#(Anyway behold my trans son)

[jaydenstyx]

Behold! CurledFang and his descendants who inherited his long fangs! BuzzardTalon is his very evil son, then all of the rest are BuzzardTalon's children.

CurledFang, as you can hopefully see, has very long fangs, which poke out from his mouth. The family has a strange thing where AMAB descendants get longer top right fangs, and AFAB descendants get longer top left fangs. Then there's BristleStrike who has longer both top fangs.

BristleStrike/Star and ChestnutScar are very evil, like their father. DuskFang, BrindleHeart, DriftKit, and AspenKit are very dead... Then there's OakThistle who's just trying to survive.

CurledFang was known to be a relatively friendly guy, very polite, yet elegant. He was deputy of ThicketClan for many moons under AcornStar before retiring.

BuzzardTalon was a very violent, aggressive guy, well-liked for his skill in battle and his no-nonsense attitude. He was bitter when he wasn't made deputy after his father's retirement, instead a young, upstart warrior named BrownWhisker was made deputy. BuzzardTalon killed BrownWhisker and tried to lead a coup against AcornStar with some of his followers, which ultimately failed and ended with his death.

DuskFang, OakThistle, and BrindleHeart were in BuzzardTalon's and ShadowHeart's first litter. DuskFang took the most after their grandfather, CurledFang, and was very popular in all the clans. BrindleHeart was very sassy. They died by drowning after falling into the river during a fight with DriftClan. OakThistle never forgave himself, due to self-blaming and his father claiming his cowardice caused their deaths. (DuskFang fell into the river when trying to save OakThistle from an enemy warrior, BrindleHeart leapt after DuskFang in a desperate effort to save him.)

(TW: Kit death, A mother killing her children, Mention of Abuse (domestic), just dark things)

BristleStar, ChestnutScar, DriftKit, and AspenKit were born in the second litter. After BuzzardTalon's betrayal and death, ShadowHeart starts spiraling. The kits were still very young, their eyes weren't even open yet. ShadowHeart had snuck out of camp with the four kits and quickly mauled and killed DriftKit and AspenKit before OakThistle found her and stopped her from killing BristleKit and ChestnutKit.

ShadowHeart believed that the kits would bring destruction to all of the clans and that the only way to save them was to get rid of the kits. She forces their clanmates to kill her when she gets taken to camp to answer for her crimes, as she doesn't stop attacking until she collapses, bleeding out shortly after.

Many of their clanmates distance themselves from BristleKit and ChestnutKit, OakThistle included. This isolation doesn't prove good for the kits, who are told all about their parents' crimes by some of their more bitter clanmates. They both grow up into cruel and aggressive warriors.

BristleStrike gets into a relationship with my fav trans boy (FtM) FoxFang. Unfortunately, he is not a nice mate and FoxFang is severely traumatized.

Deep into BristleStar's leadership, FoxFang kills ChestnutScar in a duel, becoming deputy. A few moons later, FoxFang kills BristleStar, taking his remaining lives, grieving yet relieved to be free from BristleStar's torment.

Anyways, that was a lot, but I love these funky little cats and their long fangs. It's funny how much I have BristleStar's and ChestnutScar's stories planned out when they're side villains in the main story. Like, the main character is in CliffClan, which is quite the distance from ThicketClan (like, still traversable in about a day, but they don't share much of a border.)

Also, if I tagged wrong or whatever, feel free to correct me; I haven't really used Tumblr before. Don't be rude, please, if you don't like the art, just scroll on. I don't think my art's the best or whatever, and I don't need anyone pointing out the flaws I can clearly see.

Unless you have some genuine advice, in which case, I will gladly try to take into account what you say. I may not respond, I'm very scared of conversations, even online because I don't want to make a fool of myself.

If you've actually read this far, thanks for taking an interest in my funky little warrior cat oc thingy! I don't have much hope that anyone will read this far, though. In any case, if you have I love you platonically and hope that life has and/or will be kind to you!

[esor-ogramira]

I can't remember whether or not I posted this drawing on this account and I know that I said that The Fenrathae Saga is going on a mostly-hiatus, but ANYWAYS-!

