#Character Trailer Splash Art

[the-astral-express-archive]

Honkai: Star Rail | Character Trailer Splash Art (3/3)

[anominous-user]

man, it is such a shame that with part 2 they stopped doing separate artworks for hi3 character trailers and instead just animated the splash arts

[epicness1000]

17 REASONS WHY SAMPO KOSKI IS SUS

I'm not sure if I've come across a fictional character more horrendously sus than Sampo Koski.

Since I'm kind of hyperfixated on him (and Dr Ratio too), I will make a post on why our beloved blue scammer is very, very sus.

He is the only character to leave no trace when he walks. No splashes in water, no footprints in the snow. Literally no other character in the game does this.

All of his eidolons, save for one, are made up of two words and are very light hearted: "Rising love", "Infectious enthusiasm", "Big money!", "Huuuuuuuuge money!" and "Increased Spending", all of which reference either his love for money, or his warmth. The one exception is "The Deeper the Love, the Stronger the Hate". What? What do you mean hate? We've never seen Sampo be anything but 'haha funny scam boi'. What a strangely ominous thing to say...

Not to mention the art paired with that eidolon. In every piece of art we have of him, you can see the light in his eyes– not here. The light's completely absent.

His defeat pose. Every character is either kneeling, or sitting down. Sampo is the ONLY one who is still on his feet. This must surely be intentional.

The fact that he's among the few characters with an invalid rating from the rating pistol (Alongside Acheron, Jing Yuan, Feixiao, March 7 and Luocha, all of whom are either extremely powerful, or have a completely unknown past as is the case of March 7).

He is the only character to directly acknowledge the player in-game (Sparkle did this in a trailer, but... it was a trailer, so it doesn't count until it's something in-game). Self-aware character? (This is my own headcanon >:)

He very clearly is not a Belobogian native, this is all but confirmed by the fact that everyone states he just showed up one day a few years back (something along those lines). So... where is he really from? His splash art doesn't seem to be Belobog either...

The fact that the trailblazer turned away from him for ONE SECOND, and he disappeared without a sound??? Like he was never there at all.

The entirety of Funny Bone, which shows a very violent side to Sampo. You CANNOT convince me it doesn't hold some element of truth to who he truly is, because if Hoyo truly intended for him to be harmless comic relief with little more to him, why would they play this song live in an official Honkai: Star Rail orchestra accompanied with the visuals? Would they really approve something showing him in such a dangerous, unhinged and dark light when we've never seen him like that in-game?

The fact that he's a Masked Fool. A Masked Fool who apparently has some moral standards, but a Masked Fool nonetheless. Personally, I suspect he wasn't always so mellow.

THAT WHOLE SCENE OF FIREFLY DESCRIBING HIM, HAVING KNOWN NOTHING ABOUT WHO HE WAS, AND MAKING HIM SOUND LIKE SOME SORT OF SKILLED ASSASSIN?? (I know it was a shapeshifted Sparkle but I think the point still stands. Also, this might just be me, but before I realised it was Sampo following us around, the way FF was talking about our stalker unsettled me and genuinely left the impression that she was talking about an assassin of some kind... wouldn't surprise me if this guy's hands have been stained red in the past).

The fact that his backstory snippets are all of him just goofing around disguised as Madame Poisson? When there's CLEARLY more to him than meets the eye?

THE FACT THAT HE'S ONE OF THE FEW CHARACTERS WHO IS NOT ABLE TO BOARD THE ASTRAL EXPRESS YET????? Even Sparkle can board, so it doesn't have to do with the fact that he's a masked fool. And I think everyone else from Belobog can board, so... hmm... sus....

We find him in the Belobog outskirts. I'm pretty sure it's noted that normal humans can't go out there unprepared without freezing to death, or something? I might be misremembering.

HIS LIGHT CONE! HOW COULD I FORGET HIS LIGHT CONE! Firstly, notice it's not just one sniper targetting him, but there is also a man in the corner pointing a gun at him. The art is called "The Eyes of the Prey", yet when you read its description, Sampo is unsettlingly calm, spotting the sniper from a distance with no warning (makes him sound like he has borderline supernatural awareness, which I think fits with the idea of him being 'self-aware'), and is noted to have more money than the hitman makes from multiple contracts. I think the title is also a subversion– with how in control Sampo is of the situation, surviving TWO simultaneous hitmen, it's quite clear that he is not the prey– rather, it's those who target him.

He knows things he ABSOLUTELY SHOULD NOT KNOW. The fact that he implies that Dan Heng is a dragon? Or his 'knowledge' voice line, which clearly expresses his awareness that we arrived by train (when he should not have this information?).

His eidolon activation phrase is "Everyone has a colourful past, wouldn't you say?" We know literally NOTHING about his past.

So, I'm not sure EXACTLY what this all means, but it's clearly pointing to something. Don't let me down, Mihoyo! You usually do, you filthy gacha bastards, but... try to do Sampo justice please.

