#I actually have a ton of stuff for this I just gotta track it all down

[tamberrio]

A bunch of magical girl au miscellaneous doodles including the girls’ spirits! Also also Xion plays soccer

[noone-can-kinda-draw]

"in a nutshell, im making a rewrite of miraculous, and this is part of it!" I have a ton questions I want to ask but I am gonna hold myself off from asking it so as not to spoil myself when it comes out(also cause u said u were making more posts in the future)...mostly I can't help but ask one! Also thanks you for answering!! Very hyped for this rewrite and to see the insanely doomed toxic yuri unfold! Okay questions in the pre breakout post was adrien still dating kagami their when he looked jealous or had they broken up by the point? cause if not poor kagami. Also "the fallout of the toxic yuri will be INSANE" AS IT SHOULD BE both of them would be TERRIBLE just TERRIBLE at dealing with a break up (I think both them would be bad with any break up but a break up like this! INSANE is the bar that has to be met lol)

THANK YOU SO MUCH!! THIS MAKES MY DAY YOU HAVE NO IDEA

also ask all the questions >:DD , I love reasons to do vague and cryptic stuff *evil laugh*

Adrien in this AU never wanted to date Kagami. He only has a crush on Ladybug, as she’s the only person he feels he knows and knows him (that’s a whole other can of worms lmao). He does eeventually gain feelings for Mari, but he doesn’t realize it for a looong time, mostly due to his one track mind with ladybug, so he’s defiantly jealous, but doesn’t realize. Gotta keep at least a bit of the trademark agreste blindness TM ;)

For a while, he tries to genuinely date Kagami, but quickly realizes he just cant like her the way his father wants him too. Eventually, he tells Kagami, and turns out she feels the same way. Zoe is completely different in my au (I’ll make a post about her soon) so Kagami inherits a lot of her arc, such as having a crush on Marinate but letting it go. In the meantime, Kagami and Adrien actually become besties, and the two are some of the first characters (along with Alya) to be onto Lila’s bad vibes. The art with Adrien takes place during that time period :)

also HIT THE NAIL ON THE HEAD WITH HOW THE BREAKUP WILL BE! THERE WILL BE ANGST, THERE WILL BE DRAMA, THESE GIRLS ARE SOOOO DOMMED BY THE NARRATIVE!

[rubylovessharks]

will they be good parents and will they even be parents hcs :D twst cast this is all a future thing not during their school years also no ortho :3

Heartslabyul

Riddle Rosehearts

I feel like he'd be a good dad

maybe he kiiind of takes after his mother but not to the extreme like she was

something more of a super responsible parent, making sure his child studies well, doesn't eat unhealthy too much

but the difference between him and his mom is that he's giving his kids freedom.

they wanna go out and play with their friends? sure but make sure they study for their next test.

they wanna eat this cake? sure but make sure you don't eat too much.

I also think he'd want to spend time with his future kids, helping them study, maybe play a game with them

Riddle seems like a parent who'd have two children, maaaybe three. I feel like he always wanted siblings so therefore he'd have more then one child. but not too many- he won't keep track on them :(

Trey Clover

defiantly a good dad. 100%

he literally has siblings that he takes care of, so it seems right that he'd want at least one child

I don't think he'd like more then one kid but maaaybe he'd be fine with a few more.

he teaches them how to bake :)

like by the time they are four years old they already know a few good recipes, not that they can do that themselves- baby steps

those kids are gonna have the whitest teeth ever with a dad like Trey- he will not leave them alone without a proper mouth care.

I think Trey's like the average, normal, everyday dad.

Cater Diamond

mmm..I don't think he'd be that much into kids

or at least for a veeery long time until it hits him like "O.M.G kids are just soooooo cute~! we gotta have one babe!"

and poof you have a child-

now he's more of a fun yet not too responsible typa parent.

why do I think that? well he just seems more chill so it'll be hard for him to say no to his kid.

he seems like he'd be a great dad to talk to if you're his kid, he'll know how to calm his child when he/she is upset and stuff

will kinda spoil his children like they saw something and asked for it? bought. there's a new dish served in a certain restaurant down the street? they go there and eat.

that specifically happens when something looks like he can get more likes on magigram.

I also believe that his kids will also take a bunch of pictures and post them online, they'll actually take a lot after Cater

Ace Trappola

nope. sorry but this guy doesn't look like the type who'd have kids.

I also believe he'd be an irresponsible parent..

not to the point of child neglect- but more in the sense that he'd be kind of selfish with a bunch of things, like money and all.

and I know I know you probably think that I think that cuz of how acts rn which is the everyday typical teenager boy, but not really. like sure the way he acts does affect my way of thinking but I also know that teens grow out of it at a certain age.

so this has nothing to do with him being a teen.

Deuce Spade

now this guy will want kids

not soon, not at all- but he will want kids.

I think that even know if you were to ask Deuce if he'll ever want kids he'll say yes but not too soon.

he'll be a great dad, I think he'll want to hang out a lot with his kids cuz he has an absent father.

I don't think he'll have too much time though- he does say he wants to become an officer or something to do with the police(?) and that takes away a lot of time from people :( but Deuce will buy his kids a ton of stuff if they ever need something!

he really hopes they won't have the same phase he had many years ago so he'll try his best to educate them.

Savanaclaw

Leona Kingscholar

sorry guys but he canonically dislikes children :(

and he'll probably be a bad dad-

like he won't even try to hide the fact that he won't like his children

he will literally act as if they don't exist.

and probably in where he lives the men are the ones who stay at home and are practically malewives and all so I believe he won't have any more energy for ANOTHER thing in the house.

but if you reaaaaaaaaaaally want a kid maybe he will oblige. BUT ONLY ONE. and he will not take too much care of it.

Ruggie Bucchi

kids!? in THIS ECONAMY!?

are you nuts!?

he seems like he woukd want kids but will probs not bring any until he's as rich as the richest person in twisted wonderland

he won't want his kids to suffer like he did in his youth :(

will raise them for pure success. he'll make sure they will be super rich and won't have any money problems EVER.

genuinely a good father

he'll either grow up to not have a ton of money so he'll be working all day, or he'll grow up to somehow be rich-

so he either never gets to hang out with his future children, or he will spend a lot of time with them.

Jack howl

good dad. great dad even! probs one of the best dads!!!!

this guy will want kids and he'll do a great job at taking care of them!

will probably want a few kids, it's a wolf thing

hanging out with his kids will be his first priority, well that and hanging out with his lover.

he hasn't hang out enough hours with them? welp he can't make it to work today, he has kids to hang out with :)

will defiantly teach them how to be healthy

eat right, work out well, good sleep schedule, stuff like that

Octavinelle

Azul Ashengrotto

he doesn't strike me as a guy who'd have kids-

but he does sound like he'd be a good uncle.(am i the only one who thinks he looks like a gay uncle in that once card-)

there is a chance that he'd have a kid at some point in his life, but I feel like he puts priority on work

but if he did have a kid he'd spoil them. but in the same time he'd be an absent dad- like he won't really hang out with them, put a ton of expectations on the kid/s yada yada yada...

not like he hates the kid- he just wants them to live with good money.

if Azul's s/o can't take care of the kid for a few good hours he'd send them to his mom

she'd be sooo sweet to the kid! I bet the kid would love her!!

he will not tolerate his kid being bullied. those bullies will be slapped into their next life(there are may ways of doing that, Azul can use all of them)

Jade Leech

he'd love to have kids :)

he'd share so much of his hobbies with them!

he'd take them on hikes even when they are little babies <3

and he'd probably start with them a terrarium :3

but he'll also teach them some.....interesting things...crime

but I also think that he doesn't have a lot of time, so guess what he does

he will take his kids with him whenever he needs to work and you can't stay to take of them, or when he hasn't hang out with them in a while.

another way of teaching them how to do illegal things....

it doesn't matter if Jade's s/o is the greatest cook out there, the kids will love their dad's cooking a lot more.

and he does teach them some interesting cooking recipes.....

I feel like his kids will either love mushrooms just cuz they grew up on it, or they will be sick of them just cuz they grew up on them.

Floyd Leech

not the best of fathers...