BEHOLD! THE BOY!!

I get soooooo much happiness from drawing Kae when he's actually happy! I drew this months ago, and I still smile every time I see it or even think about this piece!

Because I, an autistic trans person, drew my Autistic Trans Son Experiencing Autistic Joy! >w<

Okay, now I feel like drawing a more masculine Fenrathae-sona for myself! As in, drawing myself as a transmasc Dragon Elf person!

[hayleysmuses]

(His bio isn’t done, but whatever

)

[wesleyhill]

The Throne, the Coal, and the Voice

A homily on Isaiah 6:1-8, Psalm 29, Romans 8:12-17, and John 3:1-17, preached at Trinity Cathedral, Pittsburgh, on Trinity Sunday 2021

“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the LORD sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple.”

May I speak to you in the Name of God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

In the eighth century BC, in ancient Israel, in the kingdom of Judah, there was a king whose actions became a warning to subsequent generations to tremble with fear and awe in the presence of God.

The king’s name was Uzziah, and at first — like so many new rulers who take the reins of power aware of their deep need for wise counsel and due caution for their awesome task — Uzziah was humble. But, as Israel’s Chronicler records, “when he had become strong he grew proud, to his destruction” (2 Chronicles 26:16).

Contrary to the law of Moses, King Uzziah bypassed the priests and approached the incense altar in the temple to bear the censer himself. The priests objected and tried to intervene, but Uzziah forged ahead anyway. He scoffed at the priests who stood in his way, and just at that moment a skin disease broke out on his forehead, right there in front of the altar. Then the Chronicler tells us: “When the chief priest Azariah, and all the priests, looked at [Uzziah], he was leprous in his forehead. They hurried him out, and he himself hurried to get out, because the LORD had struck him” (26:20). And he remained so struck until the day he died.

Like every other story, no matter how seemingly bizarre, in the Old Testament, this is ultimately a story about God — about the sheer mysterious otherness of God. The God we meet in this story of King Uzziah’s folly is a God of power and glory who will not be approached flippantly or arrogantly: “he [scatters] the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He [brings] down the powerful from their thrones” (Luke 1:51-2). This God is holy — He is “set apart,” lofty and exalted, morally pure (whose “eyes are too pure to behold evil,” as one of Israel’s prophets says [Habakkuk 1:13]), resplendent and radiant with eternal life and light: in a word, transcendent. As the book of Hebrews in the New Testament tells us, “indeed our God is a consuming fire” (12:29).

In the year that the proud and reckless King Uzziah died, with the skin disease he received in the temple still spread across his forehead, one of Israel’s greatest prophets received a vision of this fiery, holy, transcendent God. Isaiah the prophet says: “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the LORD sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple.”

In the year that yet one more brash and arrogant human ruler passed away, his pride being no help at all against the inevitable forces of decay and death, Isaiah sees the God who remains unrivaled, sovereign, majestic, unchanging, impervious to the fleeting schemes of would-be usurpers.

No one can see this God and live, the Bible says, and yet somehow Isaiah is granted a vision of the LORD. He sees into the inner court of the heavenly temple: “I saw the LORD sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple.” And he sees fiery angelic creatures attending God’s throne: “Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew.” And Isaiah hears their voices calling out to each other like the pulsing of an earthquake:

“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.”

This chorus is so thunderous that Isaiah adds, “The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke.”

And just like so many other characters in the pages of the Bible who encounter God’s searing holiness, Isaiah’s first response to this heavenly vision is to be instantly aware of how unworthy he is — more than that, how doomed he is because of his impurity, his complicity in the evil of his nation. “Woe is me!” he cries. “I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” It is not only King Uzziah who is guilty before God: it is Isaiah, and it is all the people of Judah — it is, in fact, all the world, including you and me. As we think of God’s radiant, fiery holiness, aren’t we instantly confronted with the wreckage of our lives? Aren’t we like Peter when he came face to face with Jesus’ divine power and said, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” (Luke 5:9)?

