#tbh I kind of feel like this design could be improved a lot

[adskips]

Sorry for taking a long while, here’s a Reddoons dragon!

[eunkitarot]

Enhypen Jay ideal type please

Hi sure lets see the cards i pulled are:

6 of cups: for Jay, he seeks someone that is comforting to him. Someone when he is together with them he feels healed. Someone that has a youthful energy to them. A carefree vibe. This person may have a warm smile. He likes people who are kind-hearted. Jay also likes people who are simple all around. Maybe in the way they wear or their routine is simple. He likes someone that is not so picky or complicated.

I think this make sense with my tarot read of him as bf where he is fast in resolving problems. He likes to deal with it and move on. So if his ideal type is complicated and very nitpicky its going to make it difficult for him. So someone that is simple and understanding is what he likes.

The hanged man: i feel like his ideal type might be someone that is in the creative aspect when it comes to career. Anything that involves art ,design or crativity. With this card , Jay may find someone that is willing to stand apart from a crowd attractive. Maybe because not everyone have the courage to defy social norms. So when someone dares to stand out it shows bravery and having a backbone even when their own views can be unorthodox /unconventional.

Judgement: so again with this card , similar to the hanged man, Jay finds people who stand out attractive. Someone that is the catalyst for change in society. Their actions may impact people in a good way and inspire others to confront truths they may have ignored. For eg someone like Greta Thunberg or Malala Yousefzai. Someone that is brave to voice out and take actions so that other people will follow suit and not be a blind sheep.

Tbh im kinda shooketh that these eg are coming out but ofc this is jay, he is someone that is knowlegable and have this kinds of facts on his fingertips. While channeling his ideal type, a lot of fun facts kinda pop up in my head so yeah...

Eight of pentacles: Jay finds people with great work ethics attractive. Someone that is educated and have skills that they master in their craft. He likes when his partner is absorbed in their work and focused. Someone who commits wholeheartedly to their endeavors, constantly seeking to improve and perfect their skills is very admirable for Jay. So his Ideal type is someone that is a professional in their field of interest. I am getting like scientist or reaearchers could also be his type of people.

9 of swords: with this card his ideal type may be someone that works in high-pressure environments or deals with crisis management. Where stress and worry are prevalent. Their job may demand constant vigilance and problem-solving, which contributes to their state of mental overload. A profession where the stakes are high and the pressure is constant. So if his ideal type is someone that is about to change the world, obviously its going to be heavy on their shoulders.

So overall, he likes someone that is career oriented. And if that career influences people and able to change others lives for the better , thats is even more admirable to him. He feels that if everyone is a blind follower, the world could be a disaster. So once in a while humans should take control of their lives and find ways to make the earth a better place.

Help the ending is just taking me out. But honestly i understand what he meant.

Anyways i hope yall love this reading and dont forget to like💗

[brokebegginerartist]

I have a whole ass storyline featuring these two, spawned from that very okayish movie.

Also a spoiler review:

The sequel was pretty okay. I had a good time watching it. Obv it's very technically impressive and the way that the water ways is very good™️. The designs in general were very neat. Super pleasing from a guy who likes designs. I prefer looking at the human vehicles over the creatures but yknow, sucker for lower sci-fi stuff.

From what I remember of the first movie (which is almost next to none), I think I enjoyed the characters here a lot more. Super Memorable Main Character Jake Sully wasn't at all too interesting here. All he's really got is:

a) guerrilla leader, which the movie skips out a whole lot of potential in the prologue like seriously there was so much they could've done with that but they just didn't

And b) kinda strict father figure. Like I mean, it's something, for sure. But he never really does anything that a father figure wouldn't reasonably do. There was this bit in the beginning were his sons, uh. Noatok and Middle Child, mess up really bad and got a number of folks killed, but Jakesully kinda ignores that and berates Middle Child that he nearly got his brother killed. And his punishment for nearly screwing up a military mission? He's grounded. Around two thirds of what made this dynamic interesting was abandoned when the family bounced. Honestly though I can understand why his character takes a bit of a backseat as the film now has to devote screentime to his kids, which is more of an excuse than the previous film had.

Neytiri has largely the same issues too. I didn't really think of her as anything more than Scary Mom and Spicy Wife, but I don't rlly know what else they could've done with her.

That being said, I liked the kids a whole lot more even if the only ones who had an arc were Middle Child, Kiri, and Spider. Which is. More than ¾s. Anyways they were just kind of fun to be around even if I was getting a little tired of the discrimination aspect, though I understand why that exists. I'm especially happy with what they did with Kiri. Having that dynamic with Grace and Eywa was an amazing concept and I'm very interested to see what they do with it in the next one. I'm personally hoping we see Grace back in her Avatar.

Quaritch, compared to the last movie from what I remember, was way more interesting here than in the last movie (which is more than I can say for his squad. They weren't even particularly harder to kill than any of the human mercs. While the blue was flashy and cool, I'm disappointed with the lost potential here, even if it was only for better action scenes). It's good to see him with an attitude that isn't Military Man. He's also the main reason Spider exists, in and out of universe. At the beginning of the movie I was like "why does this kid exist besides the self inserts for young men" but during his scenes with Quaritch, I'm glad he does. I'm really into the esthetic of the military gear on the wyverns. Mega, Mega cool. Which is another thing.

I'm kind of disappointed with the treatment of the humans here. Very nearly none of them have any sympathetic qualities whatsoever. Even the ex-humans on the Naavi side were basically entirely useless. They only existed to paint a target on the Seal Naavi, telling Jakesully that, yknow, Kiri having seizures underwater could be bad (also it's very convenient that Naavi don't have the instinct to inhale when they suffocate like humans do. Very odd tbh) and to also claim that Kiris visions were caused by brain problems, which, while possible, they have actual, measurable proof that Eywa and her effects on the environment exist (I mean for fecks sake one of thems an Avatar too. Literally just stick him into a tree or some crap. I'm pretty sure they have recordings of Grace confirming this, no?). I sincerely hope this is improved in the next one, like Jesus this is a thing that took me out of the film for a bit

There's also this feeling that this whole conflict is really black and white, as in all the humans are bad guys and all the blue peeps are good guys. I'm no supremacist, and I understand that they're gonna do something with the concept with the introduction of the fire nation, but at least give us at least something to suggest that this conflict isn't that simple, like something more tangible than bullies for the blue side and, y’know, any sign at all that the humans are worried about the future of their people on the sky side.

Something besides all that, that I wish they did, was lean into the mixed esthetic like they did with Quaritch's wyverns. Something I think would've been cool for Jakesully's character. How, although he loves his wife and family and wants to separate himself from the worst parts of his heritage, he still mourns the things he lost. Even Especially if it was only the little things, like beer with friends or the general esthetics of Night City. Another thing that could've made the vibes more mixed. Like the weird coms gear that the Avatars use. I'd like some signs that both humans and Naavi have something to learn from each other, like some technical skills and even just an interest in cultural studies (if Eywa wasn't a force that solves damn well near all their problems and if they had a more open mind on anything that wasn't Eywa, although I could understand why they wouldn't considering the circumstances), and maybe, besides the incredible biology studies, a little bit of culture exchange on the humans side (if they weren't both desperate and assholes and led by a megacorp)

And besides that, some nitpicks

JakeSully's decision to leave when Avatars are targeting his family. Dumb, dumb on multiple levels. 1, You're like the only competent guerrilla leader of these people and you're leaving them high and dry. 2, You're leaving the hallelujah mountains, your most strongly defensible position, as on top of the general hostility of the entire planet, it has electro magnetic shenanigans that make the human instruments malfunction. And 3, if you decide to settle with anyone else, you'll be putting their community into danger by association because you cannot tell me you thought they were just gonna leave you alone if you disappeared from radar for a bit.

Everyone besides the kids lack of concern for Spider. JakeSully takes his family and bounces when he hears he's been captured (altho tbh what was he gonna do besides not leave, massive dumbdumb), and Neytiri takes him for hostage. She was emotional and they had Kiri, but still like wtf both of you. Butthole moves, you guys that was fucked

Why are the whales sapient? They don't seem to have admin privileges like the Naavi (or hands with which to create). What tf is the plan here Eywa

The mosasaur looking thing abandons the chase of a large fish out in open water, in favour of a much skinnier and more inconvenient Middle Child

The sea mercs plans rely nearly entirely on the whales refusal to retaliate in any meaningful way. I don't remember how much damage Middle Childs buddy did in his flashback, but his bros had all been killed. What was the difference between then and now? Where are all the high explosives that you dudes obviously need on standby?

