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unhappy-day-in-hell · 8 months

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The Dissection of Hazbin Hotel, Episode One: part 4

Onto the end part, Charlie meeting with the angels and... Vaggie's advertisement.

Let's finish this!

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Part 4: //

--Uh. The fuck is this building and why is it in Hell? Are we not going to explain? (Trick question, there’s already so much exposition that it wraps right back around to leaving us in the dark!!)

--Ohhh. That's Adam’s voice? Someone as important as him does not sound like that.

...Stupid thought I just had: Adam has the first Adam's Apple in all of history too... because it's that little saying, that Adam got a piece of the forbidden fruit stuck in his throat to remind him of eating it. So Adam, really, should either sound like he's constantly choking on something/has a stuffed up scratchy throat, or he should have a super deep voice to indicate his adam's apple.

--Heck is wrong with your mouth girl?

--B Plot is them filming an advertisement. I know I tried to re-write this in the review earlier (and will offer an alternative near the end of the review), but this is the kind of smaller-time plot we need to do in these early episodes BEFORE we get to Charlie's stuff. It's not very good tonal whiplash to pair these two plots up.

Also Vaggie’s doing this on Charlie’s behalf. This is, once again, something Charlie should be doing.

--Why doesn’t Charlie know the leader of the Exterminators is Adam? Does that mean she doesn’t know anything important about her world in general? Or is Adam’s presence a secret to the world? Does Lucifer know Adam is here?

--Good god, Adam really IS just Mammon. He's even a performer who is like a rockstar. Viv has zero new ideas.

--We're cutting between Charlie’s "important" meeting with Adam and the filming for the advertisement. We really are. I guess this episode and Western Energy spring from the same source.

--“How were you this weekend” is at least a little amusing. If Adam was more airheaded like that and not *gestures* all this, I’d probably hate his presence less.

--There it is. The Vagina joke for Vaggie’s name. They… they really did that. They just couldn’t help themselves. Viv just can’t help herself.

Because really, what are you supposed to do with this name? People having to say “Vaggie” out loud or print it on merch is embarrassing. They could have called her anything. Maggie. Aggie. Naggie. Saggy. Haggy.

--Vaggie: We’ll fix it in post. Angel: Do you even know what that means?

Well you see Angel! Vaggie’s origin can be split!

For a long time, Vaggie was thought to be a sinner who died very recently, so of course she’d know about editing, because she had grown up in the era of that kind of tech.

Except now she’s been changed to be a fallen exterminator! This means there are a lot of implications. Are we going to use this moment to hint how ANCIENT Vaggie is as a former angel, by showing her as not knowing how to work technology? No, no of course not -- Vaggie seems competent with the camera, it’s just that her actors are dumb fucks.

This criticism spreads over to Adam, who talks just like a “normal guy” and he’s a modern rocker and all that shit. Adam, the first human, who is incomprehensibly ancient… doesn’t show any signs of being as ancient as he is. They couldn't even write him using outdated slang? Make him a disco lover or something and have him say "Groovy?" No? (He IS a thing made of light, he could shine like a disco ball!)

--Vaggie: I’LL FIGURE IT OUT.

Godddd Vaggie can’t have one single line with any life in it. How does she scream in anger with no anger.

--Hi Al. This shot reminds me of why I used to like you, because I DID like your design and your mannerisms once upon a time. I still feel an echo of the enjoyment I used to get from you, and it makes me sad how far you’ve fallen, to being Rosie’s lapdog. You do look good with this muted blue tinting your color scheme. I wish Hell was more of this color, it’s much softer on the eyes.

(Even when I was still a fan, I hated how overused red was. It was one of the first complaints I had. Then the show doubled down and removed even more of the colors from the color pallet to make it even redder.)

--Vaggie to Alastor: Why are you even here? Alastor: For the entertainment!

Actually you’re here because LilithRosie asked you to. She filed down your fangs. You are a toothless character.

--Alastor: I came here because I love seeing wasteful souls struggle to accomplish something meaningful and fail spectacularly!

This is almost exactly a line from the Pilot where Alastor said “I want to watch the scum of the world struggle to climb up the hill of betterment! Only to repeatedly trip, and tumble down to the fiery pit of failure." Except it just. Lacks. Any of the danger. Or the manic insanity boiling just under Alastor’s surface. The delivery is so deflated.

The words are stilted, like they were with Vaggie a while back.

--Much better qualified people than I have spoken about the use of vodou symbols around Alastor. All I can say is this: Practitioners of vodou have spoken about how harmful it is, and therefore, the symbols should not be in the show. It's that simple. It would have cost the team literally nothing to refrain from using them. In fact, we’re in Hell, and we’ve already used the Ars Goetia in Helluva Boss; why don’t they use the symbols of the Ars Goetia? Or other demonic Christian symbols? Or Lovecraftian symbols from the fictional Lovecraft universe? Or make up their own??? There were a million other options besides digging in your heels. It shows the crew and Viv’s inability to just learn or just be nice.

“This face was made for radio!” that shot, bleck, they made a discount of that scary shot from the pilot. Why is every line they reuse for Alastor worse than it was in the pilot? The pilot where Alastor said “I would have done so already” let Alastor be a little aggressive and threatening, but here, it's just him equating it to “this face can’t be captured on video” instead of him being allowed to flex his power and scare Vaggie and Charlie a little bit….

It makes me sad.

--AND AGAIN, THIS IS VAGGIE HAVING THIS IMPORTANT CONVERSATION WITH ALASTOR. Why is it Vaggie who is getting Alastor’s motivation speech and seeing his Scary Face and not CHARLIE!? The Hotel is CHARLIE’S! Charlie is the main character, she’s the one who has to face these moral battles! Alastor’s motivation and his scorn for her Hotel are CHARLIE’S obstacles to deal with; she has to be the one to face them, consider them, debate them, and find a way to overcome them. But Vaggie is the one here, again, in Charlie’s place. (And Vaggie doesn’t even seem to have any enjoyment or passion for the Hotel either, so SHE doesn’t offer anything in return when she’s facing these opposing ideas.)

--So Alastor is going to make a good advertisement for the Hazbin Hotel, in exchange for never having to work with television ever again.

God, it’s so… WHINY. This isn’t a powerful Overlord of Hell, who is able to manipulate the Hotel behind the scenes and everyone has to watch out for his power because they both need his power but also fear it. This is a dude bargaining over what chores he has to do. It’s depressing.

--And it ends with Alastor giving everyone new outfits. Like the pilot. Because of course. Viv has no new ideas in her head at all. Also Charlie's not here.

--I feel like this scene COULD have been a standout moment in another universe, where someone else wrote this story. The colors are very nice, and Alastor is genuinely one of the only sources of ANYTHING you might consider fun in this episode, even if he’s a pale shadow of what he used to be.

Imagine this as a rewrite for this Episode, and how it could have ended:

At the beginning of the episode, the Hotel staff is still figuring things out. They have a meeting and decide they want to make an advertisement to get people to come to the Hotel, but Al refused to take part, because he hates TV. Charlie then tries to film her own advertisement with Vaggie’s help, but fails to make anything good.

As she starts feeling discouraged in the blue room while cutting up tapes, Alastor walks in to taunt her for a little while. After a back and forth where Charlie asks what he even wants here, he gives his motivation speech, so Charlie can have her goal challenged. But eventually, Charlie asks him to use his power to help her with this, by getting the word out to the people of Hell; and Al agrees, because an empty Hotel is no fun… in exchange for something Al wants: he’ll be allowed to observe any part of the Hotel and give commentary over it whenever he feels like it, and he’s allowed to say anything he wants, positive or negative. Charlie reluctantly agrees to these terms.

Then Alastor uses his power and creates a huge radio tower out of the back of the Hotel. The rest of the Crew feel the Hotel shaking and run outside, and watch in confusion as the tower reaches up into the sky. Al then floats up to the top room, where an old radio station is set up inside. Taking his seat in the booth, Alastor uses his power to broadcasts a spectacular old-timey radio show all across the radio waves of Hell, which are impossible for people to turn off, so it reaches millions of them.

(This also marks his grand return to Hell after his time away…… I guess. Since they're going with that.)

Boom, now Alastor has a radio tower that he hangs out in for the rest of the series, and he’s often giving SCATHING commentary about what goes on inside the Hotel in its quest for redemption. It’s usually making fun of everyone, or damning criticism -- but every so often he compliments something or someone, or gives a bravo for a job well done if a character does manage to accomplish something (but it's always with this HINT that he doesn’t expect their victory to last.)

There.

I provided a better hook for Episode One to end on, something fun to look at -- AND it has Alastor being in total control, while still helping the Hotel, but clearly primed to fuck with it. It also gives the show its first stakes -- small ones, but a status quo is established and we know Charlie will be butting heads with Alastor for the foreseeable future.

--Back with Adam and Charlie, it has become an argument that sinners have earned eternal damnation by making mistakes, and angels and the souls in heaven are not the same; and that angels have never made mistakes. Adam even says he’s never made a mistake.

Why doesn’t Charlie bring up the fact that Adam ate the fruit of knowledge that damned humanity, literally the first sin ever committed alongside Eve? Would that require too much thought, because Adam could just say “hey Eve was the one who did that, then she forced me!” and Charlie would have no rebuttal, because this show doesn’t seem to care about logical or moral battles. (Honestly, I can bet Viv would genuinely believe that for Adam.)

Why don’t they also bring up the fact that all human souls are descended from Adam too? It would force Adam to say: “yeah I don’t care, they may be my grandkids but they made their choice and as the original father it’s my job to whoop their asses when they get out of line,” which would show off how horrible he is. (Or, just not have Adam act this way. The next point elaborates on that:)

--I keep asking myself WHY Heaven and the angels have to be depicted this way. Not "why they’re corrupt" -- but why they’re *gestures vaguely* like this, and so cartoonishly.

Some shows take themselves too seriously and need to lighten up, but a show like Hazbin Hotel has the opposite problem, where it won’t be serious when it needs to be serious.

Adam acts exactly like a demon. There is no distinction between demons and angels. They’re as foul-mouthed, raunchy, and gross. Why?

Is it supposed to be “commentary” or “satire” about real world issues, where authority/radical Christians think they’re better than everyone else just by virtue of being Christian? That’s my first guess.

But just like with Helluva Boss’s commentary on cartoonishly evil abusers: it’s not saying anything we don’t already know, and it hits you with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer to the face.

When Hazbin uses Adam to say “See? Heaven is hypocritical! It does the exact same bad shit as Hell, but gives ITSELF a pass!” it makes Hazbin Hotel worse for it, because of how one-note it makes literally everything in the universe, and how it sacrifices any actual clever worldbuilding, storycrafting, or realism for the sake of shock value.

Hazbin Hotel is supposed to have a serious storyline meant for adults. It was meant to explore a serious moral question, and the angels are supposed to be one of the serious threats that Charlie has to change the mind of. You want us to take your show SERIOUSLY? Then you need to make villains we can TAKE seriously.

Think of it like this. If Heaven was allowed to have a different personality from Hell (if angels were allowed to act differently than demons), you’d be so much better for it.

