#my art style has changed so much in the last month :0

[hakuyukii]

quick alan doodle

[tamaruaart]

What was zhao's character designing process like?

Hello! Thanks for asking, I'll try to keep this as simple as humanly possible-

-the beginning stages of Zhao's character

(Ignore the bad quality of the pictures, I was lazy-)

I've actually had Zhao for quite a few years now, but I think these drawings I made like 9 months ago are the oldest ones that I could find. As you can probably see, in the begging she was a primarily jttw OC, I remember being super into OSP (which I still am), so when I started watching their jttw series I immediately got to making an OC because I really liked the world and all.

There's not much to say about the design honestly. But I will say why the hair changed, back then, her hair was very tiger-y but why has it changed so much if she's still a tiger? Well it's because back then I actually really liked the hair, but as time went on I thought it was way too much. However I really got attached to the whole "Cursed for disobeying your family so that you can never forget about them when you look at your own face.", so I decided to keep the orange hair just remove the details.

However a lot of the drawings you will see still have the stripes, but you'll see how they became more and more simple over time.

(note: All of the drawings you will see of her old design are pretty old so my art skills have improved-)

When I just started watching lmk I already knew I wanted to change up her character a bit. So I did a mini re-design. Again not much to say about her design except that I wanted it to look very demon-y (because she actually used to be a tiger demoness)

However I felt she was too "soft", so I changed up her character a bit to be more cold and "mature", because I wanted her to have a bigger contrast in personality with Sun Wukong. I'll get into that later :>

And as you can see I was still experimenting with certain designs but in the end I ended up with the last one for a while.

Then something awoke in me and I was finally like: This hair is mad complicated let's simplify this sucker-

So some (a lot of) experimenting:

(as you can see I've got a very inconsistent style)

And with that I eventually got this kinda design:

As you can see, this is was the start of a ���new era✨

(you can still see these drawings up on my blog if you scroll down enough-)

And this design stuck for a while until I made a certain drawing for a certain @/camhues 👀

At this time I have started reading Circe and was very inspired by her character :0

She changed from being cold to more motherly. She's still mature but more clever, compassionate and caring. (yet still pathetic in my eyes). One of my friends here on tumblr @/doppel-doodles explained her PERFECTLY- "A fierce tigress in the body of a gentle mother cat" (like who gave them the right-), this explains her character very well because despite being very peaceful she's still a strong sorceress-

Now, Zhao is still kinda quiet and reserved considering her unhealthy past. But that ties a bit more into her connection with Wukong, which I'll get into in a bit.

I wanted Zhao to seem more "out of place", back then she just seemed like a basic bish girlboss OC and like someone who would make a good background character-

I also decided to give her a full name (because my dumb ahh realized Zhao is a Chinese SURNAME-) so I decided on Zhaoyan, also funfact Zhao's father used to call her "Zhaodi" because that name means "requesting a brother" (Because sexism yaaayyyyyy-)

My Zhao design is also heavily inspired by @/gigizetz Circe design, and her hair is very much inspired by Rapunzel from tangled-

And so yeah, then we got to her current design

While I can't really give anymore specific references, I can tell you a bit on how I settled on this design :D

Note: I wanted her to have a more exotic, tropical and ancient vibe if that makes sense. She is a spiritual maiden, sometimes even described as a sorceress, and considering the role I settled on giving her in the story it makes sense she would seem like "something new" or something out of the blue if you will. Even though she's a Peach Maiden, she doesn't exactly look like one, which I honestly think is really exiting to work with-

There's still some lore I haven't spilled yet that would say more about her design, but I hope to reveal that in the future!

Now, all the lore of her current character ties to one specific thing, aka her most important role in lmk- her connection to Monkey. Now as I mentioned, Zhao and Wukong were made to be opposites, or well to seem like opposites (one is chaotic and one is calm). Also the mear fact that the Chinese monkey zodiac and Chinese tiger zodiac are specifically referred to as not being able to get along so well.

But in reality they're quite similar, both get over looked because of their unthreatening personalities despite being really damn powerful. Both kinda stand out in physical appearance too compared to the other characters, and look alike in a way (same ginger hair and golden eyes). And not to mention they both push others away from them because of their pasts despite caring a lot.

A fun part about writing Zhao's character is she also serves as a way to find out more about Sun Wukong and jttw as a whole while still being her own character.

So yeah, that's basically it! Sorry for this being so fricking long I like rambling about my girl- (no I do not have a favorite lmk OC wdym?)

Fell free to ask more questions they're always fun as hell to answer!! :D

[itsxroxannex]

*casually appears and has small sweats cus they ask way too much*

I have a question- and also a confident message for you

Um- how long does it take you to draw your art? It doesn't include you making a big one and animation...

*they would sigh... they were filled with determination of giving the best confident boosted out there... well- if they could...*

Um- I wanna say that your art is amazing and so beautiful- and you were the one who gave me the Determination change my ways of having to draw sans's (cus I used to draw them as animals... don't judge me... I didn't know how to draw skellie heads) and also having to try and do that Challenge (and if it's still going) of making Slash with a Birb...

And I know (maybe- idk, im just a wolf who gives out confidence boosts) it take you a long time to come up with the right idea/drawing to show out to the world... and then you (might) give up on that drawing and start a new one... and that's okay (if you do it- cus idk) because it happens to artist... like me and other Creators...

*has a bit of doubt if this is not helping at all*

Your a unique and special Creater Rox- you have a cool art style, you made your own AU, and so much more! That's why I enjoy your content-

*realizes this is getting long* whoops... my bad- *they poof*

Ey ey don't say that, people are allowed to drown me with their questions cause i said so, its fun answering them!

Also it depends honestly! Sometimes I keep my drawing that I drew last month and decided to wait a few weeks or months later as a "backup" drawing in case I have art block! But to give you the straight answer is it usually takes about two hours and a half, depending on how much characters there are in the drawing, but yeah, not longer than 3 hours i guess-

But thank you!! ;0;

[ollieoliver910]

Under Night In Birth 2: Sys Celes is a DEAD GAME (My Last Post On The State Of UNI2)

I don't even know where to start with this. I feel like this is the third time I had to address my issues with the sequel. A few months back, I had made multiple different attempts to learn and play the damn game. I even went to discord, which in the end without going into detail, did not get me to enjoy the game either.

I gave it my best shot. I listened to the fans who said there is, in fact, a way to play with other people online (I play on the PS5, not PC cause I don't enjoy it)...but it's been six months since UNI2's release and I'm done being nice. The gloves are officially coming off.

I don't usually come off this harsh towards a video game unless I REALLY have something to say. So if you don't want to listen to me critique and/or bash UNI2 and how it was handled, scroll away, but to me. UNI2 is not only one of the worst sequels ever made. It is also, to me, the worst fighting game I have ever played, period. The gameplay is the ONLY saving grace. It's just too bad that network mode literally has a total of 0 people online to learn it! And before anyone asks. Some people have messaged me and said 'well, why don't you get friends to play with you?" Some people are unfortunately not lucky enough to have friends, or friends with the same interests as other people. When I go online every other night to play BBTAG, that is my escape from reality. It is a game I can feel good playing so that I can forget about my troubles for a couple of hours. Even though there are people who will say "Well, back in the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s, you HAD to find someone to play fighting games with in real life."

Those days are OVER.

Having an online system with a big pool of people in your fighting game should be THE STANDARD. It's one thing if your franchise isn't the type of genre or type of game (like a single player game) that would incorporate an online mode. Fighting games are different. They should ALWAYS have an online mode for people who still want to play and can't find friends to play with. That will be my piece on this subject. Now I want to go into why Under Night In Birth 2: Sys Celes fails on every level.

It is Monday after all (or it was Monday, I had to stop writing half way through) and THIS was the face I made when I realized this game was DEAD AF.

The Character Art

OK, I want to start off with probably the most controversial thing that I cannot prove, but is just speculation, and that's the artwork. I found this out quite recently, but the artist who worked on the first UNI game, Seiichi Yoshihara, is the SAME artist for UNI2. I don't know if the guy posts artwork on a different site in Japan just so I can see if anythings changed, but to me. There is no way someone who had that much style and talent when creating the original designs would forget basic anatomy or facial structure for UNI's sequel. I need to see different artwork from him outside of UNI to really confirm my fears, but the speculation part of this is, unfortunately, I think the guy was rushed and it shows in the art he put out.

I'm not the one that usually says "toxic work environment" when it comes to extremely daunting tasks for a single person with a strict deadline...but man does this feel like it. I just don't think this artist would pump out something mediocre and be ok with it. I would like to believe he clearly trained and practiced his art style already for many years before UNI. Again, I cannot prove this so please take what I say with a gain of salt, but all the signs are there and if it turns out to be true? It was in no way Seiichi Yoshihara's fault and the blame should be shifted towards whoever heads French Bread or ArcSystems. Since we don't know the full story of how UNI2 got developed, it's hard to really point fingers at the right person at the moment until someone speaks up, but if I had to guess. I wouldn't be surprised if ArcSystems was the main contributing factor. I don't believe that the people at French Bread would what to put out a bad game either...but it happened. Until we learn more about UNI2's development, this is really all I can say on the matter when it comes to the artwork.

I'm not going to pick apart the character designs again as doing so would take an hour to really digest it all, but if you know, you know. It's not good, like at all.

Ok, thank you for making it this far. Here's a picture of a dog licking an ice cream cone.

Marketing and Lead Up To UNI2's Launch

What marketing? Welp, that pretty much sums it up. No, but in all seriousness. One of French Breads biggest mistake before the trailer was even shown was that UNI2 was rumored to be a "sequel," when it really isn't. The only reason why it was given the title "UNI2" was due to the arcade mode which was very sloppily put together with no rewarding pay off...that's it. Take that away and UNI2 is literally a copy/paste of the original except everything got downgraded and I mean EVERYTHING. I will talk more about that in a moment, but calling UNI2 a sequel immediately set high expectations for the game that were NEVER going to be there. I fell for this trap myself.

French Bread had several years to work on it. Why couldn't they make new sprites? Or give the same sprites they already had a new coat of paint? Something, anything at all! To imply that your game is a "sequel," to me, by definition would mean French Bread would take the time to create something new from the ground up and upgrade everything. If Devil May Cry 2 copy and pasted all the same mechanics, boss fights, castle areas, and items from the first game EXACTLY how they were with very little changes at all. That game would more than likely be considered a port with very minor tweaks to it, not a sequel. This use of the word "sequel" for UNI2 set up French Bread to fail right from the gate.

So when the first trailer dropped and I saw the artwork. I pretty much knew exactly what kind of game we were going to get. It would be one thing if there was ANY kind of marketing for UNI2 at all...but there wasn't. You can argue that as long as the game is still fun, which it is, you can forgot about all the other things that make it bad...but you have to have a sizable player base to play the damn game! For the time I was on Twitter, I don't even think there was any promotional material at all for UNI2. If I remember right, French Bread doesn't even have a twitter account, and if they do. Everything that was posted about the game completely went under the radar, and due to that. Most casuals who liked playing fighting games didn't know about it's existence. The only people who were following it closely are fans that were already playing BBTAG or UNICLR hoping that, maybe, UNI2 will be "the underdog that changes the fighting game community forever..." There have been many videos of people claiming that on YouTube before the damn thing even dropped. Fans who have already been playing UNICLR for years flocked to their cameras to say that "UNI2 will change everything!." No, it hasn't, and the lack of any growth in the player base for the past several years is my proof.

Point is, when the game dropped in January. There were SOME new players giving it a shot, and the people who wanted to learn it got bullied by the veterans who have already been playing UNI for YEARS! UNI2 needed to market it's game heavily towards new fans so that casuals could learn and fight other casuals instead of being forced into a match with a veteran. This lack of marketing is why UNI2 is now forever stagnant. It will never grow a player base so that beginners can learn how to play along side each other, and even outside of that. People should be able to experiment and mess around with a fighting game without thinking their livelihood is on the line. Fans of fighting games can still have fun with them without taking every match so seriously, and if these new players later on want to expand their knowledge? Let them, don't force them! Forcing players to become better overnight will drive any players who are interested left far, far away. That's the point I am trying to make.

The marketing and the lack of new players to fight is ultimately what doomed this game from the start, and to make matters worse, there isn't really anything "sequel" worthy about UNI2 other then the terrible, terrible endings for many of them (with Gordeau's. Wagner's and Merkavas being some of the exceptions to that rule.) Speaking of which, we should probably move on to those terrible things, huh?

I don't know. I wanted a picture of a gerbil. Here it is! Cute huh?

Alright, now onto--

EVERYTHING ELSE

UNI2 is seriously, SERIOUSLY the definition of a copy/paste sequel with one or two exceptions. The artwork and UI (which is complete and utter trash) and the one or two new moves a character would get. The majority of them either falling into good, meh, bad, or why do I need another spacing tool category. Yes, I'm talking to you Hyde. I think a counter would have benefited him better then another red energy blast of some sort to which Hyde already has several...

Anyways, outside of the "new stuff" and the gameplay, everything is worse. EVERYTHING IS WORSE! How the hell do you do that when UNICLR has already been established???

Let's start with the opening when you boot up UNI2. Who decided that a somber song would hype people up for a fighting game? UNICLRs opening theme was already perfect! Why change it if you know the new one you're putting out is going to be worse by comparison!

That's literally my motto for this game. "Why change it," when what you had in UNICLR was already close to perfect.

All the songs that you love from UNICLR and BBTAG are gone, GONE! UNICLR's opening theme? Not present! Gather under the night? GONE! Overwhelmingly Despair? Hilda's theme? One of the few banger songs in UNICLR that was aloud to how a choir? Rip that shit out and give her a somber, toned down version! Yeah, that will show her! Like...I don't...I don't understand who makes these decisions...

Another glaring issue is the lack of things to buy in this game. After a handful of matches, you will have so much money that literally, like a character from SpongeBob once said, "You won't know what to do with it!" This is mostly because the majority of the alternate colors for every character are already unlocked. Plus, despite that, there is no reason to ever buy these skins because you can customize the sprites colors yourself! Though I do like that I can do this, I particularly hate--

A.) That the the sprites colors are split into sections of the character, meaning you don't have complete control over what the characters look like and--

B.) The lack of colors! There should be a grid somewhere so that you can choose any color you want and this mechanic is not present at all! And even if it was, things like not being able to change ONLY the color of Gordeau's belt because it's color is tied to what his pants color is just fricken frustrates me. I feel like I should be able to customize the colors of the characters accessories alone and I just can't. Same with weapon colors...where's my option for that? If I want Insulator to have a dumb looking green color while Hyde is still set to his default skin, I should be able to!

