#And it functions very differently so I guess I'm in the green!

[rist-ix]

Redesigning Aisha's transformation because oh my god

PLEASE rainbow just let her wear green. Thoughts n comparison under cut

My thoughts on rainbow's compulsion to Make Aisha Blue is well known, so I’m not gonna repeat that rant here. But OH MY GOD, if you really HAVE to drill home that her powers are water-based, please at least commit to it. Don’t just paint her cyan and call it a day.

I think what bothers me the most about the outfit is that it feels really incoherent. We've got knee high boots, white socks that go just a couple inches higher than the boots, and then we get some kind of leotard??? With a half open skirt layer that ends well above her shorts, and doesn’t really do anything except flare out her silhouette a little I guess.

It's not a flowy, watery dress, it’s not a sporty look to kick ass in, the only thing really going on here is a couple thicker rim lines to divide the undefined blob of color that is her outfit. The boots look sturdy and kind of mundane, the socks are Just There, the leotard is very busy and undefined, like a 10-year-old's ballet costume.

I'm not really a character designer, but I hang around enough of them that I can kinda tell the patterns are not fulfilling much of a function, nor guiding the eye in a particularly clever way. Her hair feels kind of like an afterthought, just trailing behind her without much fanfare, which I find sad, given Aisha's original iconic wavy locks.

The wings, I’m ignoring. I can only take so much.

To throw in a positive note into my ranting: something the design does do well is center a lot of focus on the torso and head. Since the boots are uniform in color and very smooth, the high density of detail in the leotard and face draws more attention upwards, where all the gesturing and facial expressions are happening. Plus, while the outfit itself is a blob of samy colors, the brightness does make it contrast well with Aisha's skin, so at least the outlines of the outfit are clear and readable. They also make it melt into the background a bit, but that might just be a poor composition choice so im not blaming the character design.

No that ive gotten that out of my system: I'm not gonna pretend I am being any smarter with my redesign. A big weak point is doublessly that the eye is drawn downwards instead of up, and the top is kinda boring and plain. Texturing is not my strong suit.

Here's my thought process behind it:

Green.

Please. Please just give her her color back.

Green means she is still clearly visible, even in blue-toned water, and it contrasts nicely with her pink morphix particles. Green evokes calm ponds, lilypads, feathery algae and tropical lakes. Green is dynamic, fresh, durable, organic. With green as the main color, and pink as the tiny highlight, you have enough room in the color pallete to invest some nice, bright blues for her wings. Harmonic enough to the greens to seem connected, but different enough to pop.

The rest i didn't put a lot thought into, ill admit. I wanted to make her boots beefier in their silhuoette, and i think having these semi-transparent legwarmer looking things would add a nice bit of secondary motion to her step. Trailing after her a little bit, bouncing when she stomps her foot down, and so on and so on. Aisha is sporty, competitive and loves dancing, so I wanted something sleek enough that it wouldn't slow her down, and flowy enough that it would make for good follow-through animations.

The wings are where i put most of the water theme. Dragonfly-wing shaped, because again, PONDS!!! and slightly curved downward to look like cresting waves. Plus, the water coustics to serve as the dividers between those individual fragments in insect wings.

Is this a design that would fit into a winx club reboot? Probably not.

BUT! Is it a design that doesnt make me think of chorine-poisoned swimming pools? fuck yea

[valdevia]

i’m very curious about the biology/biochemistry of Xipe Totec/Terry. how comparable are their cells and biochemical pathways to life on earth? would we even be able to recognize the same macromolecules like proteins and lipids or is it a totally different system altogether?

This is just my headcanon and not critical to the Xipe Totec series, but I like to think the original member of the Terry species (henceforth Grandterry) grew up in a very different planet with different evolutionary pressures.

Biochemistry of Terry

Chemically, it would use a lot of the same building blocks we do (and which we know to be fairly common throughout the universe). Sugars and their polymers, lipids, possibly something like proteins and DNA though ordered in different ways and with distinct mechanisms. Scientists may recognise the building blocks it uses, but they would need generations to begin to understand how it functions. Which is why people claiming “just develop a virus that kills it duh” are woefully mistaken!

Cellular Biology of Terry

Cellularly, to form something like a planet-wide superorganism, Grandterry would need a different way of forming multicellular organisms. Probably something similar to siphonophores, where multiple organisms combine and differentiate gaining different functions and eventually coalescing into different distributed organs. As it reaches a certain size it could also gain higher functions like a more integrated nervous tissue that could roughly coordinate the entire superorganism. This would be the result of many generations of evolution as fully planetary beings, learning to navigate through space and find new suitable planets.

Grandterry's Home

From these biological observations, we can venture a guess at the original planet where the ancestor Grandterry evolved (and eventually took over). It would probably have very stable and relatively unchanging conditions, favouring asexual reproduction. It would orbit a hot star (white or blue) that mostly emits in the higher ends of the light spectrum. That's why, instead of using a green pigment like chlorophyll to get energy from stars, it uses a red pigment derived from iron. This is why it needs to “eat” (AKA collide with) asteroids to replenish its iron supply.

These are just some quick nerdy thoughts, not quite relevant to the series where Earth becomes a Terryling, but it's still things I like to consider! I'm no expert on any of these topics, so I invite anyone who knows more than me to offer their thoughts!

[systematic-breakdown]

Simply Plural & Solo Server Organization Assistance

I noticed another uptick in systems requesting help organizing their simply plural. So that's what this post is. Featuring how we organize our system server on Revolt/Discord because it's safer for us than downloading an explicitly system-focused app. We don't talk about aesthetic or whatever since our Simply Plural is a wreck. If you're just looking for aesthetic inspiration sorry but you should go elsewhere. Also we're in the middle of remodeling so ignore the mess. Pictures and stuff below.

Ok I'm gonna start with Simply Plural.

We started by organizing based on system. Side systems aren't included in the main system category cuz why would they be.

The "Update" section has profiles that Anna or another archivist/manager wants to look at and profiles that alters haven't added to since making it.

Here's the inside of the main systems folder

"Age" is organized like this

"Littles" being 0-9, "Middles" being 10-12, "Teens" being 13-19, and "Adults" being 20+. Regressors can be any age but some of them asked for a section so they got one. We only really use the specific ages for parts who are stuck or who jump. Updating every alter who ages when they do is hard and not worth it when they can just tell us their age in the designated custom field.

"Extra" just has sections for dormant parts, integrated parts, and who the integrated parts went to. If we know who integrated into who, we have a custom field for specificity.

"Families & Special Groups" is for parts who are family members and parts who split off at the same time and are still together. The groups are usually in their own little bubble but there's no discernible effect on memories and memory sharing so we don't count them as a sub or side system.

"Formation Status" has 3 sub-sections for fragments, "in-betweens", and formed.

"Gender" has subsections for feminine alignment, masculine alignment, queer/GNC, and gender hoarders. Queer/GNC has subsections for any singular gender identity parts have listed that aren't exclusively feminine or masculine (e.g. nonbinary, agender, genderqueer, pangender). We tried to restrict it to "at least 3 parts have to experience this for it to be an official subsection" but we're pretty lenient about that. It gives parts trying to discover who they are or build themselves a little ground work at least.

"Interaction Status" has these subsections

You can probably figure that out on your own.

"Location" has subsections for various parts of our headspace where parts stay when they're not fronting.

Nutty added the "Name" section. He likes to alphabetize things and I guess our Simply Plural is no exception.

"Orientation" has subsections for romantic orientation, sexual orientation, and a section called "double down" which just means both orientations are the same (e.g. being biromantic and bisexual, being heteromantic and heterosexual). I think this is a messy way of doing this section, but I was outvoted.

"Preferred Language" has subsections for all the languages we or other parts know, knew, or have learned. We aren't fluent in much other than English, but there are parts who know a lot more than others in certain languages and that's really what this section is for.

"Religion" has more subsections than I thought but the division makes sense. Anyway you probably won't need to include this section unless parts have very different views on religion.

"Role" has a ton of subsections. Anna or whoever organized it tried narrowing it down. So "protectors" has subsections for aggressive, emotional, physical, preventative, sexual, social, and verbal. You probably won't need all that, but if it feels better having subsections for your subsections instead of putting specifics in your custom fields, to each their own. Lemme know if you guys want some role/function examples and how they operate in our system.

"Silly Groups" has subsections for silly groups. "Green Gang" consists of parts who have all set their profile color as green. "Freaks and Creeps" has parts who have a shared interest in supernatural and paranormal entities. I'm in "Gamers Anonymous" and we talk about video games and make fun of cishet CoD players. It's been really fun and Dr. Collins thinks it helps with integration and connection or something. So make silly groups. It's worth it I promise.

"Species" is for species. We got subsections for dead alters (like ghosts and Dacir and stuff), humans, nonhumans, objects, shapeshifters, voiders, and alters who don't know or don't feel like either. "Nonhumans" has subsections for different animals and anthros who identify as nonhuman.

"Subsystems" have subsystems. There aren't sections for roles since the roles are already established in other sections, but if the subsystem has roles specific to that subsystem, maybe put those roles in that section. That was a lot of S words. My bad.

Side systems have their own roles because they're not a part of the main system and it would be bad if the managers confused them and marked them dormant. But there's a similar process I think. We don't really have access to them so it's hard to tell if they even know about this stuff, but a couple of the side systems seem to have updated their profiles and groups so that's promising.

And here's how we do our Revolt.

We switched to Revolt after Discord announced their plan to switch from the current model - which is cool and good - to the stupid model - which is stupid and bad. Enshittification takes a while but so does transferring all of our stuff so at least we'll be ahead of it. Anyway Revolt is exactly like Discord but without the subscription and paid stuff so if you're using Discord this tutorial can still be helpful.

We have a server for the main system and servers for sub and side systems. Side systems are harder to communicate with — especially since there are presumably very few alters in the known side systems that know about this stuff (and care enough to look) — but this has made it way easier.

Anna started by putting the "Sysfo & General" category at the top. She thought it'd be easier for newbies if what they needed to see was where they opened up. I agree with this thought process.

"Read Me" is her introducing herself, introducing the server, and outlining the rules. Pretty simple - don't snoop, be respectful of boundaries and triggers, date and add context to body/irl pics, stuff like that.

"Roles" is describing alter roles and functions. Has basic roles like host, persecutor, gatekeeper and more system-specific roles like archivist, mimic, filters, and more.

"Innerworld Mapping" has pictures but it's more writing than I expected. Names places, puts pictures that relate to those places, and describes the layers and connections. A lot of fakes ("NPCs"?) listed there too which is nice when I go to clean out our Simply Plural. Parts get confused sometimes. I don't blame them. Fakes are confusing.

