#so I had to remove her. I could have used an OP character too but like. i want to pick one character and take them

[malewifehenrycooldown]

Properly played King of Fighters Anthology last night, and um…

Sometimes you face off against some bullshit characters, and after a while you admit defeat to them and have NO CHOICE but to put them in a quarantine folder, just to make your experience a little more bearable.

[pheavampire]

Astarion, Cazador and D&D vampire lore

Let’s talk about D&D vampires and some lore inconsistencies in Baldur’s Gate 3.

BG3 is not a game about vampires. It was obvious we won’t get a playable character who will be 100% vampire spawn from the handbooks - the mechanical balance would be disturbed in comparison with other characters. But we can list some weird stuff and missing aspects. For fun, for fanfiction, for nerdiness.

I still wonder why Cazador even asked Astarion if he wants to be turned. Sure, he could do that, so he could say later „ha ha you asked for it!” but still - weird. Anyway, a vampire lord doesn’t need to ask - he just bites his victim, kills it by drinking its blood and boom, a vampire spawn is made. Almost made…

… because at first the victim needs to be buried and layed in the ground before it rises. That’s the next question - how the hell did Cazador make 7000 spawns? Theoretically he needed to bury them all, dig them back/wait until they dig themselves out or something and transport them to his dungeon without being noticed. His servants could do that for him, but it still is a pretty big thing to cover. Besides…

… accordng to D&D 3.5 edition: "At any given time a vampire may have enslaved spawn totaling no more than twice its own Hit Dice" which means it was impossible for Cazador to create 7000 spawns. Sure, Baldur's Gate 3 uses 5 ed rules, but I'm sure they didn't change this one that much. (BUT! We can interpret this rule as: a vampire lord can create as many spawns as he wants, but the number of enslaved ones is limited. That's all right in this case).

That being said, Astarion is surprised when he discovers that all Cazador’s victims are spawns now. One of his dialogue options is „I thought Cazador was feeding on you”. Well yes, he had to feed on them to make them spawns Astarion, I thought you noticed that yourself 200 years ago. But let's say I understand your confusion, 7000 spawns mean Cazador's hit dice is 3500. Lol.

As a vampire spawn, Astarion should be able to regenerate even without biting someone. To be precise, he should get 10 health points at the start of every turn until he gets killed. But ok, this one doesn’t work in the sun, so let’s say it’s justified… unless the party is in the underdark, shadowlands or other dark place. But yeah, that would be too OP.

Astarion should be afraid of holy symbols, mirrors and garlic. That would be quite irritating, as he wouldn’t be able to even get near Selune's stuff or Lathander’s temple (Lathander HATES the undead, just ask poor Jander Sunstar). But let’s say the tadpole gave him immunity.

Spider climb. Imagine Astarion climbing walls or even ceilings like a damn Spiderman - this is what a regular vampire spawn can do. If the tadpole took away this ability, that’s not very nice of it.

Claws. Astarion should be able to transform his fingers into claws at will. That’s right, it works like another melee weapon.

Coffins, graves et cetera - bunk beds in Cazador's palace are a very anti-canon idea. Because D&D vampires have really traditional weaknesses, they always have to „sleep” in the ground they were buried in to recover - just like Cazador. Jander I mentioned earlier invented an un-lifehack, as he was traveling through Faerun by keeping some of the dirt from his grave in his pocket. He was scattering it in the place he wanted to rest for some time.

A vampire spawn can be controlled or banished by clerics like any other undead. That's right, when Shadowheart casts this one, Astarion should roll the dice, or else he will have to run away from her like those zombies you banished during your playthrough.

Last but not least, vampires get damage if they are in the flowing water, for example river, but you already know this one from the early access Astarion. Shame they removed it, in was a bit irritating but I loved it. It reminded me Astarion is a vampire not only in the dialogues.

That's all I can think of now. My knowledge is a mix of 3.5 and 5 ed, do with it what you want. I wouldn't mind more lore accuarte Astarion fanfics though.

Shocked Astarion reading D&D Monster Manual. Or Libris Mortis.

[watertribe-enya]

ygo5dsmonth/Week 2024 Day 4 - iDuel

Since the prompt is music, I thought we could talk about the visuals in the 5D's openings maybe? So here are my favorite parts, and some things I noticed in general

Opening 1 Kizuna

The beginning with the Signers, Godwin and the dragon marks looks super cool. Too bad I don't like the music that goes along with it, haha. A little Jack and Yusei heavy, but it's alright, at least the side characters get time to shine too

Opening 2 Last Train

It's soooo good, a like practically everything here. The new characters and monsters get presented well, and everyone has some solid screen presence. The coolest parts are the view of the Dark Signers in their lair, Kiryu appearing on his D-Wheel, and the Signers at the end (the Dark Signers look cooler though, sorry fellas)

Only thing that bothers me is how Godwin shows up so little in the opening, he's (barely) more in the ending ffs, and he's the final villain of this arc. I know that was a twisted plot twist and I'm the only one who cares, but still

Opening 3 Freedom

Phew, the opening wastes no time to tell you that this is the Yusei/Jack/Crow show now, Rua, Ruka and Aki get into the back right now! And if you're focusing so heavily on the boys at least let them do something other than standing/driving casually, you're not really hyping me up like this OP. Fun fact: this was the first japanese opeining the german dub decided to leave in, after they started dubbing the 4kids version and did their own synchro

Sherry's face looks fuckin weird in this

Why should I care about the stupid WRGP (You're a grand prick!) again? Sigh, tournaments for the sole sake of getting better at something work better before you save the world from certain doom (but that's a writing problem not an opening problem)

The Majestic/Savior dragons look cool at least, and I like that this sequence kinda mirrors the dragons from Last Train, just in their evolved forms

Opening 4 Believe in Nexus

The villains get to look cool for a hot minute, damn. Although Lucciano is the only one with rollerblades, so him sliding and everything makes sense. The other two...are robots and ignore how uncomfortable this should be

Sherry too? They must feel really sorry for having to remove her from the plot

Ally of Justice monsters, so scary! Isn't that the archetype that only ever had one good monster, a generic synchro? But of course everyone has to be dumbass in this arc and plays light monsters, which Ally of Justice is strong against

Opening 5 Road to Tomorrow-Going My Way!!

This is intense as you can see on the two exclamation marks in the title. At long last the other Signers get to be something other than background filler. Also it's so fuckin funny how Yusei and Crow roll out all their Synchros, even those they don't use anymore

and meanwhile Jack...

I refuse to play anything besides Red Demon's Dragon!!!

Jack: Man, I'm sure gonna miss to have someone to stand on rooftops with, once Arc V rolls arround

@ygo5dsmonth-week

[fantastic-nonsense]

This is a bit arbitrary, but is Oracle’s existence public knowledge pre-Flashpoint? As in, does the average citizen know of Oracle? I’m reading up on Barbara because I’ve only read her pre-Crisis Batgirl stuff so far, but I’m kind of… iffy about the BOP book because of the writers.

No, Oracle's existence wasn't public knowledge. Babs' identity was completely secret until halfway through Ostrander and Yale's Suicide Squad run and even after that most of the heroing community didn't know who she was, much less the general public. Birds of Prey as a book largely functions on the reality that the team is, essentially, a covert ops team led by a figure whose existence isn't public knowledge and whose identity is somewhat unknown even to the larger heroing community. As we move through the post-Crisis timeline, Oracle's existence largely stays secret from the public but most of the heroing community knows that she exists and works with her. She even had a stint where she worked closely with the JLA during the Watchtower era.

