#I have too much fun with my mech masks

[krozyain]

𝔓̴𝔩̴𝔢̶𝔡̷𝔤̵𝔢̶ ̷𝔞̶𝔩̶𝔩̵𝔢̸𝔤̶𝔦̷𝔞̶𝔫̵𝔠̵𝔢̶ ̵𝔱̶𝔬̴ ̵𝔱̸𝔥̸𝔢̷ ̸𝔴̴𝔬̷𝔯̵𝔩̵𝔡̵'̵𝔰̶ ̶𝔪̶𝔬̵𝔰̸𝔱̵ ̸𝔭̴𝔬̶𝔴̴𝔢̴𝔯̸𝔣̷𝔲̶𝔩̵ ̷𝔠̸𝔬̴𝔪̵𝔭̴𝔲̸𝔱̶𝔢̸𝔯̵.

[neon-knights-mercenary-company]

In the isolated corner of the Mechlab, where Rowan de la Rosa was working on her cobbled together Marauder, it was fairly quiet. Even the loud whirring and buzzing of the fabricator was lessened.

So it was easy to hear the familiar clicking sound - of the specialty footwear of an SLDF prototype advanced cooling suit.

The chuckle, warm and happy, she hadn't heard in... Well, over a century for him. Less time for her.

Remus. Remus Kerensky.

"So," he says, raising his voice only a little to carry up to her, where she sat adjusting the Marauder's main gun. "You have had quite the experience, I heard, quiaff?"

Quiaff. That word, that Clanner word. He and the others of the Sixteen, they'd used it, well before the Clans came knocking. Hearing it from the invaders had been a shock. Much like seeing the enemy piloting echs much like those she'd fought alongside during the Restoration - those impossibly advanced machines they'd said, they lied, were Star League prototypes.

Rowan remembered the last time she'd heard it. Half dead on Satalice, what... 101 years ago now, but also just a few weeks ago.

He'd said "I will keep you safe, quiaff?" Hadn't he?

( @is-the-battlemech-cool-or-not )

“Remus?”

Rowan’s voice was barely a whisper, devoid of the fire and thunder she usually projected. To anyone else, it would have drowned in the wash of noise from the bustling ‘mech bay, but when Rowan glanced down, she caught the twitch of his ear.

“Remus, you old dog! Yeah- an Experience! Let me tell you, misjumping a century isn’t fun, I was mixing up my left and downs and greens all day after,” she said, trying to project some of that bluster that she typically wore like an old mask, but to her, it seemed to ring hollow. “Let me get down there so I can greet ya proper.”

Rowan stowed her tools and shimmied across the chassis, stepping gingerly over the cockpit to make her way to the gantry. Lowering the lift, she took a good look at Remus for the first time in far too long.

Striking red fur- still the same bloody shade as the day she met him- covered the man from head to paw. He stood, fuckoff tall in his SLDF cooling suit, seemly cool as a cucumber unless you knew the signs.

Like the fluffy, luxurious tail wagging a mile a minute behind him.

A grin crossed her face at that- genuine and bright, driving away some of the lingering doubt on her face. The lift hit the ground, and she stepped towards her old friend, opening her arms as for an embrace, before the doubt could take hold.

“God damn but it is good to see you again.”

[connorswhisk]

Ima need me some more sexual tension with Miguel O’Hara 🙏🙏

ready and waiting for you sir🫡🫡🫡

struck blind - Miguel O’Hara x Transmasc!Spider-Man!Reader

You did not expect to finish out your day fighting a giant mechanized rhinoceros, but since becoming Spider-Man, you haven’t known what to expect anymore.

This version of the Rhino isn’t what you’re used to, though. He’s steam-powered, covered in little bronze gears and cogs. Instead of speaking, his roars come out in a garbled mix of bells, whistles, and clangs, making for a fairly creepy cacophony every time the mech opens its mouth. You’ve never seen anything like it, and you’re pretty sure this guy isn’t from around your part of town.

And he just had to attack during the beer festival, didn’t he? While everyone’s having too much fun to know what to do with themselves and no one’s reaction time is up to par. You suppose you should be grateful for the festival taking place on the outskirts of the city, but still…

“Come on, run!” you yell frantically as you usher civilians out of the fray. When Rhino tears a newspaper stand out of the ground and chucks it in your direction, you have to bat it away from a pair of open-mouthed pre-teens. You try to ask the kids if they’re all right, but they turn tail and race in the opposite direction. When you glance behind you, it’s to see the machine barreling at you full-speed. Usually, you would have picked that up, but you were so preoccupied with saving people that you hadn’t sensed anything.

It’s too late to move. You screw your eyes shut and brace for impact -

Something warm collides into your side, and suddenly, you’re swinging through the air. Your savior is - well, there’s no other way to put it - your savior is Spider-Man. Not you, of course, but his suit doesn’t look all that different from yours, and the strand of web he’s got clutched in his hand as he pulls you both to safety is unmistakable.

Other Spider-Man sets you down. He’s taller than you, more muscular. You pretend like you weren’t just nestled into his broad chest and step away from him, eying him warily. “Who are you? What the hell is going on?”

“I’m Miguel,” he says. “You’re Y/N. We don’t have time for this.”

“Don’t have - ? How do you know my name?! Hello?!?”

The back of your neck prickles.

Other Spider-Man curses under his breath. “Shit - Jess!” He grabs you again, this time more by the waist, webbing the pair of you away. A ginormous bronze horn smashes through the concrete wall you’d been standing against not moments before.

“You know I can web myself, right?!” He’s pulled you behind a big oak tree now, his large hands pressing you firmly against the bark. He ignores you completely and says, “I’ll explain everything in more detail later. For right now, Jess will distract the Rhino.”

Sure enough, the giant beast is currently preoccupied with a woman on a motorcycle, whirling around and roaring with frustration as she zips all around him.

There’s way too much going on at one time for you to keep up with it all. When you look forward again, it’s to see Other Spider-Man reaching up to pull off his mask, and oh, shit.

Other Spider-Man - Miguel - is hot. Like, to a ridiculous degree. His hair falls nearly to his shoulders, swept back behind his ears to frame a handsome face, long nose, strong jaw, dark eyes. And he looks at you so intensely while he speaks that you feel a pink flush blazing through your cheeks, heating your entire body.

Timelines, multiverse, canon events, your head is reeling. But deep down, somewhere in your core, it makes sense. You’re not the only Spider in existence. You are not alone.

“Ok. I understand.”

Miguel nods. “We’ll take you back to HQ once we’re finished here.”

You pull your own mask off for a gulp of fresh air, breath hitching slightly as you inhale. You can’t help but look at Miguel again - your eyes meet his accidentally and Miguel stiffens, his gaze roaming over the plains of your face. “What?” you ask breathlessly, but you think you might know what.

“…Nothing,” Miguel says, and then he pulls his mask back on. “Sit tight, Jess and I will handle this.”

He webs away. You duck into a crouch, heart racing. You’re not sure what just happened - or what’s going to happen next - but you’re so caught up in everything you haven’t even put your mask on again. There’s a lot of questions you have, but currently, the thing at the forefront of your mind is the image of those dark eyes meeting yours, and what you saw inside them.

[mislamicpearl]

Thoughts about Ninjago DR S2 eps 18-20 (finale):

I'll put the summary here so the spoilers can stay hidden. Overall, I think this might be my favorite part of Dragons Rising so far. So many things have been improved upon by leagues from season 1, with the villains being more likable, the setting and plot way more interesting, the new characters growing into their own, no more filler side plots, even the humor is better. While of course it wasn't flawless it is finally making me excited and eager to see the next season, rather than cautious and apprehensive, and not even just because I want to see the OG characters, but because I'm genuinely invested in the new gen ones.

And now for the spoilers:

Lmao Zeatrix went all uwu suddenly with that apology. But it is nice to see she's not an all the way bad person like her sister (maybe). Wonder what she'll do now?