"Accounts" is where we keep account information. We put emails and usernames in without censoring but coded passwords so the only place we have those fully written out is in our real life journal.

"Recipes" is self explanatory.

"Body Pictures" is where we put pictures that are taken of our body. The rule for that section is that you're only supposed to put body pictures in there if multiple parts are fronting or if whoever's putting the pic in doesn't know who the fronter was. Other than that, Anna said that she wants the body pictures that specific parts take should go in their "Pictures" channel.

"Memes" section is for memes that we relate to but are specifically about our disorders or symptoms. "DID Pics" is for pictures that we relate to as a system but they aren't memes. Pretty dark place. I try to avoid it but I noticed some of the traumaholders really like it. I think that's concerning but it's none of my business.

"Shared Journal" is for communication or general logging.

"Example" category is a placeholder for the parts name. For dormant or integrated parts, we do this

Here's what Anna wrote for the example "Info" section

"Faceclaims" is self explanatory. "Front Tells" is self explanatory. "Triggers/Draws" are separated by message but are kept in the same channel.

Here's what she said about "Pictures" and "Videos"

Here's what she said about "Links"

And here's what she said about "Journal"

That's all from me if you have questions, need more advice, wanna check out our custom fields, or anything else leave it in the comments, mailbox, or reblogs and we'll get back to you 👍

dividers from

and

[atamascolily]

So was anyone going to tell me they put the "Prologue in Heaven" sequence at the beginning of Magia Exedra (though after the CGI remake of the Homura vs. Walpurgisnacht battle from episode 1 and the Exedra OP) or did I just have to watch the video myself? Definitely did not have that on my bingo card.

The runes say "Magia Exedra" and the central logo is a star (aka the Memspark macguffins, which I cannot say with a straight face) and the moth/astrolabe wings of Infinite Iroha. So she's definitely involved in this somehow.

The lighthouse and a new mandala, because of all the cosmic worldbuilding symbolism. And then they do the projector thing, just like the beginning of the anime, before the frame narrative kicks in.

I keep seeing lots of speculation about Namae's true identity, but the whole point of the character is that she's literally a blank slate onto which the players can project themselves as well as taking on the forms of established characters to fight the battle sequences. The whole "you can find your true identity" thing is a great premise, but as soon as it's realized, the story ends (or at least has to find something else to do), so I don't expect resolution any time soon since presumably the game is going to go on for as long as possible.

Also, because the character is so nondescript, I have a hard time caring about this particular plot point, so to be honest, I'm fine with leaving it a mystery.

This guy, on the other hand...

Can you tell me what the hell your deal is, then? Who is your god? What master do you serve? ... No? Didn't think so.

Green Kyubey has a great personality, which is important because Namae has very little to work off of, so he's got to do all the heavy lifting in this partnership. He's literally an emotional support Incubator, which I find hilarious. I've seen theorizing that the lack of rings = ability to feel emotions, and while the sample size is limited (Kyubey, Mokyuu/Little Kyubey from Magia Record, and now this one), it certainly sounds plausible.

Green Kyubey's dialogue also implies he was created specifically for his current job as guardian of the lighthouse (by whom? Well, probably Madokami and Infinite Iroha), so I don't think there's going to be a dark plot twist where he turns out to be evil, actually. I mean, that could be a lot of fun, but I don't think that's where the game devs are going with it--the whole point of Magia Record was to make a lighter and softer version of Madoka Magica and go on indefinitely, and I think Exedra is going to continue with that. I also don't think he's secretly a character we already know, but they pulled that twist in Magia Record, so who knows.

Narratively, Green Kyubey's function is to guide and instruct the player, so while I'm very curious what his deal is, I suspect that backstory is also unlikely to be addressed for a while as the game seems hell-bent on recreating every single major Madoka Magica storyline in the franchise in CGI cut scenes/visual novel remakes.

Thus far, all of the stuff I've watched so far outside of the Namae-Green Kyubey interactions has been pretty derivative. Even the "Prologue in Heaven" segment above comes off as copying something that already existed rather than organic or as a homage. I mean, I'd love to be wrong, but given the game's fundamental premise is "revisiting the memories/experiences of every story we've already done", I'm not holding my breath.

I also suspect that while WnK's plot will inevitably get an event/level in Exedra, I don't think the two are connected much in terms of story outside of that. The two works serve two fundamentally different purposes, and Exedra's is to be a perpetual story machine and go on forever. I also don't think the creators would drop any hints/spoilers for WnK's plot by putting them in the backstory/premise of Exedra. But I guess we'll see.

Suffice to say, there's no shortage of material, but my primary interest is in the new stuff, so until we get to some original content, I'll probably tune out. But the image of the lighthouse in the void speaks to me on a deep emotional level and I would love to know more about it.

It's such a great image! Fingers crossed they do something interesting with it!

[beigetiger]

A little bit to the side of what I usually post, but I've been massively overthinking the culture surrounding plague walking as of late. Walk with me for a minute or five. Or ten.

Obviously we know very little about it, and what little we do know is mostly government propaganda and/or Jawbone being not-very legitimate. But I've been thinking about the possible internal and external culture.

Internally, there's a lot of pretty easily graspable stuff to talk about. Plague walkers are made consensually, presumably anyone who is unwilling dies. It's unclear whether or not all plague walkers work for Secondary Green, which in turn leads to the question if the only way to survive the infection is to submit yourself to SG.

If they all work for Secondary Green, are they organized or semi-organized? Or do most of them just do their own thing until called upon? Is there a ranking system? Do plague walkers compete with each other for territory or is the QZ big enough that they can all go pretty much wherever? And, most especially, if they all know of the existence of Secondary Green, how do they stop that secret from getting out? It would take a lot of skill and organization from everyone involved to make so many people hide such a big secret from the public.

Also, do they work like a regular group/society in the way that they idolize more famous plague walkers like Jawbone? Do they interact with each other at all? I really want to know about what their social groups look like beyond just individual crews, because we've seen from JB and Tyneen's alliance that the pirates WILL team up and socialize if they want to.

And, last bit for the internal culture of plague walking, that being where they live. The footage from the plague walker segment implied that the plague walkers live outside of the QZ and break through the barrier put there by LAW whenever they want to go get stuff, which means that they must spend a lot of their time outside the QZ. Considering they're all bright green and stick out like a sore thumb in crowds, my best guess is that most or all of them live on the Uncharted Rim, where LAW is least likely to find them. In fact, this connects to a different theory I have that most criminals or undesirables live on the Uncharted Rim, including Lariat. If so, I'd be interested in seeing how much of the population there is made up of plague walkers.

And now, finally, for the external culture surrounding plague walking.

The Quarantine Zone covers about a fifth of the galaxy and has loads of untouched materials and technology and history within, and obviously the rest of the galaxy won't allow that to happen. Because of this, plague walkers fulfill a valuable role in society, which is putting themselves forward to extract things from the QZ and then sell it to everyone else on the black market. It is also a very dangerous and therefore rare job, so the people who do it make good money on it, hence why so many pirates are willing to try and take the risk of doing it.

But what I find interesting is the fact that most people don't like plague walkers. I'm not blaming them for that at all; the plague walkers we've seen are angry and aggressive and genuinely dangerous individuals to be around, but it's interesting to think about the fact that the act of plague walking is incredibly important for resource gathering and historical research and yet the plague walkers themselves are considered undesirables by literally everyone.

It also raises a few more questions. Who is it that they mainly sell to, rich people who sponsor specific gangs or anyone who's willing to pay? How do they sell their stuff?

And lastly, it seems that pirates outside of the QZ operate like traditional pirates by attacking ships and robbing people, while the plague walkers seem to be pirates more in the sense of digital pirates nowadays; they perform a function that the government hates but that adds to society as a whole.

It's all very fun to think about, I wish we knew more. My brain is buzzing just thinking about the potential.

[forerussake]

Many-Coated Mayhem #1

(or, how many different fucking coats does Wu Xie own?)

So we all liked Tibetan Sea Flower, I know we did, but DID YOU ALL PROPERLY ENJOY THE MANY COATS IN THIS SHOW?

Because I sure did. When Wu Xie wore 6 different coats in the first 4 episodes I'm afraid it did something to my brain, and the result was me cataloguing every coat the man wears in all 32 episodes of this show. (Discounting his baby self in episode 1 I guess, bc I was lazy.) I'm afraid I have missed many an important piece of dialogue because I was too distracted squealing over a new coat appearance.

Honestly with how the show started I expected the final count (18) to be higher, but I guess that's what happens when your MC spends three quarters of the show in the same underground spaces. (Wu Xie at least had the good sense to not bring any unneeded extra coats on those trips. Good for him.)

If nothing else, this coat counting adventure once more provides proof for Wu Xie's love of layering the fuck up, which, in the climate most of this show is set in, is actually a smart decision.

Anyway, I counted all the coats, and now you have to deal with it. Note that I watched the show at 720p, so my screenshots are... functional at best.

Coats 1 & 2

This is a set comprised of a sand-coloured/light brown (depending on the lighting and colouring of the episode) overcoat + a fleece undercoat/hoodie type situation. He wears this when he goes to Dejia in episode 2.

This is a nice set to start with. The overcoat has many pockets and a hood with one of those little flaps to keep the rain out of your face. The fleece undercoat has a zipper that only goes half the way down, which may lead some of you to ask "but Eru, is that still a coat?" And yes. Yes it is to me. I have suffered too long at the hands of the popular rich kids in school wearing their Napapijri coats that only zip half the way down to not call this one a coat too.

This set is in fact so nice that Wu Xie decides to wear it again in episode 31, when he and Pangzi go back to the Spiritual Retreat.

This makes it it the only coat set that is worn twice! (Discounting, I guess, technically, number 12, but we'll get to that.)

Also a shot where he only wears the undercoat, so you can properly appreciate it:

I like this bit of coat continuity. The outfit Wu Xie starts this adventure in is also the one in which he ends it. ✨symbolism✨

Coats 3 & 4

This is a set made for colder climates, which at the time I thought made sense for the trip to Mosang and the Retreat in episode 2, until Wu Xie decided to wear coats 1 & 2 there as well in episode 31... Ah well... This set is comprised of a nice brown undercoat and a very fetching long blue wintery overcoat.

The overcoat is puffy but functional and comfortable. It is a dark blue on the outside, but the lining on the inside is green. Here's a shot for you to properly appreciate the blue colour though:

Isn't that gorgeous? Especially in contrast with his sand-coloured backpack. In hindsight I could've probably counted those too, because he uses at least 3 different ones that I can remember over the course of this show.

The brown undercoat is nice too. it has a collar that can be zipped up pretty high for extra insulation, and some (what I assume to be) velcro straps to tighten the sleeves around the wrists.