First of all, it would give the show variety. Hell already has all the sex jokes, curses, and gore you could ever ask for – that’s Hell’s atmosphere. So let Heaven have a different atmosphere -- let its people has "serious" personality traits. Let them take themselves TOO seriously. That way, there’s some variety when characters go from one place to the next.

Second of all, it would give you way more personality types to play around with! (How boring must it get, writing the same screaming, cursing, sex-spewing archetypes over and over?) AND it would let different temperaments clash! Imagine Angel Dust meeting an Exterminator; Angel Dust makes everything a joke, and the Exterminator takes everything way too seriously, aaaaaand their personalities slam into each other. Imagine the possibilities.

But we can’t have that.

We can’t have anything because Viv can’t let herself be sincere or think this far ahead.

Instead we’re just stuck with Adam, who is Mammon.

--Lute says Charlie was “pardoned by daddy”? Who?? Lucifer? If Lucifer has the ability to blacklist souls from being killed, why can’t he just tell the exterminators to fuck off? Or are they referring to “God” as daddy, for which, I thought they weren’t going to touch God in this show?

The dialogue for this show is confusing. There was clearly no editing or rewriting to make anything make sense.

In the old pilot continuity, only an angel of higher rank had the ability to kill Lucifer, which means the exterminators were unable to kill him. Charlie, as his daughter, was directly below him in power, meaning Charlie would also be immune to them because she's stronger than them. But here apparently she's weak enough that the exterminators not only COULD kill her if given the chance, they WANT to kill her but have to hold back by some... law.

--Another song. Okay.

My opinion is that Brightman is a good singer, and this song definitely has more going on than the first one did. So… not terrible… but there’s also something missing in these lyrics. The way the music flows isn’t interesting and it goes by so fast. And Adam’s voice isn’t grating or terrible to listen to, but his dumb rockstar voice just kind of clashes into Brightman’s singing voice every so often, and makes it sound weird to me.

I could do without.

--OOH LAWD SHE ABOUT TO GO OFF. (That meme will never stop being funny. The shot is so tame. She doesn't even get to do any flexing or anything?)

--They’ll be back in six months?? Oh right, ahem, ahem: We’re putting this into EPISODE ONE? (I’m getting tired of saying that.)

Side note: they better not blame Charlie for this one, or try to make it out like she did something to cause this. Because... She literally didn’t. She didn’t get a word in edge-wise. (If they blame Charlie for making Hell worse, not only is it another Potential Dramatic Plot Moment they waste here, where Charlie would legitimately do a fuckup and have to face the consequences of her actions and it’s Oooh Drama -- it’s also totally unearned here, because Charlie Didn’t Do Anything. Literally if this is supposed to be “Charlie’s Mistake”, she didn’t do anything to MAKE A MISTAKE. )

--Alastor: I pulled a few LIMBS too, Hah hah hah!

Now you sound dead Alastor. I miss your fast-paced deranged laughter.

--To hear Blitzo’s voice coming out of Katie. Not even for a joke. I just. Vomit.

--(Quick question, is it just me or does it feel WEIRD to see Hell freaking out about the exterminations happening sooner, the way it is now? I mean, it’s a bad thing of course – but at the same time, it’s 6 WHOLE months away. That’s still a very long time; it’s not like the angels said they’d be coming in 1 WEEK or anything.

And again, moving the Extermination up to the mid-point of the year COULD have been a good plot punch a few episodes in – if the show had established itself as having a one year time limit before the next extermination, for instance, and for the first season we watch the weeks or months go by. The cast think they’re safe because they always have more time; “the year isn’t even half over yet.” But THEN, Charlie fucks up a few months in, and suddenly the date of the extermination is moved up!! WE ONLY HAVE A MONTH LEFT!! SHOCK AND HORROR. THERE IS MUCH LESS TIME NOW. HOW CAN WE DO THIS IN TIME!? PANIC! STAKES! DRAMA.

Makes my poor writer heart sad.

Imagine if we lingered on the Exterminations for a while before all this, and we learn that every single year, it takes about 3 months worth of planning in order for Sinners to secure hiding spots away from the Angels (a play on the three big holidays, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas). This is CRITICAL for Sinner survival; those who can't or don't are the ones who die, and spots are so competitive that it takes all that time for anyone to secure themselves. So when Charlie fucks up midway through the year and causes the Extermination to be moved up to just 1 month away, NO ONE IS SAFE, and there isn't enough time for three months of prep, which is why everyone flips their ever-loving shit: they know they're going to die and now there's a hysterical scramble all throughout Hell trying to secure safe spots.

--The ending shot shows an exterminator dead, and the angels out for blood about it.

Again, ahem-hem: EPISODE ONE.

And now, the Exterminators don’t even feel threatening -- because we know they can be killed.

What made the angels scary, originally, is that they were virtually untouchable. Demons could not defeat them, and angels could kill any demon they wanted to by default. (Even Alastor seemed to be weaker than the angels.)

The angels should have been a looming, impossible-to-defeat threat (at least for a while). This would have given the story tension, because the audience would know the sinners stood no chance if they ran out of time or failed to convince the Angels – it was a battle of MORALITY. It was a challenge for sinners to prove to Heaven they were redeemable, because Heaven held all the power.

They de-clawed their villains in their introductory episode.

…

Do Adam and the Exterminators even HAVE the authority to enact a full genocide??? Wasn’t there a “council of Angel Elders” mentioned in the beginning? Aren’t the exterminators just assigned to this post, and meant to keep the population low??? Won’t they get in trouble for overstepping their bounds!? ARE WE GOING TO GET ANY EXPLANATION AS TO HOW THE HIERARCHY WORKS OR HOW HEAVEN WORKS FIRST!? BEFORE WE GET INTO THIS!?!?

AAAAAAAAAAAAND ~CURTAINS!~

………………………………………………………………………

And that was the end of Hazbin Hotel Episode One.

…

So! What have we learned here today?

My personal takeaway is that, even though it’s cathartic to see this all start to go down in flames, I still feel disappointed and frustrated because of how much time I invested in it, even defended it to other people for a time. I'm frustrated because none of it had to be this bad. Viv didn't have to be evil. There was promise and potential, once upon a time.

Quite frankly, we were lied to. The premise that everyone fell in love with was dumped in the trash. For over four years, we were told this would be a story about redeeming sinners -- that’s what fans put so much of their time and money into. But that premise was discarded immediately, in favor of a generic War Against Heaven. Viv LIED to us, knowing from the start that the redemption storyline was never going to go anywhere.

I just wonder how many resources were wasted creating this, how many people Viv hurt, how many opportunities were handed to Viv that could have gone to anyone else more deserving of it.

There wasn’t a single worthwhile thing in this episode. A handful of individual shots here and there were passable, but nothing enough to sit through it. Abysmal animation, pacing, storytelling, dialogue, voices, songs; characters that were flat and unmemorable, or stripped of what made them unique.

Charlie wasn’t the main character in her own show -- Vaggie was the one dealing with the morality of the other characters. (And frankly, Charlie didn’t NEED to meet with Adam. It accomplished nothing. If the angels had already decided to do the extermination in 6 months; they could have just done it, they didn’t necessarily NEED to meet with Charlie to enact it.)

Somehow, Hazbin found a way to do everything wrong!

This show should be taken as a lesson on what not to as an artist. (Any kind of artist, really.)

In my opinion, the greatest weakness of this show is its inability to write anything sincere.

(And there’s a difference between something having sincere emotion, and melodrama, which Viv dumps in boatloads in her writing.)

I won’t re-write it all, but I basically mean what happened with Adam and the angels, where they aren’t allowed to be any different from the demons. They aren’t allowed to be serious, wise, ancient; because Viv CAN’T write them as sincere. (But this also includes so many other aspects of this show and this world as a whole.)

(And its genre doesn’t shield it. Hazbin Hotel is trying to tell a STORY, so it doesn’t get to hide behind the genre of being an “episodic adult comedy”. It HAS to follow the rules of storytelling, and when it doesn’t, it is failing.)

And Hazbin Hotel is just one giant failure.

With that, I’ll wrap this up. I think I’ve said all I want to.

I don’t know if I’ll review any other episodes like this (or, if they’ll be this long), because they get worse and worse; and Episode 4 is such a serious, disgusting episode that I don't know if it's even worth it -- but I REALLY wanted to get my thoughts down for this one.

If you read it all, thanks for sticking around! It was fun to rip it apart.

If you have any thoughts you want to add onto this, I’d love to hear!

#Hazbin Hotel Critical #Vivziepop Critical #The Dissection of Hazbin Hotel #Episode 1

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mixelation · 1 year

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reborn au notes to self on minato's thought process for team 4

so, i'm thinking that minato has been working on the chunin exam mission for like. years. he doesn't super care about the show of unity a joint chunin exam would signal, but his public image is very "nice young guy with progressive ideas" so it seems in character. ibiki is the biggest asset he never got out of iwa in post-war negotiations, both in terms of value and because he's like. a whole ass human. he even offered to let iwa send a team to konoha's exams but they didn't bite.

so when iwa relents and says he can send a team to their exams, minato is pretty sure this is the one chance they're going to get for access to iwa for a very long time. itachi is technically a genin and also within the age range iwa gave him (they gave an age-cap SPECIFICALLY to reduce the chance of minato sending highly experienced genin who could cause shit) (hilarious), so itachi is picked first.

the problem is..... itachi's, like.......... personality??? no one likes working with him. within anbu the biggest appeal of having him as your captain is his insane mission completion ratio, but he's known to push people and then be mean about it and then also, he's 13 so you just end up humiliated. he makes insane calls and is then bad at receiving feedback about it because, very unfortunately, he's almost always right.

minato doesn't care about the suffering itachi will inflict on a jounin senei. but he does care about not royally fucking over the other two genin, so he needs genin that can handle itachi's personality and a jounin with a strong enough personality to not let him get under their skin/walk all over them (because itachi is significantly better than 99% of jounin and knows it), because the jounin still needs to be able competently teach the other two students. oh, also it needs to be someone who can work a multi-person transportation seal, because even itachi is like "yeah i could MAYBE solo this mission by just walking in and out with Ibiki under a genjutsu, but also there's so many variables that the chances of getting caught are higher than i'd like." minato is confident there's enough time itachi could be taught to help with the seal, but it's pretty complex and it needs to working exactly right the first time, so the other person needs to be someone who already knows it or has a solid background in fuinjutsu.....