[pastorfutureletthembe]

Here we go again--

TRIP ABROAD TURNS INTO BUTTERFLY EFFECT

First thing worth mentioning is that the prime color in this artwork is pale blue. I feel like it's quite rare, most of INPLICK arts for Link Click have the same palette: burgundy red, shades of gray and black (except for the whole Surprise Beat thing which is splashed with flashy pink). All but this one:

(probably when they were 17 or sth)

For the sake of the argument, let's say it is a significant distinction to make. The reason is simple: the teaser taking place at the airport and the trailer prove that shit started three years ago, while CXS and LG's graduation trip. If this chronology is correct, then blue probably symbolizes Lu Guang's innocence or happiness. Blue used to paint Lu Guang but now he only sees the world in black, white and red. In the birthday official arts, blue is associated with his character. His flower is freaking Forget-Me-Not; Myosotis.

So yes, that's why I think the color palette here is relevant to the time period we're going to explore in the Yingdu Chapter.

The couch itself is blue when we're so used to the pair sitting on a brick sofa. The cakes and the flowers are the usual shade of red, though.

On the table: red roses in a vase. Petals are all over the place. Ominous. We actually see a roses bouquet in the PV of XETROverthink, held by Li Tianchen.

On the trolley: 1 bottle of wine, 2 CXS's feet, 3 glasses, 4 cakes, 5 individual desserts. The glass half full is Liu Xiao's, since it isn't on the trolley in the original artwork he is absent from. I said it in another post but the plate counts 4 portions, as in 4 antagonists, while the pudding might be Lu Guang's. The cakes are probably metaphors for timelines/curves, clocks dressed as desserts with a red fruit representing a dead Cheng Xiaoshi. V and VI are the only missing parts, just like Qiao Ling's one. CXS put his feet on the trail and I think it's both funny and tragic. I believe the correct saying is "put his foot in his mouth" but in french we say "mettre les pieds dans le plat", which literally translates "to put his feet in the plate" (to say something brutal with no tact or to do something stupid without thinking it through). He has both feet nearing timeline cakes and his head is five inches away from doomed flowers.

On the floor: 1 vintage phone. 1 camera. 2 envelopes, 3 pages of letters. 4 polaroids. Probably: 2 magazines and 3 pages of newspapers. The vintage phone could be relevant to THE TIDES, era-wise. The camera is taking polaroids and two of them are still dark, meaning they just took a shot and are yet to be revealed. The rest must be related to this chapter's plot. So much for holidays, guys (are they investigating CXS' missing parents?)

If you look closely, you'll see four different mentions of time:

Lu Guang's watch (hold this thought)

The polaroid: Big Ben

What looks like newspapers

The hourglass

We also have four mentions of information/communication

Letters

The polaroid: a public telephone box

Newspapers/magazines

Vintage phone (I was wondering why the phone had twelve numbers but after some research, I realized that some of them had # and *)

On another note, I don't know if their hands--

I mean, there's something definitely happening here but let's say for the sake of my sanity that what is supposed to be noticed are the sunglasses. If I'm being honest, this is the real oddity here and the teaser weirdly showed them off?? They're standing out because everything else is so blue for one thing.

They're pink-ish, which is close enough to magenta, so one of Lu Guang's colors (cf. Dive Back In Time). The color itself is weird for sunglasses. Lu Guang doesn't care about fashion, he wants practical. As a girl who loves pink sunglasses, I'll tell you: pink is shit at doing sunglasses' job. CXS told him to wear a cat hat, okay, but did he choose every other accessory?? My guess is that the pink served a purpose in connection with light.

And why is Lu Guang's watch on the other wrist in the artwork? I checked and LG wears it on his right wrist in the donghua and manhua. It can be the opposite for some artworks though... Or blocked from view for some reasons. It's almost as if we're not supposed to know which side is the actual reflection. 👀

Something else is reversed here, actually: the colors AND the pocket of Lu Guang's shirt. It could be a mistake, though.

>>>>> Basically, I think the artwork is telling us that the Yingdu Chapter is going to hurt and make us cry. If we're indeed about to see Lu Guang lose his humanity to try and save Cheng Xiaoshi for the first time therefore destroying worlds, I have no doubt it would be after Infinite Sadness™.

The real question this teaser isn't answering is either we'll go through the original timeline or a rewind. The last episode of season 2 makes me frown. How to be sure that the Lu Guang who dives exists before and not after the events we see unfold for two seasons? Is Yingdu Chapter a flash black or an actual dive itself? Lu Guang seems to be determinate and in a bad mood in the PV after all, could directly happen after one of CXS's deaths.

EDIT: someone mentioned that LG wears his watch on the left wrist when we get images of CXS getting stabbed. (It hurts right here in my meow meow)

[mollysunder]

The Black Rose has Already Infiltrated Piltover and Zaun!

You know how there's speculation that this shadowy figure has to do with LeBlanc because LeBlanc and members of her Black Rose group do the eye/eye makeup glow thing?

