#its composed of element and fighting type

[diarrheathingwhenyoushit]

Fem!Ryusae magical girls 💯

[letsatomicbanana]

Ink!Sans Cultural Inspiration

(revised version)

art by @/sakuramochi64 on twitter

Disclaimer!

This post aims to explore and analyze both the prominent and subtle East Asian cultural influences—primarily Japanese—that have shaped the character of Ink!Sans. If any information in this essay is inaccurate or unintentionally offensive, please don’t hesitate to reach out! This essay serves as a revised and updated version of the analysis conducted last year.

Ink!Sans by @comyet

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''It was a night where it felt like i was a miserable artist and i was very frustrated at my work and it felt like i wasn’t worth alot (we all have these), then I came across a picture of a japanese ink brush, and it was all I needed to start doodling a concept.

That’s how Ink is born.''

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According to Ink’s creator, Comyet, the idea for Ink!Sans was sparked by an image of a brush specifically crafted for sumi and Chinese ink art. In China, the tradition of using specialized ink brushes, known as Chinese writing brushes, has been a foundational element in the art of calligraphy and traditional painting for centuries. These brushes are highly valued for their precision and versatility, allowing artists to produce a range of strokes, from fine lines to bold, expressive swashes. The brush itself is composed of a bamboo handle and a carefully tapered head made from animal hair, designed to hold and release ink in controlled flows.

This tool became central not only in Chinese culture but also influenced Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese art, where calligraphy holds a similar cultural significance and is closely tied to writing systems derived from Chinese characters. These brushes symbolize the control, fluidity, and intentionality required in both written language and visual art across East Asia. This deep-rooted cultural importance of the ink brush inspired Ink!Sans's character design and powers, allowing him to wield 'ink-based' abilities, symbolizing both creativity and adaptability. His main weapon—a brush—reflects this heritage and further emphasizes the connection between art and battle, as he channels the brush’s traditional associations with fluidity and strength into his fighting style, merging the arts of calligraphy and combat.

(visual example of an ink calligraphy brush)

At glance, the ink material is an enduring medium that still surrounds society till this day and it's used in multiple cultures across the world.

Writing with ink calligraphy brushes is also common in Europe and the Middle East, where artisans developed ink using a unique combination of iron salts and oak galls. This type of ink, known as iron gall ink, initially appeared in rich, dark tones, making it highly desirable for manuscripts and official documents due to its bold, readable quality. However, over time, the iron in the ink oxidized, resulting in a distinct color shift to warm, rust-like brown tones. This characteristic fading can still be observed today in ancient manuscripts, such as early European literary works, where the reddish-brown hues give a sense of history to these documents. The durability and aesthetic appeal of iron gall ink contributed significantly to its prevalence in both regions, influencing the artistry of calligraphy and manuscript illumination for centuries.

Like previously mentioned, Ink!Sans was inspired by traditional ink materials developed in East Asia, where artisans mastered the creation of carbon-based black ink, often using soot or charcoal mixed with binding agents like animal glue. This type of ink, known for its rich, deep color and lasting durability, was a staple in East Asian calligraphy and artwork. Unlike iron gall ink, this carbon-based ink maintained its dark, almost jet-black color for centuries, even in varying environmental conditions. The resilience of this ink allowed ancient texts, paintings, and scrolls to retain their striking contrast and clarity, making it a celebrated medium in East Asian art and culture. Ink!Sans draws inspiration from this enduring quality, symbolizing strength, creativity, and the timelessness of artistic expression

(visual example of an ancient art piece that used carbon-based black ink)

To note, unlike iron gall ink, carbon based inks are still very common to this day.

Although the primary Chinese calligraphic scripts were well established by the fourth century, calligraphy as an art form has continually evolved over the centuries, adapting to new cultural and aesthetic influences. Skilled calligraphers, who spent years mastering brush techniques and perfecting their own unique hand, were celebrated for their distinctive styles, and their works became templates for both art and personal expression. Over time, subsequent generations of artists studied these revered styles, incorporating and reinterpreting them to reflect their individual voices and the changing social landscapes. This ongoing transformation has kept Chinese calligraphy dynamic and relevant, and it remains a respected art form today, blending tradition with contemporary aesthetics.

In Japan, calligraphy also held deep cultural significance, symbolizing both personal refinement and intellectual achievement. Calligraphy was regarded as a mark of scholarly sophistication and artistic taste, with a variety of tools developed to enhance the writing experience. One notable example is the suzuribako ("ink stone box"), a portable lacquered wood box designed to store an inkstone, water dropper, brushes, and solid ink sticks. These boxes were crafted with precision and adorned with intricate lacquer designs, reflecting their owner’s status and appreciation for art. Suzuribako were lightweight and convenient, enabling calligraphers to take their tools outdoors or to scenic locations to write letters, diary entries, or poetry. This practice not only facilitated creativity but also connected the act of writing with nature, creating an immersive experience where one could find inspiration in the surrounding beauty while crafting words in elegant brushstrokes. The combination of these refined tools and settings underscored calligraphy’s role as a deeply personal and aesthetic pursuit in Japanese culture.

From this perspective, it is essential to highlight that Ink's character draws inspiration from traditional ink calligraphy, a detail reflected in his distinctive speech font, 'Note This'.

(Example of Ink's canon speaking font and ancient calligraphy)

Also clarified in an ask on her side blog, Comyet explained that traditional samurai clothing served as a key inspiration for Ink's outfit redesign in 2020. Ink's creator thoughtfully incorporated these characteristics to enhance Ink’s visual appeal and connection to his main source of inspiraton. This influence is particularly noticeable in the first and second analyses of Ink's character, where we see clear visual cues from iconic Japanese garments.

(Ink!sans reference sheet for the 2020 design, credit goes to @/comyet)

Ink's pants were inspired by hakama, a traditional Japanese garment known for its distinctive design as skirt-like trousers, typically worn over a kimono. Hakama are historically associated with a range of activities, from ceremonial occasions to martial arts, and are often considered a symbol of status and refinement. Specifically, Ink's pants appear to be inspired by the umanori style of hakama, which is characterized by a split or division in the middle, allowing for greater freedom of movement. This style was traditionally worn by samurai and other individuals involved in horseback riding, as the design allowed for ease of movement and flexibility when mounting or riding a horse.

The umanori hakama were not only practical for riding but also served as a functional yet elegant garment, embodying the balance of form and function typical in Japanese clothing. By incorporating this style into Ink's character design, Comyet likely intended to evoke themes of mobility, agility, and strength, while subtly referencing Japanese martial traditions and the samurai ethos. This choice enhances Ink's overall aesthetic, highlighting his dynamic, action-oriented nature, suggesting that his character is both rooted in tradition and capable of fluid, graceful movement.

The hakama was not merely a functional garment but also a powerful symbol of social status, loyalty, and the samurai's role in Edo society. While the hakama was predominantly worn by samurai, it also found its place in the wardrobe of scholars, priests, and members of the aristocracy, who wore it as part of their ceremonial dress.

Furthermore, Comyet has explained that Ink's outfit and appearance were partially inspired by the clothing worn by samurai, as depicted in ukiyo-e prints from the Edo Period of Japan. Ukiyo-e, which translates to 'pictures of the floating world,' was a popular genre of woodblock prints and paintings that flourished from the 17th to the 19th centuries, showcasing scenes of everyday life, landscapes, kabuki actors, and beautiful women. However, samurai were also common subjects of these prints, often portrayed in full regalia, highlighting their status and discipline.

(this line of text was found within old versions of Ink's FAQ post, mainly from 2020-2021)

In these ukiyo-e representations, samurai are frequently depicted wearing a distinctive combination of garments, including elaborate kamishimo (formal attire worn by samurai), hakama (wide trousers), and haori (a kimono-style jacket worn over the kimono), along with ornate accessories such as sashes and swords. These samurai were often shown in dynamic poses, suggesting a sense of power, grace, and readiness for battle, which reflected their societal role as both warriors and landowners.

Ukiyo-e representations of samurai often carried deeper meanings beyond their visual impact. Samurai in these prints were more than just warriors; they were cultural icons, symbols of virtue, duty, and sacrifice. Some prints portrayed samurai in the context of popular stories or historical events, such as famous battles or legendary acts of heroism. For example, the prints often depicted samurai as loyal retainers or leaders fighting for justice, reflecting the ideal of bushidō, the samurai code of ethics, which emphasized virtues like loyalty, courage, and respect.

(Ukiyo-e art made by Katsukama Shun'ei, Edo Period)

During the Edo period, the hakama was an important garment worn by the nobility as part of their formal attire, complementing other traditional outfits of the time, such as the noshi and kariginu, a sleeveless jacket with distinctive, sharply defined shoulders. These garments were designed to symbolize the status and refined taste of their wearers. The hakama, with its wide, flowing silhouette, was highly functional and practical, allowing for ease of movement while maintaining an air of elegance.

On another note, Ink's design is not the only aspect inspired by cultural roots, the musical themes associated with him also draw significant inspiration from traditional Japanese music, as described by Comyet. The incorporation of these musical elements into Ink's character enhances the depth and cultural resonance of his persona, creating a multi-layered and thematic representation to a broader cultural context.

A predominant theme associated with Ink is one called 'BrushWork.' This musical theme, featured in the popular series Underverse, shines through particularly with the use of the shamisen, a traditional stringed instrument, and a flute. The choice of the shamisen in this composition is significant, as it evokes the soundscape of Japan, with its distinct, plucked tones often associated with traditional music, storytelling, and performance arts.

The shamisen is a core instrument in genres such as kabuki (a traditional form of Japanese drama) and bunraku (puppet theater), where it is used to underscore the emotional intensity and narrative depth of the performances. In BrushWork, the shamisen helps set the tone for Ink’s character, enhancing the theme of 'brushwork' through its fluid, emotive sound.

Honorable mention: The instrumental video for ''Soulless Heart'', features an artwork that is inspired by traditional sumi-e (ink wash painting), an art form renowned for its elegant brushwork and minimalistic yet profound depictions of nature. This particular artwork, which accompanies the music, was created by the artist @/sakuramochi64.

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Sources

1.National Museum of asian art (materials & techniques. Ink section)

2. Asian Brushpaper (an-overview-of-chinese-ink-history)

3. Wikipedia (wiki Hakama-pants+Shamisen)

4. Aikido Journal (Hakama-101)

[muletia]

𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝 — [𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝟑] ⊹₊⟡⋆

[tfp] yandere!soundwave x human!reader

summary: when soundwave returns in a sour mood you start wondering why do you even care. why do you care about him.

cw: yandere themes, captivity, isolation, reader's pov, elements of stockholm syndrome

word count: 960

[part 2]

Today, there’s something more human about him.

You noticed it right away, the moment he took his first step into his quarters. The calculated lethargy typical of him was left outside this room, replaced with a rigidity in his stride. His steps were faster, more aggressive.

