#keyword research basics

[beastmarketing]

guide to keyword research that is compatible with search engines

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guide to keyword research that is compatible with search engines

As a business owner or marketer, you are always looking for ways to improve your website’s visibility on search engines. One way to do this is by conducting effective keyword research. Keyword research is the process of identifying the words and phrases that your target audience is using to search for products, services, or information related to your business. By incorporating these keywords into your website content, you can optimize your website for search engines and increase your chances of ranking higher in search engine results pages (SERPs).

In this article, we will provide you with a comprehensive guide to keyword research that is compatible with search engines. We will cover everything you need to know to conduct effective keyword research, including:

Why keyword research is important for SEO

How to conduct effective keyword research

Tips for choosing the right keywords

Tools to help you with keyword research

How to analyze and refine your keyword strategy

By the end of this article, you will have a solid understanding of how to conduct effective keyword research and how to use this information to improve your website’s visibility on search engines.

Why Keyword Research is Important for SEO

Keyword research is a critical component of search engine optimization (SEO). When people search for information or products online, they use specific words and phrases to find what they’re looking for. By identifying the keywords that your target audience is using, you can optimize your website content for these terms and increase your chances of ranking higher in SERPs.

Keyword research can help you in the following ways:

Helps you understand your target audience: Keyword research can provide valuable insights into what your target audience is looking for and how they are searching for it. By understanding their search behavior, you can create content that meets their needs and helps you connect with them.

Improves your website’s visibility: By incorporating relevant keywords into your website content, you can increase your chances of ranking higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). This can help you attract more traffic to your website and increase your brand’s visibility online.

Enhances your content strategy: Keyword research can help you identify topics that are relevant to your target audience and create content that addresses their needs. This can help you establish your brand as an authority in your industry and build trust with your target audience.

How to Conduct Effective Keyword Research

Effective keyword research involves several steps. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you get started:

Step 1: Brainstorm Keywords

The first step in keyword research is to brainstorm keywords related to your business or industry. Think about the products or services you offer, the topics you cover, and the questions your target audience might have. Make a list of these keywords and phrases.

Step 2: Analyze Keyword Data

Once you have a list of potential keywords, it’s time to analyze the data to determine their search volume and competition level. There are several keyword research tools available that can help you with this, including:

Google Keyword Planner: This is a free tool that allows you to see the estimated search volume and competition level for specific keywords.

SEMrush: This is a paid tool that provides in-depth keyword analysis, including keyword difficulty, search volume, and competitor analysis.

Ahrefs: This is another paid tool that provides detailed keyword data, including search volume, keyword difficulty, and competitor analysis.

Using one of these tools, you can enter your list of keywords and analyze the data to determine which ones are most relevant to your business and have the highest search volume.

Step 3: Prioritize Keywords

Once you have analyzed the keyword data, it’s time to prioritize your keywords. Focus on the keywords with the highest search volume and relevance to your business. These are the keywords that your target audience is searching for and that are most likely to drive traffic to your website.

Step 4: Refine Your Keyword List

Now that you have prioritized your keywords, it’s time to refine your list. Remove any keywords that are not relevant to your business or have low search volume. You should also consider the competition level for each keyword. Highly competitive keywords may be difficult to rank for, so it’s important to focus on keywords with a moderate level of competition.

Step 5: Analyze Competitor Keywords

It’s also important to analyze your competitors’ keywords. Identify your top competitors and analyze their website content to see what keywords they are targeting. This can help you identify new keywords to target and refine your existing keyword list.

Tips for Choosing the Right Keywords

Choosing the right keywords is essential for effective keyword research. Here are some tips to help you choose the right keywords for your business:

Use Long-Tail Keywords: Long-tail keywords are longer, more specific phrases that have less competition than shorter, more general keywords. They are often easier to rank for and can attract more qualified traffic to your website.

Consider Search Intent: When choosing keywords, consider the search intent behind them. Are people searching for information, products, or services? By understanding the search intent, you can create content that meets your target audience’s needs and drives conversions.

Use Local Keywords: If you have a local business, be sure to include local keywords in your keyword research. This can help you attract more local traffic to your website and improve your local search rankings.

Use Keyword Variations: Use different variations of your keywords to attract more traffic to your website. For example, if your main keyword is “SEO,” you could also target variations like “search engine optimization” or “SEO services.”

Tools to Help You with Keyword Research

Keyword research can be time-consuming, but there are several tools available that can help you streamline the process. Here are some of the best keyword research tools to consider:

Google Keyword Planner: This free tool provides keyword ideas, search volume data, and competition level for specific keywords.

SEMrush: This is a paid tool that provides in-depth keyword analysis, including keyword difficulty, search volume, and competitor analysis.

Ahrefs: This is another paid tool that provides detailed keyword data, including search volume, keyword difficulty, and competitor analysis.

Moz Keyword Explorer: This is a paid tool that provides keyword suggestions, search volume data, and keyword difficulty.

Ubersuggest: This is a free tool that provides keyword ideas, search volume data, and competition level for specific keywords.

How to Analyze and Refine Your Keyword Strategy

Keyword research is an ongoing process. Once you have implemented your keyword strategy, it’s important to regularly analyze and refine it to ensure it’s still effective. Here are some tips to help you analyze and refine your keyword strategy:

Monitor Your Rankings: Use a tool like Google Analytics or SEMrush to monitor your keyword rankings. This can help you identify keywords that are driving traffic to your website and those that need more attention.

Identify New Keyword Opportunities: Regularly review your website content and identify new keyword opportunities. Use keyword research tools to determine the search volume and competition level for these new keywords.

Analyze Competitor Keywords: Keep an eye on your competitors and analyze their keyword strategy. Identify new keywords to target and refine your existing keyword list.

Update Your Content: Regularly update your website content to include new keywords and ensure it remains relevant and useful to your target audience.

Conclusion

Keyword research is an essential component of search engine optimization. By identifying the keywords your target audience is using, you can optimize your website content and improve your chances of ranking higher in SERPs. Follow the

steps outlined in this guide to conduct effective keyword research for your business:

Start with a seed list of keywords.

Use keyword research tools to expand your list.

Prioritize your keywords based on relevance, search volume, and competition level.

Refine your list by removing irrelevant keywords and focusing on moderately competitive keywords.

Analyze your competitors’ keyword strategy to identify new keywords to target.

Remember to choose the right keywords for your business, using long-tail keywords, considering search intent, using local keywords, and using keyword variations. Use keyword research tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, Ahrefs, Moz Keyword Explorer, and Ubersuggest to streamline your keyword research process.

Once you have implemented your keyword strategy, regularly analyze and refine it to ensure its effectiveness. Monitor your keyword rankings, identify new keyword opportunities, analyze competitor keywords, and update your content regularly.

Effective keyword research can help you drive more traffic to your website and improve your search engine rankings. By following the steps outlined in this guide, you can conduct effective keyword research and develop a keyword strategy that works for your business.

read also

The Basics of Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Why SEO is Essential for Your Digital Marketing Strategy

Maximizing Your ROI: The Science of Pay-Per-Click Advertising

[abdurrahimseo]

Ultimate Guide To Keyword Research 101: Mastering The Basics

[mejomonster]

:/

I think about a query and a cover letter and how i need to look up what theyre called because i dont even know. Let alone know how to write them well and which things are required for what, and how i heard publishers only expect emails during calls for wubmissions so I dont know where to look for those but i also need to learn that from Somewhere i can learn such info. And how i know how to format a book for print, with mirrored margins and all the rest of that specific spacing stuff, but i have no idea the formatting requirements for a manuscript sent to a publisher (although hopefully that will be on their site as a style guide requirement directions and formatting IS something thankfully i'll be able to easily Look Up and Follow Directions to do). But the letter you send to pitch a novel and the length of manuscript expected (1 page? 1 chapter?) Or what kind of summary blurb they want, or if they want a summary or a "marketing blurb" that keeps some parts mysterious and enticing. And what's most frustrating, the reason i'm complaining, is when I look these things up the articles with advice do not say WHAT they are, basic requirements and basic expectations, it is IMPLIED the reader has as much familiarity with the definitions of these terms and when these items are needed as adults are expected to be familiar with job Resumes and standard Good Practice Format out of the gate. But with Resumes, high school and parents did provide some basic guideline directions and basic informafion like "include X, do not include Y, summarize Z" and "use keywords found in job description" and "keep it short such as one page or you may give a bad impression" and "do it in basic X fonts, basic colors, unless the job is particularly creative with unusual expectations of your resume" with similar directions about cover letters such as "state job you're applying for, summarize your education and some relevant experience, say you'd like the job and say why if you'd like, end with your contact information, keep it under a page ideally." I do not know the expected lengths of query letters, font expectations in the emails, if its an email or attachment, if it's submitted only during calls for submissions (i assume yes), how to find submission calls, what the title of the email should be, what the blurb length shpuld be and what it should Contain (summary? Marketing keywords? Your writing style or more technical key point information? Length/word count minimun and max? Should a summary be the whole main plot in a few key point sentences or be only the premise with the ending a mystery? Should it be entertainingly stylistic, or technical?) I look up requirements for publishing submissions and its so often expected the readers know what all these specific requirements and Norms in Writing them already are, so all the advice in the article is specialized like "you already KNOW what to submit, what the requirement is, now here's how to be Noticed Better." So it amounts to an equivalent to advice articles that do not state what a cover letter must contain or how to format it, but instead only focuses on specific ways of sounding more Convincing or Unique in your cover letter. Which is not super helpful if you... do not even know what a cover letter should contain to BE a correctly made cover letter to begin with.

[flimsy-roost]

the one nasty thing that academia left on my psyche is avoiding making any academic claim in any context without weeks of research because what if there's a 101-level source that disproves my hypothesis???

[digitalmarketer12]

How to Find Keyword Research

Keyword research is the process of discovering words and phrases(aka”SEO”) that people use in search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo, Opera, 123Khoj, and Youtube. Keyword research in Guidelines Keyword research is a critical aspect of search engine optimization (SEO) that involves identifying and analyzing the keywords and phrases people use when searching for information, products, or…

[jstor]

Searching best practices on JSTOR

Hi Tumblr researchers,

As promised, we're going to dive into some best practices for searching on JSTOR. This'll be a long one!

The first thing to note is that JSTOR is not Google, so searches should not be conducted in the same way.

More on that in this video:

Basic Search on JSTOR

To search for exact phrases, enclose the words within quotation marks, like "to be or not to be".