Since UNI2 decided to make the alts free essentially. All that money (or IP, in think, in this game) will be spent on 5-10+ year old artwork that we have already seen in UNICLR. The only things worth buying in this game are the customization options for your online profile...but even THAT was downgraded! I missed the profile backgrounds where the characters were laying on there sides in UNICLR and I thought we would get more stuff like that here...NOPE! Every profile background and boarder is basic AF. I wish there were more options, like in BBTAG, to put your favorite characters on your profile and it's just not here in any form. Welp, there goes any hope of spending my money.

You know, and I hate to say it. Since UNI2 for a lot of people is very dependent on sex appeal. Why couldn't they just make alts where the characters are in swimsuits? Make that the most expensive thing to buy, at least then the IP would have some purpose! Ik, ik, "they can't for many of them because they would have to change the sprite," but the reason why I suggest this is because if creating new cloths for these characters is too hard and time consuming. Maybe it would have been easier for French Bread to remove sections of the sprites and just add a bathing suit instead. It would at least be SOMETHING, but we weren't aloud to get something. We got nothing most of the time and it shows with how little there is to buy in this game.

Arcade mode...god I don't even know where to start.

I have not viewed all of them, but the ones I saw, especially when it came to the night blade group were very, very bad. There were things important to Hyde's character development (specifically him promising Linne to kill her) that were never followed through with and that contributed to not only Hydes bad ending...but his MULTIPLE bad endings (yes, he has several.) What I mean by this is while Gordeau has a solid conclusion with one canon ending, Hyde has at least four of five different endings (depending on the character you play) and to me. That is just a complete and utter copout. If we need to be technical about it, I would guess that Hyde's arcade mode is the cannon ending...but because Linne is present at the end during the other characters stories. It makes me think that French Bread wanted to leave the conclusion to Hydes story open ended...in the last game in the series...probably...

Side note, I also really hate that most of Hydes friends just sort of ditch him in his arcade mode. This is something that sort of bothered me in UNICLR where he and his friends are either forced to fight or they leave him in the dirt because "it is the only way." I just never felt like Hyde's friendships were genuine (other than maybe Orie, but we don't see enough of them interacting.) It's the same problem I have with Gordeau and Hilda where in UNICLR, Gordeau pretty much swore off to being friends with her at the end of his arcade mode. In UNI2? For SOME REASON there buddy buddies again and THAT really bothers me. Especially with what happened to Rodger and how his death effected Gord throughout the series.

But yeah, most of the endings feel like either huge copouts or let downs. Orie doesn't even speak in her ending! (The last section of her arcade mode I mean) To me, it's the little things that really add up to make UNI2 a bad game.

The last thing I will say that really pisses me off is how network mode is handled. Say what you will about BBTAG, but I think ArcSystems nailed how the lobbies should work. The only things I wished they added eventually was a spectate mode or a way to turn your tag, (and your name if you want), off so that you can fight people who are your rank without the fear of losing your tag color. There are some other nitpicks, but I liked choosing avatars and talking with other people online.

UNI2 needed something like this, and I know, I understand. They might not of had the money or time (the time thing is what I'm most curious about because the rumors say UNI2 has been in development for a couple of years). However, I still stand by that aesthetically and maybe even gameplay wise. Network mode needed to change or have a complete overhaul. This might be a me thing, but it does bother me and is something I felt needed an upgrade...if it was done right which, unfortunately, I fear that it wouldn't have been.

(My reaction to working on this long, dumb ass essay for two days.)

I will end my final statement on UNI2 by saying this. The one thing as a writer that pisses me off more than anything else is seeing the potential for game to grow and become something more....but the passion to do so from it's creators is never fully there. That itch to expand your world, to develop your characters, to try to advocate for the game you put years and years into hoping it will be the next big thing...and in the end, French Bread fumbled over the finish line, hard.

UNI2 was ripe for an anime adaptation, or a manga, or SOMETHING the would get it's name out there more because trust me. I saw it's potential! I wanted it so badly to do well so that maybe, we could get more merchandise, or a spin off game, and anime, hell, even new stickers for my laptop would have bee cool!

When I am THIS critical of a game like UNI2. It's because I want so badly for it to succeed. I WANT it to be the next big thing because I adore every single character on the roster. Other than the lack of a player base, UNICLR had it all. In my opinion, if French Bread didn't have a lot of money to spend. They should have just updated or ported UNICLR to the PS5 and used the money they had to market the game and put, oh I don't know, cross console play into your online mode! Yeah, I am still extremely bothered by that and this is also a contributing factor as to why players can't find people to fight online.

This will be the last time I say anything about UNI2. It's dead, it's done, and I'm ready to move on. At this point, the only hope UNI2 has now is if in a year, or maybe relatively soon, they start promoting the game they created. Other than advertisements, the only thing that I can think of that would really give UNI2 an overhaul is if one of the Under Night characters were put into the next smash brothers game. I don't know why this is the first thing that comes to mind for me, but smash brothers helped gamers for many years become interested in other franchises, big or small. Honestly, if French Bread has no money to advertise their game. To me, putting one of their characters into smash brothers or another fighting game feels like there only play at this point. I doubt that this will ever happen, but if it did, I honest to god believe it would at least keep people interested in UNI2 for several years.

Anyways, that's it, I'm done.

I gonna go get an ice cream now I guess.

[kkusuka]

We all know how looks can be deceiving right? I’d love to request head cannons of Kuroo, Bokuto, Iwaizumi, Konoha, Terushima, and Atsumu with a gf that’s gifted with that super-soaker, wet-wet pussy, a pro at riding that dick, and has the gwak gwak thotty throat slobber 9000 but she is so shy, cute, and innocent at first glance. She looks like the soft-spoken librarian but when they get down and dirty, she puts her body to work and these bois just don’t know how to act from how amazing she is. Let’s say they teased her too much, so she revoked their sex privileges for a few days (not knowing how addicted these guys are on her body). Desperate bois are best bois 😈

:o

i’m shell shocked anon, you’ve blown my mind

Cw: hair pulling, super WAP, kinda fem dom but not really, severe pussy-whipped men  

Kuroo

firstly, he thought you were the innocent type up until you sucked him off for the first time

Honestly, he thought you were a total virgin prude

It wasn't really his fault, you two had met as lab partners for an AP chemistry class

You know, a class full of nerds and people he just assumed would get a job and married when they were thirty

Looking back he should have caught on after seeing you unconsciously jerking of a test tube

But, contrary to popular belief, kuroo is not the social cue master

After a few months of dating, you guys were just a horny time-bomb

Ahh~ the first blow-job, one for the books

He should have known it was going to be good just from the way you were unzipping his jeans, was it normal to almost cum just for your girlfriend palming you?

When you did get his dick out and had it all the way down your throat within the minute, he really did think you were a godsend

He didn't even know what you were doing with his balls, but whatever it was it was working

You didn’t gag or cough, even when he grabbed that back of your head and practically face-fucking you

(the real kicker was when you licked your lips after he came  and gave him that small fucking smirk, mans was done for and he knew it)

Even with all that, nothing, and I mean nothing compares to the first time you guys went at it

when I say that you guy made out for five minutes when he went under your panties and felt the pacific ocean in your panties

He was about to propose right there (and about to cum in his pants for the thousandth time)

He didn't need to but he still rubbed a few circles around your clit, but apparently, you were ready enough

Considering you grabbed his dick and fully sunk onto him in one motion

Poor baby didn't know what hit him

You had to have done this before, and if he hadn't met you in class he would have been sure you slept around and learned everything in the book

You would clench every time your sims met and- AND THAT THINGS WITH HIS BALLS AGAIN

His mind was bungled, especially after you had both come and you fell onto his chest going back to the shy and sweet version he knew you as.

What the hell was that????

Was he fucking you or were you fucking him?? Because at this point he didn't even care

After that experience, you fucked like bunnies, all the time, even in school more than a few times.  

And we all know kuroo can't shut his mouth

And he always teases you about how cute and mouse like you are outside the bedroom and how it's like he’s dating two different girls

....that hit a nerve...

Two different girls??? Well he’ll just have to endure one girl until he realizes what a blessing you are

5 days, 120 hours, 7,200 minutes, and 432,000 seconds, that's how long he lasted

He was going insane, and so he explained that he didn't mean it in a bad way and that he loved how you acted

Forgiving him you rewarded the poor cat boy, 5 rounds for five days

(he didn't want to admit it but he’s pretty sure his dick would have fallen off if you didn't relent when you did)

(he just didn't want to admit that he was pussy-whipped)

Bokuto

You actually had met at a library

One of his teachers wanted him to get a bit of extra tutoring and volunteered you for the job.

You had hit it off great! Personality-wise

(you’ll never tell him but it was frustrating that he clearly didn't understand anything you were telling him)

And you were so sweet and cute, and such a good teacher

He would know that if he wasn't too busy just staring at you and thinking about you and thinking about what you like and what you wear outside of school

(or how good your lips look, or how your thighs look so soft, or that when you get up he can see under your skirt.)

Your guy’s first time was an experience

(bokuto is the cunny easting master, don't call me out)

More cunny juice = more food for owl man

He was excited, somewhere in his mind he knew that it was gonna get better from then on

He wasn't wrong either, although he didn't let your mouth near his dick just yet, he knew that would be good considering the ‘art’ you've created on his neck

The true fuckary started with him on top, but the second he was in you he...froze

Poor baby was shell shocked, you felt better than he had thought, and he just slumped over, you thought he came but he wasn’t ready for it to end so soon

He just sat there for a few minutes, fucked out, before you just decided to flip you both over

That was more his speed at the moment

So he grabbed onto your hips for dear life and you got working

Within two minutes the two of you had created a pool of juices on his bed (bokuto had a lot of precum ok), not that he really cared

You were not competing with anyone but he already had you 2 to 0

(point 1 for the meal and point 2 for being an Olympic dick-rider)

I am also a firm believer that bokuto thrusts up, he just can't help it

You are too addictive, or the way you ground onto him in between every bounce was addictive

I also don't believe that you could even truly deny bokuto sex, he was good at guilt-tripping and he was soooooo adorable

(not to mention the puppy dog eyes  he does that could convince good to do his will)

So I’m sure the only way he wouldn't get sex would be no nut November.

(aka the devil's month of torture, actually not month, week give or take)

This year it just happens that he set a new record, 8 days

He went a whole 8 days without trying for sex

Truly he went about 10 days before he stopped begging and just took matters into his own hands

(under enough pressure Bokuto become a hard dom and no one can say otherwise)

The entire time he was telling you how pretty you were and how well your pussy takes him and that you had no ‘right’ to tell him he couldn’t have sex

He even gained a new phrase “this pussy belongs to me”

You were going to have to set some things straight once he was done ;)

Iwaizumi

You were on the student council, it felt sacrilegious to think anything but pure thoughts about anyone on the council

(that didn't really stop him)

honestly, from the moment his crush festered he wanted to ruin your little innocent vibe  

You always smiled so sweetly at everyone, and just seemed like a true goody two shoes.

And that point seemed to have been correct when you began to date

Until! The fateful day where his perceived innocent girlfriend pulled a full 180 on him!

Firstly, you had offered, out of the blue, to suck him off in the middle of the movie you were watching.

Second, he asked if you knew how, and you giggled at him with that smile he loved so much

Thirdly, when you did get his dick out, you swirled some of the pre-cum on his tip with your thumb, he started getting a bit suspicious

Lastly, you completely swallowed him down, face pressing on his hip, cheeks hollowed.

That’s when he realized that you did know what you were doing

(that also arouse the thought that you had been with someone else, which was counteracted with the fact that you knew how to suck dick by practicing on hair brushed and popsicles)

((it also helped that you barely had a gag reflex))

Truly trying to put that to the test, dom iwa came right out, grabbing your hair and telling you  to suck harder

And you impressed the man, to say the least

After that he had to fuck you, he really just had too

For the first time, he went with a solid missionary, just to test that waters

He didn’t think anyone's pussy should feel like that, but since you were his it was ok

All was well he was lost in the feeling of your pussy and the deciding moment was when you pulled him against you and started to grind your body onto his

You were putting a whole lot of body into it too, and you were so soft, and unless he wanted to cum early something was going to have to change

So he flipped and changed to doggy style, which made thighs worse???

From there you got tighter and he could see all of the wetness drips from your fold onto the sheets

Yup, you were the one for him

(solidified when he pulled your hair and you moaned like a street whore)

As for the no sex thing, that was a ride

It started when Makki asked you if you were always dripping for iwa

And after a week of no sex, he confessed to letting them on his phone and  watching a recording of one of your nightly escapades and he was sorry

(and he just wanted to show them what they were missing, y’know brag a bit)

That was, and he says the only time, he let you try to dom him

You truly were the most amazing woman in the world

Konoha

( i made him kind of an ass lol sorry)

You wee the girl who sat next to him in class

(not to be mean, but he thought you were a nerd)

You always had your uniform covering everything and you were always playing with your short sleeves

You raised your hand a lot in class, always had a pencil to borrow

He just assumed that you had cobwebs in your pussy

Proven wrong at one of the volleyball teams parties, you had apparently been dragged there by a friend (surprising)

And you both were dragged onto some weird spin the bottle game

The bottle would spring and someone would draw an action from this jar and the two people would have to do it in a bedroom in the house

Seeing as that’’s how fate goes you and him were chosen

A blow-job card was chosen

And he laughed with a friend about how you wouldn’t know what to do

Mistake, that struck a real nerve, was this guy for real?

Oh hell no

Being the baddie you were, you walked to him, grabbed him by the arm, and locked lips, breaking away after a moment you asked if he was ready to go.

Poor boy didn't even respond, he just nodded and stood up

Two minutes in, he knew what he had done

You were blowing him like it would be your last time, it should be illegal to be able to suck someone off that well

And damn you pulled away right before he was going to cum.

And then just left him! Walked out of the closet like nothing had ever happened

That couldn’t be it, he wouldn't let that be it

After two weeks of non-stop begging from the guy you agreed to a date, which led to many dates

Which led to him finally being able to fuck you

God damn, he didn't think it would get better, and it did, it really did.  