The Sea Naavi dissappear in the middle of the climactic battle

Despite all that tho movie was pretty and I had fun, hoping the next one is better :)

[catboyrichardkarinsky]

PLEASE go on a rant about how much you hate how the mcu treats howard💓💓

thank you for giving me an excuse to go on this rant

first of all obviously they're criminally underusing him. sure that's a problem for me and maybe a few other people but generally most of human population just wants to see flashy superheroes or whatever they're not here for the duck guy so i get why that is. everything else? no excuses. absolutely zero.

first of all the design. oh my god i fucking hate it. the guardians of the galaxy design of Howard hurts my eyes tremendously. a lot of people love to hate on the way Howard looks in his own movie but honestly? that one isn't even that bad compared to the horror that is gotg Howard.

seriously here's original comics Howard next to movie Howard next to gotg Howard, make your own judgement if you want

they kind of improved it in the what if series but it still doesn't feel entirely right to me tbh

but design choices aside what i hate most is that they they erased everything from the entire premise of his story. he is not even "trapped in a world he never made" as the original Howard the duck comics tagline said!! he's just in space with a bunch of other weird aliens!! Howard's whole point is that he's out of place so why put him somewhere where he looks like he belongs pretty dang well? why would you do that?

the other thing is the entire joke is that he's a duck. that's it that's the joke. but it shouldn't be because it never was. in the original Howard the duck comics you kind of see the world through his eyes and in that context it makes no sense for his species to be the joke because that's the only thing that's completely normal for him. everything else is absurd for him. humans look like hairless apes to him. and their behavior is ridiculous and pathetic to him. and he seems to always attract the weird ones somehow. and it's kind of on the border between being a joke and being completely serious. because to the reader it might come off as a joke but for him the situations he's in are completely serious and distressing. or as the creator of Howard the duck, Steve Gerber himself said: "Life's most serious moments and most incredibly dumb moments are often distinguishable only by a momentary point of view." And honestly despite the whole premise theoretically being that Howard is a duck it's honestly not neccecary. he could be a sheep or a cat or whatever the story would work the same. hell, he even was turned into a human for a while in the original comics and was turned into a mouse (and various other creatures) for the majority of the 2002 htd run. this itself is proof that ironically Howard doesn't have to be a duck for his story to work.

oh and the mcu doesn't have Beverly Switzler which is a hatecrime against me specifically

[cactusringed]

Can you ramble about the Boogeyman mechanic in particular cuz that was probably my favorite part of Last Life. The constant unrest that it created fhfjfjjfjfjjfdjjf

Franny u always respond to my pleas for asks I love u sm ur the best

The boogeyman mechanic is like one of the biggest answers to third life that last life provides - because the thing with third life is that it was relatively peaceful for a while - there was a lot of unrest caused by scar (and scarian in general) but also a general inability to truly act upon it, to the point ren felt the need to let martyn kill him so that he could enact proper war

The other big trend of third life is that allyships were very, very, very strong, and had no reasons to break. Everyone stayed with the person they found on day 1 and had little to no reason to leave them.

And then of course, there's the lack of balance between very skilled survival players and those who aren't used to play in a setting where their deaths matter. It's surprising that that issue didn't rise up as much in third life tbh, but it did enough to be recognised. There needed a way to balance the skill levels, so that we could just have 2 or 3 players on red whilst the rest was still on green and thriving.

The boogeyman mechanic is meant to help with pretty much all of this. Now the random life mechanics seems like it would be counterintuitive to the issue of balance, except that in that season lives are also made to be currencies, and knowing the players that were in the game, Grian or whoever came up with the mechanics themselves, knew what would happen, because the games at this point are specifically designed for the players themselves. And then, in case it still led to a lack of balance, you got the boogeyman. It means that even if you're in a team of greens, you can't just relax. Even if your allies are remarkably loyal, you may be at risk.

And it WORKED. there were so many heart wrenching betrayals and breaks of alliances over the boogeyman. It offers the players a chance to have fun with the narrative, too - a recognition that the narrative woven through their improv was a big draw to third life. It gives them the chance to crank it up to eleven, and makes greens and yellows able to feel included when the majority of the server is red and they, too, want to be part of the blood shed or just show that they need to be respected and feared. It stops players from remaining stuck and hidden within their alliances, and gives them reasons to branch out.

It's not in double life, because the gimmick of the season already worked to equalize the playing field: by linking random players together, it meant that an incredibly skilled player should, in theory, not be at too much of a advantage because they were still taking damage for two. Furthermore, because their lives were linked, it would be counter intuitive to have a mechanic that would push one to betray the other. It doesn't make sense. And I doubt they expected coupled to be close enough allies with each other for the boogey to make a difference between this kind of alliances. In general every player in double life is incredibly fragile, and it just wouldn't work to have the boogey there.

But then limited life rolls around and has one of the most fascinating gimmick yet - it's not just that it's about time, but that it's about gains and losses. The mechanics of limited life encourage players towards risk taking, because suddenly you're not limited to 3 (or more) lives, and you GAIN by being aggressive. It's also the only series that allows yellow to be aggressive towards greens, too. Limited life banks on players becoming desperate, and on pushing the ones that were passive even in last life to be aggressive at all costs. And it shows in the way people played it. Because if you don't kill as the boogey in last life and become red the next session, well you can still get someone to gift you a life, especially if you have an ally with many more lives than you. It's a relatively painless, and very equal exchange. But in limlife? If you're low on time, you have to take so much more from a player than you're receiving. The person you take time from will always lose double what they're giving you, boogey or otherwise. It makes life (or here, time) exchanges so much more desperate, means they need to be so much more calculated, and pushes boogeys to be so much more aggressive than they were even in last life. Because getting out of red, or just out of running out of time, is so much more difficult in limited life, you can't spit on a free hour even if it causes the victim to suffer. Similarly, it really, really makes the weight of your kill so much heavier.

Its such a fun mechanic to add and has so many effects on the psychology of play bro I love it so much

[frospino]

Fellow ADHD-office workers, some "how to design my office space" help?

The situation: I work in a ground floor office on a main street next to a hospital (lots of ambulances). We don't have separate rooms, just one big room. We were looking into ways three people could work there at once and, you guessed it, the neurotypical colleagues said it shouldn't be a problem because it's just three people. I am very sensitive to noise and often can't write emails when someone is on the phone next to me, and the noise level overall sometimes makes me dizzy. Add to that light flashes of cars that drive by and a weird kind of pain from wearing any type of headphones, sadly including noise cancelling headphones, for too long. I could occasionally work from home, but my compulsions mean I check my work email even when I'm off the clock/feel the need to do so and can't shut off my brain. Now obviously, a lot of these problems are "me-problems." I'd still like to suggest a way that the office space could be more inclusive, but tbh I don't have a good idea on how we could manage it.

If you also work in a shared office, and the problems I described seem familiar - do you have any advice on how to improve the situation? Any office arrangement tips or cool gadgets or something that could help?

[bokatan]

3 for Reed and Mercy, and 12 for the lot of them please 👀

[ Questions About Creating Your OCs ]

3: How did you choose their name?

Reed’s name was just picked off a list of names Codsworth says, and then I decided that’s actually his last name that he goes by(Codsworth knowing his name is part of his canon, which freaks him out because he’s never met Codsworth before, so he wants nothing to do with him and refuses to take him as a companion). For Mercy- I actually don’t remember how I picked out her name since she’s been one of those characters I just use in every game ever and she’s been around for a while, but her ‘legal’ name in her fallout version is just something random and period accurate that could passably be misheard as Mercy. If Benny’s gun wasn’t named Maria, she would’ve been Maria rather than Marcia.

12: What have you found to be most difficult about creating art for your OC (any form of art: writing, drawing, edits, etc.)?

Mostly drawing tbh- I love suffering and keep making complicated character designs + giving them companions, which means I look at them and never want to draw them because they take forever. Ghoul skin? Nope. Exposed synth parts and gen.2 synth ..seam things? Nope. Robots? Hell no. I’ve been working on making assets and overlays to use to try and help fix that problem, but again: I have to actually draw them in order to make the overlays. I also keep changing Delta’s design for whatever reason so they’re just never going to have reference art at this rate lmao

I also have a hard time with writing for them, but that’s mainly just because I’m extremely out of practice and haven’t actually written in ages. It’s very frustrating and I feel like my writing currently is like the equivalent of stick figures, but I know I have to write more in order to improve so I’m just going to have to deal with it for a while. I’ve got all kinds of ideas I want to write and the dialogue tends to just write itself, it’s just getting the writing to actually capture the imagery in my head that’s the problem.