To construct a more effective search, utilize Boolean operators, such as "tea trade" AND china.

Advanced Searching on JSTOR

Utilize the drop-down menus to refine your search parameters, limiting them to the title, author, abstract, or caption text.

Combine search terms using Boolean operators like AND/OR/NOT and NEAR 5/10/25. The NEAR operator finds keyword combinations within 5, 10, or 25 words of each other. It applies only when searching for single keyword combinations, such as "cat NEAR 5 dog," but not for phrases like "domesticated cat" NEAR 5 dog.

Utilize the "Narrow by" options to search for articles exclusively, include/exclude book reviews, narrow your search to a specific time frame or language.

To focus your article search on specific disciplines and titles, select the appropriate checkboxes. Please note that discipline searching is currently limited to journal content, excluding ebooks from the search.

Finding Content You Have Access To

To discover downloadable articles, chapters, and pamphlets for reading, you have the option to narrow down your search to accessible content. Simply navigate to the Advanced Search page and locate the "Select an access type" feature, which offers the following choices:

All Content will show you all of the relevant search results on JSTOR, regardless of whether or not you can access it.

Content I can access will show you content you can download or read online. This will include Early Journal Content and journals/books publishers have made freely available.

Once you've refined your search, simply select an option that aligns with your needs and discover the most relevant items. Additionally, you have the option to further narrow down your search results after conducting an initial search. Look for this option located below the "access type" checkbox, situated at the bottom left-hand side of the page.

Additional resources

For more search recommendations, feel free to explore this page on JSTOR searching. There, you will find information on truncation, wildcards, and proximity, using fields, and metadata hyperlinks.

[sushis-wild-imagination]

Meet the parents (Seungcheol x reader)

Seventeen masterlist <3

Meet the parents part 2

“No, its Shampoo and then washing your body so the shampoo sits in your hair”

You and Cheol, your boyfriend of a 5 months, have been in his apartment, quarrelling about the stupidest thing.

You were both in the kitchen trying to cook something for dinner. Your best and safest bet was pasta and that's exactly what he tried to make. Keyword: TRIED

An abrupt doorbell rang, and you jump.

"Coward" Seungcheol laughs at you as he walks to the door. You stick your tongue out at him.

You heard him open the door. “Mom?”

Mom?!

You run into your room, do a quick fit check, straighten out your clothes and fix your face. Try to make yourself look as presentable as possible in the fraction of a second you got.

You stepped out of cheols room to see his parents walk in the hallway.

Do I look okay? Is my hair tidy enough? Will they let me stay? Should I make an excuse and leave? Im panicking.

All these thoughts come to your head while his parents smile at you. You smile back and wave a little awkward wave.

“This is my girlfriend, y/n”

You were glad he introduced you like that, not that you doubted he wouldn’t, but it felt good to be introduced like that, especially to his parents.

“She’s pretty” the mom says putting her stuff on the couch. You immediately help her with her stuff, taking it off her hands. All you could focus on was to make a good impression.

This is not how you had pictured meeting the parents of the love of your life. Cheol was the best boyfriend youve had and youve even spoken about marriage with each other and it had barely been 5 months. When it’s your soulmate, you just know, and this was exactly that. You’ve seen many relationships go to shit because the girlfriend did not gel with the mother, and you were terrified of the possibility. She seems like a nice lady though.

——

“Do I look okay?” You whisper to your said love of your life, Choi seungcheol in the kitchen now.

“You look perfect, don’t worry” he whispered back.

“He’s cooking pasta? You will have to get your stomach checked later” his mother jokes walking into the kitchen.

“I’ve been getting better! (Y/n) is teaching me! I can do pasta” Seungcheol whines.

“Poor girl, don’t ruin her stomach” his mom teases. It makes you giggle.

“If water was burnable, he’d burn that too” she says as the conversation moves to the dinner table. His mom dissing him every chance she gets is hilarious to watch.

The pasta he made was finally done and brought to the dining table.

His father engaged in some small talk. You were grateful, you couldn’t stand the awkward silences. He asked you the basics, where do you work, how you like it.

“So, do you live together?” His mom shoots at you without warning.

“Pretty much” cheol answers for you to take the pressure off.

“This new way of living together first before getting married is a good trend, it’s easier to see if you’re compatible, that’s good” she comments on nothing specific. Your face is on fire.

Neither of you knew how to respond to that so the conversation died.

“What do you do?”

“Oh Im an AI researcher at University”

They definitely don’t know what that means so the conversation died for the second time, mostly because you were nervous.

His mom accidentally dropped her fork. The sound echoed in the apartment, it was that quiet.

“Mom wait, let me get your a new fork” cheol oddly insists and rushed to the kitchen.

“Y/n, where are the forks?” You hear his voice from the kitchen. It was his acting voice.

He knows where the forks are.

“I’ll help him” you say sheepishly smiling. You get up and go into the kitchen confused.

“How do you not know where the forks are in your own apartment?” His mom calls out from the dinning table.

He motions you to come over to him with just his hand like he has a secret to tell you.

Of course he knows where the forks are.

“What is it?” You whisper.

“They’re going on a cruise next month, ask them about it” he whispers back.

Your cutiepie, your conversation iron man had come in to rescue you from awkward silences. You peck him cheek and whisper a “thank you” becoming excited and running out front.

“I forgot where I had put them, she seems to know where my stuff is better than I do” cheol comes out behind you and hands his mom a new pair smiling foolishly.

He sure acts well.

After some more pauses, you gather the courage to bring up the cruise.

“Seungcheol had told me sometime ago that you are going on a cruise next month, are you excited?” You try to strike the conversation up again.

You see his mom’s expression change to pure joy. You could see the lady was excited.

“Yes! Its a 2 week cruise to the Mediterranean sea”

“Sounds exciting, have you been on other cruises?”

“Ever since retiring, thats all theyve been doing,” seungcheol adds.

“All for her, I wouldn’t be surprised if she buys a ship and leaves me behind here” his dad chimes in and chuckles.

“Oh sure, I’ll go to this next one with my son then, Im sure he wouldn’t mind” his mom says a little annoyed.

“Don’t drag me into your fights”

“My aunt is in administration for one of the cruises, I can ask her for a discount on your package if you’d like” you say.

is that a bribe? Almost. Who doesn’t like discounts.

Luckily his mom’s eyes lit up.

“Maybe you guys can come with us next time as a family trip”

Family trip.

You never got family. You grew up in a broken home and did not particularly understand the dynamics of a working healthy happy family, like the one you’re seeing infront of you now.

Just imagining to be a part of this family was enough to bring you joy. All you hoped and wished that you would fit in well.

The rest of the night, his parents told us all about their cruise adventures and misadventures.

——

“How did I do?” You ask nervously, biting your bottom lip as he turns around after closing the door.

The parents had left, it was a good time, a little nerve wracking but a good time overall.

“You’re perfect” he says snaking his arms around your waist pulling you closer. “Im sorry they came in unannounced, if I knew I would’ve asked them not to”

“Are you kidding? They’re your parents, they’re legally allowed to come unannounced, I was just very nervous”

“Why?”

“I really love you, I don’t want your parents to hate me” you couldn’t stand the thought.

“They could never hate you, my love”

You sigh in relief.

“Although… her impression of you might change if you don’t get her that discount now” he teases.

“Oh I will get her that discount alright, even if I have to scale the earth twice”

He giggles at your determination.

——

Do you want the cruise interaction??? I have a thought starter, I’m so excited

Edit: HERES PART 2

[bagelbun333]

The death penalty in Ace Attorney | The fandom’s biggest misconception

Capital punishment is something we all know is a real consequence when it comes to murder in Ace Attorney, but do all culprits who commit these crimes actually get the death penalty? That’s what I’m going to go through in depth within this post!

CW and TW: mentions of death, execution, murder, suicide etc.

Also major spoilers for basically all the mainline ace attorney games!

To start off with, what exactly warrants a death penalty in Japanifornia? Murder has been referred to as a capital crime that deserves a capital punishment, which in turn led people to believe that all murder convicts get the death sentence. However, there is a slight mistranslation within that statement and it should say “murder is a charge that risks the death penalty.” “Risk” is the keyword here. While yes, it is possible murder charges can warrant the death penalty, that doesn’t mean every culprit will get executed. Like, this isn’t Danganronpa 😭 What people don’t think about is the different kinds of murder charges there are, and the differences in sentencing this can create.

Murder charges can go from:

1st Degree Murder - Premeditated/long time planning

2nd Degree Murder - Not premeditated but the intent is there within the moment/deliberate killing

3rd Degree Murder - Deliberate reckless behaviour resulting in death

Aggravated Murder - Murder when an aggravating circumstance is proven (such as kidnapping or torture)

Voluntary Manslaughter - Intention to kill but is not guilty of murder due to provocation or mental incapacity

Involuntary Manslaughter - Killing without intention within the heat of the moment

Self Defence - Killing for defence of oneself

Consensual Homicide - Assisting a suicide

Attempted Murder - Planning and failing to kill

In Japan (the country this series is initially based on) these charges have different kinds of sentences depending on circumstances. So naturally, Japanifornia must have punishments very similar to this. These are the sentences for these crimes in Japan according to my research:

1st Degree - 5 years to life imprisonment

2nd Degree - 5 years to life imprisonment

3rd Degree - 3 to 5 years imprisonment

Aggravated Murder - Death penalty or life imprisonment

Voluntary Manslaughter - 1 to 15 years imprisonment

Involuntary Manslaughter - 1 to 15 years imprisonment

Consensual Homicide - 6 months to 7 years imprisonment

Self Defence - No imprisonment

Attempted Murder - 5 years to life imprisonment

Death penalties are usually passed in cases of multiple murders, although there are exceptions where individuals have committed a single murder that have been executed because it involved torture, extreme brutality or kidnapping with a demand for ransom. It is punishable by five years to life in prison, and with the death penalty if aggravating circumstances are proven. The only exception is for juvenile offenders since the minimum age for capital punishment in Japan is 18.

With this, we can work out what kinds of charges each of the ace attorney culprits will be given. (Mostly for the Phoenix Wright trilogy since I can’t recall much beyond aa4.)

(For clarification’s sake: a “/” is used when a crime could be one or the other or both, while the “,” is used to separate different crimes.)