“Woe is me!” If we were dealing with any other god, that would be the end of the story. Isaiah sees into the inner sanctum of God’s holy, fiery throne room, and he is undone by it. We are undone by it. But — contrary to all just deserts and all expected outcomes — that is not the end of this story.

Isaiah says that after he protested his unworthiness, “one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: ‘Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.’”

Rather than being obliterated by the blazing holiness of God’s life, Isaiah is touched and made pure by it himself, made to share in God’s radiant purity, with fire from the divine altar. The white heat of God’s holiness does not destroy Isaiah but delivers him instead. The coal taken from God’s presence does not consume Isaiah but cleanses him. The sacred fire that touches Isaiah’s lips does not abandon him in his guilt and sin but absolves him — sets him free to live and speak in trust and hope.

Alexander Pushkin, the celebrated nineteenth-century Russian poet, once wrote a poem about this scene from Isaiah, and he pictures the coal not only touching Isaiah’s lips but reaching into his innermost self:

[God] split my chest with a blade, Wrenched my heart from its hiding, And into the open wound Pressed a flaming coal. (Ted Hughes trans.)

This heart surgery, where the poet sees the winged seraph invading Isaiah’s life with the burning coal of God’s presence, is what the prophet Ezekiel foresaw when he prophesied: “A new heart I will give you [the LORD says to Israel], and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you” (Ezekiel 36:26-27). The flaming coal that Pushkin sees pressed into Isaiah’s heart is nothing other than what John the Baptist foresaw when he said about Jesus, “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Matthew 3:11). The LORD who is lofty and exalted, who inhabits eternity, draws near to us who are lost, ruined, guilty, mortal. He touches us, cleanses us, forgives us, burns away our sin, and makes our hearts aflame with life and love by the fiery presence of His Spirit, the One Whom we name in the Creed as “the Lord, the giver of life.”

After the coal has touched his lips, Isaiah says, “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I; send me!’” Isaiah is not only touched to the depth of his being by God’s cleansing fire; he also hears God speak. He hears God’s voice. And as the rest of his prophecy makes clear, that divine voice conveyed to him God’s Word for the people of God. God speaks and sends Isaiah as His prophet to deliver His Word to us who cannot live without it. “The voice of the LORD is a powerful voice; the voice of the LORD is a voice of splendor” (Psalm 29:4).

This Word that God gives to Isaiah to speak to the people of Judah is the same powerful Word by which God brought the universe into being. It is the same Word that was with God in the beginning, the Word Who was God. It is the same Word Who became flesh and lived among us, full of grace and truth. It is the same Word Who said, “The Father has sent me… God sent his Son into the world… that through him the world might be saved” (John 20:21; 3:17, NEB). That Word is the human being Jesus, God in human flesh, God’s voice for us, God’s self-communication, God’s ultimate self-revealing. And what He says to us is, “I absolve you. Your sins are forgiven. Peace be with you. Behold, I make all things new. Believe in Me.”

According to the writer of the Fourth Gospel, what Isaiah saw when he saw the LORD of Israel high on His throne, reaching out to sinful humanity with His cleansing fire, speaking to sinful humanity with His judging and saving Word — what Isaiah saw was none other than the glory of the God we know and worship and call out to as the Father, “the maker of heaven of earth,” who sent His eternal Word, Jesus Christ, His only Son our Lord, to reconcile us to Himself, and the Holy Spirit, who pours God’s love into our hearts and by Whom we cry out, “Abba! Father!”: “Isaiah said [what he said] because he saw [Jesus’] glory and spoke about him” (8:41).

To Him, therefore, with the Father and the Spirit, one God in three Persons, be ascribed, as is most justly due, all might, dominion, majesty, and power, now and forever. Amen.

[truetgirl]

Behold: to kick off the last week of pride month this year we’re gonna do a real big group for day 24: pretty much the entire cast of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power.

So the way this is gonna work is the characters that are either fully comfirmed or blatantly coded as queer will get individual mention and then we’ll have a big roundup at the end of everyone else because you cannot assume cishets are anywhere in this show other than maybe like Hordak and Shadow Weaver.

