#they have MULTIPLE dialogue possibilities apparently!!!

[voxmilia]

i call this "Gregor and Cordelia are the best underrated romance in Awakening: A Series"

[crownshattered]

|| Also, idk if this means anything to any of you, but I learned today that my Omori playthrough's WTF factor is 13.

[thankskenpenders]

After a recent interview where Iizuka said it was possible for IDW characters to show up in the games, I've seen some discussion about how the characters need to be introduced "the right way" for people who don't read the comics. And, like, this is obviously true to some extent. You want to convey why people unfamiliar with them should care about these characters, instead of just assuming everyone already knows who they are and their whole backstories and everything. (Anyone who's watched Disney+ Star Wars already has some easy examples of times where they were like "you guys already know this character from the cartoons, right?" and casual fans were completely lost.) But I think people are overestimating how much work this would actually take, especially people who argue that the characters need full-blown reintroductions in the games that depict their backstories all over again and treat them as characters Sonic doesn't already know

I think it's easy to forget that not everyone who plays Sonic games has played every Sonic game. Kids especially. Every single major recurring character in the games debuted before today's generation of Sonic kids was born, and as such every new game is someone's introduction to those characters. The games with the introductions for the Chaotix, Blaze, Silver, Omega, Cream, the Babylon Rogues, Fang, Mighty, Ray, etc. are straight up not available at all on modern hardware without resorting to emulation. To many people picking up Team Sonic Racing or Mania or whatever, those characters are already some random characters Sonic apparently already knows from some previous story. These are not things that every single person who picks up a new Sonic game is intimately familiar with. And yet the games don't feel the need to stop and recount their entire backstories every time they appear.

Also, like, even if you have played every single game, Sonic already has a long history of introducing new characters with little to no fanfare, often treating them as characters Sonic has already met. Core characters like Tails, Amy, and Metal Sonic were really just dropped into Genesis era sequels with no explanation for people who didn't read the manual (i.e.: most players). Sonic has a kid sidekick and a girl who has a crush on him and a robot duplicate now, just roll with it. The modern era would continue to do this with characters like the reimagined Team Chaotix, or Orbot and Cubot, who just appeared in the games one day with no setup. We got along just fine.

(This is to say nothing of the nature of the creative medium the IDW characters originate from, where every new comic arc is treated as somebody's first and supporting characters are periodically given reintroductions to get newer readers up to speed. We've been over Whisper's backstory multiple times now.)

Again, obviously I do want characters like Tangle, Whisper, and Surge to show up in the games with compelling introductions that do the characters justice, but I think people are overthinking how much effort that actually takes. You do not need a whole elaborate adaptation of Whisper and Surge's backstories in the games just for them to have a cameo. You can have Sonic already know them, and if the details are even relevant you can convey that stuff in other ways - brief exposition in the dialogue, context clues, in-game character bios, new stories that showcase their important character traits without 1:1 recreating the stories that have already been told, out-of-game promotional videos and animated shorts like the ones they did to get people up to speed on who the hell Fang is, etc. This is pretty basic stuff when writing for a long-running multimedia franchise.

[chironshorseass]

what bugs me most about the pjo show is that i know they could’ve done better. i knowwwww they could’ve been as faithful as they wanted to the books. for anyone saying “oh, but it’s an adaptation! it isn’t meant to be the same so stop whining that they took stuff out or that they’re adding things in different order!” well yes, i agree that adaptations aren’t meant to be a carbon copy of the source material for the simple fact that it’s adapting the source material into a different medium (television), yet it’s just that! a form of adapting the things that are unable to be channeled from, say, a book—or on the contrary, adding things that make sense for television but couldn’t be channeled into the books otherwise…all of this in a faithful manner. a good adaptation is one that stays true to the source material by properly adapting its themes, characters, symbolism, context, pacing, and the overall story/plot so as to not only be seen as a sort of love letter to the fans, but also to reach a wider audience.

just look at the hunger games! the movies are so faithful to the books to the point that most of the scenes are taken straight out of the books, dialogue and all. and they’re movies, aka less runtime than a freaking tv show and they still did it better. did the hg movies have to take a few scenes out? yes; they have only so much time to tell the story as it is told in the books. did they resume things, like the games themselves? also yes. but did most of the important scenes and character moments stay in the movies? also also yes. again, THESE ARE MOVIES!!!!! a medium much more limited than a freaking tv series with multiple episodes that have enough run time to add even more scenes from the books than what could be possible in a 2 hour (max) movie!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and yet they STILL changed so much that rly had no business being changed other than that the writers decided they felt like it because…..a lot of it im not even sure. and the worst thing of it all is that freaking rick riordan took part in script writing yet so much of the source material has been watered down???? they make a whole ass episode about a monster fight with the majority of the scenes from said episode not even present in the books instead of sticking to the perfectly good source material???? and by doing so they delete the small details that are very much integral to character development and plot???? huh???? the math isn’t mathing. don’t get me wrong, i do like some changes, but then i think: at what cost do they add these things when there was a perfectly good narrative without it? like, at what cost do we get the whole turning to gold sacrifice scene if they’re gonna take out all the fun details that make the lightning thief the lightning thief? for example the silly water park merch and then annabeth displaying her spider phobia and her mortification at going to the thrill ride of love with percy and then being broadcasted to olympus. this is just one episode, but they’ve been doing it in all of them. and u know, it’s not that i don’t hate-hate most these changes. again, what bugs me is that this was supposed to be a faithful adaptation. again, it’s a tv series, with so much more time to develop everything from the books. rick is behind it, who apparently hated the movies for how unfaithful they were. the cast is great. and yet…the script is so mediocre. the spark is lost. character traits are looked over in place for weird pacing and even weirder changes. if the hunger games could do it, then surely a pjo tv series could as well? apparently not? i really really Don’t Get It.

[swordlike]

Why I think Muu has NPD !

with more information from trial 3 this might change, but i have npd and for now i think this bug has it too. BTW if your weird abt people with personality disorders in the notes im stealing shit from your house ! take everything with a grain of salt, im not a therapist and disorders present differently for different people, this is just for fun. so lets get into it, all the translations are from the milgram wiki <3

belief in her own superiority, you can especially see this in one of the repeat lines in its not my fault. the imagery of the mv is also very tied to the idea of this, we know the mvs are biased, meaning this is how muu sees it herself, her being queen is only natural. 

next is muu’s sureness of her own innocence, this is of course, readily apparent. this ties into several npd traits, but mainly lack of empathy and self importance. she defends herself at every opportunity, in both audio dramas and her songs. 

while i’d consider these definitely major factors, i’m more interested in these lines from its not my fault,

her fear of being found guilty, of being caught out or wrong, is very common in those with npd, the way shes trying to set up es as special and understanding to manipulate them into not hating her out of this fear is really telling (you can also see her do this in both her audio dramas). the way she repeatedly asserts her innocence and status is also a common self soothing tactic to maintain ones ego, if she was “wrong” she would have to acknowledge that she isnt as perfect as she thinks, and this fear keeps her from even acknowledging the possibility. which is to say, i think muu is slipping into the queen bee role and imagery in the mv out of the fear she is wrong, as how npd functions is the grandiose self is a coping mechanism for poor self esteem and deep rooted shame.

manipulative tendencies, muu spends a lot of her interogations talking around es to get them to see muu as innocent, in her second interrogation with es its especially clear that shes trying to talk circles around them to get them to believe in her innocence. Also this.

