#was this coherent? who knows.

[baeshijima]

Hello! Would it be okay to ask you for advice on how to build some characters in Honkai star rail?

hi nonnie and ofc !! this will go very bare-bones into character building so, uh, buckle up 🧍‍♀️

the main principle is to prioritise one or two characters at a time. if you go for more than one, then preferably ones that either share the same trace material or their relics are in the same domain to make farming a lot easier and less tedious !!

the next question is: which character(s) will be the one built, and what are their stat focuses? for example, are they a dps who requires atk%, or one that needs a different main stat like hp%? are they a sustain (healer & shielders)? are they a general or a niche (specific for certain characters/situations) support?

once you know these, then you can narrow down what you need.

light cone

this will be a very short section in comparison to relics, as the main thing you really need to make sure of is that the light cone path matches the character path (i.e. a hunt light cone for a hunt character will allow you to make the most use out of it compared to, say, a destruction character, as they won't be able to use the passive ability and only gain the flat atk, hp, and def stats).

the next thing is to make sure the passive ability works with your character. for five stars, their signature light cones are of course the best and easiest tell, but if you don't have them then you will have see the effects. for example, support characters will want light cones that either help boost the team (i.e. dance! dance! dance! gives action forward to all allies when the wearer uses their ultimate), sustains will want something that boosts their defensive/healing capabilities, damage dealers will want something that increases their overall output (can either but dmg%, atk% or a crit/crit dmg% boost), etc.

of course, some may have specific needs (like ruan mei who would want memories of the past as her light cone for both the extra break effect & energy, especially at high(er) superimpositions), but it will always be found in the same path and are easily identifiable. there will also be more coming out in the future, so better options are still yet to come!

relics

the relic pieces have set main stats;

cavern relics:

head piece is always flat hp

hand piece is always flat atk

body piece can be: atk%, hp%, def%, effect hit rate, break effect, outgoing healing bonus, crit rate, crit dmg

feet piece can be: atk%, hp%, def%, speed

planar ornaments:

planar sphere can be: atk%, hp%, def%, type dmg bonus

link rope can be: atk%, hp%, def%, break effect, energy regeneration rate

cavern relics are what can be farmed in overworld domains. they have four pieces which can give you the full set effect, or you can have two pieces for the two piece effect and mix it with another two piece set effect (i.e. this is usually put on supports/sustains, but can also be used on damage dealers if needed).

planar ornaments are farmed from within simulated universe after each elite boss + from the final boss. these ones only have a two piece effect, and cannot be mix-and-matched.

generally, each archetype/class/role will follow the same or similar principle;

the main/sub dps/damage dealer role will want:

body piece: crit rate or crit dmg

feet piece: atk%/hp%/def%/speed

planar sphere: type dmg bonus

link rope: atk%/hp%/def%

certain main stats will depend on what they scale off of. some dps (like dan heng il) will want atk% if they can afford to be slower or have a support that can bump them up, other dps (like jingliu) will want speed to be faster to get more out of their kit, and some will scale off other stats such as hp% (blade) or def% (afaik we dont have a def% scaling dps, but we will probably get one soon).

the best cavern relics will be ones where the set effect benefits them. this can include ones with type dmg bonus as a two piece to mix-and-match with another that has the stat they scale off of, a full four piece that helps their overall output, or one a bit more specific which tailors to how their kit works, such as increased follow-up damage (jing yuan, topaz, blade (inert salsotto ornament only), dr. ratio, and possibly clara with the inert salsotto ornament), increased dot (damage over time) damage (kafka, black swan, sampo, and guinaifen) and increased damage against debuffed enemies (acheron and dr. ratio).

the ideal planar ornaments would be ones that focus on increasing damage output, and it usually again depends on the character's kit for what they need, much like the cavern relics, and with factors such as whether they primarily use their skill and/or basic attacks (rutilant arena would be best in this case), if they use follow-up attacks or have a high ultimate damage (inert salsotto), or if you want an overall damage output from high speed (firmament frontline: glamoth, though so far only characters like seele can really make use of it due to her high base speed + her bonus from her kit, but you can also have supports which buff the speed to meet the threshold) to name a few.

