#'they are suppose to be like this. unlike that guy '

[webvein]

I’m glad you like it! The face is not particularly crested gecko, crested gecko faces are a bit more collected and boxy, I’m sculpting one right now so I have opinions on this lol. It’s unlike uroplatus satanicus, my main reference for this, because the nose is taller and more gradually domed rather than flattened with an upturn for sure. This wasn’t from lack of reference but more or less disinterest in making it an exact copy of satanicus, since it’s supposed to be future spec, so how these guys could change in like a few million years. But it also turned out somewhat resembling the other species I was using for inspiration, the spinytail gecko. In my opinion far more than the crested.

Satanic, crested and spiny featured below for comparison.

To expand on my idea a little more, The idea behind the luring is that it initially developed a defense mechanism paralleling that of spiny tailed and chameleon geckos, which naturally secrete poison along the tail. Then some accidental mutation would result in a sweet scent, I don’t necessarily think the bait would actually contain sugars and be sweet, only either it or the geckos itself would smell sweet before the prey would land and become stuck. Tbh, the more practical approach would be to make this a descendent of a spiny tail that convergently evolved leaf tail style camouflage rather than what I did, since I assume the poison secretion would be more difficult to develop than a flat tail.

In the initial sketches, I had also drawn it in its ‘off trap’ state, with the dorsal line and tail sealed shut to prevent any unwanted sticking, so it’s actually even less believable than shown lmao. If it was constantly sticky it would have a hard time navigating a complex environment. Hopefully that should also reduce the issue inherent to having constantly exposed skin.

Also yeah there’s no way in hell the tail thing would evolve, I did sketch some musculature for it, but I completely fail to fathom what the point of such a complicated array would be in the initial evolutionary stages haha. This is very much a ‘concept first, practicality an afterthought’ design.

Maybe an early slightly grabby tail could help deter small predators before being repurposed for insect capture, but that’s a long shot.

But yeah, definitely soft spec with very weak practical likelihood, glad it seemed to resonate with people though.

No one:

Still no one:

Me: What if leaf tailed gecko, but the leaf is carnivorous?

[faewrenbird]

Homicipher Theory

Mr. Hood: The Dishonored Samurai

Don’t turn your nose up yet, hear me out. Maybe it’s a stretch, maybe it makes sense, maybe it’s just a damn good (or delusional) headcanon, you decide.

Homicipher/Mr. Hood Route Spoilers Below!!!!

I established in an earlier theory that the “Ghost Apartments” is a pocket of the spirit realm on haunted grounds where a hospital and subway line were once located but destroyed in an earthquake, after which, an apartment building was built and then abandoned.

But I have a theory that the history of the haunted grounds goes even further back. Perhaps as far as Edo-era feudal Japan. Why? I’m inclined to believe that Mr. Crawling is from that era, but that’s a whole different theory I still need to mull over.

Suppose it’s true—that the cursed land that has accumulated hundreds of vengeful and lost spirits became haunted hundreds of years ago. Perhaps, it became cursed and haunted due to war in this time period. Whatever the case, operating under the premise that its history is this old, I want to take a look at helpful Mr. Hood.

Mr. Hood

He’s the first face we see after waking up in the spirit realm (not counting our startling run-in with Mr. Crawling). You could consider him our Toriel. He gives us the basics, enough info, or lack thereof, to begin our exploration. He tries to teach us some words: light, dark, sound, door, not, maybe “container” if we’re smart. We take this knowledge, leave him in the room behind us, and proceed to immediately get our hearts eaten by Mr. Gap.

But who, or what, is Mr. Hood?

The only thing we learn about him from our brief introduction is that he’s a man of few words, mysterious, monotone, and he’s…literally just a guy in a hood. Oh, and he’s got a big fuck-off axe for seemingly no reason at all.

From what I’ve played of the game so far, it seems we’re unlikely to ever see him again unless some really bizarre and specific conditions are met.

If those conditions are met, we wind up being Alice-in-Wonderlanded into a miniature version of ourselves, and Mr Hood makes an unexpected appearance to help us try to find the magical potion to make us normal again.