she also is in the habit of using others. in the not my fault amv you can very clearly see the other girls bringing muu "honey", and one can’t so she immediately gets rid of her, for people with npd this is a common maladaptive defense mechanism, if someone stops providing you with praise or status theyll cut them out to protect themselves and thusly their ego.

people with npd, are unable to regulate their self esteem on their own and as such rely on outside praise or personal success to maintain their egos, know as "supply", which is one way you can interpret the honey in this reading.

belief others are jealous of her or out to hurt her. at multiple points across milgram muu accuses others of being jealous of her and thus out to get her, which is a common symptom of npd.

due to their belief in their own superiority and suspecting others of jealousy, people with npd are prone to hierarchical thinking and can often use putting others down as a way of maintaining their position, which would make sense since we know muu was a bully.

lack of empathy, people with npd struggle with affective empathy in particular (feeling stressed or anxious in response to others negative emotions), note muu’s lack of distress over others being hurt or upset.

avoidance of situations she doesn't like, while this may seem vague, this ties into multiple symptoms, having a large sense of self importance often can mean viewing certain tasks as bellow you or being extra adverse to things you don’t want to do regardless of consequences. she often is shown shoving her work off on other people, theres SO many examples of this one but heres just a few.

black and white thinking, not much to say about this one, this set of dialogue is also her trying to talk es into thinking she's innocent.

theres also her situation with haruka which ties into several things ive mentioned, lack of empathy, using others, etc. It's worth noting she says it makes her feel that they're friends, this probably reaffirms her own importance to her

dont really know where to put this one but. its very funny how she dodges the question.

as for how i think this could affect trial three, i think muu will either completely crash and burn and despise herself (narc crash moment) or she'll lean even harder on her grandioseness to cope.

anyways theres more i could say but this post was already getting long, maybe ill add more in an rb sometime, but in conclusion:

[mixelation]

itachi lying about getting his mangekyou from thinking he saw tori die is such a concept omg. Like truly gaslighting everyone.

team 4 really is gaslight gatekeep girlbossing their way through life :)

here's some dialogue lol

“It’s become apparent we need to be better at communicating,” Itachi said, standing in front of them like he was reporting to the Hokage. “We need to have a better understanding of each other’s limits and foreknowledge.”

Itachi did have his mangekyou. Tori had not needed to jump off a bird. 

“But did you want Kushina-sensei to know you have it?” Deidara asked, confused. 

Itachi stared thoughtfully at the wall behind Tori’s bed. 

“I suppose not,” Itachi said finally. 

“Then you’re welcome,” Tori replied dryly. “Does anyone know you have it?”

“No,” Itachi said flatly. 

“....do we need to fake a reason you have it?” Tori said cautiously, and Deidara immediately opened his mouth to ask what that meant.

“That would be… convenient,” Itachi said slowly, ignoring Deidara’s questions. 

“Okay, you can’t just announce we need to be better at communicating and refuse to communicate, yeah,” Deidara complained. 

Itachi stared at him. Tori let out an exaggerated sigh. 

“A regular sharingan evolves to a mangekyou under extreme emotional distress,” she told Deidara. “Like, extreme distress. Kill-someone-you-love distress.”

“Oh,” Deidara said, sounding taken aback, a rare emotion for him. After a beat, he asked, “Is that why you killed your family?”

“....No,” Itachi said. 

They stared at each other. Deidara’s eye started twitching. 

“That is a whole conversation we don’t have time for right now,” Tori said. “Although, Itachi, we should have a conversation eventually.”

“I know,” Itachi said, finally pulling his eyes away from Deidara.

Tori decided to change the direction of the conversation and turned to Deidara, sitting next to her on her bed. She kicked the side of his leg. 

“What about you? Still got a seal in your chest?”

“Not yet,” Deidara said, hand automatically going for the mouth in his chest. “I didn’t need it until puberty.”

Apparently, at some point during his growth spurt when most people’s chakra reserves naturally expanded, his chakra had gone haywire. Deidara was born with crazy large reserves; puberty had expanded them to levels he’d been unable to control. Iwa had sealed a bunch of it away out of fear of him blowing himself up. It was rare but not unheard of in people with Explosion Release. 

“That possibility is something you should have mentioned months ago,” Itachi said. “Kushina-sensei could–” 

“I might be able to control it this time,” Deidara cut him off. “The seal they do is permanent. I don’t want it unless it’s necessary, yeah.”

“I’m sure Konoha’s multiple fuinjutsu masters–” Itachi started. 

“I can take any seal off,” Tori interrupted before Itachi implied Konoha would be inherently better at managing Iwa’s bloodline limit than Iwa and Deidara started yelling. “But don’t you dare put me in a position where I have to make one up on the spot because you’re on the brink of exploding. Go tell Kushina-sensei they told you you’d need one when you were a kid, or Kurotsuchi mentioned it or something.”

“Fine,” Deidara griped and then solved half a croissant into his mouth. Then he glared at Tori. “And what ‘bout you?” he asked through a mouthful of bread. “What can you even do?”

“Uh,” Tori replied. 

Tori was not even sure she could die. 

“You can’t, like, tell?” Deidara asked. 

“No,” Tori replied. “I think I’d have to talk to the Shinigami to find out, and that’s not an experiment I’m prepared to repeat casually.”

“It would be convenient,” Itachi said, scratching his chin like he was having some sort of idea. “If you died temporarily, that would explain my mangekyou…”

As touching as it was that Itachi considered her a friend, Tori refused to do this unless Tsunade herself was immediately on hand. She definitely didn’t want to discover she was mortal now and actually die. And if she lived, she didn’t want to permanently damage herself. 

“My fuuinjutsu is probably on par with what it was before,” she said, changing the subject. “In theory I have more options because I can use chakra now, but I haven’t explored those much yet.”

“And you can melt people now, yeah,” Deidara said, then kicked her leg back. “You don’t have any other insane medical techniques you just forgot could have combat uses, do you?”

Tori stared down at her coffee cup, thinking this question over. She’d never gotten very good at the chakra scalpel technique. Could she use basic healing techniques for anything…?

“I hate that you have to think that hard, yeah,” Deidara told her.

[acourtofthought]

Something I'm confused by is when Elriels insist that the twins are Elain's found family and their friendship is proof of Elriel being endgame.

I mean, I'm not saying Elain isn't friends with the twins because she is, but if they're meant to be her found family, why would they, and their friendship with Elain have been introduced already?

I've only read ACOTAR, so it might be different in other Mass books, but doesn't it make more sense for Elain to meet her found family in her own book? That way, the readers can see the love/trust develop between everyone from the very beginning instead of starting us in the halfway point, where Elain apparently already has her found family set and is only missing her endgame guy?

If the twins are Elain's found family, it just feels like the readers are missing out on a lot of possible key moments and information since they're all already friends before we've even had Elain's pov.

Your anon is very much in line with a conversation I was having with @acourtdelaluna that I had in my drafts and that I'll post screenshot of below.

The friend argument is similar to it. These are not contemporary romance book where a FMC starts off with her core group of girls that remain her core group as the series continues. Where she doesn't need her friends as anything but a sympathetic ear. In a fantasy books a FMC might have friends at the start of her journey but those friends are not the ones she's going to adventure with, to grow with. Take Hunger Games for example, Gail was Katniss's closest friend yet she grew closer to Peeta, to Finnick, to Haymitch (sort of?? haha) as the series progressed. She might keep the old friends but they aren't typically the ones who drive her character growth. Think of Fourth Wing. It was about the relationships the FMC made along the way that made the story what it was even outside her romance.