Well the conspiracy only goes deeper! Last year, nearly to the day, an exclusive splash art for LeBlanc's Rose Quartz Prestigious skin was released on CN servers.

Do you recognize that familiar face in the background?

I do!

It's Local Cusine (LC)! You could argue that it's just an easter egg. But why is Local Cuisine in Noxus? LC's presumably a sex worker from Zaun and here he is hob knobbing in Noxus, in a splash for LeBlanc of all people.

How do we know this a Black Rose gathering? Well, we can see that the window in LeBlanc's splash art matches the same design used in the homes of other members of the Black Rose in Riot media.

We also know that many Black Rose members wear masks upon first appearance so that their identity will be anonymous to other members. If you look closely, you can even see that the shadowy figure from the trailer is wearing a mask around their eyes as well.

And can you guess which character we met wearing a mask in their very first appearance?

It's Local Cusinie!

But what does any of this mean? Well, LC could have been sent as a spy by LeBlanc herself to test the Medardas' loyalty to the Black Rose. If Swain is truly set to take power by season 2, then many powerful families affiliated with the Black Rose WILL be purged.

Maybe LeBlanc's sent LC to have them killed herself. The Medardas may be loose ends to her, because Ambessa is only loyal to preserving her family and may in fact expose the conspiracy further to Swain to her and Mel if she could.

Or maybe LC has his own agenda. Maybe LC is related to the Ionian princess Ambessa killed. You don't have to be from Noxus to be a part of the Black Rose, the organization predates Noxus itself. And frankly, Black Rose members and their related assets do their own thing pretty often, their web of plans can even bite LeBlanc in the butt.

[baeshijima]

the way i want to play [gui long chao (归龙潮)]/ [returning dragon tides/return of the dragon (en translations)] so badly but i just know my pc wont survive this since its already considered out of date for wuwa (i still play wuwa despite it but oh well + maybe will be upgrading it soon... maybe...) and now im considering whether to quickly change my apple stuff to cn just to download it and then change it back to my local country again....

the concept is so cool (mc being a film director iirc and we form a crew with other charas and go through the nine districts + has quite a lot of fantasy elements implemented which are so nice !! mainly loving the dragon elemts to it eheh), the voice acting??? love it ;w; the models are really nice + the character designs is one of my fav aspects of this game so far, the ART is so lovely???? the f! and m!mc designs are also quite nice and it being a sidescroller game as well??? ALSO !! the gacha animation is one of my favs like,,,, the (at least i think it is a) koi fish swimming overhead the streets and turning purple/gold... ourgh.... pls i actually love it so much

bc like????

some of the characters/character designs i love already:

zhu -> yubing -> zhaixi -> chenxiao

AND THEN WHOEVER THIS IS FROM THE OFFICIAL TRAILER

and zhu in-game model..... ourghg pls i am genuinely so obsessed with him and his design....

and then these are some official arts/chara splash arts (i think) from in-game and ourgh...

AND THE MCS !!!

HELLO???? it looks so good so far and it released like,,, last week in china.... the osts are also really nice and aaaa i wanna play it so bad 😭😭 will probably end up waiting for a possibly global release if they either manage to get the funds to release it outside of china or decide they want to release it outside of china... pls do... pls....

official website link

[ni-kol-koru]

Hayama news dropped, you know what that means? I am back to posting (with an essay) 🧡⚡️

I remember the day when KuroBasu official Twitter account posted an announcment of a new mobile game and openned another Twitter account that they called Street Rivals. I was sooo excited to see what the game would be about and I thought I finally had a chance to play a KnB game! The trailers looked so good and the game looked so promising and I just couldn't wait for it to drop! I was so excited to make different team combinations and try out my favorite characters and, well, just have some fun! ⭐️

Then the game dropped. JAPANESE SERVERS ONLY. I was so disappointed because playing Street Rivals was something I was really looking forward to. I quickly saw that a lot of people were unhappy with the Japan only servers and that they were sending requests for the game to drop globally. I figured and hoped that maybe the developers would listen to the fans and that they would give all of us who live outside of Japan a chance to play the game. I still have hope thay I will be able to play it one day, but I was praying that the day would come before Hayama comes out in the game (because I, very obviously, want him). HE IS DROPPING SOON AND THE GAME IS STILL NOT AVAILABLE OUTSIDE OF JAPAN. Even if it dropped outside of Japan today, I would have no time to get ready to obtain Hayama, because he will be a high rank character and I would need a lot of materials to get him...