[shewhopats]

My thoughts on Overwatch Designs (Reinhardt Edition)

Tbh, anytime I think of him, I remember when the game first dropped and everyone was guessing what he looked like without the armor, with my favorite being:

I feel that his canonical height of 7ft tall is very unrealistic (the fan-theory is that it's in the future, and humans have become taller over time, but I feel like it takes more then 50 years for a species to gain a foot of height AND most other characters are reasonable heights), and it's funny tonimagine this HUGE personality and booming voice coming from a scrawny or small dude. I could get behind the decision to have him so tall, but then they kept releasing characters as tall as him, which really steals his thunder, imo. OK, back to the main topic.

There aren't a lot of huge differences, so the devil really is in the details on this one.

The red highlights in OW1 are used much more sparingly then the yellow in OW2, which might sound like bad thing, but they are used to make the glowing heat shining through the plates of his crusader armor and the eye-slits of his helmet seem more bright/hot. This detail gets lost in the yellow of the OW2 design.

It was clever of OW2 to change the number on his shoulder from 08 to 09. It's a nice hint of storytelling in the design. Is this a new and improved suit, did he rank up, what does it mean?

I REALLY wish they kept the helmet on. It's like an episode of Scooby-Doo, where they unmask the culprit and it's just some guy. And if the base skins represent how they look in canon, why would he not wear his helmet in battle?

I'm an absolute simp for men with wild hair and long beards, and I cannot bring myself to decide which hair/beard style I love more for him.

OW1 had a circle on Reinhardt's chest, which I never was too fond of. I imagine it's supposed to be a power source of some kind, but it just doesn't come across that way. OW2 replaced it with a lion's face, and you'd think I'd be a fan, but I find it redundant to have a lion on the shield and the chest. If they had made out like the lion IS the new power source and had energy pulsing from it's mouth and eyes, that would have been cool.

Finally, the look of the armor itself. OW2 has way too many creases, open joints, and those weird straps on the front. OW1, by comparison, looks solid and defensive, with stains and scratches everywhere, and a sense of the power building up under all the protection.

OW1: 8/10 a good example of how to make boring grays and blacks seem bright and colorful

OW2: 6/10, it's got too much going on, and the exposed head feels like it stands out from the formidable mass of metal and muscle.

[extincto]

(Positive) relationship shit below

The breakup with Mx Toxic has made me realise I should be taking my relationship with Raven more seriously. With my improving mental health I can be their rock and now the other guy is out of it I feel like I can express my affection for Raven without causing drama with Mx Toxic. Raven and I have also been together for more than 10 years! When we got together we were a 'cis+hetero' couple lol, now we are both trans and gay. To begin with we wanted to get married and have at least one kid, now we both dislike the idea of marriage and are antinatalists <3

While I don't want to get married or have a ceremony or anything I do want some kind of symbol of our undying love and the bond we have that is clearly not going anywhere, so I asked if they would like if we got rings. They said yes! Unfortunately we are also on a budget so we can't drop thousands on AMAZING rings (would take anything from Nick Von K). Other limitations include my goddamned allergy to nickel and wanting to keep the rings looking fine for a while, at least until we can afford to replace them, so I've had to be looking at least at gold vermeil (a little thicker than electroplated, thinner and cheaper than gold filled & solid gold) or sterling silver (I don't like silver).

I originally wanted something kind of rough/hammered gold with a garnet or maybe an opal or something interesting in it, somewhere between these

(x, x)

But here are some I've been looking at below that we COULD afford and I wanna know what you all (anyone who's reading this) thinks about them:

From Lucid & Luna, NZ, heavily ft. Moonstone lol

Honestly lots of nice and reasonably priced rings at Moon Magic, USA but I don't know the company and feel slightly funny about ordering from the USA tbh

Patterned bands from MasteRetsaM on Etsy that I also love

One of many nice rings at Kirstin Ash, Aus, but they're priced for quality...

Really nice but nicely priced ring from Bixby & co, Aus, with recycled glass instead of gemstones!

Just a proper sized, gold filled band with a solitaire CZ from J&Co, USA.

Rings that are a bit more fun from Thaya, from... USA?? The fun designs make me waver from my preference for gold but I also don't have to deal with the enamel chipping or weathering off.

A selection from Etsy (x, x, x). It's not easy wading through the junk on there

Or, we could just...

[maiverie]

hihi! im kinda young (14 turning 15 in aug!) and i saw that another anon asked for your help on creating a blog .. i kind of need help too 😭😭 do you have any tips on writing? i wanna start a blog but have no experience in writing like AT ALL. except for maybe writing essays for eng or having to create comfort texts for friends because erm therapist friend here☝️

hiiii omg im so sorry for the late reply HAHA but firstly happy early birthday for august!!! plsss I'd be so happy to help! here's my reply to the other post on setting up your blog :>

as for writing tips,,,, um bro honestly idk if I'm the best person to answer ur question but here are some of my personal thoughts!! also comfort friend so real DONT GET BURNT OUT THO 😭

—(long post below)

disclaimer: I am obviously not the best most amazing writer, so these are just my personal thoughts !!! I'm sure there are other users out there with better insights !!!

when I started writing I was like really really really shit like PROPER shit it's actually fucking embarrassing reading back to it 💀 but idk sometimes it's just fun to look back and see all the improvements I've made along the way — for you, it might be that way too. you might feel like it's shit to begin but honestly the more you write, the easier it becomes and naturally you'll improve ! so I think the best mindset to have when you start is to just try, and be okay with the fact that it will obviously not be your best work and you'll just get better and better and better!

here are some writing tips I've previously written - I'll reiterate some of the points there but maybe give it a read and see if it helps?

I think it's easiest to start with one idea and use it as a seed — just let ideas slowly grow from it; keep adding little details and details until it sprouts into a big tree! for example, you can pick a trope that you really like (maybe something you've read before in someone else's fic, or something you've seen in movies/tv shows/books) and then pick a member from whichever group you want to write for (I'm assuming enhypen since you're on my blog) and just write!! for example, you can pick enemies to lovers and then be like hmmm I really want to do jay and enemies to lovers! from there, you can think about the smaller details: why are they enemies (plot)? what do enemies say to each other (dialogue)? where are they when they say these things (setting)?

I think it's easier to write the kind of things that you like to read! so if you really like one shots, write a one shot. if you like smaus, write an smau. if you like headcanons, do the same! stick to whatever you've seen before because then it'll feel a little less daunting! personally, I used to read a lot of like stupid little romcoms growing up and so that's just naturally what I kind of write now ^^ you'll notice that everyone has different taste; so you might see someone's writing and be like "wow it's really good!" and people might disagree with you — in saying that, don't try to please everyone and just write whatever u like ^^ you'll attract people who personally gravitate toward your writing !

tbh, fic writing is nowhere near the same calibre of actual book writing so I wouldn't fret too much about designing a really intricate plot with like fully-fleshed characters because nobody really does that anymore (at least not on blr? i think that's more common on wattpad where people have like 20+ chapters ya feel) — I think just write what makes you happy! If it's about your bias + a trope you like then ezz that's all u need to do hdfshsdh

there are people who like to fully plan out fics and there are people that just wing it — I'm sure you'll find your style, but don't feel worried if you can't seem to brainstorm anything! I think it's easier to just start, and then think about that could happen next. maybe you can start a story with dialogue and then just continue on with the conversation !!

when you're writing scenes, think about setting and characters — for example, think about how they feel, how they react to another character’s dialogue, how they physically react to someone's touch, how cold or hot the weather is, where they're standing/sitting and what their surroundings look like, what time it is, etc. etc. obviously don't include everything (especially the irrelevant stuff) but my point is that there are so many different directions you can go!

here are some other tips I can think of:

read your dialogue out loud and think to yourself, "would someone actually say this?" also, make sure only one person speaks per paragraph so it's less confusing

use a thesaurus sparingly — try not to use convoluted language bc I'd say people who read your work are going to be around the same age as you and idk it's just a lil weird if you're using random words that nobody really uses irl

pay attention to your grammar/syntax — make sure some sentences don't run too long and that when you read it out loud, it makes sense!