That e/riels are so distraught over the thought of Elain growing and meeting new people outside her sisters, the wraiths and Az is disheartening. They'd rather what her character is canonically known for (easily making friends) to have no part in her story because they know if Elain's world / friend group doesn't stay small, there's the chance that she'll want more than her current life.

Also if we're were supposed to care about the wraiths, why were they completely absent in SF when Elain was around? Why was Lucien at Solstice and Starfall but they weren't? Why was their only "appearance" when they brought Gwyn and Emerie tea (an off page appearance at that)? Why does Az fail to mention them at all? Why have we never witnessed a single conversation between them and Elain? Hell, we even had Amren and Nesta share dialogue in ACOWAR. We had Mor and Elain share dialogue.

It's not difficult to understand which people are meant to be important to a FMCs story because the author will make you care about them, she'll flesh them out and make them multi dimensional. We've had multiple books that feature N & C yet we know nothing about them outside the work they do for Rhys and Feyre.

This is especially true in a Sarah J Maas book. She puts as much time and care into the developing friendships as she does their endgame person. The only reason we won't see this setup for a Gwynriel book is because we've already witnessed the Nesta, Gwyn, and Emerie friendship play out in real time in Nesta's story. We don't have that for N & C though. We're told they're Elain's friends but they have no development outside of that so it shouldn't be shocking that people feel meh about them.

Regarding Elain being perfectly settled and content with the relationships in her life, this is where my conversation with acourtdelaluna comes in. Because the argument is never just that Elain already has her found family but she also already knows exactly who and what she wants -

[rahleeyah]

It became apparent while I was writing instinct that there was at least one commenter who was literally only reading the dialogue - of which there wasn't very much, and some of which contradicted the character's own thoughts, bc the characters were hiding truths from themselves and each other - and that commenter was grumpy bc they were only getting half of the story and they thought it was boring - which it would be. if you literally only read the dialogue that is a boring story, bc it's a story about physical action and internal deliberation, not about speech. Much of the characters' emotional journeys in that story were not expressed in dialogue, bc they were thinking about and reacting to actions, not words (which I think is quintessential eo; they are not gonna have clear expressive paragraphs of dialogue they just don't talk about their feelings and themselves that way. They talk with eye contact and shoulder bumps). And anyway this one commenter (it may have been multiple but I recall at least one repeated commenter) kept complaining that nothing was happening. Olivia was going thru seismic internal shifts and I was making fucking art out of prose and the commenter was like "ugh nothing's happening". And the only way a person could possibly come to that conclusion would be thru skimming the chapters and only reading the dialogue. The dialogue wasn't dramatic, the dialogue didn't reveal any changes, guess that means nothing happened. And I just saw a tiktoker saying she skips long paragraphs - you know, the meat of the story, where things happen - bc she can't be bothered to read it and I just think this trend is such an indictment of our current society. Everyone's a reader but no one wants to read. Skip to the good parts. Summarize it for me. Make it faster make it easier make it more obvious.

No 🫶

[thygoddessouijathicc]

Bishop Edibility Tierlist; A very deeply serious essay about which bishop would taste the best if you had to eat one of them for any reason

Aight, 88% of you voted in favour of this being released, so this is on you. This blood is on YOUR hands. Just remember that as you read this.

So you all remember that essay I did about how the bishops all had some kinda trauma or different reactions to purgatory and shit and how that was such a serious thing analyzing dialogue and reactions and stuff-?

Well there are TWO wolves inside of me, and one of them writes serious researched essays, it’s time you meet the other.

To preface this, this essay is entirely a joke please don’t take any word of this seriously.

To start with, technically anything is edible if you try hard enough, sometimes only once but I digress, however some things are more appetizing than others.

For this essay we will be taking evidence from canon in some cases on things you can eat, but assuming that this only means these things are more appetizing in this world, not that anything you can’t feast upon very specifically in the game is somehow inedible. Meat is meat.

Also Narinder will be referred to as a bishop because he was one.

Ok let’s start our list.

At the absolute bottom of the edibility tierlist is Narinder. Narinder is a cat. While technically cats are indeed edible by the laws of meat is meat, cats hold a special place in the hearts of many including myself.

But to be honest the real reason that Narinder holds this spot is meat quantity and quality of him specifically. Narinder, holds very little meat. Sure he has a head, but his arms are skeletal and it’s safe to assume possibly a lot of the rest of his body tis also but frail bone. Possibly what is not could also be rotten if he’s that kind of god of death that qualifies as a corpse. And while meat is meat, Narinder not only has very little, but what he does have may be poor quality. This cements him in the shameful bottom spot.

He’s also a-

Moving on, next, quite regrettably, is Leshy. Leshy is a major jump in quality from Narinder.

We don’t know much about bushworms or their anatomy but what we do know, is Leshy is dummy thicc, this means he has a large quantity of meat.

Unfortunately Leshy is also a worm which isn’t exactly the most appetizing creature to put in your gaping maw so that docks him a few points.

However the true reason he cannot be higher is that depending on your read of his anatomy, Leshy could qualify as a salad, and EWWWWW VEGITALS!!! 🤢🤮🤮

Moving on to the “would eat again category” we start with Heket.

Now it should not be news to anyone that frogs are edible, especially to French people. But I don’t believe in French people, they aren’t real. Anyway as I’m saying, you can eat frogs to your hearts content!

There are sanitation issues with Anura apparently being super gross which docks some points but overall, Heket is a solid option.

Now we’ve reached “ok hear me out” territory with Shamura.

Spiders are a major food source in cult of the lamb. Which is a bit questionable for a few reasons, including that there are multiple spider characters and Webber exists but also small spiders on the ground which seem to be a separate species which raises a lot of questions possibly best gone unanswered.

What really matters is what you can do with the small spiders you find around, you can chase them down and when you catch them, they drop meat. My friends have told me that this means I’m just taking meat they are holding, after all you can get berries if the spider has taken them.

What I say to this is: but the idea of lamb running around at night and picking up whole large spiders off the ground and feeding them to their followers is fucking hilarious, and also they always drop the same meat and never berries unless they have picked them up. You’d think if I’m just taking what they have and they will eat berries as well as meat, that I’d get berries more often. Nay, only when picked up from my farms.

This leads to the only possible conclusion being that people in the cult of the lamb universe feed often on spiders, that’s right, Helob eating followers is VENGEANCE.

So, we have established spiders are very edible in cult of the lamb, and you know what Shamura is? A giant fucking spider. They are edible, I rest my case.

Now let’s move on to first place oh boy who is it, probably who you should have expected, Kallamar.

His name sounds like Calamari to start with and not only can you eat squids in real life, you can in the game (similar weird separate species thing with spiders only in this case it’s more definitive that you can very much eat the squids themselves.)

Kallamar would also likely cry if you proclaimed your desire to consume him, misery not only makes meat better but his tears could be seasoning!

Not even to mention the fact that after beating him, it would be a moment of victoriousness and pure vindictive nature, to proceed to eat Kallamar, and vindictive nature is something I most definitely do not lack as I cuss out bishops every time I see the statues after I beat them.

Squids also don’t have many bones so unlike the others who you’d have to spend an extensive time processing before eating, Kallamar would be easy and his bones make up very little of his composition.

In conclusion, why did you read this whole essay it’s not even that funny.

And those of you who voted to have this released. Are you happy?

Are you not entertained!?

[hanamiyama-basketball-club]

So I was skimming the first episode of Bravern looking for something else entirely and ended up massively overthinking this scene in the bar instead, and I made a Tumblr to massively overthink things so here we are.