Even though it made me kinda sad, it also made my day better because hey, at the end of the day, Hayama will get some appreciation! He will get a cool splash art, he will get rendered again and he already got a really cool trailer! I really hope that people who get him will enjoy having him on the team, that he will be fun to play and that they wony regret obtaining him! ⭐️🧡

Anyways, here is his trailer, in case you didn't see it (apologies for the bad quality):

I can't wait for his gameplay tutorials to drop, I am really curious to see just what they have in store for him! How fast will he be? Will he have all 3 levels of Lightning Dribble as a part of his kit? Will he come with the Double Clutch? There are so many things that he could do! I also can't wait to see his splash art! I just really want to see him in the Street Rivals style, it's so new and polished, it is pretty detailed and cool, too! 🧡💫

[satoshi-mochida]

AQUAPAZZA: Aquaplus Dream Match coming to PC in 2025 - Gematsu

Publishers DMM Games and Shiravune, and developer Aquaplus will release 2D fighting game AQUAPAZZA: Aquaplus Dream Match for PC via Steam in 2025, the companies announced. It will support English, Japanese, and Traditional Chinese language options.

AQUAPAZZA: Aquaplus Dream Match first launched for arcades on June 22, 2011 in Japan, followed by PlayStation 3 on August 30, 2012 in Japan and November 19, 2013 in North America.

Here is an overview of the game, via its Steam page:

26 characters from across AQUAPLUS’s classic franchises clash in this action-packed fighting game! Master your favorite heroes from games and anime including Utawarerumono, ToHeart 2, White Album, and more! Pick from a roster of over a dozen fan favorites. Dominate the battlefield with your character’s unique moveset and movement!

Fight hard and make aggressive plays to keep your character in peak form with the Active Emotion System!

Finish your opponents off with devastating and powerfully animated Splash Arts!

Bring new friends to the couch anytime with the optional Simple control scheme!

You don’t just pick one character to control: select one of a dozen more partner characters, then call on them for powerful assists that can change the course of the fight!

Watch the PC announcement trailer below.

Steam Trailer

[eurydykakaput]

You know what's insane to me? That people hate on Dori so much that they don't even notice how suspicious she actually is.

Let's start with her age. She's an adult, not a child or a teenager. Notice how in an event she called a 26 year old a young man. And if you watched her trailer, you know that Alice says she met her long before she became a merchant. Alice is thousands years old, a long time for her could be a couple of life times for humans. (And don't even get me started on the "child model", she has hips and breast on her splash art, she's just short. Adults her height exist in the real world.)

She has Khaenri'ah star on her broach. As we already know she's friends with Alice, and if you've read her dialogues, you'll notice that instead of describing her past in the usual way, she uses a fairy tail like story to describe it. Which is a tactic used by the Hexenzirkel to protect information from being erased from the Irminsul. And she tried to buy the Sanctuary Of Surasthana from Nahida, which is the easiest way to get to the Irminsul. That would be the perfect deal for the Hexenzirkel, as they would be now able to control Teyvat's history. So it's safe to say that Dori is connected to the Hexenzirkel, if she's not a part of it.

It really wouldn't be that far fetched to call Dori a witch. She's a catalyst user, while her Jinn uses claymore. She's known to be sighted in multiple places at once and somehow always knows what her clients are looking for. And if you listen to npc you'll know that she helps out smaller merchants for a price, you could say she's guiding them, just like she guided the Traveler. And she's able to keep up with Alice's location, something even Jean isn't able to do.

If Miko wasn't there during the fungi event, the information Dori gave us would be crucial for dealing with the fatui.

The subtle connections between her and the Goddess of Flowers that people just chose to ignore...

Let's look at Nabu Malikata's titles:

-Lord of Flowers,

-Mistress of Dreams,

-Queen of All Oases,

-Queen of the Garden,

-Mistress of the Orchard,

-Mistress of Pushpavatika.

She was also the creator of Jinn.

Dori's character title is Treasure Of The Dream Garden, she has a Jinn, she's from the Desert (hinted in her story). Her outfit having flower motives, as well as her sharing ascension material with Nahida.

While we're at it, did you know that Dori never made a traditional contract with her Jinn? Normally a Jinn would reveal their true name to bond with their master, but Dori preferred to treat the Jin as an employee.

I've already mentioned it in a different post, but in glitches you can see that the eye under Kaeya's eye patch looks the same as Dori's eyes. They have the same talents pose too.

(And I swear to gods, every time I see Dori described as a scammer, I feel like questioning if people even read the lore. Just read Kaveh's story. She didn't scam him, in fact he even almost scammed her by accident, because he couldn't listen to basic instructions as "I don't want my house built on a cliff near the withering". And we know Kaveh, even if she told him not to pay back his deabt he'd still do so for his moral principles, just like he pays rent to Alhaitham even though he doesn't have to. Traveler could have picked any other Knowledge Capsule, that would give them better results, like Alhaitham said in the Archon Quest. Her goods cost so much because they are excellent quality, many of them are rare, and she's a brand in Sumeru.)

[nvuy]

Hi!

Sooo, I may be going wild over finding evidence to backup two of theories about Boothill. And I found SOMETHING.

So, this will be quick summary.

Theory 1: Making bullets in his body.

Exhibit A - At the start of his trailer Boot drops bullet casings(gold coloured; cylindrical in shape)

Later, he picks up a golden cylinder when fucking up first table (if you look closer, you can make out a indentation at the bottom, just like the bullet casings have)

Exhibit B - He puts the cylinder in his mouth, but then it disappears.