Wyldfyre schooling her on how to apologize was so cute haha. And her suggestion of punishment hilarious. (Also when are we going to get more about how she grew up??)

It's fun seeing Wyldfyre and Arin as a duo together (despite how sad it is that Arin is still rebuffing Sora).

"Normal people lock doors. I was raised by dragons and even I know that." So many good Wyldfyre moments in this episode.

Okay Lloyd is unconscious but Zane and Cole are RIGHT THERE to help you instead Sora, you know they're spinjitzu masters too right? Heck they LITERALLY used to be teachers at one point!

Aw, Frak is a good boy actually, I like him.

The way Sora balanced on her tiptoes at the edge like that was cool haha

When Jordana handed Sora the note with the math equation on it my sister said "Sora, help me with my homework", and for some reason that made me and my other sister crack up so much we had to pause the video.😆

Yeah knew it, Roby was a red herring, of course the old guy who likes tradition is the bad one.🙄

Ahahaha Arin jumping on the exercise ball and it launching away was too real. XD

I'm not a fan of shows making young characters not know what older technology is, so I was glad that Arin called it a rotary phone, BUT it was also funny when Wyldfyre said she still doesn't know what they are because in HER case it actually makes sense.

Also my sisters reminded me that Lloyd, who's likely close to a decade older than Arin, didn't know what a VHS tape is, which makes it even funnier.

Woah woah woah what the heck that evil lair was DISTURBING, bro wants to murder his own nephew!

Love we're still continuing the joke that no one can remember Jordana's name.

Yooooo Lloyd saw Arin betraying him in a vision!😭 This boy is going to get traumatized worse than Wu with Morro.

Oh okay, Cole temporarily got his powers back through the Chekhov's gun mech, sure. I mean it's not the first time characters have gotten their powers back after losing them just through sheer will, and you know what, this isn't even the worst way it's been done, so whatever. Also guess the mech really did belong to Lilly.

Lloyd used wind!!! That feels SO satisfying somehow. Just imagine Morro's reaction if he'd seen. XD

Yikes, freaky mask...

Wyldfyre is a smart cookie with that switcheroo.

Oh my gosh, Cole's reaction to seeing Wu was so sweet, he missed him so much.😭

He really asked if he died omg

Sora's apology to Jordana was so sweet, I hope she heard it all.

Zur is revealed to actually be a very nice guy haha. (Had to search up his name though, seriously why are all the names of the new characters so unintelligible?)

I like that Arin feeling even more betrayed that Lloyd didn't immediately leave Sora's fight to deal with his revelation that Wu caused the merge, felt believable; he's young and already not in a good mental space right now, and mixed with his anger at Sora and not having learned proper spinjitzu from Lloyd, it's no wonder he'd feel especially bitter towards Lloyd not giving him more credence in favor of helping Sora, the new golden child, even if that's not what Lloyd was doing. Like really, Arin's whole "turning to the dark side" arc is written crazy good!

Lmao why was Geo cheering Nokt's win??

Nothing like making sure the audience knows your new protagonist is better than the old ones by having the previous protagonist tell her so. Hey I know that's just Lloyd trying to be a good teacher by encouraging her after her loss but still, that line felt kinda self-indulgent on the writers' part.

What do you know, someone evil took all the powers and stopped you from taking them back with the cup, Roby. Actually, what's the point in giving all the powers to the winner in the end when they're gonna return to their original owners anyway? It's not like they'd need them to fight.

So uhhh was it PLANNED by Nokt and Rox for Sora the tech master to be their final opponent? Cause there's no way they could've known that (especially considering her first match was rigged to sway in her opponent's favor), much less that she would've used her powers to remove the shock collar thingy.

DANG Ras not holding back with that warhammer, that looked painful! XD

Nya came back! Without Jay but I'm glad she's not missing the finale.

Again, Frak is a good boy. He deserved to say that "ninja go"

"I sincerely detest rising dragon" lmao at that line delivery XD

Oh my God Roby, how long does it really take to activate that cup thing?? Stop talking and just do it!

THAT 360 FIGHT AGAINST NOKT WAS SO COOL!

"How did you learn perfect spinjitzu?" "Not from you." BRO I KNOW I WANTED ARIN TO THROW IT IN HIS FACE BUT THAT WAS SO COOOOLD!!😩

Okayyy see Wyldfyre roaring in Roby's face instead of going for the kiss? That's more in character for her and really funny. And Roby just going with it? Very sweet.Still, glad this is going to stay a long distance relationship.

KAAAAIIII! Kai coming to save their butts! Kai soloing Nokt! Kai saying "don't you dare touch her"!!!

Nokt really said he would end Kai with his own daughter's powers, I can't

Love Euphrasia taking out Cinder immediately after they got their powers back. XD Good girl!

I really felt Lloyd and Sora's heartbreaking cries for Arin, it's just like seeing a father and daughter losing their son/brother.😭

Awwww the group hug tackle on Kai!

But... I'm a little disappointed Kai and Cole couldn't get their own moment together, since they're reuniting for the first time after the merge.

Aww but the Cole and Bonzle hug was cute.

Look, I don't dislike Sora as a character or anything, but calling her the "greatest elemental master of the merged realms" isn't sitting right with me. She only won by default against Nokt, without even knowing rising dragon technique, and probably would've lost to Frak too if he hadn't had a change of heart. The entire tournament was purposefully written so that she'd be the winner; Nya would've beaten Nokt if Blekt hadn't cheated, and Lloyd was disqualified for being injured, not even to speak again of how Zane was taken out like garbage for no reason in the first round, without it even having been rigged like Cole's game was. Maybe this wouldn't bother me so much if Sora wasn't designed to look so obviously appealing to the "new gen" crowd with her pink-haired catgirl thing going on, I mean she looks just like an overly designed fan OC, but the fact that she's a child genius, and always being told by others how amazing she is - except of course by the people who were completely wrong about her and were getting in the way of her potential - and now being celebrated as "the best" mostly by circumstance... is kinda making her dangerously close to becoming a special snowflake in my book.

Oh hey it's Frohicky lol. Can't say I really felt his absence.🤷‍♀️

Love that Kai promised Nya they'd find Jay together, best big brother for real.

Lloyd already putting Arin's picture up like he departed, what is it with these ninja overreacting 🤣

*chants* ev-il Ar-in ev-il Ar-in!

[echoesofwisdomcountup]

26 Days until Tears of the Kingdom Release. I believe today is Orthodox Easter so happy Easter to those who celebrate. Also I hope everyone had a lovely weekend and that we can continue the hype for TOTK for the next 26 days.

Spoilers under the cut because I'm still not done with the trailer.

Pokemon Sword and Shield? Nah. Zelda Sword and Shield. I already love fuse so much. Sticking a royal claymore and royal shield together and then using that to parry an attack is insane.

At first I thought this thing was a Goron but upon a closer look it's got a symbol on it. I'm guessing this ball that moves so fast and leaves flames in it's wake is some sort of game/challenge that the Goron's cooked up. Probably minigame related, like the Challenge at Gut Check Rock or that one challenge where Link has to stand the heat.

The trampoline thing is so sick and seeing the other flying boats makes me think of how fun it would be to travel by bouncing from one to the other. Also Tulin is more grown up in this shot, proving that a few years have passed between BOTW and TOTK (at least Link and Zelda got some time to themselves before everything went to hell.) It's also my belief that just cause Link is flying with Teba and not Tulin does not mean something bad happened to Teba. I think Teba took over as Chief of the Rito so he's a bit too busy to pull stunts with Link.

Glowy hand. Also this sequence was so satisfying, even more so than a parry or a bomb. Octoroks always hit you at the most inconvenient of times so it's nice to uno reverse their attacks back at them. Also I wonder if reversing time on one object slows/stops time for everything around it as well but leaves Link free to move. I think that's how it works and if so then I'm looking forward to seeing how it can be used in combat against groups.

