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#more sidequesting this week!
blackjackkent · 7 months
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Oskar's reward, unsurprisingly, is that we can get him to paint our picture (or one of our companions').
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"Here he is - the hero of the hour! My brushes are oiled, the canvas prepped, and you..."
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"Well, you're comfortable. That's the main thing. So, shall we begin?"
Everyone around here is SUCH A FUCKING DICK about HECTOR'S CLOTHES.
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"There's something wrong with what I'm wearing?" Hector says between his teeth.
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"No, no, no, of course not!" Oskar says brightly. "As an artist, I want to capture your true essence in this portrait. Bloodstains and all."
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Hector is pretty pissed at Oskar and wants very little to do with him at this point. But he got Karlach's portrait painted anyway.
Because even though he knows it wasn't meant literally... he can't turn down anything that promises her immortality...
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justletmeon12 · 3 months
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A Starstruck Odyssey Was All It Promised - and More: Round 8's Up
Obligatory context: I watch them out of order based on what interests me. So far, I've completed (in order): Mentopolis, A Court of Fey and Flowers, A Crown of Candy, the Ravening War, Burrow's End, Misfits and Magic (including both specials), Neverafter, The Unsleeping City Chapter I, Mice & Murder, Escape from the Bloodkeep, Dungeons and Drag Queens, and A Starstruck Odyssey. I'm not equally interested in all that remain, but these are my top choices. Comments/advice are welcome.
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maddieandangel · 5 months
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Had a weird Hollow Knight-related dream a couple days ago, so I decided to draw a major scene I remembered from it dgsgshf
More context will be in the tags, for those interested!
#hollow knight#little ghost#hk ghost#the knight#hk hornet#hornet#alright. as of writing these tags it's been a week since the original dream so! let's see what i remember dgsgsgf#i was playing a game. which was a sequel to hollow knight ((Not silksong though))#there was some new sort of divine infection in hallownest and hornet had asked ghost to investigate it. they ended the last one after all!#the red glowy spike gate thingy is what you jumped into to enter the 'infected' areas#though it actually led directly to a hub world type of place. which was kinda like an expanded base for the grimm troupe?#more like an entire lair instead of a camp. also some greek gods were there for some reason lmao. they had their own special rooms too#so sidenote but- new headcanon that there are grimm troupe members named ares athena artemis &... venus lmao. not aphrodite for some reason#also monomon was there?? i think??? except she was cooking????? she had a sidequest to deliver something to someone though i dunno hdgfhdgh#i remember going back to the grimm troupe lair a couple times throughout my 'playthrough'#anyway. the 'infection' this time around was more of a glitchy physical corruption thing? rather than a mind corruption.#though there were still aggressive enemies to fight. but i remember getting a map from cornifer early on and he was. probably infected#i think part of his body was covered in electricity or something? so he wasn't fully visible? but he was still acting normally#there was also a moth who was the seer but then later wasn't the seer (but was still the same moth) dghgdhf. i delivered stuff to her#that glowing white wall thing in the drawing was like a one-way gate. you could only cross it from the other side and ghost came from there#i guess things looped back up somehow i dunno ghdgfhgf#anyway. ghost's red eyes. those are significant! those happened while i was walking through a corridor. it had pools of shallow water#(shallow enough to just walk through) and also creatures that were lightseeds but red.the implication was that they were full of Blood lmao#and as i went along killing them--as one does--as i walked through the hall. they started turning the water red too#there was also narration about this as it was happening ashdgsf. specifically the narrator said the water turned red before it actually did#ghost's eyes slowly turned red too. but aside from that they were fine! since. they're the player character and the player is perfectly fin#BUT. when they encountered hornet again. she thought they were infected. and that she lost the only family she had left </3#she didn't attack though. instead she just jumped into the red spike gate without a word. decided to try to fix everything herself#but eventually you'd encounter her again down below and she'd fight you. didn't actually get to that in the dream though#aand i'm out of tags </3 i wanted to talk about what i'd do to make this make more sense as an au or something now that i'm awake but. :c
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coffintwink · 10 months
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obessivedork · 8 months
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I love doing little quests helping the Railroad, Deacon is a RIOT 🥰
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eaglefairy · 8 months
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Last time in Xenoblade...oh yeah. That.
