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scope-dogg · 4 years ago

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Knight’s and Magic: Final Thoughts

Isekai anime have been very popular in recent years, and 2017′s Knight’s and Magic was one of many cashing in on that trend, with the added twist of being a mecha series. However, what many may not realise is that the Isekai genre of anime was originally born out of the mecha genre, with the first Isekai anime arguably being the 1983 classic Aura Battler Dunbine by Yoshiyuki Tomino. While Isekai has split off and diversified into its own extremely prolific and popular genre, mecha has kept a foothold within it, and subsequently some of the greatest mecha shows have been fantasy-themed, with great titles like Magic Knight Rayearth and The Vision of Escaflowne following in Dunbine’s footsteps over the years, so really Knight’s and Magic should be viewed rather as the continuation of a fairly long tradition of fantasy mecha rather than Isekai but with robots. Adapted from the early volumes of a currently ongoing manga by the same name, it’s a short series, but one with high production values, superb mechanical design and entertaining action. It’s also a series that I ultimately simply cannot stand.

The plot setup is that Tsubasa Kurata is an unassuming but highly talented programmer working in contemporary Japan - or at least he is until he’s killed in a road traffic accident. As he dies, he has but one regret - that he’ll no longer be able to live with his hobby of building plastic model kits of giant anime robots. As is often the case with such a setup, he finds himself reborn into a fantasy kingdom called Fremevilla as the son of nobles called Ernesti Echavalier. However, to his joy, he finds out that the main weapon for fighting back against these monsters is the Silhouette Knight, a kind of gigantic magic-powered mecha. Thus, he devotes himself to the art of learning everything there is about these machines and one day building and piloting one of his very own.

There’s nothing really wrong with this premise, but Knight’s and Magic is flawed in how one-track it is. The show’s really only about one thing - how robots are cool. Of course, I agree that robots are cool. Knight’s and Magic’s lineup of robots in particular is very cool, both in their form and unique functions. However, anyone who’s actually a fan of the mecha genre knows that just having cool robots isn’t enough to carry a show - you have to have compelling characters and interesting narratives. The all-too-frequently trotted-out line of “[x mecha show] is actually good, unlike the rest of the genre, because it focuses on the characters instead of just the robots” is probably the single most effective thing you can say if you want to piss off a mecha fan, because that sentence describes literally every mecha show that was ever worth a damn, even going back to the genre’s roots in the 70s. However, it arguably doesn’t really describe Knight’s and Magic. The series’ creators come off as just as obsessed with robots as its main character, and it comes at the expense of the characters and setting. Each new episode comes with a cool new robot or a cool upgrade for an existing one, but practically none of them feature development of the setting or its characters. Fremevilla and its neighbours never come off as anything more than “generic fantasy kingdom”, the supporting cast are all cut from extremely generic-feeling moulds, and Ernesti never undergoes any growth or exhibits any notable character traits beyond “likes robots.”

Now, there have been several characters in mecha anime who are in large part defined by their dedication to giant robots as an ideal, or simply to their aesthetic, and some of these are truly excellent characters. For instance, Gai Daigoji from Nadesico, Akagi Shunsuke from Dai-Guard, Noa Izumi from Patlabor, Sei Iori from Gundam Build Fighters, or the Super Robot Wars Original character Ryusei Date. The difference between all of these and Ernesti is that being fans of robots isn’t the only thing that makes them relatable or endearing characters, whereas in Ernesti’s case it’s basically the only thing that defines his personality. It also doesn’t help that he’s perhaps the biggest Mary Sue main character that I’ve seen in a mecha anime. His gimmick is that his past-life experience as a programmer also makes him profoundly adept at magic, and that he’s a genius Silhouette Knight designer. He’s always totally successful at everything he tries and everyone loves and respects him for his accomplishments. Ironically, it’s this that makes him an unlikable character for the viewer, because, again, he has no real admirable qualities beyond liking robots and being good at making and using them. It’s a character’s struggles and tribulations that ultimately make them truly sympathetic, and Ernesti is never really challenged until right at the very end of the series, and ultimately that challenge only feels like a mild speed bump for him. This results in a series that despite all its cool robots and flashy battles is fundamentally dead as a story at its core.

However, all of this simply describes a series that I would find boring and mediocre rather than one I actively disliked in a serious way. However, this is arguably the first series I’ve watched since Gundam Seed Destiny that really ground my gears quite badly, and it all boils down to one specific moment in the show’s narrative. To explain why, I need to diverge from my usual review format and spoil not only this show, but also it’s forefather, the original mecha Isekai, Aura Battler Dunbine. I really don’t think spoilers for the former is anything to worry about but spoiling the latter is probably more of an offense. As such, the remainder of this review is below this spoiler cut:

Dunbine is not everyone’s cut of tea. It’s old, has bad animation, it’s long-winded and has a sometimes confused and scrambled narrative in accordance with some of Tomino’s worst habits. However, it was also a work of great imagination that really delivered on communicating a valuable message in some engaging ways. It’s a message that Knight’s and Magic cheerfully and infuriatingly tramples all over. Let me explain.

In Knight’s and Magic, the show’s hero is an outsider who enters into a fantasy world and uses his real-world knowledge to bring about a revolution in technology. This also happens to be the chief descriptor for a major character in Dunbine too.

However, this isn’t the description of the show’s protagonist, Show Zama.

It’s the description of the show’s villain, Shot Weapon.

Shot Weapon is the creator of the Aura Convertor, the technology that powers the show’s mecha, the Aura Battlers, and other weapons besides. The introduction of this technology destroys the peace of Dunbine’s world, Byston Well, and causes it to descend into anarchy and bloodshed. However, the real devastation doesn’t occur until Shot’s creations are transported back into our world, where they inflict destruction almost beyond imagining. Ultimately, Shot Weapon’s actions condemn him to a punishment of being forced to live forever in Byston Well in a state of eternal suffering, like Cain after murdering his brother Abel. Dunbine’s ultimate, most crucial message is that those who manufacture weapons and spread death are to be condemned.

Knight’s and Magic gave itself the exact same opportunity to deal with this exact same theme. The show’s final arc is that a kingdom called Zaloudek has accumulated vast military power and used it to invade its neighours. We get to see as they descend into a neighbouring kingdom, slaughter its just and rightful rulers and install themselves as tyrants. Now, enter Ernesti and his friends at the conquered kingdom’s borders. At this point he’s achieved his aim of creating his own unique robot called the Ikaruga, and in its first battle effortlessly dispatches the Zaloudek soldiers guarding the border. In the aftermath, he examines the wreckage of a destroyed Zaloudek Silhouette Knight. He and everyone else see the obvious - this machine, the Tyranto is based on Ernesti’s designs. Previously, one of the prototype Knights he’d constructed in an earlier arc was stolen by a mysterious foreign agent, and now it’s become clear what happened to it. The source of the military strength that’s fuelling Zaloudek’s ambitions of conquest are the new technologies that he created, reverse engineered from the stolen mecha. As he looks upon the wreck of the Tyranto, the show is presented with a unique opportunity to do something that it’s thus far not done - challenge its protagonist with the consequences of his actions. Sure, Ernesti is not exactly the same as Shot Weapon - he only wanted to create robots because he thought they were cool, while Shot Weapon wanted power. However, in this case the end result has been the same - death, destruction and oppression. Ernesti has a chance to think about whether the things he’s done are right and acknowledge that he’s at least somewhat responsible for the disaster that’s played out, even if it’s just to acknowledge that he has a duty to set things right by beating Zaloudek. This is an opportunity for him to grow as a character for the first time.

The show swerves this opportunity without flinching.

Sure, Ernesti does liberate the kingdom in the end, but it’s clear that it’s not as a result of any real moral calling. He just wanted to build more robots and fight with them. His motivation in the final battle is that he wants to destroy the enemy’s flying battleship because he’s worried that battleships might replace Silhouette Knights if he doesn’t. He remains a totally one-dimensional character right to the end.

As I said before, Ernesti’s obsession with cool robots arguably mirrors that of the creators of this show, if its myopic focus on them is anything to go by. Perhaps this seems extremely out of character for me to say, but this is an infantile obsession. Yes, I like giant robots, but I don’t like them so much that I miss the point. The core of not only the real robot genre that both Knight’s and Magic and Aura Battle Dunbine belong to despite the fantasy trappings of the show, but arguably of the mecha genre as a whole, is that technology can be a force of destruction and great evil when not used responsibly. Yes, the protagonist mecha in these shows are meant to be heroic, but only in their opposition to those who’d use technology as a tool of death and oppression. This is the core of the soul that makes mecha as a genre compelling. It’s a point that Knight’s and Magic completely misses and why it’s fundamentally a failure. It’s as if it’s trying to be what the mecha genre’s detractors try to paint it as.

That said, despite my misgivings there is entertainment to be found if you only want dumb action. But I’d highly encourage you to check out any alternative. If you want a fantasy mecha series, Dunbine, Escaflowne and Rayearth are all much more compelling stories than this - even ones I’m not so keen on like Panzer World Galient and Ryu Knight are fundamentally more interesting as stories than this. If you want a story with a mecha fanatic in the lead role, you’re much better off watching Patlabor or the chronically underrated Dai-Guard instead.

#knight's and magic #mecha #respect the robot

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alterrune · 3 years ago

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To the ColorStreak Battalion, We’ll be giving you 5 access to our Aircrafts. We only have one of each, so choose wisely.

Fighter

"The workhorse of GEOGRAM, the fighters is a great all-rounder, packing a good balance of firepower, durability, and maneuverability into its distinctive frame. This is the most versatile and easiest to handle of GEOGRAMS’s aircrafts and is effective against both enemy aircrafts and capital ships. This is the ideal ship for rookies, but is also well-suited to experienced pilots, as it can adapt to any situation that may arise."

Bomber

"A heavily armored tank of a ship, the assault bomber is the slowest and least responsive ship in the roster, but that thick armor allows it to hang tough in a firefight against the faster ship classes. In a head-to-head joust with any other ship, the bomber – with its powerful loadout – will always come out on top. As the name implies, it is primarily designed for bombing runs, particularly on large capital ships. It can weather a storm of raging fire to lay down a swath of destruction across heavily armored hulls, hampering or destroying escorts and flagships alike."

Intercepter

"By far the fastest and most agile starfighter in GEOGRAM’s lineup, the interceptor is built for dogfighting. While it is handy at taking out turrets on capital ships to clear the way for the heavy-hitters, the intercepter is better suited for forging ahead and tearing through enemy aircrafts. Its weak hull and shields mean that it can't endure much damage, but its speed, maneuverability, and size makes it a difficult target to hit and allow it to fly circles around its opponents."

Support

"Sporting four massive thrusters that lend it surprising speed and mobility, the support craft is a welcome addition to any squadron. While it is difficult fight back in a dogfight, its true value is in supporting the squadron with life-saving supplies and repairs, allowing fellow pilots to operate more effectively. The support craft can also disrupt enemy systems, making them easy targets for allies."

Defender

“A prototype aircraft that was newly developed by GEOGRAM. The defender aircraft is a very special aircraft as its weapon systems are only charged up by flying dangerously close to enemy aircrafts and by absorbing enemy projectiles. Enemy projectiles can be absorbed to power up transparent blades that will home in on its nearest enemies to devastating effect. However, due to the aircrafts nature, projectiles cannot be powered up automatically as this would cause the defender to overload, requiring the pilot to absorb attacks manually.

(I chose Support, Alter chose Fighter, Vi chose Interceptor, Henry chose Defender, and Ellie chose Bomber. We gave them all paint jobs, too, and I think you know the paint jobs they all got. I got mine painted black, like my text, but with a pearlescent royal blue finish on it, making it shine royal blue when light shines on it. It's pretty amazing, have to admit. -K)

#altering the outcome #ask irl!alterrune #decluttering the askbox

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nowoyas · 5 years ago

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Picks and Locks

A/N: Izumonth day 16! For the rest of the lineup, head over here!

Summary: You stumble across a suspicious student from another course, apparently trying to break into a random lock. Might as well help him out, right? (support course!Izuku x reader)

Warnings: uhhhh there’s a handcuff at one point and implied bullying but that’s bout it

Word Count: 2100+

"What are you doing?"

