#there are several shows and character design styles happening all at once

[selfloathingextraordinaire]

I have no idea who Brave Bang Bravern is for but I am enjoying the gay robot and this other gay American guy who is I guess a dad now?

[doodledrawsthings]

Opinions on the Sols from Nine Sols immediately. Please. Your au is delish.

Keep in mind these are my very off-the-top-of-my-head, surface level impressions of them after having recently beaten the game on story mode once, while streaming. I won’t be giving any deep analysis or anything lol so the tone will be pretty jokey and unserious.

MAJOR major Nine Sols spoilers under the cut. Please do not read if you haven’t finished the game.

Kuafu: second favorite character. I love him so much. He’s such a pal, everybody likes him. Hou Yi left him as the final sun standing after shooting down the other nine cuz he’s just a stand up guy. The fact that he’s the one who pled keep Abacus around and set his settings to High Sympathy and kept coming in to talk to him out of guilt over what happened to Yi kills me. Smart, silly, handsome, the last remaining Solarian in existence and he can never go home for the remainder of his life. He’s my ride or die bestie, he’s one of my several husbands who babysit my little brother while I go off on a revenge murder spree and I’m kissing him on the mouth.

Goumang: I like her design and concepts and think she’s a fun character. She was the first boss I fought and i thought she was pretty fun, though I didn’t find the fight as memorable as others. I wish she had more presence throughout the game, I heard from a friend she had some more stuff that was cut apparently? Curious about her rivalry with Yi and relationship with Eigong. And since Yi technically never killled her I’ve considered including her in the Dont Worry About It AU.

Yanlao: Grampa!! I think he and Yi’s back and forth throughout the warehouse area was pretty funny. I was so ready to kick his ass the entire time, especially after the segment where he’s shooting at you as you navigate a maze. Loved his bossfight, first fight of the first three i started with where I really felt the parry/dodge/attack rhythm for the first time. Rip gramps.

Jiequan: BASTARD!! (Half-affectionate but only half) he’s giving Fruity Disney Villain Who Flirts With You As He Stabs You In The Chest. He sucks <3 but he’s such a FUN character, what a great antagonist. His fake out fight is so intense, the prison scene is so intense, his boss fight kicked my ass and his theme goes hard. He’s a war criminal, he’s a freak, he looks like All Might MHA and he regularly irradiates himself as part of his body building routine. “Heroes are forged in agony!” 10/10 Disney villain, very stylish. Defeating him was so satisfying especially after the Kanghui fight in the prison and learning what happened with THAT horror show.

Lady Ethereal: I LOVE HER!! SO MUCH!!! UGH!!! she makes me so sad! But everything about her is SO cool! Her fate! Her backstory!! Her design! Her boss fight! Her entire platforming area!!! Just!!! Aah! I won’t say too much but it’s just so good she had my favorite fight in the game, the dance for that one is so much fun. I was streaming the game on discord for my partner and another friend and when we first went into the cortex, she was like “oh you should keep going left and see what’s over there ;)” and then I did and just!!! So cool that Red Candle started off making horror games, it’s really great. Love it. Awesome character, awesome boss, awesome theme.

Fuxi and Nuwa: Rich asshole twins!! These two suck lol but I do think they’re fun characters. The entire empyrean district is experiencing a resident evil style zombie infection and Nuwa is throwing a rager at the club for the rich cryosleepers only. It’s really eerie over there though, I love the vibe of the east side and the discovery of the mutants and destruction of the west half is spooky as hell. And then I got to the area where you get Fuxi’s sol seal and didn’t even notice he was sitting there until my partner pointed him out. I thought he was furniture lol. She’s really puppeting around her brother’s pustule-riddled zombie corpse Weekend at Bernie’s style cuz she’s that much in denial. Also absolutely horrifying that the district supposedly once held 100,000 sleeping solarians that is whittled down to 300 after the mutated virus wreaks havoc through the area. Personally, I’m mixed on their bossfight, the first half with just Fuxi was fun once I got the rhythm but the 2nd half when Nuwa comes in with her attacks gets a bit too chaotic for me. Their boss theme, however, is probably my favorite in the game. I love the opera samples, it’s so cool.

Ji: I think about them a lot. Like, wow what a guy. I think a lot about his immortality, and that if he had not left Penglai with the council he would have been stuck there, alone for eternity. I think about the fact that because they will never get Tianhuo, there would be no need for them to be in cryosleep, which probably means that in the 502 years that Yi was recovering, he was probably up and about the entire time, probably wandering around new Kunlun mostly alone. I wonder if they ever hung out with the dusk guardians, or if they just stayed in the grotto for the most part. Their boss fight felt the most like a dance to me, or like friends sparring. Do you think they thought of Lear as you attacked them with the moves he taught you in the spiritual realm? He makes me sad, but he is very stylish!

Eigong: FUCK HER! SHES SO COOL, BUT FUCK HER!!! EVIL GRANDMA! this games story is like peeling back an onion of horrors where each layer you peel back brings new, mortifying understanding of the situation at large until it ALL. COMES BACK. TO HER! AND HER FRUITLESS PURSUIT OF IMMORTALITY! Her boss fight KICKED MY ASS. I was streaming my first playthrough, so I was already prone to doing worse than I probably would without an audience (emphasis on probably) but in my first attempt I was fighting her for like 6 HOURS STRAIGHT. And for the true ending too, which meant three boss phases. I just could not get her pattern down and my hands were cramping but i really wanted to finish the game that weekend so I could finally talk about it so I ended up turning up the accessibility options to one punch man her. I did eventually go back and do her fight by myself with the story mode settings and MAN what a fun boss battle once you get the dance down (I’m still so bad at unbound counter), and it is SO satisfying to beat. Incredible character, we love fictional old women who commit atrocities in the name of science.

Yi: and finally we have the man, the myth, the legend. I could probably write a whole separate post about him and Heng and his relationships with the other characters but to keep it short- I LOVE HIM SO MUCH! BUT IM ALSO BITING HIM AND PUTTING HIM IN A BLENDER AND RUNNING HIM THROUGH THE DISHWASHER AND HANGING HIM UP TO DRY. Just UGH! It’s not common for the main character of a thing to be my favorite character but Yi is my favorite character. It’s the fact that he is his own character, and we, the player, must gradually find out things that HE already knows. And his budding and flowering relationships with the other characters, especially those who set up shop in the pavillion which leads into his character development is just AUGH. AND THE ENDINGS. YOU ALREADY KNOW HOW I FEEL ABOUT GHE ENDINGS. THEYRE GOOD BUT AUGH. I love him, I’m rotating him in my mind on a skewer, he’s my little manlet, my poor little “I’m not a good person” shadow the hedgehog energy meow meow cat boy. I love him so much, I’m so distraught over his terrible life choices. Incredible character.

Ok hope that was entertaining to read, bye.

[rascalentertainments]

Wish Granted AU: Flazino

Now the sorcerers' overworked, underappreciated, underpaid, incredibly tired apprentice, Flazino! I keep laughing at the fact that this guy has more depth to him than half the cast of the canon movie. 😂 He went from throwaway character to a nearly co-protagonist character with importance to the story!

His design was inspired by several Disney characters. The outfit and hair are a reference to Arthur/Wart from "The Sword in the Stone". The face and body language is based on George from the Paperman short film (Remember how great that was? And it mastered the 2D/3D hybrid animation long before Wish? What happened to those animators, Disney?)

(You can even use this concept art as reference for Flazino if you want too, especially that pissed off look 😂)

And I swear it wasn't on purpose, but as I started drawing him tired, he started resembling Bruno. All his references are from overworked or stressed out characters and I didn't even do it on purpose! 😂

Now for some backstory and info dump! This was pretty fun because I got to create my own take on him since there's practically nothing on him outside of a deleted scene.

• Like the aforementioned deleted scene, Flazino's wish is to study magic. For this story, its so he can help others lives be better, which is what he thought Magnifico wanted as well. He thought the job would be more glamorous or fun as he learned, but it turns out Mags doesn't actually want a successor. He plans on being in power permanently. He pretends he granted Flaz's wish and instead of studying magic, he's the errand boy, cleans the lab equipment, feeds Sabor, and is in charge of the tour guides for newcomers. Flazino just practices what he can at home and secretly takes ingredients from Amaya's potion cabinet.

•No one's sure if the bags under his eyes are from losing his wish and side effects starting, or its just him being stressed out all the time. Either way he's like Aled, he doesn't sleep much cause he's always working or worrying. He's sort of sassy when he's really tired so he might make an off hand comment. Bonus: He swears, but its censored in the "Spongebob Sailor Mouth" style. You'll just hear a noise or beep censorship sound in place of it. 😂 (Hey, you can say "Hell" and "Damn" in a Pixar movie now, so why not?)

•He gave his wish at 18, and was surprised to hear it was getting granted so soon. Though Mags doesn't really need an apprentice, he takes Flaz on just in case something happened to him, all of his magic, power and evil will go into the apprentice. Sort of passing on his plans to him to become the next Magnifico and continue his work. That's pretty terrifying.

• Most people in the Hamlet think that he and Asha are secretly a thing, but that's not the case. Lord knows Sabino wanted his granddaughter to get a boyfriend so she'd stop being so serious all the time. They never really had feelings like that for each other, they just stayed friends. One part is because Asha has just sealed herself off from connecting deeper with other people, and on Flaz's side, he already has feelings for someone else. (Also, after Star shows up and spends time with Asha, she starts feeling things for him she's been repressing for years. Girl, chill.-)

• During the first few months of becoming the apprentice, he learned about the Hamlet through rumors in Rosas. He didn't understand why people would run away until he stumbles on seeing the king and queen crush the wishes of a couple who talked about leaving Rosas and not trusting the royals. He never saw that couple again.

He later took off one night into the forest to finds this supposed Hamlet using a tracking spell. Once he finds it, Sabino and other people tell him why they ran and what a monster the royal could be. Flazino felt so disgusted that he promised to help anyway he could. So he makes an excuse to get specialty mushroom from the Uncharted Forest once a month and brings supplies to the Hamlet ever since. (stuff like seeds to grow food, flour, medicine, toys for the kids)

• A lot of the people actually go to Flazino if they can't get to the king for help improving the kingdom, or people needing help. The royals don't do crap, so he just does the best he can himself. But most people don't realize he's the one that granting their needs and not the royals.

• His connection to the 7 Teens actually foreshadows Asha bringing them together. Like the deleted scene suggested, they all know him as the "great apprentice to the king", when he's really just a tired guy trying not lose his sanity. He has different interactions with each of them.

Gabo is the one shouting that the royals are evil like a conspiracy theorist, but since he's such a low threat, they send Flazino to get rid of him and everytime he gets away. Gabo's been a nuisance for months now and he's even defacing anything with the royals on it. He actually agrees with Gabo, but obviously can't say it out loud.