Frank Sahwit: 2nd Degree Murder

Redd White: 1st Degree Murder

April May: 1st Degree Murder (Accomplice)

Dee Vasquez: Self Defence/Voluntary Manslaughter

Yanni Yogi: 1st Degree Murder

Manfred von Karma: 2nd Degree Murder, 1st Degree Murder (accomplice, planned out)

Joe Darke: Serial Murders (technically spree murder, guilty on five counts)

Damon Gant: 1st Degree Murder, 2nd Degree Murder (Serial Murders)

Lana Skye: 1st Degree Murder, 2nd Degree Murder (Unwilling Accomplice in both)

Richard Wellington: 2nd Degree Murder/Involuntary Manslaughter

Mimi Miney: 1st Degree Murder

Morgan Fey: 1st Degree Murder, Attempted Murder (Accomplice in both, planned out the crime)

Acro: Attempted Murder, Involuntary Manslaughter

Matt Engarde: 1st Degree Murder (Hired a hitman), Consensual Homicide (driven a woman to unalive herself)

Dahlia Hawthorne: 1st Degree Murder, Consensual Homicide, 3 counts of Attempted Murder, and 2nd Degree Murder (Serial Murders)

Luke Atmey: 1st Degree Murder

Furio Tigre: Either 1st or 2nd Degree Murder

Godot: Voluntary Manslaughter/Self Defence (defending someone else)

Iris: Voluntary Manslaughter (accomplice)

Kristoph Gavin: 2 counts of 1st Degree Murder, Attempted Murder (Serial Murders)

Those who canonically got the death penalty:

- Joe Darke

- Dahlia Hawthorne

- Terry Fawles

- Simon Blackquill

Those who canonically got the death penalty but didn’t get executed:

- Terry Fawles (he died anyway rip)

- Simon Blackquill

Those who are most likely to get the death penalty but never canonically stated:

- Manfred von Karma (not explicitly stated but heavily implied)

- Damon Gant

- Matt Engarde

- Morgan Fey (vaguely implied)

- Kristoph Gavin

- The Phantom

Those who don’t get the death penalty:

- Frank Sahwit

- Redd White (he would if his blackmail victims got leaked)

- April May

- Dee Vasquez

- Yanni Yogi

- Lana Skye

- Richard Wellington (could be a chance that he would considering his victim was a police officer)

- Mimi Miney (unsure considering her accomplice is implied to be on death row)

- Acro

- Luke Atmey

- Furio Tigre

- Godot

- Iris

To recap, the death penalty in Japanifornia is reserved for the criminals with absolutely no hope for rehabilitation, and for those who have aggravated murder charges/serial murder charges. Even people like Redd White will not receive the death penalty.

After all, Redd White did plead guilty to Mia’s murder specifically because getting arrested for one murder would be safer than having his list of blackmail victims get leaked to the press. It would be strange to confess for his own safety if he was just going to get executed anyway.

In the later games it is shown that the law is changing, and the death penalty is even less involved when culprits are convicted of murder. (Not counting charges in Khura’in, that’s different.) So it is very possible that the punishments can change overtime for those who were already convicted; meaning there’s a chance that they can be given a lighter sentence later on. There’s even a culprit in aa5 who was planning a murder but ended up killing someone else accidentally, and they were released from prison mere months after the trial. If they can released for that then surely a lot of the other culprits deserve the same treatment.

Speaking of Khura’in, that is actually more of a parody of what the fandom thought Japanifornia’s death penalty worked like. Even then, after the ending aa6, it looks like that judicial system will change for the better too.

And that’s pretty much it! The reason I wanted to go through this topic is because the whole murder = death penalty ideology is taken way out of proportion, and has been treated as a fact for far too long when it’s actually not completely true. This is just what I’ve managed to research and you can feel free to believe it or not, but I really wanted to share a new perspective on this subject. I, for one, wanted to share some hope for people; especially because I know a lot of these culprits have a lot of fans, and they deserve to have a brighter perspective on these characters. I definitely want some of these characters to return and this research really helped me feel confident that some of them have the potential to make a comeback.

Plus with the HD release of, not only the Apollo trilogy, but the Edgeworth collection in the same year, it’s more than likely that aa7 will bring back old characters! The reason a lot of these old characters didn’t make a reappearance sooner is because Capcom stood by this “no spoiler” rule for the players who may have missed out on certain games in this series. But now that we have all the mainline games in the series getting a HD release on all modern platforms, this “no spoiler” rule will most likely not be necessary anymore!

No more of this “if they’re guilty they’re never coming back” bs, let’s be more hopeful! It’s actually less likely that all culprits would get executed than the majority not getting executed. Let’s bffr!

And even if they don’t come back in aa7, we now have a more clear understanding on this messy topic, and you can feel free to use my analysis as a way to explain ace attorney culprits being able to leave prison in fanfictions, roleplays, fanarts etc. Don’t let the fandom tell you what to do >:3

Unrelated but I think this has been my first analysis post I put on tumblr and it was very fun to delve into! I may make more if anyone is interested :3c

[sibelin]

How to find new goth music that you'll love : a silly tutorial for people wanting to find new dark songs to obsess about.

Okay so following my last post, I'm going to do a tiny tutorial on how I find new goth/post-punk/darkwave/etc music and bands with only two tools : Internet and a bit of free time. I can guarantee it's worth it, especially if you want to invest yourself more into the subculture. Supporting new and active bands is a must if you want to see the goth genre flourish.

(Sorry in advance, most the screenshots will be in french. And if there's typos, my bad. I did my best but english is not my native language!)

the "Similar Artists" feature.

Probably one of the easiest way to find bands similar to the one you already like is using a website that will give you similar artists. This feature is a common one on listening plateforms like Spotify (left) or Last.fm (right). I tend to prefer the Last.fm one because you can see what genres the artists are tagged with. This gives you way more informations about the band, its influences and why it's in the similar artist section in the first place. You can also click on these tags to find other bands or, even better, repeat the process with the newer bands you find to delve deeper down the rabbit hole!

Both these exemples are "similar bands" found on the Boy Harsher page.

2. Playlists and sets

This one sounds obvious but it's one of the most efficient method to find new music without putting too much work into it. The only thing you have to keep in mind is to be precise with your keywords. For exemple, if you want to find new goth music but don't like EBM, you'll have to type your research with keywords like "gothrock", "deathrock" or "synthpop" "darkwave", etc....

Personally, there is two plateforms that I use fairly often for this purpose but I'm pretty sure it exists on every listening plateforms, so feel free to use the one you prefer. For me, it's Youtube and Spotify. I tend to prefer Youtube because it's more like a DJ set, with someone picking a limited amount of songs and new releases and sharing them like every few months. There are several accounts that do this, you just have to keep an eye out for them.

The images featured are the first playlists that pop up when I type "goth 2024" and "post-punk 2024" in the mentionned plateforms.

Keep in mind that you won't like everything and that you can skip the songs until you find one that makes you bop your head dracula style.

3. Music labels and samplers

We're entering a more niche category with this one. So, you really like a band and want to find something similar or, at least, something with the same qualities (be it the level of production, the subgenres explored, etc). Well, labels can help you! A music label is a production or publishing company that usually have several bands to manage. Some bands, of course, do everything by themselves but for the others, it's a GREAT way to find new similar music.

You can find the labels by looking at a band's website, social media or, even more efficiently, by looking at the records themselves. Usually, the label name/logo is somewhere on the cover. When you find it, you can simply type the name of the label and find the artists that are associated with it.

A lot of labels have a strong presence on Bandcamp and do "samplers". These are basically playlists featuring the artists they publish. If you don't want to click on every artists one at a time, you can simply listen to a sampler and see if anything is interesting you before going further.

The images I have used are both labels that are producing goth, darkwave and ebm music. The first one is Artoffact records (ACTORS, Cevin Key's solo work, etc...) and the second is AVANT! records (Buzz Kull, Blind Seagull, etc...)

4. Touring bands and opening acts

GREAT! One of your favourite band is touring. Maybe it's a big band, a classic goth staple, or maybe it's a tinier band you already enjoy. Either way, it will probably have an opening act, maybe several depending on the dates. When I see a band I like announcing gigs, I usually check the other bands that are following them in the tour. They can be less famous or they can even be local bands sometimes. No matter if you can attend the event or not, this is a good way to stay in touch with the scene and what's being played in venues. You can also just check the scheduled dates in goth or post-punk venues, nearby or far away.

The big plus of doing this is seeing the amazing art some tour posters feature (illustraded here by Buzzkull/Kontravoid and Rue Oberkampf). If you follow bands or venues on Instagram (and other social media where bands actually post), they are seen fairly often in tour and dates announcements. You can also check tour dates on several websites like Songkick, Bandsintown, etc.... I always prefer following the bands and venues themselves, though.

5. Webzines (and other internet tools) We're going even more niche with webzines, something that will probably disappear in a couple of years but that thankfully still exist nowadays. Basically, a webzine is just like a magazine/fanzine but online. By looking up the right keywords, or even looking at webzines focused on alternative music in your area, you might find a great ressource not only to find new music but also to find gigs and events related to the subculture. I'd advise everyone to broaden their horizons when looking for webzines : as an exemple, the one i use fairly often to find gigs in my area is not only goth related. it's more of an underground culture thing which leads me to find non-goth events that I could enjoy too!

Of course, Webzines are only a little part of the iceberg. I am sure there are plenty of facebook groups, blogs, forums and newsletter that basically lead you to find the same kind of informations. On this side, you have to be ressourceful depending on where you live, what is the culture around you and also how safe it is for you to navigate in these spaces.

6. Word-to-Mouth, mutuals, etc... At last, we are lucky enough to be on a website that allows everyone to share links like Spotify, Bandcamp and so on. There are several accounts dedicated to share goth music. For exemple, there is @nugothrhythms who share modern and newer goth sounds or the more recent @gothlisteningclub which is a great way to discover and listen to goth albums you've never heard of. I won't plug my own sideblog but you know, do your research, find mutuals that actually put a bit of work into sharing music! And, of course, feel free to do the same! I hope this little tutorial can help some people to find new music. The internet is a fabulous tool to keep subcultures alive. If you put a little work into it, you'll soon discover great bands and maybe even find a few gigs to attend. Remember, stay curious, don't limit yourself and always expend your horizons with art! Feel free to add anything that can help people finding new goth or post-punk music : blogs, playlists, etc!

[whirlybirbs]

Given that Izuku is not only a huge All might fanboy but also directly in his life, he’s seen Derecho become the hero she is now and also seen how her relationship with All might has changed. What are his thoughts? Does he also ship them? Does he have some sort of negative feeling towards her after how close she got to ending all might??