Roommate is not happy about the level jump of the enemies in the new areas that are all required for quests, which...yeah, that's fair. I get why it's like that, it's basically all the postgame content unlocked right now instead of after the final boss, but I definitely agree it's pretty annoying and disheartening to see when you're 20 levels below a bunnit
We're going around getting quests from the High Entia refugees and man I forgot how sad these are. My roommate and I aren't even joking around, it's just so depressing
Yyyeah basically every quest we get I'll look up on the wiki and have to say "don't do this one yet it's level 80," "don't do this yet it's level 90," etc etc
What's really funny though is that every other sidequest we get the person says "oh I need to talk to someone specific" and we're like oh, another skill tree. So far we intentionally got Shulk's and have stumbled into Reyn's, Melia's, and Dunban's fifth trees.
We're doing the High Entia Emblem quest right now and my roommate just took a good look at the Emblem design and she was like "oh, it's the Bionis!", which is something I've never realized and that's super cool I love it
Amethyst Boots: Boots made from the elusive nocturnal iron ore of Valak Mountain. My roommate: nocturnal iron ore??? Me: So...what's your opinion of that as a geologist?
Us: "Okay, so we'll just check these shops really quick and then we'll head to the Bionis Interior." one hour later... Us: "Okay, now we'll go to the Bionis Interior!"
Oh it's grossing her out so much lol. The cells aesthetic is not her thing apparently
The only things she's been able to say for the past minute is about how disgusting the whole area looks (and especially the heart)
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mantisgodsdomain · 8 months
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We should bring back low% time travel at some point it has some INCREDIBLY interesting intersections of knowledge. Timeline where they've never been back to Snakemouth Den since their first expedition, have NO IDEA about any of Leif's Request, have never so much as ventured NEAR the Underground Tavern let alone used any of the Medals, have never once spoken to Maki beyond a handful of lines in the Swamplands, probably don't even know what a Yin is, and then get shunted back in time to relive their entire adventure with no fucking context beyond the path they went on last time.
#we speak#context: bug fables time travel au where they completed like. the Absolute Minimum required content to finish the game before time travel#did they complete the chapter bosses? yep. did they finish the main plot? absolutely. did they finish a SINGLE sidequest? no.#this au time travels back Everyone With Magic so hoaxe also has time travel knowledge but he has Significantly More Context#thinkin abt it again while tinkering with febuwhump plans just bc like. hey we could use that for things#also bc of timelines like “fuck around a tower for a year. world ends. time travel. you have no clue what happened.”#and fun notable timeline changes like “they actually get sent back like a week before canon events”#“which means like a week of both kabbu and vi worrying about if the other remembers them to the point that other people notice”#and then vi in particular (didnt tell anyone fuck shit for the entire previous timeline) (planning on not telling anyone shit to save face)#gets bullied into returning to the tavern specifically bc people are Worried About Her after a week of her Worrying and being off meds#(the meds are painkillers. for Hive Agonies. avoided in prev timeline bc Oh No What If They Judge Me For Not Liking Being In Pain)#(and also the getting them through illegal means but tbh. the fact that she got them illegally barely even registers to her)#(at no point in time has she had access to perscription level painkillers through normal means shes just like)#(worried about how she'll be perceived if they know that shes taken Drugs To Not Be In Abject Pain When The Agonies Are Bad)
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lecliss · 10 months
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When I checked my hours in genshin like a few days ago it was around 388 and I was like I better fuckin not reach 400 before the end of the year I fuckin swear and I just saw my hours again and it's 425. Just fucking kill me. Put me down. End me. This has to stop.