the sustain role will want:

body piece: hp%/def%/outgoing healing bonus

feet piece: hp%/def%/speed

planar sphere: hp%/def%

link rope: energy regeneration rate

the role has two sub-categories; the healer (abundance) and the tanks (preservation).

healers would want (sub)stats that prioritise hp% with an outgoing healing bonus body piece + speed + hp% orb + either a hp% or energery regeneration rate rope. (luocha however is an exception, as he scales off atk, so replace the hp% stats with atk% where you can.)

the best cavern relic sets would either be passerby of wandering cloud for the outgoing healing bonus (the extra skill point is nice, but usually the two piece + either another with a speed or hp% two piece is better) two piece longevous disciple for the bonus hp%, messenger traversing hackerspace is good for the increased speed two piece and party action advance four piece if the ultimate can be used on an ally, but the full set is better for supports rather than healers.

planar ornaments that either boost the character's scaling stat or buff the party are ideal (broken keel and penacony, land of dreams can be good ones, primarily broken keel if you can reach the effect resistance threshold).

tanks/shielders would want (sub)stats that prioritise def% and follow the same general set-up as healers, substituting the hp% for def%, and for the body piece to also have def%. (fu xuan is another exception, as she scales off hp for her sustain as she mitigates damage to herself.)

the best cavern relics would either be knight of purity palace for the def% increase two piece and shield absorption increase four piece (the full set is mainly for characters who provide shields), guard of wuthering snow is mainly good for the damage reduction two piece, but even then you would mainly use this for fu xuan with two piece longevous. there aren't any options, but there will probably be more in the future.

and the ideal planar ornaments would be either belobog of the architects for the increase def% and effect hit rate, broken keel if you want to buff your party + have some effect resistance, and possibly penacony, land of dreams if you want to have multiple/mono-typing (i.e. mono quantum with fu xuan as the quantum sustain).

the support role will want:

body piece: hp%/def%/effect hit rate/break effect/crit damage

feet piece: hp%/def%/speed

planar sphere: hp%/def%/type damage bonus

link rope: energy regeneration rate

general supports will usually have a defensive stats such as hp% or def% for survivability + speed boots + a sustain sphere. their main job is to buff a character/the party, so the priority is to keep them alive without having them be one-shot by the enemy.

the best cavern relics will be messenger traversing hackerspace four piece if they can use their ult on an ally/all allies (which is more often than not a yes since their purpose is to buff). there isn't really much else other than this set, as you want to boost your team and you will get a lot of survivability stats from your rolls, so you don't need anything that offers more.

the best planar ornament sets will be either fleet of the ageless for the bonus hp% + teamwide atk% boost after getting 120 speed, broken keel (arguably the best set), and penacony, land of dreams (again, good for mono teams).

niche supports will follow a similar set-up to general supports, with the exception of the body piece. this could either be break effect (such as ruan mei, whose kit relies on it despite being a general support) or crit damage (such as sparkle or bronya who need a high crit dmg to boost others). their role is to work with a specific kit archetype or boost a certain mechanic. topaz can technically fall in this category (especially with her light cone), but she would want more dps-centred sets as listed previously.

the relic sets are basically the same as those of general supports. the only difference are characters like ruan mei, who will want the thief of shooting meteor cavern relic for the increased break effect (messenger traversing hackerspace can still be used but isn't recommended unless you roll a lot of break effect stats to reach 160%, which can be lessened if you use the light cone memories of the past or the planar ornament set talia: kingdom of banditry for the extra break effect at 145 speed.

the planar ornaments will also be the same, unless future sets come out and are more in-demand.

debuffers (nihility) can be a bit more on the offensive side with the stats, but will mainly depend on the effect hit rate body piece + extra sub-stats of that where possible (could be from light cone as well). their main job is to apply debuffs to the enemy, so having a high effect hit rate is ideal in case some bosses have a high resistance.

the best cavern relic sets can vary, and you will typically use ones that increase their damage. for example, welt would want either the full set of wastelander of banditry desert, pela would usually want the full piece of musketeer of wild wheat or maybe even hunter of glacial forest if you want her to smack more, and silver wolf would want the full set of genius of brilliant stars. a recent set that came out is pioneer diver of dead waters, which can be good on them as the four piece (silver wolf especially), or you can use the two piece with their type bonus two piece.