In terms of her secret identity: the Bats know that Babs is Oracle, and the Birds know that she's Oracle, and various individual heroes (like Ted Kord and certain members of the Justice League that she regularly works with) know that she's Oracle, but there's still several people who have no idea that Barbara Gordon and Oracle are the same person (much less that she used to be Batgirl).

By the time we get to Blackest Night/Brightest Day in 2010, Babs decided that too many people knew about her existence as Oracle and way too many people out of that group knew that Oracle was Barbara Gordon. So she faked Oracle's death to the larger superheroing community in a very mid and weird BOP plotline called 'The Death of Oracle', leaving only a select number of people (most of the Bats and the BOP) aware that she was still alive. This canonically had major consequences for several heroes who were relying on her intel and were in the middle of dangerous assignments when she went dark, but also wasn't properly explored as much as it could have been since a) The Black Mirror, which Babs co-starred in, was also happening at the time and b) the reboot happened shortly afterwards.

In terms of Birds of Prey the book, Vol. 1 (1999-2009) is pretty solid the entire way through:

Funnily enough I consider Dixon's Birds of Prey run to be one of his Top 3 comics. There's a reason an all-female team title written in the early 2000s survived long enough to be handed over to another writer and it's because Dixon made it work. Babs (and her relationships with other characters) is his one exception when writing women and I still don't know why 20 years later. There are definitely still significant amounts of Dixon Flaws™ that shine through in that run, but he's one of Babs' best writers and is still probably the best Dick/Babs writer we've ever had–largely because he's one of the few writers who actually gives a fuck about Babs as a character separate from her relationship with Dick. Which is weird because it's Dixon, but it's still true.

Gail Simone's run is well-written with good plotlines and has better treatment of the characters overall. It's also extremely racist at times (specifically anti-Asian) and occasionally veers into weirdly immature "high school mean girl bickering" interations. She writes an excellent Babs, but I think she was also dealing with a lot of external and internalized misogyny as one of the only major female writers at DC and as someone who got to where she was because she played somewhat nice with the "good old boys' club." Her work on BOP is not without significant flaws, but it's also a really fun read and I recommend it.

I wouldn't really bother reading BOP Vol. 2 (2010-2011) unless you're a completionist and every post-Flashpoint iteration of the team has been either "decent concept, bad execution" (the New 52 book) or "this is just bad, pull it now" (every version of the book since). If you remove Oracle from the equation and pretend like post-Flashpoint's watered-down Batgirl!Babs is a suitable replacement, you've already lost a fundamental aspect of what made the book work in the first place.

[mccnstruck]

their warmth.

characters: ichika hoshino x saki tenma x honami mochizuki x shiho hinomori

tags: poly/need, pure fluff, fantasy au but could be read as regular au, op died from cavities from making this, self-indulgent, not proofread

a/n: this is for @queer-prosekai for the @winter-sekai-gift-exchange !!! i hope you like this cuz i had way too much fun writing this and realized polyneed is my comfort ship. anyways ENJOY !1!

Ichika smiled, for the snow started to fall down on city streets.

It was a beautiful day for a stroll. Well, Ichika would have to properly define what is considered “beautiful”.

It was a busy afternoon, and markets began to close at the sight of snow. People rushed to confide in the warmth of their fireplaces, and children huddled with their parents from the gusts of winds. A thin blanket of snow began to cover the roofs of houses, and gusts of winds were the only attacks to worry about.

Saki, protected under the endless amounts of layers, rested her head on Honami’s shoulder.

“Honaaaa, my love! I’m so cold, won’t you protect me from the merciless, ever-bitter winter?”

Honami smiled at Saki’s antics and enveloped Saki in her arms. “Always, Saki.”

“See, Shiho, this is what you do when I want a hug!”

Shiho let out an exasperated sigh and removed her hat, before placing it on Saki’s head and patting it down.

“Saki. You can’t just rely on us whenever you want warmth. You have to wear more layers.”

“Shiho, I am wearing layers! Are you saying you would refuse to lend me your warmth whenever your poor lover is freezing to death-“

Saki paused when she felt lips touch her forehead, before smiling and leaning into Shiho’s touch. Shiho leaned her head onto Honami’s other shoulder and looked back into Saki’s vibrant eyes.

“Never. I would never, Saki.”

Ichika looked back at the serene scene of her lovers and almost forgot about how sore her smile was starting to become.

This. This is what Ichika would call beautiful.

Honami’s eyes widened at the sight in front of her and loosened her arms around Saki.

“Look, they have a sale going on over there. Should we go and check?”

Saki nodded, before taking Ichika’s hand and dragging the group forward. “Hehe, let’s go! I bet they might have apple pie we can eat at home.”

Upon nearing the shop, the seller brightened at the group.

“Welcome! There is a sale for some of these pastries and foods. Please, let me know if anything comes up or you would like to buy anything,” before he returned to his task beforehand.

Honami leaned forward and scrunched her eyebrows. “What to pick….what to pick…. There’s so many good options we could choose. There is a classic apple pie, but the one with nuts inside adds for a crunchier bite…ooh! There’s also that one there too, for a different taste. Hmmm, what to choose…”

Ichika raised her hand to laugh behind her hand. “Hona, we can choose whatever you would like.”

“I know, but I would rather get something all of us can enjoy without any issues.”

Ichika’s hand took Honami’s covered ones and raised it to her lips, before placing their intertwined hands near her heart. Honami felt a warmth rush her cheeks, and her face countered the bitter cold of the winter they were in.

“Hona, you don’t need to worry so much. Do you want me to choose something?

Honami smiled and nodded.

“Thank you Ichi.”

Ichika looked around the shop, scanning every single item she was free to choose. But, one of them spoke out to her.

“Let’s get this one, hm?”

Honami peered over Ichika’s shoulder and smiled.

“Let’s get this one.”

Ichika dropped the money onto the counter and the seller smiled, pulling out the fresh, warm, caramel apple pie.

“Enjoy, and stay warm!”

Ichika responded in kind and took the apple pie. When Honami and Ichika reunited with the group, Saki’s eyes sparkled in excitement.

“It looks so good…”

If Saki’s eyes sparkled at that moment, Honami’s eyes became the equivalent of stars.

Shiho looked up at Honami and sent a knowing look to Ichika.

“Let’s go, we can warm this up at our place.”

Ichika looked back at Shiho and shared the same look back.

“Yeah, let’s go.”

The sun had begun to set, and the skies had begun to consist of a dark blue. Lanterns glowed throughout the city streets, and the pure snow sparkled underneath. And yet, the serenity of the view had not captured Ichika’s eye. For when she looked back at Shiho and smiled, and saw Saki’s and Honami’s excitement for returning to their home, Ichika was enamored with what was in front of her. No amount of city views or apple pie could have Ichika so in love, than the three people in front of her she got to call hers. She would forever be enraptured in their heart, their warmth.

Their warmth would forever stay with each other, no matter the bitter cold winds of winter.

mccnstruck.

[deltastra]

My Thoughts on Tower of God Season 2 Episode 1

Hey guys, I hope to make this a regular thing every week! Before I begin, I want to state that I watched episode 1 and 2 when it first aired, but I didn't have the time to write anything about those episodes. Now I do! At the time of writing this, I have not watched episode 3. Anyway! Let's go!