For Simon, he tries to keep him awake when he can for his knight training, or guard duty so its his way of trying to help fulfill his wish of being a knight. He's tired himself, so its even harder.

Safi is allergic to practically everything when he cleans, so Flaz has an idea to make a medicine that can cure that through magic. He has no idea its just so he can talk to the girl he likes without sneezing in someone's face. 😂

Hal is one of the easiest he gets along with. She's pretty content where she is and gets along with him fine. Though he gets roped into doing some of her work when he's not paying attention, lol. If she does see an injustice being done to someone else she'll step in to help them.

Bazeema he's not even sure what she thinks of him. She's so shy whenever he talks to her, all he knows is that she does a great job caring for the local animals and flora in the kingdom, which he's thanked her many times for. Though she has been leaving him yellow roses as thank you messages.

Dahlia is actually the one he bonds with the best. He ends up talking to her when its time for Sabor's breakfast or dinner and she makes the food by hand with her parents. At first he just talked to her out of convenience and vent a little bit about being overworked (much to his surprise, she's actually listening). Then the two of them just found some comfort in talking to each other when they've had a long day and now its developed into a full-on crush for him. But with Dahlia going all fangirl on Magnifico, he doesn't have high hopes the feelings mutual. (She's been dropping hints but he's not getting it)

So I guess we got three Flazinos right now: RFTS!Flaz who actually likes his job and still wants to learn magic, UaS!Flaz who's a prince of the evil royals, and then WG!Flaz is an overworked man who wants to hurt his bosses. Y'all need therapy. 😂

(So now, Chapter 6 of WG will be out tomorrow! 😏)

@signed-sapphire @oh-shtars @annymation @chillwildwave

@uva124 @ishadow246 @tumblingdownthefoxden @your-ne1ghbor

@mythartist21 @gracebethartacc @emptyblog7 @spectator-zee

@lazytitans-world @emillyverse @flicklikesstuff @kenihewa

@snackara @wings-of-sapphire @natsuki208

[the-girl-who-didnt-smile]

Human Alastor (FTM trans headcanon)

Full size image

Commentary below:

Here, Alastor is shown at four different stages of his human life:

Childhood - around 12 years old

“Voodoo Killer” - late teenage years

Jazz Musician - early 20s

Radio Star - later adulthood to time of death

His career as a serial killer started when he was around 12 years old and continued up until his death.

The three stages of his adult life are supposed to correspond with different aspects of his demon form’s hairstyle.

During the “Voodoo Killer” stage, he straightened his hair and styled it similarly to his demon form’s hairstyle. However, he did not have an undershave. If viewed from the back, it would look like a simple bob. His appearance is inspired by Clementine Barnabet. I intended for his tignon to be tied in a similar manner to Clementine’s. Additionally, the bandages wrapped around his legs are meant to make him look a little like Voodoo Queen Lala from the 1930s. I gave him bandages instead to make him look like more of an edge lord (lol). The cross worn was originally his mother's. After she died, he painted it black in mourning. He wears it at all times, up until his death, to remember her.

During the “Jazz Musician” stage, he kept his hair short in order to pass for male. This is supposed to correspond with the back side of Alastor’s demon form, which is shaved short. His appearance is inspired by Jelly Roll Morton, one of my favorite Jazz musicians, who also happens to be Creole. Not visible in this pose, but Al wore black gloves that match the color of his hair. 

During the “Radio Star” stage, several aspects of Alastor’s appearance are inspired by the late, great Cab Calloway. Like Cab, Alastor styled his hair in a conk. His suit is also inspired by the iconic white suit worn by Cab Calloway.

That being said, creative liberties were taken with Al’s white suit, which is anachronistic for the 1930s. Cab famously wore zoots, but I don’t think that would be Alastor’s style. Since I know so little about 1930s fashion, I gave up and didn’t attempt to give him a historically accurate suit. Instead, his tuxedo is based on the one he wore in the pilot. There are several anachronisms present in Alastor’s canon design, so it might actually fit his character to wear a suit atypical of the 1930s. This could preserve the otherworldly, “Willy Wonka”-esque presence that he has, even on Earth. Still, it’s a pretty glaring historical inaccuracy. Once we get to see Al’s canon human form, I might redesign him.

Since Alastor would have more than one suit, I didn’t worry too much about the inaccuracies present in his clothing. The one thing I refused to compromise on was his microphone.  In the TV show, Alastor’s iconic microphone is a vintage ribbon mic. However, this “pill capsule” style looks more similar to models that were only invented after Alastor’s death. Here’s an example of a ribbon mic that was rolled out shortly before Alastor’s death: The RCA Type 77-A. As you can see, it’s a lot larger in size than Alastor’s microphone.

My first attempt at drawing human Alastor gave him a ribbon mic, seen here: https://www.deviantart.com/thegirlwhodidntsmile/art/Human-Alastor-ribbon-mic-1035514228

In order to be more historically accurate, I discarded this design. Instead, I gave him a spring microphone, technology that is more iconic of the 1920s/1930s. 

Here’s an image of Cab Calloway in front of a spring microphone, one year after Alastor’s death:

I took some creative liberties with the flag of Alastor’s microphone. Normally, it is supposed to say the radio station. Since I don’t know what radio station Al’s show aired on, I just had it read “ON AIR” in red.

Importantly, Alastor’s suit has to match the design of his microphone, which is an extension of himself.

It’s a little awkward how Alastor is holding his microphone, so here is how it looks from the back: https://www.deviantart.com/thegirlwhodidntsmile/art/Human-Alastor-back-of-mic-1035514255

The backside of the microphone is supposed to look like an eye, and have a bit of an ominous presence.

A headcanon I have is that Alastor had a severe case of stress-induced vitiligo. Because he was very egotistical, this was a source of shame for him, so he hid it with makeup and clothing. Here is how his face would have appeared shortly before his death: https://www.deviantart.com/thegirlwhodidntsmile/art/Human-Alastor-no-makeup-1035514264

Al’s colors are mostly browns, whites, and black, to keep with the deer theme. The black tips of his shoes are supposed to look a bit like deer hooves. I pictured his height as 5’10, one inch taller than Michael Dillon. Since the average male height was around 5’7, Al was still taller than most men, which made it easier to pass for male.

In addition to Clementine Barnabet, Jelly Barnabet, and Cab Calloway, FTM Al’s appearance is largely inspired by the famous biracial drag king Stormé DeLarverie.

I picture Alastor having a darker complexion than Stormé, or Cab Calloway for that matter. Compared to Stormé, his nose and eyes are different (his eyes are supposed to have the same shape as his mother’s. distinctly African, not European at all) but his mouth, jawline, and overall facial structure are similar. He’s basically supposed to be a much less white-passing version of Stormé DeLarverie. Because he was born around year 1900, Al would not have had access to any form of medical transition. He would be physically indistinguishable from a cisgender drag king.

I also picture his physical build being pretty similar, but he’s taller (I’m not sure how tall Stormé was, but I don’t think she was 5’10) and skinnier. He’s supposed to have a really striking appearance, where he’s really slender but really tall for someone born in his time, and he has an androgynous face.

In my more recent drawings, the drag king Alberta “Bert” Whitman has also served as visual inspiration for human Alastor:

Bonus image:

https://www.deviantart.com/thegirlwhodidntsmile/art/Alastor-kill-count-1035514155

[thatsthat24]

Sanderstober 2022

Upon request (and because you're all amazing at them), I have a NEW Sanderstober art prompt list for you this year! Feel free to do one, some, or all of these prompts for October! Take em in any order you feel & use the hashtag #Sanderstober2022 if you’d like me to see your creations! Hope you all have fun with these if you take em on!! 🎨 

Day 1: Starting out with a traditional classic, take a character from media or OC and draw how they look on September 30th vs. how they look on October 1st. 

Day 2: Time to shine the light on the articles of clothing we all love to bust out in the fall, by CHOOSING one of those items and making a monster based on it!

Day 3: It is announced, beyond all reason, that they’re going to add a NEW suit to the deck of cards, in addition to hearts, clubs, diamonds, and spades. Disregarding how much this would destroy the structure of most card games, what is this new suit called and what does it look like??

Day 4: Centaurs are half-man, half-horse. Draw another kind of fantastical creature, that’s half-man, half ANOTHER kind of animal! - Idea from Dominic!

Day 5: Take a typical children’s nursery rhyme… and create a thriller poster based off of it…

Day 6: Design Challenge - create a stylish look (clothes, makeup, whatever you like) based off a candy of your choice!

Day 7: There’s a Pokemon based off almost everything. But not everything. Take a random object, animal, etc. that a Pokemon hasn’t been based off yet… and create one, complete with a corresponding name!

Day 8: Take any piece of Western animation and re-imagine it in anime form. - Inspired by an idea from Dominic!

Day 9: Take any traditional Halloween monster and think about what TikTok challenge they probably would take on. Doesn’t even have to be a real one! 

Day 10: A dabbling in minimalism. Take one or several characters from one of your favorite pieces of media, and try to depict them using only simplistic shapes. See if you can get people to guess the characters or show/movie/video game from the shapes and color schemes. 

Day 11: Always a fave prompt of mine - depict a pleasant fall-related memory of yours using solely fall-related colors (red, orange, yellow, brown, etc.)

Day 12: What if Halloween took place at another time of the year than Fall?? How might the holiday look different? Are there any traditions that might change? Any imagery? Any houses decorated differently??? Depict any aspect of the holiday that may look different!

Day 13: Another fave of mine - Take ANY Disney character and depict what they might look like as a superpowered individual in the Marvel universe.

Day 14: It happened again. This time, they announced a NEW chess piece that would be added to the game of chess. Why are they doing this?? Once again, disregarding how much of a wrench this throws into the gameplay of chess, WHAT does this new piece look like? What is it called? And how does it move on the board? 

Day 15: Re-imagine any Halloween monster or thriller movie baddie… as a character in a fantasy world…

Day 16: Using just inspiration from items found in your kitchen, use them to create a flag for a new country - Idea from Tammy!

Day 17: Draw a dynamic duo in a dynamic couples costume (Jessie & James from Pokémon as the front and back half of a horse, etc) - Idea from Cambria!

Day 18: My first prompt where I can take Inspo from Our Flag Means Death! Take any character from pop culture who isn’t a pirate… and design what they might look like in a pirate universe. Basically… pirate-ify them.

Day 19: Taking inspiration from the Haunted Mansion paintings, where the top of the painting looks pleasant only to then pan down to show the situation is much more grim (give it a Google if you need a reference!), create your own version of one of those paintings! - Another idea from Cambria

Day 20: The return of a classic… take any character(s) from a piece of media and depict them in the style of a Tim Burton character. (Sorry, I just love what you all create with this prompt!)

Day 21: Take any social media app… and turn it into a person.