the best planar ornaments will usually be pan-cosmic commercial enterprise, which increases their effect hit rate as well as increases their atk% based on 25% fo their effect hit rate. however, if needed, they can also make use of penacony, land of dreams and/or broken keel, but pan-cosmic is typically a better all-rounder for them. the debuffers will usually be the ones to have a type damage bonus sphere if you want them to do more damage.

another thing to take into consideration is speed. while there is a lot of back and forth about whether speed is necessary and when, i think it really just depends on whether you

a) actively participate in/complete end-game content and need the speed in order to be fast enough to have your characters take their turn at least twice in a cycle (i.e. forgotten hall/memory of chaos, pure fiction, swarm disaster, gold & gears, etc.)

or b) have a character who needs to meet a certain speed threshold in order to make use of a set's passive ability. there are currently five planar ornament sets that have this requirement:

space sealing station - Increases the wearer's ATK by 12%. When the wearer's SPD reaches 120 or higher, the wearer's ATK increases by an extra 12%.

fleet of the ageless - Increases the wearer's Max HP by 12%. When the wearer's SPD reaches 120 or higher, all allies' ATK increases by 8%.

talia: kingdom of banditry - Increases the wearer's Break Effect by 16%. When the wearer's SPD reaches 145 or higher, the wearer's Break Effect increases by an extra 20%.

sprightly vonwacq - Increases the wearer's Energy Regeneration Rate by 5%. When the wearer's SPD reaches 120 or higher, the wearer's action is Advanced Forward by 40% immediately upon entering battle.

firmament frontline: glamoth - Increases the wearer's ATK by 12%. When the wearer's SPD is equal to or higher than 135/160, the wearer deals 12%/18% more DMG.

this is just a general comment: of course there are other sets that people may use on their builds, but we will also get more sets in the future updates, so it really just ultimately depends on which sets you have the best rolls on, and you can always farm more later if you feel you need to!

[sparkleofstardust]

in light of the recent news that Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has been found dead after a helicopter crash you might be wondering 'who the hell is this guy and why are so many people celebrating his death??' and i'm here to answer that!

to fully understand what's going on we need to look into Iran's history: when the Iranian revolution in 1979 happened the authoritarian king who was ruling at that time was overthrown, but the ensuing power vacuum lead to the islamic regime seizing power and establishing Iran as an islamic republic

the following years were incredibly cruel to the Iranian people; thousands of people (especially minorities) have been protesting against the strict islamic regime leading to many being jailed, tortured and executed.

and this is where Raisi played a big part: in 1988 he was part of a committee that ordered the execution of thousands of political prisoners who were protesting the islamic regime, earning himself the title of "the butcher of tehran"

do not be fooled by what the state media wants you to believe, the Iranian people are celebrating his death. he was a cruel mass murderer who has destroyed the lives of thousands of people, his death should be used as a time to mourn for all the suffering he has caused, and bring new attention to the political prisoners still being held in Iranian prisions today

because sadly the fight is far from over. many of you have probably heard of the murder of Mahsa Jina Amini back in 2022, causing a new wave of nationwide protests and establishing the "woman, life, freedom" movement. the regime has gotten increasingly cruel in their treatment of the Iranian people, especially women, but the people of Iran are not deterred and keep fighting for a free Iran.

if you want to know how you can help, please keep talking about us. the one thing the regime hates is international attention, and in the past it has been proven that international pressure has stopped the regime from executing various political prisoners. people like Toomaj Salehi are under imminent threat of execution and spreading their names could save their lives. so whether you share social media posts or talk to your family and friends about what is happening in Iran, anything helps 🙏🏼

jin, jiyan, azadi ✌🏼

[jazzyjesse]

working at a grocery store has only made me even angrier about inflation and how food, water, and shelter isnt free

like just looking at groceries (not water or shelter) i see just a few bags (maybe around 5 or so) of food costing over $125 USD regularly. I've seen orders upwards of $600. and sure those have been bigger orders but no food should cost that much.