He also skipped your routine greeting. Didn’t point to the tablet, nor gesture at the books with his thin fingers. He simply turned his head in your direction and looked at you for a moment. Your mind instinctively jumped to the idea of him looking for a scapegoat—a piñata to channel his simmering frustration. But he didn’t. Your interaction ended with a smile displayed on his face. That was all. No aggression, no violence, no crushing or death. He approached the keyboard and began working.

Under normal circumstances, he typed quickly yet lightly, pausing now and then to glance at you for updates on the movie you were watching, even if only ten minutes had passed since the last check-in. But something must have been different this time, because an hour passed. Then two, then three, and the giant remained laser-focused on the flickering screen, inputting data you couldn’t comprehend.

You’re reminded of the early days of your existence in these new conditions, when your only entertainment was watching him work. Back then, he wasn’t so protective, nor did he pay you much attention. He was a nightmare—a cold-blooded, emotionless beast that stripped you of your life and replaced it with a fight for survival.

But that was the past. Painful beginnings you tried not to dwell on. You wanted to focus on the present because you knew something was up. Something must have happened beyond your small universe that shook someone as stoic and composed as him. You knew your curiosity — and especially your concern — should end there. You should revel in his downfall, take satisfaction in the misfortune that befell him. It was the only possible form of revenge, the only way to feel a fleeting sense of gratification.

But you couldn’t. Because you saw humanity in his behavior. You saw yourself. You remembered all the times you’d been unsettled—when your steps quickened, when you reduced human contact, when your fingers struck the keyboard harder than usual. Even without context, you understood how he felt. It was terrifying, humanizing your captor, a faceless alien — a creature displaying the most human of traits. Yet, you couldn’t deny it to him, just as you couldn’t deny it to yourself. You were still human; you still felt, still tried to empathize, even if the subject was a gigantic, enigmatic robot. That intrinsic part of you, deeply encoded in your genetic makeup, was reaping its harvest. You just had to decide whether it was a good or bad one.

"Hey," you attempt. Your voice comes out uncertain, betraying your internal conflict.

The titan turns his head toward you, startlingly fast—too fast for your liking. His sudden attention strips away the last remnants of your courage. As he looks at you, waiting, expecting you to continue, you suddenly feel microscopic, recalling the dynamic between the two of you. You wonder whether you should drop the subject, let it go, and enjoy the rare day when he wasn’t bothering you. Pretend you came home from work and were watching a comfort movie. But as he stops typing and gives you his full attention, you realize you’re a coward. Because deep down, you do want to help him, even if it’s just with one question. But you’re held back by lingering fears, the remnants of a survival instinct that no longer belongs to you.

He tilts his head and leans closer to you—a wake-up call you needed. Was your lack of follow-up really that concerning to him?

"Is everything okay?" you finally ask, looking straight into the center of his "face."

He freezes, as if completely unprepared for such a question. Your concern is uncharted territory for both him and you, so his reaction doesn’t surprise you. It only serves to humanize him further, to draw you in with his awkwardness. And you willingly step closer to the trap.

A thumbs-up emoji flashes on the screen, breaking the awkwardness.

You smile faintly; his use of human emojis has always fascinated you. And your giant seems to read your mind, sending you an adorable :3 moments later.

You feel as though a weight has been lifted from your chest, taking the tension with it. You don’t expect him to always be in a good mood, even though, for a victim, such conditions are favorable for living. But seeing him like this makes you feel better. Lighter.

He extends an open hand toward you, placing it on the desk. An invitation you cautiously accept. The titan gently wraps his fingers around you and pulls you closer to his chest, where you’re forced to press your whole body against him. Another novelty, another uncharted territory.

He’s unbelievably warm, a stark contrast to the chilliness of the room. The necessity of embracing his strangely soothing warmth shifts into a choice. Because whether you want to admit it or not, he’s offering you comfort.

Your field of vision is limited, but you see him return to his workstation. Two tendrils extend, typing on his behalf, while his head remains focused on you. One of his fingers begins to stroke your back, tracing soft circles, studying your anatomy. He lingers over your shoulder blades, subtly outlining their shape. It’s a gentle curiosity you can’t deny him because you feel the same way. You want to know more — about his species, why he’s here on Earth. But above all, you want to know about him.

"Who are you?" you finally ask, uncertain if you’ll receive an answer.

[felassan]

Snippets. you know what about. 😊

On configuring the HUD: "Too be clear, you can't go crazy - but there are a bunch of options if you want fewer things on screen or some alternate ways of having some elements activate" [source: the Discord]

"One of the skill trees for Rogues is more focused on ranged combat, and it's pretty viable to go almost pure ranged (honestly maybe a bit OP at the moment" [source: the Discord]

Each of the 3 main classes has 2 distinct weapon types [source] (Fel note: this is written in a way that makes it sound like it applies for mages too. Apart from staff, I wonder what the other weapon type for mages is..? :>) it's bow and dual swords for rogue, 2h and sword and shield for warrior.

for the Discord Q&A, the goal is to be able to read it in writing later on. [source: the Discord]

So for classes, it's looking like this right? ^^ 3 mages: Neve, Bellara, Emmrich. Lace - Rogue in DA:I. Lucanis - Rogueyness akimbo. Davrin - sword and shield in trailer, so warrior. Taash - seems like a warrior. 3/2/2 mage/rogue/warrior.

Many of the devs that made previous games are still at BioWare. "The creative director of this one has been there since 2007, the art director since 2004, the producer since the MDK2/BG2 days." and there are tons more too. [source]

It's not huge open regions like DA:I [source]

The team took focus to get keyboard and mouse on PC feeling good [source]

A user asked about accessing more abilities and how there was a 'second layer' of mapped abilities in a previous game. Answer: The DA team is going to showcase more combat soon where they talk about that and show the full list of options for how many abilities you can use [source]

A user asked about the presence of complex fights in the game, and mentioned the Cory battle in DA2. Answer: there is some stuff in the game that takes forever to get to and then kicks your ass for a while. there is also some fixed level stuff that you need to explore to find [source]

More on exploration coming later [source]

"Pretty sure the team is primed to showcase a lot more of the combat and progression depth in the near future." [source]

The name of the game has officially been changed internally for a long while. "It just takes a lot of moving pieces to make it official" [source]

"At a proper time we will disclose more details about our composer, soundtrack and playstyle options." [source]

"I have to say that even though I knew what was going to happen, when I played the SGF Demo for the first time, in a room with full surround sound, I got several emotions." [source]

Mark Darrah on the name change: "Change can be scary but this is a good sign." [source]

Re: the game's character focus: "It's not that DA hasn't been about characters [in the past] it's more that we haven't been willing to admit it [until now]" [source]. This is the first DA to be this deliberate in its focus on characters [source]

A request for Ukraininan language localization to be added to the game was passed along [source]

[literaryvein-reblogs]

What are ways you can make s big cast of characters and make them feel different from each other?

Writing Notes: Ensemble Cast

Characters don't exist in a vacuum; they interact with each other, sometimes in tropish ways. Ensembles are some of the more common group dynamics you'll find.

In most cases, the protagonist is a defining element of fiction. It is they whom the plot revolves around and, usually, the one the audience is supposed to empathize with most.

However, some shows decide to do something different—there is no one protagonist. The plot and its narrative don't revolve around a single, "most important" main character. Instead, it shares a cast of characters with (almost) equal screentime and importance to the plot. This is called an Ensemble Cast.

This type of narrative is interesting because it highlights the relations between different characters by taking away the importance of a single character.

In addition, it allows the writers to focus on different characters in different episodes freely, without worrying about giving the main character not enough screen time.

On the other hand, it can also result in a work that lacks focus and drive.

Something must unite the events other than the main character.

Most of these works therefore fix on a restricted setting and stick to it like glue.

Some Ensemble Subtropes

Big Bad Ensemble - The story features two or more villains, each of whom has their own distinct agenda and resources. Having multiple main villains can bring new dimensions to the story and make it more complex and less predictable. It can force The Hero to face a range of different challenges. The success or failures of one Big Bad can affect the fortunes of another, as they may have to consider each other in their plans, or might try to profit from another's defeat. The hero might defeat one villain before fighting another, or might regard one as more dangerous or important than the others.

Big, Thin, Short Trio - A group of three people where one is huge, one is skinny and one is short.

Breakfast Club - A gang of misfits whom no-one likes and/or don't like themselves (and perhaps each other by extension) get together, or an elder, often a Zen Survivor, brings them together.

Classical Elements - A team or group of people in which each character is associated with one of the classical elements, the classical elements being a specific subset of the Natural Elements, typically composed of fire, water, earth, or air. So the standard ensemble is a team of four with each person aligned with either fire, water, earth, or air.

Creepy Family - A family that happens to consist of monsters or very strange and sinister people.

Nice, Mean, and In-Between - In certain group dynamics, you will notice three characters with different mannerisms, attitudes, and personalities that are easy to identify with — a character who is nice and gentle, a character who is mean and tough, and the character who is caught in between the two other characters.

Rotating Protagonist - When a series with an Ensemble Cast has each episode focus on a different character. In other words, a series where every episode is a different character's Day in the Limelight.

With a Friend and a Stranger - When introducing characters, you want to keep the overall number of relationships and names to remember to a minimum. This is why many media start off with only a handful of primary characters, often three. There are many common "stock" variations on the genders and relationships of these few characters. One of them is the friend and stranger dynamic. The protagonist will have a best friend, often a childhood friend. This dynamic is easy to show in the limited time you have to hook your audience, and easy to add depth to at a later time. The third character will be a stranger to the protagonist and their friend. Their appearance will often serve to drive the plot, and their unfamiliarity with the characters and location helps justify Exposition.

The Hollywood Formula - follows the interactions of three characters through the Three-Act Structure:

The Protagonist — the person the story is about. He or she is a person who wants a goal. The goal must be something concrete, definable, and achievable. Rather than "I want to be happy" or "I want to be rich", but rather, "I want him to fall in love with me so that I will be happy." "I want to win the game show that I'm going to be on so that I will be rich." "I want to rob the casino of the guy who's dating my ex-girlfriend, so I can be happy and rich."

The Antagonist — the person who places obstacles to the goal in the path of the protagonist. This does not mean the bad guy. The antagonist's goals are in some way opposed to the protagonist, and they are the one who is blocking the protagonist's journey.

The Relationship Character — the person who accompanies the protagonist on their journey. Typically, they are someone who has been there, done that before, and they have wisdom to communicate to the protagonist, and the protagonist isn't hearing it. The theme of the story, what the protagonist needs to understand in order to succeed, is expressed either by or to this character. In many cases, this happens as part of an actual conversation. At the end of the story, this conversation or expression of the theme will be revisited, and the protagonist and this character will reconcile with each other.