Now, I feel like there's a lot of stuff in Bravern left unsaid or up to (multiple possible) interpretations, which I guess is sort of how all of media works but somehow Bravern has turned on some kind of 101 lit brain that my mathematician ass does not usually have so bear with me here. And so the narrative I'm going to present here isn't an argument really. It's just a "wouldn't it be nice". This is the story I like to imagine in this scene. I call it A Tale of Two Wingmen.

We start out with Isami and Hibiki at the bar chatting about the war games exercise. (They seem to be the only ones at the bar rather than at a table, and don't have food; I like that Hibiki at least has a flower on her drink.) It seems clear that they're friends, probably a somewhat mismatched pair since Isami is in his dress uniform and Hibiki is out of uniform.

Isami has just started talking about the other TS that charged ahead with him when who should walk in the bar but the pilot in question with his friend Ryoma (soon to be RIP):

(I can't hear the dialogue for them tbh so I'm a little confused by the subtitles - it looks in the animation like it's Smith saying he didn't drink enough, but the phrasing makes it sound like it's Ryoma saying that. Whatever. Minor point.)

And then he sees Isami and stops suddenly, dramatically enough to get Ryoma's attention.

And heads straight for Isami (seemingly without saying anything to Ryoma, lol)

Hibiki actually spots him first, or at least reacts to him first.

Smith invites himself into the conversation:

Hibiki watches him a little warily at first and seems annoyed when he starts thumping Isami on the shoulder.

(I have a fondness for this whole interaction tbh because like Smith I am an American that reckons I can get through any social situation just by being really talkative, friendly, and complaining about authority figures. And like Smith I have often totally misjudged how to befriend people now that I'm in another country. "Mildly annoying American" is apparently louder and more negative than any Brit judging by the reactions I get, and I can only imagine the American-Japanese culture clash is worse.)

But once Smith starts praising Isami (and agreeing with the argument Hibiki was making), Hibiki seems to warm up to him:

By the time Smith starts challenging Isami to a duel, she's leaning in and grinning over her cocktail.

Ryoma also seems to be watching this conversation from across the room:

Isami needles Smith in a line that definitely isn't foreshadowing at all, and Hibiki whistles which is also very cute

Smith heads out once he has the agreement to the duel, Hibiki grinning after him

Hibiki seems deeply amused by this whole situation and entertained by Smith's laser focus on Isami (and maybe a little surprised that Isami hasn't seemed to retain as much about Smith as Smith has about him)

On the way out Smith bumps fists with Ryoma, who's also left the conversation he was in.

(Yes, they did introduce themselves; no, Isami does not seem to remember this, which is very funny considering what's going to happen tomorrow.)

So what's the narrative I'm enjoying from this scene? Basically, if you imagine that both of these friends know that their main character buddy is gay, it becomes kind of adorable. (Well, it's kind of adorable anyway, but an added layer of adorable.)

Ryoma is the guy who's been hearing all evening about this cool Japanese pilot and the way he maneuvered his TS even though they say they're not as good as the M2s, and he seems kinda shy but do you think he'd maybe go for a duel? You know, first you fight, then you team up? So he's maybe a little surprised when Smith wanders off mid-conversation, but he knows what's up. Once he hears that his bro has successfully secured the not-a-date he was hoping for, he's got to give him a celebratory fistbump.

Hibiki clearly knows Isami well, and I'm guessing that she has never known him to actually date anyone. Possibly he's never explicitly come out to her; I doubt he'd be generally out (even if that was a good idea in any military, which I imagine is rare), or that he'd talk about his personal life to most people even if he was straight. But I imagine that Hibiki teases him in a friendly way about it and, as someone who's familiar with Isami's impenetrable shell, is kind of interested to see what kind of romantic partner could possibly get through that. Kind of obnoxious but well meaning hunk shows up out of nowhere clearly hung up on Isami? This is either a love story in the making or something to tease Isami about at the bar for years, and either way she is in.

Or maybe she just thinks it's funny that he has a loud American obsessed with him now. That was my read at first, and is probably the most likely.

But if you imagine an Isami who is gay, then it's nice to think that he has somebody that he can, if not talk to about it directly, at least knows. (Obviously bisexuality exists and the above still more or less applies if he's bi rather than gay, but I personally imagine Isami as the type who has gone well I'm only interested in men so conveniently I can just put all of romance in the box of Sounds Hard, Not Doing That.)

Also considering how she reacts to Honoka I think Hibiki just thinks it's funny if anyone has a crush on Isami which is a fun relationship for a male and female best friend to have.

[loudcyclop]

31 Ik facts ~ or why Ikabod Kee is the best character in known history

Enjoy random stuff that I gathered from the game, because it brings me great joy

• He apparently remembers the names of every single guests in his hotel, like Lawrence and Patricia, but still call Fat Pajama Man like this. That, or he makes them on the spot

• He likes to eat dog treats

• He collected bowls of creamy potato, and had seventeen before he died

• His parents messed up his name at birth, calling him Ik instead of Ikabod. Which explain why we can't have more than two letters in our name and three in our surname (idem for Mr.Sob)

• Has a suspicious amount of cooling fans, there's a possibility that he collects them too

• He has party poppers at his desk

• He collects strobe lights (whatever it is)

• He has two arms, his tailor just never sewed the second sleeve and he never had the bravery to tell it to them.

• He had a spider on his forehead for two whole weeks (wherever the spider is a real spider or a previous guest is unclear)

• The way he introduces himself to you implies that he was hiding behind his desk until you came

• Recycle the aquarium water

• He collects barils of petrol

• He doesn't tell you anything if you throw furniture in his face

• He is an art thief

• His dad was a crow enthusiast

• Yep, same dad who pushed him out of a moving vehicule (and that he forgave for it)

• Why does he looks like this

• Why is he so tall

• He likes to fit his entire body in shoeboxes in the hope of being mailed to someone

• I made the math, and apparently the first thing that he thought after his horrible death as a teenager was to build a massive underground hotel for dead people with an asylum, three different factories, a mall, an entire western city, multiple endless pits and a level which is upside down. What a legend.

• His dialogue implies that he has two legs but the cover art for the ost doesn't show them.

• He has teeth in the shape of a heart monitor, if you hadn't seen that yet.

• He never got to tell that person he had a crush on them

• I thought it was a shame that his "sick tunes" were not in the OST, but I was unaware that HE COMPOSED THE OST. What a guy.

• He judged necessary to have a sound effect system in his hotel that he tests regularly

• He collected carnivorous plants that were apparently big enough to eat a small dog

• There is a tiny part of me that is not fully conviced that he didn't make up the haunted trucker thing on the spot

• He says that the Upturned Inn has no phone line, but if that's the case what is he calling us with ?

• He never lived to see the Internet, thank god

•We failed him

• I watched the Tomato stream and I'm sorry but this is his canon voice

Bonus Mr.Ballin fact:

Mr.Ballin has a slight chance of turning to look at you at the start of the level and it is legitimately one of the most horrifying sight I ever witnessed

[angel-of-the-moons]

A Rose Under The Moon

Moon Knight System (Marc/Steven/Jake) x Fem!Reader

TW/CW: None mostly. Goldfish slander, some minor injuries resulting from clumsiness, mentions of events from the show. Layla is here! We stan a healthy, happy divorced couple in this house >=\

A/N: There will be multiple chapters like these in this series, mostly dialogue and filler to help facilitate plot.

Taglist: @shirukitsune @my-secret-shame-but-fanfiction @bad4amficideas

🌒🌒🌒🌒🌒🌒🌒🌒🌒🌒

Chapter 4:

Old, Unhappy, Far-Off Things

"You guys can't keep doing this." Layla said over the phone.

