#or just revert it back to ocarina of time

[silenceoflink]

Back in 2017, back when I was a baby artist, I drew something to celebrate the release of Breath of the Wild, the most recent and groundbreaking Zelda Game. Well, with Tears of the Kingdom fast approaching, I decided to re-draw it. Paying tribute to the first 3D Zelda game, Ocarina of Time, I celebrate the new game.

[blackstarchanx3new]

I LOVE YOUR RED DESIGN SO MUCH

He is SO OOOUUUUUUUUUHHHHGGGGG

all your designs for the fsr cast are so so so tasty i love them all ooouwwwaahhhwhwhhwhwhwaahaewawawaaa

Thanks! XD

There's no competition, I love the new one SO MUCH.

Trying to make them all look different while still having that Link flare is a challenge but fun.

His pink hair is such an improvement over the bright red that blended WAAAY to much into his hat.

Trying to draw his eyes more similar to how Akira does as well.

I made him slightly paler and Blue slightly less pale to give them some skin variation.

Red's hair and skin were blending too much imo before I made him paler. Working with various shades of red and pinks is so hard agh.

Gave him a more cherry red tunic too + a red for his belt and hat rim.

I'm taking this as an opportunity to talk about things I love about drawing/designing them.

Blue's super long side burns are a favorite design choice tho. XDDDD

Blue also has a more unique nose shape being inspired by the noses in Soul Eater.

Him having no tights I think shows his wreck-less nature. XD

Thicc eyebrows are visually tasty and don't let anyone say otherwise-

Vio's face + hair is a favorite of mine. He has such a draw-able face.

Him wearing twilight princess Link's outfit is very fitting for him I think.

Him always having his sword visible is annoying to draw but also shows he perpetually has it there is kinda off-putting.

It's also SUCH a stark contrast when in the head space he has no armor and is in way less clothes. I wouldn't call them "revealing" because they're not, but they are compared to his 100% head to toe covered look in the real world. No armor, no long sleeve shirt no long tights. Just a baggy t shirt and shorts lol.

His tunic having a chainmail layer underneath is fun, Vio is the most armored up Link out of the four atm with his arm guards PLUS chainmail.

Vaati is literally color-picked from minish cap and his design is taken right from that too, but playing around with him reverting back to Wind demon mode is super fun art wise.

His colored Akira art is so desaturated agh. XD

I'd love to give Vaati a new outfit at some point tho.

Dark's blank slate design is a favorite of mine. He's so dang cute but I'm very excited to draw him in new things when he gets a new outfit. I think atm tho it draws attention to his creepy chest eyeball, changing hair and his expressions more since his outfit IS so bland.

I just love Link. He is so precious to me. Trying to work in all the colors from the four of them was a challenge but also really satisfying in the final design I think.

I just love how Green is tiered and his hair is similar to Link's but with a cap on. Also he makes me like the color green I typically don't like working with green. XDDDD

His hair is a MESS and inspired by Oracle of ages manga Link's hair. Specifically how it tilts down instead of sticking upward like in FS.

Him wearing Ocarina of Time Link's outfit is fun but I think it works better on Shadow. XDDDD

I'm really happy people liked Gannondorf because I struggled hah. My art style is more simple than Akira's but I'm glad I could capture the essence of Gannondorf. UwU

Like, he was mostly inspired by Twilight Princess Gannon with Wind Waker and Ocarina Gannon flare.

Ngl I love how OOT Link's outfit looks on Shadow Link. He looks so edgy.

The hot topic boots and different toned brown for his chest belt and actual belt are just the cherry on top. XD

I try to keep his hair in line with how it's drawn in FS because it gives him a unique silhouette when he's a shadow.

Though I'd love to design him more Gannondorf inspired attire like his desert cloak.

His TP manga Midna inspired look was mostly due to me wanting to find a way to show his expressions while ALSO showing he is an entirely black shadow.

Anyways yeah, FSR is very fun to work on visually XD

[songofstealing]

So had this little plot bunny and I ended up thinking about it when I should've been doing my assignment

It just kept growing and growing so I wrote it down

Basically,

So the events of Ocarina of Time and Majoras Mask are switched

Time goes on his majoras mask adventure first

Then Ocarina of Time

How would that change things

OR

Time is actually from Termina

Either he was born there or

Maybe when Escaping thru the woods from the civil war

Links mother ends up basically tripping thru into Termina

She'd probably brute force her way and ends  up all the way in Clock town (cuz the Lost woods entrance still ends up in the underground Cavern with the floating platforms, which now that I think about it... how would she get across??

She probably found another way in)

I can't think of one person to take care of Link

Maybe the mayor? So he's Kafei's little brother

Maybe with Anju's family

I also momentarily thought about the blacksmiths up in the Goron village but I don't think they'd be good parents

I can only think that he's just a village raised kid?

Everyone chips in to help and he has his own home where he's kept a close eye on when he's old enough?

I'd like to think he'd be the kid who, like Kafei in game, is always wandering around town with a mask

And it changes each time u see him

(Even if it's just be turning away and then back around, it'll still change)

He's a troublemaker with the face of an angel so he gets away with his pranks aside from a select few people

Probs hangs out with the bomber kids tho not actually apart of the gang

Also plays with the other kids who comes into town doesn't matter if they're a different race

(Probs befriends the deku butler's son that way, Oh no that will be sad)

Likes to go exploring so always sneaks past the guards even tho they try to keep him in since its dangerous out there

Also I like to think he collects ocarinas

If it makes a note and it's Brightly coloured it's his

Different sizes, different hole numbers, funky little deku scrub shaped ones he'll love it

Maybe he makes some too

And masks?

Thatd be cool, if he could slowly work on making his own masks with new powers

Also he probs befriended skull kid, tatl, and tael which will make it super angsty for when majora pops up

There probs wouldn't be a big climactic skull kid attacks link and turns him into a scrub

I think he'd be there when skull kid grabs majora

Would he be down with stealing from a stranger? Or is he someone who plays Light hearted jokes on people He knows

Or would he add to the chaos then later turn around and try to fix everything since he blames himself?

So obviously he doesn't have the Ocarina of Time

But I like to think that Hylia had already chosen him as the next and couldn't allow him to die in Termina so she granted him the ability to Revert time even without the ocarina?

Maybe she imbues one of his

Maybe it's just the song and he can whistle it or a mask??

Also also I read Antartique's "Gifts of Termina" and absolutely loved the Termina head canons they had

From the calendar being different, to the Schroedinger-ness of Termina, and the possibility of Link being able to talk to the spirits of the transformation masks

And because I love linking everything Zelda related to Jojo's Linked Universe

How would this change Time's personality? Would he stay in Termina even tho he's technically from Hyrule?

And how would his abilities change?

If anyone has any more ideas or head canons I'd love to hear it!

And ignore the broken font and formatting pls I was fiddling around with it and couldn't figure out how to change it back

[spinningbuster98]

The Metroid Prime Remaster

Welp! I played it! So here’s my personal thoughts

I think everyone knows by this point that this is mostly a face lift of the OG, meaning that structurally it’s the same game. This means that any issue you might have had before will still be there, like the Artifact Collecting. Personally I’m fine with this, as the game is very honest with what it is, it’s not a Remake.

However there are a few new options, such as settings for people who are Color Blind, the option to turn on or off the Pal Narrator, and of course at least 4 different control options: Dual Stick, Gyro, Classic and Hybrid (a mix between Classic and Gyro). I’ve only tried out Classic since that’s the one I’m most familiar with, and it’s....mostly fine. I immediately noticed that movement felt looser than in the OG, causing me to “slip around” and make inprecise jumps. Thankfully you can adjust the sensitivity in the options so I was able to recreate the feel of the OG controls much better, though they’re still not 100% precise, around 90% on the way there.

I’ve seen people whining about the Y axis controls being reversed....and yeah they are....but there’s an option to revert them back guys XD

As some have already pointed out there is a sort of delay with the charge shot, if you keep holding the button you will first shoot a couple of shots before actually charging (with the exception of the Ice Beam). This wasn’t the end of the world and it’s relatively minor but I still hope they patch this

But enough about this, we all know what we REALLY wanna talk about here

The graphics

This is honestly the best looking Switch game I’ve seen, it genuinely looks like a PS4 title. Yeah some textures are pretty simple when you look at them up close, and you can sometimes tell that this is actually a 2002 game, but it’s still goddamn impressive, especially since it runs at a consistent 60 FPS, no drops whatsoever!

However I wanted to adress something that I’ve only seen few people talk about. Yeah the game is really pretty, but does it preserve the original’s atmosphere?

Because here’s the thing: remasters and remakes often have the bad habit of screwing up the OG’s aesthetics in an attempt at making the game look prettier, usually by messing with the lighting. Some famous examples being Sonic Adventure DX with its brighter-than-the-sun lighting and plastic characters, or the 3DS remasters of Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask.

Prime Remastered is generally more colorful than the original, and brighter also. And yes I do believe there are a couple of instances where this messes up a little the look of some parts of the game.