Day 22: Take any Halloween-esque or Fall-based item/imagery and depict it in the iconic style of a famous painter!

Day 23: Oh my god, they’re doing it again!! Out of the blue, Hasbro announces that Clue will now be adding a NEW guest to the game of Clue who will be joining all the other color-based guests. Why does this keep happening?? Please create this guest and what their colorful name shall be!

Day 24: Take a loved pet from any point in your life, and turn them into a MONSTER.

Day 25: Take one of the characters from our videos (or a character from another piece of your fave media if you prefer!) and draw them with an animal that you think matches them perfectly! - Idea from Cambria!

Day 26: I’m such a sucker for this prompt: Depict characters from one of your fave animated shows in the STYLE of another animated series

Day 27: Since this would probably make Remus happy… if it makes you comfortable, draw a nightmare you remember having in your life, and instead of it happening to you, depict it happening to Remus

Day 28: Since we did the opposite prompt earlier… take a superhero and depict who they’d be in any fairytale you think suits them…

Day 29: Take any Halloween/ Scary movie monster and draw a suit/dress/suitdress inspired by their style and color palette!

Day 30: At long last, it’s revealed, the reason behind ALL THESE ADDITIONS to traditional games (the fifth card suit, the new chess piece, the additional Clue guest) was ONE NEW EVIL MASTERMIND! Based on your past creations for Day 3, Day 14, and Day 23, draw what this mastermind looks like and give them a name!!!

Day 31: In typical end-of-the-month fashion, today’s prompt is all about celebrating the reason for the season, Halloween! This year, Halloween’s PR team wants you to come up with a new catchphrase/slogan for Halloween! Please create a Halloween sign/poster with the new phrase featured!! HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

[zoe-oneesama]

Congrats on finishing the penultimate final episode of SL’s Season 5!!! And now for the season finale: What do you think of Audrey, her akuma, and Style Queen’s plot once you rewatch the episode?

The episode is...fine? On it's own? Like, I kinda just like it.

Well, as a character intro, it's pretty perfect. You know everything about Audrey in so little time:

Style Queen Magazine Fashion Critic

Harshest Fashion Critic in the World

Fires People at the Drop of the Hat, even the ones who don't work for her

Chloe mimics all her mannerisms and phrases -> Chloe sees Audrey as a role model to emulate -> Audrey is adult Chloe

Audrey sees no value in remaining in Paris despite her whole ass family living there -> Audrey doesn't give a single fuck about her family

Reinforced by her getting her husband and own daughter's names incorrect several times (she calls her CASSEROLE at one point!) though at least she has the good grace to look embarrassed for a second when she does and at least she corrects herself with the correct name.

She sure does get Gabriel's name right though, suggesting she holds him in better (or at least higher) regard than her own family. Maybe this is where Chloe got her Bourgeois Family Rule No. 148: You Need a Guy Best Friend to "Wrap Around Your Finger". This also suggests that her career ties are more important to her than her family ties.

Also it's interesting that she remembers Marinette's name when it comes up again...

In the two minutes they have Audrey talking in the opening, you know everything about her, and all signs point to her being a total asshole. And we all thought it was just Andre spoiling Chloe rotten that made her that way...

So I guess I'll just go chronologically for the set up to the akuma:

Liked: Marinette's imposter syndrome was depicted very well and is in line with her character. This was a pretty good use of Marinette's anxiety for the sake of exposition - her being tightly wound and going over her hat again and again so many times it makes her late, late enough to catch Audrey arriving so she can panic over that, and her getting to hear Audrey's interview with Nadja and panicking over that. All this set up helps the audience realize there's actually a stake here, since theoretically Audrey's opinion could make or break Marinette's dreams of being a designer.

Liked: Chloe trying to insult Marinette but ends up just doing a speed-run intro, pointing her out as a designer to Audrey and even showing off the detailing of her stitched signature. Maybe if Chloe hadn't gone out of her way to point these things out, Audrey wouldn't have taken an interest in Marinette in the first place, lol. Though obviously you'd only know that if you also watch "Queen Wasp".

Liked: This teeny tiny hint that Adrien isn't that into modeling, or at least not into modeling his dad's clothes, since he bemoans that he feels awkward. I liked that Adrien saw right through Marinette's imposter syndrome moment and actually cheered her up, and I like that Marinette complimenting his strut got him out of his funk in return without her even realizing it.

Liked: Oh c'mon we all liked it when Nathalie put Audrey in her place. It would be the dead pan snarky one that reminds Audrey that she doesn't work for her. The fact that Nathalie even smiles at Marinette when she presents the now vacant seat just sealed in that, on top of it being deliberate for Gabriel's plan, Nathalie enjoyed it. And so did I, Nathalie.

God, please don't look directly at me.

I'll stop going chronologically here. The akuma is pretty good, though just like Audrey herself, better at a distance (her faaaaace, what is happening?!) and idk the back of her head is crazy. I think they were going for a Statue of Liberty Crown shape with her hair, but the back is just...cut off and flat.

At least now I know where she kept the rose...?

As far as the fight goes, it's just Ladybug getting her ass beat even AFTER figuring out a way to slow Style Queen down with just her Lucky Charm, so I guess this IS Hawkmoth's "masterpiece". Though that does make her being so easily beaten in "Optygami" kinda weak. I guess all Ladybug really needed was help.

And obviously we were all robbed of Bee!Alya.

And obviously Plagg was MVP.

Chloe was also pretty good in this episode (in the way I think she's good, as a complete brat). She would bluff her way into signing up to be her mom's assistant, and while it was momentarily sweet of her to be worried about Adrien, you can still tell she's her asshole self when she starts down the stairs with her mom and talking about how AWESOME THEIR TEAM-UP WAS.

I know she was just leading up to suggesting she go to New York to be with her mother, but going on about how GREAT it was to "fire incompetents" together kinda puts into question just how much you were bluffing there, Chlo.

And of course Audrey calls the idea of Chloe going to New York with her ridiculous, but follows it up with "first I need to get back to Gabriel's fashion show", so there's a few ways to interpret that.

Is the idea of taking Chloe with her at all ridiculous?

Or Is it ridiculous to take Chloe to New York right now because the Fashion Show is still on? As in, that's not the order of things, or it's ridiculous because Audrey's not even going back to New York right away?

If it were any other character, I'd say she obviously meant the idea of Chloe going with her at all, but it's Audrey. Petty, career focused, only looking two steps ahead Audrey.

Then again, I'm probably just trying to make this more difficult and deeper than it is. It's probably just the former, she rejected Chloe flat out, especially when we know what's coming in "Queen Wasp". Idk who I'm defending here, it's a lost cause.

I guess what I'm getting at is that Audrey is fascinating as a character study in all these little ways that I'm not fully sure the show intended. Like her looking guilty when she screws up Chloe's name, even as an akuma. Or instead of listing the reasons why Chloe going to New York is ridiculous by tearing Chloe down, she instead is pointing out that they have somewhere else to be first. Where she comes across as not so much trying to be intentionally malicious but instead thoughtlessly cruel.

Don't get it twisted, though, she's still an asshole.

[rubykgrant]

I've been slowly re-doing/adjusting my RVB face designs, and also working on more characters! It will eventually be a LOT, but for now; here are the main Reds, Blues, Freelancers, Doc, plus a bonus of Locus, Flowers, and my OC Poppy (just for the fun of it~). I love designing characters, and playing around with features so everybody has different noses, mouths, chins/jaw-lines, etc. For everybody, I have two versions. The first being their signature armor color, and then their actual people colors. I also wanted to include things like facial hair, glasses, scars, freckles and what-not (like Donut's hearing aide and Carolina's eye shadow, because she can't NOT be edgey haha).

(below is some design descriptions and notes on my thought process for everybody. it is a LOT, don't feel obligated to read it~)

Grif and Simmons both clash and compliment each other not only in personality, but in physical features as well (Simmons is sharp, and Grif is soft). I wanted to show that Simmons actually isn't as scrawny and gawky as he used to be, but he hasn't totally registered that he's finally "grown into himself", or that some muscles have happened (once he does, this unlocks "Confident Simmons", and nobody is safe. for now, he's just too used to feeling awkward). Simmons has a fairly strong jawline, an aquiline nose, and hair the color of red clay. He's had his hair very short and properly styled for many years, but after Chorus it started to grow out, and when he pulled it back to see how much he needed to trim, he realized he liked being a ponytail guy! (also, it isn't visually shown here, but trans Simmons is real~) Grif is a big guy, fat and pretty darn strong with thick limbs, and rough around the edges. He's also handsome and beautiful (not "in spite" of those features, but BECAUSE of them). His features are like a combination of rebellious and charming, with his default expression being chill. He has warm copper brown skin, and hair that reaches his shoulders, dark brown, very thick and wavy (it also magically never gets tangled). You can see where Simmons' cyborg prosthetics match the same area where Grif got his skin grafts, but over the years Grif has sort of "absorbed" the organic material, and the skin is a shade darker than when the surgery was fresh (Simmons himself isn't too terribly pale, but still lighter than Grif). Grif occasionally shaves or lets his beard grow in more full, but usually likes to keep just a little bit of face-fuzz around his chin

Sarge is very boxy and built like a brick. I enjoy the irony of a character who has a very BIG personality being somewhat short in stature, and Sarge is certainly a little bundle of dynamite. Despite his claims of only being 29, he somewhere in his 50s (possibly getting into 60s), but still going strong. I wanted to show the age lines around his mouth and his eyes, so he doesn't just look weirdly "smooth" (this man is basically leather, and proud of it. he also has larger earlobes, and bushy eyebrows). His hair has gone white and gray, kept in a perpetual buzz-cut, and he has some scruffy facial hair. He's broken both his nose and his jaw several times in his life, resulting in some unique shapes. Most of his scars happened years ago when he was younger, but the scar on the side of his head is from getting shot during Blood Gulch. He's rather pale thanks to wearing the armor every day for a few decades. His "solution" was to try and sun burnt on purpose so he'll be RED again, but Donut, Simmons, and Doc stopped him before it got too bad. He typically looks very grumpy and stern, but we all know Sarge is EXPRESSIVE with his emotions

My thought process with Donut was to combine Barbie with GI Joe; very pretty, but also pretty darn strong! He has sort of a "soft diamond" shape to his face and jawline. He looks very sweet, but has the potential to be INTIMIDATING. In the past, his hair was light blonde, but turned a strawberry-brown as he got older. During Blood Gulch, when he got EXPLODED, Donut got some scars on the right side of his face, and the hair in that area never entirely grew back. After finally accepting that he is PINK, Donut has also embraced other aspects of himself, both loving who he already is and enjoying what he wants to be. He doesn't hid his scars, but he styles his hair with a side under-cut and dyes the longer lengths a lighter blonde. He also wears a hearing-aid for his right ear, and his eyebrow on that side is a bit thin too. Donut's mouth naturally makes the "cute kitty shape", and he usually has some shiny chapstick/lip-balm on as well. He likes to get some sun on his skin, but is careful not to tan too much, and always uses lots of lotion