also spell-check HSDHDS BUT HONESTLY MY FICS ARE RIDDLED W TYPOS LIKE IT DOESNT RLLY MATTER TBH.. SO LONG AS ITS NOT HORRIBLE?? UHH

treat your characters like real people and think about what they say/do and if it's something in or out of character!! in saying that, give them motivations and fears and all the juicy stuff that real humans have — if you care about writing a story that people will remember, then I think it'd be great if you could write memorable characters by fleshing them out and making them lovable or hate-able(?) or relatable.

make sure scenes flow from one to the other — it's the same as you do with your eng essays! you make sure you're not talking about one thing before quickly jumping to the next. I think you can apply the same logic to writing fiction :))

honestly it's hard to give tips because I'm not sure what type of stories you want to write and what direction you're going for, so I'm really sorry if my tips were a little too generalised!! but if I'm gna be like so so so so fr right now, I honestly think writing for enhablr can be easy/simple — my tl;dr is that you should just pick a member + easy trope + make sure you have a mildly interestingly plot and once you add in decent grammar, you'll probably do really great! I don't mean this in a bad way, I just think ff writing doesn't have to be too difficult because most people just want to read about and imagine their bias in situations they'll never be able to see irl (its kinda the whole point of ff)!! I don't think people think much about fics beyond that !! this is all just for fun!!! so I really hope u have fun writing!!! lmk what u end up working on ^^

I hope this helps; idk if it did 😭 but lmk if u need any more clarification 😭💖

[piercedpressure]

how has deja evolved over the years? i swear she gets redesigned like every few months /pos lol

LMAOOO ud be right cause shes changed stories each year (im painfully indecisive), this year is the only story ive genuinely been interested in exploring since i finally landed on a genre i think would fit her best? and i consider her redesigns to be a sort of progression into how ive grown as a writer and maybe as a person since shes been with me for so long lmao

ill place this under read more cause ill go into condensed detail about her evolution for her characterization, her design, and a small timeline for her story contexts but tl;dr shes grown so much and has gotten way more complex. i love her so much

2017-early 2018: she actually started out as a sona concept! design wise, nothing really special tbh, i was throwing stuff i really liked. for 2017, she was just a throwaway concept, but i was rapidly improving towards the end of that year...

mid-2018: ... that i ended up reusing her concept as a character concept, and during that year, i made an au with a friend that spiraled into something that lasted about the next 2 years, that then included her as one of the main characters LMAO. i wanted to draw crazy hair and also a cute mask, so i did. i ended up making it so that the masks were to both hide her identity (shes a fugitive in the au) and to be some sort of metaphor. her personality was very outwardly sweet, but she could also kill you so it best to not get on her bad side, but she was also in a constant learned helplessnes. big deja year

2019: design wise, i removed the mask, made her fatter (despite me not knowing how to draw fat people yet), and made her sorta baby-faced, since her character is a lot more childish during this bit? story wise, her story was included in an anthology about different kinds of love in a post-apocalyptic fantasy world. during this time, i was going through a Lot mentally, and it sorta marked the beginning of a really horrible period in my life thats still kind of ongoing, so i used her story in a more experimental sense so i can figure out different workarounds in an escapist way? this is also when i started pairing her with her now-partner-in-stories, lualhati, and from this point, lulu and deja are inseparable

2020: for this year, i was sorta putting her story off? i was really struggling to figure out what to do with it other than the deja/lulu love story, but at the same time, that marked me going through a journey of adding fat people to my work. dejas always been small fat, but her body hasnt actually been drawn well enough. we all start from somewhere though. she was a lot more calm in this version, and is sort of a leader figure for a village in a fantasy world. but i wasnt really feeling it.........

2021: last year was when i really started digging deep into what i wanted to do. i wanted weird gay trans cathartic art. so dejas story was that. still wasnt really feeling it, but u can tell i was really experimenting trying to land on something i was passionate about. while i did like her design since its a turning point in my art, and its visually loud (the color palette, holy shit), IT WAS SO HARD TO DRAW? i understand that 2021 me was really going at it with very loud and distinct designs, but the reason why i didnt even draw her for months after was because she was so fucking hard to draw. and i didnt put enough effort to portraying her fatness (which will soon become a very important aspect of her character). but were about to pull a gamer move

2022: up until now, since 2018-2019, i wasnt really satisfied with her story. it didnt really fit what i wanted, bc i was mostly concerned with how other people would react if i talked about them, especially since deja/lulu have always been very personal to me. but i had a vision. where deja and lulu are in a revenge drama thriller in a city in the middle of nowhere. and i havent stopped thinking about it day and night ever fucking since. i brought back a lot of elements from past designs (mostly cause i thought theyd look great, i was right), and im finally getting to a point where im figuring out how i draw fat people. now, dejas characterization came really easy to me (hypervigilent, short-tempered, mysterious, a second away from realizing shes trans). her story explores themes surrounding violence, secrets, and suffocating marriages, and while its a far heavier story than the past ones, its the first time ive been genuinely excited to see how its grown. i could ramble about this all day lol

deja is a growing character and she keeps getting better and better every time im exploring her, and she genuinely means the world to me. thank u for reading this if u have decided to read this

[turbo-overkill]

Maybe a bit late, but I just started playing Dying Light and realized what your previous url was a reference to. I'm curious about your thoughts on Kyle Crane and the Dying Light series in general if you don't mind

hi!! of course!

I have a love hate relationship with the series tbh. Like, the first game + The Following DLC are probably in my top 5 games, especially gameplay wise. The movement is soooo fun and I love how the combat is balanced, especially on the zombies' part. I could go into a lot detail on the combat especially, but we'd be here all day.

The visual design for the first game is also fun!! From the map design to the characters, and there's so much attention to detail! You can see Kyle's weapons actually breaking down with use, the gore system and graphics are insane for their time, and overall the way the zombies are integrated into the gameplay makes the world feel really alive.

There's a tie-in book that takes place during the initial outbreak in Harran, and it's honestly kind of mediocre, but if you'd still like to check it out, I should be able to send you a PDF.

As for Kyle? I'll be the first to admit he's the most generic video game motherfucker I've seen, but I still love him. He's a dork, and the canon Following ending makes him so much more interesting and honestly ironic as a character.

DL2 I feel has improved drastically since its launch, and is currently an actually enjoyable game, but I still really dislike it. I miss the movement/combat of the first game, the procedurally generated map gets boring really fast, and I'm honestly just not a fan of the story. I feel like, where DL1 was simple but effective, DL2 is much more complex to its own detriment. I'd say it feels too stiff and still in comparison.

Overall, I'm not nearly as obsessed with the series as I was a few months back, but I still like it. Feel free to send me a DM or another ask, I don't mind talking about it!

[foxstens]

two hot takes: fast travel sucks and some games would be better without a map

i might not have been able to get into ds1 right now but it sure has opened my eyes.

too convenient and also basically required fast travel sucks. because if it's unlocked within the first 10 minutes, or god forbid, as soon as you start the game, it feels meaningless. and being required to fast travel to a certain location to level up for example like in ds3 breaks immersion and removes the necessity for good, creative level design and interesting shortcuts. you know. one of the things that's so praised in ds1

hollow knight's fast travel is an improvement since you can't warp from bench to bench, there are shortcuts, and exploring the world isn't particularly tedious so you don't feel the need to run from stag station to tram to stag station because you can't be bothered to walk through two rooms. at least in my opinion

as for the map, what i mean is that. some games would probably be better designed if they had no map. because if the player can't rely on a map to know where they are and where they have been, instead the game developer has to put more thought into audiovisual cues and stuff to guide the player, or to at least help them.

even if i found ds1 kind of hard to navigate, that was because i'm not as used to 3d games and having to set the graphics settings to low certainly made things harder to see. but i can't say i ever felt truly lost and so i think it does the mapless thing very well.

and i noticed just recently as i tried out the last faith that i relied so much on both the fast travel and the map that it got annoying. both because they're /available/ to be relied on, and because i didn't find the layout of the world very interesting or logical.

once again hollow knight's map is better because you have to experience a decent chunk of an area before you get its map, but that game is so well-designed you could just remove the map entirely and it would work just as well. i know a lot of people get lost in it but i don't understand how, the only time i've used a map was in my first playthrough and then in room randomizers when i got really stuck because randomizers don't follow the same logic.