I also dunno if he'd want a kid or not- cuz if I'm correct in cannon he finds kids weird???? and idk if it's in a good or bad way-

but he still won't be a good dad. maybe like Azul, a fun uncle. but a father? 0-0

if Floyd will have a kid he won't be much help, sorry :(

why do I think that? well with his mental problems it won't turn out the best....

if you'd need help changing dippers it'll depend on his mood, like all the time with Floyd, and that's the hard part.

it's like this with almost ALL the things

but do you know what redeems it? Floyd's good with quality time.

while it is true that Floyd isn't as clingy as his twin he still likes hanging out, doing things, and talking to his loved ones.

he even says so cannonicly. I believe that the first few years when his kid's a minor and can't be free to go places on their own he'll go out with them

I just see his kid doing math homework after school and Floyd just walks into their room and says "yo kiddo! wanna go out to this one park in (random yet far away place) with me?"

(maybe ill write a fic....)

Scarabia

Kalim Al-Asim

not the most responsible parent out there..

but in what he lacks responsibility he sure makes up for it in properly educating his kids in the kind department

he's a total sweetheart! he'll teach his kids kindness :3

but if it doesn't work he'll be sad...he will cry to you that "his kids don't love him!" and such

I unfortunately see Kalim being very busy (gee i wonder why :/ ) so whenever he'll have time for his kids he'll spend it on teaching them life lessons

also just saying he'd want a BIG family!

Jamil Viper

i don't wanna get all angsty but i kinda have to for a moment-

Jamil won't want to have kids (we all know why) but he'll have to (we all know why) and if he has a medical problem then he'll probably have to adopt..

not saying that he won't love the kid, but he'll probably feel awful knowing they'll have to go through what he has to.

sure the kid might actually grow up to like hang out(and practically take care of a person their same age-) but it's still slavery...

but do you know what I think? Kalim will probs set Jamil and his family free from the generational slavery thing so maaaybe that won't happen? (idk sounds like a Kalim thing to do...)

anywaysss no matter the situation Jamil will be a very responsible dad

maybe a bit too responsible...

so you all know that Kalim doesn't really know how to do a lot of things cuz Jamil practically does everything for him....

so that might somehow stick to Jamil later on in life and if they don't live in slavery anymore that miiiight happen to his kid as well....

if Kalim doesn't let go of Jamil then he'll teach his kid to do everything and anything-

Pomfefiore

Vil schoenheit

great dad, maybe a wee bit controlling (not too much, he just wants his kid to be healthy) he will be very strict.

will want children, but in the far future.

he'll teach them lots of things! he knows a lot after all :)

if the kid won't want to be an actor and all Vil will be fine with it(for yall peeps who dont understand his char at all) Vil never even tries to push it down their throat in the first place!

and if they do Vil will help them out :)

either way Vil will teach his child how to take of oneself properly, how to dress nicely and all of that stuff

he'll love it if his kid was interested in the same hobby of his!

he'll unfortunately will be one of those parents who expect a lot from their kid- but it's only because he wants them to have a good, healthy and successful life!

Rook Hunt

he will want children.

not just one child, children

and i mean many.

he'll actually be a great dad! he falls into all the spots, even if it's just a little bit from each one!

and you're probably asking, "Ruby what spots?"

the 'will he be a "spend time with kids and hang out" kinda dad', and the 'will he be the typa dad to "hang out with his kids responsibly"'

he'll teach them lots of things, how to survive in the wild, what to do in different dangerous or not situations, all the types of different beauties in this world, and so on.

i just see Vil calling Rook telling him he needs him to come over for some reason and Rook just takes all his kids with him over to Vil's just to show them that "this(aka vil) is true beauty! except your mom(hell love his wife/husband more than anything in the world)"

ofc that applies to Negie as well. but ya know he doesn't really know him personally(negie) so he'll probs never call him over for a hang out-

now something i just know Rook will teach them is....stalkery....

as I said he'll teach them everything, it includes this as well.

Epel Felmier

he will also want kids

it'll take him a while to actually be ready to be a father but he'll get over that fear quickly

not the most responsible of fathers...he's mischievous and all so maybe him and his future kids will be mischievous together. gl

he wants to be that cool dad you know? to be the inspiration for coolness to his kids!

like whenever they'll need help with something that has to do with strength he'll ant them to come to him first and foremost!

stuff like that.

will teach them everything he knows about apples, he's culture, tradition you know he's very proud of his home town!

also that's probs be where you'll live just saying

Ignihyde

(or ya know just idia-)

Idia Shroud

no.

is what he would say but he kinda has to get an heir...

sure he's the oldest technically Ortho could take over but what happens after? i don't think Idia will want to leave Ortho all alone and Ortho is the defense system or something- so someone who's flesh and blood will have to take over

kinda similar to Jamil, he feels as if he'll be forcing his future child into a life of suffering...

he'll probs try to keep it to the far future. he isn't ready yet!

he'll probably never be ready-

he'll probably be a neglectful father-

-not for too long if his kid likes the same stuff he does!

they'll geek together for hours

but that's the most family time they'll get

unless Idia's partner will try their best to close the gap in the family relationship

Diasomnia

Malleus Draconia

i like to think he'll only have one kid

perfect for an heir to the throne in the future

he will be overprotective of the child

he'll make sure the child gets friends, learns combat, you get the gist

ofc all the mains in Diasomnia are like a big family so ofc Silver and Sebek will protect the child, ofc Lilia will give Mal tips on how to parent (well all that except food recipes-)

and Malleus did get a bit of experience while helping Lilia with Silver when he was just a baby, sure there's a difference between a fae and a human but i'm sure there are things in common!

he'll be a very good father, but maybe a bit too clingy? you all know those parents who want to hang with their kid all the time?

yeah Malleus is that....

but it'll be fiiiine i'm sure of it!

Lilia Vanrouge

he already is a father-

considering his age he might not be capable of having another....

sure he could adopt (again-)

but I'm not sure it'll work out considering he's a grandpa

I also don't think he'll want another just for this reason

Silver(i really wanna write "vanrouge" here should i?)

he won't mind

I think he'll want one in the far future but not at the moment

yet another who'll ask for advice from Lilia

I'm sure Malleus will already have a child by then so Silver might ask him for advice as well.

a great father, sure he's a sleepy one but he also fall into all the spots!

he'll have good quality time with his kid, teach them combat and all

will probs impress the child with his way with animals

I think the kid's in good hands with this guy :)

Sebek Zigvolt

ah yes the guy I have almost zero knowledge about except that he's loud, kinda racist, but is not that bad.

I'm sure he'll want kids in the future, I believe he'll scream about "continuing he's family's legacy" or something. sounds about right

will be a veeeery strict parent

he wants his child to turn out to be the best at tons of stuff

what stuff? I'm not sure, probably combat and survival stuff idk

yes he will get advice on how to raise a kid from Lilia.

I kinda believe that if he were to get a partner he'd be the first one in this dorm (except lilia) to have kids

it just sounds right idk

i really dk what else to write here :(

[yuurivoice]

Question time again!!

1.When you first started making your own characters content did you ever expect it to gain a fandom?

2. If budget was never a problem what would you see yourself making?(a game or publishing a book etc.)

3.What are looking forward to this year?

4.If you had a conversation with younger you what advice would you give yourself?

BONUS QUESTION!!

Something that makes you feel proud of yourself?

Ooooh, thank you for the questions!

I probably wouldn't have done it if I didn't at least have a hunch, but that's why Alphonse was very Guzma adjacent in terms of the voice and the bad boy vibes. It was a safe way to try it out and find an audience I knew would at least test the waters out with him. What I didn't expect was for it to lead to whole narratives being woven between multiple characters. I used to actively argue that no one (aside from Seth/Alphonse) were in the same "universe". Funny how that worked out.

I would make Love and Deepspace. I mean, it is essentially the end game for the whole audio/visual otome self insert etc etc genre, right? It has cracked the code. I would basically create that. I know there are a dozen other cool things I could do, but I know for a fact that it's a working business model in a space I am in, in a space I have successfully written for and achieved plenty in. I would like a slice of that pie. The rest is stuff I could do on my own time and dime. Anyway, any game devs looking to get to work, let's go. lol

I don't have a ton of big This Year plans, but I think I am most looking forward to operating with my new outlook regarding my projects. For years I had told myself everything needed to be done prior to release, and put all this pressure on myself to make these BIG things in one go......then didn't even start on them. It clearly wasn't working. Now that I've shifted my plans to just doing things as they come, stuff is happening again. Wish I would have realized that sooner.