An example being Flaahgra, who is now too brightly clolored for a corrupted, poison producing monster plant, or the Hive Mecha Room, whose green fog effect is too saturated. Anothet example are the leaves throughout the Chozo Ruins: in the OG they were a dull red color, indicating they were rotting, but here they’re bright orange.

However I believe the game is mostly careful in preserving the original’s atmosphere.

The Tallon Overworld certainly emphasizes its greens, giving its natural setting a stronger feel, but on the whole the picture is still “greyed out” due to the overall rainy atmosphere, just like in the original.

The brighter oranges of Magmoor Caverns emphasize its “hotness” pretty well.

The Phazon Mines are still pretty dark looking and now Phazon is more bioluminescent than ever, emphasizing the area’s neon-like atmosphere

Phendrana was mostly unchanged from the original in regards to lighting I found.

Perhaps the areas that received the biggest makeovers were the Space Pirates’ labs and frigate: the areas are now brimming with a new cool-blue color pallette generated by all the computer screens and force fields, though they’re still quite dreary looking at points. I’m of two minds here: on the one hand it sorta changes the OG’s atmosphere quite extensively here, but on the other it replaces it with something that is still pretty effective in a way, as i think this serves to emphasize the areas’ more cold and sterile feel (they are laboratories where amoral genetic experiments are being performed after all), and naturally their Sci-Fi flavor.

In general I’d say the game knows when to crank down the brightness, sometimes even more so than the original

The room with the dead parasite queen on the Frigate is noticebly darker here, making it moodier, and the room with the Omega Pirate is generally darker, letting you mostly see its phazon spots, and with the area lighting up in response to attacks

I genuinely believe these two instances (and others) add to the OGs atmosphere!

However even the original had many instances when in wanted to be more bright and colorful, to emphasize the beauty of its locales, and the remaster does an absolutely outstanding job here, with completely new assets, particle effects galore, and plenty of “light beams coming from the sky” kind of shots giving places like the outdoors of the Chozo Ruins, Phendrana, and especially the Underwater Frigate (which made my jaw drop) an almost heavenly feel!

When it comes to graphical details many from the OG’s Gamecube release are kept and even enhanced, like the after effects of each beam’s charge shot, water droplet that not only fall on your visor and arm cannon but actually trail downwards or upwards depending on the curvature.

In the original there were some jet streams that didn’t fog up your visor, like the ones in the depressurization room on the Frigate, but they do now.

The Space Pirates on the Frigate have missing chuncks of flesh and are bleeding (though for some reason some of the ones you find already dead don’t have this feature, weird)

Not only can you sometimes see flashes of Samus’ face, but for a split second she will be looking at whatever direction you’re aiming at

The Ice Beam doesn’t register on the Thermal Visor, but the Plasma Beam appears bright yellow

The lava in Magmoor produces heat waves

When you enter a bright area from a dark one the brightness level will initially be higher before being toned down, to give the idea that your eyes are adjusting

There’s a lot more here. However there are also some details missing strangely enough

Your beam shots don’t light up hallways anymore

Some light effects are missing

The mirrors in the Chozo ruins don’t reflect your image anymore (though they do reflect thye rest of the room which is something the OG didn’t do)

The scar on Tallon IV visible at the beginning is far smaller for some reason

In the room with the two big broken test tubes that used to contain two Parasite Queens the left one used to be covered in lots of green slime that formed a trail leading to a big open vent, indicating that that’s where the Queen you fight came from. Here there’s far less green slime giving a much less clear visual message

While you can still see Samus’ arm with the X-Ray Visor you can no longer see its blackened silouhette for a split second when switching beams

There’s more, and it’s a shame but for the most part I’d say the original’s sense for attention to detail is kept and even enhanced.

Some enemies have also received some slight redesigns which....are not bad but I tend to prefer the originals, like the adult Sheegoths having “angry looking eyes”, or Meta Ridley being slightly more organic. They’re minimal, so I don’t have any big issues.

For some reason on Normal Hive Mecha shoots the same number of Wasps for each phase, only on Hard does it correctly mimick its original behaviour which is weird.

 The Log Book entry for the Metroids has been modified to specify that they’re TALLON Metroid, a new variant born from Phazon Mutation, which is a nice touch.

The Wasp Hive on the ceiling of the room with the Incinerator Dron is now scannable, nice.

So is this the definitive version of Prime? Depends

The multiple control options and the better graphics are enough for most people. I think this is probably the best version to date overall though still not 100% definitive, due to those litle snags regarding the controls and those few instances where the atmosphere is not quite up to snuff with the original, and the missing effects.

Still this is overall one of the best remasters I’ve seen, especially in an industry where the word remaster is often synonimous with “half assed”. There was lots of genuine love and effort put into this and for this it should absolutely be commended.

Please give us Prime 2 and 3 as well Nintendo, you dirty money goblins! Releasing the Trilogy most likely one game at a time when stuff like the Crash Nsane Trilogy exists...

Also no Fusion Suit, can’t wait for the DLC :^)

[vodika-vibes]

Okay, I think I have Evie figured out. Here's a rough appearance (my art ability reverted back to stick figures after high school, lol)

Evie Mirin, Pantoran Jedi Padawan

Apprenticed to Jedi Master Feemor when she was 12 years old.

She uses the Shii Cho fighting style, and her kyber crystal is pale green, and she is in training to become a Shadow.

Evie is both clumsy and accident prone, though she claims that she's just unlucky.

She plays the ocarina, a musical instrument she picked up on a random planet and was encouraged to keep playing. And she's trying to cultivate cacti in her room.

Evie genuinely believes that people are inherently good. And that people who are walking a shadowed path only need someone to guide them back to the light.

(A fact that has nearly gotten her killed on more than one occasion)

She isn't so arrogant as to believe that she has to be the one to lead them back to the light, though.

Evie recognizes that people who walk on the dark side of the Force can be dangerous, she just...doesn't recognize that at times. She's not naive, just a little oblivious.

And now, a snippet~

"Thank you for coming, Feemor," Mace says to the Master Jedi, "As I understand it, your Padawan is 18 now. Old enough to be considered for knighthood?"

"Absolutely not." Feemor replies bluntly.

"Need Generals, we do." Yoda chides his former grandpadawan, "Old enough, Evie is."

Feemor nods and pulls a little notebook out of his robes, "Three days ago, Commander Wolffe brought my padawan back to me after she was almost eaten by a man-eating flower at the botanical gardens."

He flips a page, "Last week, Commanders Bacara and Neyo saved her from being mauled by something in the Works. Why was she in the works, I don't know. But they followed her and saved her from being killed."

He flips one more page, "The week before that, Commander Cody returned my padawan to me after she tripped over her robes and slammed into a tree. Which knocked a hornets nest down, causing the hornets to swarm her. Which, in turn, caused her to fall into the Dagobah lake in the room of a thousand fountains. Accord to the Commander, it took four of them to free her from the mud, and it took them thirty minutes to pick the leeches off of her and wrap her injuries." Feemor pauses, "She broke her ankle when she tripped into the tree."

He closes his notebook with a snap, "all of those incidents happened in the last month. So no, Master Yoda, I will not be recommending Evie for Knighthood, unless the Order is going to splurge for her to have a dedicated babysitter."

Masters Kenobi, Koon, and Mundi all look like they're trying not to crack up, and Feemor is pretty sure that Mace is fighting a smile, "Very well, Feemor." Mace says solemnly, "You're dismissed."

[changeling-rin]

The Links get saddled with powers that do NOT suit them. What do they get and how do they adjust? (Servo, with the power to ramble!)

Gen can now create explosions, much to his own distaste. He copes by sparking threateningly at anyone who thinks they can avoid their medical examinations

Speck is now a giant. This is a problem. He's currently dealing with it by being shrunk at all times, which cancels out his giantism just enough to the point where he's normal sized

The Four can now duplicate themselves...! Also they now have a feedback migraine. Problem is that even when they only make one copy, that's still four new copies, so... yeah, they just don't use it all that much.

Ocarina and Mask can now revert and/or reset things back to their original states... which is a problem, actually, because now Ocarina is actually nine, Mask is some weird nebulous between-fourteen-and-sixteen age, any time loop they try to create automatically undoes itself, and the last time they tried to use a mask they accidentally set the inhabitant loose. Also they can't figure out how to not do any of that on first contact, so... yeah this is a mess

Dusk now has the human version of the Pokemon Ability 'Intimidate'. Which is fine, for his enemies, but... he really wants to hug Colin and pet a cat and have a normal conversation without scaring everyone that sees him to death-

RGBV now generate an electric current when they stand near, touch, or interact with each other in any way - problem is that generating and controlling are two completely separate things and they're liable to shock each other, themselves, and anything or anyone within a ten-foot radius. They just want to be together, why is this a thing?