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goldensunset · 1 year
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it is genuinely a wonder to me that i am STILL playing pokémon violet after almost three months
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svtskneecaps · 2 years
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ayo shoutout to revali for being the champion whose ability i have used the least since obtaining
#i have not obtained urbosa's fury bc sand seals are scary and the camel makes me nervous#i've used mipha's grace at least three times bc i'm bad at the game but i'm also a coward so i don't die but when i DO die. i DIE.#and shoutout to daruk bc i can't parry for shit but i love exploding the spiders#not kpop#shut up vic#that's a lie i'm getting better at parrying i killed at least two walking guardian spider boys entirely on my own#and i can consistently get the decaying guardians first try#but like. i suck. lmfao.#if a shrine is anything above a minor test of strength i literally turn tf around and walk out#like yes medoh was my most recent divind beast but 'most recent' was last week#i have done most of naboris; explored mount lanayru; found a stable i somehow missed; combed the eastern islands; finished eventide;#tidied some sidequests; killed a talus using only bombs; killed another talus; cried in the temple of time; dyed half of my clothes purple;#found fifty more koroks; finally found the second to last memory i need; combed faron woods looking for the spring of courage because#my theory is that it's there (i'm still looking lol); killed a monster camp out of spite; picked a fight with every yiga i saw out of spite;#combed the gerudo highlands; finished two labyrinths; wandered into castle town; wandered into castle town again;#entered castle town with the intention of murdering every guardian i saw; killed the yiga leader; helped build tarrey town; killed a molduga#activated the tower in hyrule field; explored hyrule field in stealth mode bc i'm a pussy and guardians scare me; found and paid the last#great fairy; found and paid the horse god; found and tamed a third horse for the quest at dueling peaks; furnished links's house#upgraded most of my clothes to their highest level; tracked down the other two pieces of the zora armor; found more berserker armor;#killed a lynel because i walked in on it and decided that meant it had to die even if i died too#my point is i've done a lot of shit and in that time i have used revali's gale. twice.#me staring at a wet cliff: well. my only options are to wait it out or go around.#i can't stress that this isn't me willfully sticking it to the birdman i literally just forget i have it i am. dumb.#long tags
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six-of-ravens · 2 months
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well, woke up today like "okay I need to get this task from yesterday finished really fast so I can get these other tasks from yesterday done really fast and then I can get back to the site that's due Thursday that I've still barely had time to work on"
and then I realized while working on the second-last site on this list of 10 that one of the updates I'd marked as "not possible to do" is actually possible, and if we tell the client no they're going to karen out at us so it's unfortunately worth the extra hour to go back and re-update 8 sites to save my PM from their wrath and....sigh.
this site is never going to get done by Thursday.
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chaostudee · 19 days
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how you get the girl, lando norris.
summary : lando norris reveals in a interview that his celebrity crush is y/n. the majority of the grid teases him over his little crush but little do they know it is mutual. faceclaim : hailee steinfeld warnings : language?? a/n : aaaaagh 2nd win for lando im so happy :) hopefully ferrari can get on the podium in monza. also inspired by how you get the girl by taylor swift.
y/nusername felt cute. might delete later.
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liked by zendaya, florencepugh, landonorris and 1,719,910 others.
zendaya 🔥🔥
florencepugh damnnn girl
user01 goddamn
user11528 wowwww
sabrinacarpenter obsessed with u always
username_90 DONT DELETE GIRL PLEASE
user22 how tf is she single?!?!
y/nfan LITERALLY LIKE WHAT
user92 pick me choose me love me
mclaren new video out now !!
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liked by landonorris, zakbrown, f1fan and 479,929 others.
user828 OMG LOVE U MCLAREN
user01 they know what we want hehe
f1fan oh yesssss
username982 oh we are so backkkk
user_72 landoscar !!!!!
y/nusername
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》 user929 omlll she's so pretty wtfff
》 user00 so gorgeouss ughhh
》 y/nlover i cant wait for future projects hehe
》 y/nusername something coming soon 🤫
》 username_89 yesss y/n active era
f1updates lando norris reveals that his celebrity crush is y/n y/ln !!!
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liked by f1fan, f1lover, justaninchident and 129,920 others.
user01 stan oscar for calling him out hehe
f1fan UM WHAT
user472 he's so real for that acc
f1lover Y/N NEEDS TO SEE THIS PLSSS
justaninchident brb changing my name to y/n real quick
user555 so not normal about this
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y/nusername SPIDERMAN INTO THE SPIDERVERSE OUT JUNE 2ND !!!!
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liked by florencepugh, tomholland2013, zendaya and 1,293,920 others.
florencepugh yayyyy i cant waittt
zendaya eeeek so excited
tomholland2013 won't be better than homecoming.....but i have fate
user829 OMG OMG
user739 Y/N AS GWEN OH YES
username_777 i know where i will be june 2nd
lando.jpg
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liked by alexalbon , oscarpiastri, georgerussell and 282,710 others.
alexalbon bros a photographer now
landonorris just a hobby :)
user829 ugh his style lately 😩😩
user119 obsessed with him alwaysss
username_425 bros doing sidequests now
f1fan aagh we need more content like this plsss
f1lover im love his jewellery smmmm
oscarpiastri this week was a good one 😜
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liked by landonorris, y/nusername, georgerussell and 618,910 others.
landonorris :)
user289 your honour i love them !!!
user_19 ughhh they are so cuteeee
justanichident pookies
f1fan mclaren podiums are my favs :)
f1lover but carlando podiums 😚
y/nusername premiere in la last night
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liked by landonorris, florencepugh, zendaya and 917,291 others.
landonorris stunning
y/nusername tyyyyy
user82 oh this look im obsessedddd
f1fan not lando commenting plss he wants her so baddd
user910 she's so hot omg
florencepugh my bsf is so gorgeee
zendaya you ateee so baddd
jimmyfallon interview with y/n y/n out now !!