During our adventure with him, we…don’t learn much. Kind of the ongoing theme of this game, actually. Get used to perpetually knowing nothing and being confused by what you do know.

We do learn a few key things, though.

First, man has a deft hand with an axe. In fact, he can flawlessly execute any ghost he deems to be a threat, without a moment’s hesitation, and with the badassery to act totally calm and say only “they’re dead” when you interrogate him about it.

Second, there’s nothing under the hood. After escaping a brutal entity, he sits with his hood pulled back, revealing nothingness. Unlike the Bride, though, he prefers to mask this feature. When we comment on his lack of a head, he quickly pulls the hood back up.

Third, he has a body. Although lacking a head, we know that there’s something solid under the cloak, because he hides us in it and we comment on the err…texture of his insides(?).

Fourth, he is some kind of executioner. This is perfectly apparent design-wise. Hooded and carrying a massive axe that he employs with perfect ease. Some speculation, but he seems to specifically serve the purpose of executioner in this land of ghosts. He’s very adept at detecting a threat and differentiating between good and evil (wish the same could be said for our himbo-brained Mr. Crawling, but I digress). In fact, while we're taking a nap, he evidently leaves to a different room to hunt and kill another ghost.

Fifth, he goes where he’s needed. He comes off as someone strictly bound by his duty. At least, this is what I infer rather than him being a wandering spirit in these halls. It’s why, when we’re reunited with Mr. Crawling and the others, Mr. Hood leaves us. We don’t need him anymore, and he can’t accept that we want him with us just because we like him. In fact, he tells us not to say things like that, or depending on your interpretation, that he has nothing to say to that, before he abandons us.

So, what does this all mean (apart from making him the sexiest and most mysterious hooded figure I’ve ever known cough)?

My theory is that, in life, Mr. Hood was a samurai who committed some great treason and thus endured the ritual of hara-kiri (seppuku) for his execution.

Hara-kiri was a form of ritualistic suicide where a samurai would take a blade and slice open his stomach, after which, an executioner would decapitate him. An honorable death was when the executioner left just a bit of the criminal’s neck during the slice, not quite severing it completely. A dishonorable death meant the whole head came off, which was embarrassing for the deceased samurai and his family.

If Mr. Hood was a samurai, his prowess with a weapon and calculating attitude towards fulfilling his duty and cutting down enemies makes a lot of sense.

If he was a dishonored samurai, then his reclusive manner and the shame of having no head also makes sense. Not that I think the ghosts retain memories of their life (Mr Gap excluded), but he could be carrying residual shame and dishonor from his death. He could be forever trapped trying to repent for his sins by executing evil, to make up for whatever treason he committed.

I think it’s further evidenced by our description of his insides. Slimy. It’s a grotesque thought, but if we’re being held against a gutted and sliced open stomach, this description makes sense, too.

Additionally, the shame and self-loathing would help explain why he rejects our confession of affection towards him. He’s not worthy of that affection, nor of companionship. He can’t even fathom our interest in him.

I personally am really obsessed with this concept and have adopted it as my headcanon because I think it makes it all the sweeter when he comes back to save us and decides to carry us for all eternity (which, btw, I squealed when I realized that we were no longer small when he picked us up with this objective in mind, so we’re spending our afterlife being bridal-style carried by this man). We are, after all, the first person to care for him since his humiliating death. The first person to like him. The first person to give him purpose beyond routine and mindless execution of dark spirits. We give him a new duty, something to protect and cherish.

And idc what you say, that’s goddamn romantic for this vaguely romantic horror game.

[unknown-cold]

It's painful how Vi screams to express her sad feelings.

Experiencing intense anxiety, intrusive thoughts or flashbacks, in response to screaming, whether real or imagined.

So let's not forget guys that Vi also suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder or related trauma-related conditions.

[greatgoddyke]

all you ever need is to be nice and friendly

[0alix0]

boy do i love how the only reason bioware replaced Lucerni with Shadow Dragons was because they wanted middle class citizens being the driving force of the changes for Tevinter.....