This is probably my favourite set of coats he wears in the entire show, which is a crying shame because after Zhang Haike kills him in it in episode 3 (or does he?) he never wears it again.

Coats 5 & 6

I don't know if Wu Xie's entire backpack for trips like these is just filled to the brim with coats, or if he gets Wang Meng to send him more coats by mail whenever he decides he wants a different one... Honestly, neither is a reassuring answer. Poor backpack. Poor Wang Meng. Wu Xie, please don't forget to bring a water bottle on your tomb adventures.

Anyway, coats 5 and 6 form the set Wu Xie changes into after the whole fiasco with the heads and the not-actually-dying in episode 4. It's comprised of a blue and grey undercoat that he starts out wearing on its own but is later supplemented with a thiqq puffy green-ish grey wintercoat.

As you can see, the undercoat has zippers in various places that I am not entirely sure are practical places for pockets.

The overcoat he wears for the first time during the bug hallucination sequence in episode 6, and I was briefly convinced that coat itself was a hallicination too that died a valiant death in the battle against the bugs, but then it showed up again afterwards.

Not visible in these shots is that it is a relatively short wintercoat that only about reaches down to his hips. Regardless, it must be soft in its floofiness, because clearly Pangzi likes to pet it (and his boyfriend who is wearing it.)

Coat 7

This is a white coat that is such pristine white Xiao Hua could've worn it. Underneath it he wears a funky little hoodie that I really can't get away with calling an undercoat, because it just isn't. It's a hoodie.

Wu Xie changes into this white coat halfway through the meeting with the Zhang siblings and Feng and his crew of mercenaries in episode 7, for no apparent reason. Maybe he senses that they will be leaving soon and decides he wants to be cold in the meantime.

He wears this coat during his and Pangzi's daring not-escape attempt, and then at the Zhang's base of operations in Dejia in episode 10 and onwards. (Sorry imaginary Xiaoge I almost cropped you out there. You have a nice coat too, but neither of you can beat Pangzi's coat above. He is the coat king.)

This coat has a layer of soft grey lining that confused me for a little while. At first I couldn't quite tell whether it was a separate piece of clothing or just part of the coat, but I think it's the second.

According to this screenshow from episode 21, this coat is apparently from a Korean brand called Kolon Sports.

...Do with that information what you want.

Coat 8

This is a simple black raincoat that appears in episode 9.

Wu Xie has apparently brought this coat all the way up the mountain in his backpack with the single purpose of exchanging it for Xiaoge's coat on the statue that he couldn't have known would be there... He has never worn it in this show. No one will wear it ever again.

Coats 9 & 10

This is the set he wears for the entirety of the Nilaisi tomb adventure starting in episode 11. It's comprised of a denim undercoat/hoodie thingy and a sand-coloured weirdly textured overcoat that I can't believe actually looks good on him.

The undercoat only zips (or velcros?) part of the way down, and he never closes the overcoat for what I assume to be fashion reasons. In a tomb. This entire outfit was very fashion-over-function, what with the black chunky sneakers he wears in place of a good old pair of hiking boots. IN A TOMB.

Coat 11

This is the simple blue-ish raincoat Wu Xie wears to party with the Zhangs in their Dejia HQ in episode 17.

This coat has reflective strips on the sleeves, and he wears it over a gorgeous blue knit jumper. He promptly gets stabbed in this outfit, so we never see either of these clothing items again, and for all that it's a nice coat that I would've liked to borrow from him, it's probably better that he never wears it again, because he also has the most intense mental breakdown in it that any on screen Wu Xie has ever had:

I still can't believe they actually got away with filming the thing that comes after this shot.

Anyway, this scene paves the way for some more ✨symbolism✨in the form of:

Coat 12

Xiaoge's coat. The one Wu Xie nabbed off the statue. We never get shown how that coat ended up draped over the statue, but I assume Xiaoge must've left it there at some point, for some reason. (Did he have a Wang Meng to air-mail him a different coat afterwards too? Probably not. He must've been cold on the hike back down the mountain.)

This is the point at which I realized my coat obsession just became plot-relevant and consequently went even more nuts about it.

It's a very simple blue raincoat that fits him decently, for all that he and Xiaoge probably should've worn different sizes. The sleeves are a bit short on him maybe, which amuses me. Wu Xie truly out there living up to his most lanky boy potential! <333

For some reason it's a different coat than the one imaginary Xiaoge wore in episode 10, because that would have been too much symbolism I guess. But I gotta give NPSS credit for actually setting this up and following through on it. Kudos for achieveing a writer's bare minimum!

Coat 13

This is the long grey wintercoat Wu Xie wears from episode 21 onwards, when they go up the snowy mountain to the Yinshaluo shrine, the Second Bronze Door and the Zanghai Flower field.

It's floofy and nice and just alround a good wintercoat, and he wears this lovely warm jumper underneath it.

Oh yeah, what else did episode 21 teach us? Keep you plot-relevant coats on!

Coats 14 & 15

I'm putting these together because they are not coats in the stictest sense, but, as my good friend @programmedradly put it: "It keeps him warm and looks very fetching." These are the nice blue robes he is given by the Yinshaluo people after they save him and the others from the storm in episode 28 and 29.

The first set is a lighter blue with a brown belt and some nice floof along the bottom. (Note also Feng sitting there like the high fashion model (and apparently horse whisperer) he is.)

Meanwhile the second set is more of a warrior get-up. It's a darker blue with extra layers and protective parts at the elbows and shoulders.

I take it back, this is my favourite "coat" he wears in the show. It's beautiful and he looks great in it and it's probably the reason he doesn't die from grenade-blast-to-the-face #363 so yay!

Coat 16

The black raincoat he wears when he and Pangzi go to pick up Xiaoge from horrifically traumatic monster daycare or whatever I don't know the lore the Bronze Door in episode 32.

He wears a grey hoodie underneath it, and some sort of tactical vest over it that might just be part of the coat. Fashion!

Maybe the fashion is why he and Pangzi forgot to take their backpacks with them when they dramatically walked off towards the outside world with Xiaoge at the end of this scene.

Coat 17

Coat 17 I'm not entirely sure is a coat but i'm counting it anyway. It looks like a shirt but it's more of a jacket. The fabric is thicker than a shirt would be anyway. He wears this when the Iron Triangle arrive in Yucun in episode 32.

I'm counting this one mostly to have an excuse to show you Wu Xie's ridiculous pants. Is that black (faux) leather???? Silly man.

Coat 18

The last one! It's this little wispy thin raincoat thingy he wears when Xiaoge asks him and Pangzi to go for a hike in the mountains around Yucun in episode 32. I had a different screenshot of it that was taken two seconds before this one when Xiaoge was still in the frame, but I thought his pretty face would be too distracting, and this is a coat post after all!

Now I hear you thinking "but Eru how is this one a coat and not just a shirt?" Well you see, when you look at it closely you can tell that there's elastic in the hem at the bottom, with one of those little plastic nodules that can be used to tighten it, and the fabric is a little shiny. Classic rain coat features! (Even though it doesn't have a hood, so it's also a classic case of fashion over function, but we're used to that with Wu Xie occasionally. Looking at you there, chunky sneakers he wears in the Nilaise tomb...)

Anyway, if you've made it this far I applaud you! That's all the coats adult Wu Xie wears in Tibetan Sea Flower... or is it?

You may have noticed this post is is numbered #1... Alas I cannot put more screenshots in this post, so stay stuned for a second Coat Post!!

If you're wondering how I'm still sane after watching this show through this lens instead of literally any other one. I am in fact not.

[adobe-outdesign]

have you been asked to review the Tapu pokemon yet?

As a whole, I really like the Tapus. It's neat to have one guardian per Alolan island, and the designs themselves are well thought out. I really like how each one has a set of white triangular markings with a darker border, which allows each one of them to be very distinctive with unique designs and palettes while also making sure all three look like they belong together in a group. This is also enhanced by them carrying tiki-inspired masks, with each one being based on a different animal that also influences the creature itself to some degree. Good stuff.

Thematically, the Tapus are also based off of the four main Hawaiian gods (Koko, Lele, Bulu, and Fini seem to be based off of Kūkaʻilimoku, Kāne, Lono, and Kanaloa respectively). I'm obviously not Hawaiian so I don't feel qualified to judge these guys on accuracy, though it seems like Tapu Koko is the most on-point with the feathered look while Tapu Fini is the least, having little to do with the deity it's based off of aside from a vague connection to the ocean.

Regardless, all of these designs are distinct and do a good job standing out from other legendaries, as well as tying back into their region. There was clearly a lot of thought that went into them in terms of both functionality and visual aesthetics.

Tapu Koko is my personal favorite of the bunch. Vaguely based off a rooster (side note: I'm amazed we don't have a rooster 'mon yet. I guess Blaziken counts but it's only a rooster in the vaguest sense of the word), it sports feathers, a beak-like structure on its face, and a mask that it forms a beak with using its pincer-like hands. Really neat! I also like the mohawk becomes the rooster's comb when the mask is closed.

The orange and yellow palette is also nice, as it's very high-contrast and pops well against the black body. My only nitpicks would be that the two pairs of chest markings feel a bit too busy, as do the lines in the yellow part of the eye (though granted, they all have those). Otherwise, this is a very neat design.

I like Tapu Lele because it looks all cute and pretty and then it turns out it's an incredibly cruel nature deity that does not care about the suffering it causes. It and Beautifly should be friends.

Anyway, Tapu Lele is meant to resemble a butterfly head, with the hair curls becoming antennae and a tentacle emerging from the bottom that resembles a proboscis, along with two wing-like structures on the back. I don't think it reads quite as clearly as some of the others, and I do wish the body took after its animal more (the creature itself having no insect-like traits, compared to the other Tapus where you can see the animal influence outside of the masks), but it's still neat.

Tapu Bulu probably resembles its animal the most in terms of body shape, having a bull's signature nose piercing and hooves, as well as horns. Most interesting is the long tail, which not only matches the hooves but becomes the bull's nose ring when the mask closes.

The colors are nice and high-contrast, but I do wish it had been green instead of red. Koko is yellow and orange, Lele is pink and red, and Fini is purple and blue. Having Bulu be red and gold feels too similar to Lele, even if it fits the angry bull idea. It also would've made sense from a typing perspective, as Tapu Bulu is the grass-type of the group (even the horns kind of look like pencils/wood).

Otherwise I don't have any real complaints, outside of the face markings feeling a bit busy, as you have the nose, ring, and three different eye markings. I feel like they could've easily dropped the white eye markings and not lost anything.

And finally, Tapu Fini is probably my least favorite of the group, though it's still a good design. I like the body shape (kind of siren-like, though I don't know if that was intentional) with fin-shaped accents in the hair, on the hands, and on the body.