.....and that basically leaves ONLY KUSHINA* even though he doesn't want to send her (one part she's his beloved wife and one part she's the JINCHURIKI) and he's not sure iwa would even let her in

*there's probably a handful of others, like kakashi, but we'll say they're either doing important other things or he doesn't think they can do the part where they have to competently teach two genin AND coral itachi (kakashi could probably coral itachi but maybe not then ALSO deal with teaching random other children). kushina could coral a rampaging tailed beast AND she's been pestering him for a team

on the flip side, kushina has a hiraishin seal incorporated into her bijuu seal, which is designed to be hidden so it'll pass any tests iwa does to prevent them from brining in a hiraishin (because this is every village's biggest fear and why minato is never getting invited to anyone's chunin exams). if shit REALLY goes down she can just summon him

i think the most elegant approach is planting a hiraishin seal and then minato doing the extraction himself, but that's not the best move for PLOT so i think i'll have him decide that this is also too risky... like the team getting caught risks war, but minato getting caught in iwa or even anyone just getting caught with/making a hiraishin seal basically guarantees war*

*no one told tori this

anyway his initial plan is kushina + itachi + two random genin who don't even get told there's an underlying mission and that itachi is ex-anbu. and then tori and deidara fall into his lap, and itachi himself is like "what about them"

I'm not sure how much time they get together as a team before the chunin exam. originally i was thinking six months to a year but now i'm leaning towards more like three. i like cutting the time down because i think completing this mission sort.... solidifies tori and deidara as konoha, both in their eyes and everyone else's.

this also means minato doesn't quite comprehend how insane both of them are until AFTER he's mentally sorted them into "konoha's precious genin." would he have recruited them if he'd KNOWN deidara might blow up a city block out of boredom or tori would would churn out forbidden jutsu at a rate that could rival tobirama? no he fucking wouldn't have. but now he's stuck with them. his wife keeps having them over for dinner. "i think you're favoring your wife's team by all this one-on-one attention you give them, and it's not fair to--" YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND

#reborn au

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adrian-sheppy · 10 months

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Sorry if this is completely wrong igore if it is LMAO but I noticed you seem to have different hcs for how mind lost his eye!!! Like in Seattles Going Under it was lost in a vague fight or something, but in art w/ the resonance cascade he lost it prolly during the ambush? I was wondering if you had info to share on it/infodump abt or if its just whatever makes the art more fun!

hehe youre observant and actually right on the money. yup! so essentially i just have different eye trauma head canons for whichever version of freemind im drawing; since he doesnt actually lose his eye in canon, its up to everyone to fil in the blanks if they wanna use the popular headcanon. i wrote . a good chunk of stuff . so i put it under the cut . but heres a picture to be like a . tldr

I sorta like his eye already being gone before the resonance cascade (in a non-freemanverse scenario). he does verbally say something like "my eyes" in the series, indicating he has two, BUT . well. its a headcanon. so we can have fun with it . my eye loss pre-rescas freemind stems from my original freemind design (before i ever started posting half-life on the internet) where he had short hair, but i needed a way to distinguish him from og gordon, so I used thr popular one eye headcanon. then I realized him losing his eye bc of the military goes perfectly with martini losing an arm. that bothered me for a while until i realized i could just have multiple freemind designs + headcanons. if theres different variations of Gordon and martini, why can't there be some of Freemind as well? grins grins

i left it open ended in my SGU because people have their own headcanons and I thought anyone could just fill in their own. if I did every make a canon eyeloss event prequel thing, he would've lost his eye during college in some sort of either freak accident (like tripping on something and injuring himself bad; I like this one because he'll lie and say he was in a fight) or, like u said, a fight . for SGU, college was a low point in his life of him struggling with freedom from his parents for the firsr time, but them and their ideals still holding him hostage. he is simultaneously more repressed and more emotionally volatile than present!gordon. then, when his parents die, hes just given a clusterfuck of emotions. so why dont we add physical trauma? whatever the sgu canon event eye loss was, it was definitely related to substance abuse issues. whether that be he was high/drunk and got into an accident, or fought someone... not sure! yet. the only thing that i can say was that no fire or chemicals were involved, since his tearduct is (unfortunately for him) wholly in tact!

but for freemanverse!freemind, he should lose his eye during the rescas since its like thematic and stuff if (almost) every Gordon Loses Something. also, angst. whenever I draw freemanverse (even in a domestic setting) in my head, i always think of them surviving the rescas together! i have. convoluted freemanverse headcanons. the eye loss is an important freemanverae event because, like martini, it gives him a valid reason to REALLY dislike benrey (but in my au, benrey isnt the big bad, so he "redeems" himself kinda sorta) . and then it ALSO opens up freemind to be upset and vulnerable, which allows him to bond with his fellow freemen.

...

also I want barmey to tend to his wounds and call his scar(s) badass. im not immune to buttermind and i never was.

honorable mention: sims freemind, who has both eyes physically but only can see from one. this is due to me unable to properly texture a glasses + eyepatch combo, that and i have no experience with 3d modelling (I did try!).

i hope this is a satisfying enough infodump!! I'm sorry if it's a bit vague; a lot of my ideas tend to be fluid. i also like taking inspiration from what other people think! some of you guys are way super smart and have awesome ideas. i am not immune to well articulated essays and thought out headcanons

#also fun fact! my og freemind design had short hair BECAUSE i was going to use his hair growth to indicate time passing #going from the rescas to a more domestic and “calmer” setting with his new friends #and the hair growth is supposed to represent lije... self acceptance almsot #and like a slightly healtheir view of himself (dont worry hes still an asshole)#and thats also why COLLEGE FREEMIND (who i never draw) has short hair also!#yay! emotional growth represented by the literal growth of hair!#freeman's mind #freemind #mindverse #gordonverse #gordon freemind #freemanverse #asks #half life

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blauequuleus · 7 months

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Okay so I’ve never played any Kingdom Hearts games and I’ve only watched the first 2 hours of a play through of the first game.

I’m gonna list everything I know through just internet osmosis. So tell me how off the mark I am on some of this (If I spell names wrong I’m sorry and be nice please)

Sora, Riku, and Kari(?), have all grown up together and play on this island with no parents in sight or a house or anything but island kids running around (do they have parents and houses to go home to? Or is this just Peter Pan style island of lost kids)

They want to leave the island and go on an adventure together

Kari just kinda showed up one day

Sora has a crush on Kari but has not a lot of interactions with her but is constantly talking about Riku and chasing after him

Kari I’m sorry sweetie as far as I can tell you’re the old trope of “this is girl character who is girl and main love interest that will spend 99% of the plot damsel’d and doing nothing -probably knocked out- and the last 1% she spends reassuring the main male lead in some way and has no personality outside of that” (this could be radically different in the games and she actually has a personality that doesn’t revolve around the main lead Sora needing to rescue her but all of the scenes I’ve seen from the games she’s either just standing there or is knocked out)

Riku and Sora have so mush chemistry people are convinced they are in love (to be fair every thing I’ve seen from the games has them constantly obsessing over each other more so than anyone else. Half their lines seem to be each others names. So yeah big rainbow energy coming off of them)

Also don’t they like combine swords or something into a big weapon… 👀🏳️‍🌈

Isn’t there matching wedding rings for Sora and Rikus swords cause if so that’s cute

Main game plot point is Sora, Goofy and Donald jumping around in a Gummy Ship?? to all the different Disney properties and movies and these are all treated like different worlds (is Star Wars in there now cause that’s a galaxy in and of itself, how does that work????)

Donald was dunked on for years as a terrible healer until he nuked a guy and the internet went insane over it

Micky Mouse is a king

Idk where the fuck Minnie is or Daisy

This is all connected to Final Fantasy games somehow. Cloud and Sephiroth(??) are connected to this (I have not played the Final Fantasy games either so idk what this means. I know it’s the same developers but haven’t they been in the KH games??)

The Halloween Town designs are cool looking

Sora gets a wardrobe change per world (species change for little mermaid?? And maybe others??)

Why his shoes too big lookin for his feet

Heartless are little shadow guys that are made from people having their heart/soul ripped out

There’s basically an apocalypse on every world cause of these heartless little creatures (but only main characters seem to notice them??? Everyone else going about their day which is a mood)

The Pirates of the Caribbean one is hyper realistic but Sora still looks like anime guy which is weird

Maleficent is keeps being a boss bitch but still dies for it

Doors and keys are super important

Sora and Riku have heartless but theirs get people forms but they don’t look like who they come from that shit is reversed for some reason

There’s like 3-4 just for Sora and none of them look like him

Riku got a stalker in some guy named Xnort(???how spell???) who possesses Riku at some point

This Xnort little old ass seems to have a habit of this possession thing and uses time travel?? to just keep possessing people

Eyes turn yellow when he does

He started a war for a specific heart??

Keyblade War (no idea what this is or means I just know it’s a thing)

There’s another trio that timeline wise came before the OG trio from the first game that was in the war

Xnort got the buff guy one, the other guy is in Sora but not?? turned into sparkles and possessed Sora but also didn’t, and the blue haired girl is out here working the hardest but she on a deserted island in the void

Micky also ends up chilling with her there at some point

Woody roasts a guy

How the fuck does the Toy Story world work if there’s people and sentient toys???? Why does Sora become a toy there if he a people

Sora wasn’t supposed to wield the keyblade Riku was but his dumbass got corrupted so Sora got it (?)

Riku got another one

I think everyone has kinda died at some point but they all got better

Sora got trapped in dream world by blonde Kari that drew pictures about it

Blonde Kari isn’t evil she was just chilling with a comatose Sora

Riku went through a lot to get his boyfriend back

There’s an organization that’s connected to Xnort guy that wears black robes

There is another set of Riku, Sora and Kari copies there

The third Kari black haired goes out Master Oogway style but with glitter

There’s a red haired guy there that talks big shit but is constantly getting his ass kicked

There are so many spin-off games that have a lot of lore in them and the titles only make sense to people deep in the fandom trenches and lore

Those titles got fractions and shit in them

The Disney princesses played a major role at some point but idk if that’s still a thing

Those stain glass window levels are gorgeous

Sora is a people pleaser who dies for it

But unlike everyone else getting better from it, as he also has in the past, Sora is now gone gone but also not and next game may be in basically purgatory which is kinda our world (so many jokes there)

Riku gonna be on quest 2 of save his boyfriend and is sad now cause of it

Poor Riku he went through his emo phase in the first game and now his punishment for it is running after and saving a serial self sacrificing people pleaser that can’t say no and who keeps dieing from it

Let me know if I was close at all to being right about some things and what I got wrong.

#kingdom hearts #kh #idk this isn’t in any order just what I could recall #I’ve mostly just seen fanart of the games

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lulu2992 · 2 months

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I’d like to (finally) talk about this interview with Mark Thompson, Narrative Director on Far Cry 4:

youtube

I love it when devs talk about their work because it’s always super interesting and informative! This video is no exception.

But what struck me most when I first saw the interview is what he says about Far Cry 3, a title he also worked on as a Level Design Director, which I believe means he was not (or barely) involved in the writing of the script. When he mentions what he thinks the issues with the game were and what had to be “fixed” in Far Cry 4, the thing is that... he often contradicts what Jeffrey Yohalem, Lead Writer on Far Cry 3, explained in various articles.

Under the cut, I highlighted some parts of Mark Thompson’s interview (in red) and compared them to Jeffrey Yohalem’s words (in blue, with the sources) so you can see how different their points of view are.

