#when going into fight mode...

[the-weeping-dawn]

reposting this photo from the frankenstien ballet for a future time because I know I'm going to need this pose next he's in a 'talking before a fight he knows he can't avoid and is doing the thing where he moves in a fucked up way to make people uncomfortable.'

I need more visual examples of what I mean when talking about this and also getting better at describing it outside of dance terms.

[theflagscene]

Khanin and Charan - it’s just us here.

New and Zee - Wearing cocksocks with three dozen people staring at them on a soundstage for days, with an intimacy coach hovering constantly to keep both Nunew and Zee’s bare asses in check.

[teatitty]

Obviously I'm a "Iruka was being groomed to be the hokage/some other political position" truther but I'm also a "if Kishimoto had kept the setup for Iruka being a secret jounin level badass the Pain arc would've been the perfect time to reveal it by having him go toe-to-toe with Pain when the village was attacked" truther

Like yeah yeah Kakashi saving him as is was great and all but please walk with me and imagine a world with these possibilities instead:

Iruka saving Kakashi's life and fighting Pain to protect him

KakaIru teamup on Pain

Iruka going toe-to-toe with him and getting taken out right as Naruto shows up to see his brother-figure die [everyone gets brought back to life anyway at the end so we can have this]

Counter to the above: Iruka holding off Pain's assault and getting saved by Kakashi only when he's on his last legs and is about to collapse [classic "catches them mid-fall" trope and could lead to Kakashi killing one of the six paths now they're weakened]

This one is for the barrier nin Iruka lovers: he puts up a barrier to protect a civilian area and the only way to bring it down is to knock him out so the whole time he's getting beat on he's maintaining the barrier long enough for everyone to evacuate

There's undoubtably other ways you could fit in such a reveal but I truly think the Pain arc works best from a narrative perspective given how closely tied Iruka is to the very foundations of the village

[sanchoyoscribbles]

maybe link should consider that I filled my inventory with salted milky smoothies right before the fight and spent all that time leveling up the sword and energy gauges tho ...🥲

[ezkel]

I hate tag limits LET ME YAP

but also it's probably for the best that I have to limit myself

[cienie-isengardu]

Tomas & Liu Kang

I’m trying to put things into right perspective about Smoke, Liu Kang’s approach to Tomas and how pushed into background he was during story mode so bear with me while I’m connecting dots.

Also, to be clear, I’m not here to morally judge the characters, just to talk about the dissonance between Smoke vs Liu Kang intro dialogues and the story mode.

For one, the pre-fight dialogues imply that Tomas lost his family due to Liu Kang (Keeper of Time)’s choice: 

Smoke: "Did you intend for me to be orphaned?" Liu Kang: "Some threads must be cut to weave time’s fabric." 

and

Smoke: "I'm not sure I can forgive you." Liu Kang: "Being Keeper of Time meant making many hard choices."

When Tomas was orphaned, Kuai Liang & Bi-Han’s father adopted him and made one of Lin Kuei. If the accusation is true, then we can assume Liu Kang wanted Tomas to join Lin Kuei, as he did in the past timeline(s). So, in theory, Smoke for whatever reason was important enough for the Keeper of Time to get involved and steer events to get the wanted result. 

Which raises a question, why did Liu Kang not bother to recruit Tomas into Lin Kuei the same way he recruited Kung Lao, Raiden, Johnny Cage or Kenshi, by like, actually talking to him and taking for training? Or even why not just ask the befriended Grandmaster to take the boy (and Tomas' family) under his wings, which I think the man would do without further question.

Instead, Smoke was orphaned, taken in by Lin Kuei, adopted as son of Grandmaster and trained in magic to equalize his chances in the fight (in contrast, Bi-Han’s ice powers seems to be a natural part of him, related to specific bloodline).

Now, if Tomas was so important, if not in the greater scheme of things, then just for Liu Kang (and Kuai Liang), isn’t it weird, he is so sidelined and omitted by Fire Lord in the story mode?

Again, not judging characters, solely pointing out this choice of storyline, as this is especially visible during collecting the champions for the tournament arc.

In Chapter One, when the test was over and Liu Kang came to Kung Lao and Raiden to explain things, he specifically called only Bi-Han (the current Grandmaster) and Kuai Liang (Bi-Han’s blood-brother)

while Tomas was totally omitted and stayed behind with the rest unnamed Lin Kuei warriors.

Which, visually speaking, is weird, as just before that scene we could see Smoke walking alongside his adoptive brothers (with Bi-Han leading the group, Tomas and Kuai Liang walking a bit behind their leader, but before the unnamed warriors);

In the next chapter, again, only Bi-Han and Kuai Liang assisted Fire Lord in his quest to recruit Johnny Cage and Kenshi. Again, both Lin Kuei were addressed by their birth names, instead of codenames

while there is no information why Tomas was left behind. He likely was entrusted with escorting Kung Lao and Raiden to Shaolin Monks, yet the lack of proper mention emphasizes the pushing into the background.

We didn't learn officially Smoke's status as adopted brother of Kuai Liang and Bi-Han until Sub-Zero's chapter (#8). Unless I miss something, the first person on screen to actually address Smoke by his birth name was surprisingly Bi-Han.