When it closes its mask it resembles a swordfish of sorts, with the hair strands becoming the side fins and the hair fin slotting into the mask's purple ridge to form a dorsal fin. Something about the fish itself feels a little off though; maybe it's just that it lacks a tail fin, or maybe it just looks a bit too plain compared to the others because it's meant to be viewed more from the side. Still a pretty solid design all around though.

Anyway, overall, I think these guys are great. They're cohesive but distinct, have unique visuals and themes that set them apart from other legendaries, and designs that work from both a visual and mechanical standpoint. Good stuff.

[the-scrapyard]

Heyy, what packs would you reccomend the most for the sims, like your favorite ones?

oh boy this is a long one, strap in. i like a lot of different packs for a lot of different reasons, so i added some notes!

expansions:

city living (apartments, neighbor system is fun) cats and dogs (self-explanatory + i LOVE brindleton bay) seasons!!! (calendar system + scouts + weather = love of my life) cottage living (henford-on-bagley is BEAUTIFUL and the gameplay is so nice if you prefer something slower but equally as chaotic) growing together (essential to my gameplay + stay overs alone are such a cool feature + san sequoia my goat) for rent (love the rental system i can't live without it but DO NOT GET IT until they fix the broken saves issue!) life and death (ravenwood is gorg, if you play with occults this is an incredible pack to add to your game) businesses and hobbies (you can make a business out of virtually anything. it's so sims 3 ambitions coded)

game packs:

outdoor retreat (i'm a big camping fan and i love sending my sims on vacations) dine out (i can't function without this one. the restaurants are so buggy but i love it regardless) parenthood!!! (again, essential to gameplay if you play with families!)

stuff packs:

spooky stuff (great if you want an add-on to seasons, otherwise it's just cute for makeshift seasonal decorating!) kids room (all the items in this pack are SO CUTE and i love the voidcritter battle station) laundry day (I LOVE DOING LAUNDRY + great if you like ur sims doing menial tasks) paranormal (incredible build/buy, the haunted house system is so cool, reminds me of ts3 supernatural so +10 points for that) home chef hustle (honestly not crazy good, but i do like the new appliances and the food stands)

kits:

bust the dust (vacuuming yay! the dust system is so cute) little campers (another children + toddler kit that comes with super cute objects. the dollhouse WILL be used in every build) everyday clutter (self-explanatory + i love clutter) bathroom clutter (again, self-explanatory. also i love clutter!) basements treasures (this kit calls to me from my pc like the green goblin mask + have i told you i love clutter) greenhouse haven (great if you like gardening + the windows and doors are so so so good if you like making screened in porches) grunge revival (great if your game is lacking darker, grungier clothes!) urban homage (SO good. has a mix of cultural items + classic pieces, the overalls + jerseys + basketball shorts go triple platinum in my game) party essentials (well it is called party ESSENTIALS... so if you plan events often this is the one for you) artist studio (love the objects that come with this one and it's very useful if you tend to have artistically inclined sims!) restoration workshop (just did a live overview of this + the two other kits that came out with it on youtube so if you want a closer look at the objects check it out!!! but i LOVE the little restore feature and the appliances and objects are so good for older homes + garages!) kitchen clutter (yet another clutter kit... can you guess what i'm gonna say) golden years (if you play with elders this kit is SO GOOD. even if you don't play with elders, a lot of the items are super versatile and work for sims of other ages!)

creator kits:

sweet slumber party (the items in this are so cute i would buy it 60 times over) cozy kitsch (myshunosun is one of my all-time favorite creators and this kit is so versatile) comfy gamer (simsie outdid herself because this kit is one of my all time favs. the objects speak to a very niche part of the gaming community i love them)

[libra-stellium]

Natal Saturn Retrograde - Personal Observation

I'm currently reading Uranus: Freedom from the Known by Jeffrey Wolf Green! I'm on page 4 and I already have thoughts lol

Some things he said about having Saturn retrograde in the chart

A retrograde archetype is simply the need to withdraw, to retreat, to rebel from the status quo expectation of how that planetary behavior is meant to manifest from a societal point of view. This necessary rejection of the status quo via the retrograde principle accelerates the natural evolutionary pace. Because when you are withdrawing from the status quo you are arriving at your own unique and individual expression, essential individuality, of whatever planet or function is retrograde.

This is interesting bc I have Mercury, Saturn, Neptune and Uranus retrograde in my chart loll I do spend like 80% of my time thinking about my own behavior and other people's behavior and societal reasons for them. Definitely more than the people around me so I can see how that would accelerate evolution. I'm big on learning from other's mistakes lmao I also don't believe a lot of the same things as the people around me which can make me more withdrawn at times bc I know I'm the odd one in the room lol

Could we deduce that the Saturn retrograde person is going to be intrinsically oriented to rejecting, rebelling, withdrawing from, and questioning such social imprinting? The individual would come to define her or his own natural authority (Saturn), customs, regulations, norms, taboos, and ways of integrating into the culture that he or she is born into. When Saturn is retrograde the door is open and pointing to Uranus.

I wrote before how with Saturn 1H I basically raised myself when it came to my values and principles lol guess saturn retrograde played a part in that too! Idk when exactly it was to know what transit I was going through but within like the 2019-2021 time period I had a meltdown about my non existent kids feeling left out culturally bc I don't intend on abusing them omggg and like a lot of the Haitian comedy shit is about how the parents treat their kids so badly! I got over it lol bc obviously there are many other cultural aspects that are unrelated to that but it's funny how that was such a distressing thing for me! I'm also the odd one out of my catholic/christian family bc i'm pretty anti religion lol

The very nature of the individual's consciousness is intrinsically different.

All of this is screaming you're a weirdo to me lmfao but trueeee I always find myself in positions where I say something to people around me and they're like huh...never thought about it like that before

There is more of a sense of distance or detachment from the immediacy of one's family and culture, a sense that there is more to reality (Saturn) than is being focused upon by the family or culture.

I'm def the estranged family member lol the only person in my family that I talk to regularly is my aunt and she also lives in my building so! I come from a family that was very idek like the types to act like everyone gets along and are all happy together and having parties and dinners but then I realized that not only do they not know a lot about each other, they don't even like each other! Right now my aunt is trying to force this family dinner of just her and I with her brother that she talks to only when she reaches out (he doesn't ever remember her birthday after 62yrs) and my godmother's brother bc he just got divorced lol her thing is all "we don't act like a family!" and I'm like girl if I wasn't related with these people I wouldn't even be acquaintances with them lmao

Commonly, the Saturn retrograde is going to have a problem with one or both parents. In certain family situations this can be a problem and can create emotional distance from the offspring to such a parent. And, from an evolutionary point of view, necessarily so.

Yeah I don't talk to either of my parents lol no contact with my mother bc she's a narc and I just don't have a relationship with my father like he wasn't really around when I was younger but then I "met" him around 14ish and things were okayish but it wasn't real bc it was just my mother forcing things bc she wanted access to him again lol now he's just a follower on IG who likes my stories sometimes and we don't talk lmfao but I do see how stifled I was before getting away from my mother. There's a lot of mental blocks I had put in place just to deal with her and now I don't have them and it's sad bc now I see the same pattens between some of my other friends and their mothers but they're still in the "that's just how my mom is but we have a great relationship as long as i'm not [insert long list of conditions]" and I'm just like yikes!

-------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm also currently in my saturn return along with most of my friends and only one other friend has saturn retrograde and I feel like we're the only two on our saturn return journey who are idek on a straight course? Like we hit an obstacle we work through it and move forward with the lesson but it seems like the others are stuck on a hamster wheel like they have to get the same obstacle over and over and they still aren't getting it and when I talk to them they sound like they're about to take a step forward like yeah they can't live like this anymore they're gonna do this instead but then nothing happens nothing changes and we're back to the same issue omg idk if that's a thing or if it's just an observation of my friends and I lol

Bc of how mercury rx happens I had this idea that saturn rx would work the same way as in slowing me down and keeping me stuck in cycles longer than others but reading about how saturn rx acts more like uranus it does make more sense for me lol a lot of my growth starts by surprise and it triggers like a very quick spiral where I start connecting all the dots and then I'm like whoa....like when I first realized my mom was a narc I wasn't even looking for it lol I was looking for ways to implement better boundaries to help our relationship lmfaooo then i was basically spiraling for 6months every time she did something I was like omg that's literally a tactic and then I went no contact by literally blurting it out over the phone bc I got frustrated lol I shocked myself!

Wild stuff!

[ell-vellan]

A bunch of my random, non-story initial opinions of Veilguard, with the knowledge that I do and will love this game no matter what, because I need somewhere to put them all:

I kind of hate the color customization system?? I cannot figure out the brightness and saturation levels to make the colors I want. Am I just dumb?? What am I doing wrong here that all the blonde options look green

I do love the stylized look of the game, it's different from DAI but it has a unique flavor and the colors are very lush (for once in a DA game lol)

So far, rogue has been more fun for me than mage. Haven't tried warrior yet.

i wish we could have customized Inky's arm/prosthetic even a little

It's so cool that we get body tattoos and scars and we can customized which ones go where. Would have loved to be able to mix and match but I know we can't have everything (sigh).

It's pretty apparent as someone who has background with the games, but it would've been cool to have the tattoos labelled "Dalish," "Dwarven," "Lord of Fortune," "Crows," etc for story reasons (even though I'm sure it only matters to the small percent of us who are into the fanfic side of things lol)

Elven ears are huge again and we can't change that. lol it's whatever i guess

The thing about customizing heads based on 3 different heads is...hmm. It's difficult to get the hang of, but I'm glad that you can customize it so much? Still, it's been hard for me to figure out how to make that look good.

they let us check our character in different lighting and with different armor!! great idea

terrible idea: only 3 previous worldbuilding choices. I got spoiled to this so I was prepared. but what the heck was the point of the Keep? why did we waste our time with all of that if none of it was carrying over? Way to flush the previous 15 years of story down the drain. Who's the leader of Orlais and Ferelden? Who's Divine? Who got left in the Fade? Guess it doesn't matter at all! I'm okay that we don't know where our Hero of Ferelden is, it's been long enough in game that their part is done, but Hawke? boo.

At first I was so excited about the "random" name generator! But it's literally just like 15 pre-made names not sorted by race naming conventions that you cycle through. Could've been cooler. oh well I know most of their demographic just wants to kill things I guess

The elves look like dwarves to me for some reason? like they're stockier now, not lithe like DAI. Just takes some getting used to.

