#one would think they're about to battle in the bottom drawing

[nell0-0]

The dichotomy of T&I Obito at its finest

[zzoomacroom]

For the ask game: how about one each for Hob, Dream, and Death?

Oooohh, excellent ask, thanks anon!

Hob:

First impression: wow, this guy is kind of obnoxious. Cute, though.

Impression now: my sweet beloved blorbo, the love of my life, I think about him 24 hours a day

Favorite moment: 1789, just that whole scene. But especially his reaction to the drawing ("I look terrible. You look worse"), and when he breaks a teacup over that guy's head

Idea for a story: the wip I'm currently working on is about him being the last man on earth and going on a road trip with Delirium and Barnabas

Unpopular opinion: I think he probably just has an average-sized penis 🤷‍♀️

Favorite relationship: we don't see much of his canon relationships, but if we're talking non-canon then of course it’s dreamling. I also kind of like the idea of Hob/Johanna(/Dream?)

Favorite headcanon: I've posted about this before and the wonderful @delta-pavonis wrote a fic about it, but I firmly believe that in the Sandman universe, he was the inspiration for Nick Bottom. Think about it: low-born guy who always has to be the center of attention and acts like a jackass, but somehow won the queen's favor. Hob was salty because Shaxberd had Dream's attention, but Shaxberd was salty because Hob had the queen's attention.

Dream:

First impression: this dude is kind of pathetic, I desire him carnally

Impression now: my babygirl, my everything, my beautiful, ethereal, majestic, all-powerful loserboy. I love him so much 😭

Favorite moment: it's so hard to choose...in the show, I loved his battle with Lucifer and what he did to Rick Madoc (his dispassionate fury in defending Calliope was chilling). In the comics, I love all his interactions with Delirium. Also when Death throws the bread at him and it goes "bip!"

Idea for a story: um...well...don't judge me, but I have a retired!Dream mpreg fic I'm working on, which the amazing @kydrogendragon and some other lovely folks on discord (idk if they're on tumblr or i would tag them) helped me develop.

Unpopular opinion: hmm...I've seen so many opinions about him and I'm not sure which ones are considered unpopular. I think maybe he's a bit more slutty than we give him credit for, based on how he was immediately down to clown when Bast jokingly propositioned him

Favorite relationship: of his canonical relationships, I find Calliope the most interesting. For non-canon, dreamling all day every day forever. For platonic relationships: Lucienne (i just don't see them as romantic, sorry morphienne fans), Death, Delirium, Matthew

Favorite headcanon: based on recent conversations I've seen/taken part in on tumblr, I like the idea of him getting freaky with his helm (the helm stays on during sex). @tryan-a-bex wrote a great little ficlet about it

Death:

First impression: she's amazing and I love her

Impression now: she's amazing and I love her

Favorite moment: when she throws the bread at Dream. Also, not exactly canon, but in the "At Death's Door" manga by Jill Thompson I love when she teams up with Despair and Delirium and catches souls in a baseball mitt:

Idea for a story: admittedly, I don't currently have any ideas for stories with Death as a main character, but she does feature heavily in my post-apocalypse fic. I would like to see more of her days she spends as a mortal. We see some of that in "Death: The High Cost of Living," but I bet she gets up to some crazy shenanigans

Unpopular opinion: I don't think she's as perfect as a lot of people think she is. She's one of my favorite characters and I love her, but I think she's as flawed as the rest of her siblings and has her own struggles that we only get glimpses of

Favorite relationship: canonically she doesn't have any romantic relationships that readers see, but I love her relationships with her siblings, especially Dream. For ships, I kind of like the idea of her with Johanna, but I haven't explored it much

Favorite headcanon: I think she's a lesbian and nothing can dissuade me of that belief

[copper-skulls]

I love aimless cuddling but had a thought about submas in undertale?? Like what would they look like, what their attacks may be?

lions you put a Bug into my head. is that an expression in english, that might be a worm. Like, earworm but for a thought. ANYWAYS

They're still somewhat humanoid bcs they're still fundamentally Human in pokemon so I wanted to keep that BUT BUT BUT I couldn't bear completely divorcing them from their pokemon so they get attributes from their pokemon SO THAT MEANS...

ELEMENTALS! *dodges a shoe for drawing yet another fire elemental* shh shh shh i still wanted to keep them being similar to each other so elementals were obvious choice

as for their attacks, Ingo would have stuff more coming from the bottom, and a meandering sort of fire. And Emmet would have attacks coming from the top and waves of electricity. When together, Ingo's attacks could also turn orange and Emmet's blue!

I'd like to think they're running a battle club or something so they're very experienced about this (hi i think abt battles being a way for monsters to communicate Often), but despite being asked to join the guard several times they just Don't Want To. similar to how they're not in the league in pokemon but still very much high-level trainers. This also comes to - they'd be willing to fight you in pacifist routes as some sort of an optional boss, together, of course. They make it clear it's a sparring match For Fun from the beginning and would always stop before knocking your HP to zero (my Papyrus bias isn't showing). They'd also lay down their own conditions for sparing bare. SAFETY CHECK!

SPARING conditions would either knocking them both down enough (they'd each tell you when to stop, respectively), or outlasting a certain number of turns (that'd be the yellow credits sparing condition, as their attacks would ramp up with difficulty each turn).

If you dust either the second one becomes VERY distraught and attacks would become much more erratic and hard to dodge, and also lose their color element. not sparable at that point. like. congratz you killed one of the twins.

Also they're still running a train (magic, of course) through the CORE, hotlands and New Home, because they still do need to be silly train men.

* Welcome to the path under the Underground! * The Sub-Way.

[goldenchocobo]

2023 Art Dump

Not as much as last year, which would be a feat. A lot of Kingdom Hearts art, still, as well as OC things.

In the Keep Reading below, you can learn about each thing, if it interests you;

From Left-to-Right, Up-to-Down:

-Baldr and Bragi's battle stances (specifically from when they were fighting Cerberus in the Underworld). wanted to draw them like this, but never found a reason to post it as-is. I was going to include it in another compilation that sat in my Drafts for half a year (with other art on this dump).

-Character art for a friend's KH D&D character- a 'Nort replica with no memory of who he is, only that he's running from Vexen.

-Art in that compelation. It's from the first time you speak to Demyx. I like how it's the first thing he ever asks Roxas; I was going to do more, but... didn't.

-Interpretation of the Keyblade from Missing Link's promo image. I needed it for my KH D&D, as I was going to give the players a keyblade based on the stats they chose in their DttH. The keyblade didn't end up being used.

-Silly Bragi/Luxu doodle. I think he'd have to try hard not to ace any history exams, or at least know more than what he's currently being taught.

-Aerith and Cid shop 'interface' I drew for my KH D&D. I wanted a visual for my players instead of just vague descriptions, so I drew these, the portraits are the characters currently in the session.

———————————————————

-Young Xehanort headshots. I was going to do more each time I wanted to draw, but didn't know what- but these two were the only two that I did.

-Working out the design for a Minotaur Heartless that appeared in my fic, Working Together, for Ventus and Vanitas to fight.

-His Dark Materials AU Sora with his Daemon Amica. I was going to draw some battle poses with them, but I honestly never felt like it, and didn't want to force myself.

-figuring out a design for Vanitas's glider for my fic.

-Ventus holding an escapee-flood from a WiP fic, (continuation of Working Together) Trial by Light.

-New Unversed Vanitas makes when he and Ventus are on 'kind of okay' terms, that Ventus calls a Mawkeepit from my fic. I wanted to nail out a design for them, so I could describe them better.