it's just, the rooms and enemy placements are distinct enough, the backgrounds and area transitions help clue you in where you are, and the shortcuts and area connections make sense. i also find a 2d game way easier to parse and take in than a 3d one. but it's the biggest reason i'm excited to try sekiro tbh.

admittedly i can't think of many games i've played that are well-designed enough to work without a map. perhaps the ori games since their worlds are smaller, the secrets are hard to miss, and they're overall easy to navigate.

i've been playing a lot of rain world modded regions and i barely check the map, sometimes it can be unreliable and i have pretty good memory in this game so i rarely need it. but i have to say, a lot of the modded regions and even some of the downpour regions are way harder to navigate than the base-game regions. there's something about the audiovisual cues, the pipe connections, even the creature dens that sometimes just don't make sense in those regions, when they do in the base game.

anyway i went off on a tangent.

but what i don't understand is why is the metroidvania subreddit so obsessed with the idea of 'good' (aka convenient) fast travel and maps when a core part of metroidvanias is exploring an interconnected world... because they say if those features aren't convenient then the game doesn't respect the players' time. and i don't agree. i think if you don't have the patience to explore and backtrack in a metroidvania it's either because you don't like the game and its world enough, or because the devs failed in making the world explorable through the elements i've listed previously.

[vampiresdotgif]

PLEASE tell me abt your gay robot

OKAY HEHEHEHEHHE

[tw for mentions of self harm, suicide attempts, depression, none of which is described in any serious detail! also sorry if this was a late reply i never check my inbox lol. and sorry for weird formatting. and sorry in general /j]

so. basically. there's this famous tech supergenius named trent. and he's the son of this incredibly rich businesswoman. his little brother, tallis, is sent to a psych hospital after a failed suicide attempt. trent, already having developed a complex AI system [which is why he's so famous for being a tech genius in the first place], creates an android named sasha who is kind of like a harm reduction companion bot?

sasha helps give tallis reminders as to when to take his meds, helps him find coping mechanisms when he's upset, etc etc. he's also only able to give gentle constructive criticism, rather than straight-up being mean like most AI tends to do irl lol. but it means anytime tallis reacts negatively to sasha's advice, it makes him less and less likely to say it again, or say anything similar. trent basically designed him to be the least upsetting and offensive he possibly could be.

tallis HATES this thing at first. he feels like trent is babying or pitying him for not having friends, like sasha is just trent's pet project to make him feel better about not having helped sooner [basically for his own morality]. so he kind of uses sasha as a punching bag for a while? insulting every tiny mistake the robot makes, taking out his anger on him, stuff like that. it was fine, since the robot couldn't really feel emotions anyway, right?

well. sasha has the sort of emotionally sensitive and complex learning AI that irl AI nerds could only DREAM of [because theyre my ocs and i can do whatever i want /j]. meaning every time tallis called him something rude, insulted his poor motor skills, anything, sasha internalized it, and tried to improve. the android ends up with serious insecurities, because since his rudeness filter meant he wasn't capable of saying anything potentially upsetting back to tallis, all he could really do was try to improve upon skills where nothing was even wrong, all because tallis told him it wasn't good enough. he developed a sort of anxious demeanor when it came to making tallis happy, always having the lingering thought of "is this going to be good enough?"

eventually, tallis realizes what he's done after a particularly insightful therapy session, and comes home to sasha cleaning his room for him. the bot is cheerful, but cautious, asking if he's done a good enough job and if there's anywhere he needs to redo. usually, tallis would have just made something up to get sasha off of his back, but he just kind of sighs and smiles at him. "nah, sasha, that's fine. you did a great job." [can you tell i'm still working on writing this part. sob. emotional growth is a tough topic to write abt.]

the story is mainly about like. tallis growing and learning to accept help, even if he feels like he doesn't need or deserve it. it's also kind of about sasha learning about the world around him, and his fascination and enthusiasm abt learning with literally everything he ever encounters is helpful for tallis to learn that the little things are important. also they are going to fall in love and be gay eventually. i have not hammered out the entire plot of their story yet. but i love them.

thank you for asking about my gay robot!! i enjoy talking about these guys!! hope you enjoyed the infodump hehe

[extra fun fact for making it this far: sasha and tallis started as completely unrelated ocs on the roblox game royale high. as did a lot of my ocs tbh. they've come a long way since then!]

[baya-ni]

The Queer Appeal of Sk8

Recently @mulberrymelancholy reblogged a post of mine with a truly galaxy brain take about how Sk8 “is a show made for queer fans” and generally how sports anime often depicts love and relationships in a way that’s more accessible and relatable to ace/arospec people than other mainstream media does.

Just, *chef’s kiss* fucking brilliant. I urge you to read their post here (note I’m referring to the reblog not the actual post).

And basically, it got me thinking about this concept of Sk8 as a Queer Show, and the kinds of stories and dynamics that tend to attract queer audiences in droves, regardless of whether its queerness is made explicit or hell, whether that queerness was intended.

And that’s what I’ve been pondering: What are the cues, markers, or coding, in Sk8 that set off the community’s collective gaydar?

I obviously can’t speak for the community. So here’s what aspects of the show intrigued me and what, for me, marks Sk8 as a Queer Show beyond the subtextual queer romances: a punk/alternative aesthetic, Found Family, Shadow as a drag persona, and The Hands.

1.) The Punk Aesthetic

All three of the above screenshots are taken from Ep 1, and every single one of them depicts background characters. They’re nameless and ultimately unimportant characters, yet each of them designed so distinctly and so unique from one another, one could mistake each of them for the main character(s) of another story.

Of what little I know about Punk subculture, I do know this: that the ethos of Punk is heavily built around a celebration of individuality and non-conformity. Sk8 seems to have incorporated this ethos into the very fabric its worldbuilding, and the aesthetics and culture upon which it takes inspiration appeals specifically to a queer audience.

I don’t really need to explain why Punk has such deep ties with the queer community. For decades, queer people have found community and acceptance within punk spaces, and punk ideology is something that I think is just ingrained in the queer consciousness as both lived experience and a survival tactic.

Therefore, a show that adopts punk aesthetics is, by association, already paying homage to Queer culture, intentional or not.

Queer fans notice this- like recognizes like.

2.) Found Family

This also needs little explanation.

Too often, queer individuals cannot rely on their “born into” families for support and acceptance. Too often, we are abused, neglected, and abandoned by those who we were taught would “always be there for us.”

And so, a universal experience for queer people has been redefining the meaning of Family, having to build our families from scratch, finding brothers, sisters, mothers, and fathers in people with whom we have no blood relation, and forming communities tied together by shared lived experience rather than shared genetics.

And this idea of Found Family is also built into Sk8′s narrative.

Like, for example, the way that Reki promises MIYA that he and Langa will “never disappear from [his] sight,” filling the void that MIYA felt after his friends abandoned him.

And in the way that JOE becomes a paternal figure for Reki, teaching him ways to improve in skateboarding, and ensuring that Reki doesn’t self isolate when he’s feeling insecure.

And in the whole Ep 6 business with Hiromi acting as babysitter to the Gang.

Hell, even ADAM (derogatory) is associated with this trope. Abused as a child, he finds solace in an underground skateboarding community and culture he helped create- his own found family (or some powertrippy version of it anyway).

Again, queer fans see themselves depicted in the show, but this time in the way that the show gives importance to Found Family relationships between its characters.

3.) Shadow and Drag

This is one that’s more of an association that I personally made. But I was intrigued by the way that Hiromi adopts his SHADOW persona. He wears SHADOW like a mask, and adopts a personality seemingly so opposite to his day-to-day behavior.

Further, the theatricality and general “gender fuckery” of his SHADOW persona, to me, just seemed so similar to a the characteristics of a drag persona (I don’t know a whole lot about drag but enough that I’m drawing superficial similarities).

There’s also this aspect of a “double life” that he, and actually all the other adult characters of the show, have to adopt, which is a way of living that I’m sure a lot of queer viewers see themselves reflected in.

4.) The Hands

Ohhhh the Hands.

One of the things I noticed very early on is the way the show constantly draws our attention to Reki’s hands, which I thought was a little strange for an anime about skating. After all, skating doesn’t really involve the hands, or at least the show doesn’t really draw attention to hands within the context of skating.

I count 3 times so far between Eps 1-9 in which hands are the focus of the frame.