The story ends when the protagonist achieves or relinquishes his goal, defeats or is defeated by the antagonist, and reconciles with the relationship character. The closer together these things happen, the more emotional impact the story will have.

Excerpt from this post:

Ensemble of Characters. In summary, most successful sitcoms have this dynamic (and some unsuccessful ones lack some element of it): BOSS – A character in position of power over the striver/protagonist and others – it may be a role or rank or just social status or family seniority. They may have real power or it may just be vested in them by their position but they are inept in some way. STRIVER (PROTAGONIST) – The main comic character with all their flaws and failings. FOIL – The more reasonable normal one (usually also a striver) who has to deal with the main striver. Often protagonist and foil are basically on the same side but they can be rivals. Usually the foil is the one the audience can identify with but sometimes they are less obviously likeable. FOOL – Self-explanatory – the "stupid" or naive and awkward one. Often happy with their lot, they tend to be able to bounce back from the indignities heaped on them.

Writing Tips: Ensemble Casts

With each additional main character you add to your narrative, you’re adding another layer of complexity to your writing process. You don’t want to have extra characters just to have them, after all—each character needs to be unique, compelling, and contribute a story worth telling to the narrative as a whole.

Interview Your Characters - You’re going to sit down and pretend like you’re speaking to your characters. Is it a news interview? A gossip rag interview? A police interrogation? That’s all up to you. The questions you ask? Also up to you! The only important thing is that you answer each question as your character. If you’re stuck trying to create characters for your latest project, or if you have the basics down but you need a little push to help them feel like real, fully fleshed-out people, interview them.

Mix and Match On-Page Pairings - When you have an ensemble cast, some characters will inevitably spend more time with each other than others. When you mix and match your on-page pairings, you give the audience a few things. First, you give them a switch-up—something unexpected and, hopefully, enjoyable to read: a change of pace. Secondly, you give yourself the opportunity to explore parts of your characters that you might not have explored previously. After all, every relationship brings new opportunities to compare and contrast your character’s personality and outlook. Don’t be afraid to change things up as you’re writing and see what comes out of it.

Back Your Characters Into a Corner - Be as brutal to your characters as possible. For better or for worse, people show their truest colors when their back is against the wall. Backing your character into a corner is a convenient way to show your audience exactly what your character is made of. Your readers are also going to be more willing to readily sympathize with a character when they’re in a pickle. Getting a reader to sympathize with one main character is hard. When you put every single one of your characters in a seemingly inescapable situation, you give yourself a better chance of getting readers to connect with your characters, put themselves in their shoes, and really feel for them.

Character Voice - Each character should have a unique way of speaking. This will show up not only in the words they say, but in the things they say, and, by extension, the thought process behind their words. Best case scenario: it should be obvious without dialogue tags which character is speaking.

Diverse Representation - This allows us to challenge stereotypes, break down barriers, and promote inclusivity. Readers are exposed to characters who may share their own experiences or who open their eyes to different ways of life. Our hope is that this broadens readers' horizons, fosters empathy, and promotes a deeper understanding of the world. A diverse ensemble cast provides a platform for exploring social issues and amplifying marginalized voices. By incorporating characters from various walks of life, we can tackle important topics such as race, gender, and sexuality.

Embracing the Power of Perspective - One of the strengths of using an ensemble cast is the ability to present the story through multiple perspectives. This allows readers to connect with each character and understand their unique motivations. Constantly ask yourself, "Whose scene is this? Who has the most at stake here?"

Balancing Storylines - One of the greatest challenges during the plotting process is ensuring that all your characters have a common goal to strive for throughout the story. At the beginning, they are all individuals with their own goals, but mold them into a cohesive group with a shared objective.

Build Interconnecting Character Arcs - Your ensemble cast needs to grow and change together as the story goes on. Your characters should all impact one another in some way. Are they helping one another grow? Are they bad influences, bringing one another to regress? The choice is yours. Only when your characters come together to impact one another deeply and profoundly will you be able to impact your audience in that same way with your ensemble cast as a whole.

Sources: 1 2 3 4 ⚜ More: Notes & References ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

Choose which of these tips from different sources work most appropriately for your writing, and which notes & tropes you could use as inspiration.

[gremoria411]

Zeon Remnants: Why so many?

*Spoilers for most of the Universal Century Below*

So a common criticism of Universal Century I see is that it’s essentially all Zeon Remnants, all the time. That it every antagonist to the Earth Federation is either a Zeon remnant or related to such and it makes the universal century feel smaller.

That is 100% a valid criticism.

However, it’s not something I particularly notice as a problem, so I figured I’d make a post delving into my reasons why. I’ll be talking about each of the “main” Zeon groups (The Principality of Zeon, The Delaz Fleet, Axis Zeon, Char’s Neo Zeon and The Sleeves) and I’ll talk about why Zeon are so frequently the antagonist. Alright, enough preamble, let’s get on with it.

Why don’t I have a problem with Zeon always showing up, all the time?

Because I usually consider each Zeon group its own thing. Like, yeah the aesthetics and some mobile suits tend to match up but they typically have…. If not different goals, then different cultures. It’s not just the same thing all the time.

I’ll be dividing them by roughly four factors:

Motivations - *Why* are they fighting, how unified are they?

Size - big force or little force, since it affects how they fight.

Newtypes - Oh hey, it’s just possibly one of their more important contributions to the setting in general. Kinda important. Focusing more on how they’re used and how they’re seen.

Mechanics - Mobile suits and overall tech level for the time.

The Principality of Zeon

First up, the good ol’ Principality of Zeon. The P of Z, if you will. Founded by Degwin Sodo Zabi in the aftermath of Zeon Zum Deikun’s death in U.C. 0068. Rapid Militarisation of Side 3 (Munzo), the colonies composing Zeon followed, with what would become the One Year War being declared in UC 0079. It’s sometimes known as “The Duchy of Zion” in older translations.

It’s a little unclear *why* war was declared, but the official line and the view of the average citizen would be that it was a war of Independence from the Earth Federation. Zeon Zum Deikun (who Zeon was named after) was the father of Contolism, a philosophy that combines two major elements:

Elseim - The Earth is Sacred, and must be protected (The Earth is Humanity’s Cradle, but man cannot live in the cradle forever-type stuff, with a big focus on environmentalism).

Sideism - All Space Colonies should be independent from the Earth Federation (This is where all the “Those whose souls are still bound by gravity”-type stuff comes from).

And nestled riiight in the middle of those two is the Newtype Theory, which postulates that ascending into space is the next stage of mankind’s evolution, giving rise to a “new type” of individual, with the ability to communicate over great distances and divides.

Due to Class divides and economic disparity between the Earth Federation “elite” and the Space Colonists (particularly those in Side 3), Contolism was massively popular, with Zeon Zum Deikun being raised to leader of Side 3. However, he died suddenly and (apparently) appointed Degwin Zabi as his successor. Degwin would instigate a purge of Zeon’s most loyal followers, and place his children in high ranking political positions, ruling the Principality of Zeon as absolute dictator. It’s unclear if Degwin declared war as the logical conclusion of the Contolism Philosophy to wrest Earth from the Federation, if he viewed it as a way to secure greater power or if he genuinely wanted to rule the entire earth sphere.

What I’m getting at here is that your average Zeon soldier believes he is fighting for the Independence of the Space Colonies and the safeguarding of Earth against the Federation Elites who seek to exploit it. The higher command however, is incredibly fractious, since each one is operating under a different member of the Zabi Family, and so there tends to be a lot of friction. Even if Zeon had won the OYW, it’s likely it would’ve had to deal with a Civil War at some point or another (dependant on which members of the Zabi family survived).

Zeon is also notable in that it’s the single largest organisation here, and since mobile suit combat was relatively new, it fought with a lot more variety than any of its successors, such as tanks and mobile armours. It also had the advantage of, with the notable exception of the RX-78 and its derivatives, being far better off than the Earth Federation technologically, possessing advanced mobile suits and actual Newtype research (important note; With one singular exception, it is never suggested that Zeon’s Newtype laboratories are anything less than above-board. Are they under immense pressure to succeed? Absolutely. But crucially, they aren’t inhuman). It had a large variety of mobile suits - usually a few good “workhorse” units (Zaku’s and Dom’s) with a bunch of oddities on the side (like Gyan’s and Zakarello’s).

Lastly, the One Year War itself. This is a point I’ll be coming back to frequently throughout this, but; The Federation possessed a major population and material advantage over the Principality of Zeon for the entire war, and was able to deploy a staggering amount of enlisted soldiers into the war. Zeon possessed the advantage of mobile suits early on, but they were also forced to mobilise a great many soldiers. Both Sides of the One Year War lost half of their respective populations in the early stages of the war (The One Week Battle) and Side 4 Moore was utterly devastated. What I’m getting at is that there would be an awful lot of individuals with millitary training and/or technological know-how running around after the war, as occurred in the real-world World War II and Cold War (strictly speaking I’m looking at them being an easy source of millitary experience in genre fiction, but you get the idea). So you have a lot of Ex-Soldiers and remaining military equipment hanging around, and a lot of people with “legitimate grievances” to hate the other side (Warcrimes on both sides, The Earth Federation essentially doesn’t change, Zeon Remnants remain an active problem with several becoming pirates and there’s a lot of Federation “mop-up” teams going around, the precursors to the Titans).

So, The Principality of Zeon in a nutshell; Principled reasoning (i.e. Contolism), massive force, Newtypes rare and incredibly valued (since they’re essentially a living reminder of why they’re fighting and a massive force multiplier), mobile suits essentially brand new and largely experimental.

The Delaz Fleet (and Zeon Remnants in general)

The Delaz Fleet was formally created in U.C. 0081, being primarily composed of former Gihren Zabi Loyalists from the Principality of Zeon, led by Aigulle Delaz (above, left). They were most famous for Operation Stardust in U.C. 0083. I’m also going to be discussing Zeon Remnant groups in general here, since the Delaz Fleet is essentially just a very large and successful Zeon remnant group. Delaz’ goal is relatively simple - vengeance. Delaz wishes to deal a hefty blow to the federation, largely to avenge the Principality’s loss at a Baoa Qu, with much of his forces feeling similarly (note: it’s possible that, had their been less withdrawals of Gihren Faction Loyalists like Delaz, A Baoa Qu may have gone differently). The forces under his command is relatively small, to the point where he is forced to seek aid from both the Axis Advance Fleet (though this is largely in materials and recovery) and the Cima Fleet, which costs him dearly.