-New Unversed Vanitas makes when he felt betrayed. They're currently unnamed- as I'm having trouble coming up with a portmantu or word-association for 'Backstab, Weasel or snake' for the WiP fic. These aren't going to feature as heavily as the Mawkeepit, but I wanted to draw them so readers could get a better idea of how they looked.

-Art of the Mawkeepit crowding an Unconscious Ventus while being surrounded by Heartless for my fic.

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-Chocopuffs. Art from a Nyancave stream of Final Fantasy XVI, where the Northern British actors pronounce the 'cho' in chocobo the same way as the 'cho' in 'chocolate'- the result was chocopuffs, a cereal.

-Diabloceratops getting its toe bitten by a territorial turtle. didn't finish the WiP.

-Bi frog I drew for my Bi friend who likes frogs.

-Absolute monster of an art dump for my OCs, Lupin an Iberis. I wanted to give them a more modern take, so I drew them in modern clothing, with only one being of an older time period (bottom right) based on a photo of two men sitting together like that. I have refsheets for them and may post them if I routinely draw and post more are of these two.

-Neovinator in a pond/river based on a photo of a Grebe, and Daurlong sitting based on a photo of an emu.

-depiction of a woman I dreamt of. The dream was very real, and I'm certain I met death, and that is what she looked like. If you're interested in it, let me know and I post the rest, because it's long.

-Warrior cat OCs (and my friends) all from different clans going to a fourth to ask to speak to their medicine cat. the ginger one is mine and his name is Flipleaf.

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-Nyancave Sonic OC. I think they were playing Sonic 06 or Shadow the Headgehog when I drew it, I can't remember.

-Drawn when there was a Subathon and the Nyancave were playing Final Fantasy XII. The memberships were a steal!

-Painting of their cats (now older) Dante and Nia, looking at Christmas lights.

[cantsomeoneelsedoit]

Ch 50: It's Up to You Now

Failure Is Not An Option: A Shoujo Story About Love and Monsters

UMA Autumn has gotten both bigger and stronger from eating people while Fuuko and Andy were in the book. Andy suggests that it's starting to enter its second phase and busts out a new move:

Autumn can regenerate! That's perfect for Rip, except...

he can't even injure it in the first place because he's still just a kid!

We get to see Latla's ride, and it's a motorized broom of some kind. I hadn't really thought of her as a witch before this, but I guess it makes sense since she can predict the future. Her side-saddle riding is so cute. Is Latla a magical girl now?

She's got her back turned to Autumn both because it's gross and so she can make a quick getaway if she needs to. I don't blame her tbh.

Anno Un says they'll draw an Artifact that can capture Autumn while the group distracts it. Rip asks Latla to fact check Anno Un and we FINALLY get an explanation for her ability.

Also, I kinda can't believe Viz hasn't fixed Andy's typo in the first panel. I wonder if they fixed it in the print edition. UU is usually pretty clean, so it caught my eye.

Anno Un reflects on their strange life as they draw the Artifact with the G Liner in their mouth. The first object Akira manifested from a drawing was a little car, and that discovery led to the creation of Anno Un.

Once they had a human avatar, they tried to visit Akira's mom, but she had already passed.

Akira couldn't bear to even look, and so Anno Un did the grieving for him. Anno Un did all the things that Akira couldn't, including drawing those characters that little Akira had been so eager to show her:

Each character is described by their relationships and loyalties to other characters. It's their relationships and interplay that make up the core of the story, no matter what the plot is.

Beyond the fact that his mom likes handsome (adult) characters, I think she would like Rip because Rip also lost someone. I don't believe there's ever an explanation for what happened to Akira's father, but it must've been a loss at some point, whether through death, divorce, or abandonment.

Akira's mom took a different path than Rip by devoting herself to those who remained instead of pining for the one who left. After all, she had a kid to care for, and there wasn't anything supernatural she could do to bring Akira's father back, unlike Rip using the Ark. But she probably understands his feelings very well. After losing Akira, I'm sure she'd do anything to find him again.

Anno Un uses the Life Is Strange Artifact on Rip and turns him back into an adult. Latla's expression is hilarious:

With his prosthetics getting taller and his shorts shrinking, Rip's kinda got an Absolute Area/zettai ryouiki thing going on! (Which reminds me to add that Tatiana's ability is named after the A.T. Fields in Eva, which are protective barriers like Tatiana's that expand around the users. Which of course, got turned into a stocking fetish by otaku...)

ANYWAY, Rip already knows how the Artifact works because it's the same thing that Feng used on him when Andy almost killed him. It causes the user to age 10x whatever they aged the target.

Rip has a moment of pure kindness and offers to use the Artifact on Anno Un to try to even out the damage, but they won't allow him. The look on Rip's face in this bottom panel is a turning point.

It's like he realized how much they knew already and how much they really did care about him. Rip has a hard time understanding selflessness and altruism, like when Fuuko saved Chikara. And here's someone he barely knows--someone he was recently trying to kill--and they're willing to sacrifice themselves for his sake. Rip's expression is childlike, which is funny since he just got aged up.

Rip is still stunned as Anno Un fades away, leaving only the tracksuit, Soul Caliber, and the broken G Liner. The unlikely team of five will have to fight the rest of the battle without their advice. Will we ever see Akira again?!

Masterpost

[ant1quarian]

Yeah, They do have teeth they are more blunt and as they grow the fall out and become a tusk like tooth as they are that much more into mother's nature freak list

The language is more dragonoid but it's not that they can't learn another but their lazy at times the mostly speak through body language clicks growls and more if they learn your language that's a first sign that they're interested in you

They come in many colors like White, Pink, Blue and have different markings to determine who's who in a pod darker colors have a more hard time with blending in and if a pod has a darker member they'll surround that one while swimming to help them blend in

They're not in for conflict and they resolve things quickly the only time you'd see a big fight is when a member or a pup is hurt by another predator or human

Mating Signs to look for is if they mostly gift you or try to learn more about you even surprising you with a visit or something else(Eg talking, bringing favorite food or treasure at the bottom of the sea) like I mention they are mostly lazy and chill and they don't even have much of a language so look out for that

A Dragopod leader is call a Drextor and they are very big because if you look again I'm putting rex and the ending piece of raptor,

They can be poly or Anything they like they mostly mate for life as they're chill like that

The major pride of an Dragopod is Size of tusk and scars it's a pride and honor to have many scars from battle even if peaceful it shows how strong they are and they can protect

A broken tusk is something Dragopods would find respectful as they are strong and all and they can't grow back it's mostly seen in elders of the pod

They can live for a long time if not disrupted or anything (Up to 10,000 if lucky)

And I don't mind you drawing them

Also little ones of a pod are called Dragopups they don't have tusk as a yet but they have small blunt fangs that'll drop out when the tusks are ready to grow in.

Glorious. Fantastic.

I look forward to drawing them- and mayhaps learning more about them if you think up random lil' ideas :]

( Dragopups is actually such a cute name holy hecca)

ALSO THEY'RE OLD- /j

( Then again, Avians can live as long as they can fly for, so I guess they're probably not that old)

[felikatze]

Do you feel Awakening's plot was let down by the need to be a male power fantasy, IE: kill lots of ugly people without remorse, get praised by everyone, all the woman want the avatar, ETC?

hmmmmm. good question. I don't think it's a power fantasy, per se - FE heavily ascribes to the design philosophy of "only beautiful people can be good", which is horrible for a lot of reasons, but I feel in this aspect it's plot structure is more hampered by the fact that it is a video game, and every chapter needs a Battle.

That's how you get basically every single generic brigand. There's a lull in the action, as characters talk, get to know each other, travel to the next relevant location. But you can't put any important battles inbetween, because those moments need to be slow - thus, an enemy who could just as easily be removed from the story without changing it.