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liked by landonorris, f1fan, justaninchident and 628,019 others.
user8292 YES THIS IS THE CONTENT WE WANT
user00 okay truthfully i dont like jimmy fallon all that much but he ate with this one u fear
f1fan lando in the likes 🙈
f1lover heheheheheheehhe
username_29 girl was trying to keep it cool but she was blushing so badddd
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y/nusername miami gp 🏎🏁 @ mclaren
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liked by landonorris, mclaren, oscarpiastri and 828,001 others.
mclaren amazing having you in the garage today !!!
user929 EXCUSE ME WHAT
f1fan convinced lando invited her
user82 oh defo
user728 giggling
username_299 oh she's a menance for this
f1lover wait....are we going to get a lando and y/n pic???
justaninchident whos cares about the gp now I ONLY CARE ABOUT Y/N AND LANDO CONTENT
y/nusername finally met my celeb crush 🤭
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》 user899 I LOVE HER FOR THIS
》 f1fan SCREAMING
》 user11 LANDO HAS TO SEE THIS PLS I BEG
》 f1lover i just know that lando is dying rn
》 user0_811 no2 this is why i love y/n
》 georgerussell can confirm that lando did infact scream when he saw this.
landonorris first win feels.
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liked by y/nusername, oscarpiastri, charlesleclerc and 2,893,467 others.
y/nusername so happy for you !!!
landonorris thanksssss
oscarpiastri well deserved mate 🫶
georgerussell congrats !!
user929 EEK SO PROUD
user191 wdym we got y/n and landos first win today......best day everrrr !!!
username_19 i sobbed when he crossed the finished line
f1fan he's come so far 😭😭
justaninchident wdymmm lando just got his first win wtfff
user000 im convinced y/n was his lucky charm
username_10 this 🙌🙌
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landonorris guess it's not a secret anymore 😏
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liked by y/nusername, georgerussell, charlesleclerc and 2,729,920 others.
user72 help the emoji he's so unserious
user11 ughh i love them sm all ready
georgerussell reminder to never doubt you again
charlesleclerc i like to think that i had a part in this
y/nusername <3
username829 awwwww
justaninchident im sobbing acc
f1fan speechless
f1lover829 AS A MARVEL AND F1 FAN IM NOT OKAY
user243 screaming crying throwing up
y/nusername i love u sm baby
landonorris love u more angel
taglist ⭑.ᐟ
@mxryxmfooty
@lottalove4evelyn
@heavy-vettel
@llando4norris
@hadidsworld
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kryaaas · 15 days
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I feel like part of the reason why Harry is able to become sober in Martinaise is not just because of his amnesia but because he is away from RCM
he isnt there to fulfill some "2 cases a week" quota and is able to take his time with the case for as long as he wants
And most importantly he is allowed freedom to do things outside the main investigation. Majority of time he is doing some sidequests that are not necessarily connected to the case. Setting up a night club in a church, exploring the entroponetic anomaly, buying a book about cockatoos, joining the communist group, helping to find cryptid bugs, preventing a little girl from standing in a cold weather, painting a mural, singing karaoke etc etc. a chance for harry to actually feel more than just a cop
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thisisnotthenerd · 16 days
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with misfits & magic season ii coming out on 9/25, it's time for a spreadsheet update!
links to the relevant sheets:
thisisnotthenerd's d20 stats: the og spreadsheet. where this all started.
d20 episode randomizer: watch orders! go here to see all of the episodes listed in various ways, and to pick a random episode!
d20 seating chart stats: the table and how it plays out every season. check the compiled chart for basics on each character
anyways, on to the stats!
general stats:
total episode count: 251, spread over 22 seasons.
there have been 8 main cast / intrepid heroes seasons, that make up 147 of the 251 episodes, or 58.5% of the total count. if we include oneshots in this count, the count goes up to 151 of 251, for 60.1%.
total runtime: 541:54:53. that's 3 weeks, 1 day, 13 hours, 54 minutes and 53 seconds of dimension 20.