While I kind of miss the open world a tiny bit, just for the sake of feeling like we're truly exploring and less "point A to point B," it's also nice not to feel like i'm wasting hours of my time just walking through open nothingness and getting a million meaningless fetch quests

The voices are all so good

Rook's moves are cool, they're fun to play

Speaking of, why do we walk so slowly?! I'm sprinting 100 percent of the time.

Miss the search function for items, even the highlight/glimmer is faint enough with the lighting of the maps I missed a bunch of stuff the first ten minutes

I wish we had a teensy bit more unique dialogues/reactions based on our background/race, so far it's been quite a small amount

I'm undecided on the whole...armor system thing

the maps are gorgeous

I love how many settings we can customize, it's great. I don't care about combat and I can make that part so much less annoying and save myself a bunch of time spamming attacks to get back to the story, which is what I care about, lol

Solas is so hot like this. wow

[funfgafactsweekly]

Goood morning! It's time for another episode of Fun FGA Facts! Woohoo!

Oh?

... the camera? Umm... it's... it's broken! Yeah! I, uh. I broke it. It's gone. Threw it away. Don't worry about that though! It's not like you come here to look at me! And if you do, please don't admit it to me!

Anyway! I've been authorized to release a small portion of the chapter "One Big, Happy Family" that wound up being unused! Isn't that stellar? Yeah! It's great!

Oh, wait, I was supposed to read a disclaimer- hold on, lemme open it up-

01010110 01001001 01010010 01010101 01010011 00100000 01010110 01001001 01010010 01010101 01010011 00100000 01010110 01001001 01010010 01010101 01010011 00100000 01010110 01001001 01010010 01010101 01010011 00100000 01010110 01001001 01010010 01010101 01010011 00100000 01010110 01001001 01010010 01010101 01010011 00100000

Aaah! Sorry, didn't mean to turn that on- that's my sensor malfunctioning, sorry for the loud noise-

01010110 01001001 01010010 01010101 01010011 00100000

01010110 01001001 01010010 01010101 01010011 0010-

Ahem! Got it. Here's the disclaimer...

"Just so you guys know, the following description of the function of Van's Stand is no longer canon! It's actually the main reason this scene got removed in the first place. I would say that the scene is non-canon but most of it is canon, it's just a few parts that got scrapped. I would have removed them but I'm too lazy. My bad."

"Anyway, the first scene would have taken place after Boss acknowledges April's hair change. The second one would have taken place after the chapter ends."

Okay! Without further ado, here's the segment!

---

Sammy falls onto Van’s bed with an oof. He picks his head up, and looks around. 

The walls are dark green, with white paneling that’s clearly kept very clean. Shelves line the walls. Some are full of notebooks of various sizes, others with large books with names like “Horde of The Heiress of Cacophonia” and “Armageddon: Plight of The Dark Kingdom”, and others with tons and tons of hand-painted figurines resembling Van’s sketches. Van’s desk has a few figurines on it, awaiting painting. Van picks one up, squints, and starts whittling at it.

It’s so… normal. Sammy isn’t sure what else he thought Van’s room would look like, but… the way everyone else talked about him, you’d think he was an incapable slob or something. 

He sits up. 

Sammy: “Hey, Van… d’ya have a plan?” 

The unintended rhyme makes him laugh. Seeing this, Van smiles that same unsettling smile. 

Sammy: “A Van plan. Hahaha, that’s funny, isn’t it? I didn’t mean to do that.” 

Sammy: “Hahaha….” 

He looks behind him at the wall that the bed is against. Tons of photos, connected by clothesline wire and pins, hang there. Sammy recognizes a few faces. He takes one down. 

Sammy: “Whoa- this is Piano Guy from yesterday! And there’s Trish- and the gun guy! How’d you get these?”

Van writes something and shows it to him. 

April and I have been working hard too, you know. 

Sammy: “I always forget that you two had like, real jobs, before being with us.” 

Sometimes I do too.

He pauses. 

Not to say this is much better. But it’s steadier, I guess. 

Sammy: “Yeah… I’m happier here, too. But only because my other life was… yanno.” 

He shrugs. Van nods solemnly. I think it was like that for all of us. Or most of us, anyway. 

Sammy: “Most of us?” 

Boss is different. Van furrows his brows. I don’t believe for a second that he’s just some other unfortunate soul affected by Giovanna like the rest of us. His pencil snaps, and he digs around in his desk drawers for a new one. The new one is bright blue. Like Sammy’s eyes.

I think he fell from very high. Like in Revelations. It matches his name, doesn’t it?

Sammy twitches.

Sammy: “I- I’m not allowed to know his real name.” 

Mmhm. You know, the name we all know is not his real name, either. I looked everywhere, and no records of someone by that name existed until almost seven years ago. 

So… I think I’m free to tell you, if you want. Since it’s not actually his “real” name.

Sammy stares into the photo in his lap. Piano Guy- Fugo, or whatever- is outside of a train station, glaring at something just slightly outside of the frame. Electricity prickles every inch of Sammy’s body. He twitches. 

Obey, says Blues Traveler. 

Sammy: “I’m not allowed to know. I can’t get around that. If he doesn’t want me to know, there’s a good reason for it, there has to be.” 

But he’s horrible to you. He tried to hurt you earlier, and he made you take the blame for it. 

Sammy: “I deserved it.” 

He clenches his twitching hands.

Sammy: “Boss loves me, I know it. I can’t betray his trust.” 

Van shrugs and crosses out his previous messages, then, for good measure, throws the paper away and tears out a new sheet. 

Wanna see my figures? 

Sammy: “Shouldn’t we be planning?” 

They’re related, I promise. 

Sammy: “Okay then.” 

Van smiles. It’s not scary, this time. He selects a few figures from off the shelves, collects all of the figures from the desk, and lays them down in front of Sammy proudly. Sammy picks up one with bright blue eyes and black hair. 

It has cute little ringed jewelry all over it, and a small knife in its hand.  A familiar pendant hangs from its neck. Sammy glances down at himself, and then looks back at the figurine.

Sammy: “It’s… me.” 

Slightly unsettled at such a precise replica of himself, he examines the rest. April. Van. Per. Culto and his girl. Trish Una. The gunman. Piano Guy. There are a few other people too, but Sammy doesn’t recognize them. Boss isn’t there, though. Maybe he’s not done yet? 

Sammy glances around at the unfinished figures, but nothing even remotely resembles Boss. He runs his finger over his miniature self’s knife. 

Sammy: “I mean- they’re great! Did you use the photos to make these?” 

Van nods. 

Sammy: “Sick! Really, this is freaking sick!” 

Sammy: “But… aren’t we missing some people?” 

He sets his figurine down next to April’s, and examines them all again to see if maybe he missed Boss somehow. Nope, he’s still not there.

Giovanna, yes. 

Oh. Yeah, him too.

April and I have never been able to catch him out and about. She’s starting to think he never leaves their headquarters. 

Sammy rolls Piano Guy’s figure around in his hands. 

Sammy: “Weird.” 

Van sets his paper and pencil aside, and replaces them with what looks like a game board of some kind. I’ve been messing with my Stand, and I think I finally understand it.

Come on, help me line up the figures. 

Sammy nods, and at Van’s prompting, places them wherever on the board. Van nods approvingly. He then pretends to summon his Stand, and picks up one of the enemy pieces and makes it move around as though it was talking. Van rolls a 20-sided die, and it lands on 10. Van shakes his head.

Sorry, he writes, it’s hard to explain how a ten would work. 

Instead of rerolling, he moves the die so that it says ‘1’. Then, he takes the figurine and makes it fall over and roll, hitting its head on some rocks and stuff, before finally laying still. 

Sammy: “...so… your Stand is that die? And if it rolls a low number, the movement is bad?” 

Have you ever played a tabletop RPG? 

Sammy: “Uh, sorry, no.” 

Van shrugs. No worries. I figured you hadn’t, which is why I didn’t lead with that. 

My Stand creates a “dungeon” kind of like this, on which the “players” have to move. The order is restricted by “initiative”, which is a value each player rolls. People with higher initiative move first. And they have to tell the Game Master- the Stand, I think- what they want to do. The Game Master tells them what they have to roll on the die to get the best possible result, and they roll. If it’s lower, they fail, in some way. If it’s that number or higher, they succeed and move as desired. Does that make sense? 

Sammy: “I- I think so. But how are we going to get all of those guys onto our, uh, gameboard?” 

That’s where you come in. You and I will go to a crowded event, and you’ll use Blues Traveler to possess a bunch of people. No doubt Giovanna will send his goons to stop us… 

And you’ll lure them into our dungeon.

Sammy: “Okay. Sounds like a plan, Van.” 

Sammy: “Haha, it rhymed! Did you see that?”

---

Sammy wakes up on the cot again. Someone is running their hands through his hair. 

Sammy: “Teresa…?” 

Boss: “Sammy… you’ve made me very happy today.” 

Sammy feels ill. He doesn’t know why. Electricity prickles him again, and he has no choice but to obey. His mouth twitches, and twitches, and breaks into a smile. 

Sammy: “Hahaha… haha. That’s- great.” 

It sounds- and feels- stilted and wrong. As though Sammy is back in that nightmare. But it’s not possible, is it? He forces his eyes open. 

Boss smiles down at him, and his teeth are sharp.

Boss: “Isn’t it? Now everything will be as it should be.” 

Sammy sits up, and immediately feels so dizzy he has to lay back down. Boss eases him down onto the thin pillow, and then his hand is back in his hair. In. Out. In. Out. Sammy’s breath catches in his throat, and he chokes out a gasp. 

Boss: “Shh, shh. Sleep, Sammy. We’ll work more tomorrow.” 

Sammy doesn’t need to be told twice.

---

Wow! What a cool little tidbit! Now, um- sorry, what was that?

Another post? I haven't made a post since last week! Well, actually, the profiles- well, I know I sure didn't make a post yesterday!

...what is that?

...

...um. Wow. That's...

Sorry about that, everyone! It's gone now, no worries! Thanks for letting me know! ^_^ See you next week!

[thecandywrites]

Monster March 2025 Day 20- Angel

Part 2. Mrs. Hebriel Kriestiel.

Again, huge inspiration from Lethal Cosmetics, and thier amazing eyeshadows. Because again, in a world of modern "monsters" there would be specialists for the various kinds of beings that would cohabit with us, and some, catering to a certain kind of clientelle. And I know, if I was lucky enough to have wings to fly, I would not only want them to be functional, but very pretty too. And of course, some Bad Omens sprinkles on top for flair. Because yes, I know it's cliche at this point, a demon married to an angel and blah, blah, blah. But I'm just tickled that I could quintessentially make this a two parter and have each part centered around the subject that fits the prompt.

Huge thanks to @borealwrites for thier Monster March 2025 Prompt List.