If you look at his front roll(after second table) in slow motion, you can see Boot doing a chewing and swallowing motion AFTER the cylinder disappears from his mouth.

Exhibit C - He spits out a full bullet with a explosive head.

The way light travels over the bullet in his mouth makes me believe it was built in his body, and then cooling or smt or getting a print.

Theory 2 : Boothill has no shoes, his boots are his feet

I REPEAT BOOTHILL HAS HIS DOGS OUT

Exhibit A - At the very start of his trailer we see his boots up close. They have suspiciously same colours as his upper body, but also, you can see something looking like a embroidery in black OR a vent for cooling.

Exhibit B - Looking at the back of his legs, the spurs are basically embedded in his boots, not strapped on by leather straps and a buckle (how all spurs on boots work)

But not only that, if you look closely, you can see a black line/space between his foot and shin. It looks like a open joint, reminiscent of Ball Jointed Dolls.

....I feel like a mad scientist and a stalker.

You can ignore this if I was too much lol

Have a good day!

hello my favourite little microwave

let’s have a look at his model rundown shall we

THEORY ONE: love it.

i have this thing where i also think, because his teeth are fake, he can get the right angle and easily catch a flying bullet headed right for him between his teeth. no shattering, no dents, nothing.

i like the idea that he can make his own bullets and it’s probably the most suitable approach to how he can spit them out. (however, there’s something very very funny about him pre-mission swallowing like sixty rounds.) (bonus if he’s doing it in public. like imagine you’re at a bar and you see in the corner of your eye a) cowboy that’s wearing little to no clothing and the tightest jeans you’ve ever seen and b) he’s crunching on metal and you can hear it.)

it’s even worse when he catches you staring from across the bar, notices your bewildered expression, and flashes you his teeth with a half eaten bullet caught between.

THEORY TWO: his shoes being his feet has been proven true, im pretty sure!

you can see on the character model sheet that the spurs are a part of his feet, as well as the heel of his ‘shoe.’ in his splash art he actually seems to have shoes on, but i genuinely think that’s just a misdirection of art.

also no spurs just start spinning at light speed and produce sparks unless they’re mechanical.

at the same time, his character model has two eyes, but boothill only actually has one eye. there’s some inconsistencies, but yeah, his ‘shoes’ are his feet.

[the-astral-express-archive]

Honkai: Star Rail | Character Trailer Splash Art (2/3)

[mamakine]

TW- annoying senseless rant

I had faith in Citlali, but after seeing her splash art I lost faith why does she look like a 13 year old girl??? wtf, also why does she has to be in love with the traveler??? Tbh the natlan trailer made me think at least she would have a unique personality, but ofc... everyone has to love the traveler, but this time it seems as if she has fallen in love with the traveler!! not to mention the annoying aether harem fans saying "ppl only hate it bcs it's not a gay ship", like, nope, It's just that Aether is too ugly to be with Citlali

It's good that I stopped playing Genshin as soon as I saw Natlan's trailer, How much is Hoyoverse afraid of melanin? Apart from that, why did they have to give Mavuika a motorcycle??? The only characters that fit well are Mualani and Kachina, why is chasca riding a gun and Mavuika with a motorcycle, what's next?? Capitano uses an helicopter?? I'll complain about something else again, the designs apart from being racist are horrible, The only ones that look good in my opinion would be Mualani, Kinich and Citlali that could be saved, Kachina is okay for a 4 star but I'm not convinced tbh, Xilonen looks too simple to be a 5 star, click it is HORRIBLE, Ororon looks like those gacha ocs in 2018, Mavuika has beautiful hair and eyes but looks too out of place with that horrible outfit, she doesn't even look like geshin, Iansan looks horrible, why is she gray?? Also those things that tie up her hair, To be honest I also think she would look better without elf ears.

Ok!! That's all!

[best-underrated-anime]

Best Underrated Anime Group K Round 1: #K8 vs #K1

#K8: Fishing with friends (both human & alien)

Yuki Sanada has always felt like a fish out of water. Socially awkward and anxious, he struggles to fit in with his surroundings and moves from town to town with his grandma. As he and his grandma settle into the charming seaside town of Enoshima, Yuki hopes for a fresh start. However, his reputation at school is jeopardized by the arrival of fellow transfer student Haru. The eccentric Haru immediately makes a splash, wildly claiming to be an alien and declaring that Yuki is his friend. Pairing the reluctant Yuki with their classmate and fishing talent, Natsuki Usami, he tasks both of them with the absurd mission of saving the world from a mysterious threat in the ocean. Mischief and hijinks ensue, as these three embark on a whimsical adventure filled with laughs, heart, and self-discovery!

#K1: A state auditor finds himself the center of a coup

ACCA—a national body of the kingdom of Dowa that provides public services to the citizens of the country—was established as part of the peace settlement between the king of Dowa and the 13 states of the country during a revolt. One hundred years later, Dowa is in a period of unprecedented peace, due in part to the ACCA system. However, rumors of a coup d'état start to surface. Jean Otus, the second-in-command of the inspection department of ACCA, is charged with inspecting all 13 state branches. What will he discover as he performs his audit?