Doc is very "in the middle", not too tall or too short, he's not skinny but not chubby either... however, he's got sort of a sturdy build, very athletic without being too buff. A rounded jawline that ends in a small point with his chin. He has a very high bridge to his nose, making a refined line from his forehead down in profile, with sharper edges at the sides of the nostrils. His skin is a deep brown, and his hair is very dark, kept short, with the curls swept up out of his face. Doc isn't "vain" exactly, but he likes to feel comfortable with himself, and to a certain degree, this involves being satisfied with his appearance. O'Malley also enjoys feeling sort of "cozy" with the hair and what-not, so it is a shared reassurance. Doc wears glasses, and O'Malley absolutely knows how to do the "intense anime glasses thing" when he wants to look DRAMATIC. Something I wanted to show with both of them; Doc has very welcoming and kind vibes, but he is perfectly capable of being a sarcastic little smart-mouth, with a fierce sense of resolve. O'Malley likes to be very over-the-top and appear threatening, but there's potential for him to protective, and even joyful. Again, he looks very in the middle, applying to Doc and O'Malley's attitudes

Kai resembles her brother in many ways, but I wanted to make sure she's still unique to herself. Things they have in common; warm copper skin, thick and wavy hair, and they're both chubby. There is a subtle heart-shape to her face (above around her forehead and hair, and also lower with her jaw). Kai has had fun with lots of different hairstyles through the years, but she's decided to just let it grow out. She's dyed it some crazy colors in the past, without really knowing what she was using, but now Donut helps her coordinate, so she has a gradient going on (darker golden-brown at the roots, lighter shades of brown in the middle, and finally yellow at the ends). To keep it from getting tangles, she usually has her hair tied back, or wrapped up while she sleeps. Kai is somebody who is very aware of what she's physically capable of, in terms of both strength and flexibility. Sometimes she shows off with some interesting party tricks, but also just has a graceful way of moving when she wants to dance (or kick somebody's butt). Everything about Kai is LOUD and PROUD, but that doesn't mean she can't calm down and share quiet moments with the people she cares about. She also has two double sets of earrings; two studs up on her right ear, and two small hoops lower on her left ear

The first rule when drawing Tucker; he is the prettiest. He has fairly long and noticeable eyelashes. His nose has a defined smooth and broad curve to it, giving him a profile that is a bit regal, even heroic. He's one of those people who always looks younger than he actually is (not exactly a "baby face", but naturally youthful, until one day he's just gonna suddenly become a silver fox). He has dark brown skin, and thick black hair (4c), kept a little long at the top, but styled as a fade. He has pierced ears, usually just two studs (but can be more elaborate if he wants to dress up). Tucker is an interesting character; visually, he can very easily be a pretty boy, or a prince charming... but then he starts talking, and you realize how obnoxious and annoying he is. Underneath the flirty attitude and sarcastic jokes, he has genuine concern for others, and a fear that he won't be strong enough to protect people. Underneath THAT, he's a determined and clever person that is capable of doing amazing things. All that is wrapped-up within Tucker. I wanted to see a hint of the charm and smug attitude in his face, but the noble look is in there too. Physically, he's a short-king (manlet), but after training with Wash, Tucker has impressive muscles that combine with some quick reflexes

I imagine Caboose as one of the BIGGER characters. He also has the strongest "huggable vibes" (he's literally friend-shaped, no matter how much Church used to argue this fact). Caboose has a naturally sweet smile, which makes it all the more serious when he's upset (a sad Caboose will break your heart... a mad Caboose might break your arms). As Sarge once said- "He's like an ox!". His skin is a shade of sandy brown. His hair is a deeper brown, very soft and a little bit fluffy (I'm especially happy with how his bangs turned out~). I really wanted to make it clear that while Caboose might be all kinds of adorable, he is indeed a grown man, able to take care of himself, and others as well (he understands things some of them never notice). The curve of his jaw is low and subtle, but also shows how "solid" he is built. Caboose is a hopeful person, and has the will power to MAKE things turn out OK one way or another. No matter how unusual his ideas might be, Caboose is dependable, and intuitively has the strength to be kind on purpose

Wash has kept the beard despite the teasing, which has finally transformed him from looking like a very tired lost teenager into a dad who works at a library (the beardo-fication of Wash~). His hair is mostly a light blonde, more golden brown at the roots and through his facial hair (during Project Freelancer, he had a shock of gray after the Epsilon incident, but it has faded). His skin is a light tan color, covered with MANY freckles, and a few scars on his face (the most recent neck injury isn't visible. the scar above his eye is actually from a skateboarding accident as a kid, but the one across his nose was sometime after Project Freelancer started to fall apart). Although he fusses over other people a lot, Wash is bad at taking his own advice, and tends to not eat or sleep enough. It also didn't help that he had a bad habit of ignoring his own emotional breaking points until he was in the middle of losing control... he's finally learned to recognize certain things, and accept every part of himself (a little punk kid, a dork, Mr Serious, a guy who had a Villain Moment, and somebody who really found where he belongs). Under the beard, he has an angular chin, his nose has a curved swoop shape to it, and he has a defined lower lip

Carolina is one of the few characters we see without armor in the series, so I knew what I was working with, but I also wanted to show how she has changed. Carolina is a naturally intense person with somewhat slender features, and she's worked hard to be VERY strong. Now that she's spent time with this group of goobers, and had some chill lessons from Grif, Carolina is rediscovering how to enjoy herself and be less harsh (remember, she is the BEST. this means she's gonna be the Best Red, the Best Blue, the Best at Being Annoying~). She cut her hair during Iris, a little bit choppy at the time, but later decided to keep it short and give it a cleaner trim. She's dyed it a darker, less vibrant shade of red (I imagine her natural red is a bit more carrot). She still uses heavy eye shadow though! (at this point, it is out of spite toward anybody who everybody who ever said it looked silly; not so silly when she's kicking your but, is it?). She's a bit pale, but with a warm tone to her skin. Most of Carolina's scars came from incidents when she didn't have armor, or was so determined to finish a mission, she didn't care if she got hurt. It isn't visible here, but she doesn't bother with shaving her legs (not to get all deep about it, but Carolina sort of has her own balance with embracing certain aspects of femininity, and also ignoring expectations of "beauty". she knows what she's about, and does what she wants)

These designs for Tex and Church exist within my story-line where they get to return in synthetic human bodies (originally intended for the Director to use for himself and Allison, once he could properly "resurrect" her... which didn't work). DNA samples were used as the basic building blocks, the genetic information was allowed to "randomize" itself. As a result, Tex isn't an identical clone of Allison (just like parents can have more than one child; related, but physically different). Ironically, Tex takes after Allison's maternal grandmother, and so does Carolina. Tex has light skin and blonde hair, which she keeps tied back in a ponytail, with two lengths that frame the sides of her face. Carolina and Tex have the same nose shape, a long bridge that curves up at the end. She considered cutting her hair different, or dying it another color... but she didn't want to constantly worry about "changing" herself to avoid any similarities with Allison. Instead, Tex wants to find out what it means to be HERSELF; which is BIG and BUFF. She's pretty tall with a thick body-type already, so she just had to work on the muscles (also, even with long hair, she still has a "warrior dude" vibe, and she's very proud of it). Tex naturally has a lot of confidence and a rebellious attitude, but she really isn't "mean"... at least, not all the time

Church definitely has some traits that came from the Director... but Church was always a contrary little so-and-so, and even though he had no control over how his body formed, it seemed he was destined to be the "opposite" of what somebody else intended. Church is much shorter than the Director, with a thicker more "chunky" body-type (he puts on some healthy weight later, getting a bit more chubby. he also works on being strong enough to pick Tex up. that was his whole motivation). He has a broader nose, and more squared jaw. He has light skin, but a bit more of a sandy color. The most obvious resemblance is his black hair, which sticks up like a soft hedgehog. He asked Carolina and Tex if he should avoid having facial hair (since they have to look at him, and he doesn't want them to be reminded of any unpleasant memories). They assure him that it's fine, and the hair on his chin kind of suits him (it fact, even through the similarities, they can look at him and just see CHURCH, as he is). Church can be a smug, loud-mouth jerk... but though all his rants full of curse words and insults, he cares very deeply about people. Even though he had some ego-trips, he mostly just thought of himself as "some guy". Now he knows how important he is, not because he's a special and highly advanced AI, but because a lot of people missed him. Now he can actually be with them all again, and just like Epsilon, he has the chance to find out what he's truly capable of (they can still project holographic avatars of themselves, but all of the AI Fragments are back too, and happily spend time in Church's head~). Although they make different expression, Church and Carolina have the same "neutral" shape to their mouths

Poppy was originally sent to a different group of Red and Blue Flag Zealots, meant to identify needed supplies and order more ammunition. She was designated "neutral", and had white armor with tan accents. When the teams ran out of bullets, they kept fighting in non-lethal ways, which Poppy thought was preferable to a clearly pointless war, so she just never put in the order for more. Both teams considered her a friend, playfully fighting over who's side she was on, but never getting mad at her for getting along with them all. After a dangerous incident left her knocked-out and recovering, Temple's group arrived to recruit more Sim Troopers. Poppy's group refused to join. When she woke up, they were all gone. She misses them dearly. Because she's still considered part of the Flag Zealots, the UNSC decided to throw her back into a new training program (which was actually pretty shady and insidious), and that's where she meets Sarge. Poppy has a calm yet sarcastic personality, with a raging inferno of a temper once somebody ticks her off. Perfect for Red Team! Poppy is medium-short, about the same as Doc. She has broad shoulders and strong arms, very sure-footed and versatile when it comes to fighting. A very go-with-the-flow attitude, somebody who can be comforting and encouraging, but isn't shy about showing her emotions. She has a somewhat rounded fact with a short, sturdy chin. Her skin is a light shade of brown, and her long hair is a dark earthy brown. Not pictures is her own prosthetic arm (she's meant to be a "mirror" for Simmons, clever like him, but not a know-it-all. she was the one in the accident, and woke up with cyborg parts. Sarge decides to just adopt her, and this SHOULD immediately make him hater her, but Simmons finds himself feeling pretty fond and protective of Poppy. accidental sibling! also, they're both trans in opposite directions~)

We've seen Locus without armor in a flash-back before Chorus, so I tried to translate that into my style I use here. I imagine that he actually wasn't doing to great Chorus, not eating or sleeping enough, what with the whole crisis involved; thinking of himself as a murder-machine unable to see the worth of kindness or mercy, and THEN recovering enough humanity to be horrified by his actions thus considering himself a monster without a purpose... y'know, that whole song and dance. Anyway, the Reds and Blues force him to be a person again, so he gained some weight back. While he has a very strong jaw, it's kind of low where the angle is (so he doesn't have a "long" chin, but a wide one). He also has pretty defined cheek bones, and other features as well (he wasn't smiling much for a LONG time, but he does indeed have lines on his face that deepen when it happens). He's BIG, burly, and buff... but hopefully looks less harsh than before

I like to imagine that Flowers keeps faking his own death, and has a set of plans outside of what Project Freelancer was trying to do... nothing ever worked out properly. Flowers mainly doesn’t like the idea of people being “thrown away” or treated like they’re worthless, and at his worst, that meant using people for some goal they didn’t choose for themselves. He wouldn’t like to admit it, but… “daddy doesn’t always know best”, and he’s trying to include people on the decisions of these goals now (while the Director and Councilor might have just thrown together Red and Blue teams to mimic the other group who had a nearly endless stalemate going, Flowers picked out the Reds and Blues for Blood Gulch because he LIKED them, and he genuinely thought Alpha would too… in a very twisted way, Flowers founded this family). Nobody entirely trusts him at first, what with all the lying. Plus he keeps talking like a overly cheerful serial killer. He’s an older and distinguished gentleman. Some gray streaks in his hair, which he keeps wrapped up in several small braids that make a flower-shaped bun. Some scars on his body from many missions and fights (including the ax to the shoulder). He has a warm, brown skin, and back tattoo that is just barely visible; orange blossoms. He has a tall and lanky body-type, but even past middle-age he still has thick muscles

[triangle-strategy-notes]

Cordelia Concept Art

Cordelia concept/reference art. Translation notes and image id below the cut.

