#now that I've acquired some style to accompany them!

[asheanon]

Sharing this old thing over here as well, since, apparently, the Xitter likes it!

It's a mood. Just… sending out all the good vibes that I can and casting some hopes and wishes out into the sky. For everyone I can think of, including myself. That sort of thing. ☄️💜

And as I mentioned in the comments there: I know that's Sal there along with a respective story (FFVII fanfic "The Anomaly") but I sometimes think it's fun to imagine this being a sort of YCH (your character here) situation as well.

Like, feel free to imagine your favorite sharing a hug with Seph for any reason too. It's always allowed anyway, but still. 🫂💜

[pagingdoctorbedlam]

Do u have any headcanons of ebenholz? Please i need even more content

(Ebenholz Headcanons)

Do I?! Absolutely! Here's some of what I've cooked up:

As I've written in at least one fic now, Ebenholz gets into rock music and this has a huge effect on him, from his fashion sense to his music. I like the idea of him learning to play guitar so he can say he's mastered an instrument under his own power (while continuing to spite the Witch King!)

I see a couple viable paths for Ebenholz's approach to music going forward. One is that, since he's gifted with so many instruments, I'd love to see him get into composing and conducting. On the other hand, pivoting hard into rock music but incorporating some orchestral stylings would be hella rad? Things like incorporating his flute into rock songs like Jethro Tull, or occasionally pulling Czerny for a piano accompaniment to a song (specifically along the lines of Blue Oyster Cult's Joan Crawford. Just listen to this and imagine.)

As he continues to open up, Ebenholz actually befriends quite a few operators. There's the book club gang, of course, and I also think he becomes a pal of Beeswax as they talk records and stuff during horn care sessions. Connected to the music headcanons above, Ebenholz being besties with Vigna is one of my faves. But also, I feel like his particular backstory lends well to him befriending fellow operators with prickly and traumatic backstories. Like Rosmontis. Let them be "child experiments put some literal fucked-up shit in my head" pals.

Once he comes out of his grief-stricken shell, Ebenholz is so damn excited to explore this world he's only ever dreamed of. He can be convinced to explore anywhere and try just about anything at least once. And with how sheltered he was in the Spire, there's a lot to catch up on! Between missions, music, and adventures with his growing circle of friends, he's always busy. (And is able to drag along friends with more hermit-like tendencies as well, to everyone's benefit. *coughCzernycough*)

One line Ebenholz does refuse to cross is alcohol and other intoxicants. Overhearing the noble's plans to turn him into a useless alcoholic has thoroughly shut down his desire to touch the stuff. Not knowing how the Witch King will affect him when he's under the influence is another factor.

Since he was a sheltered noble for so long, Ebenholz has been trying to educate himself but still makes the occasional insensitive comment. Old habits die hard, so he can still be a little defensive when called out, but...he's working on it.

My personal queer headcanon for Ebenholz is that he's gay and demisexual, but thinks he's ace because...well, he's never actually gotten close enough to anyone to build that emotional connection that leads to attraction. (I have a fic on this in the works right now, actually!)

I can also see Ebenholz experimenting with gender and presentation a bit. I'm not sure if he'd actually be nonbinary or just "cis but comfortable enough to present more femme/androgynous/etc when he feels like it", but I wouldn't be surprised to see him experiment once he learns about genders beyond the binary.

Goat boy has goat habits. He likes to climb random shit, and will do so without thinking if he needs to get away with a migraine. Folks have found him in the strangest places...

Also, because goat and because he's open to new experiences, Ebenholz will try to eat just about anything. Though you'll definitely get a snarky remark if he doesn't like it...(and no Hibiscus, this isn't an excuse to give him more health food, put the kale smoothie down...!)

On the subject of migraines, Ebenholz acquires some assistive tech and help with his migraines. Though they're mostly fueled by arts (and the Witch King), I can see him with some light-sensitive shades and learning other migraine management techniques to help some of the symptoms. Also maybe a camera or recorder to help handle his occasional hallucinations by recording something and playing it back to tell what's real?

Alright, that was...a lot of headcanons. I've had many thoughts about this boy. But I hope you enjoy this offering of Good Goat Boy content!

[iturbide]

So uh....we got a new Fire Emblem for the Switch? Another Fell dragon defeated, you actually play as a Divine dragon though and the game's gimmick is summoning past Heroes a la FEH style - dunno about this one, not gonna lie.

I have definitely seen the trailer but in case anyone hasn't, have a link:

You know, I've seen a lot of comparisons to Heroes, but I don't really see it? It doesn't really seem like there's a gacha or chance element in the summoning of Heroes -- more than anything, it reminds me of the original FE: Warriors game, where legend has it that heroes from other worlds arrived to help push back the forces of Velezark, some of whom carried Gleamstones within them that allowed the royalty of Aytolis to awaken the Shield of Flames and seal the Chaos Dragon away. Heck, even the premise lines up: Velezark's is sealed away, but then the seal weakens, allowing him to influence the king of Gristone into speeding things along -- and the trailer states outright that the seal is weakening and the narrator "senses a resurrection."