Lore is now the source of a calm field, in which everyone reacts logically and reasonably to whatever happens. He can't turn it off. This is his worst nightmare

Realm has a pocket wormhole, which sounds convenient, except that he can't find anything. The pocket wormhole has no boundaries. It's endless. It's void. It contains everything and nothing but Realm would really like it to contain his sword please and thank you-

Sketch has a raincloud following him everywhere. Please make it stop. He really wants to be able to put down this umbrella and also stop feeling constant mortal terror

Wind makes ice now, which would be really useful actually, if it didn't instantly and automatically form over any liquid he touches. Or any liquid that he's adjacently touching. Such as the ocean touching the boat that's touching his feet. Please thaw. He just wants to go sailing-

Steam deconstructs things on touch now. Any touch. Thankfully it only works on inanimate things, but now the Spirit Train is a pile of parts and rubble. He might cry

Shadow can now produce sunlight, which is horrendously painful and also inconvenient, at best, because he can't hide if he can't catch any of the shade patches which are now being cast away from him-

Oni is now an empath. Not that he doesn't understand the emotions or anything like that, he just. He has no idea what he's supposed to do about it. This is incredibly uncomfortable on a very personal level

[the-starkindler]

This is probably a hot take, but you know how folks think it makes NO sense for the Zora in Windwaker to have evolved into the Rito? I am here to counter that lol. Evolution is only change over time, right? And I hear you; if the world is mostly ocean now, why wouldn't they just stay in the ocean??? Competition for food and resources.

Think about it. Why did whales, creatures who originally evolved from water-dwellers into land-dwellers, revert back to the water? If there is too much competition in your habitat for resources, you are either going to get better at surviving, or find somewhere else to hunt/forage. It is like this for the Zora/Rito, I think. There was too much competition in the waters now that everything that remained got much better at surviving down there, so they were forced inland. Over time, the Rito that had mutations that made land-life easier would have had higher chances of survival and reproduction, ensuring THOSE genes got passed down again and again until they were suited for flight. The ONLY potential problem with this, is the matter of time. Evolution often takes maybe a million generations or more to have this drastic of a change, but Windwaker supposedly only takes place 100 years after Ocarina. There have been instances of evolution occurring within an observable lifespan, but it is bacteria; something that is a much simpler organism than something in the Eukaryote domain. I doubt the devs really thought hard about that, seeing as not a majority of folks really study evolution beyond the basic definition you might* get in grade school. We also have the whole fantastical/magical aspect of the universe here, so there is definitely a way for that to have played a part. I'm just saying, if Ocarina were reasonably far enough in the past, it makes sense for the Zora to have become the Rito. Yes, I am absolutely ignoring their co-existence in BotW/TotK because that's just it's own thing and I hate the Timeline shenanigans anyway lol. AU's are allowed, they are fine, I promise. Anyway, was just listening to a playthrough of the Windwaker whilst I was working today and had to pause and think more critically about it after what I learned in school last year. Man, I really should go back for a biology degree or some shit. Just some fun thoughts to mix with a cool game. *Some places are so hostile to the concept of evolution because it directly contradicts creationism that it is discouraged or outright banned so. Your mileage may vary.

[strawberrycircuits]

So is totk another reincarnation or like next Wednesday of botw?? How did thr environment and tech change so much xddd? Oh wait there could be multiple islands or something.

What are the explanations for shrines? Like they're just there for link to rave in

The trifecta or something like those three triangles are what i most see associated with loz. What did they represent??

Which variation of loz game first introduced you to it? Which is your fave?

If link and Finn adventure time met would they be best friends yes or no. Answer THIS ONE now1 bye

GOD BLESS YUOUUUUUU

-totk is a direct sequel to botw! iirc, totk started as botw dlc, but things got so Big they ended up making another game! we dont actually know how much time has passed between the two games, but there are a couple of things that point to it having been a few years.

>Tulin, who was a very young child (think 4 - 7?) in BOTW, is considerably older (10 - 13) in TOTK, as is riju (she went from being 11 - 14 to being 16 - 18).

>purah's age-reversal technology, which first accidentally made her revert to 6 years old in BOTW, has had its kinks worked out and shes back to looking like a very young adult

>major developments in various characters lives and in the various towns ALSO imply times progressed (zeldas moved in with link and has facilitated the creation of a school in Hateno, Paya is now chief of Kakariko, Sidon is engaged, etc etc).

so its not really the next wednesday after BOTW, its more like. a couple of years down the road. i like to think its been 6 years, just bc thats the actual gap of time between botws release and totks release and nintendo has based their game timeframes off of release dates before (splatoon does this a lot)

-if theres an explanation for the shrines in TOTK i donot know it yet <3 for BOTW, the calamity that strikes Hyrule is actually the 2nd time its happened. 10,000 years before botw, calamity ganon struck, and a link and zelda we dont know anything about managed to seal him away. the ancient sheikah of the time had the foresight to be like "omg what if he comes back" and so they made the shrines to help train whatever hero was around when ganon decided to come back in the future. idk why theyre just Gone in botw tho that shit sucks :/

-uaaah the triforce is so fuckinf weird. ok so its a wish making thing made up of 3 parts-- the triforce of power, triforce of courage, and triforce of wisdom (Woaoo spladfest!!!). if u wanna use it, you have to embody those 3 things, and u also have to be a mortal. if u DONT possess those three qualities, the triforce breaks and embeds whatever quality you embody most in you and the other two parts find people to shove themselves into instead. in skyward sword, link goes through a number of trials that help him develop the power, wisdom, and courage he needs, and he's able to make a successful wish. meanwhile in ocarina of time, ganondorf tries to take it, and he gets stuck with the triforce of power while the wisdom and courage parts go attach to zelda and link respectively. the triforce is a little. dumb i think </3 sorry

-my first legend of zelda was skyward sword, but i never got past the first ghirahim battle, so id just... keep restarting, playing to that point, and starting again. i was kind of obsessed with the opening and i would replay just to see the cutscene where Fi leads Link away to the sword in the middle of the night. I got farther in when i replayed it when i was older but i watched Chuggaconroys playthru all the way bc he loves the game as much as I do and shows u all avenues and details :]. my 2nd game was OOT on the 3Ds and i got to the fire temple and did a similar thing of playing thru the first bit and resetting to play over and over again. then beyond that ive played minish cap, twilight princess, hyrule warriors (wii u), wind waker, botw, and now totk. ive been a fan since i was 4-6, so ig ss/oot got me into it? but BOTW reaaally kicked things into high gear for me lmao. honestly what got me REALLY back into it was michpat6's aftermath series on ao3 because it completely recontextualized how i saw the series and its characters. my favorites are, in order; Skyward Sword, Breath of the Wild, Ocarina of Time, and the Minish Cap!

-ok waiot which. Link. heres wht i think hahehahea;

>wind waker: BESTIES they go on adventurs and be so silly togwtherr!!!! finn talks ab his parents and link talks abt his gma and sister!! they talk abt their nonhuman friends!!!! link shows him how to use the hyoi pears to astral project into the seagulls! bestieeeees!!!!!!

>twilight princess: not sure? TP link gets along great with weird ass kids but idk if that means he genuinely would like 2 chill w a weird ass kid like Finn aushjsa

>BOTW/TOTK: YES but she'd be much more mellowed than Finn. same shenanigans different demeanor yakno. also blond bitches w fucked up ripped off arms and sentient sword gang!!!!!!

>AOC: euurhhhg.no. i think he was a good bit more no nonsense pre calamity but then again he did eat rocks bc someone dared him to and ran like 2 miles bc got his motorcycle hijacked by zelda in this one so idk

>Skyward Sword: he'd be so sooo sweet and like. humor Finn? but unless Finn needed help w anything hed just gently turn down any offers to chill 2gether bc hes sooo focused on other things and the way his swords buzzing tells him he needs 2 get on it

>OOT: ok if hes a kid he'd think Finn is SO COOL but if its adult link i think hed see him as very annoying and would get on his nerves . idk oot link seems very frustrated at all times and like i cant blame him but i think his patience would be very very thin

>Majoras Mask: somewhere in the middle of adult and child links opinions. god knows how long that boys been in a timeloop i think he wouldve learned to appreciate the people around him more than he did as an adult shaped kid back in Hyrule but thats getting into Strawb's Meta Analysis Of Ocarina Of Time/Majoras Mask territory and that would take 5 billion years to explain so i wont here </3

>Minish Cap: tehy have hat. yes. also i read the manga for this one and he acts like sum sort of middle ground between finn and gumball watterson so uauhhhhh ya (nvn)b

>A Link Between Worlds: ok look. i havent played this game. i cannot tell u the plot. what i DO know is that theres this little freak dressed like a rabbit named Ravio who is bizarro Link from a reversed Hyrule called Lorule and im obsessed with him. anuways Ravio and Finn would also be alright buds and Ravio would like. totally cheer Finn on from the background but also he's stealin shit outta Finn's house sowwyyy

[powdermelonkeg]

Precious Stones: The Gemstones of Hyrule

Hyrule is home to a number of unique gems. From the legendary spiritual stones—

—to the jewels that offer you defensive properties—

—to even the simple Rupee—

—these gems make up an integral part of Hyrulean society.

But, as you may have noticed, these gems have different properties than their equivalents here in our world. I mean, I'm sure if rubies offered you cold resistance like they do in Hebra

we would be saving a LOT on commercial heating.

So what makes them different? Why does a diamond in Hyrule allow us to survive a Guardian blast, but a diamond here is more useful on a sawblade?