average runtime: 2:09:32. the median is 2:08:32, which i thought was funny. the episode that's closest to the average, with 2:09:33, is 'the house always wins' from a starstruck odyssey.
some more recent updates: never stop blowing up has the third-shortest average (1:49:18), following fantasy high (1:39:43) and coffin run (1:43:16).
nsbu is the shortest of the 10-episode seasons, with a total runtime of 18:12:59. compare that to the longest 10-episode season, the seven, with a runtime of 23:55:12.
for mismag, this is our first sidequest sequel season. aabria is the first guest dm to get a sequel season of her own (matt is a little diff by virtue of brennan running acoc). it's the first KOB sequel season as well--that speaks well for d20 expanding their game systems.
mechanically, they're now using a version of nsbu called never stop making magic, so i'll be tracking stat explosions this season as well. i do think d20 is leaning towards expanding the systems they use, so we'll see how they continue to expand going forward.
it's also the first odd-numbered sidequest season, with 11 episodes. by december 5, we'll have had 16 episodes in the world of mismag, which is just under a main cast season.
player stats:
aabria's back in the dome for her 7th season, and 4th as the game master! with an 11 ep season she's up to 59 episodes, and remains the most common guest on d20. at this point she's the second in-house dm. she has the Q4 10-ep season on lock. the first sidequest sequel season is hers.
brennan is up to 21 seasons and 257 episodes (including time quangle and mismag ii). he now has 2 seasons on the right, evening his split out a little bit (3:2)
lou has dethroned ally and taken the top player spot, with 12 season and 187 episodes. he has a new fave seat, with 4 seasons in L1 as well as R3.
erika isn't far behind aabria, with 47 episodes and 6 seasons. they're split between L3 and R2 (2 each)
danielle's joining the ranks of what i consider the recurring guest cast, with 3 seasons and 22 episodes under her belt. she's behind rekha and izzy (tied with 36), erika, and aabria.
production notes:
in terms of production, the release of the time quangle episodes puts us at 45-46 episodes for 2024, depending on when the december releases start. this also sets us at a total of 268 episodes by the end of 2024.
if we include all of the adventuring parties, adventuring academies and various other d20 auxiliary content, 2024 might take the cake for the most total episodes, dethroning 2021.
i'm guessing that this was the first season filmed after brennan's parental leave, so they're probably still 6 months to a year ahead of the releases
production calendar is looking like main cast season in Q1-Q2, varying number of sidequests/oneshots through Q2 and Q3, with aabria/another guest dm in Q3-Q4. depending on when aabria's season starts, they may start the intrepid heroes' season in Q4 going into the following year. general disclaimer that this is just a guess.
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welcometothejianghu · 9 months
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Welcome to another round of W2 Tells You What You Should See, where W2 (me) tries to sell you (you) on something you should be watching. Today's choice: 少年歌行/The Blood of Youth
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The Blood of Youth is a 2022 live-action adaptation of the tale of a deposed, disabled, and incredibly cunty prince who's on his way back to settle the score with his asshole father, and the rag-tag band of weirdos he accumulates along the way, including Spear Girl, Bad Monk, and Fire Puppy (pictured above).
I hope you like shounen anime, because this is the most shounen anime something is allowed to be without actually being based on something running weekly in Shounen Jump. What if Nirvana in Fire were also Naruto? It would be the Blood of Youth.
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This show is an underrated gem of action-packed fun that not nearly enough people in English-speaking fandom have seen. In an attempt to correct that -- and ahead of an announced second season and prequel in progress -- I'm here with five reasons you should try it out.
1. Zero thoughts head empty
You do not have to pay an enormous amount of attention to this show to understand what's going on. The show itself does not always know what's going on. It got distracted by a shiny object over there, and now we're all gearing up to go punch the shiny object. We'll get back to the main plot when we're done with the punching.
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It has a million billion plot threads going on at any given moment. Bad guys roll in from sects you've never heard of before, using superpowers with stupid names, only to get kicked into next week. There's approximately eleventy thousand characters -- so many, in fact, that I ran into problems several times while making this rec post, because there aren't readily available photos of everyone I want to talk about. Just look at the DramaWiki cast list. See how it goes on for like fifty screens? That's a little what the show feels like.
Except I'm not saying that like it's a bad thing, because the show knows it's doing this, and it acts accordingly. It telegraphs pretty well who's important and who isn't (and then it goes out of its way to color-code the latter, which is handy). What you're left with is absolutely a manga-style plot, complete with training arcs and semi-relevant sidequests, all working up to the final boss match.
