reflect the experiences of their real world counterpart.

Let's use Meta Knight and Dark Meta Knight as an example. Meta Knight, in my personal headcanons, did indeed at one point serve Nightmare, just like is implied in the anime. This is something he harbors deep shame over, feeling as if his origins are that of a monster's. He also knows he's regrettably stubborn, dangerously impulsive, and emotionally distant.

As such, Dark Meta Knight is an extremely emotionally distant and stubborn jerk who’s still in eternal servitude to an irredeemable monster he considers his father (Dark Mind). He still has some positive traits, ostensibly, but overall he is a caricature of how Meta Knight sees his worst self.

So Dark Taranza embodies the traits Taranza most dislikes about himself. What are those?

-His ego. Taranza knows he's prideful and vain. He has a habit of getting overconfident, then having things blow up in his face. Just look at his behavior during Triple Deluxe! He was so... smug throughout all of it, only to have that confidence crushed.

-His envy. Taranza would never let it show on the surface, but he's a deeply jealous person. He wants what other people have and he wants it deeply. When he sees other people attain a happier ending than he did, he'll congratulate them, of course, but he'll also always feel a little resentful, something he, in turn, feels bad about. Why can't he just be happy for people?

-His loyalty and codependence. These don't necessarily seem like entirely bad traits on the surface, but Taranza's devotion can be dangerous. Just look at where his dedication to Sectonia took him. It not only got him hurt, but led to him committing various atrocities, all in the name of a love that wasn't even returned. This is something he now deeply regrets. And yet... if he were given the chance to see and follow someone he loved again, he would in an instant. He's simply needy in that way.

So Dark Taranza is an extremely egotistical, overconfident, and insufferable person, even though he's frankly not that cool. He has a violent jealous streak, and despite how confident he seems on the surface, he's secretly a follower.

After all, he doesn't just represent Taranza's pride and his resentment. He represents his fealty. All of his love and dedication to another.

Dark Taranza lives to serve, and there's just one problem with that.

There's no-one to serve.

There is no Mirror Sectonia in my verse. (Er-- well, technically there was, once upon a time, but she was retconned out of existence in the events that created the corrupted real-world Sectonia we meet in canon. There's no memory of her. She's been erased from history). Dark Taranza is a maniacal right hand man with no leader, and so he's forced to play leader himself, even as just one half of a whole.

Something which, perhaps, suits his ego. But at the same time, he feels empty. He brims with allegiance, but has no-one to dedicate himself to other than himself. This makes him deeply restless and unsatisfied, and in turn, he lashes out.

Needless to say, he does not have a good relationship with the actual Taranza. Taranza sees everything he doesn't want to be in Dark Taranza, and Dark Taranza sees everything he doesn't want to be in his original. Taranza is weak... emotional, sad, lost and lonely. Dark Taranza feels he's better than him because he is not experiencing the same emotional turmoil Taranza is. He openly makes fun of him for it and says he's much better off having always been alone.

...But deep down, he's jealous. He cannot escape the jealousy that is inherent to his being. Even despite feeling he's better than Taranza, he sometimes secretly wishes he had what he had... was also able to experience what he lost. Not that he'd ever admit it.

TLDR: Dude who's pretty much intrinsically a mook is forced to play head honcho, both to his pleasure and dissatisfaction. All the while the age old question is asked as he contrasts with his real world counterpart:

Is it better to have loved and lost, or never to have loved at all? Better to care, but then be hurt and discarded, or better to be lonely and safe? As long as he never trusts anyone, he'll never get backstabbed, but he'll also never experience genuine connection. And he secretly craves that more than anything.

He and Taranza are kind of like this song from City of Angels to me

You're in my plot, I'm still your creator I call each shot, I'm your private dic-tator You are so thick, you eat, breathe, sleep fiction I'm your meal ticket, knew-deep in cheap fiction You gloating ignoramus You haven't any shame Hey, I'm a famous shamus And most people don't know your name You're nothing without me Without me you'd just disappear Right into thin air And no one would care Or notice you ever were here A puppet, an upstart A loser who's destined to fall I'm everything you always wanted to be Let's deal with the issue, you wish you were me You're nothing without me Without me, you're nothing at all

Do you see my vision?