In this case, when it comes to the story and meaning of Far Cry 3, I’m inclined to give more credence to the Lead Writer’s explanations, but I think this example perfectly illustrates how even people who worked on the same project can have very different (and sometimes equally valid) opinions, understandings, and feelings about it, and why it can therefore be difficult for the audience to determine what the “truth” or the “right” interpretation is…

Open world vs story

MT: We ended up shipping a game where the open world had a lot of cool stuff, but it didn’t have a lot of depth or meaning, and it had almost no connection to what was happening in the story. And in fact, in some ways, the two were kind of opposed and they were kind of conflicting each other. So, on one hand, the story itself had this ticking time bomb of “I have these friends that I need to rescue, but holy sh*t, collecting plants, finding that next animal I need for the next upgrade, getting that next skill point… Oh, look, there’s a radio tower! Wait, wasn’t I heading to that outpost?” And then you’re like, “Oh yeah, sh*t, my friend Keith’s trapped in the basement, I should probably go rescue him… I’m a terrible friend.” That was my main goal: fix this sh*t and make sure that the story and the open world speak to each other, complement each other; strip everything down so that the story and the open world are the same thing and it’s the same game.

JY: People who have looked at the surface of the game think that the story and the game are at war with each other as they are in most games, with the story just plugging potholes and the gameplay is going along its merry way. I think it’s very exaggerated that, “Oh, go save the friends! Go save the friends!” but most people are out on the island doing all this other crazy stuff and experiencing the gameplay. And that’s actually the point of the story. It’s not a game about go save your friends. It’s a game about – doing a lot of picking skins from things, and wait, it’s just a pile of meat – this doesn’t even make sense, yet I’m still doing it instead of saving the friends. (Rock Paper Shotgun - Dec. 19, 2012)

The “white savior” trope

MT: We were definitely aware of some of the tropes that we fell into - unintentionally in some cases, intentionally in some - and (…) almost the first thing that we did was decide how we were gonna address the white savior trope, the outsider who comes in and helps simple people with his outsider’s kind of more advanced understanding of the world. (...) The first thing we said was, “This guy is from Kyrat, no matter what happens. That is the most important thing; he is part of this world, he belongs here.”

JY: “It’s a first-person game, and Jason is a 25-year old white guy from Los Angeles. From Hollywood. So his view of what’s going on on this island is his own view, and you happen to be looking through his eyes, so you’re seeing his view,” Yohalem explained. “It’s set on an island in the South Pacific, so immediately the thing that comes to mind is the white colonial trope, the Avatar trope. I started with that, and it’s like, ‘Here’s what pop culture thinks about traveling to a new place,’ and the funny thing is, that’s an exaggeration of most games, they just don’t expose it. (The Penny Arcade Report - Dec. 17, 2012)

JY: There’s a reason why Jason is a 25 year old white guy from Hollywood – these are all ideas that are in his head. You’re seeing things through his eyes. (...) It’s not that [Citra] needed a white saviour at all. She didn’t need a white guy at all. She was just looking for the ultimate warrior and someone to be her gun. (...) If this was about the white messiah motif, would I be so stupid as to have a main character’s nickname be Snow White? I’m making fun of that! (Rock Paper Shotgun - Dec. 19, 2012)

The player and the protagonist

MT: When we were doing the script review, almost immediately, the first thing we would do would be, “Okay, so how many lines does Ajay have? Okay, cut that by 75%”, and then we would review it and then cut out even more. Whenever possible, we would set up a scenario where we know or we think we know how players would react, and so we would remove the line that the character would actually say and then have the other person react to it. “Oh, you think that, do you?” - in that kind of way, so they’re like, “Oh f*ck, how did he know I was gonna say that?” Whereas, if the protagonist said that line, they’re like, “Oof, I wouldn’t have said that”, and then suddenly you’re kind of broken out of the experience. (…) When you’re in first-person, all you hear is this disconnected voice that might not be agreeing with what you’re doing. So, again, it’s just about stripping away those barriers of immersion so you can imagine yourself in this scenario.

JY: In Far Cry 3, Jason is a character and he’s not the player. The player is another character in the game. Sometimes Jason disagrees with the player, and sometimes Jason agrees with him. And the magic of that is that then it doesn’t matter! Basically, as long as the whole narrative is directed towards what the player is feeling—which for me is how videogames should be—then I get to target Jason as a resource where players can go: “I disagree with Jason.” And the player gets to convince Jason to do something else. So instead of trying to force the two of them together, I’ve decoupled them. (Killscreen - Dec. 12, 2012)

#it’s almost funny #this also explains why inconsistencies happen so easily I guess #game devs please communicate more #far cry 4 #mark thompson #far cry 3 #jeffrey yohalem #and so that’s the reason you have to be very careful to ask the 'right' people when you want information about a game #no offense to community managers or people who work at customer service for example #but when people say they contacted them for lore-related questions I’m like…#I mean okay they work at ubi but I really don’t think they’re the best placed to give you accurate answers #if even a level design director isn’t on the same page as the lead writer why would people who didn’t even work on the game be?#as always official ≠ canon #poor jeffrey nobody understood what he tried to say :’)

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kiraridertime03 · 4 months

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My Adventures With... Supermen?

Alright, so, I just got done watching the third episode of My Adventures with Superman's second season, Fullmetal Scientist. Great episode, fun episode, as per usual. However, certain inclusions have me scratching my head, leading me to only one big question...

Which would be a spoiler, so beware below, but...

Are they gonna kill Superman?

Now, I am not confident in this conclusion at all, it is purely because of two primary character inclusions in the past few episodes that seem to be pointing in this direction. It could mean nothing, but I am crazy.

To see what I mean, we need to jump back to the 90's. One of DC's major events within that period was titled Reign of the Supermen. It was a story that was spread across the 4 main Superman comics of the time, Superman, Action Comics, Superman: The Man of Steel, and Adventures of Superman (ha). This brief storyline, in short, followed 4 Superman Related characters as they vie for the role of his successor. This is because, right before this, Superman famously died.

Yeah, this event is the sequel to the Death of Superman, and builds up to his revival at its end. It wasn't very long, less than a year, but it is there. However, what is important for now is who our four Supermen are.

The first, who we'll skim over because he is least important right now, is The Eradicator, some freak alien who steals Clark's body and takes his identity. The details currently don't matter, though keep a lookout for their stupid glasses!

The second is Conner Kent's Superboy. This is the clone one made up of Clark and Lex's DNA. You may recognize him from the series Young Justice, however, at this point, he was in his Leather Jacket Era, not his black T-Shirt era.

However the final two are more interesting to see. The first we'll talk about is Cyborg Superman. He was once astronaut Hank Henshaw, but he got all fucked up in space, blaming Superman for it for plot reasons. When he eventually died because of space, he was able to upload his mind into a almost clone body of Superman with Robot bits. He then claims to just be Superman revived. Eradicator does this too, but it's funnier for him.

Finally, there is who is one of the more popular characters we see in this event, probably only rivaled by Conner, that being John Henry Irons, aka Steel. He is the only one without Super in the name, having designed to design a suit that helps him be like Superman, though he also gives himself a rad as hell hammer because John Henry. He was later played by Shaq.

So, now we jump back to present day, with MAWS's second season. The first episode draws the gang to S.T.A.R. Labs in Coast City (A place important to the Reign of the Supermen arc for reasons we don't have time to get into and probably won't get into because it probably won't happen exactly like the comic if it does happen in the show) and we meet Hank Henshaw. Neat, me and many others think. It makes sense, he is a space science guy, so might as well draw on a character from the lore. Plus, it gives the creators the opportunity to do a Cyborg Superman later down the line, as this show does love its robots. However, I didn't think much more of it. That was until Episode 3, an episode primarily dedicated to introducing John Irons and making him Steel, if briefly. Now, on its own, this is still innocuous, he is a fairly popular Superman character, and they do a great job with him, I love his larger bodied design.

However, things become suspicious when these two are introduced in such rapid succession. The writers want these Supermen in play for... something. It, of course, hasn't introduced all of them. There has really been no trace of Eradicator, and it seems weird to have Lex cloning Superman this early in the show. So, while we have half of the Supermen here, we aren't quite there yet. Although... We do have another Super nearing us very soon.

Much of this season's arc seems to be prepping for the introduction of Supergirl, Kara Zor-El. You know her, she got her own TV show, she's probably more popular than most of the characters we've seen in this post. However, we don't know too much about her role in the season past that. From what we've seen from annoyingly spoilery Toonami bumbers, she's probably being controlled by the remnants of the Kryptonian empire, whether it be ruled by Zod or Braniac, and whether it being of her own volition or not, and her current arc seems nebulous. However, Superman has built up quite the positive reputation even just in the single season we've seen him in. Imagine the kind of pressure, whether she has taken an antagonistic role in the past of the series or not, that it may place on her if Superman "dies" (or get sent across the galaxy or captured by the government and made to be presumed dead by the public or something). Especially if she has to take down an evil Cyborg claiming to be her cousin.

Do I think this will happen this season. It's probably too early to say, but I find it to be... doubtful. I have my doubts to them ever "killing" Superman, fakeout or not. If they did, it would probably be a season finale cliffhanger before having a 2 episode premier the next season with a Reign/Return of Superman arc the next season. However, they definitely want to do something Reign related at some point. Whether that means "killing off" Supes is yet to be seen. Though, given how close the two arcs are to each other and how much the government (Amanda Waller) wants to kill Superman, I wouldn't be surprised.

Long story short... Uh... Good episode, fun episode. I like this show a lot and I hope it keeps being good.

#spoilers #my adventures with superman #supergirl #theory #reign of the supermen #I feel like I'm going insane #Again I'm probably wrong #But it can't be a coincidence right?

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izicodes · 1 year

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I want to get into coding but I’m scared about working for a company and talking to people lol and I don’t think I’m creative enough. what do meetings and the job consist of? i have this assumption in the back of my mind like “what more is there to say/do other than code a website?” haha hope this is ok to ask! it’s super vague tbh I can’t find anything that touches base to a specific level enough online.

also, I’m not a math genius… very insecure about that since high/middle school. do I still have a chance? how does math go into coding?

Hiya! 💗

I completely understand how you feel because I felt the exact same thing when I started working at my current workplace.

Working for a company

Many coding jobs do require collaboration and communication with others. However, it's important to remember that not all coding roles involve extensive social interaction. There are positions where you can work independently or have limited interaction with colleagues.

In my case, I work in the office Monday and Friday. Mondays are when everyone in the whole IT Department is in, except those who are off or on holiday etc. This is what I do:

I walk in

sit at my desk near the window

headphones in

code - occasionally turn around and annoy the Lead Web Developer with cries because my code isn't working (he then solves it in 10 seconds...)

At around 2:30pm is an IT meeting in the conference room. What do we discuss?

IT manager discusses any updates as an IT department as a whole. Any concerns about the technology used in the company. Any bootcamps we need to do internally, how was everyone's holidays, a little gossip.

Then everyone takes turns and discuss what they did the past week

That's it.

That's my company but I assume it's something similar for other companies. It's also important to know not everyone in the IT Department are web developers or work on building websites, not even in the sub-department Dev Team. Our Dev team are 6 members and only 2 (me and the Lead Web Developer) are web developers, so work on the company's websites. The other guys are very script-building and database oriented. All I do is code websites.

Maths in coding

Depends on what you're coding. I work with websites, I use Year 11/Grade 10 level of maths - it's not hard. As a reference, I stopped learning maths as a subject at school at a Year 13/12th Grade level and the stuff I'm using is way easier than what I learnt last - stuff my little sister, who's 14, can understand.