Titles, propagandas, trailers, and poll under the cut!

#K8: Tsuritama

Propaganda 1:

Tsuritama is a heartfelt show about learning to cope with anxiety by building confidence through learning new skills (fishing). It’s also about learning to be vulnerable with others and rely on them. The soundtrack is almost entirely recorder, as they asked the Kuricorder Quartet to put it together for the show. On top of that, the color scheme is very bright and hopeful.

Propaganda 2:

This show left me feeling both happy and incredibly emotional. It started off very goofy but really reels you in (get it? Reels?) and becomes quite an emotional journey at the end. Also, the art style is really beautiful and colorful and the opening is a bop!

Trigger Warnings: None.

#K1: ACCA: 13th Territory Inspection Department (ACCA: 13-ku Kansatsu-ka)

Propaganda:

Acca-13 is a master work of political intrigue neatly wrapped up into 12 episodes. Every moment in the show has meaning, every textual personal preference ties back to some larger plot point, and every character has their own goals, values and machinations that at first seem overwhelming but in hindsight are crystal clear. Despite very little time spent on exposition for this fully fictional 13-district country with a unique governing system, it’s well-built and by the climax of the show the audience knows exactly who and what are at stake. The plot twists are SUBLIME—that perfect combination of a blindside and inevitable.

That’s not to say that it loses out on characterization in favor of plot! The characters are human and down-to-earth, with the show using a realistic, simple style of animation that allows wonderfully subtle expression. Both the sub and the dub are excellent. I have watched this show at least eight times, and EVERY SINGLE TIME I have picked up another layer of plot, another thread of characterization that I’d missed before but had carried and explained a moment of the narrative.

Also, there is ZERO fanservice. ONLY food service. Watch it with snacks handy. For the trailer I'm actually linking the opening, one of the best anime OPs to ever be made.

Trigger Warnings: Smoking

If you’re reblogging and adding your own propaganda, please tag me @best-underrated-anime so that I’ll be sure to see it.

[linuxgamenews]

Experience the Upgraded World of A Vampyre Story: A Bat's Tale

A Vampyre Story: A Bat's Tale comedy 2.5D point and click adventure game is coming to Linux, Mac, and Windows PC. Thanks to the amazing teams at Autumn Moon Entertainment and Tag of Joy. Due to make its way onto Steam. Autumn Moon Games and Tag of Joy are teaming up to bring us an exciting new 2.5D point and click adventure, A Vampyre Story: A Bat's Tale. If you're a fan of supernatural stories with a splash of humor, this one's for you. And the best part? You can already add it to your wishlist. This new title takes us back to the world of A Vampyre Story: A Bat's Tale, but with some major upgrades. Bill Tiller (the guy behind The Curse of Monkey Island and The Dig) is working alongside Dave Harris and other ex-LucasArts legends. Joining forces with the talented crew at Tag of Joy. Who gave us the award-winning Crowns and Pawns: Kingdom of Deceit in 2022. Together, they’re bringing a fresh and exciting adventure that’s sure to delight both old-school fans and newcomers to the genre. So, what’s A Vampyre Story: A Bat's Tale all about? You’ll follow Mona, a Parisian opera singer who’s been kidnapped and taken to Draxsylvania (yes, Draxsylvania!) and turned into a vampire. Luckily, Mona isn’t alone — she’s got her sarcastic bat buddy, Froderick, to help her out. You’ll guide both Mona and Froderick through wild and quirky locations like Dr. Legume’s Home for the Sanity Challenged. The Executioner’s Practice Grounds, and Mortus Labs, all while solving puzzles and meeting an eccentric cast of characters.

A Vampyre Story: A Bat's Tale – Announcement trailer

The goal? Help Mona escape the clutches of a mad scientist and find a vampire familiar. Then continue her journey to get back home to Paris. It’s a hilarious and spooky adventure full of clever puzzles, witty dialogue, and beautiful location designs. Bill Tiller, CEO and Creative Director at Autumn Moon Games, shared his excitement about the project, saying, “I love LucasArts graphic adventures, Halloween, and the classic Universal Monster movies of the 40s and 50s. When I created the original A Vampyre Story: A Bat's Tale, I mixed all those things I love together. Adventure game tech has come a long way since then, and by partnering with Tag of Joy, we’re able to continue Mona and Froderick’s story with a modern gaming experience that still feels like a classic LucasArts adventure.”