[sortanonymous]

Sorta Odd Kirby Ideas #1-2: "The Miracles Run Out" and "Warped Miracles" AU Ideas

So jdphobe (@giantchasm) recently made a great Kirby one-shot on AO3 called i dug my heels in for the winter and i waited for the snow, which is basically the ending of Heroes in Another Dimension, except that Francisca dies as a result of the Jamba Heart's power on her (or something); and it shows the tragedy of the situation through the grim reactions of everyone there, especially Hyness and the remaining two Mage-Sisters (Flamberge in particular being completely broken). It may very well be the most gut-wrenching Kirby fic I've ever read, and it (alongside the fact that jdphobe also brought up a similar concept where Carol dies in Forgotten Land, although they don't seem to have any plans to write it yet) got me thinking about some more Kirby AU's where the miracles Kirby pulls off to save people are flipped on their head. Before I describe them though, I'd recommend reading that fic first as it's really good, although if it sounds too depressing to you (which it is indeed a very depressing read), then perhaps my brief summary will suffice. I should also mention that a lot of this is from my comment under that fic (which I ended off by joking that I was getting revenge on them for introducing one depressing Kirby AU by giving them two depressing Kirby AU's). (Edit: @giantchasm told me that apparently the way Carol dies is that Leon kills her while under Forgo's control. So... there's that!)

AU #1: The Miracles Run Out

Here Kirby is miraculously able to save Sectonia in Triple Deluxe and Max in Planet Robobot, now back in their right minds. The method Kirby saves them through or their immediate aftermaths aren't relevant. Point is that Kirby has not only saved the day twice more, but was able to help those they had to fight to return to their senses and get their happy endings with their loved ones. Sectonia got return home uncorrupted with her best friend and Max, in his right mind again, was finally able to reunite with his daughter. Kirby's naturally feeling really good about themself and thinking that whoever needs their help to reach the light, they'll just save everyone.

And then HiAD happens, which I'll just pick up from here with jdphobe's AU. Right as Hyness and the Mages are seemingly freed from the Jamba Heart's grasp, it turns out that Francisca, the youngest and most beloved Mage-Sister doesn't survive. As the scene unfolds in the original fic, Taranza and Susie react in ways referring to their own canonical tragedies. In fact Magolor is the one who checks Francisca to confirm her death, and he's shaken by how the way in which she died was very similar to how he nearly died under the Master Crown. One intriguing idea to consider is that in the AU where Secty and Max live, perhaps we see their reactions of how close they were to losing their lives to such similar situations (and for that matter, how close Taranza and Susie were to seeing their loved ones die like that). No doubt that Kirby's confidence in their ability to save others takes a hit due to this tragedy (one particularly brutal bit in that fic has them desperately and tearfully trying to revive Fransisca with Friend Hearts, but they don't work and Dedede and Meta have to drag them away). But it only gets worse come Forgotten Land. Considering what little jdphobe has said about the Carol side of their AU, I'll just cut to the obvious details and say that Leon is under Forgo's control and kills Carol (as she's trying to reassemble her husband's soul) right before his soul is restored. It's easy to imagine that with Carol all but explicitly confirmed to be his wife, her death ends up absolutely devastating Leon, especially with how it was his own hand that killed her, even if it wasn't really him. And also the 3DS characters here would again be shaken by how badly they could have turned out. Also likely devastated though is Kirby, who by now likely has their confidence completely shattered after two straight tragedies that they couldn't prevent. That said, at least it's cherrier than the other AU.

AU #2: Warped Miracles

The Switch games happen the same, but the catch here is that in the 3DS games, Sectonia and Max do survive (again, the method doesn't matter)... but NOT Taranza or Susie. Maybe Taranza is killed when Sectonia blasts him off the balcony. Maybe Susie is fatally wounded when Star Dream zaps her and only has enough in her to summon the Robobot Armor and maybe (depending on when Max gets saved) tell Kirby to tell her father, should they see him again, that she loved her and only wanted to save him from Star Dream's influence. In that instance, not only does Kirby end up with a streak of four tragic deaths that they couldn't prevent (you can only imagine how that would weigh on them), but we see how Sectonia and Max would react to their loved ones' deaths instead of the other way around, and they'd likely be absolutely brutal.