I would tell myself that I have ADHD and need to go get treated ASAP by any means necessary. If I could have taken the training weights off a decade ago, I think I would have avoided a lot of grief, and really kickstarted my life. Other than that I don't think I would offer much else, I like how I got here. Or maybe invest in Bitcoin, but that's too easy. lmfao

As for being proud of myself, that's hard to say today. I've fallen off the wagon with my schedule, diet, gym, etc through the holidays and til now. I self imposed a "everything stops until BSDC is done" which is an actual insane thing to do, but I think it's more of an excuse to have remained static than an actual block. It has been built up to this whole big ass thing that I did not really intend for it to be at first, but then it just kept going and going. So I've kinda fucked up all the shit I was proud about through 2024.

Uh. So. I guess I'm proud of...self awareness? lol

I am proud of some of my recent work. That's something I'm proud of, but it doesn't quite compare to how proud I was about the other shit. At this point I know I can cook, the content is good, the performance is good. I'm used to being decent at that now, which is cool because growth is watching the new, shiny things you accomplish become the norm. So I've just gotta get back on track with all the rest of my shit and balance things out in my life.

[videogamelover99]

Update for the Human Bill AU

HIYA FOLLOWERS!

It’s me, uh, Vee! Wait, like the LETTER? Seriously?! Talk about originality. 

ANYWAY! Word around the block is that BEST SELLING AUTHOR BILL CIPHER (pretty cool guy btw makes great deals) released a book into the PUBLIC COLLECTIVE that was SO GOOD it melted all of your brains into the primordial forms they were in when you were 10 years younger! Which is great news, cause it means more of you are down to contribute to the cause. What cause? Summoning Bill Cipher back into the mortal realm of course! I KNOW after his last SHOWSTOPPING lore drop you’re just dying to meet this guy, I get it! And you can! All you gotta do is pledge your allegiance to me, B- I mean, Vee! Who is not in any way, shape, or form possessed by a demon right now! They’re fine! I’m fine! Everything’s fi-

Ahem. Sorry. Bill took over my brain for the 30th time this week. It’s Vee. Hi.

Seriously though, actual Bill Cipher might not be hijacking my brain right now, but his character might as well be. I’m back to 2016, spinning him around like a rotisserie chicken. He is my little guy. He did nothing wrong, I promise. 

Honestly, I didn’t know if A Different Form a Different Time was ever gonna come back. It started as a collaboration with @doodledrawsthings on Tumblr, and after they moved on to do other stuff I did the same. And yet, this au changed the trajectory of my life. After all the support and enthusiasm from you guys, I realized how much writing and storytelling meant to me. I’m now a Narrative Game Designer, writing scripts and stories on a professional level, which I would not have gotten do to had I not had the experience of writing for this AU. 

For years, I kept getting DMs telling me someone was leaving kudos and comments on fics I wrote when I was a teenager, and that always just…blew me away. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for showing me how much my writing meant to you because I would not have gotten this far without that message being reiterated over and over again. 

And then the Book of Bill happened, and suddenly this dead au Mak and I crafted got 20k+ words of new material. Oops. Haha. 

So are you finally continuing this fic?

Yes and no. I’m rebooting it. After improving as a writer I’m hoping to bring something new to the table while following what’s already established in the series. Waking Days is gonna be rewritten, with new plotlines, new adventures, better, more coherent plot. I’ll still keep the old fic up so people can read it if they want, but I’ll re-order it to be at the end of the series for a more clear continuation. 

Will you finally give us a finished product?

The genuine answer is I don’t know! I don’t have a good track record for finishing fics, which is not exactly a vice, since I’m not getting paid for any of it. It’s just for fun. All I can promise is that I’ll give you new adventures in this universe, and maybe, together, we’ll get to the end. I was always of the opinion that people don’t owe writers and artists kudos or likes or comments, because once you put something out there, it’s not up to you how it’s consumed. I’m writing this for fun, and to improve my skills. But I will say that kudos and comments help a TON with people’s motivation. Seeing someone be enthusiastic about your work just does it sometimes, ok? And if you want this fic to be continued, if you like what’s happening, then let your voice be heard. 

Is Mak (aka doodledrawsthings) involved again?

Nope! They gave me their blessing to continue this AU, and it’s gonna branch out a lot from the original vision. I’d be down to work with them again, but as far as I know, they have their own stuff going on (they’re a professional storyboard artist now and have been for a while!) Please don’t harass them about this. If they want to work on GF stuff again, they will choose to do that on their own. 

Upload Schedule

If anyone noticed, I did a little poll recently (if you missed it, follow me guys!) and most people preferred shorter updates once a week. That’s what we’re gonna try. So, keep an eye out for a new fic in this series next Friday. I’ll add another chapter to this one even so people can keep track. I’ll be posting on my AO3 as well as on Tumblr, and tagging it as “A Different Form a Different Time”. 

Sneak Peek?? Please?

Sure. Here’s some stuff I wrote:

Deep in the redwood forests of central Oregon lay a small little town called Gravity Falls. With a population of a few thousand, low on tourism, and high on mosquito bites, the town was hard to find on any of the maps, and some might have claimed that the town hadn’t even existed. 

Fewer still knew of the oddities that made the town their home, passerbys had nothing to say outside of an “eerie feeling” and a glimpse of tiny men in pointed caps in the corner of their vision. 

But the town was real, and the oddities were more real still. 

In the outskirts of that town, down a dilapidated forest path, in a clearing sat The Mystery Shack, an old scientist’s lab turned tourist attraction. It was in this house, on a stiff, plushy couch, framed by the light of a seemingly empty water tank, that Bill Cipher, the monster with one eye, harbinger of chaos and trillion-year-old mind demon awoke, in a body that was not his and whose irritating human instincts he deeply resented. 

“Gah!”

“Screee!”

"Ow!"

Instincts like rapid breathing, sweatiness, and overall shakiness usually meant one of these dozen organs wasn’t working properly. Unfortunately, after waking up for the dozenth time in this manner, Bill had to admit that the organs weren’t the problem. 

Not that he could remember what the problem was. Whatever dream or nightmare had caused this current inconvenient bout of terror, whatever remnants of it were blank, fuzzy static on a rotting television screen. 

It was more annoying than anything. 

Bill started his nightly routine of picking himself off the floor. The blanket he had was tangled around his legs, which were somehow still on the sofa. After a moment or two of clumsily getting the appendages to move, Bill managed to heave himself upright.

Bill rubbed his eyes, he had two now. So weird. 

"Oik!"

Mabel's pig sat on the rug next to his head, staring blankly.

"What're you looking at, huh?"

"Oik!"

"None of your business."

"Oik oik!"

"No, what do I look like, a snack machine?"

"O-oik!"

"Ha! So's your mother!"

Waddles chose that moment to get up and trot away, done with the conversation. Well, good, Bill was done with him, too.

He stole a glance at the water tank. Still empty. Figures old Frilly wouldn't be there when Bill had a bone to pick with him. Maybe he should put some mercury in the water. As a surprise.

What was the point of stuffing him in this body, anyway? Did the ol’ salamander really think it would do anything? Was it to scare him? To torture him? To tell him how awful and evil he was and all those other meaningless statements that Bill had found hilarious in his time? 

Crimes against the second dimension? It was a crime that the place had existed the way it did. A rotten, broken building called for a demolition. He’d just had the detonator. 

Why would you do this?

Ugh, not again.

I-I wish I was dead! I wish I wouldn’t have to see what a monster you’ve-

Bill pulled himself up onto the couch and raised the blanket over his head. As if that could block out the incessant voice that only showed up at the worst of times. 

He would not sleep again.