I chose web development because of the little maths. Some people have told me "Oh you'll encounter it one day" - I still haven't after 2 years. I use C# and JavaScript at work and still do very little maths. Maybe loops? I know if you're going to study computer science at university you will have to learn a good amount of maths, definitely harder than what I use!

Here is a list of the maths I use daily, that I can think of:

Arithmetic

Algebra

Logic and Boolean Algebra

Basic Algorithms

That's it. Maybe if I learnt the maths need in programming to the max, it might make my life easier when I am working on my personal projects, but my life is already easy with the little maths I know so I'm good for now.

Designing websites is less maths-y and more... designing in my opinion and experience. "I drew out this design for the website... how do I do I code that?" literally me every time I start a project.

Again, other fields in Computer Science would require more maths knowledge so research that field you want o go into and Google/ChatGPT "What maths is needed in [field name]?"

Hope this helps, my advice may not be the best since coming from a web dev point of view but it's still advice! Good luck 😎🙌🏾💗

#my asks #codeblr #coding #programming #progblr #studyblr #studying #comp sci #tech #coding advice #career advice post

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alonelystargazer · 6 months

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I started reading kagurabachi a couple of weeks ago and now I'm fully caught up with it and my general opinion so far is that it's actually pretty good!

the plot is perhaps a bit formulaic but still quite interesting (maybe I'm biased bc I love revenge stories) and it moves fairly quickly without leaving too much info behind, plus the action is so dynamic but easy to follow, and there are some legit super cool panels

SPOILER REVIEW BELOW

just a few of my favorite panels

(as you might be able to tell I love seeing the fishes teehee)

Quick summary of the plot: the MC is a young guy named Chihiro Rokuhira who's out for revenge after his father Kunishige, one of Japan's most famous swordsmiths, was killed 3 years before, and those same people, a group of evil sorcerers known as the ?, stole all 6 of his father's enchanted swords, but chihiro has a 7th special sword that his father kept secret from everyone but him.

Edit: this might be important for some people so I'll add that Chihiro is 18, since we saw him with his dad as a 14 going on 15 year old and the story fast forwards to more than 3 years later in the first chapter, which would make him 18

He's joined by his father's best friend, a sorcerer named Shiba who becomes his mentor and informant about the shady business going on in Tokyo, Azami who's another sorcerer and friend of his father's and Shiba, a little girl named Char who comes from a family that has the ability to regenerate their body parts and is being hunted for it, a young woman named Hinao who's a weapons dealer, and later on another young man named Hakuri who comes from a different sorcerer family but defected bc he's the only one who doesn't know sorcery (and was abused).

Personality wise, Chihiro is the more level-headed, serious, and reserved type but shows great care and sympathy for those who need help, for ex. when he helps out char from being hunted and experimented on, and when he traded his beloved sword for Hakuri. His father had a huge impact on his philosophy about life and weapons.

He does want revenge for his father's death, but his greatest motivation however is to prevent anyone from tarnishing his father's legacy which are his enchanted swords, bc kunishige made sure to let Chihiro know that his swords are weapons first and foremost, and when put in the wrong hands are destructive and lethal.

The power system is fairly simple, based in sorcery, which for Chihiro is channeled through his enchanted sword called Enten from which 3 different goldfish, each having their own ability, appear (and the goldfish are the same ones his father had before he died: a black goldfish, a red one, and a spotted one).

The enchanted swords that Kunishige made come from a rock (?) called datenseki, which we don't know much about yet.

And about the first antagonist we meet, Sojo. He's a weapons dealer in the black market and does other criminal activities. He also has one of the 6 enchanted swords that was stolen, this one called Cloud Gouger. To me, this fight is reminiscent to Yuji vs Mahito in the Shibuya arc of Jujutsu Kaisen, in the sense that Chihiro has to accept that despite what he personally believes about his father and his swords, Sojo also can have his own contradictory beliefs bc it's the person who wields the sword that gets to determine it's fate. Chapter 12: Tea I believe is pivotal in Chihiro's development and is one of the best chapters so far. I like the metaphor with Sojo offering Chihiro dango, which he refuses at the beginning (he says he doesn't like sweets) and by the end eats it, even if doesn't like it, because it reflects his acceptance with Sojo's philosophy about the blades.

The only thing I think might not to be everyone's taste is the art style, but if course art is subjective, although it does suffer a bit from same face syndrome at times.

But I think the art is unique with its use of shading and perspective, and there are some really cool character designs, plus something that stands out to me is that the fight choreography is made to be a spectacle.

As a long time shipper, I feel like I should address the shipping dynamics that I've seen, which there aren't too many yet, but I still wanna talk about. So the main ship I've seen is between Chihiro and Hakuri, which these panels I think are fueling the fire for it and I can totally see it and wanna see more from their budding friendship. What's the ship name btw? hakuhiro?

Besides that, I've also seen Shiba/Kunishige, and Sojo/Kunishige but that's definitely a one sided admiration on Sojo's part.

One criticism I've found is that there's a character named Daruma who is after Chihiro and Char and is originally depicted in a way, which to me, looks to be black characteristics, like the hair and facial features, but after Shiba convinced him to leave his life of crime behind, his look changes. For example, his hair becomes straight, so what's up with that? Now to be fair, since the manga is in grayscale, we don't know what his skin color is but he has no shading to skin which in my experience of reading manga means that a character is light skin.

Other than that, there's nothing else I can find fault in, so give it a read (there's 25 chapters so far!)

#bre's posts #kagurabachi

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poltergeist-coffee · 1 year

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SLIMERIANA IN MY MERMAID AU!!!

*points to @unqualified-therapist* you asked so you shall receive i hope u enjoy sdanvajsdn

SO!!! Slime is a human and Mariana is a mermaid. Mariana specifically is inspired by a banana eel because it's yellow kinda like his mc skin's suit. also he's got a red-ish gradient going up his arms + claws because it's my favorite character design thing + matches his mc skin more. Mariana doesn''t have glasses but he does have impaired vision as far as mermaids go.

Mermaids can see super far because the ocean is vast and they need to be able to see if someone is coming to kill them u know? Mariana can still see that far but everything is just blurrier for him especially the more far away it is. his other senses are slightly heightened to make up for it + she probably uses something like echolocation underwater if she really can't see shit. i mentioned mermaids have claws as well and i need you to know that he paints them black. it's important to me (thinks of cc!mariana always having black nail polish).

Mariana has probably found a lot of junk in the ocean including some jewelry that people lose. she wears a few rings she's found as well for fun :)) she thinks they're neat. Mariana loves to people watch. he lives closer to the surface so he's about human sized and understand human speech very well but not how humans work. he never goes close to the beach when there's so many humans around but he likes to watch them and pick up on words they yell and say a lot.

Slime is not just some guy, he's some guy who also has a cousin that he's basically parenting and her name is Juanaflippa (he always takes care of her bc its like rich aunt/uncle who are always on vacation). Early in the mornings Slime usually runs along the beach to exercise and has captured the eye of our local mermaid Mariana.

Mariana’s favorite word to yell is "SHARK" because the humans in the water yell it so much. its funny. i bet one time after slime and marina know each other mariana yells SHARK and then drags slime into the water with her laughing. (her favorite thing to do is drag slime into the water). a different time she's hanging out with juanaflippa and she is teaching her swear words. Slime shows up and mariana yells "FUCK" with the enthusiasm of an 8 year old. he's so fucking happy and has zero clue what he just said. Juanaflippa is delighted. Slime needs a few seconds.

Mariana likes Slime because he usually talks loud and clearly so it’s easy for mariana to understand and he thinks he’s ✨pretty✨ but that comes secondary to messing with him. He'd also consider Juanaflippa to be apart of his "pod" aka family so he's basically like her parent (the other one being slime). Mariana took one look at Juanaflippa and got attached, plus she loves him so ya they get along well :))

#slimeriana #fliporiana #poltergeists mermaid au #hmm i think thats enough for now #as you can tell i have a lot of thoughts and if u have some please feel free to tell me what they are

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zero-is-nebulous · 1 year

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Okay I can't take it anymore

Here's an in depth analysis on Sonic and Knuckles, their relationship to the other, and the sun and moon design trope

Sonic

Sonic is, at his core, a free spirit. He is constantly looking for adventure, and jumping into action whenever he is needed. This often puts him into opposition against various bad guys, because the more he defeats them, the more that pop up and want to have a go at the impossible challange.

And like, take over the world, I guess. Typical villain stuff

It's also important to note that, in cannon, sonic is 15 years old. Being a hero at such a young age, I mean, wow that's gotta be some responsibility. Originally, speaking from origins, Sonic just started out using his speed to help little animals get out of traps. Then, just a kid, he encounters eggman and finds out he's behind such a terrible thing. He doesn't know what to do, obviously, because he's a literal child, but knows he can't let his animal friends be hurt like this.

He also knows that he's not like the other mobians, he's faster, more resilient, and that makes him the perfect candidate for the job. He takes down eggman's bigger bots, rescues flickies, and everything is good!

Until eggman retaliates. Because obviously the evil bad guy can't let anyone foil his plans! Anyway, this is a rough timeline of events as to how Sonic most probably got stuck being the hero. He helped some animals, and the threat got bigger, but he stuck with it because he realised he COULD do some good with his powers. Then the threats escalated, and now the entire world depends on him.

(Also, it's worth noting here that Sonic has the 'live in the moment' mentality. Obviously he does heroism because he CARES, like a lot, and he wants OTHER people to be able to enjoy their own 'live in the moment' mentalities because he's an optimist and wants the best for people. Obviously that's also one of the driving forces of his heroism, he's a surprisingly complex character ok it's hard to put it all into words all at once. But this also means that he tries to have fun with it, he DOES enjoy his adventures. Hes clearly a bit of a thrill seeker, he makes the most of a bad situation no matter how dire it is because not only is that a coping mechanism, but one of his personal life mottos. I also personally beleive that he knows how dangerous his line of work is, and that if he DOESNT live life to the most while he has it, he'll regret it in the event that he doesnt make it back one day)

Anyway

Along the way, he's stopped worrying about himself, because he's developed a hero complex. All the pressure put on his character makes him disregard his own safety for others, always making HUGE personal sacrifices for the 'greater good', and pushing his pain aside just so he can help. Sonic is still a child, and he's grown up around violence and heroism and now he has a duty to protect people. Because he can.

Because he's the ONLY one who can

People say so on multiple occasions. When it's, not entirely true? I mean, don't get me wrong, Sonic is a force to be reckoned with, and at some point that statement may have even been true! But its just,,,not, anymore??

When shadow first arrived he was established to have speed that matches sonics, at least to some extent, and a steely moral compass as a result of his past with Maria. He joins GUN in an attempt to make good on his promise (and probably some other government stuff, I mean being an experiment from 50 years ago gets you tangled up in some shit), and he can TELEPORT, as well as hone chaos energy in ways that Sonic can't even manage.

Well, we've never seen him manage, at least.