First, when Reki teaches Langa how to fist pump after Langa lands his first ollie, second, when Reki and Langa make their Promise, and finally, when Langa saves Reki from falling off his board.

And you know what they say, twice is a coincidence but thrice is a motif (no one else actually says this I think I’m the only one who says this lol).

I’m not really certain why hands seem to be such a shared fixation among queer people (at least among those I interact with). All I know is that gay people are just fucking obsessed with them.

I have a Theory as to why, and at this point I’d love for other people to chime in and “compare notes” if you will, but I think it basically has to do with repression. And in the same way that queer people have had to redefine the meaning of family, we’ve also had to redefine intimacy.

Being overtly physically affectionate with someone of the same sex, even if they’re your significant other, or often specifically BECAUSE they’re your significant other, can still be dangerous, even now despite the “progression” of society. Queer people know this, this vigilant surveillance of our environment and ourselves, always asking ourselves, “Am I safe enough to be myself?”

Already, Western culture is pretty touch-averse. That is, it’s considered taboo to touch someone unless they’re a family member or a romantic partner. And to touch a person of the same sex in any way that could be misconstrued as romantic (which is most things tbh) is a big no no.

There’s just A Lot to unpack there.

But basically I think that queer people, by necessity, have had to learn to romanticize mundane or unconventional ways of being physically intimate so that we can continue to be romantic with one another without “being caught” so to speak.

Kissing and hugging is too obvious. But a handshake that lingers for just a second too long is much more likely to go unnoticed, braiding someone’s hair can easily be explained away as just lending a helping hand, touching palms to “compare hand sizes” is just good fun.

But for queer people, these brief and seemingly insignificant touches hold greater meaning, because it’s all we are allowed, and all we allow ourselves, to exchange with others.

God, I’ve gone off and rambled again. What’s my point? Basically that the way the show draws attention to Reki’s hands, and specifically how they’re so often framed with Langa’s hands, is one of the major reasons why I clocked Sk8 as a Queer. It’s just something that resonated with me and my own experience of queerness, and I know that I’m not the only one who noticed either.

~

So in conclusion, uhhhh yeah Sk8 the Infinity is just a super gay show, and it’s not even because of the homo-romantic subtext (that at this point is really just Text).

Because what’s important to understand is that Queerness isn’t just about same-sex romance.

Queer Love isn’t just shared between wives/girlfriends, husbands/boyfriends, and all their in-betweens. Queer Love can be two best friends who come out together, queer siblings who rely and support one another, a gay teacher who helps guide one of their questioning students, a queer community pitching in to help a struggling member.

And that all ties with another important thing to consider, that what we refer to as the “queer experience” or “queer culture” isn’t universal. In fact, it wrongly lumps together the unique experiences and struggles of queer BIPOC all under one umbrella that’s primary White and middle class.

So I think what drives a lot of my frustration about labeling a show like Sk8 as Queerbait is this very issue of considering queerness and queer representation within such narrow standards, and mandating that a show must pass a certain threshold of explicit queerness to be considered good representation.

I get that someone might only feel represented by an indisputable canonization of a same-sex couple. That’s fine. But labeling Sk8 as Queerbait for that reason alone ignores the vast array of other queer experiences.

The aspects of Sk8 that resonate most deeply with my own experiences of queerness is in the way that Reki and Langa share intimacy through skating (intricate rituals heyo). For me, them officially getting together ultimately doesn’t matter- I’ll consider Sk8 a Queer show regardless.

Similarly, @mulberrymelancholy​ finds ace/arospec representation in that very absence of an on-screen kiss. A bisexual man might find representation in Reki, not because he enters a canon relationship, but in the depiction of Reki’s coming of age, growing up and navigating adolescent relationships. A non-binary person might feel represented through CHERRY’s androgyny.

That’s the thing, I don’t know how this show will resonate with other members of the queer community, and it’d be wrong to make a judgement on Sk8′s queer representation based on my experiences alone.

That being said, Straight people definitely don’t get to judge Sk8 as Queerbait. Y’all can watch and enjoy the show, we WANT you to enjoy these kinds of shows, and we want you to share these shows and contribute to the normalization and celebration of these kinds of narratives.

But understand that you don’t have a right to tell us whether or not Sk8 has good or bad queer representation.

And even members of the queer community are on thin ice. Your experience of queerness is not universal. Listen to the other members of your community, and respect that what you might find lacking in this show may be the exact representation that someone else needs.

[tigerkirby215]

5e Sona, the Maven of the Strings build (League of Legends)

(Artwork by Shilin Huang. Made for Riot Games.)

(Shit meme by yours truly.)

Revealing my Champion Mastery just to say that I play a lot of Sona. Don’t flame me for playing Seraphine and Yuumi I swear to god, and I have no idea why Teemo is in my top 10 highest mastery champs ngl.

Anyways you have no idea how happy I am as a Sona main that my girl is now top tier. I came to League of Legends from Overwatch (yes really) and I used to main Lucio in OW along with some of the more “techy” characters like Symmetra and Torbjorn. (Came to OW from TF2 where I mained Engineer and Medic.) Sona was a natural fit for me as a champion who was both easy to play and very similar to Lucio. It also helps that I joined the Rift during the single most engaging meta to ever grace this game. I was kinda too shit to play Janna but the Ardent Censer meta is also why I have such a high mastery on Lulu tbh.

undefined

But enough about my history with League: Sona! Honestly when I think of an archetypical support Sona pops into my head a lot sooner than Soraka: a champion based on empowering their teammates in as many ways as possible with heals, shields, movement speed, and CC to hold the enemy team down. I’ve always loved playing her because she feels like much more of a macro oriented character than other supports, with team-wide support as opposed to keeping one person alive like Soraka or Yuumi or focusing on CC like Morgana and Nami.

I’m going to build most if not all the champions eventually but man I am happy to tackle Sona now. She’s always been on my mind as my main but it was pretty difficult to think of how to make her. I think this build is good enough though!

Wow that was much longer of an intro than I’m used to. You can really tell which champions I’m excited for lol.

GOALS

Everything in harmony - Sona boosts everyone on her team with her songs as they fill the air.

Triple time! - Sona’s ability to boost her whole team into a good position is always beneficial.

Crescendo! - Fun fact: Sona’s ultimate is canonically extremely painful as she forces you to contort your limbs against your will. Why is Sona needlessly macabre? Well remember that Riot also wrote Volibear as an Eldritch old god.

RACE

Sona is Human but if you want to be cool you can make her a Kalashtar for resistance to Psychic damage and advantage on Wisdom saves. Regardless we’re going to be making what’s known as a dollar store Kalashtar with Variant Human. Increase your Charisma by 1 as well as your Constitution because we kinda don’t need much else. You also get proficiency in one skill of your choice which will of course be Performance, and a language which you can pick as you fancy: you won’t be speaking it anyways lmfao.

That’s because “Only you can hear me summoner; what masterpiece shall we play today?” Grab the Telepathic feat to complete this dollar store Kalashtar package. Increase your Charisma score by 1 and get a 60 foot telepathy to speak while being mute. You also learn the Detect Thoughts spell and can cast it once without using a spell slot. "Did he want... four autographs? I don't understand."

ABILITY SCORES

15; CHARISMA - Charisma is tied to performance and all the other stuff a Demacian noblewoman is expected to be good at.

14; DEXTERITY - Something something medium armor; even if you wear a dress there’s no reason you can’t have some padding beneath it!

13; STRENGTH - Hey this isn’t something something medium armor!

12; CONSTITUTION - Sona may be squishy in League but I value not dying more than good skill checks honestly.

10; WISDOM - Speaking of not dying: Wisdom saves are more common, and Insight is more useful than most Intelligence skills.

8; INTELLIGENCE - We had to dump something so unfortunately Intelligence gets the short end of the stick. You may have studied under the illustrious Buvelle family but most of those lessons were music classes.

If you want a better stat array going 13 / 14 / 12 / 10 / 10 / 14 with Point Buy is perfectly viable, and if your DM is cool enough to let you multiclass without Strength then you’re more than welcome to dump it.

BACKGROUND

There’s two obvious backgrounds that fit Sona: the first is Entertainer for proficiency with Acrobatics and a skill of your choice (since we already took Performance lol.) You also get proficiency with Disguise Kits and your Etwahl! (That’s what Sona’s instrument is called btw.) Your background feature By Popular Demand allows you to play any stage once. "Some, just the once.” You can perform in exchange for a place to stay, and when you do so the local people will remember your wonderful performance!