Monster March 2025- Day 20- Angel

Wings Unlimited, 

Part 2 Mrs. Hebriel Kriestiel 

“Mrs. Kriestiel?” The technician, Alessandra asked as she smiled at Hebriel who practically leapt from her seat to quickly walk over to her. 

“So, I did it!” Hebriel quietly squealed in delight. 

“Did what?” Alessandra asked curiously. 

“I got Belriun to get something other than Dark Matter.” Hebriel tried to keep the volume of her voice down but her sheer excitement was unmistakable. 

“So what did he get? Stargaze?” Alessandra guessed. 

“Nope, Eclipse!” Hebriel nearly squealed in delight. 

“No way, really?” Alessandra asked in sheer shock. 

“Yeah, so, obviously, I want something to match in a way that most couples do but I don’t want like- an exact replica, but definitely Jade for sure. Maybe even Clover. Clover would be good. Otherwise my favorites were Antimatter, Supernova, Ceres, Parsec, Singularity, Opal, Fluorite and Genesis, but Belriune, urged me to get Opal on the Secondaries, but get Jade on the coverts, then top it all off with Singularity to tie it all together.” Hebriel rattled off. 

“Do you want to go with that, or would you like to give him a whirl with something else?” Alessandra asked as she brought Hebriel to her station. 

“Please, tell me what you were thinking, you’re the expert.” Hebriel invited. 

“Ok, so, if Mr. Kriestiel is getting Eclipse, that’s green with a deeper maroon-ish purple, obviously you want to play off of the green, but there are others that you didn’t list that would be a light version of Eclipse, that would give you those same greens and purples in flashes of color but obvious, a white base instead of a black one. But you would absolutely look like the perfect pair once you’re back together. Like totally, instagram worthy- couples goals hashtag.” Alessandra offered. 

“I trust you, do you whatever you feel would be best.” Hebriel offered. 

“Ok, so what I’m thinking is we go for more pigmented colors closer to your body, and then the farther out you go, the more sheer but yet the more intense the shifting colors would be, but still stay in those color families. But obviously, with an angelic and a feminine twist.” Alessandra offered. 

“Yes, exactly, just as long as there’s a Opal in there, a Jade and a Singularity in there somewhere, I’ll be happy.” Hebriel offered. 

“Ok, so let me show you some swatches of what I’m thinking of…” Alessandra offered before she took the classic white feathers that had the various colors of the different treatments to use as swatches for Hebriel to use with a mirror to see how that would look with her and her wings before they made a plan of action, which was mostly what Belriune had suggested, granted with a fun twist here and there but definitely, once Alessandra sent a message to Zach to make sure that the couple would “match” to a degree and to find that not only had Belriune had gotten Eclipse, but with Nebula on his coverts, that gave Alessandra more than enough to work with to turn Hebriel into a proper diva, practically her own goddess. And granted, it took twice as long as Belriune’s did, but that extra time ensured that Hebriel was over the moon and stars over her own transformation as she even used the pigments that they also sold as eyeshadow to redo just the lids of her eyes to really make her face just as beautiful as her wings. And when she exited the booth, nearly every guy with a pulse, who was also a client whistled lowly as she strutted past them as she giggled to hear so many of them ask their technicians if she was single or married, which only made her feel better about her choices to trust Alessandra before she checked out, granted, with all the extra pigments and all the extra time and techniques used, her bill was four times as much as Belriune’s was, but it was worth it. But now she feared if Belriune was going to like it or love it as much as she did. 

“His jaw will drop to the floor.” Gail tried to encourage when she saw Hebriel hesitate to leave the rescheduling desk to the waiting room again. 

“True.” Hebriel offered as her stomach reminded her that she should have had lunch an hour before it growled rather loudly. 

“Let’s just hope he doesn’t get a headache from them being too busy.” Hebriel breathed.

“If you two have been together for literal millenia, I’m sure he’d love you without any wings at all.” Gail encouraged. 

“Damn girl, I’ll bet you make every angel willing to fall from the skies to enter your personal heaven.” Another client as he came up behind her. 

“One was already more than enough.” Hebriel smiled politely before she stood taller and flipped her blonde hair to her back and then strutted out into the lobby to see Belriune half asleep. 

“Oh Darling?” Hebriel called out and that jolted Belriune awake and his eyes nearly popped out and his jaw did quite literally fall away. 

“Wow. Like, you’re always beautiful and gorgeous but wow! Just, you’re stunning and exquisite, I love this combination.” Belriune praised which restored Hebriel’s confidence. 

“Figures.” He muttered as he left which made Belriune pause and pull away from Hebriel to stare after the retreating form of the other angel who had been in back there with her. 

“You don’t think it’s too busy?” She asked with a wince.

“Babe, it’s you, your inner and outer beauty has always been dazzling and divine. You’re practically a goddess. And I am truly humbled to call you mine.” Belriune reassured her as he stood and kissed her softly yet soundly before the guy that had checked out behind her looked at them and scoffed. 

“Ignore him Dearest, let’s just get lunch.” Hebriel encouraged. 

“Did he say anything to you back there?” Belriune asked. 

“That just about every angel should fall from the skies to enjoy my “personal heaven”, whatever that would mean.” She repeated with an air of dismissal. 

“Yeah, he tried to flirt, very badly, at me. Obviously, he was not pleased when I shot him down and instead came out here to you.” Hebriel confessed.

“My Dearest Darling, what did he say?” He asked as he held her beautiful face in his warm hands. 

“Besides, I have you, and you are that all I have ever needed and will ever need either.” She reassured him. 

“Now, about those tacos…” She encouraged him by proudly taking his arm and having her escort them both out of there, looking better than ever.

[nikkiiiscute]

Frank Frankly's Character Analysis !TW! Metal Health, M4ss4cr3, death

Eddie got his analysis so of course his husband would have one! (Fun Fact! despite Wally being the main character, Frank shows up in 18 outta 53 images!) fun facts outta the way, HERE WE GOOOO!!!

He likes Honesty and Truth - quote from his bio "He enjoys being frank, even if it means being Frank" i love this quote on his bio and this is the main reason they're my kin.

2. Frank is an Asperger? - Although he is confirmed to be autistic by @partycoffin , his personality makes him an Asperger (My tito has Aspergers so i know the gist of it). His official Bio points out his Bookworm Tendency, and his Grumpy attitude and that points it to Asperger Syndrome. So here's the traits

Resistance to or Obliviousness of Social Niceties, Blunt Honesty ("Frankness")

Non-Instinctual Facial Expression (his neutral face is a frown and not a smile like the others)

Comprehensive Academic Knowledge, with unique Specialist Subjects (Bookworm who loves Butterflies)

Periodic Emotional Volatility, "Meltdowns" (His Head Physically Spins when angry, to the point he is exhausted and dizzy; he also flaps his arms when excited)

Adherence to Formal/Traditional Decorum to navigate social situations (he has a few costume changes of his own, talk about that later)

Sensory Sensitivity and rigid dietary habits (Frank is shown making Green Gelatin Salad on two separate occasions, I'm guessing he likes the Color and Softness)

Anxious in otherwise Moderate Stress events (he was freakin out when carpooling with Wally)

Friends in different age groups (Poppy and Julie are confirmed as autistic so poppy might be older and julie maybe younger. i have friends a grade below me)

3. Entomologist job from a university??? - Y'all prolly already know this, Frank's love of butterflies isn't just a hobby non non, he is infact an entomologist, we can confirm this with the spinning head GIF, there's mounted butterfly specimens on his wall. Alright alright, Bug Collecting won't buy you a can of beans and traumatizing Howdy from the Bodega, UNLESS your an employee from a University to research the nearby Insect Wildlife. (It's not rlly mentioned in The Show but most of them have some sorta job) I think thats how Eddie reunited with Frank bcuz the university might be working in the military program Eddie enlisted in back in 1953. What is obvious is that This University MUST exist or frank and eddie wouldn't reunite.

4. Ethnicity Analysis Time!!!!! - Frank showed his ethnicity through his Valentines Card (thx frank!). Frank is wearing an Old-Time Safari Costume when catching Butterflies, but it's not just a stereotypical costume non non, the design is inspired by a VERY specific Uniform. he's wearing is a British Expedition Bush Jacket, topped with a matching Safari Pith Helmet, Light Tan Fabric of the Indian Variety. Although the card is in a pinkish hue, I can tell that the uniform is a tad bit lighter so its a Light Muslin Fabric. Yeah Sure, the British Invasion of the 60s revived the Shacket look for Women's Fashion, but Frank's pragmatic personality made it clear that he was issued that Expedition Uniform with Function planned in it. In addition with his Grey skin, Black hair and his iconic Unibrow, He is designed to look like The Stereotypical Depiction of a Gentleman Scientist of Hindoo Colonial Heritage or to simplified it, he came from Hindu / Indian origins.

5. Frank's Story - Frank Franklin was born in 1942 and was born Half Indian from his mother, He was fascinated with bugs and specifically Butterflies as they represent change and rebirth. He was teasedfor having his name as his last name (Have u guys even heard of Tweek Tweak?) even with his blunt honesty he made friends and even became childhood sweethearts with eddie. One day in Senior High, Eddie said that he was gonna enlist and may return 2 years later, Frank was worried as to add salt to the wound his soon to be Ex sunny became toxic and mean-spirited so ofc they broke up. 2 years later he was working as an Entomologist at St. Marioneta University (I made that up) and then he ran into Eddie, they were happy to see each other still okay so on an unknown date in 1969 they married in secret (THANKS ALOT TIME PERIOD D:<). months later in October 11 1969 a man named Ronald Dorelaine Isekai'd Frank, Eddie and some friends you know to the World of Welcome Home, but tragedy struck 4 years later, An event known as The Playfellow M4ss4cr3 killed the crew and the stars of the show but Dorelaine's body was not found and was reported MISSING and presumed dead, This marks the 50th year they were stuck in the void, Are they longing for Freedom or The Sweet release of DEATH?

Wanna hear a wholesome fun fact? In Hinduism, Butterflies are symbolic of birth, ancestry, marriage, deceased soul, death and divinity. No wonder why frank is so attached to Butterflies.

Thank you for reading! o(*￣︶￣*)o

[dynamic-k]

hi i unfortunately lost my question list in all the tissue and random paper from doodling in online lessons-

NOOOOOO

devastated rn

wait i didnt know tumblr dark mode existed

wot it took moving an entire country away for dis??? /j /silly /not-srs

Okayyyyyyyyy... This is for Super Sticks by the way!

Would Purple be able to fly from tech or powers? If tech, would it be from King or RGBY?

but also i thought all of RGBY were going to be able to fly????

Would RGBY have similar fighting styles like in AVM?