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It is an extremely self-aware show. On multiple occasions, something would happen, I would crack a joke about it, and then a beat later the show itself would make the exact same joke. I wouldn't call it an outright comedy, but it's still very funny, and on purpose. It has no illusions about being some kind of profound, meaningful epic. Mostly it's just here for a good time.
Yet this lightheartedness is what makes the powerful emotional parts really powerful by contrast. The show is not stupid; it's just goofing around most of the time. When it knuckles down, it can be devastating. And you know what? It does wind up being profound and meaningful about some stuff. How about that.
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So yeah, if you're up for something that bops merrily right along and only occasionally rips your heart out, here you go!
2. Putting the poly in polycule
Bisexuals, rejoice! It's representin' time!
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Here you go, I made a relationship chart of about 40% of the show's potential and canonical ships. I could have included so many more, but I only had so much space on the image, so I had to leave out some amazing ones, like the sword hedgehog who's real into this one cougar who could easily wipe the floor with him, or the rich nerd who thinks he has a chance with the aforementioned hot butch, or the fancy MILF who cheated on the emperor with a dreamy jianghu man and is trying not to cheat on him again with a different, slightly less dreamy jianghu man. See? There's just so much.
I would also say these are not exclusive ships. They are extremely inclusive ships. I am a fan of most (though admittedly not all) of the pairings listed here, and in fact of many of the three-and-more-somes indicated by these lines. They're such a cuddle puddle of shared intense feelings that it's hard to imagine anyone getting more than mildly jealous. Moreover, the potential for romance does not get in the way of hetero friendships; a boy and a girl who are each dating other people can go do adventures together, and (mostly) nobody gets weird about it, which is nice. If anything, what makes the overall dynamic so polycule-like is how equally friends and love interests get treated, meaning that it's not difficult to see a lot of crossover potential between those two categories.
If you're like me, you're hesitant about canonical romance, especially when it's straight, mostly because so many straight love stories wind up being tiresome, gross, and/or skull-poundingly boring. You will then be pleasantly surprised by how the canon pairings with members of the main cast are not like this at all!
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Xiao Se and Sikong Qianluo are the main textual romance, and golly gee, they're just cute as heck. As the chart above indicates, I like interpreting them as two Kinsey 6's who have found their single exceptions, Mulder-and-Scully-style. Maybe one of the best things about their relationship is that it gets sidelined all the time for the plot. They're not so busy being in love that they forget to get shit done. Then they get a bit of downtime and get to go on a date, and you're like, aww, those sweet gay disaster babies are gonna do a little bit of heterosexuality. Just precious.
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Tang Lian and Fairy Rui are right up there with the cuteness. She's a sex-positive dancing beauty who wants to ride that pretty boy like she stole him, and he's a shy sword boy so tightly bottled up that he'll explode if he sees a bare ankle. Avoiding spoilers, I will simply say that this is a pairing of two relatively soft people, until a bad thing happens to one of them and the other hardens up about it. If that's your jam, they're here for you.
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Lei Wujie and Ye Ruoye are probably the most magical and the most practical of the bunch. They have a beautiful, super-dreamy, really horny sword-dance meet-cute, complete with its own pop song ... and then that's it, they're basically just together. She likes him, he likes her, good for them. In-laws aside, it's a refreshingly low-drama situation. Besides, I always love it when the hypercompetent woman gets the sweet, devoted himbo who'd do anything for her. Ruoye's had a hard life, and she deserves someone who can dick her down good at night and make her a nourishing breakfast the next morning.
And then there is, of course, The Ship:
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Xiao Se and Wuxin are canonical, textual soulmates. The show treats their dynamic as more important than any other. It's so important, in fact, that the show has to sideline Wuxin for huge parts of the drama, lest everything get too damn gay. They each get a boyfriend catch on the other. They both do fairly reckless things when the other is in trouble. They are the secret hidden happy ending to the series. They share the kind of ride-or-die relationship built on mutually being the hugest bitches in any given room. Whether or not you think this is romance, it is extremely romantic, and the series agrees as much as it can, all things considered.
And if none of those flavors of love float your boat? Well, have you considered ... eunuchs?
3. She likes e4e
So I'm on record as being real into eunuch characters, right? Well, if you're with me on that, you are in for a treat here, because these are some absolutely buck-wild eunuchs.