my coworkers and i shouldn't be complaining about the price of food when we get employee discounts.

a single bag of food for myself (usually containing some small pizzas, crackers, milk, and cereal) regularly costs between $50-60. minimum wage in my state is 15/HR. thats about four hours of work for one bag of food

a coworker who works on the front end of our store prides herself on being able to catch theives. everyone says how good she is at it. and sometimes it makes sense, sometimes people are just stealing to steal. but how do you ever know?

when the card reader we take outside is broken we are supposed to have the customers come inside to pay for their groceries if they're paying with EBT. there's a woman who's a regular who has a few small children and when she comes to pick up groceries they're usually asleep in the car.

am i supposed to make her choose between leaving her children alone in the car or waking them up and taking them inside?

four hours of work for one bag of groceries. is this not also theft?

four hours of work. let that sink in. four hours for one small bag of groceries.

we aren't supposed to accept tips but if we don't accept tips then how else are we supposed to afford our groceries?

i haven't seen a single person stealing food. you cannot steal whats already stolen.

although im no longer a christian, the teachings of my childhood have stuck with me, and in the bible it says "When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and for the foreigner residing among you."

society has reaped right up the the very edge and beyond of its fields, so it's up to us to reap what we can

four hours of work for one bag of food

[puppetmaster13u]

Prompt 328

Partially Inspired by This Post but hear me out, Ancient of Space Danny. With his clone kids. All of his clone kids. Who have made their own friends with some local planets and heroes and otherwise.

Planets, you ask? Why yes. See most of them? Very much also space-themed in the core department. Some are Stars, some Suns, some Moons, a few Black Holes and others of the Void. Some have even decided to play hero or villain or otherwise. 

Now, Danny isn’t the ghost king, but? He does still have a lot of connections, which means that when a portal opens, ghostlings are usually sent off to, well, for lack of better term, his yard to play. And the Realms’ time is rather untethered to any specific world. So what happens when it’s time to bring them home for dinner? 

[fallen-goldfishcracker]

Still on my Ulder & Wyll bullshit but like

I keep thinking of Ulder Ravenguard, sending away his only son at seventeen, and years later hearing of a hero with a fine rapier and mismatched, kind eyes and manners from a storybook, and thinking, demanding surely not. that cannot be my son. my son is a devil's servant. it cannot be. i have no son.

and then after seven long years meeting Wyll again, at Wrym's Rock through a mindflayer's thrall, and feeling something like relief, not at seeing him but at this cold surety that this boy, this man, this hero of the frontiers could not be his son, because his son was not this tall and old and sure-footed, and did not have curling horns and a devil red eye, and the rumors must be wrong, and this Blade must be a stranger.

And then Wyll looks at him, with such kind eyes- his mother's eyes still, even devil-tainted- and calls him "father", and he knows, he knows, and his son is here, so much older and wearier and stronger, too, and he's a hero and a man and by gods he's a monster and by gods he's his son.

[mikimeiko]

Our Flag Means Death | Season 2 (2023), David Jenkins

[unsteadylilactree]

the progression from "there's a morning snack and a midday snack" and "20 bucks for pizza" buck looking after his friend's kid to "bobby's famous lasagne: 6 types of cheese cooked to perfection" buck cooking for his family to "that's makes me your sous chef" teaching his kid how to cook is making me go so feral.

[magnus-rhymes-with-swagness]

OKAY who wants to hear about why i think nimona challenges amatonormativity? you do! 🫵

one of the main ways this is accomplished is through ballister and ambrosius’s relationship. it’s arguable that it doesn’t necessarily fit the traditional model of romance - not only are they a queer interracial couple, and not only is their relationship ambiguous in the book, but there are certain instances, especially in the movie, that subvert traditional ideas of romance and friendship.

one instance that really stands out to me is when the director asks ambrosius what’s on his mind and he goes on his imagined rant about how arm-chopping isn’t a love language - you know the one. when he mentions ballister, he refers to him as “the man i love, my best friend.” and not just one or the other, but both! the man i love, and my best friend. he places equal emphasis on both the romantic and platonic aspects of the relationship, valuing ballister in both a romantic context and a platonic context without treating either one as more important than the other.