The question is simple—no accusations, no hostility, nothing but pure curiosity—but it still causes the boy in front of you to flinch violently, his quiet muttering cutting off in a quiet 'eep!'. His hands freeze on the padlock he's working with, and if you're not mistaken, that's a makeshift shim he's trying to wriggle into the lock.

"Are you… trying to pick that lock?"

You'd been wandering the halls of UA after classes finished for the day, having no cause to stay but not quite wanting to go home yet, only to stumble across what appears to you to be a fellow first year trying to break open the lock on a toolbox.

"I-it's not what it looks like!" he yelps, turning around with a clatter as the toolbox slips from his lap. "T-this is my toolbox, I just... Someone stole the key to the lock, so I was trying to get it open..."

The boy before you at least has the presence to look ashamed at his actions. "Sorry, I'll get out of your way."

You frown. "You're going to cut your hand using a shitty shim like that. Have you ever picked a lock before?"

His mouth hangs open, and eventually, he shakes his head. "Uh, no, I was—"

You click your tongue, sitting on the floor beside him and rifling through your bag for something. "Let me help you." When your hand closes around the leather casing, you rejoice silently, laying your lockpicking kit out beside you and pulling out a proper shim. As you begin to work it into the lock, you give the boy a solid once-over out of the corner of your eye.

He's kinda cute, in a weird, plain way. Freckles dance among the pink painting his cheeks—either he's naturally flushed, or he's blushing, you're not sure which—and unruly green curls sit atop his head. He leans in to inspect the work you're doing on his lock, brilliant green eyes taking in every movement of your hands.

You wiggle the shim as best you can, but the lock doesn't want to give. "Maybe it needs two...?" you mumble, reaching for another and sliding it down the other side of the lock. With just a bit more work, the padlock clicks open, the contents of the toolbox freed.

"Ha! Success!" you cheer, turning to hand the opened lock over to the nervously silent boy. The moment you do, you're startled by the feeling of something clicking in place around your wrist and jerking you towards him. His own wrist is jerked into place, followed by another click, and it takes you a very long moment to realize that some guy just handcuffed you to this poor, shy stranger.

"...um."

The perpetrator bolts, laughing and shouting something over his shoulder about having fun. The boy you're now attached to flinches, remaining silent; you'd be concerned for him if you weren't still processing the sudden errant handcuffing. He doesn't even seem surprised.

You wave your free hand in front of the boy's face. "Hey, are you okay? Are you used to random assholes handcuffing you to strangers?"

He flushes, flinching. The motion jerks your wrist a little. Fucker definitely cuffed you too tight. "N-no, I—sorry, you were just trying to help and—" Tears pool in the corners of his eyes.

"Woah, hey. You're okay. It's not that big a deal, right?" You flash him a reassuring smile, slowly dropping your cuffed hand to rest between the two of you. "Seriously, does that kind of stuff happen to you a lot? Do you want me to come with you to talk to a teacher? I'm sure someone will—"

"I-it's okay, really! Sorry for worrying you. H-here, I can help you carry your stuff to one of the support labs and work on getting that cuff off of you."

You work on packing up your lockpicking tools one-handed, keeping your smile present as the boy wipes his eyes. "It's no big deal! My quirk lets me manipulate metal with enough concentration. I can take a look at it real fast." You concentrate on the metal at hand (or wrist, in this case), trying to morph it enough to release your wrist...

...

.....

"Um. So that's an issue."

"W-what is?"

"Either these aren't metal, or my quirk's broken."

He peers at the handcuffs again, face going pale. "Oh no. I recognize these..."

You tilt your head, finally managing to get your lockpicking kit into your bookbag. "Elaborate?"

"I made them," he admits, though he doesn't look too pleased. "They're quirk-reducing cuffs. A prototype. Come on, I'm going to have to disassemble them if Saionji-kun still has the keys."

"'Quirk-reducing'?" you question as he leads you to an unfamiliar part of the school. "Not quirk-cancelling?"

"N-no, um, so... Some people have quirks that severely alter their bodies, right? In some cases, they just look different from normal. But some quirks cause their users to produce stuff that could be really harmful to them if their quirk got completely cancelled, like if they naturally have glass in their body, or maybe they naturally produce a chemical that's normally dangerous to other people. I-I'm trying to develop cuffs that restrain the wearer without potentially severely harming them if they have a quirk like that."

Your eyes light up. "I see! That's a really good point! How far along are these, compared to what you're going for?"

"Well... I'm still fine-tuning them," he admits, rubbing the back of his neck. "Right now, I've managed to find an alternate method of quirk cancellation than the cuffs already on the market, and I'm trying to see how much I can scale it back while still effectively subduing a villain."

He stops and maneuvers the door to the lab open, sparing you a glance. "I-it might be a little loud, Hatsume-san's inventions tend to be a bit... explosive."

The teacher, a shirtless man with some weird fucking helmet on his head, spares the two of you a questioning look as you enter. The boy leads you over. "U-um, I know I haven't put in a request to use the lab after hours today, b-b-but, um, it's kind of an emergency..." He bows, raising your linked wrists.

The teacher scoffs. "How'd you end up cuffed like that?"

The boy stiffens. "Um! Y-y-you see, it was an accident, a-and I lost the k-key, and—"

You raise an eyebrow, but for now, you remain silent. Maybe he's just shy, and that dude really was his friend playing a prank. "I'm really clumsy, Sensei," you lie, bowing as best you can while your wrist is still cuffed to his. "I was helping him with a broken lock and I messed with his cuffs without asking and tripped, and we have no idea where the key is."

"Well, I can't very well let you kids be stuck together. Have at it, just don't blow anything up or touch anything, even if it doesn't look like it'll explode."

You nod, and the boy leads you by the hand to a free workbench. You set his toolbox on the table in front of you, and he somehow managed to wrangle his arm around until you're stretched across the table. Helpfully, you push the toolbox within his reach.

The boy sets to work immediately, lower lip sticking out in a pout as he begins searching for the right tools. "I-I'm sorry again, about all this."

"Don't be. So, you're a support course student?"

He nods, something like pain in his eyes. "Yeah."

"You don't seem very happy about it," you observe. Maybe you're more alike than you thought.

The boy doesn't respond for a moment. When he does, it's so quiet you almost don't hear it over the noises of... Whatever the hell that pink-haired girl is doing in the background.

"I guess I'm not."

You frown. He looks wounded at his own words, intently focusing on unscrewing the cuff on his wrist as though his eyes aren't shining at the admission.

"I know I'm a total stranger, but you've got my wrist, you know. I can lend an ear, too, if you ever wanna talk."

He flinches like he's wounded at your offer, the motion jerking your wrist and torso unfairly. You wince as your chest hits the bench. "Ah! S-sorry, sorry! I just... I'm not used to people offering stuff like that. I wouldn't want to trouble you."

"I won't force you, but I think we might be similar. I'm not where I want to be either."

His eyes flicker to study your face before concentrating on the cuffs. "You're not?"

"Nah. I hurt my wrist pretty bad the day of the entrance exam and didn't perform half as well as I could have. I don't even know if I would have made it into the hero course if I were at my best, but now I'll never know, y'know?"

He swallows, nods. "What course are you in now?"

"I ended up in General Studies," you admit sheepishly. "I'm going to try to transfer into the hero course if I can, but in the meantime I feel like I'm missing out on so much. It fucking sucks."

He flinches, the screwdriver slipping from its drive from the motion. "I couldn't make it into the hero course either," he admits quietly. "It's always been my dream, but..." The boy falls silent, re-slotting his screwdriver and finally managing to unscrew the piece of his cuff that he was working on.

You frown. "I'm sorry to hear that. Are you going to try to transfer, or...?"

He shakes his head. "I should have given up years ago."

"Hey, don't say that! I'm sure you'd be a great hero. I think people who can build stuff like these cuffs are pretty amazing too, though. I don't have the mind for this stuff. Pretty much all I'm good at is fighting."

He shoots you a pained smile as he finally frees his wrist from the cuff, moving to disassemble the cuff on your wrist now that both his hands are freed. "You wouldn't be saying that if you knew me. Thanks, though. For trying to be nice."

You frown. "I'm serious! You're kinda timid, but you seem really nice. You can train to fight, but you can't teach someone compassion."

"It doesn't matter," he insists, and you swear you see a stray tear slip down his cheek. "I'm quirkless. E-even... Everyone's always said I can't be a hero like that, and they're right."

"What the fuck" leaves your mouth before you can even think about it. "That's so shitty! Who the hell's going around saying rude shit like that?"

He blinks in shock. "It's... not that big of a deal. I'm used to that sort of thing, so..."

"You shouldn't be," you frown. "It's not right or fair."

Your words don't seem to help the boy at all. He simply turns back to working on your cuff in silence with a sad look on his face.

"If you ever decide you want to try to transfer, I could use a training buddy?" you offer, angling yourself awkwardly to pull out your phone and slide an empty contact over to him. "Or, you know, if you just want to talk. I don't really have a lot of friends in general studies, or at all, so, um."

The boy's face flushes. "Y-you, um, yeah! Sure! Sounds great, let me, um—" He pops off the piece holding the cuff in place on your wrist, allowing it to finally come loose and free your wrist. Just as fast, he's shakily entering his name and number into your phone. "—I uh, I never got your name," he admits quietly, words almost lost beneath the noise of the support lab.

You flush. "Oh! I'm so sorry, god, no wonder I struggle to make friends. [full name], it's good to meet you! Thanks for helping get the cuff off me, and uh. If you want, I can tell off that guy who stole your key and stuff for you?"

"Oh, no, that's r-really okay!" the boy yelps, sliding your phone back over to you. "M-My name's Midoriya Izuku. Thanks for helping me with my lock earlier."

"No, don't mention it! I should be getting home soon, but I'll text you, alright?" You roll your wrist, rubbing at where the cuff had dug into the skin slightly. Now that you're free, you slip your bookbag back onto your back, grab your phone, and give the Midoriya boy a little wave on your way out.

He watches you go, rubbing his own wrist with flushed cheeks.

Maybe it's worth giving transferring at least one shot, he thinks. If for no other reason than to have an excuse to train with you.

Tags: @tooloudarts @sapid-rose @xxangelpridexx @birds-have-teeth @icythotsenpai @warmchoccymilk @wesparklebitch @izoodles @fujimoribaby @my-bnha-things @denise-the-death-goddess @themerpenguin @sincerebubbles @fudobaby

#midoriya izuku x reader #izuku midoriya x reader #deku x reader #bnha x reader #bnha reader insert #mha reader insert #mha x reader #support course!izuku #izumonth server collab #my fics

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bundleofyarrow · 4 years ago

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Bundle of Yarrow Chapter 9 is up!

the 9th chapter of my Milo x Reader fic Bundle of Yarrow is up! you can read it below the cut or over at AO3. this chapter is mostly inspired by an ask wanting to see a scene of Milo getting jealous! see my attempt at creating tension as you struggle to deal with suddenly being a part of the gym challenge.

Exiting Motostoke was like shifting into a completely different setting. The west side of the city was dominated by warehouses and loading equipment. Sounds of metal against metal and tumbling construction material overwhelms the magic feel of the city. Instead, haze from billowing smokestacks and whiffs of waste occupied your senses as you walked through to Route 3. You never thought you’d miss the Wild Area, but you would trade this for the scent of the forests any day.

“Whew! Now I remember why I never visit Turffield on foot unless it’s from Hulbury.” Sonia complains, waving a hand in front of her nose. “I think the last time I’ve been to Route 3 was for our gym challenge!”

Earlier in the day, Sonia showed you a statue of a hero with a sword and shield in the lobby of the Budew Drop Inn while you waited for Leon to get ready. She was reading the inscription and looking information up online while writing in her notebook. It was an interesting listen, hearing about Galarian folklore and the mysteries that remained. Her excitement and curiosity was infectious. Even though you had little relationship to this region’s mythologies, you were becoming invested in her adventure for finding out the truth. Apparently there are ancient sites in Turffield that may have leads for her research, so she decided to walk with you over to your first stop in the gym challenge.

“You don’t have to rough it with me, you know. You’re able to take a flying taxi over to Turffield.” You offer nonchalantly, not trying to give away that you do indeed want her company, but don’t want to feel like a bother. “It’s just me that has to do all the walking.”

“Absolutely not.”