Translation Notes

The word for "sash" on this page was literally "obi," the type of sash a woman would tie around a kimono. "Obi" is a valid English word, so I went back and forth between what to use, but since her dress isn't technically a kimono + the sash isn't tied in the style an obi usually would be, I decided to go with the more catch-all term.

"White as snow" was a word that literally just meant "white," but the first character and the word in general had some connotations with innocence/purity, so I added "as snow" to try and give that same connotation.

"Simple" as it refers to the fastener might have also meant "casual."

"Once upon a time" wasn't exactly the Japanese phrase for "Once upon a time," but it was fairly close. A more literal translation would be, "In the olden days, it just so happened that..."

"Girl of innocence" appears to literally be the word "witch". However, if you take the first character as a separate prefix to the second, it would mean something along the lines of "pure/genuine/true girl." I'm not really sure if that's how it works, but it seemed to make more sense than "witch," so that's what I ended up going with.

Image IDs

[id: Five images. The first two are the full pages of Cordelia's concept art in Japanese, the other three are translated versions of the text. On the first page, there is a colored and uncolored version of Cordelia's portrait. Underneath, there is an illustrator's note that reads, "Cordelia's overall tone is pale, so I thought it ended up being pretty difficult to choose a shading color. And actually, her initial facial features were much younger, but Mr. Ikushima redesigned her several times to give her the elegant look she has today. (Rina Yoshiura)". The second page is titled, "Morality's Sister (Healing Hands to Protect) Rough Draft". It has a small illustration/comic of a childhood Cordelia and Roland. It has the notes "Country A," "13 year old," and "girl of innocence." It then has a note that says, "I have to protect," with a large bracket beside it that contains the list, "small, dainty, gentle". There is also the word "pure" nearby. Underneath that is the illustration, titled, "Sister and Morality" with the subtitle "about 8 years ago". In the illustration Roland seems to be throwing a caterpillar-like bug aside. It's labeled, "Weird Bug Arm Bar Throw." Roland has some dialogue that reads, "I've for real gotta catch it!" Cordelia has some dialogue that reads, "huh?" Underneath them both, there's a note that reads, "Once upon a time, a warm fuzzy feeling made him think, 'I have to protect her!'" To the side there are several portraits of Cordelia, some full-body (one of which has a note about her braid being brought in front of her shoulder), and two that are labeled as "Bust portraits". One of the portraits shows Cordelia in a simple cloak with the fastener being labeled, "simple metal fastener." There's a top-down diagram of the metal she wears at her dress's neckline, labeled, "Decoration rough draft." On the second half of the page there is a portion labeled, "Working out the sister's hair ornament….." One version has a large flower on it. Next to it is a small portrait of Groma. A note reads, "Big flower, three strand braid. Doesn't she look like Grandma?" Another section is labeled, "Morality Facial Features and Morality's Sister WIP". There are several drawings of Cordelia's face, along with a full body rendition of an alternate design. She still wears the same sash as she does in canon, and nearby is the note, "For women. If they are wearing a dress, the sash should be wrapped like this." At the bottom of the page, there is another illustrator's note that reads, "She had this more child-like sort of look to her character during the drafting phase. But she ended up taking on a more serious role than I had originally expected, and the design was tweaked to fit. I recall she was a difficult character for us. (Yasuaki Arai)" /end id.]

[misshvariety1307]

Alright, time to start my big project of the year! My AGIT AU concepts, character designs, and other things that I create for my AU.

This will be mostly Dan centered since I love the concept from the novel about him getting a second chance to come to terms about all the things that happened, redeem himself of the actions he's made against humanity, and how he has to deal with living in a human form again. At the same time, I want to explore concepts that I've thought on for some time for Nyreena and thread it throughout the AU. Plus intro and reintroduce new OCs with either a complete concept or an updated concept to fit in with the AU. Definitely a big project but something that I'm happy and excited to work on throughout the year among other things XD

So, let's begin!

First up is the character designs for the version of Nyreena for this AU! (Appearance, Characteristics, and Bio under cut.)

Appearance:

- Long, voluminous blue hair with curling ends - Porcelain white skin - Glowing magenta pink eyes - Gray crescent moon marking circling around her left eye - Main outfits: - Left: Casual/Usual - Middle: Armor/Fighting - Right: Elegant/Violin Playing

Characteristics:

- To most she is calm, demure, subtle, but has a tendency to be stoic, serious, and a bit cynical, and doesn’t take nonsense from anyone. To them she means business and is dedicated to finishing her business the first time around and not have to do it again a second time. If she has to deal with someone that is either giving her a hard time or causing unnecessary nonsense it can set off the very short fuse of her near volatile temper and cause her to lash out and tell that person off if she can’t calm or be calmed down before it goes off.

- But, to a very, very select few (more or less it’s just Ethern) she shows another side of herself; that she is warmhearted, kind and very confident in herself. However, she does feel uncomfortable around other ghosts that give her odd looks or looks of concern, as if there’s something about her they know that she doesn’t and makes her nervous and feeling like she’s being judged for something she might have done against them when she hasn't.

- She is a highly skilled fighter, having been trained by Pandora in the ways of honor, fair fighting and to only defend herself and fight if absolutely necessary. She is very strategic in how she fights and uses her powers, studying her opponent to learn their tactics and overcome them to get the upper hand. But if she is distracted by other things going on around her she will be at a large disadvantage once she can get her focus back onto the fight.

- Along with her fighter training she has been trained by Ethern in the ways of proper etiquette, ranging from manners to conducting herself in high society. He also trained her in several styles of dancing from ballroom to waltz to contemporary and how to play the violin. Attuning to her inherited intellect she is taught a number of subjects such as math, history, and others.

- Finding comfort and joy in her violin Nyreena will go to a certain spot in the Ghost Zone that she can feel that can be heard at every angle and play there, in case she needs to be alone for some time or needs time to calm down and collect herself in case her temper gets the better of her in a previous situation. Her favorite song to play is Transylvanian Lullaby, loving the haunting melody and the soothing tone it has that helps to calm her nerves and subdue her temper.

Bio:

After the coup of Pariah Dark by the Ancient Ghosts Shadowmoon, Pariah’s baby daughter, was discovered and was decided by them to drift away into the depths of the Ghost Zone to be forgotten for the rest of time. However, Ethern, an assistant to one of the Ghosts, took pity on the baby who was never at fault for her father’s actions and waited for his master and the other Ancient Ghosts to leave then followed the direction where Shadowmoon was sent off in, catching up with her and took her into his care to raise as his own. Bringing her back to his lair as secretly as he could he hoped that by raising her as her surrogate father she could grow up to be a ghost with virtue and honor and one day when she was ready reveal to her her royal heritage and prepare her to assume her birthright and become the Queen the Zone needed to bring it into a more prosperous future.

Knowing that she couldn’t go by her real name Ethern picked the name Nyreena to conceal her true identity from her and others so that no one would be suspicious of who she really was. As she grew up it could clearly be seen that she had inherited every bit of the striking beauty once possessed by her late mother, Queen Leota. But it was also evident that she inherited her father’s superior strength and intellect. Deciding to put that to use Ethern began teaching her a great many things he knew, from etiquette and manners to subjects as math and history to dancing and music, including how to play the violin. Though he wasn't trained how to fight he employed the great and wise ghost Pandora to teach her how to fight with honor and justice. Once it was agreed and her training began Nyreena took to it like she had been fighting since her birth, her agility and flexibility aiding her to learn quickly and excel in her fighting prowess and the use of her powers.

Even though there was no concept of time in the Ghost Zone it seemed like it flew by and before Ethern knew it Nyreena had grown into her late teens, looking to be about seventeen or eighteen years old. And with Ethern’s careful training and teaching she was a young lady that could fit in any scene of high society or a royal court. Being warmhearted and kind and confident when she was with him to everyone else she encountered she was calm, demure, subtle, but sometimes stoic, serious, and down to business, just like her father was so long ago. To her everything was going fine until she had a run-in with a ghost with flaming white hair and the chain of events began spiraling that would lead her to her destiny in the most unlikely way that everyone involved would ever expect.

And that's it! I will be showing more as the AU develops so stay tuned!

Also, should I show Ethern next or go ahead and work on Dan next? Let me know!

Thanks everyone and I'll see you next time!

[idkhowtoread-ink]

Guys my head is flooded with au ideas and I don't have enough time to draw all of them so I'm just going to talk about it.

Religious!Dreamswap (+Lust!):

Dreamswap but everybody is religous and Dream + Nightmare have severe religous trauma and are gods of love and lust but they both reacted differently.

Nightmare(Lust) grew up to hate Christianity and even became a Satanist. He was constantly hated as lust was seen as a sin against god.

Dream grew up believing everything the church told him, he was praised for his ability to give love. Whenever Dream tried to protect his brother, he would be forsed to watch Nightmare being punished by the cherch, causing Dream to be unknowingly scared all the time of sin. He was scared others would go though this because of lust, thus makeing the Anti-sin Home of God (Very creative verion of JR)

Little does anyone know, it's also Dream's job to break people up, he doesn't like doing it and knows if it ever got out he would be thought of differently.

Scene style Swapdream!Nightmare:

I just like the thought of Swan dressing as a scene kid! Nothing else to it. (Maybe ds Nightmare and Swapfate Nightmare too lol)

Under-construction au:

I was originally going to make this au but there was too much to make my idea happen so I just accepted it would never get posted.