This looks like a neat side quest but also at the same time it reminds me of the escort mission in Twilight Princess. Hopefully this one is far nicer to me then than the TP quest.

Looks like Link really fused a rocket to his shield. Also he's on Eventide island with all his stuff so we probably won't see a repeat of that shrine quest, at least not on this island. I keep thinking about how funny it would have been for Majora's Mask Link to travel to the moon via rocket in order to fight Majora. Link technically already has experience with space travel of a sort so guess it's not surprising they finally gave him a rocket.

Speaking of space travel, MOON JUMPS. Yup, these steps absolutely have to deal with funky gravity and I'm sticking to that point (too many reactors keep saying time.) These steps also look like they lead to a giant platform, a perfect place for a boss fight, and with the weird goo in the background I'm guessing the boss fight is with the black and purple ink like alligator we see later in the trailer. If we are getting dungeons again, I wonder if this is part of one of the sky dungeons.

Nintendo saw that we loved mine carts in BOTW and decided to use them more. Thank you Nintendo. While I think this race with a construct is hilarious, I'm even more excited by the glimpse at an underground area and once with some sick lava falls. Also this reminds me of a roller coaster at an amusement park where there are duel tracks. Maybe they should make one of these in Super Nintendo land.

The amount of reactors I've seen start laughing once the trailer gets here is numerous. This mech battle, some may say the slowest and shittiest mech battle in history, truly showcases Aonuma's comment about how much room TOTK leaves for the player's imagination. I can't wait to craft my own shitty jousting robot and then see people on youtube make them cooler than I could ever dream. Also the new outfit that Link is wearing reminds me of a Roman Centurion.

This shot has an even cooler looking outfit. The horns and earrings are absolutely a reference to the unknown character already shown in the trailer. In general, I really like the look of this one and can't wait to acquire it. Then there is the ruby arrow. I hope that it doesn't do the same thing as fire chu chu jelly because I want Nintendo to give us a reason to use an expensive ruby for something other than outfit upgrades and rupees. Huh I wonder if some outfits are going to boost the effects of fusing materials to weapons/arrows. That would be interesting to see. Maybe an outfit boosts the magical effects of gems/minerals and in that case you would want to use rubies instead of chu chu jelly.

Speaking of fire chu chu jelly, I'm pretty sure that bokoblin is carrying some in a pack on his back. I assuming that some of the enemies will be throwing elemental jelly at us. Also what is that contraption Link and how did you get it up there? I wonder if he just levitated it into the camp using ultra hand and if he did then that bodes well for long range combat. Also pretty funny to drop a giant laser machine from the sky into the middle of a boko camp.

Giant ice leviathan and 100% a boss fight. I've heard some interesting arguments about this thing being related to the Great Hebra skeleton but part of me hopes not. It'd be tragic if Ganon corrupted a creature like Levias the flying whale from Skyward Sword. Levias was nice. Still, I can't wait to fight this thing. Also Link is wearing a new outfit with some very bright blue stuff (that Tulin also seems to have on him) that I'm assuming works like extreme antifreeze. However, I think the headpiece reminds me of the Statue of Liberty so I will not be able to take this outfit seriously.

Ok, thank you for reading today's piece of trailer analysis. Probably only two-ish more days to go before I finish the trailer in its entirety.

[retphienix]

Well that was a pretty fun time :)

I still feel like the scan objectives are just, pointless, utterly pointless.

For most of them it was simple- go to the planet, scan, leave.

But for 2 of the scan sessions it just didn't spawn enough things to scan, or worse, the water one split the scans up RIDICULOUSLY between ground level and 300000000000000 tiles under the sea, it was annoying, not fun.

Anyways, not a big deal in all truth.

I really enjoyed this- moreso after I put a couple mods in place to alleviate the crafting/storage issue and give me a touch more to invest in during the scanning distractions.

But with those? I had a blast. WAY more of a good time than I expected- genuinely :)

The RPG mod is REALLY fun. Overpowered. But really really fun.

For most of the gameplay it wasn't overpowered- but holy hell if for the Glitch orb and final area I was a god, it was unfair, and kiiiiiiiiinda killed some of my fun because there wasn't any challenge anymore.

But! It was ONLY during those segments that it hit- because it was at that point that I unlocked the final version of my class weapon and the final version of the soldier class weapon is Buuuuuuuuuuuuusted lol

It's REALLY FUN, but it's TOO STRONG and made the final boss a joke that I didn't even get to pretend to be stressed over x.x

But I'd say I got far more good out of that mod than bad- I got a LOT of fun from grinding it out and exploring my options, 10/10 experience.

Anywho. Starbound.

I'd love to have some grand statement to say but I kinda don't have anything flowery to say.

The dev is a shitter for what he did.

The game looks aesthetically pleasing.

Scanning was a bad quest objective and the pre-fab locations are far more fun and should have been the vehicle for orb coords- not scanning nonsense.

All of the dungeons (save for the water one) are VERY entertaining- there's even some variance so you don't get bored doing 6 of them! :D

Crafting/storage is balls without a mod to improve storage- but is perfectly fine with a mod :)

The "crew" is barely skin deep- hell it's barely got skin- these aren't even cardboard cut outs- they're paper masks.

BUT. I WANT to like them- because their single note personalities are fun! They don't even get enough to say or do to actually sell those single notes- but I LIKE THEM LET ME LIKE THEM- the final scenes painting it like these are my beloved crew of friends is funny because they really REALLY don't get so much as a flashlight let alone a spotlight- LET ME LIKE THEM, GAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That one genocide lady is just. What a lazy turn lol.

"She's VERY smart and VERY talented and she had her whole family and planet attacked by pirates that were suspiciously lacking in human members and she wants to CLEANSE the universe as it's the only (final) SOLUTION" yeah yeah cry me a river and go fuck yourself- would 2 seconds of writing have been too much to grant her a more interesting character?

Come onnnnn.

There's a good amount of "things" to play with, but a lot of it doesn't feel.... impactful/rewarding enough to do, I guess is what I'd say?

Like I could farm and cook foods that buff me, but I failed to care. Just bring meds and fancy bandages if normal med kits aren't enough (kits were enough).

Pets are a thing- it just takes a lot of pointless setup to be able to heal and reuse them so I caught some and just never used them, what's the payoff? I have a guy who dies and needs healed? I'll just avoid damage and keep shooting.

Mechs are a thing, not really sure why. I LIKE them but it's such a self contained bit of content- you can do mech stuff to get mech parts to do mech stuff- I have a similar issue with entire sections of content in Warframe- I can do Railjack to improve Railjack to do Railjack (I love Railjack but MAKE IT COHESIVE- MAKE IT WORTH DOING FOR THE OTHER GAMEPLAY!). I do like that you can just start using your mech wherever but it's really not necessary and it's so awkward in some ways- like it's genuinely annoying to mine with.

Vehicles are a thing, not really sure why. I didn't even bother buying one despite having the money lol

Space bases are a thing- REALLY not sure why- I bought one but never bothered building it out because it didn't appear to have any payoffs beyond "a place to make" which is nice! It IS nice! But it's another feature that either lacks payoff or fails to convey what it's payoff is because I couldn't find it.

I LIKE that these things are here- but I wish there was some more interconnected functionality in all this.

If I push the discussion too far I'll just be asking for a different game.

Starbound was far more entertaining than I thought it would be after hearing some critique later in its life.

It VERY MUCH earns the critique- there's a lot of "Why?" in what features are here versus what basic QOL or features or quest design or NPC interactions are missing.

But you slap all that is here together and you still get a nice final game. Not a perfect one, but one I enjoyed plenty :) One I'd gladly play through again in coop (probably with the RPG mods because it is really fun >:) )- and Maaaaaybe- MAYBE- a game I'll come back to to build out a base and enjoy just making more outposts in the stars (not that THAT has much payoff if we're being honest lol).