WEBTOON SPOILERS WAS TEASED BUT NOT OUTRIGHT STATED

Rating: 9/10

Summary: A solid premiere that showcases what this new season will offer with the change in studio and artstyle! Some scenes felt a bit off but it wasn't too much of a bother!

I like the short recap at the beginning of the episode! It lets us adjust to the new artstyle and direction the show is going while also giving us a bit of a refresher as it has been 4 years!

This scene is interesting because first, AWWW ENDORSI NOOOOO SHES CRYING, and two, does this mean that they will add in the Bam and Endorsi scenes that were skipped? I sure hope they do their best to add in key scenes for characters that were changed or skipped in season 1!

OH MY GOD SHE SAID IT SHE SAID THE THING GUYS OMGGGGGGGGG

Why did Yuri's VA change? It will take some time for me to get used to it, but it's alright.

I like her look, they made sure to design her as closely to the webtoon as they could.

KEVIN PENKIN YOU'RE COOKING SO DAMN HARD WITH THIS SOUNDTRACK. THIS SCENE FELT LIKE MADE IN ABYSS FOR A SECOND WITH THAT MUSIC. LOL

If y'all are curious, I already gave my thoughts on the new OP here.

Loving the voice acting for him!

Maybe it's just for Wagnan, but I love the expressions!

I'm not ready.........

I love how the inspirational music playing as Wagnan steels his resolve gets cut out with a loud chanting ost when Viole comes into frame.

Love the details on his eyes. He looks tired. First glimpse of Bam as Viole!

The start of a beautiful friendship!

Yup. this scene was funny years ago, and it's still funny now.

HORYANG HAHSHAHAHAHAHAH

THE TEAM DAD IS HEREEEEE

i liked the music here! And love this scene because it shows how nice Wagnan is despite his strong personality.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO LETS GOOOOOO

AND HERE IT IS. THE ROUGHLY 10 SECONDS OF FIGHTING THAT WAS SHOWN CONSTANTLY IN TRAILERS!

Jokes aside, it was VERY well done. I smiled like an idiot watching it and even replayed it many times.

I am unsure if it was done by a solo animator, but I hope they save their resources for this type of animation during very important fights.

Season 1 had very animated fight scenes too but they all felt slow to me. This? I love, the dynamic camera really adds to the action. Music is great too! Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying its better than other popular shows' fight scenes with sakuga animation. I'm just saying that if they maintain this current standard, I will be satisfied!

I do wish it was slightly longer and I am worried that this episode may be the only one with good animation for its fight scenes due to how much it was being used for promotion. However, I will keep my fingers crossed that they are cooking for THAT important fight later in this cour.

OH THE SHINSU LOOKS BEAUTIFUL HERE

NAHHH VIOLE WAS TRYNNA CATCH A BODY HERE. HE WASN'T JUST GONNA "FAIL" WAGNAN LMAO

Istg guys this ability only appeared like once and never again. Maybe I just don't remember. Anyway, close enough. WELCOME BACK TOKYO GHOUL!

NAH WAGNAN SAW THE REAPER IN THAT SPLIT SECOND. VIOLE WAS DEADASS TRYNNA WIPE THIS GUY OUT OF THE TOWER COMPLETELY LOL.

:(

I LOVED the ending to this episode. Viole's flashbacks, and him standing in that elevator with the music playing. It gives you so much regarding Viole's feelings about his life and his surroundings at that moment. And the way the music distorts at the end adds to the tragedy of Viole in my opinion!

I LOVE THIS ED SO MUCH GUYS. THEY DID IT IN WEBTOON SCROLLING FORMAT!!! THEY EVEN ADDED SIU'S WAY OF CREDITING HIMSELF EVERY CHAPTER (He removed the TUS after coming back from hiatus tho oh no)

To me, this ED not only pays respect to the source material and how many of us read Tower of God. But also a way, in my opinion, of telling the audience that "Yes, we know about the source material, and we will follow it this time." And I like that it will show more every episode. (Also covering up all the events with Jahad's symbol like its "blocking memories" is kind of funny. I doubt the studio did it with that in mind but its still a neat coincidence)

Overall, a fantastic premiere to the new season! If they maintain this quality, we are in for a treat!

[justatalkingface]

I know this may be a bit of a hot take and you might disagree with me

... But I think the story would've been better if Izuku stayed quirkless.

If he did, the whole "anyone can be a hero" message wouldn't be as flat or limited. And his past wouldn't be ignored completely. Including actually seeing more of the world's flaws.

And the thing is I'm expecting him to be Batman or Ironman, I just wanna see him struggle to keep up with those with quirks and prove that those without quirks can be good heroes.

You don't need an op power or facing big bad villains to tell a good story. Sometimes internal or simple conficts like these can be enough.

Hmm... you know, you're not wrong. A lot of the problems I have (before Hori starting rushing to finish, anyways) have to do with the focus on power levels.

Granted, a lot of the plot would have to be vastly changed, AFO flat out removed, at least from the present (I don't care how crippled he is, him being trapped in a wheelchair wouldn't stop someone who has potentially all and any Quirks from being game breaking hax), and so on, but... it could definitely work; the shape of it is there.

The League, for example: early on especially, the focus on them seemed to be about their cause, about each of them had a problem with something that they wanted better. It was hard to take it seriously, though, when the only ones with any development were nuts, and those without it just didn't care to object to whatever murders they got into. Like, Dabi: in a horrifying way, he's the sane one out of the developed League members. He has a goal, he has steps to get there, there's at least a bare bones plan, and he's willing to put in the work and not blab about it to make it happen. This puts him head and shoulders above everyone else, whose planning seems to be, 'If we kill enough people everything will work out'.

Dabi is, I say this again, nuts. He's a suicidal sort-of-anarchist out to tear the present order just to watch it die and plans to murder his family, whose power set explicitly hurts him all the time. He's literally The Man Too Angry To Die; Dabi should be the crazy one of the team, not the sane one.

Meanwhile, Toga is a victim of societal and familial abuse. Toga wants to be accepted for who she is. She wants a family, love. It's just that, instead of talking about abnormal Quirks, or how society doesn't accept them, or how she wants to, like, drink a blood bag in public without issue and that's OK, her actual, genuine goal is A, to have the freedom to attack and kill anyone she finds 'cute', and B, to have a friend group that accepts that as valid.

Shove down everyone's crazy levels under the Dabi Benchmark of Sanity, take away AFO's direct influence, and suddenly the League is far more dealable for a Quirkless hero, but also has a mission statement that you can sympathize with.

Stain is, I've said, blatantly two dimensional, and tries to murder one of the most actively outgoing and helpful heroes we've seen in the series for being 'false'. Flesh him out, give him actual 'acceptable' targets, and that's a thing that could get a lot of play.

UA could still be the focus, but with less life risking bullshit, and more focus on Izuku proving himself and struggling at every step against the Quirkless prejudice that used to be a thing until Izuku stopped being Quirkless. Bakugou's assholishness, Aizawa's biases, the non-hero classes apparent jealousy of the hero course, the mediatization of heroics; all of these could easily drive the story for a long while.

Hell, All Might as the faded hero mentor could still be a thing; there's some good fanfic out there about him taking Izuku under his wing without passing on OFA. The dynamic was so wholesome while it was allowed to exist in canon that I'm a sucker for it, and it'd be great for him not to be shoved in a corner as an incompetent has-been, and instead continue to be an actual character who does things.