Tag of Joy

Teaming up with Tag of Joy has been a big win for this project. Šarūnas Ledas, the CEO and co-founder of Tag of Joy, couldn’t be happier about the collaboration. “My brother and I grew up playing games like The Curse of Monkey Island. And we recently made a point and click adventure ourselves. When we heard Bill was bringing back A Vampyre Story: A Bat's Tale, we jumped at the chance to work with him. Bill’s got a great IP, amazing artwork, and a ton of knowledge. We’re eager to combine that with our 2.5D point and click adventure.” A Vampyre Story: A Bat's Tale is shaping up to be a real find for adventure fans. Due to blende the charm of the genre’s golden age with modern updates. You’ll get beautiful hand-painted settings, stylish 3D art, tons of animation, and a diverse cast of characters. Plus, the funny dialogue and engaging puzzles are sure to keep you craving more from start to finish. So, if you’re into witty, supernatural adventures, don’t wait Wishlist A Vampyre Story: A Bat's Tale on Steam today. And for the latest updates, follow the creators on Facebook and Discord. Due to make its way onto Linux, Mac, and Windows PC.

[welcometoteyvat]

graphics rambling/metacognitive time (the Kinich graphics in question)

Honestly I started this on a whim, I think I wanted to make some kind of video game character profile mock for him, taking inspiration from how his trailer was structured lol, and it ended up morphing into 4 posters, none of which remotely resemble a character card lol. Overall I knew I wanted some kind of pixel theme to unite the entire thing, if not a 1-1 video game reference, and over the course of making that the uniting theme morphed into halftone, pixelation, squares, and elements of his green/blue/yellow color scheme.

I started out with his splash art because I thought the pose was really dynamic, and I actually started with a landscape oriented banner image instead of portrait orientation like the final version. I wanted to incorporate kinich's pixel chibis into another banner and make it a sillier type of project lol, but that didn't happen.

For the actual editing, I knew I wanted something with his pixel theme, and while I was inspiration hunting, I stumbled upon this neat butterfly graphic design for a piece on digital transformations. Thought it looked super cool, especially the illusion of the butterfly wing disintegrating at the edges! I wanted to try it out on kinich but ended up not actually using it; after I got the image into black and white and added some halftone patterning, I couldn’t figure out how to automatically cut it up into squares and reassemble it with all squares in the correct locations (it would’ve taken way too much time manually with like 300 squares lmao). Gave up on that and thought it looked ok with just black and white coloring (3 thresholds worth of b/w adjustment lol), but there was too little color in the black and white so I ended up experimenting with some colored squares and quite liked the result!

I ended up deciding the banner was too cramped, so I switched orientations to see if it helped. It forced me to rearrange the text, and I then wanted to combine his splash and icon into one image, like a character profile/card, but I ended up getting rid of the icon because it was too cluttered and I couldn’t integrate it well into the overall poster. Cutting off his leg also looked awkward to me lmao

I think this took me the least amount of time overall, or at least I didn't feel blocked anywhere while working on it. Silkscreen pixel font thanks for your service (shame I didn't use it anywhere...)

second poster I made was the turnfire hunt poster; I was going to stop after that one but thought the two posters side by side were too… uncohesive? They each had their own central focus (Kinich) so it felt awkward putting them next to each other, I wanted to add some more stuff/filler to balance them out. Anyways, I was scrolling through kinich's official art and thought that image was a pretty cool pose too—he really has such dynamic art. I was going to use halftone + b/w color scheme again, so the background was going to be the one with color, but then I couldn't make it work and the green was making my eyes bleed so I gave up.

lowkey this one still reminds me of some kind of cartoony action movie poster.

I still wanted to try the color blocking style that the butterfly design used, and ended up stumbling upon the pixelate filter to create large color blocks sampled from the original image, and using those to color the black and white base! At first I didn’t edit the original colors, but I changed it to all green to be more cohesive (the orange-browns felt out of place in a mainly cool color dominated scheme). I tried limiting the colors to green and blue first, to match the first poster, but it looked weird removing the browns from his face (don't have an example of this version)

Ended up with the shades of green and I’m pretty happy with it. I was originally thinking about making him hang from the image border, but it didn’t pull off that illusion as well as I wanted (probably because the top of his hand was cut off) so I tried it with some text; it still felt really flat but bending the text helped a lotttt. Playing around with that was really fun! Had trouble with the background on this (as evidenced by the green halftone lol), but I found one of genshin's texture files they used for the natlan events (thank you genshinimpactresources) and I layered that for the background so it wasn't super boring.

and then I was like well. I can’t just post these two because their background colors and their designs in general are too similar, so I started looking for more stuff to edit him with. For panel 3 I chose the pose from his tribe reputation quest background, and the quote from his character stories. sidenote I could go on about how many times it stresses his connection between the mountains (they gave him freedom in an empty box ueueue) but anyways. I had a lot of fun playing around with blur/halftone/weird coloring effects on this, and styling the text! I love highlighting certain words with different colors and fonts hehe. incidentally this probably has the most saved versions because I was struggling with background texture, bg color, and kinich's color too lmao. I didn't choose the green filter because it looked too similar to #2, and discarded the white background because the green text doesn't pop as well. I feel like he melts into the background better in the white version tho (and I like the illusion of brighter colors on Kinich), so it was a tradeoff ig.