In another game I like, Lord of Heroes, it's almost a running gag - the protagonist sees someone important, and wonders when they'll have to fight the next new guy, cuz We Need Boss Battles, even when the characters have no real need to fight each other. This is how you get comical misunderstandings only resolved after trashing each other, or your typical "I need to test your strength first" shtick.

These characters are engineered to be unimportant, for their deaths to mean nothing except some extra exp. It's just a problem baked into every FE game's chapter structure.

To compare to another SRPG, Triangle Strategy - you don't have plot unimportant combat in the story, ever. It's all optinal. Like yeah, there's bandits now and again, but the bandits are actually reoccuring characters, one of whom you can recruit, so they are made to be enjoyed as characters and sympathized with. The bandit characters even make good points sometimes! There's a part in the game where the main characters are involved in a black market smuggling deal, and bandits catch them transporting illegal goods. So, the bandit questions, what makes you rightous in this situation? Why is it right when you're doing it, but wrong when she does? What, because your goal is noble? What does it matter when you've sunk to the rock bottom of morality already?

However, Tristrat has an entirely different plot structure to FE. It also has a chapter system, but not every chapter includes combat. Some chapters only feature cutscenes, or exploration segments.

The game is just set up differently in a way that lets the plot breathe without forcing conflict. Combat gameplay isn't the main draw or a necessity. I'd fucking adore Tristrat if it had no combat whatsoever - It's the opposite of FE. Plot doesn't exist because combat needs to happen, no, combat only exists because the plot occasionally necessitates it.

Okay, this has been my triade on the disposable enemy archetype of Generic Brigand. To the next point - well, is Awakening a male power fantasy?

From the main plot? Not really. Like, yeah, sure, the avatar is the only person who can marry whoever. That's to give the player the opportunity to romance their favorite, I won't deny it. But the main plot itself doesn't have anyone fawn over Robin (besides Chrom). Hell, you could even go without finding out about Tharja's devotion to them if you benched her and never read her supports. Since her whole thing with Robin isn't included in her recruitment chapter at all. That utterly blindsided me when I played, cuz all I knew about her was "Robin simp." and then she didn't even simp robin in her first appearance.

If we're talking "recruiting lots of girls to your army constitutes a harem" then like, every FE game would be a harem. They're not. The game even forces you to be monogamous. I'd argue Fates is worse in this, because characters start falling in love and blushing profusely by A-support, even when they're already married, so everyone is Schrödinger's Cheating. In Awakening support chains, there's never really any romance outside of the sudden S support marriage proposal. I'll admit S-supports are well put together in recontextualizing the previous supports as falling in love, but all of them can also be left at A for a perfectly fine platonic dynamic between all characters.

Robin themself doesn't emphasize their own strength and intellect much, even if it is impressive in the world of the game. It's all about their bonds with others, how others give them strength and hope and all that good stuff. Robin is a well-developed character with positives and negatives. They're not just a blank slate. Hell, man, there's a whopping three choices you can make in the plot, and only one of them actually changes anything, and the first one is actually a choice for Chrom instead. Robin has their own thoughts and feelings and a great arc and if you ignore that in favor of "they're just me fr" then that's a you problem tbh.

You can argue till the cows come home about beauty standards and colorism in FE enemy design, fuck knows that I can freely admit a lot of Awakening enemy designs are racist as all hell, but that's sadly not unique to Awakening. Generic Brigands are ugly to signal that they're unimportant and morally corrupt and it's fine to kill them because only pretty people have morals. The only black people in Awakening are the shadowy desert cultists and the leaders of the "barbaric meathead" nation, so go figure what the game was trying to signal on that front. It's just shit design.

Awakening's finale actually makes me think of your typical fairytale hero story, and it's a great subversion of "the knight in shining armor kills the evil dragon to save the land." In that way, it's also a great subversion of other FE stories, since that summary is a lot of them in a nutshell.

Binding Blade did the subversion first though. Grima is just Idunn 2 (actual bastard edition) and I adore them for it (that much is obvious).

So like TLDR no, I don't think Awakening is a male power fantasy, because the main plot itself doesn't focus on romance or how awesome the main character is whatsoever. Less power fantasy, more "power of friendship" fantasy.

[shuruzy]

Alright, time for all the CGs in One Final Burial!

Spoilers ahead. Also a few notes on "The Singularity".

☝️Also this was the CG I talked about on main a few days before the game came out like "OAAUGH I WANNA SHOW A SPECIFIC CG SO BADDD BUT I CAAANT".

Also related to this final CG, this dumbstruck lovestruck flabbergasted Erakhos.

Now, for Singularity-related things!

Here's the start of a CG that ultimately went unused.

For the scene before the final battle, I initially planned to have a fullbody of the Singularity. This'd show up after their silhouette fades, scroll from the bottom up (like the final CG), and would stay until the battle began.

In the end, I felt that keeping the focus on the Singularity's fullbody sprite worked better. Especially with the sprite poses I'd made. Sing has 4 minutes of non-battle screentime, we gotta use these damn sprites. Anyway, that's when I decided to make the halfbody for the Singularity.

Speaking of the Singularity, making them the game's taskbar icon was extremely last minute. I'd realized that I hadn't made one and was like "oh... DAMN!!!"

Fortunately, Singularity's battle icon worked perfectly. And they're an important part of the story, so they were very fitting as the game icon.

And when it came to the Singularity's design itself, it went through a few passes. They're a combination of Trip and Erakhos, while still being their own person, so I basically had to balance 3 people into a single design. Aaand I think I stuck the landing! The more obvious Era influence comes from the scale color, broken horns, and dragon attributes, but Singularity's entire body is Trip's hair and eye color.

Their hair was initially gonna be dark brown as a mix of red and green, or literally green and red, but I gave up on that. It just didn't look right. Anyway I thought I was sooo slick making their scales form a giant vague heart shape on their chest. Maybe I still think I'm so slick. ...I do.

...Now if I could just think of a name for this character😔. I'd like to draw them more.

[twilightprince101]

"EVERYTHING IS FINE" is awesome, but it is NOT FOR EVERYONE

Hi! So recently I've gotten into the Webtoon "Everything Is Fine," created by Mike Birchall. And honestly? I'm fucking loving it right now! And I don't see many people really talking about it on Tumblr, which is frankly a crime considering how popular it is on Webtoon itself!!

I wish I could talk to all my friends about this webcomic, but I am fully aware that there are a few VERY BIG hurdles that some people would need to get past first.

So! To all my mutuals and followers, let me give you my pitch for this webcomic, along with a few disclaimers on what's to come.

IS THIS A "CUTE BUT SECRETLY EDGY" THING?

The main way I found out about this webcomic was through marketed/animated ads on Youtube. The general vibe that they were going for was that it was a "looks cute but is actually really fucked up" story. Think your Happy Tree Friends or Don't Hug Me I'm Scared's. Designed to lure you in and then SLAP you across the face with all of its gore and fucked-upness. If you've seen ads for a game called "Evertale" on youtube that kinda looks like pokemon, you understand what I'm saying and I get your apprehension.

And don't get me wrong, those worries are not unfounded! There's some stuff in this comic that is really messed up and honestly leaves me up at night. But while in the cases of the two above samples they feel more to shock, Everything Is Fine feels a bit more deliberate in what it does. They feel like they're a product of the world and a side-effect to the setting. The fucked-upness holds a purpose outside of shock and says something.

(this isn't to bash on the two above examples btw, no shame in liking them. However for me personally, it definitely seems more for the purpose of drawing in attention than telling a story)

The first 12 "episodes" have by far some of the darkest in terms of content-- ALL OF WHICH I WILL LIST AT THE BOTTOM WITH A "READMORE" LINK--but if you make it past those first 12 chapters, there's a really damn compelling story waiting for you. The moment that the main character Maggie opens up a science book, that's when you've crossed that threshold.