"I know, I know." Marc sighed, running his hands through his hair. He haphazardly sprinkled some fish flakes into the tank to feed the ever chubby goldfish; looking at the glass to see Steven's reflection staring back at him, a frown creasing his features.

(Marc, you're going to make 'em pop!) Steven scolded.

"Well, how am I supposed to know how much to feed three goldfish?" Marc groaned.

"Steven told you the fish were gonna explode, eh?" Layla laughed softly.

"Yeah. Almost exactly that. I swear, I've never met a man who needs an emotional support fish." He replied, holding the phone between his shoulder and ear, screwing the lid back onto the tiny container of nasty-smelling flakes.

(How dare you! Gus and his friends are members of this family! You're going to hurt their feelings!) Steven said, absolutely aghast at Marc's summary of how the little aquatic creatures fit into their lives.

(The other two don't even have names yet, hermanito.) Jake finally piped in, coming to co-front to see what all the fuss was about.

"But seriously, Marc. You have to take it easy. Just tell Khonshu to shove off and ignore his bony ass for a few days!" Layla sighed. Though they weren't married or intimate anymore, Layla still cared deeply for "her boys"; even Jake, to a point. Even if she didn't fully trust him, he was a part of Marc and Steven. Part of their system. She knew Jake was the protector. She knew that he was only violent when he absolutely had to be.

Or when Khonshu sent him after fresh targets. She still didn't like that.

"You think I haven't tried that?" Marc flopped onto the sofa, his hand resting over his face as he sighed.

"He's a god, Layla. It's not so easy to just say no."

"Taweret doesn't seem to have a problem with boundaries." She pointed out.

"Because Taweret is a big softie, Layla. She literally mothers you." Marc retorted with a grunt.

"Well… she is the goddess of motherhood. One of them, anyway." Layla conceded.

"And Khonshu is the god of being a tall, harping asshole who refuses to let me rest." Marc leaned back, closing his eyes as the leather on the sofa softly groaned under his weight.

"You think we like working for him, still? We don't. We need the suit, and people need to be kept safe..."

"Have you considered just… giving it all up? Telling Khonshu you're done? Just hang up the cape?" Layla hummed.

Marc could feel Steven and Jake fade into the background of the headspace, leaving him alone to his conversation with Layla, not enjoying the current topic at all. And it would be smarter to prevent a possible argument between Jake and Marc, right now. They had enough headaches.

"I already tried that, remember? Khonshu just used Jake before we knew he was here and had him kill Harrow."

"Right…"

"And besides…" Marc said, conspiratorially. "...I think he already has his sights set on another person to be a Moon Knight. And I don't know who it is, but I know he's going to hold it over my head. Steven, Jake and I would rather be dead than let some poor, innocent person see the shit we have."

"Shit."

"Yeah."

"Okay… You obviously need a mental health break. Anyplace in particular you can go to get away from everything?"

"Well… there is one place. A little shop Steven found that's nearby." Marc replied.

"Is it a bookstore?" Layla laughed.

"Yeah. Yeah, it is." Marc chuckled. "Some woman runs it. American, if you can believe that. Apparently the store was her aunt's or something and she inherited it from her when she died. Steven's built a bit of a rapport with her. Me too. Kinda. She also sells stuff like coffee, tea, snacks… kind of like a one-person cafe."

"She runs it alone?"

"Yeah, impressive actually. But, it's not always safe, I saw that the other day." Marc nodeed.

"Oh? What happened?" Layla asked, wholly invested now. They had a friend? She likely didn't know about their DID, but Marc, and by that extension Steven, and possibly Jake having friends was a win in Layla's book.

"Some abusive drunk ran in after his girlfriend. Apparently she hid his girlfriend in her flat upstairs when she came in covered with bruises and freaking out." Marc said, smiling a bit at remembering your tenacity and urge to protect somebody you didn't even know. Even Jake respected you after that. And Jake respects very few people.

But it proves you were a protector, like he was. Not to the same extent, but close.

"Sounds like a good person."

"She seems like one. I just hope she doesn't get herself into trouble with anymore–ah!" Marc hissed, dropping the phone and waving his hand in the air as pain whipped through his fingertips.

"Shit!" He cursed, picking up the phone again with his other hand. He glared at the red marks appearing in his palm.

"Marc? Are you okay? What happened?" Layla asked, her voice just a hair above worried.

"Yeah, just my fucking hands again. Last week it was my shins." He grunted.

"So either you're getting old," Layla teased. "Or a certain someone hurt themselves again."

"Yeah, just wish they'd quit it. It's really inconvenient."

"That's a bit hypocritical, don't you think?"

"What?" Marc asked, his brow furrowing as he watched the burning red marks blossom on his skin. Pretty, almost, if you were into that sort of messed-up body art.

"Marc, please don't tell me you haven't considered that every time you got hurt, your soulmate felt those pains, too?" Layla deadpanned with a sigh, most likely pinching the bridge of her nose. He could picture it now. She was probably pacing in the kitchen of her flat in Cairo; the sun illuminating her figure, making her curls glow in an amber light, highlighting her jaw as she frowned.

But the thought she triggered in his mind sent a stone dropping into his gullet. Had he really not considered that? He thought that maybe, being Moon Knight would… would dull the pains, or maybe negate them entirely. Or… was he just stupid and didn't put them into consideration?

If they can feel his pain, and he can feel theirs... what about when he…

But sometimes it felt redundant to think about and worry for someone he never met, but at the same time…

"Fuck." Marc hissed, wiping at his face.

"Oh, my gods! You haven't been careful at all have you?" Layla gasped.

"I…"

"Marc! You and the other two need to get it together and take it easy. You think you don't understand things? Imagine how your soulmate feels. They're probably going about their normal daily routines and feel it when you get shot! Oh gods, what about when we were in Egypt and you got impaled?" Layla murmured. "Gods, I almost forgot about… what about when you died? I don't even want to imagine what they felt."

Marc dropped back into the cushions staring blankly at the ceiling. She voiced the very thing he himself was hesitant to mention.

"I… I forgot about that, too." Marc said, his voice almost flat.

"I imagine they must have been confused when their mark reappeared."

"Fuck…" Marc groaned, feeling exhaustion suddenly creep into his body. But then, he jerked, gripping the back of his head. "Damn it!"

"Another pain?" Layla mused.

"God–yeah. Right in the back of my head." Marc grunted.

"Yikes. Your soulmate must not be having a good day." Layla chuckled.

"Whoever they are, they're accident-prone as all hell!" He grumbled, pouting as he rubbed the fresh sore spot.

"Pot callin' kettle, Maaaarc." Layla sang softly over the phone.

"Yeah, yeah. You sound like Steven."

"Good."

"Ugh, please don't say that." Marc said, a smirk cracking his mask of discomfort. "He's already nagging me."

"Okay, okay…" Layla quieted for a moment. "Hey, Marc?"

"Yeah?"

"I might take a trip to London. Maybe if I'm there, Taweret and I can run interference for you to give you a break." Layla suggested.

"Layla… You don't–"

"Already looking at plane tickets." She interrupted.

"Of course you are." Marc smiled. That was one of the things he loved about Layla when they first met. He was drawn to her. Her snark, her determination…

"Yeah. I'll pack a bag and hop the flight that leaves in a few hours."

"Wow, okay." Marc said, his eyes widening. "You're serious about this?"