Izuku Midorya was one of those hero twitter stan users who would comment under All Might x Derecho content going: "cute but remember when she tried to k*ll him". Keyword: was.

Midorya agreed widely with the stance that the glimpses the public gets of some sort of relationship over the years is for marketing. Not the use of past tense.

(He asked All Might one or two times about his history with you in babbled sentences over historical recounts, but each time the man swept it away and under some far-off rug as a guise of "focusing on the basics".)

And then he meets you for the first time.

You're standing there before dawn, smiling up at Toshinori Yagi — All Might — on Takoba beach before class. Midorya knows enough that this is a private moment, and he can't help but stopping in his tracks. You're both by the sea wall, leaned against one another, watching the sunrise. Two of the greatest pro-heroes of all time. All Might's hand is on your back, and you're saying something that's making him rumble out a half-cough, half-laugh into his shirt collar.

You made All Might laugh.

You... you made him smile.

And you're beautiful.

OhmygodtherumorswerealltrueIwonderhowlongthey'vebeentogetherItmustbeatleasttwentyyearsnowWhatyeardidtheymeetagainOhright—

All Might's eyes catch Izuku's over his shoulder.

Midorya swallows thickly when his mentor gives him a soft wave, come on over, earning your attention as you follow the gesture over his shoulder.

"Uh, hello," he starts, his hands wringing the straps of his bag, "I'm—"

"Izuku," your voice is softer in real-life than it is on all those hero reels; you're pretty. Softer than you were in your prime, but still possessing an edge that electrifies the air. Midorya's cheeks are hot, "I've heard... Big fan."

The praise makes his whole body go rigid.

You lean back against the sea wall, and Izuku's mouth parts in quiet shock. All Might has talked about him? T-To his partner? Partner? Lover? Wife...? Are they married? His eyes narrow in on both of yours hands, darting back and forth. No ring. No ring? Maybe just... good friends? No, no way. Friends definitely don't stare at one another in the sunrise.

...Do they?

Friends definitely don't look at you the All Might is, all soft appreciation and love.

Or... do they?!

"Th-Thank you! That's incredibly kind," Midorya stutters out, his expression a little wild. Almost like a cornered deer. It's cute.

"Derecho is going to be helping us with instruction today," All Might says slowly, his hands moving to the lower of your back. The gesture could be considered professional. Izuku feels like his brain is going to short-circuit, "She's very important to me. I'm sure you're familiar with her quirk?"

"Y-Yes! Electrification and general control of elemental lightning—"

"Someone's done his research," you croon with a smile, "You're really smart, kid."

Oh, god, and she's, like, super duper nice—

"And her weakness?" Toshinori presses for good measure, just proving how much Midorya knows.

"Electrolytes! Your body needs more than the average person in order for the conductivity of your quirk to be maximized. Also, prolonged use of your quirk can impact your cardiac conduction," he chatters; your smile is growing.

You nudge Toshi with your elbow. You approve. Not that you needed any proof aside from Toshinori's gut instinct that Izuku Midorya was the right pick for his legacy.

"And blondes," you toss in as a joke, "Those count as a weakness, I'd say—"

Another laugh from All Might. This time it results in a little bit of blood. You're offering up a tissue — one from the pocket pack kept in the pocket of your over-sized sweatshirt. He thanks you. You gently touch his arm.

Izuku Midorya has so fucking clue what's happening right now.

He spends that next night on a deep dive, hours long rabbit hole of 'All Might and Derecho dating?' searches and interview supercuts from their primes. There are no answers — none except a few tweets with unreliable narrations of their interactions and body language.

He actually finds himself saying 'please kiss' out loud on more than on occasion.

What the fuck.

...He's never shipped anything harder in his life.

— a reference to this fic here ;

[txttletale]

and like to bne clear i get a lot of questions on this blog asking me to explain so and so and i dont mind them because i like talking about stuff. but if what you're looking for is extremely basic definitioanl info, like you straight up don't even understand what a term is meant to mean, i cannot recommend just googling it enough. if google turns up irrelevant results, add a keyword that matches the context you've seen it used in, like 'tme trans' or 'proletariat marxism' or whatevsies and this will often help. if you still want clarification on something afterwards i think you'll find a lot more people will be a lot more willing to happily and helpfully engage with you once it's clear you've done the bare minimum level of research first

[csuitebitches]

How To Build the Woman You Want to Be - 2

Please go through the first part before doing this. It’s imperative that you understand the basics.

Step Five:

We will use Pinterest to visualise your new life so that you can attain it faster. Create a new board “My Story” and start sourcing the following:

* 3 pictures of your ideal hair

* 3 pictures of your ideal body

* 5 pictures of ideal physical accessories (bags, shoes, nails, jewellery, sunglasses… whatever resonates with you)

* 5 ideal outfits you want to own (casual, underwear, red carpet, brunch, pyjamas)

* 3 ideal hobby pictures (ballet? Horses riding? Reading?

* 5 ideal life pictures (meditating, working out, attending events, getting make up/hair professionally done…. Your ideal lifestyle!)

* 5 free time pictures (how you and your friends would hang out; how you and your S/O would hang out; family, pets…)

* 7 ideal home pictures (what’s your aesthetic - minimal/ Woodsy, what would the bathrooms look like, house or apartment…)

* 3 work life pictures (if you want to work - where would you work, what position, etc)

* 5 pictures of your ideal partner (how they would look, where they would work, dress, etc)

* 3 pictures of how you would relax alone (go for a walk with your pet? Massages? Read alone? You get the gist)

* 7 pictures of your ideal vacation

* 4 pictures of your ideal meals (breakfast, lunch, snacks, dinner)

This is your visual diary. Whenever you feel down, not motivated, lazy, go through this board. This board visualises the best version of you. This is your best self (not was, or will be - this is your best self).

If you can print everything out and stick it on your wall - even better. Nothing like seeing exactly who you’re going to be everyday and claiming it!

Step 6:

It’s analysis time. This is probably going to be the most time-consuming part of the work that you have, but also the the first actual building block towards your Ideal Woman.

- Take a look at your New Story.

- As you read it, make a note (maybe write it on a piece of paper) of all the qualities that you see. Written them as keywords as bullet points. Qualities include all things belonging to your ideal personality (respected, kind, decisive…) and ideal skill set (strategic, creative….).

Ex:

• respected

• kind

• strategic

- Then read the story again and start making a separate note (with bullet points and keywords) about your material life (body type, healthy lifestyle, being clean, attending events, brunches, travelling, your hobbies…)

Ex:

• Toned body

• Clean space

• Reading

- Now read your two lists again. Put a tick mark next to the ones you think are realistic but attainable in at least 3 months. Put a heart next to the ones you feel will take more time and levelling up.

Ex:

Qualities:

• respected ❤️

• kind ✔️

• strategic✔️

Material:

• toned body ✔️

• clean space ❤️

• reading ✔️

• attending events ✔️

- The tick marked list is the list you will start working on immediately. Choose any 2 qualities and 3 material life from the tick marked list. We won’t work on all of them at once because you need to build that habit.

Ex:

• Kind

• Strategic

• Toned body

• Reading

• attending events

- For the next 3 months, you will actively work on your 5 to-dos. With your material life - let’s say for example, a certain body type - start working out from tomorrow itself. I don’t care whether it’s YouTube workouts or gym, you’re going to work on that first step. Or if it’s things like attending events - start by attending events and conferences in your industry or what interests you. Look up online for events happening in your city and go for at least one a month. Everything begins with baby steps.

- With your qualities, let’s say you want to be a good conversationalist. Start researching on the tactics of being a good conversationalist. Also search the opposite - how to recognise a bad conversationalist. Read articles, books, journals and scholarly articles. Practice on strangers when you go grocery shopping or at work. You need to put in the work.

- Not only will you work on your 5 to-dos, but you will set monthly goals for them. You will note down everything - in a journal or your notes app or maybe by taking pictures, however you feel comfortable- you need to quantify your progress.

Ex:

This Month’s Goals:

• Kind - tell my friends that I love them and that they deserve all the love

• Strategic - play brain games like chess to improve myself - play at least 2 times a week online

• toned body- work out for 20 days this month

• attending events - go to 2 conferences this month that are happening in my city or online

• Reading - finish one book this month.

- Every month you will check yourself. Only when you’ve accomplished at least 85% of the tasks will you add a new item from the tick marked list or remove an existing item that you finished.

- Every three months you need to go back to the New Story and your Pinterest board with greater detail. How close are you to your goal? If you think you’ve achieved something, give yourself a pat on the back!

The last and final part of this series will be uploaded after two days.

Part 3

[copperbadge]

Ho Bisogno di Aiuto, Per Favore

Okay, I give up, I cannot find this on my own.

I'm reaching a point with Italian where I can move away from Duolingo into more independent learning. It's not that I'm good at the language, it's that I understand the theory well enough that I now just need practice, and the best way to do that is to find Italian texts and start translating them. Finding them is no issue; Archive Of Our Own has Italian-language fanfic, which has the benefit of sometimes having translations already posted so I can check my work.

But what I'm looking for is a program that will help me structurally, and all the keywords I can think of are just returning 1. software that does the translation for you, 2. language learning apps I don't need, and 3. professional translation software that is far beyond what I need and also very expensive. What I want is simple and yet I don't know if it exists or how to rig a homebrewed version if it doesn't.

I want a program (preferably with a mobile app but I'll take what I can get) where you can paste a page of Italian text into it and it will automatically put a line beneath every line of Italian where you can write an English translation. Basically I want the digital version of this, but for grownups learning a language instead of kids learning handwriting:

and I really just have no idea how to source that.

Anyone got any ideas? Fanfic translators, what do you use? Professional translators, are there basic free or low-cost programs that will do this? I've got a budget of around $150 for a one-time purchase or I'm willing to pay up to about $10 a month for a subscription. Or if there's a way to rig this myself in Office or Drive, I'm willing to do the work. I just don't know how to find this. Which is embarrassing to admit as a researcher, but sometimes being a good researcher is knowing when you have to ask a human instead of continuing to bang your head against the internet.

[blazescompendium]

Explaining the Origin of Megaten demons: ShikiOuji

I am sure that, if you played any Megaten game in the last 20 years or so, you ended up seeing this paper dude. His name is always stated as Shiki-Ouji, and he once shared the same design with the Demon called Shikigami.