Everything past this point is spoiler territory, so if you already feel like going into this then I recommend just reading the warnings past the read more then heading into the story blind.

OKAY SO WHAT IS THIS STORY THEN

Here's my best elevator pitch for this series:

It's a dystopian domestic thriller that utilizes a suburbia setting to enforce themes of formality and productivity vs family and love, while also incorporating a "Mind games battle" style into its action ala The Promised Neverland or Death Note.

Whew, that certainly was a word salad! Lemme break it down a bit more.

-Dystopian Domestic Thriller?

The exact scale of this story (at least at the time of writing this) is very small scale. It focuses on two characters: Maggie and Sam, a married couple that are forced--alongside everyone else--to live in a picturesque happy neighborhood. A very "Howdy neighbor, can I borrow a cup of sugar" type place, and if you deviate from that vision then... well, it doesn't end pretty.

However, despite just how grand a change this is (the world is implied to have been just like ours 7 years ago or so), the focus is much more intimate. The whole first chapter solely focuses on five different characters, all of whom are neighbors in this dystopia trying to get by, along with getting the reader acquainted with their situation. And, despite the friendly faces, each family wouldn't think twice about throwing each other under the bus if it meant they could move up in the world and get a chance to [REDACTED, GOTTA READ TO FIND OUT YOURSELF BUD].

There are no evil monsters. There's no big bad boogeymen waiting in your closet to eat your brains. All there is is your neighbors, the ones that wake up next to you with a smile on their face. And it's almost impossible to tell whether or not their smile is genuine or not.

-"Mind games battle?"

If you haven't read The Promised Neverland (or watched season 1 of the anime and ONLY season 1) or are acquainted with "mind games battles" in general, imagine this scenario:

There are two different characters, each of them entirely equal in their strengths and weaknesses. One has a diamond, the other wants the gem for themselves. To try and get the diamond, the thief tricks the other into thinking they already have it, causing the owner to reveal the key's location so they can steal it themselves.

That is the essence of "Mind game battles" or (coined by SuperEyepatchWolf) a "Non-Battle Battle" story. Very little violence truly happens, the core focus is on espionage and getting a leg up on your opponent by figuring out what they're going to try and do, then countering with your own plan. Highly recommend checking out his video btw

This might seem a little strange compared to what I just described with the whole "Suburban Dystopia" setting, but this brings it down to its core elements. Everyone is a normal person, at the youngest about 30 years old, and in the end they want to throw each other under the bus to get further in life. It utilizes that suburban dystopia setting with the fear that "secretly, deep down, all your friendly neighbors and friends wouldn't blink to sacrificing you for something more" and it hits fucking hard, leading to a story about forging your own path and recognizing who truly matters in your life.

It is MUCH more subdued and tame compared to the above examples, but believe me when I say this was intended from the very beginning, and it's only going to get better.

BUT WHAT'S THE POINT OF THE STORY

geez you don't gotta yell like that every time dude

So if you're like me and you tend to try and search for a bit more meaning in your stories, you might be wondering why you should read this (aside from my recommendation of course). You might ask "yeah if it's scary/fucked up, cool. But is that all?" If you're the type that stays away from horror-esque scenarios like this, I can doubly understand (again, READ THE WARNINGS AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST).

But as I've been growing into the adult world, a constant nagging fear that's been growing is the thought "People are only nice to you out of necessity, none of their kind words hold any truth to them. Their smiles are only of toleration." With how much of the business world thrives on that sort of formal kindness (job interviews, sucking up to your boss, etc.), it has ended up leaking out into my personal life and causing some pretty harsh damage to my mental health.

This webcomic not only feels like the first story to address this specific fear, but also one that has a direct answer/resolution to that. Yes, sometimes it may feel like it's impossible to tell who's truly kind and who needs to be kind. It will feel hard to truly tell that difference.

But no matter what fear you feel, no matter how impossible that feeling is to overcome, there will always be someone in your corner that loves you for you. Their smiles are not of necessity, but of enjoyment of your presence. And if you acknowledge them and trust in that kindness, nothing will stand in your way.

And... fuck man, I don't know. I think that's something I kinda needed to be told, and something I think a lot of other people need to hear.

So yeah! "Everything Is Fine" is a fucking banger and I highly recommend it! If all of the above parts (and the below warnings, FOR THE LAST TIME CHECK THOSE WARNINGS) didn't bother you and you seem intrigued, go check out the webcomic and send some cash the dude's way. Chapter 2 is getting into full swing, and I want some peeps to enjoy this with as these two keep moving their way upwards.

Either way, that's all. Hope you have a nice day!!

Now then...

TIME FOR ALL THE CONTENT WARNINGS

-One of the things in episode 1 at the very start is a decaying dog carcass, which has been implied to be sitting there for at least a couple months rotting away.

-In episode 3, a starving homeless man is given said carcass. I don't think I need to go into detail here.

-Body horror doesn't come up too frequently, but let's just say those masks aren't just masks. This starts subtly at episode 9 and 11, but from then on it'll become more apparent when it comes up.

-Several moments of suicidal implications come up throughout as well, most especially in Episode 11. They often have warnings at the start of the chapters when they happen though.

-Attempted murder and successful murder, via bashing a person's head in! Oh boy!! These will be apparent when they come up as well, keep an eye on that hammer.

The last warning is a SUPER BIG SPOILER so don't read it if you don't wanna be spoiled.

One of the biggest punishments/consequences that each of the characters can be given is called "Red Status." Getting into Red doesn't kill you, but instead it forces whoever is subjected to watch their children die--though vague, it's implied that those fates are. Not kind. Episode 26 gives us a front row seat to two children seemingly being forced to jump off a tall building and commit suicide. They don't show the bodies, but it still very much happens. It's one of the most subtle, but horrifying moments in the series so far.

Definitely not as bad as a lot of other stuff out there, but... that dog scene man. Fucks me up still today, and I know one specific person it would fuck up the most. So if these are too much for you, you know what to do.

[astromechs]

for the writing challenge: richmora where rich gets pegged

No, tonight, he wants his brains fucked out until he can't see or hear anything anymore at all, much less even remember his own name. Maybe then, and only then, with that hard (no pun intended) reset, he can figure out how to move forward in a universe where blaming himself for things that aren't technically his fault is no longer on the table.

It's healthy, his therapist says. Or, well, he would, if Rich chose to disclose such things. No matter how many walls are broken down, there are some that should stay up, keeping some things sacred.

so, i know october 1 isn't until saturday, but let's start this kinktober party early!

entire fic under the cut, and also located on ao3!

There isn't much Rich can do other than suck in air through his teeth as Gamora's fingers massaging his opening are, without warning, replaced by a synthetic. As her hand wraps around his cock instead, the hot-cold contrast of her fingers and the lube still smeared on them enough to drive him wild, her hip bones digging into his skin as his back is pressed flush to her chest.

Of course, this is exactly what he'd asked for. Tonight, he hadn't wanted slow or gentle, not when the explosions of yet another nearly-lost battle are still so fresh that they're practically still happening, and not when the faces of the ones who hadn't made it are still what he sees when he closes his eyes. No, tonight, he wants his brains fucked out until he can't see or hear anything anymore at all, much less even remember his own name. Maybe then, and only then, with that hard (no pun intended) reset, he can figure out how to move forward in a universe where blaming himself for things that aren't technically his fault is no longer on the table.

It's healthy, his therapist says. Or, well, he would, if Rich chose to disclose such things. No matter how many walls are broken down, there are some that should stay up, keeping some things sacred.