A few paces behind you was Leon, except upon a cursory glance you might not be able to tell. He was dressed in joggers and a hoodie that contained his hair, complete with wrap-around sports sunglasses that tinted your reflection in yellows and greens. This is the first time you’ve seen Leon incognito, more used to his open, public displays of celebrity. In a group chat with you and Sonia, Nessa gossiped about Leon getting scolded by League higher-ups and was told to not be seen with you anymore. He was also given a bunch of work by Chairman Rose related to some new energy plan Marcos Cosmos was prototyping. Leon wouldn’t tell you more than that, only he was escorting you to the Galar Mines on the other side of Route 3, picking up some samples, and heading to Hammerlocke, which you learned is a city north of the Wild Area.

You couldn’t put your finger on it exactly, but it felt like Leon was hovering over you all day so far. He would reach for things to give to you the moment you were about to get them yourself, or he would take your coffee cup while you were texting on your phone. Leon insisted that he come along with you because you needed some training to do well at the gym challenge. You still weren’t completely sure about this whole gym challenge thing, but you figured he was right, given he’s a champion and all.

Things weren’t exactly settled with you though. When you woke up, your phone had a huge influx of notifications from Pokegram. Turns out that Raihan posted the selfies he took with you at dinner on his account and tagged you. This only seemed to stoke the speculation online about a relationship between you and Leon. While the idea didn’t offend you, things definitely didn’t feel like there was romance in the air. He always acted weird towards you, despite making advances on you twice. Not to mention, there has to be something going on him with and Sonia…

“It’s nice to do the walkin’ sometimes! Durin’ challenge season things get so busy, there’s no choice but to use flyin’ taxis.”

It was hard not to smile with Milo’s matter-of-fact optimism, seeming to be in a much better mood today and back to his usual pleasant self. He walked next to you with that permanent soft rise in the corners of his lips, not looking at all encumbered holding bags of last minute grocery shopping you did. Early this morning he actually went to get the group coffee and tea while you dragged yourselves out of bed and got ready to leave. On your way past the markets of the city you remember how you wanted to stock up on some cooking materials for the trip, and might have went a smidge overboard. You wanted to get some fresher ingredients for the first couple of days, so you got some sausage to cook for tonight and a good medley of mushrooms and veggies for tomorrow. After that, you knew you had to get things that preserve for a bit, so you also bought some potatoes and pre-cooked burger sealed tight, along with a couple cups of emergency instant noodles. And of course, plenty of curry mix! What escaped your calculations was how much all of that would weigh, and the current lack of space in your bag.

And as if on cue, with little effort at all, Milo just lifted the bag out of your arms and informed everyone he was joining you all on the trek over to Turffield. You were quite surprised, since he probably needed to get to his gym to prepare for the first wave of challengers. Milo said he wanted to stretch his legs and take things slowly before the rush, but you wondered if that was the full story. Come to think of it, this was when Leon’s weird behavior began.

As the group crossed out of Motostoke and to the dirt path of Route 3, Leon stopped you. He was scoping out the rustling in the tall grass and took notice of young trainers loitering around hoping to get some practice in. When he turns to you, he has a bit of a smirk and hands on his hips.

“Okay, it’s time to get serious about your training! Let’s go over some basics and give you some strategy.” He holds up eight fingers, four on each hand. “So there are eight gyms, what is unique about them?”

You blink a couple of times. “They all specialize in different types, even I know that Le-” He quickly makes a hushing gesture with a finger over his mouth. “Um, mysterious Mr. Man?” Sonia doesn’t hide her giggle.

“So you have to visit each of these in an order, right? It only makes sense that you try to capture and train Pokemon that have type advantages for your next gym. Then when you get to the championships, which you will, you can select the Pokemon you’ve bonded with the best to train for the end.”

“This feels like cheating, but okay.” You look over to Milo, who is looking down the route but casually listening in. “So it’s your gym first, and I feel like everyone has been saying you like Grass types?”

Milo smiles at you and gives a thumbs up. “You got it! In fact, you already met the Pokemon you’ll be battlin’.” That must mean the ones he introduced to you while you were camping.

“Right, now Milo isn’t that much of a challenge,” Milo stiffens a bit at Leon’s comment. “So as long as you find the right types, you can win pretty easy. Since his gym challenge only uses two Pokemon, you only need two yourself. And I’ll help you train!” His grin only widens, he’s really into this. “Do you know what is good against Grass?”

You try to remember the times you’d have lunch and Hop would force Gloria to quiz him on type matchups. Whether it’s helpful or not, you try to imagine literal grass and what it wouldn’t like. “Fire, Bugs, umm… and Ice?”

Leon nods. “Also Flying and Poison, so there are plenty of choices to beat Milo with.” Out of the corner of your eye, you notice Milo’s smile is gone and his expression is very difficult to read. It’s not that nervous, fumbling side that comes out every once in a while, it’s… something else. “This route is the habitat for a few fire Pokemon, Growlithe, Vulpix, and if you’re willing to do some searching, there’s Sizzlipedes too. And catching you a Rookidee wouldn’t hurt either. I can train you with the Thwackey I have on me, we need to work on your battling form.”

It’s hard to not feel a bit overwhelmed by everything Leon is shooting at you. But before you can protest much, he leads you down the route to begin your training. He gets nearby trainers to battle you, coaching you from how you throw your Pokeball to giving commands. Yelling orders at your Pokemon makes you deeply uncomfortable, so you try to work around Leon’s advising by cheering them on or getting better at reading the situation and relaying that information to them. You can tell Leon is biting his tongue, because while it seems like you’re winning battles, they aren’t decisive wins.

After a fight with a girl’s Vulpix, you crouch down to pet Pancham and tend to her burns. She didn’t seem to have an issue with battling at all, in fact, she’s basking in her victory. But hearing her cries when attacked was dreadful. It made you want to quit right then and there. “You’ll get a little extra curry tonight.” For some reason, your other Pokeballs shake upon hearing that.

When you rise and return Pancham to her Pokeball, you feel a strong hand on your back. “Good work, you’ll be battling me in no time!” You can see Leon’s eyes sparkle when he looks over his sunglasses at you. “I can now see what Milo was talking about, you care about your Pokemon above all other concerns. It’s hard to be that way during a fight though, during a Pokemon battle all you can think about is winning.”

You sigh a bit hearing that, and Leon soon directs you into the tall grass to find a fire Pokemon of your own. “You have a Vanillite, but it’s better to explore some more options before you settle on including her into your lineup.” It doesn’t take long to reconfirm that you are horrible at throwing Pokeballs, and you realize that you most likely only caught Yamper and Vanillite because they wanted to be caught, just with a bit of a fight first. The idea of forcing a Pokemon to join you twists your stomach. You attempt to talk to all the wild Pokemon Leon wanted you to catch but none responded very well.

“We’re really going to have to work on your throwing arm. Here, let me catch-”

“No.” You say with more force than you meant. “I don’t like doing it this way. My Pokemon picked me, and I want to keep it that way.”

Leon crosses his arms over his chest, cocking his head to the side and raising an eyebrow. “But how are you going to get the Pokemon you want? I admit I’m impressed that Pokemon seem to choose you willingly, and they want to fight for you. But you’re supposed to be doing the choosing, not them. You’re a Pokemon trainer now, have to get into a different mentality.”

Sonia and Milo have mostly been chatting between themselves while trailing behind you and Leon. They both give you a reassuring touch on the shoulder or elbow whenever he gets particularly tough in his instruction with you. It’s clear to you now why Leon is the champion, he can see the entire world from the perspective of a Pokemon battle. Every piece of information relates to how he can win or is discarded. On the other hand, you were interested in the story of each of your charges, wanting them to grow and live the lives they wanted to pursue. They chose you not because you were aiming to become the best, but rather some other adventure you had yet to fully define.

“I think you’re doin’ a great job.” You turn to Milo, who’s smiling. Thinking of him cheering you on sends some tingles throughout your body. “It’s nice to see someone go about being a trainer in a different way.”

“You’re just saying that because you want an easy win!” Leon smirks at Milo, slinging one arm around your tire shoulders. “Don’t listen to him, I’ll make it so you’re unbeatable for your adventure.” That unreadable expression returns to Milo’s face, and you watch his eyes lock onto where Leon’s hand is grasping your shoulder. “We’ll resume lessons soon, let’s take a break.” He gives you a quick squeeze and lets go to lead you forward.

It’s only now that you notice the sun was just starting to fall past its zenith. In a nearby clearing Sonia lays out a blanket and Milo tears apart some bread that he got at the cafe earlier this morning to pass around for a snack. You all are mostly quiet, probably for different reasons. You feel like there are maybe a pair of eyes or two on you, but you’re staring off into the distance as you mull over Leon’s attitude towards being a Pokemon trainer. However, it’s not long before the group notices a lingering smell of something unsavory. Sonia shoots a glare over to Leon while covering her lower face with her hand. “Ew Leon, was that you??”

“Sonia!” Leon practically screeched, turning a bright shade of red. “Why are you so quick to accuse me!?”

As they bicker, Milo leans towards you and points out into the distance past the route. There’s a factory with smoke drifting from it in the air, surrounded with carts full of what looks to be coal. “That’s a Marcos Cosmos energy plant over there, turnin’ ore into power.” You can tell Milo is trying to not breathe through his nose as he talks, and it takes you a bit of effort to not giggle at how cute he sounds. “Chairman Rose pretty much owns every method of generatin’ energy here in Galar. It probably smells because this is a crosswind point for the industrial district of Motostoke ‘n the factory.”

But the smell only gets stronger, and soon you hear some rustling in the nearby foliage. Sonia’s Yamper begins to bark as suddenly the source of the strong smell presents itself to you all: a Trubbish. Your friends instantly reel and move away from the Pokemon. “Let’s find somewhere else!” Sonia chokes through as she tries to grab her belongings.

You’re familiar with the Trubbish from Alola, where they gathered around cities. But you knew that most Trubbish only smell when they aren’t really in contact with people, as the stench is mostly a defense mechanism in the wild. On TV you remember multiple ad campaigns against Trubbish abuse, and that the Recycling Center harbored many that were put to work and happily coexisted with people. So your first reaction wasn’t to get up and run, but to tear your piece of bread in half and offer it to the Trubbish.

Leon calls your name. “What are you doing?? Let’s get out of here! Trubbish always leave sludge on your things and can attract other Trubbish miles away.”

“There’s a reason this Trubbish came to us. He’s hungry and must have been unable to find some food. Maybe the days before challenge season are the least traversed, so there are few people around littering.”

The Trubbish looks between your face and the bread a few times before waddling over to you. Even though the smell was no less than putrid, you did your best to smile and make it not seem like you were breathing through your mouth. “Go on, have some. And if you’d like, I can cook you some food later! What do you think about some sausage curry?”

You don’t need to see them to know your friends were gawking as the Trubbish takes the bread from you and the two of you eat your pieces together as a sign of friendliness. It was hard to notice at first, but as the breeze picks up you can tell Trubbish’s smell was beginning to disappear. Finishing the bread, he jingled happily, if the clanging of the trash items inside him could be considered jingling. Trubbish epitomized ugly-cute for you, but you didn’t want him to know that.

“All better for now?” You rise to your feet when he jumps and jingles some more. He kind of reminds you of your Vanillite, who you bring out of her Pokeball. “Something tells me you two will be friends, how about you keep each other company while we travel?”

It is clear Trubbish absolutely adores Vanillite, and you hope it’s not because he wants to eat her for looking like ice cream. But your Vanillite soon warms up, if still below freezing, pretty quickly when she notices the Trubbish doesn’t mind her cold temperatures. Once they start chattering you turn around, freezing when you see three pairs of eyes staring at you. Leon was straight-up slack jawed. “G-guys, what??”

Sonia is the first to speak up. “I’ve never seen someone speak to a Trubbish like that before… Brilliant! Had no idea their smell went away.”

Leon’s hand was pensively rubbing his chin as he looked at you and your Pokemon. “Not many people go through the trouble of taming a Trubbish. I can count on one hand the amount of times I’ve fought one as Champion.”

Milo isn’t quick to say anything, but he is positively beaming at you, to the point where you think his gaze would make you melt. You walk towards the others to start again down the route, and the two Pokemon jingle behind you. “It looks a bit like magic whenever I see ya talk to Pokemon.” He finally remarks, lightly touching his fingertips to your arm for a quick second. If you weren’t paying attention you wouldn’t have noticed the contact, but whenever his skin touches yours, you can feel the warmth radiate from his body.