The weird thing is that when researching Shikigami on my studies, i never found anything about this one so i put some detective work to find out about the origins of Shikiouji, the (yet another) dude who oftens repel physical damage in Megaten.

The creature is often describes in the series compendium as a powerful Shikigami, that only the most powerful Onmyoji could summon, and they have a vicious temperament.

When we talk about Shikigami, the first thing that comes to mind are paper dolls. This is no surprise, since Shikigami are summons Onmyoji binds to paper dolls or talismans, so they could interact with the physical world. This is also because paper is a very easy material to destroy, if things go south. Onmyoji are the equivalent of western sorcerer, that followed the Onmyōdō, a esoteric cosmology. It started in the 6th century in Japan as a divination practice, and evolved from there. I won't go into detail, because this is meant to be a short post. But materials about this practice are abundant on the internet.

The main concept concerning us here is the Shikigami. These are basically some kind of familiar, a spirit or demon if you want, the sorcerer could conjure to protect him or do his biding. The Cultural Alliance Brazil- Japan, which i already mentioned in other posts, states that:

''Shikigami can be Oni or demons, that should serve and protect an Onmyoji. Your abilities would be determined by the abilities of his master.

A Shikigami could assume the form of small animals, birds, etc... One Shikigami from a powerful Onmyoji could possess and control one animal. But only a real powerful Shikigami could possess a person.

When an Onmyoji is fighting another Onmyoji, they employ the use of their Shikigami. Some Onmyoji could spot the enemy Shikigami beforehand, and try to convert it to his side with magical powers. In this game, the converted Shikigami would come back to the old master, and attack with double the force. This pratice was called Shikigami Gaeshi.

Abe no Seimei is said to be the most powerful Onmyoji to ever exist. Some rumors say he had twelve Shikigami, while regular Onmyoji would rarely have more than one Shikigami at the same time.''

So, that is a rough definition of what a Shikigami is.

But, when researching this creature you would not be able to regularly find Shiki-ouji. The fastest method for him to appear, was the English Wikipedia article about Shikigami, which weirdly had this part about Shiki-ouji, but offered no source to it:

Having the kanji to Shikiouji, and some keywords, i found someone at Tumblr who asked the same question 6 years ago, in Eirikr's blog.

From there, Eirikr offered a link to a blog post writing about Izanagi Ryu Shikoku. Ryu Shikoku is an ancient folk religion and pratices from the Kochi prefecture. It is still practiced in the area to this day!

In this belief system there is the tradition of the Shiki-kui masks. Which.. bear a very uncanny resemblance to our paper guy, subject to this post:

These masks would be hang above the place the ceremonies of the Izanagi Ryu take place. They would have magical powers that could repel evil spirits, and non believers from coming to the ceremony and disturbing it. They would also serve as talismans, or paper dolls, in a simmilar vein the regular Shikigami pop image you have in mind.

Since they are used to summon spirits, bind them, and as talismans, these creatures can be, technically called a Shikigami.

With this knowledge in hands, i went to the Japanese web. And sure enough, i found this site: The Nippon Foundation Library. It has an article detailing the paper talismans used by Izanagi No Ryu Onmyoji, and their meanings, powers, and also explained a bit about Shiki-Ouji!

Here is what they have to say: (Please be warned that i do not speak Japanese, and used machine translation. Any corrections are Welcome!)

Shikē Ōji… Shikē Ōji is a spiritual entity invoked by the taisa during prayers for the sick and the "toriwake" ritual to expel evil spirits causing illness or calamity. Its birth is described as abnormal, and due to its excessively violent power, it has no place to reside. Usually, it is sunk in the pond of Tendō-nanta, and summoned only when needed to guard ceremonies, to pray as the guardian deity of ceremonies, or as a prayer deity of Jumon no hakase. There seem to be several types of Shikē Ōji depending on their purpose, such as Takata no Ōji for toriwake, Gotai no Ōji for prayers for the sick, and Ōtaka-shiki for insect prayers. Additionally, talismans such as Sangoku Arashiki, Chimura San Ōji, and Sakago no Ōji are handed down, and it is inferred that they were used according to the content of the prayers, although many details of their usage are unknown.

Using the powerful Shikē Ōji against humans becomes a curse. In Kochi Prefecture, "hitting a ceremony" is widely used to curse people. Many people use this term without understanding its original meaning. "Hitting a ceremony" refers to attacking someone using Shikē Ōji. While Shikē Ōji can benefit people if used for good, it can harm them if used for evil. Talismans of Shikē Ōji, possessing such terrifying power, often have several incisions on them, each containing twelve notches, giving them a rough impression. However, unlike talismans found in mountains and rivers, they do not seem to have incisions for eyes or mouths. In this regard, they are closer to the cutting style of talismans for house gods and sacred gods. Here, one can sense the emphasis on the powerful nature of Shikē Ōji's talismans while also distinguishing them from strange monsters.

So, as you can see there is some key information about the creature here. But the most important ones:

1- It is bind to a talisman, just like other Shikigami. The text here explains it is a paper talisman with notches, just like regular ones used in religious ceremonies.

2-It has a powerful and violent nature, just like the compendium often indicates in Megaten games. It seems hard to tame and use properly without getting hurt.

3-Shiki-Ouji can be powerful and violent, but it seems they dislike being used to hurt people. Instead, they are better employed to use their magic to other deeds. However if you still use them in that regard, they will most likely curse you.

4-Their talismans have twelve notches, no incision for eyes and mouth due to their aggressive nature.

I am sure that, if we follow this trail we will find many more sources. Going by key words i found in this text, i found many other sites and books, but since i have no time now to fall a rabbit hole, nor do i speak Japanese... That is it, i think this is a satisfactory answer to where this Megaten Demon came from!

The real forms of Shiki-Ouji

The last thing in want to talk about, is Shiki-Ouji real appearance. Since we have a seemingly wrong impression of they in Megaten, since Kaneko took some artistic freedoms.

First and foremost: From the few things i studies about Shikigami, we know they do not have a real physical form. The paper talismans are just a way to give them physical form. But it was incredibly hard to find a Shiki-Ouji talisman, which was weird because it was so distinguishable. The main reason being that: Shiki-Ouji seems not to be believed to be easy or safe to summon, and also their talismans would be destroyed asap after use.

But with the description i got, it would be this one that matches it the most:

No eyes, or mouth. Twelve Notches, six from each side, and some incisions. Very similar to a regular talisman found in other types of ceremony. Just as the text suggested.

I got this picture from this book:

Tosa, Monobe Village: Shapes of the Gods

Monoba being the village where most of these rituals came from. The book is from 1999, and contains many pictures of actual talismans.

You can see that, aside from the head shape, Kaneko took some freedom with this design. The sources state that Shikiouji talismans should not have a face, nor limbs, since it was too powerful, and should have 12 notches. For some reason, Kaneko drew it in a human-like form, but the face still resembled the Shiki-kui masks. The earlier design of the demon was even more closely resembling the masks:

Shiki-ouji earlier design from Devil Summoner (1996). It was later repurposed as the demon Shikigami. It is almost an exact match to this talisman. I can not however identify the original source.

Shiki-Ouji current design by itself could have been based on this one talisman in specific, at least some parts of it like the head with horned-shaped appendages:

It was sourced by the National Museum of Japanese History, but the post went down. The low quality image of the talisman can still be seen on google, but the link is dead, unfortunately. It seems that this item is in possession of the Museum in Japan. Kaneko could have seen it in pictures, or in person. This one seems NOT to be displaying a Shiki-Ouji thought.

Maybe the Kaneko take is that Shiki-Ouji was summoned with limbs, and facial features and became much more stronger as a result? We may never know...

And finally there is also an occult book that i found in Amazon Japan that is called: Exploring Izanagi No Ryu: ShikiOuji.

It is supposedly a manual on how to practice Izanagi no Ryu, and magics. I could not find the book online, just the summary. But it mentioned nothing about Shiki-Ouji. Probably has some sort of tutorial to summon it, in fact i was able to find many of those tutorials on the Japanese web.

Now, that is it. I think this puts to rest a little bit of mystery involving the origins of this specific demon. Kaneko sure took some freedoms, but it is still one of the more popular and recognizable characters in the series.

Final considerations:

This most likely is the answer to its origin, but i am not some sort of owner of all truths, so feel free to correct me in anything i said wrong. I am still an amateur scholar, and even if i do know a lot about mythology and ancient religions because i read many books and study a lot of hours of my days, i am by no means a specialist in Japanese Mythology specifically, specially Shikigami practices. The reason is that, i find it very difficult and time consuming to research Japanese sources, since i do not speak Japanese. I will one day, try my best since there are a lot of good Yokai to cover in future Scientific Papers.

I can, however, guarantee that i did my best in a deep search!

And i have spent a lot of time looking through pictures of Shikigami talismans, and i found some really cute. Like this one. What a whimsical little fella...

[lilacsareinbloomagain]

Hello. Can I request scenario of yan Leon getting arrested for kidnapped his "love" for at least a year and Reader visiting him in jail for the first time in months? Be it headcanons or fic is your choice.

Also please don't use daddy kink. I'm sorry but I'm just... not into it.

I hope you had a nice day 💚

I hope you have an awesome day as well, thank you! Also, I hope this will be to your liking, thank you for the request!

Notes: I may have written too much more than requested, sorry I really don't know what came over me (I wish I knew because dang)

This is most likely an older Leon, since cellphones and all, but you can imagine him up to Leon from RE4!

You didn't specify if you wanted NSFW or not, so I didn't put it, just to be sure, however if you did want it, do request! Be as specific as you want, I'll try to meet your expectations.

Realistically, Leon could have stuff like PTSD and/or panic attacks, but a yandere version of him would totally use it to guilt trip the reader.

I did my research on prison visitation, keyword, my, it may be wrong, I've never visited anyone in prison, or in the US, for that matter.

TWs: Yanderism, Probably unrealistic lock picking, Kidnapping, Financial dependence, Implied NSFW, Guilt tripping, Implied stalking, Off Screen panic attacks, Stockholm syndrome.

Yandere!Leon S Kennedy x Reader

I may be late for Christmas

Yours and Leon's relationship was troubled, to say the least. Of course, you weren't surprised when it came tumbling down.

From the start, Leon had problems, however you had rose colored glasses on. From the start, you should have expected an end to the relationship, one that probably wouldn't be calm and pacific like anyone would hope for.