Game pretty good 👍

I'd give it a "We really thought this was a Terraria killer when it was announced, but what's here is still pretty nice" out of 10 :)

Also a "Get fucked for taking advantage of young artists" out of 10. Probably more that on principle- but you don't really get much of an idea on the game itself from that rating lol.

Oh yeah wait:

My final stats for the RPG growth mod :)

The soldier's class weapon is OP as hell once you get it maxed out, and I say that both as a positive and negative lol

Also my fashionbound (it needs work but I'm not some player with hundreds of hours to actually make that x.x lol)

Fun time :) Pretty good game with unfortunate events surrounding it and bizarre design decisions (still baffled at the lack of QOL around chests in a game like this lmao)

💜

[purplekoop]

Alright screw it, full list of Kirby crossover Overwatch skin ideas:

Kirby Echo. Hard to explain how it looks with words but it works in my head.

King Dedede Reinhardt. In my heart this one is the Mythic skin of this bunch with variants for unmasked, the classic Masked Dedede mask, and the Forgo Dedede mask.

Meta Knight Genji. Not much explaining needed I think.

Bandana Waddle Dee Tracer. I didn't have any better ideas for either end of this pairing, but like. again it works in my head.

Whispy Woods Bastion. I swapped my ideas for Orisa and Bastion back and forth, but figured Ganymede dressed as the small Kirby bird of your choice would make more sense. Plus, Orisa already has a nature-themed skin.

Paint Roller Lucio. I think this is a fan favorite obscure miniboss, plus it'd be a fun different look for a Lucio skin.

Nightmare Sigma. With every idea for group skins I keep casting Sigma as the ultimate big bad, but like... c'mon it works too well here. The Hyperspheres are the ball form.

Rick Wrecking Ball. hamter.

Dark Matter Swordsman Soldier 76. mouthful, yikes. I actually had a list of notes I decided to check partway through making this post, and I forgot about this one. I think the idea was the visor? Could be cool I think.

Marx Junkrat. funny little guy who chucks exploding balls. Could do a fun detail with his prosthetics looking like pieces of Nova.

Heavy Lobster Orisa. Favorite obscure Kirby boss that never shows up in a series full of recurring bosses. Definitely a skin nobody besides me consciously wants.

Mr. Frosty/Chef Kawasaki Roadhog. Hard to pick between these two iconic midbosses, but I very much only see either design working as like, an edgy slasher villain parody of the original when on Roadhog.

Adeline Brigitte. Flail is the paintbrush. That's all the justification I need to say.

Ripple Queen Mei. Definitely a more obscure character to prioritize but the idea won't leave my brain, I think it'd look too cute to pass up. Also yes: Snowball is Ribbon.

Dark Meta Knight Reaper. ow the edge.

Daroach Cassidy. Hat. Though would also consider Ashe, if only just for the sake of Storro B.O.B.

Drawcia Moira. I mean Moira throws around blobs and sprays of bright colors around, it works. Plus I think this'd be a fun look for her that's not too out of place stylistically.

Necrodeus Doomfist. Felt bad not having a Mass Attack reference of any kind for some reason (even though I don't have an Epic Yarn character here and that's my favorite spinoff). This was the best pairing of "cool bad guy" matching that I had left, but I mean I think it'd look cool.

Magolor Zenyatta. Silly floating man with his orbs and mysterious past.

Landia Pharah. Another niche one but it looks sick in my head. Was also considering giving her Dyna Blade.

Taranza Lifeweaver. Okay explaining this one: sad pretty boy with trauma and a flower motif. Plus they both use grabby magic to yoink people. Works with how average Rein players feel about Life Grip.

Queen Sectonia Symmetra. I wanted to have Sectonia somewhere and by process of elimination this is the idea I like the best. Not explicitly meant for a SymWeaver thing but hey that works too. the inverse height dynamic between the pairings feels wrong though...

Susie D.va. This is another obvious one, little pink bitches with big mechs, little pew pews, trauma, and room for me to project onto.

Haltmann Torbjorn. Another one from my notes I completely forgot about. But like. Yeah no it still checks out.

Francisca Junker Queen. A guilty pleasure choice aside from the shared blue hair and axes.

Flamberge Illari. Listen the brain blast I had when I realized "burny powers and also her gun looks like a weird sword." Plus they both scream an above average amount.

Zan Partizanne Widowmaker. It'd be a crime if she wasn't one of the most canonically french Kirby characters.

Hyness/Void Termina Ramattra. I don't know the exact logistics of how this works but in the abstract concept in my head this looks awesome.

Gorimondo Winston. monke.

Yeah that's the list! Everybody besides Mercy, Hanzo, Zarya, Ana, Sombra, Ashe, Baptiste, Sojourn, and Kiriko got one. Also no Mauga... or Venture... or Space Ranger... look this list was from a while ago, plus none of these are even out yet so sue me. (actually had a few ideas for Mercy, but none of them felt really satisfying. Favorite idea for her was using Forgotten Land's final boss mostly because of the silhouette being... more similar than you'd think at first.) Also I got at least part of each of the dream friends besides Gooey, but like. Literally what Overwatch character reminds anyone in any way of Gooey. Be honest with me here.

[bandtrees]

hello o//

i heard you had a fursona and i was curious to know about them if you’re willing to share :]

(/nf of course)

oh of course!!! :]] here he is!

i <3 robot furries so he's a robot dog! i based him most obviously off of transformers (specifically idw tailgate and ironfist) (named kibble both cuz dog and cuz that's the term in transformers fandom for extraneous robot-parts that don't serve much purpose on a 'human' body ie wheels etc) but i also wanted to, in 2024 redesigning him for this ref sheet, make him a bit easier to follow as an anthro dog design and able to be worked into furry stuff, while still being visibly mechanical ^_^

in the ways of lore i really don't have much for him - honestly he's just a standin for myself - but i have the concept that he was made to be a sort of living computer. genius database, future of technology, etc... but his storage capacity's small and his scope of interests even smaller, so he doesn't really have much actually technically helpful knowledge... he does, however, have encyclopedic levels of knowledge about nonsense things like tvtropes and trivia for whatever show he's into now.

(^really this is just a way (FOR ME PERSONALLY i should say as i know 'autistic robot' is a bad stereotype for a reason) to express autism as that's what it feels like for me a lot of the time. having a lot of passion and drive to learn but only in the few things your brain's latched onto - and of course the social hurdles that will come with being a robot in 'human'(furry?) society)

he's very inexpressive - doesn't have pupils, doesn't blink, has no mouth (the robotic muzzle isn't a mask, it's just what his face looks like), and i imagine he speaks mechanically too (i waffle between making him mute, giving him a text-to-speech type thing, or limiting his communication to pulling up webpages haha)

he's also one of those fursonas that has a few different designs and such depending on the 'verse, i've drawn him in the context of transformers designs for selfshipping a few times (specifically w/ mtmte first aid, and moreso idw/es tarantulas) and i should do that again :] depending on the situation his design falls in many different places along the furry-mech scale lolol

to get real: i've been a furry and had fursonas since. like. im gonna say as far as 2008, since i was very small :]c but kibble's the first one in a long time i feel actually suits me in both a "feels like me" sense and a "fun character to draw with some degree of fun fantasy" - cuz for a long stretch of time, when i stopped being into sparklecats and the like as a teenager, i fell hard into the "truesona" type of furry designs...

...which, nothing wrong with those, but as someone with crummy self esteem, just kind of led to me hyperfocusing on myself as a kind of "boring slob" type of character. not interesting enough to be anything but a plainly colored realistic animal, and too self-conscious about my appearance to feel too comfortable straying from "fat, depressed, tired and messy slob", as to portray myself as anything but that felt dishonest.

until one day, and this was at the height of my transformers hyperfixation so i'd grown attached to very inhuman robot-y designs, i just kind of realized, "hey, if i wanted, i could make my sona anything i want, right? i like robots and my friends compare me to dogs, i could make a robot dog! i could have fun designing a mech anthro dog!" and. i did lol. and it's the happiest i've been with a fursona, both from a design standpoint and a 'me' standpoint :]]

thank you for the ask! sorry for suddenly getting so real, i don't think you expected me to, kibble as an oc just means a lot to me :'D

(i also have other, non-sona, furry ocs if you ever wanna hear about furry boy band drama lol. i only recently reopened asks again so i'm trying to get more comfortable with em despite my constant Inbox Paranoia. ty again!!)