“You’re not going to catch him?” Leon looks confused, only continuing to walk when you pass by him. “I thought that’s the reason why you did that?”

“Oh, I didn’t do that because I wanted to catch him. It just seemed like the right thing to do.” You give a slight shrug to Leon’s question. “If he gets along with our Pokemon well and seems to be having a fun time, I’ll offer him a Pokeball and he can decide. He is a Poison type, so that’s one I should get, right?” You can’t help but smile at Leon’s puzzled expression. “I at least owe him some cooking first!”

You encounter more battling school children down Route 3, probably because everyone can see Milo’s distinctive silhouette rather easily. Leon coaches you through battling with Vanillite as Trubbish and the others watch, but barking orders still doesn’t come naturally to you. During a battle with a girl’s Purrloin, you realize it’s not that you lack the confidence. Rather, you just don’t see your Pokemon as a means to an end for winning matches. Leon seems to be critiquing you less and more watching your style, how you trust Vanillite to react instinctively to the battle. It’s clear her ice attacks are getting stronger, and that she’s good at taunting and then countering with blasts of snow.

~*~*~*~

As the sun begins to near the horizon, Milo leads everyone up a hill to what looks like the highest point in Route 3. There are already other tents set up in the area, so the four of you get to work creating a little corner with the three tents between you all. The campsite quickly becomes a bit of a circus when everyone lets their Pokemon out: your five, Milo’s three, Sonia’s Yamper, Leon’s Charizard and Thwackey along with the wild Trubbish.

The two men go off to collect firewood, Sonia visits a nearby berry tree, and you begin to slice up some sausage. The Pokemon are cautious of Trubbish, but Vanillite seems to be acting as a liaison. Before you know it, they are romping and battling each other. Every once in a while one would scamper over to smell the sausage, but were satisfied with some pets and a promise that dinner would be ready soon. Milo’s Pokemon mostly hung around his tent and Charizard sat next to you watching the others. It begins to dawn on you that this is starting to feel familiar. You pause for a second, setting the knife down and just gazing out to where the Pokemon were playing. The Yampers were thick as thieves by now, chasing your Wooloo, Pancham, and now Leon’s Thwackey around. Lombre relaxed with Milo’s Pokemon while Vanillite and Trubbish seemed to be practicing techniques with each other. Charizard nuzzled your shoulder, an eye trained on the sausage as you pet him.

Milo and Leon were the first to return, looking to be in good spirits. It didn’t occur to you until now that they probably were friends, both being major figures in the League and all. They stacked the firewood and Leon got Charizard to light it up. But it wasn’t long that you noticed Leon was watching your Pokemon with a look of concern, arms crossed over his chest again.

“Is something wrong, Leon?”

He looks to you for a second before looking back at the playing Pokemon. “It might not be the best idea to let them battle unsupervised, especially when they are new to you and undisciplined. You’ll want to make sure they are developing the right habits.” You’re not entirely sure how to answer, because you know he’s probably right but you couldn’t think of anything more unpleasant. Leon turns back to you and crouches by the fire. “You’ve been working hard all day, how about I cook dinner and you take a break?”

You shake your head and notice Sonia returning with an armful of berries. “Let me do this, to make up for worrying you these past few days. It would mean a lot for me to cook for you.” You smile at Leon, and hear Milo busying himself with his Eldegoss who seem to be giving him a piece of their minds over something. “Plus, I promised Pancham and Trubbish some curry!”

Sonia hands you the berries she found and you sift through what she found. While she got you a good number, it seemed like there wasn’t a diverse selection on this route. Sausage is one of the better meats to react to sweetness, so you decide to base the roux of the curry on pecha berries with a few oran ones mixed in for balance.

When Leon and Sonia join the playing Pokemon, Milo comes to sit down next you. “Can I help with anythin’?”

You nod absent-mindedly as you compare berry sizes and count out how many you need. “Would you mind getting the rice going? That would be helpful! We’re also going to need to crush the oran berries and stir them right into the curry mix. The pecha berries will need a slight roasting over the fire, then we’ll crush half of them and put in the others whole. I’ll also brown the sausage over the fire before adding it in and then let everything cook. What do you think?”

When you look over to Milo, he’s smiling. Of course. And that funny feeling in your stomach takes over again. Of course. You really wish you knew what was happening to you. He doesn’t seem to be having as much of a messy internal monologue as you are. “Sounds amazin’! Were you a chef back ‘n Alola?”

You chuckle a bit as you sort the berries, Milo instinctively taking the ones to be mashed. “No not at all, I don’t know if I’m that good at cooking really.” You skewer slices of sausage and pecha on thinner sticks you find in the wood pile, preparing them for roasting.

“But you’re quite deliberate when you cook. Most people throw anythin’ in the pot and hope for the best.” You’re sure that Milo counts himself among most people, though he seems like the type that can eat anything and everything. He checks the temperature of the water in a smaller pot before adding the rice in, and you take that as a sign to pour the curry mix into the larger pot.

“I guess that’s true. Thinking on it, there’s just something special about making a good meal. Like, it’s one of the most satisfying things in life, eating good food that you made yourself, knowing others are happy because of something I did.” Milo pushes in the mashed berries into the curry while you prop up the skewers, lightly rotating them every once in a while over the fire. “Right now my mind is like, how can I make everyone happy with what I’ve got? I haven’t learned your preferences yet, but I feel like you’d enjoy this. And it would be really satisfying knowing that you did.”

Milo is quiet for a bit. You can’t tell if he’s thinking up a proper response or just taking in the moment. After you take down the skewers and toss the meat and remaining berries in, you begin to stir it all together. It smells how you imagine it, a savory-sweet smell which seems to waft over the camp since Pokemon are drawing nearer to the campfire. Sonia is back on her phone with her notebook in hand, and Leon is giving poor Thwackey a lecture. Curious noses sniff around the pot, but everyone can now read the look you give them to have some more patience.

“I can’t wait for you to see Turffield. I hope ya like it there.”

Milo’s voice was barely above a whisper, almost drowned out by the crackling fire and Pokemon chatter. You turn to him, a little taken back from his Eldegoss and Gossifleur staring at you expectantly. His face is in profile from your angle, shadows and light from the fire flickering across his cheek as he watches the curry bubble.

Before you respond, you feel mass of wool bump up against you. Wooloo immediately and consistently begins to bleat at you, crawling into your lap and staring at the pot of curry. You notice that all the other Pokemon have gathered around the campfire as well.

“Okay okay, it’s about done. You all should know that the longer it similar the more-” a range of Pokemon whines and protests erupt. How did you suddenly end up with so many children?

Leon takes the ladle before you can reach for it and begins to serve the curry over rice. With a smile he hands you the first bowl. “You earned it.” Soon enough the humans have their servings and the Pokemon gather around a few large bowls they share from.

The sounds of happy eating pleases you as the curry came out nicely. You’re glad that you decided to grill some of the ingredients to give the curry some texture and not get more sweet than savory. It could have done with more spice, you’ll have to make sure you gather some cheri or figy berries next time for when there aren’t any in nature.

“This is amazing!!” Leon regards you with his mouth full, with Sonia more politely covering her mouth as she nods beside him. “I didn’t know you could cook this well! Might be better than Sonia’s cooking.” Which then causes her to frown.

“I’ll remember that the next time you’re pawing at my tent door for breakfast.”

The two get into their usual back-and-forth, letting you shift your attention to Milo. He was shoveling his food down, probably needing seconds soon. “Did it come out alright?” Mouth full, he nods and chews at the same time.

As the night goes on, conversation inevitable gets back to the gym challenge. Though the two are friendly, you can’t help but sense some tension between Leon and Milo. It’s clear that Leon perceives Milo’s gym to not be much of a challenge, and expects you to only be in Turffield for a short while before heading to Hulbury. Apparently there’s a train station there and he can visit you from Hammerlocke easily when you get there. “I’m sure Sonia will want to hang out with Nessa for a while, too.”

That’s when you realize that, while not arrogant, Leon was quite used to getting his way and being the center of attention. He didn’t demand it really, but it seemed like he had this magnetism that drew people to him and he based his understanding of everything bending towards him. Leon never once asked for Milo’s input about his gym or your opinion on what you wanted your travel plans to be. It’s like he had this vision and just needed everyone to play their parts.

The Pokemon quickly tired out after eating and grouped up in different piles ready to sleep for the night. Social groups are definitely starting to form, though you don’t really see anything wrong with that. You’re happy that Vanillite, who usually wants to return to her Pokeball come bedtime, has found a cuddle buddy in Trubbish. Watching them makes you yawn, and it’s only now you realize how tired the day has made you.

“I think it’s time for you to turn in.” Leon rises from his spot next to Sonia and begins collecting the dishes. “If you’re going to make it to the other side of the mines before sunset, we’ll need to get up early in the morning.”

After another yawn, a hand reaches down from above; it’s Milo, with a soft smile on his face, the jade of his eyes almost glowing reflecting the fire. Always the gentleman. But when you take is hand, you can’t help but feel all those funny feelings again. You’re sensitive to the tactile nature of his hand, one that is calloused and used to manual labor, is firm in grip only just as much as it needs to be. It’s difficult to not notice his bicep flexing as he pulls you upwards. Upwards towards him, almost enough for you to bump into his chest. Thankfully it’s dark out and he probably can’t tell you’re flushed being this close to him. You realize he’s slow to let go of your hand, and he looks like he’s working up to say something to you.

Another’s hand grasps your shoulder and gives it a little squeeze. Leon’s. “Sleep in my tent tonight, okay?”

You’re caught off-guard by the request, but in an effort to not reveal how embarrassed you were feeling, you just nod. The cool night air brushes over your hand as Milo releases his hold and creates some space between the two of you. Leon goes to wash the dishes (with Charizard, or else he wouldn’t find his way back), Sonia lets the Yampers hop into her tent, and you’re alone with Milo. His eyes are downcast, and eventually he rubs the back of his neck as he turns away from you.

“We should get to sleepin’, huh?” The uncertainty in his voice intrigues you. His shoulders then square and he turns back to you, looking determined. “I guess I’m the first challenge in your adventure. I… won’t let ya go that easily.” Before you can respond, he nods to his Pokemon and heads into his tent. Maybe Milo won’t be as easy of a gym leader after all.

After putting out the fire and whispering good night to all the Pokemon, you take your bag and head inside Leon’s tent. Wooloo sneaks in after you, followed by Pancham and Thwackey. Looking around on the inside, you’re not really sure what you were expecting, it’s just a tent with usual camping things. You decide to unfurl your sleeping bag and change your clothes while Leon is still away. The three Pokemon settle in the middle of the tent, and you crawl into your sleeping bag.

When Leon returns, you hear the clanging of pots and dishes. Outside the tent he wishes Charizard a goodnight before entering. He grins seeing all the Pokemon resting next to you. “Now that’s a picture.” His Rotom zips out but he flails to catch it before it does anything. “No! I’ll be in so much trouble if that hits Pokegram.”

You raise an eyebrow. “What do you make off all that? I imagine you don’t take it seriously if you’re letting me sleep your tent.”

He scratches the back of his head. “Huh? I just want to talk battle strategies…”

As he launches into the typical moves that Gossifleur and Eldegoss use and their counters, you realize that he earnestly just wanted to talk Pokemon. And boy, can Leon talk about Pokemon battles. You feel a little guilty hogging him as a resource, wouldn’t Gloria and Hop benefit more from his guidance?

Milo’s parting words echo in your mind. The thought of battling him makes you uncomfortable, and it was like he drew that line between you two. It definitely sounded like he wasn’t going to make his battle with you easy. Thinking of Milo as an opponent just didn’t sit well with you.

You began to drift to sleep somewhere around the part where Leon mentions something about… Gigantics? Maxismist? Something like that, that future you can deal with as you think about a certain peach-haired man as you slip into your dreams.

#bundle of yarrow #milo x reader #pokemon milo

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leam1983 · 4 years ago

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Car Manufacturers as the Inverse Incel Meme

Let me explain:

In Quebec, or most of Eastern Canada, most Japanese brands could be considered as the "Beta" type, but with a twist.