Leon was full of secrets, Leon was clingy, Leon was a manipulator, Leon was possessive, Leon was controlling and on top of all, he was obsessed with you. Only, you took too long to notice it.

Leon let you know from the start that he hardly had any free time, his job was time-consuming as it had him go away on long work trips, and that was okay, it was his job and the way he went about his life was none of your business. You didn't mind, in the very start, that is.

The fact he never disclosed anything about his job to you, besides that he worked for the government, was only a small part of the process that was you wanting to give up your relationship.

Because of his lack of time, whenever he did have free time, it was spent smothering you, and it's not that you minded the attention, but it got suffocating when you could barely do your own stuff, like go to your job, visit your parents, spend time with your friends and things like that. There was a wide list of things that Leon would complain about and try to coax you out of doing just to spend more time with him. At the start, you did push aside your basic responsibilities out of guilt for not spending enough time with him, letting him be your priority, like he always said you were his.

When you were away doing said responsibilities, however, Leon found other ways to make himself present, even if not physically.

That is, if you ignore the fact he was present, just not somewhere you could notice him.

Your phone was constantly blowing up, forcing you to make use of the silent option in your phone much more than you used to, having to deal with his grumpy mood when you got home, your phone full of missed phone calls and another fifty messages of "I love you", "miss you", "let me know when I can go get you" and "pick up the phone".

From time to time you checked your phone to see if there were no emergencies, sometimes having to excuse yourself to the bathroom to go and comfort him, soothe him out of his panic attacks. When those happened, his messages sounded more distressed through small changes one could easily pick up on, like "please pick up the phone" or "I need to hear your voice". Those times, when you did pick up the phone, he sounded like he was breathing too much, but at the same time out of breath, you could barely understand his words over the phone, something about him thinking you were dead just because he couldn't feel you in his hold.

As a result of those times, when he was finally calm enough to let you go back to what you were doing before, you were left pondering. You even considered the possibility that he could have been in a war. After all, what could possibly have caused him to have these types of attacks? You may not know much about panic attacks, but something told you that whatever he didn't tell you was just the missing piece of the puzzle, the one you desperately needed to be able to truly understand him, to be able to love him completely, the way that he so desperately needed, and the way you so desperately wished you could.

Besides arriving late at your appointments since Leon insisted on keeping you with him longer, distracting you with one thing or another until you were almost an hour late to stuff, most of the times you also had to drive to his apartment sooner than it was expected of you, even having to leave your job earlier just because Leon insisted there was an "emergency".

There were also those days when he basically made you skip what you had to do, calling your boss, friends or even parents to give some kind of excuse for why you wouldn't be able to be where you were supposed to while pressing your face deeper into the mattress to muffle your sounds underneath him.

Honestly, at the start, those were your favorite days. But you can only skip so many days in your job to get fired, and do so many things before your friends get sick of it and your parents grow concerned and distant.

You decided to talk with your trusted friends and see what they thought about it, and it wasn't very hard to understand that you had to reinforce your boundaries if you wanted to get your life back on track.

And you thought Leon would understand, you thought he'd be okay with it, that the conversation would flow smoothly and in the end, you'd both get what you wanted in a healthy way.

Sadly, you weren't exactly a lucky person, and neither was Leon understanding like you hoped he'd be.

The conversation was fruitless, in the end, Leon managed to make you feel guilty. Like you were in the wrong. You didn't press on, noticing that what was supposed to be just a peaceful conversation was now bordering on a discussion, one you didn't want to have, afraid you'd lose, even if you were so sure you had a fair point just hours ago.

However, Leon pressed on. He grew suspicious you didn't think about confronting him all by yourself, and he wanted to know who exactly convinced you to try and get your point across to him. He began listing your acquaintances, friends and family members until he mentioned one of your closest friend's name and your expression shifted for a moment, he scoffed.

"So that's who, huh? You really talked shit about me to them?" He shook his head and walked away with heavy footsteps while your guilt ate away at you, you betrayed his trust, even if you didn't really talk shit about him, only saying the truth while having a necessary talk with a friend who was beginning to grow more and more concerned about your well-being and safety.

But he managed to get you to feel like you needed to apologize and make it up to him. For that, he couldn't help but smirk in amusement once you weren't looking.

By making it up to him, one of the things he hinted on, was the fact you needed to put more distance between you and this friend that clearly didn't like him. Soon, more friends met that same fate.

Because of your lack of a job and inability to look for another one since Leon gobbled up all the time with you he could get, you were growing short on funds. Rent, food and other basic necessities starting to seem like they required a lot more money than they used to, when you were actually employed.

Even if you didn't express your needs to him, he started to notice how you seemed constantly anxious, and of course, even an idiot would catch on the fact that, if you didn't have a job, you didn't have money.

So he convinced you to live with him, which meant being a homemaker, basically.

Leon didn't ask you to do anything, but it felt fair, since he was taking care of all your needs you could at least do what you could to pay him back. He furrowed his eyebrows, tenderness shining in his gaze when you told him that, he pressed a sweet kiss to your lips before muttering important words against your lips. Ones you should have found alarming and not sweet.

"Love, I'm your boyfriend, not your boss. All I need from you is to stay with me and to love me."

He needed you to stay with him. Love was a second thought, a bonus. Not as important as just staying with him, he needed you, more than anything else.

His love was more than enough for the both of you, anyways.

You started to feel better, even better than how you were before, your's and other's concerns about Leon being swept under the rug. As a product of that, you felt like you should use the rest of the money you had from your job that you didn't need anymore to buy a Christmas gift to your parents, since the end of the year was approaching and you wanted to make up for the lack of visits and phone calls over the course of the last few months. That included spending Christmas at their house.

When Leon got home from another of his long work trips and initiated a long cuddling moment with you, asking you to rant about whatever you were up to during the time he was gone, as he always did, you thought that was the best time to mention to him about your little planned visit to your parents for the holiday.

You seemed so excited, wanting to bring him over as well, if only to enlighten the view your parents had of him, to show them he wasn't as bad as they made him out to be, and of course to make sure he wouldn't be left alone, since he hated being away from you so much.

He wasn't happy, of course not. Even if he was there with you, being in a completely different setting and place he wasn't used to and didn't assure was safe for you meant he had less possibilities of keeping you safe. And there was also the fact your parents didn't like him, even if you didn't tell him directly, knowing it could upset him, he heard your conversations with them and saw their texts on your phone. If even your friends were able to make you doubt him, your parents could easily put the wrong ideas in your mind about him, convincing you to leave him, the mere thought of it made his blood boil.

But as much as he wanted to express that to you, try to coax you into giving up about going, he knew better, he knew that could bring at least a sliver of suspicion into your mind, and given the previous circumstances, he couldn't risk it. He had already made it so far into the relationship, you were basically already in his grasp, only one step was left to ensure you'd stay with him till the end.

Taking away your chance of getting away from him.

Disguising that as moving you from his apartment to a whole new house at the outskirts of the city.

You didn't really question his sudden urge to move, or the location, but you should have, since one day, you just woke up with your keys and phone completely vanished.

Leon made a half assed excuse when you finally decided to confront him, but this time you didn't buy it, of course. Not even his pouty expression that normally made you cave in worked to make you change your mind about going against his wishes this time.

For the next few months, you both seemed to be in your personal hells. You made his life harder as much as you could, while he took away the last bit of freedom you had, finally and accidentally making you see how that freedom was merely an illusion, since he had been controlling your life from the start of your relationship. This made you angry, angry at him since he had no right to do this to you, and angry at yourself for putting up with this for so long and not standing up for yourself, for not listening to your friends or even your own family when they tried to warn you.

Screaming didn't work, apparently, not only his house had thick walls but he didn't have many neighbors to hear you scream, either.

Breaking windows wasn't a possibility, one strong shove of a chair was enough for you to find out about the armored glass Leon made sure to add in case you even thought about the idea of breaking through them. Of course, that didn't keep you completely from breaking the windows, the glass could be bulletproof, but at some point it had to shatter, right? But there was the fact that Leon would undoubtedly restrain you in some way from doing so before you could even get close to achieving it, so that alternative would have to stay as a last resort.

Then again, you could always pick the lock.

Common sense told you picking a lock wouldn't be as easy as it seemed in movies, but since Leon was away in another of his long ass work trips you had a lot of time to figure it out. More than enough, actually, since after using the bobby pins in many different ways you were finally able to get the door unlocked.

You didn't know if you wanted more to celebrate or cry out of happiness, so your body made the decision for you, running as quickly as your legs could take you to the nearest person, house, anything. You could even scream until someone heard and came to help you, any previous embarrassment that would have been taken in this situation was forgotten.

Safety was at fingers grasp, but to really be safe, you needed to file a police report.

At first, you hesitated to do so. Even after finally being in a safe space, at your parents house and away from the captivity Leon called a house, a home for the two of you, the one you spent a year in, maybe a few months more, since you were celebrating Christmas with your parents, as you wanted to do one year ago.

You were kind of one year late for the holiday, still, both you and your parents were happy you were alive and safe.

The whole police report filing was a hard process. You were reporting a government worker, one trusted and of importance apparently, their negative reactions made that really clear.

At the end everything went well, the reality surprising you by going against your nightmares and constant worries. The fact your parents had filed a report because of your disappearance last year having played a big part in it.

Leon was brought into prison. Finally letting you and everyone that cared about you rest.

For months, you didn't hear from him, nor did he hear from you. It was maddening for the man to stay in his cell, unaware of how you were and if he'd ever be able to hold you again.

He would, he told himself he would, everyday, that was the only thing keeping him sane. If he could even still consider himself sane.

He barely slept without you, spending his nights only being able to think, think and think some more about how and when he'd get out of that confinement to see and feel you close to him. He missed you too much, he basically only did stuff during the days because he had to, if he didn't, he wouldn't get to see you again, and he'd be damned if he didn't get to see you again.

What mostly kept you both apart were the joint efforts of both your friends and family along with the ones in the police department that knew about your story with Leon. After all, as much as you tried to rid yourself of your love for him, the one you knew wasn't natural but Stockholm syndrome, Leon wasn't, he wasn't trying at all to rid himself of the absolute love and obsession devotion he had for you. No, he was actually actively seeking you out, putting a whole lot of effort of his own into getting people to keep him updated on you, getting help from the ones that weren't trying to keep you away from him.

If he wasn't insane before, he was certainly growing closer to it now, being kept physically away from you for so long like that.