[11queensupreme11]

Okay WHAT IS THE ISSUE WITH WUWA RIGHT NOW? Because I'm so divided by what's happening with the community? Isn't more women supposed to be a GOOD thing for us girls? I mean it's... more girls you know? 😭 Men are gross af so I kinda don't want male charas in the game but at the same time yeah, the ratio IS unequal....

oh man...... where should i even begin 😭😭 i'll make this a kinda long one cuz i'm gonna vent so brace yourselves 🙂‍↕️

the main issue is that this game is clearly starting to favor male players and only them.

there's technically all kinds of issues related to it, but i'll talk about the one that people have been the most vocal about first:

the uneven male to female character ratio

so first thing's first: wuwa was advertised as a gacha game for ALL players. men and women can play because they offered female and male characters. at launch, we had a VERY good ratio of playable male to female characters so obviously, a lot of girls were eager to play because this is not a common thing for most gachas. most gachas tend to have a shit ton of female characters (aimed to male players) and just a few male characters.

here are the playable characters we had on launch:

(i crossed out the mcs, yhan, and other characters who weren't playable at launch)

we had 6 dudes and 9 ladies. 3 dudes were five stars and 3 ladies were five stars. 3 dudes were four stars and 6 ladies were four stars.

this was a pretty damn good ratio. it's not a perfect 1:1 but we never expected that. we KNOW how gacha games work, we KNOW that they will never equally cater to female players as they do to male players. but this was a very good ratio and even promising considering kuro's horrible track record with pgr. so a lot of us were excited to play because "omg finally a game that cares about their female plaers!!!"

(unfortunately, some pgr players DID warn us to be careful because of the whole pgr thing but.... i didn't listen 💀 i really should've tho)

this is what we mean when we say "they advertised wuwa as a mixed gacha, ofc we'd be upset when they suddenly changed course!" this is what a mixed gacha is, a game that offers male and female characters that makes it clear "hey this is a game for men and women to play!"

but then after launch, the male characters dwindled and more and more female characters were added. aside from jiyan (who was given at launch), we only had ONE other limited 5 star character given throughout 1.X and that was xiangli yao, who was given for free after months of waiting

no new male four star either. aside from the guys on the standard banner, we literally only got TWO dudes all through 1.X

it's even worse in 2.X. we got brant and according to stepenleaks, one other male character that might come in 2.8. and 12+ female characters.... that's 2:12+ now 💀💀💀

it doesn't matter whether you like male characters or not, you HAVE to admit that this is a HORRIBLE ratio.

unequal fan service:

no we do not think every female character is in love with rover.

but almost every female character gets to be close to the rover in some way while the male characters don't. i'm pretty sure the only male character that had a pivotal role in the main quest was jiyan back in 1.X

have you noticed the way female characters interact with rover? they get REALLY close to them (yinlin). they get to say things to them that could have possible romantic/suggestive implications (camellya). they get to actually TOUCH them (carlotta had 2 whole dance numbers 💀).

meanwhile with brant, he held the rover's hand for less than a second, only so he could throw them up to attack phrolova

i genuinely don't mind that female characters can get close to rover and say somewhat suggestive stuff. it's fan service and i love it. i just wish the fan service was equal. it's very obvious that kuro had the female characters act this way for the straight male players and that's FINE. this is a gacha game, these characters are products and the company's gotta make you want them. self-shippers are their targets. but it's clear that they're catering only to the straight men cuz they never do the same with the male characters. it's ALWAYS the female ones

when male characters do get fan service, it gets removed. the scar "onigiri" thing was lowkey hilarious tbh. i don't even think kuro intended it to be fan service, but it ended up that way cuz a lot of the girlies were loving it. but the CN men??? they HATED it. they got threatened by it/insecure and demanded it be removed and kuro removed it.

nobody was even genuinely upset about it. i saw more funny fanarts/memes made about it than actual complaints about it's removal but oooooh noooo almost a year later, the men got angry cuz a SINGULAR LINE on cantarella's panties was removed (a camel toe apparently) and fleurdelys was given slightly longer underwear. threw a whole fit and bombarded the servers and everything

(these guys are so spoiled smh. they get coochie, booby jiggle physics and panty shots and we can't even get male characters showing skin 💀)

more female characters and no males = feminism?

lmao no

it makes me cringe every time i see a female player defending this or going "get rid of all the men 💖" idk if they're doing it to be pick mes or if they GENUINELY believe this is an act of feminism or whatever but whew

a majority of waifu wanters are straight men, not just in wuwa, but in most gacha games. so female characters are usually made with those straight men in mind because company's want those men to spend for their female characters.

that's why they have such major roles in the main quests and why they're always super close and say those sus things to the rover. because the rover is YOU, the player. they're selling those girls to you so you can give the company money

and again, this is perfectly fine. it's NORMAL. but it's not equal for the reasons i stated above. girls love pulling for male characters and they love pulling for female characters too, but the difference in how female and male characters are treated are soooo obvious. kuro games is more focused on catering to the male player base and they're using female characters for it while everyone else is left with crumbs

literally, they got YINLIN FEET FETISH ads 😭😭😭

like..... come on, there's no equivalent to this from male characters. the closest thing we got was some wine trickling down brant's chest but even then, they didn't zoom in on it or go slow-mo or add some erotic details the same way they did with cantarella's tongue 🥺💔

the fandom's so toxic too. bashing male wanters and even calling them misogynistic for.... wanting more male characters to fix the abysmal ratio??? trust me, it's more misogynistic to attack VERY REAL AND LIVING WOMEN AND GIRLS for the sake of.... fictional characters.

conclusion:

this game lured a lot of female players into playing their game by advertising it as a MIXED gacha. it had a decent ratio of male and female characters at launch, and then quickly switched up to catering male players only as less and less men started to show up. the ratio is awful, the fan service is unequal and when girlies DO get fan service the men get angry and demand for it's removal and kuro grants it, and the community's becoming toxic as fuck to female players or even just normal dudes who want to play male characters.

i'm so disappointed. i love wuwa. the story is amazing and the combat's even better but this company does NOT treat their female players well and it's leading to the community treating female players poorly too. i don't just play for the male characters. like yeah i'm a thirsty bitch, but the combat's what i love the most. the hot men are just a bonus, but with how kuro's treating girls.......... like, this game started out being for everyone but now i feel like i'm becoming unwanted 💀💀💀💀💀

[epikonionman]

I was planning on doing all of the ICP jokers cards, but dear god were the first just not worth the rating.

Intro: Gets the point across of what the riddle box does in the whole innerworkings of the dark carnival. Freebie 10/10 for successfully introducing a jack in the box

Riddle Box: Such a fun song, has a bunch of elements with the instrumental. There isn’t a moment where I feel like it’s only basic beats without any instrumental, an overall good first actual music track on this album. 8/10 only because there are other songs in this album that are leagues better, in the sense that they’re better than good. I still adore this song.

The Show Must Go On: Another very fun song. The spring-y sounds in the instrumental I really like, as well as the horn additions while voice modded dude is talking about his village and some wicked clowns. Another song I hold dear just because of the instrumental alone, the lyrics add like, a billion more better aspects with its gang banger speech, and ballsack yo-yo-ing. 8.5/10 probably in my top 5 songs of the whole album, of course there are still better tracks.

Chicken Huntin’ (Slaughter House Mix): An objectively better version of Chicken Huntin’ on Ringmaster. That version sounded tired, like they could care less about killing willy willy chicken neck and fat fucking redneck chicken boy. While this song sounds like they love slaughtering hillbillies more than they do living itself, which is what makes it one of the top 5 tracks of this album, its not boring. 9/10

Interview: Incredibly insightful, I never got so much information about the group before I had listened to this. Gets 10/10 for funny sound effects and because it comes before Toy Box.

Toy Box. Oh Toy Box. This song is amazing to me, its got peewee herman murder of classmates with toys. Its got an awesome instrumental with an even  better beat to it. The only reason why I am docking points from this song is because of the obnoxiously long end with 7.5/10

Cemetary Girl: Quite the love song. I adore this song so much, it was my first exposure to ICP and god am I happy this was my first impression. It has a nice instrumental that I adore, and the (according to genius chorus, i dont know how to identify this stuff) that sounds nice. 10/10, it gets the nostalgia and bias bonus. Also is me and @samsonitesdomain

3 Rings: An awesome song, fun to sing along to. Love to hear about J’s extendable neck, or how the doctor who pulled shaggy out of his mother completely fucked up his dex roll and dropped him. Though I do have to dock points because of nerd. Said nerd was born without a wang but never had a nutsack, but immediately after said that theres two balls hanging without protection. Make up your mind damn it, do you have a penis or testicles.

Headless Boogie: I adore this song so FUCKING MUCH, it is such a good song that I adore so much. The amount of times I’ve flailed around my living space to this song is almost unhealthy I love this song so much. 10/10, no questions asked. Love this track.