They're bland, unremarkable, uninventive as far as their design language is concerned - they're sedans and SUVs. They blend in everywhere and are noticed by no-one in particular. They're the automotive equivalent of wallflowers. The catch is that they're fucking reliable.

They won't break down in our apocalyptic winters, they shrug off rain and sleet, they don't give a shit if they're taken in the most pothole-ridden corner of Quebec - if you have a Honda, a Mazda or a Nissan dating from a few years back, that shit's gonna run until your children's great-grandchildren are sent off to preserve the human race in a Martian colony. It might even witness their death and live to bury them, actually. Small, dinky Japanese sedans are unkillable.

On the other hand, you've got the Gigachad brands, usually off-brand Japanese and German concepts with fancy-pants design language and a price tag that's more ostentatious and desperate than seeing last year's Calvin Klein haul in Costco. We're talking Lexus, Acura, Audi, Land Rover and the like. Drive up to their dealerships and they'll pull out the big fucking guns to greet you: Classical music, champagne, maybe even an actually decent selection of Nespresso single-cup brewer pods, and their sales rep take their sweet time making sure you sink in the lap of luxury before so much as quoting a figure.

Here's the thing: I've noticed that as far as the chip shortage is concerned, the economy brands are faring better with reduced profits, and aren't yet trying to massively undercut themselves for the sake of having some sort of deal on offer. The deals aren't great, but they're honest, and about on-par with what you're getting: 500 smackaroonis in rebates, an APR of about 0.2%, and a limited selection that they're not shy about presenting as such. Fuck, one of my openers for a Hyundai event exactingly stressed the need for patience if some 2021 models were ordered. We're told not to push too hard, and to just - humbly present an offer. That's it.

Compare and contrast with the "baller" manufacturers: they reel you in with what the kids probably call Gucci treatment, drop breadcrumbs in front of your feet and then fall on their knees and dramatically wail. Ratioed for the price of an Audi Q5 in the entry-level selection, we're talking a single measly thousand bucks off. Considering what you're forced to pay for it, it's more than a little insulting for the average consumer.

"It's the best deal you'll get this season!" they crow, even as the leaves have just started to turn. "Your car's in ridiculously high demand, we'll pay good money for it!"

Sure, they will - and then neglect to mention how they won't listen to any requests to keep the same monthlies. They'll cringe and moan and go Nnnnyyyeeeaaah, about those payments... and then state they absolutely need to be increased to "lighten the load" on the long term.

In my experience, if you buy an Audi or a Lexus anywhere near the East Coast, you're committing financial suicide. I mean, unless dropping by the garage for busted brake pads and frayed timing belts that can't last a single winter is your idea of fun.

It affects the sales reps, too. The Japanese companies' reps and entry-level Americans and Germans are super friendly, even in situations where one or two specific dealerships' performance can make or break certain quarterly projections. Even with the entire fucking world losing its marbles over onboard computers being crazy hard to produce, consoles being near-on-impossible to come by, or other electronic components being hard to source, all you'll get is smiles and nods. They understand we're all doing our best, and that chip scarcity depends on one of several potentials: the end of the strikes with mine workers, the consumer-friendly advent of an alternative to common silicon and the stability of the affected regions.

Again, compare and contrast with the brands that spend so much time flexing: the reps call us - and sometimes call me - several times per day, most of them sounding like Leia recording her message for Obi-Wan. These douchers are obsessed with sales metrics, even in a context where even Texas Fucking Instruments has trouble manufacturing scientific calculators as a result of that shortage!

So, yeah. Your dinky brands? They're basically the meme's Beta male, except he's self-confident, natural, empathetic and well-balanced. Straight spine, relaxed gait, eyes set out in front - but not with too much emphasis. The luxury brands are the meme's Chad, except Chad's shoulders are sloping, his hands are stuck in his pockets, obsessively clutching his formerly-bulging wallet, and he scans the horizon line with the look of a wounded animal that's expecting a killing blow to come from anywhere.

Go cheap. Go Korean or Japanese. They've heard the message, as far was global warming's concerned. The other ones? They're mad scrambling, only now realizing that several gas-powered 2022 lineups and 2023 prototypes probably need complete revisions. The future's resolutely hybrid, if it isn't full-on electric. Someone needs to undercut Tesla and to produce a car that has the stamina of a gas-guzzler and the energy footprint of a Bougie, subsidies-only electric vehicle.

#work-related rant

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waywardmasquerade · 5 years ago

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is there any reason you dont make a dragon dice bag with the regular lesbian flag? I have never seen that femme flag before

Unfortunately the answer to that is very long. Apologies if I repeat myself or overexplain, events around the world have me rather frazzled.

To my knowledge, there is no regular lesbian flag. There have been multiple proposed lesbian flags, but in my research I’ve never found one that has broad community support.

There’s the purple labrys flag from the 70s or 80s (I think?), which apparently has historical issues and isn’t widely recognised today.

There’s the lipstick flag, which has much more recent issues related to it’s creator (transphobia, biphobia, racism) as well as not resonating with the butch & non femme parts of the community.

There have been multiple edits to the lipstick flag, first the lipstick kiss was removed, though I don’t know who by or the intention behind it. Then it was simplified to include more orange and brown.

Then it was simplified again to the five bar orange/pink flag.

All these edits have been called different things by different people.

There have also been a LOT of other proposed flags, including a “sapphic” lesbian flag (based on one of Sappho’s poems), which is interesting in itself because historical Sappho was thought to be bisexual. If you go hunting you’ll find dozens of proposed designs.

At the time I was researching and designing the lesbian pride Dragon Bagon, the lipstick flag and sapphic flag were the ones that showed up most in my research. I did not feel comfortable using the lipstick flag, and the sapphic flag was not recognised by the folks in my beta group. So I settled for modifying the first or or second iteration of the modified lipstick flag (there was no way I could fit all those slightly different shades in) and because I knew it didn’t resonate with many of the butch lesbians I had feedback from, I called it the “femme” lesbian Dragon Bagon, because I did not feel comfortable making a decision and putting a label on the entire lesbian community when it clearly didn’t fit a lot of people in it. I have since been keeping an eye out for a possible butch flag or symbol, there was support for a plaid Dragon Bagon, but plaid microfleece has not become available despite my searches. I’m hoping that will eventually change.

As it is, I am gathering feedback regarding the 5 bar flag, and while some of it has definitely been positive, some has also been negative. I also don’t feel comfortable just making a unilateral decision on behalf of the lesbian community when it does not yet seem like there is yet community consensus on a flag, though the 5 bar flag definitely seems to be steadily gaining popularity. I’ll have one person tell me that it definitely IS the “community flag”, while another tells me they don’t identify with it at all.

There are also another couple of factors:

I realise that folks who don’t do the job I do will not necessarily realise the level of work involved in prototyping and putting a design into a level of production that makes it affordable. Suffice it to say, there is a lot. So I can’t take changing established designs lightly. The Pride Dragon Bagons are already underpriced for the work that is involved in them. That was a conscious choice I made because I wanted to give something to a community I value. Making the price they’re at even remotely doable for me means we need to produce pride dragon bagons in batches, not one by one. It also means that I have to think carefully before making more of the designs that aren’t like to sell as well. Making new pride designs is not a low cost enterprise, but I want them to be there to at least say to as many of the less represented members of the LGBTQIA2+ community as possible: “I see you”, even if they never buy a Dragon from me, seeing how the photos make people happy is a boost. So I’m balancing the need for representation with the budget as well.

How well a design sells (and therefore funds us making more) is a combination of factors, for a start, it’s a matter of how many people there are within a given section of the wider LGBTQIA2+ community, and then what segment of that group has the disposable income to afford a handmade Dragon Bagon, plus what segment of that group wants to spend that much on a handmade Dragon Bagon. All that comes into play before we get to how pretty the design is, how well it matches the flag, how well I can reach that specific group, etc. Then there’s if there are multiple flags that segments of those groups identify with (e.g. Genderqueer vs Non Binary), and there’s also the matter of folks identifying with multiple flags, which usually means there’s one they want a Dragon for one more than others, which adjusts the numbers as well. And as cold and calculating as it might feel to me sometimes, I do have to keep an eye on the numbers if I want to be able to keep operating (and as a result, producing pride dragons) at all.

The next thing to consider is the availability of fabrics and colour matching. As it is right now, I only have access to colours that would possibly be an acceptable match for two or three of the colours in the 5 bar flag in your avatar. That may change in the future, and I’m always looking for new colours. I also need to consider that while a colour is available now, it may not be in three months time, which means if I want a reasonable supply I need to buy a lot in one go, which for a small business running out of my lounge, is not insignificant. So I need to be sure I can use the fabric before I buy it. While I don’t expect to profit hugely from the pride dragons, I do need to cover my costs and make something of a living for myself, and my helper deserves to be paid a living wage for their time and effort as well.

The last thing is that, despite putting more time and research into the lesbian pride design than any of the others, it has been the one that has received the least support both in terms of sales, and in terms of actual engagement and feedback on the design when I have called for it in the past. It’s also the community (or at least, the community that folks being unpleasant presented themselves as being from) that has directed the most aggression towards me. Even when I have clearly labelled the Lesbian Pride design in the lineup, I have received less-than-pleasant comments about “forgetting” lesbians or demands to know “where is the lesbian one”. Yet when I have called for feedback in the past, there was far less engagement than with many other groups. So it feels like a rock and a hard place for me, it got so hurtful that I actually stopped researching potential new pride designs for quite some time. So when there’s been very little support in terms of feedback, engagement, and sales from this community, alongside some fairly unpleasant comments as well. I don’t know what else I can do, and it doesn’t help with inspiration and creativity. I realise that a few angry people who apparently don’t bother to read posts before lashing out do not represent the whole community, but it’s only been recently that there’s been an increase in useful feedback on this particular design as well.

Will I make a new lesbian pride dragon? Maybe. I can’t give a timeframe, I can’t say which flag it will follow, because I don’t know. I’m doing research as and when I can, and keeping an eye on a lot of different factors. That being said, IF I make a new one, I will be trying to prioritise rep for butch lesbians, since I have not been able to give them that so far.

All that being said, I am 100% willing to make custom custom Dragon Bagons for those who want them, and that can definitely include pride designs. They cost more, but I do try to keep the cost down as much as possible.

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thelaclippings · 4 years ago

Text

A Season in Retrospect

So, turns out Kawhi’s knee injury was significantly worse than we thought. I mean, it’s not career ending (at least that we know of), but the reality is that he never was coming back to the 2021 Playoff Picture. Do I think the Clippers handled this information well? Maybe. Do I think the Clippers should do everything in their power to keep Kawhi around long-term? Probably. But do I think betting everything on Kawhi coming back to his prior form justifies selling the farm? Absolutely not.

Here’s the thing: as a Clippers fan I am absolutely happy to see Kawhi having chosen the Clippers as his team of the future two years ago. I was excited to see Paul George traded to LA and not end up in the purple & gold, a year removed from spurning the Lakers in free agency, even if it broke my heart to see SGA heading back to OKC in return. I was happy to watch them piece together a team that could legitimately combat LeBron and his then-new running mate Anthony Davis. But the season came, the Clippers looked great (especially against LA - trust me, I was there opening night in a sea of crying Laker fans) and it took a pandemic to derail everything.

Now, I am not a Bubble-whiner, but was it ideal to have the Bubble be the lasting impression of what it prototypically means to traverse the grueling 82 game season and battle the best of the best? No. The Bubble had it faults, but the Clippers had every shot to win it all just like anyone else that was there. Their collapse is historic and another black mark on the Clipper name, but for me that was greatly the fault of Doc Rivers and his relentless approach at sticking to his guns and NEVER making the unconventional adjustment. He’s absolutely known for it, and the Bubble proved it. Would this have been any different if there had not been the bubble? Maybe not, but the many factors of what happened between stopped play and restarting in the Bubble had more effect than is given credit for (i.e. Montreal Harrell and the loss of his best friend, his grandmother).

This last season showed that the Clippers can be scary when everything is clicking. Yes, other teams suffered injuries throughout the season but the Clippers always appeared to be playing at a 7 with intent to turn it up to 11 when the playoffs came. But their secret weapon was the adjustments Ty Lue was willing to make. If you rewatch each series, you will see the EXACT same formula in each one. Games 1 & 2 were close losses, and by Game 3 the adjustments would kick in. Each series had a young Superstar taking the reigns and showing they were unstoppable. Stephen A. Smith talked about it after every game and even went so far to declare Donovan Mitchell the “greatest Jazz player of all time” based on his performance against the Clippers. Then, the Clippers would put that fire out and the rest of the team would have to pick up the slack. And despite the positive depth of each team (and the universal agreement that the Clippers lacked depth), the Clippers rose to the occasion time and time again.