First up: the main girl herself, Adora. Adora is my personal favorite character on the show (what can I say I love me some buff battle ladies with good hearts) and she’s very very clearly implied to be wlw. She has, to my mind, two equally possible romantic arcs in the show right now: one with Catra provided we see a redemption for her and one with Glimmer. Her chemistry with Catra is wild, raw, and built on years and years of trust and devotion ripped apart by their circumstances. Meanwhile her chemistry with Glimmer is much newer and more careful but despite that it’s soft, supportive, and caring. They haven’t known one another very long, but in that time they’ve become incredibly close.

Next up: Catra. So I mentioned already Catra’s whole situation with Adora, but there’s another possible romantic arc for Catra too. This one depends on if Catra continues to get colder and colder to others or starts to trust in and rely upon the people that care about her.

And that other possibility for Catra lies in Scorpia. This absolute angel of a woman does not belong with the villains and I want her to realize what the horde is and break away as much as I want to see redemption for Catra. She’s a genuine, kind-hearted goofball that loves Catra (her Wildcat) with all her might and is also coincidentally is utterly terrifying to see get serious in battle (as you will recall with Adora I have a type).

Glimmer is my second favorite character in the show after Adora and I tell ya it is a close race. One of my favorite other types of character is the bubbly happy optimist because in a lot of ways it’s something I aspire to even if I relate more to the buff fighter type ladies. As I mentioned earlier also she and Adora are so sweet together I get toothaches whenever they share a tender moment. I don’t consider her to have romantic chemistry with anyone but Adora, however, because her chemistry with Bow is just so clearly best friends that love one another like siblings (like really people you want an example of sibling-like friendship in this show it is not Adora and Catra it is Bow and Gimmer).

Speak of the devil: Bow! I’m very on board with the interpretation of Bow that says he’s trans, because really a lot of coding elements are there. The smoking gun of sorts, for me anyway, the one that keyed me into this when I was watching the show first time and had no fandom consensus to go on because it was brand new, was when we see him keep his chest covered in the hot springs. He literally never wears anything but crop tops so clearly the problem isn’t showing skin in general. Then there’s the episode with his dads where there’s this whole thing when he tells them about being a rebel and it’s framed exactly like a coming out scene and etc...

Speaking of: Bow’s dads! This is where we move out of subtext and into very clear “they are queer” territory. These men are literally a married couple that raised 13 sons together. And again the whole thing with the coming out metaphor felt so genuine you really do have to see it.

And for our last individual entry we’ve got Spinneralla and Netossa. These two may only be background characters but good lord are they adorable. Just having these ladies visible and in love from the word go was so refreshing to see and makes me really hopeful for the potential romances we see developing with the others.

Pretty much everyone else gets and honorable mention because while headcanons abound pretty much the only thing that can be said for most of the rest of the cast is almost every princess is gay as hell for She-Ra at some point or another. I say almost because Frosta is a preteen child and really doesn’t seem to be worried about it yet whereas the rest are young adults.

[captain-straycat]

Did you name your character Levi because of the anime. Also 1-10

o h  n o 

- The first element about him I considered was that he was smart, rebellious, and very distinct in appearance compared to his fellow wastelanders. His actual appearance/name/etc came shortly after, though!

- I designed him to be a foil for one of the other members of the power trio. He’s got a rebellious streak that puts him at odds w/ lots of the characters that respect authority, but he’s not out entirely for himself. He’s got a lot of interesting interactions going for him!

- The name was actually kinda hard. It went from “long and pretentious” to “what would actually let him blend in”... because he stands out on his own enough! Also he’s AWOL so he had to choose his new name for himself! Levi is short, to the point, and (most importantly) very, very masculine. Reuben is his nickname/his middle name, and one he lets friends call him. Reuben means (roughly) “Behold, a son”, and that’s what he is. A son. 