So basicly, it's an Undertale au where its not done yet. Constant changes happening to designs, storys, personalities, ect. It looks like Inks abandoned au tbh. And the bodys will be half way done. Like, the rest of the head and chest will be fully drawn but the arm will be a stick with a circle on the end.

Sometimes there are double the amount of characters because the creator is stuck between two disigns.

I also had this idea where the characters are desperate to be completed, so they may try to steal anything from a completed au and stick it on to themself such as completed clothing and sometimes a soul.

Biblicly accurate Dreamtale:

So the whole thing sumed up, is that it's Dreamtale, but when Dream and Nightmare eat an apple, they turn into these big 15ft angels with wings and rings, protecting the tree of feelings from mortals.

I also had this idea that Nightmare is littrally invisable when he's not near Dream in this AU, because you know, tge moon only shows in the sky because of the sun's light!(I'm so smart)

Trans MtF Ds Dream:

I'm actually making a short story abt this but I may not finish it>3<✌

Dream wears Nightmares dress at a young age(yes, Nightmare is trans FtM), and secretly likes it.

MDream is in denial abt it and distracts himself for 100+ years untill he finally takes a break and finds out that she's trans and curses herself out for ignoring it for so long.

"You are me and I am you?" Dreamtale au

Basicly, the normal story of Dreamtale but the twins are jelous of what the other has.

Dream is jelous because he wishes he could have a break, to have some time to himself instead of helping the villagers all the time because "thats what he's supposed to do as the gaurdian of positive feelings".

Nightmare is jealous because he wishes to have friends and to be liked by everyone like his brother is. He doesn't want to be bullied and hated anymore.

Out of jealousy he kills his twin and absorbs his soul using the magic of the apple tree. He then becomes the guardian of feelings, but forgets who he was.

He remembers being jealous of his brother but since their thoughts are now combined, he can't remember who he killed or who he once was. Causing him to go insane.

(This was inspired by a song I can't remember the name of)

[fzzr]

Hyouka and Why Slow Anime Can Be Great, Too

Hyouka is a 2012 anime about the four members of the Classics (literature) Club hanging out and investigating the mundane mysteries that surround their lives. The mysteries of Hyouka are never as simple as finding out what happened. A mystery is not solved until you find the root cause, the emotional and interpersonal forces that put things in motion in the first place. Sometimes you find once you know the root of the problem, you don't actually have a solution, or indeed the unsolved mystery is preferable to a full airing of the conflict at its heart.

Our protagonist, Houtarou Oreki, wishes only for a life at the lowest energy level possible. He will expend effort, but only for the purpose of removing friction to lower the amount of effort needed in the future. When circumstance puts him in the Classics Club with Eru Chitanda, he finds that her curiosity about the world and its small mysteries pulls him along despite himself.

Hyouka demonstrates several things that many other series should perhaps take to heart.

First, it's slow by design. There are concessions to time pressure in the story itself, but the show never acts like it's running out of time. If it needs an episode to interview every interested party, it takes it. There's no rush to a solution once the evidence is gathered, either. Hyouka wants you to think before proposing solutions. It's possible your first solution is wrong. If you are wrong you need to understand why, not just find the correct answer on the next try.

Second, it's complete by default. Most slice of life series have some over-arching goal that is used as a binding agent for the entire series, like “we’re going to have a great performance” or such. This lets them have a finale that stands out from the energy level of the rest of the series. Hyouka has arcs that feed into each other and wrap up things from earlier, but they’re not the glue of the series. After the setup there’s no need to continue to justify the framing. Everyone just shows up to the club. There’s no dramatic “oh no it’s coming apart” moment, it just gets on with the life slices.

Third, it shows that even the tiniest amount of deviation in energy can be enough. Like its protagonist, Hyouka looks for the places it can make the most impact with minimum energy output. Mysteries have stakes, but they're almost all personal - important to those affected, but not world shattering. Extrinsic forces do not require them to take action. Instead, the club's involvement in a mystery is prompted by Eru with the simple phrase "watashi kininarimasu" - "I'm curious" - and a soft chime.

It's not like the show is running on low battery all the time. Many characters react to circumstances with great energy. The show simply refuses to take the bait. No one runs dramatically down the stairs to make it just in time to save the day. One moment of resolution comes from Houtarou paying attention to something happening outside the window, and interacting with it.

I’d call Hyouka a slow burn, but there’s no burn. It just is what it is. The story is complete when it stops for no other reason than that’s where it stops. It doesn’t demand a resolution. It’s open to more but doesn’t feel like it’s incomplete without it.

There's something I've been stepping around all this time. As described so far, Hyouka ought to be an 8/10, perhaps on the high end. However, there's something that nudges it over the line to a 9. Here it is. Hyouka, when it wants to be, can be absolutely beautiful. As with everything else, it does not expend this kind of energy often. When it does, it is emphasizing something very important. Hyouka isn't a filmed with straightforward style because that's all the animators can do. It's a choice, and using accents like this so sparingly makes them unreasonably effective as the rare exclamation point in Hyouka's otherwise calm and collected prose.

Conclusion

Score: 9/10. Most of my 9s are bombastic, tense, or feature a wide variety of energy levels. Hyouka is the exception, the only exclusively and truly slow show I regard so highly.

Recommendation: This is an anime for everyone. A small amount of knowledge of the Japanese language and cultural background are helpful but by no means required to appreciate the show from beginning to end. The official subtitles give the extra context needed. Feel free to skip the OVA pool episode.

Comparisons

Saekano is not as exclusively slow as Hyouka, but it does keep its pacing under control. The difference is with Saekano, slower than average parts are more to keep you in a particular emotional state than because the story isn't in a rush to get somewhere. It's not stalling for time, it's just written such that escaping from the abyss takes effort, and to really feel that you have to spend a while there.

Final Thoughts

This one is personal. Hyouka is one of a collection of anime series (along with Rascal Does Not Dream and especially Oregairu) that wormed into my head and now won't leave. In many shows, the ending is what sticks with you. In Hyouka, the part I can't shake is the beginning. I feel deeply connected to Houtarou's desire to absolutely minimize the effort and friction in daily life. Seeing him crack out of that mindset ever so slightly through interacting with others sent me on an inward journey. What grooves have I worn in my life that make toxic solitude the easiest path? What would I be if I hadn't had anyone to pull me out of that valley? What would I be if I had refused them? The fact that I feel the slightest pain when I engage with those questions and feel my mind skitter over them is not a comfortable one. I will be returning to Hyouka someday - and perhaps the next time those questions come up, I will have answers.

[alyjojo]

Past Life 📜 Karmic Spread September 2024 - Aries

Preshuffle: Public figure, very attractive, heart throb, public meltdown, a death & rise to power, success, a Phoenix spirit 🔥

Meditation: Early 1900’s, I’m seeing a famous actor in a wide brimmed hat with some kind of pinstripe design and a smoking jacket & cigar to match, a woman in a narrow, shimmering & glittery but modest flapper-esque style of dress on his arm, they’re arriving at some big event. Red carpet. I would describe her as mousy, just hanging in the background, she looked more like an awkward doll all dressed up. He had all of the charisma, massive BDE, but I think she was the reason they were actually there. But the person in this reading is him. I spent a couple of hours down a rabbit hole of classic celebrities trying to find one or both of them with those descriptions, especially the hat, but I couldn’t.

~ The Past Life ~

Gender I’m Picking Up On (in the past life): Male

Character Card: Intuition 💭 - Mercury Cancer

Who You Were: The Star rev

What You Did: 6 Wands rev

How It Ended: 9 Cups rev

Oracles: Snake & Authority Figures

You were an opportunist, a manipulator of sorts, it was your goal to be with someone “better” than you in your field, and just kinda ride on their coattails or influence - to success. It probably didn’t start out intentional, but later became that way. You were very attractive 🥵 and you knew it. I’m getting someone that probably didn’t even enter the business until their 30’s at least. You dated younger women purposefully, it made you feel powerful and look good. One in particular, the one in the vision, gave you the most “success.” Aka attention, contracts even, opportunity. I don’t see anything here about feelings or genuine love connections, that’s not how this worked with you. And that wasn’t the only person, there were several and you were a serial-monogamist…I’m not seeing playboy. Exactly. Sort of. You kept your image clean 🧼

These opportunities didn’t go where you had hoped, and everything here shows you considering yourself as a failure. I get you being an actor too, but the roles were minor or ended up flopping, other people were often chosen over you. I get a rough & gruff vibe from you, like someone who works on a ranch or makes moonshine, and they’re looking for more…Leave It To Beaver (I heard). Deep voice, thick beard, sharp features, but they want clean cut. Soft boys. Beach Boys. But maybe not them specifically bc I’m hearing “over time.” That image though, “All American.” Didn’t bother you other than money. I heard a quiet laugh when moonshine came to mind, that was a thing with you. You liked it, made it, there’s something with that. Still do? There’s something here with Kentucky, like a favorite place, but I’m not getting that it’s home. Races? 🐎

None of your “high value” relationships lasted long enough to be considered a success to you, I assume that would be marriage and financial ties, projects together, fame, etc. You had an inner vision that was never achieved, and one of these people in particular I’m seeing you really try to get back - but didn’t. I’m not sure what happened there but it’s like a panic, you didn’t want them to leave. They haunted you, but not because of love 💰 I’m seeing your mindset never having changed, all the way through death, no “lessons” were learned about any of this, it’s who you were. A snake more or less, as Spirit describes, as honest as one can be I suppose; and there’s something with that too, I’m hearing a bell which is an audio confirmation. Snake 🐍 and moonshine 🍺 were significant to who you were or even saw yourself to be. Or because it’s a bell…that could still be true? If it’s a bell for me it’s usually a bell for you too ijs…it’s like a light bulb but it’s a bell, idk I can’t explain this shit 😆 moving on.

I’m also seeing you get in trouble with the law, more than once, and heard “public intoxication.” You liked to drink 🍺 later on in your life, and it contributed to complications/illnesses at the end. Long life.

~ The Present Life ~

What Karma Was Brought With You: The Hermit rev & 7 Swords rev

Who You Brought With You: The Sun ☀️

Additional energy: 8 Cups rev & Knight of Pentacles

Character Card: Exaltation 👩‍🏫 - Moon Taurus

Oracles: Sun ☀️ & Finances

“The parodigal son returns.” To your family, I presume, or even a family business because there are a lot of pentacles here. Heavy Taurus, but King of Wands is shown at the bottom, still probably hot 🥵 and know it. Still male. You could have heavy Taurus influence in your chart, maybe literally the moon 🌙 , which gives you a mind for finances, home, family & practicalities while also showing issues with those same things - should those placements be challenged, and they might be - that’s how it’s coming off. If you don’t have those placements then it’s just here to give me that picture of the situation. Or someone around you does, likely a father figure.