[returntothefalls]

Behind-the-Scenes of Return to the Falls

I did a post like this once before covering the first two chapters, so it seems about time to do another one covering the next four chapters!  I like to think I’ve got a few interesting tidbits here at least:

IQ-tie

The working title for this chapter was “Mabel and the Smarty Pines”, which never quite sat right with me, but I had a hard time thinking of something better.  What would become the titular pun was originally on Mabel’s sweater, which said “IQ and QT”.  But then when I was trying to think of a better title, @immaplatypus told me the similar pun – that Mabel was an IQ-tie – and it immediately stood out to both of us that it would be a much better title.

Is Trivi-o’s a lame name for a cereal?  I debated about it and decided yes, it is, and that is good.  A lame name for a lame cereal.

I did a lot of second-guessing myself about the logistics of the Sfinx and her very existence, but I’m glad in the end I didn’t let myself overthink it too much.  I’m really happy with how she turned out.

Much like the previous chapter, I wasn’t totally sure of how the heroes were going to turn the tables at the climax, and then when I separately thought up Carla’s “It’s for … arson” line in reference to her lighter, then I decided that’d be a good ole Chekov’s gun to bail them out.  But there was an early draft in which Carla piloted McGucket’s sphinx robot like an anime mech to beat the crap out of the Sfinx herself, so that’s fun to think about.

Challenge of the Hunt

The theme of the chapter always centered around the idea that there are more ways to win a challenge than simply playing along, but the finer details of the plot went through some major changes.  In one particularly bleak version, the Hunt was the ghost of a child who was abandoned in the woods and was misguidedly trying to protect Dipper and Mabel from their Grunkles, but that never felt quite right to me.

Skull Kid from The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask was a major visual and behavioral inspiration for the Hunt, though they ended up being very different in the end.  My original sketches of the Hunt even included a very Majora-esque mask.

Originally instead of having a pet wolf, the Hunt was going to transform into a giant wolf-like beast themself during their chase.  I later decided that having a pet wolf to help would add to the huntsman theme, plus it just didn’t feel like a very sporting ability for the Hunt to have themself.

On a related note, if the joke wasn’t obvious, the Hunt’s wolf is named Virginia as a pun on the author, Virginia Woolf.

Originally instead of taking trophies from the losers of their game, the Hunt was going to just straight-up murder them, with it being implied that the Manotaur from the beginning was killed, but that was darker than I wanted and made it feel harder to let them off scot-free at the end, so I’m glad I had the trophy idea instead.  Plus that led to some fun Stan dialogue, so it’s a win-win!

The chapter didn’t originally feature Candy and Grenda but I was really itching to write for them and already had other side characters to focus on in upcoming chapters, so I threw them in here.  I’m really glad too, got some great material out of their inclusion.

Grenda’s middle name being “Papercut” is, of all things, a Kick Buttowski reference, where Carl Faruolo, Grenda’s voice actor, voices a former wrestler named Papercut Peterson.

The original version of the “Grenda tramples the Hunt” scene instead had her and Dipper being ambushed by the Hunt and her instinctive response being to pick up the Hunt and throw them like a shot put.  I really wish I’d found a way to incorporate that because it’s such a hilarious image to me.

The whole bit of dialogue in the pit with Stan rambling about digging out was graciously provided by @immaplatypus

I had various different ideas for the Hunt’s “trophy room”. The first was going to be something Dipper and the others stumble on while fleeing that really gets them freaked out about what the Hunt can do, but I struggled to organically fit it in and thought things were getting kind of long anyway, so instead I made it the sight of the climactic showdown with the Hunt.

For anyone not catching the joke, Stan calling the Hunt “Helen” is a reference to actress Helen Hunt.

The Carla and Soos subplot was born from this being one of my oldest chapter ideas, at a point in which I hadn’t even added Carla to the story yet, so I realized much later on that I just completely forgot to ever add her to this chapter.  And since Soos wasn’t a part of the family camping trip, then that all worked out perfectly to pair him up with Carla.  And I’m really glad it did, because their scenes were some of my favorites I’ve written so far.

Scrapped line from Soos, reassuring Carla about her place in the Shack: “Rudeness is polite in this house!  It’s just like Mr. Pines always says: get off the premises or I’ll shoot!”

There’s not really any significance to the Hunt being a deer-fox.  I wasn’t drawing from any particular inspiration, it was just two animals associated with hunting that I thought made a good aesthetic, and I think I’d been watching Hilda (which also features a deerfox) around the time I was initially sketching them.

Some other possibilities I considered for the ending cryptogram:

YOU JUST LOST THE GAME – if you get this, you’re liable for a senior’s discount

IT REMINDS ME OF THE HUNT – an obscure Fairly OddParents quote I think of daily

THE HUNT HUNTER HAS BECOME THE HUNT HUNTED – the word “hunt” really just gets used a lot in this chapter

The Sorceford’s Apprentice

Once again, Robbie’s song was spur-of-the-moment spit out by Jessica. Everyone go love up on her and her extraordinary talents.

Instead of a possum king, Dipper and Gideon were originally going to deal with a squirrel king that is defeated because Gideon is a true southern gentleman and always carries cashews in his pockets.

Supernatural Speakeasy

Here’s one passage from the town meeting that I had to cut for pacing but nevertheless love a lot:  “I’m still temporarily deprived of my wealth,” Preston Northwest said.  “And my pyramid scheme – I mean perfectly legitimate business – needs buyers. And I’ve already ripped off – I mean marketed to – almost everyone in town.”  He leaned over to the Pizza Guy sitting beside him.  “Hey, chum, have you heard of essential oils?”

Demusa is 100% voiced by Susan Egan.  She’s gotta be dripping with sultry like Meg from Hercules.

Pacifica was going to be obnoxious BFFs with C-Beth but then I had the idea for Gideon and C-Beth’s interaction and the concept of Demusa came to me.

A scrapped subplot would have had Mabel claim to be over the dating game, but Dipper is afraid she’ll fall back into old habits, so he tries to make her oblivious to any “dateable” creatures, which is difficult since there are now swarms of them in the Shack, and he doesn’t want another Norman situation.  I got rid of it because it just wasn’t working out smoothly and was just enjoying all the other minor conversations, but it persisted slightly in the existence of the Wolf Boy.

There are a few vague allusions here to a scrapped chapter that would have focused on Multi-Bear and his backstory.  It never worked out great and it felt shoehorned in as a continuation of old plots (namely that of Dipper vs. Manliness), so I never did much with it.  It would have involved a Russian ringmaster creating a circus of freaks and capturing the Manotaurs, forcing Leaderaur to team up with Multi-Bear and Dipper to save them.  I don’t remember my exact backstory for Multi-Bear but it was going to involve Mayor Befuftlefumpter of all people being the adoptive brother of Multi-Bear, and Leaderaur as a childhood friend of both.  It was all really weird and it’s good that it was thrown out on the curb where it belongs.

The ending cryptogram is a reference to a quote from Sgt. Frog Abridged on Youtube.

That’s all for now, hope some of you found this at least a little amusing!  Thanks so much for reading and sticking around!  And keep your eyes peeled for the sneak peek of the next chapter!

[neon-moon-beam]

So I skipped an entire plot point and quest in ToTK...

Major spoilers follow, but also please do not send me any spoilers. I want to enjoy this game at my own pace and discovering new things has been so much fun. Sarqso!