Just to indulge in the "how's" for a bit in how they'd be saved, if Max got somehow had his memories restored and he was OK and everything during the Star Dream battle, but Susie was already gone, at that point I can only imagine Max just running to the computer's core and trying to blow it up both out of anger and out of feeling like there was nothing left to live for. I mean, he sacrificed years of his life, his mind, his morality, his memories, and almost his very soul to bring back his daughter, and not only was he too far gone to know that she had returned, but once he was back in his right mind, his beloved daughter had died saving him and his soul from what he had become. But as for him surviving, becoming friends with Kirby, and trying to move on from his child's death, I could see him empathizing with Hyness in the jdphobe fic, and how both of them got corrupted and had their daughter die in the ensuing mess.

Meanwhile for Sectonia, whenever Kirby does purify her, I imagine that she'd immediately start searching for Taranza in hopes that he survived, as she still knows that she blasted him. (In fact, you could very well have her true self start to regain control the moment she zaps him as she realizes how bad she's gotten.) But then she finds his corpse, and I could imagine that either Kirby would have to hold her back from jumping into the abyss or that she'd be clinging onto his body in hysterics incapable of believing that "she" killed her best friend who had never given up on her, even if it wasn't really her in control. Maybe Kirby, who hadn't yet seen a tragedy like this and also may or may not even know about the corruption, tries to comfort her by telling her that Taranza had likely long wanted her to be free from the Mirror's corruption, but Sectonia would still be devastated by how her beloved Taranza had died by technically her own hand, even if she wasn't in control of herself. Heck, considering both her grief and guilt from both Taranza's death and all the chaos she caused, I doubt Sectonia would want to keep ruling Floralia even if she were allowed to. From there, she likely sympathizes with Max and Hyness and the two Mages over their losses. But I especially see her becoming close grieving buddies with Leon and them bonding over being royals who not only narrowly survived getting corrupted, but killed their lovers while they were out of control.

Just felt like these ideas were too fascinating to leave to rot in those comments.

[yumenotambourin]

Just sorta piling up all my AUs to count them

They're all Elfilis-centric because Elfilis

Regular:

Unnamed AU

Elfilis is saved by Neichel before they get captured and the two become besties. Shenanigans ensue.

Gatorade Flavored Ratatouille

Elfilis and the gemini stumble upon a human colony. Elfilis plans to slowly mentally torture the humans for revenge and tries to get the gemini to join them, but Elfilin opposes and Forgo doesn't want to interact with humans ever again. The three fight all the time but still hold onto eachother.

Super Mario Galaxy AU i guess?

Not realky Super Mario Galaxy, but basically the humans already had "planetary warp technology" and Elfilis and Neichel meet up during their intergalactic travels and also Lab Discovera wants to capture Elfilis anyways so they have to do a Mario Galaxy to stop them??? Idk

Unnamed Candy World AU

Mousies wake up in a candy world with no memories of how they got there. Elfilis feels like something is wrong, but they're too overconfident to act on their suspicions. Plus, the gemini have a thing for sweets (which they got from Elfilis themself of course) so they're overjoyed.

Backrooms AU

Morpho traps the rats in a dream that resembles the backrooms (that Lizzie knew of from reading children's minds) to trick them into dying.

Boxed Gemini

In which they are actual siblings. That's it.

Idol AU

There's a whole ass seraphim society now! After beating the living shit out of Boib, Elfilis becomes a super idol. Once again, Morpho wants them dead. Elfilis is fucking terrified and uses their music as a cry for help.

Also Neichel is there as Elfilis' fancy pet and best friend because this was originally gonna be an Elfilis-Neichel swap but there's so little that can be done with that.

elfilingamer87

Elfilis accidentally starts a livestream and everyone cheers. They become rather popular pretty quickly. Elfilin sees this and wants to be a steamer too, so he makes a YouTube channel named 'elfilingamer87' and streams his gameplay of Kirby's Dream Buffet. Unfortunately he ends up having only one subscriber, which makes him extremely sad because he thinks Elfilis will be disappointed in him if they find out. William Afton, a human, tricks him into being experimented on in exchange of fame and knowing who that one subscriber is. Turns out that one subscriber was Elfilis themself, who had been advertising his channel like crazy.

Gijinka:

Normal People AU

Void is actually a corporation where a huge accident took place, leading to the death of four important employees(?) and their partners. Their children (the heroes of yore) are childhood friends who got separated in their teenage years (Elfilis moved to London, the others idk) so with the death of their parents they're trying to find eachother and help eachother out.

Kirby is Meta Knight's adopted son and Meta Knight is Galacta's brother

Despite the setup, this one is also very Elfilis-centric and focuses on them raising their twin siblings on their own.