Which makes even weirder the lack of including of Tomas from Liu Kang, as the Fire Lord and Smoke stayed allies through the story mode and intro dialogues (with some resentment on Tomas' side for death of his family) while the relationship between Bi-Han and Tomas was much more complicated to begin with.

We could make an argument that Liu Kang didn't want to antagonize Bi-Han by including adopted Tomas too much, however:

A) Bi-Han has never denied Tomas right to consider himself one of Grandmaster's sons - seen especially in Sub-Zero's speech pattern, as Sub-Zero always says just "Father", the same as Tomas and Kuai Liang, never putting emphasis on "my" as a reminder Smoke is adopted. The real conflict is not about whether Tomas is his and Kuai Liang's brother or not, but about him being a true Lin Kuei. What is also worth to keep in mind, any tension between brothers happened only in privacy (here and during the mission), never around Liu Kang.

(A similar thing can be noticed in intro dialogues. In Smoke vs Sub-Zero, Bi-Han specifically says "Because your blood is not Lin Kuei" however in Liu Kang vs Sub-Zero, when Fire Lord claims brothers (plural version!) miss him, Bi-Han doesn't correct his opponent about Tomas not being one. He instead says "Then they shouldn't have disobeyed my commands.")

B) Liu Kang did not show Bi-Han any special respect, especially not the kind of respect and friendship offered to Sindel and her husband, Jerrod. And yes, Fire Lord mentioned Bi-Han before Kuai Liang, and addressed him during the meeting before the mission (while the Sub-Zero's younger brothers - subordinates - stood together in silence)

but that basically it? Bi-Han didn't seem to be favored in any special way, I don't think he even was addressed as Grandmaster by Fire Lord at any moment in story mode.

Which is why I personally don't see why Liu Kang would omit Tomas solely to not hurt Bi-Han's ego or to not antagonize the man further - especially since Bi-Han himself didn't push the matter in any specific - openly - way nor didn't deny Tomas the right to consider himself one of Grandmaster's sons in the first place.

Frankly, as we don't see how Lin Kuei were informed about the upcoming meeting, we should ask, did Liu Kang call Bi-Han and specifically Smoke and Scorpion for the mission, or was that choice made solely by Sub-Zero? Because Lin Kuei for sure must have much more experienced warriors that Tomas (and Kuai Liang for that matter) but also sending on dangerous mission the Grandmaster AND the second* in line of succession seems impractical from the perspective of clan' inner safety.

*second and third, if Tomas was allowed at all to be the heir. Considering how neither Smoke nor Scorpion even for a moment considered that option and how Sektor & Cyrax would choose Bi-Han's corruption of the clan before accepting Kuai Liang as a new leader, the inner clan politics may not be so simple.

During the Lin Kuei mission (Sub-Zero's Band of Brothers Chapter) and during Bi-Han's betrayal (Scorpion's Civil War Chapter), the three brothers didn't address each other by codenames and as much as the situation allowed, freely interacted with each other.

However once Bi-Han is removed from the story mode, Smoke is even more pushed into the background. When asked, he will answer and make some (one?) observation however he barely interacted with other characters, mainly sticking to his brother. The most important exception is the scene when the heroes were wondering what to do after the big revelation and Tomas on his own talked about Lin Kuei and Bi-Han.

The story mode at that time was focused on other characters (like Mileena & Shang Tsung) so understandably, Lin Kuei brothers were put aside however even then Scorpion played a vital part, as it was Kuai Liang making the plan of attack, when Liu Kang wasn't around, while Tomas for most part was just there.

Again, no moral judging of characters just a mere observation how Tomas interacted the most freely with his brothers while was omitted by Liu Kang - and like, never(?) addressed by him in story mode, either by name or codename, even if the intro dialogues strongly imply Liu Kang was the one pushing Tomas into Lin Kuei in the first place.

Which makes an interesting contrast to Bi-Han & Smoke’s relationship but also shows how without intro dialogues, the relationship between Tomas and Liu Kang seems… non existing? I mean, even at the end of story mode, Liu Kang mentions Bi-Han

and his brother Kuai Liang building a new clan,

yet there is literally no mention of Tomas and his participation in the creation of Shirai Ryu and training its members (something confirmed in Scorpion and Smoke's endings).

Which only add to the weird feeling of alienating Tomas in story mode, not by Bi-Han but Liu Kang of all possible people?

[theflowerofthecommonwealth]

Dad of the year right here.

His kitten daughter being in danger activates his Papa Bear Fury.

(Apologies for the bad quality and the cutoff of the sound at the end, Tumblr insists on having them both no matter what I do)

[wildstar25]

MiqoMarch Day 08 - Fav. (Side) Job

When she's not running around as Ninja or Summoner , Arsay's next choice is the lance. Being bestowed a source of draconic power by Midgardsormr moments before his slumber, and knowing how to channel the powers of Bahamut with dreadwyrm trance, Arsay's power as a Dragoon rivals that of even the former Azure Dragoon. With that said, she'd much rather use her polearm to hunt monsters.