Besides, he definitely doesn't want to be thinking about his therapist right now, with Gamora pressing harder, burying deep inside of him, and a moan tearing out from the back of his throat. His cock twitches against her fingers, his hips reflexively jerk back, and —

"Not until you're ready," she says, voice low and hot in his ear, teeth nipping at the lobe just before she draws back. Her hand clamps down onto his cock, squeezing with precision.

He knows what it's like to die; he's done it a hundred, two hundred times, at least. But this, he thinks, in whatever half-formed haze his brain will let him, might truly be how he goes — for good this time. Forget all the stabbings, the impaling or two, and the just plain bleeding out; this could do him in, and it'd be a flarking hell of a way to go. And he's —

Definitely getting off track, to a place he has no business going.

In the moment, he reminds himself. Stay in the moment.

Gamora seems to sense this (she always has this weird way of being able to tell), and now, just as always, she refuses to let him wallow in it. She shifts her hips, withdrawing from him a small distance before finding her way back in, setting the beginnings of what is likely to be a merciless rhythm. Her thumb rolls over the head of his cock and wipes away pre beading on it, and then her fingers stroke it in kind, squeezing over the length.

It takes all his resolve not to push, but to let her set the pace in taking care of him, just as she'd said she would. He clamps his mouth shut to prevent any sound from getting out; teeth sink into his bottom lip, drawing blood. It's all worth it, though, just to hear:

"Better." He can't see her, of course, but her voice betrays what has to be on her face; a smile that many wouldn't know to look for, curled into something satisfied. "Good boy."

That sends a jolt all the way through him, like being hit with Nova Force for the first time, only... blue fucking blazes, he's quickly losing his ability to form any kind of thought. For half a second, the lights above them flicker, and then stabilize again. His breath catches in his throat and then again, and then becomes progressively harder to catch at all.

Her mouth goes to his neck, alternating between biting and sucking at his skin. One of the last coherent thoughts that comes to him is: that’s going to leave a bruise; it draws another noise from his throat, one he can’t quite suppress.

His skin begins to glow.

Harder, faster. He reaches a hand behind him for support as he jerks against the thrusts, threading fingers through Gamora’s hair and tugging; in return, he gets teeth digging into his skin, and the vibration of some indiscriminate noise coming from her against his throat.

It’s all so much that any second now, what feels like a rubber band being pulled taut inside him is going to snap.

"Gamora," he gasps. "I'm —"

"I said not until you're ready." Though her voice isn’t harsh when she pulls her mouth off of him, it is firm. Still something that would send an enemy running, no doubt about that, but Rich knows her well enough to know her differences and subtleties. "You don't ever quit so quickly, Richard. Don't start now."

The tension building in him is a knife's edge. Every inch of his body is screaming for release. And yet Gamora continues on, fucking him at a relentless, merciless pace. The glow emanating from his skin shifts, from blue to white-hot.

When the lights above flicker again, they darker for longer this time.

There's nothing in his mind but this — how she feels completely surrounding him, how she's dangling him at the edge of a precipice just because she can. It’s intoxicating and overwhelming all the same, and he has to close his eyes, focus on his own breathing just to hang on.

This seems to satisfy Gamora, who, finally, murmurs the words that his entire existence has been hinging upon hearing. “You can let go now, Richard.”

He’s just barely aware that there’s something tender, almost achingly sweet, to her words, and part of him wants to linger in that — but he can’t. The wave overtakes him all at once; his shout is loud enough to be heard through several walls, and he spills his release, onto both her hand and his own stomach.

The lights above give out, plunging the room into darkness.

And they definitely do in the rest of the space station, too, because somewhere, rooms away, well beyond their closed doors, there’s a whole chorus of protest. In the commotion, he can just barely make out Rocket (“Oh, for flark’s sake!”). A light, breathy laugh escapes him, and Gamora mirrors him, in turn.

In something that would’ve seemed impossible even just two hours ago, he feels light. So, so light.

Before long, the lights return, and his skin starts to cool, glow fading to reveal his normal color.

There’s nothing holding him up after Gamora withdraws and pulls back from him, so, boneless, he collapses straight to the mattress. He aches all over — a good ache, one that, if he’s lucky, he’ll actually still feel tomorrow. (Honestly, he hopes so; he’d never dare voice the thought out loud, of course, but even now, years out of the Cancerverse, it still helps to have lasting, tangible reminders that good things can actually happen to him.)

Barely able to so much as lift a hand, he’s content, for now, just to watch Gamora as she unfastens the strap-on and sends it to the floor in a haphazard toss, reaches around to the bedside table for a cloth and some ointment, and then, finally, lays down to face him on the bed. Her hair is in disarray, and there’s a light in her eyes; Rich would be hard pressed to imagine a sight in front of him that could be more beautiful. With the last ounce of energy he has, he just can’t help but shift on the mattress until he’s close enough to capture her lips in a slow, languid kiss.

Thank you, he means for it to say. You’re one of the best things that’s ever happened to me. I love you.

They stay like that for a time, until Gamora pulls away to start cleaning them both off. She’s methodical and precise in her work, and gentle in a way that few see from her, as she takes her time over his softening cock. He hisses when she reaches around his waist to spread the ointment on his ass. That earns enough mercy from her, at least, for another kiss.

It’s more a hum than an actual question, really, when she asks, a thumb grazing over his cheek, "Do you feel better?"

He doesn't trust himself to speak, but still, through ragged breathing, in a voice he barely recognizes as his own, he's able to rasp out, "Yeah."

Her smile, though still soft, turns obvious. "Good."

Rich swears he feels his heart do a flip in his chest — or, well, it would if it could.

It sinks, though, at the realization that while she’s done this much for him — he’s done nothing to make her feel this good in return. She seems to follow this, the way his face falls, because before he can so much as even move a hand to reach for her, she’s intercepted, gaze unblinking and voice quiet but firm as she tells him:

“That’s not your job tonight. Remember?”

A stretch of silence passes; his brows furrow in confusion. “But you — how will you….?”

Gamora’s smile curls into a smirk. “You get to watch me.”

As understanding finally dawns on him, a smile slowly begins to tug on his own mouth.

[askroahmmythril]

Made-Up Gym Leaders

So I was looking through some old files of mine and stumbled across these. I forgot I'd even come up with these, but I kind of like these ideas. One of those things, if I had more time and was better at imitating the Pokemon design style, I'd want to try drawing these characters to have a visual on them. But anyway, some Gym Leader ideas I had :

Flying - Audi (name basis, Audubon Society)

An elderly lady with grey hair in a bun, a decorative feather holding it in position. Horn-rimmed glasses, a kindly but spry look to her. White blouse with peacock teal shorts and hiking boots, a pair of binoculars hanging around her neck. Essentially a birdwatcher look.

Strictly uses bird type Pokemon, like, nothing that just happens to have Flying type, they're all definitely birds of various types.

A bit flighty (ha) and can get carried away talking about all the birds she's seen in her time, but not as "spaced out" as someone like Drasna, is pretty sharp and spry.

Gym Gimmick : Her gym is actually outdoors, set up as a nature hike trail. It's also a quiz gym, asking questions about bird Pokemon such as if you can identify certain footprints or other dex details. Trainers will still be eager to show off their bird Pokemon, but if you fail the quiz, you might get a harder fight as they think "Looks like you need to study more, but I can help with that!"

Rock - Cris (name basis, crystal)

Hippie type guy, unkempt hair and goatee with stubble. Very laid back look, wears various crystal necklaces, a brown leather vest with fringe around the bottom, a tie dye shirt with earth tones, worn jeans, and sandals.