And when Kawhi went down, we didn’t blink. The momentum of confidence from the coaching staff gave guys like Terrance Mann & Luke Kennard the added support to produce some amazing performances. I firmly believe the Clippers could have won it all had Game 1 of the WCF had a couple calls go our way and PG hit a single Free Throw at the end of Game 2. Then some adequate rest between the WCF and the Finals might have recharged enough for a true run of the Bucks. BUT this isn’t a woulda-shoulda-coulda. Like the team, even I was exhausted by Game 6 following a marathon of games every other day for a solid 3 weeks.

So it’s on to the next season. A chance to let the excitement and accomplishments from this past season settle in and optimism of the future. Except we are now regularly inundated with news about Kawhi and his future with the team and what the extent of his injury might mean. And while it is probably the most unpopular opinion on the internet, I’ll be the first to say it: if Kawhi doesn’t want to be here, then he needs to go.

If Kawhi wants to be in Dallas or Miami, then let him. If his only avenue there is through a sign and trade, then get some quality in return for his loss and move on. Make more adjustments, get into the right groove, and move on.

I’ve watched nearly every game of the last two seasons and Kawhi on the floor is universally the best player. But there are moments - regularly - where I am not confident that he inspires his teammates. He is known to be low-key on his attitude and that can be jarring. I want passion, emotion, excitement. I personally thrive off the energy of others and maybe that’s where seeing Kawhi on TV or from a distance at the Staples Center doesn’t always translate. But PG’s energy does. Even when he’s saying some dumb stuff (Playoff P...) he still seems to have the support of his teammates. Without PG we wouldn’t have kept Reggie Jackson at next-to-nothing. PG might be the reason Reggie sticks around on a reasonable contract over the loads of money another team might throw at him.

Kawhi brought us Ibaka, sure, and barring the injury might have been a really great impact on the playoffs. But it’s the role players that carried us through the playoffs when Kawhi went down. And if Kawhi still had a big hand in keeping them motivated, then let’s not lose him. Let’s hope that matters enough for Kawhi to not only want to stick around but keep this team together.

The idea of trading away the bench in order to bring in another question-mark player is nauseating to me. If we have to lose guys like Patrick Beverly, Marcus Morris, or Terrance Mann, I don’t want to see the return be mid-level guys who need to jive in a new situation. If the return is anyone but Damian Lillard, I don’t want them. No John Wall. No Russell Westbrook. No Ben Simmons. No middle-of-the-road players that don’t truly elevate over what we have. Marcus Morris was once seen as one of these guys, and at his best still is. Why trade him unless you are absolutely certain the guy coming back is better? Pat Bev is the heart of our team, and proved that in crunch time he is still easily the most effective defensive stopper in the league. Don’t believe me, listen to comments from the Jazz series on guys not wanting to get stuck with him on them.

Yes, their contracts are high. And yes, nothing can be done without moving on from these guys. But why does anything need to be done? If there’s one for certain that needs to be addressed, it’s Kawhi. If he is not the leader of this team, which I would argue Paul George has more of the proven leader qualities than Kawhi has outwardly shown, and he might want to play somewhere else, then use his albatross contract and the unknown of his injury and how it affects his future as the last-ditch-effort trade chip to bring some talent back and give us the flexibility.

Would I be opposed to Kawhi-to-Dallas? Mostly, as I don’t like enough of the surrounding talent to come back as collateral. Short of getting every draft pick imaginable from Dallas, guys like Tim Hardaway, Jr. or Kristaps Porzingis don’t give me the confidence that I would want to be traceable assets or reliable otherwise. Hardaway had a great resurgence, sure, but he needs to find a way to Indiana to keep playing for Rick Carlisle. Porzingis on the other hand is still a good player, but has proven he’s not worth the contract and thus untraceable to a third team so you’re stuck with him. And he does not signlehandedly replace what Kawhi brings. I like guys like Maxi Kleber, but then we have so many bigs we wouldn’t know what to do with, and trading away Zubac’s to accommodate incoming bigs would be a huge mistake. I also would hate the combination of Luka & Kawhi from a competitor standpoint. If we ran into Dallas a third time in the playoffs next season, but they now have Kawhi instead, we are toast. Bottom line.

I’d send Kawhi to Miami. Mostly because he would only be our problem if they made it to the finals, and as a basketball fan I’d love to see that Miami team go head to head with the Nets for a couple seasons and see what shakes out. If Kawhi joined Jimmy Butler in Miami, the East would, in my opinion, have effectively balanced itself back out with the West. I also think the return would be better. Guys like Tyler Herro, Duncan Robinson, Kendrick Nunn all have trade value. Get some picks in return as well and we have some quality building blocks. Or truly pull off the incredible by making this trade as a stepping stone to another one that nets the Clippers Damian Lillard.

I’ve tinkered with the NBA Trade Machine and made this work a variety of ways. Sending Ibaka to the Blazers and Kawhi to the Heat allows the Clippers to bring back not just Lillard, but potentially one of Miami’s sharpshooters or even a talent like Jones Jr. or Kanter. Sporting a lineup that includes George and Lillard without giving up guys like Morris, Zubac, Mann, or Beverly would be a huge win. Keeping Rondo for experience and leadership would be welcome though he likely wouldn’t play much, and spending the remaining resources on retaining guys like Nic Batum & Reggie Jackson would be crucial.

All in all, I would hate to see Kawhi leave a team that could have won it if the injury never happened. I would hate to see this team broken up at all. Bring back Batum, bring back Jackson. Bring back guys like Cousins or even Pat Pat (despite his effective 0 minutes played in the playoffs). Leadership and chemistry is the final piece in this already established puzzle.

But if Kawhi needs to follow his own path, then I think the Clippers need to suck it up and move on.

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myrrheart · 6 years ago

Note

How would the six handle an MC with asthma?

Hi!! Thanks for sending something in ^__^ my only experience with asthma is through my brother, so I’m sorry if I got some things wrong ><

Asra

He’s already lost you to one illness, he’s not going to be that negligent ever again

Has books and scrolls and binders chock-full of natural remedies for clearing airways, alleviating chest pressure, and easing breath

He’s the best person to have when an attack comes on because he is so naturally soothing that you don’t really feel any panic to exacerbate the symptoms

Mother hens you a little bit. “MC, calm down, you’ll start coughing...”

As much as he already dotes on you, the asthma amplifies it, like, tenfold :( he’s just worried about you okay!!!!!

Nadia

Asra’s mother henning but bass boosted and with the volume on max

CONSTANTLY checking in, asking how your chest feels, how your breathing is, if you need to stop and rest for a moment

Sends for remedies from far and wide

“When concerning your health and wellbeing, nothing in this world could be an object, least of all money.”

Nazali drops by the palace frequently and acts as your primary care doctor!! She prototypes this funky little contraption she calls an “inhaler” — you’ve never seen anything like it, but it does wonders for you!

After a particularly rough day, or right after an attack has subsided, Nadia will lay you in bed and massage cloves and peppermint extract into your chest until you’re able to breathe clearly again.

Julian

“I’m fine, Julian” is something you repeat so often that you make him drop some change into a jar every time you have to tell him

He’s just concerned, okay? Can you blame him? You’d slipped away from him once due to his failure as a doctor, and he’ll be damned if he lets it happen again.

Constantly researching potential cures or long-term treatments. You test the more concrete ones out & at this point you’ve got a solid care treatment lineup of salves, medicines, and contraptions.

Your first attack with him scares him so badly that he rushes you to Mazelinka because he literally has no idea what to do. His mind goes completely blank with panic.

Completely 100% dedicated to your health. Nothing could sway him on this.. ever :(

Muriel

Of the main 6, I honestly think he’d be the best equipped to deal with your asthma

Lives in the woods. The air is clearer without any smog from the city, and there’s less body heat & general humidity.

Not to mention the abundance of trees!!!

You can actually breathe out there with him.

Never lets you exert yourself for too long. If the walk back to the hut is looking a little steep, he’ll scoop you up and carry you.

“Muri, you know I can manage a little hike, right?”

“Mmmph.” (Mountain Man for: “I know, but it also isn’t necessary for you to wear yourself out and risk a potential attack when I am more than willing to guarantee your safety.”)

He knows herbal remedies like the back of his hand.

The only drawback would be Inanna’s pet dander :( But you’re with her so often that you get used to it, anyway!

Portia

Carries around a little bag at all times with all of your medicines in it.

“Don’t look at me like that!! You never know when you’ll need it!! Better safe than sorry, MC!”

She always manages to whip out exactly the treatment you need at the right time.. you have no clue how she manages it.

When you’ve hard a bad breathing day, she’ll whip up some nice, hot soup with tea to go with it.

Dotes on you hand and foot. More than just a couple times, you must reassure her that it’s not necessary to fuss over you like this!

“But I care about you :(“

Pepi shares the same sentiment, and expresses this by rubbing all over you. Sigh.

Lucio

“Guess you could say I stole your breath away, huh? ;D”

Empress help you.

Despite his jesting, he takes your health very seriously. Freaks him the fuck out when you have your first attack and you can’t even speak through your wheezing

If a certain smell is causing your lungs to act up, he will absolutely take the fall for you and tell off whatever noble lady it is that decided to flood the entire ballroom with her perfume.

He’s a little bit of a lost puppy when it comes to caring for someone and not being the one taken care of.

Whatever you need, he’s on it. Always. Even if he must go to great lengths to get it. No price is too much to pay for your health and safety.

requests are open!

#the arcana headcanons #the arcana game #the arcana asra #the arcana nadia #the arcana julien #the arcana julian #the arcana muriel #the arcana portia #the arcana lucio #nadia satrinava #julian devorak #portia devorak #montag morgasson #my writing #mine

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dollsorwhatever · 7 years ago

Text

Can we talk about Moxie Girlz, ya’ll? Because I fucking love them lmao.

Moxie Girlz came out in fall of 2009 and were meant to be a temporary replacement for Bratz during all of the legal stuff that kept them off shelves (for like, one season), and if you look at them it’s pretty obvious. Lexa, Sophina, Avery and Sasha (LOL) were clearly based off of their older, more glamorous predecessors, complete with snap-on feet. To make this even more obvious, their first ‘Deluxe’ line was originally a Bratz concept and pretty much all of the outfits in the first season were either exact copies of ones previously worn by Bratz or re-purposed Bratz concepts that weren’t released . Since I haven’t found any Bratz Jammaz I’m just going to assume that was an original Moxie line, but the rest were all recyicled Bratz looks. I was into them the minute I found the stock photos on Target before they were supposed to be released, and I was beaming when I got my Artitude Lexa doll at Kmart, despite her nasty ass hair.

Despite the blatant pod-person aspect of the line (and the fact that they ALL had polypropylene hair that season) they were pretty successful! I remember they were all over the news in Christmas 2009, with articles about how they were sold out everywhere. In Spring of 2010, however, they actually invested a bit more money in them- all of the lines were new editions of the original 2009 collections, but with original fashions, saran hair and a new character! This is when they REALLY went up for me. They also replaced Sasha with Bria around this time, presumably because Bratz were just about to be relaunched. And in Fall of 2010, the quality rivaled the Golden Bratz years, with every ‘deluxe’ collection having long, soft saran hair, variations in makeup and the release of 3-4 new characters! Some of my favorites include Magic Winter Snow (by far the BEST, highest quality collection they’ve ever done- every single piece is thoughtfully designed, with multiple fabrics, saran hair, glitter makeup, just PERFECT), Magic Hair Head Gamez Avery and Sophina (which had some gorgeous new character heads, like the pale Brunette that is basically my twin, Monet, Amberly, and that lovely Lexa with Avery’s skintone!), and the beautiful Moxie Girlz Twins that had an entirely new skintone, green eyes and gorgeous outfits! The lines after that were good, still with nice quality fashions but they started using poly hair again and still reused some Bratz outfits (like this Sophina wearing p4f Yasmin’s second outfit lol ), while most of the amazing lines of those last years( like Color Studio, Rockin Band and one of my favorite lines, Fantasea) were pretty hard to find in the US, I think they were only really available at TRU IIRC and in 2015 they were reduced to nothing- decal faces with simplified head sculpts, attached feet, shitty hair and Target Exclusive (photo from ToyboxPhilosopher ). Their last line wasn’t even a Moxie Brand line- rather a generic princess giftset from TRU. Apparently, coming from friends of mine, retailers actually WANTED Moxie Girlz to come back in 2015 but considering the fact that Bratz were so unsuccessful that year, I doubt MGA wanted to dedicate any resources to this line, so now it’s dead and I’m soooo bitter about it. Moxie Girlz started out as a stand-in for Bratz, but they really built their own space and further emphasized that MGA can do amazing dolls if they try. I wish they were kept around, especially when playline is really missing some high quality, pretty fashion dolls right now. This has become a really long post but I’ve recently been playing with my small Moxie Collection and it made me realize that I not only miss the absolute fuck out of them, but I miss the fact that MGA used to make some really incredible playline fashion dolls, with higher quality clothes than the 2018 Collector Bratz (that I’m buying, but I’m not nearly as excited as I would be if they were executed properly) at half the price or lower.