...Though there's a question of how much of the not Quirk powers would remain; it's clear that MHA bodies can, for no apparent reason, operate at levels far beyond human, even when it has nothing to do with anything. Endeavor gets smeared across several buildings by that High End and is still intact, Toga has not!teleportation and is a defacto super ninja for no apparent reason other than allowing her to fight toe to toe with people who can level buildings, Gran Torino gets stabbed through approximately all of his organ and lives... if you get rid of those, it'd cut down on how DRAMATIC a lot of the fight would be for sure (which is pretty much the point, just flashily smashing people into and through walls or buildings, or blowing them up, just to see it happen... also, it'd probably be good if Bakugou's building wrecking gauntlets weren't a thing), but it'd raise the stakes when someone getting punched through the stomach actually kills them, and force more time on thought out fights, and things that aren't fighting.

These, along with points I and others have raised before, could all be uses to make a tighter plot about society, about what it means to be a hero, not one guy who breaks the setting with his bullshit Quirk and his one perfect counter he accidently made then failed to stop, despite his overwhelming superiority in every possible way, for probably close to a century until it became too strong for him to beat.

Then we could go back to characters with characterization, an Izuku who we root for, a story with acknowledged trauma and biases, all the things MHA still tries to pretend to be about, even though it's clear at this point it's just about how launch the strongest blow.

In other words, restrict the scale of it to concentrate on a better story, not better powers.

[ginnyrules27]

Your unpopular opinions on Descendants?

Oh boy, here we go. I fully expect to be excommunicated from the fandom for this...

-Mal gets too much hate from the fandom, especially for her D1 actions. I get she's not a perfect character (especially concerning some of her actions in the books) but the fandom seems to be too willing to forgive Audrey for her actions in D3 because of what Leah said to her and yet ignore Mal's line regarding her and her friends/allies fate if they didn't get the wand:

'Oh no, we are definitely goners'

As well, Mal was raised in a hostile environment--yes she had a slightly better life on the Isle being Maleficent's daughter but she still lived on the Isle just like Evie, Carlos, and Jay did. As well, she's lived her entire life trying to be her mother. She's not going to just flip a switch because she's away from her abusive environment.

-If anyone's a Mary Sue, it's Audrey. I've seen way too many people say Mal's a Mary Sue because her mom's Maleficent and her dad's Hades so that makes her OP but the most powerful magic we saw her do was her dragon transformation. Meanwhile, Princess Never Use or Have a Drop of Magic in Her Life is suddenly using Maleficent's scepter to the point where she can curse people with it? Enchant boards and suits of armor in other locations?

-Evie. And. Doug. Should. Not. Be. True. Love. I will die on this hill--people call Bal toxic because of the love potion and the attempted memory wipe, but they ignore 'Are you stalking me? technically yes' and Doug's actions in D2 should have removed the True Love label from Bevie, especially since stalking's a real-life issue that I really can't believe was turned into a joke (but then again HSM2 introduced kids to workplace harassment without realizing it)

-This is a petty one but where's Mal's, Jay's, Carlos', and Evie's thank you for facing off against Maleficent? These are a seventeen-year-old, two sixteen-year-olds, and a fourteen-year-old facing off against The Mistress of All Evil and there's not a one on-screen thank you? In Wicked World, Mal even had to remind people she 'turned [her] mother into a gecko for you people' when she was accused of CJ's mischief before the Neon Light's Ball/when Ben got captured.

-On the subject of Wicked World...tie it in better with the movies. Especially season one. It...was completely pointless and both seasons could have been used to bridge the gaps between movies

-Audrey should not have been the wedding planner for Mal and Ben's wedding. I'm sorry, it's a cute idea and all and calls back to how Audrey planned Cotillion in the years before D2 but planning someone's wedding should not be an apology/trying to get back into the kingdom's good graces after not only throwing a coup but knowingly turning your ex into his worst fear.

-Also I liked the private ceremony. I thought it was more 'Ben and Mal' and fit their characters!

So yeah...those are my unpopular Descendants opinions!

[waffleweirdo]

Finished Path of Radiance!

In total it took me about 40 hours and about 4 months (oops)

Long story short I really liked this game both in story and gameplay!

Now for some more rambling thoughts:

*will include spoilers*

Gameplay:

The best way that I can describe what I enjoyed about the gameplay is a good balance of information. I think there are a few other facts that could play into this (this is the fe game I went into the most blind, and difficulty). But in general I felt like there was a good balance of systems and ‘calculations’ to manage in battle. My wording here might be nonsense, but essentially there aren’t as many active effects like engage or fates that make everything overwhelming. While there aren’t as many automated tools like the later entries (I.e aggro indicators in three houses) have so I was more so forced to check possible outcomes manually. Now this probably isn’t ideal if you really want to play strategically, but I don’t! I typically play these games mostly around feel, and this method of play helped me develop a kind of sense of what would likely happen and a greater familiarity with my own and enemy units and I thought that felt cool!

Another possible contributor to this was the difficulty. It started off a bit difficult while the units were all still weak, then got pretty easy in the mid game (except daybreak!!), before getting fairly tough again around the last 6 or so chapters. Which is a curve I generally like! There were moments I would’ve liked it a little bit harder, but it was overall very satisfying! (For context I didn’t use any bonus exp until after chapter 18, and only used the majority of it around chapter 27).

Some other minor gameplay things. I thought the mechanics surrounding laguz were cool too manage! Plus they tied in really cool thematically and I felt awful attacking helpless laguz (the fact that the game made me feel awful is a good thing!). This game was the fe game that I knew the least about going in, and I managed to only ever use a guide for one chapter which I enjoyed, but I do think it means I probably missed a few recruitable characters. I’m pretty confident I missed at least three, though it might’ve been more oops… I really liked the use of bonus exp it was a cool way to still level up units that don’t necessarily earn a bunch naturally, or buff underperforming units, and as a sort of difficulty regulator. Gameplay wise my favorite unit was far and away Astrid. She snowballed so quickly! I was shocked when Titania had beaten her for most victories. I though item management was a bit tight sometimes, but not really in a good way. The fact that the shop had different stock every chapter was a bit frustrating, especially when it would remove basic iron weapons so units with only an e rank couldn’t train at all. But overall it wasn’t too big of a deal. I also didn’t realize how op forging was until the mid to late game, but that’s on me.

Characters:

Ike was BY FAR my favorite fe protagonist. His consistent attitude and personality made him a lot more interesting. Although he didn’t have the most complex character journey ever, he was still enjoyable, and always felt like an engaging character, rather than being one note. He consistently works well with the rest of the cast, and the way that he serves as an optimistic force, yet isn’t without flaws is really nice. I think he’s just a great character! I also really like that he didn’t turn out to secretly be a noble. I think this is the first fe game I’ve played with a protagonist who is not a noble, or secretly revealed to be a noble!

I feel very guilty that I never got around to using Soren much and thus didn’t get many of his supports because he was really interesting and I would’ve liked to see how he grew past his outward facade. But even so the story did a good job of depicting his growth, even if it was somewhat subtle. I also guessed that he was the spy for Daein, but nope!

Elincia was great too. She never stood out to much, but throughout the whole game she was engaging, and it was nice to see her growth. Again I didn’t get to do too many of her supports which was a bummer.