You were laying on top of him and grinding your entire body onto him

Dripping all over him and squeezing him like crazy

He was never going to let you go

Now, that same friend from that party seemed very intrigued with your relationship

And he just can't help but tell him about how amazing you were, it just sucks that he did it right in front of you in the middle of lunch

Pussy pass revoked

He didn't think he did anything wrong so he went two whole weeks without any touch and he went crazy

He fell apart and apologized

After he begged enough you gave him the pussy pass back

And now he doesn't do anything to jeopardize it

Terushima

this is gonna sound weird

But

I feel like terushima knows when someone is a good lay

It's like a secret talent of his, he just knows and his radar went off when he saw you

But he thought it was wrong at first considering you were wearing leggings and a huge sweater

Not good fuck material  

But he had to make sure, so he just walked up to you and asked if you were a good fuck

Surprisingly you didn’t punch him in the nuts, instead, you laughed at him and said that he would just have to find out

And that he should at least take you out to dinner first

Adm he took you up it, made it the best damn dinner date he’d ever be on

And you reward him

With what?

The best damn blow-job he’d ever get as long as he lived.

And it fit that to the T

It started with the little licks and swirls, then, you gotta catch the man off guard, and just take his entire dick in your throat

And with that, he was sure he had superpowers

When He came, fairly quick for his taste, you swallowed all of his cum and he was ready to marry you

If he needed to take you on a date for that, he would take you on a date every day for the rest of his life

(not every day) but that's what he did

But eventually, just a blowjob wasn't enough, oh no he knew you had a tight hole

And he knew you were gushing most of the time (ushy gushy my pussy-)

If making him suck the fingers you used to fuck yourself after he came was anything

And you tasted good, really good

He was so ready for it that he let you ride him the whole night

He thought his dick was a]going to fall off, you were just that damn good

It was insane, you were almost using him as a dildo, grinding your clit on the base of his cock

And you looked glorious, he was going to have to talk to you about recording it so he could watch it over and over

Maybe show a few people-

And that's what he did, poor unfortunate soul got the silent treatment for two days before he fell apart

He literally got on his knees and asked for forgiveness

(biggest simp on the planet, but only for you (and your dripping cunt))

He’s sure to never do it again, he’s also sure that if you asked him to step on him he would let you

(and I think he’s the most pussy-whipped)

Ok maybe you didn't fully forgive him until he showed you what his tongue piercing could do, but it was worth every moment.

Atsumu

Honestly, he was dared to sleep with the next girl who walked through the cafeteria door

And that just happens to bring you, miss. I remind the teacher there was homework

(Well he actually wasn’t really sure about that but that's what you looked like and he was already regretting his decision.)

In defense of him, your hair was in a messy bun and you had this teacher's pet aura around you

But he would be damned if he lost this bet to his brother and Suna, oh no

The moment he wa[lked up to your table you knew what was happening, and shut it down immediately

After that, you officially had his attention!

Lucky you!

Unlucky you for the fact that all he wanted to do was get in your pants.

But lucky you again because you could hold this over his head!

But one day you just woke up and chose dick (respectable)

So when atsumu did his daily “c'mon baby, you know you want some” you just stood up, scaring him

(he finally thought you were gonna kill him)

Instead, you grabbed him by the dick, literally grabbed his dick through his pants, and tugged him all the way to the roof

“Hey-hey baby, no need to be that rough”

“Shut up, Miya. pants down, now”

That was not where he thought that was going but he isn't going to complain.

“You want your dick wet so bad? Here you go!”

Honestly, he could die happy.

Not so sound gross, but you were slobbering around his cock like a pro. Now that left the thought, you had to have done this before.

You had hands on the back of his thighs pushing him further down your throat, hollowed cheeks, damn he should’ve done this was sooner

He was gonna cum-

And your mouth was gone, your hand was jerking him but that wasn't nearly as nice

“Lay back.”

Yes, yes he will do that. If what’s about to happen is what he thinks is about to happen  

And now your pussy was above his face. Ok a little detour but he’ll take it

You were literally dripping onto his face while he got to work, and you went back to sucking him off

Yup, heaven.

After you both came he made sure to tell you that that had to happen again.

And it did, you rode him to hell in the hole to heaven, and he couldn't help himself from telling the entire volleyball team about how good you were

Now he really didn't think about what would happen if the news got back to you

But he definitely didn't think that meant a whole week of nothing

Well nothing for him, you made sure to send him more than a few videos of rigid dildos and fingering yourself

A week of torture, but when it was finally over he had an entirely new folder of spanking material

he was sure about who he told about your escapades, as in he told himself and Osamu if he just wanted to vent

poor guy was paranoid now

[goosedawn]

summary of art [2021]

i know this is not any of the things i said ive been working on but for the first time ever im actually able to fill one of these in, because i actually drew a whole lot this year and im very proud of that fact!!! so. heres to the new year, and may it be better than the last few we have been having ;P

links to the posts and some comments under the cut!

NOT ON TUMBLR:

jan: minecraft shenanigans!! also an evil version of my mcsona i coloured as a way to break out of artblock

feb: more minecraft shenanigans!

mar: i swear its not piss its not pleas- (i didnt do any finished pieces this month but i thought these were funny)

POSTED ON TUMBLR:

april: first piece posted to tumblr this year!! fanart of the lovely corysmiles' friendly giant au 💛 i kind of want to try redraw this sometime 👀

may: first page of equivalent exchange! :D didnt get to post it until the next month tho ajhdndmbhfjhv

june: more equivalent exchange from the same comic set :]

july: man i really had One whole au at the time huh,,, even more of the equivalent exchange au!

aug: i dare not try fit all the art i did in august into this one space. so take this page instead. i drew SO much in august.

sept: most popular post! still pretty proud of how it turned out like damn!!!!!! >:0 i drew that????

oct: a commission that ended up being one of my favorite things ive drawn this year! 💛💛 (DAMN!!! I DREW THAT??????)

nov: first attempt at landscapes in Years, turned out much better than expected jhbdjknkjdkjnd (im running out of ways to emphasize this but DAMN!!!!!!!!!! I DREW THAT??????)

dec: the link just goes to the right top drawing, cos. the other one that hasnt been posted yet ahahahhhhaaaaaaaaaa,,,,, ill post it eventually. mermaid karl <3 also i just wanted to fill space and ballpitboo was also from december its fine

-----

thanks for sticking around through all this!! its very cool to see how my style has changed through this year (and how it hasnt) and i hope you will hang around for more :>

[skitter-kitter]

:0 pokemon fanfic??? you got any recs for that? (if you don't mind of course)

okay I was gonna go to sleep but I’ve been waiting to rec these fics for MONTHS

vassal by stolashoots is my current favorite fic. it’s all about Cyrus trying to be a better person after he’s been recruited by Rainbow Rocket. He has a connection to Giratina through the red chain and this fic has such strong characterization I adore it!!

The Taller They Stand, The Harder They Fall by OneSarcasticTremere is an amazing study of Cyrus and how he views the other bosses!!! I really love how they wrote cyrus and how he cares but also doesn’t want to care about the others. Plus it’s really funny at times!!

Shining, Shocking Star by DarkLux is a really interesting character study of Volkner from the perspective of the town of Sunyshore, and how Cyrus has made them more hesitant and fearful of fucking up their kids. There’s a lot of comparisons of the two and I love how they’re both depicted!!

Return by LeDiz is a really interesting character study of Ash and it’s based around him promising Kukui he would be honest to himself and others and his struggle with sticking to that promise throughout the whole fic. There are a bunch of sub plots that all come together during the climax and it’s just kabskwbwkwj it’s so good I highly recommend it!!

for a memory (and a quiet lie) by lovelit is an amazing fic. It singlehandedly got me to consider its ship and I just ajevwkhe the writing style is so nice to read and I love the characterizations!!

Plus, here’s some of my favorite animatic/animations because I adore them:

Jk by TheRoyallyPurple is so so good and I adore how the artist shows how his childhood impacted him and how he went from a quiet nice kid to an insane bitch. There’s this amazing moment where it shows him growing up and I adore it and it inspired the name for my fic “Wait, Waiting, Waited”!! I love how the artist made the music’s rising tempo just show how much he snapped and god it’s so so good

Superhero by FandomEscapades is just. GOD. The art is amazing and it’s animated!!! I love how the artist changes their style on purpose for this to show how Lysandre’s perspective has darkened and god god god I have so many emotions about this animation. i could ramble for hours about literally anything I’ve recced here

Plus, I’ve written like eight Pokémon fics!!

I have an old Pokémon Mystery Dungeon fic about the mcs learning to lean on each other again after dying and coming back to life.

Then, starts my descent into Cyrus becoming my favorite character to write. I have a character study of his last few days before he summoned Dialga and Palkia, with a lot of him loving his Pokémon sprinkled in!!

This one is set the day before, with him thinking about everything that will happen and having a conversation with his Pokémon about it!! yes he loves his Pokémon a lot hehe

Here’s a fic about Cyrus and Saturn meeting in the Rainbow Rocket universe, leading to Saturn joining them as more of an equal that a subordinate

This fic is about Cyrus going into the distortion world and spending about a year there before he caves and tries to escape, but Giratina will only let him escape if they share a body so it can be free as well. He leaves and finds out that only a few seconds have passed in the real world. Plus, it’s all set in Cynthia’s perspective!!

I wrote this one after I watched Arceus and the Jewel of Life three times in a row. I really loved Damos and Arceus and I was insulted there weren’t any fics, so I made one!! This is a canon divergence au where nothing bad happens

now, this is my pride and joy. my favorite fic I’ve written, probably. It’s all about a world where Giratina never interfered and Cyrus destroyed the world. He’s being thrown through dimensions by Dialga and Palkia as they try to show him the good of humanity, though he still has full control of them.

This is my most recent Pokémon fic!! It’s about cyrus and Cynthia being childhood friends and Cynthia being asked to go undercover to find the mysterious leader of team Galactic. you can imagine how terribly that goes

[murfeelee]

Simblr Asks - TS3

Saw these questions by Teauke on my dash, and y’all know I love talking/ranting about The Sims; let’s go! ^0^

1. how big is your mods folder?

That’s my mods folder with only mods/hacks/overrides; no CAS or build/buy CC installed. It’s a miracle that nothing conflicts, at least not as far as I can tell.

2. how would you describe your style? A sporadic mix of tv/gaming fandom-inspired conversions and recreations, of mostly fanciful and/or cultural themes & genres.

3. What is your favorite challenge? I’m a builder at heart, so I love recreating lots and interiors. Challenges where we find IRL rooms/scenes and remake them in TS3 are always the most fun for me.

4. do you make cc? if so, what kind? I make fanciful & cultural custom content (occult, sci-fi, boho, etc). I make CAS CC sometimes, but I prefer making buy/build CC.

5. what type of cc do you hoard? Not everything, but a lot. As creators retire and links die, I’m even more paranoid than I already was that CC will no longer be available anywhere.

6. what default eyes and skin do you use? I don’t use default-replacement skintones, but I do use Buhudain’s You Are Real mod.

As for eye defaults, I absolutely love Moonskin’s Shiny Glass replacements.

7. how many urls have you had, and what are the meanings behind them? All of my simming URLs on MTS, TSR, the officials, and Tumblr are some variation of my first name, Murfee Lee. Because yes, I am that darn creative.

8. who is your favorite gameplay blog? 9. who is your favorite storytelling blog? Ugh, there are too many good ones out there.

10. who is your favorite cc creator? All of my favorite creators retired years ago: DyM/Hekate999 (fantasy build/buy), Parsimonious (everything), Luna (everything build/buy), Qingshuangtongzi (Asian everything), Amethyst (Asian CAS), Art-Sims (CAS everything), etc. I swear, the day Sandy/ATS3 (everything build/buy) retires is the day I’m having a panic attack.

11. how do you edit your photos? Badly. Tweak the brightness & contrast and call it a effing day.

12. what is the last screenshot you took? It’s a surprise.

13. what do you do when you are unmotivated? I am never “unmotivated,” so much as I am distracted. I think the reason I’ve simmed so long is strictly because I’m always inspired by fandoms. If I get distracted by a tv/game, it becomes my next muse (aka current obsession). It’s not that I get unmotivated to finish the old stuff I pretty much abandon, it’s just that there aren’t enough hours in the day for me to do everything I want. Sometimes I return to older saves/gameplay. Most times I don’t though--unless someone messages me wanting to see it again (and that’s effing rare). 

14. who is your current favorite sim? Sakura and Nasir are my alltime favorite sims. But I must admit that I patted myself on the back pretty dang hard when I created Tsukihime-Sama for my Moon Medicine gameplay. I love every sim I made for that gameplay (which I really need to finish one day, ugh), but my Lunar Moth Goddess? 👌

15. who is your current favorite sim that is not by you? Every sim that @obscurus-noctem​​ is out here sacrificing goats in order to create. It’s just disgusting how pretty everything on their blog is. Those mersims? Those graphics? That editing? Makes me effing sick. 

16. recreate someone else’s sim in your style. I think I saw a challenge like this a few months/years ago, but never did it. But I DID do the Picrew version.

17. do you talk about sims with people in real life? One of my professors plays SimCity. Naturally, we bonded over how wack EA is. ^_^

18. how many of the packs do you own? All of them, except the Stuff Packs. Barring Fast Lane and Movie Stuff, none of the other SPs are worth the price; it’s just build/buy/CAS CC any MaxisMatch creator.could make for free. I’ve always felt that way about SPs, which is why I never bothered with them in TS1 or TS2 either. I will say though, that TS4′s SPs are something else entirely, which brings me to #24 (see below).

19. how many posts do you have on your blog currently? 2764. JESUS.

20. how many drafts do you have on your blog currently? 363. U_U And most of those are CC sets & gameplay posts I never finished.  

21. how many posts are in your queue currently? It’s a secret. ^_^

22. have you ever moved blogs? Never. I never even changed my theme or URL.

23. are you in any sims related discord servers? Yes, the Creators Cave, but I effing hate Discord; it’s just a royal pain to navigate, IMO.

24. what are your thoughts on the most recent pack? (paranormal) Speaking of Stuff Packs!

RANT ALERT!