Like- would Green use the fishing rod and tend to move around in battle a lot? Would Red use his animals?? WAIT THE BEE CREEPER- ...seconds eel???? sorry im still holding onto that idea i will sell my soul for it- Would Blue continue chugging drugs? ...does Yellow get a staff?

Hold up does King even make his staff?

I'm going to say that's enough questions for today :D

Forgot to mention, I'm back i guess. So uh- Hello! havent been here for a while ;-;

Have a great week in case I dont ask another question in that time!

-R

NOOOO THE LOST NOTESSS :O U n U I despise it so much when that happens siergwgjwjeoqele

..EHEHEHHEHEHHHEHEHEH "Dark" mode-

-

You have an incredible tendency to ask just the right questions at the right time, right at the moment I happen to be thinking and brainrotting about it- XD

Alright- So-

Since I did kinda already share --in that other post-- a light basis of what the CG in Super Sticks would be able to do, you know... I might as well elaborate a bit, yeah? XD

Top secret paper, there you go, have fun reading through the blur.

okay okay

I'm not thaaatt mean- XD

I know what is written there and I'm still having difficulty- XD

[I can catch "All have wings", and everyone's names..]

Anyway- Uhmmm

Blue gets illusionary tech [hologram projection stuff, teehee] and leaping armor to jump significantly higher and farther than normal. [+wings]

Red gets flash teleporting; armor that temporarily can alter his very code to move it short distances away, and multiple burst teleports can be done in short succession of each other. Plus extra strength in the form of power punching armor-ey gloves. [+wings] (He does get ahold of dizzy suppressants later to aid with the occasional nausea side effects).

Yellow gets hard light properties: Can create hover platforms, a sword, shielding, and hard light ammo that he can fling fast and far distances. It requires a very powerful source of energy to function, which ends up being a gem in a garage sale that will be found and utilized at one point in the near future. It looked like a lamp decoration jewel and was sold cheaply. Yellow also gets cool googles with many different functions. [+wings]

Green gets durable, very long, coils of string stored in dual arm guns. There are capped sticky ends so when he shoots the string out, the rounded end will catch ahold of a surface and like a grappling hook he can climb and latch onto things. He also gets coded blades on the same arm guns. He cannot use the shooting string and the blade at the same time, they are only interchangeable since both are stored and swappable in the same gun. He may use one gun for shooting string and the other to hold a blade, however. [+wings]

The entire point was to give each quadruplet a main weapon, obviously a set of wings, and then a backup mode of transportation as a fail-safe in case there is wing malfunctions or failures.

These powers may be altered slightly as I get closer to the point of the plot where it is officially stated and explained..? Perhaps? But this is what I have come up with for now. :D

I also want to play on the Team Effort part of the Color Gang's journey in putting together their upgrade costumes.

Blue in his mini-bedroom laboratory, crafting dizzy suppressants for Red. Someone besides Yellow locating that garage sale gem that powers the hard light tech.

Everyone gets a major opportunity to assist in the full-scale construction of their hero-ing equipment.

It's not all just "Yellow builds everything and his siblings kinda assist him", no. They really work together to bring Second's birthday gift to its completion.

I can't share everything that happens, but this is where you can expect the story to go. :D

Now Purple-y Wurple-y over here, is gonna be a surprise. >:3

You needa wait and see until I get there in the plotline, before you know all of what he can do. U v U

I will say that it is King's tech, though. :D [Purple, much like the CG, does not retain any legit genetic superpowers and instead has upgrades to rely on]

Honestly, it is really funny you mentioned Green and his fishing rod when I have string shooters for his upgrades- XD

Red would NOT use his multitudes of cute, little, fragile animals, for fear of them getting hurt- :O

No Beeper. [The collective fandom name for Bee-Creeper]

There is no eel YET, but there may be, I have not decided.

XD With how excited and attached you are to the eel, I just might I just might- Honestly it'd be so cute for Second to end up with an eel pet~

Blue will indeed enjoy his bitter fungus several times over in the future, if naught but for the comedics~ It's not drug-like or alcoholic in my AU, though. Just tastes bad to most sticks.

There will be no staffs. Not for Yellow, nor for King.

:D You also have a great day!

You've already made mine epic with your ask! :3

[harborarmored]

My thoughts on every new Fortnite Battle Pass skin this season since I am hellenic polytheist ~

Ok, so... I've been a hellenic polytheist (a person who believe and worships the greek gods and follow the philosophy) for almost two years, but I've already started worshipping them a long time ago, just got back and strong last year. And, I'm hyperfocused on Fortnite. If you put them together, you'll guess I'm hyped and crazy about this season. So, I thought I would "rate" and give my thoughts on each battle pass skin, both as a devotee of the greek gods and as a Fortnite fan.

Cerberus

6/10. He is Cerberus. I mean, a big black dog that takes care of underworld gates; it's him. He doesn't really have three heads as some people were complaining (ik he does but it doesn't look like it), but would you really be willing to have a 300% higher chance of gettin headshoted? I don't think so. I'll definitely not use his skin, as I don't like animalistic/animal skins (sorry, furries). But I think he is fine.

Aphrodite

When I tell yall I SCREAMED. 10/10, fav skin from this bp.

She is SO pretty. She would totally like this. I saw people saying "oh but she wasn't like this in the arts" ok, so? Who told you Aphrodite is like the arts? The gods AREN'T human, and I can't say that enough! They can, indeed, take humanoid/human forms, but they aren't human nor have a humanlike figure naturally. They are cosmic figures! So, technically, any greek gods representation would be right. They don't have gender either!

A fun fact: I worship Aphrodite mainly, she is my regent goddess and has been protecting me since I was born (or even before that). And I give her a human form in my head when worshipping her (and all other gods), usually based on the art depictions of her (like Birth of Venus), but EVERY devotee will depict her different – she is the god of beauty, and everyone's perception of beauty is different.

And, apart from that, she is resembling Aphrodite. White hair? Not unusual, I can see her with it; tanned skin? Alright! She was born on the beach, after all; clothing? Ohh boy she would ROCK that! The gold and white is very Aphrodite-like, the pinkish/red nails, the belts with little hearts... she is so cool and pretty, AAAAHHHH!!!

(I will not talk about every skin style, but just to give Immortal Aphrodite style its justice: it's pretty, SO PRETTY, and she would like it too.)

Slurp..... Poseidon!

Oh boy he is cute. 7/10. I don't understand the hate he's getting. Just because yall see Poseidon as a bodybuilder older guy from the seas, doesn't mean he is. He isn't human! And this definitely isn't disrespectful, if you are thinking about it – I'm pretty sure Poseidon would have a laugh at this.

On the Fortnite skin side... I hate it. Like, I don't hate it. But I'll definitely not be wearing this ever. Same reason as Cerberus; I don't like animalistic skins (he isn't animalistic... I think. But I think yall can get what I'm saying), and he is BIG boi. I don't like wearing man skins usually, only Shadow Midas – the only Midas I have till now 😭 – and Montague, because they are slim. Many of the manly skins I have are more thick, have muscles. I don't like the playability they have, and don't like them in general (not characters, the looks/functionality/mobility/etc). But he is cute. I can't lie.

Medusa

She is here for the girlbosses! 9/10. Not a goddess, but she has a big role in the mythology and she could be an essential part of the lore, if we look at her story and myths, Epic can really win on that.

I just love her eyes, dark makeup, clothes... It's all soooo her! And I like the snakes too. Saw someone saying that they could be green and it would be better – yeah, I can see the point. But I like the purpleish look on them too, and maybe, just maybe, her special style or the style we win by completing the memory missions is the 'green look'. I mean, if it isn't, Epic has missed a big opportunity! But yeah, I like her. I just didn't like the bottom part of her clothes very much, idk, it gives me a strange odd feeling, maybe because there is TOO many white. Maybe if her pants weren't white, or if her dress (?) was longer so she could wear it alone, without pants, it would be better. At least it's what I think.

Father of mortals, Zeus!

10/10. BEST SKIN along with Aphrodite. Maybe a bit of favoritism, as he is one of my protectors too. But speaking in a "he resembles Zeus so much" way, too! A friend told me about people complaining that he has ammo and grenades on him, are yall SERIOUS? THIS is what yall complaining? If yall are complaining about this you should complain about all bp skins this season, lol. They are in a BATTLE ROYALE. You want them to change all the BR weapons to meele? You wouldn't like it, trust me, I'm a ninja main in Save The World. I really like these additional details on him, bringing the Fortnite into his skin.

And I didn't mention any of the skins' pickaxes or backblings nor other items, but I just gotta talk about the SAVE THE WORLD reference on this. HE HAS A GUITAR????? IS THIS A LARS FROM SAVE THE WORLD WHO HAS ZEUS TATTOOS AND VAN? AND RIDES THE LIGHTNING? METALLICA? ZEUS? OLIMPUS? OH MY GOD I'M GOING CRAZY. And his pickaxe is really cool too

Artemis

8/10. I like her, and the points I don't like aren't "oh she doesn't look like Artemis at all" points (as you could guess based on my other points on other skins). I mean, I'll prob not use her as much as I will use Aphrodite and Medusa. And Zeus (yeah I'll pretty much use his skin despite him being big). She is cute, and pretty. And I like her skin having a little tan, too, even if I think it would be great if she had just a little more tan, as she 'lives' in the woods. But oh boy, aren't her clothes PRETTY??!?!?!? I think they are very bow user if I'm being honest.

I can't lie, I don't like her BLUE eyes. They are REAAAALLYYY BLUE. And lipstick too, I don't think she would really use it, especially pink, if you see her myths and story. But I guess it would look a bit strange if her lips didn't have color.

Another point in her that I absolutely DISLIKE is this F*CKING GALAXY THING. THIS RUIN ANY SKIN! This is a really personal opinion, but I SAID WHAT I SAID. I think they are so ugly and 2014 gamer girl vibes (like I was). And in Artemis? I don't think it fits that much. She is much more related to Moon AND FOREST! They could have done this galaxy nasty thing as a superstyle on the extra rewards since almost all superstyles are ugly anyway. Maybe an all black and silver clothing with a silver moon in her top would be better yk. And her hair, WITH THIS EFFIN GALAXY OH MY GOD I HATE THIS F GAME. And I think it's SO spiky too, for some reason, the "top" of her hair looks so artificial and not curly at all, unlike her back hair. And I think it could suit her better if she had her hair in a bun, as, you know, SHE IS A HUNTER!! But galaxies are my biggest complaint.

Finally... Hades.

Isn't my boy, Hades? He's cool. 7/10 I think. I mean, I wouldn't really think of him and think of neon green (maybe a deep purple), but it fits him AND Cerberus. Cerberus looks so cool with the neon green, and Hades, being his "dad" (lol), has to match, speaking in a skin-wise way.