I guess this is as good a place as any to talk about supports. The way the PoR levels them up based on deployments? Very cool! Really excellent idea. The support conversations I read? I really liked them! Why. WHY is there a limit on supports? And even more so why was it so strict? Essentially what this meant was I was constantly juggling which characters I cared about the most, and if I ever found another character whose supports would be interesting? Well let’s hope I have a bunch of supports left, or I have to change my mind, or hold supports for possible future characters. It’s awful, and locked me out of probably 3/4 of the supports I was interested in. It sounds minor, but honestly really did affect my play through a lot. I care about supports and having them so limited sucks!

Jill ended up being one of my favorite characters. I was interested when she first joined us. I think my first thought was, “what is she up to?” But her story of learning the truth behind Daein’s propaganda and choosing to oppose them was really touching, and equally tragic. The dialogue where Mist offhandedly mentioned that she and Jill were about the same age… augh!! Plus Jill’s supports with Lethe were great, another reason why supports shouldn’t have bee-

I think the other character I want to highlight is Nasir. He’s one of my favorite characters for sure, and his story is really intriguing. Even learning his relationship with Ena and his ultimate motivations it still feels like there’s so much we never got to learn. Especially never having truly gotten to reconcile with Ike… it’s just really interesting. He traveled with us for so long, and always felt like a mystery, and even finally understanding him came too late… it’s just really neat.

Story:

The story of this game was interesting, the main plot thread was helping Elincia retake Crimea, which was a fairly standard though well done story. Archetypal in a sense. But largely what I cared about was the story in regards to the laguz and beorc. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, just interesting to note. In that sense some moments of the plot felt largely unremarkable to me, while some moments where the two converged felt really interesting. The discovery of the truth behind the Serenes massacre and Ena’s reunion with Rajaion stand out to me. In the sense it’s sort of hard for me to reconcile my thoughts on the story. I didn’t really care much when Ashnard was killed, but the moment I understood who Rajaion was I wanted to cry. I think largely PoR’s story is a success, as there were more moments that I was interested than moments were I was disengaged, and I do generally think of the story fondly.

Having the full vision of how the conflict between laguz and beorc was depicted I think there are probably some things to critique, especially in some moments where it doesn’t feel as far reaching as it largely should. As in sometimes it feels like that racism is far too easily ‘solved’. But ultimately I think it fits PoR. PoR isn’t trying to be a story that is incredibly focused on fictional race relations. But it doesn’t shy away from including and exploring them, and out of the fire emblem games I’ve played it does by faaaaaaaarrrrr the best job. Plus it does have many really good moments that I think are genuine standouts.

As an aside, I’d also like to say that the info system is really good at adding in additional plot relevant reactions by characters, and showing the effects of your actions on civilians and the world around in such an excellent way. I can’t exactly pinpoint why, but some of my favorite moments just come from the one off interactions in it with characters you know you’ll never meet again. It’s cool!

I guess my thoughts of PoR’s story and themes come down to the fact that they are far from perfect, but ultimately succeed where it matters.

Sequel?:

I wasn’t really sure what to call this section, oops. This is the first time I’m playing Fire Emblem game that has a clear sequel! Which I know even less about going in than PoR.

Knowledge going into PoR: It has the Black Knight and Ike

Knowledge going into Radiant Dawn: It has Micaiah

So these are a collection of things I’m still wondering about which might possibly come up in the sequel? Though even if they don’t I’m satisfied with the conclusion of PoR’s story, and leaving loose ends isn’t a bad thing.

Ahem. What’s going on with Goldoa’s royalty? What’s going on with Sephiran? The apostle is a descendant of one of the warriors that fought the dark god? Is the Black Knight really dead? And most importantly Chekhov’s amulet that contains a literal dark god???!??!?!? Anyways I’m sure that will end just fine.

One of the moments that I’m most interested in was Ike’s final fight with the Black Knight. I took one look at the battle forecast and saw that Ike would immediately die, remembered Ike and Titania’s promise and booked it. Though I really wonder what might have happened if I did something different. Though honestly I’m okay just wondering.

Aaaaand yeah. That’s everything I can think to say at the moment. I liked this game a lot! I’m not quite sure how I’d rank it among the fe games that I’ve played. But I’m very excited to play Radiant Dawn and see what that has in store.

[atlailx]

EarthSpark Season 1 Finale Retrospective (from someone who hasn't seen every single TF show)

(I'm not too sure how to format text posts but whatever)

Spoilers for Transformers Earthspark (obviously lol)

I finally had enough time to finish season 1 of Earthspark, and though I loved the finale, there were just a few things I think it could've improved on.

1. The ending was too easily solved, we had that HUGE buildup of the machine that could kill anything with energon in its body, then it's just reversed 2 minutes later? The finale would have generated so much hype and appreciation for the second season if it ended on a cliffhanger.

2. A few of the plot devices didn't make very much sense if you REALLY think about it. For example, once the Autobots arrive at the Malto's home to save them from ghost, why didn't they take off their ghost badges? They clearly do not associate with ghost anymore, why were they still wearing the badges? And even after that, when the Terrans and Bee defeat a mind controlled Elita and OP, why didn't they remove their badges? They saw that the badges are what caused them to power down at first, and it's safe to assume that once Elita and OP awoke from the Terrans defeating them, they'd still be under mind control. (Unless this was specified in the show and I just missed that)

3. This is minor, but where did the cassettes go? Surely Soundwave would've freed them, right? Also where is Tarantulas?

4. When Twitch and Thrash were on the tower fighting Mandroid, they knew that the cybersleeves were powering the energon machine thingy, why didn't Thrash just free the Maltos while Twitch distracted Mandroid? (Unless that's what he was trying to do originally, I may have missed/forgotten that)

Though I do have complaints, the finale had so much good in it

1. I love how Twitch and Nightshade were the main two Terrans, their personalities work so well together.

2. The camerawork and animation is amazing, the blend of 3d and 2d works so well in the finale and it looks phenomenal.

3. The reference to the hanger fight from previous episodes when Twitch propelled herself with her cannon was perfect, I love that she picked that up from Megs.

4. Overall it was an amazing finale, and though I still do prefer Cyberverse and TFP to Earthspark, the second season could steal my heart.

Speaking of season, here's a few things I'd love to see in the 2nd season of Earthspark (Obviously not every single one, that'd be a bit too cluttered for a single season)

1. More characters who (in canon) who changed sides (during the war) such as Jetfire and Drift, I'd love to see the dynamics of a reformed character showing their perspective on the past.

2. Add the DJD, they would be perfect for Earthspark, since in IDW, they hunt down Megs for changing sides, they'd be perfect since Earthspark Megs changed sides. I just want to see Earthspark Megatron be held responsible for his actions during the war, and would love to see Megs explain more of his previous ideals and tactics.

3. Give us more time to address the stuff that happened in the war, since we've seen people talk about it, but we need to SEE it, with characters like Starscream addressing the insane shit that happened within the cons ranks. (Similar to my previous thought, lol)

4. More classic characters being MAIN main characters, like give us more Arcee or Wheeljack. (This could be fixed with spotlight episodes)

5. More character spotlight episodes, we need to explore individual characters, especially the now freed Decepticons. I'd love a Shockwave, Soundwave, or even Skywarp spotlight episode. (Also where did the cassettes go? They should've been freed during the finale)

6. Possibly introduce Quintessons since this show loves Quintus Prime so much, and if they don't do that, introduce some of the other Primes.