The trailer seems to imply that there are a limited number of rings (at the 2:49 mark of the trailer, the main character says "she asked me to gather all of the rings and bring peace back to Elios"), presumably the 12 shown in the tapestry in the trailer opening (Marth, Celica, Sigurd, Leif, Roy, Lyn, Eirika, Ike, Micaiah, Lucina, F!Corrin, M!Byleth) and given that each ring seem to be set to a specific character, my guess is that the 'summoning' is going to be keyed into major story events where rings are acquired, rather than being a summon at leisure thing.

(Slightly incidental note, but I find it very funny that the close-up of the rings focus pointedly on the stones set within them -- again, the heroes from other worlds in the original Warriors carried the Gleamstones that made it possible to awaken the Shield of Flames...and on top of that, two of the five characters implied to be Heroes in this game were also in Warriors: Marth and F!Corrin.)

I think it's kind of interesting how the ring system works, though. It looks like the general use draws inspiration from the Adjutant mechanic from Three Houses, where you pick one character before battle to accompany another as a non-playable support unit (and possibly one of a suitable class -- Sigurd being a mounted unit and pairing with a cavalier character might imply that rings are only compatible with units who hold a particular class). But then there's that fusion mechanic that reminds me of Tokyo Mirage Sessions (complete with the super fancy outfits), where the hero associated with the ring merges with the character they're paired with for a power-up. It's neat to see a mechanic from a side game getting drawn into a mainline one.

(Speaking of reusing things from other games, though, I'm reeling that they're re-using Fell Dragon for this cobra dragon. Not gonna lie, it looks super cool, but it's gonna have to work hard to usurp Grima's throne -- and it's hilarious to me how many people have decided that Grima would be righteously pissed and ready to fight for the title.)

The main character's actual appearance is ridiculous, though. I had completely forgotten about the leaks earlier this year, but as soon as I saw the trailer the memories came rushing back. I've seen so many jokes about them being Pepsi and toothpaste -- and thanks to the tags highlighted by one blog I follow, I cannot think of them as anything but Colgate-chan and Pepsi-kun.

So far opinions I've seen are highly polarized: some people seem excited, some people seem pissed. I'm on the fence so far! It could be interesting, but I'm going to hold off on any judgment for now until more information comes out -- and given that it's due for release in barely more than four months, I expect that they're going to give us more sooner rather than later.

[watching-pictures-move]

Movie Review | Spiritual Kung Fu (Lo, 1978)

According to my extensive scholarly research (skimming Wikipedia for less than a minute), Spiritual Kung Fu was filmed just before Drunken Master and Snake in the Eagle's Shadow, the two films generally regarded as Jackie Chan's breakthrough, but released after due to producer and director Lo Wei's money troubles. In that sense it provides interesting context for the development of Jackie's onscreen persona. In Drunken Master, his presence has a fully formed quality, exhibiting a lot of the same characteristics we know and love and associate with many of his best films. (I have yet to see Snake in the Eagle's Shadow, although I pinky swear that I'll get to it in the not too distant future, now that I've acquired a region free Blu Ray player and have sampled some of the fine product released by 88 Films, a label that's been putting out great releases of Jackie's films on Region B Blu Ray.) In Spiritual Kung Fu, we see some of the same goofy, mischievous charisma he would later exhibit, but these feel like early cracks into the slab of marble of the classic action-comic Jackie Chan hero. Which means that he's still a very enjoyable presence, but the effect is like encountering the work of a musician you like in one of their earlier bands.

Similar to Drunken Master, this essentially takes the piss out of the wuxia genre, in particular taking aim at the solemnities of Shaolin monks. In this sense, this made for an interesting double feature with King Hu's Raining in the Mountain, another film concerned with intrigue in a monastery, albeit played much straighter. Based on this, one might think the "Spiritual" in the title has to do with actual spiritual enlightenment, as Hu's film is. But Lo means it literally, with Jackie being trained by a group of five ghosts who each teach him a style of martial arts inspired by a different animal. The ghosts are strangely child-like, well meaning but capable of mischief, with red, mop-like wigs, and rendered ethereal by some crude superimposition effects. (They are often accompanied by some electronic beeping and booping, like a spectral Kraftwerk track.) One might be inclined to find them a little cute, at least until Jackie chases them into their hidey hole and pees on them in an attempt to smoke them out. Also involved are a lady ninja who Jackie, fascinated by the first woman he's apparently ever seen, decides to challenge to a fight on the condition he can feel her up if he wins, as well as a series of mysterious murders. Somehow James Tien is involved.

I understand Jackie Chan considers this one of his worst movies, and while I disagree even based on my limited experience, I can understand why he might feel this way. His character is treated rather poorly by the monks, subject to unmotivated punishments that perhaps echoed his feelings of exploitation by Lo, who held him in a lousy contract and tried to muscle him into staying with the help of the Triad. (Evidence of that exploitation can be seen in a sequence where Jackie stuffs snakes or eels down his pants, footage of which would be reused to patch together Fearless Hyena 2 after Jackie left the production partway.) But at the same time, the loose, episodic structure feels less plodding than Lo's better loved films with Bruce Lee, and the goofy supernatural hijinks kept me consistently entertained. The film peaks as it should with the climax, which frequently shifts the axis of the action so that the fighters' fists are flying towards us, an effect exaggerated by the welcome use of fisheye lenses. And while we think of the Jackie Chan character as a generally nice guy reluctant to use violence, he says some pretty ice cold shit in this: "You can enjoy it in hell!"