Miitopia:

The first one I kinda abbandoned

The only non-Elfilis-centric one because Forgotten Land wasn't out yet

Void (who I headcanon as the creator god of Kirby) is trappen inside a universe that is not their own, which leads them to dark curse out

The main hero is Kirby (miitopia), the Great Sage is Nova for some reason and the Dark Lord is Zero.

Great Sage Elfilis

Elfilis is basically Lucifer from Christianity, except that instead of falling down to hell they fall to the mortal world and are thought to be the child of god (who is actually Kirby). And they're also amnesiac.

Elfilin and Forgo are manifestations of their feelings. Forgo becomes the curse and Elfilin sets out to save the world, but Elfilis is intrigued to why this random ass child looks so much like them so he takes him under their wing.

Princet Elfilis

Mousies are very beautiful children who destroy the orphanage they were in to escape and are adopted by King Dream Minecraft. But King Dream Minecraft is a horrible person so Elfilis and Galacta (the head knight of Dreamhorne who became Elfilis' best friend) manage to get him exiled and Lizzie becomes the new monarch.

The first one again but Elfilis

In the first AU, Galacta plays the role of the town guide, and is an ex warrior who was exiled for being too violent and runs a bar now. He briefly takes care of Void.

In this AU, Elfilis there as well alongside Galacta, although they left willingly after a fight with William Afton.

They heavily dislike Void, which leads them and Galacta to get possessed.

[purplekoop]

So. This was supposed to be a 2023 games recap, but I remembered that one of my favorite games of all time got an incredible expanded remake at the start of the year. I then talked about it for. a while. So I pivoted it into...

Things I Love #3: Kirby's Return to Dreamland Deluxe

Yeah it's not Ninja Turtles yet, sorry. I'm only on episode 2 of that rewatch, but even without playing this game for the better part of a year, I can still definitely rattle off my thoughts on it.

As usual, this is a spoiler-free rundown on the game, since the point of this post series (I think) is to explain why I love a thing in hopes of getting other people to check it out for themselves, which I do in fact recommend this game. That said, let's get to it!

The original version of this was the game that started the "Modern Kirby" formula that was inherited by the 3DS games and Star Allies, and while at least the 3DS games have always been pretty highly regarded, RtDl was kind of given the New Super Mario Bros effect of being shrugged off because it started a trend of similar-looking games. That's a massive undervaluing of this game though, since in my opinion it's still the best iteration of the standard 2D Kirby formula yet. It's hard to articulate exactly why, but for me Return to Dreamland just has that magic to it. Maybe I'm biased since it was also my first normal Kirby game, but this game's level design is just so pleasant and satisfying. Each level has its own subtle personality, to the point where after enough playthroughs (including challenge runs) I can remember the order of levels and even the minor details of each one pretty well. The puzzles are a personal high point, making use of the game's great roster of abilities exceptionally well, while also giving plenty of room for cheese and alternate solutions. And it's a personal favorite for multiplayer, once again I think being Kirby's best multiplayer outing. The game feels built to accommodate 4 players while holding up flawlessly as a single player adventure. It doesn't feel too arbitrary like Forgotten Land or as centralizing as Star Allies, it's just the right balance. Wrap it all up in a series standard pleasant visual presentation with a banger soundtrack, and you have one of my top 3, if not top 2 games of all time, both in general and for the Wii specifically.

And those praises apply to both versions, but it gets better. Of all the "Deluxe" games in the Switch's lineup, this is one of the best in terms of new stuff and improvements. Saving the new modes for a minute, the biggest change is the art style. It's different enough to where I can see some people not being a fan, but personally I think this game is gorgeous, especially if you just recently saw the Wii version. The sharp outlines and bright colors just make this game look even better than it does in my rose-tinted view of the original. The only truly major visual difference is Dedede's new design, based on his striking Forgotten Land appearance but with his normal outfit. Personally not my favorite Dededesign (that'd be Smash 4/Ultimate), but I gotta appreciate Mr. Clump Penguin, especially with some of his expressions. It also feels better when I remember he wasn't exactly a looker in the Wii version with his big head and tiny body, so I don't mind it much at all.