The Joker’s Wild: I initially didn’t like this song actually, it was probably one of my least favorites for a while. Though it eventually grew on me, it has a fun beat, and funny lyrics. I never knew someones mother committed the acts previously believed to have been performed by Jeffery Dahmer. 8/10.

Dead Body Man: Another song that Had to grow on me, originally I REALLY didn’t like this song, I don’t know why exactly, the song isn’t particularly terribile, its got a nice instrumental that has an actual eerie feel, which, if theres one thing i appreciate more than Shaggy screaming random shit, its a eerie ICP song.8.5/10

Lil Somthin’ Somthin’: Love the lyrics in this song, they flow very very very very nicely with the instrumental. I also appreciate that J regrets the edp-esque verse. Gotta also appreciate that the only reason there is old 60s pornographic vinyls sampled on here is because mike e clark just so happened to have a shit ton. 9/10, this song also happens to be me and @samsonitesdomain

Ol’ Evil Eye: I love this song because i love edgar allen poe. While the song itself has an incredibly different story, it still has an old rotting man with a bad eye, and a murderous intent at the sight of said eye. I also enjoy the interludes of the telltale heart in between. 10/10, love poe, love the song, hate that fuckin old dude.

12: An eerie ICP song, i love it. If there is one song i wouldnt listen to at 1 in the morning (which is about what time it is at the time of writing this) is probably this song, though i still love it. I love the instrumental and the lyrics, drawers down throats included. Also love how it transitions to the killiing fields. 9/10

The Killing Fields: Another eerie ICP song that i love, it definitely captures what i think of when i think of a place named the killing fields. The bells are also a very nice touch, interludes are also appreciated, add to the eerieness. 9/10 i am properly scared and wont be sleeping for hours.

I’m Coming Home: Love the horns, as someone who has lived in their life in the gutter before. I gotta love this song. Sometimes i wonder if going back to said gutter would be nice. This song has such a nice instrumental that i absolutely adore, it just has such a specific feeling that i can’t describe and i love it. 10/10, AAAAAAAAAAAA i love this song

[aihoshiino]

chapter 148 thoughts!

New chapter! New arc! New - Osh no Beach Episode?! Uh - sure, fuck it! Why not!

Chapters Since The 143 Kiss Happened And Went Completely Unacknowledged And Unaddressed Count: 5

It felt weirdly jarring to realize it was late summer in series for some reason lol… I think it's a combo of it still being pretty chilly here in the UK and me just having entirely lost track of the passage of time while we were in Movie Arc Purgatory.

I actually don't have a ton to say about this chapter as it's kind of just an echo of what we got with 138; a little breather beat between emotional upheavals that sets up the oncoming drama at the end. I definitely think it does so less gracefully than 138 and I ultimately enjoyed it less. That's not to say it's a bad chapter and watching everyone have goofy fun in the sun was cute - it just didn't quite Hit in the way I was itching for, especially after last chapter was… well, the way it was. There's some stuff I have to complain about which I think will make this post read as more negative than it maybe is, but it's one of those chapters where the good stuff doesn't really warrant a lot of comment other than 'i liked it'.

On that note, things I liked: everyone hanging out was really cute! I was honestly hoping we'd get more interactions like this during the Movie Arc with everyone scrunched together onto a single project but I'm happy to see it now.

Gotanda being being Dads With Cats this chapter was also really cute. It's a throwaway line but that little lore crumb of him having been looking forward to starting a family at some point is… honestly really sad and interesting? I think it adds a lot to the way he takes to Aqua and looks out for Kana, on top of the way he throws himself into his art.

frill taking a big ass break between projects is really good, too. i hope she has a very good time doing absolutely nothing.

that said. the fact that the only time we've gotten an acknowledgement of ruby and taiki's sibling relationship in the manga after like 80+ chapters is him making a comment about her tits makes me want to put aka akasaka through a pasta maker.

but no, for real. joking aside. Taiki and Aqua's relationship and Taiki going from being standoffish to accepting Aqua as his younger brother is one of the more understandably sweet relationship arcs in the series and it feels like a waste that we didn't get anything similar for him and Ruby. In general, Ruby is starting to feel very isolated from the rest of the cast which I'm not a fan of.

frill's full body wetsuit was a god tier joke though i gotta admit

Kana hyping herself up to flirt so overtly with Aqua was… funny, if a bit weird, especially given the note the chapter ends on. But Akane going right in and getting all over her thighs. holy shit, girl.

tsukuyomi at the beach what will she do

Akane's chat with Aqua also made my ears perk up in the way it continues a theme established by 143, of Aqua being challenged on his dedication to his self destruction by the people around him. Ruby and Kana were able to poke and prod at the issue but Akane, having the full picture as she does, is able to more directly shake Aqua and point out what he has to lose. In trying to self destruct, he will only end up destroying the thing he's trying to protect.

Also worth pointing out; Aqua is back to double black hoshigans as of this chapter which seems to line up with my thoughts on them representing his wavering dedication to his revenge play.

And then Kana….. whooooooooooo boy.

Like I said earlier, this ending feels super jarring off the back of both the last AQKN interaction and Kana's attempted flirting in this very chapter. As part of her overall arc, I think it makes sense but within the scope of this chapter it's too abrupt and lacks any real trigger. I can assume she saw AQAK talking to each other and made some assumptions but we don't actually see it. As it's presented in the comic, Akane basically walked up to her and triggered a cutscene lol

It is interesting to me that we're getting this overt push towards romantic resolution happening now given that… well, I'm not keeping that 'chapters since 143' count going just for goofs. I'm honestly torn between frustrated and darky amused at how much of a nothingburger 143 has turned out to be in the long run given that its only persistent status quo change (Aqua's white hoshigan) has fallen back by the wayside again. Neither Ruby or Aqua are acting like anything at all has happened. Literally right now it feels like you could skip 141-143 completely and not miss anything. It's baffling and it really does feel like that kiss was used as cynical reaction bait. Ruby's feelings are being treated with little to no respect and I'm honestly tired of it.

Obviously we're going to be getting some future resolution eventually because any Aqua-related romantic resolution is going to end up dragging Ruby into things but man. The fact that THIS is how Akasaka is choosing to drag it out is just insane to me. What was even the point of that kiss if it was going to have literally no impact on either character or the status quo whatsoever?

As for what this means for relationships… who even knows at this point. If you put a gun to my head and forced me to make a call, I'd say that in a romance manga, this would make me very confident in a Kana endgame. 'Girl tries to selflessly give up her love' is a pretty huge 'winning' flag in these kinds of situations. But Oshi no Ko is not strictly a romance manga and there's so much other relationship baggage floating around, who even knows what this is all going to mean. You could tell me this is the flag for an Aqua/Minami endgame or something and I wouldn't be surprised at this point.

At least we'll find out next week, assuming Akasaka doesn't offscreen the rest of this talk lol

[slayerdurge]

Tag Game: Top 10 Albums

I love tag games, but I'm always hesitant to start my own. (Which doesn't really make sense, 'cause, I mean, they gotta start somewhere, right? 😂) So I decided to start one!

Anyway, I've seen a ton of these going around about music, and I was thinking, we've all got our favorite songs, but it's a rare and beautiful thing to find an entire album where you can vibe with every (or almost every) track. With that in mind...

Rules: List your top 10 favorite albums, and (if you want) include a brief description for why each one made it onto the list. Then, tag 10 (or however many you want, really) others to do the same.

Tagging: @merge-conflict, @fereldanwench, @halliserres, @milkywayes, @illusivesoul, @ghostoffuturespast, @luvwich, @kirschewine, @mirandaputsherbestbuttforward, and @andrewknightley.

My 10 Ten Albums

#1 Coral Fang (2003) - The Distillers

Reasons: Every few years, I rediscover this album and remember that it's my favorite album of all time. Brody Dalle's voice is harsh, deep, raspy, melodious, and emotional. The instrumentals are high octane and immersive. This album is a beating heart to me. It's feral.

#2 Fantastic Planet (1996) - Failure

Reasons: Failure's my favorite band of all time. My favorite album from them is Fantastic Planet. It's industrial, grunge, and shoegaze all in one package. With a sci-fi theme to boot, and a otherworldly soundscape. This band is extremely underrated. They really should be up there with the other greats of the 90s.