"Who else is going to babysit you three and get Khonshu off your back if me and the Hippo Mama don't?" Layla jabbed playfully.

"Oh my god, you do not call her that." Marc snorted, shaking his head.

"She thinks it's a cute nickname. And she agrees with my plan, so…"

"Oh great. You two gonna just harp me and remind me to take my vitamins, too?"

"I mean, if we have to…"

"Ugh. You're impossible."

"But that's why everyone loves me!" Layla laughed.

"Sure, sure. And Layla?" Marc asked, looking at the mark on his wrist, a soft fond look in his eyes. It was blooming today, the rose.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

"No problem, Marc. Go hang at that bookstore and get a coffee or something, yeah?"

🌒🌒🌒🌒🌒🌒🌒🌒🌒🌒

You hurried up the stairs and rushed to your oven, frantically cursing with each step as you hauled yourself up the stairs and into your flat.

You practically ripped the oven door open, coughing as smoke filled your nostrils as the burned pastries greeted you.

"Damn it!" You whine, slipping your oven mitt on and grabbing the small pan with one hand.

Your phone started ringing and you spun on your heels to glare at the offending object secured to the wall.

"Oh, shut up, you–"

You felt the pan tip when you turned, the blackened treats threatening to fall to the floor, and without thinking you reached out with you other, unprotected hand and gripped it, before making a sharp yelp and throwing the pan onto the counter with a loud bang, blowing air over your burning and blistering hand.

"Shit, shit, shit!" You hiss, turning to your sink and hitting the tap for some cold water. The stinging subsided, if only minutely.

The phone rang incessantly again.

You dropped your shoulders and rolled your eyes with a groan, and pulled away from the soothing coldness of your tap.

But, of course, as your natural "luck" would have it… You trailed water onto your floor, and slipped into it, cracking the back of your head on the tile. Not hard enough to knock you out, no, but it was just enough to hurt, and leave a rather nasty bump.

So. There you lay, flat on your back, water still flushing into the drain of your sink, smoke detector now going off, and your house telephone ringing impertinently.

"I didn't do anything! Why're you guys always giving me the short end of the stick?" You shout at nothing in particular; maybe whatever gods could hear your lamentations and rueful words.

For extra effect, you flipped the bird with your uninjured hand.

Yeah.

Fate was a funny thing, all right.

Chapter 5: Link

[thewebcomicsreview]

So, I have this advice in my head about comic writing for beginners, it being that first time writers of the medium need to understand that comics are a visual media first and a textual media second and that the artist is usually the one pulling the heavyweights. (no offence)

So, is it good advice or does it need more work?

It's bad advice. I'm not going to deny that even a hardworking writer who does research and test reads and multiple drafts usually spends significantly less time per page than the artist, but that's not really "advice" so much as "a statement", and you didn't actually advise anything in your advice. Are you saying the artist should stay humble? Feel bad? Are you explaining why the writer is usually the one who does the web site stuff as well to try to even the workload slightly? Is this entire ask just attempting to subtly neg me about being a comics writer? What's your point?

But more importantly you're equating "the writing" with "textual media" as in "the text in the narration and dialogue balloons" which is super bad advice if you're a writer working for an artist, because most of the text in a good comics script isn't text that appears on the page, it's the text that tells the artist what to draw. The less good you are at writing this part of a script, the more the final page is going to deviate from what you wrote, so you want to be clear and detailed both in what's happening and why it's happening. When you're writing for prose, you want to try and cut as many useless words as possible, but when you're writing a comic script you're giving directions and you want to make it as clear as you can. This includes things like

Literally what is going on in the story. Alice and Bob are walking down the street carrying shopping bags.

Details. It's late afternoon, and there's no one else on the sidewalk that we can see. Alice is wearing a light yellow sundress. Bob is wearing a thick orange parka pulled close. One of these characters are not dressed appropriately for the season. The sky is cloudy and there's a little snow on the ground, implying it's Alice. They're walking past a store called Carl's Car Calls whose logo is a car on an old-timey telephone.

Emotions/Explainers of what's going on in the story to help the artist make decisions you forgot to think about. Alice is dressed like this because she's been trying to ask Bob out for a while, but every time she does she gets cold feet at the last minute. A writer might not think to make Alice's skin red from the cold, making it clear that she's uncomfortable and drawing attention to her choice of outfit, but an artist knowing the context might think to do that, and help make the writer look smart.

Directorial details. Alice is going to beat Bob to death with the baguette in twenty pages, so make sure it's the most prominent thing in either bag.

Dialogue. BOB: "Carl's girlfriend apparently makes enough that they can afford a new house. I wish I had a girlfriend who got me my bread."

I'm not saying we all have to be Alan Moore writing 1600 words of description for a page of Batman opening a door, and some artists want less guidance than others, but precisely because comics are a visual medium that it's important for the writer to dedicate the overwhelming amount of their time to describing what things, y'know, look like. If you skimp on that stuff you'll describe a character as wearing "an ankle-length skirt" and you'll get the page back and it's like

If you've written for artists long enough, especially as an amateur, you know the pain of getting a page back that's different from what you wrote in such a way that it's create a plot hole or the Chekov's gun you meant to establish is barely even visible or whatever. No skill as a comic's writer is worthwhile until you've developed the skill of telling the artist what they're supposed to draw (and yes the artist is also part of the creative team and different artists have different workflows etc., but that's for lesson 102). If you can't do that, what's even the point of anything else?

[zacki0gaming]

Trying To Analyze Cintagon’s Backstory In The Season 1’s Finale

I know haven’t got a lot of analyze posts to say about the TPC series, but I want to actually fully talk about Cintagon’s backstory here, including truth of Pentellow’s mother, the Green Tree of Life’s conversation, etc. It is because I definitely know it’s still terribly written to this day for me…

Scene Overview

So apparently, Cintagon’s story discloses crucial information regarding Pentellow's origins, her mother's fate, and his own paternal relationship to her. It revelation serves multiple narrative purposes: it elucidates Pentellow's background, contextualizes Cintagon's challenging past decision between the Green Tree of Life’s request (we will get to this bullshit part later…), and establishes a profound emotional connection between the long-separated father and daughter.

Analysis

Cintagon’s Revelation

Lines:

"It was before this pink virus existed."

"Your mother died from giving birth to you."

"So your father was going to raise you like any parent would...But..."

"He had to give you away to someone else."

Setting the Context: Cintagon starts by mentioning a period before the Pink Corruption Virus was created. It contextually shows how this backstory is gonna playout later on within this discussion.

Grief and Responsibility: Cintagon’s statement about Pentellow's mother dying at childbirth, introduced a profound sense of lose as Cintagon's use of "your father" in the third person creates initial distance, building suspense before revealing his true identity to Pentellow.

Conflict and Duty: The word "But..." introduces a turning point, highlighting the internal conflict between his parental love and his sense of duty, evident through his promise to raise Pentellow like any other parent would.

Pentellow’s Curiosity and Shock

Lines:

"Why?"

Innocence and Curiosity: Pentellow's single-word question encapsulates her confusion and longing for understanding of her seeking the truth about her past and more about her family's background.

Cintagon's Explanation and Vulnerability

The Backstory’s Dialogue:

"The tree of life told him to. It said his daughter will become the second caretaker, and will succeed at it. If he's willing to give you to someone else. He was devastated. He thought he could never see her again... Until now. I can finally tell you why I had to give you away."

Forgive me for my stupid computer pen writing skills here....