Here's a quick list of all of Shadows abilities:

Super speed

Immortality

Increased stamina

Spindash

Ability to use firearms

Chaos control (teleportation)

Chaos control (ability to slow or stop time, apparently?)

Chaos spear

Chaos blast

Increased healing factor

Super form

Now, here's a lost of Sonics abilities:

Super speed

Increased acrobatics and agility

Resilience to damage

Strong sense of spirit

Increased stamina

Spindash

Hand to hand combat skills

Chaos control (+1 emerald)

Super form

Both hedgehogs have an impressive arsenal of abilities under their belt, for sure. But even with Sonics collection of skills, some of them are just that. Skills

For Shadow, Chaos energy runs through his veins so extremely that he needs to wear POWER CANCELLING cuffs. He was designed, built, for such power. Take note of how Sonics list includes more generalised and LEARNABLE skills, while Shadows includes more actual 'powers', so to speak

So. Is sonic the ONLY one capable of saving the world? NO! in fact, Shadow has helped do just that on multiple occasions. I'm not saying one is more powerful than the other, or better suited to the role, but Sonic is under the impression that he's alone in this when he's not

Shadow may not have sonics optimism, or social superiority, but he's a GOOD hedgehog, and they both possess amazing abilities that they choose to use for good. Sonics often telling people that they don't have to fight alone, but often takes the leap and does JUST THAT When he deems a situation too dangerous for anyone to risk their lives for

Once, he was the only mobian with powers strong enough to face great evils. Even with the help of Tails and Amy, they were both still kids, younger than himself, who were normal all things considered. Yes, Tails could fly, and yes, Amy could haul a hammer twice her size, but they were still not as strong as him. So, they couldn't be risked. Underneath it all, despite their help, he was always stronger, always the most fit for life threatening missions, and he would take it all in stride

And then there was Knuckles, and then Shadow, and then Silver and Blaze somewhere down the line. All superpowered beings to some extent, having chaos energy (or sol energy) running through them at such a rate that they could ACTUALLY compare to Sonic.

Once, he was the ONLY person strong enough to take on the threats alone. But now? There are others, strong and diffrent like him, who could equally take on the fight with or without his help.

And yes, as they grow and get stronger, the threats DO tend to get more dangerous, but that's why they're all there together. Obviously the threat level will increase, and they will always find away to defeat it per the age rating on the game being allowable for the delicate emotions of optimistic children (and me) that our hero's can concour ANYTHING. But still, they have so many allies that that almost doesn't matter

My point being; he does not need to take on all this pressure by himself.

A lot of the time, at least with major threats such as the metal virus or neo metal sonic (shout out to IDW comics for consuming my brain and producing the most gut wrenching storyline to ever exist in the sonic universe) he's almost FORCED to accept help? I'm not saying he wouldn't have already, but he had a bit of a tendancy to be like 'hey, I got this' *finger guns* when he does not in fact got this. And sure maybe he does eventyally and all that, but you have to admit a LOT of the threats he takes on are like ridiculous to the point you have to brace yourself when he goes into battle. Likes we know sonic is strong but Jesus, that little man takes on some POWERFUL enemies

(Quick case and point: metal virus, being captured on the death egg in forces, being KILLED BY MEPHILES!!! Clearly he isn't indestructible, sometimes he bites off more than he can chew alone)

Ok back on topic now.

The MAIN reason why people look to him as 'the only one who can help them' is because of reputation and carisma. You know why Shadow was disposed of so quickly during the metal virus arc? Because he would have been a GREAT help, and the two of them working together would have toppled the virus MUCH quicker

(And bc they reversed his goddamn character arc AGAIN bc nobody can get it right apparently)

Anyway, because Sonic has gone his entire life with his mentality, people have looked up to him on some kind of pedestal. This just deepens the cycle of it all, making him hold himself accountable, or bare too much burden, and the confident facade is just the icing on the cake.

Because people look up to him, as a hero, a role model, and as a GOOD, and FRIENDLY person. They see him, caring and kind and never giving up, and rely on him. In contrast, Shadow keeps to a distance and is mostly cold to civilians, with the exception of Cream and possibly Vanilla and the Chaotix (Although wether the chaotix should be considered civilians is up for debate). This means that less people call to HIM, when they're in danger. He's under less pressure, people don't put him under a spotlight, but they DO with sonic

And now, whether he wants it or not, he is THE hero

Admittedly, I think Sonic does enjoy being a hero

To an extent, he sort of has to be. He's kind and caring cause that's who he is. He runs because he wants to, and he saves people because he wants to as well. Obviously there's pressure there, but he got into it in the first place because he wanted to do good. And doing a good thing makes him...Happy. content. Proud, even

Hes free like the wind, is what they say, and he IS. He doesn't WANT to quit being a hero, but I'd imagine sometimes he thinks about it. It's a stressful life, every eye on you when something goes wrong, waiting for you to fix it. And sometimes he doesn't have the answers, and that's okay

But some people won't see it that way, see him as a failure. And that's the true bitterness of being worshipped

So yes, while he's sort of trapped in his role, I wouldn't say he wanted to let go of it anyway. He knows someone has to do it, which is a daunting feeling because he also knows that person has to be HIM- but, he enjoys saving people, so it's not all bad

Knuckles

Knuckles the echidna, the last of his tribe, stuck on a floating island in complete isolation.

Well, there's a lot to say about him, I'll admit. So, let's just start small

First of all, Knuckles' isolation has left him slightly naive, which was the original reason that he fell for eggmans lies. This is, of course, because he's been alone for SO long, that he hadn't a clue as to the social clues of a lie. That, and his ONE presumed purpose in life was to look after the master emerald, in which he would do anything to protect

So, a mixture of passion, protectiveness, rage, and naivety, were what lead to the events of Sonic 3 and Knuckles.

The absolute isolation and lack of alterior purpose leave knuckles struggling a lot. He has other ambitions and goals, obviously, he LOVES exploring, and he can read many ancient dialecs which come from his architect passion. The one thing keeping him confined to his island is the emerald

And the implications that follow. See, he's the last of his kind. And, because of that, he has NOBODY who can understand the EXACT and finite details of his situation on an emotional level. He can ask nobody for guidance, instead fumbling blindly under the belief that 'this is what they would have wanted', without actually being able to ASK

Knuckles protects the master emerald because he thinks it's what he's supposed to do. And, It is obviously, but he's so focused on not disappointing his fallen tribe that he disregards his own wellbeing a lot for it

He stays at the shrine 24/7, only leaving when the fate of, quite literally, the ENTIRE WORLD is at stake. He's on his island, alone. Speaking realistically, no one person should be assigned that task. Within the tribe before their passing, many would have protected the emerald, and in healthy shifts

Except, Knuckles doesn't have that choice. So he's cemented to his fate, but he does WANT to do other things. In fact, his time on the island has probably INCREASED the hunger for exploration and adventure

So, let's think forces for a second.

Knuckles was the captain of almost an entire ARMY, he lead them, and took on the pressure of responsibility, and that's something quite interesting. See, you'd assume that his time on the island would null his skills with others in that regard, but he has a striking skill when it comes to organisational battle plans.

Hes the same in the metal virus arc

Knuckles is often taking up big, important positions despite his initial lack of social grace. And, deep down, I think this is connected to his tribe.

See, he has this task that he's been confined to, with no guidance at all. He thrives off of the assumption of his tribe, and does his job with steely focus. When he takes up that position as a leader, he takes up the responsibility that weighs similarly to the responsibility of taking care of the master emerald

(Here, he's also able to give OTHER people the guidance he so needed in his times of struggle. By being that someone that can be trusted, and looked to for answers, I feel like it almost quenches some of his deep rooted abandonment issues)

In both scenarios, people are expecting him to protect something, and lead. Be strong, responsible, and altogether a beacon of hope. The key difference is that, this time, he has reassurance. He can see his efforts paying off, he can see his plans play live infront of his eyes, and he saves people. Directly, not just through avoidance, but ACTIVELY protects people

But it's a lot

Even for Knuckles, it's a LOT. because when you're guarding something with expectations of people who aren't there, there's no disappointment. There's only assumedly so, (which im pretty sure hes prone to exagerating because he holds his old tribe up on the same sort of pedistal that most hold sonic. In the sort of heavenly devinity that makes the 'they can do no wrong' thing really prominant, but also he knows about traditions and rules and probaly assumes that they would be SUPER strict, so he holds himself in extremely high expectation as if to please a god) and there isn't death. There isn't pressure that grows as tides change, as people leave and get presumed dead, as lives under his watch aren't at risk. War is an ever changing responsibility, where REAL lives that you can actually comprehend because they're right in front of you, are at stake

I imagine he originally took up the role because watching the master emerald is similar. He protects mobian and human lives alike by doing so, if he watches the emerald and stops it from being stolen, he protects people. And if he watches over this army of people and steers them in the right way, he protects people

Also, it's clear from frontiers that Knuckles is actually really interested in strategy and ancient combat and the like. So it's also possible it's a part of his architect and exploratory interest in diffrent historical events peeking through

When Sonic was taken to the death egg, people assumed he was dead. Sonic was, by all means, a beacon of hope. He provided determination, and gave everybody the idea that, eventually, they would get out of the tough spot

So, when he 'died', Knuckles was left with that job. He had to keep moral high, and hope imminent.

But he's not that good at it. He preaches glory, victory, an end to the war, but people lose hope anyway because Sonic is held in such high regard that people can't seem to beleive that he was bested. And if sonic was bested, then, well...what's the use in trying? NOBODY could match his skill, and he's dead now. So hope is gone and what's the point?

So, it's a tough spot for him. He's lost a friend, everybody is depressed, he doesn't know the first thing about sonics impression of hope, and he's stuck playing leader to a war he himself is giving up on

Don't get him wrong, he wants to WIN. wants to avenge those who killed his friend, and face glory and peace once again. But he just...can't. The pressure is piling up, and while he gradually builds up others confidence, he sees EVERYTHING. He sees the lies put in place of hope, and he doesn't know what to do

Sonic was the one who introduced him to the concept of anything and everything outside of his island, taught him hope and friendship, and now he's dead.

Anyway, while knuckles is a good leader, he's not mentally adjusted for all of its tribulations. As is common for leaders during GENUINE warfare, but I digress

Knuckles and Sonic are simular in the way that they both take on so much pressure. They both have tasks that they 'NEED to do' because they're the ONLY ones fit for the task. In knuckles' case it's much more literal, but LIKE sonics case, it just isn't like that anymore

Having friends now makes looking after the emerald easier than ever. He may not have his tribe, but he's sort of...built a new one, out of the friends he's made. He doesn't have to be there ALONE. People would help, hell, they could take a note out of Sonic underground's book and hand Knuckles a bunch of island defense systems. We all know tails would be more than up for the job

Still, he takes on this responsibility because he assumes its expected of him. And, maybe it WAS

But he's his own person, and he deserves his own life. He has a connection with chaos energy that makes him perfect as the protector, but thats not all he is. And he knows it.