After months of Leon being kept in prison, you finally decided to visit him. Your friends and parents being firmly against it, but you were stubborn and they couldn't really deny you from doing anything, you were a free adult, you could do whatever you wanted, even if what you wanted was to go and visit your captor in prison, under the possibility that he could have changed, somehow.

They all knew you were lying to yourself. You knew you were lying to yourself.

There was a bit of hesitation in your step as you walked into the building.

Eventually, after you stated simple things as the likes of who you were visiting and who you were, along with proving what relationship you had with the inmate, receiving a quite weirded out look from the receptionist when you mentioned you were the one kidnapped by him, you finally got in, following after the guard guiding you into the visitation room.

You settled on one of the chairs inside the room, in front of a small table, another chair positioned across from you. Your eyes nervously wandered across the room, focusing more on the door you supposed Leon would soon come out of, your foot tapping against the floor rhythmically.

After what felt like a long time, but at the same time, not long enough, Leon walked inside the room, eyes finding your own quickly, his footsteps almost faltered, expression staying strong, firm, despite his glassy eyes and the slight quivering of his lip, small tells of his real reaction upon seeing again in so long. You were only able to catch onto those because of the amount of time you spent with him, he let his walls down for you, and only you.

You stood up on shaky legs, seeing him approach you with almost slowed down steps. Your worries about him being mad or having an explosive reaction upon seeing you again were discarded when he pulled you into a hug, not saying a word as his arms gently enveloped your form, his head buried against your neck, just feeling you. Your skin, your scent, your warmth, your existence.

The embrace lasted little, way less than what he really wanted. He held your hands firmly as you two stood in front of each other. You were still at a loss for words, should you apologize? Say you missed him? You were feeling a lot of emotions, most of them you were unable to even explain.

"I missed you."

You were almost scared when he opened his mouth, taking a short breath before speaking, his words sounding soft, almost like a whisper, his eyes still twinkling with unshed tears he was trying desperately to keep in.

He didn't say anything else. He knew what he did, and he knew why you reacted the way you did as well, he couldn't blame you for having done what you did, but he wasn't regretful for what he did, either.

The words stuck in your throat, you wanted to say the same thing back to him, but after opening and closing your mouth a few times he got the hint, moving on with the conversation, you had a time limit, and he wanted to make the most out of it.

"Are you okay? How are things going?" Leon gently pushed you to sit down on your chair, going and taking his as well, his hand not letting go from yours, positioning positioning your linked hands on top of the table.

He didn't want to ask if you had moved on, he didn't want to know, he wanted to entertain the thought you still loved him as much as he loved you.

"Things are okay, I have a better job now, better apartment…" Better life... The words went by unsaid, but he caught onto the hint. Your voice almost didn't register to you as you spoke, your attention being kept on your joined hands on top of the table, his thumb rubbing circles on the back of your hand. "My friends contacted me again. At least, most of them did."

You wondered if you should also ask him how things are for him in prison, but you didn't know if you wanted to know, you didn't want to feel guilty again, you already felt it enough just by thinking of him, confined in this place.

You couldn't help but feel like you had done something bad. Leon wasn't a bad man, he just… Loved you too much.

Sometimes, it was hard for you to remember that said thought wasn't one of your own, but rather one that came as a result from the time you spent in the toxic relationship you had with Leon.

"I'm happy you're okay." He didn't, but there were guards watching the two of you. He doubted he would get out of prison early if he said everything he was thinking at the moment, everything he wanted to do, everything he needed to do. If he did, his hard efforts to behave over the course of the months there would go to waste, your trust in him would be beyond salvageable, probably.

The rest of the hour went just like that, with Leon letting you talk about anything and everything going on with your life, like he did when you two cuddled once he came back from one of his long work trios. He noticed as the tension seemed to leave your body, the familiarity in the action bringing you the comfort you had missed for quite some time. It seemed your trust in him would take a while to rebuild, but not as long as he expected, or you, in fact.

When your visitation hour ended and the guard called out to you both to go back to your respective paths, Leon hugged you again, not resisting to pull you into a kiss, one he missed way too much. You didn't resist against him either, thankfully, making him smile in the brief kiss.

"I love you." He said as you pulled back, him letting you do so, unwillingly. "So much, too much."

"I love you too." The words came out smoothly, naturally. It had been so long since you last said those words to him, it felt weird, like you weren't even supposed to say that.

He smiled in response, walking away from you slowly, glancing back every now and then as you also parted.

His plan was in action, you still loved him, that would make everything so much easier, you'd be back in his arms soon enough, then he'd be able to indulge in you and give you everything he hadn't been able to in so long.

He'd make sure there were no loopholes this time, this time, you wouldn't even want to leave.

Just you wait.

[mahouplanetofficial]

Advanced Mahou Outfit Guide 💫

Hi guys! I hope you all are excited for more posts to come– AP exams are over, and soon school will be out for the year! To those who have upcoming school exams, or are in the final stretch of school, good luck! We believe in you :) 

Also, another reminder to join Mahou Planet! We have a couple of Summer events we’re planning, gamenights, challenges, etc! It’d be lovely to have you join our endeavors ^^

Now that that’s over, are you guys ready for today’s guide?

👗 INTRODUCTION TO MAHOU FASHION

If you’re no stranger to the world of magical heroes, you’ll know that they have different outfits whenever they transform. Strikingly different outfits compared to how most of us dress on the norm. Advanced magical heroes will likely know what they’re searching for in terms of outfits, however, beginner magical heroes may not know where to start– that’s what this guide is for! In this guide, I’ll be discussing a couple of tips and tricks to create your magical hero outfit!

👠 HOW DO I GET STARTED?

To get started, I recommend following some of the advice that I shared on my concept basics post– especially with making lists. I recommend making bulleted lists of what you want/don’t want, specifically in outfits. For example, writing down “I want to wear a skirt” and “I don’t want heels” already narrows down a LOT of possibilities you have for an outfit! 

Another recommendation is to decide a couple of concept themes before you create an outfit, so you can correlate your concept with your outfit. Knowing the basics can help you more than you think– know your desired motifs, colors, etc.

One more important tip, think about what you are comfortable wearing and what you’d like to embody as a magical hero. You can experiment with this by playing dress-up in your bedroom, fitting rooms, etc! Experiment with what you feel comfortable wearing in real life, so you’ll get an idea of what you’d like to wear while doing magic. If you can’t do this, then think about what you would like to wear as a magical hero. Maybe you want to try a new style, or (my personal motivation) defy societal norms/the “dress code” you were raised with. Basically, go out there and experiment! 

💄 BRAINSTORMING IDEAS

Now that you have these new ideas layed out, it’s time to brainstorm! Go out in the real world or on the wonderful world wide web and search for some outfit ideas! Here are some helpful sources for finding outfits:

Pinterest is a STAPLE for inspiration. Some keywords I recommend are “magical girl”, “magical girl oc”, “magical girl oc design”, “(your aesthetic)core outfit”, “runway outfit” and “stage outfit”!

Research some magical hero animes/games for outfit ideas! Some I recommend looking at are Madoka Magica (more specifically Magia Record since there’s like 1000 magical girls there), Precure, Girls x Heroine, Cocoppa Play, and Pripara!

tumblr (this platform teehee) is also a nice place to search for inspiration! You can use the same keywords above, just with tumblr hashtags!

Play around with dress-up apps like Gacha Life 2, Dolldivine, Everskies, Picrew, and ROBLOX (I know a couple of avatar editor games, if you want me to drop them, just ask!)

Go window shopping (or shopping if you have the money) and look at magical hero-esque outfits! You can go thrifting, to the mall, online shopping, or look at other people’s everyday outfits!

🎨 DESIGNING THE OUTFIT: SECTION 1

Now that you have inspiration and plenty of ideas to go off of, it’s time to DESIGN! You can design your outfit with any method, from creating collages off of images, to using dress-up games, drawing your design, commissioning an artist, there’s endless possibilities!

The only method I recommend you don’t use is AI art. AI art not only takes credit away from actual artists, but AI art is environmentally harmful and the algorithm searches every image on the internet, including medical records and illegal and problematic images. Mahou Planet has a rule against using AI art: “There will be no AI art usage in this server. This rule is non-negotiable. Accidentally sending AI art without knowing is understandable and can be corrected by deleting the message, however, do not promote the usage of/use AI art.” I will not be willing to argue with anyone about the morality of AI art– know it is not supported by us. There are many better alternatives that can get you a better design, and most importantly- it’s a design that you (for the most part) create yourself!

There are lots of different factors to consider for your outfit design, such as whether you have teammates, uniforms, shared outfit motifs, outfit rules, etc. We’ll go over those in this section!

TEAMMATES

If you have teammates, it may be a good idea to correlate your outfits together to show that you’re a team. 

For example, the magical girls in each Precure season have shared outfit motifs to show their team harmony. I think the Precure season that does this well is GoPri. The Cures in Go Princess Precure each have a tiara with a charm representing their outfits motif, princess-like dresses, a back bow, and a golden gem on their outfits. You can easily look at them and tell that they are a team. 

Another example of this is of Winx (specifically S1)! The simplicity of their designs, the glittery fabric, the small wings, and the boots are all correlated, even though the girls themselves all stand out with unique takes on these rules. 

Something to take from these magical girls is that they each have something to tell that they’re a team. If you are a team and want you guys to have shared outfit motifs, make sure that someone can look at a picture of your team and can tell that you guys work together.

A simpler solution to this is uniforms! Uniforms are basically a simpler way to coordinate your teammate outfits. One of the most famous examples of this is Sailor Moon: their outfits, besides some accessories, are the same. The only difference is the color scheme. This is easy for those who don’t want to design unique outfits, or want outfits to stand out in terms of color. 

Here’s a more simplified list of the pros and cons of having uniforms VS unique outfits:

Uniforms

Easy to design

Takes little to no thought

Colors easy to pick out

Can be either simple or complex

Colors may be hard to remember for each member

Limited freedom of expression

Unique Outfits

Harder to design, but a more satisfied finish

Outfit and colors may be hard to remember for each member

Usually complex but some can be simple

Freedom of expression, or much freedom if there are still rules

Harder to coordinate

As you can see, I have a little bit more pros under uniforms. However, do what you want with your designs! I personally always go for unique outfits– some of the unique outfits I’ve seen in the magical hero community look STUNNING!