As of right now, I have not completed any temples, and at the time I did this had 11 heart containers and just under 2 stamina wheels.

I found a fallen rock that I could use Rewind on in Faron and it put me very close to Dragonhead Island. I didn't know what it was, save for a constant storm. I was able to paraglide around on some small, floating rocks and eventually got to where I could paraglide in if I had a small boost in height. I built a campfire, threw a Hylian pinecone in it to create an artificial Revali's Gale, and flew into Dragonhead Island. The storm made it hard to see, but I was able to keep ascending and see where the edges of the island were. Eventually I fell down what looked like an elevator shaft and was immediately greeted with a shrine. There was a door, but I didn't have enough hearts to open it so I came back when I had eleven (I made my roommate look up how many I needed as to not spoil anything else).

I opened the door, found a head/mask, Mineru spoke to me, and it shone a beam of light down into Tobio's Hollow, a location I'd revisted previously and found a large owl statue and platform had fallen there, and the bog was now fresh water; the area looked important. I built a plane, glided with the head/mask down but was a bit off because I actually have not been using Zonai stuff too much as I'm used to just finding ways to do things in BotW. There was a Bokoblin camp nearby but I passed through without any trouble by wearing the Bokoblin mask.

The head/mask opened an area with a platform that moved down into the Depths, with Mineru narrating a few things. I arrived at a Construct Factory, Ultrahanded the head/mask onto a mold for a large Construct, and that's how I ended up building a new body for Mineru without ever being told to seek her out.

Apparently there's a whole late game quest for going to Dragonhead Island that starts after completing the Ring Ruins, and all the online instructions mention special armor from completing the Ring Ruins and building Zonai devices to get into Dragonhead Island, but all I did was wander in without completing much of the main storyline because Rewinding a rock put me close enough and I created a few updrafts.

I love how you can just do these things in games that are truly open-world, and how the devs are prepared for it and the game will adapt to any choices you make regarding the timing of quests.

Anyway, Mineru wants me to ride her Construct mech to find her Secret Stone, but I may hold off and finish the temples first. I don't want to spoil anything right now, and I especially don't want to get endgame details this early in my playthrough.

[karltface]

Boxy box box!

I forgot to get a box photo, but my out-of-state contact has initiated another exchange. Excitement!

I finally get to talk Exosquad! A race of genetically engineered workers, the Neosapiens, have rebelled on the space colonies, seizing territory and building an army outfitted by captured munitions factories. Our heroes have to contend with questionable orders and troubles back on Earth in addition to the war itself. It was damn good stuff.

Field Sgt Rita Torres, here, is second in command to JT Marsh, and a damn sight more intimidating. Picture Vasquez with Apone's sense of discipline. Now throw in... that hair and a nose ring. It was vaguely cyberpunk, you see.

The E-frames are halfway between a Battletech mech and the Power Loader, which stands out especially here, what with the yellow and the claw and whatnot. Fully enclosing the pilot on the show, the toys had to resort to exposed arms and thighs, which works fairly well except for the inane handles.

Articulation is vintage GI Joe-level minus the waist. The suits themselves (the humanoid ones, anyway) generally boast (slightly) hinged ankles, swivel/hinge hips (fairly limited by the arms and bulky torso), elbows with working pistons (around 45° of movement), and balljoint shoulders (still plenty good, and with fair range).

The figures attach via a clip at the waist, and a wire that plugs into a small neck implant, and constantly wants to mash the figure against the window. Just leave it unplugged. Lacking a truly free shoulder ball, they don't move with the arm handles, and restrict the motion even further. These are not "battle scene" toys.

Just for kicks, here's a few missiles scavenged from the parts bin. They look fine, they just need a bit of masking tape around the base to tighten up the fit. Rita herself is unarmed, but will mostly be posed with this thing anyway. Oddly, the teeny little computer chip thing that slots into the back of every mech (and is incredibly easy to lose) is present, but I'm not taking that out unless I learn to do molds.

Action features include 3 firing missiles, a ratchet joint in the claw, and a "laser sword" that looks, cocks, and fires like a jackhammer, and appears to have a string of rivets hanging off it. This reads more like it was planned for Maggie Weston, really. It just screams "vague construction vibes". Retrofitted with rockets.

Jump troops! These were the low-cost end of the line proper, a crack squad of Starship Troopers pastiches that deploy from low orbit and proceed to kick ass and take names.

Corporal Vince Pellegrino is the Fireboss of Charlie-5 squadron, and the grandson of the squad's founder. Fittingly, he carries a flamethrower. The wings fold down, but stick out a fair bit that way. One of his giant boots fires mines (missing here, along with a few other minor bits), the other stores them.

Second Lieutenant Colleen O'Reilly is the tech and communications guru. She doesn't like to kill, but is very good at disabling. Damn quick with her Recon Frame, too. I'm sure you noticed the duct tape. Previous owner had no skills. I can fix her.

And, yeah. Squad goals. Still got plenty of missiles handy, and possibly some mines too.

A stack of early 2000s Mega Bloks plates. It's not much on its own, but I intend to expand the Vorgan Stronghold, and this is essential stuff. I'll probably post it sometime.

And finally, the 2022 reissue of Retrax, a figure absolutely nobody was clamoring for, but hey, it's a hideously deformed isopod of superhuman size and strength. I was slightly worried when the blister was falling off on its own, with little sign of glue damage. After just 2 years? Wow.

The sharper eyes among you may have noticed the antennae are upside down. And set in a clear plastic clip. Do I dare? Also, the central legs are missing on both sides. Not sure how common that is, but damn, Hasbro. You good?

At least the action features are fun. The mandibles are spring loaded, as is the blade in back, and the whole body. It does the thing! Eee!

Robot mode is as feeble as I remember, but again, hideously deformed isopod of superhuman size and strength. The arms do unhook from the bug ends, but look better wielding them as weapons. Actually has a hell of a slap.

Well, I'm off to pack my answer. It involves very old Western figurines and mysterious books. Mysterious in that I haven't picked them out yet, but there's gold in them there bookshelves.

[solarflame33]

genuinely i recommend playing anything but 5e, if you like 5e i guarantee there is another ttrpg out there that does what you like about 5e way better. To give other recommendations if you like buildcrafting and tactical combat check out Pathfinder 2e or the soon to come out Draw Steel from MCDM for fantasy or Lancer for mech combat. If you do not like tactical combat and like the rp aspect then check out games like Call of Cthulhu, Vampire the Masquerade, there's Blades in the Dark, most Powered by the Apocalypse games (PbtA) like Masks for instance, i heard FATE is fun also. If you like something more in-between I'd suggest Mutants and Masterminds, a little complex on the surface but it's a fantastically flexible system built to allow literally any character into it cus it's a superhero system.

Also also, I want to address the homebrew component, because a lot of people think 5e is especially good to adapt and change to your liking, because it isn't, the only reason why it's often thought that way is because people ignore like half the rules 5e has, but here's the thing, you can do that with literally any other system, in fact some systems are way better at it, for instance pf2e is often thought of as a crunchy and too complex system but because it's so solidly built it's not something that crumbles as soon as you take a rule out but the opposite, as long as a select few rules are maintained pf2e will function pretty much perfectly because the math behind it is so solid. another example is for systems that simply lack rules, roleplaying systems like Call of Cthulhu are usually lite in rules and have less rules that 5e (which is actually most systems, people just don't read the 5e rules and don't know that it actually has a lot), so you can just fill in the gaps, one of my favorite examples of this is regarding a campaign i might actually play soon where the DM is considering to run Lancer but to spice it up because lancer has essentially no rules for rp they're thinking to add Call of Cthulhu in the mix, essentially using lancer for mech combat and Call of Cthulhu for your pilot.

anyway, TLDR; whatever you like about 5e there's a ttrpg that does what you like better, and if you really can't be bothered to actually read rules you can use literally any other system the same way you use 5e because 5e is not special

The mcelroys made an entire generation think that playing D&D badly is activism

[sylviegunpla]

Gunpla: Completed Collection of Minis: Part 5: The Rest: Gundam Wing, Endless Waltz, Evangelion, Amaim Warrior at the Borderline, Sakura Wars

The final set of minis! Only a few more to go! I feel like i just did the pokerap after writing up these blog entries. Anyway, the two images above are roughly contiguous in real life, just at slightly different scales (Heero Yuy on the left is right next to the Peach amiibo on the right)

MG Sandrock: Quatre Raberba Winner

Another figurine finished with nuln oil. Also i believe this was one of the last figures i painted before i started using the magnifying goggles. Still turned out pretty decent imo. And of course, we have a pilot figure!