His Pokemon tend to have a crystalline aspect to them, such as the Gigalith line, Carbink, etc.

Talks about the healing power of the earth, the voices of nature, very laid back in personality. Even in defeat is likely pretty lax about it and would say something like "Far out!" in admiration of your Pokemons' power. Likely would say something that might allude to being a relative of Mina from the Alola region, like a cousin or such.

Gym Gimmick : ?

Fairy - Mabel (name basis, sounds like fable / make believe kinda)

Kids' show host, probably in her early 20s. Light pink hair in a pixie bob style, cheerful expressions. Sort of fantasy princess look to her style of clothing, but notably has a cute dragon hand puppet that she provides a voice for. Her default "pose" for battle has her kicked back in an overstuffed cozy armchair, dragon puppet up eagerly, and a storybook open in her lap.

Narrates a "hero's journey" type story about the trainer as they traverse the gym.

Gym Gimmick : Her gym is actually the studio where she does her storytime show, her subordinate trainers being actors in different fantasy themed sets, like a witch in a forest, a knight in a castle, etc. If you pay attention to the story she tells, it may hint you on what your next opponent will use against you so you can prepare accordingly.

Dragon - Dyson (name basis, dice)

D&D style Dungeon Master. Dressed in a mostly modern style outfit, open jacket and jeans, but with a few accents here and there like a helmet, necklace with a D20, etc. He has fairly sharp eyes, focused looking, cocky grin. Perhaps kind of a faux fur collar on his jacket for style.

Has a flair for the dramatic, liking to build up battles in his gym as great fantasy setting encounters.

Gym Gimmick : Gym is set up like a Fire Emblem style tactical game. Battles have special gimmick rules, such as if an area is marked as a certain "terrain" type, different effects can happen in battle like weather or one of the terrain style effects. If you approach a trainer from behind, you start the battle with a free turn for "catching them off guard," but the same can apply if a trainer catches you this way.

Psychic - Tara (name basis, tarot)

A fortune teller wearing a black hooded cloak with golden runes along the trim. Her hood keeps a bit of her face in shadow, though she has sharp lavender eyes and a long violet hair braid that spills from her hood and down her side. Has a cozy looking velvet sort of outfit under the cloak, a burgundy top with black leggings and thick tan boots.

Has an aloof way of speaking, as though fate is decided and she's just there to play her part. She is however rather philosophical about her tarot readings, introducing herself by saying "My personal reading today… it spoke well of my fate here… Let us see…" Upon losing however, she amends this with "A reading, however, is not assurance. It is merely a guide and it is ours to find the way…"

Gym Gimmick : ?

Normal - Reggie (name basis, regular)

A store clerk. Clean cut light brown hair and a friendly face. White work shirt and khakis with a blue store apron. Tends to have a friendly smile, though it does become a bit more of a strained "customer service" smile for his losing animation.

Very service oriented, upon encounter he even asks if you were able to find everything you wanted today.

Gym Gimmick : His gym is in whatever city in the region happens to have the huge size department store, his gym actually being IN the store. Your bag is sealed while in the gym, and instead you're given a shopping cart. Certain areas in the gym have "Free Sample" kiosks where you can get items for use in the gym. Defeating trainers in the gym gets you coupons you can use at kiosks to obtain extra items.

……Kinda jokingly want to have a Beauty trainer in the gym that's very rude and demanding when you talk to her, and turns out her name's Karen, haha.

Bug - Nadia (name basis, needle)

A tattoo artist with a punk aesthetic. She has a yellow and black mohawk themed on Beedrill, and a green vest worn over a black half top. Has spider web sleeve tattoos.

Rough personality, confident style. Respects you as a kindred spirit upon defeat, can respect your power.

Gym Gimmick : ?

Steel - Victoria (name basis, Victorian style)

Wears a steampunk aesthetic outfit, complete with top hat and a tailed jacket. Overall a brown with bronze trim theme, gear and cog accents here and there. She has blonde hair with a silver streak, worn in a ponytail.

A refined yet excitable personality, eager to test your abilities, delighted even in defeat as it was an impressive showing.

Gym Gimmick : The gym is a tower, each floor requiring you to reassemble pipes to carry a flow of steam to power an elevator to the next floor.

Grass - Dr. Basil (name basis, holy basil, a medicinal herb)

A medical doctor, studies the medicinal properties of herbs. A bit of a gaunt, serious face, glasses. Stubble from his hard work life, though his hair is nicely kept. Wears a doctor's coat, tends to keep his hands folded behind his back and poses slightly hunched over.

Fairly serious and methodical. His comments during battle tend to be on the analytical side. Possibly a descendant of Tao Hua from Legends Arceus, similar thus in appearance.

Gym Gimmick : ?

Water - Porter (name basis, port)

Captain of a luxury cruise liner. Wears a crisp white captain's uniform with blue trim. Smarmy sort of grin, well trimmed mustache. Possibly tends to carry a fancy glass of (ahem) vacation juice.

Fairly posh attitude, proud of his vessel and the services his cruise provides. Overall fairly jolly, sees even his battles as providing entertainment for passengers on his ship.

Might make reference to the captain of the St. Anne and his struggle with seasickness.

Gym Gimmick : The gym is on his ship and may sort of feel like a combination of the St. Anne and the abandoned ship from the Hoenn games. As you traverse the ship, dipping into the different rooms to challenge trainers, you'll find keys to other cabins and areas. Upon finding the Captain's Key, you'll be able to enter Porter's room to challenge him.

Ground - Cheval (name basis, shovel)

Super into geocaching. His outfit is perhaps similar in style to BotW Link's climbing outfit, but more decidedly modern, patterned bandana, sleeveless top, cargo shorts. Has a shovel he usually poses with held across his shoulders. Shoulder length dirty blond hair worn in braids, tanned with freckles from being out in the sun so much.

Has an encouraging personality, though can be a bit antsy, always after hunting the next cache.

Gym Gimmick : Gym has a rocky and natural look. Each room has a hidden button you need to step on to open the way forward. Defeating trainers will give you hints toward the button's location, but alternatively if you're good with it, you can use the Itemfinder to track the buttons down.

[zablionsea]

Update on whatever the heck I was thinking about last night:

I imagined a Sera event style that's like PaDZ related.

(my ramble about this idea and image description are below the break)

The name is based on Exa-Freeze Breath, which is the skill of Blue Skydragon, Nirai Kanai. The Z is the same one as in the PaDZ logo because why not? I tried recreating the font used for the letters in the PaDZ logo for the style name too. Her appearance is a combination of Blue Skydragon, Nirai Kanai and the human character Sara from the game.

The “no tail, too distracting” note next to what she'd look like in battle is a reference to Seiryu having a big dragon tail that isn't shown in her battle sprite in NOISZ Ignition.

Oh, and why Sera? Because she is the one who represents the element of Dragon out of the four elements in NOISZ (Dragon, Cat, Fire, and Sword).

So about the style? Here's what I imagined.

300PW (lv1) -> 600PW (lv44) HP B/TEC A/ATK AA/SPC D

Burst deals higher damage at higher combo and recharges with S-Radiants. [basically it adds a damage multiplier to Zone of Dominion based on combo and recharges after 50 S-Radiants. It's a weird style geared towards trying to high score with SS+, but I'm okay with the weirdness. Probably would be insanely jank and need a LOT of adjustment if it were real, obviously.]

[Get it? Because combo is such a central gameplay element of PaDZ and PaD as a whole that it'd make so much sense to implement as part of the style?]