If anything, TS4′s SPs are doing way too much (adding new gameplay, careers, lifestates/NPCs, lots, etc!? WUT.) Or rather, its EPs aren’t doing nearly enough. I love that TS4′s SPs add meaningful content. But if they’re raising their bar, that means the Expansion Packs need to rise by the same degree, to stay relevant, if anything.

But EA, in their infinite ineptitude, seems to be scaling back with their EPs! Cutting what should be 1 cohesive EP into multiple SPs & GPs piecemeals the content and cheats people out of money, by having us pay more for less! The TS4 SPs do a lot, yes, but now let’s talk about the Paranormal SP for example:

Paranormal Stuff does perhaps the most any SP in The Sims 1/2/3/4 ever has, and has by far the most worth for its money...but at a dire cost:

- the career only has 5 levels instead of 10 (thus being nowhere as deep as TS3′s combination of the Ambition EP’s Ghost Hunter and the Store’s crystal ball--which links with the Supernatural EP’s Spellcasting skill)

the crystal ball is a 1-trick pony

unlocking Bonehilda is tied to grinding skill/career levels, only for her to do EFF ALL once she finally arrives (and her face looks like melted cookie dough WTF)

most of the gameplay is tied to the pack’s new lot/venue

and the ghosts are still meh

So rather than TS4 having an actual Supernatural EP, instead it has the ok-but-disappointing Realm of Magic Game Pack (which I’ve already ranted about), the watered-down Paranormal Stuff Pack, and the INCREDIBLY OP Vampires Game Pack (which I’ve salivated over). That’s already $40--the cost of TS3′s Supernatural Expansion Pack, mind you--but with the glaringly absent inclusion of Fairies, Werewolves, AND Zombies. O_O WHAT THE HELL, EA. To get the full Supernatural experience in TS4 is gonna end up running people not $40, but perhaps DOUBLE, if werewolves & fairies get their own GPs (unless EA waters them down in SPs, which would still be anywhere from $50-60). EA is robbing people blind.

25. how many hours have you played sims? I have no idea, no doubt thousands.

26. if you play gameplay, do you play with mods? See #1 above

27. what’s the farthest you’ve gotten in a challenge? See #3 above.

Thanks for reading!

[rpgmgames]

May’s Featured Game: Verloren

DEVELOPER(S): Choko ENGINE: RPG Maker VX Ace GENRE: Horror, Adventure WARNINGS: Flashing images, loud sounds, sudden sounds/images, full list (contains spoilers). SUMMARY: Chris Winter, find himself alone and lost in a black void filled with nothing but coldness. The only warmth you feel comes from your breath. In this void the young boy sees a door filled with light, trying to reach the door only leads to the boy to fall deep into a world filled with nothing but nonsense. Only when you find the key, then you’ll be able to leave.

Download the demo here! Our Interview With The Dev Team Below The Cut!

Introduce yourself! *Choko: Hello, I'm Choko! I'm the developer, artist, and writer for Verloren. I've been messing around with rpg maker since 2013 but finished my first finished game in 2016 which is Desolate Village. I've also made other games since then. Those being Demon Tea, Friend Hunt, and Star Detective. So Verloren isn't my first rodeo in the whole game development stuff, but it is the biggest project I've ever work on so far. Besides game dev stuff, I'm a huge rpg maker games, horror games, rhythm games, and just games with a interesting style to them.

What is your project about? What inspired you to create this game initially? *Choko: Verloren is a horror adventure game that focuses on Chris Winter, a young boy who finds himself alone and far away from home because of this he won't stop for anything to find a way home and learn why did he arrive here. During the course of the game Chris would meet others who have their own goals. What inspired me to make Verloren is a bit hard to say from what I first started to work on it back in 2017, I was mostly trying to work on another project after finishing Desolate Village. It could have been something else but I really forgot. But since I took a huge hiatus year break during 2018, I would personally say the time I actually initially started to work on Verloren was in February of 2019. Since everything was rework with a fresh outlook on everything, so the whole head space with Verloren is totally different from 2017-2018. What inspired me when I went back to rebuild/fix the game was friends, since their support made me feel I could go back to work on the game. During 2018 I would say I wasn't in the best mood while working on the game, so the support my friends gave me really helped a lot and encouraged me.

How long did you work on your project? *Choko: I've been working on Verloren for three years now. But will say 2019 to now is when actually development started/actually got going. 2018 I took the whole year off to cool down/chill. So the Verloren of 2017-2018 is very different from the Verloren of 2019 to now. If that makes sense....

Did any other games or media influence aspects of your project? *Choko: Oh boy, this section might be very long since there's a lot of games and media which inspired/ influences Verloren, though for many different reasons. Will say the two rpg maker games that inspire me a whole lot when it comes to everything they do is Mare and Akademia (I know it's just a demo still at the time writing but it's very good. Good demo, like the characters are great!! Everything is very nice!) Other rpg maker games do inspire me, mainly friend stuff but Mare and Akademia are two games I really love and wish I can make Verloren a game which has characters which feel realistic in a way they do. Like please go play them. Besides rpg maker games will say that NieR Automata, Okage: Shadow King, RE 1/RE 0, Deemo, Rule of Rose, Smile For Me, and the Kirby series are games that just really inspire me with Verloren, there's just certain aspects of them which I hope I can capture in Verloren. Other than video games, I do get a bunch of inspiration from artist I follow, comics/manga, and anime though if I mention all of them it would just lead me to ramble away, but will say Pandora Hearts and Death Parade are two series I really love and both. I just enjoy series that shows character interaction and bonds, because that's a main part in Verloren. I really just get inspire by character development if you couldn't tell..... ^^;

Have you come across any challenges during development? How did you overcome or work around them? *Choko: Besides the 2018 thing I mention earlier. There has been tiny bits of challenges, like with creating maps, since it takes me a while to get into the mood to make them, but wouldn't really call it a challenge. Since all the time I just have to take time away from the map to gain motivation to make them. Another challenge I guess would be writing cut scenes which I love, though it's a whole process of making sure the characters aren't just rambling or going off-topic since when I write I tend to get in character, as in voice act the lines or try to think how they would. Though the process isn't really a bad challenge since it just takes a while until I get it right.

Have any aspects of your project changed over time? How does your current project differ from your initial concept? *Choko: There's been soooooo many changes to this game. The biggest change I would say is the characters, they had a lot of design changes and personality/motivation changes. But other than that, I would say the mood of the game change a lot, also how scenes play it, originally it just felt like stuff happen to happen. Now it makes a lot more sense and isn't just some random thing I added. Sadly I can't list everything that change because that's spoilers but trust me everything change for the better.

What was your team like at the beginning? How did people join the team? If you don’t have a team, do you wish you had one or do you prefer working alone? *Choko: At the beginning there wasn't a team, since I wanted to do everything solo. I mostly enjoy doing art, writing, and eventing the game. Though currently now there is a team, mostly with people I know, it's more so just a critique/feedback team + voice actors. Currently there are only two VAs since I didn't want to focus on voice acting before I had most of the game done, in the far future I may make a post about it. But so far the whole team is more so just a chilling area then anything else and I enjoy all the fun talk that happen there.

What is the best part of developing a game? *Choko: The best part of creating a game is to see the characters you created come to life. I just really enjoy seeing everything come together. Idk I just find it cool that when making a game all starts out as concepts/ ideas and then after days/weeks/months of work it becomes a actually thing you can look at and show others. Most cutscenes in Verloren I get super happy when I finish them up, because I can see them as a real thing rather than a bunch of ideas of "this is what I'm going to do". Also the joke/shitpost memes....they are also the best part of making a game.

Do you find yourself playing other RPG Maker games to see what you can do with the engine, or do you prefer to do your own thing? *Choko: Yep!!! I play a lot of rpg maker games, I really enjoy seeing what other people do. I just find it cool that anyone can pick up the engine and learn how to use it. Also it's a fun way to find inspiration, just seeing other rpg maker games and being like ">:O I didn't know you can do that!!!".

Which character in your game do you relate to the most and why? (Alternatively: Who is your favorite character and why?) *Choko: This question is very hard, mainly because I relate to because a lot of characters in the game I relate to in tiny levels. For my favorite character it's Vladimir....I do like every other character in game. Chris is my second favorite I have to say (kinda a lie since ties with another character) but Vladimir number one, he's just soo much fun to write. He's maybe the one character who has a lot of scenes which gets a huge smile from me.

Looking back now, is there anything that regret/wish you had done differently? *Choko: Not really, mainly since I was lucky to be able to take a huge hiatus which help me in 2019 to rework everything. So every problem I had with the game I fixed.

Do you plan to explore the game’s universe and characters further in subsequent projects, or leave it as-is? *Choko: I would just leave the game alone after I finish Verloren, it's a game that doesn't need any follow ups because I feel it would just take away from the impact when you get to the end. There really isn't anything I would need to explore, since Verloren is meant to be a single game and that's it.

What do you most look forward to upon finishing the game? *Choko: I look forward seeing how people react to the full game, I am low key shock on how people are reacting towards the demo and all the tiny predictions/speculations. Also the warm positive feedback towards Vladimir is shocking, since I thought no one would like him because of all those jokes/puns. I hope the final game has the same positive reaction, also that other characters get a warm positive feedback towards them.

Was there something you were afraid of concerning the development or the release of your game? *Choko: The only thing that worries me is that if I mess up and people can't understand reasons why x character did that. Since one of the main things with Verloren is that characters have their own way if viewing stuff. Like morality is pretty gray because I don't want to write a black and white story.

Do you have any advice for upcoming devs? *Choko: Main advice I'll give out is placeholders are your friend. Don't spend time making assets for a system you didn't test and you test it and it doesn't work. Just have a placeholder graphic which helps you test it and when it's done you can always slap on the asset. Following up with this, create a debug room. It would come in handy to test systems/ events than having to play through your game to test it and learn you need to fix it.

Question from last month's featured dev @cheesesteak-horror: Do you have creative processes you practice before starting development? *Choko: No, not really. I often just jump right into development and go from there. Most of my practice come from when I work on small stuff or just when I'm bored I often just mess around with things.

We mods would like to thank Choko for agreeing to our interview! We believe that featuring the developer and their creative process is just as important as featuring the final product. Hopefully this Q&A segment has been an entertaining and insightful experience for everyone involved!

Remember to check out Verloren if you haven’t already! See you next month! 

- Mods Gold & Platinum

[tickledpink31]

My tablet wasn’t working so behold a hand-drawing of my OCs

Let me introduce them to you:

Akane Hayashi from Ouran High School Host Club

Age: 16-17

Height: 157cm (5′2″)

Formerly known as Aisling by her birth parents

The adopted daughter of the Hayashi family

Deaf and speaks JSL

She came to life after I watched Amélie 

Affiliated closely with Kyoya

A talented engineer and botanist

Her parents are generous people and she’s no different

The Hayashi family are also a modest bunch and live in an apartment big enough for three people

Veronica Midford from Black Butler

Age: 19-20

Height: 156.5cm (5′2″)

I wanted to indulge in my love for reverse harems and time travel stories so Veronica was born

Prepare to be romanced by a demon, three reapers, and maybe I’ll throw in an angel

Descendant of the Phantomhives and Midfords (either from Lizzie or Edward, but not O!Ciel.)

Known as Lady Phantomhive by ominous people that she meets *cough* Undertaker *cough*

I kept changing her style before I settled with the short wavy look

A psychic like her ancestors as a side effect of the demon contract

Dresses in lolita, but her fashion choices look more mature these days

Her older sister, Beatrice, practices exorcism

I just realized I forgot to put the devil’s trap in her eye (Beatrice put it there for protection)

A charitable young woman who wants to help and will do it outside of the law if she has to

Much smarter than people realize

Fluent in 6 languages including ASL

Kaguya from Avatar the Last Airbender

Age: 16-18

Height: 165cm (5′5″)

Born in the era after Korra

I don’t really follow The Legend of Korra ever since the end of season 1 and I don’t really want to so I’ll decide what’s canon

Youngest of 10 siblings

Has been to the spirit world several times without aid

Travelled to Republic City from the Northern Water Tribe to attend the Bending Arts Academy and become a doctor

Invented a healing form of blood bending

Minerva “Minnie” Castillo from Obey Me

Age: 18-19

Height: 162.6cm (5′4″)

You probably know her from some of my posts so I’ll give you a brief rundown

She’s me but better

Why did I draw her eyes wonky?

I ship her mostly with Lucifer

Filipino-Canadian like me

A musical theatre kid

An identical twin, practically the Snow White to her sister’s Rose Red

Unwilling and chaotic mom friend

Planning never goes right for her so she’s in literally in hell

Lives in a van during her college life

Erika Matsumori from Harry Potter

Age: 11-16 (Golden Trio Era) 30s–40s (Post-Wizarding War II)

Height: 175cm (5′9″)

At the risk of getting attacked I am making not one but two Harry Potter OCs one of which will be paired with Draco

I am a recent fan and yes I’m aware how problematic Rowling is so don’t ruin this for me

This girl’s resting bitch face gives Blaise Zabini a run for his money

In the language of Hanakotoba, Erika means “solitude” explaining her solitary disposition

Her surname translates to “pine” and “forest”

Pine for the wood of her wand

Forest because back in Japan, Erika often ventured into the nearby forest to look for yokai

Erika has nerves of steel and an equally steely face

But she has a good heart underneath

Had a hard time making friends but Luna Lovegood was a good start

Ginny became her friend by extension of Luna but not without a few misunderstandings

A year younger than the Golden Trio

Dated Colin Creevey for a month before they decided to just stay friends

She’s a muggle-born Slytherin (I do what I want)

Although she’s a muggle-born, she grew up knowing about the wizarding world because her uncle is a muggle-born

Was once a student at Mahoutokoro (did you know students there start attending at age 7 but are not boarded until they are 11?) until she was expelled for associating with yokai

Moved to the UK with her uncle to attend Hogwarts at 11

Became part fox after helping a kitsune get back to their mother

Has narcolepsy and has plenty of vivid prophetic dreams because of it

Like a true Slytherin, she protects her kind, muggle-borns that is

She defended her fellow Slytherins before the Battle of Hogwarts

It annoys Draco that she just happened to catch his attention

Made love potions illegal as an adult

Like vixens, Erika goes to great lengths for her family especially her three children in the future

Kikyo Malfoy from Harry Potter

Age: 16–19 (mid to late teens depending on when the story takes place)

Height: 160cm (5′3″)

Erika and Draco’s eldest child and only daughter

She two brothers who are twins, Scorpius and Ryuji, they are both protective of their sister

In the language of Hanakotoba, Kikyo means unchanging love, honesty, and obedience

Not a Slytherin but a Ravenclaw, her parents knew that all along and they are proud of her regardless

Wrote a non-biased version of the Harry Potter series for the purpose of helping muggle-borns and half-bloods who are not aware of their magical heritage

Writes about Newt Scamander, her mother, and herself—a complete series in different points of views of all the houses

Has the ability to split into four different versions of herself (Ravenclaw, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, Gryffindor) possibly even more

Wishes she has her mother’s nerves of steel

Has some kitsune abilities like summoning fire and enhanced sense

Marie Christen/Marjorie Calieus/Mar from The Arcana

Age: 21

Height: 151.8cm (5′0″)

I have mentioned my love for time travel stories and world hopping so prepare for another one

There aren’t a lot of world hopping fanfic for The Arcana so here’s mine…sort of

They are the offspring of two powerful magicians from far outside of Vesuvia

Their father travelled to our world and dropped Mar off at a married couple’s house in Zürich and was renamed Marie Christen

Mar is non-binary but goes by all pronouns and still responds to the names Marie and Marjorie

They have a birthmark on their cheek which The Fool symbol

Happily lives in adoption with her parents Eva and Liam and her kid sister Antoinette

Her familiar is a lamb named Edelweiss

Her biological aunt located Mar when they were 10. From then on, Mar made frequent visits to their aunt’s shop in Vesuvia to hone their magical abilities

At 12, they met Asra who was nearly 15 at the time

[tigerkirby215]

5e Zephyr, the Hellion build (XCOM: Chimera Squad)

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Would you believe me if I said that I had this build on the backburner for nearly half a year? Like honest to god I said I’d “maybe” make XCOM builds over a year ago and I beat Chimera Squad around last November. (Yeah I kinda put the game on the backburner for 3 months before finishing it.)