Delaz specifically embellishes the “cause” of Zeon, focusing less on the Principality’s totally necessary warcrimes and more on Zeon’s fight for Independence against the Earth Federation. This is relevant because Delaz reaches a wide audience, espousing his own Zeonic ideals, largely divorced from the original Contolism basis. He also blames the weakened political leadership of the time (read: that nasty Kycilia murdering his precious Gihren Zabi). Delaz is specifically the most successful of the Zeon remnants in his era, directly to the space colonies detriment, since his actions directly lead to the founding of the Titans, who brutally crack down on the Colonies.

Equipment-wise, Zeon remnant groups are a varied bunch, but typically fight using older or ad-hoc equipment - The Delaz Fleet primarily utilises upgraded machines from the One Year War - Zaku FII’s, Rick Dom’s and, most notably, Dra-C’s - mobile suits cobbled together from spare Zaku and Gattle fighter-bomber parts. Any other materials they use are either stolen from the Earth Federation or are acquired through other means.

Newtypes are kinda weird here, since there just aren’t any in 0083, and the general theme with Newtypes in other remnant groups around this time is typically that they’re either propaganda or just not very good. It’s possible that the Newtype philosophy was largely dormant for a while immediately following Zeon’s defeat - either viewed as propaganda or directly suppressed by the Earth Federation themselves (like Amuro). The Newtype philosophy likely experienced as resurgence with the emergence of the Titans, since it would have been a rallying cry for spacenoid independence once more. As such, Newtypes just aren’t a big thing in Zeon remnant groups around this era, at least as near as I can tell (Delaz is the only animated force we see, and I try not to rely too much on manga, at least for Universal Century).

So, Delaz Fleet (and immediate postwar Zeon remnants) in a nutshell; Varied Motivations (though typically vengeance or survival), Small Guerilla Force, Newtypes near non-existent, mobile suits either OYW cast-offs or stolen.

Axis Zeon

Which I admit I’m using because it’s more easily distinguished than Neo Zeon, Neo Zeon and Neo Zeon. Anyway, Axis Zeon is made up of the various Zeon remnants that fled to the Asteroid Axis after the One Year War, this includes several pilots, scientists and engineers, which ensures that Axis enjoys a massive technological edge for most of its existence. Axis, in contrast to Zeons prior, is primarily concerned with “The Restoration of the Zabi Family” since one of the people that ended up there is Mineva Zabi, daughter of Dozle and the Zabi family’s only living heir. Except Glemy maybe.

Since Mineva was of the Zabi family lineage, of course she’d want to resume their conquest of the Earth Sphere, and so Axis was reconstructed into a fortress for her to rule when she came of age, with a regent being appointed to rule in her stead, which eventually fell to Haman Karn. Haman was essentially able to use Mineva as a figurehead in order to mount an invasion of Earth, and struck at the end of the Gryps War, when both the Titans and AEUG were reeling from that conflict. It’s also notable that a lot of the Axis members we see are very young, so were raised on “The Glories of Zeon” without actually seeing the realities of the One Year War with their own eyes.

Neo Zeon also was able to develop and field newtype weaponry, with newtypes being a potent threat against the AEUG. However, they still weren’t common, and so Cyber Newtypes were fielded. In contrast to “true newtypes” who have naturally awakened to their powers, cyber-newtypes are those with Newtype potential who have been forcibly conditioned with drugs and implants in order to function for combat. Though deadly threats, they are very unstable. You may notice that this seems anathema to the Contolism Philosophy espoused by Zeon Zum Deikun, and is incredibly dehumanising to boot, signifying that Axis is barely even paying lip service to its ideals of spacenoid independence. Axis Zeon is also notable for utilising clones to supplement its Newtype forces, which…. I don’t think is strictly counter to Contolism? But it feels like it’s against it in spirit, if not in letter.

It’s especially notable that a great many members of Axis Zeon espouse things like “For the Glory of Neo Zeon” and “For the Restoration of the Zabi Family” without really understanding what they mean. It’s also notable that, barring links with surviving Zeon Remnant groups, Axis isn’t noted as being very popular with the colonial population, likely because they don’t really understand what the “Ideals of Zeon” mean, and the civilians recognise them as merely parroting Zabi rhetoric.

Axis Zeon would eventually be undone by a Civil War within the organisation led by Glemy Toto, coupled with the AEUG’s offensives. Unlike the political manoeuvring of the One Year War, the Glemy Faction coup occurs very suddenly and results in massive casualties in the organisation due to his command of the Newtype corps.

Technologically, Axis is absolutely cutting-edge. They really don’t cheap out on mobile suit development and are able to design and field a variety of units comparable to the Principality in its heyday. Axis forces are essentially the best-armed Zeon will ever be, helped massively by the sheer amount of Newtype weaponry they can deploy (they have three mainline mobile suits in the Neo Zeon War, all three seeing good amounts of production at various stages and they’re typically first pick for Zeon Remnant Groups in the U.C. 0090’s). They also have the facilities for Newtype cloning, as mentioned above.

Axis Zeon in a nutshell; Hollow Motivations (Restoration of the Zabi Family and Conquest of the Earth Sphere), large force, newtypes and cyber-newtypes prevalent, mobile suits many, varied and cutting-edge.

(I haven’t quite finished all of ZZ, so forgive me if this one’s a bit rough)

Char’s Neo Zeon/Newborn Neo Zeon

Sometimes also known as Char’s Rebellion. It was basically founded in order to accelerate space migration….. by plunging the Earth into nuclear winter and making it near-uninhabitable. Founded by our good buddy Char Aznable in U.C. 0093, there’s less to go on for this particular iteration of Zeon, basically just a movie and supplemental information. It is composed of various Zeon remnants and political factions under Char Aznable with the express purpose of instigating the Axis Drop in order to make the earth uninhabitable and stop humanity from damaging it. Which is a terrible plan, barely paying lip service to the Contolist ideals Zeon was founded upon.

That’s because it’s a lie.

Char is in fact mounting a suicide run on the entire Earth. Creating a threat so massive that Amuro will be forced to kill him to stop it. Which is rather informative. Char is essentially using his influence to hold the entire operation together, and it’s notable that a good chunk of his own forces actively move to counter his goal when the option presents itself. Consequently, there isn’t much in the way of ideals on display here - Char is famous both for being the son of Zeon Zum Deikun and for his Dakar Address when he was a member of the AEUG. It kinda seems like a lot of his support is coming from people who know him from that, as opposed to what he’s actually doing. Newborn Neo Zeon is basically headlined and held together by Char, and has the vibe of a desperate last gasp for Zeon. It’s also notable that the only time we see Char actually lead Zeon is when he’s using its name for his own ends.

Newborn Neo Zeon also has a great more political pull than many of the other groups - Char Succeeds in a lot of his goals because he’s essentially able to play the Earth Federation like a fiddle, while remnant groups happily provide him aid. Technologically he has the backing of both Anaheim and Newtype Labs. Char’s mobile suits are, while not cutting-edge as such, very well rounded. The Geara Doga and Jagd Doga both share components and a general body structure, and the only reason the Sazabi is unique is because they couldn’t make the frame suit Char’s abilities (there’s a bunch of prototype units that pave the way to the Sazabi). Newborn Neo Zeon also retains a number of Axis Zeon Remnants, which bring their mobile suits and technical skill as well. Newtypes, while not exactly common, are considerably more stable than their Axis predecessors, and are given Jagd Doga’s, which are probably the closest a Newtype machine has ever come to reliability and ease of use. There’s also the Alpha Azieru…. which is also there (I don’t really have a lot to say on it honestly, it’s just kind of another “big newtype weapon”). Unfortunately, I really don’t have much to go on here regarding how the force views its newtypes - they’re essentially just treated as a special branch of the forces, no contolist ethics here, which is genuinely pretty sad. Because it illustrates just how far Char’s fallen from the ideals he espoused at the end of Zeta, especially considering he’s the son of Zeon Zum Deikun.

Char’s Neo Zeon in a nutshell: Motivations lean Char-centric, middling force with a lot of soft power, Newtypes present and mostly stable, small mobile suit variety but what’s there is very good.

(The Geara Doga’s one of my favourite grunt suits, so I’m probably quite biased here)

The Sleeves

Last of the “main” Neo Zeon Organisations. The Sleeves is a melting pot of every Zeon remnant group going. Founded around U.C. 0096, they were led by the man called Full Frontal, known as the “ghost of char”. Due to their disparate status, they aren’t recognised as a legitimate organisation by the Federstion, instead being branded a terrorist group - which they essentially are, being an aggregation of a bunch of other informal Zeon remnant groups. This mixed nature leads to a similar diversity in views and equipment - you have die-hard contolists, Glemy faction remnants, newborn Neo Zeon cast-offs and everything in-between.

They are essentially a return to form for Zeon Remnant groups, but are able effectively leverage their limited assets to fight quite effectively, though again, they’re heavily reliant on soft power, such as their relationship with Anaheim and political connections. They don’t have the forces to steamroll through the Earth Federation, so they’re forced to adopt an almost cell-based approach (at least that’s my read on Full Frontal and Suberoa Zinnerman’s relationship). It’s an odd mix of the realities of a Guerilla war against the federation and hearkening back to Neo-Zeon groups past (who were themselves hearkening back to the days of the old Principality). I should also note that The Sleeves maintain links with several other Zeon Remnant groups, such as some of the forces that attack Torrington in Unicorn. This is interesting not just because it shows a greater deal of collaboration between these groups than seen prior (Delaz and Cima were not exactly trusting of each other), it also shows a different mechanical composition to pre-U.C. 0090 remnant groups.

They’re kind of all over the place. Which I love because it’s 1:1 with their philosophical composition - they’re remnants from a bunch of different forces and groups, so of course it makes sense that their mobile suits would reflect that. The Sleeves do possess the…. Not-quite-cutting-edge-but-at-least-new Geara Zulus and the absolutely fabulous Sinanju (s), Kyshatriya and Rebawoo, but that’s kind of all they’re at. Everything else is from at least Char’s Rebellion or earlier - there’s one-of-a-kind custom units, old axis castoffs, even some stuff from the One Year War and immediate postwar period (like that poor regelgu). A varied armament for a varied force.

However, it is notable that The Sleeves don’t really have much of an identity of their own, largely due to their patchwork composition. They’re the scattered remnants of previous causes, and this is both called out and used against them in-universe. It feels like an examination of Char’s actions during CCA - Full Frontal certainly has Char’s charisma, but he doesn’t have his drive as evidenced by his eventual goal, which isn’t necessarily a *bad* aim, it’s just not Char.

Following on from this they share Newborn Neo Zeon’s just general…. disinterest in newtypes. They’re like any other pilot, they can just use different equipment. All the Sleeves Newtypes we see are very well-equipped though, so how they precisely look at them is unclear. This could be viewed as another extension of Char’s attitudes in CCA.

The Sleeves in a nutshell: Motivations are kind of all over the place, middling-to-low-sized force, newtypes uncommon but mostly-stable (one exception) and very effective, massive mobile suit variety but quality’s also all over the place.