The main gameplay has some functional changes too. On the subtler side, some moves from newer games have been added to certain abilities, like the skyward strike from the 3DS games in Sword's moveset. The most notable examples are the 3 non-Kirby characters having their extra moves added in one of Star Allies's later updates, such as Meta Knight having a unique counter attack and Dedede having his iconic jump-and-slam and face plant moves. There's also other things of less substantial note added for gameplay, like the ability to dodge while guarding being added ala the 2D games between the original and DX versions, but those are largely minor. I do wish some of the original's somewhat limited abilities, like Needle and Hi-Jump, got maybe a new move or two, but that's such a niche complaint even by my standards.

The most notable new additions to the main mode are two brand new abilities: Mecha and Sand. The enemies and ability pedestals that grant these abilities have been retroactively added to existing levels, never replacing anything but if you're paying attention their placement is a little tacky. The Sand enemies are always placed on a newly added star block and I have no clue why but it bothers me irrationally. The abilities are also introduced as the same time as other new abilities were in the original, which does mildly hinder the otherwise fantastic pacing this game has when it comes to introducing new abilities, but again, that's such a petty gripe that's only coming from someone who knows this game far too intimately. As for the abilities themselves, they're both a delight to use. Admittedly Sand surprised me, it was the second of the two to be revealed and it was much less flashy and thematically exciting than Mecha, but it turned out to be just as fun. It fits right in with the other elemental abilities like Water, and has a set of utility and movement options that make it fun to keep around, but it's just a bit boring in combat. Mecha is the much more obviously exciting option, with an arsenal of very silly attacks that feel more like a Dream Friend than a normal ability, though with less damage output and utility than you might expect. It's also lacking in movement attacks for something that looks so much like Jet, but its midair controls feel so nice I don't mind too much. My main gripe with it is that unlike Sand, the game introduces it in a level much less suited to its talents, and right before the water levels where you can't even use it. The new ability challenge is fun, but otherwise there's not a great time to get a feel for how useful it is compared to the existing abilities and even Sand. Again, a nitpick, as just having the big unga bunga laser and cool flying and even just looking like that is enough to make this ability's inclusion appreciated.

Festival, the single-use screen nuke ability from Star Allies is also here. For some reason. Frankly I'm just mad they only added Festival as the one existing ability retroactively added to this game, something like Beetle would've been nice, but I can see why they went with basically the least obtrusive extra addition possible.

On the note of additions though, this deluxe package comes with not one, but two major new modes.

The first is Merry Magoland, a non-canon(?) side mode, unlocked after beating the second level of the main game, where Kirby and friends go to a theme park to play minigames new and old. And this minigame lineup is super neat, as there's a minigame representing just about one for every single game in the series to have them, with the exceptions of the 3DS games and Star Allies, which... yeah fair enough, those would be a little redundant in the context of the Switch's library. This leads to an interesting selection of minigames, as basic as one featured in Adventure all the way to one from Squeak Squad that's like that one weird Smash 3DS mode. It's a super interesting lens to see the history of the series, with each minigame being a super faithful 3D HD recreation of the original minigames, down to each minigame having an appropriate results screen, and menu music rearranged to match the respective game. There's also two entirely original minigames: Tome Trackers and Booming Blasters. Tome Trackers is a simple "find the thing quickly" minigame, but is unique in using the same movement controls as the main game, just with no attacking. It's okay I guess. Booming Blasters meanwhile is my favorite of the whole set of 10, being a top-down shooter deathmatch and the most mechanically complex of the set. It gets decently intense, and you can end up landing some oddly satisfying trick shots. Now, the glaring flaw of Merry Magoland and the game as a whole is one fatal sin: there's no Scope Shot. Only the significantly less cool Ninja Dojo minigame returns from the original, while my favorite of the two Wii version minigames is the only notable piece of content left behind. There's traces of it throughout the game, and admittedly I realize why it's not the best fit as a co-op style of game in the otherwise competitive party game mode, and the selection of other minigames covers the gap it leaves behind, but it just sucks that it keeps this otherwise massive improvement over the original from being truly perfect

Merry Magoland has a bit more to it, namely in terms of progression. It's not just a minigame compilation, as it has its own sort of completion metrics. First off, there's the Stamp Rally, a weird sort of self-contained... battle pass? You play minigames, and based on your time played and performance, you get more stamps filled in your card, and every page of the stamp card you get storable items usable in the main game, or dress up masks you can wear in either mode. It's honestly just a nice bonus that happens passively while playing the minigames. The bonus items are neat but by no means a necessity (if you're a normal person anyways), but the masks are a bit more interesting, letting you "dress up" as a wide array of characters from the history of the series. There's some cool deep cuts in this lineup too, but admittedly many of them look more goofy or creepy than cute or cool. Still, it's a fun way to add some extra personality and customization to your playthrough.