With that being said Zephyr was easily one of my most valuable units, and she pretty much plays like the typical Monk. So naturally I jumped at the chance to make her!

GOALS

Crippling Blow - Punching criminals is all well-and-good but if you’re fighting outworlders with psionics and poison glands you need something to get the upper hand.

Momentum - “Move fast or die slow.” Play around cover if you want to stick around.

Crowd Control - When the mobs get too rowdy get ready to run in and knock them all down.

RACE

Zephyr was literally made for war which means holy crap we actually get to use Custom Lineage to make a Hybrid! You are a Medium sized creature with a +2 in Dexterity to start. You can pick either Variable Trait as either Darkvision or a Skill Proficiency (ideally Perception to see incoming hostiles) will be useful. You can also get a Language of your choice so I’d pick whatever you fancy, though perhaps going for something more alien would work well.

Of course you get a Feat at level 1 when using a Custom Lineage and ADVENT training makes you a bit of a Martial Adept. You get a d6 Combat Superiority die to use on one of two Maneuvers: Disarming Attack can be good to disable an opponent’s weapon (especially if your DM lets you kick it away after disarming them) and Parry will let you, well, parry! While you might not reduce the damage completely like in Chimera Squad you can still absorb some close-ranged blows!

ABILITY SCORES

15; DEXTERITY - Can’t get shot if you outrun the bullets.

14; WISDOM - Used for a variety of things, notably AC.

13; CONSTITUTION - Zephyr isn’t the biggest member of Chimera Squad but giving her some body armor is usually a good call.

12; STRENGTH - It’s not that she’s weak; we can just use DEX instead of STR.

10; INTELLIGENCE - ADVENT probably teaches military strategy but history is already formed by the victors.

8; CHARISMA - Zephyr is a rather blunt edge. ADVENT training doesn’t include comedy class.

BACKGROUND

War... war never changes, and you were literally made to fight. You are a Soldier by the purest definition of the word. You get proficiency in Athletics as well as Intimidation, Land Vehicles (someone has to drive!), and a Gaming Set of your choice (chess helps you learn military strategy so perhaps ADVENT training included Dragonchess training.)

Your feature Military Rank puts you in the ranks of Chimera Squad! Members of the City 13 PD recognize your rank, and you can get supplied with standard government-funded equipment as needed.

(Screenshot by u/jasonrodriguez_dt on Reddit.)

THE BUILD

LEVEL 1 - MONK 1

Put bluntly punching is more important for this build! First level Monks get proficiency with two skills from the Monk list: Acrobatics is good for dodging and Stealth is good for the breaching phase. You also get proficiency in a tool of your choice: Grey Phoenix will never be ready for your Calligraphy Tools! You’re welcome Tulok!

As a Monk you get Unarmored Defense equal to your Dexterity plus your Wisdom, even if Zephyr does wear body armor in XCOM. But more importantly you get Martial Arts! You can use DEX to punch, your punches do a d4, and after attacking you can punch as a Bonus Action!

LEVEL 2 - MONK 2

Second level Monks get Ki for a variety of military tactics. Flurry of Blows allows you to make two Unarmed Strikes with your Bonus Action instead of one, Patient Defense lets you Hunker Down and Dodge as a Bonus Action, lowering the enemy’s chance to hit (though this is XCOM so remember that 5% chance to hit can still hit), and Step of the Wind lets you Dash or Disengage as a Bonus Action to get up close and personal.

You also get Unarmored Defense, increasing your movement speed by 10 to help you dive for cover after attacking. And because Tasha’s wants to let Monks use weapons you get Dedicated Weapon, allowing you to turn any weapon you’re proficient in into a Monk weapon! (As long as it isn’t Heavy or Special.)

LEVEL 3 - MONK 3

3rd level Monks get to choose their Monastic Tradition and to float like a butterfly and sting like a bee Drunken Master works remarkably well. You get Bonus Proficiencies with both Performance and Brewer’s Supplies, but more importantly you get access to Drunken Technique. Whenever you use Flurry of Blows your movement speed increases by 10 feet and you gain the benefits of the Disengage action, basically giving you the Mobile feat that works whenever you use Flurry of Blows.

Additionally Deflect Missiles will let you Parry bullets! If you’re targeted with a ranged attack you can use your reaction to reduce the damage by a d10 plus your Monk level. If the damage is reduced to 0 you can catch the bullet, and then use a Ki point to throw it back!

You also get Ki-Fueled Attack but it literally doesn’t matter since you don’t have any abilities which use Ki that aren’t attacks.

LEVEL 4 - MONK 4

4th level Monks get an Ability Score Improvement: increase your Constitution by 1 for a little more sturdiness and your Dexterity by 1 to punch a little harder.

Additionally you get Slow Fall to safely hop down off tall ledges, and because Tasha’s didn’t think Monks had enough features you get Quickened Healing, letting you spend 2 Ki points to heal yourself for a roll of your Martial Arts die plus your proficiency bonus. Much like Second Wind you can use this before Short Resting if you have spare Ki for faster recovery after combat.

LEVEL 5 - MONK 5

5th level Monks get an Extra Attack, meaning you can punch twice with your action plus an additional time with your Bonus Action, or an additional two times with Flurry of Blows. Which is good because your Martial Arts die now increases to a d6, making your fists just a little more deadly.

But more importantly you can inflict a truly crippling blow thanks to Stunning Strike, which forces a Constitution save on the enemy or stun them, making them easy pickings for the rest of the squad!

Tasha’s also gave you some Holotargeting thanks to Focused Aim, allowing you to increase your hit chance with Ki, just to make sure none of your blows bounce off their armor.

LEVEL 6 - MONK 6

6th level Monks can make Vital Strikes thanks to Ki-Empowered Strikes. You get to ignore magical resistance and immunity now!

Additionally you get some more boosts to your mobility with Tipsy Sway, letting you Leap to Your Feet when prone with only 5 feet of movement and Redirect Attacks that miss with a Ki point so they hit another enemy in melee! “Should’ve kept your distance!”

And to top off your mobility your Unarmored Movement increases by 5 feet, equaling 15 extra feet of movement speed or 45 feet total.

(Screenshot from stevivor.com)

LEVEL 7 - FIGHTER 1

ADVENT training teaches you to do more than just run and punch. First level Fighters get their choice of a Fighting Style and seeing as we aren’t using Knives and Guns we may as well grab Superior Technique for more Maneuver die! You can learn another Maneuver like Distracting Strike to lower a foe’s defenses for your allies. And you get another d6 per Short Rest to use on Maneuvers!

If you aren’t going to hit level 11 as Monk (total build level 14) then Unarmed Fighting is also a good choice to increase your damage output.

You can also get some help from Terminal for a Second Wind, healing for a d10 plus your Fighter level.

LEVEL 8 - FIGHTER 2

Second level Fighters get Action Surge, for another action to do either a little bit more movement or a bit more punching. Yes this does mean that if you want you can punch a total of 6 times in a turn!

LEVEL 9 - FIGHTER 3

Third level Fighters get to choose their Martial Archetype and a Battle Master can inflict all sorts of Crippling Blows! Firstly you are a Student of War, granting you proficiency with another Artisan’s Tool of your choice. Maybe pick up some Woodcarver’s Tools to do something while out in the unpopulated areas.

But of course the main appeal of being a Battle Master is the Combat Superiority. You get four d8 Superiority die (on top of your two d6 die) to use on your Maneuvers. You already have several Maneuvers but how about a few more? Trip Attack is like Stunning Strike but it forces a Strength save to knock the enemy over, making them easy to hit in melee (or with a shotgun) but harder to hit at range. Goading Attack will keep foes off your friends and force them to focus you instead. And Grappling Strike will let you try to root an enemy in place.

(Video icon by Alpha155.)

LEVEL 10 - MONK 7

We got all the Maneuvers we could want and more so now it’s time for more Monk training to master our fists. 7th level Monks get Evasion to avoid explosions (and other things that force DEX saves) as well as Stillness of Mind to avoid panicking (or being charmed.)

LEVEL 11 - MONK 8

8th level Monks get another Ability Score Improvement: better max out that Dexterity to make sure that 99% chance to hit does actually hit.

LEVEL 12 - MONK 9

9th level Monks can defy the laws of physics with SCIENCE! Unarmored Movement Improvement lets you run across walls and liquids, as long as you end somewhere solid when you’re done. Enemy on high ground? Just run up the wall!

LEVEL 13 - MONK 10

10th level Monks get Purity of Body, making them immune to Earthbound diseases and Viper poison. Additionally you get 5 more feet of Unarmored Movement, meaning that you can now move 50 feet in a turn!

LEVEL 14 - MONK 11

11th level Monks have what the game calls Drunkard’s Luck, but I’d personally call Teamwork! If you make a roll with Disadvantage you can use 2 Ki points for some teamwork, negating the Disadvantage!

Your Martials Arts die also increases to a d8, so you can shake off the stress before going in and apprehending the target!

LEVEL 15 - MONK 12

12th level Monks get another Ability Score Increase. While we’ve got plenty of ways to be effective without Wisdom intuition is still good to not get hit. So increase your Wisdom by 2.

(Image from “Agent Profiles: Zephyr” Chimera Squad trailer video. Yeah it’s honestly really hard finding good images to put into this build.)

LEVEL 16 - MONK 13

City 13 PD are expected to be able to communicate with any species, and Chimera Squad is no exception. 13th level Monks get Tongue of the Sun and Moon, so anyone can understand what you’re saying and you can understand whatever they’re saying.

LEVEL 17 - MONK 14

Sick of dealing with things more dangerous than guns? Well Diamond Soul will give you proficiency with all saving throws! And your Unarmored Movement increases to 55 feet total!

LEVEL 18 - MONK 15

15th level Monks can live life with the game on pause thanks to Timeless Body. You can’t be aged by magic, though you will still die of old age. You also don’t need to eat, which is certainly helpful.

LEVEL 19 - MONK 16

16th level Monks get their last Ability Score Improvement for the build. I’ll leave this up to you: more Wisdom would mean more AC and more deadly Stunning Strikes, but the Mobile feat would allow you to save your Ki instead of using Flurry of Blows to move around.

LEVEL 20 - MONK 17

17th level Monks can finally lay down the Crowd Control thanks to Intoxicated Frenzy! When you use your Flurry of Blows, you can make up to 3 additional attacks with it, provided that each Flurry of Blows attack targets a different creature this turn. This means that you can target a total of 5 enemies with Flurry of Blows, not to mention the two punches you get from your regular action! And speaking of punches your Martial Arts die is now a d10, letting you really thin the herd!

FINAL BUILD

PROS

Reaper - Ever punched 9 times in one turn? Would you like to? Intoxicated Frenzy and Action Surge can allow you to really thin the herd.

Lockdown - You’ve also got plenty of ways to keep said herd from getting close with 6 total Combat Superiority die to spend on all sorts of Maneuvers.

Fearless Advance - You’re not exactly a frontliner but you can afford to take a few hits, with good health, strong AC, and very high saving throws thanks to Diamond Soul.

CONS

Berserker - Running fast with your fists out is great and all, but sometimes enemies will be in places you simply can’t get to. When that happens all you can really do is keep to cover.

Adder - Good ol’ limited resources. Even if you have plenty of Ki as well as a remarkable amount of Combat Superiority die they will still run out. Remember to take breaks between breaches.

Praetorian - Rules as written there’s few ways to boost your damage output or your armor. Bracers of Defense or an Insignia of Claws can definitely help but much like in Chimera Squad you might be left out as the party gets upgraded.

But if the streets get too full there isn’t anyone better to call. ADVENT wanted you to be the perfect soldier; it really sucks for them that you ended up fighting for the good guys! Keep the peace and stop the baddies from resisting arrest. Don’t worry about police brutality; outworld physiology is quite good at repairing broken bones.

(Artwork by Team Wreckloose on Tumblr.)