Conclusion

So yeah, I find each revival of Zeon different enough that I can consider them separately to each other - yeah, there’s crossover, but their attitudes change each time - the only thing that stays the same is the aesthetic and who they’re fighting against.

But why are Zeon so often the antagonist?

Out-of-universe, because they sell. But you already knew that so let’s talk about possible In-universe reasons:

Old Equipment - The Principality was *huge*. Masses of equipment, enlisted men and yes, mobile suits. We see several individuals that are able to survive on the Scrap alone - Kelly Layzner, Judau Ashta, even the AEUG utilize a Gelgoog at one point. There’s a lot of material out there, and its a hot commodity post war and the Earth Federation will be in a hurry to rebuild - they don’t have the resources to track down every case of assault rifles or damaged-but-not-irreparable mobile suit. The South Seas alliance in Gundam Thunderbolt is one such organisation, but there will be a lot of Zeon Remnants who are still functional.

Loss of Leadership, not force - Aguille Delaz personally blames the “weak political leadership” (IE Kycillia) for the loss in the One Year War, but we can extrapolate that further. The Battle for A Baoa Qu saw pretty much all the remaining Zabi High Command due within hours of each other - Gihren kills Degwin, Kycillia kills Gihren, Char kills Kycillia. These are three massive losses to the war effort in very short spaces of time. Gihren’s betrayal of Degwin would’ve been very costly for him even if Kycillia hadn’t taken revenge there and then. He deprived himself of both the Solar Ray and the Fleet that Degwin was part of. The fact he took out Revil as well merely would’ve made it an even loss - if it wasn’t for the Solar Ray being rendered unusable into the bargain. Kycilia’s revenge killing of Gihren deprives A Baoa Qu of forces as the commanders loyal to Gihren flee the scene - Delaz among them - weakening the defence overall. Finally, Kycilia is killed as she is attempting to flee to Granada, where she planned to continue the war. This leaves a great many well-armed forces at large, since their strength wasn’t spent at A Baoa Qu - forces that Axis Zeon will draw on. All it really takes to galvanise these remnants is a charismatic individual, something which isn’t exactly in sort supply in the Universal Century.

Corollary to the above - Unclear loss - A Baoa Qu was absolute chaos, so the precise mechanics of “why Zeon lost” might be difficult for the average soldier to grasp - particularly one lacking in reliable non-federation communication sources. It would be easy to look at the mess of A Baoa Qu, then look at the equipment beside you and think “Yeah, we could’ve won. Yeah, we might still win”.

Unchanged Status Quo - Zeon launched the One Year War, at least officially, in the name of Independence. The Earth Federation was governing the colonies poorly, and class inequality was high. This does not change, if anything, it gets worse, as groups like the Titans see the OYW and Operation Stardust as Carte Blanche to utterly suppress the space colonies, and carry out War Crimes at least equal to Zeon’s. A failed war might at least spark some change to prevent another one, but if anything conditions for spacenoids only get worse, so resistance groups would see an upturn in numbers.

Corollary to the Above - Spacenoid Independence doesn’t stop with the war - The Independence of the Space Colonies is still a hot-button issue which the Federation has reason to suppress. So any ex-Zeon soldiers that folded back into civilian life may get involved with Colonial Independence movements. Or, any colonial independence movement that finds the Federation isn’t listening to them might seek a way to *make* them listen - and might find Zeon Remnant Groups sympathetic to their cause.

Little oversight - Before the formation of the Titans, the Earth Federation government believed Zeon to be removed as a threat - small pirate groups, but nothing major. Operation Stardust changed all this, yes, but before that Zeon remnant groups could operate largely unopposed, especially in areas with lower federation presence.

Total Societal Upheavel - Half of the population of the Universal Century died in the One Week Battle. Side 4 Moore was completely destroyed. There’s going to be some serious societal reconstruction after that no matter how you look at it. (Sidebar - Polygamy is mentioned as being a lot more common in Gundam Thunderbolt after the OYW, due to the massive gender disparity - you could also read this as Universal Century also being supportive of Lesbians). It’s not necessarily a driving force behind Zeon Remnant groups, but it’s worth remembering.

Military Experience - The big one, in my opinion. You have a lot of individuals with military experience after the war, including Guerilla warfare. This includes all the forces that had to adapt to new environments, like fighting in space, in colonies or on earth. There’s also a massive postwar economic depression. That’s not going to breed contentment towards a weak government, especially one that wasn’t doing a good job before the war.

In a nutshell, Zeon has the experience, materials and drive necessary to continue being a problem after the One Year War, and the Earth Federation Government doesn’t have the institutional will to stop them until Operation Stardust, which leads to the creation of the Titans, which really don’t help the situation.

Feel free to mention anything I’ve missed!

[donnadiddadog]

a storm is coming pt 1

Summary: Kairav came across the Wall with Feyre and Tamlin and is like a brother to her. But after Amarantha, he is extremely different - more powerful than Rhysand can comprehend. Now, the Inner Circle finds out why. And there is an entirely different new level of conflict between Hybern and Prythian. A new danger for the very fabric of their universe.

Word Count: 1.6K ish

Warnings: None really.

a/n: OC’s name is Kairav and he was Feyre’s friend in the Village when Feyre was taken by Tamlin; he decided to come with her and Tamlin agreed. He comes with Feyre to the Night Court during the bargain and everything. Also, he and Azriel going to be very gay for each other, I promise. This is also going to be very mythological - I am adding a new level of gods and stuff to this so expect this to be a whole-ass series! Drop your ideas in the comments for any more gods' abilities or magical plots!

30th Jan 2025, Writing 4

“Wait I’m confused, so you are like the Mother?”, Cassian asked, his eyebrows scrunched together as he tried to comprehend what was happening. Here was his friend, a person he knew for as long as Feyre since he came across the Wall with her and Tamlin; now he’s saying something that makes sense and at the same time didn't?

“In a way, yes I am. The Mother is just a way for the Fae to comprehend the concept of the Celestials. Yemari was the name of the last Celestial and she is what you call the Mother.”, Kairav tried explaining to them once again. “The world is composed of magic, that much is obvious. Each court has its own specific magic power. Each fae of that court is therefore born with that power type or a variation of it. Eris can manipulate fire and his brother can manipulate smoke because they are from the Autumn Court whose magic is fire. So on and so forth.”

He moved to the head of the table, to sit down at the chair, “But there are seven individual who are Eternals. Supreme lords in their own rights, of particular powers such as fire, earth, air, etc. that are way more powerful than high lords can ever be. Think of them as guardians of the power, the very representation of the power on this plane. But to rule them all there is a Celestial. To keep them in line and to maintain order. An eternal can be killed by a Celestial but not the other way around. They draw their power from me. I am their existence and I am their decimation. I am not a wielder of magic, I am magic.”

Kairav chuckled to himself as he tried to not sound as dramatic as he did but there was no other way to say it. This was the truth - he was the composite power of all elements, of all entities. He could create and destroy worlds. The elements would bend their knee if he stood in front of them, and the Eternals would follow. But there was one tiny caveat he hadnt mentioned yet, didnt know how to mention it.

“That’s what you are then? A Celestial?”, Mor asked rubbing her head.

“I had heard of them in stories when I was a child. Powers greater than everything we had combined a hundred times over, that maintained the world order, silenced those who were evil and maintained those who were good. Who could remove high lords in a single blink of an eye, create worlds and destroy cities. Fumacari, they were called.”, Rhys spoke as he tried to understand the situation better. This was a different crisis entirely, one that he wasn’t prepared for, one that he could never prepare for and more importantly one that wouldn’t even concern him. He was a pawn in a chess game, no more the king.

He was nothing in this fight, a mere weakling compared to the Fumacari. The Starter and Ender of Worlds. That title was spoken with respect and fear by the Royal and Lesser Fae families of Prythian. He had never even met a Mentacari, the Eternals, they were mentioned in the stories as the guardians of each court, the reason why the land chooses the next royal to be the high lord and not the royal family itself. The reason why Calanmai must happen or Starfall is respected. Mentacari. The guardian of all that is magical.

Another legend was that speaking that name would lead to the resurrection of those who ruled the world. Apparently, it was true because the Fumacari stood in front of him. He would have to apologise to his mother for laughing at her when she spoke in hushed tones about those “stories”.

“When did you become the Celestial? Were you born with it or?”, Azriel asked, curious. This was never mentioned to him in the hundreds of late night conversations that him and Kairav had on his bed throughout the past few months. He felt betrayed frankly but knew that now was not the time for his emotions.

“When Amarantha finally snapped because Feyre finished her three tasks and the curse was lifted, I was the one who finally confronted her, knowing that I was going to die. Rhys was nice enough to prevent any torture from happening to me but I did spend those three months in a dungeon and I was ready to die. I didn't want to live anymore.”, Kairav scratched his scalp as he tried to calm his nerves, the memories of that red haired witch coming back. Azriel places his hand on Kairav’s shoulder and slowly pushed down to apply pressure to remind him that he was alive and safe; Kairav continued, “Before she attacked Feyre, she killed me. She broke the bones in my body, ripping them out of my skin and I screamed in pain. Then she snapped my neck and I died. Died and left this world.”

Rhys looked like he was about to vomit, and Kairav reached his hand out to tell him to not blame himself. Speaking to him mind to mind, It wasn't your fault. He looked deep in his eyes, his purple eyes losing a bit of their glamour, I should have protected you, done more to help you. I was distracted by Feyre, ensuring she was safe that I forgot to ensure that you were safe too. I am sorry. Please dont hate me.

Kairav reassured him that he didn't hate him, could never. He knew that what had happened, had happened because of Amarantha, there was no blame to give to anyone because it all belonged to her and her only. Nothing more, nothing less.

He continued with the story,”Then, I remember a white, a completely white world. It was just white everywhere, I was floating. And a voice spoke to me. It asked me a few questions, I answered. I just assumed that this was heaven or something - maybe even a judgement before I went to heaven or hell. But thats what it was right? It made sense like that.”, I held onto Azriels hand a bit and played with his fingernail. “The voice had a conversation with me and it felt like hours or days had passed. It finally asked me you know if I was interested in going back. And I said yes, I want to go back, to live my life. And the voice showed me the workings of the universe and the future. And it asked me again, do you want to go back? And I said yes”

He closed his eyes. The voice stopped talking after that and his eyes fluttered open on that muddy ground and he saw everyone again. Feyre gasping as he opened his eyes, Tamlin looked shocked as all of his wounds closed and bones set themselves and then the massacre begun. He hadn't ripped Amarantha’s throat out because Tamlin demanded that that was his right. He honoured the High Lord of Spring’s right.