Meanwhile, the real completion metric of Merry Magoland is the damn challenges. Basically an achievement list, which ranges from "play this minigame with a mask of a character from the same game :D" to "KILL ALL FOES FLAWLESSLY TWICE IN A ROW." I do appreciate the incentive to play these minigames more thoroughly than just beating every difficulty, but these challenges get mean. That example was barely a joke, you seriously have to do that for a couple minigames' final achievements. The part that makes it a slog is that it's just so random compared to all the other 100% completion requirements, and yes, this mode is required to clear entirely for 100% completion. It's just a grind with some of these minigames, especially when they're not all gonna be everyone's favorite. I personally dread Samurai Kirby and Egg Catcher, but I had to master them in order to complete the mode. But the variable CPU performance means that sometimes you can cheese a challenge, or sometimes you don't. Most modes are forced to have 4 players, human or computer, which is annoying for multiplayer with 2 or 3 players but also makes challenge clearing more annoying. You can cheese some challenges by having 2 unmanned controllers taking the player 2 and 3 slots and just making it a 1v1 between you and the machine, but that's not exactly fun and still doesn't guarantee victory. Again, cool concept to have achievements, but it's so random and so grindy of an overall process for 100% completion, which is otherwise one of my favorite parts of a Kirby game. Aside from like. Keychain/Sticker/Puzzle Piece/Gacha grinding in the other recent games, but at least those are just grindy and don't take effort.

One last complaint: no online multiplayer, for the main game or Magoland. This is a bummer as someone with online friends halfway and all the way across the country, but thankfully I do at least still live with my sibling who's as much of a Kirby fan as I am, if not arguably more in some areas. There is one online minigame: Samurai Kirby 100. This being the very basic timing-based minigame, but instead of facing off against 1-3 other players or a single CPU, your reaction time is tested against that of 99 other players. My uh... least favorite minigame. Great. Also because the Kirbys you face are based on other players, including their masks, you can get spoiled on the 100% completion reward mask. Very cool. A kind of lame addition, but it's an addition so who cares that much.

Overall Magoland is a fun side mode with some issues. The minigame selection isn't gonna be for everyone, the challenges required for 100% are tedious, there's no online play, and most glaringly: no Scope Shot. But those are mostly petty gripes from an overly dedicated series fan, and the impact the mode has on the game overall is a net positive. I'm interested to see how this mode serves as a possible pit stop in a family game night or other party game scenario, so I might have to see if I can convince some folks to play it soon.

Now onto the other new mode: Magolor Epilogue, the postgame adventure advertised on the back of the boss that also spoils a 10 year old game's plot twist. Oops.

In all seriousness, the mode is great. You play as Magolor, who's now a pathetic soggy webkinz cat incarnate, starting with an extremely limited moveset based on his playable debut as a Dream Friend in Star Allies. He starts with only a basic energy ball attack, but over time unlocks an expansive suite of moves, once again largely (but not entirely) based on Star Allies. Most moves are unlocked via story progress, but others are unlocked by using the points you earn during levels to enhance Magolor's abilities in a special menu. These upgrades are pretty significant, turning what'd otherwise be pretty piddly attacks into playstyle-defining staples. It's not a skill tree per say, you just upgrade specific attacks or other attributes of your character, but there's a similar feel to it. And while upgrades aren't mandatory... they help a lot. I've seen a playthrough of the game without them, and it looks kinda miserable. Thankfully it's not super obtuse to use the upgrade menu, and I don't think the game lets you make any super regrettable choices with your investment since it gates upgrade tiers behind story progress.

As for the levels themselves, they're generally shorter and simpler than the main story levels, as to be expected. A key distinction though: there are no major collectibles required for completion. The only pickups are the energy points used for your upgrades, gained either from grabbing them like coins or from beating enemies. You get extra points for combos (for some reason), and getting a high combo and overall point total is the requisite for this mode's main optional completion metric. You get up to a platinum medal based on your score for a level, with combo being the greatest metric to help with that goal. You need only a gold medal on each level to unlock the final bonus level, and I believe simply beating that is the requisite for save file completion. While this is a struggle at first, it's no trouble at all simply going back and blazing through early levels with an endgame set of upgrades. There are also extra side levels, ala the treasure roads from Forgotten Land or the Break Time levels from Super Mario Wonder, dedicated to testing specific moves and other skills. These iirc don't have medals, and just require clearing at all for the sake of completion, but they do have pretty decent point payout, so they're worth doing. Plus these types of levels are just fun, I'm glad they're a new standard in platformers nowadays.