7. Because of how progressive the series is with its representation, introduce Knock-Out, finally canonize Breakdown and Knock-Out's relationship in a show (I know it's canon in IDW), instead of just implying it like in TFP.

8. Have the second season focus on developing characters and introducing new ones, have the second season be a set-up for the third, and build up the antagonist through pre-existing characters. For example, using my Tarn/DJD suggestion, have an episode where Megatron reveals the DJD has found his location, and have him explain what the DJD is, and why this is an issue. Or with my Quintesson suggestion, have Quintus Prime give the children a vision of the Quintessons and warn them about their approach, then have the children ask what the Quintessons are.

9. This show could introduce Unicron, but honestly, a plot following the effects of the war would be better, though a Unicron plot is always welcomed.

10. Expand the Terrans more, they all share the same enthusiasm, and just feel a little too similar. I'd love to see Twitch become more pessimistic after all the insane stuff that happened in the finale, show her being affected after nearly being killed, watching her family "die", and having to mature so quickly, show Twitch being weary around Megs after nearly being killed by him under mind control.

[mdhwrites]

I've once seen a TOH critical post that said the show has too many characters and that some of them should've been combined into fewer characters from the get go:

Amity + Hunter = lesbian/wlw Golden Guard, sassy teen with abusive background who is eventually redeemed

Willow + Gus = Luz's first friend on TBI, very magically powerful for their age

Edric + Emira = trickster illusionist (I don't remember other details besides this-)

And while they haven't been mentioned in the original post I assume Alador and Darius would have to be combined too (as Amity/Hunter's flawed father figure who is proficient at abomination magic) and Odalia would be removed entirely since Belos already serves as the abusive parental figure

I guess other combinations that could work are Boscha + Bria (most antagonistic bully against Willow/Gus) and Skara + Matt (less mean/redeemed bully who later befriends Willow/Gus) though op haven't mentioned them either

What do you think? Personally I have mixed feelings on this idea tbh

So you are taking this too far. The original poster picked their first three pairings for a reason. Those three couples all serve similar narrative functions and pairing the two down to one wouldn't necessarily change a lot, though I think the Hunter one is inaccurate for who to combine and I'll get to that. First let's talk about you taking this too far.

Darius is NOT a father figure for Amity (though if you did combine her and Hunter, he would make sense to be one but now we're rewriting the entire show) and his mastery over abominations is more meant to mean that he is the eventual obstacle who uses abomination magic like all of the Coven Heads were theoretically presented as to begin with. Bria is a one off antagonist who's specific background and the fact that she's unknown to Gus play into the episode and the role she must play. Matt and Skara shouldn't have been combined due to narrative similarities but more to make it so when Skara randomly is now Willow's friend, it feels natural AT ALL which is more a problem of TOH reusing Skara without realizing who they're reusing in that episode besides her being a character people liking the design of.

And that last part also can often justify a one off character. Vee overall serves effectively no purpose to the overall story but she's good for her one episode and inspired a lot of people. A charismatic rando can be good for your fandom. It allows more variety in who they can use, be attached to and what stories by the community can be made. MLP did this too with the BILLION BACKGROUND PONIES.

BUT.

TOH does have a primary cast problem and a redundancy problem within it. The problem isn't combining characters though, it's that some just had to be straight up cut. It just has WAY too many that are cued as important as one could argue the primary cast, who we're told is important, ranges from 7 (the Hexside Squad/Eda/King) to 9 (including Lilith and Belos). Even a full 3 seasons of 20 episodes would only have allowed an average of almost 7 episodes per character and Amity gets that many episodes in Season ONE. Anyways, onto the three pairings:

I've already argued in the past that Hunter is redundant to literally THREE characters in the show and does each of their jobs WORSE. The parental issues and redemption of Amity, the connection to the EC and having power that Lilith did in S1 (which means S2's 'main plot' with Hunter does come across as a copy of S1 as a note but less personal) and then the fear of exile of Kikimora but not nearly as over the top since we're supposed to at least slightly respect Hunter. Hunter's existence is part of why Lilith has to infantilized and mocked as much as she is because otherwise, she'd be gunning for Belos by her S1 characterization but that would get in the way of Hunter being the main connection against the enemy. All of his scenes with Belos are just "Be a good pawn." "Okay but what if I'm not?" "Be a good pawn" repeated like three times. It's such a basic and shallow relationship that when Belos isn't around for Sport in a Storm, Darius can easily just replace Belos in getting Hunter to do something by effectively the same means that Belos would have.

I've also talked about how Gus and Willow need one of them replaced. Not fully cut like Hunter who I think was just a mistake to add in S2 but that one of them needed to be Viney. This is more because Viney at least practices multiple magics and so could show a different side of how the coven system effects young witches, like she does in her one main episode, while Gus/Willow could have been the evangelist. Admittedly, you could also have cut both Gus and Willow for Viney and made Amity the evangelist for the coven system due to inherent skill in only one magic. It fits into the theoretical thematics, worldbuilding and story of the show. As it stands, Willow, Gus and Amity as the three kids Luz befriends is awkward because they imply Belos is right. Willow effectively CAN'T cast other types of magic from what we've seen but can rival a coven head WITHOUT TRAINING OR PRACTICE so long as she's using plant magic. That's bad. That's just bad, unless Belos is right and Willow is a chosen one to be the next plant Coven Head.

On the flipside... There's no reason to cut Emira or Edric. They're effectively one character and practically one offs. They get one more B plot after their introduction and are good comedy in Adventure in the Elements but otherwise they barely exist. Not only that but they always exist as a pair. Edric gets his own thing to do in Reaching Out but that's the closest we come to individual character development besides the differences in their personality which make them fun for fandom. Otherwise... They most exist to give Amity support and to give Amity someone to talk to which is the purpose of a supporting cast to a supporting member. Fusing them wouldn't do anything but make them less unique honestly since we don't see many twins in media.

Then again, they also might be twins because of Fred and George because the show mocks Harry Potter while obviously taking PLENTY of inspiration from it.

But Harry Potter had FOUR primary characters. Harry, Hermione, Ron and Voldemort and Voldemort, like Belos, was an absentee villain. We were only ever supposed to expect those three characters to be important and get development though with only MAYBE two exceptions in Snape and Dumbledore. That focus benefited it from book one to book seven, loathe as I am to praise Rowling's writing.

It is a page TOH should have considered taking from because its twin pair of main casts (Hexide Squad and The Owl House) only joined by one character did it no favors, before or after the shortening.

======+++++======

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[pixelchills]

I just wanted to say two things:

1: I’m glad I’m not the only one who wanted more fluff than what tsams is offering (gosh, stop breaking them, give us joy gdi). I stopped for a similar reason. I want happy lord not all this depressing angst.

2: I’m so sorry people kept comparing your work to tsams, it’s not alike at all! I’m also sad we won’t get to see your lunar eclipse character. I would’ve been very interested to know how he turned out. People don’t realize how hurtful comparisons can be. (I almost killed Roth because someone called him a magical girl because of how he shapeshifts.) Is there any chance you could give a summary of what the Lunar Eclipse would’ve been like? Or is he just gone for good and you don’t want to mention him?

Sorry if this is annoying. Just wanted to say, I’m with you on fluff (which is why I love your work. Perfect balance of angst and fluff! We learn about something painful, and then there are hugs. Something scary happens, and then there are plushies. Well balanced), and I’m sorry you felt you had to remove your lunar eclipse.