Part Requirements: I Clear on any difficulty II Clear Normal+ with +90% Overflow (per verse) or higher III Clear Hard+ with +120% Overflow (per verse) or higher, or Normal+ with +200% IV Clear Overload with +120% Overflow (per verse) or higher, or Hard+ with +200%

[Yes these are the Nuclear Drip requirements and not the Beatdown/Dragon Maiden ones because I imagine this thing as a rival to Nuclear Drip and potentially better in very note-dense/high note count charts. Why not have the imaginary Style I based on my favorite game be overpowered? If fantasizing, go all the way, right?]

Songs: (Sera) Upload Your Mind :: Download My Soul (Sera) Conflict (Sera) Magical Tokyo's Night (Grace) ikasu (Diamond Pass) First Star (Event) Skydragon Medley[A hypothetical medley using the Temple of the Skydragon music then the boss music used on the first parts of the Temples and then the Skydragon battle music. I think they're too short on their own to work as a single track. With the “3 minutes minimum” rule for SL tracks IIRC]

[ID

A page of a sketchbook. At the top is a drawing of Sera Hoshikawa from NOISZ STARLIVHT with dragon horns and small dragon wings on her head. She wears a short dress. She has dragon wings. On her wrist is a D-Gear from Puzzle and Dragons Z. Next to her is the phrase "EXA-FREEZE." There's a drawing of her in the bottom corner of the page and in the middle. The drawing in the middle has the words "(no tail, too distracting)" next to it.

/END ID]

[lifeofkaze]

9, 16, 25 for… Revante, Dylanielle, Lizion and ROCKSTAR LIZION. 💛

Oooh, I love your picks, and I'm always up for the Rockstars being included so let's gooooo 💛💛💛

9) What’s the most difficult thing they’ve been through together?

Revante: All in all, they are pretty chill and wholesome. Speaking for Reva only here, it was pretty hard on her when she realised how much she actually missed Dante while she was on her travels. Also, realising there was more on her part when she returned - actually being self-conscious about how she is perceived by someone was a very new sensation to her.

Dylanielle: Spending years in a long-distance relationship straight after Dana graduated was pretty hard on both of them, even though they had very different ways of expressing it.

Lizion: Dealing with the aftermath of the Second Wizarding War / The Battle of Hogwarts in particular, and how radically their life changed from there on almost tore the two of them apart for good.

Rockstar Lizion: Uhm... the whole second part of WSI, basically? 😂 In particular, I'd say the phase between Parts 4 and 5, where they both were kind of aware of their feelings for each other but had no chance to act on them was probably the worst for both of them.

16) What would they consider quality time?

Revante: Reva is all about going out and exploring, sharing her passions or making new memories altogether. She'd much prefer showing Dante how to skateboard or explore a new place with him than having a night in.

Dylanielle: Dana didn't care much for hiking or mountain climbing until Dylan began taking her along. Exploring a new trail or climbing track is one of their most favourite things to do.

Lizion: Since they live and work together, they generally spend most of their days in each other's company. That being said, if they manage to sneak away from friends/teammates/kids and be just the two of them - at the beach, stargazing, or even just reading next to each other - they're both perfectly happy.

Rockstar Lizion: It's what they do all day every day, but music runs in their blood. An afternoon spent just making music and jamming would be considered pretty much perfect by both of them. Also, Orion has yet to take Lizzie to that poetry slam he promised her. He will, one day.

25) Pick a physical attribute that they love about each other.

Revante: Reva loves Dante's eyes. She thinks their colour is absolutely beautiful.

Dylanielle: Dylan loves Dana's laugh. It goes from a slight giggle to full-on laugh, and then she gets a hiccup. Funnily enough, it's Dylan's laugh Dana likes most as well, because with Dylan being more on the quiet, serious side, a full laugh from the bottom of his heart isn't something that many people get to hear from him.

Lizion: Lizzie loves the way Orion's eyes light up when he smiles. Even after all these years, his smile still makes her heart beat faster. Orion loves how Lizzie's eyes remind him of the sea, whether it's bright and blue on a sunny day or dark and stormy when there's she's angry.

Rockstar Lizion: Lizzie *loves* all the many tattoos Orion has, and the story behind them. She could probably draw them from memory... if she could draw at all, that is. Orion would be lying if he said that he didn't enjoy the way being a professional drummer and once-aspiring athlete shaped Lizzie's physique.

[canyouheatmeuponafrozennight]

Watched: Kingohger

You ever think it's good but don't like it for real, from the bottom of your heart? Not that it had something bad or unforgivable, it really just didn't invoke any emotion within after a whole year? I want to explore why I feel this way.

Story

If I had to choose, I'd say Part 1 pleased me more than Part 2; a clearer pair of villains, Racles and Deathnarak, plus the drama of the kings not getting along well. Racles' generals were weaker than Deathnarak's, as Kamejin also had my eyes on him because I kept waiting for his betrayal (in my prediction he was the real final boss though). The first episode of part 2 was easily a favorite of all time to me, a perfect formula to introduce villains and heroes, it could easily be the first episode of the show (or any show), but after that I felt my interest for it decrease. Dagded was very one dimensional, and I feel his generals were much more devices for the gimmick of the week than characters. Glodi was the closest one to being someone, but ultimately was 3:7 on the character:device scale.

I think maybe to some extent, once the scale grows to we are saving the world, my heart disconnects a little from the narrative. A war between races, the constant political plotting of Racles felt much more drawing to me than what Part 2 offered altogether on the battle for the world. I don't think they mishandled it, there were still very good moments, and as, to begin with, the kingdoms were characters themselves, there is grounds for one to be invested in them enough to care for the world, it just didn't happen to me. Only the loss of Ncosopa really felt like something at the time, but I don't think there was much realism to the destruction of kingdoms. Dagded drops a rain of meteors on the city, and in a few episodes everyone is living normally in Shugoddam again, until another threat befalls it and for an episode it's in ruins again. (A part of me wants to say the sets being mostly/often CG distanced my heart from it, but Im not sure that could be it)

Conclusion-wise, Part 1 also had a much better finale than Part 2, I was crying with Gira apologizing to Deathnarak, while Dagded died without any particular emotion. (and to think the robot sacrificing itself is one my of fetishes, it had grounds to be something I liked, yet it didn't move me. maybe they shouldve been a little more characterized if that was their endgame? maybe be little precure fairies around the rangers? maybe make them a little more like the right hand of each king? only gira understood and saw them as people from beginning to end, hard for me to care when only gira cared [and gira only cared every 15 episodes either?])

Characters

It's very much a character-driven show (perhaps that can be said of all sentai, but i felt kingohger was placing almost all chips on its characters), and the chars are indeed good. Wouldn't say they're complex, they're straightforward with their goals, gimmicks and actions. Putting it into words like this, I think that's a world that summarizes Kingohger very well, it is sincere from head to toe. (Maybe that could be it? I talked about it to a friend once, and mentioned how it's the perfect good show, but its exactly because it was crafted so perfectly that I couldnt resonate with the soul of the show. For it to reach me, it had to be a little more twisted, a little dirtier, a little worse even maybe, for something to reach beyond the screen and touch my heartstrings)

At first I liked Yanma the most, but Kaguragi was who grew the most on me. His final character episode, with Iroki, was my favorite episode in the show, easily. Considering how sincere the show is, it's funny that one of the main cast is a compulsive liar(-like creature) who plays on all sides. If I had to rank them, Yanma and Kaguragi would be top tier, Himeno and Rita mid tier, and Gira and Jellamy the bottom one. On some focus episodes they move a tier above, but never fall one, so the writing was consistent and didn't lose sight of the characters (except for that one incident with Yanma and Jellamy what were they thinking).

Shiokara is the best right hand, but I think all of them are fantastic. My dream finale (and insincere probably) was that the kings are defeated and Gira spends a century holding back Dagded while their people run away, and the final battle takes place with the right hands becoming the kingohgers and defeating Dagded, carrying on the wills and legacy of their kings. So much of the show was spent crafting them, I'd have loved for their payoff to be something beyond just happily forever being the support cast.