.......... and STILL ended up with them being run by a former member of magisterium, a rich altus diplomat and a fucking BLACK DIVINE

[stuffyflowers]

*massaging my temples with an irritated expression* I am soooooooo tired of people misunderstanding starlos character

[system-architect]

my controversial gw2 opinion of the day is that i actually like isgarren. dont get me wrong. i think he's objectively wrong about everything and also kind of a brat. that's the thing and the problem though. i like isgarren because he's kind of a massive whiny tantrum baby fussy drama queen.. he took brat summer and turned it into brat epoch !

[invisiblegarabgetruck]

It's probably not gonna happen because Rick prime doesn't care that much. But I think it would be '👀👀' if he starts compare other Jerrys to Hermit Jerry after their encounter....

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

the way that bow listened to entrapta talk about how he and his group presumed her to be dead without going back to check and instead abandoned her, and her other friend sent her to a deadly island to rot and die, and his only response was “you should try to be a better friend” is insane actually.

[b-blushes]

also i am going to the dr tomorrow so please can you send some spare good vibes my way if you have them thank you

[im-smart-i-swear]

webby would have LOVED mystery flesh pit national park

[donut-entendre]

oh god dammit.

[moonlit-tia]

been watching fukumen d and it's amazing how good dori sakurada is at playing bad characters. everytime he's on screen I'm wanting masa to get his ass beat.

[beevean]

For the four character assumption!

While I don't know the last two, it feels like you've been underestimated your whole life, and you're about to mcfucking lose it.

Close!

The third girl is Hanako Ikezawa, from Katawa Shoujo. She was caught in a fire that killed her parents, and spent most of her life as an orphan with burn scars on her body. Being bullied was one thing, being triggered by her own birthday is one thing... but what Hanako truly despises is being pitied. She hates when the few people who don't recoil at the sight of her coddle her and treat her like a delicate child because of her trauma and shyness, like her blind motherly friend Lilly and potentially the protagonist Hisao: in fact, the reason she hates her birthday is because everyone pretended to care about her that one day, and "she didn't want to exist, but they wouldn't let her". In the good ending of her route, she pretty much throws herself at Hisao and has sex with him purely to be seen as an adult; in the neutral ending she keeps quiet and allows Hisao to say that he will "protect" her; in the bad ending... she makes her anger very, very clear. On top of that, she's also an avid bookworm and enjoys games lol

The fourth girl is Nina, from Berserk. She's a prostitute, which already puts her at the bottom of society, and her defining feature is that she is a massive coward. When things go wrong, and they often do, she panicks and does anything to save herself, including throwing people near to her under the bus. She is intensely afraid of God and His judgment, and therefore spites Him by participating in satanic orgies. She's envious of the "head" of the coven of prostitutes she belongs to, Luca, because she's the kind, brave, dependable woman she can never be. Nina hates herself for who she is, and desperately wants to be braver. A turning point for her is when Luca tells her that her cowardice is a sign that she, above all, wants to live.

What connects Tails, Isaac, Hanako and Nina is therefore insecurity expressed in various ways, being underestimated or looked down to, and being associated with a cooler, more mature and confident person they either aspire to be or resent (Sonic, Hector, Lilly, Luca) :)

[bbq-potato-chip]

unpopular opinion takasugi is boring esp after the shogun assasination arc im sorry i just dont like him

[sysig]

Haven’t seen your slimy face in a while (Patreon)

Bonus original concept sketches from 2018 (left):

Tbh even I find some of these shapes kind of hard to read lol. Really showcases my style progression tho like woah - I was aiming at the time for a kind of shoujo-parody style anyway, but now I struggle with those kinds of shapes! I’m used to a much more cartoony, and darker, and smaller style haha

This was all me tho lol, he’s just a gangly greasy fucker

It’s uncanny right

I had to put in a good bit of interpretation and filling in the details for this one lol - something like a punk vampire aesthetic?? He’s too good for the MC anyway lol, but that’s by design