Also, I want to bring back the hidden magic cave for the master emerald to live in. It would be so much harder to steal if it wasn't just sitting at an open air alter on the top of a floating island like a BEACON. Sonic 3 and Knuckles had that hiding spot on POINT, imagine how much safer the emerald would be, and how much more FREEDOM knuckles would have, if tails just upgraded that bad boy a little bit

It's a fixable problem, guys. I know sega wants to have an open plot point at ALL times, so they make the master emerald easier to steal, but Jesus man, you gotta give my guy a break. Why introduce an entire hidden space, perfect for the containment and protection of the master emerald, and then NOT put it there??? DUDE

(That's also probably another reason for the game not being considered cannon. Ik another reason is hyper sonic, obviously, but both concepts kick ass and I want them back. Petition to make sonic 3 and knuckles cannon)

Sonic and Knuckles

Okay, I know I touched up on their relationship a bit in the Knuckles' rundown, but there's a lot more to say. Also, I'm aware that the Knuckles section was disappointingly short, his character has a LOT going on, but there's not a lot to actually say since a lot of it is pretty obvious. Most of Knuckles' interesting attributes actually come out when prompted by others, due to his isolation, which is where Sonic comes in

Sonic and Tails were the second people he met in his LIFE. and he has a good relationship with Tails that I may talk on at a later date, but his relationship with Sonic is genuinely really interesting

See, Sonic was a literall PROPHECY. He was engraved into the rocks on the island, and he was most likely studied and theorised about in his time on the island.

For knuckles, with nothing to do but wait, I have no doubt that he read those texts RELENTLESSLY. so he knows of this hedgehog, prophecised to protect the world from threat, and then he meets a hedgehog. Obviously he's been tricked, but the dots don't connect until they're on the same side, because he's so disconnected from things outside his island, that he can't actually comprehend at first that THIS, right here, infront of his very eyes, is an actual PROPHECY. I bet he wasn't expecting to live at the same time as him, maybe he assumed it'd already happened, or would soon happen long after his own life. Its just not every day you befriend a prophecy okay, I Don't blame the poor guy

(Also, sidebar. How does he know how to read? To talk??? Ik echidna come from eggs so him being born there, fine, I can accept. But HOW is he possibly able to comprehend writings not only in ancient texts, but the more modern language as well??? Was it the master emerald? Does it talk to him? Did it TEACH knuckles how to fucking read? Talk??)

And in a way, that gives Knuckles a link back to his tribe. And that link, of all things, is SONIC

Because somehow, his tribe has prophecised his existence, and the good he'd bring with him. They had deemed this mobian so important that they carved his image into rock. Surely, he must have been a common topic

Would they be proud of knuckles for being the one to greet him? Or would they shrivel up in disappointment at their first interactions?

Sonic and Knuckles have an interesting character dynamic, because they're both simular, while also being drastically opposite from one another

They both uphold ridiculous responsibility. Sonic is the protector of the people, there to fight off any threats and keep them safe. Knuckles is the protector of the master emerald, a more behind the scenes method of protection, as if it was left in the wrong hands, people would surely die. More than that, they're both hero's to the public

They also both adore adventure and exploration

Knuckles is a solitary creature, moreso by habit than by introvertedness, and his passions in traveling are often squandered by his job

Sonic is an outgoing creature, always social and optimistic. This is partially his extrovertedness, and partially his general likeness. While I wouldn't say sonic is an introvert either, maybe saying he's an extrovert Is also not necessarily true. In sonic x especially, he's shown to very much enjoy his time alone, although fluctuates that mantra when in the company of those he trusts

Anyway, Sonic is free flowing, able to do whatever he wants really. And knuckles is the opposite. While they both strive for simular things, their actual actions are very diffrent

Sonic is also optimistic, outgoing, energetic, and generally quite relaxed. Knuckles on the other hand, is reclusive, cold, calculating and fierce. He often refuses to 'relax', taking his position as guardian VERY seriously

Their personalities mesh surprisingly well, considering all of this

When Knuckles was introduced to society via flying fox and prophecy 'god', that cemented the end of an era for him. Obviously he knew there was things outside of his island, but things like technology, and all the things that existed outside that he'd never even heard of, often turns a guys perspective upside down.

So Sonic and Tails introduced society, and friendship. Sonic is stubborn, not one to give up on things he's pursuing, and his friendship with Knuckles is no different. Because Knuckles is so used to isolation, he struggles to accept the drastic change that his life Is undergoing, and part of that change is the inclusion of people

So he acts cold on purpose a lot to deter people, as a protection for himself, and the master emerald. Cause, if someone gets close to him, he may let his guard down and then the emerald would be at risk. He's afraid of forming any type of relationships at first because he's never had to forge one before, and he doesn't know how to feel about it all

Luckily for him, Sonic is stubborn. He sees someone lonely, and able to kick his ass, and thinks 'yeah, we are actually going to be best friends I think'

Anyway because of Sonics stubbornness, and consistency, Knuckles and him are friends. I imagine that Sonic visits him, as well as their other friends, but Sonic specifically doesn't seem the type to just LET knuckles be alone on an island

Plus the tornado IS his plane, he could fly it up if he really wanted to

Anyway throughout the years, Knuckles and Sonic have a healthy respect for one another. They were rivals once, and then friends, but they aren't afraid to challange eachother because they're truly equals

So Sonic and Knuckles are friends. Cool, great. HOW does this relate to the sun and moon dynamic further than their original opposites?

I'm so glad you asked!

Sun and moon

So for some context, for those of you who are unaware, Sonic and knuckles designs are representing the Sun and moon by CANNON DESIGN CHOICES. Sonics tummy fur is meant to represent the sun, and obviously, Knuckles sidewards crescent moon is meant to represent, well, the MOON

The way that the sun and moon dynamic works is like this:

"a merging of opposites , unity and cooperation instead of conflicts, and rebirth"

Thanks Pinterest matching tattoo post!

Anyway, at the start, Knuckles and Sonic are at odds. They're complete opposites at a first glance. And then they're given the chance to be better, be friends, and suddenly their dynamic is just the best thing in the world ever oh god its SO PURE AND SLAY?!?!

The moons characteristics are as follows

Constant

Steady

Reliable

Straightforward / blunt

Compassionate

The sun's characteristics are as follows

Impulsive

Energetic

Strong willed

Intense

THESE ARE THEIR TRAITS!!!

Knuckles is often the one to have a level head. Yes he is shown to have bursts of anger, or lapses in judgement, but it's driven by his passion (And his emotional stunted upbringing). People often turn to him in times of need within their friendship group because he's well known to be wise, at least about chaos energy (which is most often what they need to know about anyway, hoorah for world centric magic types). He's blunt because of his lack of social awareness mostly. And while he's getting better, he's still pretty straightforward. He doesn't seem to care about sugar coating things for people, with the more 'this is how it is, undiluted, face the world and its problems' vibe

And Sonic. He's impulsive because he wants to live while he still can, he's energetic because speed literally RUNS THROUGH HIS VEINS like a vice, unstoppable and unrealistic. He's strong willed and determined, never backing down, STUBBORN in a way that Knuckles can almost match. Knuckles has been proven to share that drive, its one of their common grounds, but he also knows when to quit. That's their separation, because Sonic doesn't take no for an answer when lives are at stake. He's intense, all encompassing. His presence is almost distracting. Not only because of his social status but just because of his general vibe, sunny and bold

I like to bring actual science into this because it makes the metaphor even better IMO, so let me set the scene

Knuckles is the moon, because he is distant. He likes to keep to himself, and he is steadfast. He is strong, steady, and confident. He has an important purpose that he takes very seriously, and has lived his life in gentle solitude in tune with the nature away from him. He has spent a lot of his life floating, separated from people and their kinship

Enter: Sonic T. Hedgehog. He's intense in a way that is so noticeable that knuckles CANNOT ignore. Its a passion that he respects, and eventually, he finds himself closer than ever to him. You'd think being so close to the sun would get you burned, and it's maybe that apprehension that keeps him at a steady distance even still. Even when his light seems to bring out all of the best parts of him

Just like the moon only lights up the night sky because of the suns grace, Knuckles is only able to let himself flourish because Sonic had brought all of the best parts about him to light. It's cheesy, sure, but it's something he cherishes because he feels more like himself than he ever has in his solitude

There's still this fear, at arms length, because Sonic is so good. If he's a sun he is worshipped. He is looked up to and loved, people bathe in his light and leave gifts at his alter. He is so far away, it's insane

But maybe he doesn't notice, that people worship the moon too. And the sun is the biggest supporter. He shines so that people appreciate him, see all that he does. And people regard them together, because its the sun and the moon. They both float so far away from everyone else, only close enough to eachother by sheer magnitude. They're imposing and intense, and nobody else can even get close. And no matter how many people worship the sun, there is only one who may get close enough to FEEL his heat

And that is the moon

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minsarasarahair · 1 year

Text

Okaayyy... I think I'm fine now. I can talk about the changes in Vesper Noir's design.

I'm easy to please. As long as he has long hair, I'm good. I really love the hair. His new design looks like a fusion of Aruran 1.0 and Vesper 1.0. Yellow and black is still part of his color scheme but green is now his character color. I think the redesign is good for him "to move on". He has so many hiccup in his Vesper 1.0. He's always associated to Castlevania Alucard design, got suspended because of his temper and drained his social battery in his stay in Japan resulting missing out Tempus half-anniversary. I'm not super upset about that because I'm still new in vtuber fan community so most of the time when it happened I'm just confused. Questioning why he need to interact with his fans more in social media? Because I used to fangirl over fictional idols that will never reply to me. Why there's even a half-anniversary? You can just do only the anniversary. Stuff like that lol I always thought the first design has a troublemaker aura. Its like a teenager who's rebelling against his parents. So that's probably why even if he has little attitude problem I'm like oh it suits his character design lol The new design is more mature. Its still the same guy but he turn into a new leaf. I really like that. I confessed as a teenager I'm a bit emo and even wear a yellow-black jacket in my casual but as an adult, I like the color green. I can relate to that so his redesign really works for me.

Let's talk about the technicality of the design. First of all, even if I really love the first design I admit its not everyone's cup of tea especially if we're talking about what's popular nowadays. I guess they have no choice but to adapt. Being an artist is you always need to face changes too. I like that the color is more vibrant in 2.0. The coloring is also more rendered. I'll definitely miss the dorito chin, his glasses with reflection and coat. I really love Vesper 1.0. But what makes me happy the most in this new design is the ID featuring Vesper 1.0. Its like the message of the design is even if there is so many hiccups in my past what really matters is I'm here and I'm thriving. There is changes but there's also something that didn't change. He's not forgetting Vesper 1.0 and the mistakes he did but more like he's moving forward. Another message of this design is I feel like HQ boys did something together behind the scene hence why Vesper and Magni are very grateful to Tempus HQ boys. I don't know what it is but they said its a joined effort implying Vesper 2.0 and Magni 1.5 are the result of that effort. As a HQ fan, I can't help but appreciate that. Ah, another message is uh his new design is for older community in vtubers fanbase. It seems he's very well-loved by older vtuber fanbase during his indie days, aka his past life or other vtuber persona. That's always his target audience and strength as a talent so I'm quite happy they showcase that in his new design. So in short, his design has 3 messages: 1. To move forward. 2. HQ boys joined efforts. 3. For older community in vtuber fanbase. Its not just a pretty design. It has message at least from what I can see so that's why I believe the redesign is good. Message is important in art, okay? Remember that 3 messages before you think its ugly. I think art will only look ugly if it has no message. Even Vesper 1.0 has a message. It has this retro design that reminisce of 1900s anime bishounen.