Here’s a (blurry) photo of my display lineup; this is only little chunk of my small collection, I also have Fantasea Monet and Avery rerooted with ankle-length saran hair (and I’m currently planning to have my Magic Snow Bria rerooted in purples and have her body painted like Fantasea Sophina, because she’d look way better in that outfit than Sophina does), as well as this prototype head that was used on the Fall 2009 Avery stock photos (though I have washed the gel out of her hair, because it was hella sticky and dusty- sorry to the designer that styled those curls lol) but these are the ones I’m playing around with and keeping on display atm! From L-R: Magic Snow Kellan, Magic Swim Kellan, Magic Snow Avery and Sophina! Magic Snow is clearly my favorite line- they all have gorgeous makeup, saran hair, and their outfits are INCREDIBLY detailed (like Sophina’s knit sweater, complete with sleeve detailing and lined on the inside to prevent fraying). I’m currently in the process of trying to locate the best versions of each character so that I can have a full lineup of my favorite girls. I especially need Ida because she’s literally me and I want a tiny twin.

#bratz #moxie girlz #MGA entertainment #moxie dolls

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tyrantisterror · 7 years ago

Photo

My article on Marvel’s monster characters from its sci-fi anthology days got a lot of reblogs today, and it inspired me to do something I’ve been meaning to do for a while: draw some of my favorite Marvel Monsters as if they were part of a current superhero lineup! These are the Monstrous Marvels, a super hero team I would make if I worked at Marvel comics.

Assembled by Monstrum, an alien who has been stranded on earth for centuries and never received aid because the locals are too afraid of him to listen to his pleas, the Monstrous Marvels work to not only save the world, but prove that there is a place for them in it. Droom the Lunar Lizard is the second in command, hailing from a benevolent but shy race of tyrannosaurus-sized space reptiles that colonized Earth’s moon. Googam, the now-grown-up son of Goom, joined the team to seek redemption for both his own evil deeds and those of his criminally insane father. Gargantus, a colossal monster from a deep sea kingdom, reluctantly works as part of the team after his homeland is destroyed, knowing that he can no longer conquer mankind and thus must live alongside humanity instead. Rorgg the Man-Spider initially opposed the group, but joined up once his army of fellow man-spiders abandoned him on earth. Trull the Inhuman is yet another reformed bad guy on the team, though in his case it was a problem of faulty wiring rather than genuine malice, and the sapient construction machine is now a genuinely nice and helpful fellow. John Warren, a human whose body was swapped with and stolen by a martian, acts as the team’s guide through the complicated society of humans. Finally, Grogg, a mighty and ancient space dragon, rounds out the crew by providing even more muscle than his fellows. Though he is of the same species as Fin Fang Foom, they aren’t closely related - not that this stops humans for mistaking him for the more famous space dragon, much to Grogg’s ire.

Together they take on a variety of threats, specializing in fighting other monsters (of course). Their enemies include Titanocrab and Monstroctopus, Taboo the muck monster, Gorgolla the living Gargoyle, Gruto, Rommbu, and Moomba. But their arch foe is the sinister conqueror Xenmu the Hulking Titan!

They have some common allies as well. Devil Dinosaur helps them from time to time and is an honorary member of the team, while Groot and Fin Fang Foom have also assisted them on a couple of high profile missions. Their most enigmatic ally is The Great Leviathan, a beast that some claim is the “King of the Monsters.”

Most of these guys are pretty straight forward but I’ll talk a bit about this hypothetical superhero/monster team under the cut anyway:

Monstrum was my first choice for the team because 1. his design fuckin’ rules and 2. his story ends on such a sad note. Dude desperately needs a sequel.

Droom the Lunar Lizard takes her design and backstory from, well, the comic about lunar lizards, but her name is a reference to another space dinosaur in Marvel’s monster comics library.

Goom was one of the most successful monsters - not only was his story a two parter, but it also got a sequel two parter starring his son. Goom’s design is a bit cooler to me than Googam’s, but Googam’s name is more unique, so I compromised by saying Googam grew up into his adult form - i.e. got his dad’s gnarly beak and tusks.

Gargantus is one of the more well developed monsters from this period as far as characterization goes, but his design is also just a less cool prototype for Fin Fang Foom. However, there was another giant sea monster in Marvel’s monster menagerie who had a very similar personality and a much more unique design but lacked a name, so I just mushed them together.

I love that some of the monsters would later have their names and even rough concepts repurposed for superheroes down the line, and I wanted to include one of them - so why not pick my favorite design out of the lot, which also happens to share the name of my favorite Marvel Superhero? I actually tried to make him look a bit more like the real Spider-Man too - there’s a bit more segmentation to his army to resemble the “web” pattern of his superhero counterpart.

TRULL

This poor bastard’s life already feels like a superhero origin, so why not make the upgrade complete?

Fin Fang Foom, Groot, and Devil Dinosaur are too high profile (even though they’re all B listers at best) to be in this concept if it were to ever actually happen, but at the same time, they kind of belong here - they’re the ALL STARS from this era (well ok actually Devil Dinosaur came significantly later but he’d fit right it). I wanted an expy of at least one of them as a nod to their importance - I could have let Gargantus be that, but instead I went with Grogg, who’s very similar to Fin Fang Foom in appearance and origin, but has a much more no-nonsense attitude. Fin Fang Foom is pretty chatty for a monster, but Grogg just cuts straight to breaking things. Gotta respect that.

#Marvel's Monsters #Monstrous Marvels

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mowseries · 7 years ago

Text

Character Journal Entry: Cardinal

>ACTIVATING ANALYSIS PROGRAM

>SYNCING CROSS-REFERENCE GENERATOR

>EXTRAPOLATING MEMORY DATA

>PREPARING CONTINGENCIES

>KEYWORDS: ISSIMO, COUNTERSHADE, VIRUS, DARK, 06.30.2016T MEMORY DATA

>WARNING!

>RobotWhiteCell ALERT: 06.30.2016T MEMORY DATA HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED AS CRITICALLY HAZARDOUS

>OK

>CONTINUE

>PROCESSING…

>GENERATING CONTINGENCY…

“There’s gotta be something we can do to fix this.”

“There is no ‘we’ to this, Cardinal!”

[He paced around the dark room a bit, quite serious and determined in thought.]

“Issimo, I told you I would help, and you’ll find that I’m not an easy man to get rid of.”

[The two of them were alone in an abandoned building of some sort. While it wasn’t an ideal location, it was away from prying eyes and hidden cameras—and also not near to any friends and family that could be placed in danger.]

“You’ve already died once from something like this! You don’t understand what they’re capable of!”

[Cardinal shrugged and held a hand out to the side, glancing up at the deteriorating ceiling.]

“I’m aware that Shade Fox is a melee combatant with some sort of sword, and could probably sic Maverick Hunters on my chass if it were more convenient than using Maverick cronies instead. And I know about the neural inhibitor, too. Nasty stuff, though I’m not sure that would work on a Robot Master. If it did, probably not to the extent it could on a Reploid.”

“ ‘Could’? Try ‘would’. If you got in his way, he’d have full authority to alert the entire HQ. You can’t fight all of them!”

[The prototype had to laugh at this.]

“This is not a laughing matter!”

[Cardinal turned and grinned, putting his hands on his hips.]

“I’m far stronger and more experienced than even you and Countershade give me credit for. When I’ve come prepared, I can hold my own even against a trap-filled den of high-ranking assassins.”

“I don’t want to put you in that kind of danger.”

“I appreciate that, because it’s not ideal for me, either.”

[He turned to walk back over to face a boarded-up window.]

“Look… we can’t do anything when he’s in a position to command the Maverick Hunters. If you got labeled as a Maverick, it’d cause all sorts of trouble. Trouble that wouldn’t go away even if you took him down later. And it still wouldn’t solve the problem with Dark…”

[Cardinal vented a sigh, his data becoming broody.]

“It’s really inconvenient not having an expert on Reploids near at hand. I’m positive Doc Cossack is capable of it, given that some seriously powerful Reploids are eventually to be added to the DCN series…”

“We can’t do one without the other. If we found a way to get rid of Dark, Shade Fox would eventually catch on. And he’s way too smart to be lured into any kind of trap…”

“Feh. I can think of at least three different ways to deal with the man that have a pretty good chance of catching him at unawares. Though granted, one of them is too risky to bystanders and also likely to be far more than I can afford….”

"Ugh, no, I don’t want this to get other people hurt in the process, that’s exactly what I’m trying to avoid here…”

“I know, I’m just sayin’. I have a lot of ideas on dozens of possibilities. It’s what I do. I know the whole ‘black-ops’ nature of the thing makes it hard, but it’s not impossible.”

[He heard Issimo stand up and start walking up behind him.]

“And yeah, I get that you don’t want to get other people involved. I know what that’s like, I’ve been there before. But I learned something from my last crusade—trying to take on such a big challenge by yourself can get you killed. However, we’ve got resources at our dispo—”

[Two things happened very quickly that cut him off extremely abruptly.

First, there was a crushing clamp as he was gripped just to the right of his neck. Something dug into his skin—]

>ERROR X05: UNRESPONSIVE/DAMAGED SOFTWARE DETECTED: RADIO System, WiFi System HAVE GONE OFFLINE

[—and immediately jacked with his transmitter and transceiver, disabling both his Radio and WiFi systems.

And secondly, a green light flashed before his eyes.]

gZZZGGHVVVhnn—!

[The energy beam slashed his throat, severing his audio cables and cutting into his voice box. The sudden onslaught caused an immediate reaction that carried through even before the stroke had finished.]

<DLN-000 has entered Lethal Combat Mode.>

[Unfortunately for his attacker…]

[Cardinal used TIME STOPPER!]

[…It didn’t do squat against his (relatively) old-fashioned mobility rigging.]

“-SKREEEEEEEEE—-”

[He broadcast a shrill screeching noise over his speakers as surge activated and began to repair the damage.]

[Cardinal used SKULL BARRIER! Cardinal used RAIN FLUSH!]

“-Grating and distorted, gradually growing more normal sounding- Bastard!”

[He whirled around sharply.]

[Cardinal used SUPER ARM!]

[He only saw the red eyes of the enemy that had overtaken his friend for a moment before the force of the blow sent him flying across the room.]

“You’ve made a BIG mistake, you ARROGANT IDIOT—”

[Cardinal used LEAF SHIELD!]

[He didn’t hurl the swirling shrapnel shield at his opponent. Instead, he grabbed one of the whirling pieces before the cloud started spinning too rapidly.]

“Did you REALLY think that a sneak attack would work so well on me?! Or did you just think I couldn’t emotionally differentiate you and Issi?!”

[Cardinal his teeth and raised the leaf high in the air. With a powerful lunge, he gouged it into the base of his own neck. It hurt like crazy as he tore at the cabling and rigging there, but it was enough to crudely remove the neural inhibitor from his person.

As soon as he did so…]

-PING!-

>RADIO System NOW ONLINE

>WiFi System NOW ONLINE

>SYNCING TO RMDC…

“DON’T BE AN ASS!”

[He still had quite a fair bit of time before Time Stopper wore out.]

[Cardinal used THUNDER BEAM!]