There are also the bosses, which are Mean. This mode overall shares a lot in common with Star Allies's DLC mode, Heroes in Another Dimension, mostly in terms of location and being an extra extra postgame mode taking place in Another Dimension where you get to play as Magolor for a nonzero amount of time, but while the puzzles are simpler, the bosses are nasty in a manner very reminiscent of that mode. These are some of the toughest bosses the series has to offer, with even the first one giving me a rough time initially. Even as your skillset increases, the bosses ramp up proportionally, with the finale being especially devious. I'll say no more besides the final boss being one of the series highlights, somehow standing up in wow factor even now that the series has finally hit full 3D.

Speaking of bosses, the music for those is predictably great, as is that for the rest of the mode. Most tracks are remixes of main game tracks, but rearranged to be far more eerie and alien-sounding. It's a super unnerving vibe, especially in tandem with the mode's overall tone. The soundtrack becomes more triumphant as you progress, as you build up your confidence along with Magolor's power, building up to an extremely satisfying conclusion. It's really good stuff, as to be expected, and this game's especially strong use of motifs is worth special praise. On another note of presentation, the mode takes place in the interdimensional void from Heroes in Another Dimension, but with extra environmental details to make it feel less like a bunch of boring space blocks, as was the issue with the prior mode. It works here honestly, though admittedly levels within the same area blend together a bit, at least not being nearly as distinct as the main game levels.

I think the sole "complaint" worth mentioning with this mode is that it requires beating the main story to play. It's something I've heard at least one person bring up as a deterrent from buying the game, saying "just let me play the new thing right away", but like... oh no, you have to play Kirby's Return to Dreamland in order to play the new content, what a travesty. To me this complaint is moot and insane in the same way as "dang, I wish I could just eat my favorite dessert ever without having to eat my favorite meal first", but I'm obviously much easier than other people to convince to play through the base game repeatedly. Even then, the base game isn't that long if you blitz through it just to get to the shiny new mode, which to note itself isn't super long. You can beat Magolor Epilogue in one sitting if you want, maybe two if you wanna pace yourself a bit. Either way, it's not a super long endeavor, but it's a great one for sure, and adds a great postgame mode to an already great game, on par with others of its ilk like the Meta Knightmares, Dededetour, and Heroes in Another Dimension itself, arguably being the best of the lot.

...Which is more than can be said for the existing postgame mode, Extra Mode. Returning near verbatim from the Wii version, this is simply a second playthrough of the main adventure, but with halved player health, rarer food items, some bigger and smaller enemies, and harder bosses. You also can't use the optional baby mode added into the base game, which doubles your health, and lets Magolor bring you healing items and save you from pits. It's unlocked at the same time as Magolor Epilogue, which... I mean. On the one hand, I appreciate that it's not removing "content" from the original besides Scope Shot, but on the other hand even I can admit it's a bit lame having to play the game again but only marginally harder, especially alongside the much more exciting postgame campaign. I could maybe argue they should've made Extra Mode more exciting, maybe shake up the levels more, but I think I much prefer that they put their effort into the entirely new mode, then left the original modes relatively untouched. The one sucky part is, once again, beating and 100% completing Extra Mode is required for true 100% on your save file. You can't just blitz through it even though the collectibles are nearly identical to obtain. Which again, sucks, but oh well, not a dealbreaker to anyone I imagine.

On the last note of modes, the series staple boss rush mode, The Arena also unlocks upon beating the main story. However, unlike the original, The True Arena requires completing both Extra Mode (like before) and Magolor Epilogue. This means the game's final main mode requires beating both of the postgames in order to unlock, and it's a massive gauntlet of both the harder Extra Mode bosses and the new Magolor Epilogue bosses. It's a hell of a challenge I only managed to clear using a certain cheesy ability I won't mention, but appreciated giving a climactic spotlight to an ability that normally doesn't get much praise.

Now with all modes new and old mentioned in riveting detail, that covers most of what I wanted to talk about with this game, barring anything that's a direct spoiler. So verdict?