Thank you for the nice message!

I know I'm an angst writer myself but depression with no fluff to make up for any of it is not enjoyable. I just think they should've continued with mostly gaming stuff and funnier lore videos after Eclipse was defeated.

But that's just my opinion and I am allowed to stop watching/enjoying content when it doesn't tickle my fancy anymore. If they ever happen to start doing happier and fluffier videos again I might start watching them again, but as of now I feel like the story has gone a bit downhill from what it used to be; too many universes, too many characters, it gets confusing and I don't particularly like how some of the characters are written, like Moon being the OP emo genius, but again, that's just my opinion 😂

What comes to the Lunar Eclipse character I was going to have, here's the deal;

The Lunar Eclipse character is still technically there, but the desing and name have been changed from what I originally had in mind. Lunar would have been a girl.

A big spoiler for "Lunar" to the far future of ANSSW:

"Lunar" was going to be Sun and Moon's adopted daughter. A baby stage Animutant who had to be taken out of the incubator tank too early because of the Apocalypse.

She is still sleeping because she hasn't developed fully. There's a 10% chance that she'll wake up before she is fully grown, but the 90% chance is that it will now take about 200 years since she is no longer in the incubator liquid.

Her new name is Dawn.

[abysscronica]

Hey 👋

Just wanting to get a scale of birdie’s impact, but how much of an impact does birdie make in the marines? Since she’s a master sniper and all, and it’s mentioned throughout your stories that she might be the best one in the marines but if she were to be removed from the picture, would anything change?

Hi and thank you for the question! The truth is, it wouldn't make much of a change, sadly. It hasn't much to do with birdie's skills, and a lot to do with how sloppily she was employed.

Here is the thing: birdie is in her mid-twenties, she probably has a good chunk of unlocked potential still (especially given OP age standards), she definitely has a rare raw talent for sniping and Observation haki, BUT she was very (very) poorly trained and used in the Marines. It's not only on the Marines, because her attitude and difficult character contributed to alienating tons of possibilities within the organization.

First of all, she didn't have a master sniper training her, as I feel the Marines simply don't care much for shooters. She underwent regular training in the academy, then basically trained herself, picking it up as she went. As for her Observation, Aokiji taught her, which is why she developed so much in few years, BUT THEN AGAIN, Aokji kept birdie's skills mainly for himself, didn't he? And she was so blinded with loyalty that she didn't exploit the opportunities she had to interact with different commanders/officials/teams. These could have led to winning squads and dynamics, and had many officers keep her in high regards, which would have translated to popularity, a faster career through the ranks, and more high-profile missions. Instead, her personality made others less than eager to interact with her too.

In short, she had the potential to become a good, maybe great trump card for the Marines, but she had the wrong personality, and the people around her were too short-sighted to try and make anything out of it. Excluding Aokiji, who was probably just being lazy asf. (or a little selfish, or he wanted to shield birdie for the rest of the Marines, pick your favorite, the result doesn't change).

[mermaidsirennikita]

ARC Review: Mortal Follies by Alexis Hall

4/5. Releases 6/6/2023.

For when you're vibing with... Regency romance with a fantasy twist, Shakespeare influences, meddling fairies, and like... a lady duke who's got Gentleman Jack vibes, but on steroids. (If you know, you know.)

Miss Maelys Mitchelmore is entering society with a magical conundrum (perhaps even a soon-to-be-deadly CURSE) following her around. Which is troublesome. But just as troublesome is her run-in with the so-called Duke of Annadale, Georgianna Landrake, a mysterious (and very sexy) woman who's suspected of killing her father and brothers. Fortunately, Georgianna is suspected of being a witch, which is what Maelys might need--however, it turns out she might require the Duke of other things, as well.

Alexis Hall is a brilliant writer and could not possibly displease me with this. Obviously, I enjoyed it a lot. More on that!

Quick Takes:

--The story is framed by an interesting narrative device (think a capricious fairy that follows everyone around spying on them--exactly that). It really serves Hall's unique voice, and adds a bit of style and even more wit to the story. It also does remove you a bit from the leads; you're not in Maelys or Georgianna's heads the way you would be in say, Viola's (A Lady for a Duke) or Peggy's (Something Spectacular). But I still very much felt close to them, and it added a Shakespearian twist to the romance.

--There's so much playing with the Regency romance conventions in this one! Of course, despite not legally being the Duke, Georgianna is referred to as the Duke of Annadale throughout the novel, and God, she makes a great one. Brooding, seductive, intimidating, incredibly dramatic. Hall does a great job of underlining distinctions that separate a sapphic Regency romance from a het Regency romance, while at the same time really showing us that like... you can do both with a lot of these tropes. The amount of times Maelys threw herself at Georgianna while Georgianna steadfastly went "I shall not ravish you" (before doing something sexy that made Maelys throw herself at her again)... perfection.

--The whimsy is strong in this, but so is the drama and the magic and the darkness that comes with that kind of magic? I was really worried there for a minute! There's also a great pondering on the essence (and importance) of a happily ever after towards the end that's delightfully meta and lovely.

--It's not an Alexis Hall book without a great supporting cast (giving the lovers hell while also helping them get together) and this is no exception. You get queer found family vibes (though lighter than in the Something books), as well as a character that MAYBE invented shipping?

--I can't emphasize how good the imagery is with this one; maybe the most compelling I've read from Alexis Hall yet. Like, imagine a heroine beginning the book with a dress that's essentially magically disintegrating, then hiding in the hedges in horror before being rescued by a mysterious, alluring, shadowy woman who offers her a cloak and kisses her hand? GIVE ME FAN ART.

The Sex Stuff:

This one does have sex in it (about three scenes, technically), but it's very subtle and not explicitly written. I've read Alexis Hall's take on the variation of explicitness in his books--and I trust why he did this, as it does serve the narrative device of the book well. But I do wish it had been a little more explicit, as what we do read is BANGIN'. Think like... tied up with ribbon... and light foot stuff (girls can do it too!). I did really enjoy the progression of intimacy in Georgianna and Maelys's relationship, however, and the way in which Georgianna gave without allowing Maelys to give in order to resist showing true vulnerability. Well done.

Another great entry from this author. I hope he stays in the historical or historicalish sphere for a long time to come, because he kills it.

Thanks to Netgalley and Del Rey for providing me with a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[capsicrew]

30 WoL Think Thonkers

13. Is there a canon moment you've drastically (or not-so-drastically) rewritten? A character death, or something that just really did not fit your WoL's character. Or just some alterations and personal touches you've added? Has that had any long-term changes on the wider story?

So I've touched on this. But, like… ya gotta make some changes here and there when you have five warriors of light. Especially as I otherwise try to stick to the canon events as close as I'm able. Somethings just work out fine "but there were five of them instead," but a lot of other moments need to be fiddled. Change a bit of dialogue, assign roles, etc. The big one is like… still making sure there's urgency and danger that may otherwise seem more mitigated by having 5 people instead of 1. Kind of a big one was working out that whole Ultima Thule section… and especially the last part approaching Meteon where, in the game, the lonely WoL end-walks through the last section. It feels like some of that meaning is lost when you can just say "well there's five of us, so its not as bad." So I had 4 of them just also sacrifice themselves alongside the other scions. It works out that my characters have similar motivations as some of the scions, so it follows that Capsisi and Thancred would go out for similar reasons… same with Estinien/Ejvi and Y'shtola/Urianger/Jalliim… G'raha and Beutiq was a bit harder, but I was able to work out some development for Beutiq and it helped them become better friends lmao. Then that leaves Kola for the big walk at the end.