The karmic challenge in this life is that there will be a period where you leave everyone/everything to sow seeds and create your own path - career motivated, you’re off to create a legacy for yourself - and then that legacy falls. Crumbles. Job doesn’t work out, the reasons are all financial that I can see. I get you coming from a pretty well-off family, these people love you and don’t mind helping you out, it’s more like you were going to prove yourself. That didn’t work out, it’s an ego death you didn’t ask for, and you’re having to come back to your family feeling like a failure. Even though you’re not 💙

Spirit is showing that you will absolutely rise again, you’re *supposed* to go home and fix it from there; I’m hearing “it’s in your chart” if you want to figure out where/how & study that, they’re saying it’s obvious and you should. You could be questioning your whole life path right now - look to the Notth Node (where you’re going), the South Node (what you’ve mastered, your comfort zone) and your chart ruler (planet that rules your Ascendant). That’s your life path. That doesn’t mean the other things don’t matter, but if you are obviously on your path then you know you’re going in the right direction - even if nothing is happening yet. You have heavy Venus influence around you, showing an attractive, sensual, warm and loving character - I don’t see any major love contracts (not from this life anyway) but it also doesn’t seem like love is a problem for you. Health & Wealth are both well starred for you as well. It’s like there’s one main struggle with your career, all rooted in pride and ego with our 3D reality - you have to move accordingly, and then it’s smooth sailing babe 💙 Lesson learned & you’re free from this. You’ve either already done this or you’re like RIGHT there in the thick of it, looking for answers. Home 🏡

Someone you’ve brought is a passionate love affair, but temporary. There’s a level of obsession 💋 to this, it was/is probably taboo in some way, could even be made public or be some type of scandal. That’s not a forever person, just a spicy temptation, but it made you happy and even possibly created some kind of a soul contract for the next life. You will definitely see them again. That’s the first time I’ve ever gotten that…leave it to Aries. You have an excellent sense of who reciprocates your energy (in business too) and who is wasting your time - a natural leader 🏆 IF you ever have a son, they will be eerily like you, and have a similar financial challenge/path, or if there’s a family business they’re “next in line” and a tradition will continue on with them, and I’m even hearing “their son too.” You’ve got a whole dynasty waiting in the pipeline. Pun intended.

[usagirotten]

Movie Review: Camp Snoopy is emotional, fun, entertaining and very spectacular

The Apple TV+ platform continues to be at the forefront and surprising us with very high-quality productions, its extensive catalog increasingly offers interesting and new things to see that are for all audiences with very varied themes in which we can choose what we want to see. There has been talk here in Aztechin about the great work that this platform has done with the work that Charles M. Schulz did with the Peanuts characters, taking them to another level but without losing that essence that characterizes them and that has kept them in the taste of the public for several decades. This summer they released a new series produced by Apple TV+ by Peanuts and WildBrain, Camp Snoopy is based on and follows the line that classic comic strips have had, and other television series such as The Snoopy Show, Snoopy in Space are just an example that classics do not go out of style, on the contrary, they still have a lot to offer.

What is the series about?

After Charlie Brown receives a call, he informs his peculiar pet that his troop is in danger of disappearing, so that this does not happen, Snoopy and the Beagle Scouts embark on a journey through nature to earn their badges with the Beagle Scout Manual as a guide. Meanwhile, the Peanuts gang enjoys a summer at Camp Spring Lake, crossing paths with Snoopy while practicing activities such as hiking, swimming, rowing, and finally sitting by a campfire and enjoying everything that summer camp and the outdoors have to offer. can offer, on this journey everyone will discover that they can overcome fears and insecurities beyond what they have imagined. It is not surprising that the quality of the stories as well as their animation are surprising, Snoopy and the Beagle Scouts will have to get their badges if they want to continue being part of that guild even if they have to test beyond their abilities and that of their clueless leader who will do everything possible to keep them together. It is always particularly appreciated that it is Apple that is in charge of these projects and not Disney, since both handle material for a more children's and adolescent audience, how themes are approached and developed are very different and we can see the quality in the results, let's not talk about audience ratings or the famous box office collection but about the validity that their projects have had over the years. The main story revolves around the Beagle Scouts and Snoopy who are in danger of having to disband their troop in the absence of more training and the badges they receive for completing their activities, they very humbly and reluctantly accept that they do not know how to do anything about the tests in nature that the manual indicates, this is how they undertake a trip to the forest determined to learn and remain current but that is not all, it is in itself learning to live in a new environment and strengthen their friendship. From this come more stories that directly involve the Peanuts gang, each one will have to face what they fear and learn to live with others in an environment different from the one they have in the comfort of their home and school, Each plot and subplot is designed to leave us a subtle but direct message about what friendship, coexistence, self-knowledge, acceptance, inclusion, tolerance, and love are, messages that we have seen countless times and that we have already seen. They do not surprise us and only serve as a stumbling block in the development of the rest. From the first episode, we are told and told that these children will be far from home and that they only depend on themselves to spend an unforgettable summer without the annoying company of adults, once Snoopy has put on his green leader's hat. Beagle Scout chooses a place in the forest very close to where the other children are, for his part, Charlie Brown encourages his sister Sally so that she can have her first experience at a summer camp. If Snoopy's troop does not obtain enough performance badges they will disappear as a group and this has been determined by the count of badges they have carried up to that moment 5 badges earned and 5 lost there is a lot of work to do which will bring pleasant and very fun moments even reaching to move us and make us think that if we put aside our fears and insecurities we can do great things.

The 13 episodes that make up this series are:

1. A BEAGLE SCOUT GET READY. After discovering that his troop is at risk of being expelled and disbanding, Snoopy and the Beagle Scouts go camping to earn their merit badges, while Charlie Brown and his friends enjoy the summer at a remote campground.

2. HOMESICK SALLY. Sally has a hard time adjusting to camp but she makes a new friend, Charlie Brown, who asks Snoopy for help to deliver a special letter. 3. TO DIVE OR NOT TO DIVE. Peppermint Patty turns to Snoopy because of her fear of jumping into the water headfirst, the explorers try to build a shelter while Sally and Naomi fight over who can make the best bracelets. 4. BLUEBERRY BIRDS. Snoopy and the explorers embark on a mission to earn the foraging badge, Charlie Brown is determined to win the Pineapple prize. 5. CAMPFIRE YARNS. The children tell scary stories, but Charlie Brown doesn't know what to say, he doesn't know any, Snoopy's diary comes out along with his troop on an ill-fated canoe trip to Punta Beagle. 6. BEAGLE VS BUG. Snoopy encounters a new nemesis, an implacable enemy, a mosquito that won't leave him alone, Schroeder thinks the official camp song needs to be updated. 7. LEAVE IT LIKE YOU FOUND IT. The explorers and children enjoy a hidden oasis, but their games annoy Linus. Charlie Brown and Snoopy compete to be the camp mascot. 8. FAREWELL MY BLANCHE. Linus's blanket gets snagged and frayed during a field trip and he ends up exhausted and without his most precious treasure, Snoopy and his troop try to sneak into the kids' homemade pizza dinner. 9.jpg 9. BED HEADS & BEAGLE CARE. Snoopy wants the explorers to get the dog care badge by pampering him and doing everything for him in one day, the search for an imaginary treasure leads the children on a futile mission.

10. RING TOSS. Sally feels left out when Naomi and Snoopy play hoops, the children send letters home telling about their best days at camp. 11. CAMP CRUSH. Peppermint Patty is convinced that Charlie Brown is in love with her and wants to reject him politely, Marcie is chosen as the camp counselor for a day. 12. SALLY'S TOOTH. Sally's tooth falls out and she's worried that the Tooth Fairy doesn't know she's at camp and can't leave her prize; a chance discovery by Charlie Brown turns into chaos for all of them. 13. SUMMER FRIENDS. Camp comes to an end and Sally says goodbye to her new friend Naomi, Snoopy and the scouts race to earn one last badge. Each of the 13 episodes approximately 21 minutes takes us on a journey with this gang to discover that each one continues to have a unique and unrepeatable personality and that they cannot live together as a group for long without disputes and problems starting. , fun is something that cannot be missed and it is not just about easy laughter, it is elaborate and very well-thought-out humor so all of this is complemented by every one of the stories. Creators Rob Boutilier and Scott Montgomery know very well where they want to take things, screenwriters Scot Montgomery, Jocelyne Geddie, Aaron Eves, Jiro C. Okada, Craig Brown, Stephanie Herrera, M.R. Horhager, Tally Knoll, Casper Lynn, Eric Toth and Montgomery himself make each episode involve us more with each of the characters and their stories, likewise, they show us more about the organization, activities and culture of the troops. scout in American camps, the importance of earning badges of recognition for what has been learned and applied in the activity at hand, identifying, learning, and developing different skills, the importance of individual and teamwork, friendship, and camaraderie. Here there is nothing in favor of the script, everything is in its place and is narrated as it should be in a mature show for children and adults, the animation is impeccable and is taken care of down to the smallest detail without being exaggeratedly showy, the environments have a color palette with which the animators play to create new environments and atmospheres, making everything have symmetry with what Schultz did for years. The absence of technology makes the interaction of these characters more authentic and they are represented once again as children who play, learn, and have fun with their friends, this particular point is what makes these works look current without losing their personalities and own style, something that if it had been done by other studios would fall into a technological and useless modernism, there is no need to use or exaggerate this resource to tell stories that range from the simplest to the complex. The voice cast is made up of Terry McGurrin, Robert Tinker, Étienne Kellci, and Caleb Bellavance. Molly Lewis, Hattie Kragten, Lexi Perri, Wyatt Blanco, Lucien Duncan-Reid, Martín Cash, Malia Cea, Sera Bhaneja, Charlie Boyle, Natasha Nathan, Maya Misaljevic, Sean Cullen, Julie Lemieux, David Berni who once again give life to these characters with their voices in impeccable work from which nothing more could be asked for. The subtle but spectacular Jazz composed by Jeff Morrow is the perfect complement that characterizes this and other series of these characters, each piece that accompanies the animated sequences gives it that serious and mature tone without boring the little ones, a work that is up to par and meets what is required perfectly well. In conclusion, Camp Snoopy as a series takes entertainment to a level that very few have achieved in recent years, it is fun and educational, and you can see an evolution in each of its characters, mainly between Charlie Brown and Snoopy without falling completely into emotional depth, it is a charming and touching addition to the Peanuts universe that perfectly balances nostalgia with fresh storytelling while presenting meaningful lessons about friendship, perseverance and of course caring for the environment. Camp Snoopy is now available on the Apple TV+ platform https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EQq7mE2zp0 Read the full article

[noparg]

3000th Duel - Review

In the recent years, there has been a resurgence of metroidvania games; especially following the release of Hollow Knight in 2017. 3000th Duel follows this trend, combining metroidvania with a souls-like aesthetic, inevitably drawing comparisons to the previously mentioned Hollow Knight. It shares its somber tone and several mechanics which will be mentioned later in the review.