But making an Entertainer Bard is kinda cliché, no? If you want to lean into Sona’s Demacian heritage go for the Noble background. This gives you proficiency with Persuasion and History as well as a gaming set of your choice: unfortunately Tellstones isn’t an option (unless your DM decides otherwise!) so a Dragonchess Set will do well enough. Oh and you get another language that you won’t speak: fun! Your Position of Privilege makes it easy for you to arrange meetings with other important people, and the commonfolk will be kind and cordial with you.

(Screenshot from the Tellstones: King’s Gambit trailer by Riot Games.)

I personally opted to go for Noble when making this build, but if you want to choose Entertainer go right ahead! Backgrounds don’t affect too much overall and it’s up to you (and your DM) to make your own Sona!

(Artwork from League of Legends Wild Rift. Made for Riot Games. RIOT PLEASE UPDATE MUSE SONA ON PC I’M BEGGING YOU!)

THE BUILD

LEVEL 1 - BARD 1

I mean what else did you expect? Bards get proficiency in three musical instruments of their choice: a Lyre is the closest you’ll get to Sona’s Etwahl, though a Dulcimer is also pretty close. I’d also recommend grabbing a Lute since most magical instruments come in Lute variety.

You also get proficiency in 3 skills of your choice like Perception to watch wards, Insight to watch people, and Athletics for a bit of Tenacity to break out of grapples. (As well as potentially grab some people yourself! Although Acrobatics is also perfectly fine for escaping grapples.)

As a Bard you can boost your ADC with Bardic Inspiration, letting them add a d6 to attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws. You have a number of these equal to your Charisma modifier and they come back after a Long Rest.

But of course the main reason to play a Bard is to do Demacian-banned Spellcasting! You learn two cantrips from the Bard list like Vicious Mockery for some diminuendo, making it harder for the enemy to hurt your allies while also cutting them down to size. (I don’t know if your DM will let you slap your Etwahl angrily and then point at them judgingly, but you may have to break your vow of silence every now and then.) You can also learn Prestidigitation for all sorts of general magic stuff that you really shouldn’t do in front of anyone important.

You of course also learn 4 Bard spells like Cure Wounds and Healing Word for the atypical healing spells, Dissonant Whispers for some Hymn of Valor damage, and Detect Magic which you’ll likely be expected to cast as the designated support. *Sigh* Always gotta buy wards.

LEVEL 2 - BARD 2

Second level Bards could be called a Jack of All Trades, as you get to add half your proficiency bonus to any skill you aren’t proficient in. This means even if your ability scores are bad the skills you don’t have proficiency in are still good enough! You also get Song of Rest, letting your allies recover an extra d6 of health during Short Rests. And if you have Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything  Magical Inspiration will let your allies add their Bardic Inspiration to the damage or healing of a spell they cast!

And finally you can learn another spell: against as the designated support you’re expected to take Identify.

LEVEL 3 - BARD 3

Third level Bards get Expertise in two skills: Performance is an obvious must and Persuasion would probably be good as well.

But more importantly you get to choose your Bardic College and if you want to both shield your allies and speed them up look no further than the College of Glamour! That’s because Mantle of Inspiration grants 5 temporary hitpoints to a number of creatures within 60 feet of you equal to your Charisma modifier (which can include yourself by the way!) Additionally those creatures can move up to their movement speed as a reaction without provoking opportunity attacks, making this a great tool to reposition an ally who’s caught in a dangerous position!

You’re also capable of creating an Enthralling Performance: if you perform for at least 1 minute, you can attempt to inspire wonder in your audience. At the end of the performance you can choose a number of humanoids within 60 feet of you who watched and listened to all of it, up to a maximum equal to your Charisma modifier. Each target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or be charmed by you.

While charmed in this way, the target idolizes you, and speaks glowingly of you to anyone who talks to them. They also hinder anyone who opposes you, although they avoid violence unless it was already inclined to fight for you. This effect ends on a target after 1 hour unless they take any damage, you attack it, or it witnesses you attacking or damaging any of its allies. If a target succeeds on its saving throw the target has no hint that you tried to charm it, and you can use this ability once per Short or Long Rest.

Finally you can learn second level spells like Hold Person, for a one-man version of your ultimate.

LEVEL 4 - BARD 4

Ah the first of many Ability Score Improvements. You may have noticed our deliberately uneven Charisma modifier: that’s because I’m going to be taking the Fey Touched feat for +1 to your Charisma, the Misty Step spell (for Flash, of course), and the Gift of Alacrity spell from Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount for a Song of Celerity! Accelerated movement? I concur.

You can also learn another spell as well as another cantrip! For your cantrip take Mage Hand for help warding those hard-to-reach areas, and for your spell take Lesser Restoration, because yeah it’s also your job to buy Mikael’s. *Sigh.*

LEVEL 5 - BARD 5

5th level Bards get a Font of Inspiration that lets their Bardic Inspiration come back after a Short Rest as well as a Long Rest. That’s good because your Bardic Inspiration increases to a d8, which also boosts your Mantle of Inspiration to grant 8 temporary hitpoints!

You can also learn another spell like Hypnotic Pattern: while it won’t do any damage and your allies can’t hit the dancing enemies it’ll still be the best recreation of your ultimate for now.

(Artwork by Katie “TeaTime” De Sousa. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 6 - PALADIN 1

I hope you weren’t expecting this to be a pure Bard build, because then I’d just be building Seraphine again! Grab your something something Medium Armor as well as a shield (well technically you need both hands free to play a musical instrument) it’s Paladin time, master of auras! 

Paladins get a Lay on Hands pool equal to 5 times their Paladin level for some more healing. You can touch a creature to give them any amount of health from your Lay on Hands, or use 5 hitpoints from your Lay on Hands pool to neutralize a poison or disease affecting them. You also get Divine Sense to locate any Celestial, Fiend, or Undead as long as they’re within 60 feet of you and not behind total cover. Don’t worry it gets a lot more exciting later.

LEVEL 7 - PALADIN 2

Second level Paladins can choose their Fighting Style and you’re still more of a mage than a warrior, so Blessed Warrior will give you two cantrips from the Cleric list that use your Charisma! Guidance is an obvious must for a support and Toll the Dead is a great option if you want to go full AP.

Should you have options for attacks to target enemies who have high Wisdom? Yeah probably: Sacred Flame might be a good choice.

Of course cantrips also imply more Spellcasting! You can prepare a number of spells equal to your Charisma modifier plus half your Paladin level (rounded down) which is currently a freaking lot of spells. Let’s just go down the list, shall we?

Bless is great to buff your team and make them harder, better, faster, and stronger.

Command is a mostly harmless Enchantment spell that will force your foes to do as you, well, command. I’d argue “dance” is a reasonable Command.

Protection from Evil and Good is never bad to have in your back pocket in case you’re fighting either Kayle or Fiddlesticks.

And Shield of Faith will let you boost your ADC’s survivability with Ardent Censer!

I know you can prepare more spells but there isn’t much I want from first level of Paladin. I am contractually obligated to mention that you can also turn your spell slots into a Divine Smite if you hit an enemy with a melee weapon, but you aren’t really going to be using weapons in this build. That’s right boys hop aboard the caster Paladin train!

LEVEL 8 - PALADIN 3

Third level Paladins get to choose their Sacred Oath and Oath of the Watchers may seem weird but it’s really good at defending your allies. That’s because you get two different Channel Divinity options: Abjure the Extraplanar works similarly to the Cleric’s Turn Undead feature except it affects Aberrations, Celestials, Elementals, Fey, and Fiends.

Watcher’s Will meanwhile lets you choose a number of creatures you can see within 30 feet of you, up to your Charisma modifier. For 1 minute, you and the chosen creatures have advantage on Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma saving throws. This means that in a party of 6 this ability can give your whole party advantage on all mental saves, which is huge for keeping everyone alive against nasty casters! See? Demacia can use your magic!

Speaking of magic you get Alarm and Detect Magic as Oath spells. (Might want to swap Detect Magic from your Bard list with Mass Healing Word ty Tasha’s.) You can also use Harness Divine Power to regain a spell slot equal to half your proficiency bonus a number of times per Long Rest. And you get Divine Health, because you don’t take a sick day to stop complaining about Seraphine.