and even moments such as the first “i love you” and the kiss manage to subvert tradition. both of these things are generally seen as a pretty big deal, especially in fiction - if the characters are kissing or saying “i love you,” it’s usually a moment in which everything changes. a line is drawn, dividing the story into after and now. sometimes it’s dramatic and climactic, with fireworks and a swell of music, but even when it isn’t it’s still seen as a turning point of sorts. now it’s official, now it’s real. but this isn’t the case in nimona. both moments are certainly significant - they do a good job of showcasing the character development and where ballister and ambrosius are on their respective journeys, and are certainly important in terms of representation - but neither one follows the path that most fictional romance does.

another way in which nimona challenges amatonormativity would be the emphasis on friendship! in the tavern scene (in the movie) when ambrosius suggests killing nimona, ballister disagrees and says “she’s my friend.” ambrosius replies with “aren’t i more than that?”, implying he’s more important than a friend - thus upholding amatonormative ideas. ballister becomes angry at that and leaves - challenging this idea and prioritizing his platonic relationship with nimona over his romantic one with ambrosius, as nimona is the one he wants to defend.

additionally, a big part of this scene is the way ballister deliberately rejects institute values while ambrosius unintentionally upholds them. and because the story challenges homophobia and transphobia (and other forms of bigotry) through the lens of the institute, it would make sense for it to challenge amatonormativity too! it’s something that’s become incredibly normalized, to the point that lots of people don’t even know it exists, and this is reminiscent of the institute brainwashing, especially when it comes to ambrosius - he’s been manipulated his whole life and probably genuinely doesn’t understand the level to which he’s internalized institute beliefs.

ballister prioritizes nimona many times, actually. when he tells ambrosius she’s “smart, kind, and quite sophisticated,” when he’s overjoyed to see her again at the end, when he refuses to kill her and saves her instead. over and over, he proves how much he cares about her, even when this involves directly going against what ambrosius wants - which, of course, is really what the institute wants. a core tenant of amatonormativity is the false notion that romantic relationships are more important or valuable than other types of relationships, but ballister actively goes against this!

to conclude, as a story that at its core is about identity and challenging societal beliefs, nimona defies expectations and traditional ideas of what it should or shouldn’t be. it’s possible that amatonormativity wasn’t what the creators had in mind, but the story still manages to challenge it with grace and elegance. just like its main character, nimona refuses to conform to what others want it to be.

[cakeyouareoh]

The eternal question: why people think Brian Jacques’ writing of his evil and good characters had anything to do with race or racism when it was very clearly predator vs prey animals as found in Britain (also stated by Jacques himself). And if we go inside that conflict, nature vs nurture, with nature frequently winning out. (do I agree with this? not really, at least not in the context of people, but this is very specifically about animals.)

Yes I’ve heard all the arguments about the Outcast of Redwall, and I get it. There are certain plot points that could read that way if we were talking about humans, but we aren’t. No matter how much Brian Jacques dressed up these characters and made things cozy and civilized, he never forgot that under those trappings the characters he was writing were, at their core, still animals. And thus follow a basic framework of how animals behave in the wild.

Even so, despite the core of nature vs nurture with nature winning out in a couple books especially, he doesn’t write black and white characters. Frequently at least a few “good guy prey animal types” in each book turn out to be morally gray, and there’s more than several that are straight up evil (mice, hedgehogs, squirrels, water voles, and that’s just off the top of my head). While less of the predator animal characters are good, there are several notable ones that are, and even more that are just neutral. Also, nuance. Just because they live at Redwall doesn’t make a character never do something or say something wrong and misguided, and this is something (frequently) important to and mentioned in the narrative. 

Something else that is an underlying theme in almost everything Brian Jacques ever wrote (including outside of Redwall, such as the Castaways of the Flying Dutchman series), is the evils of slavery, and slaves being set free. It pops up literally everywhere. I would wager a guess that it was rather important to him. Can someone be against slavery and still write things that come off as racist? oh yeah for sure. but let me reiterate here, the core conflict in Redwall has zero to do with human (or animal) racism.