If there is something I don't like is its the rigging of the face. Well, Vesper 1.0 don't have the best rigging too but I got used too it. Maybe I just need time? Just like Magni's 1.5? I don't know if Vesper just don't know how to use his own model but there is something off in his mouth. It opens too wide even if he's not that loud lol Its fine if he's laughing but when he's just talking normally, it looks weird. Another one is his eyebrows. I barely see any movements. I'm expecting something like Magni 1.5 update but oh well. I really like the hair rigging tho. His hair is truly his best asset.

Also, I want to congratulate Pako-sensei for being Vesper's adoptive parent. I think his original artist Kuniharu Komiya-sensei is currently sick so they have no choice but to find different artist. I think its like Fatamoru's situation? Moyataro was sick when Novectacle made the Fatamoru Reincarnation. I hope sensei will get better soon. So anyway, Pako-sensei is a regular Tempus viewer ever since his daughter Sana from Holocouncil graduated because of health issues. He really deserve becoming Vesper's new papa because of how frequent he is in Tempus stream lol. And yes, he's also an FGO artist like other Tempus boys parents. He's known for his Karna and Oda Nobunaga characters. Here are his Vesper illustrations that he did before and until he became Vesper's new papa!

#vesper noir #noir vesper #holostars #vtubers #holotempus

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yellowhollyhock · 6 months

Text

day 16 dance competition

Couldn’t resist making this about 03 Raph

post-canon, uhhh no trigger warnings this time I think. includes my take on 03 versions of various characters from other versions, not super developed here but very relevant.

It felt like the future.

Raph hated saying that, too, because it sounded like some cheesy tag line instead ot the specific type of headache he really wanted to describe.

It was the high ceilings, and being surrounded by machines he didn’t know the purpose of. Not to mention the uncomfortable suit he had to wear.

“I don’t know why we even have to come,” he said to Leo, half-hoping he’d persuade him to turn back. “I mean, Mikey and Donnie have jobs to do.”

“This is about building relationships,” Leo replied, though he didn’t sound thrilled either. “It’s the first time they’ve had potential off-world clients visit, and since most of their staff don’t have any experience with aliens, we need to be there as a buffer.”

“But Mikey’s already been studying all those cultures with Irma and Oyuki. Isn’t he in charge of being the buffer?”

“He studied the cultures so he could help plan music and a menu that wouldn’t start any wars. They’re still going to need our support in case anything goes wrong. Besides, our presence is symbolic. We’re two of only five people on earth who have ever met a Neutrino, even if it was in passing and we didn’t know it at the time.”

Raph knew that, but it was still unfair. Fugitoid was way more familiar with aliens.

“Yeah, well I bet there’s at least one other person,” he muttered darkly.

“Another important reason for is to be here,” Leo said seriously. “Even though April has government approval and protection, if Bishop somehow finds out—”

They both stopped short at the entrance to the meeting room. The outside wall had been let down as a balcony—with a safety net, something Leo had insisted on in the design phase—and the big conference table had been moved out to make room for a few smaller tables. The bright overhead lights were off, soft yellow tones lighting the room instead.

Leo gripped Raph’s arm nervously. “We’re very exposed this way.”

Raph reached over to pat him on the shell—and was interrupted by a screech and someone jumping onto his back.

“You guys are here! Can you believe we’re really doing an alien party? This is like straight out of Star Trek!”

“I really can’t believe it,” Raph assured him, unable to resist a fond smile. “I hope at least the food is better than on Star Trek.”

Mikey released them both, and they turned to face him. Raph frowned.

“Hey, how come you don’t have to wear a suit?”

Mikey was instead wearing a loose-fitting reflective jumpsuit with seams making hexagon patterns. Since it curved around his shell, he kind of looked like disco ball. He twirled happily.

“You like it? It’s the latest Neutrino fashion. Since I’m a cultural liaison April said I could wear their party clothes instead of ours!”

Raph looked at Leo. “Aren’t we cultural liaisons?”

Leo shrugged. “You wanna wear a disco ball?”

The fact that Raph thought about it for a second was a real testament to how uncomfortable their suits were. “No.”

Mikey laughed. “Come on, April and Fugitoid went up to meet them when they land, Donny’s briefing the staff in the break room. We want to all come in together ‘cause it’s more polite im their culture.”

They glanced at each other to confirm they both felt completely out of place, then followed Mikey.

In the break room, they found Irma, an older woman Raph was pretty sure was named Libby, and Timothy dressed in waitstaff uniforms, white aprons and loose black clothes. Casey wore a suit, Oyuki a black dress. Master Splinter wore a brand new blue robe. Donny was dressed like Leo and Raph, and looked about as nervous as them too.

“The Neutrinos are shapeshifters; they’ll explore their environment by shifting to match us, or other objects they find, so be mindful of what you grab. Remember, you’re all here because we trust you. We’ve done the impossible together before. Just be yourselves, and we’ve got your backs.”

Raph glanced sideways at Leo, unsurprised to see a soft smile. It was almost the same speech he’d given Don that morning. They gave each other thumbs up.

“Is it gonna give them a weird idea about earth for so many of the humans to be the waitstaff?” Oyuki pointed out as she glanced over the group.

Donny frowned thoughtfully. Unfortunately, Raph wasn’t quick enough to recognize an opportunity to change outfits. Leonardo was.

“I can be waitstaff. Timothy, trade me.”

Raph bit back a swear as he realized the opportunity he’d lost. Not only that, he was now the only ninja turtle present without a job.

Meanwhile, Timothy stood at attention, eyes wide. “It’s an honor, Leonardo Ninja Turtle!”

Leo tilted his head. “My last name is Splinterson. Do you know where the bathroom is?”

Timothy gave a very serious nod, and briskly led the way. Leo gave his brothers a backwards bewildered glance before following.

Casey clapped his hands. “Alright so, I guess we’re just waiting on word from the boss. Hope the landing’s going okay.”

“I hope after I spent this much time on my hair there at least some cute aliens my age,” Irma drawled, earning a few chuckles.

Master Splinter gave Raph a very serious look, putting a paw on his elbow. Raph leaned down a bit.

“Yeah, Sensei?”

“You seem particularly nervous, my son.”

“What, me? Nah. Just don’t like dressing up. And it’s kinda pointless, you know? I mean, I’m not exactly your average earth representative, and I don’t know about technology or alien culture. Not really a reason for me to be here.”

He crossed his arms protectively over his chest, realizing that while he had intended to dismiss Sensei’s concerns, he had instead confirmed how nervous he felt.

“I believe you know more about life from outer space and accepting those different from you than most people,” Master Splinter reassured him, “But regardless, you are here to support April and Donatello. They value your presence immensely, my son, and need your support.”

“Yeah. I know.”

He did know, but it was nice anyway, hearing it from someone else.

April and Donny just better be grateful he dressed in the worst kind of human clothes for a whole evening.

“Got her text,” Casey announced, just as Timothy and Leo reappeared. “Let’s go.”

So Raph tried to put his discomfort and insecurities out of his mind, and went to the weird business meeting party.

He gave polite nods and kept his distance. He would have liked to talk to Casey or Don, but both of them were occupied discussing recent work projects with interested aliens.

He looked around for Leo, wondering what there was to eat. He didn’t really want to ask Irma.

He spotted Leo across the room, holding a plate of appetizers and trying to explain food he didn’t understand himself to a bewildered alien.

He backed into something, and heard a surprised trill. Startled, he turned around to find a—uh, creature, with six insect-like limbs and a beak like a bird.

“Oh, uh, sorry.”

The Neutrino made a strange garbled sound. Raph took a half-step back, trying to decide if the tone seemed upset.

“You got a universal translator? I don’t have a universal translator. Were we supposed to get one?”

They dropped—or, looked more like, threw—a bright orange handkerchief at Raph’s feet.

He hesitated, thinking of what Don said about being careful what he picked up. Was that their friend? Had he hurt them when he bumped into them?

Keeping an eye on the insect-bird, he stooped to pick up the handkerchief. They leaned forward expectantly, so he went through with it and carefully handed it back.

Then they whirled and morphed into a turtle, matching Raph exactly, other than the orange handkerchief they held up.

Mikey appeared, beaming and clapping Raph on the back.

“She challenged you to a dance competition!”

“Say what.”

“Yeah yeah, it’s a big thing in their culture! We didn’t expect it to happen here because it’s usually for royalty. Hang on—hey Donny! Could you say into the translator that we need three judges for a dance competition?”

And that was how Raph found himself dancing with his clone, with Libby, Fugitoid, and a Neutrino who’d adopted a mostly human appearance, sat to judge. It wasn’t any kind of music he was familiar with, either.

It was shaping up to be one of the weirdest nights of his life, and that was saying something.

Oh, well, might as well make the most of it.

“Hey, don’t worry, I’ll take it easy on you since it’s your first time being a turtle.”

They matched him step for step.

“Alright, you get some pretty good footwork, but can you breakdance?”

They could breakdance.

“Here on earth we like to call this a moonwalk. You ever walked on the moon?”

Their moonwalk looked quite a bit different from his, and involved inflating their feet to make themselves float a little.

He talked less as the music picked up speed. There was no one else in the room; all he had to do was stay moving for longer than her.

When she was still doing spins and he was down to fist pumps, he fell to his knees in surrender. The music slowed to a stop.

“So what happens,” he panted, “If I lose?”

His clone knelt in front of him, then morphed into a humanoid figure to match her friend.

“Wow, you were great!”

He gaped. “You speak English?”

“We pick up languages pretty quickly,” her friend chirped happily. “You have to as a shapeshifter.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Raph acknowledged while his dance partner helped him to his feet.

The scores came in at a dead tie, mostly because Zak, the Neutrino judge, rated Raph so highly. Everyone was in good spirits, and by now all the Neutrinos appeared humanoid. A group of more official-looking ones were telling April they believed her technology would prove life-changing for their home planet. The dancer, Kala, said her and Zak would have to bring her friend Dask on their next visit, and that the three of them may even want to apply for a job here.

Raph listened to all of this with a detached satisfaction; maybe it was good he’d been here tonight, after all.

Donny leaned against him, a quiet show of gratitude.

“It’s been a weird night,” he said.

“Beyond weird,” Raph replied. “You owe me.”

Don gave him a crooked smile. “That’s fair. Want a laser gun?”

Raph shook his head. Don raised his eyebrows.

“What about a new bike?”

Raph motioned him closer so he could tell him quietly.

“Next time, no suit.”

Donny laughed out loud.

“You got it. And I’ll still throw in a new bike, just cause I like you.”

#tmnt #tmnt 2003 #2003 raph #march for raph #2003 donnie #2003 leo #2003 mikey #yellow writes #this got out of hand #i have created so many things for myself to explain #i think this took the longest to write of any promot so far and makes the least sense

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