Humor

Forgive me but this entry was criminally unfunny. From Kira to Donbros there was plenty of comedy, and some episodes entirely dedicated to the comedy, and even if some jokes didn't land well, the overall output was so good that it didn't stick out, only rhythm game players die over a bad rating amidst 100 perfects. Kingohger, however, occasionally hit a good after 100 misses and bads, making me pray for the serious episodes never to end. This however isn't a dealbreaker and isn't what made me not feel much for the series, I just find it incredible how bad the comedy was. Never hire whoever wrote the jokes for this show again Toei.

In Conclusion

I guess it was just too clean and too sincere for me. Someone with a pure soul will clearly take this and accept it as the kino it is, with their minds and their souls, but I'm a bit twisted and can think with my mind that it's great, but my soul couldn't connect with this world, much to my chagrin.

[themaelstrommind]

March 20th, 2009

5am wake up. I roll out of the bottom bunk, throwing the spank tank curtain to the side. Couple of others wake up with me, but we have to keep quiet. Other guys are on different schedules due to mission timings and such. I quietly change out of my regulation PT gear and into my regulation uniform. No lights, just a headlamp with red lights. Don't want to wake others. Don't wanna draw attention from outsiders looking in. Such was the rules not spoken. Who would wanna be a target in a warzone?

I grab my battle rattle from the top bunk that protected me from possible mortar shrapnel as I slept. It was sitting next to my heavy ass duffel and A-bag that carries my chemical warfare gear. Just in case. I strap my leg holster to my right. M9 and M16 grabbed from the top bunk. M9 in holster. M16 to be slung over shoulder. I pick up my boots, upside down. Can't be too sure, so I shake them and bang them against my fist just in case the camel spider decided to do a sneak attack. Put on, strapped in, time to go.

The first smell of the morning Kirkuk air is filled with smoke from the burn pits. The open sewage that is on the other side of the mods and tents. It's early still, but just enough light to see where to go. You can hear the sounds of the mosques announce the day with the Fajr, the first of the Salah. We walk to the truck. It's time to head to The Swamp, HQ for Gator Sector.

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Morning brief. Intel reports. Supply convoy coming from Balad got tagged 2 hours prior. Troops in contact, no injuries. The boys were smart and saw the pressure plate wires in time. Another failed ambush. Convoy to Q-West today departing. Not me. Today, I work the Gator gate. I am not enthused.

I got an hour before changeover happens. Now's the time to run to get some food if ya want it. I wasn't hungry. I grab a black and mild from the last pack I had. I remind myself to buy more from Zo the next time he gets a package from his girl back home. One last begrudgingly bad gulp of dog shit coffee. One flick from the lighter to start the cigar. I jump onto the hood of the nearby Humvee and watch the sky wake up as I press play on my iPod. Coheed and Cambria's "In Keeping Secret Of Silent Earth: 3" - the first song that bears the album's name.

This was tradition now. This is what I did to get my head right. This is what I did 6,500 miles from home, where no one likes you. You are a target. You are at war.

The victim to our fathers' lost war...

Why am I even here, man? First, it was getting mission qual'd. Then SERE. Now here. Like, I know I was the dumbfuck that signed, but...still. Why am I here?

The restless children sit and mourn the graves of those they've never seen before...

I hope nothing happens today. Not today. Of all days. Bravo sector got lit the fuck up yesterday. Which they never get lit the fuck up. It's usually Gator. This is strange. This isn't typical TTPs for them. Something is amiss.

Will they be buried here, among the dead?

In the silent secret?

Fuck, I'm gonna think about this all god damn day until I figure it out. Was it mere coincidence? Maybe. But my fuckery sense is tingling. They don't shit where they eat. They aren't that dumb. I bet you they're trying to bring in someone through Gator. Which means overwatch. I'll need to take a look at recent new entries and coordinate with L3. Something seems off.

The pioneers - In dealing with if they march for dawn...Of will and worthy...

The boys are back from chow. It's time to load up and drive off. 12 hours of fantastic surprises await. 12 hours in the crosshairs. Happy birthday, Stephan. 24 years might just be my high score. We'll see what happens.

Man your own jackhammer!

Man your battle stations!

We'll have you dead pretty soon...

[thatoneguy031]

I made some drawings on a whiteboard, featuring some other characters I conjured up in my free time. I'll provide some context for these guys as they're shown, but please mind my ramblings.

First, these guys. These lovely bastards.

For those who have a keen eye, this is formatted in the same way as TWEWY's Fusion Attacks, specifically from the DS.

These are the two main characters of a PMD plot I'm working on(Which I might write a pilot for, if y'all want that), and despite the group consisting of five Pokemon, these two are especially close, and have went on the most missions together out of everyone on the team.

Noibat(Top): Chris. He's the main main character, and he's a human sent here by Arceus, yada yada world-ending event, you get the idea. He has some killer leadership skills, and is typically the peace-keeper of the team. He's normally the one getting into problems with the villians when he doesn't need to(You guys know Izuku, Bakugo and Shoto from MHA? Basically them), and his team is almost always referred to as the "problem children".

Cubone(Bottom): Lucas. Think of him as Chris's "Second-in-command". He's the second opinion everyone needs when it comes to certain topics. His mother is(More like was, but I'll get to that when the time comes) a previous Rescue Ranger, so he has a natural knack for the whole business. He's admittedly a bit emotional, crying when even the smallest things go wrong, but he's still a solid addition to the team, and he'll be there when anyone needs it. He also might have a super-duper crush on Chris, but that's neither here nor there.

For what they're saying in the image:

Chris: "Rush 'em, Lucas-" Lucas: "I'm there!"

I have a whole system similar to the Stride Cross Battle mechanic from TWEWY, and it functions like the Alliances from Super Mystery Dungeon, but again, I'll get to that when I begin writing this thing.

Also, don't mind Chris's earpiece. He just uses it because he isn't quite used to being a Noibat just yet, at the time of this pic.

Speaking of TWEWY...

Say hi to Azure, I guess(Actually don't, he might wanna throw hands with you).

He's super antisocial, but unlike Neku, he's willing to fight anyone that does as little as breathe the wrong way in his direction.

And his getup? His entry fee for the Reapers Game is his uniqueness, obviously something he didn't know he respected about himself so much until it was taken away from him. Because of that, he dawns an outfit similar to that of our favorite legendary Player, of course with a few changes(And it also explains his amnesia. I just drew him as a dragon just because, which is a habit you'll see in a lot of my drawings from here on).

He's also treated as if he's Neku(Specifically, Neku from the events of Neo onwards); as if he's been through this before. As you can probably guess, he definitely has not. After a certain point, he fights nothing but Boss Noise and even Reapers themselves, leaving his partner very confused as to why this is happening to them. Azure himself has a hard time grasping the fact that he's dead, despite it being told to him about a dozen times, but it comes from a sense of denial. He doesn't want to believe he's dead, mostly because that's something he, like many other people, is scared of... death itself.

Don't mistake Azure's aggression for meanness, however. When the time comes, he does care for people's well-being, and will even risk his erasure for their safety, which is a large reason why he even participates in the Game during his third week instead of just becoming a Reaper, which he calls "The coward's way out".

Here's a fun game: See if y'all can guess which pins Azure's wearing! These are some of the most used pins I had during my playthrough of Final Remix(Which is still going on, if you're curious), and I just wanted to feature them in the picture, as these would be a lot of Azure's favorite pins to use as well.

Don't mind the background, I know I drew the 104 building wrong, okay?