[purrfectlycontent]

i may be going insane

[stormyoceans]

feeling faint every time i look at this moment specifically. it's just so tender so loving so gentle. phum says peem treats him like a kid but there's just something so high romance in this small gesture to me. it's peem saying 'you've been quiet and im not sure how to deal with this side of you im not familiar with but whatever it is im here for you and i will keep you safe' and im honestly insane about it

[artandbrimstone]

First things first 

!!!! Riptide 115 spoilers !!!!!

And if im wrong about anything i am sorry :( also this might be nothing but i need to say this somewhere

Chip and his lack of control over his own fate is so interesting to me. The guy who tells gillion tidestrider “I didn’t believe in destiny before i met you” is somehow, out of the three of them, the one who is seemingly following a predetermined path set out for him. 

Gillion, whilst being the chosen one, struggles with this identity and was exiled, which may be in his destiny but was clearly not intended by the elders. 

Jay has her prophecy (type thing I know its not exactly a prophecy) but it has no clear path for her specifically to follow.

Chip, however, was destined to end up back at the hole in the sea, but barely remembers actually being there in the first place, and yet when he does return to the black sea, there is a message from Rose from a decade prior knowing not only that he would return, but that he would be there looking for them after their disappearance. (i dont have the brainpower to go into how insane that message makes me so just know i think about it at least once a day). Even chips search for arlin, which was originally his own, was used against him and taken advantage of by Niklaus (with whatever the fuck he is planning im not smart enough to figure that out im just insane) making what was originally a goal into an “incessant urge to not only find the other members but also do what you [chip] were told and return to the hole in the sea”.

Not only that, there is also the compass, which is further twisting and intensifying chips desire to find arlin and return to the hole in the sea (niklaus also told chip to stop using the compass but yknow) so not even his desires, his main motivations that have led him to where he is now, arent truly his own. ( interestingly despite rose knowing he would go back to the black sea, still urges him to leave behind the legacy of the black rose pirates and do something greater) 

Even his death he had no part in, no crucial mistake, nothing he could have done differently to avoid it, he was simply chosen and made an example of for the sake of making a point of how fucked they were against captain widow, yet again a pawn in something he had no control over.

And then, when they do finally reach the hole in the sea, chip is led by the compass (THE FUCKIGN COMPASSSSS) and (im getting into insane territory here) has strange parallels to captain rose. He is separated from his crew (namely the only other black rose pirate, drey), made a deal with niklaus regarding the hole in the sea has the hole in his chest (idc if its not there in canon its there to me) however what is he met with? “Welcome home”. Now what does that mean? I dont fuckign know but it makes me very insane and this is long enough already so i hope you enjoyed my incoherent chip just roll with it ramble :D

[crazylittlejester]

Warriors who knows he’s gorgeous and uses it to his advantage vs. Time who’s the most stunning man on the planet but completely unaware of it and is just absolutely oblivious to the fact that he gets hit on almost every single time he, Wars, and Twi go out for drinks because he honest to god just thinks people are being nice and friendly

and no matter how many times someone (Warriors) has been like “hey man, they were fucking flirting with you”, he is unable to recognize it the next time it happens. Warriors thinks he a lost cause, and Malon has definitely sat there more than once and watched someone hit on Time and shoot their shot, not realizing he’s married. and she just laughed her ass off because Time wouldn’t get the hint if it slapped him in the fucking face, bless his heart, and she’s had to go and rescue him because he just seriously cannot tell when people are hitting on him. He’s definitely embarrassed about it every single time it happens, but he just does not get it

is he smooth as fuck when HE’S flirting with his wife? absolutely. can he figure out when anyone is flirting with him? absolutely not.

[science-lings]

Something that I think about a lot is how Phoenix's reputation evolves, because he starts out as the kid with no friends who would stand up to him, to the puppylike college student who got acquitted of the murder of another student and immediately changed the course of his life to become a lawyer, to the guy who interns under one of the greatest defense attorneys since Gregory Edgeworth, to the guy who took over her practice and defeated the demon prosecutor in one fell swoop, the guy who took down the powerful CEO guy who literally blackmailed a bunch of people to suicide and killed a woman with his own hands to keep the truth from getting out and Phoenix went after him in his first case that he took by himself.