- He’s a BOS deserter, so anything having to do with them plays a huge role in his story. Mainly the strict “unquestioning loyalty” aspect. He’s usually pretty loyal (AWOL status aside) but he likes knowing what he’s potentially dying for! Also, the high-tech aspects with robots, power armor, laser/plasma weapons, and advanced medicine are key because he’s a genius with it all. Might get him into trouble once certain factions catch wind of his skill... 

- He bleached his hair white and cut most of it off because his hair used to be long-ish and brown. Sometimes he dyes it, but that’s just for his own expression rather than some tactical move. Also, white hair is just cool.

- He’s got a green eye and a brown eye. I’m mulling the idea of it being from a perception implant that he could’ve gotten... but I haven’t decided on it fully. 

- He’s the shortest of the bunch, standing around 5′7. He’s not incredibly small, but he looks tiny when standing next to Russ (who’s nearly a foot taller than him) and scrawny next to Jake (beefy lad). He wasn’t a soldier, he was a scribe, and he’s about as physically intimidating as one. 

- I relate to his desire to start over. Not that I have anything against my friends, but there are days when I wish that nobody knew me before *I* knew me, if that makes sense? Also he’s trans and like... eyes emoji.

- He’s not really based off me, but I’ll project onto him anyway. I always do.

- No current LI, but he’s tailored to fit into the Lads and provide unique skills and perspectives on things. He may get an LI, he may not. He’s not interested in one at the moment, anyway.  Ty so much <3 <3 Levi is my current muse tbh 

[eri-blogs-life]

So, I finally beat Final Fantasy XII for the first time. And now I shall summarize my thoughts about it, in a nearly 2000 word post.

First off, my history with this game. I bought Dragon Quest 8 when I was a kid, and that game included a demo disk for FFXII which I played a ton. I eventually was able to purchase a copy of FFXII for myself, back on the PS2. It formed part of a trifecta of big JRPGs that kinda defined the middle school era of my life - Final Fantasy XII, Dragon Quest 8, and Tales of Symphonia.

But I never did beat it back in the day. The farthest I remember getting was some big tower in the sea, which I have now in retrospect found out is the penultimate dungeon. So I was damn close when I was a kid, but never quite did finish it up totally.

I came back to it from time to time, starting up new save files and trying to push my way through to see the whole game. But it was only now, on this attempt on the Switch version of the game (the Zodiac Age version of the game) that I have finally seen the ending cutscene. To be fair, there’s a bunch of optional content like most of the espers that I never quite did get around to doing, so it’s arguable if I’ve really fully completed the game, but it’s a long experience, so eventually I settled on just pushing through the final fight so I could consider it done for now. I might come back to my save just before the final dungeon to “complete” the game some day, but not today. (I was using the 2x speed mode for most of the game, and I still have about 55 hours of playtime)

I’m gonna break down my thoughts into a few big sections here. Lets talk story first, then characters, then aesthetics, then gameplay, and then we’ll wrap it up towards the end of this very long post.

FFXII’s story is... fine, I’d say. It feels kinda... erratic at times, throwing you into some situations without really feeling like there’s much justification for that to be a part of the greater story, even if each scenario does have some small way to play into the greater story.

But I can certainly appreciate what the story seems to be inspired by. I can’t really say for certain if FFXII is meant to be a metaphor for the war in the middle east, but damn if it doesn’t feel like that’s the intended goal. The Archadian Empire really does feel like America in a lot of ways, being a “democratic” political system led by a powerful lineage who just always happens to end up in the throne for some reason, having a group of senators who serve as council and support for the emporer, but during the war the emporer claiming full command over the military. It’s not necessarily a perfect comparison, but at least to me the comparisons overall felt strong enough to at least try and interpret the game through a lens of the american war in the middle east. The game features a struggle for power with immensely powerful weapons, there’s these huge oil fields that draw natural resources up out of the ground, there’s a huge nation on the other side of the territory being claimed that could start a war with the Archadian Empire at any point in time.