[redrikki]

May the Fourth Masterpost

Prequels/Clone Wars Era

May the Force Get With You- You’d think Anakin Skywalker’s conception would be pretty epic, mythic even, but you’d be wrong. Turns out, the Force is a lousy lay and a worse father. (Shmi Skywalker, Anakin Skywalker, The Force, Salty Narrator)

Second Wind - Ahsoka takes the wrong exit of the the world between worlds and ends up with a second chance at saving her master. (Ahsoka Tano, Shmi Skywalker)

Pain Management - Anger can get a slave killed. Shmi teaches her son some coping strategies. (Shmi Skywalker, Anakin Skywalker, Watto)

The Force Is In the Details - The chance cube lands on red and now Shmi must learn to manage with a freedom she never asked for. Written as part of the Jedi Fest Rogue Robin challenge as a continuation of The Force is in the Details. (Shmi Skywalker, Anakin Skywalker, Qui-Gon Jinn, Padmé Amidala, Jedi Council)

The Anchor That You Can’t Leave Behind - On the queen’s yacht headed back to Naboo, Anakin and Padmé miss their mothers but Obi-Wan can’t get why. (Anakin Skywalker, Padmé Amidala, Obi-Wan Kenobi)

Another Word For Nothing Left to Lose - When Obi-Wan told him he was free at Qui-Gon’s funeral, Anakin took him at his word. There may, however, have been something of misunderstanding. (Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi)

For Amidala - Her handmaidens had all poured so much of themselves into Amidala, it was like they were part of her now. Padmé didn’t know if she had the strength to let one go. (Padmé Amidala, Sabé, handmaidens)

Wordspring - Anakin’s words dry up in the middle of his fourth month at the Temple. If Obi-Wan can’t get them flowing again, maybe someone else will. (Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Sheev Palpatine, various Jedi)

Nothing to Write Home About - A month after losing his wife, Cliegg Lars decides to write to her son. Anakin Skywalker gets the pen pal he never knew he needed. WIP. (Anakin Skywalker, Cliegg Lars, Owen Lars, Beru Lars, Ahsoka Tano, Padmé Amidala)

For the Greater Good - Count Dooku has never seen the appeal of Anakin Skywalker, but, when the Chosen One breaks with the Council over the treatment of the clones, he decides acquiring the boy’s allegiances might be worthwhile after all. WIP co-written with @grand-duc and @thendstartsnow (Count Dooku, Anakin Skywalker, Palpatine, Clone Troopers)

Once More With Feeling - A redeemed Anakin travels back in time post-RotJ and decides to unfuck the timeline with mixed results. (Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Padmé Amidala, Sheev Palpatine, Jedi Council, bunch of other people)

Bridal Carry - On Naboo, it’s tradition for the groom to carry the bride to their marriage bed. With Anakin’s new prosthetic, it’s more difficult than it sounds. (Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker)

Secret Tunnel - War in the Outer Rim! While fighting on the mining world of Mumblety, Jedi Padawan Ahsoka Tano is tasked with mapping the tunnels along with a team of clones. When trouble strikes, will she have what it takes to save the day and complete the mission? (Ahsoka Tano, Echo, Fives, Anakin Skywalker)

No Place Like Home - Ahsoka’s return to the temple after her first deployment was strange, made even stranger by the fact that it should’t be strange at all. (Ahsoka Tano, Rex)

Eat, Snip, Love - Ahsoka can’t remember the last time she had a home cooked meal. Anakin and Padmé are determined to change that. (Ahsoka Tano, Anakin Skywalker, Padmé Amidala)

Love and Support - After Padmé is shot at a conference, her mother insists she come home. Padmé, of course, is going no where. Episode tag to 3.07 “Assassin.” (Padmé, Ahsoka)

Across a Crowded Room - It’s a party in his honor, but it turns out the Hero With No Fear isn’t good with crowds. Padmé to the rescue. (Padmé Amidala, Anakin Skywalker)

Lightening Rod - Anakin gets electrocuted…again. It probably says something bad about his life that he’s getting used to it. (Anakin Skywalker, Ahsoka Tano, Obi-Wan Kenobi)

Coming Out of My Cage, Doing Just Fine - On the way back from Kadavo, it finally hits her. In this war, Ahsoka had been outmatched, outmaneuvered, and outgunned, but she’d never felt powerless. Not like she did in that cage on Zygerria. (Ahsoka Tano, Anakin Skywalker)

In Our Bed After the War - After the mission to Zygerria, Padmé and Anakin have a difficult conversation. (Padmé Amidala, Anakin Skywalker)

Domestic Life Was Never Quite My Style - Despite her best efforts, Padmé is pregnant. Now she has a difficult decision to make. (Padmé Amidala, C-3P0)

You Call That Family? - In an AU where Anakin has left the order to be Padme, Obi-Wan encounters unexpected resistance when he goes to collect the twins. (Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, Padmé Amidala)

Birthright - The Force called him to his family and Anakin is not prepared to give them up. Not even to the Jedi Council. (Anakin Skywalker, Yoda, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Mace Windu, baby Skywalkers)

If Not For These Bad Dreams - Fives has dreamed about killing every Jedi he’s ever met except General Skywalker. Turns out he’s not the only one. (Fives, Kix, Tup, Jesse)

Dateline Felucia - Embedded with the troops on Felucia, a reporter from HoloNet News paints an intimate portrait of the men of the 212th Attack Battalion. (Cody, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Waxer, Boil, clone troopers)

Ahsoka the Vampire Slayer - Ahsoka is the Chosen One, the Slayer, or at least she was until she died. She got better, but now there’s a new Slayer in town and things with her Watcher are strained at best. Add in a bunch of zombie mind control bugs and Ahsoka’s week could be going better. BtVS fusion. (Ahsoka Tano, Anakin Skywalker, Barriss Offee, Luminara Undili)

Bursts of Stardust - Collection of short tumblr prompts. (Everyone ever)

Rebels Era

With the Rest of the Miscreants - Boy meets galaxy and learns to live in it. A lost baby Jedi adapts in four ‘easy’ steps. (Caleb Dume, Janus Kasmir)

Cloak, No Dagger - In light of the intel from Gorse, Hera and Ahsoka rethink mission protocols while putting on a show for the ISB agent watching them.  (Hera Syndulla, Ahsoka Tano)

Tag - Sabine and Ketsu, bounty hunters extraordinaire, argue about how to sign their work. (Sabine Wren, Ketsu Onyo)

A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy - Depa stumbled free of the maze, back into the atrium for the Lothal Temple. There was just one problem. The man kneeling between the desiccated bodies of the ancient Jedi was not her master. (Depa Billaba, Kanan Jarrus)

Swordsmith - Ezra makes his lightsaber. It’s not his life, except in all the ways it is. (Ezra Bridger, Ghost Crew)

Graffiti on the Walls of the Heartland - Three works of art Sabine made for crew members and one she made for herself. (Sabine Wren, Chopper, Hera Syndulla,Kanan Jarrus)

Chicken Soup for the Jedi Soul - Four meals Kanan cooked for his crew and one he made for himself.  (Kanan Jarrus, Ghost Crew)

Ain’t No Fun (Life on the Run) - Ain’t no fun living life on the run but, with his Hera and their crew by his side, Kanan finds it isn’t always so bad. (Kanan Jarrus, Ghost Crew)

Wild Blue Yonder - After the events of “The Brotherhood of the Broken Horn,” Hera decides it’s high time Ezra learn how to fly. (Hera Syndulla, Ezra Bridger, Zeb Orrelios)

A Distraction - Kanan’s been blinded. There’s nothing Hera can do to fix it so Chopper gives her something she can. Written as part of the Jedi Fest Rogue Robin challenge as a continuation of A Distraction. (Hera Syndulla, Kanan Jarrus, Chopper)

Then My Hair’s Too Short - Apparently, Ezra had a new hair cut. That’s fine, it’s his head after all. Kanan just wished he had mentioned it. (Kanan Jarrus, Ezra Bridger)

The Blind Beggar - When Ezra objects to Kanan taking point on a mission, Kanan decides its time they had a talk. (Kanan Jarrus, Ezra Bridger, Ghost Crew)

Cut to the Heart - Sabine found the stupid thing in a cave, but now the Darksaber is taking over her life. Kanan gives her a little perspective. Tag to 3.13 “Trails of the Darksaber.” (Sabine Wren, Kanan Jarrus)

Rebel Moments - Collection of short tumblr prompts (Ghost Crew)

Rogue One

The Lord’s Estate - Every lord must have an estate. Lord Vader’s is Mustafar. (Vader, Palpatine)

Peace is a Lie - Sometimes Vader wakes up and can’t remember what war he’s fighting. (Darth Vader)

A Cog In Something Turning - Cassian hadn’t meant to give K-2SO free will. Good thing for both of them he’s a terrible slicer. (K-2SO, Cassian Andor)

Original Trilogy

Sea of Sorrow and Sand - Ben Kenobi is an island in a sea of sorrow and sand. Beru Lars has come to drag him back to shore. (Obi-Wan Kenobi, Beru Lars)

What Remains - What remains of a relationship built on lies? Nothing, as Darth Sidious will soon find out. (Darth Vader, Darth Sidious, Padmé Amidala’s preserved corpse)

On This Strange and Mournful Day - The events of Vader Down go very differently. The father and child reunion is only a motion away. (Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, Dr. Aphra)

After the Funeral - Han offers Luke some unexpected support after the funeral of the guy who tortured him. (Luke Skywalker, Han Solo)

A Cynic’s Guide to the New Golden Age - The second Death Star goes kabloowie and takes the galaxy with it. It’s a new golden age of piracy and Aphra’s got some looting to do. (Dr. Aphra, Luke, 0-0-0, BT-1, Black Krrsantan)

The Last Truce We Ever Came To - Darth Vader is dead but he won’t leave Leia alone. (Leia Organa, Force Ghost Anakin Skywalker)

Lego Star Wars - The Freemaker Adventures

Disembodied - Roger loses his head and, frankly, it’s getting old. (R0-GR, Rowan Freemaker, Kordi Freemaker, Zander Freemaker)

Sequel Era

Red Fish, Blue Fish - Leia bought an aquarium for her child like her father before her. In a perfect world she could raise Ben to fill his grandfather’s legacy. Too bad he had more than one. (Leia Organa, Ben Solo, Angst)

A Matter of Precedence - FN-2187 wasn’t the first, except for the time he was. Others have defied the First Order before, but none quite as spectacularly. (Finn, First Order)

So You Want to be a (Space) Wizard - Finn finds a mysterious book, takes an Oath, and starts one hell of an Ordeal. Crossover with Young Wizards. (Finn, Poe Dameron, Rey)

Old Haunts (All We’ve Ever Known) - Anakin and Obi-Wan as snarky Force ghosts during The Force Awakens. (Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, TFA cast)

Lady in Waiting - Rey’s spent so much of her life waiting it’s hard to know when to stop. Luckily, Poe’s there to give her the push she needs. (Rey, Poe Dameron, Leia Organa, Finn)

Not a Drop to Drink - On Luke’s island, Rey couldn’t quite get her mind around the sheer amount of water stretching out towards the horizon. (Rey, Luke Skywalker)

[teababe27]

Notes From the 2020 Myanimelist.net Challenges - Part 2: Manga

Time for Part 2 of the Thoughts on the Challenge posts; this one talking about the manga side.

A lot of the executive dysfunction and side effects of the chemo kinda took away my desire to read sometimes. As such, I didn’t get as far into the challenge as I had hoped, only getting about halfway through the required amount I had chosen for myself. There were even a few manga I was reading for the challenge that I have unfortunately not yet finished (Billy Bat, Battle Angel Alita, Meteor Methuselah), so I reluctantly won’t be including them on here. However, I did still read and finish some decent manga and some pretty good ones, too.

Like the anime post, I will mention some honorable mentions/one I had thoughts on, followed by my favorites that I read for the challenge this year.

Let’s do this.

Honorable Mentions/Other Notables:

Scumbag Loser (aka Saiteihen no Otoko) - completed for the task “Read a manga series you can finish in one day”

Masahiko is a fat, perverted loser who has a smell fetish and thinks everyone is beneath him. He takes solace in the fact that he’s not the Class Loser. However, when the Class Loser gets a girlfriend, Masahiko becomes the new Class Loser. Desperate to get out of this position, he lies and says he has a girlfriend: his childhood friend Haruka, who transfers to his class the next day. But there’s a problem that only Masahiko knows: Haruka died several years before. 

This wins Worst of the Challenge, but I didn’t hate it entirely. Masahiko is not a good person, which is usually a negative in my book. This manga basically goes from 0 to 100 real fast. It takes a couple unexpected turns and I couldn’t help but wonder how the problem would be stopped. Ends on a bit of a downer.

Dragon Head - completed for the task “Read a manga that started serialization in the 90s”

While on a school field trip, the train carrying the students crashes after a natural disaster. Teru is the only survivor in his class. While trying to find a way out, he finds two other survivors, Ako and Nobuo. The three survivors try to escape while dealing with lack of food and light, earthquakes, cults, and the freaking apocalypse happening outside.

This manga was quite the ride. Creepy and scary at times. The artwork was really good, definitely adding to the atmosphere. I liked the characters. The story did kinda drag a bit in the middle and I felt the ending was kinda rushed and stopped inconclusively, but I liked this one.

Omukae Desu - completed for the task “Read a manga that started publishing the same month and year as one of your listed favorites” (Azumanga Daioh, in this case)

Madoka is a college student who has the power to see lost souls, kinda like the Ghost Whisperer. He is recruited by Nabeshima (the guy in the bunny suit on the manga cover) to work for the GSG, an organization that helps transport wandering souls to the afterlife. In order to help, Madoka often lets the souls briefly take over his body to do various things that they always wanted to do before passing on.

This manga was actually pretty adorable at times. Lighthearted and fun. Characters are kinda hit-and-miss, though their interactions are very amusing. I liked it.

Deathtopia - completed for the task “Read a manga that got cancelled/axed”

Kou Fujimura is an average guy. One day, he gets into an accident and is severely injured, leaving him blind and on the brink of death. He gets surgery and survives, but he now has psychic abilities and can see weird monsters. A mysterious woman appears, and she recruits him to help her and her fellow hot assassins who work for the police department. He helps the ladies take out the aforementioned weird monsters called Cheaters, people who come back from the dead with special abilities and blend in with normal people.

I liked the story/concept a lot. Kinda gave me Parasyte vibes at times. A little bit too fanservice-y at times. Very good in the beginning, but took a lot of lapses in logic (pointed out in the scanlations I read) near the end, and the ending felt rushed, though I can blame that on the manga being prematurely cancelled. I still recommend this one, as the story is interesting and the action is good.

The!! Beach Stars - completed for the task “Read a manga with a symbol in the title”

The sequel to the manga Beach Stars that I read for last year’s challenge. 