And of course, we got some shots of him in the cockpit. Realizing you can see some hair and dust in these images, alas. Nothing i can do now to fix them (I mean, i'm not getting into photo editing just for that, i think it kind of tells the human story of the conditions these mechs sit in too: out for months collecting dust. These were even dusted off before i photographed them but i guess i wasn't as thorough as i could have been!) Anyway this kit is pretty neat, and will also someday maybe get its own post. More below the cut

HG WF-02 Shenlong Gundam: Chang Wufei

So this is a kit i do not own, but the figure was given to me by my friend's partner (who i believe i have now hung out with enough to also call a friend). They must have had this kit years ago. Anyway, i made the base stand myself again too! This figure was kinda interesting to paint. The dragon pattern on his tank top was actually part of the sculpt. That being said, it was really hard to match, and i wasn't yet using the magnifying goggles top assist. I did have aqueous gold paint however. And surprisingly, there was an ANCIENT color guide for this kit! I did the best i could to translate it and it seems like it was still using paints that Mr. Hobby still sells today. Or at least, close approximants. Small flub: the eyes are kinda asymmetrical. Also, the way i finished him was i gave him a semi-gloss coat, then masked over (broadly) the gold part of the shirt, and then finished him with a flat coat. That way the flat coat doesn't ruin the sheen of the gold paint. This was definitely a fun one to paint. A much larger scale than i was used to!

HG OVA EW-2 1/100 Wing Gundam 0 Custom: Heero Yuy

I DO own this kit (but pictures will NOT be forthcoming. Maybe one day. it's currently in "storage"). This was one of the first larger figures i painted. There was no color guide, so i had to take my best shot at mixing colors. so I mixed the paints using some of what was leftover from the PGU mini painting and from the Spiricle Striker Mugen figurine painting (i need to write a blog post about that, as it's vaguely relevant to these mini painting posts!) I hit this boy with some super clear gloss, panel lined, then flatcoated. Badda bing bada boom. I do not know what scale this guy is at, i could not find anywhere it's stated. I'd guess maybe 1/24?

HG Spiricle Striker Mugen (Claris Type): Clarissa "Claris" Snowflake

This whole kit deserves its own post, and tbh i didn't think i was gonna include it here, but then i mentioned it above and now here we are. She was painted in Fall 2023 but she turned out better than most of the minis. The eyes are Water Slide Decals though (which means i successfully applied water slides over a painted surface!) I followed the color guide pretty well but i wasn't really sure how to paint some of the details. I struggled with "detail loss" through the paint here, but i think i managed to make it appear as good as i am gonna make it in the end. I also primed her in White, which made the detail loss worse (because it seems the white primer pools as it dries moreso than gray primer). BTW, this is 1/24 scale

Moving on to planned figures for this post:

HGLM 003 Evangelion 00: Rei Ayanami & Gendou Ikari

These have been finalized since the last time i posted them, mostly by applying Flat Coats. Rei has been panel lined though, which her suit kinda needs. Gendou's outfit is already dark and doesn't really warrant panel lining imo. I suspect the scale here is 1/24 but i cannot confirm. Also, there was no color guide so once again i winged it. I think it turned out pretty okay for winging the palette! Also, i like and know things about Evangelion and i know Gendou needs to stay far away from Rei. i'm kind of appalled they put him in the same box as her!

Full Mechanics 1/48 MAILeS KENBU: Amou Shiiba

So i will admit, i know nothing about this series. "AMAIM Warrior at the Borderline" is what it's called apparently? BUt that's a weird localized title and its japanese name is just "Warrior Machines at the Borderline" when translated literally?) But this is the protagonist. This is another kit that i don't own, but my friend asked me to paint the minis for this kit. This particular standee is actually two peices. I painted them separately, then glued them together with tamiya extra thin, and then painted over the seams as best i could. TBF the camera angles hide the seams pretty well here, but i betcha can't tell! Anyway, since i don't actually own the model, i actually got to keep this standee! I think not panel lining this makes it look a lot cleaner. Also, i'm surprised the eyes came out as well as they did. He looks like he's looking off to the side a bit.

I also painted the cockpit pilot figure! So i got some photos when i brought the boy over to my friend's. Honestly this kit has some really cool poses and details and i kinda want one myself. I love that the stock of the gun fits into an open space on the arm, sometimes it's really hard to pose a gundam wielding a gun for this reason. I wound up digging through my friend's box of mixed plamo to find all the missing pieces for it, too, just so i could disassemble it to put Amou in. yes, the disassembly was NECESSARY to put him in. Believe me i tried otherwise lol. I'm glad i put in that work though! Now my friend's model kit has a little some extra special inside it and that makes me happy. This conclude my tour of all the minis i have painted over the 3/4 of a year. Wow! It's been a lot! I'm sure i'll come across more minis in the future (hell, i still need to paint that one Mystery Pilot Figure That I Think Is Kira Yamato!). When i do, i will probably cover them in future mega galleries grouped by "however many i can fit into a post at once". But i don't plan on buying any more plamo anytime soon, so at this point i'm at the mercy of people who want to give me more minis to paint. I'm sure I could scrounge up some from my friend, but finding them and/or extracting them would absolutely be more trouble than my friend is willing to put into displaying her models (currently). if you've taken the time to read through all my posts, thank you so much! This has been one of my biggest hyperfixations recently and i'm really happy to be able to put it all into a gallery and show others. I am here, and human, and shout into the void to prove i am alive.

[eternaljonathan]

Game review: Kirby return to dream land deluxe

I actually have played through the original version years ago as a rental with my brother, but we only played through the regular story mode and arena, and did not collect everything, so I was happy to play the deluxe version on switch and get 100% like I usually do. I'll be frank about this : aside the exclusive sub games in the wii original this game completely replaces the original as the best version of the game. Look I'm not going to talk about the story since it's literally the same one from the original. I'll just sum it up and say that for a kirby game it's pretty good, and Magalor was a nice side character to talk to every now and then to learn bits of lore from. Gameplay? well in the main story it's fun 2D kirby that adds two new copy abilities (Sand, and Mech). This game's collectables is the Lor starcutter's orbs which aren't too hard to find and collect. Doing so will unlock things in the Lor statcutter (specifically the challenge rooms that you must get a least a bronze in to 100% in both Story and Extra mode.  Now Let's talk about Magalor Land. Basically it's a hub to play all of the 8 sub games in the game along with Magalor tours which is a 3 match game for 3 rand sub games, and a 100 Samurai Kirby against 99 other players online. Playing the games and completing all the missions will unlock masks and items you can use both in the parks and in all the other modes. It's a great addition for local multiplayer, and even along the 8 games are still fun, and I had a great time doing everything. Next is Magalor's epilogue which is 2D kirby but with A depowered Magalor. Through out his adventure you need to collect magic points which works like EXP you can spend to unlock and boost skills to make him a force of nature. It's not as long as the main story, but it's long enough that you will have a great time playing as him.  Then there's Extra mode... basically you have to play the game all over again but now it's harder. I didn't care that much for Extra mode as I had to collect the same collectables in the same places, and do the same challenges again just to get 100%. I honestly would have prefer a speed run with a different character like past and future games did. Overall Extra mode is the only issue with the game, but honestly that's the original's fault for having it to. Finally the arena. The regular arena is basically the same as the original game. However, the True arena is much crueler if you have no healing items in reserve or amiibo as you have to fight all the EX bosses, all the bosses from Magalor's game, a secret boss, and a Powered up version of the final boss. that's over 20 boss fights so I would advise saving up those healing items you can win in Magalor land for this. In the end the deluxe version of this game is a must buy if or if you didn't play the original. I highly recommend this game to kirby fans and platformer fans. I give this Great game a 8.5 out of ten as while I do think it's great I would say it's still not the best in the series as I think forgotten land and planet robobot are overall better games

Posted using PostyBirb

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To celebrate making it through 2022, I thought I'd go over a few of the books and media that I enjoyed the most this year, so that others might be able to enjoy them in the next. A round-up of sorts, and a chance to reflect as well.