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There's five main ones, and I can't even begin to scratch the surface of what's going there. Like, really, I don't even think I understood all of what was happening with them. They're kind of the bad guys, but then they're kind of the good guys, but then some of them are the bad guys, but then they're just working for the bad guys, but then they screw over the bad guys, and ... it's just a lot, okay? It's a lot, and it's all happening with this bunch of catty bitches.
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Also, you would not believe the difficult time I had finding any images for this section. I guess for some reason, fandom isn't way into a bunch of canonically dickless color-coordinated middle-aged men in weird hats? Whatever, man, they are missing out. If, however, you have the good sense to be into the intense and complicated (semi-romantic??) relationships among colleagues who also professionally just happen to be missing their external genitalia, buddy, strap in (and maybe strap on, depending).
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Don't let me oversell how much these guys are in the show. They're not. They're vaguely important at points throughout, and they become incredibly important near the end, but they're hardly main characters. They're mostly back at the palace, doing their various schemes and looking absolutely fantastic.
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So if they're such a minor part of the story, why do they get their own selling point? Well, I think their presence is a good example of two specific things about the show:
Specific thing the first: It's so queer -- not gay, but queer. Thinking back to my last selling point, you will notice how many of those straight pairings may look normie on the outside, but once you get down to it are not playing by cishet rules. (For instance, I've seen a lot of people read Tang Lian's resistance to sexual advances as asexuality, which, sure!) Likewise, there are lots of incredibly important, intimate relationships that don't conform to standard romantic pair dynamics. Add to that a lot of bodies with unusual characteristics and conditions, and you've got the makings of plenty of delightful non-normative love stories.
Specific thing the second: There are so many things going on with so many side characters that there's a kink here for everyone. Don't care for eunuchs? How about slinky villains with mind-control powers? Devoted servants who would do anything for their masters? Former bad guys who owe life-debts to the good guys who saved them? Bonded pairs traipsing around the jianghu together? Sons nursing legitimate grudges against the men who killed their fathers? Alcoholic widowers with incredibly slutty necklines? Mysterious cross-dressers with unconvincing moustaches? Vengeful brides? Martial siblings? Murderous royals? Guilt-ridden half-siblings? Boring star-crossed lovers? All these and more! It's a smorgasbord of rarepair fuel!
Also, I just love these toxic drama queens. It's like if RuPaul's Drag Race had the authority to have you executed.
4. The most intriguing outfits I've ever seen in anything (and yes, I'm including Winter Begonia)
Time for a fashion show!
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The asymmetrical fits, the detailed embroidery on everything, the brilliant colors -- everybody just looks so good. And yet everything still looks ... eh, I don't know if "practical" is the word I want, but at least wearable. Nobody's dragging ten-foot trains of fabric behind them or wrapped in eighty floofy layers of gauze (except Rui, but she's special). Their outfits are strange and elaborate, but they don't defy physics.
What's truly stunning is how often they get new outfits. Xiao Se alone changes clothes about once every other episode, and more if he's getting a flashback. He is the fashion plate of the whole series, and every look he serves is pitch-perfect.
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They're not outright color-coded, but the main characters do have certain colors associated with them -- which is extra-fun when you watch those colors bleeding into their friends' clothes as their relationships get stronger. I also think -- and I'm willing to be proven wrong on this point, but I think I'm right -- that they recycle some characters' outfits into parts of other characters' outfits. On more than one occasion, I'd swear that Lei Wujie shows up wearing the left half of something Xiao Se was wearing a few episodes back (tailored to fit him, of course, because that dumb ponytail boy is tall).
Where I think the costume design gets massive points, though, is that the costumes are themselves adaptations.
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Before the live-action series, there was a 2018 3D animated donghua. I have never watched the latter, but apparently the drama is intensely faithful to the animated visuals, to the point where some fights are shot-for-shot remakes.
Of course, you can do a lot more with unreal clothing and bodies in animation -- and you can show a lot more skin, at least according to Chinese content laws. The live-action costumers chose to preserve about as many of the appearance beats from the donghua as they could manage, while still accepting the limitations of real-life bodies and materials. You can see some side-by-side comparisons here. The live-action outfits manage to be instantly recognizable without being slavishly devoted recreating to their inspirations.
So if you're sick and tired of dreary, ill-lit shows with bland palettes, this vibrant, colorful drama may be just the thing for you. It's a rainbow from start to finish.
5. Actually a good central plot?
Despite all the wacky delightful shounen nonsense that this show has -- and it has a lot -- the core of the whole narrative, which is Xiao Se's story, is surprisingly great and cohesive.