It all starts with the first strange element we see in Hyrulean history.

Timeshift stones are an integral part of early Hyrulean technology, responsible for powering the entirety of the Lanayru Mining Facility. Despite their prevalence here, however, we don't see them in Hyrule's future, aside from the fabled Ocarina of Time.

But the thing is, they still exist—very much so. Just in PARTICLE form.

Gemstones are actually very complicated structures. Diamond is famously carbon-only, arranged into an incredibly strong lattice. Sapphire and ruby on the other hand, are aluminum oxide (Al₂O₃) with various contaminants coloring them.

What differentiates a Hyrulean gemstone from an Earth gemstone is the presence of the Timeshift element in their chemical structure (element 119, provisionally called Tempusfenestrium, "Tf"). Gem alterations are as follows:

Sapphire/Ruby: Al₂O₃Tf₂

Diamond: CTf₂

Topaz: Al₂SiO₄Tf₃(F,OH)₂

Amber: C₁₀H₁₆OTf₄

Opal: SiO₂Tf₆·nH₂O

Luminous Stone: CaCO₃Tf₂

Emerald (Kokiri's Emerald only, unverified as emerald save by name): Be₃Al₂SiO₆Tf₄

The way these gems function utilizes the original ability of Timeshift stones in turning time back. In the spiritual stones, this reverts the famous Door of Time to its "open" position.

In Breath of the Wild, they're a bit more subtle in their time-turning abilities:

Diamond, known for guardian defense, has its timeshift activated by intense blasts of energy, and reduces damage by reverting Link's health to the point of its activation.

Amber works similarly to diamond, instead activating from a physical strike.

Topaz makes the third damage-reducing stone, activating with electrical shock.

Ruby and sapphire work differently; they turn back time on Link to keep his temperature from changing. Ruby is activated in the presence of low temperatures, sapphire is activated in the presence of high ones.

Luminous stone is the most fragile of the gems, and thus, activates most easily; even chafing against itself can turn it back in time, keeping it from crumbling into dust at the slightest provocation, giving it practical use in clothes for increasing their durability.

Opal is by far the strangest to understand, but when in use, generates a short field around Link that makes the water as still as possible, allowing him to swim faster.

But what about Rupees? How do these factor into timeshift on natural gems? There's no "rupee" gem on Earth, and it's not an approximant of "ruby;" that arealdy exists.

The answer?

Quartz

SiO₂Tf₆

It's got the color, the variety, the frequency even the natural hexagonal shape Rupees are cut to perfection in.

So, in conclusion, a diamond in Hyrule is physically different from a diamond on Earth, and bringing one with you won't give you the benefits a natural Hyrulean diamond would.

☕

[luimagines]

Time’s Age Headcanon

Masterlist

I know this isn’t the usual Chain x reader post but hear me out.

I’ve avoided this for a while because I’ve tried to stay away from aging headcanons. No particular reason why but I might go and write that anyway since I’ve forgotten why I avoided it.

But Time... I’ve been crunching numbers Old Man, and I might be close.

I don’t think this will get particularly long but I know this isn’t most people’s cup of tea, so I’m adding a cut.

***

Now Time was more or less nine or ten years old during Ocarina of Time. Even with the seven year skip he’s still ten-ish by the end of it. So this is our base line.

Majora’s Mask is where things get finicky. This is where the whole time travel, time loop thing comes into play and messes everything up for our hero.

So basically, for those who don’t know, the game takes place over the course of three days. You have three days to save the world but mostly, this town called Termina from a falling moon.

By the end of the three days you go back to the beginning and keep repeating this process until you save the day. Yay.

Three days.

Time kept living through three days continuously.

It’s maddening but it doesn’t really add up that quickly in terms of years.

Ten trials is a month one hundred trials is a little less than a year.

For one year to pass, Time (or in this case the player, it doesn’t really matter) would have to have gone through one hundred and twenty one full trials with two days left over. So really, 122 runs.

That’s a lot of times to revert time to fix the moon from falling.

I doubt even the worst players for Majora’s Mask would have taken that many times.

So no, he’s not 60 years old.

Someone other than Malon go tell the Chain that. And tell them that he’s also not any older.

Our number is now below 60.

But let’s say that it takes Time years to go through all of Majora’s Mask anyway. Or maybe some more finicky time travel things happened in his adventure with Warrior. What then?

We know that in his adventure with Warrior he still appears to be ten or so years old. Realistically it’s to keep the model and facial recognition similar but I digress. (I also don’t know if this is canon to Jojo’s story but it is here). But who knows what Time’s been doing in between that time and even after. Maybe he was still reversing time? How many times did he have to do that on the battle field with no one else being any wiser?

How many times did he have to do it to learn the full extent of the spell the ocarina casts? How far back can it go? What if three days really is the limit? What was the moment Time learned that it didn’t send him far back enough? (That’s a fic for another time)

What if, since in his fist adventure he was a child in an older body, he had the ages flipped on him?

Most people agree that since Majora’s Mask, he’s older than he appears.

But (and this is where the math (however little it was) stops and the head canon begins) what if he was the same age gap by the end of his third adventure?

So in his first adventure, teen is actually ten. By the end of his third adventure, baby face is seventeen. (Or maybe he kept messing with time even after that? Who knows? With a three day limit, that’s a lot of times it’s been used)

So it would mean that Time would have more or less used the ocarina 852 times to have it add up to those seven years, given the three day window. I feel like I’m being very generous with this. It could very well be less than that and therefore less than seven years. 

Seven years is the difference though, I’m keeping it solely because feels cruelly thematic.

Time in the comic is physically in his thirties. And I’m willing to put him at 35 max just because it feels nice but 33 is also a good number. So somewhere there.

From physically 33 - 35, with a seven year difference, it puts Time at a age range between 40 - 42.

Still very middle aged and it would makes sense why Malon laughed so hard at the Chain’s guess at his age. 

It would also put a thirty year old man in his forties and I think that’s why Malon knew he wouldn’t want her share that.

Time is more or less 41 when given a lot of wiggle room.

So he’s really not that old.

He’s just jaded.

[mistymonster]

PH AU/Rewrite Lore

Lore - Part 1 - Part 2 - Character Refs

Where Are We in Relation to the Great Sea?

Hold on, I have a diagram. Complete with some approximate OoT locations…

All of the speculation/meta I talk about in this post and this post is canon to this au

Bellum & Phantoms

Bellum is a phantom of war & conflict that tries to upset peace & balance.

Spirits and Phantoms for the most part are positive and negative versions of the same beings. They can be “flipped” between the two, but the stronger the spirit/phantom is, the more energy is required to change them. There used to only be spirits, with a few “pure”, unchangeable phantoms such as Bellum, but the phantoms began to corrupt lesser spirits and eventually were able to turn many of them.

The Ocean King/His Realm

Really driving in the similarities to Link’s Awakening, the story takes place in a dream world. The Ocean King is the god of sleep and dreams. He attempted to seal Bellum away in an eternal sleep, but the magic rebounded and takes Bellum, the Ocean King, and many people on nearby islands all into a dream together. Even in the dream, they continue to fight at the base of the Ocean King’s Temple. “Oshus” is just him projecting his consciousness to the surface so he can still communicate. A section of the ocean was dragged into a massive shared dream, not just their minds, but their bodies, too – but everything seems the same as its real world counterpart and the people have continued on with their life, unaware that they’re dreaming.

The Ghost Ship

The ghost ship continues to sail around and lure more people into the dream, as the only existing ‘tear’ in the dream where people can be drawn in. Anyone who touches on the ghost ship is transported to the dream world and has their life force sucked out by the Cubus sisters (Tetra’s innate magic was too strong to actually get killed- it protected her and she’s just in a kind of stasis instead) Given that time flows differently in the dream world, the ghost ship had actually only managed to draw a few new people in.

Monsters, Phantoms, Spirits, and Praeolium:

Following in other Zelda’s footsteps, the connection between nature and spirituality in this game’s world is largely based on Shinto. One of my favorite zelda videos “Ocarina of Time: A Masterclass in Subtext” talks about Shinto in Ocarina of Time, and I want that to continue in here. So, switching things up a bit, in this version there are some different categories of enemies. Basic monsters like tektites, octoroks, and chuchus are more akin to normal wildlife, and under most circumstances won’t attack unless provoked. But when the world around them is out of balance, they react by becoming more aggressive.

Spirits and Phantoms are positive and negative versions of the same being. Usually nature spirits and lower deities of the area, they generally protect their territory and the people in it, but if pushed far enough or corrupted with negative energy, they transform into a phantom. (Think Nago from Princess Mononoke) Phantoms will start attacking people or cause the corruption to spread by inflecting nature, other nearby spirits, and influencing the moods of people nearby. Killing a phantom would be beyond most people, so they need to be purified, or appeased in some way in order to revert them back to a spirit (Ex. If the spirit’s tree was cut down, a new one should be planted). Gleeok (protective spirit of the Isle of Frost) is an example of this kind of spirit, but there are less powerful ones like Wizzrobes and Geozards. Reaplings, Poes, and Stalfos are NOT phantoms, but more like ghosts in that they’re manifestations of emotions left behind by a person who died.