Here's one I'd like to talk about too. Another moment that needed some arranging was that final fight with Zenos. Even coming out of the Endsinger fight, and despite it being Zenos… it's still a 5v1 fight and feels disjointed… I needed a way to get them from the start of the fight to all 5 of them being exhausted/near death at the end. An easy answer would just be to say that, like… its still Zenos, and he's just coming out of being super-powered by Shinryu-power, so it could still be a close fight at 5v1. But that wasn't convoluted enough.

So what I came up with instead; using what he still had of his power as a mothercrystal-powered primal, Zenos was able to create a localized, like… division. Locking each of my WoLs away from each other, and dividing himself among them--taking Zenos just down to his "normal," but still very powerful, self by five and creating five 1v1 fights against each. But how can I push it more? How can I make it more "epic" for this finale. Super power my characters, of course. Every punch they usually pull or innate limitation on their usual powers/jobs is removed. A great gift the game gave me for making this happen was telling us that over-expending one's aether is another way to exhaust and deteriorate your body. And number of jobs' lore talk about natural limitations to prevent that. You can only summon this for so long, or you need to build up natural energy to let that happen. But if you take the limit stoppers off… sky's the limit. And a natural conclusion was to combine each of their two jobs as well.

The big one for Jalliim was keeping MCH's automaton queen constantly summoned, powered by his own aether, in addition to empowering his fairy to stay in "Seraph" mode. Beyond that, it was a lot of gun work and rapid-firing offensive and defensive SCH spells. The kinds of OP shields he improvised in that fight were incredible. Just had pages and pages floating around him, pulled from his tome to keep empowered.

Capsisi's NIN Bunshin lasted way longer than five attacks. Going full, like, Naruto-mode and having shadow clones constantly popping up around the fight, trying to overwhelm Zenos. And the concentration going through to keep that up and keep her sage nouliths constantly on the move. I'm still trying to think of how cool I could make it to perform ninjutsu spells with those things.

Number one for Kola is Living Shadow is also there the whole time. Normal side or Dark side, they're both in on this. And then Kola's latent potential as a "Mime job" really starts to shine. She'll start with her best DRK and RDM skills but it'll grow and expand. Every discipline she's practiced… every skill she's seen. All of it coming into play. Every spell she possibly can--dualcasted, of course. Even a blue mage might blush at the list of combinations. It might stop short of some of the highest skills (no Ultima, for example), but she'd be pulling out as much as she can remember. Mime skills, I'd say, would still have to be cast from aether--including the precise mimicry of physical skills. So she'd be burning through it like a candle in a house fire. Given time, though, it'd be a fun fight to coordinate and choreograph.

Fun thing for Beutiq is that he does most of the relic weapon quests. The HW anima weapon quest provides some interesting possibilities. A "living" weapon whose "soul" inhabits a little minion figurine. Move that weapon into the Terpander Lux itself (empowered by Beutiq's aether of course), and he's got a living harp bow that can float around the battlefield on its own, providing BRD support fabricated entirely based on Beutiq's own strategies. From there--most of Beutiq's time in Eureka was honing his skill with the katana while crafting the Torigashira Eureka. It was meant to learn more of the far eastern "art" of forging a katana. But Eureka itself helped mold his abilities--even if its not his strongest point. But combined with the empowering strength of his own BRD skills (and the extra fire power of the bow itself), it comes down to an intense blade battle between them.

I've already touched on Ejvi's fight--mostly how it ends. She wouldn't go full avatar mode until Zenos does, but goin all in with the reaper skills for a real 1-on-1, but using her scythe as a focus for casting BLU spells. Just about every BLU spell she can pull out to keep the pressure on Zenos, or just distract him--and that ABSOLUTELY includes opening the fight with Flying Sardine. Then the fight escalates, they both move into "Avatar mode." And then, as I said, Ejvi eventually wraps it up by Blowing Him the Fuck Up.

[20timeskirby]

Side stories? What is that? Well, indeed, I decided to write complementary side stories of 20 Times Kirby! (or Twenty Times Kirby if you want to be specific)

If you are wondering why I decided to do that, that actually has to do with the rewrite version of Midnight Madness. So, before you read my explanation, read that first for it to make sense. Also, I will end up spoiling some things about the original 20 Times Kirby to properly explain, so yeah, don't say I didn't warn you.

So, as I started to rewrite Midnight Madness, I wondered what the heck to do with Marx's whole video. I mean, that whole thing was extremely OP. He has a machine that can turn ANYONE's memories into videos?! That is just way too powerful. He could stalk anyone with that! On top of all that, I had introduced later in the story not only Keeby's memory powers, but also a machine that Dedoo had that allowed Luz to make photos of her memories. If Dedoo had really made a machine that could turn everyone's memories into videos, why did Luz opt to use pictures instead, considering her whole story was miles wilder than Marx's? And Dedoo would have a machine that is way more powerful than Keeby's own powers? Things just... weren't adding up.

So, with all that in mind, I decided to simply remove the video completely, and instead have Marx tell the story to Anny. However, he just telling her like that wouldn't convince her at all. The whole reason the original version had Marx show Anny a video was because the story was really crazy and she wouldn't believe it otherwise. So, I basically went back to the original problem of that story: how would Anny believe Marx?

Long story short, I decided two things: one, introduce the machine that can make photos of memories here, to also make it less random whenever it's used for Luz at the end of the comic; two, make Anny actually unlock her memories as Marx tells the story, which also ties to a concept I introduced later in the story which is exactly like that.

What that caused to the rest of the story I won't detail here, but you may be wondering how that ties to the side stories. Well, the thing is, once I decided Marx would tell the story to Anny, and not show a neat video that could just show magically everything I wanted to tell readers, this meant that Marx couldn't tell the whole story. He could only tell what he saw and was told. Moreover, due to it being Marx telling something inside a story, this meant a lot of fluff of the original was cut.

In a way, this was a good thing, after all this made Midnight Madness be more to the point, and removed a bunch of unnecessary details that were instead quickly mentioned by Marx. But, writing that inside the story, I realized the limitations of a character telling a story within a story. Not only that, but I also was sad that some things that I wanted to rewrite were cut, in particular the whole thing with Kirby before Marx arrived.

Thinking of all that, one day I decided to experiment writing the story told by Marx in Midnight Madness from Kirby's perspective instead, as a separate thing. It started so well that I felt inspired to start two more, one story narrated by Panee, and another by Lindroganti. Realizing that there were many stories or events told/mentioned in 20TK that could be expanded, I decided to officially start a complementary project of writing stories in first person, narrated by various different characters, in a way to enrich my story if people want more.

To be clear, the plan is to make these stories extras. As in, if someone doesn't read the side stories, they can still completely understand the story of 20TK and won't be missing out crucial details. But if someone wants more, I am giving them more.

Right now, my plan is to release that story from Kirby's perspective in the coming months (aiming for February ideally, the latest being March), as that ties with Midnight Madness. I will write them in parallel with the rewrites of regular 20TK chapters, so don't worry. They will be posted in AO3 like the others, under a new series. As for them on Wordpress I'm currently unsure, since I want to keep them separate. I am debating maybe making a Wordpress site just for them, but unsure.