[dogboy-dyke]

hate hate hate fireworks :(

[thedrotter]

re:kinder doodle dump part three !!! drawings with wildly different moods www they are more polished ans complete than my other doodles because. why not🥺!!!

[camels-pen]

consider sanuso bodyswap where Sanji is of course "admiring" Usopp's body and Usopp is trying desperately to keep himself from getting worked up so that he doesn't light himself on fire.

Luffy and Chopper are not helping. They are in fact doing the opposite of helping. They've ramped up their pranks and are doing anything possible to get Usopp angry so that he combusts, freaks out, and then dives into the ocean to put himself out. They think it's hilarious.

Nami and Brook are Also not helping, since they're conspiring with Sanji to put on a fashion show with Usopp's body. Sanji called it "not wasting a precious opportunity to get him in something other than overalls". Usopp called it mutiny and he was gonna- dive into the ocean, holy fuck Sanji why is it so easy to catch fire?!

Best part about this is that Sanji assured him, several times, that his body doesn't get hurt by catching fire. Usopp still jumps into the ocean every time.

Robin pipes up at one point, asking if Sanji was immune to just his own flames or all flames. Sanji just kind of shrugs and said it depends. Franky, having just been leisurely watching all of this gets an idea. Would his Franky Fireball hurt Sanji's body or just give him more fire to work with?

He tries to coax Usopp into agreeing to test it out and, somehow, he manages it. Albeit, Usopp is all knocking knees and chattering teeth, a very odd sight from 'Sanji'. As part of the deal though, he can only shoot a fireball the size of his hand.

Usopp meant his small hand. The one Franky used for tinkering and fine detail work. He did not, however, clarify this.

So, when a fireball the size of Franky's big hand comes out, well. Usopp runs for his goddamn life.

It takes him a few moments- and the voices of his friends sounding distant and below him- to realize he hadn't, in fact, run to the men's quarters, but rather into the fucking sky.

And oooooh, boy he is gonna kill Sanji one of these days. Why was his body's first fucking instinct when running to go up, what the actual HELL-

Usopp lit himself on fire again.

He curses out Sanji as his Sky Walk fails in the same moment and he plummets towards the deck.

[cluster-b-culture-is]

aspd culture is tuning out whenever you sense someone is about to go on a heated rant related to something you dont care about (which is pretty much everything)

.

[aprito]

finally got to play through naruto ultimate ninja connections which was supposedly the one game that would feature the most important boss fights (which are literally copy pastes from the remastered past games) across all games for people who wanted to get into the series

well guess which boss fight they left out and what generic pvp they replaced it with instead

[pampel-mousse]

Maybe controversial to say but i still don't fully believe snow killing white was a 100% accident thing

[loveletterworm]

on the topic of deliriously specific visions of deltarune chapter 3. This is one that is really inconsequential and I guess is more in the territory of like. those elaborate chapter 3 fanfictions where they just make up every character. But I don't think I've ever seen anyone else ever try the thing that I think would be cool, which is that a secret boss for chapter 3 could have a greyscale color scheme because that would not be out of place in the TV-themed chapter (especially for a secret boss, i'd say), but would also have visual overlap with the goner npcs from undertale...I just sort of feel like someone else would have thought of that but I've never seen anyone that has. I think it would be clever.

[enbyboiwonder]

I started playing Storm of Zehir, which of course means I looked through all the local characters—ones my dad made or premade ones. (I ended up using all ones I made. My party’s only semi-balanced, but oh well.) And one of the local characters, Riliad Eladalmer, kind of feels like he’s who Camus could have been had things have been a little bit different.

Elves are not entirely uncommon on the Sword Coast, but Riliad Eladalmer is one of only two in the village of West Harbor. Orphaned and raised by the village’s only other elf, Riliad lives in contempt of human society. Daeghun spoke at great length to Riliad about elven culture and society, and the tales went to the young half-elf’s head. He sees most of the humans around him as clumsy, blind, stupid oafs. Riliad has even taking to using his elven surname, always taking the opportunity to roll his eyes and snort at anyone who mispronounces it. When he isn’t engaged in an anti-human rant, Riliad spends most of his time in magical study with his thoughts focused on getting out of West Harbor.

He’s a chaotic evil half-elven sorcerer who goes down the path of the pale master. Camus’s chaotic good/neutral (he shifted to neutral by the time I was halfway through NWN1, but he quickly got to 100 pts and hardly strayed in NWN2 due to the differences in how the games do alignment shifts, so he’s likely somewhere in between) and becomes a red dragon disciple.

I guess it’s a good thing Daeghun was still rather distant and Camus spent a lot of time with the Starlings. Retta was more of a proper parent to him than Daeghun was. Although I’m not sure Camus would’ve gone the elven superiority route unless Daeghun guided him toward it… although, actually? His hatred and distrust of the Starlings and not liking that the KC has anything to do with Bevil? Yeah, that might help with that.

I kind of want them to meet, although I have no idea if I should change Riliad’s backstory so that he has a different hometown but was still raised similarly, or if I should make them from alternate realities and Riliad somehow found his way into the one where Camus is the KC.