And to that end it... is decent, I guess. I mean, I’m playing it so far after the events that would theoretically have inspired a lot of the game’s design, so to a large degree I’m also just looking at the game as it stands on its own and not in the cultural context it may have once held. And it’s fine. The story isn’t necessarily anything special, but it’s fine

I could talk about the big theme of the game, which I read as “should humanity be guided by gods or by our own actions?” But... I don’t know, I don’t think there’s a ton to be said about that. The game seems to posit that sometimes even those who claim to be doing things of their own free will are still doing them under the orders of another? But ultimately making your own decisions is still the best course of action, even if it ... you know what, I don’t know. I’d have to replay the game a few times and really try to process everything the game’s narrative takes on to really have a discussion on this point, so we’re gonna leave it aside for now.

So FFXII’s characters, primarily the main cast of 6 playable characters. They’re a real mixed bag, honestly. I enjoyed them, for the most part. But Vaan and Penelo are.... not great. And Ashe and Fran felt kinda bland to me at times. But Basch and Balthier are amazing.

Vaan is kinda an interesting case. He’s just some kid, a street urchin from our central city of Rabanastre, a citizen of the oppressed Dalmasca but ultimately just a guy. He’s our everyman protagonist who the player is meant to have as something of a vessel to learn about the world from someone not very traveled or well-versed in how this world is shaped. And to that end he holds up okay. But even by the end of the game, Vaan doesn’t stand up to do anything particularly unique that would make the player surrogate really something special. He gains some level of strength and stability, and I guess that does put him on a similar level to many of the other characters in the main cast by the end, but he still just feels kinda out of place, even in the end.

Penelo is like Vaan but she’s also used as a damsel in distress early on in the game. Great!

Ashe, the princess of Dalmasca, is the real main character. The story really revolves around her struggle to reclaim her kingdom, her fight for Dalmasca’s freedom from the Empire, and her decision of whether to destroy the weapons that the Empire holds or get her own weapons to rival theirs. She’s a fine character, though at times I did feel she felt kinda bland. But in a sense that actually works out really well, since she ends up as a better player surrogate than Vaan.

Fran holds some important narrative weight, using her knowledge and her unique position as one of the viera to help drive the story along at a few points and that’s great! But I feel like she kinda takes a back seat a lot of the time, mostly playing a supporting role to Balthier

Basch, the knight of Dalmasca and Lady Ashe’s protector feels like such an interesting character. And part of that is not even his fault, but rather the fact that he has a twin brother who fights for the Empire. And that slaps. Seeing the two of them confront each other at times throughout the story, or seeing how their choices differ but how each could have easily become in the other’s position, feels really strong as a narrative drive.

And Balthier. Oh, Balthier. What’s there to say about Balthier? He plays the Leading Man.

I. Love. Balthier. He’s a suave, charismatic son of a bitch and he plays such a good role in the party, providing transportation and guidance and so much more. As we find out late in the game, he’s actually from Archades, being the son of Doctor Cid, but he abandoned his name and his fame to take to the skies as a sky pirate. His constant insistence that he plays the leading man, that he’s the real center of attention in this story, just holds such a special place in my heart. He’s cocky and it’s so great. (Side note, there’s a lot about Balthier that reads to me as an unintentional trans allegory and I just loved head-canoning Balthier and Fran as this T4T trans man / trans woman couple who left their respective homes and found home in each other. It’s almost definitely not their intended purpose but boy howdy I’m gonna think it anyway cause I’m trans and desperate for something like representation)

Aesthetics. Sound and visuals, basically. FFXII is usually a pleasant game to look at and listen to, in my opinion. The soundtrack is gorgeous (and all up on Spotify~), and has been a part of my listening rotation since I first downloaded a copy of it onto my iPod Classic back in 2009.

The graphics are decent. I mean, it was a PS2 game so I guess they were good for the time? The enhanced Zodiac Age version you can pick up on modern consoles cleans up the models and makes things look overall pretty solid. No real complaints there on my part.

The visual design of the game I absolutely adore. You get these fantastic fantasy environments that, while not feeling visually consistent at all times, really tell of a beautiful world that’s something to behold. And every area you encounter - from each city, to the deserts, to the jungles, to the inside of a giant crystal - feels unique and is fascinating to look at.