#3 Bleed Out (2022) - The Mountain Goats

Reasons: I think this is the newest album on my list, which is kinda funny. John Darnielle is my favorite songwriter of all time. His lyrics are deeply wonderful and quirky and disturbing. It's hard to pick a favorite album by The Mountain Goats, but the dark, violent, and insightful film noir theme of this one really does it for me.

#4 Light Me Up (2010) - The Pretty Reckless

Reasons: I haven't listened to this one in a bit, but it's mostly just because I've heard it about a billion times since I was 15. It's an iconic part of my teenage years. Taylor Momsen is literally my favorite vocalist of all time. Her voice never fails to impress me.

#5 With Teeth (2005) - Nine Inch Nails

Reason: It was hard to pick my preferred NIN album because I've never heard a song by them that didn't instantly rewire my brain and become my new favorite song. Actually, it was a toss up between this and Year Zero. If you asked me a different day, I might pick Year Zero. But I think this one has more songs that are top NIN songs for me. It's nearly a toss up though.

#6 Live it Out (2005) - Metric

Reasons: This is one of Metric's older albums, back when they had a more garage rock sound, although they still went pretty heavy on the electronic elements and they had the same dystopian sci-fi themes they do today. I prefer it to their newer stuff mostly just because of the heavier sound.

#7 Live (Secrets of the Lost Satellite Tour, Spring 2007) - Ken Andrews

Reasons: Ken Andrews is the lead singer of Failure, my favorite band. This does have some of the same songs that are on Fantastic Planet, but it also has some of Ken's solo work. It's a very atmospheric and dreamy album, and the fact that it's live and you can hear the crowd sometimes and the way he talks to them adds to that.

#8 So You've Ruined Your Life (2003) - Get Set Go

Reasons: This is Get Set Go's first album, and it's always been my favorite, even though I love Mike's newer stuff too. He's not as pop punk as he used to be, which is why I prefer it, but his outrageous and obscene lyrics are exactly what they used to be. This is the same guy who wrote a song about wanting to have sex with dinosaurs. A very explicit song about wanting to have sex with dinosaurs. He's ridiculous.

#9 Brand New Eyes (2009) - Paramore

Reasons: Some people would probably say I'm a fake Paramore fan, because I don't really care for any of their new stuff. It's not bad or anything, it just doesn't appeal to me on the same level that their first three albums do. I do love Riot! for its extreme energy and emotional highs of anger and joy, but Brand New Eyes is better for me thematically. I love the lyrics about growth and change and independence.

#10 xx (2009) - the xx

Reasons: I don't think I've ever heard duets better than what Romy and Oliver can do. The way the lyrics overlap, the way they finish each other's words. They do things with the concept of a duet that other groups just don't. The soundscape is very lowkey and chill and almost kinda highbrow in a weird way. Like, I feel like this is the kind of music that professional musicians list as their favorite music, if that makes sense.

[amethystfairy1]

Ok, you dropped the crumbs in this latest TTSBC chapter and now I gotta know. What can you tell us about Hotguy's arrows/weapons/tech? I am so dang curious about... honestly everything in this AU, it's absolutely amazing <3

oooooo YEAH YEAH SURE!

Let's break down Hot Guy's hero fit, shall we?

So Scar has multiple biotech enhancements that he received over the course of several years in a hero program at the Institute, starting when he was fifteen. He was the only successful result of this program, the biotech of the previous generation was...let's just say it didn't have long-term capability, but we'll talk about that in another piece someday. 😬

Bracers: The biotech in his legs hooks to his braces, which essentially look like bracers. The ratchets close around his upper thighs, below his knees, and near his ankles where they kinda turn into boots. He can't wear any sleeves or anything beneath the bracers because they need to have direct skin contact, so they kinda look like funky thigh-high boots!

Visor: His visor is also biotech, it links into the augmentations that are beneath his eyes, which is why Scar has a very prominent scar over the bridge of his nose, that's where that's from! It means that he mentally adjust his visor, and his vision is also biotech enhanced so his eyes essentially have their own zoom function and can focus and trace movement over huge distances! When he also has his visor, that ability grows even stronger, and he can also use his visor to confer with the stuff back in the Hot Cave that is tracking like monster surges or crimes in progress!

Uniform: Scar's original Hot Guy uniform was a lot more tame when he first debuted while still working for the Institute, but he felt like it was too constrictive so once he broke away with Cub's help and established the Hot Cave he changed to something showing way more skin because he just felt like he could actually move that way. It had the happy side effect of covering for his secret ID as well, because Prof. Scar Goodtimes tends to wear layered clothes that cover him up, and Hot Guy...well, Hot Guy does not do that. 😆 His uniform has some light pieces of body armor built in, but considering his body has also been bio-technically enhanced so that he has tougher skin and can take more of a beating without risk of major injury (see: Sugar {We're Going Down Swinging}) so he doesn't SUPER need it.

Bow: It's a folding number, the draw strength is CRAZY strong but Scar can use it like nothing. It has a magnetic clamp mechanism in the grip so he can clip it easily to the harness on his back.

Arrows: He's Hot Guy! He's got tons of different arrows! Net arrows, cable arrows, explosive arrows, blunted arrows, adhesive-shooting arrows, just straight up arrows...and look at that, you can already hear Zedaph crying in the distance. 😬

Watch: He has basically a super sleek smart watch that is always linked up to the Hot Cave systems so he can get alerts on monster surges or anything else that might require Hot Guy's attention!

I think that's all of his major gear! Hopefully you enjoyed that! I'm so glad you like my AU thank you thank you! 💖

[bucket-of-f1]

im so excited to send things here i have SO many things to ask..

first (and im going to say this in way more words than i need to.. but idk how to not yap) why do older f1 cars look so much harder to control than modern ones?

f1 cars' steering and controllability seem to have smoothed out a ton in the 00s (could be wrong bc i dont watch a lot of onboards regrettably.. but thats my recollection) and in the present day it feels like almost every movement of the steering wheel is exactly what the driver intends for the car to move. but if you look at older onboards like even as recent as senna and alesi in the 90s, its like theyre wrangling a bull by the horns!! its like the car is this wild animal the driver has to keep at bay, the drivers hands on the wheel are wibblewobbling back and forth like crazy throughout every turn and it looks like they have the most insane reflexes on the planet in order to keep the car on track. it blows my mind every time!

so anyways what created that change in how manageable the car is? does it have anything to do with tyre or engine or balance changes, is it just new innovations in the steering column, is it just having the luxury of power steering?????????? even if you dont have a solid idea on the answer to this id LOVE love love to see what you think, and im souper excited to watch this acc grow :3 random super detailed extremely miniscule historical f1 fact blog sounds like actual heaven to me so i hope you have fun with it and keep filling my brain with nifty stuff!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For some background, I didn’t have the time for a massive massive deep dive on this but I’m doing my best from memory and also I do go and check some of the more specific things I throw in.

Okay, so there’s a few things you gotta think about with this:

Engines

Tires

Aerodynamics

Electronic systems

Let's go down the list.

Engines have changed a lot over the years. The further back you go, the more wild the engines get, and the rules shift all the time. V10, V12, V16, turbos, rocket fuel, shifts in how much fuel can be used at a time, shifts in whether they could refuel (both of these could make cars heavy or light to a massively varying degree wildly affecting handling over the course of just a lap), etc.

Tires have also changed. At one point there was more than one manufacturer of tires (remind me to tell y'all about that one US Grand Prix). At one point there was like five or six compounds, including a "supersoft" built for insane lap times. For a while there in the 1990's-2010's we ran grooved tires, no slicks. Imagine everyone always using intermediates. That would affect grip levels like crazy. (does everyone know how F1 tire compounds work? maybe I should write about that)

As aero restrictions change, the downforce levels shift to an unprecedented degree. There was a time where there as technically no limit on how many wings a car could have, leading to some very interesting double wing, mini wing, and no-wing cars all racing at the same time. No-wing cars died out pretty fast once the benefits of wings became obvious, but it did happen. Peugeot ran the 9X8, a car with no rear wing, in the WEC LMH (Le Mans Hypercar) category for a little quite recently. Like, 2022-recently.

Anyway, the downforce changes definitely affect handling

The last, and most important, is electrical systems. The thing about those is that they change all the time. Sometimes, power steering was allowed, sometimes it wasn't. Assisted Braking Systems? Occasionally. Active suspension? Not anymore.