Story

3000th Duel doesn’t have much of an active story, opting instead for snippets of lore found around the world usually appearing after boss battles. The gist of it being that the king of an ancient civilization of humans got corrupted by the power he sought to obtain, cursing the land and filling it with monsters. Nothing particularly innovative, but works well enough to give the game cohesion.

This said, the writing of the game is worsened by the faulty translation. Most of the texts include translation errors, sometimes to the point of making said texts sound ridiculous or nonsensical, such a thing happens on the death screen, which declares “YOU BURN” upon appearance or “REDEMPTION FROM THE BRIDE” when a boss is defeated.

Graphics

The graphical part of the game is somewhat lackluster, though not bad, characters have a3D style with plastic-like textures reminiscent of old games. Enemy design is decently unique, even if it loses some charm since most of the enemies tend to be locked to their area, not ever appearing out of it, except those times where a variant appears (generally a re-skin of the model without gameplay changes). Bosses are quite unique as well, sporting styles completely different to those of common monsters, though in some cases their usual humongous size shows the bad quality of the textures.

As for the backgrounds, despite the existence of several beautiful areas, most of the environments tend to be samey, especially on interior areas. There are some landmarks occasionally found, which spice up the backgrounds a bit, but these are few and far between, not counting boss arenas.

Another problem, though only noticeable with brightness set to minimum, is that the colors of some platforms and the backgrounds tend to blend, thus making it more difficult to see the platforms you are supposed to step on.

Sound

The sound design in 3000th duel is well made; both the music and VFX have good volume and quality behind them. The music is quite enjoyable, though it can get repetitive since most tracks only last a few seconds and repeat in a loop, changing only with the area and for boss battles. If you spend a long time in a single area you will most probably end up forgetting the music is there, due to said repetition. Another nice point to mention is that enemies have VFX’ of their own, without repeating for the different types of monsters.

Gameplay

Gameplay is where the meat of 3000th duel lays, as mentioned at the start, this game is a metroidvania combined with the souls-like genre, taking most of the inspiration for its ideas from the second. One of these ideas is, for example, that the main way of healing is an item which refills upon saving called “Violet Scripture”. This item also receives upgrades to the amount of uses it has as the game progresses, generally after defeating a boss or found around the map. Another idea it takes from the souls games (though it reminds more particularly of Hollow Knight) is that upon death, your soul is left behind and you lose all your money, which can be retrieved by defeating said soul once it attacks you.

Combat is the main focus of the gameplay, throwing you onto hordes of enemies to defeat. For this matter, you have three different options of weapons: Greatswords, Broadswords and Lances, each having a different type of attack. The Greatsword is slow but swings for high amounts of damage, the Broadsword is fast though short ranged, and the Lance has long range, but cannot attack enemies above you. Besides these main weapons, there is also a magic system called “Occults”, these are quite powerful but require a special build, having limited uses which refill upon saving. Said builds are made by leveling up; this can be done at the statues designed for this, requiring in-game currency to do so, said currency being called “Karma” and being also used to upgrade your weapons and occults and to purchase consumables. The level cap for the game is 99, the price of each level up increasing every time, and gives a point per level which you can allocate to any of the characteristics, depending on your build. This system appears quite flawed, since allocating points into one characteristic can potentially prevent you from using skills you acquire later on in the game.

There are also items to be found while exploring, though most tend to be lackluster, once you obtain a powerful item, you will most likely spend a long time without seeing anything else worth your while, especially random drops. Anything better than your current equipment tends to be a boss drop, thus making farming equipment unnecessary, which may be a good thing, though it does remove some amount of flavor from the game. Items can also be found in chests by exploring the map and backtracking after obtaining certain movement skills, though this often ends up being a waste of time.

Traversal of the map may just be the worst part of the game, almost every room has only a single entry and exit, forcing you to go through a large amount of rooms whenever you wish to backtrack or in the case you happen to die close to the end of the area, seeing as there tends to be only one save point per area (not counting those which appear in the boss arena once the battle is over).

Conclusion

3000th duel is a good game, it doesn’t particularly shine for its innovation, but what it does, it does well. If you decide to purchase this game you can expect around 20 hours of content, allegedly padded by the lengthy rooms and the hard bosses, thus being around 12/15 hours of actual content.

[thetoxicgamer]

World of Warcraft needs a “Realm Reborn” like FFXIV, Asmongold says

One of World of Warcraft's most popular Twitch streamers believes the game needs a full Realm Reborn-style reset in the vein of rival MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV. Zack, also known as "Asmongold," has long been one of the most well-known figures in the World of Warcraft community. However, he claims that both seasoned players like himself and potential new recruits are turned off by the game's excessive complexity and bloat. “With WoW, I’ve kinda just been taking a break,” the longtime YouTuber and Twitch streamer says, “and it’s not like I hate WoW – I don’t want anybody thinking I hate WoW.” However, he says he hasn’t really felt much reason to play it of late. He points to several potential issues, including the sheer volume of stuff that players have obtained over the years, and an increase in the complexity of fight mechanics. It’s certainly true that modern boss fights can feel like an ongoing arms race between people making the best WoW addons to help you follow and solve mechanics, and the game’s designers attempting to make something that existing tools aren’t able to automatically parse. This has led to situations where players can end up with literally dozens of buffs or debuffs applied to their characters at once. “Here – what the fk is going on,” Asmon says, highlighting a player’s status icons during a modern-day WoW battle. He pulls up a shot of Classic WoW to compare, showing just a single icon. “What’s he got on him? Frostbolt? That’s it.” It’s an extreme example, but it makes a stark point. He moves back over to the modern fight, exclaiming, “Twelve debuffs on one person – and this is a clean UI! This is the problem with the fking game, right here.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTZd1XX-ZNc “I think that, for me, what really caused me to stop focusing on it a lot – I feel like the game is too complex, and the complexity of the game is exhausting.” Asmon continues, “You can’t even understand what is happening in the game and it’s just exhausting to play. It’s not that I can’t play it, it’s that it’s just tiresome.” His solution, then? “I think they need to reset the game – just completely reset the game, Realm Reborn this s**t,” referring to how FFXIV shut down its 1.0 version and came back with a completely new game and a fresh start. That obviously proved very successful for the Square Enix MMO, but it was a dramatic move – and perhaps an even more necessary one, given the overwhelmingly negative reception to its original effort. That sounds extreme, but Asmon is insistent that a full reset, while it might be painful, is Blizzard’s best chance to truly breathe new life into Azeroth. “Delete everybody’s mounts, their pets, their transmogs their toys – delete everything,” he says, “Get rid of a game that’s had 15 years of FOMO that people don’t want to get into because they haven’t been playing it for 15 years.” He does suggest that players could be given a Garrison that they could keep all their old stuff in, but that it shouldn’t be present in the new-look version of the game. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LImpJt7GIcM Of course, saying, “Just make the game from scratch” is a lot easier than the process of actually doing that – remember that Blizzard did at one point intend to build a new MMO, codenamed Titan, before it was officially canceled in 2014. The assets created for that project were instead gathered up, and used to build a completely different game – Overwatch. We also, of course, got WoW Classic – another attempt to ‘recapture the magic’ – although it itself suffers from all those years of built-up knowledge among the players. So there’s no question that Blizzard has been thinking long and hard about what to do with its iconic, lumbering behemoth. Perhaps one day they’ll find an answer. In closing, a member of Asmongold’s Twitch chat asks of his fresh-start idea, “Would you trust them to not fk that up?” His answer is simple: “How could they fk it up more than what they’ve already done?” If you’re not yet done with World of Warcraft, take a look at our WoW Dragonflight tier list to see which classes are looking strongest right now. You’ll also want to make sure you don’t miss out on all the WoW Trading Post rewards for July. Read the full article

[incarnateirony]

What a lovely day we'll all be having. For several days.

Noiz recently commented that I had spoiled them for othe rGM's stylees and even dropped the comparison. My bad.

Don't get me wrong, the other GM/Friend they listed is a great player and stuff but. Yeah. there's a reason I take pride in my mythos <I have been running and teaching people through it for over 2 decades.

I realized the difference was the manifestation of "show vs tell" as an argument.

I create living pieces of mythology designed to have roles but ultimately subject to the collective, and the players are the collective and unwittingly building their better world, able to hunt down mapped out answers in a giant multisetting they literally shape into the universe following their own tentatively entwined answers.

The other GM has great ideas and technically uses the same mythology as me, but he writes it in a way wherre the gods are just. Forces uncontrolled from themselves half the time, and they show up, and hit a button, and the plot forcefully turns, and "that is their nature" and like. Sure, I guess? But you don't give the players anything to do with that.

He too tries to adopt the collective unconscious in his narrative but it ends up flushed into comedic manifestations, rather than subtle allusions of the I, We and They, and who is working with whom and why. My version of the collective unconscious is The People Like Themselves Choosing To Exist And Making It. His version of the collective conscious is, some random manifestation he can't control pops up in god's image and like. idk, does some random stuff that makes problems.

ANd like, the mythologies are compatible but the presentation is not, and that's what I"m understanding. I even got told like, I have a job, I can't read the whole thing. ANd like, that's fine, several players have jobs, the amount you read on it is your choice, but if we're 700 chapters of pot in and and god hops in without observation, it doesn't matter hiw intent, his desire to insert himself is above understanding the situation of the people he is trying to help and by nature it will not end well. That's why the players all reject god now.

"well that's their fault because they had time to realize and fix something wrong with-" no they didn't dude. Every single time your character has been reached to he has been antagonistic and made their lives worse when they were managing better without him. "Yeah but he's upside down and," So is everyone dude, that's the plot. This is the same guy that uninvited came to lecture the person who made the creation that MADE him god, you wanna talk about upside down, there's a reason Kion just chased god across 15 universes. God stole Dean's impala and then admitted he blew it to pieces and only had a part, that's what the fuck happened. Then showed up to insist to give him driving lessons in the new one.

ANd he was like "okay yeah but if you history check and realize it's the same thing as the Dark Lord, you can tell he should be passivve and--" "Or gods lie, like this god even brags about doing. Dude, that's not a hint. You think that's a hint. The only motivation you've given characters is to Kill God once they're done with what they see as the bigger threat. "Yeah but tthey had time to save-" THEY HAD NO REASON TO DUDE, NO HINT NO LEADS NO PLOT TRIGGERS. You dancing on the main bad guy's grave until he goes apeshit and tears 5 planes apart isn't a signal to go help you, it's a signal to go KICK YOUR ASS" "well, that was the collective unconscious," "Bro the collective conscious is about to roll up and beat his ass."