And then we get to FFXII’s gameplay. FFXII is definitely an interesting one. The game uses an Active Time Battle system, much like most other Final Fantasy games, but the big unique thing in FFXII is Gambits.

Gambits work basically as programming - you can assign an If->Then statement that your character will follow as their default action if you don’t give them specific commands. So, for example, I could define for Vaan that if there is an enemy nearby with the lowest health among enemies nearby, attack that enemy. And for each character, you can assign 12 gambits that they will follow in priority order, and 3 different sets of 12 gambits each that can be swapped out. It gets wild. It’s an interesting choice of system, which allows for some weird gameplay paths. So, I relied heavily on gambits, setting up rules for how my characters should behave in combat, and mostly relied on them to follow those commands whenever possible, without giving any of my own input on-the-fly to how they should act. Which to me felt fun - I was programming out choices and seeing if they would play out successfully in combat. But the gambit system could easily be very boring for some people, since it does limit what you as the player need to actually provide input for on a moment-to-moment basis.

The other big gameplay thing I wanna touch on is the Hunts, which are one of my favorite aspects of FFXII. A huge, HUGE list of optional bosses to track down and kill? Some of which have unique little quests to take on? Sign me up! Ultimately they’re just a list of side quests you can do, but something about the structure of them as these hunts for unique monsters that lie out there somewhere in the world, that you may sometimes have to complete special objectives to even get them to appear in the first place, has always struck me as really fascinating.

( ^ nice)

So, altogether? Final Fantasy XII is... fine. It’s well put together, but it doesn’t necessarily feel like it has anything too special to stand it apart (except of course for Balthier, my beloved). It’s long, but that length doesn’t necessarily feel like it always translates to game segments that are really necessary. I enjoyed my time with it, but only up to a point. I’m not left craving any more. I enjoyed it for the first couple dozen hours in re-playing it, but eventually it got to a point where I was just so so ready to move on to something new.

[xxdarby31xx-blog]