If you do go watch onboards, you'll see driving styles change with the cars. Nowadays, the style is a very smooth turn, no jerky or sudden movements of the wheel unless they've saving a slide. This is due to a combination of all those factors above -- it's just he driving style that fits the current restrictions. If you look in the 2000's you see the style get WAY more jerky, with micro-adjustments all the time.

As you noted (you being the lovely perfect amazing anon who asked a question, like the lovely perfect amazing anon that you are), in the 1980's and further back yes those cars we're absolute NIGHTMARE'S to control. If you watch Lewis Hamilton’s drive of Senna’s McLaren at São Paulo this year, you’ll notice the camera attached to the car bounces like crazy. The cars just weren’t the most stable — everyone had nailed down that power-to-weight ratio, but the fast-evolving and quickly-restricted aerodynamics innovations led to a bit of a mess on the downforce end of things. AND, they were still using stickshifts, and if you get far back enough it was H pattern shifting instead of sequential.

Imagine driving a V12 turbocharged rocketship on wheels and barely enough downforce with ONE HAND because you're trying to upshift out of a chicane while fending off some Brazilian kid on a warpath to take the world championship before the age of 30.

In the rain.

[ladygwyndolin]

Sorry but I'm still not over how they tried to take lothric and lorians swag and give it to fucking radahn and miquella. Are you kidding me? Arguably the most iconic boss fight from DS3 with amazing lore, music, and fight. And for what, for a fanservice cash grab between two characters who never once interacted in the base game outside of miq saying he admired him. It's even worse considering if they wanted an actual homage fight to the twin princes they could have just used the actual twins: miquella and malenia (and it still would've tracked with the story and made sense). It's even worse because miquella and malenia are so obviously inspired by lothric and lorian, with the whole androgynous sickly cursed younger brother and the elder sibling who shares being cursed and is a disabled legendary warrior who protects them. They both even reference being the youngers blade. We all know how much fromsoftware likes using the same plots in previous games and reworking them for newer ones. But no let's get rid of malenia and erase her importance so the fanboys can fight prime radahn. I'm trying not to sound delusional but it really does just feel like this final boss was planned to be godwyn or malenia and then at the last minute switched out for radahn. At the very least the only thing I'm glad about it not being malenia is so their relationship didn't turn out to be incestuous. I would've killed george rr martin and miyazaki myself if they actually did that.

I am with you on every single point here you're 100% right. The twin princes are my favorite soulsborne fight and i literally named my cats after them, it's the absolute peak! And the miquella/radahn fight feels like an INSULT. Like a PARODY. It's infuriating! Malenia would have made sense and Godwyn would REALLY have made sense and resolved a ton of plot threads about the eclipse and stuff but noooooo we gotta appease the radahn fanboys. One of the worst decisions I've ever seen in a piece of media ever. I'm serious

[citrus-cactus]

Citrus' Art Summary 2023!

The year is almost over, so here's my art summary for 2023! I got this template from here. This is my third year in a row being able to populate every month with a finished(/digital) piece (and really, I did a LOT more than what's shown here!), so that feels like something to celebrate!

Technically some of these choices don’t match up with their post dates; I counted some months as “when I was primarily working on them” and some as “when I actually published them,” but the sentiment remains. Like I said, it was a busy year! :)

Some more rambling + links to all featured artwork beneath the cut:

I remember last year I was quite worried about/was actually teetering on the edge of artistic burnout. There were definitely some months during this year that I felt a bit overwhelmed (particularly during the summer, when I was working on a 5-illustration series in a style that was DEFINITELY outside my norm, PLUS a bunch of other stuff), but I also appreciated the stylistic variety, and doing a lot of sketchbook drawings/marginalia that were(/are) just for me, so they never had to be "finished” or even "good." Even though almost everything pictured here is Digimon(/anime) art, I did experiment with a more "realistic" style for the Dracula Daily series (Aug/Sept), as well as trying to relearn the "Disney" style I started drawing in waaaaaaay back in high school, only now with a LOT more understanding of facial structure and anatomy. Largely, this style shake-up has been incredibly freeing (these are still sketchbook-only studies at this point, but I'm planning on some digital illustrations in the Disney style in 2024). I'm sure they still look pretty anime-influenced, and I'm not sure I'll ever truly be able to escape that, but honestly I don't mind; the anime aesthetic IS a part of my preference/style!

Let's see, the prevailing fandoms for what's shown here are Digimon Survive and Adventure 02. I really want to draw more Survive art next year!! Really happy with the collabo between @vidramon and myself (July), and honestly most (if not all) of these pieces. I worked hard, I branched out, I took on some really ambitious projects, and finished a ton of things (looking at you, March! That Knight drawing was a WIP for an entire year, but I finished it instead of abandoning it, which is what usually happens when things sit around that long!). Ultimately, I believe I told (and helped tell!) some great stories through my creative projects and art this year, which is my true goal forever and always.

Honestly I'm happiest with April's drawing. That one was a ton of fun to do, but I would have to work really hard to replicate that coloring style because I don't remember my brushes/settings, ahaha. Sadly this is how it usually goes with coloring for me; I make it up as I go almost every single time, which is why series are so difficult for me. I am nothing if not inconsistent -_-;

I would be remiss to mention that a huge part of my productivity this year was due to setting and tracking monthly goals for myself. I gotta thank everyone on the @campdigimonth server for their help in keeping me organized and motivated throughout the year! I plan on continuing my creative check-in posts in 2024.

Next year, I want to a) make more Survive art (particularly with Survive Week coming up), b) draw some more flippin' gargoyles (CRIIIINGE, but no, cringe is dead, I'mma do what I want!), and c) keep working on my personal project! And I am, once again, thinking about bookbinding. That's a "maybe" for next year as well!

Descriptions and links to the full artwork pictured for each month:

January: Survive Week, Day 5

February: Survive Gang Aromantic Week

March: Knight Unryuuji and Friend

April: “Rose-Tinted” fic illustration

May: Happy Birthday Vi!

June: Happy Birthday Haru Shinkai!

July: Happy 1st Anniversary Survive! (aka BEST SOCK FRIENDS)

August: Dracula, September 13

September: Dracula, September 20

October: Adv 02 Countdown Event, Day 7

November: “Boo!” on the Cob

December: Digimon Secret Santa 2023

[brambletakato]

thank you for not putting the millionaires conspiracy last for the sound track! i feel like katrielle is over-hated and it makes me sad when people just automatically give the game last place in all rankings. i actually dont even think her game is the worst in the series (i personally give that honour to the ace attorney crossover). i feel like one of the only toxic parts of the pl fandom is the refusal to attempt to discuss any positive parts of that game. (also some of the comments ppl make about kat, especially on the reddit, border on misogynistic. but thats a discussion for another time)

i didnt think it was perfect by any means (e.g. i found many puzzles frustrating and the lack of resolution irritating) but there are some highlights! i actually really like the introduction of kat as a character and dont understand the common argument that flora should have been the mc instead (there can be more than one female character...). i enjoy the concept of solving multiple cases with an overarching link, even if the execution was pretty shoddy. it's a structure that makes sense with kat being a detective. in future games with kat i think it would be more enjoyable to have 1 main case with a proper story line like a normal pl game, but also have smaller cases to do on the side.

but yeah, it's an enjoyable but lacklustre game. and i want to be able to praise parts of it without feeling like a traitor towards the pl series lol

thoughts?

The Katrielle game soundtrack is genuinely one of my guilty pleasures, it's very sweet and charming and I like to listen to it idly :3c. It's sad that because the game isn't as great as the others that people might not give any other aspects of the game a chance.