The guy who confronted the mafia (twice?) and was the one defense attorney to take the case of said demon prosecutor to go against another unbeatable unethical prosecutor and he did it with a parrot and a single piece of evidence. He defended the chief prosecutor and took down the corrupt chief of police and that's just the first game.

Imagine the press following this guy. You know when you attend a trial where Phoenix is the defense there's going to be some Crazy Shit going on. He will leave his current trial to interrupt another trial and he gets popular enough that someone impersonates him and to the point where an assassin blackmails him into taking a case and this motherfucker still tricks them into incriminating themselves. He exorcises a ghost who has a personal vendetta against him in court and by the end of the trilogy is really well known for the most mindblowing crazy shit and then it all comes crumbling down like two months later.

The most sensational defense attorney is dethroned and adopts his disappearing defendant's daughter and I like to think that when he gets involved with underground poker and starts toeing the line between the criminal world and the one he knows he discovers that he has a reputation there already too. You cannot tell me guy who kind of made friends with Viola Cadaverini is not on the mafia's radar at least somewhat. He got Dee Vasquez arrested and was the one guy not afraid to poke at people associated with Cadaverini, who the entire police force won't dare touch.

it just wouldn't be surprising to me if he unknowingly garnered some street cred, especially if he's seen around Kristoph and Edgeworth, a guy who calmly makes sure he never loses his cases and someone who literally has a reputation as a demon. I just think it would be so funny if people were a little afraid of beanix, just because of what he's heard about him. He's never been violent or anything, but he's dangerous in much less tangible ways. He builds a vibe around him that makes him seem kinda threatening even if there's no proof that he's ever retaliated against anyone.

He stays calm even when he's being put on trial for a murder and in the courtroom there's a feeling that everything is being played like a game to him. He should be in the most vulnerable position but he's entirely in control. He's been an undefeated poker player for seven years and no one but his daughter can even guess about what he's thinking.

Just... the outward mysterious act and infamous reputation that grows beyond Phoenix's control that makes it when he gets back into law kind of hilarious when you think about it. The guy everyone was a little nervous around in the basement of a russian bar/restaurant is now a lawyer again and the first thing he does is defend an orca. The publicity around this guy has to be insane in combination with the whispers in the shadows. It is simply funny to me.

[micamicster]

Black Sails (2014-2017) vs Way Down In the Hole originally by Tom Waits, theme song for The Wire (2002-2008)

[morgana-ren]

The League of Villains are cool and interesting and deserved better not only because they were easily the most interesting characters in the entire damned manga, but also because of how their particular quirks embodied their grievances with society and their reason for becoming villains in the first place.

Tomura, born of blood and ash, his hatred for everyone so fucking intense that he makes it his literal mission to destroy the world. His quirk is decay, which destroys anything and everything he touches— even himself. It destroys him in the same way that his unabashed hatred does. It took everything from him, and now he'll use it to take everything from everyone else too. Any love he held for society decayed, ironically because of decay. The world is stagnant and wrong and he would see it rot.

Dabi, whose all-consuming hatred for his father and the society responsible for his origins burns with the rage of 1000 suns. His quirk literally eating him from the inside out, spilling uncontrollably from him like a forest fire. Rage and fury made weapon, even if the flames consume him too. His inability to let go and forgive is quite literally killing him, the inferno growing and growing until there isn't anything left to burn. Not even himself.

Toga, the abandoned child. Her quirk allows her to become someone— anyone— else. Someone who doesn't have a scary quirk. Someone who is embraced by society. Someone who wasn't abandoned and branded unlovable and left to fend for themselves in a world that neglects her at best and is actively malicious at worst. Toga is an abandoned child who probably wished she was someone else at some point— someone her parents and the world could love. Her obsession with love utterly tragic because those who were supposed to love her unconditionally cast her aside, and now she grasps with fangs and claws, drawing blood in her need to keep people near. To fight the abandonment through blood.

It's the same thing with all the rest of the villains too. Idk I just think it's neat.