In my heart, this game is the rare instance of improving perfection. It's already one of my longtime favorite games ever, from a series I only appreciate more and more each day for how purely it sparks joy. This is a game I never get tired of, one I've adored since childhood and have only loved more the more I've picked it apart with challenge runs and other repeat playthroughs. There's not much more I could've wanted from it, and yet, it was blessed with the best port out of a library stocked with plenty ranging from great to middling. It looks gorgeous, sounds and plays great as ever, and just has even more to do and play with. Even if not every addition is perfect, the entire package has such a fullness to it, and the game I've loved all along is there almost untouched. It feels like such a complete and delightful game that my nitpicks I've mentioned feel and should be read as a bit silly. Again, this is an undoubtedly biased review, if this game doesn't cure depression and save the world for you then don't blame me, but this is my post series of gushing for what I love.

This is my game of the year for 2023, and I don't say that too lightly, even if it is cheating a little since it's largely a remake. If you have the means, play it. It's a great introduction to a very fun beginner-friendly series that's also got plenty of harder challenges stored. It's a great solo time, but the entire game allows for multiplayer aside from the main game's challenge levels (Magolor Epilogue included, forgot to mention that detail, you just all play as different colored Magolors), and it's fun throughout, so I recommend it even more strongly if you get that chance. I seriously can't recommend this game enough, and I'm not sorry about it.

Anyways, possibly expect some (hopefully) less in-depth reviews of some other games I've played this past year coming in another post within the coming days. Next TIL might be TMNT 2012 but that's gonna be about 120 episodes before we get to that point, so I may end up finding something else to talk about faster. I may also be doing the seasonal recap/personal history format in the meantime, in part because it means I get to go more in-depth where I otherwise wouldn't. I like this post series for spoiler-free overviews, so I'd enjoy the chance to talk about spoilers for once while giving the proper warning. Expect that slightly sooner then. Until then though!

[dokidokitsuna]

I would like Miracle Matter and Dark Matter Swordsman headcanons! *<*

Miracle Matter: ...I gotta be honest with you, I really don't think much about this character. ^^; I do USE him a lot, because he's the only one of the DMC who fills the 'silly comic relief' role, but I've never really put much work into him outside of "he exists". Even my gijinka designs for MM usually aren't that great; many many artists have done far, far better.

I think the most consideration I've ever given him was in the Knights Errant AU, where he's actually the 'main' antagonist (see below). And he's cool and weird and owns an accordion for some reason, but he's still very silly and there's not a lot of depth to him.

He does plunge the world into darkness and helps create an all-powerful god-zombie who threatens to destroy the universe...but 90% of that is just 'acceptable side effects', not things he particularly wanted to happen. And true to his in-game behavior, he's not even the real final boss...all the threats he inadvertently brings into the story end up becoming bigger problems than he ever was, even if it's only during the last act.

I dunno how to explain it...I think it's just because, out of all the major bosses in Kirby, MM feels the most undercooked to me. The fact that it can use some of Kirby's abilities (which all the bosses do these days...), the fact that it slightly resembles Zero, and the fact that an icosahedron is a cool shape are really the only interesting things about it, and that's just not a lot to work with. :/ Someday inspiration will probably strike and I will invent a reason to be truly invested in him, but so far it hasn't happened yet.

Dark Matter Swordsman: I've already talked about him a lot, like here, and here...but there's still plenty of stuff I haven't said, so why don't I share something that the non-DeviantArt refugees may not know: I started out writing him as Meta Knight's biggest fan~

I'm not 100% sure why I came up with this idea (he really doesn't look that much like MK...) and as he grew into his own character it became less important over time. But it's still a cornerstone of his backstory, enough that I included it in the DMC comic:

MK is basically the one who inspires him to take on a different form and seek out a different lifestyle from the usual Dark Matter, AND (now that I'm re-reading the comic I just noticed this) he is the first one to call him 'Dark Matter Swordsman', like just as a one-time nickname. ^^ So cute~

This brief meeting is the only time they spend together as characters (present-day MK probably wouldn't even remember him) but now that I think about it, it has this weirdly huge butterfly effect over the DMC as a whole. MK influences Swordsman, who influences Zero, who (secretly) designs the rest of his "sons" with Swordsman's newfound potential in mind. An entire alien family forever altered by the appearance of One Cool Guy (TM).