So basically, this flashback represents Cintagon's vulnerability through the Green of Tree of Life's request in order to have his daughter, Pentellow to become one of the Caretakers. It is testament if he is wiling to give his daughter to someone else. So, remember the promise Cintagon made to take care of his daughter like any other parent would?

Emotional Devastation: This will get heavily influenced and destroyed here, humanizing the depth of Cintagon's long-lasting emotional toll for sacrificing his chance of taking care of his daughter in order to have her become one of the chosen ones.

Revelation of Identity: By saying "I can finally tell you why I had to give you away," Cintagon reveals his true identity as her father, blending relief, regret, and a desire for reconciliation.

Alright, here’s the main fucking problem here…

I don't mind Cintagon being Pentellow's father, but the overall execution of this main storyline arc needed more improvement. It was so underwhelming, rushed, and poorly-written. The initial episodes of Season 1 (1-5, and possibly 6) primarily felt like we were focusing on Cube and Cyan's characters when they basically became caretaker and hero in the first few days. But however, this sudden shift to Pentellow's backstory on searching for her long-lost family feel somewhat abrupt and disconnected.

The buildup to the realization of Cintagon's role as Pentellow's father lacked subtlety, with foreshadowing that was overly transparent. By the conclusion of Season 1, Episode 9, when Polyhedron stated, "Oh, you need to find this guy named uhhhh…. Cintagon," the revelation had become quickly predictable, diminishing its potential impact.

Now we talk about the backstory here. In essence, the Green Tree of Life makes a highly controversial and seemingly unjustified decision, instructing Cintagon to go fuck himself to cease all of his parental responsibilities towards his daughter for a period of 24 years. Let me say this AGAIN...! "A FUCKING 24-YEAR TOLL." I don't like this because The Tree's request was just so unreasonable and poorly justified. Like, the Tree was just seeming to disregard Cintagon's paternal role and emotional well-being, not wanting him to actually take care of his daughter for no fucking reason WHY…!

Overall, this main story arc for Pentellow appears to have been implemented hastily, resulting this storytelling experience with so much of wasted potential. Pentellow dosen’t get a whole lot of character development, Cintagon’s backstory was poorly-explained with the Green Tree of Life being so nonsensical and out of character for the sake of being a asshole toward Cintagon.

Alright, that’s all I’m gonna say here. See yall in my next rant post.

[malicedafirenze]

I unintentionally skipped a lot of the romance content in Baldur's Gate 3 and I want others to learn from my mistakes:

So: I managed to lock myself out of romance entirely and ended up alone, which was a huge bummer and a serious crack in my motivation to play the game. I finished my playthrough (because I was already close to the end of Act 3 when I realized it), and plan to do another one eventually. I'm making this post in hopes of a) keeping others from making the same mistakes and b) to possibly get some additional insight re. what to watch out for in my next playthrough.

PSA: Pick a Partner before Act 3

The key learning here for me was this explanation from the poly mod

In BG3, romance is divided into 2 steps: dating and relationship(also called partner). Dating is basically where you are at after the 1st romance scene. Relationship is where you are at after the 2nd romance scene (relationship also unlocks the kissing menu). BTW, If you enter A3, all dates will break up with you (partners won't, ofc).

I hadn't realized this until well into Act 3, at a point where going back to a save to properly fix it would have meant replaying large parts of Act 2 as well - I decided to finish my run instead and then start a completely new one later.

Note: lots of spoilers below. (click here to read this post on reddit instead)

My Romance Woes

I read in advance that you couldn't romance multiple people (except for the specific Halsin combos with Shadowheart and Astarion) and therefore turned down Gale and Lae'Zel early in the game (not realizing you could just date/bonk them without fully committing or getting anyone upset)

I didn't take approval all that seriously, thought I'd have more opportunity to fix things later. I was playing pretty good guy, and ended up with high approval for Karlach and Shadowheart, but low for Astarion. Weirdly, I don't recall an option to romance Shadowheart (no clue what I missed?) and the only option I had for Karlach was at the Tiefling party, where I went with Astarion instead. I had a scene or two with him, but then didn't progress further in the relationship, without really realizing what I was missing.

I wanted to romance everyone, sat on the fence for too long, and ended up not romancing anyone at all, by missing a thing or two in act 1 and 2 and being too late to fix it in act 3. Don't be like me, it feels bad man.

Early Act 3, I got Astarion's breakup dialogue ("we haven't spent a night together in some time" --> him explaining it was just transactional and he doesn't see the value in it anymore) and got super worried, but when trying to look up if I'd messed up, I didn't find a clear answer for without more spoilers, so I just continued playing Act 3, including all of the companion quests.

I later learned that I missed out on at least one important Astarion romance interaction by not going to Moonrise Towers until after freeing Nightsong. (when the Towers are already on high alert, i.e. I could only fight and not have a lot of conversations)

After realizing I had messed up companions romance, I instead fucked everyone it was unwise to fuck (Emperor, Mizora, Harleep...) for fun and to see what would happen... but chickened out and reloaded after Emperor and Mizora. Still, got to enjoy some fun content that way!

The ending I got (going to Avernus with Karlach) was really cool and made me cry a lot. I then did try to reload my last save though, to see if I'd get any other epilogue content if I didn't go to the Hells, but... apparently that scene on the docks (Astarion goofily running off, everyone kinda agreeing to go party after this, no other conversations with anyone again.... is just... it?

Idk how much of this is the lack of romance, but I really felt like something was missing there. I at least wanted to talk to everyone again one last time.

This is a post about my romance failures and regrets so I'm not gonna talk about everything else that I loved about the game, but just in case this is getting a bit too negative: I had an absolute blast with the whole game regardless, I'm stoked to give it another go the "proper" way (i.e. with romance). I also generally think it's really fucking cool that this game's romance options depend on how you behave, and that you can't just e.g. give someone the right kind of gift 20 times in a row to make them love you, like it works in games like Stardew Valley.

Next Playthrough Plans

I'll probably wait for another patch or two - considering how much got fixed and tweaked with the first three patches, I suppose it's worth to wait a bit and see what's coming

I'll play with the Poly mod next time and try to romance all of the Origin characters.

I plan to play with the camp notifications mod, as well as the approval ratings in dialogue mod. Both in hopes of being able to game the romance a bit better and get much of the romance in one playthrough

I'll play Dark Urge (haven't seen any of that so far!), but probably still go for a "good" playthrough mostly

I plan on equipping & levelling all Origin companions and switch them out more freely, in order to get approval from everyone and edit my party as makes sense depending on story events (e.g. take Lae'Zel to the Creche, take Gale to the Ketheric fight...)

I want to romance everyone. I already saw some tips for early game Astarion approval and assume the aforementioned mods will help in optimizing this

Am probably not gonna do anything all that differently otherwise because my heart can't take an actually evil playthrough

Aand that's about it. As mentioned, I'm mostly posting in case this helps anyone else.

I was really damn sad when I realized I had locked myself out of all romance, because the romance was a significant part of my motivation to start playing this in the first place. At the same time, I loved so much about the game that I still got a lot out of it in 110+ hours even with minimal romance content.

If you see any red flags about my plans for the next playthrough (or if you have experience with the mentioned mods!), I'd appreciate comments and insights. Other than that, here's hoping others can learn from my mistakes. Thank you for reading <3

[katyahina]

Elden Ring sliders colors compiled (for quick reference)

I decided to put together the exact RGBs in a reference as someone consistently betrayed by my screen settings and no longer trusting myself to pick colors by an eye, which was only possible thanks to Zullie the Witch datamining the NPCs faces: ( x ) ( x )! I'd still have to adjust them, of course, but I personally find it helpful to at least have a base. Unfortunately Magnus is just not here as he was patched in later, and I could not find the ghosts with sliders and dialogues.. But ehhhhhh. Maybe someday they will be revealed too.