Praeolium (singular: Praeoli) are creations of Bellum that, like Bellum, are purely negative phantoms and can not be turned. Some hold some of the sand of hours, the Ocean King’s life force, and this makes them even stronger. Their goal is to aid Bellum by turning spirits to phantoms, stealing life force, and preventing Link from reaching his goal. Leaf, Neri, and Ciela’s power half are each locked in a stalemate with a powerful Praeoli that is attempting to kill or turn them. The suit of armor phantoms, Blaaz, Cyclok, Crayk, Dongorongo, Eox, the Cubus Sisters, and the Massive Eye are all Praeolium.

Phantom Weapons

The only people that can use Phantom Weapons are those connected to the divine. This kept power from falling into the wrong hands, since they could harm spirits, too. Bellum destroyed the Cobble Kingdom, the only ones alive touched by the Ocean King. He took one of their ships afterwards, transforming it into the Ghost Ship and using rumors of treasure to draw in more people.

Since the Ocean King is at the bottle of the temple, he can’t grant anyone the power to use one of these divine weapons. This is where Link comes in…

The Wind Waker

The Wind Waker abilities are granted by Zephos and Cyclos, and there’s only one Wind Waker at a time. The person has to get the blessing of both gods before being granted wind manipulation abilities. Link had an innate ability to see spirits most people can’t, and often endears himself to them (ie the wind gods, the Fairy Queen). These are further heightened by being given magic. He receives both blessings during the events of Wind Waker- Zephos’ through a song, and Cyclos’ by shooting him in his tornado.  Zephos felt it was fate the baton had wound up in Link’s hands, and Cyclos was impressed by his skill and eye for the unseen. Seeing that he’s trying to fight Ganon and save the Great Sea, they grant him wind magic to help him on his quest. From then on he is somewhat of an emissary for them, and uses his abilities to help people and, ultimately, try to relocate and unite the people of Hyrule again. Zephos’ powers are used for soft winds, redirection, cleansing, and calm. Cyclos’ are for rough winds, storms, cyclones, and fighting. Link’s powers from Cyclos use a lot more of his energy.

The twin wind gods had a chosen person carry their gifts back in the old kingdom, and that person was a religious figure, sometimes called on to take down monsters and spirits, remove energy blocks, stop violent storms, etc. So, the Wind Waker represents balance, purification, and protection- the perfect opponent for a spirit of conflict. Link is the first Wind Waker chosen since the flood. While he may be new to magic, he’s still carrying out the classic Wind Waker duties by searching for a new land for his people.

The baton gets passed to each of the wind god’s chosen people by the royal family. It’s a prized instrument(???) of the royal family like the ocarina of time! And with it comes the ability to use the royal family’s songs, which call upon the power of different gods. (Flat and Sharp in OoT were working on studying these songs) Link doesn’t learn many of the royal family’s magic songs on his first journey but he does pick up the sun’s song and the command melody. The sun’s song involves time manipulation but Link doesn’t understand how it works, nor does he really want to. The command melody is used to control statues. Again, not too useful on his journey. No record of what it was used for. Maybe to create immortal soldiers, or guard places remotely.

Ballad of Gales and Winds Requiem are more royal family’s songs that call on Zephos and Cyclos. Link can, in theory, perform these without the baton itself since he has a connection to them but the ballad of gales in particular is not a good idea until he has a better handle on using magic.

It also functions as a wand and helps to focus and direct magic. It’s more difficult to use the magic without. Since Link doesn’t have it on him when he jumps onto the Ghost Ship, he has to learn to control his magic without its help.

Usually the wind gods are there for guidance and help Link learn how to use magic. He’s cut off from them in the dream world which is another reason why he struggles so much with controlling it in there.

Link doesn’t view his role as the wind waker as a bad thing at all! He thinks it helped him a lot while he was on his hero quest, and his magic was able to save his life in the final battle. After all the wind gods couldn’t really defy a choice made by the three golden goddesses, so they gave him a valuable tool instead.

  Link

-        Really what this is about is focusing on Link as a more rounded character, and using a sequel to explore what he might be struggling with post WW. He misses Daphnes deeply (who he simply calls “King”) but like… their relationship was complicated and King put a huge amount of pressure on him to act out the hero role.

-        He’s about 15 years old. Wind Waker started on his 13th birthday. Wind Waker took something like 6 months, recovery from the final battle a few months, then he and Tetra have been out looking for the new country ever since

-        He’s autistic!! And has verbal apraxia. He mostly communicates through sign language, gestures, expressions, and writing, only using words on occasion.

-        He avoids swimming and rain as much as he can because of the traumatic memories it brings up from the wind waker final battle.

-        He has scars from his last journey, most notably a very large scar on his chest from the final battle with Ganon. It extends from his right shoulder to above his left hip, and did enough permanent damage to his shoulder that he can’t safely use a shield and struggles with things that will put weight on the joint (ie climbing) His eyebrow scar and missing tooth is from Ganon as well.

-        His fighting now incorporates wind magic into the combos

-        Getting really emotional can cause him to lose control of his powers. These explosions can make him very tired or even knock him out. cause he had to get nerfed somehow!!!  If they were unlimited he was too beefy. I think he could have probably just flown over and sent Bellum to eeby deeby from the beginning

Ciela

-        Age: ??? . She is probably pretty old but she doesn’t exactly age, it’s not really a concept that applies to her

-        One of the Ocean King’s three dream weaver spirits who assist him. She fights evil that crosses into the dream world.

-        Oshus considers her and her siblings to be his children.

-        Her magic is light aligned and mostly focuses on manipulating the dream they’re in, willing it to change. Usually she’d have as much control over a dream as a lucid dreamer, but her abilities are greatly limited by Bellum and the whole mess they’re in.

-        Still she can warp short distances, slow down or freeze phantoms in place, heal injuries, make herself and others invisible for short times, glow anywhere from very dim to blindingly bright, and she can use her magic for brute force attacking. Like Link she has the ability to turn phantoms back into spirits.

-        The more ground they gain back from Bellum, the stronger her powers get. Her ability to stop time is pretty late story stuff.

-        She can understand any language and is able to translate for Link from the very start.

Linebeck

-        35 years old

-        LOVES his ship and is constantly doing maintenance on her.

-        Chronic insomniac and drinks probably too much. He curbs the habit though once he has Link around

-        Gay

-        Treasure hunter by trade so he’s skilled with deciphering sea charts and cryptic maps. He’s a genuinely clever dude and good with all the puzzles and riddles that go along with dungeon diving, but he is kinda cowardly and the sudden drastic uptick in monsters and phantoms has put a wrench in things for him.

-        He knows Some sign language but picks up more throughout the story

-        He and Ciela are super annoyed by each other in the beginning but eventually become the kinds of friends that are all playful insults and sarcasm

-        I thought real hard about keeping the backstory with the ghost ship that the manga gave him. But in the end decided against it because I like that he really is just Some Guy with no particular connection to anything going on. I think it ties in well to Link being unrelated to everything in Wind Waker but deciding to step up to the plate anyway. Linebeck’s just stepping up to the plate of Fatherhood instead of heroism

[blooddrinkingbartender]

Team Fortress 2 Verse

Below, you will find a profile for Bill’s Team Fortress 2 verse, where he works as an Admin and occasional supplier. To be honest, it’s pretty much the same (even his backstory) as his regular self, except the game is set around the 60s/70s and Bill is an admin/supplier. 

Name: William Godolphin IV (he started going by Bill Cyrus Goodwin during the 1800s, the surname was changed first during the 1500s, and he added the middle name in the mid 1950s)

Nickname: Vampire of Roxbury, Old Bill, Monster, Admin

Age:  Around 800 years old (looks to be in his early to mid-thirties)

Birthday: 7th December 1171 (Star sign: Sagittarius)

Gender: Cis Male (he/him/his pronouns)

Sexual Orientation: Pansexual.

Species: Vampire (died and turned in the year of 1203)

Powers and Abilities: Mesmerism (able to force people to obey his commands, entrance them, or forget that they encountered him, it’s arguably his strongest skill, but it works a lot better when he’s also applying physical contact), flash steps (he can move at abnormal speeds. He can cross a long distance in a literal blink), heightened senses, forming very long claws, regeneration (the time it takes depends on the severity of the wound and how long it’s been since he last fed). Able to create his own shadow weapons of sorts, such as using them to create tendrils to grab/damage opponents, and he can smell lies ‘like when someone rips ass in a car’.

Weaknesses: Can’t enter a place without being invited (however, that doesn’t stop him using his mesmerism to force people to invite him in), some people can naturally see through the glamour and/or resist his mesmerism, fire (kills all vampires), sunlight (surprisingly, it doesn’t kill him, but it still burns him to the bone, leaves him in horrible pain, and makes him wish he could die), can’t utilise his super speed if he’s being watched (he can move quickly while you blink though), cannot consume normal food or drinks without vomiting them up again soon after (he still has eaten or drank normal things for the taste),  the sap and juice of fresh plants burns him like acid, and holy symbols repel him (as long as the wearer/user knows this and/or has faith that it will. If it works, in his point of view, the symbol glows in a blinding light and he feels the sensation of something pushing him back.)