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The short version is this: Xiao Se used to be Xiao Chuhe, sixth prince and somewhat heir apparent. Then he and his jerk-ass dad had a falling-out that resulted in the prince's having his martial arts abilities all but taken from him. He's been living the life of a very well-dressed innkeeper for several years, trying to avoid all of that palace garbage. But now his jerk-ass dad is dying, which means that a lot of horrible decisions are finally having unfortunate consequences for everyone, and Xiao Se's got to get back in there to make sure everything does not go to shit and land someone terrible on the throne -- even if it has to mean taking it himself.
His central conflict is between what he used to be and what he's become. Does he miss being Xiao Chuhe, high-ranked martial artist and future emperor? Or is he happier being Xiao Se, long-suffering nobody who can barely run a business, much less hold his own in a fight? What would he be willing to do to get back what he's lost? What are his obligations to himself versus his obligations to everyone else? How much is he responsible for his father's bullshit? And why has he wound up having to babysit this stupid Fire Puppy?
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It's okay, they're best friends now. Lei Wujie decided.
No spoilers, but I liked Xiao Se's ending a lot. I feel it's very true to the character and shows a real understanding of who he is and what he values. And really, at the end of the day, sometimes all you need for a happy ending is your girlfriend, your girlfriend's girlfriend, your girlfriend's girlfriend's boyfriend who's also your boyfriend, your other boyfriend, his girlfriend, and your long-distance for-real soulmate.
Feel like giving the youths a try?
You can find them on YouTube or on Viki. But be absolutely sure that no matter where you watch it, you make sure to go watch the epilogue as well. (And if you get real into the story, well, here's a link to information about all the other adaptations.)
You are also welcome for how I did not spend this post going off for five hundred years on how much I love Wuxin and his funky relationship to Buddhism. I figured that's way too niche of a selling point for most people, and might indeed have even been counterproductive. But know that I could have.
Also, I'm very happy about the announcement of a second season, because that's going to mean Liu Xueyi has to shave his head again, and he looks unbearably good with a shaved head.
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Oh yeah, did I forget to mention the whole motorcycle photoshoot?
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In case you hadn't noticed, the whole cast is stupidly hot. Hachi machi.
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ddwcaph-game · 9 months
Text
Chapter 4 & 5 is finally out!
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The wait is finally over. Grab your plot armor, Chapter 4 and 5 of Dear Diary, We Created a Plot Hole! is finally here!
🚌 Play it here! 🚌
To celebrate the release, a +50% ✨EXP Bonus Event will be running for the next couple of weeks!
The full change log is over 500 lines long, so here's an overview of all the new stuff:
🌈 UPDATE HIGHLIGHTS
~ 509,000 total wordcount (including code) ~ 278,000 additional words (including code) ~ New average playthrough of 115,000 words!
New Stuff to Discover!
52 New Secrets to discover, 8 New Trinkets to collect, 12 New Achievements
30 New Character Traits, 15 New Heritage Passives, 3 New Phobias, 16 New Status Effects
3 New Main Quests, 12 New Sidequests
and 1 New Song to sing along to!
New Scenes!
Introductions to Wayne, Lily, and JM's parents!
New exclusive bestfriend scenes!
Get a sneak peek into the story worlds you'll visit in future, in the Story Exchange!
Revamped crush confession scene with your twin!
Steal a kiss on the cheek from your crush!
Catch a preview of Chapter 6!
New Choices and Customization!
Choose the name of MC's dad!
Choose a second bestfriend, other than your twin (and give them a custom nickname)!
You can now choose to have two different pronoun sets!
Choose a mild swear word for your MC
Added B as a crush option
Tons of Diary and Stat Improvements!
New, updated, and expanded character diary entries!
New unlockable codex entries!
Write custom post-scripts in your diary!
Added new toggle settings for simple/detailed view of traits/passives, and background transitions
New trait option that reduces the frequency and gives additional context to Filipino expressions
Improved diary and stat notification layout
So Much More!
Added lots of new character art!
Added gameplay tips!
Lots of references to In Auctorem Credimus!
Roselyna is now approximately 20% more huggable!
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I've also updated the Trinkets & Secrets Guide, as well as the Twin Character Templates!
If you encounter any errors, or have any questions or feedback, feel free to send me an ask! I'll go through my ask backlog after I have recovered from the update.
I hope it was worth the wait! 😊
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