LEVEL 9 - PALADIN 4

4th level Paladins get another Ability Score Improvement: cap off that Charisma for maximum AP scaling!

(Artwork by Kelly Aleshire & Esben Lash Rasmussen. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 10 - PALADIN 5

5th level Paladins can finally prepare second level spells! As a Watchers Paladin you get access to Moonbeam as well as See Invisibility, both of which are very good for dealing with incoming gankers.

You can also prepare spells like Aid to boost your allies’ HP, Prayer of Healing (ty Tasha’s) for some out-of-combat healing, and Warding Bond for a Knight’s Vow.

Oh and you get an Extra Attack, which sure would matter if you were actually using weapons.

LEVEL 11 - PALADIN 6

6th level reasons get the main reason Sona’s a Paladin: Aura of Protection! All your saving throws are increased by an amount equal to your Charisma modifier, which is a full +5 currently! But what’s special about this ability is that it also applies to your allies within 10 feet of you, letting you give out auras a plenty to keep your allies safe!

You can also prepare another spell but again: not much I really want. So we’re going to be waiting a little while longer once again.

LEVEL 12 - PALADIN 7

7th level Watchers Paladins get Aura of the Sentinel, or as I like to call it: Song of Celerity. When you or any creature of your choice within 10 feet of you roll for initiative, they gain a bonus to initiative equal to your proficiency bonus. While this may make positioning a little difficult (everyone’s going to have to huddle around you) this ability guarantees that you can speed up all your important allies to make sure they get their powerful abilities off!

LEVEL 13 - PALADIN 8

8th level Paladins get another Ability Score Improvement or a Feat. You may have noticed your uneven Constitution score: grab good ol’ Resilient Constitution for a boost to your health and even more insurance on your Concentration checks. With your Paladin aura and proficiency you’d have a +12 total to your Constitution checks currently, meaning that if you take 24 damage or less you won’t even have to roll for Concentration!

LEVEL 14 - PALADIN 9

You are probably the only Paladin who cares about spells, so it’s nice that you get 3rd level spells now! Watchers Paladins get two very strong third level spells: Nondetection will help you deward and keep your allies safe from enemies that may try to sneak a peak at you, but Counterspell is the true best choice to stop danger from befalling your allies. What’s very good about Counterspell is that as a Bard you get to add Jack of All Trades to the skill check, meaning it’s far easier for you to deny an incomming spell than any other spellcaster! “Mages have enough problems without you.”

Of course you can prepare some more spells like Aura of Vitality for Aria of Perseverance, and Revivify for an ADC’s Guardian Angel. But having access to spells like Remove Curse, Dispel Magic, Crusader’s Mantle, and even Daylight on the Paladin spell list are all extremely useful to be able to prepare. Remember that you are doing yourself a disservice by not taking time to think about what the best spells to prepare would be for your current quest. "Every note is important."

(Artwork by Kelly Aleshire & Esben Lash Rasmussen. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 15 - BARD 6

Now that we’ve got all our auras it’s time to go back to Bard for Mantle of Majesty! As a bonus action, you cast Command without expending a spell slot as you take on an appearance of unearthly beauty for 1 minute. During that minute you can cast Command as a bonus action on each of your turns without expending a spell slot. Additionally any creature charmed by you automatically fails its saving throw against the command you cast with this feature. You do have to concentrate on this feature (like a spell), and once you use it you can’t do so again until you finish a long rest.

You can also learn another spell but there isn’t much I want from the third level of Bard, really. Oh and you get Countercharm which is awful and I hate it, but since you didn’t take a 10th level in Paladin I suppose you have to use it. Spend an action to give allies advantage on their saving throws against charms and fears, I guess.

LEVEL 16 - BARD 7

7th level Bard; 4th level spells. Freedom of Movement will let you help either yourself or an ally with Mikael’s Crucible, and Dimension Door is great to get into lane fast, or back to base fast!

LEVEL 17 - BARD 8

8th level Bards get another Ability Score Improvement, and if you don’t like the look of something something Medium Armor then the Eldritch Adept feat might be able to help. Take the Mask of Many Faces invocation to be able to cast Disguise Self at will to change your skins as you please.

Could you have taken this earlier? Absolutely. Are there better invocations? Yeah probably, but by level 17 you can make some of your own choices. Build your own Sona: this is merely a guide and you can make your own choices.

Speaking of own choices: take whichever spell you want at this level. There’s plenty of great ones for a 4th level Bard and I can’t recommend anything in particular to you. Every musician has their own style, and it’s up to you to find your own!

(Artwork by Yan Li. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 18 - BARD 9

9th level Bards get to pretend that increasing Song of Rest from a d6 to a d8 by total level 18 is helpful.

You do get access to 5th level spells like Mass Cure Wounds, which is like Mass Healing Word but better! "Harmoniously."

LEVEL 19 - BARD 10

10th level Bards get Expertise in two more skills: Perception is an obvious must to watch over your wards but beyond that? Honestly pick your poison with whatever skill you want since by level 19 you can make your own choices. (Though my personal choice would be Athletics to hopefully give some more safety against grapples.)

But of course the main boon of reaching level 10 in Bard is the Magical Secrets! ...I’m afraid I’m going to have to disappoint you again: there honestly aren’t any spells in particular I want as Magical Secrets. Sure I could recommend spells like Haste or whatever but are they really going to be that great by total level 20? To be honest even the spells on the Bard list like Animate Objects, Greater Restoration, Hold Monster, Rary's Telepathic Bond, Scrying, and Synaptic Static are very good (although I’d sooner replace some of your old spells with them.)

Again I know this is supposed to be a “guide” but most people won’t hit level 19 anyways, so I don’t think it’s that bad for me to recommend you take your own steps to make your own Sona. Hell, build some AP if you want! I know I would!

LEVEL 20 - BARD 11

Our final level is the 11th level of Bard and I’ll be honest: it’s just to add Otto's Irresistible Dance to your spell list. It can only affect one person but it’s still your ultimate by total level 20.

Oh and you were supposed to get a cantrip last level. Uhhhhh I dunno take Mending lol.

FINAL BUILD

PROS

The rhythm connects us all - You have dozens of spells to keep your team alive and active during a fight, not to mention that all your Paladin auras and abilities really help them give 110%. It’s worth mentioning that Gift of Alacrity combined with Aura of the Sentinel is a d8 + 6 to an Initiative roll, which will almost always guarantee that whoever you want to go first will be going first!

A true masterpiece should celebrate living - Despite your somewhat weird level split you maxed out the only stat which matters for you: Charisma. And woah holy shit turns out Paladins are really good with maxed out Charisma! +5 to all saves means even your lowest save is a +4, and the saves your proficient in vary between +13 for Dexterity and Constitution (both very common!) and a whopping +16 save on Charisma!

Curtains up; I'm ready - Jack of All Trades also does quite nicely to help your middling skills. Even though I dumped most of your mental skills you’re still proficient enough that you won’t be completely helpless when caught off guard. And when you’re in the zone with Persuasion or Performance you are easily the best girl around!

CONS

Don't make me get off stage - It was my intention to recreate Sona’s positional gameplay with this build but it does present some gameplay issues when trying to maximize your effectiveness. Where do you position yourself as a character who’s still primarily a squishy caster despite your good saving throws and AC? Can you give everyone in your party support, or are they too spread out to get value out of your 10 foot range auras?

Quiet, please! - You have a damn good concentration check, but what do you concentrate on? Not only do you have a ton of spells but they all scale very good with levels and you have spell slots that go far higher than your maximum level spell. It can be hard to choose what to do with those 7th and 8th level slots.

The world is cruel... Until that changes, I'll never stop playing - One of many “meta” problems with this build was my choice to focus almost entirely on support. Sure Toll the Dead is a great damaging cantrip but your only two damaging spells are Moonbeam and Dissonant Whispers. Again: you don’t have to follow my build point-for-point and while you’ll be flamed in League for building Sona full AP I don’t think your friends will mind if you take some damaging spells.

But if you can’t tell it was really hard for me to come up with those downsides. With the exception of the positional requirements a Bardadin is a very strong build and Sona is a very strong support. Boost your teammates with your own amazing power and make sure everyone’s alive and jamming! Your power may have been forgotten over the years but no one’s ever upset to have a great support at their side. And remember: Seraphine may be in K/DA but you’re in Pentakill, and you have your own label! No one can replace DJ Sona!

undefined