We can start with books, since we all love them. I've been driving a lot more in 2022 than I had in previous years, since I go to activities that are all a 30 minute drive away, and audiobooks have been what's let me eat up those highway miles.

I read 27 books (all fiction) this year, totalling 14,000 pages! That's more than I would have thought, reflecting back, but I think I enjoyed almost all of them.

I'll start with some honorable mentions, books that I really enjoyed, but aren't superlative enough for me to laud them unreservedly.

For series:

I have a few honorable mention series:

The Bone Witch is a trilogy by Rin Chupeco about a geisha-like society of mages, the politics of nations, and undead 3-headed dragons. Told in a twin narrative of present and past, it kept me on the edge of my seat. Emily Woo Zeller is one of the narrators, and I love her style, so it was a fun romp! There even is representation with a trans secondary character and a queer couple of sidekicks.

The Stormlight Archive: Brandon Sanderson's ginormous sprawling fantasy epic was a good way to let my audible credits catch up when I was finishing shorter books too quickly. There's so much going on in his worlds. I don't think I can give any real synopsis of the books without that taking over this post, so I won't even try.

The First Sister Trilogy by Linden A. Lewis: A very queer space series with post-apocalyptic humanity that's spread out in the inner solar system, with creepy religions, cybernetic dystopias and a looming AI. It's world-building was knocked out of the park.

And for single books, the honorable mentions are:

The City of Dusk, by Tara Sim: Technically this is also a series, but only the first book is out. The four heirs (and some younger siblings) of the magic houses in an isolated realm fight their gods. I read it back in May, so I don't remember it perfectly, but it was very fun.

Ocean's Echo, by Everina Maxwell: A gay disaster failson learns to become competent at the edge of a sword, and uncovers space mysteries while being infected by alien tech, fighting of a coup, and falling madly in love with a soldier.

Two one-off books (or firsts in series) that I really enjoyed, and are superlatively well-crafted are:

Iron Widow, by Xiran Jay Zhao:

Mecha Sci-Fi with a deep re-imagining of Chinese History and Mythology creates a great backdrop for a power fantasy gone-wrong. A ruthless girl who's mental fortitude is her greatest strength starts with a quest for revenge on the mech pilot who killed her sister by over-taxing her mind in a battle.

As she undermines the misogynistic dynamics of their society, she has to amass a powerbase and acquires a ride-or-die OT3. This is probably the single most fun book of the year. Definitely a lot of cackling with glee while listening to it in the car.

The Unbroken, by C.L. Clark:

A dark post-colonial story about a soldier who was conscripted by the colonizing nation and only now returning to her homeland for the first time as an adult. When she stops an assassination attack on the princess by a member of the local resistance, all hell breaks loose. As she and the princess navigate the fractured landscape and their even more fraught ties to their families, we get a very intimate and visceral view at the brutality of empire.

There are magics at the outskirts of the world, and the dueling powers of civilization and the arcane is just one of the many fronts in this war.

To me, this story has one of the pinnacles of a well-executed enemies-to-lovers arcs. I whole-heartedly recommend it. If not for the series I'll talk about next, this would have been my favorite book of 2022.

My two superlative series are:

Rook & Rose (starting with The Mask of Mirrors), by M.A. Carrick:

I've talked about these ones at length. They've probably become my favorite books of all time. M.A. Carrick is the pen name for a duo of writers: Marie Brennan and Alyc Helms. Infused with many magics, the city-state of Nadežra provides a gloriously tense backdrop for a colonial conflict, a long con, intrigue and masquerade parties.

Pulling off a main character with dual identities is no mean feat, but it's done exceedingly well, and I just cannot emphasize enough how much you all just have to read these books if they sound like they might float your boat.

The Serpent Gates (starting with The Unspoken Name), by A.K. Larkwood:

This is another series I've not been able to suppress my urge to recommend. I'll include my previous recommendation blurb, because I don't think I can top that now:

A story about someone raised to be a sacrifice to their god, breaking free from their programming and learning to have a life of her own, it's really well done and the prose, while a little odd at first, really helps sell it as it subtly changes throughout the book.

Alchemical airships link dying worlds across a labyrinthine realm and connect different fantasy races with their own gods, cultures and magics.

The writer is in a writing group with Tamsyn Muir, the author of the The Locked Tomb books, and there are definitely some underpinnings that bring them together.

[v-exian]

ALRIGHT SIDESWIPE FANS, IT IS TIME.

As we all know, there is a Robot Husband Poll going on as I speak, and Sideswipe is against Soundwave! Now this will be a tough battle, and I know many of you may lose hope as Soundwave is very popular amongst the Transformer fandom. But no fear, my fellow fans, with this rant, hopefully I can make some Soundwave fans reconsider by telling you all why I think Sideswipe is the best husband out of the two.

Mind you this is for good fun and a joke (cause I know Sideswipes gonna lose already but I’ll still TRY) so please don’t come at me-

ALRIGHT. Number one. This man is the definition of fun! He totally would go along with someone’s dumb ideas, just for a thrill. He would do stupid stuff with you and make you laugh. To be honest, he totally would put on a stupid Spider-Man suit just to make you laugh, even in public. This man has NO shame. You both could also go to the racetracks as he’d totally be down for that. If it was a human he was dating, he can drive you around to wherever you want to go. Can Soundwave? No, because he’s a cassette tape.

NUMBER TWO. No kids. Not to say I don’t LIKE kids, I absolutely adore them actually, but no kids means less responsibility to make sure they're alive, more time to go out and have fun together on silly little dates. Especially with the war going on if we’re going to be the best husband WHILE the war is going on. Who could you give Ratbat, the baby, to make sure he’s okay, or to make sure Rumble and Frenzy don't get killed by doing something stupid? There ain’t no one to trust, so you both would have to keep texting Ravage or something to make sure no one died, or to take them along with you when you both just want alone time. With Sideswipe, you don’t have to worry about that. You guys can have as much alone time as you want (except when he has duties or something though) but other than that, yeah!

NUMBER THREE. This mech can hold a conversation very well. You two could probably talk for hours with how many stories of pranks this man has. With as much as he can talk, he can also listen pretty well, which is the best of both worlds. Someone who you can talk to and be weird with without fear of judgement. With him being a prankster too, he probably has the best hiding spots in the Ark to chill and relax with privacy.

NUMBER FOUR. Can you imagine how excited this mech will be when he sees you after a long day? Just pure joy and happiness, and you can actually see his face when he looks at you. See his emotions and giddiness right in front of you as you walk up to him. He will hug you and snuggle you because this mech is totally a physical person whose love language is touch, but would respect yours if it wasn’t and would back off. Soundwave has a mask, so you wouldn’t be able to really see his happiness when he sees you.

So overall, this mech can find fun out of nothing, no kids so you two can do whatever you want, a great conversation talker with many interesting stories (And probably funny pictures of people on the Ark and Decepticons) and excitement you can actually see. So, IN MY OPINION, he will and is the best husband, and this is why you should vote for him. Thank you for your time.

Transformers Robot Husband Poll (Round 3)

Make sure to vote on ALL of the matches here.