Iruka and the rest of the team are back, getting ready for and competing in the Madonna Cup. Iruka’s goal is still the same: to beat the local volleyball champ Sanae Kayakawa.

Everything I liked about the prequel is here. The action/sports scenes are great, and the camaraderie between the ladies is cool, too. Though it is disappointing that this sequel is only 12 or 13 chapters, as some things could have used more buildup and fleshing out, especially the final match. Still a fun read, though.

Favorites from the Challenge:

Watashitachi no Shiawase na Jikan (aka Our Happy Time) - completed for the task “Read a featured manga” (Article: https://myanimelist.net/featured/1561/11_Epic_Manga_That_Deserve_to_Be_Adapted_into_Anime)

Juri is a former pianist who has gone down a dark path after a traumatic event in her life. She has grown to hate her mother, who was once a famous pianist herself. Juri has since attempted suicide multiple times. Yuu is a convict on death row charged with murder, and he has tried to kill himself as well. When Juri’s aunt Monica, a nun, invites her to visit Yuu, their lives both change forever.

This manga makes me think of how a friend told me they recently saw the movie Collateral Beauty for the first time. They said it was melodramatic, but they cried and enjoyed the movie all the same. This pretty much sums up how I felt about this manga.

This one honestly made me tear up a bit, as melodramatic as it was. A little dark, but I was still invested in the characters and the situations. The art is really good, too. It’s one volume, so it doesn’t take that long to read. 

Kingyosou - completed for the task “Read a manga that includes a character with a disability”

One day, a girl, Asuka, falls in love with a boy, Manami, after hearing him play the taiko drums at a school festival. Manami is deaf, however, and has closed his heart to love. Asuka and Manami get to know each other and face various obstacles in their relationship, both relating and not relating to Manami’s deafness.

I thought this manga was really sweet. I also liked that there was deaf representation here, though I can’t really speak on how accurate it is because I’m not deaf myself. You don’t see many manga where the characters have disabilities. The relationship felt a little more realistic in this one because it took some time (as proportional as time can take in a 2-volume manga) for Manami and Asuka to get into the relationship. Another manga that was short, sweet, and to the point, at only 2 volumes.

Babel - completed for the task “Read a manga that appears when putting in your username in the Myanimelist search bar”

Kouta is a hotel waiter dissatisfied with his job serving rich clientele on New Year’s Eve at the Babel Hotel. On New Year’s Day, a worldwide terrorist attack occurs, with bombs going off everywhere. Kouta then meets someone who gives him the ability to go back in time. Kouta has to use this ability to stop the terrorist attack from happening and pretty much causing WW3.

I liked this manga a lot. A lot of unexpected plot twists. A fascinating mystery, keeps you hooked. I’ve always found time travel plots to be interesting as well.

Bloom Into You (aka Yagate Kimi ni Naru) - completed for the task “Read a Shounen Ai or Shoujo Ai manga” (tagged Shoujo Ai)

Yuu is a new high school freshman who loves romance manga and wants to experience a love story of her own. But when a classmate confesses his feelings to her, Yuu finds she feels nothing. Yuu sees the student council president, Nanami, turning down a love confession herself. Yuu joins the student council and she and Nanami become friends. Nanami soon confesses her feelings for Yuu, and Yuu is confused.

This one is tied with the next entry in this post for Best of the Challenge.

I loved this manga. So sweet and adorable. Made me tear up at times. Great, well-written character development. Doesn’t rely on bad/problematic tropes like certain other yuri I’ve read and watched recently. I loved watching this complex and realistic relationship between Yuu and Nanami develop. Some of Yuu’s feelings are pretty relatable. Read this one if you’re looking for a great yuri manga.

Inside Mari (aka Boku wa Mari no Naka) - completed for the task “Read a Psychological or Thriller manga” (tagged Psychological)

Isao Komori is a shut-in who spends his time after dropping out of college fapping, playing video games, and visiting a local convenience store every night to see a high school girl named Mari, who he admires from afar. One day, Isao finds that he is in Mari’s body! Isao-as-Mari continues to live her life and tries to find out how to switch back.

I know I mentioned this earlier, but I’ll be giving Best of the Challenge to both Bloom Into You and Inside Mari. I honestly couldn’t decide between the two, as they are from two different subgenres and two different styles. Kinda like how I couldn’t decide between Hereditary and Into the Spiderverse as my favorite movie of 2018 because they were so different form each other that I couldn’t really compare them.

This manga threw me for a loop multiple times. A subversion and deconstruction of the usual body-swap plots. A darker take on one, if you will. A couple of interesting plot twists, and the manga often takes a different direction than you expect, especially about halfway through the manga, where it switches to different characters’ points of view.

Highly recommended, though not for everyone.

[polandspringz]

I’m sure you probably got asked this many times but what’s your rank of the brothers from most fav to least fav? Least fav doesn’t mean dislike but still a ranking :0 from your fics I get that Mammon might me in that top hehe

I don’t think I’ve actually been asked this before? But, either way, I have been waiting for someone to ask me about this! Although I’ve given my MC’s relationships on another post, (and a tiktok where I ranked the battle themes) I haven’t actually given my own personal ranking, so here we go!

1. Mammon- You knew this, he knew this. He’s our first, and I’m weak for characters that are the “bad boy, tsundere” type I guess. The devs and the writing team did an excellent job in creating his character because I opened the game a Lucifer stan and the moment Mammon softened I became a simp, lol. I also am a big fan of Osomatsu-san, so Mammon is very much the equivalent to Karamatsu, which is part of why I like him.

2. Belphegor- I know he’s a very controversial character to like, and I haven’t even finished chapter 16 yet, so how can he be my favorite? I ended up starting the game in the middle of an event, so while my MC was going around being like “Who is the seventh brother?” I meanwhile was talking him up in the side story (plus, I got spoiled by a crack guide on Youtube and then for fic research spoiled the time travel events for myself). I will say my opinion of him is somewhat changing as I witness him be more cruel and manipulative, but I honestly feel bad for this brother who was isolated for months from his family and was left to boil with the rage and hatred thinking it was because Lucifer hated him, but not knowing it was because Lucifer was trying to protect him. (That was one part that didn’t get spoiled for me, so when Diavolo walked in and did the “protect you from me” my jaw dropped) I’m also just slightly biased because I like reading fics of characters cuddling and when you have someone who is literally always sleeping, you can find a LOT of that.

3. Satan- The reason he’s number three is just because I am very drawn to the “academic” type of character. Overall, his bookish aesthetic I just really like, and his casual design I find very attractive. (I’m a fashion major so I’m very interested in what characters wear. Menswear, and in particular Ivy League style, I have a big appreciation for, so sweaters and such are big plus!) Also his character design looks a lot like Usui Takami from Maid-Sama, and my previous dating sim crush, Jiwoo from Dandelion. In terms of his character though, I admire his efforts to be his own person, and try and overcome his anger. I’m someone with some bad anger myself, so I connect to him a lot in his efforts to improve and control it.

4. Lucifer- Okay, so I really dislike a lot of aspects of Lucifer’s character, but I love how dedicated he is to his family and I feel so deeply for how he wants to completely bear the burden for the Celestial War on his own. It seems somewhat cliche to have a character that is full of pride be the most self-sacrificial, but I love that it was done in the way that he is secretly super humble and loves his family so much but because of that pride being a barrier, he can never express it. He’s obviously one of the most fleshed out characters in the game, but the devs did an excellent job making me feel for him and so I want to comfort him the most.

5. Levi- I was iffy about Levi until I saw a bunch of fan art of him by a certain artist (cough, cough, I don’t want to tag them and bother them but, cough cough, pon-ee) Although I find him a bit annoying with his Woahhhh and his self deprecating personality traits, I’ve learned to see the potential in him and would love to just, give him a hug or something? I’m sorry but my logic for liking him is honestly that he’s a weeb like me and we would probably bond really well over discussing shows and cosplay. (Also COOL TAIL) in all seriousness though, because of how I interpret each character in how I write them, when I was writing fics like “Cause You Don’t Really Wanna Go”, Levi’s scenes and feelings were very inspired by how a lot of people portray the younger Osomatsu brothers reacting to Karamatsu having depression and low self-esteem on behalf of their words and actions. What really drew me to his character was just the potential of him, and really all of the characters who beat each other up like siblings do, deep down having a very strong connection that they don’t ever want to be damaged, but then having that realization that they might have been the one to do it. Levi already has enough self-esteem issues, so I don’t want to say I like him because he’s such a sad character, but in those moments where he’s not sad and is happily gushing about things he likes and soaking up attention from MC and others, I find him a very attractive character personality wise.

6. Asmo- I feel bad putting Asmo so low because I do like him a lot! As you said, least favorite doesn’t mean dislike. What keeps me more distant from him is that I like him, but not romantically or with my MC. I really enjoyed writing the Solomon scene with him in “I’d Rather Be Dry”. Again, what really brings me closer to these characters is psychoanalyzing them in my own writing. I know there is more to his character than the typical, sexual lust, but because I’ve been playing the game so spaced out I feel like I haven’t absorbed as much as his character as I could have to appreciate it. I’m hoping I get to see more of his character in the future lessons, and his “lust” is taken in different directions besides just “cheerfulness’ and to more anger and protectiveness.

7. Beelzebub- I know a lot of people get mad that many people rank Beelzebub low for the writers making him “only/always hungry”, but that’s not why he’s this low on my ranking. I honestly like how a lot of fans take his character to be that his love/connection to MC distracts from the pain of his constant hunger, because his gluttony isn’t just for food. All of the sins are overindulgence, but it is nice to see them all come to this sort of singularity, away from individual desires, and connect as one because of the influence of one person bringing light into their life and re-establishing their family bonds. But, back to why he’s the last on my ranking, is it shallow to say he’s really just.. not my type? I feel bad because I try to give everyone equal screen time in my writing but I know Beel definitely gets less than my top four. I admire his dedication and care for his family but I just don’t find him that attractive. The emphasis on his athleticism and such I honestly don’t care much for, and he’s just a bit too of a warm/welcoming personality for me? I like seeing him defy Lucifer when he gets angry about Belphegor, but every other time, I just feel he is very complacent and too obedient. I don’t want to call him mindless, because he isn’t at all. I do love him, but like Asmo, it could be that replaying the first 20 lessons again (when I finish them) will make me connect to him more. For now though, I find him lacking in individuality, his character too dependent on Belphegor and Lilith’s story, and in the most shallow way possible, he’s just not my type. Sorry!

You probably weren’t expecting me to go on a tangent trying to justify each one, but this honestly took me like... 2 hours to write up. If the undateables were in here, it would be even longer though! Thank goodness you only asked for the brothers! (Although I would be happy to give my ranking on them too, and then my overall ranking on all the characters too...)

[simping-on-the-daily]

It would be unfair to do just Chelsea for these. ;p Here’s Aisha!

Credit to @luxet for her questions!