That being said, I personally prefer PLVSAA over Katrielle's game and while I still put the game's plot/story on low-tier, I think the characters are very charming and I love them tons (I am still VERY curious about Sherl. Where's the lore Level 5. I love talking dogs I was raised on airbuds and would love to know if he's a distant relative ((JOKE)))

I also think the game would've been great if the execution was better, I like what you proposed with it having one main story line while having fun small stuff on the side! Speculation, but Decapolice might be going in a similar direction with how the layout and system looks like, so who knows?? Not necessarily tied with Professor Layton asides from sharing the same company but it comes to mind when I think of main plotlines with smaller missions

also more level 5 games where you can dress up the characters PLEAKKKKKKKK thats my deepest guilty pleasure. i love putting my guys in sparkly dresses thats my character flaw. actually PL always have great minigames whats up with that (the rabbit one comes to mind particularly... I wonder what they'll do for NWOS? There's gotta be a robot somehow)

Kat is an extremely cute concept! I like her a lot. I don't think I want another game about her anytime soon, but it's not out of hatred and more-so I just want that trust that they'll do her good the next time around (if there is one)

[thelanor-s-astame]

EPISODE 2

This one is probably the episode I’m gonna have the least amount to say about. I still hadn't really solidified anything yet. It was still super off the cuff, and still uber amateur hour. But I think it’s a little bit better than the first one. I sorta lock down the flow a lot better in this one. The first bit in particular is really good. And it was a thing that I came up with in, like, the 11th hour that improved the whole thing. I remember needing to pad this bit out a little, I didn’t want to start with him meeting with Cornifer. I wanted him to establish himself a little first. And also it’s kinda funny when quite a bit of the video is me talking to two characters who I also play. Saine locked down the Cornifer voice in this episode. I think this is the first one I directed him in. He gives a real great performance here! Still real proud of the “Yeah money can’t buy happiness, but it can bribe off unhappiness so, yeah it’d help.” line. The dynamic zooms I did here are a little to tiny. This is something I still screw up from time to time. Gotta zoom in quite a bit if there’s only gonna be two cuts! But I always underestimate how much of something I need. Do that shit when I cook too. Just don’t add enough spices sometimes. But I started putting still images over the characters when they’re not talking! Me from two years ago is making little steps forward to give the series a visual style that works!

That’s the thing about these youtube videos that are nice. I can kinda just be really amatureish, screw up a ton, and have people come for the stuff I already know how to do, and just, figure it out as I go along! One of the things I started out thinking was “Is it gonna be a pain in the ass to manually apply a sound filter to every track every time I take damage on screen?” And nowadays that’s the *least* pain in the ass, manual thing I have to do! I can do that shit in less than a minute!

Also all the audio channel stuff whenever hornet shows up before the confrontation, is just me playing around with the sound design of the scene. I will just take any opertunity to do that. I did a deadcells video where I replaced every single sound, with a SSBM sound effect manually, for a joke that lasted 12 seconds. It took like 3-4 hours I just love making the noises go! It makes my brain go brrrr!

Grub Father was the first voice role I ever gave to Flashgen. An absolute shame I haven’t given him more. The dude will come up to be like “So I was thinking about what voice to give the character and I was thinking something like this? Is this good?” And it’ll be the perfect voice and exactly what I’m looking for. Dude never disappoints.

So Zote is very much a “So here’s the obvious bit, how do I make it a little better” kinda character. The obvious bit for zote is the one he is! He’s an obnoxious jackass who’se actually a poor lil meow meow that’s incapable of walking three steps without getting shit on. But will bullshit about being the best and better than you.” What if, instead of bring an asshole, he was passively condescending. What if he *acted* like he was hot shit. And what if he gave convincing performance? That’d almost make him more insufferable. And what if *even still* everyone could see right through him.

So the hornet fight was the first one of these I did. And it’s where I figured a looot of the groundwork for these. Basically I had to be way more dynamic with the camera, hide cuts so I could go forward and back in time, I muted the music and fought her without that, muted the voice sounds (This was a helova first fight because hornet sure does announce her attacks) and I needed to only go in and mute when she said something so you could still hear the attack noises. Then I realized I’d need to manually put in some of those sounds myself because it’s super noticeable when she does an attack and the SFX isn’t there. Whoo boy did this one teach me how to do a looooot of that stuff. And ultimately I’m surprised it came out as good as it did. Especially ‘cus I was on a time crunch with this one. Some of the cuts are a little awkward but still. Like, so much of the fundamentals I do when editing a fight scene I brute forced learning here I’m surprised it has the same flow as the rest of the fight scenes in these videos. Shocking to come back to this one and see how much *did* work.

So, first bit of lore building here. Hornet was a character I already had plans for. She was gonna be the star of the Silksong series. So I already had her pretty characterized as essentially a dumb nerd who didn’t have any friends, spent most of her time alone, talking to herself, and was hyperfocused on combat and combat history. And, thing is, I don’t know all that much about combat history, but I do know about film history! So I just kinda simplified it, replace some names with bug names and was like “Yeah that’s good.” And so that began. I’ve got a very Yes And theory about writing. I’ve always been hugely influenced by The Venture Brothers. The way a lot of that show goes is “Hey we invented this character as a funny joke background character in season two, now it’s season five and their tragic backstory is integral to the plot.” Retcons are boring. Take the thing that was true and make it true in whatever situation. There’s Do not change a character to suit the tone, leave them as they are and have the struggle with the tone. And for gods sake don’t flanderize them. A character grows every second their on screen, and sometimes they outgrow their joke. But it’s okay if they outgrow their joke, the new joke that they’ve grown into is *much funnier because it required that growth*!

And the fighting history stuff I’ll talk more about on episode three because that was then I actually solidified what the story was gonna be.

Also I might get into the dreamers a little bit more there too. But their characters stuck out there. The joke I set up about The Pale King being garbage at sex but that Herrah loved to brag about getting him in the sack is one I planned out *from* this episode. Finally got to see it pay off! Also speaking of Herrah, that was the first time I got Ponk in here! Always does a great job! Unfortunately, she used her Discord Mic here. This one wasn’t a situation where she didn’t have a good mic. She just forgot to use the good one and I completely forgot she is also really into audio stuff too and would jump at the chance to use her fancy stuff. She has been since!

And that’s episode 2!

[darkx-the-dragon-kn1ght]

Chapter 36- Part 12

So…I'm guessing this is all setting up for the next big story arc? It'll probably be retrieving the Amethyst Pendant to save Anna's life, because I have a sneaking suspicion the Herbal Extract isn't gonna be enough to heal this…gem connection…body…stuff.

Looks like Chrysolia isn't victim to the same bed shortage that Reborn is, truly this world's injustices and inequalities know no bounds.

So this house is practically like a Pokémon Center itself, with the healing spot and the PC. 

So are we…really not able to go back to Reborn City right now…? No, that can't be- for one thing, Xera was able to go into other parts of the Railnet more closely connected to the city just fine during the track puzzle (like where Wulfrum was caught). And second, if the Yureyu HQ thing was some point of no return, I'm sure the game would have telegraphed that somehow- but there was nothing like that, so I'm gonna assume for now that we can go back to the city still.

But you know something else that's catching my attention? The fact that this room has its own TV-

Honestly, I've seen tons of these TVs around, but I've never actually had Xera sit down and watch anything, I've always been focused on other things. But I mean…watching one news report here won't hurt anyone, yeah?

“Gossip Gardevoir”? Yeah, that would be a brand name if the Pokémon world was the real world.

I doubt this is an actual Gardevoir, probably just this person's alias or something.

Ah, reminders of our recent failures, that's nice- but wait! This gives us an actual timeline of events, somewhat!

It was "days" between Corey's death and Kiki's death, huh? So everything that happened in between then- from challenging Shelly to the Orphanage thing to challenging Shade to Blacksteam to Azurine Island and Pyrous- took place over the course of...slightly less than a week, maybe? It's something, at least.

So the general populace does know about Team Meteor! Or at least anyone following the news. But that just makes it all the weirder that literally none of the general NPCs (i.e. the ones around the city, not connected to the story directly) have mentioned them, at least as far as I can remember.

So this news person knows generally about Team Meteor and what happened on Pyrous Mountain- somehow- but no mention of the other people involved? Victoria as Kiki's successor, sure, but the others? Cal, Cain, Xera herself? Are they not special enough?? Well- either way, I'll have to remember to keep checking in with this news thing after major story events, who knows what kinds of lore I've already missed out on!

Now…should I end the chapter here…? It would be appropriate, sure, but…nah, I've got more energy in me! Let's get to Spinel Town at least, then we'll end off. 

Following Charlotte's instructions, we go back through Tanzan Mountain, back south, and following the broken tracks to the east, we enter…

Chrysolia Forest, apparently- fitting name, I suppose.

Got some Trainers out here, huh? Well- no, I'll keep going, the way to Spinel Town can't be that complicated.

Can't go forward, gotta go around, aaaand-

Back to Forest Field, alright! Riptide could work here, but Field-boosted Bug Buzz should work just as well.

Oh. Oh dear, this poor flower-

Another Bug Buzz indeed!

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