[More than enough time to send out a message to the RMDC while he blasted his enemy.]

<DLN-000 to RMDC-ALL>: > -PING!-

<DLN-000 to RMDC-ALL>: > -DLN-000 HAS ENTERED LETHAL COMBAT MODE AGAINST “DARK”, REQUESTING BACK-UP IMMEDIATELY

<DLN-000 to RMDC-ALL>: > -REQUESTED LINEUP: INTERIOR—MNN-008, DWN-024, MNN-007, PKN-005, DCN-008; EXTERIOR—FMN-006, MNN-009, FMN-008, MNN-003-

<DLN-000 to RMDC-ALL>: > -SENDING COORDINATES…-

[He could feel the (oddly comforting) simmering anger of the others as they reacted to the news immediately with pings of confirmation and acknowledgement.]

“I’ve already experienced first-hand the hard way on how what it means to deal with parasitic enemies, and it takes a lot more than THAT to disable me!”

[The precious luxury of Time Stopper was running out, but it had let him accomplish everything he’d really needed.]

“You’re out of your league, Maverick!”

[Before Dark could make a move as the Time Stopper wore off, he was lit up by a thin red beam.]

“And we’re going to take you RIGHT INTO SURGERY!”

>ANALYSIS COMPLETE

>CONTINGENCY HAS BEEN GENERATED AND IS NOW ON FILE

>PROCESSING…

#cje #singersaboteursoldierspy #codedhopes #sirensniper

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goldenknightsnews · 4 years ago

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Golden Knights 5, Ducks 2: What Had Happened Was...

——————————————————————————

Thursday evening brought Day Two of NHL action and the opening game for Captain Mark Stone and the Vegas Golden Knights. Stone was named captain by Head Coach Pete DeBoer and his teammates just in time to sew the C on his sweater and for him to carry his team to their first win of the season.

Alex Pietrangelo donned an A, making his first appearance with the club. With his help, Stone and Co. walked away winners after a frantic start, a largely sloppy second period, and a Golden Knight dominated third. Scoring came from up and down their unconventional lineup, a key to success in the National League. It may not have been perfect, but the boys got the job done, heading home with a 5-2 win.

This one started fast and furious, with four goals in the first eight minutes of action. If you blinked you probably missed it. Marchessault and Tomas Nosek got the game going and before I knew it, the two Vegas goals were quickly matched by the Ducks. Not even one drink into the game and four goals were scored. Wow.

It was a wild night inside the T-Mobile Arena. What had happened was......

Marches-score:

If the Golden Knights are going to make a deep playoff run, they’ll need their Top-Six forwards to be on their game. Reilly Smith is as consistent as they come, as is Stone. Max Pacioretty is a prototypical sniper. One big question mark is the 2-LW, Jonathan Marchessault, a player I have admittedly been critical of at times.

The man they call Marchy wasted no time getting on the scoresheet, tallying the first goal of Year Four just 1:07 into the contest. Alec Martinez spotted the chatty, chippy winger as he split the defense and he buried it, top cheese, over the always-tough John Gibson. Marchessault found a nice seam and Martinez didn’t miss. The shot was a beauty. Great start for Vegas.

Marchessault finished the 2019-20 season with a respectable line of 22-25-47, but he fell victim to long stretches of low production and tends to get too involved in the extracurricular portion of the game. When he asserts himself offensively, he is a treat to watch. If he fails to build on his solid start, Alex Tuch is always waiting in the wings, itching for Top Six minutes. Tuch added an empty-netter as the game came to a close.

So far, so good for Marchessault. He’s now on pace for 56 goals; not too shabby.

Shutting the Door:

As mentioned previously, there were four goals in eight minutes. Two of those made it past Robin Lehner, who got the first start in the Vegas’ strong goalie tandem. Lehner did what Lehner does. He made the necessary stops, never made it look difficult, and continued to make the Islanders look silly for letting him leave NY back in 2019 after a 2.13 GAA/.930 SV% season.

Following the game, Lehner acknowledged that the Ducks got a few good bounces, leading to Max Comtois’ pair of lamp lighters. Panda and the VGK defense shut down the Ducks for the next 52:02. Lehner was strong finishing with 20 saves on 22 shots on goal. Expect Fleury in goal on Saturday, when the Ducks come quacking for revenge. Unfortunately we will never know prior to warm-ups, as DeBoer wants to keep his cards close to the vest.

Oh Captain, My Captain:

Wednesday was a big day for Stone. He was named the first-ever captain of the Vegas Golden Knights, which is an honor in itself. Combine that, with the fact that he was chosen over two former captains and original Golden Misfits who have donned the A. Also keep in mind, that he has never worn a C on the front (or back for that matter) of his jersey in the NHL. What an accomplishment.

Mark Stone on the Captaincy:

“It’s an honor and not something I’m going to take lightly.”

What Stone didn’t take lightly, was his team being tied heading into the third period, fresh off the heels of a sloppy second. The captain was noticeably good in the third, scoring the go-ahead goal before setting Pacioretty up for an insurance marker of this own. Stone’s persistence and compete level shone through in the third period and gave the Golden Knights the lift they needed.

Broadcasting in 5D:

Five D, as in Defensemen. In his pre-game availability, GM Kelly McCrimmon broke the news that the opening night lineup would consist of 13 forwards and five defensemen and our collective media jaws dropped.

Shockingly, DeBoer was upbeat and excited about it in his time immediately after McCrimmon. “For me there’s going to be some salary cap gymnastics that we have to deal with.” He followed that up quickly with, “Small price to pay” for the types of players (Pietrangelo) they brought in. Keegan Kolesar benefited from the move, while Nic Hague and Nick Holden found themselves watching from above.

Partially, the five defenseman decision was salary cap driven. In addition to saving money, the team was able to roll out either Pietrangelo or Shea Theodore more often. That also helped get Zach Whitecloud time with some better partners. Whitecloud is really blossoming, a continuation from last year’s training camp, in my eyes. Traditionally he’d be on the third pair, but he looked great alongside the top four.

This surely won’t be a permanent configuration, but what game one showed was that they can do it and do it successfully. Both Hague and Holden will get NHL time at some point this season.

No Fans Needed:

Without their raucous fan base in attendance, the Golden Knights production crew ramped up their efforts, assisted by new Music Director DJ Joe Green. All facets of the in-arena entertainment were in effect. Bruce Cusick screaming through the PA system, mind-numbingly loud music, and of course the debut of their new video opening. COVID made things tough, but not impossible.

This is Vegas and we know how to party. The players enjoyed their two scrimmages with the current setup and it seemed to give them the typical jump you see out of the VGK home games. As much as the fans get recognized for being an X-Factor, the music and crowd noise were an adequate substitute. This team is just good. Fans or no fans, they’ll rack up wins.

A grudge match with the Ducks on Saturday is next up for the Golden Knights. Puck drop in Vegas is scheduled for 7pm. Locally, the game will be broadcast on AT&T Sports Net, in addition to national viewing on NHL.tv and the NHL Center Ice package.

By: HockeyBuzz Golden Knights Writer Jeff Paul

#vegasborn #hockey #goldenknights #vegas golden knights #sports #VGK

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waywardmasquerade · 6 years ago

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Femme Lesbian Pride Dragon Bagon

This is the Femme Lesbian Pride Dragon Bagon.

It uses a colour palette from a modified version of the lipstick lesbian flag, the fabric colours are called Merlot, White, Grape, Raspberry, Hot Pink, Lavender, and Pastel Pink. The design was voted for by members of the Pride Beta group where I put up prototypes, ask questions, and take feedback. It’s made up of LGBTQIA+ folks, with the requirement that folks only give feedback on designs that are relevant to their identity/orientation. I started the group because when I originally posted pride prototypes, despite asking for the relevant people to respond, I still got a lot of well meaning but not relevant feedback from folks who did not identify with the flags I was working with.

While working on the design, with feedback from the community and research, I realised that the lesbian pride flag is a complex issue. There is no one flag that the entire community agrees on. The lipstick lesbian flag has issues including racism and biphobia surrounding it, it also does not necessarily feel inclusive to all lesbians. It also uses a lot of colours with minor shade variations that are difficult to put on to a design originally intended to have three colours in total. The labrys is older, but it has it’s own historical issues, it’s also not easy to translate to a soft toy bag while maintaining consistency in the line. Plaid is iconically butch, but not necessarily inclusive to all lesbians (and difficult to find in microfleece). The sapphic flag is beautiful but not well known. There are literally dozens of possible flags, and no single one generated broad support across the community.

I did not feel comfortable using the lipstick lesbian flag verbatim, and I did not have access to the number of shades required either, but it was the most recognisable, so I made several modified versions of it, and the folks in the community voted on it. The darker version was more popular, possibly because it was less overtly feminine than a white and pink based design. We also looked at the possibility of making a more butch oriented design later on and I named this one the Femme Lesbian Pride Dragon Bagon to avoid pushing butch or non femme lesbians under a flag they may not feel represents them.

Why am I explaining this?

Because lately, when a post with the Pride Dragon Bagon lineup goes out, I get angry, sarcastic or just plain unpleasant comments made on it demanding to know where the lesbian flag is, or lamenting that I’ve forgotten lesbians yet again, even when the Lesbian Pride Dragon Bagon is literally in that post.

The lesbian flag was included in the original lineup, it’s always been there. But there’s a lot of flags that aren’t. I’ve said I’m open to at least experimenting with more flags to see if they would be well received, but the lesbian flag was there from the start.

To be honest, it’s hurtful to have less than polite comments made about ‘forgetting’ or ‘leaving out’ lesbians. I did a giveaway when the design was confirmed, I post about them individually from time to time just like all the other pride designs. I include them in posts that show the full lineup, I rotate them through posts where it isn’t possible or practical to have the entire lineup showing. I do not have an exhaustive line of pride Dragon Bagons and I don’t think I could, there’s just too many. This is the first line, there are 11 designs total so far. There’s a lot of other pride flags not included as yet. And even if I hadn’t done a lesbian one yet, I can’t do every single pride flag out there, all at once or over time even, as much as I’d like to.

At the end of the day, I still need to make a living. I need to be able to pay my helper, buy materials, pay rent, and buy food. Handmade Dragon Bagons are skill, time, and labour intensive, and I need to be putting time and resources into items that I can be reasonably sure will sell. I made these designs largely because I wanted to give back to a community that is important to me, but the lesbian pride flag is the only one (besides one other) that I’ve become a target for ‘leaving out’, even when I literally haven’t left it out. (The other one is the straight pride flag.)

Maybe the colours aren’t recognisable enough, maybe the design isn’t to everyone’s tastes, but I did my best in terms of research and community engagement, and I realised that I couldn’t make something that would please everyone. There are dozens and dozens of hours of work in this design. I might change it in the future, I’m not sure just yet. There’s so many factors involved in these designs I’d make this post twice as long trying to list them.

I even got less-than-pleasant comments on a post where we made dice flags just for fun. The photos of the lesbian and black rainbow flags corrupted on transfer, so I just posted what I had so far and planned to reshoot later. Previously I’d posted in batches of three or four and no one complained about any of the others being missing. To be clear, I still had to pay for my helpers time, the dice, and the lightbox we made, and edit the photos (they weren’t pro level: that costs even more), and then I released the photos for free. No one complained about the Black Rainbow flag not being out yet. The comments just... ruined the fun of making something neat and full of love to share. I’m not certain when I’ll have the time and energy to reshoot.

Honestly, the pride dragons are a passion project, they cost more to make in most cases because they use a mixture of colours that mean we have to handcut a lot of pieces instead of having them cut in bulk, and they don’t sell in large numbers so we don’t get much economy of scale, and there’s so many different versions already. And we sell them for less than the regular custom 3 colour Dragon Bagons. The Femme Lesbian Pride Dragons are the most complex in terms of colours, and have had the least support in terms of sales. The pride line is a labour of love, inspired by pride dice and an agreement that unfortunately never came to fruition. We carried on with it anyway, but hurtful comments make the whole project feel a lot more sour and a lot less like the love it was started with.

So if you want a lesbian pride Dragon Bagon, here they are. They’ve been here from the start. If you want there to be more of them, then we need the support to keep making them rather than hurtful comments.

#lesbian pride #pride #lesbian flag #lipstick lesbian #femme lesbian #femme

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