I can see the gas mask, too. I mean, he lives in the underworld afterall, it prob doesn't smell very good in there. And there is miasma too (I'll not elaborate on this, but for me, it makes sense the gas mask). I just think his hand fingers would look better if they were black and shadowish, like with some smoke/shadow in them. I'll prob never use his skin. But it's cool and it resembles a boss, specifically a underworld boss.

Final toughts

As you can see, I'm still really hyped, and I like this season very much already. I haven't played any matches yet. I was waiting yesterday – in my country, the updates are usually released at 11AM, so I wake up and download to play after the download. But as you can imagine, it didn't work like that yesterday. I had college (yeah, Fortnite players are at university too), and I just skipped classes so I could play all day the new season. I JUST GOT TO OPEN FORTNITE TODAY. Yestarday, it was 11:50PM in my area when they OPENED the servers (may I remember you I am used to the servers opening 11AM), and I tried launching the game. First I got a key chain error after just 5 minutes of queue, had to reopen the game; 20 minutes of queue, and when it finished, SERVER ERROR; reopened for the last time and it was a 50 MINUTE QUEUE WAITING TIME. I gave up and went to bed, was already feeling bad because of other things. Today I woke up at 10AM, prob because of anxiety, hyperfocus is a messed up things sometimes. And it's when I opened the game for the first time, FINALLY!

Yesterday, I had just woken up, ready to update Fortnite, and one of my friends sent me the MIDAS skin that is set to release sometime in this season. Oh gosh, when I tell you that I WOKE UP with his message, I REALLY woke up. I LOVE MIDAS!!! He's been my obsession since mid last year, and because of him I started really hyperfocusing in Fortnite. I was already hyperfocused, but not really caring that much about the lore or characters. And in these past months, all I've been wanting is his Midsummer skin to come back to the item shop (and summer in my country is almost getting over, it's a bit depressing that Epic doesn't change seasonal items according to match the countries/emispheres. I'll only be able to get his SUMMER skin at WINTER, as USA summer is in the middle of the year, when it's already winter here). Now I have a reason to be even more hyped for this season – he can be released at any moment! Oh my man, I've been waiting patiently for you. And I'm happy.

Well, I already talked much. It's not my fault, it's autism. Yeah. If yall have any questions about this season, regarding especially the greek mythology (hellenic religion/philosophy), you can contact me, leave an ask, a comment, whatever. I'll be SO happy to answer!

some offering I made to Lady Aphrodite last year :)

[anemonet]

oh my god thats so sweet of you!!!! thank you :DD also super sorry for deleting your ask btw

To get down to business well uh iterators huh, so I can tell you have read some of my ramblings before (very fun) and I will say in general I stand by those ideas - model differences and stuff - with some smaller changes here and there, for instance I made pebbles antennas stupidly long cause I think it looks funny - plus tons of tiny refinements, but generally I dont have too much to add unless theres something specific your wondering about - so I wont focus to much on that. Instead I'm gonna chat a bit about the other stuff you mentioned (NSH and wire headwear) ^-^ so heres the guys! (I'm gonna expand a bit on their design designs)

Ok so you have actully managed to point out something I really hoped no one would notice, which is that I never draw No Significant Harrasment (NSH) - who I hope you meant when you asked about sig, if not then dont look at me - and that is because I despise him with my whole heart. Or well, his design, the character is fine but I cannot draw this guy, I hate his colour scheme and his stupid little cape and why is his head symbols green on green - who allowed this - and in general we are not friends, which is a pity because I have alot of headcanons about him. But as you can see above I have semi settled on a design for him (note the semi, I am not super happy about it) and I do have some toughts and explanations.

So first of, I put NSH as being from the same model generation as suns - so predecessing moon and pebs by a bit - with older designs that have a larger focus on "religious stuff" combined with the anchients overall bonkers fashion sense - more is more - if you wanna read more about that its in this post about suns.

- I would also, this is a side note btw, like to mention I think having them being older models gives room to have some key differences between the oldies (NSH and suns) and the youngsters-ish (moon and pebs) in that one, they have older machinery and also early machinery which means both rougher quality and more wear and tear - which I like to think give them both the idea of slugcats as messangers earlier than most, as they knew their easily damaged functions (broadcast masts for example) would not last forever, which gives them a reason to want to solve it (by breeding scugs I guess) and added onto that I - and this is pure headcanon and speculation - like to imagine a lot of the "taboos" that pebbles and moon have - or well that I speculate they have, the no killing yourself or harming citizens taboo is confirmed canon, but I dont think its farfetched to asume they have other restrictions programmed - something that would most likely be added in later modles, but would be absent in the earlier ones like suns and NSH (not the earliest models but early) which theoreticly would give them a bit more leeway and "creative freedom", which ok why am I talking about this back to why NSH looks like that. -

Back to that, so suns and NSH will share design similarities: lack of face (to represent a lack of ego), lots of robes and layers, which leads us into the slightly more relevant sidenote of iterator clotheing:

So fashion comes and goes in cycles, your mom rebeled against her grandmothers clothing choises and is horrified when that fashion comes back via her daughter who think it looks cool again (20 year old rule or whatever) and that also applies to iterator design (look at that old suns ask for more info on this). So while I have talked about general trends a little, now I wanna talk about waistlines - in robes, because I have wanted an exscuse to talk about it, I be brief promise!

: so like you probably havent noticed all my iterators have different waistlines, or at least the ones from different generations - ignore moon, I'm a no robe for moon beliver, I like to draw joints and wires to much to give her robes - and I will sadly report I have not looked to closely at actual anchient fashion for the choises I made, but well cant have everything. So the most notable is probably pebbles, where I, ok Imostly fell for temptation of a modern highwaist cut, which while moslty being about my own tatse, also is an atempt to convey some form of "modernity" because while its a bright orange robe on a robot, it has a similar cut to highwaisted jeans. Which gives the silhoute from a couple years ago with a big bulky upper body and stick legs. But pebbles isnt intresting in that way, no its because every other design is a resistence against that.

And this again leads into the cycles of fashion. Because we know iterators were built under many cycles - however long those are - so we can asume it will be kinda like how fashion has changed from the 11th centrury to now. Which gives to reason that iterators have been dressed differently too. This added with that - from what I understood - different iterator cities (colonies) had different cultures (boradcast, red, in sky islands) all this then makes me kinda figure that the iterators should have different robes. Yes that was a long winded way to say that characters look different.

So back to waistlines and how their all anti pebbles robes - the most notable difference is of course suns, who has no waistline. They are not only without to create a bigger difference between them and pebbles, but to also lean a bit on - and this might not be the same for every culture - but on the general idea that older clothes were more "modest" or in this case, there are more layers and any hints of there being a body under there is desperatly covered. and that "modern clothes" have less layers and have show more skin - not that pebble is showing skin, but hes wearing one robe instead of seven. So with that the idea that suns is older is conveyed a little bit at least, and the same then applies to NSH. NSH while also having lots of layers, is different from suns by having an empire waistline, mostly because I think their cute and need them to look different, but also to give a hint that they have different city fashion cultures and also because when I see empire waists i think old paintins and old paintings=old.

-also while I'm on the subject of cultural differences between iterator facilities. Can we talk about how we only really get to see anchient society as its presented in moon and pebbles (shared?) facility. So really its very possible the whole aestetic is complelty different like five local groups away. Food for thought. -

So faceless and robe-rich is a similarity between suns and NSH, and I could mention many more, but I'm gonna restrain myself and only talk about headphones. As you can tell I - and most fanartist here - like to draw their antennas differently for all of them! which is also canon, but I also ignored canon so were gonna talk about it. Mostly the antennas give room for some fun mini details, like how moons look like wings or fins while suns are just sunbeams.

Anyhow so most people make NSH bald, me included, mostly because the super cool official art of him gives him no antennas (sad). I asume that means he works via bluetooth.

(I was about to start speculating about their headphones but that got to boring even for me so sorry if your super intrested in why iterators probably have headphones)

But I had a ulterior motive with bringing up the headphones - and not only to be able to point out moons antenna, which I delight in drawing - but also so that I can transition into the second part of this way to long response! itertors hairdos... wire-dos? basicly this \/

(im reusing my wip because these are a pain to draw so we use what we have - I coloured them in a bit for better oversight.)

(also I was gonna start talking about if iterators would actully do personalisations like this - as we can argue about if they concepulize themself as their puppets and see a meaning to decorating them - I would argue yes but also its complicated- and also explain how iterators have different prefernces, which I realised most people probably already asume so I didnt need to explain that - anyhow so that got to long so I'm not gonna get into it. Instead were gonna go into this section with the assumptions that they do fun things with their wires. and also that the wires connect to their nape and backhead instead of their back or spine.)

So to me th biggest thing to remember when we talk about potetial wire headwear is that:

- iterators live 24/7 without gravity and because of that cannot be bothered by to heavy headwear, therefore theres rooms for them and anchients (and me) to get funky with it without having to concider gravity.

-anchients wore absurdly many decorations - and while giving iterators flashy decorations does take away from my earlier statement that they were based on more humble monk stuff, we are going to asume they used the fancy headwear for cermonies and festivals (which we also know anchients did) and that it was used for showcasing and fun. If some iterators preffered to keep them afterwards is another query.

So with that in mind lets break these headwear thingies down!! :D

so as you can (hopefully) tell there three components in the headwear. The headphones that are different depending on iterator and are not removable (or as unremovable a computer part can be). Then theres the actual headpieces that keeps the wires togheter. These can be switched out and changed depending on whats preffered - also I drew them in gold but any material works, if were being closer to canon they would probably be made of some purposed organism and maybe be neon pink - theres also pearls dangling from them because its a perfect opertunity. Third theres probably the part I think is the most fun which is the actual wires. They obviously go through the headpieces and then are set free via wiretassles (that also comes in different forms) and after that is where my own speculations about wires comes in. Which is really simple in that iterators can most probably move the wires at will - they can control their arm thing, pearls and other objects in their chambers, reasonably they can move the wires - and I think its fun if different iterators move them differently. Like suns keeps them straight and neat, or pebbles moves them in syncronized formations or moon who just lets them hang, so many oppertunities ok ( you can see the general idea in the drawing). The wires then connect to their movement arms and connect to the mainframe.

And thats kinda about it? I dont have like anything super intresting to say about just the hairdos other than that I think its very fun and also that everyone is sleeping on wire customizations I am obbsessed with the idea send help.

Ok I think I'm done chatting!! Hope your still here and that this wasnt insufferable to read. Uh, thanks for the ask :D

(NSH for your enjoyment)