Ethnicity: White

Current Residence: Mainly lives and works at Coldfront base, but moves around as needed. 

Former Residence: Many. His very first was Penzance in Cornwall, and then he kept moving from place to place after he was turned. During the 1500s, he moved to the United States, and now subconsciously speaks with an American twang (currently, his accent is associated with Massachusetts.)

Nationality: English (in particular, he came from Cornwall)

Mother: Glanna Godolphin (deceased)

Father: William Godolphin Sr. (deceased)

Siblings: None. He was the only surviving child out of eleven.

Other Family: He does have a few distant living relatives who are unaware of his existence due to having cousins that kept passing their blood on. 

Height: 6’3”

Weight: 200lbs

Body Type: Mesomorph/Muscular

Hair: Ginger, as is his beard.

Eyes: Very pale grey with slit pupils and red sclerae (Regular grey with normal pupils and sclerae when glamouring)

Languages: English, American Sign Language (ASL), British Sign Language (BSL), Cornish, French, German, Russian and Latin and currently learning Japanese (he’s had plenty of time to learn.)

Distinguishing features: He has major burn scars on the right side of his abdomen, chest, part of his right arm, and just above his butt. A hunter managed to set him on fire. Luckily, before it could kill him, he managed to put himself out. That Hunter paid with her life. He is always physically cold.  He can see himself in mirrors, despite popular belief. He’d be very sad if he couldn’t. The same goes for photographs. However, he doesn’t cast a shadow. If he doesn’t drink blood for a long time, he starts to age. Drinking blood reverses this effect.

He has three scars on his chest that are either from arrows or crossbow bolts. They’re all under his left pec muscle. He can only assume that that was how he died before he became a vampire; someone had shot at him three times and at least one of the projectiles had killed him. 

He has a birthmark on the back of his left hand that’s shaped like a crescent. He often jokes that it’s because one of his ancestors was a werewolf. He also has a tattoo of a Cornish Heath plant snaking around and down his outer upper thigh.

He usually is in a ‘glamour mode’ of sorts in order to blend in with mortals a lot more easily. He can turn this on and off as he wishes, but some people are able to still see through it when it’s on. When he’s ‘glamouring’, his fangs look like normal teeth, his skin looks more like a healthy pink than the deathly white veiny visage it actually is, and his eyes look a warm grey with regular pupils rather than yellow with slit pupils and red sclerae.

If you can get him drunk (he needs to feed on a drunk person), tired enough (wake him up during the day), or flustered enough (good luck with that one), he’ll revert back into his English/Cornish accent.

He always carries a gun on his person; an original Colt Frontier Six-Shooter, of the Bisley 1895 model, 'just in case’.

Hobbies and Interests: Dancing, astronomy (might as well enjoy the stars if you’re nocturnal), origami, drawing, mythology (he has met some figures of myth, or so he claims), and smithing. He’s also pretty good at playing acoustic and electric guitars, acoustic and electric violins, a lyre, the harmonica, the ocarina, and the accordion.

Occupation: He works as a supplier and admin for both BLU and RED, at TFI. He simply does what he is asked by the higher-ups, but takes requests from the regular crew as needed. He is NOT connected to respawn due to his vampirism. 

Personality: He’s friendly, he’s confident, and he can be rather eccentric at times. He’s far from shy and he enjoys the company of others. He lives to entertain, laugh, spread laughter and merriment, and give and get validation.

However, he can come across as conceited, arrogant, a show-off, a bit of a large ham at times, and/or a little bit too full-on for some people. That said, he honestly doesn’t mean harm (not anymore at least) and if you’re his friend, he will kill for you and do what he can to keep you happy.

He’s usually quite hard to anger. He can laugh off most insults or even attempts to hurt him physically. However, if you do make him mad, it’s your funeral, or at least your mind’s. He does try to keep himself in check however. He has no plans to go back to the sadistic bastard that he used to be.

Basic Backstory: Starting out his life in the coastal town of Penzance, Cornwall (in England), William Godolphin was the only survivor of the eleven children his parents gave birth to. His father was a lord and his mother was a blacksmith’s daughter who was married into the family.

William lived a fairly easy and unremarkable life with his loving mother, not-so-loving father and a few servants. His father made sure he worked hard however, not wanting to hand him everything on a silver plate, and told the same of his servants. That said, William was fairly well off, and spent his childhood and adult years getting ready to take on his father’s estate. On finding out his bloodline’s wealth and notoriety was founded on thievery, murder, extortion, he was not so willing to do so, but he was unsure of how to find a way out of it.

However, at the age of 31 years old, tragedy struck, and he was attacked and bitten while taking a walk. Despite being weakened by a draining of his blood, he was still determined to get home. But then he was shot and killed, reviving as a vampire soon after. He has no clue how he became a vampire, and who made him (although his maker would often speak into his head), and it did take him some time to get used to his new condition. However, after about fifty years or so, he managed to wrap his head around all of it.

He started out his unlife as a sadistic asshole, to be blunt. After the death of his parents (he hid his condition and they went to the grave never knowing what he became), he dismissed his servants to his father’s uncle’s house, took his inheritance, sold his old estate for a sizeable sum, and travelled. He toyed, hurt and killed humans as he pleased. 

What he doesn’t know is that his maker was puppeting him from a distance during those three hundred years. He still believes the choices he made during that time were his own. It also took a toll on his mental state even centuries later.

During the mid-1500s (coincidentally, around the same time his maker died) however, he came to the realisation that he didn’t enjoy doing what he was doing. He didn’t enjoy hurting or killing others. He decided to try and use his abilities for good, targeting criminals like murderers or rescuing those who might have needed it. He knew he couldn’t bring back those he had killed or restore the minds he broke when he was still mastering his mesmerism abilities, but he could at least start doing better with his life and do his best not to hurt another person (within reason).

At this time, he changed his surname to Goodwin and went to the United States to settle there, moving from place to place (although he visited other places and went back to England from time to time). Over 300 years later, during the 1850s, he changed his first name to ‘Bill’ (becoming Bill Goodwin) and settled down in Roxbury, Boston, content to stay off blood for the rest of his immortal days and age into an elderly gentleman.

In the year of 1899, one of his neighbours gave birth to a baby boy. After the loss of her other children, this seemed to be a spot of hope for her. However, she had no love for this child. She even refused to give this son a name and was very abusive towards him as he grew older. Bill gave the boy a name and started to help raise him like he was own, growing attached to him like a son. Said boy grew up and a few months after he turned eighteen, was sent out to fight in the first world war. Bill killed and drained the kid’s mother soon after he left, planning to tell him she just died suddenly in her sleep if he came back. Despite Bill’s worries he wouldn’t survive, he was delighted to receive a letter telling him that he would be returning to America in the month of November of 1918.

His surrogate son wasn’t on the ship, much to his dismay. He was informed that he fell off on the way home and he wasn’t found. He suspected foul play and got the truth out of one his son’s friends. He had been caught kissing another man, beaten up and then thrown off the boat. He knew he couldn’t judge anyone for that (“I drink blood to sustain my own life and I’ve had a few different lovers over the years”), let alone the young lad. Hellbent on revenge, he set off to slaughter his surrogate son’s four murderers, even admitting that ‘even though it won’t bring him back, it makes me feel a hell of a lot better’. He drained them of their blood in the process, going from an old man back into his early-to-mid-thirties. He decided to stick to that age this time around.

He later found out his son survived and had washed up on London’s docks. He went there to find him, but much to his grief, he was told he had been killed in a violent brawl with a vampire the night before he arrived. However, he took said vampire down with him in a mutual kill. He wonders if his son possibly reincarnated and could be out there living a new life now.

He continued to travel around, learning new things and trying new stuff to keep himself busy. He still drank blood to sustain himself but he didn’t kill unless it was someone he felt ‘deserved it’. He also kept up with all the changes in technology. He even adapted his speech as needed, keeping up with slang and staying savvy with the times.

He eventually found his way to TFI and after some discussion, became an admin and a supplier for them. 

As of now, he’s currently settled in Coldfront as his ‘main’ base of sorts, but he goes elsewhere as needed. 

[thebleedingeffect]

Another thing that will always be sweet to me about the ocarina of time ending is that zelda feels so guilty about dragging link into this fight despite it being out of both of their control. They were marked by the gods and there were several factors that tied them together but even then she still felt horrible and promised him that he could go back to his old life. And she does exactly that, she reverts time and they're both children again.

Link isn't held down by fate, at least not anymore, he could go back to the forest and continue as a child until he naturally leaves whenever he so pleases. But he doesn't, he turns right back around and meets zelda right as he leaves the temple and says 'I choose you, not fate' and that simple fact is so sweet to me as it shows he doesn't blame her and that they have the opportunity to build an actual relationship with none of the destruction and responsibilities of death over their heads.

They're just kids with the entire future ahead of them.

[smashmusicideas]

June 25: How the Ultimate Trailer Works So Well

Amongst all the thoughts and discussion regarding Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, I don’t think any individual element of the game - even more than the confirmation of Ridley - warranted the level of adoration and excitement as not just the inclusion of every Smash character ever, but the short “Challenger Approaching” trailer explaining that.