“He was the one who killed all of that bitch’s soldiers, before they could even pick up their weapons. Whatever power was present in Amarantha was sucked out by him and thats why Tamlin was able to kill her so easily. I felt his power and it was…out of this world. Now we know why.”, Rhys added, rubbing his chin. Remembering how those bolts of dark energy flew out of Kairav’s palms killing those men. How he had seen Kairav’s neck snap in a morbid angle and then, he was alive and doing feats no human should be able to do. He wouldn't forgive himself for failing him that day.

“So why are you here now? I mean is there a purpose for why you…returned? I am sorry I do not know how to talk to you. I mean you are like my brother and I am now talking to someone completely mythological.”, Feyre tried speaking, constantly stuttering in between. Kairav felt bad and tried giving her an apologetic look. This was not an easy situation to digest.

Kairav spoke,”I am here because the war with Hybern is no longer a mortal conflict. It is no longer a fight between the King of Hybern and Prythian’s High Lords. It is no longer just a fight, a war. It is now a mythological conflict, a fight for the existence of the world.”

“You mean that the world could be what? Destroyed?”

“In a way, yes.”, Kairav takes in a deep breath as he lets out his little secret. “Every cycle of the world requires the Fumacari and Mentacari to fight, to choose sides when the world has become so polarised that it now creates two sides. But they are two sides of the same coin in the end. That conflict determines which side wins. However, one side in the conflict always wants to preserve the world.”

“The other wants to destroy it?”, Azriel interjected.

“Yes, the other one wants to destroy it. That is what is happening right now. This is not conflict about the destruction of the Wall or the subjugation of humans. This is a fight for the way you live but more importantly, for the plane on which you live. Fumacari can destroy planes. Now that depends on who wins. Is it going to be Hybern or Prythian? Is it going to be the back or the front of the coin?”, Kairav absent-mindedly played with the cloth between his fingers. “The conflict’s resolution will be either this world dissolving into nothing or this world preserving and continuing on. It depends on the side.”

Feyre stopped pacing and looks up, with innocent hope in her eyes, “What other side? Celestials can kill an Eternal so just the end the war by destroying them. We have you and the King of Hybern has an Eternal with him, on his side, so just end the war. They can’t kill you anyways! There’s no need for this war or for bloodshed.”

“How foolish can you be girl? He is a Celestial, if it was an Eternal on the other side, he would have gone and killed him before we even woke up. There are two of them - that’s why they can kill each other. Catch up with the conversation. The bigger question is where is the other one?”, Amren remarks as she stares down Feyre with an annoyed expression.

“What other one? Wait, what other one are you talking about, Amren? ”, Mor adds on, confused as to why Amren is so snappy today. More than usual.

“She’s talking about me.”, a cold, female voice spoke from the back of the room.

Kairav straightened his back and smiled, she was here. The cat’s out of the bag.

“Hello, sister-self.”

I have always wanted to do some mythological world-building. FR wanna make gods that use the cauldron like a literal air fryer rather than "a magical item that controls the world" or whatever - that's how dangerous they have to be.

Also then make them gay? for our cute ass shadowsinger? yes, please!

Also special mention to @be-your-coffee-pot for the name of the new OC. shout to you, girl!

[talenlee]

Story Pile: Jellyfish Can't Swim in the Night

Once there was a girl, who won an art contest, and made an artwork that was validation from the people around her; a beautiful drawing that was a testament to what she was doing and where she was. Then someone who she knew made fun of it, and her need to avoid conflict overwhelmed her, meaning she hid from her desire to illustrate in a totally normal, mentally healthy way to be, which is why she carries herself as a grizzled tragic veteran at the age of like, sixteen. Then, she sees someone fighting to protect that artwork, a musician, someone rebelling against people criticising the art or treating it like a cheap prop, even with its graffiti overtagging, and falls into a whirlwind story that every girl wants to, jumping to hand-holding, a kiss, and then:

Hey babe.

Wanna start a youtube channel with me?

I’m really not kidding.

Now, this is a year old anime but that doesn’t mean we don’t give you the spoiler warning up front. There are things in this anime I want to talk about and they happen after the setup of the story is taken and I want to be specific. This will also involve explaining and justifying the types of queerness present in this anime, which isn’t something I can do without revealing things that the story uses as secrets and development.

Also, hey, content warning, we’re going in on an idol anime, or, well, something idol-adjacent, idolesque, and that means as a natural given we’re going to talk about an industry that abuses its participants. There’s some transphobia, there’s some abusive parenting, and there’s a pretty reasonably represented depressive-anxiety loop combo, which you know, I feel like these are not just the price of admission but kind of the content of the idol genre, but if you’re just looking for a nice show where some nice people have a nice time, this isn’t it.

I wonder if that served to actually excite a little like oh ho ho, there’s transphobia, does that mean there’s actual trans here?

We’ll get there.

In a more structural way to describe it, Jellyfish Can’t Swim in the Night is an idol anime where instead of an all-singing all-dancing idol group that focuses on a bunch of manufactured identities, instead looks at the indie idol scene (I have to assume), where the protagonists are constructing an aggregate idol character, JELEE. They are Mahiru, the illustrator who draws the character, Kano, a singer with experience in the idol industry, who writes the songs and voices the character, Mei, a pianist and composer who makes the songs, and Kiui, their editor and mixer and all-round internet problem handler.

All four of these characters are operating on their second identity.

Specifically, Mahiru credits her art to a fake identity (to avoid attention at school), Kano is presenting as herself and not as her old idol identity (to avoid the control of her mother), Mei completely reinvented herself because of that old idol identity, even down to changing her name, and Kiui’s a Vtuber called Nox Ryugasaki, and also, he’s a trans dude and I will use that terminology to refer to him now we’re past the fold. We’ll talk more about him later.

What this means is that Jellyfish Can’t Swim in the Night is an anime that considers pretty thoroughly a question about constructed identity, aggregated identity, and also, a weirdly interesting question that I don’t see expressed this way, identity abuse. The group want to make music, they make music, they become reasonably successful making music, and yet, people around them, the sources of tension and pressure in their lives, are about people attacking them on axes of their identities.

It’s an anime about the ways that you can choose to be, but also the way that what you choose to be involves presenting elements of yourself to potential harm. Kano’s mother tries to impose an identity on her and attacks her for failing to meet that imposed identity. Nox chooses a way to be and contends with being distrusted and undermined, having to actually safeguard and patrol the boundaries of his social space to maintain that identity. Being willing to give up an element of her identity is a major critical moment for Mei, and Mahiru’s whole secret life as an illustrator for an idol group is only necessary to protect her from the crime of standing out.

This is a really cool thing for an idol anime to so deliberately focus on, and I like it a lot, especially since it sets the story up to be about the characters setting a violent boundary, choosing to be independent and their own people and rejecting those people who attack those identities.

Right?

Right?

You may have heard me use the phrase, possibly even glibly in some other contexts, of invisible bullets. It’s a term that’s useful if you know it and if you don’t know it, explaining it can quickly overtake the conversation. The term is derived from the title of an essay by Stephen Greenblatt, which is itself considered foundational to the concept used in literary criticism of ‘subversion and containment.’ As described by wikipedia, this is the way that a dominant system creates subversion to utilise it for its own ends. To put it in a less archaic way, people in power can make use of things that look like an attempt to challenge that power.

The metaphor I use, because it’s how I learned it and it sticks, is that Shakespeare’s plays about a King who had a troubled spot in history can be read as either pro or against that specific king, because on the one hand, it humanises the king and shows the difficulty of his struggles, and on the other hand, it shows that king failing and being replaced because of his limitations. The thing is, that particular consideration of two sides is one which makes it necessary to accept that a good king can exist at all, as opposed to the idea that, for example, kings suck and are all bad. To engage with a text that may seem to be undermining a king, it asks you to accept its idea that this bad king is an example of a bad king, but not that kings themselves are all bad and I swear yes I am still talking about Jellyfish Can’t Swim At Night, the anime about three queer messy girls and their ya boi making an online band.

It’s an idea that once I learned it helped me to illuminate things I found unsatisfying about genre media, especially when the genre was so well defined I could see the borders and boundaries. For example, within the high school drama genre of anime, you will see stories of people grappling with loneliness and isolation in school, or even bullying and oppression, but at no point will the solution to the problem be and you shouldn’t have to put up with this, because how we run this school system is bad. No matter how nakedly obvious the failure of the system around the students are, no high school drama is going to come to the conclusion that high schools shouldn’t exist and should be replaced with something better, because to do so would be to deny that they, themselves, should exist. And what does ‘something better’ even look like? It’s hard to describe what could be improved in a grand, sweeping scale across the schooling system in (say) Japan or Australia because it’s not like you’ve seen a lot of coherent examples that don’t just kind of look like the same thing with nicer teachers.

There’s more! There’s always more, I’m simplifying a summary and using this anime as a chance to teach you what Invisible Bullets is. But it’s also a really sweet show which shows an approach towards the creation of pop music and internet material that’s closer and more grounded than any of the other current rash-slash-plague of Internet Content Creator anime (and boy do I not think well of that genre). It shows how these things are the results of multiple people working together in a schedule, and how things can’t progress until people finish other parts.

It also has a few really cool older women characters, who are also working with that whole ‘identity’ element? One character is shown ditching an identity she didn’t like in the end and embracing a new one that’s much more fun and also just, a thing the stories try to ignore existing. Another character discusses openly things like having breast augmentation and framed as things she wanted to do for herself, and then she becomes a gamer, which is kind of how the pipeline works, I am led to understand.

Then thrown into all this is the added dimension that Jellyfish Can’t Swim in the Night is uh, quite gay. Like, there’s room to argue, I’m sure, but the argument that these girls are not crushing on one another requires you to take a leading position that means you can’t read or understand social cues, and also, that you kiss the homies goodnight, because this anime features at least two breathless stolen kisses followed by stunned blushing.

I like Jellyfish Can’t Swim At Night. I like its characters, a lot. I like the kind of story it’s trying to tell, and I really like the way it presents the work of making things online as being secretly extremely collaborative. I make what could almost be considered the most bare-bones kind of online media, where this is a blog that I write in every day, but I do need other people to make it work, specifically, a web administrator I can talk to when things go wrong on the site at a level I can’t personally understand. These are things that resonate with me and that I enjoy. All four of these characters have different kinds of problems, too, they’re not just The Same Kinda Girl especially because one of them isn’t a girl. That stuff is all very engaging. I also like the way that these characters are nakedly queer weirdoes (queerdos) in a way that’s obvious enough that to deny it requires active willing obtuseness.

The world that this story is set in however, is a world where a parent can’t be that bad, even if she’s been protractedly abusive for years. It’s where doxing people and violating their privacy isn’t worth apologising for. It puts a child and her parent on equal footing and equally wrong for one abusing the other. Any conclusion that doesn’t end with this mother being hit in the head with a brick is going to be unsatisfying, because the idea of breaking away from and rejecting an abusive parent is itself, alien to the story. And I think that that’s kind of necessary for being an Idol anime. Any idol anime is going to draw the conclusion that even if any given story of life inside the idol industry is bad, the idol industry is good and all you need to do is find the way to be in it that doesn’t completely suck shit all the time, because the reward is you get to be in the idol industry and make things.