The second poster in the layout and 4th poster I made gave me so much trouble because I literally just didn't know how to design it. I didn't want to have yet another panel with Kinich as the focus, so it was either a) find an object or something similar that's associated with him b) use his quest icon/tribe's icon c) pure typography, which I barely have experience with. I tried using his ascension materials and his weapon for something, tried just sticking a quote on there and shaping it into the shape of his necklace, etc. I was so stuck lmao this was my closest attempt. I full circled back to the video game UI theme I tried at first, but it felt way too empty lol.

the font made it into the final version of panel 4 though! Honestly, I don't have much to say about this design. I caved and used another Kinich image instead of forcing myself to stick with a design centered around his constellation/quest icon and it made things a lot smoother. I was playing around with different formatting of "atonement or compensation" and "give up" (tried overlaying them on top of kinich's scribbled out eyes, etc) but those versions all ended up asymmetrical, so I chose to wrap the quote around the frame instead. I also tried using some leaf textures to mask his face, but it made the scribble look like it's floating around randomly, because you can't really see where his eyes are supposed to be. Ig, have a version with thinner text (kinda hard to read unless you zoom in) and no filters. the font's called m+1c or something and lowkey idk whether there's any difference between some of its thickness settings. i swear to god regular and medium weights look exactly the same

conclusion: kinich. i love your character stories. live your best life.

[whatyourusherthinks]

Late Night With The Devil Review

I didn't know anything this movie. It randomly arrived in theater with no fanfare, trailers, not even a poster. It is going away really fast too. Turns out the horror streaming service Shudder put it out for a limited time in theaters before making it exclusive online. The only other thing I knew about the movie was that they use AI art in part of the movie. I will get to that.

What's The Movie About?

The movie is essentially a found footage of the final episode of a fictional late night sketch show as well as behind the scenes footage detailing what went down to make it the final episode.

What I Like.

To start with, I liked all the characters. Most of them are selfish or jerks, but I still empathized with a good chunk, liked their motivations, and was invested with their role in the plot. A highlight for me was the stage magician skeptic character, if someone makes me play Call of Cthulhu ever again I want to play that guy. I quite like the set up and staging of the story, it built tension wonderfully. I also really liked the back drop of seventies cultural revolution, and more specifically, the satanic panic. It does telegraph some of the reveals but there isn't a huge mystery to the story so I didn't mind.

But my favorite thing is thus: Late Night With the Devil is an analogue horror story higher budget. (Or at least a higher budget than the typical YouTube videos that employ this style of horror.) What that means is that the movie emulates older forms of media, complete with glitched visuals and audio, and the movie uses it to find a subtler narrative underneath the upfront story. I really like analogue horror when it is done well. It can create some of the most disturbing ideas and presentations in horror. Some analogue horror can be too vague, where it's just weird shit with no context because the creators figure the fans will piece together anything and that justifies them barely writing a story. It works best when there is a complete narrative with creepier hints sprinkled throughout that imply a darker story. Which is what Late Night With The Devil does. I will say the secondary story might be a bit too obvious, I picked it up on my first time watching and most people I talked to figured it out as well. But I vastly prefer that to seemingly random bullshit that we'll just let the internet figure out what it means.

What I Didn't Like.

Three things. One, there is a coda at the beginning of the movie setting up the movie itself as lost footage being shown as the movie you are watching. But there is no coda at the end. The movie just kinda stops after the finale. It just feels like a loose end that could have easily been tied, and hell, even set up a sequel or connected movie. I'd watch more of these kinds of movies.

Two, while the gore effects are good, the rest are not. Honestly, they are so bad it takes away from the horror of the movie. There was only one scene I thought was scary, and it was because of those great gore effects. But there is a part where a character vomits themselves to death and I wasn't scared at all because of the clearly fake puke.

And three, the AI art. Here we fucking go. When I first heard about it, I assumed it was abstract art. So I just rolled my eyes and said "You really couldn't just splash some paint on a poster board and film it or something? Hell, give a production member's toddler 5 bucks to scribble all over some paper." But watching the movie, the AI artwork is actually supposed to resemble objects, such as a television, owl, and skeleton. Imagine me rubbing my face with both hands when I say Jesus H Fucking Christ. To start with, it looks bad. AI art does not do details properly at all, giving it any amount of scrutiny reveals how bad it is. Also, you couldn't just take ten minutes in photoshop to put an owl on an old tv? Pay a fucking artist to make art, don't use AI! It's objectively not that bad of an addition to the movie, but we can give no quarter on this issue. The moment that corporations replacing job with AI becomes normalized is the moment that we lose.

Final Summation.

I thought Late Night With The Devil was incredibly interesting and quite good. I wasn't being facetious when I said I would watch more of these kinds of movies. Analogue horror is a extremely fun method of story telling, if you do it right. And I think this particular setting could be expanded in quite a number of directions. Or if the Shudder studios want to keep making this kind of horror with different ideas, I would be down for that as well.