If you want to have unique outfits or uniforms, a good thing to implement is outfit rules. Rules are basically what you can and can’t do in a design. When I’m designing teammates, I have rules listed under DO, DO NOT, and IT DEPENDS categories.

DO is of stuff you can change, add, modify, etc. For example: you can have a unique hairstyle.

DO NOT is stuff you cannot change, no exceptions! Example: you must keep a bow on your chest.

IT DEPENDS is stuff you can modify, but may be limited. Example: You can change the shape of a skirt, but it must keep white ruffles and be in the color of your theme color.

These rules can vary based on your kind of magical hero and what you want for your team. Remember: you are the designer! Design to your heart's content and what you think looks good for you and your team! 💫

SOLO

If you’re going solo, this section may be a bit more helpful than what I said in the teammates section. Solo outfits usually apply to just yourself, so you have so much more freedom in designing your outfit. When making an outfit, don’t just focus on what looks good. Remember to design an outfit that makes you comfortable, and you only! 

If you want to have teammates in the future, or if you need more guidance on creating outfits, then it’s recommended to create outfit rules, just in case. Or if you’d like 100% freedom on outfit designs, do what you want! It’s your outfit!

THEME COLOR

Choosing a theme color is easier said than done. I see most magical heroes choose their favorite colors as their theme colors, and I have also seen magical heroes put more thought in their theme colors. Do what you want! Even if you don’t want a theme color or want multiple, you are still a valid magical hero!

For color palettes for an outfit, you can go on Pinterest for colors, or go to coolors.co to generate color palettes! A cool thing about coolors is that you can save color palettes for your magical form!

MOTIFS

Motifs are also important to decide on your outfit! To decide outfit motifs, repeating elements in your outfit, think about the theme your magical hero wants to display, or a moral lesson you’d like for whoever you’re fighting/the general public to learn. If you’re a magical hero of love, you can opt for adding heart shapes and motifs to your outfit. If you’re a magical hero of wishes, add some shooting stars on your outfit! It goes on and on for any motifs, it’s all up to you to determine how you use them.

🎨 DESIGNING THE OUTFIT: SECTION 2

For this section, I’ll go over the more detailed aspects of your design, from top to bottom! I’ll give advice on designing outfits, as well as some practical tips for your magical design.

HAIR

Probably the most famous– magical heroes are notorious for their crazy hair. Most magical heroes you see have long hair, either down or in some updo, and in the color of their theme color or an accent color. Some magical girls have their hair be a variation of their natural hair. You can have any kind of hair you’d like as a magical hero! Here are some of my tips:

Make sure your hair won’t hinder your fighting abilities- it won’t get caught in your outfit, you won’t trip on it, etc. Also, make sure your villains can’t grab your hair to pull you/catch you off guard! This is a common fighting technique and I’ve seen this absolutely destroy people in school fights. If crazy freshman can do it, your villains likely will as well.

Don’t worry about your hair being “easily recognizable” if you’re keeping your natural hair. You can always script in that no one recognizes you or use magic to ensure no one associates you with your secret identity.

As for personal recommendations, I recommend having your hair out of your face. I have bangs in real life and in my magical girl form; sometimes they’re a pain, especially on hot days. It’d kind of hinder your ability to see in your magical form. A good counter to this would be scripting the thickness or thinness of your bangs if you plan on having any, or to script that you see better once you transform (this is good for people with glasses!)

Also recommend to script that you don’t sweat when you transform. Sweat + hair = pain.

Choose a hairstyle you can fight in and feel comfortable with– if you’re not sure where to start, think about hairstyles you would like to try or hairstyles that flatter you. Even hairstyles you wear in real life would be a good start!

Don’t worry about damaging your hair with the color you choose, I’d like to imagine magic changes your hair color, and is completely damage-free! (Really wish this were the case in real life 😭)

HEADGEAR

I know a couple of magical heroes who plan on having hats or SOMETHING on their head in their magical hero form. If you’re interested in having headgear in your magical hero form, here are some precautions and tips:

I don’t want to say it’s a hindrance to have a hat (because I literally wear an ushanka in my magical hero form 💀), but try to find some way it’ll stay on your head while fighting. Unless you don’t anticipate doing crazy backflips, I’d recommend scripting that your headgear won’t fall off even in the craziest situations– or even better, it can only be taken off by your hands only.

Also script that your hat (or better: your entire mh outfit) is the exact size for you, and grows as you grow in civilian form!

Try to find some practicality in it! I see magical heroes go for goggles to replace their civilian form glasses. Some magical heroes wear hats to keep the sun out of their eyes. I had an old concept where my magic came from a top hat (if you know, you know). Hats don’t just have to be fashionable, but I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted something cool just to finish off your outfit.

If you’re looking for hat designs, a good game I recommend for inspiration is Genshin Impact! The creativity the characters have for their headgear is amazing, and I can imagine some magical hero designs based off of just hats alone. Pinterest is also a good place to look!

TOPS

Tops! This is one of my favorite parts of designing! Designing tops is always really fun. Here’s some advice:

I recommend looking up necklines or just pretty tops in general for inspiration! 

Also recommend to have a built-in bra with your top, wearing one separately would be a hassle in my opinion.

One of my biggest pet peeves with strapless tops is it falling down every 5 seconds, so if you have a strapless top, make sure you script that it won’t fall while you’re fighting. 

This is the same for sleeves in general! Script they won’t fall down.

If you have anything tied in your magical form, like ribbons, script that they won’t come out or loose.

Make sure you choose something you’re comfortable with! Script that you’re comfortable in your top, no matter what kind of top you’re going to wear in your magical form.

PSA for magical heroes who want gloves: script that you can use your phone while wearing them. I hate wearing gloves and then having to take them off just to use my phone :( 

If you aren’t planning on wearing gloves, script that you don’t leave fingerprint traces on surfaces you touch, just for security reasons!

I’d hate to continue the “YOU DON’T NEED PAINTED NAILS IF YOU’RE WEARING GLOVES DUHHH!!!!” debate, do what you want with your nails! Pinterest has gorgeous nail designs! If you are wearing gloves, I’d recommend making the color of your nails change the natural color of your nails. Long nails would probably be more of a liability than shorter ones, or you could script your nails are immune to breaking, getting damaged, falling off, etc.

A smart idea would be incorporating your outfit into some kind of use with your magic. For example, if your main weapon is guns, then I’d recommend keeping ammunition on your body, on a sling or a belt. This takes a bit more thought to be put into it, but it’s so worth it and makes a great design in the end!

BOTTOMS

Bottoms are also fun to design! In my opinion, these are the most versatile. There are different directions you can take for bottoms, SO many different directions! Here’s my advice and suggestions:

Go for what makes you the most comfortable! You are 100% a valid magical hero if you go for pants or shorts over a skirt and vice versa! It’s your outfit! If someone has a problem with how you present your magical self, they can kiss your- 💥💥/JOKE /ok but fr ignore people who have problems with your outfit they’re just insecure (/srs)

If you are planning on wearing a skirt, please script safety shorts or opt for a skort instead! I don’t think I should explain why flashing people while you’re fighting is not only embarrassing but dangerous since there are terrible and disgusting weirdos out there. 

If you’re wearing socks, script that they won’t slide down (another pet peeve of mine)

If you want to wear heels, or if your shoes are high heeled, PLEASE script that you know how to fight in heels and won’t fall or trip! Been there done that, it’s not fun. Also scripting that your feet won’t get blisters is a good precaution too!

Also, if you’re wearing a back bow/something on the back/a cape, or anything you’re scared will catch up into something while moving, script that you’re not going to get stuck or nothing will catch your clothes while you’re moving.

MAKEUP

I feel like makeup is a less commonly talked about thing when it comes to magical hero design. I think makeup is also important to consider when you’re transformed! Here are some considerations:

Make sure your makeup is sweat-proof, sensory friendly, and won’t wipe off or get ruined while fighting. Emphasis on sensory friendly, I avoid makeup in civilian form because foundation is absolutely PAINFUL.

Search for makeup styles you like, or go off of makeup you wear or would like to wear in real life! You can go for natural makeup, glamorous makeup, stage makeup, etc.

Royale High on ROBLOX is a good game to look for makeup styles! The makeup in faces (to my knowledge) is free to use! Everskies is also a good game to experiment with makeup!

Tear proof makeup works as well, just in case you end up crying in your magical hero form. 

🎤 GENERAL TIPS

Keep in mind the environment you’ll be fighting in may change depending on where you go. You may fight in the rain, in snow, on the beach, etc. It’d be a nice idea to accommodate your outfit for such conditions, or to script that your outfit is weather-proof. 

Speaking of accommodations, if you’re disabled, it’s always a great idea to script accommodations for your outfit! You can script that your outfit is sensory friendly, isn’t itchy, and (my favorite) there are no tags on your magical outfit.

I also like to script that my magical outfit is able to regulate heat/coolness! This can work for any outfit, even if you can’t find the logic behind it. It’s magic! That’s all the logic you need!

Make sure you’re able to find some way you can fight in your outfit. Even if you don’t plan on fighting, it’s a good precaution!

Kind of TMI, but if you get periods, script that your outfit is bleed-proof. This is also good if you end up getting hurt in your outfit. Also scripting that your outfit’s immune to tearing or getting injured is a great idea!

A fun way to experiment with how your magical hero outfit may look is to take a full body picture of yourself and then draw over it with your magical hero clothes. You can also dress in aspects of your magical hero outfit in real life with items you have at home (ex. wearing a top similar to the top in your magical hero form) to get a feel of what you’ll be wearing.

If you need design help, I suggest joining Mahou Planet! There are great magical hero designs there and talented designers willing to help you! Searching for inspiration, meshing different pictures of outfits together, and asking friends for help are also valid methods!

💫 CONCLUSION

In conclusion, there are about a gajillion different ways to create a magical outfit. There’s not one right or wrong way to design, or a “bad” or “good” design: what matters is that you’re comfortable in it and that it’s an outfit you love! Outfit changes are 100% valid, and I’d even recommend scripting variations of your outfit for weather/personal reasons!

At the end of the day, designing should be a fun process. I hope you guys learned a thing or two from this post, and have fun designing your magical hero outfit! Remember to join Mahou Planet to have a chance to choose the next article I write!

See you guys next post! 

(idols: yeojin - loossemble, jinsoul, choerry, kim lip - artms, mina - twice, ella - pixy, gowon, hyeju - loossemble, gwsn ot7, stayc ot6)