So I decided I’d take some time and analyze it for how it works. Hoo boy, did that take longer than I expected.

For ease (and because I’m, well, lazy), I’ll be splitting this up into bullet points. I should also note that I’m avoiding a lot of stage analysis except in certain cases, largely because the emphasis on fighters is the focus. Also, this is quite long, so a “read more” tag is needed for this one.

Before the video: Sakurai adds this whole “character numbering” element, which is odd. Most viewers less familiar with this scheme (which has mostly always existed within the series) assumed this indicated the total number of characters from the start, but more than that it inherently acknowledges cut characters, something Sakurai tries to avoid as to not make their fans feel worse. No matter who is watching, it’s odd, and sets up the actual video in a way that feels odd.

00:02 - 00:15: We see Battlefield, something which since Brawl has always functioned as a focal point for the series - kind of in the way Mario does, too, which is why he appears here. Traditionally, Mario is also the character who reflects the visual direction of each game the most, so his “Brawl meets Smash For“ art style confirms it as a new game, one that will marry multiple iterations of Smash.

0015 - 00:28: Kirby, Samus, and Bowser are all Smash staples (two from the first game, one from Melee). They’re also not in numerical order, telling us to not expect things in a “normal” way. They also more clearly show a few returning stages, Castle Siege and Green Greens in particular, and Giga Bowser seems to function in a far new way.

00:28 - 00:34: Link is also one of the central Smash characters, but his drastic redesign tells us further that this will be a new iteration - one that will look to more recent games, at least in part (we also see a new Breath of the Wild stage, alongside Temple). Keep in mind that he gets a huge amount of time to emphasize this.

00:34 - 0:44: We see a lot of Donkey Kong (including a change to his Giant Punch), but it’s Falco’s appearance in 00:42 that’s surprising. He’s typically and understandably a hidden character; showing him off is kind of bizarre. For most viewers, it’ll just seem nice for a beloved character to return, but for the more attentive first-time viewers it is somewhat odd and continues the off-kilter vibe of Sakurai’s introduction.

00:44 - 00:48: Marth casually shows off the new changes to Shield Breaker, just like with DK earlier. Further indication that old fighters will have, to quote Sakurai from a decade ago, a “slightly different flavor this time around,” and that it won’t simply be an expanded port of Smash for Wii U (this emphasis will continue throughout the video and into Nintendo’s continued promotion of the game.

00:48 - 00:52: New Zelda! Not really new Sheik! Their having their default costumes implies they will remain separate fighters, and Zelda’s in particular bucks a trend of Zelda and Link’s costumes coming from the same game.

00:52 - 00:54: Our first post-Melee fighter, Villager, shows a new ability. His appearance also begins to move us from the more classic Smash fighters into a wider variety of ones new and old.

00:55 - 00:58: Meta Knight and Mewtwo. Notable for the former being the first Brawl character in general and the first one shown, and for the latter being the first Pokémon representative - before Pikachu, even. Mewtwo also looks like it did in Smash For, an indication the DLC would not be ignored.

00:59 - 01:01: And here comes Sonic - with a new version of Super Sonic and a returning Green Hill Zone in tow - as the biggest guest fighter out there, though that doesn’t confirm whether less established third party content would be joining him.

1:02 - 1:08: Peach and Pikachu, each with slight new changes in how Toad and Volt Tackle work. It’s notable how long it took to get to either of them, though their being more famous leads nicely into...

1:09 - 1:15: the Ice Climbers! Their return is such a big moment it’s hard to notice we’ve also got a returning Summit (and Living Room), and they unsurprisingly get a whopping six seconds to show off how they look in HD.

1:16 - 1:21: And from a beloved, long lost fighter to a highly desired new one, Nana and Popo formally introduce Inkling, with both a male and female design in tow. We get a good look at how diverse their weapon selection is, alongside a new Splatoon stage.

1:22 - 1:27: Pretty much the only thing we need to see with Falcon is the Punch, while Zero Suit Samus and Wii Fit Trainer show that even the less “iconic” of the cast aren’t going to be ignored. Given Boxing Ring’s centrality to Smash For, its being so prominent here makes sense.

1:28 - 1:30: here’s where things get weirder. The Ice Climbers coming back makes sense, but the Pokémon Trainer? I don’t really think it’s vague on whether the switching mechanic will return (he’s in the back, so...), but it’s out of the blue in a way none of what we’ve seen here is. That it only lasts about two seconds makes it all the more shocking.

1:31 - 1:36: Ness and Lucas. A little surprising for the former, given his traditionally being a hidden fighter, and more so for the former, who was last in the series as DLC.

1:36 - 1:41: The DLC concern becomes even more noticeable now, with Ryu fighting yet another normally hidden fighter: Ganondorf, surprisingly sporting the classic Ocarina of Time design Melee used. It implies a far greater amount of changes than what we were initially expecting, and assures the less confident of us that even third party DLC will not be ignored.

1:41 - 1:44: And look who else is looking new, but Ike, who’s reverted to the design Brawl used...except he isn’t. While the Inklings were expected to have male and female versions, this is the first indication we’ll have more pronounced alternate costumes for specific characters.

1:45 - 1:51: Cloud’s inclusion is another important one at this point, because compared to other guest fighters, the possibility of his return seemed far more up in the air. He gets a lot of airtime, space that comfortably confirms his two outfits and Omnislash, a great flashy move to send us into the big moment.

1:52 - 1:55: If Cloud’s return wasn’t a sure thing, than Snake’s was a pipe dream for fans (myself included). Having one go to the other is smart, because after him, Ice Climbers, and Pokémon Trainer, Snake‘s chances feel so much more possible. And it works so well. We don’t see an attack, or anything, because we don’t need to. It’s Snake, on Shadow Moses Island. That’s enough for us, until...

1:56 - 2:01: “EVERYONE IS HERE!” really just speaks for itself, but I’d also like to note the small feature of Snake running right after the words appear. It’s subtle, but it’s a flash of energy leading to the rest of the video (an energy that is supported by the music, which becomes far more intense up until the end). And it’s important to him be behind the words, because by this point a viewer is processing them, recognizing the totality of what that means.

2:02 - 2:04: And to prove how serious that claim is, Jigglypuff - the last of the original cast (minus Luigi and Yoshi) - brings back Pichu, likely the very fighter most people would think of after hearing that “everyone is here”: “even Pichu?” That the joke character of Melee has returned is proof of the claim, an example of how insane and wild this project is planning to be. But despite how notable it is, the two Pokémon are onscreen for only two seconds.

2:15 - 2:18: Truthfully, the next few reveals are less exciting. Roy is the fifth DLC character revealed to return, but Olimar, Diddy, and Lucario are all fairly normal. But it’s with Lucina that we get yet another oddity. She’s 21ε - an indication that something different was being done with the then-called “clone characters.” It’s yet another indicator that Smash is going to be different, and in rather unexpected ways.

2:26: It’s not a big detail, but Dr. Mario lacks the Epsilon, indicating that he’s different from how he used to be (given that he, Lucina, and Dark Pit are associated as the Echoes of the previous iteration of Smash, it stands to reason people might look for that on him, too).

2:30 - 2:32: And there’s Dark Pit literally one shot after Doc, with the Epsilon. It’s important to keep it all in mind more easily. I also think it’s notable that Palutena’s moveset isn’t shown at all in here; it’s one more thing about which Sakurai’s been coy.

2:39 - 2:42: It’s important, I think, to have the two versions of Link show up together; it highlights how they’ve both functioned as spinoffs of one of Nintendo’s (and Smash‘s) most important heroes. By this point, Young Link is the final character (again, other than Luigi and Yoshi) who came from a game before Brawl; he’s important as one more reminder of this game’s scope.

2:46 - 2:49: And if there were any fighters whose fate would seem as up in the air as any third party character, it’d be the Mii Fighters. And yet, they’re all here, too. And like with Palutena, we see no customization or anything beyond some very basic attacks.

2:55 - 2:56: Despite not being a huge surprise, Pac-Man’s new Final Smash (or new version of Super Pac-Man, technically) is fast, really fast. And that’s good because it kicks up the pace right to the finish. Like, it’s weirdly intense to watch at that point.

3:00 - 3:03: Wolf! While calls for him were probably not as loud as those for Snake and the Ice Climbers, he has remained a beloved Smash character and a fighter people really wanted. Having him here is good for a bunch of reasons - he was the last newcomer in Brawl, his style works really well for this point in the video - but probably the most is that people really wanted him back especially. And holding off on that until now helps emphasize this game’s scope.

3:04 - 2:08: Mega Man needed to be the final main shot for a lot of reasons. He’s a beloved gaming and Smash character, he’s got name recognition, and especially because his Final Smash is the best way to send off us. It’s just this huge blast that keeps up the momentum right until the end.

3:11: And we have the title. “Ultimate” really is perfect word for this, a video that is pretty much just about the history and power of Super Smash Bros. 