Spotify, SoundCloud, or Pandora? “SoundCloud. I just have a more easier time with it.” is your room messy or clean? “My bedroom is clean, as well as my room located in the corner of Thomas’ mind.” what color are your eyes? “I have blue eyes with slit pupils.” do you like your name? why? “I think Aisha is a suitable name.” what is your relationship status? “Taken.” describe your personality in 3 words or less “Analytical, Sharp, Rational.” what color hair do you have? “My hair’s an indigo leaning towards purple.” what kind of car do you drive? color? “I don’t drive, but a blue Sedan would be nice.” where do you shop? “You can’t really shop in the Mind Palace, but I like the bookstores.” how would you describe your style? “Smart Casual.” favorite social media account “Reddit and Wattpad both have....interesting things, but they are still my favorites.” what size bed do you have? “I have a Full XL.” any siblings? “I do not have any siblings.” if you can live anywhere in the world where would it be? why? “I think I live in the best place already.” favorite snapchat filter? “The face swap filter is both a blessing and a curse.” favorite makeup brand(s) “L’Oréal.” how many times a week do you shower? “One in the morning and one before I go to bed.” favorite tv show? “I have a guilty pleasure of Netflix original shows.” shoe size? “My foot size is around the 10s, I think.” how tall are you? “6′0.” sandals or sneakers? “Sneakers don’t make an annoying slapping sound when they hit the ground, so them.” do you go to the gym? “No, I do not.” describe your dream date “Some people think that stargazing is my dream date, but Logan just got me into that. I truthfully prefer cafes, but as long as we are content doing the activity together, that’s the only thing that matters.” how much money do you have in your wallet at the moment? “Right now, I have $80.” what color socks are you wearing? “I’m wearing white socks at the moment. Weird question.” how many pillows do you sleep with? “One.” do you have a job? what do you do? “No, I do not.” how many friends do you have? “All of the Sides are understandably good friends of mine.” whats the worst thing you have ever done? “I’d prefer to talk about the situation when I’m ready.” whats your favorite candle scent? “I don’t like candle scents.” 3 favorite boy names “I have an interest in Gabriel, Noah and Charles.” 3 favorite girl names “Minerva, Athena and Anne are some of my favorite's.” favorite actor? “I hate to be biased, but Thomas Sanders does a great job at acting.” favorite actress? “Jennifer Lawrence’s work is truly admirable.” who is your celebrity crush? “Mark Ruffalo may be known for giving out spoilers, but he does terrific performances.” favorite movie? “Same answer as below.” do you read a lot? whats your favorite book? “..........Why are you making me choose?” money or brains? “Brains.” do you have a nickname? what is it? “Who doesn’t have a nickname, honestly? Roman has plenty of them for me.” how many times have you been to the hospital? “None. We all have a sort of healing factor, and I am responsible enough to avoid any accidents.” top 10 favorite songs “I believe some of them were also mentioned in one of my bios.” do you take any medications daily? “No, I do not.” what is your skin type? (oily, dry, etc) “I have a normal skin type.” what is your biggest fear? “Needles.” how many kids do you want? “Can we even have children?” whats your go to hair style? “My hair always stays the same: some messy and unbrushed indigo hair leaning into the colour purple. The courtroom scenario was one of the few occasions my hair became more neater.” what type of house do you live in? (big, small, etc) “Currently, we’re in a beach house. It was Chelsea’s idea, as we create new houses. The Mind Palace is endless.” who is your role model? “I must give teachers their credit for being able to put up with their student’s rowdy behavior.” what was the last compliment you received? “You must hear really well with those pointy ears. Not sure if it’s a compliment or an insult.” what was the last text you sent? “I sent Logan a link to a site explaining the definition of some modern slang.” how old were you when you found out santa wasn’t real? “It was around my fourth.” what is your dream car? “A Sedan is good enough for me.” opinion on smoking? “My opinion on this? You’re not alone. I can’t stop you from smoking, but please make sure that it’s out of personal interest and not a form of endangering yourself.” do you go to college? “If Thomas went to college, then yes, I technically did. If he didn’t, then I didn’t.” what is your dream job? “I don’t really need a job.” would you rather live in rural areas or the suburbs? “The suburbs are much more safer.” do you take shampoo and conditioner bottles from hotels? “No. I have no benefit in taking hotel property.” do you have freckles? “No, I do not freckles. However, Logan does. He just covers them up.” do you smile for pictures? “It depends on the picture we’re talking about.” how many pictures do you have on your phone? “We don’t have a storage limit, and right now I have around 400 in my gallery.” have you ever peed in the woods? “You’re assuming that I go in the woods.” do you still watch cartoons? “Cartoons are still shows, regardless of the artistic style. Yes, I do.” do you prefer chicken nuggets from Wendy’s or McDonalds? “Wendy’s.” Favorite dipping sauce? “My favourite is Honey Mustard.” what do you wear to bed? “I wear a lot of dressing gowns.” have you ever won a spelling bee? “When your opponent is Patton, you’re bound to be victorious.” what are your hobbies? “I believe they’re listed in a bio already posted.” can you draw? “Yes, but I’m better art digital art then traditional.” do you play an instrument? “Nope. But since it doesn’t impact my daily life, it doesn’t bother me.” what was the last concert you saw? “It depends on the last concert Thomas went to.” tea or coffee? “Tea. It’s much more relaxing and is less bitter then coffee.” Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts? “Starbucks has a lot more variety in their food choices.” do you want to get married? “I’m not a fan of weddings. It reinforces the fact that you need a giant celebration to prove your love instead of acts of trust and loyalty. Maybe that’s why I chose the callback instead.....” what is your crush’s first and last initial? “L.S. Logan Sanders.” are you going to change your last name when you get married? “Perhaps.” what color looks best on you? “Indigo and black are my more iconic colours, but I do appreciate some purple in my attire once in a while.” do you miss anyone right now? “Not as this particular time, no.” do you sleep with your door open or closed? “The door is closed, but not locked.” do you believe in ghosts? “In the Mind Palace, anything can happen. Ghosts are childsplay compared to the other supernatural creatures in here.” what is your biggest pet peeve? ”Clicking pens, unnecessarily revving your engines, waking you up in the middle of the night and then saying ‘oh did I wake you up?’ as well as bashing a book or film when you haven’t seen it.” last person you called ”I had to call Remus. I can’t remember the details, but it involved something with pencil cases.” favorite ice cream flavor? “Buttermilk and black sesame ginger are delicious and underrated.” regular oreos or golden oreos? “I prefer the regular Oreos.” chocolate or rainbow sprinkles? “I don’t enjoy sprinkles a whole lot. I prefer to cover my desserts with chocolate syrup.” what shirt are you wearing? “I’m currently wearing an off the shoulder top, coloured a dark navy blue with star patterns.” what is your phone background? “The night sky. It’s aesthetically pleasing.” are you outgoing or shy? “I would prefer to call myself an ambivert.” do you like it when people play with your hair? “Playing with my hair? That’s fine.” But don’t try to get rid of the knots or try and brush it.” do you like your neighbors? “The Dark Sides live right next to us in their house, and I have a neutral opinion about the lot of them. Remus is okay, though. I’m not a fan of Deceit.” do you wash your face? at night? in the morning? “I wash my face after brushing my teeth.” have you ever been high? “I know that if I answer this question, the readers will probably warp it into some form of suggestive content.” have you ever been drunk? “I’m not sure if we can get drunk? I might have to ask Logan that later.” last thing you ate? “My last meal was some noodles and meatballs.” favorite lyrics right now “The following lyrics are from the song Just The Way You Are by Bruno Mars.” When I see your face There's not a thing that I would change 'Cause you're amazing Just the way you are summer or winter? “Winter. The cold air gives more chances for indoor activities as well as a nice aesthetic.” day or night? “The night is much calmer, so I’ll prefer that.” dark, milk, or white chocolate? “Dark chocolate. I believe that the bitter taste makes it good.” favorite month? “July, I’m not sure why, but I get some happy during the seventh month.” what is your zodiac sign ”While I wasn’t ‘born’, per say, my creation was during the constellation of Capricorn, so I’ll go with that.” who was the last person you cried in front of? “It was a pretty long time ago, but I think it was Deceit. Back when we were kids.”

[elsarah]

Favorite clips of s5

Thank you so much @smblmn​ for tagging me, I love the idea! While the season as a whole was kinda underwhelming, it was full of amazing clips and I do have a lot of favorites. Here’s my top 10 and a few honorable mentions. I tend to have one favorite clip by episode, except for episode 8, which I REALLY didn't like. I didn't rank my picks, I'll just list them chronologically.

And since I didn't have the opportunity this season, I'm also making gifs to illustrate my picks :) I need the practice, as you can see.

Ep.1: Samedi 0:25 - Le choc

One of my favorite things this season has been the symbolism and the metaphors around sound and silence. In the first episode, there were 2 occurrences: Arthur seeing Noée for the first time underwater at the pool and him looking in the street as snow falls and slowly realizing he's gone deaf. I thought this was an amazing idea and that it gave disability more depth and beauty.

And that look at the camera in the last seconds… And the piano music… It was so chilling.

Ep. 2: Jeudi 20:59 - La nuit de

Globally, the scenes at the association were my favorites, even though I have a complicated relationship with them. Before shooting started in October, someone from the crew promised they would invite me on set during the filming of these scenes, but they ended up breaking their promise. I try to be as drama free as possible on the internet so I didn’t talk about it publicly but now that the season has ended I’m like “Why should I bottle this up, I’m not the the one who screwed up and I’m still hurt about it”.

The first time I watched that clip in January, I was heartbroken. Not just because of the missed opportunity but because I realised I never got to experience what Arthur did; there was no association for me, no one. But I still have a really soft spot for this scene because it's just gorgeous. The aesthetic is incredible and I totally understand what Arthur feels (minus the alcohol). Overall, as bittersweet as it is, it's probably one of my top 3 scenes this season (and it looks like it's one of David's too, this man has great taste). I can’t help but feel for the teenager I was and I wonder how I would have felt watching it then.

Ep.3: Vendredi 13:12 - Check de frérot

Arthur and Basile's friendship was one of the highlights of this season, heck Basile WAS the highlight of this season. Basile and Arthur never shy away from hugs and I'm living for it. I'm so looking forward to see more of Basile in season 6 (since I guess we'll see more of his relationship with Daphné). I loved seeing him be so well-intentioned, despite his usual clumsiness. Seeing Paul in a more serious register (for instance when Arthur lashed out at the boys in episode 6) was delightful.

Ep 4.: Lundi 19:02 - Les entendants

This one also belongs in my top 3. This is the representation I was looking for when I learned Skam France would tackle hearing loss and deafness. It doesn't come in the same package for everybody, and I love that they tried to show it through so many different characters. The situations described here are universal among deaf people.

On a more personal note, I loved that the extras were actual deaf people and sone of them well known. The lady interpreting is Jennifer Lesage-David, co-director at IVT, and she helped David and Niels a lot this season. And the girl speaking about her relationship with her dad is Lulu, she has a YouTube channel with her sister where they raise awareness about hearing loss. The instagram post that was published that day also featured a lot of people I more or less know.

Watching this clip was an experience in itself. I was attending a conference that night about deaf TV archives. The clip dropped 2 minutes before it started and I had to wait for it to end to finally watch. It was excruciating. Also, half the staff of IVT was there and I actually ended up watching the clip in front them. There were like "Wait? Jennifer was in Skam?".

Ep.4: Vendredi 20:43 - Ma vie a changé

While I'm still sceptical about Noée falling in love with Arthur so quickly (this sign song is unambiguous), I think this is one of the most beautiful scenes in the whole series. I don't care very much about this being romantically coded, I just choose to focus on the sign song, because I'm so happy they featured deaf visual arts.

My friend and I spent hours trying to decipher what the song could be about and our interpretation differed a lot from Winona's original text but we loved doing this. David was curious to see how my friend would understand it (especially the part where Noée signs a growing love which she cradles) and he was so happy when she understood it right.

For those interested, here’s what we interpreted (roughly translated into English):

Like two souls lost in the storm, Swayed by the tide, Never really seeing each other Until ours eyes meet. Something is growing inside me, something new, That sets my heart beating. You take off my mask and the truth in your eyes, Fills my heart. Look at me, I also see you.

Ep.6: Mercredi 18:31 - Un simple bout de métal

Also one of the scenes I was expecting the most this season, especially when it transpired that Noée was a bit radical. Her letter echoes my own fears and I thought it was really on point. Arthur admitting he needs her made my heart melt, he's so lucky to have met her. And Winona was amazing in that clip.

Ep.7: Vendredi 20:31 - Sourd dating

Just like for "Un simple bout de metal", I was also expecting that scene. I like that they made Noée and Camille voice their opinion like both faces of the same coin. It was a great way to address cochlear implants as they're a sensitive topic in the deaf community. I think this is one of the most shining example of the research work they did. They could have just stopped at Noée’s letter. But since they had deaf actors like Lucas, who is also implanted and has faced prejudices from radical Deaf people in the past, they had to show implants were not evil and that the situation was more complex than just “Doctors who want to act as gods”.

Learning Noée’s backstory was also interesting, although I didn’t expect her to be an "ex-implanted" deaf. She explains that she learned sign language at the association, which can't be more than 3-4 years ago (and if you look closely in ep 3, when Arthur checks the website, she says she joined the association at its beginning), but there's no way Noée would have that proficiency in sign language in just 4 years of practice. Winona's fluency in sign language is clearly that of someone who grew up with it. I loved being able to notice these subtleties.

Like all the clips at the association, it was a joy to watch because of the atmosphere and the sign language. The deaf extras were lovely. I actually got to meet a few of them last month and had an amazing time with them.

Ep.9: Vendredi 20:17 - Choisir pour toi

Coline. singing. Do I need to say more? I like that both Noée and Alexia had their shining moment and as clumsy as the story got, I appreciate that the writers didn't try to pin one girl against the other and make one superior. Noée had her sign song and Alexia her own composition. And both were breathtaking. What really gets me in this scene are the colors. I'm a sucker for aesthetics.

And of course, it was great to see Alexia stand her ground and break up with Arthur. I have nothing but respect for her and I'm team Alexia + happiness all the way.

Ep.10: Lundi 10:04 - La même vie que vous

When Melchior, Laura and the brochure subplot was introduced, I was a bit wary because their introduction scene was really, really awkward (it wasn't very well tied at first). By their second scene, at Arthur's place, I was sold. It was great to address accessibility and show that there's no point putting people with disabilities in the same bag, because there are hundreds of them and the needs are different. What doesn't change is our wish to live our life at the fullest, just like abled people. And this scene was precious. Seeing Arthur endorse this new part of him and support his peers was everything.

Ep.10: Vendredi 20:47 - Le meilleur des mondes

I'm still very emotional about this scene. Like… I don't know what to say, the music still sends shivers down my spine.

Honorable mentions :

Ep.1: Mardi 11:59 - 3, 2, 1,…

One of the only things Robin told me about the season when I met him at IVT was that the first clip would drop on New Year's Eve at 11:59 p.m.. That date became a beacon during fall and oh you wouldn't believe how much I waited for that clip to drop and how much I was looking forward to it. And it freaking delivered. The atmosphere, the tense music, that first shot on the loudspeaker, the confetti clogging it gradually… That teaser was a masterpiece.

Ep.2: Like… the whole episode actually. The alarm clock concept was genius.

Ep.4: Samedi 10:15 - Nouveau style

One of these gorgeous clips without dialogues that still say lots.

Ep.5: Samedi 10:03 - Maîtriser le langage

Oh my, this one was so relatable and a joy to watch. Camille explaining that sign language and mimes are different, Arthur being that dimwit asking about swear words and being told off for speaking… Kuddos to the deaf extras who had to pretend they didn't know any sign language, it was so funny (looking at you, Enzo).

Ep.6: Samedi 8:30 - Mythos

Seeing Arthur lashing out at his friends was cathartic. He roasted them so well, I wished I had his ability to speak so well when I'm angry. A+ work.

Ep.6: Dimanche 14:41 - Envie de rien

Alexia being the real MVP, as always.

Ep.7: Samedi 2:15 - Pool Party

It’s strange, because even though a lot of the story went down in this particular episode, it must be one of my favorites, like… tied with episode 2. It has probably a lot to do with the fact there were mostly deaf characters and that they had so much fun together. It’s something I can relate do, the sheer joy of signing the night away, which is something I didn’t get to experience until very recently.

As gorgeous as the underwater scene is, I'm not a fan of Noée and Arthur's almost kiss. I picked this scene because I love the moment of sheer joy that follows; everyone joining in the pool and having fun together. And of course the rise of Camika. I know it's a bit convoluted to have the two openly gay guys fall for each other first time they meet but… it just worked so well.

Ep.9: Mercredi 21:34 - Frère

This clip was about to make the top 10 cut when I remembered about another one and I had to remove it. Just Basile being lovely Basile.

Ep.9: Jeudi 17:30 - T'es pas tout seul

This clip was so important, bless the nurse and bless Jérôme. I wish Jérôme was my audiologist, to be honest.

Ep.10: Samedi 13:39 - Maman

Arthur's mom was so lovely and I'm so sorry she had to go through this shit with her trashcan of a husband. I liked her relationship with her son and her reassuring him he's not like his father was very soothing. I wasn’t the biggest fan of Arthur at the end of this season and I appreciate he’s well looked after after what he went through.

Ep.10: Jeudi 17:46 - Recommencer

Just like "Nouveau style" from ep 4, it's another one of these silent clips that has lots of meaning. Arthur putting back his glasses, slowly accepting his life won't be the same and that he has to move on. Except now things are clearer. Skam France love its symbolism and while sometimes it's very poorly done (like the love triangle emphasizing on Arthur's balancing between two worlds), more often than not it's very compelling.

Now I want to rewatch everything, so see you soon I guess :)