Anyways, here are some more specific and apparent remarks under cut on the sliders:

- Gideon is a Nox or related to them:

- Ensha and Nameless White Mask (a guy I presume was invading in bloody lake) strangely have pitch black eyes (both iris and whites), and they even have decent clouding, also pitch black. Kinda strange feature?

- With some characters, the 'real' eye color is not what it seems! Vyke's eyes are brown, but the colored clouding is so intense it makes them look pale blue. Esgar has dark green eyes that look red upon clouding, Arghanthy has red eyes that look orange/yellow, Rogier has brown eyes looking green because of clouding, Miriam has deep emerald eyes looking blue because of clouding... and which I especially like, Maleigh has brown eyes but it is colored by clouding to look very pale yellow, probably reflecting his sickness and how it effected the initial color!

- Although two of Millicent's sisters have both eyes 'missing' and other two have only one eye and it is covered by clouding color to be a very pale color, they all have the 'true' eye color being golden (orange color used for it), like Millicent herself. Her eyes, of the same 'true' color, however, have yellow clouding, making them shine even brighter. This is a really neat detail that cannot be observed my naked eye on their faces and only seen in the sliders numbers!

- Maureen has a unique feature compared to other sisters, where only her left eye (now missing as eyepatch suggests) is clouded by white and not pale yellow like others. Fun fact to consider! Maybe something unique happened with this eye before she lost it, other than a "regular" Scarlet Rot eating it away. A mushroom grew there? hahah

- Rya has asymmetrical eye whites color for some reason; her left eye has normal white, but the right eye has darker, greyish-yellow color.

- Yura has multiple dark old man spots/age freckles on his forehead that cannot be seen with his haircut! I do not have a screenshot to demonstrate it, but here in this post a person recreated his face data exactly but with a trim: ( x )

- I want to comment on the idea that it is always non-Tarnished who have yellow/golden eyes! Recently, Zullie made a video revealing eye textures of a LOT of characters' models having the yellow shining in them ( x )! Letter 'T' here marks the characters me and @val-of-the-north were confident are Tarnished. With 'golden' eyes, core color can vary in intensity; with some character being very bright yellow/orange, and others (like Kenneth or Irina for example) being very dull and only looking yellow-ish when you look at character's face! Interestingly, the Carians who we know are not Tarnished have pale, blueish eyes, similarly to Rennala... I suppose this would be not 'faded' eyes that is a sign of Tarnished, but altered color upon focusing on something else (the moon sorcery in their case). From my own observation, golden eyes are not specifically reflection of not being a Tarnished, but just having internal faith in GO, be it positive like with Maidens that follow it, or negative like with Omens that internalised being abominations in its system or Tanith that defines herself by being a heretic within it like her husband. That video I linked can offer some philosophical insights hahah..

- OLD Knight Istvan, that is stated to be one of the old ones actually doesn't look old at all somehow xd

- Alberich eyes is a debatable matter in my opinion, since removing his hat reveals a binder hinting that he was undergoing a similar process to Azur and Lusat:

(Do not pay attention to the green bits of the blood glintstones, they appear only on item icon and not on actual model when player is wearing his set. ...Unless......?) If eye color is sensitive to what a person seeks, like pale blue eyes of Carians or (now) red eyes of Esgar is of any indication, his eyes could have still became red in color if he pursued the bloody sorcery before! I am just saying that he might no longer have them 🤔

- Sellen's hair turn out to be not black, but just very dark brown! This is fuckin Adella issue all over again, I can never escape it lol

- Ensha actually uses Body Type B despite very masculine face with facial hair n all, which was revealed later after Zullie's video! Here is a Tweet from Zullie on that: ( x ). Trans representation, or Ensha is actually remains of the person that once lived that possessed some random person as a new vessel? That's up to you!

- Finger Maiden found in Church of Inhibition, not far away from Vyke's invasion / Frenzied Village, has eyes clouded in the same color as 'real' one that fully obscures her pupils (making 'blind' look). It seems like the same thing happens with Melina's golden eye in Frenzied Flame ending.

- Adan and Dung Eater both have a nearly undetectable feature regarding their eye whites: the white on their 'injured' eyes (right eye for both) is brighter by only one point on Green on RGB scale. I do not know why it is added, it is basically invisible detail ;-;

- Devin (the 'silver' twin) has some grey hair, unlike Darian (the 'golden' twin)! Yeah no shit lol

- There is a big possibility that Anastasia is a Tarnished herself; the term used for her, 鬼女 (kijo) refers in Japanese folklore to women that were transformed into hideous "demons" upon their bad karma. So, rather than being an ogress, it could mean that she faced an evil sort of transformation upon vile acts of cannibalising. Well- as well as gameplay mechanic suggesting she is, because upon defeat she is listed as Recusant (who are Tarnished that hunt their own):

- Cut content character Rico still has full face data in the game files, and has eerly similar colors to Roderika. Really hope that this character will be back in DLC, feels like a potential relative of her!

- The sliders for body hair for some characters not all make sense- like, you are telling me that chads like Diallos or Tragoth do not have body hair? ehhhh. Still, it could be used if you want to! Here it is:

0 - Tanith, Varre, Seluvis, Patches, Irina/Hyetta, Rya, Diallos, Lanya, Sellen + Puppet, D + his brother, Roderika, Fia, Dung Eater, Rogier, Thops, Nepheli, Rico, Vyke's Maiden, Maiden Summon, Ensha, Boc, Millicent, Corhyn, Therolina, Dolores, Jarwright, Vyke, Ravenmount, Nerijus, Tragoth, Istvan, Juno, Anastasia, Okina, Adan, Moongrum, Inaba, Silver Tear 1-4, Maleigh, Knight of the Great Jar 1 + 3, Garris, a White Mask, Wilhelm, Arganthy, Flame Guardian, Ghiza, Alberich, Mary, Maureen, Amy, Polyanna

70 - Bernahl 128 - Eleonora 140 - Esgar, Miriam 150 - Kenneth, Vargram 170 - Yura 210 - Jerren 220 - Rileigh 230 - Edgar 250 - Gideon, Gowry 255 - Boggart, Henricus, Lionel

- No, seriously, are you telling me that Dung Eater shaves???? NONSENCE. What I am saying is, some of the body hair sliders REALLY make no sense, a problem I do not see with the colors or muscles. Speaking of...

- Here are the muscular levels for the characters:

Standard - Tanith, Varre, Seluvis, Irina/Hyetta, Rya, Lanya, Sellen + Puppet, D + his brother, Roderika, Kenneth, Fia, Gideon, Rogier, Thops, Vyke's Maiden, Maiden Summon, Ensha, Boc, Millicent, Gowry, Corhyn, Therolina, Dolores, Lionel, Miriam, Okina, Silver Tear 1-4, Knight of the Great Jar 3, Garris, a White Mask, Arganthy, Flame Guardian, Ghiza, Alberich, Mary, Maureen, Amy, Polyanna

Muscular - Patches, Edgar, Jerren, Diallos, Yura, Dung Eater, Bernahl, Boggart, Nepheli, Rico, Jarwright, Vyke, Eleonora, Ravenmount, Nerijus, Tragoth, Istvan, Rileigh, Juno, Anastasia, Adan, Moongrum, Vargram, Inaba, Henricus, Maleigh, Knight of the Great Jar 1 + 2, Wilhelm, Esgar