3:16 - 3:20: ...But it also wouldn’t be Sakurai without some goofing around, so we let the air out of all this pomposity with some silliness from Luigi and Yoshi. I think it makes sense for more reason than Sakurai often using those two for mirth. The Brawl trailer had all this bombastic, dark energy...but then Wario showed up and farted. The first Smash For trailer seemed exciting and crazy...and then Wii Fit Trainer appeared; almost all the character trailers after it had stingers afterwards, mostly goofy ones. It’s a good and important statement that Smash will always be goofy and weird. And you got that in some individual shots (Dedede and Wario, for instance), but it’s a deliberate anticlimax that mocks you, but only slightly, for all the energy you’ve hopefully gotten from what is a very long trailer, all things considered.

So, what have we learned, aside from me realizing I need to come up with shorter topics for this blog? I think it’s that you could have made this announcement any way. Sakurai could’ve just shown the character selection screen, Nintendo could’ve put it out in a press release, or they could’ve just not mentioned it entirely (though that’d be insane given that “everyone is here!” is the game’s tagline). But a video was the best way to do it. And I think this way was the best video they could’ve realistically made. Every fighter gets to show off a ton of personality in a couple seconds, and by basing the whole video around being before or after Snake, it can position the ideal fighters in a way that lets viewers slowly realize how much grander this is going to be than they realized. It’s all just great design in general, and more than just a really cool trailer that showed things off.

(Link to my writings on Super Smash Bros. Ultimate)

[yourspunkpunk]

Heeere she is :)

Name / Nickname: Merkava (pronounced Merk. Uh. Vuh)/ Sunny

Nationality / Ethnicity / Language(s): European / Romanian / English, French, Italian, ASL

Age / Birthday / Sign: Unknown, presumably a young woman / May 25th / Gemini

Date of Death / Date of Res: The Collapse / 3 years before the Battle of the Twilight Gap

Height / Weight: 5'1 / 125 pounds

Species: Human

Light class: Sunsinger (mainly), Stormcaller (ocassionally. She often creates screw ups for herself, resulting in nasty, nasty burns).

Faction alliance: Future War Cult

Ghost: Ike (a lil sarcastic, icy ass)

Orientation / Status: Bisexual / Single as a pringle

Fireteam name: Fireteam Riley (current) Sunsong (ocassional), King’s Song (occasional)

Traits: Bright, amiable, amusing, silly, companionly, talkative, curious, loving, pragmatic, overexaggerating, high spirited, opportunistic, selfless, messy, dependent (but can do fine on her own when the situation calls for it), appreciative, genuine, obvious, emotional af (on the postivie side), honest, sensual.

Quirks: Scribbles in her notebook to herself on her own time to take stress off from duty, absolutely loves snow and will create the craziest of things out of it, has nerve-wreaking panic attacks, does not like being alone but is not super attention seeking, loves sweets, with her gift of substantial control over Solar energy she creates fireballs/glowballs just to observe the beauty (she has great love for the Sun), and finally, she loves to play her ocarina instrument during serene, quiet times. Others around her often take solace in it.

About: One of the younger Guardians, Merkava is a proud Sunsinger and active Thanatonaut of the Last City.

Her Guardian life started 3 years before the Gap, and she’d learned the coming of Guardian resurrection bore no easy consequence. Without the Crucible existing as the required middleground for new Guardians to train, she had to work/train away from the Tower, and out on the arbitrary battlefield. Learning the hard way she wasn’t compatible working alone like other Guardians (specifically Hunters) she was placed on a set Fireteam with experience just around her level, to help her grow in a more efficient way with her Light. The placement proved to be beneficial for her and worked well with her Light in favorable style. All three (two Hunters, one Warlock) had developed a long way, and became one hell of a Fireteam with surprising chemistry.

In the events of the Twilight Gap, Merkava had lived and had given all she could to help the City’s cause. Witnessing the countless bloody deaths of Guardians and civilians alike, along with her close friend Lauren’s, had traumatized her, and only fed into her anxious nature. The agitation only worsened from the frequent seperation of herself and her usual Fireteam out on the battlefield, and in the callous dangers of the Fallen. She’d only learned to cope by taking appreciation into her own hands; succeeding through battle by bonding with other Guardians and taking the role of an active medic on the battlefield (along with fighting when she had to).

Things were brighter after the immense victory for the Tower. A reunion with her teammates and Guardians she knew had been the biggest blessing given to her in the aftermath. With vast improvement sure to be in the Tower’s future, Merkava reverted back to her usual bright, positivity-radiating self, but with more conscious maturity in mind, which in turn earned more love from her teammates and those she bonded with during the battle. 

In the events of the Taken King, Ikora sent Merkava to Mars with full intent on setting her on the path of the Stormcaller. The path was risky, her mentor knew with there being so few of them and Merkava being a young case, but she also had faith her bright student could do it, given her gift of efficient control over Light energy and her general bright composure. The process, as expected, took a long time, but Ikora found Merkava fairly compatible with Arc, and with more training over the years, could become one of the best.

The beginning was balls to the wall rough, the burns she’d received some days were endless. Arc didn’t flow like the Solar energy she was accustomed to, with warmth, growth, and sense of integrity. It instead struck in jagged, relentless pathways, a daunting storm annihilating everything in it’s wake. The destructive nature inspired fear within her of course and concern in her teammates, however, with enough training she’d proven Ikora right. Given time, Merkava was not only a very gifted Sunsinger, but an enlightened Stormcaller, and she used the subclass when times were convenient.

Being the curious lil thing she was, the subject of forgotten memory became of eager interest to her during bouts of her random research as a Warlock, specifically her vague connections to the Ishtar Collective. Who was she back then, her occupation, and her nebulous connection to the Ishtar Collective? These questions not only strode through her mind’s web, but fellow Warlock brethren as well. Giving the subject serious pondering for a long while, Merkava had her mind set on what she was going to do. Exclusively following the prestigious Guardian Pujari, Merkava strode to unravel the advantageous mysteries of her past under his wing, and became an active Thanatonaut.

Merkava may have escaped many of life’s casualties plenty times through her occassional messes, but she’s still got ways to learn.

[a-sweetpotato-writes-ocs]

Gil's encounterement

“So…”, Gil was in the middle of cleaning dirty cups, as his co-worker nonchalantly started talking to him “Got any hobbies?”

He didn’t mind. Actually, Gil was normally a pretty sociable type. But he really didn’t quite so much want to get close to this one. In his eyes, Heat seemed a bit… off. Also, he had felt him starring at him the whole time while serving the customers, so there was also that. But of course he was way to polite of a person to actually show his discomfort. So he kept shut.

“Well, playing instruments, I guess.” He felt Heat closing in, his chest almost touching his arm.

“Oh, you play, instruments? Which ones, if I may ask?”

“Ukulele and Ocarina.”

In the beginning, Gil had thought Heat to be a relatively shy person. Someone who would not speak much and not loudly, someone who avoided people. But with him, his co-worker just… seemed to make a 180° turn. He would still speak quietly, but he was actively looking for a conversation. He just acted so much more different around him then around other people. That was exactly what made Gil uncomfortable. Not the spark in Heat’s eyes, but way he closed in on him. Because albeit being an allrounder concerning social behaviour, he had always despised physical contact.

“I once tried playing the guitar but failed immediately. Maybe you could teach me?” He approached even more and Gil didn’t even have enough room anymore, to freely turn around or move his arm without pushing Heat away. The new worker was a nice person, he really was. Until the point where he got stuck in a job he didn’t even want. But sometimes there were just some boundaries even Gil couldn’t accept being surpassed.

Right when he tried to gently push Heat away and tell him to please back off a little, a customer came in. A customer not quite like the others.

“Heaaat! Is your shift over yet?”

“No it’s not. And besides, I told you not to pick me up.” Heat had reverted to his usual personality. Relived to finally have some air to breath again, Gil turned around to see whom Heat was talking to. It struck him like a tornado, like an arrow. What he saw was breathtaking. Almost stunning, even.

He laid eyes on a seemingly frail boy, with eyes and hair in the colors of the dawning sky and a slighty tanned skin, without any kind of blemish. His voice sounded calm but determined.

“Don’t be like that, for how long have we know eachother? Our entire lives? I think it’s only plausible, that I'd want to pick up my chil-”

“Excuse me”, Gil interrupted, his voice trembling of excitement “ But would you tell me your name?”

The frail boy widened his eyes a bit. He looked at him, slightly tilted his head and reached out his hand.

“You’re a new face, no? My name’s Kain. Heat’s beeeeeeest friend. Nice to meet you.”

“Cut the crap, Kain. You’re making me wanna puke.”

“A few warm words sometimes wouldn’t hurt. I have a heart, y'know?”

“If I do, you'll just go ahead imagining things. So no thanks.”

And albeit those two's bickering, Gil took his hand and shook it, enjoying their brief skinship.

“I'm called Gil. It’s a pleasure on my part, too.” The smile he received made him feel dizzy. But a good kind of dizzy.

And so a small, tender spring had begun to grow in his heart. In his, and his alone. And he thought, if it was for seeing this one person from time to time, maybe he actually wouldn’t mind all that much keeping to work in this Coffee shop, together with all it’s quirky workers.