I wish it ended better, I wish it loved wilder, I wish it hated harder.

It never promised that, though, and what it gives is still great.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

[popcultureoverdosed]

Blood Blockade Battlefront is New York at its Finest

NYC often gets a bad rep. Most people either see it as a smelly hellhole filled with crime and crappy attitudes or a breeding ground for hipsters and vapid socialites. People only see what they want to see without looking at the whole picture. This makes Leonardo's all-seeing eyes of God all the more important. Instead of lumping NYC into a box, he sees it for what it truly is; a chaotic blend of volatile elements.

The storytelling of Blood Blockade Battlefront is pure chaos from beginning to end. Leonardo is thrown into a world of highly deadly scenarios with very little breathing room in between. Each episode focuses on a moment in the character's life. One episode will focus on Leonardo befriending an amnesiac monster who loves burgers and another will feature a brigade of Charlie's angels-esque spies who happen to be invisible werewolves. It's the type of show that always keeps you on your toes because you never know what to expect. Some have criticized the show for its lack of an overarching plot and treat it as if that's inherently bad. Blood Bloockade isn't the type of show that needs a complex narrative. Its biggest appeal is simply seeing its eccentric cast interact with each other. Its episodic nature made watching it a breeze since viewers are never overwhelmed with too much information.

Worldbuilding is done at a casual pace where background lore is only given when it's relevant to what's currently happening. Since most characters are already well familiar with the lore, they usually cut the small talk and get straight to the action. In this way, the narrative mirrors New Yorker's aversion to beating around the bush. Show don't tell at its finest. We need more shows that just get to the point. Rie Matsumoto, director of season 1, feels a bit different about the story than I do, though. She inserted two original characters, Black and White, a pair of siblings who share a character arc that Intersects with Leo's. Under normal circumstances, this would have been an incredibly bad move. Filler in anime tends to feel pointless and just detracts from the story. Luckily, Rie Matsumoto made sure that the filler didn't feel like filler. It was fun watching the mystery surrounding the sibling duo unravel with each episode. It eventually culminated in a finale that was nearly an hour long. Matsumoto took a huge risk with her bold decision, but she definitely stuck the landing.

The production values of the show are also top-notch. Pretty much every episode is a reminder of why studio Bones is such a beloved company. They seriously put their key animators to work in both seasons. The fluidity of the fight scenes always left me impressed. Character designer Toshihiro Kawamoto did a great job at bringing Yasuhiro Nightow's art to animation with his iconic style. I love how even when Toshihiro is adapting someone else's character design, his style still shines through.

Special mention needs to be given to composer Taisei Iwasaki because he really killed it with this soundtrack. It's an eclectic blend of jazz, RNB, hip-hop, rock and more genres that perfectly captures the vibe of a busy New York City. Each track is a different flavor of the city and made me feel at home. The soundtrack truly embodies the chaotic feel of the show and captures its occasional serene moments perfectly.The true musical highlights are the openings and endings. BBB is one of those shows where you feel compelled to watch the full episode because the opening and ending are too good to skip. They're all incredibly upbeat songs that make you wanna stop everything and dance. Sugar song and bitter step is one of my favorite anime endings because of it's colorful animation and cheerful aura.

Blood Blockade Battlefront is the type of show that can really resonate with native New Yorkers. We see all the highs and lows of the city almost every day and you have to be just a little bit crazy to appreciate NYC for what it is.

[qhoaaaa]

Whats to stop Erik from switching werewolves to werecats 👀

We don't know how far he's gonna take this AU so like , Werecats would be cool as fuck

I have an entire thing on Werecats so like I'm ready to rant about them (they're so underrated 😔 I love them)

If so , what big cats would the wolves even be? Who would lead the pack (assuming the structure stays the same)?

Ideas:

Shaw line - Lions (come on) , David would have a darker mane/coat, noted to be very attractive in real life as well, dark manes mean better fighting ability etc etc , Gabriel would have had a lighter color (David got the color from his mom)

Greer line - Cheetahs, it just fits to me, Cheetah Milo WOO

Talbot line - Leopards, again I feel like it fits, I was also thinking Pumas

Unlike actual cats irl , Werecat packs would compose of different species of cats united under a lion family line (or any cat could do, leadership rank determined by bouts for leadership)

Betas are also picked as the one who lost the leadership bout would become Beta if they wanted to accept the role

Werecats are a species similar to werewolves, so they smell similarly and its hard to tell between them, both groups are social to each other and are very friendly, often seen together as ally packs and share joint territory (very rare for a wolf pack to reject a cat pack's help etc)

Werecats are naturally more into magic, being able to pick up other magic types quickly, most like elemental/energetic magic, a rare few can even copy other species exclusive magics (get it, hint because were/cats can blend into their surroundings, ha.. I'm a nerd for this shit okay 😭)

All species love Werecats, they're naturally friendly and very powerful, physically

In human form, Werecats have even sharper canines, which can confuse others to think they are Vampires

All Werecats are able to naturally communicate with other Werecats while in shifted form as well

Hybrid Werecats also exist, being of different kinds of cats, they are accepted into the pack graciously

Is this the end, who knows

Do I got more to say, maybe lol

Did I put a lot of thought into this, yes yes I did

I love (my version) of Werecats 🙏🙏

Isthisjustanexcussthaterikcouldpossiblyhissmaybe

Mayhaps a Werewolf!Sweetheart and Werecat!Milo YES YES PLEASEEE

Have a caracal 🤗🤗

[saratalksaboutdesign]

Varesa's design is as bad as it is good.

Before we start, I'd like to apologize in advance for my tone. I usually prefer to write my analyses in a neutral and somewhat professional voice, but I feel that for this case study, not filtering my emotions towards the character helps drive the point I'm trying to make. So please bear with me for a moment.

Firstly, Genshin has a bad record of putting significantly less effort into accurately representing cultures that are not East Asian or European. So one would hope that, at the very least, they refrain from using harmful clichés or negative stereotypes for the characters of the nation supposedly based on Latin American cultures, African cultures and also indigenous peoples.

Secondly, Varesa is the first “plus size” character of Genshin Impact. Which should be celebrated! Hooray for representations of diverse bodies, even if her body type still remains a perfect hourglass figure! Except that milestone is immediately cancelled out by the fact that it is her main character trait.

Look! She is a plus size character… because she is part cow! And look, she is even depicted in her official art eating a damn taco. Added in case you didn't know that she is a glutton and that is why she is so fat! Just a gentle reminder, this girl is fat and also Mexican! And just in case it wasn't clear enough that she is fat, they also made sure to make her a competitive eater!

Just wow… how original. Like come on, is it really necessary to center her entire character around her body weight? Is there really nothing interesting that could be made with her concept?

Worst of all, her design barely contains any elements that would tie her to any real-world latin culture. And as far as I know, being a competitive eater is not typically Latin American, and neither are cows.

“Oh! But she's also supposed to be a wrestler!”

True, she is a wrestler! Except she's not even based on Mexican wrestlers. Instead, she takes after the fashion and fighting style of female Japanese wrestlers. They had the chance to base her design and move set on actual Mexican luchadores. AND THEY DIDN'T DO IT.

The only element of her design that remotely resembles Mexican influence is the mask that appears on her face in her splash art and in game when as you play as her. Which is similar to that of the mask seen on the undeniably WWE inspired belt tied around her. But that is about it.

Varesa's design was never meant to be a heartfelt depiction of any kind of culture, or a thoughtful take on a well-known stereotype.

Varesa is, plainly put, a marketing strategy. And a good one at that.

Here is the point I am actually trying to make.

Given how far into its development cycle Genshin Impact is, and the success of rival gacha games such as Zenless Zone Zero or Wuthering waves. Both of which have earned quite the reputation due to the very appealing “characteristics” of their female characters. Interest for the game is decreasing, and in order to stay in the mind of the public, they need to do something. And at the moment, the gacha genre is seeing more success by leaning into highly sexualized female characters whose thighs and breasts jiggle aggressively when they walk. Bonus points if they also have cute animal features.

Therefore, Varesa. A character that fits into the current trend in the genre. And she does so perfectly.

Her design is the epitome of cuteness. Her color palette, composed of soft pastels, suit her sweet and innocent personality and is in line with the kawaii fashion typical of the previously mentioned Japanese wrestlers. The black present in the skirt and crop top greatly contrast with the lighter colors in a way that draws attention to the size and shape of those parts of her figure.

The knitted sleeves and the leg warmers provide her design with a cozy and comfortable look. One can almost imagine the tactile feel of these clothes. They look soft, the kind of soft that you want to cuddle, and therefore so does she. The over-accessorizing of the outfit with hearts, band-aids and ribbons is also reminiscent of a particular Japanese fashion called Decora-kei. And lastly, she notoriously is the only female character in the game not wearing high heels or platforms, but rather sneakers.

As much as I despise Varesa's design for being such a painfully unoriginal, insulting stereotype, made solely to follow a trend in a desperate attempt to maintain the game's relevance. It does an excellent job at what it was designed to do.

Attract a demographic that is willing to give Hoyoverse their support and money, while riling up the biggest critics of the game, who will complain online and put more eyes on their product.

In the discipline of online marketing, any kind of attention, is good attention.

[ichilemonwritruoo]

Reese Lincrescent (FF7 OC)

Please do not steal, copy, or generate to Ai, reblogging is fine.

Introducing a formal page document containing basic info about Reese! I commissioned her portrait by artist on Instagram named (FoundPudding)! She has her own entire document but this is just the beginning so if you ever want to know more about her or her alts (Smash Bros, KH) let me know!

Name: Reese Lincrescent 

Birth Place: Costa Del Sol

Species: Human 

Age: 12 (Before Crisis Core)

         19 (Crisis Core Ending)

         20 (Final Fantasy VII)

         22 (Advent Children)

         23 (Dirge of Cerberus)       

Birthday: May 1988

Height: 152 cm (5’0)

Weapon: Gauntlets 

Element: Fire 

Likes: Chocobo, medical, friends/family, peaceful times, cooking, etc

Dislikes: Fighting, Shinra, Conflict, Mako, others being hurt, Sephiroth 

Alliance: Former Shinra Electric Power Company Employee, AVALANCHE 

History: Reese grew up in the bustling town of Costa Del Sol known for its various beaches and tourist attractions. She was born to normal civilians and raised along the shores of the beach. Despite this, being in the heat all the time made her develop a natural element of heat from working in the sun and a heat tolerance. Being the main port for Shinra, Reese grew up watching Shinra come through and instead of desiring to fight she had a desire to take care of the injured as often she saw tired SOLDIERS seeking refuge, or the SOLDIERS and Turks coming for a vacation. At the age of 14, Reese bid her parents goodbye and packed up to head to Midgar to live and pursue her desire to be a Shinra doctor. Her parents were friends with a woman who owned an apartment building and she let Reese rent a room and looked out for her while she studied and did clinicals.