The Incarnation of Reptar of the Right

Before anyone reads this next mischievous entry of creative literature, a little background information is necessary in order to shed some light and provide insight behind a piece of satire that may possibly trigger some internet users. I wrote this months back and for awhile was trying to figure out when to allow other sets of eyes to read the piece for themselves. Now is that time. 💁🏻‍♂️ Here's the reason why: 🇨🇦In Canada, there is a law in legislation that if passed would require citizens to use the specific personal preferred pronoun of those who identify beyond the traditional gender groups. These individuals fall between the other "totally real" 76 gender types or either as an breathing entity that does not identify as a human being but rather an entirely separate species all together. Yes, for those uninformed Trans-Species is actually now being considered as an real fucking thing. 🤦🏻‍♂️ If one decides to not comply with this proposed mandate they will be instantly susceptible to legal action and be punished for beholding a different opinion and using such "reckless and hateful" rhetoric 😔. This has to be the most ridiculous attack on free speech ever derived. I am fucking appalled and ashamed that we live during a time where society deems such importance on such idiotic madness. 😤 Now I want you to imagine working overseas and living life as a child labor victim, forced to endure 16 hour workdays. These slave shifts only consist of putting together iPhones and perhaps stitching up Nike footwear. Even worse, this form of torture is implemented simply for the purpose of American consumption. A country whose many inhabitants are in fact intelligent human beings, along with the total retards that perpetuate the insane bullshit of identity politics. It must be devastating and depressing having to experience and survive everyday life that is comparable to Hell. Can you honestly say that you would be able to gain any sort of understanding or feel remotely compassionate towards these first world gender identity "victims", if you were the one forced into child labor? 🤔Or would you not even have the time, because of the U.S.'s high demand for I Phones? 📱. Wrap your mind around the fact it's 2016 and our society is still arguing about race, gender, and now fucking pronouns. All while some hopeless kid somewhere is being victimized by an incredibly evil form of abuse. A hideous and immoral instance of abuse that occupies, infects, and ultimately wastes away the constantly fleeing moments of an temporary existence, that we call life. Hopefully now you can see the point I'm trying to make and somewhat understand my point of view when I wrote this piece. I personally believe whole heartedly it's extremely wrong that such absurdity now trumps imminent world problems that knowingly exist. Child abuse, domestic violence, homelessness, world hunger, cancer, sex trafficking and drug abuse just to name a few examples. I don't care what you do or identify as. Just don't let such actions infringe on my right to exercise free speech and behold a different set of beliefs. Okay enough with all the seriousness and now onto a direct product of being an individual, and exercising my right of free speech. A creative, outrageous, and silly piece of satire.😝😝😝 The Incarnation of Reptar of the Right Today I go to social media in order to confess something very personal and intimate. Truth be told my whole life I have always felt so incredibly uncomfortable and empty inside. I simply cannot deny it any longer! I will no longer identify myself as a human being. Truth be told I have always known deep down in that I am in fact actually a vicious, blood thirsty Tyrannosaurs Rex. (Unfortunately trapped in a human body 😔) I'm completely serious, so If anyone beholds any insensitive opinions or comments please refrain due to the fact my regular safe space location has unfortunately already reached maximum capacity. I can't put into words the joy of this weight being lifted off my shoulders. I thought I was possibly mentally ill and alone most of my life. That all changed once I saw the comedy classic Step Brothers. This movie is where I witnessed a scene where the father character openly discussed his want and burning passion to be a T Rex Dinosaur with his son. I was instantly inspired by such bravery. I was also extremely overjoyed to finally discover that I wasn't totally alone in the universe. SPOILER ALERT.....the prehistoric identity struggle is very real people. Can you even imagine the struggle? Me as a juvenile forced to engage in school and even partake in athletics daily with an entirely separate species. All the while, possessing a constant want and ambition to roam around the backyard with my arms all scrunched up T Rex style, wreaking havoc with each and every emphatic dino stomp and scream. I began to realize very quickly that you humans consider that'd to be an unhealthy and abnormal lifestyle, but for us dinos it's a way of life. I was destined to spend the rest of my days terrorizing backyards just like my ancestors before me. We have come an extremely long way and as a result really progressed dramatically as society. Now is the first time in history that I no longer have to be ashamed to admit that I've watched Jurassic Park a billion times and admittedly reenacted every T Rex scene alone in front of my mirror for hours at a time. (I'm not gonna lie either, I'm a pretty good actor.) So good in fact that when my private bedroom auditions take place, my roommates totally think I'm just watching the J Park films in my room. Just saying 😎 Do human beings partake in such activities? I think not, but then again I cannot be certain because I am only capable of having T Rex thoughts. 😐 Furthermore, I personally don't feel like the name "Gregg" is suitable for a T Rex such as myself. So I've decided that I will now only respond and answer to the name "Reptar". It's very fitting don't you think? As a T Rex it just came to be inherently natural I suppose. Referring to me as anything other than "Reptar" would highly offend me and not to mention hateful. Reptar is and always has been my one true identity. Don't get it twisted 🙅🏻‍♂️. It's simply amazing this ignored and incredibly courageous community, is now responsible for the most important movement occurring in the U.S. 🇺🇸and other areas of the world. My hope is that this will inspire more individuals who identify as a dinosaur to open up and come out from hiding. Whether you refer to oneself as Barney the Dinosaur or perhaps Bosh the Raptor, it makes no difference. You are not alone!!! Let's turn this place into our own Jurassic World. Sincerely, Reptar of the Right Update: I am happy to share that I will be pursuing an opportunity to ensure my physical appearance resembles that of which is my true identity. While it's not as intricate or expensive as medical procedures, it is still a gallant decision to make. Let me clarify, I'm totally not calling myself a hero or anything. Just that if one thing leads to another and you do decide to label and portray me as one, I won't fight it. That'd be lame and total dick move. 😝 Anyways, turns out my uncle knows this guy who works with this other guy, and this other guy has a brother. A dude named Stevie, who (GET THIS) works on the set of the upcoming motion picture Jurassic World!!!! My boy Stevie has received word of my courageous journey, and has since reached out and offered to aide me in my time of transitioning.