Appearance: Reese is an average height woman with black curly hair down to her neck. Her skin tone is darker than most due to being born and raised in the sunny beach area of Costa Del Sol. Her eyes are a brownish color lighter than most. Her usual outfit is composed of a red sundress with sheer sleeves, red wedges, a black ribbon choker, and red lipstick. Her go to weapon type is gauntlets which usually stop mid arm below her wrist. She uses an assortment of gauntlets based on what the player equips her with but her standard weapon is “Ribbon Piercers” which is a pair of black gauntlets with pink bow ribbons that hang off the edges made of iron.

Family: Cloud Strife, Reese’s significant other, married after the events of FF7 but a year before Advent Children, year εγλ0009.

[killacharacterbingo]

Hunger Games

The Hunger Games is a book series, and later movie adaptation, by Suzanne Collins. Its basic premise, and the focus of this prompt, revolves around a dystopian future in which there is an annual event, the titular Hunger Games, in which two teens aged 12-18 from each of the twelve districts composing the setting the series takes place in are chosen to compete in a survival game against the other contestants.

The winner is the person who survives. The elected people, called tributes, must fight to the death until there is only one standing.

The games take place as a reminder of a failed insurrection in the past. It is a way for the government to send the message they will not hesitate to smite anyone who stands against them. By forcing children to kill one another and making a spectacle of it they are stating, in no uncertain terms, no life is sacred to them and any and every person even thinking of rebelling will be eliminated without mercy or consideration.

Hunger Games AUs are more than welcome for this prompt. There was a time when the books were being written and still fresh in the public eye where Hunger Game AUs abounded in fandom spaces. However, they are not a requirement.

Any form of death game or survival game would fall under this prompt, even those from other media franchises (take Danganronpa, for instance). Making one's own type of survival game is also encouraged.

The surrounding elements, such as a ruthless government, rebellion, and all peripheral elements of The Hunger Games may also be central to your plot, but they don't have to be. This revolves primarily, though not exclusively, around the concept of a death game.

Characters forced by powers higher than them to kill one another for any number of purposes. Having to kill a close friend for one's own survival. Sacrificing oneself to ensure another wins. The tension of not being sure whether the powers at be will spare the survivor or end them anyway. Any possibilities related to a death game are covered by this prompt.

[vanillaxoshi]

Rereading the issues, basically issue 8-9

I literally just love how photosynthesis duo is quite different from whats usually in the fandom,(this is speaking from someone who doesnt completely know about the comic)

The fandom version is them literally being the sweet duo who are sweet to each other meanwhile they are actually children who try to one-up the other,

Their bickering is so adorable, and i guess its sweet as well if you compare it to the other elements fighting and bickering

And how duri literally is bullying solar and how solar is actually not a mature and composed serious guy, but he's actually quite the annoying childish smartass that tries to be an adult but fails miserably

Both are childish

Solar is the little sibling who wants to prove that they're always right but when prove wrong, resorts to threats and violence

Daun is the little sibling who finally gets the chance to be the older one and decides to use that chance to have the right to bully

Solar is trying too hard

And these issues, hali just becomes so silly :)

Duri actually is quite the quick thinker, he immediately thought of making a parachute while falling

Solar may be smart but hes not really the tactical type(thats what made him get thrown to space anyway-)hes also an idiot

Duri is back with sassiness

[somethingwittyandweird]

So I finished Sea of Stars today (as anyone with me on their dash will find out as soon as they scroll past this post). Long story short, I loved it! It was a really solid experience from start to finish, and I'm going to take a moment here to sing some praises.

Early on the first thing that charmed me was the environment design- it felt like I could follow my character's journey visually on the world map through the zones when I entered and exited them, which just testifies to how well made the overworld map is. The environment designs were just great in general- every place was visually interesting and some of the backgrounds were absolutely jaw dropping.

I liked the combat system! It's not hard by any means but it's fun. It starts out slow to ramp up the interesting features and many times in the early game I felt like combats were over before I got to use any cool moves, but by the time you unlock all the mechanics it's a really dynamic system. I like the choice to flatten the MP bars and skill costs and put an emphasis on alternating spending MP on two-three skills and then basic attacking to replenish it. The live mana system gives another dynamic angle that ended up feeling a lot like Octopath's BP system in execution (again, setting up a cadence of small attacks to charge -> big damage attack -> repeat) but also interacted well with the lock system. The combo attacks are a highlight and the elemental lock system encourages nearly all of them to enter the rotation. The only gripe I have is that the Obligatory Indie RPG Timed Hits Like Paper Mario, while they do have good feel once you get them down, *really* could have used a timing example on first appearance, or someplace to practice using them. When a new party member showed up with a completely different attack pattern, it took me several fights of pressing A at random times during the animation to figure out where the right timing window was. Turning on the modifier that gave feedback on perfect timing was helpful to know when I had it, but I didn't like having to guess what part of the animation I was aiming at in the first place.

The characters were excellent- though I don't have much to say about some of them, others of them felt like they were aimed directly at me and the types of character I like. There were multiple times that I was delighted to see a new character get to join the ensemble and not just remain in place. I think they were all treated well by the story and most importantly, all had their moments to shine. On that, the story in this one was also excellent- some good twists and some *really* heartfelt plot beats that will stick with me. One visually shattering moment in the middle gave me that awe-struck "oh to experience that again for the first time" feeling whenever I passed through that area thereafter. Just an overall good story well told.

Like I said in my last post, I enjoyed the gamefeel of traversal, which is surprising since JRPGs aren't really a movement focused genre. But again, with the addition of verticality, climbing up ledges and rock walls, and later on the grapple hook to cross gaps, I was pretty engaged even when backtracking- though there was very little backtracking, since the world and environments were designed as very straightforward and easy to navigate. The collectibles and sidequests were at a good challenge level where they weren't free but they also didn't take dozens of hours to scour the world for the hidden door, etc. The game also gives you a modifier that gives a radar for collectibles too making it easy to get that nice shiny completion star. And the sidequests were all worthwhile too, especially the late game character-specific questlines. The full completion reward true ending surprised me at first, but I settled into it once the feelings started to flow.

It wouldn't be fair to the game to not mention the way it wears its love for Chrono Trigger and other SNES-era JRPGs on its sleeve. If "Guest Composer: Yasunori Mitsuda" wasn't enough of a clue, the story is tucked full of easter eggs and references, combo attacks and enemies and environments and plot beats that fans of Chrono Trigger would identify easily. But I think it handles the inspiration well, being an homage that still keeps up its own identity. The lore tying it to the studio's other game, The Messenger, helps with that. It's not just "hey let's remake this game we're all nostalgic for beat for beat" and more "hey let's do our own thing but throw in a lot of nods for us and for other people who are nostalgic for this."

Overall, playing the game was great to end 2023 and finishing the game is a killer start to 2024! A very hearty recommend from me.

[celticbotanart]

*Squid Squidward wide awake meme* ALRIGHT, hear me out - I've been saying for a while how much Witcher 3 reminds me of the Brazilian countriside (more specific Minas Gerais). And ever since I had this madlad dream of a Brazilian Witcher except we called them Bruxeiros (the X here is pronounced like "SH" not like the American "X" - its kind of a meme here, kind of a "literal" PT-BR translation, it's complicated), and they fight Brazilian folklore badass stuff like Boitatá (fucking giant fire snake), Iaras (river mermaids) and un-curse women that became Mula Sem Cabeça (literally headless mules running around with fire coming out their necks). These are all some of our most well-known folklore for real, lol (HIGHLY recommend season 1 of Brazilian Netflix show Invisible City if you wanna see more! It's REALLY good!)

ANYWAY. I was in my kitchen making toast at midnight, when it occured to me. I had A VisionTM. Brazilian Witcher battle music would be like. Floral Fury.

For those unfamiliar, this specific Cuphead theme is 200% oldschool Brazilian samba - yeah the "weird straw-against-plastic-lid" sound is an actual instrument, it's called cuíca lol "Nah, but this is too happy and cheerful", you say. Alright, you are correct, maybe it doesn't fit to be a battle theme for the Bruxeiros. HOW ABOUT SEPULTURA, THEN

SEPULTURA, THE BRAZILIAN METAL BAND, who performed this song as soundtrack for the BR movie "Lisbela e o Prisioneiro" (one of my fucking faves btw), and it the theme song for Frederico Evandro, a character who's ruthless hitman ("Matador").

BRO. IMAGINE. The peaceful and colorfully bucolic countryside of Minas Gerais and you are there fighting a Brazilian Werewolf (cause they are different from the European werewolf, we have several types btw), with THAT playing as battle theme.

Another good contender is Break of Reality's rendition of "As Bachianas n5" by Villa-Lobos (guy was a badass proeminend classical music composer who loved to mix in Brazilian folk elements with the classical music sttuff, pissing off a lot of purists in the process lol, good for him)

"As Bachianas n5" is probably Villas' most famous piece, it's originally a GORGEOUS aria, classically sung in Brazilian Portuguese.

SEVERAL people covered this song, including Sandy from sibling duo Sandy & Junior (they were EXTREMELY POPULAR with kids and teens back in the 90s/early 2000s); also people from all around the world covered it. You get it, it's pretty legit and famous AF.

THEN came Break of Reality a few years ago

with THIS badass cover:

LOOK.

THIS IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE VERSIONS OF THIS SONG. I STAN THIS COVER SO HIGH. I LOVE how it is sweet and emotional, but it brings a totally different, new, raw aspect to it that is so strangely fitting to this song (I can't explain, it just is). I can easily imagine this in the Bruxeiro!AU as battle music, even more cause a lot of the og Witcher 3 OST is full of slavic folk music that doesn't even reflect the Battling of Monsters thing - "...Steel For Humans" is like, a song sung by girls on wedding/harvest festivals, lol.

ON THAT NOTE, I think we could end this crazy ass post by including some of the folk / afro-Brazilian culture as well, which is only fair, and add this one, which I LOVE, "Caxangá / Escravos de Jó" by Milton Nascimento (my beloved <3) and folk singer Clementina de Jesus:

Milton is known to sing in high, ethereal vocalizations and extremely emotional lyrics. Guy is just A Fucking Legend fr. If there's a bard in my Bruxeiro!AU it's def Milton, I love his work so so so much! He's also known for mixing up influences from afro-brazilian culture, as you can see in here!

Stay tuned for more posts like this that can happen again at any moment or never again, lol